Can't Think of a Character

[Zach J.]

I have been asked to join a new gaming group. My first game with them is tomorrow, but I have no idea what to play. I have not been able to think of an interesting character so I thought that at least I could make something that will gel with the party as a whole. The rest of the party is made up of a Paladin, a Rogue, a Sorcerer and a Warmage. They are all level 6.

The DM had players reroll 1's during character creation and as a result I wound up with some good rolls: 17, 16, 16, 16, 15, 15. I am not asking if someone will make my character for me; I just need a good idea. Something to get me started.

Edit: I forgot to mention it before, but I only have access to the SRD and I do not know my DM's current stance on psionics.

[holywhippet]

Well, that party looks like it is lacking in divine casters/healers. As such, cleric or druid would be good choices.

A bard might be ok to cover any gaps in knowledge/diplomacy skills. They can cast some healing spells and thus use wands.

[Novawurmson]

I'd recommend a Lawful or Good character to help your Paladin with any alignment quandries. Taking the idea of a divine caster, I once played a Lawful Neutral Cleric of a god of war and honor who was really fun to roleplay. I've also nursed the idea of a Lawful Neutral Druid who sees the cycles of life and death, warm and cool, seasons, phases of the moon, etc. as evidence of the natural order of all things: A season for everything under the sun.

[Morbis Meh]

May I suggest an archivist from Heroes of Horror? It's a divine caster that focuses on knowledge (which your party seems to lack) and shouldn't step on the toes of the paladin too much.

[Hirax]

Barbarian2/fighter4 and into blackguard next level - use the whirling frenzy variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy ) and wolf totem variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ).

Feats:
Human: Power attack
1: Cleave
3: Spiked chain proficiency
6: Combat reflexes
F1: Improved sunder (ask your DM to dump this as a blackguard pre req if possible, it's a terrible feat)
F2: Improved initiative
F4: Knockdown (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown)

At level 8 you'll get your charisma mod to saves, to make sure you put one of those 16s into charisma. Use your level 4 stat bump to put your 17 at 18, and put it into strength.

edit: crap, I just noticed you have a paladin in the party, blackguard probably won't play well with that. This is a SRD only build, so if you can get access to Complete Divine, you could become a pious templar instead of a blackguard.

[Zach J.]

Thank you for all of the replies. I agree that a divine caster would be most useful considering the party. I saw the Cloistered Cleric variant and thought it looked interesting. I will add more to this post as I continue to think about the character, that is if anyone is interested.

[onemorelurker]

In general, the Guide to Free D&D (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=513.0) is your friend when you don't have actual book access.

The Archivist (the divine caster that Morbius Meh suggested) is in there, and I think you should take a look at it if you're interested in the Cloistered Cleric. It's similar in that it's a highly skilled divine caster (fewer base skillpoints, but it's int-based, so you'll probably end up with more overall), but it's more flavorful, which I personally find helpful when I'm stuck for a character concept.

[Zach J.]

Thank you very much, onemorelurker; that's a very helpful link. I'll be sure to give the archivist a look.

Edit: Do Archivists lend themselves to the Loremaster prestige class or is it better to stay in the base class?

[holywhippet]

Welll, you'd have a lower hit die per level and lose out the bonus feats of the archivist.

In exchange you get something like the bardic knowledge skill and a bunch of different bonuses as you level up.

I'd stick with the base class personally.

[onemorelurker]

Welll, you'd have a lower hit die per level and lose out the bonus feats of the archivist.

In exchange you get something like the bardic knowledge skill and a bunch of different bonuses as you level up.

I'd stick with the base class personally.

Plus, depending on how you're planning to play the character, Loremaster can have quite a feat tax. I would at least get (eventually; I know you're starting at level 6) 11 levels of Archivist, because Dread Secret is extremely nice. If you really want Bardic Knowledge and were planning on having three metamagic/item creation feats anyhow, a two-level dip in Loremaster won't hose you or anything.

[Wings of Peace]

Barbarian2/fighter4 and into blackguard next level - use the whirling frenzy variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy ) and wolf totem variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ).

