What would you role up? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

admerwill

2010-07-13, 02:04 PM

This is fairly Meta.. but if this were a role playing game, one of two things would be going on in the background of OOTS, Belkars Player might have a deadline, were he will no longer be able to play the game, thus the group would have an opening.. Or the player had gotten bored with the character, and the DM would "procify" the death to accommodate a new character coming in. I am sure that there are other options, however, we do know that Belkar will not be coming back (at least as a living creature).

So Assume that your the new person coming in, the DM decides to let the new player come in at about the same level as the rest of the group, what would you role up to replace everyones favorite psychopathic hafling?

Edit, Please note this isnt a Guess what the giant would do, this is what you would do, if you were a player.

guolin

2010-07-13, 02:10 PM

Heh, a Lawful Good kobold would be awfully ironic.

Torick

2010-07-13, 02:13 PM

Yeah, I'm liking the lawful good kobold thing (probably a monk or a paladin, just to intensify the irony).

guolin

2010-07-13, 02:15 PM

Yeah, I'm liking the lawful good kobold thing (probably a monk or a paladin, just to intensify the irony).

Paladin = pwnage. In fact, Belkar might be so annoyed and angry at the new replacement that he would do ANYTHING, maybe challenge Death to a killing match or something, to exist again. Then he'll fly in and kill the poor kobold.

PallElendro

2010-07-13, 02:15 PM

Um, now within limits of the genre of a sociopath, I'd say an Unaligned Gnome Spellsword with generic damaging powers that would make his role a Striker for the party.

For intents of an entirely different character, I would go with a clear-gendered Good aligned half-elf ardent, or perhaps a dragonborn fighter with the same stretch as Roy. Two heads are better than one. (:biggrin:)

Edit:
Heh, a Lawful Good kobold would be awfully ironic.
Read this to learn of the Lawful Good idea.

The Giant said in the commentary for Dungeon Crawlin' Fools at the Linear Guild meetup that said

Coming up with an antagonist for Belkar was tough. Since our favorite psychopath is utterly amoral, it was tough to devise an opponent that he would really despise. I toyed with the idea of a Lawful Good ranger, but rejected it because I couldn't justify such a character associating with Nale. I also toyed with a halfing who was a perfect halfling stereotype...
...perfect foil for Belkar is someone who is exactly the same as he is himself. Yikyik essentially IS Belkar, just in kobold form.
There's thing right there, in typed form.

Vemynal

2010-07-13, 02:19 PM

there wont be one i bet but if there was the kobold idea sounds great xD

Illsbane

2010-07-13, 02:23 PM

How about Sereni Toormuck, the halfling member of the Order of the Scribble? Though I admit the LG Kobold sounds like delicious irony. :elan:

Ganurath

2010-07-13, 03:32 PM

Ah, but we're thinking Meta. Belkar's player, while not an outright sociopath, seems to revel in playing the part, and is likely rather selfish. Thus, the perfect opposite would be someone who's concerned about what's good for the party and the story. So, the race and class would fill a niche for party balance where there is a void, such as the utility spells that Vaarsuvius has neglected in favor of *shudder* evocations. From an alignment standpoint, the character will create conflict sufficient for roleplaying without driving the party apart. Combine with the recent indulgence into splatbooks...

I'd say Lawful Evil Gnome Beguiler who works for Elan's dad to keep an eye on the Gate situation.

derfenrirwolv

2010-07-13, 04:36 PM

Belkars player would roll up... Celia.

Yes i know, i'm crazy, but here's why.

Belkar's player (Bob) has no doubt heard 10,000 times that npc's aren't chunks of XP, that the world isn't a game for his character, and he's supposd to try to pretend that the others are real people with rights, hopes, and dreams.

Taking that to its obvious conclusion you get.. .celia. The one person who doesn't treat killing other sentient beings as the solution to all of lifes little problems like "how can i level up" "how can i pay for a house" or "what can i do for an evenings entertainment". She has 21st century politically correct morality, and can be as agonizingly painful with her unwillingness to kill as belkar is with his eagerness to kill.

suszterpatt

2010-07-13, 06:49 PM

A warlock, so that V has someone else to resent.

Cealocanth

2010-07-13, 10:23 PM

An evil elf assasin so much more evil than Belkar, that he conspires against the party and is secretly leading them into the hands of Xykon, only to betray them and kill the party off one by one.

That should make them wish they had Belkar back.

admerwill

2010-07-13, 11:57 PM

So far, Everyone other than the Lawful Good Kobold people seem to be taking this as what they would like to see in the game, or what the Giant will do for story. Belkar will die, more to the point, Belkar , for this exercise, does not exist, other than on a piece of paper, so he will have little to say on the matter.

