So as the title suggests i want to make a Half elf oracle with a Katana. The thing is he's going to be kind of a blind swordsman type thing, meaning i'm going to the blind curse.
So mechanically this isn't a problem i can build this no problem.
the advice i'm seeking here is more of a behavioral thing. help averting the incredibly try hard concept by using the character's backstory and personality
I'd suggest making the character half-Minkaien and just rolling with it.
I'd suggest making the character half-Minkaien and just rolling with it.
half-Minkaien? what's that?
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If you're set on Golarion, there's an actual human ethnicity, the Tian-Min of the nation of Minkai, that's pretty openly and cheerfully modeled off the Japanese.
On the same continent there's the kingdom of Jinin, a LG elven nation that's adopted many customs from Minkai, and is or was on good terms with Minkai (certain AP related events have almost certainly strained said relationship, but that's just how things are.)
In short, a half-Tian-Min (i.e. half-Japanese) half-elf would be completely reasonable thing to have happen in the Golarion setting.
Your character might be very far from home, though.
Now, if this is a custom setting, and you just want the katana for mechanical reasons and want to avoid any cultural ties, then talk your GM into letting you rename your katana as some other weapon (like moonblade or something) and just have it be a semi-traditional elven weapon.
I'm not exactly sure what you want. You don't seem to want build advice. And yeah, giving a half elf exotic weapon proficiency is easy.
Are you wanting back story ideas?
well it's more help in making what is an incredibly try hard character (See half elf oracle with a katana I.E very special snow flakey) seem less so by making his personality and backstory not incredibly try hard.
basically turning what is a mary sue esq concept mechanically an actually good and enjoyable character
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I still stand by my advice of going for a party boy/girl personality. One of the hallmarks of tryhard is "edgy." So, go for something that would be a hard turn away from the following buzzwords: Loner. Brooding. Mysterious.
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Dude... Who cares if it's "weeb", "snowflake" or "mary sue"? Play the character you want yo play! Stop worrying about what labels some grognard or another might or might not give your character and just freaking play the character you want to play!
Dude... Who cares if it's "weeb", "snowflake" or "mary sue"? Play the character you want yo play! Stop worrying about what labels some grognard or another might or might not give your character and just freaking play the character you want to play!
From what I can tell, the OP just wants to make a character that inevitably looks a certain way, but wants the characters behaviour, and history not to line up with that. Its more "playing against type" than "but what if they make fun of me?"
Basically yea, Smashomancer speaks the truth here...it's a little harder than just building something mechanically, crunch is flat numbers and rules and such, which is definable.
i'm talking about fixing up fluff which a little harder to do right.
I'd run with what Smashomancer suggests: isolate the personality elements of the try-hard you want to avoid (since you've admitted you have the external trappings), and go in the opposite direction.
Maybe he has a stable home life and family. He's well-adjusted, patient, and was not "a prodigy" or the chosen one or anything else-- he just worked hard, studied hard, and is still maybe like the equivalent of the B+ student of the dojo, so to speak.
It's easy to go 'tormented lonely half-elf' because tropes like that lend themselves well to outsider status, but if you're trying to subvert the trope, well... subvert said trope and make him a reasonably happy dude who has a community of some sort behind him, whether or not it was the community he was born or a 'found family' instead.
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What's a weeb?
A one-syllable contraction of "weeaboo" which is (generally derogatory) internet slang for someone who is obsessed with Japan/Japanese Culture/Anime, etc.
Usually used in my (admittedly limited) experience in reference to characters inspired by anime, especially the animes where the attacks all have phrases that must be shouted very loudly that name the special maneuvers the characters are doing.
It often seems to elicit an irrational negative response from certain gamers since it breaks with their concepts of the traditional western European fantasy standards and tropes.
There is an alternate racial trait in Horror Adventures that you may want to consider, depending on what you want to gain mechanically from the half-elf race. "Round Ears" gives you a Half-Elf who is more human than elf. His backstory would put him in a human family with distant elven ancestry.
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Green Smashomancer made the right advice: Avoid being a brooding lone hero. Make your blind swordsman cheerful, helpful, gregarious, enjoying life.
