In the vein of discovering the new, I would like to ask what players have seen in their day that was peculiar in terms of characters whose classes were played against type, and how that was the case.
For example, playing a Barbarian whose rage is less about roaring and more akin to tranquil fury, one who has no expression as they cut down hordes of creatures. Or perhaps the Wizard who dresses and acts more like a Rogue. Just little things like that.
I play an elf wizard who claims to be an (old-school) fighter-magic user. He carries a longsword and a longbow, and does use them on occasion. He took the "warrior of old" trait (for +2 init) to represent past training in the martial arts, but with 1/2 BAB he's not much of a fighter, truth be told. He's better off using a cantrip for a touch attack than using the bow for a full AC-based attack, but I still use the bow for flavor, on occasion.
Playing this way does help me conserve my spells for a long adventuring day, and it is a fun way to harken back to the old 1e days when being a "fighter-magic user" was a thing.
Is that what you were talking about?
For the most part yes. Playing your wizard as something other then having a robe and wizards hat with a long white beard and cryptic foreshadowing is what I mean by playing classes against type.
Corath here is a military trained Arcanist. By no means is he the typical arcane caster, sitting in the back and playing 'god', no, he want's to be cutting enemies to ribbons.
My roommate had a character in D&D who desperately wanted to be a wizard, but was too dumb for it. Eventually, the D&D-equivalent of the god of magic took pity on him and made him a Cleric. He prepared only spells a wizard would be able to cast, wore medium armour and a pointy hat, and managed to fool his party members for longer than he had any right to.
That character died, and then he made a Bard who wanted to be a drill sergeant, so he dressed up as a fighter and snuck into the army. He totally didn't have the stats for it, but he enjoyed it.
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I once played an extremely fit wizard with a high con/int who only used combat maneuver spells and the like to fool my friends I was a monk (since I didn't use armor). All was dandy with my intelligent ring casting True strike and buffing my AC every fight, and I was even the tank since my HP+Stoneskin outweighed the low hp of wizards.
It was first when we were on the verge of suffering a TPK that I decided to start throwing empowered fireballs in the face of the BBEG.
Fun times.
I had a Bloodrager who was a very collected individual. Rounds of rage were spent in a terrifyingly calm advance with this playing for effect. Aberrant bloodline, and instead of having his arms lengthen, he grew another segment entirely (his shoulders essentially becoming a second pair of elbows).
My Summoner is an out-doorsy hiker who loves traveling and living off the land. Not that Summoner really has a "type" to play against…
Hum well recently i have been playing a spiritualist that is dressed and acts more like a cleric , using k(religion) to perform rites...
Doesnt change much about the class itself , only the RP really.
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I once played a half-orc Barbarian, who had max ranks in linguistics, and hated killing people. The campaign ended in about three sessions though, because we were in Ravenloft, and I ended up killing Count Strahd early. That fight was the one time I raged, and it was more of a righteous fury, than the raving madman.
Fun times.
One of my favorite characters that I have never had the chance to play is an old man who thinks he is a wizard, but is actually a gunslinger.
"I only got the one spell, but it's a good one. Abra cadabra *bang*"
Not entirely against type, but my last paladin was an alcoholic and a massive flirt and swore more than a little. Naturally still LG to the extreme, but I found there's a lot of association of paladins with concepts like chastity and purity even though it doesn't really have anything to do with their code. Plus I figured if her charisma really was that high there's no reason she shouldn't work it just as hard as my bards do.
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A cleric of Groteus. Lives on the streets, uses a "the end is near" sign as his holy symbol and has ranks in profession begger.
Half orc barbeque chef/alchemist.
Summoner husband/wife combo who are adventuring to put their children though school (have you seen the cost of an aristocratic Taldan education).
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A cleric of Groteus. Lives on the streets, uses a "the end is near" sign as his holy symbol and has ranks in profession begger.
Half orc barbeque chef/alchemist.
Summoner husband/wife combo who are adventuring to put their children though school (have you seen the cost of an aristocratic Taldan education).
I really like that last one. I've been wanting to see more parental figures in gaming lately.
Back in 3.5 I had a full orc wizard specialized in transmutation who did a decent job of it in melee.
I'm currently playing a witch who's got a pact with an infernal duke but passes herself off as a priest of Milani. She's actually devoted to Milani; the pact was more or less forced upon her via the duke's machinations.
NE Druid (Menhir Savant). Adventures to watch Predator VS Predator encounters... views suffering city-folk as a side benefit. In 3.5 a Wild Reaper Variant Druid; lives for the hunt not the forest. In all settings instead of hunting wild beasts, he hunts intelligent creatures that pose a challenge and keeps their flesh/parts as mementos/food/crafting materials.
Oracle (Dual-Cursed, Seeker). Not a Healbot, opts to debilitate enemy for solo takedown and can adventure independently of a party Rogue. Deliberately gets into base contact while casting spells to take heat off party/set up teammates for combos.
Sorcerer. Uses spells primarily on teammates or environment to channel enemy at teammates. Spells on teammates are not buffs btw ^_^. Will deliberately use melee/ranged weapons when faced with situations where limited spell selection would not be optimal. Primary focus is mundane Diplomancy, along with ranks in a single Perform. False Bard, in a nutshell whilst I compel my teammates into acts of "heroism" consensual or otherwise.
