So, we're about to start up CotCT and I'm the last person in the group to come up with a character... and I'm kind of drawing a blank on what to play (I seem to be in a particularly uninspiring period of time in my life).
The 3 other party members are as follows:
Half-Giant* fighter/paladin (planned multiclass later on) - focused on charging, dazzling display later on and hitting hard with his two-handed weapon (takes the 2-handed fighter archetype).
Human cleric of Sarenrae.
Human monk (plans on taking some of the dazzling display feats too to take advantage of the Half-Giant's use of it to "power" some of his monk powers/feats).
*ported over from the previous campaign as explained below.
Some background for the campaign:
Our DM has seen his time diminishing rapidly (in the process of having a new house built, big promotion and a baby girl added to the mix), so his homebrew campaign is taking too much time to prepare for him. Instead of shelving the group entirely, he has opted to run an AP instead, but with a link to the old campaign.
We had been engaged in ye typical "find the special Macguffins and save the world before the bad guys do their evil thing" campaign. To tie it in with the new campaign he told us that the BBEG had secured the Macguffins and the only way to stop him was for the head of the 3 magic orders in the world to send us back in time and space to where the BBEG had originated from and stop him then and there. Thus the BBEG in CotCT is supposed to be the BBEG in the previous campaign.
Our options were to keep the characters we had (but dialed back to 1st level again) or create new characters who were linked/destined to help defeat the BBEG.
The Half-Giant has, so far, been the only one who wanted to keep his character. The monk player has just joined the group again (we were only 3 players in the previous campaign).
My previous character was a Human wizard (enchanter).
So, to get back to my quandary... what to play?
I'd like to be useful throughout the entire campaign, but also play an interesting character (I'm more focused on the concept than min/max'ing/optimizing).
So... a wizard/sorcerer seems like a natural 4th member of the group... but I can't seem to dredge up an interesting concept.
A rogue or bard could also be useful (city campaign, probably lots of social interaction etc. - although I'm actually playing a bard in another campaign (Council of Thieves)).
Maybe a second cleric (of another deity)?
This is where I'd like to reach out to all you creative people who might have some experience with the AP. Any suggestions?
If more info on the other characters is helpful, I can try to get some more out of them.
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Howdy. We're in book 5 right now and have really enjoyed ourselves. Hope you will, too.
You're right that an Arcane caster is the only niche that really needs to be filled. I'd say Wizard for the high number of skills you'll have. So concepts for a Wizard, huh? What kind of concept are you looking for? The cackling mad pyromaniac is fun but can be distracting. The extremely formal and polite intellectual is another option but may lack the ability to express anger in a very satisfying way.
I'm reading the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks. Not bad. Anyway, some mages in that world have tattoos, "vir," that writhe when their magic is used. It's kind of cool.
I've wanted to make a wizard who is an atheist for a while. He'd believe that the only true difference between divine and arcane magic is perception and teaching. A Paladin only loses his class abilities because he thinks he should, not because some god actually disapproves. Could be fun with a Cleric and a Paladin in the party, some neat RP opportunities. Or it might cause debates that turn into arguments.
I've also considered a diviner wizard who knew that there were alternate realities/timelines. It breeds a certain level of fatalism because no matter what he does some version of himself is doing the other thing. But it might also breed a strong desire to make sure the version he's experiencing is the best possible. Might be interesting.
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If you were in my campaign I would suggest you not play a wiz/sorc. I believe that if you are burned out and have no ability to muster the interest than you are wasting your time.
Here are some interesting characters from the two campaigns I have run.
Ranger/Rogue- Two weapon fighting human favored enemy sort of an urban ranger theme. Exotic weap Bastard sword and 2-weapon fighting to start with. Was a lot of fun for the player and the other players really enjoyed this characters contributions. Enough rogue for the parties rogue needs and enough damage to contribute in those tough fights that AP's send your way 1 or 2 times per Module.
Straight Ranger- This one was in the other campaign, also chose human (it is a city after all). Went with the Sable Company route. Ask your DM about the Sable Company. If he is keeping that in the campaign then it is an interesting take on the Animal Companion Ranger (though you'll have to figure out hippogriff stats for Pathfinder as they weren't converted from 3.5. We just used the Horse Animal Companion, dropped their damage dice a notch and gave them the fly ability)
Celestial Sorcerer (at character creation he was planning on multiclassing Paladin for Arcane Archer but that never wound up happening). Check that blood line out. Gives you a goody goody sorcerer.
Calistrian Cleric (This one can be disturbing it you go do far down the calistria route)
Rogue with a 3.5 spiked chain (5 and 10 ft reach) and feats to flank from all over the place and enhancing his flanking. This build was done durring beta and we wound up having to cobble feats and such from all over the place to make it work and not break it.
Quadiran 2-weapon fighter/rogue - This was a fun RP character. The typical desert merchant comes to big city to steal err earn his fortune. He is mostly fighter but near the end of the campaign now has 3 levels of Rogue for 2d6 sneak attack and a rogue talent. Very capable front liner, a bit low on AC but some insane attack lines.
Crazy Gnome Sorcerer- He likes to make things hurt or die. Loves his summoned Elementals and his Finger of Death. At low levels he was all about the rays.
There are some for you. I personally see some interesting things from every character in this campaign. It is well rounded without leaving anyone out of the spotlight.
Thanks for the suggestions, both of you.
I think I've nailed down a basic concept (with a little help from a friend), but now I just need to find out how to do him, mechanically.
It's not a terribly original concept, but I think he can be an interesting addition to the party.
Basically, he's a bit of your typical and stereotypical New Orleanian voodoo priest.
He's a tall, gaunt Mwangian, complete with tophat, long, buttoned black coat and cane topped with a silver skull.
