Dr. Who's "The Doctor" 3.0/3.5 character concept

[samduke]

Hey all you playgrounders, I am looking for advice/help with a concept for a 3.0/3.5 character that covers most of the abilities that are portrayed by the character known as "The Doctor".
to that extent the direction I think works fairly decent is below. and I am looking for input to see if there is a better way. most 3.0/3.5 book , dragon mag resources allowed. - Thanks in advance

Race: Athasian Human (dm319 p26)
Classes: Mystic (DLCS p47), Cloistered Cleric (UA variant, PH p30), Arcane Disciple (dm311 p49)
Domains: Knowledge, War, Time, Competition

MIC stuff to pull off certain abilities
Orb of mental renewal
Rod of bodily restoration
Talisman of undying fortitude

Misc thoughts to pull off certain abilities
Pool of Healing (CC, p47)
Imbued Healing (CC, p60)

[Falcon X]

It was a while ago, but I remember making a Doctor concept based on a Beguiler. One of the key concepts was that at high levels a beguiler can do still spells, silent spells, surprise spells, etc. to the point where you don't have to do anything except "think" a spell.
So, I reflavored it so that he wasn't even casting spells. He was just so rediculously charming that it produced enchantment-type effects.

[noob]

You can also just take 20 levels in factotum and with your cunning brilliance and some interpretations manage to copy one spell to resurrect yourself(like clone).(Or use items if you want a resurrection more similar to the doctor who one)
Since you are level 20 factotum you have a bonus to all skills without even trying which will make you more competent than anyone else at every thing.
You can also suddenly cast any spell up to level 7(like if you had a sonic screw-driller).

[Stealth Marmot]

I played 3.5 with someone who let a player play a race that was essentially a Time Lord and largely based the character on 11.

It ended poorly. VERY. POORLY.

Don't do it.

[atemu1234]

I played 3.5 with someone who let a player play a race that was essentially a Time Lord and largely based the character on 11.

It ended poorly. VERY. POORLY.

Don't do it.

Poorly as in "I genocide'd all the orcs on this plane and am now a war god" or poorly as in "I decide that my personal emoness angst experiences make me want to leave the party and go travel in solace for eternity."?

[Duke of Urrel]

However you build the Doctor, he's going to be game-breaking if he has anything like the time-traveling powers he has in the television series.

The Doctor's power to regenerate is actually a kind of reincarnation, because his body really looks different and has slightly different quirks every time he does it.

The Doctor's Intelligence and Charisma should both be very high, but his Wisdom is probably mediocre. The Doctor can be foolish and absent-minded at times. He has phenomenal amounts of Bluff, Diplomacy, and Gather Information skill and some Disguise and Intimidate skill too. He has unbeatable Knowledge of Geography, History, and probably also Nature and Nobility & Royalty. I'm not sure what the Doctor's Constitution is, but he has high Concentrate skill for sure. He has numerous Craft skills with a focus upon high-tech gizmos, and his Disable Device skill is surely very high, enabling him to change the function of any machine he fusses with for a few seconds. Other skills the Doctor has may not be so high. The Doctor can be remarkably unobservant sometimes, so I don't think his Spot or Listen skill are very great.

The Doctor has a polyglot power like the Tongues spell that he can bestow upon his traveling companions, even without their awareness.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver should be usable for various Disable Device and Open Lock tasks, all performable at a distance.

[Heliomance]

The psychic paper is really easy to reproduce in 3.5, actually. It's simply a card with Illusory Script cast on it, with the implanted Suggestion being "accept this as valid identification".

[Stealth Marmot]

Poorly as in "I genocide'd all the orcs on this plane and am now a war god" or poorly as in "I decide that my personal emoness angst experiences make me want to leave the party and go travel in solace for eternity."?

Poorly as in it ended with the campaign chapter ending, two of the players quitting and me cutting off a friendship for years until finally patching it up with the caveat that I will never play with the player in any game where he is a player OR DM.

[Manyasone]

Poorly as in it ended with the campaign chapter ending, two of the players quitting and me cutting off a friendship for years until finally patching it up with the caveat that I will never play with the player in any game where he is a player OR DM.

Dear Lord...What on earth happened? Isn't the Doctor a force of Peace...

