Trying to make L from Death Note

[Madokar Valortouched]

So I've been working on a campaign for a couple of years now. But in the past month, I've completely gutted and rebuilt the narrative. The reason for this is because I've reworked one of the final bosses of the old campaign into the BBEG for the new one.

For simplicity's sake, the BBEG is in essence an unholy fusion of my three favourite villains in media: Eric Cartman, Light Yagami, and Ainz Ooal Gowne. Of those three villains, Light Yagami is the dominant inspiration. Because of that, I feel that I need to create a character who serves as the "L" to the villain's "Light".

This character's role in the story is to provide backstory to the PCs about the villain. "L" has been tracking the villain throughout the Inner Sea region for about 10 years now. He'll also be key to freeing the PCs from Andoran arrest since the villain has set up the PCs as patsies for the current part of his plan by the time he meets the players.

My primary problem right now is figuring what class "L" should be. I feel Investigator would be a good fit, though I also think that Inquisitor and Slayer might also be great choices. Of course, class(es) is just one hurdle. I have no idea what feats this character should have.

[JiaYou]

L could also be super lazy and nervous. One of the Thassilonian vices is Sloth/Zeal. You could totally make him a conjuration specialist who summons others to do his dirty work. High enough INT will make up for low skill ranks.

[Heather 540]

Well, it depends on what and how much you will have L doing. Is he actually traveling with the party and taking part in things?

[Meirril]

I feel the obvious choice for L would be Vigilante. The ability to avoid divination is the standout factor.

The character only needs a one level dip to make this work, but getting a slew of social benefits would be great for L's undercover work, so staying pure Vigilante might be a good idea. This also gives L more of a reason to work with others since he'll lack spell casting ability that he needs to continue his investigations.

[Meirril]

The other strange consideration would be for L to be a Witch. If L was part of a coven they would be able to cast Mind Blank as many times a day as necessary.

[Madokar Valortouched]

Meirril wrote:

I feel the obvious choice for L would be Vigilante. The ability to avoid divination is the standout factor.

The character only needs a one level dip to make this work, but getting a slew of social benefits would be great for L's undercover work, so staying pure Vigilante might be a good idea. This also gives L more of a reason to work with others since he'll lack spell casting ability that he needs to continue his investigations.

I was thinking Vigilante for a time, but a Stalker Vigilante's Hidden Strike is horrendous. And making L an Avenger goes against his character. If there was an archetype that swapped out Hidden Strike for a better class feature, I would consider it. Though I do believe the Dual Identity feature fits with the character concept really well. I might have him dip into Vigilante solely for the Dual Identity feature.

[Madokar Valortouched]

Heather 540 wrote:

Well, it depends on what and how much you will have L doing. Is he actually traveling with the party and taking part in things?

"L" is conducting his own investigation with his own party at the beginning of the campaign. After a certain point where "s%## happens", "L" becomes a benefactor to the party. He provides backstory to the PCs about "Light" as well as being a source of potential leads to thwart "Light" as well serving as the PCs parole officer/legal counsel after "Light" throws the PCs under the bus and washes his hands of them.

[Bloodrealm]

Investigator. I don't know why you would consider others. Looking over the archetypes, I'd say Mastermind or Profiler would work best.

[Madokar Valortouched]

Bloodrealm wrote:

Investigator. I don't know why you would consider others. Looking over the archetypes, I'd say Mastermind or Profiler would work best.

Ooh, fun!

[Madokar Valortouched]

Alright. Given the opinions I've gotten both here and on GitP, I do believe that Investigator is the way to go. Now to figure out Feats and Archetypes.