DoraMilaje
2014-08-27, 09:00 PM
Hello! I just got my copy of the new player's handbook and I'm soooo excited ^.^
There's only the one 5th edition forum right now, so I'm just going to post my first character here?
Shautha “Axe Murderer” Vasquez (ECL 13)
Half-Orc Ranger 5/Rogue 3/Fighter 4/Rogue 1 (100 hp)
Background: Soldier
Str 20
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 9
Wis 13
Cha 8
Saving Throw Proficiencies
Strength, Dexterity
Weapon/Armor Proficiencies
Simple, Martial, Light, Medium, Shields
Skill Proficiencies
Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Survival
Tool Proficiencies
Playing Cards, Smith's Tools, Thieves' Tools, Disguise Kit, Poisoner's Kit, Land Vehicles
Racial Features
Darkvision
Relentless Endurance
Savage Attacks
Ranger Class Features
Favored Enemy (Orc, Human)
Natural Explorer (Grasslands)
Fighting Style—Two-Weapon
Horde Breaker
Primeval Awareness
Extra Attack
Rogue Class Features
Expertise (Stealth, Athletics)
Sneak Attack 2d6
Thieves' Cant
Cunning Action (Dash/Disengage/Hide)
Assassinate
Fighter Class Features
Fighting Style—Ranged
Second Wind
Action Surge
Combat Superiority—Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Trip Attack
Feats
(4) Athlete
(12) +2 Strength
(13) Grappler
Spells
1—(4/day): Hunter's Mark, Jump, Longstrider
2—(2/day): Silence
Personality Trait: I don't expect to be shown respect or compassion, either by enemies or by allies.
Ideal: Civilization should be better than this. I'll fight, kill or die to make tomorrow slightly better.
Bond: Honor is a privilege that people like me cannot afford.
Flaw: Unexpected kindness can shake my resolve, and renders me more trusting than I ought to be.
Born to an orcish squaw that was taken and married by a human soldier. Her mother passed onto her some measure of orcish crafts and superstitions—including minor magic and wilderness lore. A knack for survival would aid Sautha considerably when she and her mother were stashed in the ghettos of a fortress-city on the frontier. For several years, she fended for herself on the streets—trying to scrounge together food enough for herself and her mother, who was getting on in years (youth leaves fullblooded orcs quite quickly). Sautha tried her hand at various honest trades, but found almost without exception that doors were barred to her on account of her half-breed status.
She ultimately joined the army, where she was isolated and maligned but frighteningly effective. She spent the ensuing years of her young adulthood on the march, honing the art of so-called “civilized” warfare against her mother's people... crossing paths a few times with her father and spilling blood all across what she still felt on some level to be her true homeland.
Long story short: Shautha (nicknamed “Axe Murderer” by her human comrades) became very, very good at violence in its most distilled and brutal form. Not one for duels or tests of arms, Shautha can reliably slaughter enemy warriors from thirty paces' distance before they have time to ready weapons. She describes herself as entering an altered state in such moments... an “axe trance” of sorts where her weapons fly from their holsters in a nigh imperceptible blur.
She wears an armored scout's uniform with touches of indigenous craft—making it considerably heavier than regulation, but not enough so that it slows her down. She carries a bare minimum of half a dozen tomahawks on her person at all times, which she prefers to the numerous human weapons she's been drilled in. She crafts the tomahawks herself in her downtime, making use of the numerous toolkits stashed amidst her possessions.
A year ago she finally returned home from the army to find that the payments she'd been sending home had been rerouted into some local bureaucrat’s pockets. Her mother was dead. Her father had left the army months before her, and had already nearly expended his soldier's salary on drink and whoring. Time passed, and it became more and more apparent that despite the victory of the army... despite the relocation of frontier nomads and the extermination of frontier raiders... nothing had really gotten better.
With nothing left in the way of roots or tangible ancestry, Sautha naturally turned to mercenary work and adventuring. As she leaves an increasing trail of bodies in her wake, she hopes secretly that somewhere along the way she'll find some more meaningful way to make a difference.
