Rashagar
2018-04-02, 05:02 AM
Hey, been reading the forums for ages, decided to join finally and make this post because, after reading a bunch of 5e-related discussions, there are now too many ideas in my head. So, new to 5e, was playing pathfinder for a long time before this. Currently GMing for my group (3+me) but 3 of us have GMed before and we've been talking about taking turns doing it this time around. So as a result my brain has been devoting far too much power towards the character I might eventually get to play. And I thought it'd be fun to try create one of my favourite concepts as a PC.
The Concept:
Ah damn, I don't have enough posts made to be able to include the link yet, hmm... well, for now a description will have to do. It's an old trailer for The Secret World, you can find it on youtube. Set in a playground at night, a woman sees a black feather floating down and stoops to investigate it, notices that there are crows all around her. A momentary distraction and suddenly the crows have vanished and are replaced by a shadowy humanoid figure in patchwork leathers, who sheds feathers as he draws two curved blades and moves in for the kill. She reacts to his attack by slamming a rod into the ground which surrounds her in a nimbus of holy-looking light, causing the human figure to burst into a swarm of ravens and flow around her, before coalescing behind her again as the hooded figure, perched on top of a swing set. The holy light fades and he scrapes his blades against the bars in preparation for the kill. He leaps at her as she pulls a shotgun out and the trailer ends.
(If anyone else wants to provide the link that would be greatly appreciated, I'd rather not make 10 substanceless posts just for the sake of it but I can supply the link later whenever I've talked enough).
I remember falling in love with this trailer (even though I never got around to trying the game it was for) and desperately wanting to play as the character at some point (the monster, not the woman). And now I might get my chance.
So how would you bring this guy to life as a 5e character? Because my mind is full of possibilities with very little ability to settle on a choice.
I've been thinking a Kenku in a bounty hunter/assassin type role. After investigating various classes I thought the cleric spell Spirit Guardians would be a great mechanical representation of swarming ravens, and would let me specialise a bit in necrotic damage which seems fitting with my head canon, making the Death domain very tempting. The Command spell would be a nice substitute for the fear effect I feel like he should be able to inflict, and I was happy to see that Death's Ray of Sickness is basically a magical poison bolt.
Stats would probably look like 8 14(+2) 14 10 15(+1) 10, unless a +1 for int or cha skills is really recommended for a bounty hunter, in which case con would probably drop to 13 and I'd plan to get the Resilient feat later maybe?
I love multiclassing, and it's at this point that I tend to get a bit lost in possibilities.
A 1 level dip in rogue for expertise would be great for the bonus skills related to bounty hunting.
Alternatively, there's ranger(revised) for advantage on tracking and initiative, favoured enemy's bonus damage and the fighting style making two weapon fighting seem quite potent, as well as some funky sounding spells like ensnaring strike at level 2 to pin victims down, hunter's mark not only for the bonus damage but for the tracking aspect as well, zephyr strike could be a good way to simulate the mobility of the creature in the video (though pathfinder having been a very static game combat-wise I don't know how useful that would be), and absorb elements would help with the unstoppable monster aspect. Picking only 2 of those would be the hardest part. And all of which, if I understood the multiclassing section right, I could use my cleric slots to upcast if I wanted.
There's also the "problem" that darkvision feels like a thing he should have, and he won't.
So instead, there's the option to multiclass to Shadow Sorcerer. Just a single level would give him his darkvision plus a bunch of great spells like Shield, Absorb Elements and Feather Fall (unstoppable monster feel), and the Booming Blade cantrip that everyone seems to love (it + metamagic if I went that far does sound very good? Otherwise I don't really get why it's so great but that might be because pathfinder's combat was so static), and going as far as metamagic at higher levels sounds great for rapidly dishing out the necrotic damage with Quicken/Twin as well as picking up funky things like Misty Step, Invisibility and oh my god Shadow Blade!
Getting the stats for that multiclass to work would probably look like 8 14(+2) 12 10 15(+1) 13, which is that little bit squishier, and it might be tempting to start as a sorcerer to get proficiency in con saves even though it's even less hp.
Finally, there's a dip into warlock as an option. 2 levels of which would give him his darkvision (plus something else, speak with animals at will maybe?) and the Great Old One would help with the creepiness factor and give him telepathy, which is just cool. Not really sure about useful/flavourful 1st level spells for him besides Hex, maybe Expeditious Retreat? Of course, these caster levels don't stack with the cleric caster levels, which I suppose could be a good or a bad thing depending on the type of adventuring day, but does mean more than 2 levels would be hard to convince myself to go for, even if it does give me Misty Step and Shadow Blade, Detect Thoughts, Mind Spike, Spider Climb... alright maybe not that difficult to convince myself... although I wanted to avoid saving throw related spells relying on two different stats... oh god am I second guessing the cleric part now?
