(3.5/PF) Princess Party (or, Royals Who Actually Do Something)

[BiblioRook]

A while ago I made a thread about the idea of a Rapunzel build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322566), it quickly became more fun to talk about generally what each of the different Disney Princess would be as D&D/PF characters.
Some are pretty straight forward, but there were more then a few gaps. Bonus points if you can make a balenced part out of all 13 of them.

The full list if you don't remember them:
-Elsa (Frozen)
-Anna (Frozen)
-Merida (Brave)
-Rapunzel (Tangled)
-Tiana (Princess and the Frog)
-Mulan
-Pocahontas
-Jasmine (Aladdin)
-Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
-Ariel (Little Mermaid)
-Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
-Cinderella
-Snow White

Special mention from the other thread about the versatility of the witch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch) class in this context, probably due to the fairy tale nature of it all. But stuff like the winter witch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo---witch-archetypes/winter-witch) for Elsa and the white-haired witch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo---witch-archetypes/white-haired-witch) for Rapunzel just seemed amazingly fitting in ways I wouldn't have noticed if they weren't pointed out to me.

[BiblioRook]

I didn't want to post my list because I was more intrested in seeing what other people would say then validating my own thoughts, but since no one else is saying anything here it is.

-Elsa: (Winter) Witch
-Anna: ???
-Meranda: Ranger
-Rapunzel: (White-Haired) Witch
-Tiana: ???
-Mulan: Fighter
-Pocahontas: Druid
-Jasmine: ???
-Belle: Artificer
-Ariel: Bard
-Aurora: ???
-Cinderella: ???
-Snow White: ???

Some Princesses sadly just kinda sorta lack enough character to really place (like the original three), while others might be defined as characters but don't really have anything that would define them as PCs (like Tiana and Jasmine). Using Tiana as an example; Tiana... cooks? That's basically it. So would that just make her something like an expert or a commoner? Would the other undefined princesses just be pegged as 'nobles'? Somehow that seems lazy to do in this sort of exercise.

[Darksword]

The other princesses would honestly be pegged nobles. Its sad but some of them don't do a lot atleast in the action since.

[Zonugal]

I don't know about making a useful build for all of them, but for an adventuring party...

The Mage: Rapunzel (White-Haired Witch)
The Divine: Pocahontas (Druid)
The Warrior: Mulan (Sohei Monk)
The Skill-Monkey: Merida (Ranger), although Esmeralda (Dervish of the Dawn Bard) might fit better.

[BiblioRook]

although Esmeralda (Dervish of the Dawn Bard) might fit better.

But Esmeralda isn't a 'Princess'! :V
(Which is a crock, apparently she used to be part of the Princess lineup but was removed for a handful of rather stupid reasons).

Bah Disney and their 'official' princesses... can you imagine how much ass Kida (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) would kick as a PC?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by BiblioRook
Pocahontas: Druid

Hm. Not sure why Pocahontas would be a druid; I don't recall anything like spellcasting, although I only saw it once long ago. I'd say ranger if anything. (With raccoon animal companion.)

Also, another non-princess would be Megara from Hercules, who I'd guess could be rogue-ish. (Saw it once, long ago....)

--For that matter, why does Mulan qualify as a princess? --No, no, don't need to know. Fighter/rogue or swordsage would work for her. (And maybe a touch of gunslinger, considering her literal one-shot of the horde.)

[Slipperychicken]

I don't see Leia on that list.

[tzar1990]

Elsa: Boreal Bloodline Sorceress - she has too little control over her powers to be a Witch.
Anna: Party face specced Celebrity Bard.
Meridia: Archery-focused ranger
Rapunzel: Witch with the hair-control hex
Tiana: Realistically, commoner or expert. As a PC class, maybe Investigator, with the extracts being cooked meals instead of potions?
Mulan: Fighter
Pocahontas: Ranger
Jasmine: Eh, no real skills besides Princessing and having an animal companion - Noble/Ranger multiclass?
Belle: Artificer
Ariel: Bard
Aurora: Asleep
Cinderella: Commoner (or rogue, I guess, if you wanna stick to PC classes)
Snow White: Commoner for sure. But let's cheat on this one, and say she's the version of Snow White from Neil Gaiman's take on the story, rather than the disney version - in that case, she's a Vampire with levels in Beguiler.


