mer.c
2017-10-05, 08:55 PM
I got a character concept of a solemn old Dwarven man who's obsessed with exercising control over fate and fortune. So I started creating a character based around it. I've got a pretty solid start, but I wanted to see what people here think about the idea and the fluff, and what suggestions you all would have.
Character and Background
Concept
An old, solemn Dwarven man obsessed with fate and escaping/controlling it. Knows of some secret fate that he's trying to avert, although he won't tell others what it is. He's loosely inspired by Odin, who sacrificed heavily to in pursuit of the wisdom he hoped would allow him to avert fate (in his case, Ragnarok).
Race
Dwarf. Either Mountain Dwarf, or pending DM approval (I usually DM, so it would depend on who I'm playing with), a tweaked version that swaps out Dwarven Resilience for the Halfling Lucky trait. Fluffed as being the Dwarven side of the Stout Halfing equation - Dwarves who likely carry some Halfling blood in them.
Background
Cloistered Scholar. Spent all his time in dusty libraries learning obscure arcana and secrets related to fate and foretelling. Arcana proficiency.
Class
Mostly Lore Bard, with a Wizard-2 dip.
Stat Array
Dump Str and/or Dex. 14-16 Con from Dwarf bonus, 13 Int for Wizard multiclass. 15-16 Cha, hopefully. Rest into Wis for RP purposes.
Truthfully I'd prefer to play him as a Wisdom-based character (with Wis save proficiency instead of Dex), but that's up to DM discretion. I don't plan on taking Cleric or using any Wis-based features other than skill checks, so I don't think it would be a balance issue, but of course the DM has the final say. (FWIW, my rule as DM in our group has been "If you can make a compelling case for why it makes sense for your character, go for it.")
Proficiencies
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Celestial, Draconic (obsessed with arcane languages and the language of creation)
Tools: Mason's Tools, Drum, Lyre, Horn (styled after this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1_C3TLXRlI) - headphone warning)
Cloistered Scholar: Arcana
Bard 1: Insight, Investigation, Perception
Lore Bard: Medicine, Persuasion, Religion
Expertise: Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation
Equipment
Get some scale mail ASAP. Fight with a mace that is also used to beat the small drum he uses as a bardic focus. Component pouch for emergencies.
MO
Skill monkey of questionable actual use, and reroller/buffer of dice rolls. Some damage spells, but more utility, buffing, disabling, and later some powerful healing. In battle, beats a steady rhythm on his drum with his mace while chanting mantras one syllable per beat. He says this mantra is how he invokes his fate-bending abilities.
Character Build
Level 1-6: Bard 1-6
Bard 1: We've been using one background-relevant feat for free at level 1, so start off Bard 1 with Magic Initiate: Cleric for Guidance, Thaumaturgy, and Bless. These are our bread-and-butter dice-manipulation abilities, along with Bardic Inspiration (d6 at this point), and Lucky which we'll get shortly. Thaumaturgy just helps us look badass while doing it. :smallsmile:
Bard Spells: Vicious Mockery, Light, Faerie Fire, Dissonant Whispers, Detect Magic, Cure Wounds. Heavy re-fluffing of spells. Cure Wounds fluffed as writing the damaging event out of history. Faerie Fire fluffed as fate-weaving that draws the attacks towards the target. Vicious Mockery and Dissonant Whispers flavored as glimpses of unfortunate fates that lie before the target.
Bard 3: Gain Cutting Words to help with the dice manipulation.
New Bard Spells: Hold Person, Enhance Ability (replace whatever spell is taken at 2).
Bard 4: ASI for Lucky. We've house-ruled Lucky down to 2 dice, but even so it's super powerful, and it's another central ability to the character.
Bard 5: Bardinc Inspiration up to d8, and recharges on short rest instead of just long. Big, big deal.
New Bard Spells: Friends, Fear, Bestow Curse (replace whatever spell is taken at 4). Bestow Curse is likely there as a vanity spell, but if I can come up with a suitable effect it could be cool. Disadvantage on skills/saves could be nice in some situations I guess.
