Have you ever played a character pretending to be a different class

[PallentisLunam]

It seems to be fairly common, the sorcerer carry a fake booby trapped spell book, the duskblade pretending to just be a big dumb lug. I was wondering if my perception is skewed or if this really is a common thing at most tables?

[erok0809]

As a DM, I've made a recurring-NPC warmage pretending to be just a fighter. This was in an area of the world where magic wasn't trusted yet by the general populace, so it made sense at the time. The look on the player's face was great though when he suddenly cast fireball when he was in a bad situation. I've never seen a player do it though.

[Raezeman]

Not a different class, but in a pathfinder game i did pretend to have a different bloodline.
storywise: my character was the descendant of a vampire, through which he had the undead bloodline. Hating this however, he told everyone he was descendant from a powerful ice using mage (thus boreal bloodline). while at low levels this was pretty easy to pretend, at higher levels it would become obvious he had undead powers instead of boreal powers. Unfortunately, i had to quit that group not long after we started that campaign, so it never played out. Only the DM knew about the undead bloodline, the other players bought my boreal story.

[Darrin]

Behold the Thogaturge (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?195049-Help-Me-Be-Annoying-with-a-Barbarian-Wizard). Last character I played in an actual game... got to about 6th level.

[Flickerdart]

I don't know about pretending, but I've definitely played paladins that didn't exactly carry a sign. :smallwink:

[PallentisLunam]

Behold the Thogaturge (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?195049-Help-Me-Be-Annoying-with-a-Barbarian-Wizard). Last character I played in an actual game... got to about 6th level.

That's beautiful :smallbiggrin:

[Darrin]

That's beautiful :smallbiggrin:

My next character, should the opportunity present itself, will probably be a desert half-orc sorcerer pretending to be a barbarian. Rage = bull's strength, fast movement = expeditious retreat, survival = endure elements, etc.

[PallentisLunam]

My next character, should the opportunity present itself, will probably be a desert half-orc sorcerer pretending to be a barbarian. Rage = bull's strength, fast movement = expeditious retreat, survival = endure elements, etc.

That strikes me as much more dangerous than the other way around.

[Inevitability]

I played a CE cleric pretending to be a paladin once in a 5e game. Everyone was still new to the game, so no one figured out I wasn't what I claimed to be.

I've also toyed with the idea of a primordial giant half-ogre sorcerer or wizard.

[Âmesang]

Think the closest I've come is a chaotic-evil sorcerer who'd polymorph into a silver dragon and use cone of cold as a "breath weapon." If her alignment was proven false she'd speak the truth: she's under the effect of a misdirection spell.

I'd also like to play a rogue who's general look involves constantly wearing a fake eyepatch and facial hair, removing them only when he needs to don a different disguise. :smalltongue:

[Morcleon]

That strikes me as much more dangerous than the other way around.

I don't think you'd be able to do it the other way around. :smalltongue:

[PallentisLunam]

I don't think you'd be able to do it the other way around. :smalltongue:

Did you not see the link? It was brilliant! :smallbiggrin:

[Morcleon]

Did you not see the link? It was brilliant! :smallbiggrin:

Ah, no I did not. I thought you meant from a purely mechanical standpoint. :smalltongue:

[LTwerewolf]

I played a rogue that at various points during the campaign pretended to be a few different classes. At one point or another he was a wizard, cleric, monk, and ranger. Everyone believed him through proper equipping, wands, and a high bluff check.

[Telonius]

I have one prepared for an upcoming campaign. Not exactly "pretending," but she's a Cloistered Cleric of Olidammara/Warlock/Eldritch Disciple. The way I'm imagining her, most people think she's a Rogue, and she doesn't do much to disabuse them of that (unless there's some reason she needs to).

[dascarletm]

My wife was a rogue pretending to be a spellcaster in a magic academy campaign. She used UMD (and rich parents to fuel these things) to "fake it till you make it."

Also, I played a barbarian that thought he was a paladin once.

[Asrrin]

I'm currently playing in a campaign where I am colluding with the DM to hide my true character. The wizard is in actuality a DMPC that's destined to die soon, and his "familiar" is actually my tibbit psion. Everyone thinks I took feats that allow me to cast through my familiar as I've had to bail them out a couple of times and didn't suppress my manifestations, but no one is yet clued in that I'm actually the cute fuzzy little animal. I plan on making a "grand entrance" so to speak when the DMPC kicks the bucket and the party is near TPK.