If I was in here I think that the "Party" could probably be best served by an actually Ranger, one that was built correctly, one that can Track, and cast Ranger spells, not built to be a a little ball of death,

I would say sourcer, but the party already has a charisma monkey, Im having a hard time thinking of bringing in a Monk into the party.... Perhaps a High Int Barbarian.

Thyrim

2010-07-14, 01:35 AM

Registered here so I could answer this one.

If Belkar is replaced, new player could be another halfling ranger:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0610.html panel #12

toastywes

2010-07-14, 02:11 AM

Don't you see? The party would be missing an evil and small raced party member.

So it would have to be an evil gnome/kobold/halfling that replaced belkar.

Onyavar

2010-07-14, 04:11 AM

I'm going to roll a half-blue dragon half-ogre, after both Belkar and Ganji are killed.

This new charakter would be hounted by Belkars ghost and do what Belkar-ghost wishes him to do - plus, Ganji is dead, so to earn his yummies, Enor could be hired in the Order of the Stick.

Alternatively, a lizardmanfolk ranger (or whatever Ganjis class is) could also be nice. Let me think of a plot that could result in this... hm...
Belkar kills Enor in the arena, is worshipped in the arena as a god of war, and ascends to godhood (stops breathing), and Ganji starts worshipping him, and therefore follows the order from now on...

duh, my ideas really get dumber each time I'm posting here.

Devils_Advocate

2010-07-14, 04:52 PM

You meant "prophecy", right? It took me a moment to get that.

So far, Everyone other than the Lawful Good Kobold people seem to be taking this as what they would like to see in the game, or what the Giant will do for story.
Are you in the habit of rolling up characters that you wouldn't like to see in the games that they'll be included in, or something? Obviously, choosing a character that you'll personally enjoy roleplaying is also a goal, but I don't see how you can infer that respondents are neglecting that.

That said: a xeph Nomad, to cover the party's teleportation needs. Unless the Order actually having someone who could teleport would circumvent the DM's plots. I'd ask about it, since I wouldn't want to join the campaign only to bring it to an early end (and possibly a disastrous one, if the Order were expected to level up more before facing Xykon). He could have the Track feat, so that the party still had a tracker, which isn't really an essential role, but is one of the few not already filled by some other member of the Order. Probably there are a few things that a Psion can do better than a Wizard or Cleric, too, not that I'm all that familiar with them.

Welf

2010-07-14, 05:26 PM

I'd play some sorcerer. There can't be enough sorcerers, ever. Maybe I'll multiclass like Girard with sorcerer/ranger. Maybe more than two ranger levels, to at least partially make up for the loss of melee combat power.
Or similar to what Onyavar said, I'd take over Ganji. He is now one of my favourite NPCs, and I wouldn't mind taking him into the group. Of course I'd retcon some class levels, but that should be no problem if the DM is cool with that. I'd ask to let Enor die, to give him a proper motivation to get a new group. And then he gets some levels in sorcerer.

admerwill

2010-07-14, 05:30 PM

sorry, i mis typed, I meant to say people seem to keep posting things they would like to see in the story of oots, not play as in the game from a meta point of view, sorry for the confusion.

Im way too out of playing, I don't know what a xeph is, and never heard of the nomad class.

Devils_Advocate

2010-07-14, 05:40 PM

Xephs (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicRaces.htm#xephs) are a psionic race. Nomads are transportation-oriented Psion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psion.htm)s.

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w247/kolboldbard/Nomad.jpg

admerwill

2010-07-14, 06:14 PM

At the risk of enraging you , and going off topic, for some reason the Psionics in 3.5 always seemed... cheese monkey. Ill admit that a large part of this comes from the person in the group that always wanted to play one was the resident cheese monkey, but still.. i guess im a fan of keep it simple, stupid.

veti

2010-07-14, 07:26 PM

Belkars player would roll up... Celia.

Nah, Celia was clearly Roy's player's replacement character (why else did she leave the party the minute Roy got back?). He wouldn't want to play a secondhand character, that's just icky.

Poetic justice for Belkar would be forcing the player to restart with an absurdly low-level character. Jenny?

Possibly a neutral good druid. It would be fun to maintain the role of a foil for Durkon, while being of (almost) the same alignment...

Da'Shain

2010-07-14, 09:40 PM

I'd probably ask if I could play Celia, actually, with some shiny new Sorceror levels tacked on. Although it'd be rather awkward RPing another player's NPC love interest, I think the idea of a pacifist lawyer who doesn't benefit from the adventurer's typical revolving-door afterlife is interesting enough to compensate. Plus, she has the potential to be insanely useful even if she doesn't help out much with the fighting, as she could finally let the Order have access to some teleportation and other conjurations.

