I want to build a PC that is searching for insights about the great beyond. He might focus on the Divination school if hes a wizard. I'm looking at the Dark Tapestry for the Oracle as well. I vision the PC like a character straight out of H.P. Lovecraft many reads. So far I am coming up short on D&D solutions that translate Lovecraft. I had an idea about having the Codex of infinite planes be like the Necronomicon. Anyway that is background fluff, I would really appreciate any help. Starting at 1st level!
Thanks!
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do you want to be the guy seeing the nightmares or do you want to be the nightmares?
last option would be summoner or alchemist, first option rogue or bard.
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synthesist summoner with as many tentacle evolutions as you can afford.
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Abbberent Bloodline- Shoggoth
Aquatic- Deep one
If you take aquatic from eldrich heritage, you get an Insmouth style transformation.
Abbberent Bloodline- Shoggoth
Aquatic- Deep one
If you take aquatic from eldrich heritage, you get an Insmouth style transformation.
I was leaning towards a character that is interested in the Great beyond b/c he discovered its existence somehow ( PC background needs to be fleshed out) Kinda be like a Night Herald but not want existence snuffed out. He would ultimately like to combat the denizens of the Great beyond by using its powers. Character needs work but I'm up for it.
There's a faith trait called Scholar of the Great Beyond which should be ideal. Whatever class you play max out knowledge planes.
You may want to think about casting spells like interplanetary teleport and working towards it, which probably means a wizard. Given most Cthulhu types end up going mad they probably need no better than average wisdom, even though they are highly intelligent. On the other hand, if magic like that is something you discover rather than learn then take a UMD trait to max out your ability to understand and activate the bizarre, such as scrolls and eldritch tomes.
You'd also need a great number of ranks in linguistics for reading the ancient tomes, and knowledge history would make sense even if not a class skill. Read magic would be good too. Maybe take additional traits or cosmopolitan to get all of linguistics, history, planes and read magic?
Dark tapestry oracle is good, also Possessed.
Oracle can have built in madness that progresses with the curse.
Beyond that, you have plenty of options for a char that discovers the Old Ones.
It's probably more about the whole game vibe than any specific capabilities of your character.
That said, I started reading Lovecraft just recently, and I got impressed mostly by the paradox of the main characters: while they know very much and want to warn everybody, they also want to tell as little as possible. This fits well into the inquisitor class to me: trust me, I will save the day - but don't ask any questions or it means you're an ennemy.
The exorcist archetype would fit well I guess, fighting against possessions and all that. The bonus on knowledge against monter is very nice to reflect the typical 'I read a lot of awful stuff that I didn't believe true but I can use that information now' - also from a couple of Lovecraft's characters.
To be a little different I'd consider a Bard of some sort. There's a number of times Lovecraft writes about strange sounds and maddening otherworldly music. Look at Erich Zann and the court of Azathoth for prime examples. Plus the bard class is all about lore which fits in nicely too. :)
Have you checked out the Loremaster prestige class from the core book? That seems a good fit to me to match the researcher flavor of the narrator of Call of Cthulu. You could even maybe work with the DM to come up with some custom secrets relevant to the lore of your game.
edit: Also If you want to be the normal human scientist rather than the cultist imho divination is the cultists choice. The scientist discovers the nature of reality through research not divination. To me abjuration is the school a lovecraftian hero would pick.
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Mindchemist Alchemist with Tentacles via discoveries and several divination spells to get a fun combination of The Dunwhich Horror and Beyond the Wall of Sleep(I always get that Witchkraft song playing in my head when I see that title...). Altered mental states and corruptive self-discovery just scream Mythos to me.
Of course there is the alternative of fiddling around with the smattering of Lovecraft-inspired bloodlines: Aquatic gives you a deep one ancestry, Maestro draws a fine line between having a lillend and having Erich Zann in your family, then there's Aberrant, which is even less implicit, etc.
Really, they way I would do it were I playing a Mythos-inspired toon is to pick whether I want the corruptive influence be newfound or inherited and then build the character either as a scholar who stumbles upon forbidden lore and gets his mind in a tangle(or even his body) or a tragic fellow who finds out a little too late that all was not well in his family.
Being both a wannabe Lovecraft scholar and an avid fiction sponge can be a real hassle sometimes. This thread has inspired me to concoct an NPC molded after both Doctor Muñoz and Victor Freis. I bet fire vulnerability and a chemical addiction would be good starting points...