Having Trouble Deciding What to Play in a Caveman Game


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A friend decided he wanted to run a Caveman game. It would start at probably level 2-4, primitive weapons and armor only, and no spells above level 3 (he wants to simulate that magic is also in its primitive stage).

The party is made up of members of the same clan, in a place that's very Northern Europe. It's meant to be very "Quest for Fire" with a little "10,000 BC" thrown in. All the music he uses will be 70's rock. Thisis our travel music.

All books are allowed, as well as any 3rd party stuff he thinks is balanced. I don't think in a caveman mode myself, and want to stretch my RP wings a little, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Sovereign Court

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A lost crew member of a star ship that is stranded on that planet whose equipment is broken. Be a wizard or sorcerer but context all of your magic in terms of futuristic devices.


He might want to look at words of power which represents a more primitive set of spellcasting.

Otherwise, maybe a summoner ? :-)


I'll suggest it, but from what I understand words of power can get pretty complicated to run. I've tried reading it on several occasions and got lost each time.

Scarab Sages

A Tetori monk.

Cavemen excel at naked wrestling 80


I feel compelled to post this :D Caveman Ninja


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Why not have adepts as the spellcasters? They only get up to 5th level spells, and they're not that great or numerous. In fact, having the NPC classes as PCs would pretty well mirror a primitive society, where fancy weapons, armor and metallurgy don't exist.

Warriors are just less complicated fighters, experts are "inventor/tracker/trapper/survivor" types, and adepts are shaman types. Aristocrats might be tribal chiefs or traders/diplomats with other tribes, and commoners would just be average cavefolk with no special status.

Simple weapons, shortbows, and probably stone axes and greatclubs for weapons. With a few tweaks, it might be fun.


An expert hunter classed as a ranger with a longspear and bow.


What about a druid?


no bows, they're martial. Cavemen use the atlatl.

No monk, thats too easy.

Thinking about druid, if he'll tell me how the casting's gonna work.


Dude!


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Saurian Shaman. What? It worked for the Flintstones!

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Savage barbarian.

Wizard that uses Spell Mastery instead of a spellbook (try to get Spell Mastery in place of Scribe Scroll).


Spirit Ranger, Saurian Shaman Druid, Animal Speaker Bard,I bet a straight Rogue with a longspear could go far (Survivalist if traps are not an issuse, but they always are).


Hmmn, "spell-BOOK" is kind of a misnomer: could be knotted into nets, or beaded thongs, etc. Just because books are the standard method of recording spells doesn't make them the only way.

I kinda like the idea of NPC classes for a stone-age game, akshually.

But I wouldn't use 'em if I had the option for PC classes (damn my power-gaming hide).

I'd probably go druid or ranger. Eh, druid, knowing how I prefer casters.

With Craft/Stone-knapping and Craft/Leatherworking. Survival for foraging, maybe Craft/Alchemy for basic liquor production...

Sounds like it could be a lot of fun!


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Barbarian

Bard, Savage Skald archetype

Druid

Oracle with Ancestor, Battle, Bones, or one of the Natural mysteries

Ranger

Sorcerer


Alchemist, be Og the maker of fire.


Bard, name him Ringo.


My first thought was a Saurian Shaman, but he said that we're in the tundra, so there are no dinosaurs up there. I wonder if I could do a variant with a Wooly Mammoth? My only issue with a caster is that I will eventually have to multiclass since he's limiting magic. I usually end up playing the healer since the rest of our group (save one person other than me) has a love affair with martial classes. Ergo, I'm stuck with the caster role in most games.

I also have the feeling that if I stick with my own gender and play a girl, this game will turn into "Woman! Get back in the cave and make me a steak!" Any ways to combat this without taking the easy road and making my character a guy?

BTW, what would be the best way to limit magic, since he's already limiting weapons/armor and he doesn't want caster supremacy? Can anyone give me the "Words of Power for Dummies" rundown?


Woman go back to the cave...Try basing it on Ayla from the Earth Childrens saga then, she can hold her own
I would say she would be a ranger maybe


A ranger (skirmisher/infiltrator) with the natural weapon fighting style.
No Spellcasting, cool abilities and not dependant on manufactured weapons.

Grand Lodge

Actually, Cleric works nice for this.


Alitan wrote:
Hmmn, "spell-BOOK" is kind of a misnomer: could be knotted into nets, or beaded thongs, etc. Just because books are the standard method of recording spells doesn't make them the only way.

