[3.5] Building a Character Around a Roleplaying Idea

[Titanium Fox]

So, I'm building a backup character for a friend's campaign, and I have a very fleshed out personality for this guy. So, he's a lawyer 'for the people', and tends to generally argue on the side of the common man; only accepting payment if he wins a defense, which is a revolutionary idea in the time period this campaign is taking place in. However, he has incredible job security for the fact that he creates his own cases.

He is Lawful Evil.
He has max ranks in Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise and Profession: Lawyer.
He is a Changeling.

What he does when there is a lull in the natural cycle of crime that he can profit off of, he disguises himself as a noble or aristocrat, and goes to a downtrodden man on the street. Not one so low on his look as to appear completely destitute, but the man just struggling to scrape by with a wife and kids, who needs the money desperately not only for himself but for the people he cares about, and offers them 50,000 gold to kill [insert high profile target here].

He then disguises as a random member of the city guard, and approaches the noble he just put out the hit on that very morning, and warns him of the plot on his life as heard through the grapevine. If questioned, he claims to have been in a randomly chosen location in the poorer district of the city.

The man he hired to accomplish the hit is caught. The 'city guardsman' receives a bonus in gold for his accomplishment above and beyond the call of duty.

The changeling, now back in his base form, approaches the now convicted man, and offers him legal council. The man accepts, as with the facts as they are very few appear willing to take him on. My character then selects a third victim, someone in the middle or higher class, as the patsy. Someone who was doing something else illegal that night and has no alibi lest they incriminate themselves for yet another crime, and pins the blame of hiring on them. The original victim goes free, and the lawyer collects money from the original victim.

The second victim goes to prison, and once in a while the lawyer receives an extra stipend as thanks from the endangered noble.

---

So I've got a really fun character concept to play around with! Now the question I have is how do I stat him. The party is level twelve. I'm thinking first level rogue for the alternate changeling class feature which allows him to take ten on bluff, disguise, etc, which would be an immense help towards his constantly slippery nature; and the excess skill points are very much appreciated as well.

Where do I go from there though? In combat I want him to be useful and viable but not quite powerful either, as being powerful doesn't really seem to suit him. I was thinking bard, but I've never been able to play one that does more than stand there and give everyone else in the party +1 for his entire life.

So, any ideas fellow playgrounders?

[Hirax]

I read this and immediately though of unseen seer and spymaster from Complete Mage and Adventurer, repsectively. Rogue2/Sorcerer3/spymaster7/unseen seer8

Spymaster's capstone is perfect for what you want to do. Sorcerer is just there for utility spells.

[noparlpf]

I read this and immediately thought, "Excellent."

Anyway, obviously you need high Charisma. This strikes me as more the type to avoid combat through trickery, though. You might want to get some casting in there to mess around with peoples' minds, or just buff the heck out of your Bluff and Diplomacy.
Oh, and obviously you need ranks in Forgery.

[Maho-Tsukai]

I second the Unseen Seer idea. This guy seems like he should have some form of casting on him, and, obviously, would need to be high-cha synergizes well with cha-based casting(like sorc.) However, if you dislike the idea of casting and are not too keen on making him a sneak attacker-type, then there is the Courtier class from D20 Rokugan. Basically it's a an "aristocratic" skill monkey to the rogue's "criminal" one and while it has a focus on social skills it has a mirade of other skills it can use and abuse, including disquise, forgery ect... It also gets a massive 8+ Int modifier skill points per level. The issue? In combat, it's pretty meh. The rogue at the least has sneak attack to keep up. The Courtier? Not so much. It's still good for a dip though, if you want certain skills and extra gold(the class gives you some extra cash at level 1 to represent the fact your a wealthy aristocrat.)

[Waker]

I'm away from books right now, but what you could probably do would be take levels of the changeling rogue ACF for extra skill points and other bonuses. Spymaster would be one of the obvious choices, but I would also recommend taking some Cabinet Trickster (Races of Eberron) for expanded shapechanging and mind reading. You could try something silly like taking levels of Evangelist (Complete Divine) since it's a talking class that lets you use some bardic music type effects. Uncanny Trickster (Complete Scoundrel) can be thrown in to get some extra skill tricks while still progressing class abilities.
If you have access to Dragon magazine material, another handy class would be a Thrall of Malconthet (sadly requires you to be non-lawful) but it's a class with 7/10 spellcasting progression, huge boosts to bluffing and charisma directly, and a number of other fun toys.

