Making the Cast of the Dresden Files in 3.5

[wayfare]

Inspired by the Sam and Dean Winchester thread, make your Favorite Dresden Files character here. Please state what book you are stating them from! Long or short form submissions are both welcome.

[Kuulvheysoon]

She's not (nearly) my favorite, but Susan would probably be something along the lines of a female Human Half-Vampire (Libris Mortis) Expert 3, assuming that it's an E6 world.

Murphy definitely has levels in Master Inquisitive (ECS), so... Urban Ranger (Ranged path) 3/Master Inquisitive 3?

[Jeff the Green]

Harry's probably a warlock that knows lots of incantations (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/incantations.htm).

[tiercel]

Always tricky to match another universe's magic system in 3.5 terminology. Statting Dresdenverse wizards generally seems a bit like refluffed 3.5 psionics as much as anything (spells clearly aren't Vancian, but most magic seems to come as discrete spells with their own names/properties, and one can "run out" of magic, as Harry does in e.g. Fool Moon; it is a remarkable event to him to have his magic completely fail, implying that it is uncommon at best for a wizard to run completely out of PP/"magic points", similar to a psionic character who wants to be able to maintain at least 1PP to have a psionic focus).

The trick, say for Harry, is figuring out which of his abilities to emphasize. In several places he describes himself as being much better at thaumaturgy/circle magic than flashy evocations, but the plot being what it is, we see an awful lot of "Vento servitas!" and "Fuego!"

While it's possible some of Harry's thaumaturgy could be modeled by 1-minute-casting-time divinations, something like the no-LoS-no-LoE binding he puts on the loop-garou in Fool Moon is harder to model.

Possible useful reference for Harry's spells: http://dresdenfiles.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Harry_Dresden%E2%80%99s_spells

Harry very clearly has Craft Wondrous Item or something like it (more to the point, he seems to have a catch-all Crafting feat that lets him craft rings, weapons, armor, miscellaneous items, but semi-permanently instead of completely permanently).

It's tempting to hook up a PrC to Harry becoming a Warden in Dead Beat, but it's not clear if becoming a Warden actually has any mechanical effect (beyond the obvious RP effects, extra plot hooks, and a bit of extra cash). Council membership is probably better modeled as an affiliation, and Harry's affiliation score had gotten sufficiently high (and the requirements were changed due to the ongoing war) that he accrued a new "benefit"—a mixed blessing certainly.

More thinking out loud here than an actual build, but it's an interesting thing to think about.

[Waker]

What kind of levels were you aiming for when statting up these characters? If we are limited to E6, it would result in a much different build than if all 20 levels were available (even if they weren't built that high).

I would put Harry as a Diviner (Enchantment banned) going into Loremaster. I know it seems odd, but lemme explain. Going with the UA specialist variant isn't a terrible idea too, since Sense Motive is a skill he relies on.
Harry has time and again said that finding things is his specialty. While he is remembered for often being around things that catch on fire and explode, it isn't his fault! Rather he relies on magic items to focus his intent and make it more controllable. Thus I could see it explained that he relies more on wands/staffs that he crafts himself. His Lore ability can be explained by the existence of Bob.

Karin Murphy would be a good mix of Urban Ranger/Swordsage.
Even if she is cute as a button, she's a tough little chick. She knows how to throw around guys twice her size and has access to a large array of weapons training and tactics. You don't last long in SI without having skills.

Michael Carpenter would be a Crusader/Legacy Champion.
As a Knight of the Cross, he is expected to routinely face the Forces of Darkness and protect the weak. Unlike Harry who relies on Magic, Michael draws his strength from his Faith. As for the Legacy Champion, he wields Amoracchius. Knight of the Cross remember?

I'm gonna be lazy and stop before I start trying to stat up all the characters...

[wayfare]

I think stating them up really depends on what the crafter feels like. I can see the Dresdenverse as e6, but I can also see arguments for a higher level universe.

I, too, feel like Dresden has more of a Psionic character in terms of casting. Maybe a Kineticist who makes extensive use of incantations.

[Waker]

I, too, feel like Dresden has more of a Psionic character in terms of casting. Maybe a Kineticist who makes extensive use of incantations.
There you go. Magic spells as people are familiar with them, but using points like Psionics.

[AWiz_Abroad]

Spoiler ahead for final Dresden book.

What about Molly? I am thinking Wizard specialist in illusion with some sort of uber unseelie fey template (the actual template doesn't quite cover the boost in power level that becoming the winter lady equates to.

