So, one of my character concepts is a Fighter/Urban Ranger combo, he wears gray and black, with a black cape, and a black cowl and mask to match, with a nocturnal-based animal motif that ties it all together. No, that doesn't remind me of anybody, why do you ask?
Anyway, I've been looking at either the Brawler or Unarmed Fighter archetypes, and I like each of them. But no matter which one I pick, there are a few problems that I have. Some of them are mechanical game problems, the others...well, I'll get to those after.
First, some things I want for this character:
-I want him to be great at fighting hand to hand, without weapons. Not that I want him to be squeamish about using tools if he needs to(Are you really gonna karate chop that Ogre living in the sewer?), but if he's "disarmed", he's still not really disarmed. This is easily accomplished by the Fighter side of things, whether I just do a default, or if I use one of the two Archetypes listed above.
-I want him to be able to patrol the city of choice(And I'd only play this character in an urban city campaign, obviously.), and that's accomplished with the Urban Ranger side of things. It will also let me track down and regularly defeat whatever makes up the general populace. That's no problem either.
-But I've also got my eye on quite a few of those exotic weapons. Bolas, Lassos, Boomerangs, Grappling Hooks, possibly some alchemical weapons for flair and pizzazz. And that's where we run into a teensy little hiccup. All of those various things require feats. You know, being exotic weapons and all. And that's normally fine if I'm just a regular Fighter. And actually, I just looked at Brawler again, and it appears as if though I still get feats. Well, nevermind on that. I'm a goof!
-I want him to be agile, and quick. I want him to be Acrobatic, capable of doing cool visual things like running across the rope of the lasso he just tied, or capable of walking/running up the side of a building he just grappling hook'd(see above.). To that extent, he's got to have good Dexterity, and not just great strength. Although obviously, being a guy who punches and kicks things, he's gonna need strength as well.
That's basically, the gist mechanically, and honestly it doesn't sound so bad now that I've got it out in the open. And obviously, I don't want to just be all of this at once at level one, I'm fine with working up the ladder, so to speak. Every masked crimefighter has to start somewhere after all, right? I only wonder if he'll be spreading himself a bit too thin? I'd hope not, I like to be varied and tricky without being a non-threat in games.
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There's another problem, and it largely is thematic in nature. And that is, the mystique of a grim, masked stranger that only appears at night and beats criminals to within an inch of their lives is kind of marred a bit when he's regularly seen hanging out with Keldor The Halfling Healer, or Gruumtah The Half-Orc. I don't want to be so aloof and beyond approach that I essentially shut out the group or anything antisocial like that. But image is obviously also important with a character like this. Any suggestions on how to bridge that particular gap?
One thing to note, is like all my characters, there's no set game or group that I'm making this character for, I'm just building him because it's fun to me. This is why I'm planning for an rp problem that might never become a problem. Yeah.
well even batman was still a member of the justice league
communicate with your potential group, but just not beyond the necessary - in other words, share the facts you need to, provide the information you need to, but no small talk, joking or personal observations
as for making up some of the MAD-ness of your needed stats, maybe think about an Aasimar, or the human racial item that drops Skilled and the extra Feat in exchange for another +2 ability score?
Ehhh...I don't know. Aasimar just aren't that interesting to me.
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1.)For the Vigilante aspect that you don't want to be seen around town, I invented a feat a while ago called
Quick Changer
Prerequisites=BAB+1
Benefit:You may change into a superhero outfit with a standard action. This allows you to make a disguise check, but if someone sees you change they automaticly make the perception check.
2.)For the Unarmed Strike you can take a level of monk (martial artist if you hate being Lawful) and get some nice abilities and a bonus feat.
3.)For stats, see if you can get in a campaign where you can roll 1d12+6 stats.
4.)If you are a Half-Elf there is an alternate racial trait that gives you martial or exotic weapon proficiency in one weapon. For alchemical items, take a level of Alchemist and you also get buffs and bombs.
5.)If you are a Half-Elf there is a feat called Multi-talented master which requires you to be 5th level and lets all classes be favored class to help displace all the multiclassing and you apply bonuses retroactively as well.
Are you permitted 3rd party material? Because I recently worked up a similar, masked vigelante with nocturnal mamal motiff type character for a friend's game. I used 3 super genius games products.
The Talented Monk
The talented rogue
The Genius Guide to Archer Archetypes.
The talented monk and rogue breaks everything those classes get into talents and 'edges' (more powerful less common talents) and the monk has rules for them to be combined.
