A clean character

[Stealthscout]

Looking for the best core (non-homebrew) build for a character concept, and I'm finding it harder than I thought.

The concept is a reluctant adventurer being repeatedly forced into wilderness, underdark, and other non-urban environments. He is very paranoid about dirt, bugs, uncomfortable weather, stagnant water, etc. but has been doing this for some time despite himself. He is not worried to the point of compulsive behavior or bafoonery, but he is creative and I should have some way for him to compensate after a couple years of this lifestyle. Race and ability scores are flexible.

I thought of just being a high elf and using presdigistation all the time but it wouldn't really protect you very well and I want someone who figured out how to manage their issues , not just be the party clown ('oh noes! I got DIRTY again!').

Constraint: The game is starting at 5th level, so I can't rely much on multiclassing or high level shenanigans. That said, the DM has been a little flexible with things so long as the idea was creative.

Thoughts?

[thedanster7000]

Well how does he fight, does he use magic, does he rely on stealth, etc. I find magic is the only thing that really affects non-combat abilities massively (apart from non-combat classes).

[malachi]

Abjuration Wizard. Fluff it so that while your ward is active, it gets covered in dirt, mud, and grime rather than you (wouldn't work for things that enter your mouth/nose, and might get occasionally ignored by DM fiat for certain traps/creatures (like contact poisons, rather than poisons that deal damage by injecting into your bloodstream - although those should already be less effective against the ward, shouldn't they?) ).

Alternately, any source of magical temporary HP could work for that, but the abjuration ward seems like a better fit.

[WickerNipple]

You will need Prestidigitation, Animate Objects, a good singing voice and a face cute enough for Disney.

[tieren]

Make him a middle aged detective with an aversion to blood, bonus points if class is "Monk".

[Falcon X]

Observation feat because he's so good at looking over his shoulder by this point?

[Blacky the Blackball]

Conjurer Wizard.

Not only can you make great use of Prestidigitation, you can also use Unseen Servant to do dirty work for you (and as a Wizard you'll be able to cast it as a ritual providing it's in your book and therefore not have it eat up a precious spell-prep).

You can also get a huge amount of use out of Minor Conjuration: Gloves before you touch a corpse; a chair so you don't need to sit on the dirty floor; a broom that your Unseen Servant can use to sweep up; a parasol/umbrella to shield you while you walk under that dripping stalactite; and so forth.

Also, as a fifth level wizard you can have Leomund's Tiny Hut. Again it's a ritual so once it's in your book you don't need to prep it - and it means that whenever the party stop to camp you can have a weatherproof dome over you.

It you really wanted to take it to extreme, you could also take Magic Initiate: Cleric and get Purify Food and Drink, refusing to eat or drink anything that's not been purified. Normally you'd only be able to cast it once per day with the feat, but your DM might be generous enough to let you cast it more often if you take the time to cast it as a ritual.

[Stealthscout]

Good ideas all. Tougher than it looks, huh?

A lot of this relies on magic and fluff to work. I think there could be easy precedent for temp HP giving some sort of protection from minor cuts (those that do 0 HP damage), so that could be worked with. Abjurer subclass is a good idea - if any class could protect against road grime, that should be it (though it also relies on fluff)

Notably, I don't want to spend a lot of magic on this. Taking Magic Initiate would be a good idea if you have feats to spare, but I'm not high level and haven't picked a class yet. Speaking of that...


Well how does he fight, does he use magic, does he rely on stealth, etc. I find magic is the only thing that really affects non-combat abilities massively (apart from non-combat classes).

Haven't decided. I wanted to start with a personality first and see how it could work out. Originally I was thinking a warrior-type but ran into so many problems with the character concept I had to step back a bit.

You make an interesting point that it pretty much requires magic to pull off, which is disappointing when you think about it. That said, you could go a long way by just wearing quality leather armor with gloves and hood, then cleaning it off with a single cantrip you use for other things (presdigitation, shape water, etc.).

[tieren]

You make an interesting point that it pretty much requires magic to pull off, which is disappointing when you think about it. That said, you could go a long way by just wearing quality leather armor with gloves and hood, then cleaning it off with a single cantrip you use for other things (presdigitation, shape water, etc.).

I strongly disagree. I made a joke above about a reference to the TV show "Monk" starring Gary Shaloub. He was just the kind of character you describe, OCD, germaphobic, etc... but was also a brilliant detective. He didn't have any magic powers (other than a keen intellect and great insight). He was always put into conflict with his tendencies when investigating a crime scene or looking for clues in filth.