For a 4-girl party, I'd go:
Anna (face)
Elsa (face-breaking amounts of ice magic)
Meridia: Ranged combat, some skill use
Mulan: Party tank

[Crake]

I actually spent a bit of time trying to figure out something that would fit for Elsa, and I eventually settled on a snow variant of the sandshaper. I think it fits her abilities perfectly, if combined with spells.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

So, I'll just start by apolagizing for not having seen the newer films.


-Rapunzel (Tangled)-I haven't seen the film, but I have heard and watched "When Will My Life Begin?". Does White Haired Witch have room to make her good at all those non adventuring skills?

-Mulan- My first instinct is to make her something badass, because she is undoubtedly the badass of the bunch. After her epic montage, she's better than whatever a contemporary soldier is. If a contemporary soldier is a level 1 fighter she can outclass them by being a level 2 character with synergy bonuses to all the physical skills.

She's clearly more powerful than post montage trio and both Yao(short) and Chien-Po(big) have definite badass moments. She also Disarms and Trips Shen Yu in final battle. I'd make her a Warblade/Swordsage focused on Setting Sun, Iron Heart and Diamond Mind. This makes her a formidable combatant with access to a lot of options that aren't hit it hard then hit it harder who thinks her way through combat.

-Pocahontas - I'd go with Spirit Shaman, she talks to Plant Spirits and Animals.

-Jasmine (Aladdin) Going by the film her most important adventuring talent was "has a pet tiger". You could be generous and make her a Ranger with Nature Bond, but she's probably a level 2 expert with optimized Animal Handling.

In the series though, she's a well rounded adventurer and could be anything from a Feat Rogue to a Factotom, basically whatever you'd make Aladdin maybe a level or two lower with lower physical stats and higher mental ones.


-Belle (Beauty and the Beast) She doesn't display much talent for anything except teaching a man-child to read and act like an adult. It could be a good riff on the theme of knowledge for it's own sake to make her a Truenamer, since one they're very good at is making really high knowledge checks at low levels. Also it's failure compared to other bookish classes parallels her own pursuit of knowledge with no concern for it's realworld usefulness.

Or make her a Artificer or Gnomish Artificer, basically like a competent version of her father.

-Ariel (Little Mermaid) Either Bard (boring and Obvious) or Dragon Shaman, mainly for Vigor Aura, but with a custom Dragon that does Sonic damage and has the Water Breathing ability.

Honestly this is much more a fun "inspired by" build than a statting out. Ariel is an amazing singer and that's about it. It's arguable that her singing had some kind of healing effect on Eric when she saved his life. I wanted to make a case for her at least inspiring courage/competence/heroics in the finale, but she doesn't seem to be doing much to inspire. She's at the bottom of a vortex and arguably can't be heard by Eric and she's only shouting his name. For yucks I just watched the final scene of the sequel where she's paralyzed while her daughter platforms up to the villain, steals the trident and throws it down to Triton who opens up a can of whupass.

-Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) Aurora is practically the definition of a damsel in distress. The only way I could see making her a PC in a non comedic fashion (like Drunken Sleeping Master) is to use a theory presented by Echo in Dollhouse. In brief, her Prince is a Construct she summoned. Interestingly, she has by far the strongest Prince and Villain, excepting possibly Sorcerer Jafar.

-Cinderella What I'd like to do is make her Fairy Godmother blessing's internal to her without making her a tier one caster that could do better things. Powerful hour/level buffs that where off at midnight. I suppose the midnight limitation could be added to Incanate easily enough and the links to body slots would be fitting.

-Snow White- I'd make Snow White a Witch with very specific abilities.

Hexes: Aura of Purity, Charm, Peacebond, Healing

To be fair this is dipping into non-Disney sources, but Snow Whites Beauty stayed the Hunter's hand and in 10th kingdom (which I can't recommend highly enough) a very Disney-esque Snow White has graduated from Princess to a Fairy Godmother type entity. As the first princess it makes sense to pile on "Princess Power". Alternatively Vow of Peace's Calm Emotions Aura can accomplish a similar effect, you could just crank her Charisma check into the stratosphere and make her a one trick pony.