I really like that last one. I've been wanting to see more parental figures in gaming lately.A cleric of Groteus. Lives on the streets, uses a "the end is near" sign as his holy symbol and has ranks in profession begger.
Half orc barbeque chef/alchemist.
Summoner husband/wife combo who are adventuring to put their children though school (have you seen the cost of an aristocratic Taldan education).
My PFS archer hunter finally spent the PP to purchase a farm for his wife and kids. He's at 3.2, but this was a driving motivation since level 1.
It's hard to play a dwarves fighter and not play out some of the tropes (or elven wizard, halfling rogue, half orc barbarian, etc. take your pick), but the very best thing is for the seed of the character to be something very "human" and different altogether. The class and race are just clothes that a PC wears. Our characters are always a reflection of ourselves, but can also be opportunity to be different from us as well.
I play a witch who dresses similar to a cowboy, wearing a duster and Stetson and the like. More just his style than a cultural thing. He also lives in a cosmopolitan area as one of the founders of the local mercenary crew as well as the owner of the leading whiskey company. He's quite stereotypical as far as worshipers of Asmodeus go, being an evil, devious business man and all that but he certainly is not your stereotypical witch.
Is it really "playing against type" or just avoiding stereotypes?
Playing against type would something like a single classed sorcerer (non-draconic/dragon disciple or eldritch scrapper), witch (non-scarred witch doctor), or wizard acting as a (self-buffing) melee combatant; which can be done, with some effort, at lower levels (eventually, some multi-classing/prestige class choices will needed to be made to stay relevant in that role).
Avoiding stereotypes just requires adding sufficient depth and personality to a character concept and not pigeon-holing them based on race/character class. Barbarians don't have to be brutish savages with anger-management issues, bards don't have to be foppish minstrels, etc.
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I have a few weird ones in Pathfinder Society.
One character I've given up on, because he's not very good mechanically, and newer classes/archetypes make him obsolete, is my halfling with one level of Dawnflower Dervish bard, 4 levels of Rogue, and 2 levels of Halfling Opportunist. He would have been built completely differently if Unchained Rogue and Advanced Class Guide were available back when I made him. As a Halfling Rogue/Opportunist, most people expect that he'll be a thief and liar. But he's a Sarenrae worshiping, scimitar wielding dervish swordsman from the deserts of Qadira, who is VERY noble and honest. He just uses every opportunity in battle, and happens to know how to disarm traps, because he realizes these are useful skills for an adventurer to learn. And being an Arabian themed halfling, I named him Qassir, which is the Arabic word for "short". :)
I have an elven wizard for PFS Core campaign (Core Rulebook only) who introduces himself as an archer and uses a composite longbow (strength rating +1). He's still only level 1, so he can get away with being primarily an archer for now. I figured since elves get longbow proficiency for free and a dex bonus, it would give me something to do at low levels when I don't have many spells per day. He already has Point Blank Shot and will get Precise Shot at level 3, to help with both archery at low levels and ranged touch attacks later on. By level 4 or 5, he'll have enough spells per day to mostly put the bow aside, but for now, I've played him with two random groups in PFS, and they've both been surprised when my archer suddenly started casting spells.
I sometimes play against type with factions in PFS, too, though that doesn't apply elsewhere. For instance, Silver Crusade is the lawful good faction with lots of paladins and holy clerics, and I have a chaotic good Gnome Prankster Bard who heard they wanted to make the world a better place, so he joined up. But his idea of making the world a better place has more to do with spreading laughter than smiting evil. Incidentally, the last time I played him, he prevented a TPK with a well placed Hideous Laughter spell (and a series of lucky failed saves by the BBEG).
I also have a lawful good battle oracle who routinely swears at the gods for allowing the curse that ruined his life. At level 4, he found out that Iomedae is the source of his curse, and he's been mad at her ever since.
There's also my pacifist warpriest of Shelyn. He uses a glaive (her favored weapon), and I plan to have him trip people with the reach, then ask them to surrender, doing actual damage only as a last resort. He'll make his glaive merciful as soon as he can afford it. He also goes against type by being the ugliest human being on the planet, while being a priest to the goddess of beauty. His 7 charisma is pretty much an average of being VERY ugly (to the point of deformed), trying very hard to be friendly, but not being smart enough to really be good at the friendliness part (7 int - yes, I min/maxed him for high physical stats, but it also defines the character's personality that I was going for). I considered naming him Quasimodo, but I thought that would be too obvious.
And then there's Green Beard the Pirate (because what else would you call a half orc pirate?). When I first introduce him, I don't mention that he's a cleric (of Besmara, the pirate goddess, of course). When people hear "cleric", they think healer, and he has none of that. He's a bad touch cleric who channels negative energy (badly, with his 7 charisma). His only healing is a wand of CLW, so any bard, witch, or divine caster is at least as good a healer.
On the idea of "playing against faction type," I have a PFS Core cleric of Lamashtu in Silver Crusade because he's the only Pathfinder that actually cares about children. He runs an orphanage. You can imagine the fun I have there.
I have an aasimar summoner who claims to be a divine herald of Ragathiel and his summoning ritual is essentially a sermon on the rejection of sin/evil to ascend toward celestial perfection, just as Ragathiel overcame his terrible parentage. He pokes things quite hard with a longspear (1d8+10 at level 3, will continue to scale up over time) and his eidolon, Sin, is the physical embodiment of his evil.
In my first camapign I was the party rogue and was the closest thing to LG the party had along with the Cleric