But I know most people hate Celia, quite likely the other players on the table included, so failing that and seeing what environment they're in right now, I'd roll up a lawful evil Lizardfolk Monk, because Evil needs some representation on the Order but in a way that would tick Belkar off royally (seriously, a Monk replacing him? Only thing he'd hate worse is if it was a kobold). Perhaps he'd be Malack's catspaw, infiltrating the Order on the suspicion they were a plant by Tarquin to finally muscle him out? I dunno.

NeonRonin

2010-07-14, 09:59 PM

If I was trying to fill Belkar's spot in the party, I'd want to go with something that excels where Belkar was somewhat lacking. Thus, I would take a page from Races of the Wild and make a Catfolk Ranger. Not only do they get a whopping +4 to Dex(and a +2 to Cha), they get +1 natural armor, a 40' base move, +2 to Listen and Move Silent, and Low-Light Vision. Oh, and they're Medium-sized. (Just to rub it in.)

Now they do pay for these bonuses with a +1 Level Adjustment, but I find the idea of a Halfling Ranger with a cat companion getting replaced by a Humanoid Cat Ranger rather amusing.

Tyrrell

2010-07-14, 11:29 PM

I'm Belkar's player? I'd have to lobby to bring Thog into the party.

admerwill

2010-07-15, 12:54 AM

I'm Belkar's player? I'd have to lobby to bring Thog into the party.

Yes... so would I.. but assume that the GM has plans for the NPCS and dosnt allow such shenanigans.

MarkusWolfe

2010-07-15, 07:19 AM

I'm thinking a Chaotic Good barbarian. He'd hit hard, take hits, and still have enough survival points to do a decent job tracking. He's also Chaotic enough to get into shenanigans.

Now, if our friend Rich is willing to use splatbooks, then maybe it's not a stretch to use a homebrewed race: (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Neanderthal_%283.5e_Race%29)

STR:20
CON:20
DEX:13
INT:6
WIS:10
CHA:6

Niveus Candidus

2010-07-15, 12:16 PM

A Necropolitan Halfling, named Belkar.

Darklord Xavez

2010-07-15, 12:18 PM

A warlock focusing on abilities that enhance the combat ability he has from those 4 levels of fighter.
-Xavez

Kish

2010-07-15, 12:21 PM

a homebrewed race: (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Neanderthal_%283.5e_Race%29)
...

.....

.......

:smallsigh::smallsigh::smallsigh:

Neanderthals had bigger brains than Cro-Magnons. Bloody stereotypes...

TriForce

2010-07-15, 12:33 PM

personally, i like to switch my chars up a bit, chaotic evil dead? lets play a neutral good one! etc, so, my choice for the new char when belkar dies would probably be something like a TN/NG druid. something that has a mindset a bit different from the rest of the party (as a druid, you tend to think less in evil/good/law/chaos term, and more in natural laws, something none of the order has) and as a NG my druid would be the ideal middle ground in the party.

MarkusWolfe

2010-07-15, 05:22 PM

...

.....

.......

:smallsigh::smallsigh::smallsigh:

Neanderthals had bigger brains than Cro-Magnons. Bloody stereotypes...

Woah there buddy. Neanderthals had bigger bodies, giving them about the same brain to body ratio. However, if 'Walking with Cavemen' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Cavemen) is to be believed, the neanderthals were intelligent but lacking creativity and imaginativeness. (on a related note, Caucasians have been found to have between 1% and 4% Neanderthal DNA)

But yeah, now that I think about it, there's no way Belkar could ever truly be replaced. If he doesn't die in the finale, then he'll come back from hell just to fight alongside the Order of the Stick for one last time.

admerwill

2010-07-15, 09:55 PM

Woah there buddy. Neanderthals had bigger bodies, giving them about the same brain to body ratio. However, if 'Walking with Cavemen' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Cavemen) is to be believed, the neanderthals were intelligent but lacking creativity and imaginativeness. (on a related note, Caucasians have been found to have between 1% and 4% Neanderthal DNA)

But yeah, now that I think about it, there's no way Belkar could ever truly be replaced. If he doesn't die in the finale, then he'll come back from hell just to fight alongside the Order of the Stick for one last time.

It also needs to be noted that not all brains are built the same, a bigger brain pan might not = more smart stuff. Neandertahal could have a different ratio of cell types, as wll as have a lot of fat to keep the brain warm, like dolphin have.

MarkusWolfe

2010-07-15, 11:08 PM

It also needs to be noted that not all brains are built the same, a bigger brain pan might not = more smart stuff. Neandertahal could have a different ratio of cell types, as wll as have a lot of fat to keep the brain warm, like dolphin have.

Yeah, that might have been the reason they weren't so imaginative. On the other hand, they did develop their brains faster, meaning they were adults by about 16...

But we're getting off topic here. This is about a possible replacement for our favorite murderous psychopathic halfling ranger, not developing an IQ test for extinct hominids. Gaugh, I better make a new thread for this so this one doesn't derail.

admerwill

2010-07-16, 12:20 AM

Yeah, that might have been the reason they weren't so imaginative. On the other hand, they did develop their brains faster, meaning they were adults by about 16...

