How would you build Samwise Gamgee?

[Biggstick]

Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings came up in a thread that was talking about some of the worst combinations of races and classes. Compared to Legolas, Aragorn, and Gandalf, Samwise is a much more "realistic" character. I'm using realistic loosely, obviously. Anyways, it got me thinking about how the Playground would build their version of Samwise Gamgee?

[Belac93]

Stout halfling fighter folk hero seems to make the most sense. Probably 12 Strength, 12 Dexterity, 14 Constitution, 9 Intelligence, 12 Wisdom, and 10 Charisma. I'm not to certain on those mental stats, but the physical ones seem to make the most sense.

[Tanarii]

Yeah I'd go Stout Halfling Fighter (Champion) Folk Hero as well. Pretty low level in the books, although that's true for most of the characters. IMO Lord of the Rings novels are definitely an E6-style campaign.

Edit:
If I was trying to approximate him as a PC using the Standard Array I'd probably use:
Str 10 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 13 Cha 12

[JellyPooga]

I'd make him a DMPC with no given stats; he gets away with stuff in the books that he really shouldn't.

It's always hard to assign stats to fictional characters (or non-fictional for that matter). I'd probably peg him as a Rogue, Expertise in Stealth and...I dunno, Insight maybe? At 6th, give him Intimidate and Survival Expertise? When he took out Shelob, that was definitely a Sneak Attack and he's pretty fearless by the end, so Slippery Mind kind of fits that.

[clem]

The Gourmand feat from Unearthed Arcana would be a good fit. For that matter, Samwise strikes me as more of a Valor Bard than a Rogue -- his role in the Fellowship is to keep up the other's spirits and to provide support.

[Jarawara]

How would I build Samwise?

I would start with the torso of a Bolger, as I would need a stout and roomy interior for any additional upgrades. I would use the fast legs of a Brandybuck, and of course the feet of a Proudfoot. (Or is that Proudfeet?) For strong arms, I would be tempted go outside of the hobbit sub-family. Perhaps some nice dwarven arms for a firm grasp of his sword. And to reflect his fierce and loyal nature, I would consider the heart of a wolf.

For the brain, any old Took brain would do.

All in all, I bet it could be done for less than half a dozen corpses.

[Biggstick]

Anyone else feel he might have traces of Paladin in there? He was the only one who held the Ring that willingly gave it up; that's gotta say something about the his Wisdom saves! He was the one with the strength of will to physically and mentally carry on, even when Frodo had given up. Maybe not a full Paladin who's sworn an oath mind you, but a level 2 one perhaps?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Anyone else feel he might have traces of Paladin in there? He was the only one who held the Ring that willingly gave it up; that's gotta say something about the his Wisdom saves! He was the one with the strength of will to physically and mentally carry on, even when Frodo had given up. Maybe not a full Paladin who's sworn an oath mind you, but a level 2 one perhaps?

More likely the DM gave them all a free feat at level 1, and he took Resilient (Wis). :smalltongue:

[Fflewddur Fflam]

Pretty low level in the books, although that's true for most of the characters.

Maybe it's just in the movies, but Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli slice through swarms of Orcs like they were made out of butter.

[JellyPooga]

For that matter, Samwise strikes me as more of a Valor Bard than a Rogue

Anyone else feel he might have traces of Paladin in there?

I'm increasingly thinking he might be a Lore Bard.

Valour doesn't fit Sam (maybe Merry and/or Pippin, but not Sam) because he never really does the whole fighting thing and I think Cutting Words fits his style better than Combat Inspiration.

He does do the bolster his companions thing, has a wide variety of skills that mostly don't see any use, a bunch of tool proficiencies (houseruled in place of the three instruments) and certain oddities that could be explained as spells (e.g. his bravery could be Heroism, getting away with crossing Mordor to Mount Doom as being Disguise Self or Nondetection). Song of Rest and healing spells could represent how he and Frodo managed to survive as long as they did on short rations over such a lengthy journey.

[Slipperychicken]

Stout halfling fighter folk hero seems to make the most sense. Probably 12 Strength, 12 Dexterity, 14 Constitution, 9 Intelligence, 12 Wisdom, and 10 Charisma. I'm not to certain on those mental stats, but the physical ones seem to make the most sense.