The Axe Trance: Shautha has a devastating alpha strike capability, that she can tailor on the fly to deal with hardened single targets, clustered enemies or combinations thereof. Attacking from ambush, she can consistently lay down approximately 100 damage to a single AC 25 target, which increases up to ~180 as the target's AC decreases to 15 or below. Her effectiveness against clustered enemies is similar: consistently distributing approximately 150 damage between up to seven lower-level targets. Are those high numbers? I think those are high numbers, but there isn't really a good point of reference for 5e yet.
Notes on Mobility: She can do all this (150 damage between seven targets) while crossing 80 ft. of pretty much any terrain, including leaping obstacles or scrabbling across walls and rough ceilings. With the aid of magic, her jumping ability borders on flight.
Hulking Out: When her alpha strike isn't feasible, Shautha can still contribute to a battle by pinning down enemies with her immense strength. She's as good at grappling as any character of her level possibly can be (+15 on grapple checks) with all the right goodies (Grappler feat, sneak attack, enhanced mobility, trip attack).
Surprisingly Subtle: Despite being built like a brick ****house, Shautha sports a quite respectable +12 Dexterity (Stealth) modifier--enough to reliably get the drop on most characters and monsters. Being able to cast Silence secures her stealth abilities even further--letting her stalk and take down targets completely noiselessly.
In fact, Shautha has many unexpected talents in addition to killing things ridiculously dead ridiculously quickly. Her strength lets her carry around the wide range of equipment that she finds useful. Used to relying on herself, she almost always has the right tool for any given contingency. I could definitely see myself playing Shautha when 5th edition campaigns start up.
So yeah, that's Shautha ^.^
I think I really, really like 5th edition. The character creation process was smooth, the rules are intuitive, and yet it still feels like D&D. And if you fiddle with it for a while, it manages through some arcane process to spit out exactly the character you want to bring to the table.
So, what sort of characters are other people looking forward to playing?
There's only the one 5th edition forum right now, so I'm just going to post my first character here?
Shautha “Axe Murderer” Vasquez (ECL 13)
Half-Orc Ranger 5/Rogue 3/Fighter 4/Rogue 1 (100 hp)
Background: Soldier
Str 20
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 9
Wis 13
Cha 8
Saving Throw Proficiencies
Strength, Dexterity
Weapon/Armor Proficiencies
Simple, Martial, Light, Medium, Shields
Skill Proficiencies
Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Survival
Tool Proficiencies
Playing Cards, Smith's Tools, Thieves' Tools, Disguise Kit, Poisoner's Kit, Land Vehicles
Racial Features
Darkvision
Relentless Endurance
Savage Attacks
Ranger Class Features
Favored Enemy (Orc, Human)
Natural Explorer (Grasslands)
Fighting Style—Two-Weapon
Horde Breaker
Primeval Awareness
Extra Attack
Rogue Class Features
Expertise (Stealth, Athletics)
Sneak Attack 2d6
Thieves' Cant
Cunning Action (Dash/Disengage/Hide)
Assassinate
Fighter Class Features
Fighting Style—Ranged
Second Wind
Action Surge
Combat Superiority—Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Trip Attack
Feats
(4) Athlete
(12) +2 Strength
(13) Grappler
Spells
1—(4/day): Hunter's Mark, Jump, Longstrider
2—(2/day): Silence
Personality Trait: I don't expect to be shown respect or compassion, either by enemies or by allies.
Ideal: Civilization should be better than this. I'll fight, kill or die to make tomorrow slightly better.
Bond: Honor is a privilege that people like me cannot afford.
Flaw: Unexpected kindness can shake my resolve, and renders me more trusting than I ought to be.