Its really just a matter of roleplay. If you can't magically clean yourself, just carry lots of rags and soap or a henchman to try to deal with the worst stuff (or help you disinfect).

[ruy343]

I think that there's a lot of ways to handle this. My first thought was a snoody, noble-background wizard who hasn't worked a day in his life, who casts Tenser's floating disc during short rests underground so he can avoid spiders (until he learns rope trick). Conjurer was what came to mind, though transmuter or abjurer would work too.

However, something else that came to mind is the variant noble background (the knight). The perk of this background is the "retainer" feature, which gives you a guy who'll clean all the grime off of you and generally perform any and all unpleasant tasks for you so that you might be able to continue your squeamish heroism.

I envision an ancients paladin or fighter who's completely committed to their cause (in a braggadocios way), and who loves the arts, but at the end of every battle he can barely hide his disgust at the blood and bile that tarnish his pretty sword and armor. He speaks in a voice like (the one in this video starting at about 0:41) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ocMqGQ4vM8), and gives everyone else the impression of utmost confidence, but he's secretly afraid of anything dirty, and will ask his retainer to go ahead of him to make sure that the crawlspace doesn't have any slime in it.

My goodness, this would be a fun character...

[PeteNutButter]

Might be a good idea to be a non-human race for RP to help make you seem less like just a clean freak tool, and more like just a different culture.

High elf/Half-elf could use their free cantrip as mentioned. Water Genasi can shape water to clean. Dragonborn could probably go around burning the grime off himself with acid/fire, cleaning himself like a cat. I personally like the idea of a tiefling using prestidigitation (picked up from class or feat), creating fire all around him to incinerate any dirt.

With the reluctance of the character to want to get in the dirt, I'd definitely recommend a back-liner, probably a caster. The reluctance of the character to even go on an adventure hints at the character not really going out of their way to build adventuring skills, meaning sorcerer is the most RP appropriate class. You don't want to go, you don't want to do anything, but live your simple life. But you naturally have skills that can totally help, and if those skills came to you despite your lack of effort (sorcerer) than it makes the most sense.

[malachi]

With the reluctance of the character to want to get in the dirt, I'd definitely recommend a back-liner, probably a caster. The reluctance of the character to even go on an adventure hints at the character not really going out of their way to build adventuring skills, meaning sorcerer is the most RP appropriate class. You don't want to go, you don't want to do anything, but live your simple life. But you naturally have skills that can totally help, and if those skills came to you despite your lack of effort (sorcerer) than it makes the most sense.

Along that line of logic, I'd add the following (with reasoning for how they would have used their class abilities outside of an adventuring life):
Lore Bard: could have been entirely comfortable with urban settings that do NOT involve stabbing people with pointy things till they explode into blood, while still using all of the class features.
Cleric: could have been perfectly content to stay in the temple (which should be clean; and with Healing Word, you wouldn't even have to touch someone to cure their bloody wounds), where devotion to their god gave them all of their adventuring abilities, anyways.
Fighter: a bit of a stretch, but someone with a background as a knight (as mentioned above) would have the resources for the training to become a skilled fighter without being forced into the grime up till now.
Monk: all training happens in the monastery, which should be rather clean. In fact, the character could have been primarily responsible for keeping it clean, either directly or through acolytes in training (represented by a refluffed knight background).
Paladin: See Fighter above.
Rogue: see Lore Bard above.
Sorcerer: anyone could randomly happen to be a sorcerer, and it doesn't take training, really.
Warlock: depending on how grimy you imagine pact-making to be, this could work for someone who found their patron through academic study. (I.e. a GOOlock who'd have had to delve into an ancient ruin to find out about the patron would be a bad choice. A Goo/Fiendlock who found out about his patron from a dusty old tome would work. A Feylock who was contacted by an archfey in a dream would also work).
Wizard: the ultimate academic. High INT could mean organization, which could mean cleanliness. You learned those spells through study, not through through bloody combat with goblins.

Barbarian, Druid, and Ranger would need a bit more refluffing to work as a clean freak, but otherwise everyone would be capable of gaining their class abilities without delving into mud and grime every day.

[CursedRhubarb]

Wizard: the ultimate academic. High INT could mean organization, which could mean cleanliness. You learned those spells through study, not through through bloody combat with goblins.

And now I can't stop laughing after picturing a wizard, red in the face with rage, yelling at a confused barbarian with ten-dollar-words for splashing, yet again, more goblin blood on his spell book and robes because he never watches where he swings the pieces. Seeing this going nowhere, the wizard polymorphs the barbarian into a sloth before grumbling and stomping off to clean his things...again.

