in an upcoming campaign i plan on playing a... well, you know what, i want to avoid class-stereotypes. (although im sure once i give my stat array you'll guess what im playing... whatever.) it is 20 point buy and my stats are:
STR 6
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 20
CHA 8
(EDIT: My character is Middle-Aged, which allows me to drop a point in all physical for another point in all mental stats. which is why my stat array looks... off.)
at level 1 after racial modifiers. problem is, ive never played a character with wisdom of more than something around 14 or 15 at level 1. considering 10 to be average my characters are usually pretty wise but... i honestly have no idea how to play one like this. any tips would be recommended, aside from the basics like be patient and make sure to write down important information to "recall hearing about" later
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Sound judgement. It's hard to pull off without a lot of experience of your own to work from (I see myself as int 16 maybe, for example, so how can I possibly be the sharp-minded int 22 investigator without constantly asking the DM if I can make an INT check to just figure everything out?)
You're also not squeamish. Have you watched Better call Saul or Breaking Bad? Think of Mike the security guy. Beat-down old cop. Not really a cuddly - teddy bear type. Doesn't always spout off fantastic advise to his teammates. But he doesn't bat an eye over getting his hands dirty, or taking care of grisly business. But when push comes to shave, he knows the deal. He's world-weary, but also world-wise. When the super-genius mage comes up with a complex, multi-teired domino maze of a plan to fool the crypt-keeper into giving away the location of the key to that impossible lock, you solve the problem by tiredly fishing out your crowbar and breaking the damn thing. When the hot tempered rogue demands vengeance right now for the loss of his companion, you quietly tell him to shut the hell up. After a couple of drinks, you come up with a simple plan to lure the bad guy into a trap. You carry out the plan calmly and without a lot of hassling and coercion. If the others don't go with the plan, it's not your fault. But afterwards, you don't bother mentioning that "if we'd only followed my plan" because hey, it's just how these youngsters are when they get the blood up.
Anyway, high Wisdom is more about making the right decisions, with the least complications. Intelligence is how good your memory is, or your ability to logically deduce the best mathematical odds of success.
A wise, AND intelligent person is the criminal mastermind. But with a CHA 8, you're probably under-spoken, not the kind of guy who cares to share his wisdom. Or you're a bluntly-spoken one, but those types I figure tend to not be as wise as they let on, because causing party conflicts and being an a**hole generally isn't helping anyone, and the WIS 20 types seem to realize this, while the high INT types don't.
Don't be the guy who sticks his hand in the conspicuous hole in the wall.
Sound judgement. It's hard to pull off without a lot of experience of your own to work from (I see myself as int 16 maybe, for example, so how can I possibly be the sharp-minded int 22 investigator without constantly asking the DM if I can make an INT check to just figure everything out?)
You're also not squeamish. Have you watched Better call Saul or Breaking Bad? Think of Mike the security guy. Beat-down old cop. Not really a cuddly - teddy bear type. Doesn't always spout off fantastic advice to everyone around him. But he doesn't bat an eye over getting his hands dirty, or taking care of grisly business. But when push comes to shave, he knows the deal. He's world-weary, but also world-wise. When the super-genius mage comes up with a complex, multi-teired domino maze of a plan to fool the crypt-keeper into giving away the location of the key to that impossible lock, you solve the problem by tiredly fishing out your crowbar and breaking the damn thing. When the hot tempered rogue demands vengeance right now for the loss of his companion, you quietly tell him to shut the hell up. After a couple of drinks, you come up with a simple plan to lure the bad guy into a trap. You carry out the plan calmly and without a lot of hassling and coercion. If the others don't go with the plan, it's not your fault. But afterwards, you don't bother mentioning that "if we'd only followed my plan" because hey, it's just how these youngsters are when they get the blood up.
Anyway, high Wisdom is more about making the right decisions, with the least complications. Intelligence is how good your memory is, or your ability to logically deduce the best mathematical odds of success.
A wise, AND intelligent person is the criminal mastermind. But with a CHA 8, you're probably under-spoken, not the kind of guy who cares to share his wisdom. Or you're a bluntly-spoken one, but those types I figure tend to not be as wise as they let on, because causing party conflicts and being an a**hole generally isn't helping anyone,...
Sound judgement. It's hard to pull off without a lot of experience of your own to work from (I see myself as int 16 maybe, for example, so how can I possibly be the sharp-minded int 22 investigator without constantly asking the DM if I can make an INT check to just figure everything out?)
