Hey all, I was just curious what some of your favorite character ideas have been that either poke fun at or down right go against the grain of the typical ideal of what the class should be like. I'll give a few of my favorite examples.
Barbarian: Pro wrestler kinda guy doesn't carry any weapons but uses improvised weapons, etc.
Bard: Deathmetal Gnome (Nathan Explosion)
Druid: Soviet Dwarf with Bear familiar who worship the "Motherland" (not out of the ordinary but I liked the pun)
Fighter: a guy nicknamed Captain Falchion (stupid puns gotta love them)
OR
Monk: Sumo Wrestler/ captain Falcon
Sorcerer: a guy who has no idea what kind of power he has and no control over it. shouts "AHH BURN BURN BURN" as large creature runs toward him and confetti shoots from his fingers as a random spell gets cast ( an idea I haven't tried but thought would make for good roleplay, eventually learning to control and choose what is cast)
Summoner: a squirrel from a family of awakened squirrels living in a forest protected by a druid, the animals are all awakened in thanks from their ewok style defense of the druids forest when naughty paul bunyan came to play, goes by the name of Ashtail Squeakum, shouts abnoxiously to his companion using stupid move names "Alright Snargoth use poop rain!" (obviously a pokemon reference)
But yes please let me know your favorites have fun with it!
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My brother in law just built a dex based TWF Halfing barbarian. He took Weapon Finesse, 2WF, Improved 2WF, Combat Reflexes, and some Weapon Focus Throwing Axe.
In Essence, he is wielding two throwing axes, and then a bandoleer of others. He either hurls them at you as he runs up to you, or whirls like a cuisinart on crack as he chops you about 50 times a round.
Stunningly, its surprisingly effective. Especially in our party, where we have 2 rogues for flanking possibilities, a CMB-mad monk who trips and helps provide other AoO for the barbarians combat reflexes to work....
Its surprisingly workable. Not at all what most people think when they hear "barbarian".
i always liked the idea of a dumb half-orc wizards who uses his spiked spell book on a chain as a weapon.
We've also had a halfling barbarian, but he was built exactly how'd you'd expect a human/half-orc barbarian..
...he was just shorter and used daggers.
We would describe his style of killing as Tetleyfication - Death by 1001 perforations.
There was the sorcerer with unarmed strike, quick draw and impoved grapple who'd insist on bypassing any monsters, stealing the loot and slipping out again. He was very very lazy and found combat and casting 'hassle'.
Finally, the best against the grain character was Dave the Paladin, created by a player who hated fantasy archetypes and cliches.
He was only a paladin because the player had heard that a Bag of Beans had a chance of creating a Holy Avenger.
This paladin didn't like praying, consistantly lied about his name to the character party and eventually ended up as a cleric.
During the campaign there was a total of three Bag of Beans - and EVERY DAMNED TIME he'd grab it and start throwing as many beans as he could before his armour was turned to glass, the meteor landed, the dragon appeared...
Forced to choose between praying and gambling he chose to pray for luck while gambling..
..it became a running gag that no god would have him but *something* was granting him spells, probably out of morbid curiosity.
This was the same character that was cursed with changing shape, as per reincarnation spell, when ever he was the victim of a critical hit - things became very strange when, during a fight with a Rakasha, he turned into a badger.
As his gear was still functioning (Glowing 'I AM HOLY' plate armour of flying) the result was a glowing, flying badger who insisted on attempting to dive-bomb the Rakasha and deficate in its eyes.
Strange, very strange character.
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I remeber my first Eldritch Knight... she was fun to play. This was during the Alpah/Beta testing of PF(I couldn't use the PF EK though), and my DM didn't like when you when wanted to play something that wasn't core, to the point of disallowing anything that wasn't in the Core Rulebook(no monster races, no templates, no new spell/feats, etc. Understandable of course). My druid(Ignatius, the Fire from Above) had died, and I wanted to play a Vampire.
I think I knew better to ask to have the actual template(It was when Rise of the Runelords was almost over...), so I went to a fellow player for help. After telling me my Monk/Barbarian wasn't up to par, he suggested going Eldritch Knight.
Barbarian2/Sorcerer(Undead)6/EK5. Cast Vampiric Touch, Rage for a Bite attack, and drain the life from my foes!
I just recently started a campaign where I decided to try out the monk, and the party was a little surprised when I described him as an 'Australian outback rough-houser'. He comes from a very rugged community where competition is regarded as the norm, and he embraces it. He challenges people to footraces, arm-wrestling, throwing contests, whatever. He gets into bar-fights, always making sure they stay on the friendly side. He took the Catch Off Guard feat as his freebie for second level, just so I can use barstools and the like without penalty. He drinks, he gets into cage matches (with good cause, mind you), and he has absolutely no recognizable religious motivations. He's been a blast!
