Hello.
Me and a couple of friends are trying to build 3 characters around the concept of being Judge, Jury, and Executioner in a town.
We will be starting at level 11, and we already have a few ideas, but we are stuck on the Jury part. We would also like to hear from you guys if you have any tips about what we have so far.
Let's begin with Judge: There is a great PC called Justiciar, which sounds perfect for it. In order to meet the requirements, we are thinking about going Cavalier (Archetype Circuit Judge) for the other levels. That would mean Circuit Judge 8 | 3 Justiciar.
We are not 100% sure about the Cavalier part, but it gives us a bonus to Intimidate, Knowledge (local) and Sense Motive, and the ability to gain some inquisitor judgments, which isn't bad. We are considering other classes, but haven't found anything more fitting yet.
As for the Executioner, pretty much anything that can kill you would work.
We looked again at prestige classes, and found the Gray Warden, which actually requires you to have publicly executed someone; that's just perfect.
Gray Warden requires 5 skill ranks and ability to cast 2nd level divine spells. We are considering a few base classes, but we haven't found anything that great yet. We are currently evaluating the Warpriest, to gain the spell ability and a bit of flavour. We avoided the Paladin mostly because it takes spells very late, and is bound to being good (not great).
That would bring us to Warpriest 5 | Gray Warden 7
And here comes the hard part: the Jury.
WE HAVE NO IDEAS.
Ok we do have a few, but nothing definitive yet. Investigator seems like a good start, since you can get some good bonuses on Sense Motive, Diplomacy, and Knowledges (all things I think would benefit a Jury). Anyone able to cast some divination spells, would also be good probably. We are looking for suggestions on this topic in particular.
Any other tip you feel like sharing, it's appreciated.
A jury is a group of people. So sounds like a summoning or pet build to me.
And if I were building a judge, my first thought would be the inquisitor.
Maybe an Inheritor's Crusader could work for the Jury. He can use Sword against injustice to determine if someone is guilty as charged and then the other two do their thing. For the base class he could go with Chosen One Paladin so that he could get a cassisian familiar to do his translating and maybe offer a second opinion on the jury.
|
1 person marked this as a favorite.
|
Another thought on the jury - a medium can be like a group of people. Especially a spirit dancer who can become someone else on the fly.
What if the jury was just the juror? Judge Dredd is Judge, Jury and Executioner and he doesn't have familiars, pets or spirits being a part of his jury. The judge sentences, the executioner executes and the jury determines innocence or not. This could be one person and he could be any class though a good Juror should probably be able to effectively determine whether someone is innocent or not.
I'm looking at the Inheritor's Crusader, and I have to admit the 'Sword against injustice' really has the right vibe!
I like the idea of having a familiar to get a second opinion. For that, I was actually thinking about the Leadership feat, to gain a cohort to
I don't know much about the Medium, but doesn't he let spirits control him? Not sure how that would fit into the whole picture. A Spiritualist could be another option there, having a second juror as his ghost...
Thanks for your inputs, I'll pass it down the line and see what the others think.
The phrase 'Judge Jury and Executioner' refers to a single person with all of those powers. Basically no checks and balances, so the way you are trying to go with this concept seems weird to me.
In theory, a Jury should be impartial. They are the 'tries of fact' and determine weather a case has been proven or not based on the facts presented, as well as the truth of those facts. Typically a jury does not discover facts, it just analyzes those that have been presented to it. Of course the whole concept of 'jury of your peers' also means that a juror isn't necessarily a particularly special person (something against the concept of a PC.)
Really though, a lot of the point of a jury in our world is to make sure that the 'common man' has representation. I think that one of the best ways to capture this concept, 'the voice of the people' is the bard class. Mechanically it should work well with your other two builds as well.
I think I'd take the Arbiter archetype. It isn't a bad archetype and arbiter being someone who settles disputes fits with the theme fairly well.
I know it's usually one person, but since we are 3 players we liked the idea of being a "travelling courthouse" or something like that. We will find criminals (allegedly), give them a fair trial, and execute them if found guilty.
In our mind, the jury (or juror in this case) has to be impartial, but also able to determine (within reason) if the person being judged is innocent or not. Mechanically, that involves mostly the Sense Motive skill, and any other skill that allows them to figure it out.
While today there is no need for a juror to investigate further, since there are lawyers that will already give you all the facts, in our idea of an ancient trial, the juror has to investigate a bit (mostly by listening to the answers to the judge's question or asking of his own) to reach a conclusion.
In other words, the jury will have to work to make reach a verdict, the judge will decide the sentence, and the executioner will carry it out.
I'll look into the Arbiter bard, it's not an archetype I'm familiar with.
|
