I've been toying with the idea of making a PFS Barbarian female who is basically like Conan in personality, however female instead. So far I was looking through the archetypes and I'm thinking either straight barbarian or True Primitive.
However, I also wanted to build her with a over-sized weapon like the iconic barbarian with her bastard sword, but instead went with battle axe just because I prefer axes, though I might go with Bastard Sword as it does deal more damage (2d8 instead of 2d6 from axe) so I'm open to suggestions. Here's the build so far:
Gael Of The Waves
Female Human (Shoanti) Barbarian (True Primitive) 1
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception -1
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 15 (1d12+3)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will -1
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee (L) battleaxe +4 (2d6+7/×3) and
. . handaxe +6 (1d6+5/×3)
Ranged sling +3 (1d4+5)
Special Attacks rage (6 rounds/day)
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 7, Wis 9, Cha 7
Base Atk +1; CMB +7; CMD 19
Feats Dodge, Power Attack
Traits bred for war (shoanti), shoanti tribesman (varisia)
Skills Climb +6, Intimidate -1, Survival +4, Swim +6
Languages Common, Shoanti
SQ favored terrain (urban +2), illiteracy, tireless rage
Other Gear hide armor, battleaxe, handaxe, sling, 109 gp
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Special Abilities
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Favored Terrain (Urban +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Favored Terrain (Urban).
Illiteracy May never learn to read or write any language.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rage (6 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Shoanti Tribesman (Varisia) (Survival) +1 to Survival checks, Survival is always a class skill for you.
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I wanted to have her built as a Shoanti and her background involves being near a harbor so she has a rank in swim.
I've gone for full power on strength, which has left my dex and con a bit lagging, but at 4th she'd gain a point for con to improve hitpoints. Any suggestions will be welcome.
note: I just realized I forgot to give her ammo for the sling.
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First point, Conan was not illiterate, he was actually educated. I would avoid the primitive archetype.
If you want the big axe similar to the iconic Barbarian and her oversized sword, take EWP Dwarven War Axe and get a large version of that. That would give you the 2d8 weapon. Otherwise, skip the oversized battle axe and just use the waraxe, since it is already 2d6 without the penalty. Or, since you went Shoanti, go with the Earthbreaker.
if you want a Conan like the ones in the books, you should rise int and wis a little, and you need a few lvls on rogue also.
a longaxe requires EWP but doesn't take the -2 penalty for using an oversized weapon. it also gives you reach which is pretty awesome. it does 1d12 instead of 2d6 which means there's a higher likelihood of getting a low damage roll, but also a higher likelihood of high damage... (average for 1d12=6.5 vs 7 for 2d6 but you have 1/12 chance to do 12 vs 1/36 for 2d6).
if you really want to look at using oversized weapons you should read the titan mauler archetype.
Yeah...Conan wasn't a straight barbarian and also was living in an E6 (max character level of 6) world. He wasn't a true primitive he could read, and was fairly intelligent and wise.
Personally I'd buy a 17 in strength instead of an 18 (it's too dang expensive). Then I'd probably lower the dex. You can shore it up later with a belt, and playing the AC game as a barbarian you're always going to lag behind. Use those extra points to raise back up your mental stats (if you really want to emulate Conan).
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Conan cheated. in actual game terms he would be a Fighter/Rogue/Barbarian gestalt build. Also, I think Kellids are a hell of a lot closer to Cimmerians than Shoanti, but they have less feat support.
Your character is a fine barbarian, but not really a conan replacement.
Well I was probably thinking more movie Conan. I admit I've never books.
If anything the idea is closer to Korgoth of Barbaria.
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Even in the movie, Conan is educated... they even have a part of the montage dedicated to his being educated... he is just stubborn, and often drunk, not stupid.
I second the Kellid idea, as they seem to have been created as a sort of cross between Conan and Ka-zar.
Even in the movie, Conan is educated... they even have a part of the montage dedicated to his being educated... he is just stubborn, and often drunk, not stupid.
I second the Kellid idea, as they seem to have been created as a sort of cross between Conan and Ka-zar.
Good point. I admit the only interesting part of the true savage archetype was that you get favored terrain, but that can bite you in the backside if you aren't in that area.
Been a while since I've seen the movies, but you are right. He was educated, just stubborn and often drunk.
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You could always give her a big sword, pick up the Invulnerable Rager archetype, and say that she is a Red Sonja-esque warrior woman in a chainmail bikini shrugging off ridiculous damage.
Add Stalwart, Fast Healer, and Regenerative Vigor and you have 16 DR and Fast Healing.
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If you haven't read howard I highly recomend it a lot of his books are in th public domain now. Your actual character is fine but doesn't resemble conan much at all.
I would do him as kellid fighter rogue myself.
