Pretending to be another class (or race)

[Bad Wolf]

So how about it guys? You ever manage to pass off your pixie warlock as an ogre fighter, or a sorcerer as a wizard?

[Karl Aegis]

Be a druid do whatever you want.

[deuxhero]

For most classes, pretending to be a different class is a bit odd from an in-universe prospective, where classes are just skill sets (is this guy who is good with a bow and can survive in the woods a Ranger, a Barbarian, or a Fighter that somehow nabbed survival as a class skill?) instead of some intrinsic universal properties. Faking casting classes or pretending to be a different kind like pretending to be a divine caster instead of an arcane one, faking casting entirely and pretending to be a Paladin have something going for them (and the first two at least have a decent amount of crunch dedicated to them)

[Necrovosh]

I had an illumian duskblade with fascinating and deceptive illumination who fought with a quarterstaff and pretended to be an illusionist wizard. He was on the path to be a chameleon, so being tricksy was kind of his thing.

[Doc_Maynot]

I once ran a Half-Minotuar Changeling Factotum/Warlock/Chameleon who just looked like they were an Orc dipping in a bunch of classes and yet being really effective at them.

Neither me or the DM spoiled it, so the group went on thinking they were just a Large, Red, Dragon Orc. ANd they were so confused as to how they were smiting (Inspiration), and sneak attacking (Iajutsu Focus), and having favored enemy bonuses (EB using the pulling of a bow as the somatic component), and raging (Hideous Blow), and had dragon scales (Dragon Scale Husk). All while they were studying under the party wizard. (Chameleon).
The group just resigned and decided that Karak'to, who honestly believed they were an orc... Was just taking levels in the Dragon Orc Class.

[johnbragg]

For most classes, pretending to be a different class is a bit odd from an in-universe prospective, where classes are just skill sets (is this guy who is good with a bow and can survive in the woods a Ranger, a Barbarian, or a Fighter that somehow nabbed survival as a class skill?) instead of some intrinsic universal properties. Faking casting classes or pretending to be a different kind like pretending to be a divine caster instead of an arcane one, faking casting entirely and pretending to be a Paladin have something going for them (and the first two at least have a decent amount of crunch dedicated to them)

"What? No, Mr. Town Guard, I'm not a Halfling Rogue. I'm a Ranger. Look, see this bow? No reason to be concerned about me stealing things."

"Tiefling? No, I"m not a tiefling at all. That spell effect you're detecting is Bear's Endurance, not Alter Self."

[Zaq]

I played a Binder/Incarnate/Chameleon who totally reinvented himself every day. One day he'd claim to be a Cleric, stomping around in full plate (that, so far as anyone knew, he simply didn't have yesterday, though when questioned about it, he'd simply say "What? I'm a Cleric. Clerics wear full plate." And this was at a level before we had access to extradimensional storage), slinging around blessings, healing folks, the works. The next day he'd say he was a Wizard, and he really did have a familiar, and he certainly had quite a good command over fire and lightning, and there was no sign of that damn full plate. The next day he'd claim to be a Ranger, pulling off trick shots with his bow that the party's actual Ranger got jealous of, and so on. He'd never admit to being anything other than his chosen role for the day, and if he was challenged on being something else the day before, he'd simply feign having no memory of that. "What do you mean, a Wizard? Do I look like a Wizard to you? I'm a Ranger. Check out what I can do with this bow. Could a Wizard do that? I'm a Ranger." (He had a high enough Bluff score that he always got away with it, too. The party had no idea what to make of him, and neither did any NPCs.)

Of course, he was almost as much work as a prepared caster. I had pages and pages of cheat sheets for which vestiges and which soulmelds would go together in the most elegant ways, so that I didn't have to spend an hour of real time picking a new suite of abilities while everyone waited. But I absolutely loved that character. I'd play another version of him in a heartbeat, if my current GM's weird houserules didn't get in the way . . .

[bjoern]

Back in old 2e, when rules and logic were loose, a friend had a guy that was 1/2drow, 1/2deep gnome, 1/2 duerger.
He would never admit in character that he had dwarf blood saying that he was already 1/2 gnome and 1/2 elf, and that it was impossible to be half of anything else.

It was like wtf?? But I still laugh when I think of it now, 20 years later.

