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Talverin
2017-07-05, 06:16 PM
Tell me about your interesting and unusual character ideas! Things you have played, or have always wanted to.

Preferably nothing based purely on strange mechanical interactions/exploits. I'm looking for the fluff! For example:

Lawful-Good Half-orc Rogue. Somewhat of a Robin Hood, but with more of an emphasis on the idea of 'redemption'. He absolutely refused to allow any party member to kill anyone who was not 'beyond redemption'. He brought lengths of rope and manacles with him everywhere and used only a sap in combat. Specialized in Sap Master + Underhanded to deal instant knockouts against powerful enemies, and even a couple of times came into contention with party members over what the 'moral' choice would be. He was Lawful to a personal code which included things like harming not the innocent, a refusal to kill, an unwillingness to take from one who cannot survive without it, and the like.

A Kobold sorceror/dragon disciple who believes himself to be (and was raised to be) the reincarnation of an ancient dragon who ruled over a mountain range. He honestly doesn't believe himself to be a Kobold; instead, he sees himself as being a dragon - just not yet.

Aasimar Summoner/Synthesist who was raised in a cult to be a living vessel for an Archon. He was beaten and disciplined until he had little to no free will of his own left to make a 'more perfect vessel' for the Archon. He is basically an empty husk when the Archon isn't possessing him, and hardly knows what to do with himself.

Fetchling Shadow Caller Summoner who was a Fighter, and part of a crusade into the plane of Shadow decades past. For his 'crime', when the crusade was defeated, he had his sword arm cut off, and was forced to become a left-handed scribe for the Shadow Fiend that took him prisoner. His 'eidolon' is a Psychopomp, and the Summoner was forced to scribe the lives and deaths of everyone who mattered to him, before being released back into the world as a much older man with no connections and no home, now turned into a Fetchling by his stay in the Shadow plane. He has been forbidden to take up weapons ever again, and carries only a walking stick offensively, with his Eidolon doing the majority of the 'lifting'.

A Samsaran Spell Sage who is the founder of a mercenary company, and uses his powers of creation in duo with his Company's siege weapons to raise or raze fortifications across the land; he was once a very devout and apologetically nice man who was haunted by the memories of his ancestor, an evil warlord. Much of his life was spent in 'penance' for the actions of his ancestor. After decades of service and no cessation of guilt, he instead gave in to the voice of his ancestor, and now questions both parts of his life - his initial choice to 'make up for his mistakes' and his choice to continue his ancestor's path. He has a fear of mirrors, because every time he looks in one, he sees only the cruel and cunning eyes of his ancestor.

A Fighter/Bard (Dervish Dancer) from Golarion's Galt. Strong french accent, very flamboyant (With his nickname being 'Flame' in French). Chaotic Good, but obsessed with the ideal of the Knight in Shining Armor; except without the parts of chivalry that require him to fight fair and not stab people in the back. Performance combat with 'Dance' as his perform. Wields an exotic double blade with a strong fire theme for his armor and weapons.

Give me your ideas!

TheYell
2017-07-05, 06:48 PM
A Monk in exile from Jalmeray who killed a man in a tournament through carelessness. He was offered permanent exile, and no return, or exile for twenty years and four Vows as punishment. He opted for temporary exile and vows.

Dr_Dinosaur
2017-07-05, 10:18 PM
An archaeologist who stumbled onto an ancient alien wreck (because those are lying around in every D&D setting) and accidentally bonded with a dying AI via a symbiotic [object/armor/weapon]. Neither is particularly happy with the arrangement they're in (the AI assumed there would be somewhere to offload itself and the archaeologist never asked for this) but they have to learn to live with each other since the guy won't just let the AI die.

The latest in a long dotted line of mortals marked to replace the Pale Horseman should the current one be destroyed somehow. Normally they would just feel a little more at peace with death than is normal or manifest some oracular powers at most but this poor girl got a spectral steed for her birthday and found that ever since, her curses have had very real, long-reaching effects on people. The problem is, she's a really sweet, chronically-heroic person who might otherwise be the picture of Chaotic Nice if not for the skeletal horse and gradual change from nails and fingers into shadowy claws. (Omen Rider Harbinger 15/Rajah 4/Soul Hunter Stalker 1, very DSP build)

A construct (warforged, android, not important) repurposed by a Druidic order to destroy the technological encroachment that spawned it.

A young mage with incredible amounts of explosive power, but terrible control. I saw a Wilder conversion from psionics to Spheres of Power and that would fit great, stacking the CL-boosting boons on top of Wild Surge with the drawback that restricts you to one blast shape (the point-blank burst one) would really sell the sudden bursts of inappropriate destructive power in combat situations.

An elderly nobleman who trained for knighthood as a boy but was kept out of the war his nation was in because of other responsibilities. He never lost his dreams of chivalry and the glory of war though, and now in his old age this Don Quixote figure has saddled up a warhorse and ridden out as a knight-errant.

