Anyone got advice for rp'ing/building a young (14-15) Artemis Fowl type character?

[Prince_Vorrel]

How would you guys play/make such a character? The plan is to make him this child prodigy between the ages of 14-15 following the example of characters like Artemis Fowl and Evil Morty. Smart and charismatic manipulator jerk with the heart of gold at the center of it. But i'm having trouble really fleshing out how to act with this character in my head. How do you play someone who is very much just a kid but with the cunning and jadedness of a big bad?

as for building him I had a few ideas.

Knowledge/Divination/or Illusion Wizard.
+Gives me goodies and tons of spells and tools to help control the world/people around me
+Good flavor for a child prodigy

-Needing a good charisma score for my manipulations makes me pretty MAD (Int,con,dex,cha)
-squishy as fuuuuuuuck

Sorcerer or Warlock
+Both work flavor wise. Sorc for a naturally gifted boy with incredible power in his blood. Warlock for the dark schem-y nature that is so delicious for this type of character.
+Charisma as a main stat is great for manipulator type characters.
+Subtle metamagic and Warlock Invocations give me some unique tricks.

-Int being a dump stat means I will have problems pulling off convincing super elaborate artemis fowl like plans flavor wise.
-Less tricks then the wizzy
-Warlock may be a dedicated spellcaster and some super awesome flavor but has way less tricks then wizard and a subtle wielding sorcerer

Arcane Trickster or Mastermind
+Unique flavor for an Artemis Fowl inspired the character. Perhaps instead of a noble background, I'm the son of some sorta crime lord?
+More mundane but still fun tricks
+Stealth is so nice for so many reasons

-Just not gonna pull off the crazy tricks of dedicated magic users
-Charisma AND int aren't key stats so pulling off the Artemis fowl flavor thing may be harder

[Nemenia]

Artemis didn't have magic for most of the series, and was STILL walking all over magical beings with his intellect and ability to plan far beyond what anyone else could do. If you really want to play such a character, the best thing to do would go a Mastermind Rogue, as nothing could fit his personality or method of combat better. You should also work with your DM and talk to them, discuss how you want to be the one to plan ahead, outsmart the villain, and give the rest of the party the ideas, and see if they'll work with you on that.

DISCLAIMER: Mastermind is suboptimal. In a campaign that isn't almost entirely politics or discussion-heavy it's a near useless subclass. However, this is the most fitting class to fit Artemis Fowl as a character. If you don't want to be absolutely accurate, divination wizard and a thief rogue could possibly give you a more open-ended character to work with. Arcane Trickster is pretty bad except for their special mage hand, and wouldnt really work for an AF character at all.

[Prince_Vorrel]

Artemis didn't have magic for most of the series, and was STILL walking all over magical beings with his intellect and ability to plan far beyond what anyone else could do. If you really want to play such a character, the best thing to do would go a Mastermind Rogue, as nothing could fit his personality or method of combat better. You should also work with your DM and talk to them, discuss how you want to be the one to plan ahead, outsmart the villain, and give the rest of the party the ideas, and see if they'll work with you on that.

DISCLAIMER: Mastermind is suboptimal. In a campaign that isn't almost entirely politics or discussion-heavy it's a near useless subclass. However, this is the most fitting class to fit Artemis Fowl as a character. If you don't want to be absolutely accurate, divination wizard and a thief rogue could possibly give you a more open-ended character to work with. Arcane Trickster is pretty bad except for their special mage hand, and wouldnt really work for an AF character at all.

I'm trying to go with a character more inspired by Artemis Fowl then a carbon copy. Plus artemis fowl wouldn't really survive in a DnD world XD

[Silavor]

Unfortunately no class currently uses both Intelligence and Charisma for class mechanics, so any attempt to focus on both might seem sub-optimal. Have you considered Bard? Look past the typical (Elan-style) portrayals and you have a class with both the skills of a rogue and the magic (but not the metamagic) of a sorcerer. Mechanically it might be what you're looking for.

[nickl_2000]

As soon as I saw the title of the thread my mind immediately went to mastermind.

Artemis rarely gets his own hands dirty in the books, he instead assists other by getting them into good situations where they can do their best. So, being able to help in combat from a distance really is quite flavorful for the character. As for background, noble would be fine, as would be criminal. Neither is really perfect, but you could flavor either one of them. That being said, the position of power flavor from noble is decent, as would the retainers variant option. Nemenia really said it quite well.



Any chance you can get another player to play a big burly battlemaster whose family has served you noble family for years? A strength based battlemaster would be highly appropriate for that

[xroads]

I don't necessarily think he was all that charismatic, just far more intelligent and ahead of the game than everyone else.

A divination wizard with the noble background could certainly work. After all, in a world where the fantasy elements are much more apparent and not hiding from humanity, it's safe to assume Artemis would know magic.

If you want to go the charisma route, lore bard would be a good possibility.

[Dr. Cliché]

See, I see Artemis as more a character for a DM than for a player.

If you really want to do it as a player though, I'd try to work with the other players and see if you can tie another character to yours (so that you can have an Open-Palm Monk as your version of Butler). :smallbiggrin:

[Nidgit]

The most accurate Artemis I can think of would be a vHuman Noble Mastermind with a buttload of feats like Magic Initiate, Observant, Linguist, and Keen Mind. But that's heavily suboptimal...

Lore Wizard would work pretty well if it's allowed, but Divination, Enchantment, and Illusion are all sufficiently thematic too. Artificer (Alchemist) might be my favorite choice, especially with a dip in Rogue for skills and expertise. I suppose Wild Magic Sorceror or a GOO or Archfey Tomelock could work too.

[xroads]

I suppose Wild Magic Sorceror...

Interesting. Artemis doesn't strike me as the kind to play with chaotic magic. Why did you think he might be a wild mage?

[Nidgit]

Mostly based on the way he obtained magic. There are also a couple of instances where he capitalizes on the quirks of fluctuating magic, particularly at the end of the fifth book, that remind me of a Wild Sorceror leaning to manipulate their own Surges.

[JNAProductions]

The most accurate Artemis I can think of would be a vHuman Noble Mastermind with a buttload of feats like Magic Initiate, Observant, Linguist, and Keen Mind. But that's heavily suboptimal...

Lore Wizard would work pretty well if it's allowed, but Divination, Enchantment, and Illusion are all sufficiently thematic too. Artificer (Alchemist) might be my favorite choice, especially with a dip in Rogue for skills and expertise. I suppose Wild Magic Sorceror or a GOO or Archfey Tomelock could work too.

Agreed with this.