Interesting ways to roleplay classes.

[Clopin Silk]

This one is exactly what it sounds like: I've got a few ideas for interesting ways to roleplay classes, and I want to share them.

For healers of all stripes: Instead of the usual personalities you'd expect, make your healer a vitriolic misanthrope who can't believe anybody could possibly be as stupid as the idiot's that they've got as a party. Have your healer berate party members while healing them, just give your healer no bedside manner to speak of. But give them a heart of gold. When an enemy messes up a party member really badly, go berserk. When you're stabilising someone at risk of dying, go full on 'don't you dare die on me, I will drag your soul screaming out of whatever afterlife it blundered into'.

For Paladins: Kamina. From Gurren Lagann. Be a hotheaded, loudmouthed, overconfident idiot. Be the one who inspires whole villages to take up arms and fight back against the enemy.

For Blackguards/anything else based on a fallen Paladin: Why not try a sort of Konrad Curze (Warhammer 40k) mentality. You're willing to be a figure of dread if that's what it takes to bring peace and justice. Espouse the belief that fear of punishment is the only way to stop people from doing the wrong thing. You're willing to be the monster so that nobody else has to.

For Rogues: Instead of the usual thief, assassin or confidence trickster, put a heavy focus on stealth, disguise and bluff, and be a spy. Make notes, be distrustful, try to avoid combat unless you can end it quickly, and always make a point of hiding the body.

For Druids: You're meant to revere nature, but there are some oft-unexplored possibilities there. Be a cold, ruthless individual. If you see an injured animal in the woods, you don't heal it, you kill it quickly and harvest anything of use or value from its body. Make it clear to the party that you're looking out for yourself, that you only bother healing them and aiding them in combat because a pack is safer than traveling alone. Hell, refer to them as a pack, or in similar terms.

For Bards: I actually have two ideas here, and I'm not entirely sure how well they'd mesh with a regular bard, so multi-classing and PrCs may be needed. First off, be a sort of journalist.You're a teller of stories and a singer of songs, so if you see the commander of the town guard taking bribes, you make sure as many people hear about it as possible. The other idea goes into an element of the Celtic bardic tradition; the oral histories. You're travelling with the party in search of great things, of happenings that should be recorded for future generations.

For Rangers: Take your inspiration from 19th century pulp fiction. Be the great white hunter, the gentleman adventurer. Or, if that's not to your liking, be the one who kept the gentleman adventurer alive. The clever little guy native to wherever the idiot was adventuring, the one who had to contend with some pampered idiot's unbridled stupidity.

For Monks: It's kind of funny. One of the most famously useless classes is the one I have the most ideas for. You could be a barroom brawler, right out of a Glasgow pub. Fight dirty, take Drunken Master, and say nonsense like 'stitch this, Jimmy!' Or you could be a big, loud pro-wrestler, focusing on grappling, throwing, and all the flashiest nonsense you can find. Go for a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure angle, and just focus on delivering as many attacks as possible (while screaming either 'Ora!' or 'Muda!' rapidly). Be a boxer and there's two great paths available. Either be some ridiculous pugilist, with a British accent and a handlebar mustache. Wear suspenders, but never a shirt under them. Or of course, you could be a cocky, showy 'I'm so pretty' Muhammad Ali type. Or heck, only ever kick people and make up some philosophical, sentimental or pragmatic reason why you never use your hands.

You might want to run these past your party, of course. Some of them could get pretty annoying if you're not careful. And of course, if you have any ideas, please share them.

[Calthropstu]

Or heck, only ever kick people and make up some philosophical, sentimental or pragmatic reason why you never use your hands.


Sanji, from One Piece, does exactly that. His explanation is "a cook should use his hands for cooking, not for battle." So it has been done.

