[3.5] Mass Effect Party as D&D Characters?

[Titanium Fox]

Howdy Playgrounders!

I'm working on some backup characters and other various projects, and it's led me to be curious. I've been in a small obsession with Mass Effect, and I think it would be cool to have Fantasy equivalents of all of them statted out and ready to go. I just can't come up with Races and Classes for some of them.

Tali - NG Artificer
Samara - LN Sorcerer
Grunt - CN Barbarian / Frenzied Bezerker - Orc Bezerker
Jack - NE Warlock
Thane - CG Rogue / Assassin (the version one that allows for alignment)
Legion - N ??? - Warforged (Or Golem / Construct)
Garrus - CN ???
Mordin - ??? ???
Miranda - LN ???
Jacob - CN ???

Any thoughts or input? I thought this would be a cool thought exercise, but now I'm at a wall.

[Maquise]

I'd say Jack is a Wilder. It fits her personality, and psionics seem closer to biotics than other forms of magic.

[Lapak]

Hmm. Garrus is Chaotic Good, not Neutral; he wants to work for the common good and thinks that regulations just get in the way. Arguably, he shifts to NG in ME2 and a grudging LG in ME3, as he gets more entrenched in and comfortable with authority structures. He's obviously a sniper build of some kind.

Mordin is a True-Neutral Druid, messin' with nature to achieve a balance that allows everyone to live and let live.

Miranda's do-everything nature means she's probably a Factotum.

Jacob's your basic soldier-build, maybe even the one straight-up Fighter in the party.

EDIT: Obviously, Mordin also has a one-level Bard dip to pump his Perform (Gilbert and Sullivan) ranks.

[theNater]

Garrus is probably a Ranger with the Urban Ranger variant, from his law enforcement training.

Mordin can do just about anything given enough time in his lab and has a wide range of Knowledge skills, I'd call that a Wizard.

[deuxhero]

Shepard needs Spell Thematics to choose the color of his explosions.

*flees*

[Oscredwin]

Garrus is a ranger.
Miranda is a Cleric (Party buffing)
Jacob is a fighter/wizard/EK
Mordin is a Druid (produce flame + awesome)
Joker Factotum

ME1

Ashley LG Paladin with a stick up her butt.
Kaiden NG Wizard/cleric/MT
Wrex CG (tries to be CN) Duskblade? DMMCleric?
Liara NG Wizard


ME3
James Figher
EDI Crusader

[Darth_Versity]

Ashley LG Paladin with a stick up her butt.

This I have to disagree with. Ashley was very Racist (or is it speciesist) in MS1, which I think is very contradictory to a Paladins ways.

[Oscredwin]

Paladins are famous for going into the homes of other species slaughtering them for no good reason. It's a common enough trope to be one of the themes played with in the webcomic Goblins (also OotS).


Code of Conduct
A paladin must be of lawful good alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits an evil act.

Additionally, a paladin’s code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents.

Associates
While she may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil characters, nor will she continue an association with someone who consistently offends her moral code. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are lawful good.

I'm missing the part where you're not allowed to be racist.

[Lapak]

This I have to disagree with. Ashley was very Racist (or is it speciesist) in MS1, which I think is very contradictory to a Paladins ways.She was also very ends-justify-the-means when it came to the missions. She was very clearly designed as the 'Renegade' team member to balance Kaiden's 'Paragon.'

[Greymane]

Paladins are famous for going into the homes of other species slaughtering them for no good reason. It's a common enough trope to be one of the themes played with in the webcomic Goblins (also OotS).

People really need to stop bringing up Kore as some sort of excuse to do evil things and still be a Paladin. They mention time and time again he should have lost his powers and must be cursed or something. Killing innocent creatures is an Evil act, and under normal circumstances, results in a fall from grace.

[Oscredwin]

I wasn't saying he was an acceptable role model for a paladin, but he wouldn't be interesting if he wasn't a twisted mockery of the paladin code. A paladin who killed human orphans wouldn't be interesting, it would be confusing. A paladin who killed goblin orphans is satire. The idea that there are good races and their are evil races tend to be the norm in most DnD games/worlds. It gets subverted a hell of a lot, but good goblins are not the norm.

Anyway, back on topic. Everyone in the story is horribly racist against the Geth. Ashley just has a few other species she doesn't like. If the paladin class is interesting to play at all, there have to be variations on the personality. Being no nonsense and not believing in redemption can be part of that.

Anyway, we're comparing one artificial and flawed morality system to another to see how they fit. I would call "Paragon" idealist and "Renegade" cynic and that axis seems orthogonal to Law-Chaos and Good-Evil.