This is some good stuff, and the defecating badger is pretty hilarious I have got to say
How about an urban Druid of the Sewers, specializing in the unique natural environment that develops underneath major cities? Animal companion would be a gator someone threw down the privy hole.
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He never got to his point of glory, but I had a Kobold once... he was more focused on his race though.
A friend of mine once played a 18 Str, 12 Int wizard who "went to wizard school on a football scholarship."
I love it! I'm using him as an NPC some time.
How about an urban Druid of the Sewers, specializing in the unique natural environment that develops underneath major cities? Animal companion would be a gator someone threw down the privy hole.
I like that idea, there are too many folk who take the city as the absolute worse place for a druid to be.
That reminds me I like the idea of a secret "anarchy" organization of rangers and druids that have the goal of destroying society to return to the worlds primal state (don't have to be evil)
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As a backup character for my Summoner, I'm working on a Wizard.
Basically I'm dumping Wis completely, pumping Int as much as possible, and making him a semi-old Elf.
He's got book smarts out the wazoo, but he barely even knows what's going on around him (-2 Perception). Also, when he casts spells, he concentrates and "dozes off" for a second. He grew up speaking an exotic tongue, so sometimes he'll be talking and talking and suddenly switch to his old exotic language.
He's practiced enough in the Arcane Arts that he can cast as many spells per day as he wants... he just can't remember more than a few without sleeping and consulting his spellbook. Because of this, he tends to write spells down on scrolls so he can make sure to remember the spell when he needs it. He used to have an arcane bonded item, but had to switch it for a familiar to help him do various things like actually finding those scrolls or even finding his way around.
"Hey Master?"
"Yeah?"
"That's a wall you're walking towards."
"Eh? What's th... OW!"
The most fun I ever had in a 3.5 campaign was a few years ago when, after a weekend anime marathon, I created a teenage Elf warlock/ranger who ran around getting into fights, sneaking into the nearby all-girls school, and constantly complained about being hungry.
A friend of mine once played a 18 Str, 12 Int wizard who "went to wizard school on a football scholarship."
what about the inverse of this? complete nerd skin bag running at a guy shouting "UPWARD DRAGON SLASH!!!!!!" *thunk* bounces off baddy headfirst
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One of my favorite characters was a 3.0 gnome sorcerer named Noj "Boomer" Noswick (no relation to Clinton Boomer... that I know of...). He was a lazy, cowardly, greedy little bastard, always more interested in making a quick gold piece than helping anyone. In fact, when a fight started, he was just as likely to cast invisibility on himself and hide as he was to try to help the party... He invented "mechanical" magic items (no Artificer yet), ended up with a pet ruby golem, and retired from adventuring around 8th level, not because the campaign was over or because I was tired of him, but because he had become so filthy stinking rich that I could not justify him willingly going into danger anymore, no matter what the profit!
In a super-stereotypical New York Jew accent: "So like I was sayin', I'd love to help ya but... oh, hey. A paladin. Just out of curiosity, how long have you been standing there?"
Or when I became the new mayor of a podunk village the DM had not even bothered to name: "Er... welcome citizens of... er... Mudhole!"
And of course: "They call me the Gnomefather. Now what can I do for you?"
I once put together a lawful good beguiler with several feats from the Book of Exalted Deeds, specifically the Vow of Poverty and the Vow of Nonviolence & Vow of Peace. She was a pacifistic diplomat who utilized her spells to calm people and work out peaceful solutions to problems.
Not at all what the class is described as being about, but insanely effective.
Recently played a gnome cleric that acted like a teenage emo girl writing bad poetry in his parent's basement, going to inns to listen to "Death Carriage for Cutie", sitting out in the rain because the cold matched his mood, and animating his fallen party members because he refused to let them taste the sweet embrace of death before he did, and haphazardly entering the battle begging to his god that the monster would kill him.
The rest of the adventuring party included a duerger fighter with a charisma of 3 who was rude as hell. A bard fashioned after zoolander, a wizard after Michael Jackson, a halfling rogue modeled after an overly happy Japanese school girl, and an overly gay human monk.
Needless to say that adventure didn't last long.
I once put together a lawful good beguiler with several feats from the Book of Exalted Deeds, specifically the Vow of Poverty and the Vow of Nonviolence & Vow of Peace. She was a pacifistic diplomat who utilized her spells to calm people and work out peaceful solutions to problems.