[Psyren]

For healers of all stripes: Instead of the usual personalities you'd expect, make your healer a vitriolic misanthrope who can't believe anybody could possibly be as stupid as the idiot's that they've got as a party. Have your healer berate party members while healing them, just give your healer no bedside manner to speak of. But give them a heart of gold. When an enemy messes up a party member really badly, go berserk. When you're stabilising someone at risk of dying, go full on 'don't you dare die on me, I will drag your soul screaming out of whatever afterlife it blundered into'.

You've basically described Porlyusica from Fairy Tail.

(Or Little Green Dende from DBZ Abridged)



For Monks: It's kind of funny. One of the most famously useless classes is the one I have the most ideas for. You could be a barroom brawler, right out of a Glasgow pub. Fight dirty, take Drunken Master, and say nonsense like 'stitch this, Jimmy!' Or you could be a big, loud pro-wrestler, focusing on grappling, throwing, and all the flashiest nonsense you can find. Go for a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure angle, and just focus on delivering as many attacks as possible (while screaming either 'Ora!' or 'Muda!' rapidly). Be a boxer and there's two great paths available. Either be some ridiculous pugilist, with a British accent and a handlebar mustache. Wear suspenders, but never a shirt under them. Or of course, you could be a cocky, showy 'I'm so pretty' Muhammad Ali type. Or heck, only ever kick people and make up some philosophical, sentimental or pragmatic reason why you never use your hands.

I'd personally recommend something less mechanically spiritual than a monk for this, like the PF Brawler.

[Clopin Silk]

I'd personally recommend something less mechanically spiritual than a monk for this, like the PF Brawler.

That's fair enough for most of them, but I'd say that The Jojo's Bizarre adventure one and the whole 'only ever kick people' options are still compatible with the monk class. Hamona is basically just another approach to the concept of ki, and there are plenty of options for a spiritual explanation for refusing to strike with your hands.

[Soranar]

This one is exactly what it sounds like: I've got a few ideas for interesting ways to roleplay classes, and I want to share them.

For healers of all stripes: Instead of the usual personalities you'd expect, make your healer a vitriolic misanthrope who can't believe anybody could possibly be as stupid as the idiot's that they've got as a party. Have your healer berate party members while healing them, just give your healer no bedside manner to speak of. But give them a heart of gold. When an enemy messes up a party member really badly, go berserk. When you're stabilising someone at risk of dying, go full on 'don't you dare die on me, I will drag your soul screaming out of whatever afterlife it blundered into'.


I'm pretty sure you've just described Dr. House

[Crake]

I'm pretty sure you've just described Dr. House

Pretty sure most of what OP described is a tv trope of some kind :smalltongue:

[Clopin Silk]

Pretty sure most of what OP described is a tv trope of some kind :smalltongue:
That's... fair enough. Just about everything is a trope, I'm just suggesting different tropes to the ones that most often see use.

[D&DPrinceTandem]

For Druids: You're meant to revere nature, but there are some oft-unexplored possibilities there. Be a cold, ruthless individual. If you see an injured animal in the woods, you don't heal it, you kill it quickly and harvest anything of use or value from its body. Make it clear to the party that you're looking out for yourself, that you only bother healing them and aiding them in combat because a pack is safer than traveling alone. Hell, refer to them as a pack, or in similar terms.

I actually played this before. My explination when the other players asked me why I did it was "I am not the protector of nature, I am the Personification of the Great Nature Wolf" *hold out a leg of the animal* "If you do not exept the Great wolf's generous left overs you will be stuck down and you yourself will become the left overs for another wolf, choose wisely."
That character was a heneokia wolf. i started the campaign without a animal companion because in my background i made it so my character only ever tried to gain a wolf companion. what she would do is summon a wolf to become her animal companion then she would battle it, for only the strongest can become a part of my pack. Finally my dm got fed up with me continually killing the wolves, he said the next one would challenge me and if it won it would become part of my pack, i exepted not knowing why he was telling me it, he sent a Horrid Legendary wolf. After the fight (I was knocked unconscious) I had a dream were the it was eplained to me that the that wolf i fought was one of the Great wolfs pack mates. I gained it as a companion, its actually kind of fun to role play a druid.