Feats:
Human: Power attack
1: Cleave
3: Spiked chain proficiency
6: Combat reflexes
F1: Improved sunder (ask your DM to dump this as a blackguard pre req if possible, it's a terrible feat)
F2: Improved initiative
F4: Knockdown (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown)

At level 8 you'll get your charisma mod to saves, to make sure you put one of those 16s into charisma. Use your level 4 stat bump to put your 17 at 18, and put it into strength.

edit: crap, I just noticed you have a paladin in the party, blackguard probably won't play well with that. This is a SRD only build, so if you can get access to Complete Divine, you could become a pious templar instead of a blackguard.

Woah woah woah, wait a minute, there's totems other than Lion? :smalltongue:

Edit: Phailed to read book list.

[Hirax]

Woah woah woah, wait a minute, there's totems other than Lion? :smalltongue:

In an SRD only situation. >_>

Though they trade out different things, so there's no reason you couldn't double fist a lion and wolf totem when you pray in the morning, or whatever. Wolf totem is actually useful though, because it gets you improved trip without needing to take combat expertise, and knock-down doesn't have combat expertise as a pre req, only improved trip. I love it when feats don't include the entire tree in their pre reqs. :smallbiggrin:

[Rejusu]

Thank you very much, onemorelurker; that's a very helpful link. I'll be sure to give the archivist a look.

Edit: Do Archivists lend themselves to the Loremaster prestige class or is it better to stay in the base class?

Word of warning on the Archivist, how good it is depends on your DM. Unless they're prepared to throw spells for you to learn every so often then it's not that great.



The DM directly controls how powerful you are

An archivist, more than almost any other class, has a power level that is directly proportional to how many options are allowed in the campaign. The more divine spells there are, the wider your spell list is. Here are a list of thing that if allowed, will affect your power:

• Adepts – This NPC class gives access to some divine spells earlier than most PC classes.
• Any sort of cheap trick to get any Sorcerer/Wizard spell as a divine spell – I’m not talking about domains that grant wizard spells as divine spells, but class features that allow virtually any Sorcerer/Wizard spell as a divine spell. Some examples of this include Divine Magician variant, Hexer PrC, and Favored Souls of Bahamut/Tiamat.
• Divine Bard – This variant found in Unearthed Arcana or the online SRD allows you to add any bard spell to the spell list.
• Warlock or Pre-errata Artificers – Level 12 Warlocks or Pre-errata Artificers can create any divine spell in the game. A PC like that in your party can be a valuable asset to your Archivist.
• Any non-core divine casting class – Shugenja, Favoured Soul, Healer, and Spirit Shaman for example.
• Divine Prestige Classes that add more spells to the class’s spell list.
• Any Domains – According to Sage Advice, divine spells from domains are fine. (see below)

As it's SRD/Free only your choices might be limited, and if the DM doesn't give you opportunities to learn spells you might be better off just playing a Cleric instead.

In regards to psionics if you make a psionic and the DM vetoes it while claiming it's overpowered you should make sure to squash his silly misconceptions. How people believe psionics is overpowered when it's classes are all spread across tiers 2-5. The only psionic in tier 1 is the online only spell-to-power erudite variant and only the Psion and non-s2p erudite make it into tier 2. Conversely tier 1 is home to the wizard, druid, and cleric. All core classes from the players handbook. The archivist also ranks as a tier 1 class interestingly.

Frankly for the most part psionics is very balanced, with it's exceptions being it's few underpowered classes (Divine Mind and Soulknife) rather than any overpowered classes. Psion and Psychic warrior in particular are very well put together.

[HunterOfJello]

In a normal group you want to fill up the traditional spots of Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Cleric. That's what the game was designed around. The Paladin takes up the fighter spot and very very tiny amount of the cleric spot. The rogue can handle most of the rogue things and any of the social aspects that the rogue skips out on can be handled by the paladin or sorcerer (both are good party faces). The warmage and sorcerer together can handle most of the arcane magicks, even though they aren't up to a wizard's level of diversity.

That leaves out the cleric-type role. The four classes that immediately come to mind are Favored Soul, Cleric, Druid, and Archvist. That's in order of complexity.