But we're getting off topic here. This is about a possible replacement for our favorite murderous psychopathic halfling ranger, not developing an IQ test for extinct hominids. Gaugh, I better make a new thread for this so this one doesn't derail.

Indeed, i feel as though I should have added more rules , IE no existing NPC's , and possibly Core books only, to go along with the existing party better, but thats me.

Part of me wants to go for the L/N full Ork Monk though.

Amphetryon

2010-07-16, 04:55 AM

admerwill

2010-07-16, 12:58 PM

If I were to roll up an alt for Belkar and OotS, I'd consider a Xeph Ranger/Ardent/Slayer. Psionics are conspicuously under-represented in OotS, so it would be a real opportunity for metaconversation about the Psionics rules. Further, Roy hired Belkar to fill the Tracker role, so I could maintain that function.

I really don't think there underrepresented , Ive only run into one GM that actually allows them, but then again most of the games my friends and i play are lo fantasy.

Faramir

2010-07-16, 02:42 PM

I'm Belkar's player? I'd have to lobby to bring Thog into the party.

No, you're replacing Belkar's player and creating a character of your choice.

I'd probably aim for a sorcerer or wizard who covers the areas that V does not. Specifically someone who knows teleport (as others mentioned above it's the biggest gap for the party currently).

And just to mess with the other players I'd be tempted to play him/her as an elf who is a potential love interest for V now that she/he is single :).

Scarlet Knight

2010-07-18, 01:51 AM

You still need someone to provide the jokes that Belkar did:an evil, power gamer, self centered, AND will serve as a secondary fighter.

I'd role up a pirate! Wenches, grog, booty ... can you see'm ? :smalleek:

:elan: "Sure, I'd love a jig!"

:haley: "Where did you get that map?"

:durkon: "Aye, lad. I kin learn to like this 'ere rum..."

:roy: "So, you throw the harpoon, then pull out a cutlass and dagger to close..."

:vaarsuvius: "Yes , I can see how sodomy and the lash can bind a crew..."

MarkusWolfe

2010-07-18, 08:37 PM

Yeah, I'm liking the sound of Belkar being replaced by a pirate. Maybe a Robin Hood-esque pirate, to contrast Belkar.

CletusMusashi

2010-07-23, 01:35 PM

How about a descendant of Right-Eye? A goblin ranger/rogue with some serious hatred for what Xykon and Uncle Redcloak have done to the goblin people.
That, or a talking horse voiced by Gilbert Gottfried.

Darcy

2010-07-23, 02:10 PM

In seriousness:

Roondar Wittlepipe the Handsome

Male Gnome Sorcerer 14
Chaotic Good

Strength 12
Dexterity 13
Constitution 12
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 9
Charisma 16

Roondar Wittlepipe is a hot-headed but well-meaning sorcerer of the Pebbletoes clan. He is charming and charismatic, but at times a bit of a know-it-all. Growing up in the woodlands of the Sylvan Woodholt, he not only has potent magic at his fingertips, but is also the consummate tracker. However, he has a bit of a "rock star" attitude, believing that as a sorcerer he is destined for greatness. With the help of his weasel familiar Whiskers he will prove to be a valuable asset to the Order of the Stick.

The idea behind Roondar is that he's going to be, according to Roy (or whoever finds him), "the Belkar that never was"- Good-aligned, a successful tracker, overall just a friendly guy- but still have some of his predecessor's annoying habits. Ones that will only come out after he's become a real OotSer. Between Int bonus, skill ranks and a skill focus feat, he has 21 Knowledge (arcana) which will, I hope, be the source of endless frustration to Vaarsuvius. I think a sorcerer-wizard conflict within the group- something akin to V's outrage that Elan was going to take a level in wizard- could be a source of some good jokes. The opportunity for humour with another familiar would be neat- maybe Roondar and Whiskers are old friends? Or perhaps Whiskers is one of many weasels in a long line of weasel familiars, and serving as Roondar's familiar is a like a family honour among them. I don't know if the group needs another caster, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. Also, I just want a gnome in a leading role, because gnomes are cool.

Kish

2010-07-23, 02:20 PM

Nitpick: Y'might want to raise that Charisma some. Vaarsuvius is going to think he's a joke if Vaarsuvius can cast eighth-level spells and Roondar is not only lower level than him/her but also unable to use his own seventh-level spells.

Darcy

2010-07-23, 02:27 PM

Yeah, it was some pretty lazy statting on my part. I was just going with the elite array and adding bonuses for the appropriate levels. It also occurs to me that he should have slightly higher Int. I would want him to be able to argue with V on some level and actually stand a chance, but at the moment V trumps his logic, he says something witty and charming that makes everyone agree with him anyway.