[Calthropstu]

I play much more interesting characters.

Meet Ludock the Mad.

Ludock the Mad is a chaotic neutral druid. As a child, werewolves attacked his home slaughtered his parents and he was saved at the last minute by a ranger who had been tracking the werewolves. The ranger, unable to take care of the child, left him with a group of druids who taught him their ways.

But there was always something rather off with him. The older he got, the odder and odder he became. When one of the druids wild shaped into a wolf, his acute paranoia kicked in and he tried to kill the druid for "being one of the puppy people." He was expelled from the druid encampment and he went on his way.


Fast forward to today, his paranoia has gotten to the point where allies of the "Puppy people" could be anyone, anywhere. His introductions to people tend to be something along the lines of "Hi, I am Ludock. Do you work for the puppy people?" or "Beware the puppy people, for they shall chew your face!"

His animal companion, a cheetah (which he rides, he is a gnome) is the perfect defense against the puppy people... for everyone knows dogs hate cats. His tactics during battle border on the bizarre. At one point, our party wizard cast create pit trapping 4 guards. Convinced our enemies were working for the puppy people, he was determined to leave no man standing. So he shapeshifted into an air elemental, took the whirlwind form and entered the pit...

[JNAProductions]

I play much more interesting characters.

Meet Ludock the Mad.

Ludock the Mad is a chaotic neutral druid. As a child, werewolves attacked his home slaughtered his parents and he was saved at the last minute by a ranger who had been tracking the werewolves. The ranger, unable to take care of the child, left him with a group of druids who taught him their ways.

But there was always something rather off with him. The older he got, the odder and odder he became. When one of the druids wild shaped into a wolf, his acute paranoia kicked in and he tried to kill the druid for "being one of the puppy people." He was expelled from the druid encampment and he went on his way.


Fast forward to today, his paranoia has gotten to the point where allies of the "Puppy people" could be anyone, anywhere. His introductions to people tend to be something along the lines of "Hi, I am Ludock. Do you work for the puppy people?" or "Beware the puppy people, for they shall chew your face!"

His animal companion, a cheetah (which he rides, he is a gnome) is the perfect defense against the puppy people... for everyone knows dogs hate cats. His tactics during battle border on the bizarre. At one point, our party wizard cast create pit trapping 4 guards. Convinced our enemies were working for the puppy people, he was determined to leave no man standing. So he shapeshifted into an air elemental, took the whirlwind form and entered the pit...

Chaotic Neutral... And he murdered 4 people in cold blood. Admittedly, they were the enemy, but he basically killed them on a hunch.

[Clopin Silk]

Chaotic Neutral... And he murdered 4 people in cold blood. Admittedly, they were the enemy, but he basically killed them on a hunch.
Monomaniacal paranoia can justify a lot.

[John Longarrow]

If you see a bald guy wearing loose robes and carrying a staff, you normally think "Kung Fu Master". Except when its a fighter/sorcerer/abjurant champion with an addition to turning into something bigger and nastier than you...

That is Maloc Shapeshifter. His runestaff is sizing and morphing. He had draconic polymorph and a very dismissive attitude to most enemies.

He either beats them with his beat stick (has greater mighty wallop on it) or turns into something really nasty (think troll with half dragon template) and pounds on them. Can get into a war troll form.

He thinks of himself as the personification of war and has little regard for most "poor spear fodder".

[JNAProductions]

Monomaniacal paranoia can justify a lot.

Not... Not really. I mean, by all means, play your character, but I would definitely inform you that your actions are distinctly evil. Murdering people because you THINK they're wulfen is no good.

[Calthropstu]

Chaotic Neutral... And he murdered 4 people in cold blood. Admittedly, they were the enemy, but he basically killed them on a hunch.