[Sigreid]

A gnome with that tinker racial ability. His little devices he builds out of stuff he finds are always little sinks, washing machines, showers, etc.

[Greeniron]

Gary Shaloub.
Tony Shaloub not Gary. I agree with your post overall. The character could take magic initiate for mage hand, prestiditation, and unseen servant and boom neat freak achieved or one level in wizard works also.

[Naanomi]

A martial version might be a rogue or fighter/rogue 'longbow sniper' who hates that current situations put her anywhere near her target (prefers the 'clean kill' from as far away as possible)

Maybe... drow seems to work for me somehow
10/16/14/10/12/14
Rogue 1/Fighter 1/Rogue +18
Background to taste (noble is obvious but other options are good also)
Archery combat style
Assassin subclass
Expertise: stealth, perception; deception, investigation
Sharpshooter, skulker; max Dex, 2 feats to taste

[Sigreid]

So I thought about this some more and you could see if your DM would let you take the alchemy tool use and make baby wipes and hand sanitizer.

[MBControl]

Aasimar: You can sell the squeaky clean image, as a celestial that enjoys purity.

Background: Folk Hero. I would use this device to as a way to force him into action. You see, you became a folk hero after stories of your heroics became famous. You never bothered to tell anybody that the stories are completely false because you enjoy the fame. The down side is that people turn to you for help.

Cleric/Bard: The cleric to me, portrays a squeaky clean image, though if you were a bard, you may have been spreading your own false stories of heroism.

[JellyPooga]

A Goliath, Earth Genasi or a particularly tough Half-Orc could play this to the hilt by giving himself a really good scrub after getting dirty...I mean, like, a wire-brush scrub down that would lacerate someone with puny man-flesh skin, cheesegrater style. An Earth Genasi could even take regular acid baths using the Acid Splash Cantrip, all the while complaining about how vile the "stinking organic beings" around him are, compared to his "clean silicate metabolism".

[WhiteEagle88]

Could be a bard, reluctantly following the party around to document their adventures, but who would rather be living it up in some town somewhere. Kinda like Felix Jaeger of "Gotrek and Felix"(a series of fantasy novels set in the Warhammer Fantasy world) fame.

This would give access to some of the spells mentioned, let you wade into melee combat(f you so chose) and allow for a more aloof adventuring style without being necessarily comical, ya'know. Cuz bards.

[JellyPooga]

Kinda like Felix Jaeger of "Gotrek and Felix"(a series of fantasy novels set in the Warhammer Fantasy world) fame.

Heh, Felix Jaeger...despite being a poet, I don't think he's a Bard; he's more of a Fighter really, maybe a Rogue. Let's face it, he wasn't exactly renowned for his "Penny Dreadfuls"; the only published work he produced. Notorious, perhaps :smallamused:. Definitely Noble Background, though I could be persuaded to go with Guild Merchant instead (I get the impression that he was never much of a merchant, despite being the son of one of the wealthiest merchants in the Empire...as I recall, his brother was more the merchant; Felix was the scholar/pampered "princeling" turned black sheep of the family when he got involved with the riots and Gotrek).

Talk about getting his hands dirty though; dude worked as a rat-catcher in a sewer for months, not to mention the flea-ridden bed he slept in while working as a bouncer...sure he liked the finer things in life, but he made do with far far less in his quest to maintain his honour by respecting his oath to the Trollslayer.

No, Felix had far greater concerns than personal hygiene; he's a character I grew to really enjoy reading about, for the sacrifices he continually made in pursuit of the death-wish of someone else because of that one beer-fueled promise...namby-pampy Paladins with sticks up their butts could take some lessons in honour from that guy.

[WhiteEagle88]

Heh, Felix Jaeger...despite being a poet, I don't think he's a Bard; he's more of a Fighter really, maybe a Rogue. Let's face it, he wasn't exactly renowned for his "Penny Dreadfuls"; the only published work he produced. Notorious, perhaps :smallamused:. Definitely Noble Background, though I could be persuaded to go with Guild Merchant instead (I get the impression that he was never much of a merchant, despite being the son of one of the wealthiest merchants in the Empire...as I recall, his brother was more the merchant; Felix was the scholar/pampered "princeling" turned black sheep of the family when he got involved with the riots and Gotrek).

Talk about getting his hands dirty though; dude worked as a rat-catcher in a sewer for months, not to mention the flea-ridden bed he slept in while working as a bouncer...sure he liked the finer things in life, but he made do with far far less in his quest to maintain his honour by respecting his oath to the Trollslayer.