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Like the others, I strongly recommend that you start by doing some research and reading as many of the books as you can lay your hands on. All of your stats except Str seem to be a little low, particularly the mental stats. Conan is intelligent (not genius-level, but above what you show here), wise, and charismatic. He is also a rogue and a fighter.
The best treatment I have seen for Conan is here.
I had a lot to say but most of it got covered, and stated without the irritation I got reading the op's build. To emulate the mighty Conan, your build requires a COMPLETE overhaul.
I believe that to replicate a true Conan character, it would be appropriate to use the mythic rules.
Wouldn't hurt... and I would start with barbarian
5 pt. Str + 2 racial=16
3 pt. Dex =13
5 pt. Con =14
3 pt. Int= 13
2 pt. Wis= 12
2 pt. Cha= 12
These at least are all above average so I.e. closer to Conan stats. With rage you will have plenty of strength and constitution.
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I'd build Conan as a Slayer, actually. Maybe dipping Barbarian for a level or two for Rage at some point. I'll chime in on voting for Kellid as well.
Stats would likely be something like this:
Str 18 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 7
Feats: Power Attack, Iron Will,
Traits: Armor Expert, Friend In Every Town (Diplomacy),
Skills (at 1st level): Acrobatics, Climb, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Know - Local, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, Survival,
The actual Conan would have much more Charisma, but it's the easiest thing to shirk and still be pretty Conan-esque (especially since you can grab social skills easily).
I think Conan is more of an Inquisitor, Bard or Rogue. Permanent reduce person.
:(
Forgot to add earlier. If anyone hasnr reas any of howards work. There was an ipad app that let you search public domain sites for epub. The app was called Stanza I found several stories I hadn't read with it.
Anyhow if I were to use the barbarian class (rather than fighter/rogue) I'd go urban barbarian and stick ro rage powers that are more like Adrenalin surge stuff.
Conan also didn't dump cha ;)
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Conan also didn't dump cha ;)30 pt build?
In GURPS, Conan was a 500 point character. PCs in a Fantasy game starts at 100 points, a normal NPC would be 25 points, and you generally advance 1 point per game session.
He is so far outside the normal power curve of gaming to be impossible to recreate using standard classes.
If I had to make a single-class Conan, I'd go with a Lore Warden fighter. Light armor fits the class, improved skill points, Know Your Enemy can represent looking for a weak spot to hit, and access to multiple Weapon Training groups mean that he is able to swing a sword, axe, or dagger equally well.
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Conan also didn't dump cha ;)
I did note that...it's just the easiest dump to make up for with skills.
In GURPS, Conan was a 500 point character. PCs in a Fantasy game starts at 100 points, a normal NPC would be 25 points, and you generally advance 1 point per game session.
He is so far outside the normal power curve of gaming to be impossible to recreate using standard classes.
If I had to make a single-class Conan, I'd go with a Lore Warden fighter. Light armor fits the class, improved skill points, Know Your Enemy can represent looking for a weak spot to hit, and access to multiple Weapon Training groups mean that he is able to swing a sword, axe, or dagger equally well.
Nah, I mean, he can be pretty easily made as a 7th-8th level or so Slayer with the Advanced Simple Template. He doesn't even need PC gear.
Slayer doesn't get weapon training, but get the ability to study their foes for equivalent bonuses, have 6 skill points per level, and can manage the Rogue stuff as well. Very solid Conan class.
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As I noted earlier, Vincent Darlage provides a great treatment of everyone's favorite barbarian using the 3.0 rules at his website (http://old.enworld.org/Inzeladun/conan.htm). At the very least, this is a good start, and his logic is sound. He tracks Conan's level progression through the stories.
He also offers treatments of the Conan from the Ah-nold movies.
Thanks for all the tips and mentons. Clearly when I made this character I was actually thinking more generic fantasy barbarian and not Conan since, as should've been obvious, I have little to no knowledge of Conan beyond the movies and...cartoon series as a child.
I do know a few snippets from the books as a friend of mine has read them all and we'd mention the difference between the movies at times or to correct an incorrect perception I have of Conan.
As with the Character, I'm going to remove true savage and might decide to give her a large-sized bastard sword instead, but I want to avoid that so she isn't seen as a simple clone of the iconic Barbarian.
Titan Mauler is interesting, though someone mentioned (possibly as a joke) that "it's a trap" so perhaps he just doesn't like the archetype.
thanks for all the input, all :)
Remember to practice your Austrian accent.
If you're wanting to do some background reading, I'd recommend sticking to Howard and possibly Sprague de Camp. There are many authors who have written 'Conan' books and many have decided that he would be better if they just altered one little bit of his character....
The original films aren't a bad representation, however. I say nothing about their artistic merit, but Arnie didn't do a bad job of playing Conan as I saw him from the original Howard.
What would be the "best" AP for a Conan (or Red Sonja) inspired character?