[GrayDeath]

Only starting with the newest Series first Incarnation. And even then he sometimes (especially when portrayed by David Tennant, eg the 10th Doctor) did very questionable (if cool) things.

In between he did .... interesting things.

[Stealth Marmot]

Dear Lord...What on earth happened? Isn't the Doctor a force of Peace...

A. You clearly don't watch the same Doctor Who I do.

B. This was only partially due to the class and more to do with the player. The player decided to play the character in a way that made working with the character...difficult.

The long and short of it is that rengeneration was built into the character, and unlike the Doctor we know who actually feels and cares for their effective life ending whenever they regenerate, the player went beyond cavalier to the realm of straight up suicidal with the character. When i say suicidal, I mean as in acted entirely irreverant and literally telling a god to go ahead and kill him to its face MORE THAN ONCE.

See the player rolled random traits and got "irreverant" and decided apparently that meant "will go out of their way to insult a god to their face even if it meant dying". Of course he didnt care because all that meant was "Oh goodie, I get to play a whole new personality without any penalty! My ADD is sated!"

Point of note, said regeneration was explosive.

Basically the player was able to get away with an ungodly amount of crap, partially because he had the charismatic ability to doubletalk with the best of them, but also because he more or less used it to bully the DM. Another thing is that the character was basically entirely immune to feeling naything resembling consequences to his actions. Nothing that happened seemed to hurt him, annoy him, or anything that happened because of him seemed to make him care. Despite the character feeling what had to be immense physical pain, unless they were LITERALLY knocked unconscious or just finished a regeneration, they kept talking like nothing happened. They only got upset when it worked for a joke, such as when they were planning something "clever" and it turned out to be unnecessary so they sulked. because it was funny.

Their character also at one point got violently raped by Zeus and they barely batted an eye, and they kept talking without missing even a beat. He did so because the character flat out challenged Zeus' manhood.

There are no words to describe just how disruptive this player was towards the game and my character's arc, who was there for a long time before this one.

But the problem was that having regenerations allowed the character to have zero consequences. In fact, they had every REASON to act suicidal because it just meant playing a new fun character when he got bored with the old one.

Let me explain the point though: If the player had reasons to potentially feel consequences for his actions he would have possibly been less of a complete and utter disruption.

[Manyasone]

A. You clearly don't watch the same Doctor Who I do.

I did read your reply, but...I think he really is a force of Peace. The methods he uses are generally efficient and definitely morally grey but they are effective in keeping the peace. Also, keeping the peace doesn't mean everybody has to hold hands an sing kumbaya...
Sorry about derailment, OP

[samduke]

so some of this has definitely gotten off track and subject- and while a couple helpful ideas have been shared nothing that I can see that I would use in a reasonable game as a PC.

with that I again say thanks all

[dysprosium]

If you want a more playable Doctor, here is a build that Piggy Knowles had:


Honestly, I think the best way to represent Time Lord regeneration would be a contingent Last Breath/Reincarnate effect. This will bring the Time Lord back in a totally new body with no level loss. Best of all, it can explain the Doctor's crazy intelligence, if he aged enough to get mental stat boosts before regenerating, then came back in a fresh body.

Anyhow, here was my attempt at a Doctor build from a while back:


Originally Posted by Piggy Knowles View Post

OK, here's my thought:

Half-elf (human heritage per Races of Destiny sidebar), Bard 1/Artificer 2/Factotum 3/Death Delver 10/Ardent Dilettante 4

Flaw: Noncombatant, (any other)

1. Factotum1- Able Learner, Wedded to History, Nymph's Kiss
Inspiration, cunning insight, cunning knowledge, trapfinding
2. Bard1-
Bardic music, bardic knowledge, soothing voice, inspire awe, fascinate
3. Artificer1- Scribe Scroll, Item Familiar
Artificer knowledge, artisan bonus, disable trap, item creation, craft reserve 20
4. Artificer2- Brew Potion
Craft reserve 40
5. Factotum2-
Arcane dilettante (1 spell)
6. Factotum3- Heroic Destiny
Brains over brawn, cunning defense
7. Death Delver1-
Deathsense, rebuke undead
8. Death Delver2-
Deadened soul, spontaneous casting
9. Death Delver3- Fearless Destiny
Death ward 1/day
10. Death Delver4- Diehard
11. Death Delver5-
Fear aura
12. Death Delver6- Healing Devotion
Death ward 2/day
13. Death Delver7-
Cheat death
14. Death Delver8-
Mantle of life
15. Death Delver9- Run
Death ward 3/day
16. Death Delver10-
Nine lives
17. Ardent Dilettante1-
Heightened senses, lore
18. Ardent Dilettante2- Font of Inspiration
Enthrall
19. Ardent Dilettante3-
Joie de vivre
20. Ardent Dilettante4- Font of Inspiration
Sense Link