Is it any different from a berserker? Or a government spy who has to cover his tracks?

He killed them because he had a paranoid delusion, not out of malice or hate. In the real world, there is a term for that. I believe it is "Not guilty due to mental disease or defect."

Now if he began killing random passersby for no other reason that they might be puppy people, sure... he'd be chaotic evil. But a combat frenzy where he keeps going until the enemy is dead? Pure definition of chaotic neutral.

[JNAProductions]

The way you described it was NOT combat frenzy. Now, perhaps you described it wrong, but what it sounded like was you had them at your mercy, and deliberately came in to kill them.

And if you have to claim your character was so mentally ill he couldn't tell right from wrong, then perhaps he's doing wrong. No one has ever claimed they had a mental illness that forced them to build homes for starving puppies.

[Calthropstu]

The way you described it was NOT combat frenzy. Now, perhaps you described it wrong, but what it sounded like was you had them at your mercy, and deliberately came in to kill them.

And if you have to claim your character was so mentally ill he couldn't tell right from wrong, then perhaps he's doing wrong. No one has ever claimed they had a mental illness that forced them to build homes for starving puppies.

Actually, there are mental diseases that cause extreme altruism.


The way you described it was NOT combat frenzy. Now, perhaps you described it wrong, but what it sounded like was you had them at your mercy, and deliberately came in to kill them.

And if you have to claim your character was so mentally ill he couldn't tell right from wrong, then perhaps he's doing wrong. No one has ever claimed they had a mental illness that forced them to build homes for starving puppies.

I hardly call create pit "at your mercy" It gives a specific way out, and with 4 of them in there, they could easily have climbed on each other's shoulders and came after us.

[JNAProductions]

Actually, there are mental diseases that cause extreme altruism.

I'm sure there are. But I'm equally sure that people who perform acts of extreme altruism don't feel the need to explain that it's a mental illness causing them to do it.

[Calthropstu]

I'm sure there are. But I'm equally sure that people who perform acts of extreme altruism don't feel the need to explain that it's a mental illness causing them to do it.

Until they suddenly find themselves healthy again and realize they gave away their kid's college fund.

[Clopin Silk]

Wow, so this thread turned into a meeting of opposed moral philosophies a lot faster than I was ready for, and I apologise since I was the catalyst.

[Roan_Spence]

I like this thread a lot. One thing that could be fun is if you had a high enough int score on a fighter or brawler you could play them like an Indiana Jones type character where they're constantly going on about how fighting wherever they are is disturbing priceless artifacts and potentially destroying large amounts of history. Anytime one of your party blows up some ancient city they can lament never getting a chance to study it.

One thing I've never been fond of with the Orcs in DnD is the whole intelligence penalty thing and so I thought once that if someone is like me and tends to get stupidly high rolls when he's allowed to roll stats that you could put a stat in INT that could take the hit and play an Orc melee character who had enough INT to be a warrior poet type character, someone obfuscating stupidity, or a very smart, well read orc who consistently calls out the stereotypes associated with Orcs.

I wonder if anyone can think of anything interesting for sorcerers.

[Clopin Silk]

I like this thread a lot.

I am getting a far greater sense of validation from this than I probably should.

And heck, here's an unconventional approach to the Barbarian: Play your Barbarian as being especially fixated on freedom. Have his/her personal philosophy revolve around it. And have that be a reason why you try to avoid overuse of Rage. You don't rage because 'you're a free man/woman, and you refuse to be a slave to anyone or anything, even your fury". Use your rage only in situations where you feel like your character would be genuinely enraged, the moments that push you over the edge, and always be horrified/slash ashamed afterwards. To up the stakes, branch into whatever it is that means that your Rage makes you liable to attack your friends, and just play this up to the limit. And perhaps most importantly; be the kindest, most cheerful person you can be when Rage isn't involved.

