VanIsleKnight
2014-01-12, 10:54 AM
Any advice, suggestions, or critiques would be welcome for this build. I'd like to be a person who eventually becomes so good at disguising himself he is able to fool magical detection or (in extremely awesome circumstances) avatars and other powerful agents of the gods themselves. For now though I'm just level 1.
Preamble inform about my experience and the DM's experience.
So I'm beginning a campaign with a new DM who is planning a city/mystery oriented session, and she asked me to participate specifically because she wants my roleplaying abilities and general experience at the table. I've only been playing a few sessions every other month that are usually one-shots and the like with my core group, and this will be the first time playing with her. I've no idea what the rest of the group is going to be like in the slightest.
Character background and reasoning.
I promised I won't min-max to make combat encounters unfair, so I decided to play a bard that specializes in pretending to be someone else. I pictured him as a traveling con man who was a former legitimate performer that was on the run for being framed for a murder. He uses his stage skills and magic to disguise himself as others for whatever he needs to do, usually getting into secure places so he can get information, money, whatever. This'll let me be an information broker/plot hook for the DM, be able to roleplay at the table with her important NPCs, and not be hax in combat. I opted bard instead of rogue so I would be more supportive and less hardlocked into being a trap monkey. Also I'm guessing at least one other person will want to be a rogue anyway.
That being said! Here's what I rolled, and what I'm playing.
Human Bard, Level 1
11 Str
15 Dex
11 Con
13 Wis
16 Int (18)
18 Cha
Stealthy, Deceitful
Disguise Self, CLW
Acrobatics
Bluff
Diplomacy
Disguise Self
Escape Artist
Intimidate
Know: Arcana
Know: Local
Linguistics
Perception
Perform: Oratory
Sense Motive
Spellcraft
Stealth
I wanted the INT and CHA to be maxed to get as many skill points as possible and have as high a check as possible for my INT and CHA based skills. Combat isn't something I'll be doing often, and when it does happen I'll just be using inspire courage and attack from range. Physically I envision him to be unimpressive but not a scrawny stick, generally just a man who's physical appearance can be easily adaptable so I left his STR and CON with the lowest scores.
Spells I'm starting off with Disguise Self and CLW to boost my disguise check vs multiple NPC perception checks with those awful penalties I could get and the scary bonuses they -could- get. CLW is to keep people alive, and so I can mock similar level wizards for not being able to master such a simple arcane spell. :smallbiggrin:
I took Deceitful and Stealthy feats for the spread out bonuses across Bluff, Disguise Self, Escape Artist, and Stealth (all of which I plan on using).
As for the skills, I took the usual face/spy ones such as Bluff, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Stealth etc. Acrobatics (to tumble to safety), Know: Arcana/Local, Linguistics, and Spellcraft.
Preamble inform about my experience and the DM's experience.
So I'm beginning a campaign with a new DM who is planning a city/mystery oriented session, and she asked me to participate specifically because she wants my roleplaying abilities and general experience at the table. I've only been playing a few sessions every other month that are usually one-shots and the like with my core group, and this will be the first time playing with her. I've no idea what the rest of the group is going to be like in the slightest.
Character background and reasoning.
I promised I won't min-max to make combat encounters unfair, so I decided to play a bard that specializes in pretending to be someone else. I pictured him as a traveling con man who was a former legitimate performer that was on the run for being framed for a murder. He uses his stage skills and magic to disguise himself as others for whatever he needs to do, usually getting into secure places so he can get information, money, whatever. This'll let me be an information broker/plot hook for the DM, be able to roleplay at the table with her important NPCs, and not be hax in combat. I opted bard instead of rogue so I would be more supportive and less hardlocked into being a trap monkey. Also I'm guessing at least one other person will want to be a rogue anyway.
That being said! Here's what I rolled, and what I'm playing.
Human Bard, Level 1
11 Str
15 Dex
11 Con
13 Wis
16 Int (18)
18 Cha
Stealthy, Deceitful
Disguise Self, CLW
Acrobatics
Bluff
Diplomacy
Disguise Self
Escape Artist
Intimidate
Know: Arcana
Know: Local
Linguistics
Perception
Perform: Oratory
Sense Motive
Spellcraft
Stealth
I wanted the INT and CHA to be maxed to get as many skill points as possible and have as high a check as possible for my INT and CHA based skills. Combat isn't something I'll be doing often, and when it does happen I'll just be using inspire courage and attack from range. Physically I envision him to be unimpressive but not a scrawny stick, generally just a man who's physical appearance can be easily adaptable so I left his STR and CON with the lowest scores.
Spells I'm starting off with Disguise Self and CLW to boost my disguise check vs multiple NPC perception checks with those awful penalties I could get and the scary bonuses they -could- get. CLW is to keep people alive, and so I can mock similar level wizards for not being able to master such a simple arcane spell. :smallbiggrin:
I took Deceitful and Stealthy feats for the spread out bonuses across Bluff, Disguise Self, Escape Artist, and Stealth (all of which I plan on using).
As for the skills, I took the usual face/spy ones such as Bluff, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Stealth etc. Acrobatics (to tumble to safety), Know: Arcana/Local, Linguistics, and Spellcraft.