[BiblioRook]

I put Pocahontas as a Druid largely based on the fact that she talks to trees (or more importantly I guess, that they talk back), though admittedly this was also done with spreading the classes out in mind as well so I wouldn't say I was committed to that choice.
Something in defence of Jasmine, from what I've heard she's alot more hands-on and adventurey in the TV-Show. But having not have watched it (or rather have watched it as a child but don't remember any of it), I can't really vouch one way or another there.


One interesting thing to consider; Disney does do other things with it's princesses, some of them more leaning towards PC-esk traits. For example, if taking the Disney Infinity game stuff into consideration Anna opens up a great deal more to be something like a fighter or a rogue (fighting using... shovels and grappling hooks?).
There's also Once Upon a Time to consider. Strictly speaking I'm pretty sure Disney owns ABC and would have say in how they portray certain characters, so in something of an indirect way one can gleen some additional character traits from that show as compared to just going off the original movies...

[Particle_Man]

Nala from The Lion King would make a kick-ass animal companion. ;)

[Gemini476]

While Jasmine doesn't have much in the way of PC abilities in the movies, does anyone remember the cartoon well enough to say if she did anything special there?
Y'know, the Aladdin TV series that ran in '94.

[Rubik]

While Jasmine doesn't have much in the way of PC abilities in the movies, does anyone remember the cartoon well enough to say if she did anything special there?
Y'know, the Aladdin TV series that ran in '94.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAvCPcARo-Q

[Gemini476]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAvCPcARo-Q

So, what? A fighter, rogue, ranger, or monk? Unarmed fighting and a tiger, I guess, so Ranger is probably your best bet. Maybe a Ranger/Monk or something.
This is ignoring proper builds and optimization, of course.

[Rubik]

So, what? A fighter, rogue, ranger, or monk? Unarmed fighting and a tiger, I guess, so Ranger is probably your best bet. Maybe a Ranger/Monk or something.
This is ignoring proper builds and optimization, of course.She doesn't have any magic, so I'm willing to bet a multiclassed fighter (specializing in Improved Unarmed Strike)/rogue with the Wild Cohort feat (or just Leadership, since the tiger is obviously Awakened; Iago is definitely Jafar's defected familiar, a refluffed raven that hangs around the good guys after his master went power-mad and got himself imprisoned). She might have a couple of swordsage levels and has magical "armor" in the form of her princess veils.

[The Insanity]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-UMNSVX7_I

[Manly Man]

I'd say Mulan is something along the lines of Warblade 3/Swordsage 2, myself. Even counting the TV shows, where a lot of the characters took a level in badass, she's probably the most badass of the whole bunch, and that would reflect this.

Jasmine, I'd probably say that she's all Rogue with maybe one level of Warblade (she seems to have a wide variety of proficiencies in the show), or most likely Swordsage.

Tiana is an Expert 3 who maxed out Profession (waitress) and Craft (cooking).

Meridia's definitely got Ranger levels in there, maybe even Ranger 2/Scout 2 with Swift Hunter somewhere. Haven't seen the movie in awhile, so I'm not entirely sure right now.

[Larkas]

I'd peg Jasmine as full Rogue myself, with the Wild Cohort feat (or even Leadership, as Rubik said).

Now, just to put things in perspective, which of the villains are NOT T1/2 characters? I could only think of Mulan's!

[Manly Man]

I remember having talked with someone about Dr. Facilier being a Dread Necromancer or Shadowcaster, fluffed as a voodoo witch doctor, neither of which are tier 2.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Jafar is at least level 7, since he has acces to Polymorph or maybe even 9 due Dominate Person, though one could argue that since the effect broke when Alladin broke the staff it might have been from a magic item.

Edit: I reae Larkas comment as levels, not tiers.

The bear from Brave is some kind of templated dire bear so not tier 1/2, the villain from Frozen has tons of ranks in social skills, but not a spellcaster so high tier 4 at most, Frollo is an expert with maxed religion and oratory... probably intimidate too.