[Gruftzwerg]

First you have to think about the fact that most classes aren't official titles. The only exceptions are classes like Paladins, Clerics and Wizards if you have official Arcane Schools as setting.

In fact, most non spellcasting heroes the tables I play refer themselves as adventurers.
Rogues pretend to be be fighters most of the times, cause they don't want to be noticed as thief.

And a Dragonfire Adept - Dragonwrought Kobold, pretends to be a real Dragon. I don't have any problems with these.

IMHO you should rethink your definition of "class" :smallwink:

[PallentisLunam]

First you have to think about the fact that most classes aren't official titles. The only exceptions are classes like Paladins, Clerics and Wizards if you have official Arcane Schools as setting.

In fact, most non spellcasting heroes the tables I play refer themselves as adventurers.
Rogues pretend to be be fighters most of the times, cause they don't want to be noticed as thief.

And a Dragonfire Adept - Dragonwrought Kobold, pretends to be a real Dragon. I don't have any problems with these.

IMHO you should rethink your definition of "class" :smallwink:

*eyeroll* :smallsigh:

Sorry, but "Have you ever played a character purporting to possess one set of abilities but actually possessing another" was too long of a title. Class simplified it.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Most of the time I've played Binders, I've faked being some other form of magic-user (what with Binders being especially hated for some reason), though not a specific different class.

[Inevitability]

Most of the time I've played Binders, I've faked being some other form of magic-user (what with Binders being especially hated for some reason), though not a specific different class.

Out of curiosity: do you think there's any class Binders can't do a decent job of impersonating? There are archer vestiges, melee vestiges, spellcasting vestiges, psionic vestiges... even a vestige that grants you monk abilities, of all things!


I'm currently playing in a campaign where I am colluding with the DM to hide my true character. The wizard is in actuality a DMPC that's destined to die soon, and his "familiar" is actually my tibbit psion. Everyone thinks I took feats that allow me to cast through my familiar as I've had to bail them out a couple of times and didn't suppress my manifestations, but no one is yet clued in that I'm actually the cute fuzzy little animal. I plan on making a "grand entrance" so to speak when the DMPC kicks the bucket and the party is near TPK.

Nice.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Out of curiosity: do you think there's any class Binders can't do a decent job of impersonating? There are archer vestiges, melee vestiges, spellcasting vestiges, psionic vestiges... even a vestige that grants you monk abilities, of all things!

I don't seem to recall them having anything that could pass for Bardic Music or Wild Shape. And actually, impersonating a true spellcaster (particularly a prepared caster) is rather dicey, since a caster can be expected to have a much greater variety of abilities available than a Binder can possibly have, and follows quite specific and well known rules that a Binder doesn't. You'll probably be able to trick the peasantry well enough, but anyone with a goodish rank in Spellcraft or Knowledge (Arcana) is going to see something's off fairly quickly.


I'm currently playing in a campaign where I am colluding with the DM to hide my true character. The wizard is in actuality a DMPC that's destined to die soon, and his "familiar" is actually my tibbit psion. Everyone thinks I took feats that allow me to cast through my familiar as I've had to bail them out a couple of times and didn't suppress my manifestations, but no one is yet clued in that I'm actually the cute fuzzy little animal. I plan on making a "grand entrance" so to speak when the DMPC kicks the bucket and the party is near TPK.

Ahh, the good old Bait and Switch Familiar. Always a classic. (Did a similar trick with a Fiend of Possession, come to think of it. Sadly that campaign never made it past the first session.)

[Vhaidara]

One of the old builds (core only, before i realized what optimization was) I toyed around with was a Half-Orc Ranger/Wizard/Eldritch Knight. Used a greataxe and has his robes glammered to look like fullplate. So, when people saw him from a distance, they saw a half orc in full plate with a greataxe. Then he started casting spells.

Never got to play him, and have since realized that the build is both horrible and illegal (since glammer makes armor look like not-armor, not not-armor look like armor)

[Gnaeus]

I played a psion who pretended he was a cleric for a long time. He was a dwarf, and his "holy symbol" was a rock which he would wave around while he used his powers.

I currently have a multiclassed Nature cleric who describes himself as a druid. He isn't specifically trying to trick anyone, he is just dumb as a post and doesn't know any better.