Bard 6: By now we have most of our Bard features: d8 Bardic Inspiration, Countercharm (on-point thematically), and, perhaps most importantly, Additional Magic Secrets. With this, we pick up two super-thematic abilities: Augury and Aura of Vitality. Augury gives us limited divination (our first big foretelling ability), and Aura of Vitality is a) an incredibly powerful spell on a full caster, and b) easily fluffed to our purposes, just like Cure Wounds. We could sub Prayer of Healing in here instead, which is a lower-level spell and can give us more total healing, but being out-of-combat only means we lose the fluff of un-doing events as they happen or immediately after. Points against Aura of Vitality include that we might lose concentration on it, and it can't be upcast. Our 4th-level spell selection is kind of slim, and our muticlassing means we'll have a spell slot for nothing but upcasting. (Sticking Prayer of Healing in a 7th-level slot means 31.5 average healing, for 158 on a group of 5 assuming everyone's banged up.)
Level 7-8: Wizard 1-2
Wizard 1: We get a couple of cool, semi-thematic spells. Find Familiar gets us a raven. (Along with being tied to fate and fatality, fits the Odin vibe.) Shield is fluffed as tugging at the strings of fate to make an attack miss him. I'll see if I can get Alarm to send a portent to alert him of danger. We also free up a Bard slot for Detect Magic, and can grab some other goodies like Comprehend Languages, Absorb Elements, Identify, and maybe Fog Cloud or something. The poor Int stat means we won't do well at making attacks or forcing saves. For cantrips, we take Blade Ward (mostly for flavor), Mage Hand, and Mending. We could try our luck at Firebolt, but honestly with our poor Int it may just be better to spam Vicious Mockery instead.
Wizard 2: School of Divination. This gives us our final dice-manipulation ability, which is basically Lucky on steroids since. This is our primary reason for taking the dip.
Level 9+: ???
At this point, the build is kind of... complete. I looked at going farther into Wizard, but it seemed kind of unnecessary. We get Blur at 3, which can be themed as a fate-bending ability. There's some good blow-stuff-up and Haste/Slow at 5, and we get Expert Divination at level 6. But none of those (except Expert Divination) feel worth continuing the dip on a utility or thematic level to me. Especially since our Wizard spell DC/attack roll is pretty sub-par.
Of course two more levels in Bard or Wizard will net us another ASI. So I'm thinking Bard 8 next.
Level 9-10: Bard 7-8
Bard 7: We get our first 4th level spell. Honestly none of them really jump out at me as being particularly thematic. Dimension Door can be sweet, and of course Greater Invisibility is amazing. Locate Creature is the only spell that's even semi-thematic, but I'd probably just go Greater Invisibility assuming there's anyone in the party even remotely equipped to take advantage of it.
Bard 8: ASI time. Probably either +2 Cha, or Inspiring Leader if I wanted to go deeper into buffing. (Again, fluff it as putting up protective wards during the short rest.) Resilient: Wisdom or Constitution would also be good choices if I couldn't get the Wis-based Bard I was hoping for, or for maintaining concentration.
Level 11-12: Bard 9-10
Bard 9: OK, at this point we may as well get Bard 10. Bard 9's only feature is Song of Rest going up to 1d8, but a bunch of great spell options: Greater Restoration and Raise Dead for undoing fate, Scrying fits in well with the foretelling/divining angle, and Hold Monster is a spectacular save-or-suck spell. I'm actually not too worried about scarcity of slots here, since many of the options are powerful but niche.
Bard 10: All right, this is basically our capstone. We get a d10 Bardic Inspiration. We get our 9th (!) cantrip. Wow OK, I guess Message? That's a good one. More importantly, we get more Magical Secrets, this time for up to fifth-level spells! Our high-level spell slots are pretty squeezed, but the level-five options are just too good for me to pass up. First is Commune, with the intention of the information being delivered as portents and forebodings rather than handed down by a deity or other entity. That's on-flavor and really useful. More exciting is Circle of Power. Basically give the entire party Evasion and Aura of Warding??? And it's so easy to fluff as an on-theme ability you don't even have to try? Will it also fix me a sandwich? Jeez.
