A notion of a character occurred to me, but it's little more than a notion at this point and I'd love to hear ideas around it. My notion is a character who has survived a hanging, and considers any additional time he spends alive to be bonus time. It seems to me that this would make him fearless, willing to charge into battle or take great risks because he's already living on borrowed time - but it could play out in other ways as well.
A few thoughts as to how this might manifest in a character:
- he's a daring swashbuckler - devastatingly handsome, but with a thick scar encircling his neck and marring his good looks - who considers no risk too great!
- he's a bard who once had a mellifluous singing voice, but who can now only croak when he attempts to sing (I'm told there's a character along these lines in the Diana Gabaldon Scottish time travel books, but I based it on my friend's cat - named Tosca, she once had a lovely tone to her meow, but after an unfortunate encounter with a garage door, she could only make a hoarse rasping sound)
- he's a hangman vigilante, who knows that the system is not always successful in applying justice (witness his own case), and has determined to apply it himself where needed
Any thoughts on other ideas, or how to implement some of the ones above? I'm sure there are class ideas out there I'm not considering, or ways this character's views might be shaped by his experience.
Not quite your concept, but have you considered the Reincarnated Druid as an "immortal" version of the idea? Whatever he might do to finally die... he just keeps coming back.
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There's a fine line between suicidal in combat and not being afraid to die. Just because youre unafraid of death doesnt mean you should neglect any defenses of whatever kind of character you end up playing. That said, I definitely think a character that gets up in people's faces in combat is the way to go with that kind of character. Maybe play a half-orc with the Orc Atavism alt trait for some ferocity, with high constitution. Void Kinetic knight, maybe. Laugh as people see you bloodied and almost dead but still swinging away with a blade made out of pure gravity.
Edit* Who am I kidding, not a blade. Gravity hammer, anyone?
Someone's watched "Hang 'em High" recently. <thumbs up>
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There is also the Reanimated Medium archetype.
I'm not sure I like the mechanics of the Reanimated Medium but I do like the flavour. They didn't survive the hanging...they just didn't die.
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Someone's watched "Hang 'em High" recently. <thumbs up>
Not in many, many years, in fact. The idea was inspired by season 4 of Peaky Blinders on Netflix, which features a couple of different ways that people conclude they're already dead. That said, I have been thinking the backstory is a pretty obvious fit for a gunslinger.
I like these ideas! I have never really wrapped my head around how one plays a medium, since it seems a sort of Swiss Army knife class, rather than one with a particular focus. I like versatile characters - my investigator is one of my favorite characters ever, because he can do so many different things - but the medium seems like it tries to do too many things at once and to really be effective you'd end up focusing on one or two spirits, which means you're not really versatile. Am I missing something?
The unkillable atavistic half-orc is a pretty cool idea! I had been thinking he survived the hanging due to some stroke of luck, but I like the notion that he lived through it because he's just that tough. Continuing to fight when at negative hit points seems like an excellent way to end up dead, but many of my characters live by the philosophy that they didn't become adventurers in order to take the safe path in life, so why not go for it?
I had been thinking he survived the hanging due to some stroke of luck
He was swinging in the noose, almost gone, when suddenly he and it were struck by lightning! That stopped his heart, but luckily it was restarted by the fall into a vat of acid....
You could be a Green Knight cavalier. Maybe he was getting hung, wished he wouldn't die, and a Fae heard him and went "A'ight, I can do that."
He was swinging in the noose, almost gone, when suddenly he and it were struck by lightning! That stopped his heart, but luckily it was restarted by the fall into a vat of acid....
...which dissolved him into a puddle of goo and he returned as an oozemorph shifter.
You could be a Green Knight cavalier. Maybe he was getting hung, wished he wouldn't die, and a Fae heard him and went "A'ight, I can do that."
Oh, this creates some interesting possibilities! He could be a character who attributes his survival (rightly or wrongly) to some other power - fey forces, a god, the ruler (or opponent of the ruler) of whatever jurisdiction he was being hanged in. Could create the recklessness of someone who thinks he can't die as well instill a devotion to whatever entity he thinks saved him.
I was thinking Green Knight paladin with Fey Foundling would be flavorful, but it's actually Green Knight cavalier. Oh, well.
My 5th Edition drow bard is called Whisper, but he lost (most of) his voice from having his throat slit. He dresses like the Witch-King of Mumblemumblemumble, but with a rapier instead of a giant flail.