[digiman619]

(Or Little Green Dende from DBZ Abridged)

As of the most recent episode, that's Super Kami Dende!

[Roan_Spence]

Here's one, play your wizard as a non-sensical idiot savant type. I'm thinking Pinky from Pinky and the Brain. Have the character be an utter goofball doofus in any interaction that isn't combat and in combat have him or her get uncharacteristically giddy about all the things they can do with magic. In combat their effective if eccentric. Any other time they're basically early strips Elan taken to extremes.

[ZamielVanWeber]

I once rolled sexy on stats, so I made a human barbarian with an 18 Int. He was so brilliant that everyone expected him to go to Wizarding school and become the next great archmage, but no one asked him. He got so fed up at the whole thing that he fled school and joined a nomadic tribe instead, becoming one of their warriors. He only returned to civilization years later. I paid for literacy and put ranks in various cross class knowledges. He was a gentile, intelligent well educated dude wearing furs and wielding a massive sword.

[Zanos]

Subverting cliches is so cliche these days. If you want to be really subversive and get some oohs and aahs from your table, go a little wild and play the sterotypes.

[Telonius]

Here's an idea I've wanted to play for a while: a high-Int, Lawful Good Rogue, played as something like a brainy police officer, CSI investigator, or private eye. Lots of ranks in Spot, Listen, Search, Disable Device, UMD, Know Local, Gather Information, Sense Motive, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Forgery.

[Raimun]

Yeah, it's certainly a good idea to be creative, even when you are playing a game with a class-system.

At least I've played a party face-wizard (without resorting to spell casting), a cleric that is all about the PAAAHTYY, an educated barbarian, a singing barbarian and a singing Paladin.

While I do optimize my characters to be efficient at what they do, some people might still question my choices when it comes to optimization. I mean, it's great to be able to good in combat but as far as I'm concerned, you hardly ever need to direct all character creation/leveling-resources to this end only. I always find room for a little something I like to call 'roleplaying'.

[digiman619]

Do slight refluffs count? If so, I kinda want to play a Barbarian as a monk. All you have to do is refluff rage as "getting in sync with the flow of battle" and get rid of the nonlawful requirement (which I generally do in my games anyway).

[Roan_Spence]

I once rolled sexy on stats, so I made a human barbarian with an 18 Int. He was so brilliant that everyone expected him to go to Wizarding school and become the next great archmage, but no one asked him. He got so fed up at the whole thing that he fled school and joined a nomadic tribe instead, becoming one of their warriors. He only returned to civilization years later. I paid for literacy and put ranks in various cross class knowledges. He was a gentile, intelligent well educated dude wearing furs and wielding a massive sword.

Absolutely love this.

[Alent]

Subverting cliches is so cliche these days. If you want to be really subversive and get some oohs and aahs from your table, go a little wild and play the sterotypes.

Totally agree, there are some stereotypes that don't get often enough. I'm fond of the illiterate yet extremely street smart Rogue. It's an old stereotype, but you see it so rarely because people assume characters have baseline literacy.


Here's an idea I've wanted to play for a while: a high-Int, Lawful Good Rogue, played as something like a brainy police officer, CSI investigator, or private eye. Lots of ranks in Spot, Listen, Search, Disable Device, UMD, Know Local, Gather Information, Sense Motive, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Forgery.

I once played this kind of PI character as a Paladin. Worked it out with the DM in advance to cook up a Paladin code that was based on the idea of being a champion of the law rather than crusader of a cause. The end result was Lawful Neutral, with Detect Chaos instead of detect evil. We weren't playing a murder mystery, but one got snuck into the campaign and I ended up doing lots of the police procedural side of things. Was loads of fun, especially when I started picking suspects' pockets for evidence. :smallbiggrin:


Here's some other steam of consciousness ideas:

When playing the heroic Ranger stereotype: swap the animal companion for a Harley. Maybe he's a war veteran, maybe he just likes to ride, but he's definitely lookin' for a new cause.