He's a follower of Pharasma and trained as a mortician, brought to the city as a child (slave).
That's the concept, so far.
Now I just need to find out how to build him. My thoughts have circled around a cleric of Pharasma (maybe Death and Healing domains for an interesting combo) or a Wizard - Diviner or Necromancer.
A Rogue has been added to the group, so I don't really need to focus on damage dealing, but can concentrate on debuffing/buffing and general versatility.
Thoughts concerning the Wizard build has been on a rays/ranged touch spell focus (high dex and weapon focus - and wands, lots of wands to add to his versatility).
I've given the Witch a glance, but hasn't really found any of the patrons to be all that fitting for a Pharasma worshipper.
He'll probably also be the "sage" of the group (i.e. focus on Knowledge skills).
So... any suggestions concerning this concept (anything that might be useful for the campaign as a whole).
Cleric of Pharasma
Death & Healing (or Knowledge)
I'm actually kind of shocked Brutesquad didn't throw this your direction... *shakes head*
THEME:
Explain your 'voodoo priest' concept to the DM and then ask him about the 'Skoan-Quah' (Skull Clan) Shoanti (Also see the link below). They fit perfectly with what you have described in your last post, though Shoanti could arguably be seen as more 'American Indian/Tribal'. I think your concept would blend VERY well.
LINK: Shoanti Wiki
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I've given the Witch a glance, but hasn't really found any of the patrons to be all that fitting for a Pharasma worshipper.
That may be so, but the witch's hex powers are spot on for a voodoo priest. If you took Cackle, instead of a high-pitched, grating "wicked witch" laugh you could sound like Geoffrey Holder.
Bard is a great one for the Campaign as well as Rogue :)
Given the classes already taken in the group in the initial post, I would go w/ a Conjurer. But, he is probably well on his way, so this is more for others looking for ideas later.
Conjurer
This is a great wizard class to play on the flavor of the city. The two major ways to fit in a conjurer (and they are not mutually exclusive) would be a graduate or student (maybe even a failed one?) of the Academae which has a strong tradition of summoning imps and considers conjuration its top school (with enchantment and necromancy vying for the spot as well).
The second way would be as one of the conjurers associated with the Hell Knights who summon creatures of pure LE to study and train against.
Both will have some pretty good tie ins that your DM can play with and add fun flavor for a PC.
As far as a build, I would likely do something like:
Conjurer 1-3/Master Specialist 1-4/Malconvoker 1-5/Master Specialist 5-10
Feats are pretty open here, the summon elemental reserve feat might be a lot of fun/appropriate.
Former Hell Knight Initiate
A promising student of the hell knights the character was cast out/decided to leave to pursue his vengeance against the one person who had wronged him (using the campaign traits). Still, he was trained as a knight and shares much of their views and training.
I am thinking a LN type character who find himself wearing spiked black plate (eventually) and a two handed reach weapon for some lock down control of the battle field.
I would probably build this one as straight Knight or maybe a 1 lvl dip into Marshal around lvl 5.
Dwarven Warpike might be a great choice of weapons (from Dragon mag), but requires exotic weapon prof. It has a shield as well so if you also take the Shield and Pike Style feat, your knights bonuses to shield will still work nicely w/ the weapon. Combat Expertise to get you to Improved Trip combined with the knight's Bulwark of Defensive makes you OWN a significant area of the battle field and keeps people from your friends.
The mounted feats and abilities of the knight class don't fit too well, and won't be a lot of use in this campaign, but they are part of the class so there they are.
Cleric of Asmodeous or Abadar
One of the larger churches in Korvosa, a priest of Asmodeous could be an interesting character, with interesting rp opportunities.
The church Abadar plays a role in the campaign as well and would give the DM some hooks in the second adventure.
Beguiler
A pretty strong/fun class if you are not dungeon delving all the time against things that don't care about illusion and enchantment magic. However, in this campaign they have LOTS of places they can shine. If you like the rogue type AND the spellcaster class, this would be a great choice.
Also, your DM could easily play up some good stuff with someone who is just picking up enchantment style spells who would otherwise have been a rogue by training... Korvosa has some strange effects on people (not sure most DMs would pick up on this, but I would love this one in my game).
Swashbuckler type
Not even necessarily the class (though it could be), this would have some fun tie ins to the plot. There is a school teaching swordplay in Old Korvosa that would be a fantastic place for this character to be a student at. CG would be a fantastic choice for this character (trust me).
Urban Ranger/Archer type
Would be a fun time to play this variant on the ranger class as there is so much urban action in this campaign. A member of the Korvosan Guard or the Sable Company would work really well here.
Anyway... hope those help or spark some ideas for some people. Really ANY class would work and fit well into the campaign.
A few tips for making characters for this campaign:
- Play up the history associated with your campaign trait. It will make the beginning experience more fun.
- Talk to your fellow players as to why this group of people would end up working together long term. The campaign gives them a good reason to meet and do an initial mission together, but make sure they are the types who would stick together afterward so you aren't stretching reality later to make things work.
- Make your character love Korvosa. They don't necessarily need to love the government as it is, but they should have a strong feeling about the government one way or another. People often try to keep their characters from having ties to the city or family in the area, but it will make a lot of the events that much more impactful to your character if you do. Don't shy away from attachments.
- It is an urban campaign for the majority (though not all) of the campaign. Keep that in mind when making a character. A jousting/mounted type might not be a great choice for most the campaign. Likewise, nature based types will be out of their element and should be avoided unless it is that part of them you want to play up as an RP element (just don't say I didn't warn you!). On the otherhand, those classes that shine in urban environments will do very well... bards, rogues, etc. If you have been wanting to play one who is more than just a trap monkey, this is the time.
Anyway, have fun!!!