[Titanium Fox]

Just as a note, critiques on the character himself are welcome as well. I'm at work right now and as such don't have access to books, but I'll take a look into all of the suggestions tonight.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

One thing that may or may not be a problem for you is that he's not a "standard adventurer." Seems more like an NPC that adventurers would catch, actually. Is he going to be part of a group, and if so, is he going to play nice? Is he willing to suspend his fun and use his abilities toward other purposes?

Also, what happens when the middle class patsy admits he was committing the illegal activity he was actually doing and uses that as his alibi? What happens when the patsy gets zone of truth'd and still denies having anything to do with it? My best idea is just "get a new patsy," but I guess ZoT isn't reliable enough to be believed (especially when the suspect has enough resources to get Glibness one way or another), and you could choose patsies who are doing even more heinous things than murder for hire. Gives it a bit of a righteous flair.

[nedz]

Bard is an obvious choice - with Perform(Oratory) it would be an easy entry route into Evangalist too.

Marshal is also interesting for a one level dip. Skill Focus(Diplomacy) is free and you could take the minor aura Motivate Charisma.

Alternatively if you want to play an int focussed character (rather than Cha) then Beguiler would work well for the casting. Int is good because it increases your skill points. You would have to be more of an intellectual lawyer rather than a populist though. The Beguiler spells would make up for this.

[Waker]

Well, Modify Memory is a 4th Bard spell that lets you change someone's memories, which could be used to bypass Zone of Truth and the like. A lower level way would be to actually implant the idea of killing the noble into someone via Suggestion.

[Slipperychicken]

Well, Modify Memory is a 4th Bard spell that lets you change someone's memories, which could be used to bypass Zone of Truth and the like. A lower level way would be to actually implant the idea of killing the noble into someone via Suggestion.

AFAIK, the best schemes are ones that remain on the "right" side of the law, but are still morally reprehensible. Getting desperate/uneducated people to sign awful agreements, rapacious fees, etc. Rich people always getting into trouble too. This sort of thing sounds more like a profession check than anything else.

Even lower level: cast message and use some kind of bluff check to disguise your voice, and regular disguise for witnesses, so even if he does try to tell the cops, he can't prove it was you. Also, have at least several different schemes, so its harder to find the "everywhere he goes, X happens" pattern.

[JackRackham]

Just thinking: if the nobles you picked were corrupt enough and you could find a way to pull this off without screwing the poor dude, you could play this as a nuetral or even good character...

[Coidzor]

....You're bilking the guy who is poor enough that he's desperate enough for money to actually consider untrained assassination by sending a well-to-do member of society to prison as the fall guy.

That seems like a financially unsound scheme. :smallconfused:

Now, if his motivation was to create some kind of uprising of the downtrodden against the bourgeoisie and nobs, and this was principally a thing to gain him infamy and credibility with the people...

Still sounds like an incomplete backstory, and needs a hook as to his adventuring persona(e).

[Metahuman1]

I'd look at pumping UMD for your combat, and maybe dipping Swordsage and/or Warblade and focusing on unarmed combat maneuvers. That way you can say "What, me? Of course I know how to protect myself, it's a basic skill that every man should develop. The guard are wonderful but there only human at the end of the day, even the one's with magic! They can't be everywhere all the time, encase of the occasion that your there and the guard isn't and there trouble one should see to it that one is able to handle one's self.

And the Wands? Well, I don't do magic myself, and sometimes in my line of work a bit of magic is a very important tool for getting facts straight or picking up on small details that others may over look. And again, for self defense, naturally. After all, I'm sure there's more then one thug who'd not mind to see me take a sword through the gut. I've destroyed the plans to frame the innocent of enough of them by now. "

[Doughnut Master]

Don't know about how good this actually is, but Mindspy might be a fun choice. Especially for figuring out who your patsy is going to be.