When it comes to interesting way to roleplay bard... Mute bard. Perform(Mime). Pick a classic silent entertainer. Charlie Chaplin, Mr. Bean, etc.

As for Druid... This one is the village blacksmith and the hunter of things that go bump in the night. The doors to the Fae realm were thrown open decades ago, destroying the balance of nature. His druid circle scattered to master the ways of cold iron, desperately struggling to maintain the balance. So many different ways you could take this, but campy movie quotes are a must.

In fact, let's just go full nerd here with Risen Martyr: Sean Bean. Not only does that man die in everything, he already died in this campaign!

Finally, Factotum: Before the game, generate a random character- completely random, random gender, random background story, etc. It doesn't even matter if they make sense as a factotum. When the game starts, in character you say "ooooooh boy", then act like you don't know anything about your past. You don't even know what gender you are until you get to see yourself in a mirror. Shortly into the start, when you begin to carry on a conversation with thin air, addressing the air as "Al", occasionally asking what "Ziggy" thinks you're supposed to do, and then you SORT of know your backstory but don't really recognize anybody you should know. You see, your real character is Doctor Samuel Becket from Quantum Leap, and the backstory is the guy/girl you leaped into.

[JNAProductions]

Finally, Factotum: Before the game, generate a random character- completely random, random gender, random background story, etc. It doesn't even matter if they make sense as a factotum. When the game starts, in character you say "ooooooh boy", then act like you don't know anything about your past. You don't even know what gender you are until you get to see yourself in a mirror. Shortly into the start, when you begin to carry on a conversation with thin air, addressing the air as "Al", occasionally asking what "Ziggy" thinks you're supposed to do, and then you SORT of know your backstory but don't really recognize anybody you should know. You see, your real character is Doctor Samuel Becket from Quantum Leap, and the backstory is the guy/girl you leaped into.

YES! All the yes!

[TheFamilarRaven]

Subverting cliches is so cliche these days. If you want to be really subversive and get some oohs and aahs from your table, go a little wild and play the sterotypes.

But if you did that, you'd be subverting a cliche, which is cliche, so then you have to subvert THAT cliche....

[Lokiron]

Old news, to some, but it's still a good point. Don't let the class dictate your character's personality. Don't even let your alignment, race, or ability scores do that. Synergies and conflicts can be balanced and equally interesting.

I usually (try to) see class(es) as a set of things the character can do, rather than what they are. For this reason, I often prefer "fluff-neutral" classes, like fighter over barbarian.

If you want to be original, which is not necessarily fun but anyway, I think you need to avoid the clichés AND the negatives of said clichés. The cliché half-orc is the aggressive brute. The negative is the sophisticated gentleman. Original lies somewhere in-between. Will it be interesting or just bland? I think that depends on the player and the remaining table. Too subtle characteristics risk going unnoticed. Extremes are easier to play and notice.

[Clopin Silk]

Well, my best would be Clopin Silk, elven rogue. I posted a much more complete version of the character as one of my early threads, so I'll give you the basics here; Clopin was born Cassius Valis, a member of a powerful aristocratic family. He hated his family's arrogant, highly racist views, and resented the fact that his own parents only ever cared about him inasmuch as he could be a valuable political asset. He ended up conning his family into exiling him (long story, but it's why his ears have some ugly scars on them), and struck out on his own, becoming a circus acrobat until the circus closed, and then becoming a 'problem solver' for the villages he traveled to. He values freedom highly, falls in love with some aspect of every culture he encounters, and his loathing of politics is matched only by his innate talent for it, albeit on the reduced scale of buttering individual people up and turning them against each other. He naturally distrusts aristocrats, and will, when faced with especially complex moral decisions, will try to work out what Tiberius (who he never refers to as his father and, if you believe him, never has) would do, and does the opposite.