I had a chameleon who often described himself as a cleric. Again, not really so much a trick. He was a devout worshiper of his chaos god, and he did have a position of importance in the church religious heirarchy (and he did have 1 level of cleric). He really was a cleric, in every manner other than mechanically.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Does a changeling incarnate/chameleon pretending to be an entirely different character from one day to the next count?

[PallentisLunam]

Does a changeling incarnate/chameleon pretending to be an entirely different character from one day to the next count?

Ehh, sort of. I'm asking more about specific shenanigans where you intentionally misrepresented a particular aspect of your abilities rather than just generally deceitful characters.

[Swaoeaeieu]

i have this gunsmoke mystic (pathfinder) that refuses to confess she uses magic with her bullets. i shoot pure lightning? thats just a special alchemical bullet.
never actually made the bluff check off course, but its fun to pretend.

also, alchemy does not really explain how i can now turn myself into chain lightning, but i swear im just a gunslinger.

[Chewychunga]

lol i havent played one yet but this thread has given me the idea and im def going to do it for my next game.. and all the ideas!! the closest i could say was a factotum that thought i was a rouge wizard.. he was really sneaky and cast spells and thought he used the spells to make him sneakier

[Talion]

Having thought it over, I've had characters who have lied about virtually every aspect of themselves, from alignment and abilities to race, but have suspiciously missed their class. At least, with the exception of one, but it also came with the territory (I was a world class assassin but played the part of village idiot so that no one would suspect me of anything besides idiocy thanks to their exceptional acting. See also the "Cookie flavored cake with tiny cake flavored cookies in it" incident). So while it is technically an instance of Assassin playing the part of...Commoner...it's really more par for the course.

[Necroticplague]

I once had a character that pretended to be a fighter. This lasted approximately up until the point where my character was executed for some* crimes, and then made an "inexplicable recovery" later (reality being that losing their head was only a minor inconveneience). Pretended to be a "former wendigo" (hey, nobody had sense motive or k(nature) to call them on it) as well, to explain the ability to eat several times their own body mass without slowing down.

* depending on how you look at it, these were either a handful of war crimes, or an incredibly long list of personal crimes.

[Inevitability]

* depending on how you look at it, these were either a handful of war crimes, or an incredibly long list of personal crimes.

I both fear and desire more details.

[Âmesang]

i have this gunsmoke mystic (pathfinder) that refuses to confess she uses magic with her bullets. i shoot pure lightning? thats just a special alchemical bullet.
never actually made the bluff check off course, but its fun to pretend.

also, alchemy does not really explain how i can now turn myself into chain lightning, but i swear im just a gunslinger.
Is it weird that I suddenly want to play as Marshal Dillon? Or, at least, the Rifleman?

…of course with my luck I'd end up as one of the soldiers of F-Troop. :smalltongue:

[nedz]

I'm currently playing a Beguiler pretending to be a Cleric - but that's just a Beguiler doing their thing really.

[Troacctid]

I have a theory that if you give any character a lute and have them play it during combat, at least half of the party will mistake them for a bard.

[Thurbane]

We had a Beguiler in our group (started off as a Grey Elf, one Reincarnate later, was a Goblin) who used to pass himself off as a Rogue. Not too hard at all for a Beguiler, really...

[Ortesk]

I hone one character, a half fey two weapon fighter with frenzy and other normal fighter stuff. He would use his insane looks (he was a half nymph but we used the half fey template) and his innate fey magic, everyone thought he was a sorcerer. So eventually, when the guards decided to bring him in on charges for inciting a riot, they send like 5 5th level guys with an antimagic field to apprehend him. Since he was level 18 and a pure warrior, he got a cool antimagic item out of it haha.

The other instance has been less I lie about what I am, more nobody knows. I refluff the warblade stuff and only tell the DM what I am doing, so the players are at this point, sure I am a Gish. Still a warblade 8, but nobody expects a whisper gnome warblade. Nobody

[fishyfishyfishy]

I don't tell the other players at the table what class my character is in, or what I plan on creating when discussing it before the game begins. I used to, but I found out that it's better to tell people what role I plan on filling and then choosing classes that fit that. The only one who gets to know my exact class features is the DM. I have not had any reason to keep anything secret in character either. I tend to share with close friends and allies what I'm capable of doing so that we can better strategize.

