Jak
2017-05-04, 03:28 AM
"Any force, sufficiently powerful, is indistinguishable from magic."
A few years back, I stumbled upon a hilarious idea which involved making a half-orc barbarian that sincerely thought he was a wizard. The "wizard" would have the traditional robes, hat, and staff, but have no actual casting ability. Instead, he would say the spell he intended, and then replicate the effect with his own brute strength. The original thread can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?195049-Help-Me-Be-Annoying-with-a-Barbarian-Wizard).
While this brought me very many a laugh as I read through the "spell" list posted by various members, a thought struck me on this night, winding down after one of my first GM experiences: What if this was a serious character? If pressed, how would one go about making a perfectly mundane barbarian seem mystical?
Now then, the idea here is to use archetypes, feats, rage powers, and raw presentation on the characters part to make himself seem magical. The quote at the beginning of this post is the guideline to the build; if the Half-Orc performs actions with enough strength, agility, and hardiness, then people's first instinct will be to assume he is simply trained in the art of magic.
If you're looking for an example, you've probably seen something similar in martial arts movies, or magic shows. Except, instead of sleight of hand and manual dexterity causing the illusion, it's brute force.
Lastly, I'm trying to build this so people won't actually catch on until several meetings in, if that.
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tl;dr: Need help building a mundane barbarian that actually seems more like a wizard than anything else.
A few years back, I stumbled upon a hilarious idea which involved making a half-orc barbarian that sincerely thought he was a wizard. The "wizard" would have the traditional robes, hat, and staff, but have no actual casting ability. Instead, he would say the spell he intended, and then replicate the effect with his own brute strength. The original thread can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?195049-Help-Me-Be-Annoying-with-a-Barbarian-Wizard).
While this brought me very many a laugh as I read through the "spell" list posted by various members, a thought struck me on this night, winding down after one of my first GM experiences: What if this was a serious character? If pressed, how would one go about making a perfectly mundane barbarian seem mystical?
Now then, the idea here is to use archetypes, feats, rage powers, and raw presentation on the characters part to make himself seem magical. The quote at the beginning of this post is the guideline to the build; if the Half-Orc performs actions with enough strength, agility, and hardiness, then people's first instinct will be to assume he is simply trained in the art of magic.
If you're looking for an example, you've probably seen something similar in martial arts movies, or magic shows. Except, instead of sleight of hand and manual dexterity causing the illusion, it's brute force.
Lastly, I'm trying to build this so people won't actually catch on until several meetings in, if that.
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tl;dr: Need help building a mundane barbarian that actually seems more like a wizard than anything else.