A rather commonplace member of the aristocricy.

[drack]

Hello mates, I'm presently stating a quick level 3 aristocrat character, and hit a roadblock, so I hopped someone may give me a hand.
Ollick is a proper old lord of 49. While his elder brother has managed to grapple with kingdoms, he himself has accomplished little, ever floundering in that shadow. Recently however his brother has fallen utterly mad, and Ollick sees his opportunity. Setting out with a crate of gold and his two faced nature, Ollick seeks to not only make himself a base of power and bring his own name to the height of legend, but to dwarf even the achievements of his brother. Ollick himself is otherwise a rather unremarkable man however, and there is where I find my problem. I'm too stuck in the rut of giving even the most unremarkable of characters something extraordinary to make them both catch and hold the attention of those about them. Ollick however has none of that, only the might of gold and his own nature. (No, I don't even intend to op social skills, which may well make bribes his mightiest weapon.)

In any case, anyone know some nice nobility themed feats that don't do much mechanically? Perhaps some nobility themed mundane items to complement what the PHB has to offer?

[Fouredged Sword]

Well, lets start with his basics. He is an aristocrat 3 with the elite array most likely. He is a dwarf, so -2 cha +2 con. Not very useful for a noble.

A noble isn't about what you have, it's who you have on your payroll.

He gets 4+int skills. He likely has a 10-11 int, so pick any 4 skills. Diplomacy and bluff get max ranks. Lets go with Knowledge Nobility, and Sense motive. He has 5 ranks in each. He knows the basics of moving through high society. Now, he wasn't in charge of his house, so he spent an amount of time slumming with the guards and drinking in dive bars. Lets put those four leftover points to good use in knowledge local and handle animal (he has a hobby of raising fine war hounds).

Now, he is rich for his level (nothing compared to an adventurer, but wealthy). He has masterwork cloths of diplomacy and a masterwork crop of handle animal. He has two guards on retainer. They are dwarven warrior 3's with tower shield proficiency and waraxes. They may only wear brestplates, but they can hold a line well. He also has a pair of magebreed warbeast dogs. The nasty beasts can tear the neck of an orc off in a single bite but he dotes on them like children.

Now there, he is a CR4-5 encounter. He doesn't like to fight though. He rarely leaves town, and spends most of his time getting involved in the local guilds.

[drack]

You see, there's my delema, I'm tempted to get him those magebread dogs and when you think about it, a man with dogs that tough is pretty darned scary. It's a political E6 game, so truth be told he's pretty well off, and admittedly more likely to have level 1 or 2 guards and a few more that don't hang around him just cuz folks have those sorts of things. Still, big growling dogs catches the attention in a quiet entertainment hall. I mean it's not a +40 some to intimidate like some folks are bound to have, but those things would be nasty enough for people to be wary. Ah well, gave 'm deceitful, persuasive, and negotiator as feats since +2 mods won't really do much. Not terribly noble though...

Anywho, thanks anyways fouredged. :smallsmile:

[Venger]

education is a good thematic fit for an aristocrat. it gives all knowledge skills as class skills. if you're lvl 3, that means you have enough points and another feat to nab knowledge devotion. while your skillcap means you're likely to only get +1 or 2 to atk/dmg, since you're asking for low-op E6 advice, that seems in keeping with your goals.