You're also not squeamish. Have you watched Better call Saul or Breaking Bad? Think of Mike the security guy. Beat-down old cop. Not really a cuddly - teddy bear type. Doesn't always spout off fantastic advise to his teammates. But he doesn't bat an eye over getting his hands dirty, or taking care of grisly business. But when push comes to shave, he knows the deal. He's world-weary, but also world-wise. When the super-genius mage comes up with a complex, multi-teired domino maze of a plan to fool the crypt-keeper into giving away the location of the key to that impossible lock, you solve the problem by tiredly fishing out your crowbar and breaking the damn thing. When the hot tempered rogue demands vengeance right now for the loss of his companion, you quietly tell him to shut the hell up. After a couple of drinks, you come up with a simple plan to lure the bad guy into a trap. You carry out the plan calmly and without a lot of hassling and coercion. If the others don't go with the plan, it's not your fault. But afterwards, you don't bother mentioning that "if we'd only followed my plan" because hey, it's just how these youngsters are when they get the blood up.
Anyway, high Wisdom is more about making the right decisions, with the least complications. Intelligence is how good your memory is, or your ability to logically deduce the best mathematical odds of success.
A wise, AND intelligent person is the criminal mastermind. But with a CHA 8, you're probably under-spoken, not the kind of guy who cares to share his wisdom. Or you're a bluntly-spoken one, but those types I figure tend to not be as wise as they let on, because causing party conflicts and being an a**hole generally isn't helping anyone,...
makes alot of sense. shouldnt be too terrible hard to play that way. i had intended him to be a world-wise kind of guy. he literally used almost all of his starting gold to buy a donkey and load it almost to heavy enc with a tool for just about every situation. i think i bought everything except a ladder (i have rope for that) and a battering ram (i have a crowbar, and a fighter/barbarian for those) seems like i can just sit quietly while the party argues about how best to do something, then just speak up with the best/easiest/simplest plan, or something equally simple. i usually like my high charisma workarounds for solving issues, so i figured low charisma would be a refreshing change of pace.
any ideas what class i am?
...Sound judgement. It's hard to pull off without a lot of experience of your own to work from (I see myself as int 16 maybe, for example, so how can I possibly be the sharp-minded int 22 investigator without constantly asking the DM if I can make an INT check to just figure everything out?)
You're also not squeamish. Have you watched Better call Saul or Breaking Bad? Think of Mike the security guy. Beat-down old cop. Not really a cuddly - teddy bear type. Doesn't always spout off fantastic advise to his teammates. But he doesn't bat an eye over getting his hands dirty, or taking care of grisly business. But when push comes to shave, he knows the deal. He's world-weary, but also world-wise. When the super-genius mage comes up with a complex, multi-teired domino maze of a plan to fool the crypt-keeper into giving away the location of the key to that impossible lock, you solve the problem by tiredly fishing out your crowbar and breaking the damn thing. When the hot tempered rogue demands vengeance right now for the loss of his companion, you quietly tell him to shut the hell up. After a couple of drinks, you come up with a simple plan to lure the bad guy into a trap. You carry out the plan calmly and without a lot of hassling and coercion. If the others don't go with the plan, it's not your fault. But afterwards, you don't bother mentioning that "if we'd only followed my plan" because hey, it's just how these youngsters are when they get the blood up.
Anyway, high Wisdom is more about making the right decisions, with the least complications. Intelligence is how good your memory is, or your ability to logically deduce the best mathematical odds of success.
A wise, AND intelligent person is the criminal mastermind. But with a CHA 8, you're probably under-spoken, not the kind of guy who cares to share his wisdom. Or you're a bluntly-spoken one, but those types I figure tend to not be as wise as they let on, because causing party conflicts and being an a**hole generally
Well, a lot of folks would go with the divine casters, with that wis, but if that's not your flavor, maybe try a ranger, paladin, or a monk - that last, if you don't like the alignment restrictions, you could just go with a martial artist archetype. Your attack scores/damage will be a little low with the low str, but then, it's not really about pumpin out the damage with this guy anyway, right? It's more about the clever ideas and the well timed attack. If divine casting *is* your cup of tea, the low cha is a limiting factor only insofar as channeling goes, so stay away from channel-heavy builds, and focus more on increasing the dcs of whichever spells you tend toward.
Might I suggest gunslinger? They get more grit with higher wisdom. If you could boost up the dex to 16 and just accept a 10 in constitution, you'd be pretty capable. Deadly aim, bonus dex damage for firearms. Then you just pick the weapon you like (I could really picture this old, gritty geezer with a shotgun) and that your dm allows. If you want to get silly, take that double hackbut or a culverin, and prepare to be knocked on your butt with the recoil, but otherwise a pepperbox or a revolver make for an efficient tool - six shots before that reload.
