The Doctor - Build Help

[Prospector]

So I was trying to think of interesting Npc's to put into a campaign and had a random thought (which I am prone to). What if I had the Doctor appear in a game? How would one make the Doctor?

Now I'm not the well versed in a lot of the 3.5 extra material. I really have no idea on how to accomplish this. So I come before you all in hopes that you might have good suggestions on how to build a 900+ year old Time Lord and his Type 40 TARDIS. 3.5 or Pathfinder is fine. The only restrictions (I can think of) is that he has to look human, be able to solve things other than with (direct) violence, and some form of good (I thinking CG but others might say NG).

[Snowbluff]

Factotum with max knowledge skills?

[Gavinfoxx]

(Chaotic Good) Lesser Cansin would be a great race for him. The hair, the chaos, the intelligence and Charisma, the looks like human but isn't... exotic from far away

That's what I used!

Handbook for Planetouched races:

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=6992.0

If you want to make him Immortal and good at languages, get Wedded to History with the Language option...

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5996.0 (Immortality Handbook)

[Stormageddon]

Make sure you take the Run feat.

[Jheska]

For class use a psion perhaps, if you plan on giving him temporal shenanigans they're the only ones who really get those. He'll have plenty of skill points for his knowledge stats with that Int focus.

Use his "sonic resonator" whenever he manifests certain powers and claim that's what does it since there's no required physical gestures or verbals.

Elan is suitably not quite human, if your setting does not already use them. It also gives him a use for his hefty power points.

[Gavinfoxx]

Be sure to look at this as well:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166492

I don't think he should really be an Elan... he is very charismatic...

[Yorae]

Make sure you take the Run feat.

Seconded.

Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved.

[Weezer]

He is almost certainly a Factotum in possession of an intelligent artifact that is bigger on the inside and travels through time. Aside from that, I think you'll have to make up a race to give you the 12 regenerations thing, nothing I can think of remotely fits.

[navar100]

Rogue, definitely, and a bit multiclassing into Psion as a Telepath. High ranks in Bluff, a bit less but still high in Intimidate, and even less but not too low in Diplomacy. He uses bluff mostly to blend in, but diplomacy can work. However, he always seems to fail the diplomacy check when trying to convince the bad guy to choose the peaceful option at the last moment. He's good at convincing friends and neutrals to do stuff, but he can't convince enemies. He's tops in Spot, Hide, Search, Move Silently, Listen, Sleight of Hand, Climb, Balance, Jump, Tumbling.

Average Strength, good Dexterity and Constitution, phenomenal Intelligence and Wisdom, good Charisma.

Definitely has the feat Leadership. His Cohort (Companion) keeps changing, but he has the feat.

Alignment: Chaotic Good

[Yorae]

Rogue, definitely, and a bit multiclassing into Psion as a Telepath. High ranks in Bluff, a bit less but still high in Intimidate, and even less but not too low in Diplomacy. He uses bluff mostly to blend in, but diplomacy can work. However, he always seems to fail the diplomacy check when trying to convince the bad guy to choose the peaceful option at the last moment. He's good at convincing friends and neutrals to do stuff, but he can't convince enemies. He's tops in Spot, Hide, Search, Move Silently, Listen, Sleight of Hand, Climb, Balance, Jump, Tumbling.

Average Strength, good Dexterity and Constitution, phenomenal Intelligence and Wisdom, good Charisma.

Definitely has the feat Leadership. His Cohort (Companion) keeps changing, but he has the feat.

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Perhaps an Ardent?

Mantle choices could include Time and Knowledge

Mayber, depending on the incarnation of the doctor, Conflict, Guardian, or Justice.

Scratch that, Communication fits very well.

He definately has a slotless wondrous item that gives a large bonus to Open Lock and Disable Device. Maybe it's also a cursed wand of Knock with intermittent functioning that only fails when its convenient for the plot.

I also think he might have a level of Binder in there somewhere and never unbinds Naberius. Seriously, read Naberius' "influence" entry. "You love the sound of your own voice and are constantly pleased by your cleverness."

[satorian]

There are bunch of homebrew resources people have already put together for timelords. You can find a prestige class here (http://www.angelfire.com/games4/doctorwhoeyespy/D20DW.html) and a race here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138765).

[Wings of Peace]

I'll see if I can find it, but look for the Eternal Hero epic destiny for 3.5. It was in a web article that got deleted but I'm sure there's a summary somewhere. Longstory short if you die you respawn around dawn. That's as close to a Timelord regen as you're going to get. Just use the rules for adapting it to non-epic and you're set.

Also, contrary to what others have said, I would say that the doctor isn't particularly charismatic. Yes he gets charismatic during arc climaxes but usually people find him to be a bit weird at first, even his companions don't get him when they first meet him. It's only after they see the Doctor in action that people start to follow him.

[TechnoScrabble]

Epic factotum, wedded to history, multiple glammered whatever of holding or self create an item with morrenkainens mansion. Run, endurance, diehard, and iron will.