Not at all what the class is described as being about, but insanely effective.
Had a friend play a similar character, different feats but same methodology and views. Eventually we grew bored of it, so ,y favored soul started flame striking anything that he tried talking to, and eventually ratted him out to his temple(while the rest of the party ratted him out to a fairly well known bard) because he was a necropolitan.
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As a backup character for my Summoner, I'm working on a Wizard.
Basically I'm dumping Wis completely, pumping Int as much as possible, and making him a semi-old Elf.
He's got book smarts out the wazoo, but he barely even knows what's going on around him (-2 Perception). Also, when he casts spells, he concentrates and "dozes off" for a second. He grew up speaking an exotic tongue, so sometimes he'll be talking and talking and suddenly switch to his old exotic language.
He's practiced enough in the Arcane Arts that he can cast as many spells per day as he wants... he just can't remember more than a few without sleeping and consulting his spellbook. Because of this, he tends to write spells down on scrolls so he can make sure to remember the spell when he needs it. He used to have an arcane bonded item, but had to switch it for a familiar to help him do various things like actually finding those scrolls or even finding his way around.
"Hey Master?"
"Yeah?"
"That's a wall you're walking towards."
"Eh? What's th... OW!"
Now I really want to play The Professor from Futurama. He could be an Eberron Artificer ("This adventure is a flimsy pretext to try out my latest invention!") or maybe a Summoner who's Eidolon is a radioactive mutant superman gone horribly wrong.
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Now I really want to play The Professor from Futurama. He could be an Eberron Artificer ("This adventure is a flimsy pretext to try out my latest invention!")As a backup character for my Summoner, I'm working on a Wizard.
Basically I'm dumping Wis completely, pumping Int as much as possible, and making him a semi-old Elf.
He's got book smarts out the wazoo, but he barely even knows what's going on around him (-2 Perception). Also, when he casts spells, he concentrates and "dozes off" for a second. He grew up speaking an exotic tongue, so sometimes he'll be talking and talking and suddenly switch to his old exotic language.
He's practiced enough in the Arcane Arts that he can cast as many spells per day as he wants... he just can't remember more than a few without sleeping and consulting his spellbook. Because of this, he tends to write spells down on scrolls so he can make sure to remember the spell when he needs it. He used to have an arcane bonded item, but had to switch it for a familiar to help him do various things like actually finding those scrolls or even finding his way around.
"Hey Master?"
"Yeah?"
"That's a wall you're walking towards."
"Eh? What's th... OW!"
Two words in response: Hell. Yeah!
Except I hate any Artificer classes I've seen :/ Is the Eberron one any better than the PF one?
My favorite not-so-serious D&D character was Friend Theron, a cleric of Alanon, god of ale. Think dwarvewn Friar Tuck. His holy symbol was a tankard, which also doubled as a mace, he had to be buzzed to cast, he had to suffer throguh a hangover to restore his spells, and any innkeeper who gave him free drinks, their ale transformed into the finest quality.
I can't take credit for this, but one of my players in a 3.5 game wanted a mad wizard who had been turned into a hamster. He kept his spellcasting, although had to redo most of his spells to handle the somatic components he was capable of. He rode his hawk familiar in combat, and his favorite spell was flaming sphere. Only it was modified to form around him, and he moved with it. (Thankfully he never called it flaming hamster ball.)
Now, that's weird, but since the character kept his hit points and attack bonus, he also liked getting into scuffles with mundane animals and beating things like cats up with his superior combat stats.
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I rolled a halfling paladin of Erastil named Lucas Shepherd tonight.
Two things
1) He's a shepherd (which when you look at the size comparison between a halfling and a sheep would make him closer to a cowboy, and that's how I play him).
2) He's a homosexual, but can't yet admit it (Erastil frowns on that kind of thing after all). He's betrothed to a lovely young lady and has left his ranch to make his fortune so that he can marry his betrothed, unfortunately he might discover something about himself that will force him to confront his religion, his relationship, his family and his own conception of his sexuality.
3) He has a riding dog named Steely Dan.
Sir Didymus gnome the cavalier (or paladin) with riding dog companion.
I made an elf warmage who was basically Samus Aran.
A friend of my mine made a Drunken master/Monk Lizardman.
What about the Rurunoni Kenshin style assassin that refuses to kill?