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Oracle of time, get Time Hop, Teleport behind your enemies, become edgy while at it, "Nothing personel kid"
Actually now that it's not super late and i've rested up some build advice would be welcome
a few points i've thought of first though
The character doesn't really have to be blind, he's just not sight dependent. the main things i want to try and get are way's to fight things without seeing them, like being able to fight invisible creatures. so finding a way to negate a foes total concealment, if there is a way.
I have seen and do plan on using blind blade style it works really well with the idea.
My only reason for using oracle really is it's a class i'm very comfortable with, the blind curse works with the idea, maybe i could use spells to force the opponent to fight me in basically the same condition i'd be fighting them, like with magic darkness or something.
As for oracle mysteries i'm open ended on that front so feel free to suggest though as said other class suggestions are welcome. .
Ideas i've though of personality wise i've been thinking of making him Dante-esq from Devil may Cry (Not the reboot the originals). it seems like it would really work with the party boy idea being thrown around.
A fairly obvious feat is Blind Fight and its successors.
I believe there is an Oracle Spell that afflicts the target with your curse.
You could carry around some smoke bombs and throw one down when some enemies close in on you, effectively leveling the playing field by removing their line of sight, though I'd be careful you're not handicapping other party members if/when you do this.
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Here's an idea for you: what if your oracle started out entirely blind, and the limited vision that the curse gives you was actually the first kind of vision your character ever had?
@ventnor good idea!
i'm also seriously considering fighter because this build is very feat dependent at the same time magic form things like shaman or oracle give a lot of versatility
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What's a weeb?A one-syllable contraction of "weeaboo" which is (generally derogatory) internet slang for someone who is obsessed with Japan/Japanese Culture/Anime, etc.
Usually used in my (admittedly limited) experience in reference to characters inspired by anime, especially the animes where the attacks all have phrases that must be shouted very loudly that name the special maneuvers the characters are doing.
It often seems to elicit an irrational negative response from certain gamers since it breaks with their concepts of the traditional western European fantasy standards and tropes.
It elicits a negative response because weebs are the kind of people who believe things like the total superiority of the katana unironically.
Edit:
Anime also comes with (or is perceived as coming with) a series of cringe-making cliches. The Mary Sue Generator is in large part a satire of anime tropes. The stereotypical anime character is:
- Not just generally attractive, but specifically pretty.
- Dresses in some idiosyncratic way, to be unique for uniqueness' sake. Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw described their fashion as "having stepped on a land mine in a trendy clothing store".
- A child/teenage prodigy. A world-class expert at what he does, in spite of his young age and lack of experience.
- A unique and special snowflake.
- Dark, brooding, and melodramatic.
- As Gilfalas mentioned, each unique and special snowflake-y combat move has its own phrase that must be shouted out as it's performed. As an aside, that's why 3.5's Tome of Battle earned the nickname "Tome of Weeaboo Fightan' Magicks".
The "weeb" character comes with a lot of eye-rolling at the RPG table because it's about on par with Lawful Stupid Paladin and Chaotic Stupid Rogue, as not just cliche characters but potentially disruptive party members. I guess the key here is that for many people, Anime == Melodrama.
listing it all out like this actually makes me feel a litter safer with my character. i mean i generally dislike the dark brooding thing unless its played for laughs or parodied, though most of my characters do suffer from the look aspects generally cause i don't like play ugly characters.
For all
to clarify the general meaning of what i'm getting at is by try hard is something that is very cliched or tries to look cool to the point that it becomes annoying and just not cool. So basically the dark brooding loners with electric powers wielding wielding Katana's whose family is dead or something who always whine about anger and hatred.
also something to be noted that just because one wields a Katana that does not make them one, its a just a thing typically associated with the weapon moreso than others.
me i'm just a guy who thinks Katana's are cool, not the best but they're cool my main issue here being i'm combining oracle which is kind of a special chosen one esq class using a weapon that is typically associated with an image
I didn't know weeb either. I'm also not sure of what's meant by "try hard". I admit I'm getting older and I've never been very deep in the anime/manga pool.
