RP heavy game, looking for interesting tricks/feats etc

[CMagnum]

I usually play in murder hobo, somewhat railroady save the world type adventures with my group.
However, we are going to begin a quest where the DM wants to run a much more role play heavy lightly combative scenario.
So far I have spent the majority of my time playing DnD focusing on combat first and character development second.
Besides any roleplay tips you might have to better integrate myself in playing a character, I would like to hear any interesting interactions that you may use in a game of this type. I like the idea of things like False Theurgy with inherent deception which is not just keyed off of skills and roleplaying. If you can point me towards some similar feats or spells or anything I would be thankful.
Thanks, C

[MaxiDuRaritry]

What is the premise of the game? What kind of world will you be in, and what are the starting conditions?

My suggestion is to get as much starting info as possible so you can build yourself around it. Make yourself a part of the world already, with a backstory that is more than just, "My family was killed by orcs." Figure out what the rest of the group is going to be, and what most of them will have in common. Make your character already related to a few of the others in some way, so they all mesh together from the beginning. Maybe you're the fighter's brother and part of the cleric's parish, for instance. Then figure out a few quirks that will clash in small ways with at least some of them, which could lead to some interesting intergroup roleplaying, but nothing that will be so annoying or disruptive that it leads to in-game (or Gygax forbid, out of game) blows.

I played a LE blue goblin shaper psion in a group of Good and Neutral-but-leaning-towards-Good characters. He was crotchety and found them annoying, but keeping at least somewhat tolerable relations with them had numerous benefits, including protecting him from people he'd ticked off, giving him someone to bitch to when someone else ticked him off, and enabled (and even encouraged) his cruel, violent streak in killing other sapient creatures as proxies for those who had truly earned his wrath but were too powerful to do much about...yet. He limited his indulging of his sadistic side to creatures they were going to kill anyway, and kept it under control when around others who the group would obviously have problems with him doing much more than grumbling at. It helped that he had a soft spot for innocent critters (fluffy animals and children, mostly), so they could see that he actually did have a heart, at times. Of course, he levied the occasional death-threat against the party if they breathed word that he was nice to someone, but they chalked it up to him just being grumpy. Of course, the BBEG of the campaign blackmailed him into turning traitor on them, and he spent most of the campaign playing the two sides off of each other for his own benefit. He always ensured that nothing he let slip information-wise would be too damaging to the party, while collecting valuable intel and magic items from his so-called "employer." It got the party in hot water a few times, but he was subtle enough about getting them out of it that he didn't hack off the BBEG. And then at the end of the campaign, the BBEG outed him to the group, attempting to pit the (admittedly extremely well-optimized) character who leveraged his abilities in extremely clever ways against the party, to turn him into the Boss Fight with the Evil Lieutenant. It...didn't work out very well.

[jdizzlean]

i think a lot of it depends on what class you're thinking of playing.

One of my favorite characters ever was a rogue (thieving ********) who in the very first play session decided he would pick the pocket of the big dumb half orc barbarian in the proverbial tavern, because that's what rogues do. the other player tried to metagame and say he felt me do it (the dm squashed that, because his rolls were no where near high enough). and then when that didn't work, he said something in game anyways to the effect of "i check my coin purse and find it 3 copper lighter, then look around and see a halfling, who must've taken it and i accuse him of stealing from me..." and with zero pre-planning, i simply accused him of being a big tipper, to which he stuttered and then had no response. that was probably 10-15 years ago, and we still laugh about it to this day.

continuiing on w/ the shenanigannary (that's a real word), during one of our later combats around 4/5th level, i joined in a fight that they had started with a ton of goblins for no reason (because the stupid ranger wanted to shoot a sleeping guard instead of bypass it), and then promptly left the group to go scrounge for treasure in other rooms. I then made it back just in time to shoot the last xbow bolt to kill the last goblin, thus proving I had been there the entire time helping out... the ranger tried the same metagaming "I see him come back" and again failed his rolls horribly.

and then around 12th or 13th level i had turned into a wolflord, who also was a baron in our world setting, and was in charge of setting up a hippogriff cavalry unit, and at this point the dm turned the tables on me and i had to eat some serious crow w/ the groups characters for all the crap i'd been doing up to this point.

I didn't take any special feats or use spells or anything else specifically for all this, I simply played a thief the way a thief should be played imo. So whatever you're going to play, "PLAY IT" the way something like that should be played. there's nothing wrong with being a 2 INT barbarian, or playing a LE character in a group of goodies, or playing the self-righteous LG pally/cleric of i'll smite your evil arse to hell and back. all these things and more can be done simply by playing things in a different fashion then you normally would. or being anything not CHA as a primary stat related that has a subpar CHA as well. If you want to be a crotchety twit, then be one :)

likewise, you can play a perfectly nice kender and accidentally steal everything in sight.

You'll still need to be somewhat reliable in combat, so don't forgo all that to try to optimize the social side.

[rrwoods]

There is a diplomacy feat or two in PHBII that might be up your alley, depending on the character archetype you want to play. I don’t immediately remember what they are.

But I think my main advice would be to build your character for combat anyway (with an emphasis on flashy over powerful to help the role playing during combat), because honestly most of the rules of D&D are about combat. It doesn’t mean your character at the table is super focused on Killing The Bad Guys, it just means they’re at least marginally effective when it comes time to do so. A roleplay heavy session or campaign simply has much more to do with the player than the build; might as well use the tools available during character building to do what they’re actually designed for.

[CMagnum]

Great, thanks for the advice and the stories. You guys have been helpful and inspiring. I'll look in my PHBII for those feats. I was thinking playing beguiler or bard, nothing is set yet but, deception will probably be a focus. Any other feats that come to mind would be helpful. Thanks again