[Ravens_cry]

I had a halfling sorceress in Pathfinder focused on enchantment whose backstory was she had died as a small child (toddler really) and she had been reincarnated . . . into a halfling adult's body, as per the rules. She had max ranks in disguise and took feats to enhance her appearance as just a human child, which is what she still thought of herself as.
Pretending to be a different class is a bit trickier, since classes are something of a meta concept, as others have pointed out, but I could see someone, in-universe, pretending to be whatever one class typical represents in that universe while playing another.
Alternatively, one could use much of the fluff from one class for another to a degree, like druids being the 'clerics' of a nature god, for example.

[ZamielVanWeber]

A friend ran a rogue who pretended to be a wizard. High int, high UMD and used a "spellbook" full of scrolls. It was funny.

[Izmister]

I had made a bard that was called Leeron the sorcerer. As for the right spells, i gave him a magic item from MIC cant remember what it was called though. It was basically like a wand of storing but it also let you use any item without taking it out. So i just stuffed in a bunch of wands and lo and behold Leeron shoots lightning from his fingers. Also used a feat that replaces a bard song for a spell slot, from SaS I believe.

[Suteinu]

My brother once had a kender archer (hoopakeer?)-type, levels of fighter & rogue, and maxed-out his UMD skill, not through training, mind you, just as a subconscious thing. When he came across a wand of wonder (same as a rod thereof, but more 2nd Ed in flavor; it appeared to be a stick with a crooked nail sticking out of the business end), he thought that he'd suddenly been blessed by Reorx and the three gods of magic with wizardhood! He was so excited; he couldn't wait to go take his Test in a Tower of High Sorcery!

So, I guess that counts as fooling himself.

[atemu1234]

Someone on these forums had at least an idea for a barbarian pretending to be a wizard.

[johnbragg]

I just remembered, from a very silly 2E campaign I ran in or after high school.

Everyone assumed that Yarl the Perilous was a gully dwarf who somehow came across a Ring of Regeneration. Nope. He was a polymorphed troll who failed his d% roll to lose his identity.

(I forget if he would have kept regeneration by RAW, if it was a house-rule or if I just screwed up. But Yarl the Perilous was memorable.)

[Thurbane]

Isn't there a famous anecdote about a bear passing himself off as a human with a high Bluff score?

[HyperDunkBarkly]

Isn't there a famous anecdote about a bear passing himself off as a human with a high Bluff score?

http://www.funnyjunk.com/channel/4chan/Sir+bearington/roeNGeb yeah, it was sir bearington.

[YossarianLives]

Someone on these forums had at least an idea for a barbarian pretending to be a wizard.
Indeed. A half-orc who throws torches around and says he is casting fireball.

[Azoth]

I usually run my Unseen Seer builds as anything but a Wizard. High Sleight of Hand and Invisible Spell Metamagic make all your casting hard for someone to notice especially if it isn't a blast/bfc. Use a lot of long duration buffs or swift/immediate spells and you can be anything you want to be.

[Thurbane]

Indeed. A half-orc who throws torches around and says he is casting fireball.

In the ToEE computer game, you come across an NPC who throws "fireballs"; turns out he's a weaver, and his fireballs are little bundles of cloth which he sets on fire and throws at things.

[Thealtruistorc]

Razmiran priest is a sorcerer archetype from pathfinder completely dedicated to passing yourself off as a cleric. The situations just write themselves.

"Help! This noble needs healing!"

"Not to worry. Remove Disease!"

(Casts shocking grasp)

(Looks up) "He didn't make it."

[Curmudgeon]

A friend ran a rogue who pretended to be a wizard. High int, high UMD and used a "spellbook" full of scrolls. It was funny.
That's funny, yes. It's pretty unusual for a Wizard to need to whip out their spellbook in the middle of a battle. :smalltongue:

I've run a Rogue pretending to be a Battle Sorcerer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererVariantBattleS orcerer), using hidden wands (and Use Magic Device, natch). Sleight of Hand conceals spellcasting components (see Races of Stone on page 133), so rather than that same single spell trigger word being spoken for every wand activation, he just muttered something under his breath whenever he cast a spell from a wand; he also wiggled his hands if the spell normally had somatic components.
Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it’s even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. Some people mistakenly read this as a single word per spell, but that's not what the rules say: it's just one single word for all spell trigger items. It's blatantly obvious (normally) if you're using a wand.