I forgot I had another idea, Paladin who is so devote that he believes any negative thought he has are from his mental link with his father's sword (the kicker is the sword is just a regular old masterwork sword) example darbo the rogue insults the paladin and paladin walks away saying loudly to his sword "Excalibur!(just a sword name example) Behave yourself, just because he insulted me is no reason to wait till he is asleep and slit his throat in the night" hehehe
loli aasimaar swashbuckling cleric of sarenrae, who tried fencing without even taking duelist levels. she had crossclass ranks in acrobatics and perform (dance). she wore a loose white lace trimmed angelic style robe (no wings) and a halo glowed over her head 24/7. she was a fair skinned blue eyd blonde who happened to be very chaste and pure hearted, to the point of being so goodie 2 shoes it made even paladins wretch. she was also a walking church confessional, a walking collection plate, a walking bible, a pacifist, really naive, a crybaby, and she would remember every sin someone committed down to the last detail. she did crappy damage (a mere 4d6 at level 9 when vital striking), but at least she had spring attack and vital strike. her weapon was a +1 keen holy espada her strength was a 7 at first level and became an 8 at level 4. she couldn't walk in any armor heavier than a 10lb mithril shirt and had to go completely unarmored for 5 levels. she had her espada as her only weapon (made of mithril) which at a weight of 1 pound could cause her to trip. she conjured food via create food and water and converted all her coins into diamonds whenever possible. and being a child, she complained about every hit that smacked her and would burst into wailing tears the moment a blackguard tried to smite her. the dm didn't get the reference. she was an Expy of a Captain Ersatz of Flonne
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Except I hate any Artificer classes I've seen :/ Is the Eberron one any better than the PF one?
i think its leaps and bounds better. but its not as awesome sounding in a pf game since items can be made easier. it may need a bit of tweaking, but it is a lot different and better written than the pf one IMHO
i would love to play an "Evoker" whom is really a sorceress who uses a bonded deck of cards as her focus. her "spells known" are written on a formerly "blank" deck of cards whom appear to be plain illegible pieces of parchment to everyone but her. her name would be Sakura Li.
In the campaign I am in right now, one of our party is a half-orc barbarian with an EXTREMELY over-active sex drive. He basically tries to assault any female he comes accross, of any race (or even species). He impregnated one of the main NPCs our GM had come up with (a princess or something), because he got extremely lucky with his bluff rolls, and the GM rolled a 1 (twice) on "sense motive".
Oh, on the first day of the campaign, we were attacked by wolves, and he basically exploded one of them with a....shall we say, "attack from behind"?
That kinda didn't sit too well with our GM either, as she is a veterinarian.
In the campaign I am in right now, one of our party is a half-orc barbarian with an EXTREMELY over-active sex drive. He basically tries to assault any female he comes accross, of any race (or even species). He impregnated one of the main NPCs our GM had come up with (a princess or something), because he got extremely lucky with his bluff rolls, and the GM rolled a 1 (twice) on "sense motive".
Oh, on the first day of the campaign, we were attacked by wolves, and he basically exploded one of them with a....shall we say, "attack from behind"?
That kinda didn't sit too well with our GM either, as she is a veterinarian.
eww, reminds me of the fellow in our group who earned (and I mean EARNED) the title "Bearfister"
I had a halfling ???? once that was so proud (or small man syndrome) he would always answer any question in a way that would make him more impressive. I didn't outright tell anyone in the group what class he was.
Our first adventure they asked him if he could sneak up behind the tower and unlock the back door. He of course said yes. He had a -1 to his Hide skill and soon everyone (except him) was running from a giant zombie.
He played it off like a one time mistake and was later asked to disarm a trap. He said he could, and of course failed... miserably.
Funny how some players assume halflings who wear studded leather are rogues! Later they finally pegged him as the fighter that he was.
Not terribly effective, but really fun to play and eventually they stopped asking him to do anything, which was nice.
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Halfling fighter named Lyle (twin brother of my previous character, Kyle the halfling rogue that was murdered by some dwarves) that specialized in throwing axes and was always getting piggy-back rides from the party minotaur barbarian (the DM homebrewed a minotaur race which was basically just a large-sized half-orc, stat-wise). When the minotaur was injured, I would fetch dragon's blood (in this world, it had healing properties) from his backpack (on which I was sitting) and pour it into his mouth. All of the other times, I would pepper the battlefield with my throwing axes, nearly always hitting but not for terribly too much damage... This character ended up convincing the writer of the book of fate to re-write his brother back into existence so he could drag him back home (cost me an artifact given to me by a Elder Gold dragon from the Celestial Plane, though). Would you believe this character was only level 6 by the end? Good times...