Level 13-14: Bard 11-12
Yeah, we're pretty much just Barding it up at this point. We're 2 levels from another ASI, and we get a sixth-level spell (and a seventh-level slot).
Bard 11: Spell selection is sparse at this level, but Eyebite seems really damn impressive. It's not fate-weaving, but having inky-black eyes that make your foes pass out or flee screaming is pretty sweet, and the Sickened ability works thematically if you re-fluff it. And we effectively have two casts since we don't have any spells for our seventh-level slot.
Bard 12: ASI again. Same choices as before: Inspiring Leader for thematicness, +Cha, or Resilient: Con/Wis.
End Character Build
All right, that's pretty much where I left it. Taking a character beyond 14 seems unlikely. More spell slots and more Magical Secrets from Bard 14 would be sweet, so I guess that'd be the way I'd go if it came to it.
I also considered Fiend Warlock (Book of Secrets) up to level 6, but that would basically be exclusively for Dark One's Own Luck, which doesn't seem worth a 6-level dip. Hilariously, Warlock 5 does let you cast Aura of Vitality (or upcast Prayer of Healing) twice per short rest for virtually infinite healing, so I guess that's cool. Paladin 2 for smiting is I guess a thing, but I'm never going to melee with this character. I also spent a long time looking at Cleric options, but none of them really fit (and I'd have to go Cha-based instead of Wis-based that way or I'd be breaking balance). The closest would be Knowledge, which has some augury-type abilities, or Light, since light, prophecy, and fate are often thematically linked. And Warding Flare is cool. But those all seem like sub-par options.
But, like I said before, I'd be happy to hear suggestions from the community! Either on thematic or power grounds - although I tend to build characters bottom-up from a concept, so powergaming isn't really a thing I gravitate towards.
Thanks for reading! :smallsmile:
Character and Background
Concept
An old, solemn Dwarven man obsessed with fate and escaping/controlling it. Knows of some secret fate that he's trying to avert, although he won't tell others what it is. He's loosely inspired by Odin, who sacrificed heavily to in pursuit of the wisdom he hoped would allow him to avert fate (in his case, Ragnarok).
Race
Dwarf. Either Mountain Dwarf, or pending DM approval (I usually DM, so it would depend on who I'm playing with), a tweaked version that swaps out Dwarven Resilience for the Halfling Lucky trait. Fluffed as being the Dwarven side of the Stout Halfing equation - Dwarves who likely carry some Halfling blood in them.
Background
Cloistered Scholar. Spent all his time in dusty libraries learning obscure arcana and secrets related to fate and foretelling. Arcana proficiency.
Class
Mostly Lore Bard, with a Wizard-2 dip.
Stat Array
Dump Str and/or Dex. 14-16 Con from Dwarf bonus, 13 Int for Wizard multiclass. 15-16 Cha, hopefully. Rest into Wis for RP purposes.
Truthfully I'd prefer to play him as a Wisdom-based character (with Wis save proficiency instead of Dex), but that's up to DM discretion. I don't plan on taking Cleric or using any Wis-based features other than skill checks, so I don't think it would be a balance issue, but of course the DM has the final say. (FWIW, my rule as DM in our group has been "If you can make a compelling case for why it makes sense for your character, go for it.")
Proficiencies
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Celestial, Draconic (obsessed with arcane languages and the language of creation)
Tools: Mason's Tools, Drum, Lyre, Horn (styled after this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1_C3TLXRlI) - headphone warning)
Cloistered Scholar: Arcana
Bard 1: Insight, Investigation, Perception
Lore Bard: Medicine, Persuasion, Religion
Expertise: Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation
Equipment
Get some scale mail ASAP. Fight with a mace that is also used to beat the small drum he uses as a bardic focus. Component pouch for emergencies.