[The-Mage-King]

Epic Elan Factotum//Savant Gestalt. With Wedded to History, Item Familiar (the Sonic Screwdriver), Leadership (Followerless), and Landlord (TARDIS).


And we can't forget the Quick trait, Dash feat, and Run.

[Gavinfoxx]

Why no one has made an LA+1 or an LA+2 Time Lord Race I don't know...

[The-Mage-King]

Why no one has made an LA+1 or an LA+2 Time Lord Race I don't know...

Because Elan works.


Also, put this Epic Destiny (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4673929) onto that little build.

[Eldan]

Why no one has made an LA+1 or an LA+2 Time Lord Race I don't know...

I'd say 12 free contingent reincarnations (always same race) alone would put it above that. Then add in two hearts (constitution bonus? Bonus against death effects) and possible inborn psionic powers of a telepathic persuasion...

[Toliudar]

I'll add a +1 for high level factotum and good gear. Cunning Surge takes care of "I'll just rush around and solve this while you watch me".

[Zonugal]

Astral Seed can handle the whole dying and coming back in a new body thing.

Seriously, Psionics is the way to go here.

[Eldan]

I'd personally think Psionic Factotum. He just tends to pull powers out of his behind a few times. E.g. the psychic headbutt.

[Piggy Knowles]

Quoting myself from an earlier thread on how to make the Doctor...



Half-Elf, Bard/Psionic Artificer // Factotum

Half-Elf with the Elf representing Time Lord, calling back to the pre-2005 episodes that always implied that the Doctor was part-human. It works out well, because the Half-Elf bard substitution levels give you Soothing Voice, which the Doctor absolutely has. His ability to talk himself out of situations is legendary, and so he's got to be some sort of diplomancer. Factotum for the intelligence bonus to, well, everything, plus the general skills. Artificer for the ability to use and tweak every item in existence.

And yes, Item Familiar for a sonic screwdriver is a must.

[Kaje]

The only thing to imply the Doctor was half human was the TV movie.

[Piggy Knowles]

The only thing to imply the Doctor was half human was the TV movie.

And the BBC novels from the nineties - I seem to remember there was one that specifically said his mother was human. Really, I'm just using it as an excuse to get Soothing Voice into the build.

EDIT: But yeah, "always implied" is pretty harsh language, for just a few references.

[skycycle blues]

There have been things in the more recent episodes suggesting that Time Lords evolved from humans due to some sort of interaction with Time Vortexes and the Untempered Schism.

River Song was born from two human parents as a Time Lord due to prenatal exposure to the TARDIS's Time Vortex.

[navar100]

The only thing to imply the Doctor was half human was the TV movie.

It's canon. Paul Mcgann's portrayal Doctor has been referenced on the show.

Maybe we'll learn more next season, since the First Question, The Obvious Question hidden in plain sight is hinted as being answered.

Doctor Who?

:smallbiggrin:

[Weezer]

There have been things in the more recent episodes suggesting that Time Lords evolved from humans due to some sort of interaction with Time Vortexes and the Untempered Schism.

River Song was born from two human parents as a Time Lord due to prenatal exposure to the TARDIS's Time Vortex.

Actually it's more likely that exposure of any race to the Untempered Schism will infuse them with many of the characteristics of the Time Lords. In fact it's pretty well indicated that your average Gallifreyan is in fact not a Time Lord, only those who are exposed to it gain those powers (regeneration being the biggest one).

[Barlen]

It's canon. Paul Mcgann's portrayal Doctor has been referenced on the show.



Rule #1: the Doctor lies.

[Reluctance]

There have been things in the more recent episodes suggesting that Time Lords evolved from humans due to some sort of interaction with Time Vortexes and the Untempered Schism.

Unless you can explain how humans wound up on Gallifrey in the first place, the easier answer is that rift energies can give anyone regenerative properties. It's just that Gallifrey had easy access, while most other creatures needed a lot of help.

Why you don't have regenerating daleks or children of time agents is a question for the writers to handwave away or ignore.


Maybe we'll learn more next season, since the First Question, The Obvious Question hidden in plain sight is hinted as being answered.

Doctor Who?

42?

I don't get it either.

[Redshirt Army]

There've been some other threads about this in the past, you can peruse them for some advice.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218214
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198481

Earlier advice:



One way of simulating the whole "ancient wanderer" thing is the Wedded to History feat in Dragon #354 - it stops you from aging or dieing of old age, and gives you a single thematically fitting benefit, ranging from augury 1/day as a SLA, +3 to Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate to anyone who knows who you are, a bonus to UMD, to the ability to not count as your type for spell effects.

All of these are appropriate enough for the Doctor that I suspect the writers were fans, especially since three feats in the section let you always have the right item at hand, shuffle your internal organs around, and let you survive death with merely some Strength and Con drain- Regeneration sickness anyone?

Beyond that, it's not particularly difficult to build a flying box that can Teleport and is bigger on the inside using Stonghold Builders Guide, though letting it travel through time is prohibitively expensive (Teleport through Time is a 9th level spell. (I calculated 48,850 gp at level 12 if you take the Landlord feat without time travel.)