To this end, I combined the two by puting rogue skills (certain masked vigelantes are really skilled after all) and a few talents (from the ninja) into a monk, who can attack at full bab with unarmed strikes or shurikens, or flurry with them.
The archer archetypes was for the 'alchemical' archetype, which can be added to any class, but essentially allows the creation of 'extraodinary ammunition' for say, shurikens, that are also smoke sticks, or alchemist fires, or lightning in a bottle. He also has grappling, bola shurikens for swinging around, and for tripping/disarming targets at range.
In addition, a talent called 'deadly strikes' for the monk allows the monks unarmed damage progression to apply to any of his special weapons (like shurikens) making those shurikens that may or may not be shaped like certain nocturnal mammals be an effective combat option.
For the thematic nature, have him use an alter ego for daylight/party friendly activities. Hello Druce Kane, friendly daytime warrior and somewhat foppish philanthropist/adventurer. He travels with his good friends Keldor and Gruumtah but not at night as he has issues with the dark...but he has another friend....a darker...more brutal friend who comes out at night...
@Kolo: Well, I could have access, or I could not. It would depend on the DM, the game, etc etc. However, those are interesting ideas for sure, I like the sound of them.
@ArmouredMonk: That's a pretty cool feat, man. Good work.
@Clark: That was one possibility I was thinking of for sure. Aside from the questions it raises, and the obvious suspicion it casts on him, I think that may be the way to go, honestly.
You could try Tengu, maybe? They have a feat that lets them look like a human, and one of their alternate racial traits lets them become proficient with several exotic weapons.
No. Though I'll keep them in mind if I want to make Birdman.
Hello. Long time lover of the Urban Ranger here.
My guy was named the Black Lash. Double identity, fought crime in his city, switch-hit and swashbuckled, lashed around on rooftops to get around.
My guy was my want to play a masked vigilante of justice, but he was more Zoro than ... that other guy. You know. And I also attempted to make him has much my own thing as I could. I suggest you let your ideas mutate and not be married to specific ways to recreate your influences as closely as possible. It always feels fulfilling to own an idea.
That being said, human is the way to go. MAD is a bit of a problem because of the want to be a super badass. Picking skills is difficult too, another boon of the human ranger.
If you're married to the unarmed, forget all that monk stuff and take Natural Weapon Combat Style. Sticks to your animal theme too. You don't even need fighter. Just go straight Urban Ranger. I personally had tons of fun quickdraw switch-hitting-- stealthing along roofs and opening far with some rapid shot and stealthing to stay hidden, and if things went to hell, I could drop the bow, lash into the air and sail down onto someone with a quickdrawn greatsword in the chest. Satisfying.
The roleplaying aspect is additionally part of the fun. Playing both parts is why this concept is so cool. Mostly the PCs knew me as the Black Lash, since the legend was already well known in the city-- I'd had it so the story was nearly as old as the city itself, but he had not been seen in decades, so my nineteen year old PC just took up the mantle and began to use it. And yeah, at first I was aloof as hell. But I had my goals to fight evil and protect the innocent, etc, so that made us on the same side. But we grew together as partners. I would then use the geeky kid for subterfuge since he was pretty ignorable and forgettable. Later in the campaign after suffering through things, I revealed my identity to the other PCs. Again, figure out how to make the most of your concept and make it your own.
For the tech and gadgets, there are tons of neat toys you can have for cheaps-- alchemist fires, smoke bombs/pellets, tanglefoot bags (use for improv adhesive), thunderstones, and just good old fashioned gunpowder. Just cruise through the special items sections on the srd. You'll never have no much fun imagining all the cool things you can do. I also attached two "climbing hooks" to his knuckles that look like hay hooks to help with climbing and acro.
And, of course, my trusty lash.
How about Inquisitor with the War domain?
The War domain gives you Weapon Master, which gives you access to any combat feat for a few rounds. That would cover your issue with all those exotic weapons that you want.
Inquisitors get a lot of cool abilities and spells to up your attack and damage. This makes up for the slower attack progression and spreading the stat points out.
They also get quite a few skill points.
They're kinda religious and I've never been a big magic guy, but I'll look into them.
Also, Hobgobolin, that is an interesting proposal. My original idea was to take Aspect of the Beast for the vision ability, so that he didn't have to carry around a torch everywhere like some doofus. I think I might still do that, and if I just go straight Ranger, I'll have him dual wield clubs or something. I still like the Brawler combo, though.
Also, I think instead of shuriken I'd give him throwing knives, it feels appropriate for a crime fighter in a fantasy setting.
I am looking at all this other stuff, though. It's pretty interesting.