Alternatively, spellcasters might get their spells from studying something else, such as the position of the stars at night (although I'm not sure what they would do on a cloudy night or when trapped in some underground complex) or by studying the positions of leaves thrown on the ground, or into water. And maybe that sort of gimmick could work for a cleric type as well.

And yes, as others have suggested, "Woman! Get back in the cave and make me a steak!" could be answered with "I can help this group as well as anyone! If you don't believe me, test me (perhaps by fighting with subdual damage)." It could make for some interesting roleplaying.


Hmm if you are limited to 3rd level spells why not go for a mystic theurge under the concept the magic has yet to divide it's self into divine or arcane yet?


The woman witch doctor or shaman would be a position of power and authority as well as a figure to be protected. Sorc, adept, druid, oracle, and witch could all be played as the primitive witch doctor/shaman type

The NPC Adept class would be self limiting in power and would probably not need to be modified.

An even build of mutli-class sorc/oracle would keep you from getting high level spells anytime soon. Though you would have lots of them. neither uses books or high tech weapons. You wouldn't want significant armor so that you could cast sorc spells.

A primitive style druid would also work well as a witch doctor. Maybe alternate with ranger, barbarian, or expert to keep the power level down.

Witch uses a familiar rather than a spell book, so that has a fairly primitive feel. Again could alternate with rang/barb/exp.

If you want to be a martial type, you could be from a tribe that will eventually become something similar to the amazons. So then you kick the carp out of anyone that tells you to go back to the cave. In that case most any of the barbarian and some of the ranger archtypes would work great.

The half-orc obviously works great for a primitive race. Or even any of the full humanoids; orc, goblin, hobgoblin, gnoll, kobald, etc…


Oracle/Sorcerer sounds cool. He did say that the arcane arts are more limited than the divine, probably 3 for arcane and 4-5 for divine. I'm fairly sure he wants to keep it human, and he is giving everyone an "improvised weapon proficiency" feat, basically allowing us to pick up tools and fight melee with no penalty, although tools will retain the fragile quality just like primitive weapons.

What would be the merits/flaws in alternating Druid/Witch?


Going back to the "Woman! Get back in the cave and make me a steak!" issue...

You know, it's funny that you should mention "Quest for Fire". It just so happens that I started watching that movie recently. (When I watch a movie, I only have time to see a few minutes of it in a day, if even that.) Just last night, I saw the scene where the main character fell in love with that Homo Sapien girl.

What if something similar to that movie happened in your campaign? Your character joins the party, the party tries to chase her away, perhaps by throwing rocks in her direction, and she dodges and keeps on following. So they pretend to ignore her, until there's one fight where some warrior gets wounded, and your character heals him, proving her value. (Or if she's not a healer type, then maybe she could make some other contribution to the battle.)

And whether or not it happens that way, there's also the possibility of one of the men being in love with your character (assuming that you're comfortable with that sort of thing in a game) and keeps her around with the party for that reason.


Druid and witch would give you alot more broad of spell selection since prepared casters. But MAD because both wisdom and intelligence are needed. Also, both the animal companion and familiar will lag behind in power. but if your careful with them (keep them out of combat) it should be doable. Your shape change will be late but eventually very useful for spying, evasion, and transport.

Oracle and sorc, both use charisma.

Druid and empyreal sorc would use wisdom.

Any combined caster would give you LOTS of spells, so you could basically ignore weapons use in almost any situation if you have a decent spell selection. This could be especially helpful in a low magic campaign as there won't be any magic items for anyone to use. So you could use magic weapon and magic fang fairly often to let the rest of the party beat on things that are hard to hurt.

Druid and ranger would help out the animal companion. Especially the one archtype that uses full ranger levels (don't remember which one).


EDIT: Sniped, responding to Aaron Bitman

I like that plot arc, and I am totally comfortable with romantic involvement for characters. I am thinking about multi-classing with Arcane/Divine, that way I'd have lots of spells, even if they aren't high level spells.

As for her being from a different tribe, I don't think the GM would allow that because he's kind of going for the "hunting party" feel. I have a feeling I'm going to be like that goblin in Diablo II that's shaking the stick while the others are hitting the enemy.


May be just me, but I think spontaneous casters have more of a primitive feel than prepared casters. But it's not that big a thing.

I would look for lots of stackable low level buffs (both offensive and defensive buffs) that you can cast on others in the party. As well as summons. Then round it out with whatever else seems appropriate/primitive flavor.