Too many options rolling around my head. I know that as soon as it becomes time to actually play as a player again I'll just go with whatever feels right at the time and never look back, but until then I'm overanalysing everything.
So yeah, does one of these options stand out for you as better or more fitting than the others?
How would you do it if none of these options sound right to you?
And thank you if you made it this far in my ramblings. =)
The Concept:
Ah damn, I don't have enough posts made to be able to include the link yet, hmm... well, for now a description will have to do. It's an old trailer for The Secret World, you can find it on youtube. Set in a playground at night, a woman sees a black feather floating down and stoops to investigate it, notices that there are crows all around her. A momentary distraction and suddenly the crows have vanished and are replaced by a shadowy humanoid figure in patchwork leathers, who sheds feathers as he draws two curved blades and moves in for the kill. She reacts to his attack by slamming a rod into the ground which surrounds her in a nimbus of holy-looking light, causing the human figure to burst into a swarm of ravens and flow around her, before coalescing behind her again as the hooded figure, perched on top of a swing set. The holy light fades and he scrapes his blades against the bars in preparation for the kill. He leaps at her as she pulls a shotgun out and the trailer ends.
(If anyone else wants to provide the link that would be greatly appreciated, I'd rather not make 10 substanceless posts just for the sake of it but I can supply the link later whenever I've talked enough).
I remember falling in love with this trailer (even though I never got around to trying the game it was for) and desperately wanting to play as the character at some point (the monster, not the woman). And now I might get my chance.
So how would you bring this guy to life as a 5e character? Because my mind is full of possibilities with very little ability to settle on a choice.
I've been thinking a Kenku in a bounty hunter/assassin type role. After investigating various classes I thought the cleric spell Spirit Guardians would be a great mechanical representation of swarming ravens, and would let me specialise a bit in necrotic damage which seems fitting with my head canon, making the Death domain very tempting. The Command spell would be a nice substitute for the fear effect I feel like he should be able to inflict, and I was happy to see that Death's Ray of Sickness is basically a magical poison bolt.
Stats would probably look like 8 14(+2) 14 10 15(+1) 10, unless a +1 for int or cha skills is really recommended for a bounty hunter, in which case con would probably drop to 13 and I'd plan to get the Resilient feat later maybe?
I love multiclassing, and it's at this point that I tend to get a bit lost in possibilities.
A 1 level dip in rogue for expertise would be great for the bonus skills related to bounty hunting.
Alternatively, there's ranger(revised) for advantage on tracking and initiative, favoured enemy's bonus damage and the fighting style making two weapon fighting seem quite potent, as well as some funky sounding spells like ensnaring strike at level 2 to pin victims down, hunter's mark not only for the bonus damage but for the tracking aspect as well, zephyr strike could be a good way to simulate the mobility of the creature in the video (though pathfinder having been a very static game combat-wise I don't know how useful that would be), and absorb elements would help with the unstoppable monster aspect. Picking only 2 of those would be the hardest part. And all of which, if I understood the multiclassing section right, I could use my cleric slots to upcast if I wanted.
There's also the "problem" that darkvision feels like a thing he should have, and he won't.
So instead, there's the option to multiclass to Shadow Sorcerer. Just a single level would give him his darkvision plus a bunch of great spells like Shield, Absorb Elements and Feather Fall (unstoppable monster feel), and the Booming Blade cantrip that everyone seems to love (it + metamagic if I went that far does sound very good? Otherwise I don't really get why it's so great but that might be because pathfinder's combat was so static), and going as far as metamagic at higher levels sounds great for rapidly dishing out the necrotic damage with Quicken/Twin as well as picking up funky things like Misty Step, Invisibility and oh my god Shadow Blade!
Getting the stats for that multiclass to work would probably look like 8 14(+2) 12 10 15(+1) 13, which is that little bit squishier, and it might be tempting to start as a sorcerer to get proficiency in con saves even though it's even less hp.
Finally, there's a dip into warlock as an option. 2 levels of which would give him his darkvision (plus something else, speak with animals at will maybe?) and the Great Old One would help with the creepiness factor and give him telepathy, which is just cool. Not really sure about useful/flavourful 1st level spells for him besides Hex, maybe Expeditious Retreat? Of course, these caster levels don't stack with the cleric caster levels, which I suppose could be a good or a bad thing depending on the type of adventuring day, but does mean more than 2 levels would be hard to convince myself to go for, even if it does give me Misty Step and Shadow Blade, Detect Thoughts, Mind Spike, Spider Climb... alright maybe not that difficult to convince myself... although I wanted to avoid saving throw related spells relying on two different stats... oh god am I second guessing the cleric part now?
Too many options rolling around my head. I know that as soon as it becomes time to actually play as a player again I'll just go with whatever feels right at the time and never look back, but until then I'm overanalysing everything.
So yeah, does one of these options stand out for you as better or more fitting than the others?
How would you do it if none of these options sound right to you?
And thank you if you made it this far in my ramblings. =)