[Titanium Fox]

Alright, that leaves me with Jacob, Miranda, and Leigon to figure out for class.

[Greyfeld85]

Howdy Playgrounders!

I'm working on some backup characters and other various projects, and it's led me to be curious. I've been in a small obsession with Mass Effect, and I think it would be cool to have Fantasy equivalents of all of them statted out and ready to go. I just can't come up with Races and Classes for some of them.

Tali - NG Artificer
Samara - LN Sorcerer
Grunt - CN Barbarian / Frenzied Bezerker - Orc Bezerker
Jack - NE Warlock
Thane - CG Rogue / Assassin (the version one that allows for alignment)
Legion - N ??? - Warforged (Or Golem / Construct)
Garrus - CN ???
Mordin - ??? ???
Miranda - LN ???
Jacob - CN ???

Any thoughts or input? I thought this would be a cool thought exercise, but now I'm at a wall.

Hmmm some of my thoughts...

Thane - CG Psychic Rogue
Garrus - CG Urban Ranger
Mordin - NG Wizard
Jacob - NG Fighter
Samara - LG Ardent

And to add a couple characters not on your list...

Wrex - CN Psychic Warrior
Liara - CG Psion

[Sgt. Cookie]

I'd say Battle Sorcerer variant for Jacob. He was a full biotic.

[wayfare]

First, a bit of logic

Tech = Magic. Best for crafting. Practiced effects for predictable results.

Biotics = Psionics. Reserve of power that you can put effort into to make better.

Combat = Combat. Cause that just makes sense.

-----

Ashley: NG Crusader, with a ranged version of Diamond Mind

Wrex: CN Psionic Warrior, possibly a King of Smack. Becomes NG as of Mass Effect 2.

Kaidan: LG Factotum

Liara: LG Kineticist Psion. Becomes CG as of Mass Effect 2. May become NG ot TN as of Mass Effect 3.

Garrus: LG Arcane Ranger into Arcane Archer. Becomes LG in Mass Effect 2. Becomes NG in Mass Effect 3.

Tali: LG Artificer. Really does not change.

Jack: CN Wilder. Becomes CG in Mass Effect 3.

Thane: TN Psychic Rogue into Elocater. Becomes NG in Mass Effect 3.

Mordin: TN Some sort of tier 2-3 class with Wizard hp, but Druid Spells and no other abilities. Remains unchanged in Mass Effect 3

Legion: LG Artificer/Fighter

Jacob: LG Fighter/War Mind

Samara: LN Swordsage, with refluffed force version of Desert Wind

Miranda: LN Factotum

James: NG Warblade with a ranged version of Stone Dragon

The Illusive Man: TN Bard with some kind of Leadership Abuse. Becomes NE in Mass Effect 3

Anderson: LG Warblade with White Raven.

[Ballista]

Legion: LG Artificer/Fighter


I'm pretty sure Legion used a sniper rifle, namely the Widow, for a lot of the missions. IMO a Scout would fit a bit better than fighter, plus Geth are a lot more agile than they might seem, I mean have you seen how quickly they dodge bullets in ME 3? Plus may be more Lawful Neutral,
MASS EFFECT 3 SPOILER
He basically says "Screw the Quarians Ima activate the Reaper Code just to benefit the Geth and have all the Geth Fleet in space blow up the Migrant Fleet." Doesn't seem particularly LG to me...

[wayfare]

I'm pretty sure Legion used a sniper rifle, namely the Widow, for a lot of the missions. IMO a Scout would fit a bit better than fighter, plus Geth are a lot more agile than they might seem, I mean have you seen how quickly they dodge bullets in ME 3? Plus may be more Lawful Neutral,
MASS EFFECT 3 SPOILER
He basically says "Screw the Quarians Ima activate the Reaper Code just to benefit the Geth and have all the Geth Fleet in space blow up the Migrant Fleet." Doesn't seem particularly LG to me...

Well, he is a champion of his people, and his logic is pretty impeccable.

I agree with you on the scout bit -- a much better fit!

[Lapak]

I'm pretty sure Legion used a sniper rifle, namely the Widow, for a lot of the missions. IMO a Scout would fit a bit better than fighter, plus Geth are a lot more agile than they might seem, I mean have you seen how quickly they dodge bullets in ME 3? Plus may be more Lawful Neutral,
MASS EFFECT 3 SPOILER
He basically says "Screw the Quarians Ima activate the Reaper Code just to benefit the Geth and have all the Geth Fleet in space blow up the Migrant Fleet." Doesn't seem particularly LG to me...
Well, no, he says (STILL Mass Effect 3 major plot spoilers)
"My entire species has just been rendered vulnerable and the Quarians are moving in to exterminate us, I'm going to upgrade them to prevent our genocide."