I suspect the Sonic Screwdriver is just a bunch of wands taped sovereign glued together (probably Knock, Detect Magic, and Dispel Magic), along with an infinite use item of Prestidigitation, though it's used infrequently enough per episode for most of those to be eternal wands instead.

Most of the ways of screwing with time are psionic, so your friend will want to invest ranks in Use Psionic Device if he's not going to be a psionic class (I personally recommend Factotum from Dungeonscape, though an Archivist (Heros of Horror) or Artificer (Eberron Campaign Setting) would also fit.)


You can also simulate immortality though the Elan race, and by using the feat Planar Touchstone: The Peak of Continuation.

(In case you're wondering, yes I did throw a Doctor reference at my players, and Elan Archivist with Planar Touchstone: The Peak of Continuation, Landlord, and Leadership. I only recently found Wedded to History, and I honestly like it more than Elan - there's no way the Doctor has a Charisma penalty.)



You're missing Item Familiar! Can't forget the sonic in that mix, and using it to get back extra bonuses in UMD/Open Lock sounds just about right.


I was never quite sure on how to stat up the Sonic Screwdriver... off the top of my head, he's used it to:

Open Locks
Dismantle Machinery
Detonate Landmines
Weld
Repair Electronics
Send and Receive Signals
Scan Substances
Ignite Objects
Amplify Sound
Amplify Radiation
Remotely operate the TARDIS


So, that's Knock, Mending, Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Prestidigitation, Control Sound (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/controlSound.htm), Sending...

I can't really think of a way to receive signals or amplify radiation using D&D spells, though I may be missing some other screwdriver functions.


I'd say the best way to represent the screwdriver would be to make it a use activated item of Knock and Prestidigitation, with the restrictions that it doesn't work on wood and prestidigitation is only used for manipulation of objects, none of the cleaning, color etc functions work. This covers the Sonic's original functions, eliminating the power creep that has accompanied it.


As (essentially) a mythological trickster-figure with only vague limits on what he can do within his realm of expertise, he's best modeled in systems that are designed to handle such, like Scion or Nobilis. Even if the game you are running IS in D&D 3.5; breaking the rules is what figures like the Doctor are all about. :smallwink:


Hang on, gimme a sec, I had a TARDIS (well, sort of, it couldn't travel through time because my DM would have lynched me if I tried to slap a Teleport through Time on it.) statted out using the Stronghold Builders Guide.
I'll post it when I find it.

EDIT:

The TARDIS : 1 Stronghold Space

I lost most of the math up to this point, so you'll have to take my word for it, but a Level 12 character with the Landlord feat could have a TARDIS with:

Permanent CL 11 Magnificent Mansion Effect
Greater Plane Shift 4x Per Day (To get somewhere, just GPS twice: It even simulates the time vortex!)
Flying
Speed of 10 miles/hour (Seems low, but it's the maximum the SBG allows.)
Airtight
A composite Living Wood/Iron outer wall, with magical treatment to double HP/hardness

And with all the amenities of a Magnificent Mansion, plus the effects of a Everfull Larder and Decanter of Endless Water, as well as a Well of Devouring to get rid of waste.

For a total of 48,850 gp, already including all cost reducers from Landlord, being able to cast a bunch of stuff, and building in a scenic waste-filled dump the exact right distance away from a average-sized town, with monsters nearby (of CR 9, so nothing you can't handle.)

As I recall, I statted the Doctor out as an elan archivist (though the class is not that important, just get that UMD + Knowledge flavor) with the Landlord and Leadership feats, and the Planar Touchstone: The Peak of Continuation feat to simulate regeneration.


Possibly adding a problem to the discussion: :smallbiggrin:

His alignment is Chaotic Good.


Chaotic Neutral, I'd think; certainly as of the new seasons. To build him any other way would be missing his defining feature: he values diversity and freedom of choice among all other qualities.

- He wanders not to see good things, or bad things, or save people, but to see all the wonders that the universe has to offer. He states this as his primary goal over and over again. Even when encountering beings humans would label as Evil, he finds them fascinating and worthy of protection so long as they are distinctive and different.

- All of his major enemies are freedom-destroyers: they either want to kill everyone who isn't them or force everyone who isn't them to BECOME them or force everyone who isn't them to do their bidding. He butts heads with other types of people, but the ones he really hates follow that pattern with no exceptions.

- He is willing to commit apocalyptic-level acts of Evil (in the D&D sense), and has done so more than once, in the service of freedom/diversity; he is happy to commit Good acts when he is able to but it's not actually his highest priority.

Phew.

[imneuromancer]

Personally, I think one could play The Doctor as a Bard.

Considering the huge amount of knowledge The Doctor always seems to have, plus with all of the sonic-based spells, the sonic screwdriver would kind of make sense (The sonic lyre?)

Of course, you would have to have Leadership (what Doctor doesn't have a Companion?)

IIRC, Bards get various rope trick/shelter type spells that could effectively be your TARDIS.....