PDA

View Full Version : Ideas for a new character (Human Rogue, 3.5)



Cornelius
2010-08-07, 02:50 AM
So I posted this over at the wizards.com Character Development board, but that place is deader than a doornail. I have lurked the boards here for awhile now and I am impressed with the number of gamers and quality of gamer that seem to frequent these boards, so perhaps somebody will be able to assist me.

A little background. I've been out of the D&D saddle for about 7 or 8 years now and I've been chomping at the bit to play again. I'm about to start up again with a new group soon (we'll be playing 3.5). Now, the main group that I used to play with back in the day was.....well, let's just say there was basically no RPing whatsoever. It was all about making the pimpest character with the latest book and kicking the crap out of as many monsters as possible. And I'm not just blaming the others in the group; I myself mostly just made attack and damage rolls when I was supposed to and contributed little else. But this time around I'd like to actually play a character with a history and a personality. And from what I know of my new DM, it's not going to be nearly as munchkiny as my last group.

Unfortunately, I have very little practice in this, having never really bothered to flesh out my characters before. Usually the most I would do is to think of some fictional character and base my character off of him/her. Anyway, before I start begging for help, let me tell you what I've got so far.


Name: Caleb
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Class: Rogue
Level: 1
Alignment: C.N.

Background (prepare to enter Clichesville, population: me. Like I said, I'm new at this):
--Caleb was discovered along with his sister on the steps of the temple of (insert deity here) early one morning.
--He was about 3 or 4 years of age at the time, and his younger sister was perhaps 6 months old.
--She had been laid in a small basket and there was a note pinned to the basket that simply read: "His name is Caleb. Her name is Sophia."
--Caleb cannot remember this, this is just what he was told by the priests when he got older.
--They are raised at the temple (or not....does D&D have foster care / adoption?).
--At some point, maybe when Caleb is about 12 or so, Something Horrible happens.
--During this Something Horrible, his sister is killed/disappears and his world is turned on end.
--He ends up living in the streets after this.
--A few weeks after the "event" he wakes up and thinks Sophia is there; they talk for awhile.
--This continues, and he soon realizes that she is not really there and is a figment of his imagination, and that he can in effect "summon" her, so to speak, whenever he wants to talk.
--He does not talk about this with anyone, and he does have occasional worries that he might be insane.
--Since he started living on the streets he turned to a life of petty theft to survive.
--As he got older he moved on to bigger and bolder targets, eventually burgling homes and stealing horses for money. In addition to straight up theft, he also worked some cons (I like the idea of him as a charismatic schmoozer).
--And that brings us to the present day. Depending on how the DM wants to work him into the campaign I might add some stuff.

(Note: If anyone has read The Walking Dead, I stole the idea about talking to a dead person from Michonne. I thought it would be fun if some of his fellow party members wake up in the middle of the night while Caleb is on watch and see him talking to nothing. It could make for some fun RP opportunities.)


Crunchy Stuff:

I don't have my stats yet, but I think I want to assign them in this order (first being highest):
INT, CHA, DEX, WIS, CON, STR

I know, I know.....Dex as the 3rd highest stat for a Rogue? But I want this guy to be intelligent and charismatic. Doesn't mean I won't get any Dex-based skills....my goal here isn't to optimize.

Skills: Sneaky stuff for burgling: Hide, Move Silently, Spot, Listen. Ride and Handle Animal for stealing horses. Other than that I haven't picked which other roguey skills I want.

Feats: No idea at this point. A lot of it depends on which direction I decide to go combat-wise (see below).


Ok, so I guess my main questions are:

1. Personality: Not sure on this one. Should I play him as angry at the world for what happened? I personally don't think that would be very fun. Gregarious and friendly?

2. Goals: .....dunno. I really don't want it to be "get revenge for the death of his sister". I think he has moved on from that at this point. So what motivates him to go out and adventure?

3. Weapons and Armor: I don't really feel the need to min-max....but at the same time, it would be nice if he wasn't totally worthless in combat. I suppose I could go the route of "throws a billion knives a round"? As for armor....the image I have in my head of him, he isn't wearing any. I just don't see him walking around town in armor. But I know that's probably stupid to not have armor, so.....leather?

