Orrmundur
2014-12-09, 06:54 PM
So next Sunday I'm DMing my group's (sort of) annual Holiday one-shot adventure. The emphasis always on fun and we play very fast and loose with the rules. This year I decided on a D20 Modern SWAT-esque action romp spoofing the idea of The War on Christmas. The players are an elite squadron of S.C.R.O.O.G.E. on a mission to assault the home base of Santa Montana, a Scarface-esque take on Father Christmas. The base is high up in the mountains and centered on an illegal toy factory where Santa Montana oversees his elfish and robot servants. The players' goal is to arrest Santa and his cronies, including right hand man and top enforcer Krampus, as well as shutting down the toy factory. It's basically The Raid with a ridiculous Christmas theme painted over it, but played absolutely straight.
In these one shots the players just have to show up and play, the DM creates all the PCs. This is all well and good as I love coming up with character concepts. Problem is, I'm not so good with character builds. Which is why I come to the Playground for help. If you could come with suggestions for builds for these characters I would be ever so grateful. I'm thinking that maybe level 10 should be good for this 3-4 player adventure, high enough for great action but low enough to avoid too much numbers bloat. All characters are based on both a Hollywood cop archetype and a famous Christmas-themed character.
The Cast of Characters:
PEKAN – The Nut Cracker crossed with the Rookie Cop as a kung fu robot. He's meant to be the team's melee specialist, but probably with a pistol sidearm just in case. Think Rama from The Raid. Martial Artist/Gangster, maybe? Created by Santa Montana, he wants to save his fellow robots from the iron heel of Christmas cheer. He has a human wife, Marie, who is pregnant with their cyborg baby.
HARLEY COBB – Jacob Marley crossed with Murtaugh. An undead cop on her last mission before retirement, except in this case retirement = ascending to a higher plane. So her main motivation is just to do the mission, do it well, and bring everyone back home safe (or at least alive). I'm thinking maybe Soldier/Field Officer or something. She's supposed to be the highest ranking officer so a leader role might fit but I also want to give her a big-ass machine gun. (The train of thought goes: Jacob Marley - chains - chain gun, shut up)
JUPE – Son of the Grinch crossed with Dirty Harry. He's a green, furry mountain man who was raised by his father near a small town under the sway of Christmas. His father tried to teach the townsfolk the error of their ways but all that got him was poisoned, his heart grew three times its size until it exploded. This led to Jupe's life-long hatred of all things Yuletide. I'm leaning towards making him a kind of stealth or marksman type. Maybe Field Marshal from D20 Past or something, I don't know.
MAC A. LEE – The kid from Home Alone 20 years later with a dash of Martin Riggs. After having his home invaded by toy-craving burglars one holiday season, Mac was scarred for life. He may be a brilliant gadgeteer but he's also become addicted to Cola and various sweets. Secretly corrupt and "owned" by the Easter Bunny, this wild card inventor cop has been hired to assassinate Santa, but will his conscience let him go through with it? For him I was leaning towards Scientist from D20 past but I really don't know. As it's looking increasingly like there'll only be 3 players, odds are he won't ever be played so I'm least worried about him.
In these one shots the players just have to show up and play, the DM creates all the PCs. This is all well and good as I love coming up with character concepts. Problem is, I'm not so good with character builds. Which is why I come to the Playground for help. If you could come with suggestions for builds for these characters I would be ever so grateful. I'm thinking that maybe level 10 should be good for this 3-4 player adventure, high enough for great action but low enough to avoid too much numbers bloat. All characters are based on both a Hollywood cop archetype and a famous Christmas-themed character.
The Cast of Characters:
PEKAN – The Nut Cracker crossed with the Rookie Cop as a kung fu robot. He's meant to be the team's melee specialist, but probably with a pistol sidearm just in case. Think Rama from The Raid. Martial Artist/Gangster, maybe? Created by Santa Montana, he wants to save his fellow robots from the iron heel of Christmas cheer. He has a human wife, Marie, who is pregnant with their cyborg baby.
HARLEY COBB – Jacob Marley crossed with Murtaugh. An undead cop on her last mission before retirement, except in this case retirement = ascending to a higher plane. So her main motivation is just to do the mission, do it well, and bring everyone back home safe (or at least alive). I'm thinking maybe Soldier/Field Officer or something. She's supposed to be the highest ranking officer so a leader role might fit but I also want to give her a big-ass machine gun. (The train of thought goes: Jacob Marley - chains - chain gun, shut up)
JUPE – Son of the Grinch crossed with Dirty Harry. He's a green, furry mountain man who was raised by his father near a small town under the sway of Christmas. His father tried to teach the townsfolk the error of their ways but all that got him was poisoned, his heart grew three times its size until it exploded. This led to Jupe's life-long hatred of all things Yuletide. I'm leaning towards making him a kind of stealth or marksman type. Maybe Field Marshal from D20 Past or something, I don't know.
MAC A. LEE – The kid from Home Alone 20 years later with a dash of Martin Riggs. After having his home invaded by toy-craving burglars one holiday season, Mac was scarred for life. He may be a brilliant gadgeteer but he's also become addicted to Cola and various sweets. Secretly corrupt and "owned" by the Easter Bunny, this wild card inventor cop has been hired to assassinate Santa, but will his conscience let him go through with it? For him I was leaning towards Scientist from D20 past but I really don't know. As it's looking increasingly like there'll only be 3 players, odds are he won't ever be played so I'm least worried about him.