[3.P] Alternate class fluffs?

[deuxhero]

Inspired by this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13295020&postcount=20) post and this strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0209.html). What are some alternate names and fluff for base classes you've used or encountered?

One I've seen used before is that the Urban Ranger could have its name changed to "detective" and work pretty well you even get a loyal dog that you can communicate with.

[Acanous]

Tatori Monk. Luchadore.

[sonofzeal]

"Bob"

To me, classes are tools for creating the character I want, and once that character is created they define the fluff, not the other way around. There's a few exceptions, classes with very recognizable schticks that correspond to titles and positions people might have in the game-world ("Paladin" and "Druid" being good examples), but even these are secondary to the personality of whatever character they're serving as a vehicle for.

[Urpriest]

I see Warlock as laser-shooting robot bandied about a lot, usually as a Warforged.

I'm not sure Urban Ranger counts, exactly. I don't think it's supposed to be anything besides a detective.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I see Warlock as laser-shooting robot bandied about a lot, usually as a Warforged.

I'm not sure Urban Ranger counts, exactly. I don't think it's supposed to be anything besides a detective.

I have seen warforged warlock as a Gnome stuck in a battle suit. :smallbiggrin:

And well I've never refluffed an entire class fluff, usually I adapt for my particular build. Though I guess you could paint Incarnum users as thieves of soul-stuff or something like that.

[Lateral]

Tatori Monk. Luchadore.
...Yes, you said that in the linked post. :smallconfused:

For me, it's what Dusk Eclipse and sonofzeal said. In general, I like to refluff character builds as a whole rather than individual classes. I've never understood the tendency to give classes detailed fluff (rather than more general things, such as 'Sneaky Bastard' or 'Tracky McArrowpants), since they'll do different things in different builds.

I did refluff the Bard as 'the Pimp' in one comedic campaign, once, but that's not so much of a stretch in any case. :smalltongue:

(Guy did have a nice outfit, though- I believe it consisted of the following:

A +2 Slick Padded Pimp Suit of Mobility. For what should be obvious reasons.
A pair of eyes of charming. Ohhh yeah. :smallamused:
One sweet-ass custom Hat of Lecherous Pimpitude. (Basically an Admiral's Bicorne with the skill bonus changed to Profession (Pimp). Also, not a bicorne.)
And, of course, a Rod of Lordly Might. Because why the hell not.

...So yeah.)

[Calanon]

To me, classes are tools for creating the character I want, and once that character is created they define the fluff, not the other way around. There's a few exceptions, classes with very recognizable schticks that correspond to titles and positions people might have in the game-world ("Paladin" and "Druid" being good examples), but even these are secondary to the personality of whatever character they're serving as a vehicle for.

Druids to me are just Clerics dedicated to the Gods of the Natural world so I would usually refer to a Cleric of a Natural God as a Druid and a Druid would still be refered to as a Druid :smalltongue:

Personally? I refer to call Magic Users Arcanist or Mage rather then Wizard.


A craftsman who has knowledge of a manufacturing secret.

a Wizard however is defined as



Noun: A man who has magical powers, esp. in legends and fairy tales
Adjective: Wonderful; excellent.

Personally? I'd rather be known as an artist then simply as a fictional being whom can perform magic :smallsmile:

[Lateral]

...Except that if you're playing a Wizard, you are a fictional being who can perform magic.
You used 'whom' incorrectly, BTW. Grammar nazi, away!

[Urpriest]

Druids to me are just Clerics dedicated to the Gods of the Natural world so I would usually refer to a Cleric of a Natural God as a Druid and a Druid would still be refered to as a Druid :smalltongue:


See, this doesn't actually work for 3.5 Druids, because ruleswise they all speak Druidic, which is the same language no matter where they're from or which god they worship, unlike Clerics who have no such shared language.

This is also why I disagree with those saying that refluffing is inherent. For something like a rogue or a bard, sure, any default fluff is just designer bias, and anyone who thinks that a fighter has any default fluff even in the books themselves deserves to be smacked. But plenty of classes have their fluff built into their rules, to the extent that you are fairly constrained in the ways you can describe them and any functioning nonstandard fluff is an impressive act of creativity. It's those sorts of creativity that these threads should celebrate.

Incarnum is one thing that seems conducive to this sort of refluffing, possibly because its default fluff is terrible, campy, and filled with blue for no apparent reason. Psionics takes some of this as well, what with the crystals and the pseudoscientific power schemes. It's not especially hard to fluff a psionic character as just another sort of fantasy magic archetype, but it does take some effort and the occasional judicious power choice.

[sonofzeal]

...and the pseudoscientific power schemes.
Just a side note - isn't the only real difference that arcane/divine tends to use greek roots and psionics tends to use latin roots? I'm not sure that's enough to call it "pseudoscientific", even if latin roots do come up more often in science.

[Urpriest]

Just a side note - isn't the only real difference that arcane/divine tends to use greek roots and psionics tends to use latin roots? I'm not sure that's enough to call it "pseudoscientific", even if latin roots do come up more often in science.

By pseudoscientific I mean resembling pseudoscience, not resembling science. Object Reading, for example, is much more a trope of modern "psychic detectives" than of fantasy diviners. The prevalence of ectoplasm is another thing that resembles Victorian pseudoscience rather than Tolkienesque/Dungeonpunk fantasy.