[Gemini476]

Jafar is at least level 7, since he has acces to Polymorph or maybe even 9 due Dominate Person, though one could argue that since the effect broke when Alladin broke the staff it might have been from a magic item.

Edit: I reae Larkas comment as levels, not tiers.

The bear from Brave is some kind of templated dire bear so not tier 1/2, the villain from Frozen has tons of ranks in social skills, but not a spellcaster so high tier 4 at most, Frollo is an expert with maxed religion and oratory... probably intimidate too.
Jafar didn't really display many PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS until he Wished for being the most powerful wizard ever or whatever it was, though. What did he have before that? Alter self/Disquise Self, something similar to Dominate (except even less subtle and tied to an item), some divination?
I'd tag him as an E6 character who got the chance to Wish all of his Post-level 6 Exp into post-level 6 levels (It goes horribly wrong in the end, of course.) That sounds like a pretty neat plot point, actually, and I think that I'll save it for later use.

The bear from Brave is more like a Werebear curse gone wrong, though. Or a beefed-up version of Baleful Polymorph or something. (Bearful Polymorph?)

[Hand_of_Vecna]

Jafar probably had a class that builds magic devices. In addition to the staff and his disguise he made the parrot powered sandy crystal ball which had a powerful divination effect. It identified and scryed on a person based on a description of traits.

Sorceror Jafar was really impressive. In addition to the Polymorph and Baleful Polymorph and the golf swing/tower rocket was either Teleporting or Animating a building size object. He also has versatile cc abilities; pink aura making Jasmine and Sultan bow, pink aura making Jasmine stand and Aladdin dance, whirlwind holding Aladdin upside down in the air.

Also he presumably dispelled all the Prince Ali wealth and Aladdin didn't turn back into Ali and I don't think Apu turned back into an elephant when he was defeated so I assume he used Disjunction on continual magic from the Genie's wish granting.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Low level artifecer who uses a wish to trade his levels into sorcerer and get a level boost?

[Larkas]

This (http://sadyna.deviantart.com/gallery/46841733) might be relevant. Or not. It's still awesome.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

Low level artificer who uses a wish to trade his levels into sorcerer and get a level boost?

Workable, but it has two issues for me.

1. We need to pin down a level on the Divination effect of the hourglass. I'm leaning towards Legend Lore and this bumps up his minimum level.

2. Related to 1, I don't like assigning Tier 1 builds to characters that only display a small number of abilities.

Solutions

Either use the craft device feat and make him a kind of high level Expert, with this build he would have had potential he didn't tap into in the film, but without an artificer's craft reserve every new ability would have been costly. His staff appears to have a low save DC, but he could have crafted it back when he was level 1 or two and hasn't bothered making a better one since it would be costly and his old one works on the Sultan.

Alternatively, he's a low level Artificer and most of the magic for his Legend Lore Device comes from the Sultan's Ring and the big machine is a big UMD booster with a bunch of cost reducers on it; size, requires someone to make full round actions to power it in addition to the user, only works on Divination items.

[Talya]

Most Disney Princesses, sadly, wouldn't have PC class levels.

My ideal princess party is Elsa, Merida, Mulan -- after that you either add Rapunzel (the healing is worth something) or Jasmine.

-Elsa (Frozen) I'd actually go Boreal Sorcerer or Winter Oracle before using Winter Witch here.
-Anna (Frozen) - Aristocrat
-Merida (Brave) - Ranger
-Rapunzel (Tangled) - I don't see how White Haired Witch applies, her hair only HEALS. She's an Aristocrat with Weapon Proficiency: Frying Pan and a spell like ability to cast some combination of Heal/Restoration/Greater Age Resistance at will
-Tiana (Princess and the Frog) - I'm tempted to say Expert.
-Mulan - Warblade, all the way.
-Pocahontas - Perhaps ranger.
-Jasmine (Aladdin) - Feat Rogue (Come on. she's got the acrobatic skills to keep up with Aladdin) with Wild cohort
-Belle (Beauty and the Beast) - Expert with lots of knowledge skills.
-Ariel (Little Mermaid) - Aristocrat
-Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) - Aristocrat
-Cinderella - Commoner/Aristocrat
-Snow White - Aristocrat

[Rubik]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-UMNSVX7_IKristen Stewart as Snow White? Oh hell no. She couldn't win a beauty competition as the only contenstant.

