| Bober |
Hello!
I have a few different ideas for a character, and I'd like your opinion and advices on it.
I was talking with my DM, and we would like to try and create a character similar to "Cho'Gall" from Warcraft (or HotS).
The character would consist in two character living in the same body, with the only exception of their head (meaning they have 2 heads). We could say one of them would be the mind, the other would be the arm.
Before I go on, does anyone know if it has been done before? If so, where can I find an example?
Said so, here's a list of "problems" we thought about, and how we are thinking about solving it (if we have had an idea already):
1 - Classes: Each head would have its own class. As the example mentioned before (Cho'Gall), the idea would be to have some sort of Fighter/Sorcerer. Treating them as two different characters, they would have their own xp and levels, so that wouldn't be a big issue.
2 - Ability Scores: being one single body, the physical attributes should be the same for both, but the mental one could vary. One head could be dumber, or more charismatic, but neither could be stronger than the other.
3 - Skill points: again, it should vary. One head could have a better hearing, but both would have the same balance or ride capabilities.
4 - Hit Points: would you keep them separated? Or merge them? Should we add both HP and split it in half?
5 - Equipment: having the same body, means having the same equipment. This can be a HUGE problem, if we want to have very different classes (as mentioned above). If you were to multiclass a normal character, wanting a melee-combat class and a spell-caster one, which ones would you put together? I was thinking Monk would be a good choice for the melee-oriented, since it doesn't wear armor (ergo, no penalties for spells).
6 - Combat: we were thinking that each round could have only one of the two fighting.. kinda like if a single head took control of the body. Switching to the other could be a full round action, meaning losing a round if you want to switch mid-combat.
I think that's it for now. If you can think of any other thing to consider, please share :D
Now, regardless the outcome of this attempt to create a "double character", I would like for my character to fight mostly with improvised weapons or unarmed. From my understanding the Monk is fine with it, but at low levels you still get a lot of penalties for using unarmed weapons. What do you think about improv weapons? Is it worth it? Don't they become kinda useless at higher levels (when you finally don't have penalties, but your friends will have magic weapons probably)?
I know it's a lot of text, but I had a lot to ask :P Thanks in advance for your help!
| Dave Justus |
What you are looking for is really pretty much outside what the rules can handle without major modifications. Basically this would be playing a gestalt character, and unless everyone has gestalt characters, it would be pretty unbalancing.
However, I think you could achieve the flavor of what you want pretty easy. If your second head is pretty much just cosmetic (i.e. it has no effect on the stats of you character but you can give it a different personality, its own flavor etc.) then this can work out.
I would go with a qinggong monk. You play it as though at the physical stuff is controlled by one head, but the ki stuff is controlled by the other head. Depending on what sort of thing you want to do, and what sort of actions that takes, you can roleplay which head is controlling the body, but mechanically it isn't any different than any other qinggong monk.
| QuidEst |
Play a Medium. The heads take turns on a day-by-day basis, with each head being an expert in three of the six areas. There's a feat that allows getting a different feat for each spirit. Alternatively, the Spirit Dancer archetype allows rapid shifting for midday changes. Champion spirit gets bonuses that are pretty solid, so you can take Catch Offguard and make improvised weapons work well.
Play a Vigilante, and ignore the secret identity part. Then one side handles combat, while the other is charming in social situations (or perhaps is a shrewd merchant instead). This even allows for two different alignments. Fist of the Avenger makes using unarmed strikes not bad.
Unless this is being played by two players, then you should probably figure out how to use existing rules to accomplish your goal instead of getting a stronger, more versatile character than all the other players.
Worth noting, a tumor familiar (or aberrant tumor) does allow you to essentially have two characters in the same body. Sage archetype on it for decent mental scores and separate skill points, and a Tiefling with GM permission to use the variant ability for contact-only telepathy, and bam- two characters, one body.
| QuidEst |
The character was supposed to be played by two different people at the same time. But I do realise it's probably a lot more complicated than it's worth..
I guess I'll try to make it work as one of your suggestions ;) I'm giving it a look right now!
If it's two people, then that's much easier- you're balancing against two characters instead of one. Ratfolk can occupy the same square together with the swarming racial trait, so you could probably build a pair of Ratfolk that always move together, then ask your GM for modifications from there to fit your needs. (Change to one medium size body, but can't two-hand weapons, must take same physical stats, and use lower for AC/CMD, both roll and take worse for reflex and fort, but pool hp and non-mental single-target buffs apply to both.)
| Bober |
Play a Vigilante, and ignore the secret identity part. Then one side handles combat, while the other is charming in social situations (or perhaps is a shrewd merchant instead). This even allows for two different alignments. Fist of the Avenger makes using unarmed strikes not bad.
Since the other player changed his mind about playing both with the same body, I believe I'm going with your Vigilante suggestion. Seems a good way to play both personalities, without having them interfering with each other too much.
Thanks all for your advices!