[wayfare]

SPOILERS!!!

Possible Templates for Cold Days Harry

Winter Knight
Benefits:

+2 STR; +2 DEX; +4 CON
DR 5/Cold Iron
Immunity to Cold Damage
Frozen Magic Facility: Any effects with the "Cold" descriptor are manifest at +1 level, and are treated as if you spent 1 additional powerpoint to manifest them. This allows you to manifest 1pp "Cold" powers without paying a manifestation cost.
Summer's Bane: The enmity between Summer and Winter is legendary, a burning hate that has shaped the fey realm for thousands of years. Whenever the Winter Knight attacks a vassal of summer, he gains a +2 bonus to attack and inflicts +2d6 cold damage on a successful hit. When casting a damaging spell against a vassal of summer, increase the Save DC by 2 and the damage inflicted by 2d6 -- half of the damage inflicted by a spell so modified is cold damage.
Savage Vitality: The Winter Knight is fueled by suffering and death -- even his own. Whenever the Winter Knight reduces an enemy to 0 hp or lower, he gains +5 temporary hp. The Winter Knight suffer no penalties when reduced to 0 hp or lower, and can act normally.
Arbiter of Doom: The Winter Knight has ultimate sway over the vassals of winter -- even the Winter Queens themselves. When the Summer Knight attacks a vassal of Winter with weapon or damaging spell, maximize the damage inflicted by that attack.


As for Molly...as the above, except more...Uber. Add a hefty bonus to Cha in here too...

--------------

I Think Harry looks something like this by the time he hits Cold Days

Harry Dresden
Psion - Kineticist 10

SPOILERS!!!!

[Waker]

You guys could use the spoiler tags instead of saying spoilers you know.

[wayfare]

You guys could use the spoiler tags instead of saying spoilers you know.

Any ideas for Thomas, Marcone, or Murph circa Cold-Days?

[Almaseti]

Butters could be represented as an expert/artificer. Bob might work as one of those golems that are animated by an elemental spirit.

Marcone... he's totally vanilla mortal, as far as we can tell.

Don't forget Harry taking Leadership somewhere to account for the 'Za Lord's Guard! Toot is obviously his cohort, probably a pixie, but he's taken some class levels by now. Blade Bravo would suit pretty well if it wasn't gnome-only.

Thomas is interesting because the White Court aren't really standard vampires. Sun doesn't hurt them, they don't drink actual blood, etc.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Bob is a familiar.

[Fable Wright]

Harry's probably a warlock that knows lots of incantations (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/incantations.htm).

I'd say Erudite, possibly Spell to Power, as he never uses more than a few powers at a time, but has a pretty good breadth of them that he uses and forgets about.

Also, White Court vampires are probably succubi/incubi without Su abilities (except Energy Drain) and SLAs in exchange for a lower LA and CR.

Man, I haven't read the series in what seems like forever. Otherwise I'd see if I could stat up the Knights of the Cross.

[Jeff the Green]

I'd say Erudite, possibly Spell to Power, as he never uses more than a few powers at a time, but has a pretty good breadth of them that he uses and forgets about.

He really only has a few that he uses in combat (Ventas Servitas, Fuego, Pyrofuego), which are modeled with eldritch blast, and the thaumaturgy is best modeled with incantations, like I said.

[wayfare]

Bob is a familiar.

I think we are downplaying Bob here. When he is off the chain, he can clearly out-power Harry fairly handily.

I wanted to say that he's an artifact of some kind, but then it hit me: He's the Phylacery for a powerful Bard Lich. Anyone who holds the skull can use his Bardic Knowledge, or can benefit from some kind of Improved Aid Another when asking Bob for help.

[amdskitzo]

How can Harry NOT have levels in wizard?

I thought about this last year and was thinking Wizard/Warlock, Eldritch Theurge and Hellfire Warlock(refluff coldfire once he becomes the Winter Knight).

[wayfare]

How can Harry NOT have levels in wizard?

I thought about this last year and was thinking Wizard/Warlock, Eldritch Theurge and Hellfire Warlock(refluff coldfire once he becomes the Winter Knight).

I use psionics as default "arcane magic" just because I like the unique subsystem for casting. But a specialist Evoker or a Battlemage wouldn't be out of the question.

I don't get Warlock, because Harry pretty explicitly has a hard cap on how much he can do. He does get tired, while a Warlock can do pretty much everything at will.