If you only have the SRD to use, then that leave only the Cleric and Druid. I usually rate the cleric a bit higher in this situation since the Spell Compendium isn't present. If you had access to that book then there are lots of other options for both the Cleric and Druid classes to use.

Both clerics and druids are awesome. Choose one based on your personal tastes. Clerics have more of a support role and druids have more of a "I do everything all the time!" role. Since you have high stats, both classes would work great and you could even make your cleric a melee beast.

[Acanous]

Go Druid. Let the paladin Ley on Hands for whatever heals can't be done from a wand. Given the choices the party made, warning bells are going off that they'd expect any cleric to be a healbot.
Druid will let you do whatever you want, has cheaper material components in any situation where wiz/cler/dru components differ, and the only real question you need an answer to is "Are fleshrakers a viable animal companion in this campaign?"

[Zach J.]

I considered making a warrior-priest character (LG Dwarf Cleric), but I thought the idea was too similar to a paladin and didn't want to steal any of the other character's time under the spotlight. I imagine a cleric that just focused on buffing and defensive magic would be useful to the party, but I am not sure if it would be fun to play. Does anyone have experience playing a character like this?

Edit: I do not know if fleshrakers are allowed in the game or even exist in the DM's campaign setting. I had given thought to a druid character, but between summons, companions and wild shapes...it looked like more bookkeeping than I was comfortable with doing.

[hymer]

There's a little old man, a cloistered cleric, in my campaign. He's a hoot in strict RP, and the players says he definitely feels useful. He does chafe a bit under the lack of something to do when he isn't casting spells, when other clerics might be doing some bashing of heads.
So I'd suggest coming up with some way to avoid that problem, at least if it's a combat heavy campaign.
Getting the Magic domain for access to some wizard items may be a way to do it. Making an archer and using Divine Power and such when things get serious could be another way.

[Toliudar]

I play with that archetype all the time - stealing from everything from Ichabod Crane, the Matthew Broderick character Mouse in Ladyhawke, a scholarly monk (not Monk), a jaded aesthete who's found religion late in life, a younger son of a minor noble who was sent into the church against his will, a grandmother shaman, and a blatant ripoff of Magrat from Wyrd Sisters.

In short, Cloistered Cleric (or Archivist) are a great chassis for a character whose fluff may not include "I'm good at stabbing things", but whose crunch allows you to be flexibly useful in nearly every situation.

Yes yes yes.

Edit: and if you worry about having something to do in combat, take the Fiery Burst reserve feat. Even in close combat, you can usually find a way to position it so that it's hitting enemies and not allies.

[Midnight_v]

I considered making a warrior-priest character (LG Dwarf Cleric), but I thought the idea was too similar to a paladin and didn't want to steal any of the other character's time under the spotlight. I imagine a cleric that just focused on buffing and defensive magic would be useful to the party, but I am not sure if it would be fun to play. Does anyone have experience playing a character like this?

Edit: I do not know if fleshrakers are allowed in the game or even exist in the DM's campaign setting. I had given thought to a druid character, but between summons, companions and wild shapes...it looked like more bookkeeping than I was comfortable with doing.

It very well COULD get old, and yes I've played it before... but, here's the cool thing about being a Cleric or a Druid.
One Session? You take all the buff spells and do that.
Next session? Start casting walls of arbitrarium controling the battlefied, helping your party win.
3rd session? Cast some divinations so the crew has intels...
4th session? Keep a spell in reserve: Turn into a giant green rage monster help pally on the frontlines for a single fight: go back to healing
5th session: Focus on healing/and buffs.

So... go head a be a cleric or a sister-god, or be a robe wearing hippy cleric, or druid. . .
Druid is the safest as far as RP protection goes. You'll never really share the same conceptual space with the pally, while having the "option" to filling nearly any role as needed.

I know you don't need us to make it for you but a quickstart srd druid would be like

Human Druid X
Feats:
H. Improved Intiative
1. Augment Summoning
3. Point blank Shot
6. Natural Spell
and either cast Entagle followed by arrows or eventually entangle followed by summons if you want.
Though you can always use your powers for healing also, and convert what you don't need for healing or entangles to summons.