Oracle of time, get Time Hop, Teleport behind your enemies, become edgy while at it, "Nothing personel kid"
You forgot to add the mandatory "Heh" at the end.
Got to agree with the general consensus - so, you have a half-elf with a katana. Be friendly, cheerful, emotionally stable, think magic is "cool and awesome and looks really hard!". Be overconfident, brash from inexperience, but don't be a jerk about it - let other party members rein you in, because you know you have a lot to learn. Respect the rest of the party, you're working together for mutual support.
Basically, just make the character be nice and have a realistic appreciation of their own capabilities.
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It elicits a negative response because weebs are the kind of people who believe things like the total superiority of the katana unironically.
My view on such things are this: Hating 'weebs' for what they like is as bad as saying they are doing badwrongfun. Just like it annoys the crap out of me how fantasy baseball players rip on board gamers or 'mature' gamers who love D&D stuff rip on Pokemon people. Basically it comes down to a clash of cultures, asian versus western. As such I try really hard to keep an open mind, since hating a different culture can lead to all sorts of bad things.
We all have things we like that we are passionate about. There should be no reason why other peoples passions are not as valid as ours. If they annoy you then ask them to tone it back, like an adult. It is very possible those same people could be annoyed by our passion over what WE love.
Note I am an OLD anime fan from the early 80's. Robotech, Mospeda, Armored Trooper Votoms, Speed Racer and such. I did not follow anime generally as I grew older and there are some anime' shows on now I think are moronic that are super huge and popular. But I don't denigrate anyone for liking them.
As far as the Book of 9 Swords, it works great IMO. Folks get too hung up on the asian influences and inspiration and never even try the actual system which works pretty darn well. It is super easy to run a totally 'western' themed character with the rules and never even stray into 'Weeb' territory. It was a great option for martials, especially when everyone was screaming about Fighters could not have nice things.
I'm also not sure of what's meant by "try hard". I admit I'm getting older and I've never been very deep in the anime/manga pool.
As for a try hard, I only recently learned this phrase too (another old dude here). The Internet Slang Dictionary defines it as this:
A person who puts a large amount of effort into achieving a certain image, or counter-image, to the point where it is obviously contrived. Rather than achieving an image through genuine personality, the try-hard consciously attempts to fit a certain style through deliberate imitation, forced style, or scripted behavior. That is to say, he/she is trying hard to create an image.
I have a few 20-something friends who I play online games with at times who use the phrase a lot to intimate 'nerds who never stop to the point of annoying other nerds who even like what the first nerds like too' from what I can gather.
I didn't know weeb either. I'm also not sure of what's meant by "try hard". I admit I'm getting older and I've never been very deep in the anime/manga pool.
Tryhard is more local slang to video game fan circles. Its almost entirely interchangable with "edgy" save that it also usually implies poor sportsmanship on the part of the "offending" party.
Anyway, OP: You said you're open to mechanic ideas? Id recommend a relatively low Cha. I mean specifically 13 to start. Reason being that Oracle has plenty of spell choices that dont care about your caster stat past the ability to cast it. Grace, Divine Favor, Breath of Life, etc... all very useful for frontline facemurder. Secondly, you'll be pretty MAD trying for several good stats at once.
Or the opposite. Drop dex as far as you can, and pick up one of the mysteries that gives CHA to AC.
Edit: Ninja'd by Gilfalas
As far as the Book of 9 Swords, it works great IMO. Folks get too hung up on the asian influences and inspiration and never even try the actual system which works pretty darn well. It is super easy to run a totally 'western' themed character with the rules and never even stray into 'Weeb' territory. It was a great option for martials, especially when everyone was screaming about Fighters could not have nice things.
It works okay, though I can't stand the aesthetic. The Nice Things come in the form of a few real gems like Iron Heart Surge, but the rest is just new ways to apply weapon to target. I have to acknowledge that it was a good-faith attempt to address C/MD in 3.5, but it was far too little, too late, and the mechanics of it made me wonder if the designers thought that "nine levels of something that takes up slots" was what made casters so powerful.
