how would you do Robert johnson as a pc?

[Rfkannen]

https://rockhall.com/media/assets/inductees/default/robert-johnson.jpg

So I was thinking, making a character based off of the idea that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to become the greatest blues musician ever. How would you do that?

I was thinking about it, and your two obvios choices are warlock and bard, but it is hard to pick what would make more sense. You could just have a warlock with a guitar. That might make sense as I am not sure exactly how tied a bards musciall skills are tied to their magical ability. On the other hand it could make sense to just have him as a pure bard, and just say that he learned music from the devil. I mean normally the way a bard learned there magic doesnt effect there class.

[Gnome Alone]

I was really close to posting "Gestalt bard//warlock?" earlier, then decided against it pretty much because of the line of reasoning you walked through in the edit. I mean, if Robert Johnson could shoot eldritch demonic laser beams all day long, he did an admirable job of keeping it quiet. So yeah, bard with maxed out Perform (Stringed Instruments) and Perform (Sing)? And don't learn the Neutralize Poison spell.

EDIT: Whoops, didn't realize this was for 5e. Sorry.

[Starsinger]

It seems like a good custom background to me. Proficiency in an instrument of choice, and Arcana or Religion to summon the devil... A feature similar if not identical to the "By Popular Demand" feature of the Entertainer background.

[Yoroichi]

So I was thinking, making a character based off of the idea that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to become the greatest blues musician ever. How would you do that?


I find this idea amazing!

I think that you could go full warlock or full bard and homebrew an archetype that includes charms in the songs,you can have the wizard enchanter as guidelines on balance.

Also if robert johnson could shoot eldristch blasts i think he would only do it when he battled angels and not during his concerts :D

GO through with this and let us know how it goes!

[mister__joshua]

I'd go multiclass Bard/Warlock. They have excellent synergy anyway, and there's no reason you have to become a blasting warlock if that's not what you see your character as. 2 levels of Warlock for the fiend pact and to get the invocations. Some are very thematically cool. Start as Bard and take 18 levels of it. Can't really go wrong!