[Answerer]

In my opinion, the most awesome refluffing ever:

Kyria Thorne, Battle Conjuror [Rogue 11]
"Olidammara preserve, would you shut up? I'm trying to think here."

Appearence: Kyria is a lean, well-muscled elf that favors light leathers, breeches and her ever-present belt of many pockets, which is usually overflowing with an odd assortment of materials and components. She keeps her blonde hair in a short pixie cut and has the grin to go with it; she always seems to be laughing at people, rather than with them. Kyria can often be found streaked with soot or grime from her arts.

Combat: Kyria would rather avoid a direct confrontation if she can, but she's not adverse to the odd scrap or even a fight to the death if something she cares about. Her opening action is to conjure one of her knives into her hand from her belt of many pockets [Mechanically: she uses her Quick Draw feat] with a quick gesture. If at all possible, she opens up the battle with an ambush, taking advantage of an unaware enemy to line up her storm of steel into their vital areas [Mechanically: Sneak Attack]. Once she's been ousted, Kyria will try and gauge the abilities of her foe and act accordingly, sweeping her cloak over herself to vanish into her pocket dimension [Mechanically: Cloak Dance feat followed up by a Hide Check].

On the defensive, Kyria makes extensive use of both protective magical items and conjured defenses to keep more physical attacks at bay; temporary walls of magic allow her to avoid extreme harm from mass-scale attacks if she times it right while phantasmal knives and short swords watch her flanks to keep foes at bay [Improved Uncanny Dodge]. If the going gets rough, Kyria vanishes into her cloak before using her [i]phantasmal stride [Tumble] to step past her enemies and flee the scene and live to fight another day.


Just a side note - isn't the only real difference that arcane/divine tends to use greek roots and psionics tends to use latin roots?
Other way around: "tele," "kinesis," "pathos," "psyche," etc. are all Greek.

[Need_A_Life]

Barbarian: Brawler, scout, shaman.
Bard: Lieutenant, Commoner, Berserker, Jack-of-All-Trades.
Cleric: Pact-Bound (bargained with otherwordly beings for power), Godling (draws upon a fledgeling shard of divinity), Warmage.
Druid: The Lycanthrope (Shapechanging, knowledge of nature), Pact-Bound (like Cleric), The Last Timelord [Reincarnated Druid works best].
Fighter: Barbarian, Soldier, Scout, Brawler, Skald, Hercules-alike, Legolas <continue ad nauseum; Fighter became a decent pick for all martial characters in PF>.
Monk: Brawler, Scout, Bouncer, Old man on the mountain [Sensei archetype].
Paladin: This. (http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/113405-would-you-allow-paladin-your-game-new-fiction-added-11-11-08-a.html)
Ranger: Militia-member, detective, thief, assassin.
Rogue: Con man, diplomat, swashbuckler, anatomist, jack-of-all-trades, acrobat, pirate, ninja.
Sorcerer: Godling (see Cleric), warmage.
Wizard: ... could pretend to be a mere mortal? :smallwink:

Other Paizo classes:
Alchemist: Doctor, chronicler, merchant, MacGyver.
Cavalier: Samurai, scout, courier.
Inquisitor: Bard, paladin, ranger, demagogue.
Magus: ... Pass.
Oracle: ... I can't even figure out what their flavour is supposed to be. Class is too modular. Pass.
Summoner: ... Pass.
Witch: The goth little sister of the wizard :smallwink:, jack-of-all-trades, miracleworker, cleric, godling (see Cleric), druid, shaman <continue as long as you care to>

That being said, I usually think: "I want to make a character who does X" or "I want a character who is built around utilizing <nifty mechanic Y>," and then figure out how to go about it.

It's not unusual to see my characters have 4 classes by tenth level... unless I'm a caster.
I might go monk, then dip fighter a few levels to pick up some much-needed feats, then dip inquisitor for judgements, a couple of spells, alignment-detection and sin-eating, go back into monk etc.

I'd end up with my "Dwarven Paladin" from a few campaigns ago, who lived by the philosophy that lesser evils should be beaten into the ground.
Greater threats? Axe to the face.
I could've just gone Paladin, but I just made a Monk1/Inquisitor1 when we started and he grew from there, becoming the drunken, surviving-the-impossible warrior who never missed an ambush and saved downed allies more times than they'd care to admit.

With Charisma 5 (which was roleplayed) and an Intimidate modifier of "Yes."

[The Glyphstone]

Tatori Monk. Luchadore.

Pfft. Dervish Dancer Bard. Luchadore.

[Slipperychicken]

Wizard with Eidetic Spellcaster & Eschew Materials = Wild/Savage Mage, Savant

Sorcerer = Wild mage. X-men style mutant (assuming spells are in a theme).

I can see pretty much any class a mercenary, royal guard, or (un)holy warrior, given proper RP.

[Acanous]

I know I put it in the linked post. I was just restating it here so folks don't have to click the link for the idea, and then if they are interested in reasoning/extra fluff, they can click the link :p

[Ason]

In case this hasn't been mentioned yet: BARBARIAN REFLAVORED INTO A WIZARD (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195049).

[ThiagoMartell]

In case this hasn't been mentioned yet: BARBARIAN REFLAVORED INTO A WIZARD (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195049).

That's not really refluffing. It's a barbarian who thinks he's a wizard. Amusiong, nonetheless.