Which yes, means that the Quarians will die instead unless you intervene to stop him or bring peace between them, but it's a very clear-cut case of self-defense.

[Ballista]

Well, no, he says (STILL Mass Effect 3 major plot spoilers)
"My entire species has just been rendered vulnerable and the Quarians are moving in to exterminate us, I'm going to upgrade them to prevent our genocide."

Which yes, means that the Quarians will die instead unless you intervene to stop him or bring peace between them, but it's a very clear-cut case of self-defense.

Yeah, my bad... I just can't get around the fact that a synthetic can be anything BUT neutral.

[Gensh]

First, a bit of logic

Tech = Magic. Best for crafting. Practiced effects for predictable results.

Biotics = Psionics. Reserve of power that you can put effort into to make better.

Combat = Combat. Cause that just makes sense.

I like this, as tech and biotics being more or less interchangeable in 2 was just kind of weird. 3 improved the distinction in a manner similar to this. If there was a bunch of incarnum homebrew, I'd probably make that tech, just to really make them distinct.

---

My modifications to wayfare's list:

Wrex: I'm more of the opinion that he's one of the few real examples of a chaotic government. He still breaks most of the rules of civilized behavior, even in the capacity of krogan head of state.

Kaidan: LG caster of some sort. Under ordinary circumstances, he'd be a theurge-type class, but they're all really bad in 3.X.

Liara: LG Seer Psion with the psionic knowledge ACF. Becomes LN in Mass Effect 2. Returns to LG in Lair of the Shadow Broker.

Garrus: CN. Becomes NG in Mass Effect 2. Becomes LG in Mass Effect 3.

Mordin: Wu jen is close to what wayfare was looking for

Legion: Mystic Ranger

The Illusive Man: LE the entire time.


Well, no, he says

Agreed. That was one of those awful either-or decisions that paladins always get stuck with, and he picked the most logical decision. If he had chosen otherwise, then Shepard might not have been able to create the third option.

[wayfare]

I like this, as tech and biotics being more or less interchangeable in 2 was just kind of weird. 3 improved the distinction in a manner similar to this. If there was a bunch of incarnum homebrew, I'd probably make that tech, just to really make them distinct.

---

My modifications to wayfare's list:

Wrex: I'm more of the opinion that he's one of the few real examples of a chaotic government. He still breaks most of the rules of civilized behavior, even in the capacity of krogan head of state.

Kaidan: LG caster of some sort. Under ordinary circumstances, he'd be a theurge-type class, but they're all really bad in 3.X.

Liara: LG Seer Psion with the psionic knowledge ACF. Becomes LN in Mass Effect 2. Returns to LG in Lair of the Shadow Broker.

Garrus: CN. Becomes NG in Mass Effect 2. Becomes LG in Mass Effect 3.

Mordin: Wu jen is close to what wayfare was looking for

Legion: Mystic Ranger

The Illusive Man: LE the entire time.



Agreed. That was one of those awful either-or decisions that paladins always get stuck with, and he picked the most logical decision. If he had chosen otherwise, then Shepard might not have been able to create the third option.

Your incarnum suggestion BLEW MY MIND. If i were not working on a 4th edition mass effect project, I would be doing this right now!

[Saintheart]

Zaeed: NE Duskblade, assuming tech powers are magic.
Kasumi: LN Beguiler.

[Feralventas]

[QUOTE=Titanium Fox;13000295]Howdy Playgrounders!


Tali - TN Aquatic Elf (atmosphere difficulties) Expert/Rogue. She started as a regular NPC, and moved toward destroying an enemy's tools while putting her own to use. Artificer is close, but we don't actually see her Create new devices all that much. Rogue's UMD will suffice.

Samara - LN Elan Psion/Paladin/Slayer
Grunt - CN Re-fluffed Troll Fighter/Barbarian
Jack - CE Human Wilder
Thane - LG Aventi Monk/Assasin
Legion - TN Warforged Fighter/Ranger-Order of the Bow Initiate
Garrus - (Alignment varies depending on how you play the game). Lizardfolk Rogue/Fighter/Justicar
Mordin - LG Kobold Rogue/Bard/Exemplar
Miranda - LN Psychic Rogue or Sorcerer/Rogue/Unseen Seer
Jacob - CN Psychic Warrior or Magus

As for ME1
Tali's TN above, as is Garus.
Wrex, CN Re-flufed Troll Psychic Warrior
Ashley, NG Full Fighter/Cleric (Medic options),
Kaiden, Psychic Rogue
Liara, NG Elan Expert (Phrenic Creature Template for Biotics)