[Roan_Spence]

The character I'm planning on playing for my first campaign is Zhonthi Donamet, a Gnome Sorcerer. The 4th child of a minor Gnomish noble, he grew up without wanting for much but also, knowing full well his options were rather limited. He wasn't first born so he wouldn't inherit, the middle children, his oldest sister and second oldest brother were in business and had no desire to have him join them. Not only did they not get along but the two had plenty of nieces and nephews they could conscript if need be. Zhonem has no real discipline for scholastic wizardry (though he clearly has the mind for it) and is too much of a hedonist for the priesthood. Now, as a young adult he's a predominantly lazy, well read layabout (it's not that he dislike's reading, he just finds books on magic incredibly tedious though he'll read almost anything else) and his family had mostly consigned themselves to him being the lazy uncle the rest of his life. That is, until he developed a talent for sorcery and then they didn't know what to do with him. It just gave him far too great a license for mischief, even by gnomish standards. They encouraged him to join an Adventuring party both to give his life some direction and get him out of their hair to somewhere his impulses toward mischief could be channeled effectively.

He loves meeting new people going to parties and generally makes decisions based on what he thinks will be fun. He's not directly malicious but doesn't always think things through and accidental chaos can ensue. His hearts generally in the right place, his ethics are just a bit... questionable.

[Dragonexx]

There are more ways to play a paladin.


It's all in how you play them, I suppose. You can be Good without being Nice.


Saint Iratus was a 8th-Century Paladin who gained divine recognition for his merciful defeat of the Kiron the Tyrant-King of Kroll. History tells us he had Dark King Kiron in a headlock, and was making passable progress towards unscrewing Kiron's head, while delivering a eloquent catolog of the Dark King's lifetime of sowing evil, hatred, and misery, and was screaming "REAP THE WHIRLWIND ****STAIN!" when Sharptooth, his barbarian companion, persuaded him to relent and spare Kiron's life. Kiron later reformed, and joined a monastery which had a vow of silence and also a prohibition against nodding or moving the head.

For his great-hearted compassion and temperance, Iratus was visited by angels in his dreams, and went on a holy journey to Mount Celestia. There, he got permission to cut a golden oak from the high reaches, and fashioned the oak tree into a gorgeous, solid table.

Then he carried the table on his back, to the court of a Balor and chokeslammed the Balor through the table. The table shattered and riddled the Balor with holy splinters. The battle went precipitously downhill for the Balor from there.

Afterwards, Iratus gathered up the pieces, proclaiming he was going to "MAKE SOME ****ING SHIVS OUT OF THIS TABLE, BECAUSE THAT BALOR CAUGHT ON WHITE FIRE WHEN HE HIT THE WOOD AND I WANT TO SEE THAT **** AGAIN!"

He made good on his word, whittling rough daggers and, one on occasion, a wooden sword, out of it, and legend tells that a whole table leg survived intact, and that this was wielded by Saint Iratus as a greatclub to terrific effect in later battles.

After his eventual death, the mourners found his workroom was covered in splinters of the Golden Table, left behind as he whittled out weapons, and they gathered up the holy oak and kept them safe. Soon, Iratus's students and disciples formally declared themselves the Order of Saint Iratus, and the splinters were given out as recognition of great deeds. They also dedicated themselves to Iratus' philosophy of battle and life in general, which ran as such:

1) PUT THAT ARMOR ON AND START RUNNING, YOU HAND****ERS. I SPREAD FLUFFY BUTTERY-SMOOTH GIRLY-MAN MUSCLE LIKE THAT ON MY TOAST FOR BREAKFAST!

2) WHO THE **** SPENDS THEIR TIME PRACTICING THE NINE-CRESCENT WATER MOON STRIKE OF FLUFFY BUNNY BULL****? JUST BEAT THE **** OUT OF THEM! IT WORKS FOR ME!

3) PRACTICE YOUR ****ING MAGIC, DIMCOCK! THAT **** IS ****ING AWESOME!