Item Familiar:
"Sonic Screwdriver" - Heavily invest UMD and maybe Open Lock into this. Enchant it with knock, some fun detection-style spells and possibly mage hand and prestidigitation.

For your own skill ranks, Diplomacy, Bluff, UMD, Perform (technobabble), Perform (stirring speech about the nature of humanity), and a lot of knowledge skills. Maybe some craft here and there, but a permanent item of magecraft would do just as well.

For some interesting abilities...

"No, seriously, stop trying to kill me while I talk at you for a while." - Soothing Voice. Make a diplomacy check to instill calm emotions on an enemy. Because the doctor needs to have room to talk, dangit.

"I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up." - Inspire Awe, fear aura. Suddenly the enemies realized you're actually a terrible Time Lord and that you're about to do something unspeakable to them. A fear aura you can turn on, and you can more or less extend it as long as you keep talking by combining it with Inspire Awe.

Immortal - Wedded to History. You're not only immortal, you're one of a kind. You could have a starring role in every history book ever written...

Sonic Screwdriver - You've got a screwdriver that can open just about anything, operate any magical technological device, move things from afar, cause sparks, etc.

Brains Over Brawn - OK, you're not big and strong. But dang you're smart, and Brains over brawn means you add your Intelligence bonus to all Strength, Dex or Con checks.

Hard to Kill - Dang, you're pretty hard to kill. Death Ward means a lot of things simply don't effect you. Your inspiration points and Heroic Destiny give you even more defenses. And once each day when something DOES actually reduce you to -10 or below HP, Fearless Destiny kicks in and you instead are set at -9 HP. Oh yeah, and then Healing Devotion gives you fast healing.

Many Regenerations - OK, Fearless Destiny has been used for the day, or someone zaps you with a death ray. What now, big man? Oh, nothing much, just scratch off a life from the Doctor's Nine Lives ability. Combine with a Hat of Disguise and a funny accent for a total change. Maybe this time you've got a North accent - plenty of planets have a North!

"Aren't mind melds a Vulcan thing?" - Clairaudience/clairvoyance, sense link and various other spells let you see into the minds, and through the eyes, of others.

Absorbing Damage, Drinking Poison, etc. - Death Delver spells. They're not flashy, but rather are all defensive in nature and let you gain protection from energy, or neutralize poison, or whatever.

Juryrigging - Sometimes the Doctor needs to make items do things they were never intended to do. No problem for you, just use your artificer infusions and your pimped out UMD scores to do just that. Bonus points for the Spell Storing Item infusion to give things really silly powers.

Superhuman Sensation - You've got scent, and all your other senses are heightened.

Joie de vivre - Sometimes you can be down about all the things you've done in your long and storied past, but your lust for life inspires such hope in others. No, seriously, it does - you inspire others as though by a good hope spell.

Run - Trust me. Run.

[Pyromancer999]

Death Delver gives you nine lives as a capstone, if that helps.

[nintendoh]

A. You clearly don't watch the same Doctor Who I do.

B. This was only partially due to the class and more to do with the player. The player decided to play the character in a way that made working with the character...difficult.

The long and short of it is that rengeneration was built into the character, and unlike the Doctor we know who actually feels and cares for their effective life ending whenever they regenerate, the player went beyond cavalier to the realm of straight up suicidal with the character. When i say suicidal, I mean as in acted entirely irreverant and literally telling a god to go ahead and kill him to its face MORE THAN ONCE.

See the player rolled random traits and got "irreverant" and decided apparently that meant "will go out of their way to insult a god to their face even if it meant dying". Of course he didnt care because all that meant was "Oh goodie, I get to play a whole new personality without any penalty! My ADD is sated!"