[noparlpf]

Idea: Instead of the plan the way you have it, you need to actually set up some kind of scheme in order to leave a wealthy innocent in a really tight, desperate spot, then exploit him for more wealth than the poor dude you had planned to exploit would ever have.

[NamelessNPC]

All of that is amusing, but I would strongly consider not participating in a campaign where one of my party members is trying to pull all those shenanigans while the rest of the players are saving the world, or worse, just waiting for their turn to play.

Just my opinion.

[Gotterdammerung]

Don't know about how good this actually is, but Mindspy might be a fun choice. Especially for figuring out who your patsy is going to be.


Agree take a look at mindspy.

lvl 1 rogue for ACF,Spymaster, cabinet trickster(warshaper comboes well with the capstone for adding some melee bruhaha), Paragon changeling, Unseen Seer are all nice for this type of build and ebonmar infiltrator out of cityscape might interest you.

Bard and factotum both make good chassis for this type of character.





For Feats there is Rapscallion from dragon magazine 315. It lets you add intell to bluff. There is also another feat i believe it has several manifestations that allows you to reroll failed bluff checks.

[Titanium Fox]

Well, the in character reason for him being forced into adventuring with the party is that he's being forced to. A noble, Constantine, has finally seen through his tricks after years of successful non-detection (primarily for the fact that the SOB is over 600 years old. You pick some things up in that time.) He gave my character two options. A) Go over with this party, as your skills could be useful, and collect me the artifacts, and ensure the party doesn't try to galavant off with them; or B) Go to jail and most likely be executed.

So these shenanigans wouldn't have actual screen-time. They would just be a basis for a character, and demonstrate his skill set. I'm gonna ask the DM if due to his money pandering he can start with 1.5x WBL, but that's about it. Basically you have this framework for a start, and I'll develop him farther by adventuring with the primarily good party. Let's see how long he can go undetected. :smallbiggrin:

[Psyren]

Sounds to me like your biggest problem will be one of the other players rolling a paladin. Don't optimize against that if they don't though, unless an NPC paladin shows up too.

[dspeyer]

What are you looking to do as part of the adventuring party? Presumably opportunities for this style of shenanigans will be limited.

[Titanium Fox]

Sounds to me like your biggest problem will be one of the other players rolling a paladin. Don't optimize against that if they don't though, unless an NPC paladin shows up too.

It's always a possibility. This DM has a tendency to go "I want this character to die now". Case in point the frenzied berserker winding up at -101 health. However if I go Spymaster, I get undetectable alignment at 10, and the character starts at 12.


What are you looking to do as part of the adventuring party? Presumably opportunities for this style of shenanigans will be limited.

Most likely they will be. I'm not really sure, there's no role unfilled. If my old character dies though the tanky damage slot will be empty. I'm currently playing a lasher who deals average 104 damage if all attacks hit; who has 21 AC and a little over 100 max HP.

[SaintRidley]

By base form do you mean your natural, changeling looking form? Because that's a problem if you do your lawyering with people knowing you're a changeling, what with the likely prejudices and suspicions a changeling would face.

[Vladislav]

Well, the in character reason for him being forced into adventuring with the party is that he's being forced to. A noble, Constantine, has finally seen through his tricks after years of successful non-detection (primarily for the fact that the SOB is over 600 years old. You pick some things up in that time.) He gave my character two options. A) Go over with this party, as your skills could be useful, and collect me the artifacts, and ensure the party doesn't try to galavant off with them; or B) Go to jail and most likely be executed.

So these shenanigans wouldn't have actual screen-time. They would just be a basis for a character, and demonstrate his skill set. I'm gonna ask the DM if due to his money pandering he can start with 1.5x WBL, but that's about it. Basically you have this framework for a start, and I'll develop him farther by adventuring with the primarily good party. Let's see how long he can go undetected. :smallbiggrin:

So this is basically a typical case of "yeah, yeah, nice backstory, now get in line with the others and fetch me the McGuffin" ?

[Psyren]

So this is basically a typical case of "yeah, yeah, nice backstory, now get in line with the others and fetch me the McGuffin" ?