And yeah, "DIAMOND NIGHTMARE BLADE STRIKE!!!" is totally something a stereotypical anime character would yell while he teleports behind the enemy and chops him up into 50 pieces that don't fall apart until the katana clicks back into its scabbard.
Edit: In my understanding a tryhard is someone who takes fun/casual games too seriously, often (in certain contexts) to the point that they're not being sporting.
Well Gilfalas, the point is not that of hating another culture, but rather hate the person and by proxy the culture due to the overexposure of this single invidual.
I think the keyword is "overexposure" where the offender is borderline or crossed into the land of the fanatical, and "weebs" sometimes go into the same camp as "Japanphiles" or similar people who claim X culture is the best.
But in the end, its just annoyances that go too far.
On the topic, you might look up the tremor boots, which is 5ft radius of Tremorsense for 10k gold. A Tad expensive, but hey its an option.
What's a weeb?
As everyone's said, it's short for Weeaboo. This should clear up any remaining confusion.
to clarify the general meaning of what i'm getting at is by try hard is something that is very cliched or tries to look cool to the point that it becomes annoying and just not cool.
Maybe I'm missing something, but... why do you want to annoy the rest of the players?
Well Gilfalas, the point is not that of hating another culture, but rather hate the person and by proxy the culture due to the overexposure of this single invidual.
I think the keyword is "overexposure" where the offender is borderline or crossed into the land of the fanatical, and "weebs" sometimes go into the same camp as "Japanphiles" or similar people who claim X culture is the best.
But in the end, its just annoyances that go too far.
That definition works too for many western tropes, likecthe dude who always play the "holier than thou" paladin or the "I have a dark side" inquisitor, the n-esim dual wielding drow, the crom-worshipping barbarian or Legolas XXVII
Weeb? Is that short for Weeabo?
Well Gilfalas, the point is not that of hating another culture, but rather hate the person and by proxy the culture due to the overexposure of this single individual.
I did preface as saying that was what I believed and to be clear I am not stating that is the absolute truth for everyone. But whenever something like this starts to involve 'hate' then I take a long hard look at it since frankly there is really very, very little in this world, to me, truly deserving of hatred.
Hatred starts inside and is usually more of a failing in ourselves than in what we hate. Usually but not always.
In the end I have learned to have a very thick skin about these sorts of things. I KNOW I can be annoying at times with the things I am passionate about so I give others a lot of leeway on their passions to.
Hey folks, thanks for the weeb lessons. Heck, I lived in Japan and married a Japanese gal and had no idea what you'all were talking about.
By definition a weeb is a Westerner. If anyone like Ken-sama ever actually made it to Japan I'm sure they would be straightened out in short order.
I guess the equivalent would be a hypothetical Japanese guy who is totally enamored with an idea of the United States that he got from consuming enormous amounts of Wild West media, and frequently disparages his own culture or otherwise believes it to be inferior. He'd own cowboy garb and cheap replica revolvers, etc.
ya know i didn't think this would get much attention, i was honestly just trying to avoid annoying people.
On the interwebz? Good luck with that one! :)
Take Profession: Masseur.
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A "weeb"? Does that mean you wobble, but don't fall down?
I recommend looking up the webcomic No Need for Bushido and reading some strips involving the blind warrior monk Cho Teko. Cho is a blind monk with incredible fighting prowess and haunted by a prophesy involving the end of the world.
However, instead of being a brooding, mystic chosen one, he's usually the self-made comic relief. He enjoys making up fake Taoist saying, uses his blindness for gags, and tries to keep the party upbeat and working together. He's not an idiot, he knows the heavy burden he carries, but only broods when he's alone.
This is similar to what I feel you're after, a proficient combatant with some mystical asian trappings, but a personality that intentionally throws the stereotypes to the wind.
Here's an idea for you: what if your oracle started out entirely blind, and the limited vision that the curse gives you was actually the first kind of vision your character ever had?
How about the character is the firstborn son of a noble - or merchant - family, but his blindness prevented him from inheriting. Now that he can see however various factions want to force him to displace his far more talented and well prepared sister - the character says, 'screw that' and takes off.
Aided by, and occasionally aiding his sister, he adventures to avoid the factions that want to drag him back to inherit.