4. Anything else: I am hoping that those of you with years of experience can let me know of any ideas you have to make the background I listed above more unique / interesting, and to just flesh it out since there are several areas where I need to fill in some detail.

I realize that the answer to any of these questions could be: Do whatever you feel like you should do. But that's just the thing.....I can't figure out what I should do! I figure if I can get several ideas then it will make it easier to decide which direction I want to go.

Thank you all very very much in advance for your time.

Escheton
2010-08-07, 06:03 AM
Loose rags over a sturdy leather base does the trick well. You don't look armored but it protects you when needed. Lets you blend in crowd well and you can always pull "the beggar" to distract followers with a simple turning-inside-out of a multicolored cloak. Dark bold and light mottled brown/sand for instance.

A reason to start adventuring is the same as belkar: to get out of town, preferably in an armed group. Because the guards/a mark/competition/whoever is after you.
Or just too rotate towns, because you cant run cons and steal too long in the same place unless you are guilded and the town is corrupt as hell.

Consider for crunch the classes: spellthief, lurk, factotum, scout, ninja, psionic rogue.

Cornelius
2010-08-07, 10:47 AM
Thanks for taking the time to read through my wall of text and respond. Nice ideas....I will almost definitely use some of them!

Anybody else care to comment?

iDM
2010-08-07, 02:56 PM
I think that a good way to play Caleb would be: He's friendly and nice to people, generally pleasant to be around, but others sometimes see something "off" about him; maybe they're picking up unusual energies from his contact with souls from other worlds. This, of course, only makes him more intriguing for others to be around. Also, he may be prone to fits of rage at anyone who he believes is disrespecting his sister- or maybe just the dead in general- whether or not they actually are.

Also, a possible Something Horrible: The temple he lives in was desecrated by opposing priests of some evil deity (Vecna, or someone more enigmatic; see BoVD) and the evil priests summoned a demon in the temple to drive out the remaining priests. This demon (or devil, or yugoloth) killed Sophia, which could lead to Caleb having an intense hatred of fiends (more RP fluff).

Marnath
2010-08-07, 03:17 PM
What kind of point-buy are you using to generate his stats? I did a 28 pt for you(because thats what i use), 8str/14dex/10con/16int/12wis/14cha. I know that makes the optimizers on the board cringe, but i think it does what you wanted without gimping his combat TOO much. This gives you enough skillpoints to do a number of things, and if a rogue is sneaky enough to get a nice ambush it might not even get to the actual combat phase.

*edit as far as roleplaying him, think Lancelot from First Knight, assuming you've seen that. It's the one with Sean Connery.

iDM
2010-08-07, 03:47 PM
What kind of point-buy are you using to generate his stats? I did a 28 pt for you(because thats what i use), 8str/14dex/10con/16int/12wis/14cha. I know that makes the optimizers on the board cringe, but i think it does what you wanted without gimping his combat TOO much.

I agree with all the above stats. They lend themselves more to an archery- based rogue, but if he's melee-based, then give him a rapier and Weapon Finesse. There's a feat that gives you a bonus to sneak attack- maybe increases your die size- but I can't remember what. It's mentioned in Exemplars of Evil.

Marnath
2010-08-07, 04:09 PM
Rogue doesn't qualify for weapon finesse at level 1. You need a BAB of +1.

iDM
2010-08-07, 04:15 PM
Rogue doesn't qualify for weapon finesse at level 1. You need a BAB of +1.

Shoot. Too bad. I guess I've only ever made higher-level rogues for new PCs joining a higher-level campaign.

Thefurmonger
2010-08-07, 05:28 PM
Just an Idea out of left field here.

if you want a Int based Charmer that also is Roguey you may want to look to the Beguiler from PHB2.

It is a Rogue with charm and illusion spellcasting, almost no melee but good skills and social spellcasting.

Also, it is not really "taught" as much as a part of you so you could easily say that he unconsciously causes illusions of his sister when he wants to talk, is she real? not? is his spell just a gateway to her soul? well no. but you never know.

Anyway, do yourself a favor and take a look at the class, its really really fun to play.

mabriss lethe
2010-08-07, 05:51 PM
I'd second factotum, possibly going into chameleon later on.