Point of note, said regeneration was explosive.

Basically the player was able to get away with an ungodly amount of crap, partially because he had the charismatic ability to doubletalk with the best of them, but also because he more or less used it to bully the DM. Another thing is that the character was basically entirely immune to feeling naything resembling consequences to his actions. Nothing that happened seemed to hurt him, annoy him, or anything that happened because of him seemed to make him care. Despite the character feeling what had to be immense physical pain, unless they were LITERALLY knocked unconscious or just finished a regeneration, they kept talking like nothing happened. They only got upset when it worked for a joke, such as when they were planning something "clever" and it turned out to be unnecessary so they sulked. because it was funny.

Their character also at one point got violently raped by Zeus and they barely batted an eye, and they kept talking without missing even a beat. He did so because the character flat out challenged Zeus' manhood.

There are no words to describe just how disruptive this player was towards the game and my character's arc, who was there for a long time before this one.

But the problem was that having regenerations allowed the character to have zero consequences. In fact, they had every REASON to act suicidal because it just meant playing a new fun character when he got bored with the old one.

Let me explain the point though: If the player had reasons to potentially feel consequences for his actions he would have possibly been less of a complete and utter disruption.

I see absolutely nothing thats the doctors fault.

[atemu1234]

I see absolutely nothing thats the doctors fault.

I see getting bored with one's own character, something that really shouldn't happen all that regularly.

[Bad Wolf]

I think the general consensus the last time a thread like this was posted was that the Doctor would be a Lesser Cansin with levels in Factotum.

[Stealth Marmot]

I see absolutely nothing thats the doctors fault.

If you are referring to the character/player in the game I was in, I was trying to avoid specifics, but I can assure you the character basically usurped the whole campaign and got away with doing things he should not have only because the DM was being manipulated.

Now was this the fault of the race? Not entirely, but when you have a race or character that can do things whatever they want without any negative reprecussions, a player will take advantage of this.

[Darth Ultron]

To really get ''The Doctor'', you need the metagame concepts:

You first need the agreement from everyone that The Doctor is special and nothing too bad can happen to him and the adventure must be ''rated Y''...or worse.

Then the player of The Doctor must be a good dedicated role player that cares more about the games (aka the DMs) story more then any selfish story ideas they have. The player has an epic optimized character, but willingly chooses not to roll play. In fact, the player would need to just free form role play most of the time and not even glance at the character sheet and only occasionally roll and dice. The player can not be a jerk, power gamer, optimizer, munchkin or annoying in any way. And the player must be a deep, deep role player that also oddly metagames to extend the length of the game to a set time(So, for example, for the first 75% of the game time whenever The Doctor encounters any foe him must ''run away'').

Then you need a willing buddy ''best friend '' type DM that is running a 1 st level adventure ''by the book'' that is not scaled in any way for 40th level Epic Character The Doctor. The DM must care more about the games (their own) story then anything else. The DM needs to ignore the rules and just make up whatever they feel like(as long as it is level appropriate for a 1st level adventure, of course), but still occasionally roll some dice. The DM agrees to not to ''try to hard'' to kill any good character, even more so The Doctor and add things like ''foes always get a -20 to hit''. And the DM needs to metagame too, so for example, when the foes chase The Doctor after he ''runs'' (again), they will give up after like a couple seconds and be all like ''welp, we can't find him.''

[thoroughlyS]

If you are referring to the character/player in the game I was in, I was trying to avoid specifics, but I can assure you the character basically usurped the whole campaign and got away with doing things he should not have only because the DM was being manipulated.

Now was this the fault of the race? Not entirely, but when you have a race or character that can do things whatever they want without any negative reprecussions, a player will take advantage of this.I think they mean that this wasn't because the player based their character on The Doctor. This was just the player being a jerk, and their character following suit. Giving that player a character that could ignore consequences was a problem sure, but The Doctor is not necessarily the cause of the problem.

[nintendoh]

I think they mean that this wasn't because the player based their character on The Doctor. This was just the player being a jerk, and their character following suit. Giving that player a character that could ignore consequences was a problem sure, but The Doctor is not necessarily the cause of the problem.

I think that's exactly what i meant and your a genius. You get one internet!