This is roughly what I'd give him too.

[Doug Lampert]

Maybe it's just in the movies, but Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli slice through swarms of Orcs like they were made out of butter.

In the books Legolas and Gimli have their a contest at Helms deep and come out 41 to 42 orc kills. But note that Legolas does a lot of that shooting from a well built wall till he's out of arrows, and in most of the rest of the fighting they have a significant advantage from the fortifications.

Tolkien doesn't show anyone as happy to face substantially superior numbers of orcs on more or less even ground (partial exception for the Rohirim when they get surprise and a cavalry charge). The fellowship is running away from fairly modest groups of orcs well prior to the Balrog showing up in Moria and seems to consider a dozen or so a serious threat to the entire group.

Similarly, everyone is impressed that Boromir managed to kill a dozen or so on the open ground before they got him.

Tolkien was presumably well aware that the sort of assault the orcs were making at Helm's Deep was the sort of action where historically the attacker could easily be running into a meat grinder. D&D doesn't give the defense that sort of edge, but a 10:1 superiority in numbers was considered the minimum to even consider that sort of attack on a fortification till cannon became dominant and the term "forlorn hope" comes from the term for units leading such assaults even after they had cannon to soften the fortifications up.

And in addition to the historical factors, Tolkien's military experience was in trenches in WWI, he was in the Battle of the Somme, several of his friends died there. Tolkien would have been well aware of just how bad assaulting a fixed location was, so I don't think we can take him having some of the defenders kill 41+ attackers each as proof that the defenders were super-warriors.

[Drackolus]

I second bard. Stout halfling definitely seems the only way to go. Rogue levels do make sense too, though. Maybe some totally unoptimized rogue 2/bard 2 that he just makes work. Spelless ranger, maybe?

[GlenSmash!]

I'll post a better reply to this thread once I get my copy of the Adventures in Middle Earth: Players Guide. I should get the PDF pretty soon. I'm really looking forward to having a lot more spell-less classes at my fingertips.

[JNAProductions]

How would I build Samwise?

I would start with the torso of a Bolger, as I would need a stout and roomy interior for any additional upgrades. I would use the fast legs of a Brandybuck, and of course the feet of a Proudfoot. (Or is that Proudfeet?) For strong arms, I would be tempted go outside of the hobbit sub-family. Perhaps some nice dwarven arms for a firm grasp of his sword. And to reflect his fierce and loyal nature, I would consider the heart of a wolf.

For the brain, any old Took brain would do.

All in all, I bet it could be done for less than half a dozen corpses.

I love this. I. Love. This.

[Baptor]

How would I build Samwise?

I would start with the torso of a Bolger, as I would need a stout and roomy interior for any additional upgrades. I would use the fast legs of a Brandybuck, and of course the feet of a Proudfoot. (Or is that Proudfeet?) For strong arms, I would be tempted go outside of the hobbit sub-family. Perhaps some nice dwarven arms for a firm grasp of his sword. And to reflect his fierce and loyal nature, I would consider the heart of a wolf.

For the brain, any old Took brain would do.

All in all, I bet it could be done for less than half a dozen corpses.

You sir win this thread. I laughed at this until my kids thought something was wrong with me. 😂

[Badass Unicorn]

Anyone else feel he might have traces of Paladin in there? He was the only one who held the Ring that willingly gave it up; that's gotta say something about the his Wisdom saves! He was the one with the strength of will to physically and mentally carry on, even when Frodo had given up. Maybe not a full Paladin who's sworn an oath mind you, but a level 2 one perhaps?

I too, see the potensial for a paladin, but i differ with you in one repect; I believe he has taken an oath. In the fellowship of the ring, neer the end, at the moent of "splitting the party": I made a promise, mr. Frodo, a promise. Don't you dare leave him, Samwise Gamgee, and I don't mean to"

[Unoriginal]

Maybe it's just in the movies, but Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli slice through swarms of Orcs like they were made out of butter.

In the books, orcs are small and weaker than humans. One that is nearly of human height is considered very big.

And that includes the Uruk-hai, too, who were bigger than the hobbit-sized orcs, but still smaller than humans.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: Thread necromancy.