No, Felix had far greater concerns than personal hygiene; he's a character I grew to really enjoy reading about, for the sacrifices he continually made in pursuit of the death-wish of someone else because of that one beer-fueled promise...namby-pampy Paladins with sticks up their butts could take some lessons in honour from that guy.

Oh yeah. I liked Felix more than I liked Gotrek, and Imma dwarfguy, but it has been a long time since I read those. May have to pull'em off the shelf and give'em a read. I just remember he(Felix) complained a lot about the predicaments the slayer would drag him into, but would continue to follow Gotrek because of their bloodoath. Was the first thing I thought of after reading the OP.

I said bard because I seem to remember him being labeled as such in the dogs of war(I think) army book for Warhammer Fantasy. I also remember him employing a lot of diplomacy, in addition to his being a poet/writer, though 5th edition makes it easier for anyone to be the face.

[CaptainSarathai]

I'd run a Valor Bard, actually. Folk Hero or Charlatan background. If Charlatan, your alternate ego is based on the Folk Hero, but either way:

You've spent years committing the firsthand accounts of adventurers into your own songs, claiming to have done them yourself. He's lauded as a hero, everywhere, and enjoys the spoils of his fame (women, money, influence). Whenever someone asks him to actually put himself into harm's way, he always manages to weasel out of it (why Charlatan works)

However, he's played the con too long and finally been requested to join an adventuring company by someone with enough power to make sure that he can't just skip out this time.
He's defended himself enough times - probably in duels or against minor ruffians - to actually be alright with in a fight.

You don't need magic. Just have him carry gloves, a few fine cloths to wipe up, soap, a camp stool on his pack, all that stuff. He doesn't need to create gloves with magic, he just has a pair in his belt all the time. He sits on a tiny folding stool wherever he goes - just a simple X-frame with a strip of cloth between the top two bars.

He can handle being dirty, but he hates it the whole time. As soon as he gets into town, he uses his Folk Hero status to have "some poor local wretch" clean and mend his clothes. And that's how he views it - sure, he's a "folk hero," but he detests the filthy peasants who adore him.

Sounds like a fun character

[JellyPooga]

Oh yeah. I liked Felix more than I liked Gotrek, and Imma dwarfguy, but it has been a long time since I read those. May have to pull'em off the shelf and give'em a read. I just remember he(Felix) complained a lot about the predicaments the slayer would drag him into, but would continue to follow Gotrek because of their bloodoath. Was the first thing I thought of after reading the OP.

I said bard because I seem to remember him being labeled as such in the dogs of war(I think) army book for Warhammer Fantasy. I also remember him employing a lot of diplomacy, in addition to his being a poet/writer, though 5th edition makes it easier for anyone to be the face.

I see what you mean, but while Felix complained about things being unclean, he was never really fussy about being so; he wholeheartedly embraced the adventuring lifestyle despite everything. He wasn't really much of a "reluctant adventurer" or "paranoid about bugs" and he didn't really do much "compensating" about it, which is what I got from the OP. Given the chance, Felix turned down the opportunity to stop being an adventurer on multiple occasions, as I recall and almost every encounter with the upper crust had some comment on his poor personal hygiene.

[Hrugner]

Lots of good ideas here, I'll throw another on the pile.
Make a conjurer wizard who uses his 2nd level conjuration to create a D&D style hazmat suit. You need to be a gnome or a halfling to be short enough for this to work, but other than that it's all rules legal. With a willing DM you could work out that the item appears worn rather than in your hand and allows you to spend an action to maintain it every hour rather than recast it. Small problem, you glow slightly. I think ideally, your character would create the hazmat suit as necessary when dealing with disgusting things rather than wear it all the time. Also, add familiar to the list of potential butlers.

[WhiteEagle88]

I see what you mean, but while Felix complained about things being unclean, he was never really fussy about being so; he wholeheartedly embraced the adventuring lifestyle despite everything. He wasn't really much of a "reluctant adventurer" or "paranoid about bugs" and he didn't really do much "compensating" about it, which is what I got from the OP. Given the chance, Felix turned down the opportunity to stop being an adventurer on multiple occasions, as I recall and almost every encounter with the upper crust had some comment on his poor personal hygiene.

True enough. I dug out my first omnibus and read a few chapters, skipping around a bit just to refresh my memory and I agree with your assessment. I still say that using a bard to create a reluctant or forced adventurer would be a good idea!