I am going to be playing with my buddies this weekend and we are going to play a medieval justice league based adventure. I want to play a Captain Marvel/Shazam character, any ideas on how to do it? Also it has to be using the core classes.
Now I'm imagining Captain America as Captain Nottingham/Normandy, yes, the sheriff as the captain.
Well, let me see. He flies, is super strong, super durable and can call down magical lightning with a shout.
It's a shame that it's only core classes, because a synthesist summoner sounds like it would have been perfect. Especially the transformation from Billy to Captain Marvel. You could have had him fly, be durable and strong using the evolutions on the eidolon.
As for core classes, perhaps a sorcerer. Depending on level you could fly, use spells to buff yourself and of course shoot lightning.
I suppose if you could afford it you could go the barbarian or fighter route, using magical items to pick up the super abilities and using the class abilities to handle his fighting skills.
Human for race of course though.
What level and point distribution are we talking about here?
warlock gets dr, mix it in with fighter or barb.
Assuming you also wanted to do just a smidge of up close combat, either a cleric (weather, travel domains) or paladin(or fighter)/sorcerer/eldritch knight.
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Next to Aquaman, Captain Marvel is my favorite DC character, so here's what I recommend:
This may perhaps be a little unorthodox but, if you really want to play up the whole child-becomes-a-superhero thing, make two characters. Your Billy character can be a simple human commoner with the Young Creature template, and your Captain Marvel could be a cleric with the Weather and Travel domains.
Captain Marvel's "Speed of Mercury," and "Power of Zeus" can be mimicked by the Travel domain. Travel gives you teleportation and flight. Cap can fly and teleportation is a lesser known part of the Power of Zeus and a way to emulate extreme speed. The Longstrider domain spel also allows you to increase your movement speed for a good duration.
The Weather domain gives you access to Call Lightning and the Lightning Lord ability, which are pretty close approximations to Cap's thunderbolt. There's nothing in the game to accurately portray the magical lightning that transforms Billy into Marvel so you might have to settle for just raining lightning out of the sky. I don't see any reason you can't just say mystical lightning strikes your Billy character when he transforms, but you may have to drop the transformation every time he says his magic word to make it fit better within the rules of the game.
Cleric is a good choice for class because it gives your Captain Marvel good Fort and Will saves, two things Marvel would probably possess. It also gives him decent combat ability and HD, which can be easily enhanced with the right selection of spells. Concentrate on only selecting spells that make sense for Captain Marvel. Personal buffs like Bull's Strength and Bear's Endurance make more sense than something like Entropic Shield or Summon Monster. The other thing to remember is that Captain Marvel is still a kid in an adult body so the fact that the cleric has a lower BAB than a fighter just reflects Billy's inexperience in combat.
The benefit of having two characters is that you don't have to multiclass or spread your character too thin with a mish-mash of abilities. As long as the rest of the group is cool with it, you just play the Billy the Commoner character until Captain Marvel the Cleric is needed to save the day. When you level, you just level both characters. It isn't as if interchangeably playing a Level 4 Cleric and a Level 4 Commoner is going to make you overpowered.
Another benefit is that nobody who doesn't know his secret would ever mistake Billy for Captain Marvel. Having two characters lets you take advantage of Billy's ability to blend into the background and gather information where an obvious hero would really stand out and tip off the bad guys.
So, here's a breakdown of Captain Marvel's abilities and how to emulate them with the cleric class:
Wisdom of Solomon - Obviously, high WIS. Also, alot of ranks in Knowledge to reflect Cap's ability to percieve the weaknesses of monsters. Ranks in Sense Motive would also be a good place to put your skill points.
Strength of Hercules - Give him a decent STR and supplement it with Bull's Strength and other spells that increase his combat ability.
Stamina of Atlas - Good Fortitude already helps with this, but you could give him a decent CON and then add in Bear's Endurance and protection spells. Toughness and Great Fortitude would be good picks for feats.
Power of Zeus - The Weather domain has the lightning covered, but the power of Zeus also gives Captain Marvel resistance to magic, increased mental and physical abilities, interdimensional travel and heals his injuries. That's like 80% of the cleric spell list so you're golden.
Courage of Achilles - You already get a good Will save, but Remove Fear can make you a rock when it comes to fear effects. Iron Will is a good feat choice.
Speed of Mercury - The Travel domain has all this covered, but you could give him a decent DEX and take feats like Lightning Reflexes or Fleet to increase your speed or give you an edge on Reflex saves.
If you just want to play Captain Marvel and leave out Billy Batson, just don't make the second character.
For Capt Marvel, I would consider using The Complete Godling Bundle from Super Genius Games.