So it's down to:
Druid/Sorcerer
Druid/Witch
Oracle/Sorcerer
Oracle/Witch
Cleric/Sorcerer
Cleric/Witch

I just read the Empryeal Sorcerer, and I like it. I'm not too worried about having to buff both Int and Wis; I usually play high Int anyway (love my skill points). He's doing one of two methods for abilities, don't know which yet:

2d6+6, roll three columns, reroll 1's, pick the best column, then arrange as desired.
or
All abilities must add up to 81 (before racial mods), making an average of 13 in 3 abilities and 14 in the rest. Only 1 ability can be dropped below 10, and only 1 can be maxed at 18.

Grand Lodge

Play a Druid, choose a familiar granting domain, nab Adept Channel feat.


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Disregarding the mechanics you mention in the OP, I think it would be cool to play a wolf.

Something like a proto-dog — a wolf that follows the party and eats what they leave, and begins working cooperatively/protectively with them.

Probably won't work if the GM is crunchy and RAW, but it would make a damn good experience I think.


I love the wolf idea! And no, the GM isn't crunchy or RAW at all.
I would consider making it some sort of shapeshifter that got trapped in her wolf form. I don't know how that would work mechanically, but I really want to make it work now! She can't speak, but she seems to understand them. She is wise, too wise for a normal wolf, and they might keep her around due to a belief in animal spirits or a Fenrir-type figure.


There is an episode of Nova called Dogs Decoded. It covers the early domestication of wolves (among other things). It would probably be great inspiration.

I think that early collaboration between two long-range, endurance hunting mammals with synergistic abilities makes for a great prehistoric party!

EDIT: I guess it isn't streaming anymore. Shame!


Even if you can't play a wolf, if you play, say, a Druid, then yes, the idea of having a dog or wolf as your Animal Companion, and saying that it's a proto-dog, is very intriguing.

The First Dog...


Some other druid 'awakened' a wolf then died and it's now all alone. sob...


Evil Lincoln wrote:

There is an episode of Nova called Dogs Decoded. It covers the early domestication of wolves (among other things). It would probably be great inspiration.

I think that early collaboration between two long-range, endurance hunting mammals with synergistic abilities makes for a great prehistoric party!

EDIT: I guess it isn't streaming anymore. Shame!

That's okay, I found it on Netflix.

I really really really hope he lets me do this.

The GM is actually my boyfriend, so is it wrong to ask for a special character like this?

Grand Lodge

You can use the Advanced Race Guide, and play a Worg.


If you need a rules structure synergist summoner would let you have a dog shape and with some fluff changes could easily be a shape shifter.


Nepherti wrote:

...

The GM is actually my boyfriend, so is it wrong to ask for a special character like this?

If he only lets you do something special because you are in a relationship, then yes it is wrong.

If he just as often lets others do something special, then no it is not wrong.


Kydeem de'Morcaine wrote:
Some other druid 'awakened' a wolf then died and it's now all alone. sob...

And the wolf, knowing people and not fearing them, seeks out the local village. Some hunters, seeing the wisdom in the wolf, befriend her. She stays in one of the hunters huts with him.

Why am I now picturing the time my puppy peed on my bed, exactly where my boyfriend slept the first time he spent the night?


You can apply the awakened animal template too.


Nepherti wrote:
The GM is actually my boyfriend, so is it wrong to ask for a special character like this?

That's a much bigger question.

The best thing to do is talk to the other players about it, probably without your GM-SigO's intercession. If they're all cool with it, you're golden.

GM-SigOs only bother me when they aren't equally invested in the game. If you're there to play and communicate with the other players, it'll probably be fine.

Grand Lodge

Worgs talk, play a Worg.


Our entire group is made up of friends, so I don't foresee a huge problem. I build my own characters, and have my own campaign setting that I'm writing up. For gifts, me and my SigO gift each other Gaming books and toys. I will mention it to them the next time I see them, and express my concerns about the others when I ask him if I can play the wolf, just to be on the safe side.


If it helps, there were several articles in Dragon Magazine from the early days on this subject.


+1 for the worg... in fact, worg bard with perform (oratory) in the form of howls and whines...

Just make sure to take the mage hand cantrip...

Grand Lodge

I personally, would rather play a Giant Eagle. The Giant Eagles from The Hobbit were awesome. Consistently saving everyone's butt when things went down.


I won't have RBG for at least another few weeks. Until then, no worg.

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