[Zonugal]

-Rapunzel (Tangled) - I don't see how White Haired Witch applies, her hair only HEALS. She's an Aristocrat with Weapon Proficiency: Frying Pan and a spell like ability to cast some combination of Heal/Restoration/Greater Age Resistance at will

She's able to use her hair in a lot of crazy ways including constricting opponents.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Most Disney Princesses, sadly, wouldn't have PC class levels.

My ideal princess party is Elsa, Merida, Mulan -- after that you either add Rapunzel (the healing is worth something) or Jasmine.

-Elsa (Frozen) I'd actually go Boreal Sorcerer or Winter Oracle before using Winter Witch here.
-Anna (Frozen) - Aristocrat
-Merida (Brave) - Ranger
-Rapunzel (Tangled) - I don't see how White Haired Witch applies, her hair only HEALS. She's an Aristocrat with Weapon Proficiency: Frying Pan and a spell like ability to cast some combination of Heal/Restoration/Greater Age Resistance at will
-Tiana (Princess and the Frog) - I'm tempted to say Expert.
-Mulan - Warblade, all the way.
-Pocahontas - Perhaps ranger.
-Jasmine (Aladdin) - Feat Rogue (Come on. she's got the acrobatic skills to keep up with Aladdin) with Wild cohort
-Belle (Beauty and the Beast) - Expert with lots of knowledge skills.
-Ariel (Little Mermaid) - Aristocrat
-Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) - Aristocrat
-Cinderella - Commoner/Aristocrat
-Snow White - Aristocrat

That is true, but if we focus on their personalities and actions on their movies we can attempt to build them if they were PC.

And I'd peg Mulan as an unarmed swordsage, but prefers to use a weapon, there is nothing on the adaptation that precludes you from using one. I actually always play an unarmed swordsage even when I plan to use weapons since I don't loose anything and there will be an occasion where you won't have access to your weapons.

[BiblioRook]

-Rapunzel (Tangled) - I don't see how White Haired Witch applies, her hair only HEALS. She's an Aristocrat with Weapon Proficiency: Frying Pan and a spell like ability to cast some combination of Heal/Restoration/Greater Age Resistance at will

Not that I think this is what she would truly qualify as, but my origonal Rapunzel build was basically Rogue/Witch, largely due to the fact that Rapunzel's skills (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oOo1pAUk348/T05XLjblqLI/AAAAAAAABvc/ZtG8cqaZPTA/s1600/rapunzel+painting.jpg)are (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-glCuyqdtb24/UA9WQpa13bI/AAAAAAAACIU/AR6E1tjRuyQ/s1600/tumblr_m73crsSxab1rad1f3o2_500.gif) all (http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/02/Tangled-Pottery.png) over (http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/32200000/Rapunzel-Candle-Making-Screencap-disney-princess-32246739-792-446.jpg) the (http://i56.tinypic.com/242bg90.png) place (http://24.media.tumblr.com/534db5cc376d41734a2fa89534a74984/tumblr_mfw1ixAOGT1rcb0d2o1_500.png). So healing aside, freaky hair things aside (both of which gets covered by witch with the added bonus of gaining a lizard familar), if it's one thing Rapunzel has, it's skills. That and for a sheltered girl that never left her tower before, she certainly seems to be able to hold her own on a fight.

[Larkas]

The bear from Brave is some kind of templated dire bear so not tier 1/2, the villain from Frozen has tons of ranks in social skills, but not a spellcaster so high tier 4 at most, Frollo is an expert with maxed religion and oratory... probably intimidate too.

Eh, to be honest, Elsa is inspired by a character that's supposed to be a villain, so there's that. :smallbiggrin:

[Metahuman1]

I'm just gonna chip in the following.

I think Jasmine's a version of the supermount build, which explains her having fairly limited personal combat ability.

Merida's got ranger all right, but I can't shake the feeling she's got a touch of warblade, and maybe a PrC dip to get access to Power Shot.

Mulan Is totally an unarmed swordsage with a couple of levels dip in warblade.