Born to an orcish squaw that was taken and married by a human soldier. Her mother passed onto her some measure of orcish crafts and superstitions—including minor magic and wilderness lore. A knack for survival would aid Sautha considerably when she and her mother were stashed in the ghettos of a fortress-city on the frontier. For several years, she fended for herself on the streets—trying to scrounge together food enough for herself and her mother, who was getting on in years (youth leaves fullblooded orcs quite quickly). Sautha tried her hand at various honest trades, but found almost without exception that doors were barred to her on account of her half-breed status.
She ultimately joined the army, where she was isolated and maligned but frighteningly effective. She spent the ensuing years of her young adulthood on the march, honing the art of so-called “civilized” warfare against her mother's people... crossing paths a few times with her father and spilling blood all across what she still felt on some level to be her true homeland.
Long story short: Shautha (nicknamed “Axe Murderer” by her human comrades) became very, very good at violence in its most distilled and brutal form. Not one for duels or tests of arms, Shautha can reliably slaughter enemy warriors from thirty paces' distance before they have time to ready weapons. She describes herself as entering an altered state in such moments... an “axe trance” of sorts where her weapons fly from their holsters in a nigh imperceptible blur.
She wears an armored scout's uniform with touches of indigenous craft—making it considerably heavier than regulation, but not enough so that it slows her down. She carries a bare minimum of half a dozen tomahawks on her person at all times, which she prefers to the numerous human weapons she's been drilled in. She crafts the tomahawks herself in her downtime, making use of the numerous toolkits stashed amidst her possessions.
A year ago she finally returned home from the army to find that the payments she'd been sending home had been rerouted into some local bureaucrat’s pockets. Her mother was dead. Her father had left the army months before her, and had already nearly expended his soldier's salary on drink and whoring. Time passed, and it became more and more apparent that despite the victory of the army... despite the relocation of frontier nomads and the extermination of frontier raiders... nothing had really gotten better.
With nothing left in the way of roots or tangible ancestry, Sautha naturally turned to mercenary work and adventuring. As she leaves an increasing trail of bodies in her wake, she hopes secretly that somewhere along the way she'll find some more meaningful way to make a difference.
The Axe Trance: Shautha has a devastating alpha strike capability, that she can tailor on the fly to deal with hardened single targets, clustered enemies or combinations thereof. Attacking from ambush, she can consistently lay down approximately 100 damage to a single AC 25 target, which increases up to ~180 as the target's AC decreases to 15 or below. Her effectiveness against clustered enemies is similar: consistently distributing approximately 150 damage between up to seven lower-level targets. Are those high numbers? I think those are high numbers, but there isn't really a good point of reference for 5e yet.
Notes on Mobility: She can do all this (150 damage between seven targets) while crossing 80 ft. of pretty much any terrain, including leaping obstacles or scrabbling across walls and rough ceilings. With the aid of magic, her jumping ability borders on flight.
Hulking Out: When her alpha strike isn't feasible, Shautha can still contribute to a battle by pinning down enemies with her immense strength. She's as good at grappling as any character of her level possibly can be (+15 on grapple checks) with all the right goodies (Grappler feat, sneak attack, enhanced mobility, trip attack).
Surprisingly Subtle: Despite being built like a brick ****house, Shautha sports a quite respectable +12 Dexterity (Stealth) modifier--enough to reliably get the drop on most characters and monsters. Being able to cast Silence secures her stealth abilities even further--letting her stalk and take down targets completely noiselessly.
In fact, Shautha has many unexpected talents in addition to killing things ridiculously dead ridiculously quickly. Her strength lets her carry around the wide range of equipment that she finds useful. Used to relying on herself, she almost always has the right tool for any given contingency. I could definitely see myself playing Shautha when 5th edition campaigns start up.
So yeah, that's Shautha ^.^
I think I really, really like 5th edition. The character creation process was smooth, the rules are intuitive, and yet it still feels like D&D. And if you fiddle with it for a while, it manages through some arcane process to spit out exactly the character you want to bring to the table.
So, what sort of characters are other people looking forward to playing?