Well, he mentioned trying to get higher starting wealth with it, so if he can bamboozle his DM he'll have a nice trust fund to start :smalltongue:

[dspeyer]

Here's an idea...

Rogue 3 / Psion (telepath) 9
Combat Expertise
Improved Feint
Martial Study (Shadow Jaunt)
Martial Stance (Assasin's Stance)
Practiced Manifester

Tell everyone you're a rogue / spymaster.

Make sure to get a ring of conceal alignment. Take the swift concentration skill trick and maintain Read Thoughts constantly. Use it to make your cover smooth.

In battle, feint and stab for 4d6 sneak attack. Until things get bad and then dominate the enemy's tank.

[Arcane_Snowman]

For nefarious schemes like this, I always have a habit of thinking Changeling Factotum/Chameleon. Chameleon broadens your scope of disguises in terms of believability, you posing as a powerful Cleric? Take divine spells, a skilled warrior, you can do that too. Factotum is the best skill oriented class in the game, offering up every single ability, as well as getting an absolutely astounding amount of utility out of even a single rank in a given skill.

Factotum 8/Chameleon 4 would be the starting build, I'd say.

[Zaq]

A fun trick you can do with pretty much any sneaky changeling: when you show people a changeling face, most of them assume that you're showing them your natural face. This does not have to be the case. If you're creative, this can add an extra layer of deception.

[Qwertystop]

I thought Changelings looked the same as humans?

[Coidzor]

I thought Changelings looked the same as humans?

Sort of like a cross between a stereotypical "Grey" and a human, really. Very, very muted facial features, barely extant noses if they have them properly at all, IIRC, some have noses that are only partially separate from their face, more nubs than noses.

...It's not really ever discussed if their almost featureless faces can be used to tell one from another, as far as I can recall.

[Psyren]

I thought Changelings looked the same as humans?

In their natural form? Not at all, they're much closer to dopplegangers. (Which makes sense, because they are descended from them.)

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82084.jpg

[missmvicious]

It's a cool idea. And not without precedence in real world history, actually. Try this link:

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/20571349/Suggestions_on_an_Evil_Diplomancer&post_num=5

You can also check Relics from AEG to get Azaniah's Ring for a +2 bonus to CHA. Toss that on your shapeshifter for good measure, and now your players also have the chance to acquire a nifty little item, that appears good, you discover might be evil, then you discover is actually insidiously good. It would be most tempting to your non-evil players... but the closer to evil the higher the temptation.

That would explain why your Lawyer still goes and attempts to save the person he tempted in the first place, and also why he doesn't just commit the murder himself if the form of a patsy. The ring simply wouldn't let him do that.

[Qwertystop]

Something's off with the Most Recent Post of this thread. It keeps saying there was one at 11:26 today, but it's not showing up.

[Zaq]

Sort of like a cross between a stereotypical "Grey" and a human, really. Very, very muted facial features, barely extant noses if they have them properly at all, IIRC, some have noses that are only partially separate from their face, more nubs than noses.

...It's not really ever discussed if their almost featureless faces can be used to tell one from another, as far as I can recall.

What, so they all look the same to you? Racist.

[Titanium Fox]

This isn't thread Necromancy, right? I hope not. I don't wanna be a Necromancer! :smalleek:

So I've got him rolled up, built up. Anyone have reccomendations for items? I've got 110,000 gp to spend, and I have literally no idea what to buy. I mean he's a city slicker out in the woods, so definitely a tent, bedroll, lantern, the works and amenities of home. But beyond that and basically overstocking mundane adventuring gear because he has no idea what he's doing, what should he get?

I'm looking for items that would make sense for him to already have (EX: An enchanted Dagger or two for self defense; you do make some enemies this way), and that would also be mechanically viable for the build. I also generally tend to suck with feat selection, so any help with that would be appreciated too.

I think I've long term decided on Rogue 2 / Sorcerer 3 / Spymaster 7 / Unseen Seer 8.

Currently, he's Rogue 2 / Sorcerer 3 / Spymaster 7 / Unseen Seer 1.

[Titanium Fox]

Also, here's the character sheet if anyone wants to see. Any recommendations?

http://www.dndsheets.net/view.php?id=27561