Anyway, to use that same analogy of Mike the security guy, It's not about how often you hit, but when. Good perception, a decent array of skills (4+int), and the versatility you add in with deeds, and you'll do alright I think. Most people stack dex on mundane types, but high wis means high perception. Take blind fight. Enemy wiz goes invis? You figure you know where he's at. Steal some of his thunder (so to speak) by nailing him with both barrels of that musket. Or if you've got a lot of attacks (dual wielding revolvers/pepperbox) use Dead Shot. If even one of those attacks hits, all of them hit, and ultimately it counts as though you fired one bullet...
Edit: oh and if you do take a scatter weapon, just remember to pack different ammo types. On that same line of thought, if you had craft:alchemy or you just buy 'em, keeping some varied alchemical bullets on hand could be a real toolkit in and of itself.
Anyway, good luck.
I have said multiple times that the only time i will ever play a shooty-shooty bang bang is when, and if, i ever play gestalt, where the entire point is to be as overpowered and unique as possible. i wont even say their name. a friend of mine built a Musket Master for his wife to play and she killed a gargantuan black dragon in a pfs scenario where you're not even supposed to kill it in two rounds. did over 450 damage with 8 shots. (granted she had a few amazing rolls, but you're not even supposed to kill the thing!) never playing a shooty shooty. i feel like they lack character anyway. never seen one roleplayed well.
ANYWAY the character in question here is one that i built for a Core only game were going to run soon. he's a caster-oriented druid who is gonna use wild shape and natural spell to shapeshift into things like hawks, bats, small rodents, etc, and control the battlefield. Weather Domain, etc. real tactical and shit. out of combat i think i like the grizzled old cop style of play. really liked mike in Breaking Bad, could see him being the focus of my roleplay for sure.
I'm feeling really verbose today, forgive me.
If you did go with a ranger, maybe take a guide archetype? Sort of suits the grizzly old survivor/advisor role. Guide, as instead of the animal companion thing, you build with a crossbow in mind, and float around the back of the fight, picking your targets more prudently. Deadly aim, etc, with those crossbow feats. Ranger's focus is +2 to a bunch of skills/ attack and damage on your focused enemy until it dies (once a day, and on anything, instead of vs favored enemies, which you lose with this archetype), with more uses and greater bonuses at higher levels. At level 10 it's like +6 to hit and damage, so that'll really make up for low physical stats, and with your insanely high wisdom, you'll pass those tracking tests, perception tests and the like.
On that note, +6skills/level is handy. And you're boosting up the whole party with your guide's bonuses - in any of your favored terrains, the whole party counts as untrackable, and get initiative, stealth, and perception bonuses.
I have said multiple times that the only time i will ever play a shooty-shooty bang bang is when, and if, i ever play gestalt, where the entire point is to be as overpowered and unique as possible. i wont even say their name. a friend of mine built a Musket Master for his wife to play and she killed a gargantuan black dragon in a pfs scenario where you're not even supposed to kill it in two rounds. did over 450 damage with 8 shots. (granted she had a few amazing rolls, but you're not even supposed to kill the thing!) never playing a shooty shooty. i feel like they lack character anyway. never seen one roleplayed well.
ANYWAY the character in question here is one that i built for a Core only game were going to run soon. he's a caster-oriented druid who is gonna use wild shape and natural spell to shapeshift into things like hawks, bats, small rodents, etc, and control the battlefield. Weather Domain, etc. real tactical and s~$@. out of combat i think i like the grizzled old cop style of play. really liked mike in Breaking Bad, could see him being the focus of my roleplay for sure.
doh! I was typing while you posted, hehe.
Okay, then you're well suited already, and sounds like you've got the plan.
On a side note, yeah i'd have to agree about the fact that most folks don't RP them well. The class leans toward "how can I do the most damage of anybody and make critters weep with my damages" But if you trust yourself to RP well it can work. Not my cup of tea either, but I've had a couple players make it work.
Anyway, sounds like fun :D and yeah, I just started watching Better Call Saul, and was pleasantly surprised to find Mike in it.
hmm... you know a guide sounds like it might be fun in some future campaign. Core only though... rough xD
hmm... you know a guide sounds like it might be fun in some future campaign. Core only though... rough xD
love that avatar by the way
haha thanks, this one is actually for my main PFS character, Zee... he so far has four deaths on record (at level 13) and 3 of them are from being eaten alive... i figure by now he looks like this any time he gets in combat xD
lol! That's how I feel every time I try to play a sorc. "aahhh! Invis, Invis!" *fails concentration*
well, ive got what i need i think. happy adventuring, and remember, if you happen to find yourself in base contact with a purple wurm... do NOT jump up and down and yell "EAT ME. EAT ME!" it doesn't work the same way as it does in Men in Black.