Practically a scarecrow, light as is possible for their race, this young man/woman has always dreamed of flight, always looked to the vast sky not as a sign of their own insignificance but as a symbol of hope and freedom. Then one day they find themselves constantly floating just off the ground (Heavens Oracle). Relying on their pet dog to tow them around when there's nothing convenient to push off from, they adventure to see new corners of the sky and hopefully unravel the puzzle of their levitation incontinence.

Brad, the bard. He's got an acoustic guitar and a white t-shirt. His cart (and mule) have bumper stickers on them. He always has the best Halfling Pipeweed somehow. Brad.

Dagroth
2017-07-05, 11:01 PM
Joseph Manly of the Parthington Manlys.

Joseph was a Halfling Monk with serious mental issues. He believed he was being followed by Ninjas... who were hired by his family to keep him out of trouble. He believed himself to be a Master Strategist who was kept from being in command of the Royal Army because he would make the Knights look bad. He believed that, because of his sheer manliness (a family trait shared by all the Manly men), he had to pretend to be uninterested in women lest they leave their families and devote themselves to him.

Joseph Manly was the most humble man ever to exist, and he would remind you of that at every opportunity. He believed that he didn't kill every monster the party fought single-handed because the other members of the party needed to feel useful.

There were many other one-off things that happened (including an adult female silver dragon actually falling in love with him) because of the sheer luck I had with dice rolls... both for and against. I think I might've taken damage twice in 14 levels.

Calthropstu
2017-07-06, 07:56 AM
I once played a lawful neutral cleric of pelor/necrimancer. He had a split personality... so he would suddenly awaken surrounded by undead and destroy them, find stuff missing and have things he didn't remember buying.
My GM worked it into the game... there were undead plauging the city and our group was hired to track down the cause... which happened to be me.
Fun times.

Dr_Dinosaur
2017-07-06, 09:35 PM
I once played a lawful neutral cleric of pelor/necrimancer. He had a split personality... so he would suddenly awaken surrounded by undead and destroy them, find stuff missing and have things he didn't remember buying.
My GM worked it into the game... there were undead plauging the city and our group was hired to track down the cause... which happened to be me.
Fun times.

His alter-ego being a Cleric of The Burning Hate would be even better

Krazzman
2017-07-07, 03:29 PM
I once played a soulknife from eberron in a faerun game it began with my character waking up by falling from the sky and talking weird stuff about a city of towers... by the end of session one he was semi aclimated for the game and had a pseudo dragon resting in his mind.

His back story was that he was a traveling sword for hire that saw a higher leveled mage kidnapping a girl who in the end banished him to another realm due to some weird interactions with living spells... he would have had loads of repressed memories and triggers. Campaign never took off though and left him hanging at level 2...

TheYell
2017-07-09, 02:51 PM
Got a question for you all. I want a psuedodragon cohort with levels of Druid. Urban Druid, so they get Thousand Faces at level 6.

Thousand Faces says


At 13th level, a druid gains the ability to change her appearance at will, as if using the alter self spell, but only while in her normal form.

Alter Self has a duration of 1 minute per level, and says


When you cast this spell, you can assume the form of any Small or Medium creature of the humanoid type. If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, scent, and swim 30 feet.

Small creature: If the form you take is that of a Small humanoid, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Dexterity.

Medium creature: If the form you take is that of a Medium humanoid, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Strength.

My question is, when a pseudodragon assumes a generic humanoid form, does it lose that form after a number of minutes? Or does it retain that form until it chooses to shift? I'm thinking if it has to keep shifting generic forms every eight minutes, it's gonna wear a burka.

I'm asking here because I've got this idea for an adolescent pseudodragon druid cohort, an orphan, who enjoys living a vagabond urban lifestyle as a teenage humanoid girl.

fredg742
2017-07-12, 11:58 AM
I once played a chaos gnome Warlock/Cleric of Kord (into Eldritch Disciple) who came from a community of gnomes that believed they were Titans, cast out of the Heavens due to some unknown past failure. All my spells and invocations primarily supported/matched the SLA of Titans. Ultimately, he would use Miracle with DMM (persist) to get Wu Jens' Giant Size all the time...though limited to just huge. His name is Hugo Mongus....and he is...the Gnome Titan!!

Calthropstu
2017-07-12, 01:51 PM
I once played a chaos gnome Warlock/Cleric of Kord (into Eldritch Disciple) who came from a community of gnomes that believed they were Titans, cast out of the Heavens due to some unknown past failure. All my spells and invocations primarily supported/matched the SLA of Titans. Ultimately, he would use Miracle with DMM (persist) to get Wu Jens' Giant Size all the time...though limited to just huge. His name is Hugo Mongus....and he is...the Gnome Titan!!

...
Tiax rules all he does!