That said, I mostly DM and I rarely get to play at all.

[Arutema]

I'm just starting a character who will be a Hellknight. He trains in martial weapons and heavy armors as a Hellknight should (and the PRC requires). The fact that he was born with the power of a void kineticist (which will make up his class levels before qualifying for the Hellknight PRC) is irrelevant.

[killem2]

I play a samsaran warpriesy who dresses like a bard and carries an instrument. Lol

[Vizzerdrix]

Give your wizard two short swords*, a chain shirt propperly enchanted, and the right familiar and pass it off as a ranger. No one ever bothers with the ranger in combat.


*For steeldance.

[ff7hero]

In my story, everyone knew my Factotum was a Factotum, but no one had any idea that he was a (Whisper) Gnome. Thanks to a Hat of Disguise (second best piece of magical bling, with only the ubiquitous Haversack outranking it), every character and player in that game believed I was in fact a Kobold.

A little backstory, so I may indulge in some storytelling. In this campaign, Gnomes had been mostly driven into hiding by the Human Suppremist BBEG and my character was an operative working to overthrow the BBEG to create a world that the Gnomes could live in freely once more. Dragons were one of the staunchest opposers of the BBEG, and we were told from the beginning that they would be a driving force for the plot. Thus, I found myself with a reason to conceal my Gnomeyness, and if Dragons look to be a powerful ally, Kobolds are a good race to be.

I began my deception before the game proper even began. With my friends and future party members, I spent plenty of time talking about how awesomely broken Dragonwrought Konolds were (this was perfectly in character for me, as the proud resident Power Gamer). With DM permission I wrote "KOBOLD!!!!!" in the race line of my character sheet and I never left home without my trusty Hat of Disguise. I made sure to always roleplay as a spastic, hyperactive nut job, as that was how I imagined a Gnome would go about pretending to be a Kobold. Whenever we met Dragons, which was frequent as they were the movers and shakers of PC cause, I played as admiring and fanatical. This gave my Gnome a good, concrete excuse to go along with plots to overthrow the BBEG while obscuring his true intentions.

There would have been a big reveal if the campaign had run to its conclusion, but instead I get to tell this fun story about playing my whole table. I will say, I was kind of disappointed that only one player only showed any suspicion of my character at all, and that dried up quickly. I feel like I dropped plenty of hints toward my true race. I used my (restricted) Silence SLA a few times, which was what created the little suspicion I ended up generating. I also used a Gnome Hooked Hammer, for crying out loud (it seemed like the best melee weapon to be carrying for this character who was hoping very much not to enter melee). I had a flimsy excuse to explain this one, basically I was planning to say I took EWP (GHH) as a "sandbag" of sorts. This was actually even sort of true, as I had opted to not exchange my GHH proficiency for proficiency in the Gnomish Quickrazor (as a Factotum, ffs).

So that was long. In case you didn't like my story, here's a classic from long ago, the tale of the Drunken "Fighter":
http://i.imgur.com/csAix.jpg

[Doc_Maynot]

Karak'to Naeem, Half-Minotaur Changeling Warlock/Factotum/Chameleon. But by the time everything was said and done the party just thought them a large, Dragon Blooded Orc who took a dip in almost everything (Just relented and said he was the "orc" class.)
This child's body was found by the tribal shaman, and they took them in to teach them the ways of Gruumsh. As they grew along with their adopted brothers, truly believing they were an orc, they grew to tower among their people. After more background stuff (long story) their tribe was destroyed by a Red Dragon, all but Karak'to. Knowingly denying him an honorable death.
This now old Orc, wielded an older tribal spear (Duom) adorned with trinkets and tokens he'd acquire through his journeys and a bow, which I used refluffed Eldritch Blasts to shoot my favored enemy (Thing Karak'to Not Like) with. I used Inspiration as a refluffed smite, Iajutsu focus as Sneak Attack, and the like. Made sure to pick up a monk's belt and Kung Fu Genius to help them be monkish.

[Belzyk]

I played a kobold skymage who was so enthralled by her grey linnorm that she followed it around like a whipped dog and people thought she was just some little concubine of the spellscale ( grey linnorms alt form)

[Quertus]

Not too much in 3.x. Closest I came was when I played a ghost sorcerer who possessed custom bodies, and acted like a fighter, or when I played an ogre psion who acted like a fighter.