Bladesinger
2010-08-07, 06:18 PM
The armor doesn't have to be a problem. You could easily just get a chain shirt, and wear regular clothes over it (this also adds a bit of an awesome factor to your character). My friends and I have done this several times with our characters.

Now, as for personality, you could say that since he's never really had any sort of a parental figure in his life, he chafes under authority and lives by his own rules (which would point toward his CN alignment). You could even have him think that regular rules don't apply to him, since he wasn't given the same privileges as everyone else growing up. I like iDM's suggestion of the rival church. (In fact, Vecna popped right in my mind when I read the words, "Something Horrible.")

mabriss lethe
2010-08-07, 06:42 PM
The 'something horrible' could even be more sinister than that.

In a lot of game worlds, the evil temples aren't exactly know for advertising their locations in major cities. He and his sister could have been dropped off at a disguised temple of an evil god. The clerics kept up an orphanage as a front. It's a good place to recruit the next generation for the order. Indoctrinating those that seem most pliable to act on the cult's behalf... also a ready supply of sacrifices that won't be missed. Maybe the "Something Horrible" is that the children stumbled upon what was actually going on.

BumblingDM
2010-08-07, 06:51 PM
it would need a little help from your DM but i think for your guy a really cool thing would be to get the trickery domain feat ( In the Complete Champion ) - Read the part about domain feats, you don't really need to be a cleric as long as your belief system clicks with the god you are getting it from.

I think it would give a good way to represent the sister and also can be easily tied to the horrible thing that happened with the character, something to do with shadows or some such evil/curse/bad luck...

anywho hope this gives you some neat ideas

Cornelius
2010-08-08, 01:16 AM
Wow, thanks for all the ideas everyone.

Regarding stats.....we're still waiting for a final ruling on how stats will be generated; I think he's leaning more towards rolling them up rather than point-buy (archaic, I know :). But his method is pretty generous....can't remember exactly but it's something like 5d6, drop the lowest 2, arrange as you like. And I think he even allows you to roll two full sets of stats and choose the one you want. But the numbers Marnath provided look like an array I'd be happy with.

You've given me lots of stuff to work with, story-wise. I'm sure I will shamelessly steal a lot of it.

I think the main thing I'm still trying to figure out is how I want to handle combat....what his fighting style will be and what feats I will get (not that my feats have to be combat-related, but.....).

Escheton
2010-08-08, 01:25 AM
Brave or cowardly, right
Sneaky or bold, that sorta thing.

I would switch it up. Have him be opposed to use of guile, trickery and deception but using it anyways as a means of survival. He wants to be in the thick of things, but unless he has good support knows he simply can't and thus uses the terrain and snipes, or stabs preemptively even though it disgusts him.

He should always have a hidden dagger or 2, and 1 somewhat in sight to not look like a mark to the shady figures he sometimes deals with. And perhaps a light crossbow at a hideout that he takes with him when on the road as it would otherwise attract attention he can't afford.

BumblingDM
2010-08-08, 05:22 PM
Reading over what you have up there -

N
I would role play him somewhat like a pragmatic Aladdin, he sees the girl in trouble, maybe really wants to help but often spends that round or so considering what will happen if he is caught - steals when he knows he cannot be caught or blamed, almost kind of proud no one knows who he is.

NG

Go with the kind of Big Fish character, charming and smart but often gets into problems beyond his ability.

And totally would agree with the idea of carrying a multitide of knives, small and big for various uses.

Using the trickey domain he would be able to basically summon his sister as an illusion/unseen servant that does small things for him - talks to her when by himself, uses her to help him steal - she runs down an alley before she disappers while other people are looking that way he jacks the food or whatever.

Bladesinger
2010-08-08, 09:18 PM
For flavor reasons, I'd suggest the quick draw feat. I've always loved the idea of appearing unarmed, then having weapons in your hands in an instant. If done correctly, it's also a good way of getting sneak attacks. I know you won't be able to get it at level one, but it should be on your to-do list, right along with (but perhaps after) weapon finesse.

Tokuhara
2010-08-08, 09:40 PM
I second Beguiler and Spellthief. Heck, combo them into a multiclass with Unseen Seer/Arcane Trickster