MO
Skill monkey of questionable actual use, and reroller/buffer of dice rolls. Some damage spells, but more utility, buffing, disabling, and later some powerful healing. In battle, beats a steady rhythm on his drum with his mace while chanting mantras one syllable per beat. He says this mantra is how he invokes his fate-bending abilities.
Character Build
Level 1-6: Bard 1-6
Bard 1: We've been using one background-relevant feat for free at level 1, so start off Bard 1 with Magic Initiate: Cleric for Guidance, Thaumaturgy, and Bless. These are our bread-and-butter dice-manipulation abilities, along with Bardic Inspiration (d6 at this point), and Lucky which we'll get shortly. Thaumaturgy just helps us look badass while doing it. :smallsmile:
Bard Spells: Vicious Mockery, Light, Faerie Fire, Dissonant Whispers, Detect Magic, Cure Wounds. Heavy re-fluffing of spells. Cure Wounds fluffed as writing the damaging event out of history. Faerie Fire fluffed as fate-weaving that draws the attacks towards the target. Vicious Mockery and Dissonant Whispers flavored as glimpses of unfortunate fates that lie before the target.
Bard 3: Gain Cutting Words to help with the dice manipulation.
New Bard Spells: Hold Person, Enhance Ability (replace whatever spell is taken at 2).
Bard 4: ASI for Lucky. We've house-ruled Lucky down to 2 dice, but even so it's super powerful, and it's another central ability to the character.
Bard 5: Bardinc Inspiration up to d8, and recharges on short rest instead of just long. Big, big deal.
New Bard Spells: Friends, Fear, Bestow Curse (replace whatever spell is taken at 4). Bestow Curse is likely there as a vanity spell, but if I can come up with a suitable effect it could be cool. Disadvantage on skills/saves could be nice in some situations I guess.
Bard 6: By now we have most of our Bard features: d8 Bardic Inspiration, Countercharm (on-point thematically), and, perhaps most importantly, Additional Magic Secrets. With this, we pick up two super-thematic abilities: Augury and Aura of Vitality. Augury gives us limited divination (our first big foretelling ability), and Aura of Vitality is a) an incredibly powerful spell on a full caster, and b) easily fluffed to our purposes, just like Cure Wounds. We could sub Prayer of Healing in here instead, which is a lower-level spell and can give us more total healing, but being out-of-combat only means we lose the fluff of un-doing events as they happen or immediately after. Points against Aura of Vitality include that we might lose concentration on it, and it can't be upcast. Our 4th-level spell selection is kind of slim, and our muticlassing means we'll have a spell slot for nothing but upcasting. (Sticking Prayer of Healing in a 7th-level slot means 31.5 average healing, for 158 on a group of 5 assuming everyone's banged up.)
Level 7-8: Wizard 1-2
Wizard 1: We get a couple of cool, semi-thematic spells. Find Familiar gets us a raven. (Along with being tied to fate and fatality, fits the Odin vibe.) Shield is fluffed as tugging at the strings of fate to make an attack miss him. I'll see if I can get Alarm to send a portent to alert him of danger. We also free up a Bard slot for Detect Magic, and can grab some other goodies like Comprehend Languages, Absorb Elements, Identify, and maybe Fog Cloud or something. The poor Int stat means we won't do well at making attacks or forcing saves. For cantrips, we take Blade Ward (mostly for flavor), Mage Hand, and Mending. We could try our luck at Firebolt, but honestly with our poor Int it may just be better to spam Vicious Mockery instead.
Wizard 2: School of Divination. This gives us our final dice-manipulation ability, which is basically Lucky on steroids since. This is our primary reason for taking the dip.
Level 9+: ???