I played an Aerenal Elf with Aereni Focus (1st level feat which lets you add any one skill as a class skill), which I explained as letting him acquire Sleight of Hand so he could do "stealth casting". In actuality, that's how he picked up Spellcraft instead. What else is a Sorcerer except a character who can deliver a limited selection of spells and identify other magic as it's cast? Battle Sorcerer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererVariantBattleS orcerer) reduces the spells a bit, and adds light armor use (a Rogue proficiency) and training with one melee weapon (rapier, also a Rogue proficiency), plus gives the same BAB progression as a Rogue. The Wilderness Companion ACF (file:///D:/FRP/Hypertextd20/www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererWizard) grants an animal companion instead of a familiar, which matches the Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a).

By the end of the campaign run he had multiple weapons with wand chambers (rapier, longsword, quarterstaff with 2 chambers, composite longbow), a Wand Bracelet, and a Glove of the Master Strategist, plus a few wands in a Wand Bracer for spells he "didn't know". The multiple weapons covered the bases (piercing, slashing, bludgeoning, ranged) for different types of enemies (making it reasonable for a Battle Sorcerer to have all of them), and allowed for 10 hidden wands. A scepter (Lost Empires of Faerûn: basically a "wand" of up to 7th level spells) counterfeited as a metamagic rod for a 5th level spell, and the quarterstaff at the end was actually a Staff of Earth and Stone.

I actually managed to pull this off from the start at (I think) level 5 throughout the campaign (ending at level 13) without any of the other PCs catching on. When my "Battle Sorcerer" was ostensibly behind closed doors for the nightly 8 hours of trance/rest to be able to prepare spells, he was actually out stealing wands or goods which could be traded for wands. (One charge from a wand of Ray of Resurgence (1st level spell) took care of morning fatigue.) Nights after successfully stealing a wand were devoted to identifying the contained spell using Appraise Magic Value, which feat simulated knowing Identify. When he added sneak attack damage to a touch attack spell, he explained it as being Empowered, Heightened, and/or Maximized. Seeming random use of metamagic I ascribed to his Chaotic alignment. :smallwink:

If the game had gone on a few more levels I might have had to switch things up some, because spell trigger items at high levels get awfully expensive. At level 13 he was supposed to know a single 6th level spell, and he barely managed to swap out his ordinary quarterstaff for the Staff of Earth and Stone (with one 6th level spell) by frantically acquiring extra wealth on his nightly excursions and staying at or above 2x normal WbL. He skimmed every spell trigger item that should have been party treasure off the top. This was a Forgotten Realms campaign, and the FR-only Dark Creature template in Cormyr: The Tearing Of The Weave provides Supernatural Hide in Plain Sight. (He bought off the LA at class level 3.) This ability plus maximum Hide ranks simulated his "casting" of Invisibility and Greater Invisibility without needing more wands. Being unseen coupled with Sleight of Hand (hiding wands on his body as free actions) also facilitated grabbing all the spell trigger items before the rest of the party had a chance to inventory the loot. All of those pilfered spell trigger items were used to the benefit of the adventuring party, so I didn't feel bad about taking them; the other PCs never knew they were there. While my Rogue "Battle Sorcerer" had maximum ranks in Spot, nobody else in the party had enough skill to identify something the size of a wand at range. The DM (after I pointed out a couple of rules passages) facilitated the other PCs being unaware of wand use by simply stating that enemies were casting spells. If the party Cleric tried to use Spellcraft to identify the spell being cast from a wand, the DM would correctly state that he failed to observe any components of the spell and thus Spellcraft didn't work.

Battle Sorcerer is purposely a downgrade of a full spellcaster into a martial mage ("gish"). Picking direct damage spells suitable for this sort of character let him reasonably pass off sneak attack bonus damage as metamagic effects, and using low-level base spells like Acid Splash or Shocking Grasp made for cheaper wands. Nobody needed to know that it was a CL 1 wand (1d6) plus sneak attack (nd6) instead of a spell cast at CL 5+ (maxing out at 5d6); it's all some variable amount of electricity damage. He just kept with the same "known" spells in his "Battle Sorcerer" repertoire, apparently adding Empower Spell metamagic (or whatever) to stay in line with what the additional sneak attack damage would add to the total.

I had a lot of fun playing my faux Sorcerer. If you want to liven up your D&D play sometime, talk with your DM about ways you can emulate a different type of character. The Zinc Saucier contest has some gems which might work for you. (I'm rather partial to my "Ranger", Barbara Backaway.)

[Reyne]

http://www.funnyjunk.com/channel/4chan/Sir+bearington/roeNGeb yeah, it was sir bearington.

Actually, isn't he originally from this forum? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=9788572&postcount=716)