4) BE COOL TO THE POOR, THE SICK, THE ELDERLY, AND THE LADIES! UNLESS THEY'RE EVIL, THEN KILL SOME OF THEM SO HARD EVERYONE ELSE STRAIGHTENS THEIR **** UP!

As might be gathered, the Iratians pride themselves on their physical strength, and take direct approach to combat, augmented by choice spells and heavy armor; they often emulate Saint Iratus himself by focusing on grappling. They are also generous to the common man (and polite to the ladies/and or men), while being very vocal and demonstrative in their destruction of evil.

Iratus was canonized after his miraculous appearance to a group of downhearted adventurers, who were ready to cease fighting against governmental corruption in a lawless city, some fifty years after his death. Records say he shouted at them for twenty minutes, in profanity that made some observing knackermen vomit, then marched the party to a local gang leader's office and kicked the gang leader in the testicles so hard they flew out his mouth, then gave some money to a street urchin for his sick grandmother and proclaimed "DO IT LIKE THAT ****ERS. IF THE LAWS ARE SERVING EVIL THEY'RE ****ING BAD LAWS AND YOU SHOULD KILL THEM TOO! DON'T MAKE ME COME BACK DOWN HERE AND REPEAT MYSELF." and disappeared while he ranted about the obviousness of his approach.

From this thread: http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?p=389593

[Segev]

A druid who believes that the various "intelligent races" are all a part of nature, too, and that their cities are little different from the constructions of ant colonies.

As such, he dwells within one, and manipulates everyone within it like a mafia don or a political shadow-ruler. See, a garden is an expression of nature, and this is his garden. And all of the people living in it are part of it, to be pruned and tended and nurtured and made beautifully manifest representations of nature's wonders.

[D&DPrinceTandem]

A druid who believes that the various "intelligent races" are all a part of nature, too, and that their cities are little different from the constructions of ant colonies.

As such, he dwells within one, and manipulates everyone within it like a mafia don or a political shadow-ruler. See, a garden is an expression of nature, and this is his garden. And all of the people living in it are part of it, to be pruned and tended and nurtured and made beautifully manifest representations of nature's wonders.

A Urban Druid? from Dragon compendium

[Clopin Silk]

A druid who believes that the various "intelligent races" are all a part of nature, too, and that their cities are little different from the constructions of ant colonies.

As such, he dwells within one, and manipulates everyone within it like a mafia don or a political shadow-ruler. See, a garden is an expression of nature, and this is his garden. And all of the people living in it are part of it, to be pruned and tended and nurtured and made beautifully manifest representations of nature's wonders.

I quite like the idea of the druid treating people almost like an ant farm.

[Vogie]

I quite like the idea of the druid treating people almost like an ant farm.

I think that this is something missed in most Druids... at least the ones I've seen. Sentient beings, even in smaller villages and rural areas, largely subsist independent of the outside world, and are part of the ecosystem.

[Sheogoroth]

I'm probably going to get garbage thrown at me, but I've always wanted to play the Paladin of Chaos.

Assign a different emotion to every number on a d10 and every time you enter into a social encounter, roll a d20 and the d10 and have your character embody the rolled emotion to the d20th craziness degree.
So like, let's say a peasants beseeches you for aid and you roll 18 and anger- you then proceed to flip out at the peasant and beat him to a pulp for the audacicty.
Joy, sadness, humor, paranoia- the fun never ends!

Adding mechanics to roleplay(phobias, schizophrenia, nervous tics, OCD, PTSD after a near-death experience) is always fun. My table enjoys it anyway.

[Calthropstu]

one of my favorite PFS characters is Tiax.

Yes, THAT Tiax, the one from Baldurs Gate. Except I made him a human monk, and play him the same as Tiax.

He's so absurd, it's hilarious. He tries to grapple anyone who tries to thwart his rule.

He succeeded at grappling a zombie dragon... the highlight of his career.