At around level 2, the GM informed us to have back up characters ready, in case our current ones died. I got a character concept, but now I'm thinking of what class levels would make sense for it.
Background
One thing our party did was rescue a child from a zombie-experiment, only to bring her back to the hub town and find out she was a street urchin who no one cared about, and who was likely to have a horrible life. She was smiling and content when the party left her, but it was the GM's point that there was nothing the party could really do for her.
My concept is to take advantage of the Childlike and Pass for Human feats, and create a halfling who's been living among the street urchins, and providing some level of low-key, under-the-radar protection. If the party ever returns to this town after my current character dies, this Halfling would know of them and the good deed they did for one of his own (the child that was rescued), and thus would be a willing ally.
build
Ok, but what would a character like this need to be capable of, given that he'd have to provide safety and solace to himself, as well as to the abandoned on the streets? I tried tackling this myself, but I'm not finding any clarity.
This character would be introduced at level 3 at the earliest, and would already have his two feats eaten up by Childlike and Pass for Human. So I know that's putting quite the burden on the build, beyond the fact that he'll likely have to multiclass.
Given the cold nights, hot days, and lack of shelter, I can't imagine this character surviving without the aid of magic, specifically, Endure Elements. The good news is that virtually all casting classes can take this as a level 1 spell.
Being a protector of the street urchins, I figure he'd have to be able to fight thugs on occasion, but still not wear armor, not carry around big weapons, and not make a habit of killing people.
He'd also need a fighting style that fit. I'm thinking either
1) improvised weapons, with Monk of the Open Hand...He could defeat monsters with toys.
2) style combat, through either unarmed fighter, or monk of many styles
3) Flowing Monk
4) stab things. Though I'd prefer not to have stabbing and murder be this particular character's repertoire, and in fact I wouldn't mind him taking vows of peace, cleanliness, and poverty.
So, my first thought hearing this was Community Guardian Oracle of the Life Mystery, honestly. Depends a lot on if your party needs a healer, of course, and other mysteries could work as well it just fits the best for the protector of the street urchins type, and being a Halfling already.
Inquisitor!
Given the cold nights, hot days, and lack of shelter, I can't imagine this character surviving without the aid of magic, specifically, Endure Elements.
What about all the children you are protecting? Unless you can spam Endure elements, I really don't see your logic. But I do like the character idea, and a caster class of some sort is the best idea.
I particularly like the witch, with charm and healing. You charm folks into giving your kids food, money and in bad weather-shelter, and can heal the little ones when they get hurt. Child-scent would also come in handy. And do you really NEED Childlike and Pass for Human. You can try to disguise yourself as a human child already, and all they do is provide bonuses to the check. Just take the disguise hex.
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Given the cold nights, hot days, and lack of shelter, I can't imagine this character surviving without the aid of magic, specifically, Endure Elements.What about all the children you are protecting? Unless you can spam Endure elements, I really don't see your logic. But I do like the character idea, and a caster class of some sort is the best idea.
I particularly like the witch, with charm and healing. You charm folks into giving your kids food, money and in bad weather-shelter, and can heal the little ones when they get hurt. Child-scent would also come in handy. And do you really NEED Childlike and Pass for Human. You can try to disguise yourself as a human child already, and all they do is provide bonuses to the check. Just take the disguise hex.
Or take Childlike only and the disguise hex. Saves you a feat.
A player in our games had a childlike halfling witch. He had a cat familiar and would pretend to be a little kid with a kitten wherever he went. He played it creepy as hell.
You could have the game logic be you lost your familiar.
Tell us more about this little witchy halfling!
Your answer, Sunshine Annoys a Lich:
Given the cold nights, hot days, and lack of shelter, I can't imagine this character surviving without the aid of magic, specifically, Endure Elements. The good news is that virtually all casting classes can take this as a level 1 spell.
This wouldn't require caster classes at all. I'd say that ranks in survival and know: local would be enough, with either favored terrain from rogue or ranger levels, but its going to require a judgement call on the part of the GM. Native people in Siberia use a small tent inside a larger tent, and heat the small tent with a single oil lamp and this keeps them cozy down at -50F, so a similar setup should work for our hero. Even a crate or barrel stuffed with blankets inside a warehouse or basement of an inn could make a convenient hidey hole. He might also know via know: local and favored terrain that the roof of the bakery is a nice, warm place to crash after they fire up their bread ovens every morning,and that they throw their old bread out on Thursdays.
Handle animal, a trusty mutt and the fetch trick can get him a lot of free goodies and he can bluff like crazy if the dog gets caught. "Please, Mr.! I don't know what got into Buster! He's usually such a good dog!" The mutt can also track via scent (That capability is very handy in our campaign) and you can tack on profession: ratcatcher to your skills list if you so choose.
A sap and a couple of sneak attack dice backing them up would work on the non lethal front. I think the only reason I'd take monk levels is to get easy access to a free "improved dirty trick" every round via maneuver master. Depantsing one's enemies and blinding them with pepper tossed in their face every round is too good to pass up.
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I could see him as a Paladin/Monk (future Champion of Irori ?)
I don't feel Disguise is against the code as long as you do not use it for evil/dishonorable ends. And Bluff is not necessary lying, though misleading people requires artful roleplaying.
Otherwise, a Rogue or Ranger and going for the Halfling Opportunist prestige class might be a good choice.
The OP's totally open to options, and you guys are giving me plenty of things to look into, or be inspired by.
One stand alone thought I had was Synthesist Summoner. I thought it'd be an interesting juxtaposition to eventually have small sized creature manifest a large sized one. Does Enlarge person on the synthesist summoner grow his Eidolon intead? Then that could potentially be a Huge style creature. I figured a high Bluff ability would be enough to hide the Halfing's identity during the transformation, resulting in a real 'super hero' effect.
@ Childlike and Pass For Human: Many of these ideas seem cool and interesting enough that I'm willing to pass up on these two feats. However, IF I were to take those two feats, how could I maximize my use of them?
One thing I considered is that many civilized creature would take pause before attacking a child (any recognizable child), and thus the character would be in a unique position to make appeals, or attempts at diplomacy. Essentially, I imagined there'd be circumstantial benefits.
But yeah, if a witch can disguise herself for an hour at level 1, then I think that'd be a cheaper way to go.
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Invunerable Rager/Urban Barbarian is quite fitting as well.
The ability to have a constant Endure Elements effect going, pump dex, and ignore most nonlethal damage is quite fitting.
Dip into Monk of the Empty Hand/Qinggong Monk, and nab an Agile AoMF to meet all your needs.
The Controlled Rage will even allow you to still use Bluff and Disguise, along with any other Intelligence-, Dexterity-, and Charisma-based skills.
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@ Childlike and Pass For Human: Many of these ideas seem cool and interesting enough that I'm willing to pass up on these two feats. However, IF I were to take those two feats, how could I maximize my use of them?
One thing I considered is that many civilized creature would take pause before attacking a child (any recognizable child), and thus the character would be in a unique position to make appeals, or attempts at diplomacy. Essentially, I imagined there'd be circumstantial benefits.
The "Fit in" class feature of the Halfling Opportunist PrC allows you to use Disguise instead of Diplomacy for first impression. With the bonuses to Disguise you get from those feats, you should be able to sway most NPCs who will find your "child" character oh-so-cute.
The Halfling Opportunist is IMO the consumate Rogue. It can fill several roles but it will really excel at infiltration.