[amdskitzo]

I use psionics as default "arcane magic" just because I like the unique subsystem for casting. But a specialist Evoker or a Battlemage wouldn't be out of the question.

I don't get Warlock, because Harry pretty explicitly has a hard cap on how much he can do. He does get tired, while a Warlock can do pretty much everything at will.

I suppose I was thinking warlock because of him being accused/thought of as being one by the White Council, and more so, Morgan. Not to mention Hellfire, makes too much sense to me when he had Lash in his head.

[graymachine]

I actually had a familiar one time that was based on Bob. The familiar itself was a ghost, and I had the skull he was bound to and everything. Made him out of a custom combo of Item Familiar and Improved Familiar, skinning it to suit the flavor.

[Person_Man]

It's worth mentioning that there is a Dresden Files roleplaying game, which is a modified version of the FATE system (which is free!), which is in turn a modified version of FUDGE (which is also free!).

One of the defining features of FATE/FUDGE is that it emphasizes narrative structure, and that any character can easily succeed on most tasks within their Aspects (main character traits), and also have a number of Stunts to do truly amazing things.

This makes it well suited to the Dresden-verse, but poorly suited to conversion into rules heavy 3.X D&D.

[tiercel]

I use psionics as default "arcane magic" just because I like the unique subsystem for casting. But a specialist Evoker or a Battlemage wouldn't be out of the question.

I don't get Warlock, because Harry pretty explicitly has a hard cap on how much he can do. He does get tired, while a Warlock can do pretty much everything at will.

While I know Harry Dresden is all about being a wizard -- I think the title is something we can refluff when trying to fit D&D mechanics to how things work for him.

Harry clearly doesn't have Vancian casting, and he clearly can't use his magic at-will/indefinitely. Something like PP (or the spell points variant) is at work, and given that Harry can scale the effects he gets with a given spell, that feels an awful like the augmentation (or not) of a psionic power.

Of course, there are some differences; Dresdenverse "wizard" magic seems to all have V components only, which you can bypass by taking/risking ability damage (see, e.g. Fool Moon).

Bob is a trick, since he takes the RP role of a familiar but (as others have pointed out) he clearly has enormous power of his own. Most notably, though, we see him using a possession power a fair bit (often with Mister when he's out for the day, or into a T-Rex in extreme cases), which implies some sort of ghost template or the like. Bob's knowledge is so detailed that it seems more like a hojillion ranks in Knowledge (arcana) than the random handy tidbits of bardic knowledge (plus there are areas that Bob's knowledge is much weaker in, e.g. faith magic / Knowledge (religion)).

Marcone is a Badass Normal who clearly has a high Int and a very high Cha as well as Leadership score. I'm not sure if he has any abilities that wouldn't be explained by a high-stat, high-money Expert. (Through the course of the series he acquires a "magic/security consultant" to help on the supernatural side of things but we never get any hint that he acquires anything magical or supernatural himself, so even Factotum seems like a stretch.)

I can't help but think that the Swords of the Cross are something like Relic weapons, which strongly implies (given events in Changes) that Murph has the True Believer feat. Other than that, some sort of spell-less Urban Ranger seems like a good place to start.

Though Thomas is classed as a Dresdenverse "vampire", the White Court are also described as succubi/incubi, which seems like a reasonable place to start. Philosophically Thomas would be something like half-human/half-incubus, but we could start with succubus stats, remove a few nonapplicable abilities (teleport, etherealness, change shape) and replace them with a barbarian-rage-like ability powered by and requiring the Energy Drain ability.

[Jeff the Green]

Marcone is a Badass Normal who clearly has a high Int and a very high Cha as well as Leadership score. I'm not sure if he has any abilities that wouldn't be explained by a high-stat, high-money Expert. (Through the course of the series he acquires a "magic/security consultant" to help on the supernatural side of things but we never get any hint that he acquires anything magical or supernatural himself, so even Factotum seems like a stretch.)

Assuming E6, I'd go with Factotum 3/Warblade 3 myself, just not using arcane dilettante. He's clearly very good at both hand-to-hand and ranged combat.


I can't help but think that the Swords of the Cross are something like Relic weapons, which strongly implies (given events in Changes) that Murph has the True Believer feat. Other than that, some sort of spell-less Urban Ranger seems like a good place to start.

The swords could also be intelligent weapons with empathy but no speech or telepathy.