Storywise you could very well be an emmissary to the pally's church and make sure yeah you're lawful good as mentioned above to lessen the friction from moral quandaries. . . so long as it doesn't slide into "diplomancy" etc.

[onemorelurker]

Human Druid X
Feats:
H. Improved Intiative
1. Augment Summoning
3. Point blank Shot
6. Natural Spell


How are you getting Augment Summoning without Spell Focus (Conj)? Whatever the trick is there, I want to learn it, because, man, screw Spell Focus (Conj) in a summoning build.

[Flickerdart]

In an SRD only situation, a buffer isn't as fun as with splats (Wizard into War Weaver makes your party into deadly gods of war). If healing is your concern, Psion into Sangehirn can share Vigor with buddies, which will allow you to slather your party members in layers of sweet temporary hit points. This only opens up at level 8 though.

[Zach J.]

Edit: I decided to switch out the Cloistered Cleric for a Druid. I have made a conscious decision to not optimize this character as I have played druids before and know it can be easy to overshadow other party members.

Old TN Human Druid
STR 12, DEX 12, CON 13, INT 18, WIS 22, CHA 18

Concentration +10, Handle Animal +13, Heal +17, Knowledge (Nature) +15, Listen +15, Speak Language (Common, Draconic, Druidic, Elven, Gnome, Sylvan), Spellcraft +13, Spot +15, Survival +21

Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Self-Sufficient, Track

Equipment: Darkwood Quarterstaff, +1 Dragonhide Breastplate, Periapt of Wisdom +2, Cloak of Resistance +1, Ring of Protection +1, Pearl of Power (1st Level Spell), Wand of Cure Light Wounds, 2 Scrolls of Cure Moderate Wounds, 1 Scroll of Reincarnate with 210 gp left for mundane gear.

Hawk Animal Companion

Spells Prepared:
0 Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Know Direction, Light
1 Cure Light Wounds (2), Entangle (DC 17), Obscuring Mist, Speak with Animals
2 Barkskin (2), Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, Resist Energy
3 Cure Moderate Wounds, Greater Magic Fang, Poison (DC 19)

Edit: After deciding once again that druids require more bookkeeping than I am comfortable with I made a Cleric of Pelor. Here's what I have:

NG Human Cleric of Pelor 6
STR 16, DEX 15, CON 16, INT 15, WIS 20, CHA 16

HP 48
AC 21 (+2 DEX, +6 Armor, +3 Shield)

FORT +9, REF +5, WILL +11

Concentration +12, Diplomacy +10, Heal +10, Knowledge (Relgion) +11, Sense Motive +8, Speak Language (Celestial, Common, Draconic), Spellcraft +11

Augment Healing, Divine Metamagic: Reach Spell, Extra Turning, Reach Spell

Equipment: +1 Heavy Mace, Masterwork Light Crossbow with 10 +1 Bolts, +1 Chainmail, +1 Heavy Steel Shield, Periapt of Wisdom +2, Cloak of Resistance +1, Wand of Cure Light Wounds, Scroll Case with Scrolls of Dispel Magic, Remove Blindness/Deafness and Remove Disease, Potion of Shield of Faith (+3 AC), Silver Holy Symbol of Pelor, Healer's Kit, Cleric's Vestments, Backpack, Bedroll, 3 Belt Pouches, 10 Days' Trail Rations, Waterskin, Everburning Torch, 2 Flasks of Holy Water with 3 pp, 24 gp and 19 sp

An idea of spell selection for a typical adventuring day:
SPELLS (5/5+1/4+1/3+1)
Domains: Healing, Sun
0 Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Light (2), Purify Food and Drink
1 Bless (2), Endure Elements, Protection from Evil, Remove Fear, Sanctuary
2 Cure Moderate Wounds (2d8+11), Lesser Restoration, Remove Paralysis, Resist Energy (2)
3 Cure Serious Wounds (3d8+13), Daylight, Magic Circle Against Evil, Prayer