At this point, the build is kind of... complete. I looked at going farther into Wizard, but it seemed kind of unnecessary. We get Blur at 3, which can be themed as a fate-bending ability. There's some good blow-stuff-up and Haste/Slow at 5, and we get Expert Divination at level 6. But none of those (except Expert Divination) feel worth continuing the dip on a utility or thematic level to me. Especially since our Wizard spell DC/attack roll is pretty sub-par.
Of course two more levels in Bard or Wizard will net us another ASI. So I'm thinking Bard 8 next.
Level 9-10: Bard 7-8
Bard 7: We get our first 4th level spell. Honestly none of them really jump out at me as being particularly thematic. Dimension Door can be sweet, and of course Greater Invisibility is amazing. Locate Creature is the only spell that's even semi-thematic, but I'd probably just go Greater Invisibility assuming there's anyone in the party even remotely equipped to take advantage of it.
Bard 8: ASI time. Probably either +2 Cha, or Inspiring Leader if I wanted to go deeper into buffing. (Again, fluff it as putting up protective wards during the short rest.) Resilient: Wisdom or Constitution would also be good choices if I couldn't get the Wis-based Bard I was hoping for, or for maintaining concentration.
Level 11-12: Bard 9-10
Bard 9: OK, at this point we may as well get Bard 10. Bard 9's only feature is Song of Rest going up to 1d8, but a bunch of great spell options: Greater Restoration and Raise Dead for undoing fate, Scrying fits in well with the foretelling/divining angle, and Hold Monster is a spectacular save-or-suck spell. I'm actually not too worried about scarcity of slots here, since many of the options are powerful but niche.
Bard 10: All right, this is basically our capstone. We get a d10 Bardic Inspiration. We get our 9th (!) cantrip. Wow OK, I guess Message? That's a good one. More importantly, we get more Magical Secrets, this time for up to fifth-level spells! Our high-level spell slots are pretty squeezed, but the level-five options are just too good for me to pass up. First is Commune, with the intention of the information being delivered as portents and forebodings rather than handed down by a deity or other entity. That's on-flavor and really useful. More exciting is Circle of Power. Basically give the entire party Evasion and Aura of Warding??? And it's so easy to fluff as an on-theme ability you don't even have to try? Will it also fix me a sandwich? Jeez.
Level 13-14: Bard 11-12
Yeah, we're pretty much just Barding it up at this point. We're 2 levels from another ASI, and we get a sixth-level spell (and a seventh-level slot).
Bard 11: Spell selection is sparse at this level, but Eyebite seems really damn impressive. It's not fate-weaving, but having inky-black eyes that make your foes pass out or flee screaming is pretty sweet, and the Sickened ability works thematically if you re-fluff it. And we effectively have two casts since we don't have any spells for our seventh-level slot.
Bard 12: ASI again. Same choices as before: Inspiring Leader for thematicness, +Cha, or Resilient: Con/Wis.
End Character Build
All right, that's pretty much where I left it. Taking a character beyond 14 seems unlikely. More spell slots and more Magical Secrets from Bard 14 would be sweet, so I guess that'd be the way I'd go if it came to it.
I also considered Fiend Warlock (Book of Secrets) up to level 6, but that would basically be exclusively for Dark One's Own Luck, which doesn't seem worth a 6-level dip. Hilariously, Warlock 5 does let you cast Aura of Vitality (or upcast Prayer of Healing) twice per short rest for virtually infinite healing, so I guess that's cool. Paladin 2 for smiting is I guess a thing, but I'm never going to melee with this character. I also spent a long time looking at Cleric options, but none of them really fit (and I'd have to go Cha-based instead of Wis-based that way or I'd be breaking balance). The closest would be Knowledge, which has some augury-type abilities, or Light, since light, prophecy, and fate are often thematically linked. And Warding Flare is cool. But those all seem like sub-par options.
But, like I said before, I'd be happy to hear suggestions from the community! Either on thematic or power grounds - although I tend to build characters bottom-up from a concept, so powergaming isn't really a thing I gravitate towards.
Thanks for reading! :smallsmile: