Level 1 Characters

[Nagog]

So a friend of mine suggested a campaign that uses 5e for a storyline similar to Call of Cthulu using 1st level characters. I figured I'd throw out the ideas we have here to see what kind of fun character concepts everybody can come up with. The rules are as follows (Set up to give more of a Civilian power level):

1st level characters only
Start with 1 feat (2 for VHuman)
All damage dice are reduced one step (d12 to d10, d10 to d8, etc)

A few of the ideas I've had thus far:

Tavern Brawler Barbarian: Just fun all around. Max Str and you're a wonderful damage dealing tank
Heavy Armor Mastery Tempest Domain Cleric: Be a healing damage soaking tank with fun retaliation from Tempest Domain
Phoenix Sorcerer Tiefling with Flames of Pthalgos: You can burn things. Like, anything. So... Yeah.
Great Old One Warlock: Because who wouldn't want to be responsible for a war between two Eldritch Horrors?
Fey-Blessed Satyr Rogue: MI to get Faerie Fire and gain Sneak Attack for free on anything that failed the save. Also Expertise.

[Teaguethebean]

I feel like alot of the characters you are recommending wouldn't be able to exist at lv1 from the feats only being available by lv4 and if it wants to stay like call of cthulu things would kinda fall apart if you Level up at all.

[Nagog]

I feel like alot of the characters you are recommending wouldn't be able to exist at lv1 from the feats only being available by lv4 and if it wants to stay like call of cthulu things would kinda fall apart if you Level up at all.

As stated in the initia post, the DM is giving us a starting feat, and we're staying at level 1 for the duration of the game. It's meant to be a homebrew adaptation of the storyline/style of Call of Cthulu without having all of our friends needing to learn a new system for it.

[False God]

This depends heavily on the DM's approach to Lovecraftian horror. If he runs a more D&D-styled "butt kick" campaign, your ideas area great, any one of them. If he runs a more investigative horror game, all of your characters will go maddeningly insane, except maybe the warlock who (if your DM actually lets you play an old-one worshopper in a CoC game, he's nuts but w/e) probably is insane, and your rogue, who will hide and run away.

Any time someone says "I want to run a CoC or CoC-styled game." I assume that hitting things is not the right answer.

[Nagog]

This depends heavily on the DM's approach to Lovecraftian horror. If he runs a more D&D-styled "butt kick" campaign, your ideas area great, any one of them. If he runs a more investigative horror game, all of your characters will go maddeningly insane, except maybe the warlock who (if your DM actually lets you play an old-one worshopper in a CoC game, he's nuts but w/e) probably is insane, and your rogue, who will hide and run away.

Any time someone says "I want to run a CoC or CoC-styled game." I assume that hitting things is not the right answer.

Many of these are simply ideas I've thrown together using the guidlines the DM has set, notwithstanding the roles they may play in a game that doesn't have much combat. Besides, the RP side of D&D can be done by any class if you play correctly. If you don't include your fighter/barbarian in the RP side of things because you believe that you don't have the Int or Cha or whatever for it, you're opting yourself out of a lot of fun opportunities.

[Trickery]

You can use the Kuo Toa race in a Cthulu-esque storyline. I recommend checking out this video for a very brief overview on the race and some ideas. He did something similar to what you're trying to do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF83hrcaJTA

Now, level 1 characters. A few things to keep in mind:

Spell slots are seriously limited at level 1.
Martial characters tend to do well since they can hit hard and skill DCs tend to be low enough that they have a reasonable chance of success even untrained. Expertise isn't pushing Rogues and Bards far ahead yet.
AoE is very powerful. A single burning hands, thunderwave, or Sleep spell can end an encounter.
Many types of character don't feel the way they're supposed to until approximately level 6. Sorcerer and Monk are two examples of characters that don't even begin to feel like they should until level 3. Multiclassing is completely out of the question, thus limiting the concepts a player can pursue.
At low levels, anyone can die in a heartbeat. Other players don't have the means to save them, either.


The last two are reasons why I personally dislike low-level campaigns. I generally start my campaigns at level 6 or higher unless I have something specific in mind.

[Particle_Man]

Wood elf monk with mobility (assuming you will eventually get to at least level 2).

In a Call of Cthulhu campaign, it is *vital* to be able to run away at a moment's notice, and it helps if you can be faster than your fellow party members.

[Trickery]

Wood elf monk with mobility (assuming you will eventually get to at least level 2).

In a Call of Cthulhu campaign, it is *vital* to be able to run away at a moment's notice, and it helps if you can be faster than your fellow party members.

Wood elves don't get feats until level 4. Also, I recommend against Monk in a low level campaign. They aren't strong until high levels due to their MADness and low ki at low levels.

[Particle_Man]

Wood elves don't get feats until level 4. Also, I recommend against Monk in a low level campaign. They aren't strong until high levels due to their MADness and low ki at low levels.

OP says everyone gets a feat at level 1. Variant humans get two feats at level 1.

Also, Monk can walk into a place where open weapons would be frowned on and still be a threat. Since this is likely a more civilized setting if they are going for CoC than Ye Olde Faux Medievale, that could be an issue.

[Quoz]

The cowboy: lasso (net) and pistol (hand crossbow). Free feat: crossbow expertise. Rope 'em and smoke 'em.

firbolg rogue. Tavern brawler feat, expertise in athletics. Grappling is quite strong against many opponents you are likely to encounter at low levels. A firbolg's racial magics are very useful in a low level campaign, granting disguises, magic detection, and short term invisibility.

Anything with ritual caster, whether as a class feature or from the feat. A first level character needs all the spells they can get. Find familiar will be particularly useful, as familiars can scout areas too dangerous to go to in person.

[8wGremlin]

V human Arcana cleric. Pick booming blade and chill touch
Pick magic initiate Druid. for shillelagh Good berry and possibility produce flame.
And lastly ritual caster wizard for find familiar and alarm

You wear medium armour and shield. So 18 ac with 14 dec
Use produce flame as a near permanent light source.
Find familiar for scouting and help other actions.
Alarm do you can keep safer
Good berry for food and healing
Booming blade for damage with shillelaghs so everything off wisdom.
Chill touch for long range 120’ with a rider effect.

Get perception as a skill from human
And Arabic for translating the Necronomicon.

[Tallytrev813]

V human Arcana cleric. Pick booming blade and chill touch
Pick magic initiate Druid. for shillelagh Good berry and possibility produce flame.
And lastly ritual caster wizard for find familiar and alarm

You wear medium armour and shield. So 18 ac with 14 dec
Use produce flame as a near permanent light source.
Find familiar for scouting and help other actions.
Alarm do you can keep safer
Good berry for food and healing
Booming blade for damage with shillelaghs so everything off wisdom.
Chill touch for long range 120’ with a rider effect.

Get perception as a skill from human
And Arabic for translating the Necronomicon.

I'd recommend a variation of this, if you want to play Cleric that is

V. Human Arcana Cleric

Feat 1: Magic Initiate (Druid) - Shillelagh // Thorn Whip + Goodberry
Feat 2: Warcaster

Arcana Cantrips: Booming Blade, Greenflame Blade
Cleric Cantrips: Guidance, Light, Toll the Dead

Spells: Healing word, Bless, Shield of Faith, Command

Get 16 in Wisdom and Constitution, 14 in Dex


Why is this good?
-Your AC is 18 with Scale Mail/Shield
-Your Melee is good with Quarterstaff + Shillelagh (d8+wis) + Booming Blade/Greenflame Blade. (Dont forget, Booming Blade/Greenflame Blade will trigger on AoO's from Warcaster)
-You're a healer with Healing word and Goodberry
-You can buff with Bless/Shield of Faith
-You have Command for CC
-You can Thorn Whip enemies to you to pull them off of casters, thus forcing them to attack you (If they run they risk a Booming Blade for 1d8+wis+1d8)
-You have Light to compensate for lack of Darkvision
-You have Toll the Dead for ranged attacks
-You're very valuable out of combat with Light, Guidance, Goodberry, and some good skills (Perception, Insight, etc)

This would be an excellent build, especially if the campaign goes to a higher level.

[OverLordOcelot]

If this is really a call of Cthulhu style campaign, to optimize I'd have one solid 'tank' type with good wisdom saves, probably some flavor of cleric, at least one wizard type (could be ritual caster feat with the information gathering spells) and the rest with as many investigation skills as possible as high as possible, probably using the prodigy feat to add expertise. The beefy tank guy is to be sure that there is someone who can take hits when you encounter cultists and minor mythos creatures, the wizard-type is to investigate magic, and the others are for the searching, interrogating, and researching that you spend most of your time doing. I'd avoid classes that only get their good abilities at level 2, as you're never going to get there.

From an optimization perspective, I don't like your choices other than the cleric:
Tavern brawler barbarian is a much weaker tank in this game than a normal game because he doesn't have a good wisdom saving throw or resistance to psychic damage.
Cleric is pretty solid, good wisdom saves and solid ability to take physical damage.
Sorcerer is offensive combat only, which is meh.
GOO warlock is mechanically weak at level 1 (one spell per rest, limited spells, no invocations) and the pact probably causes significant issues.
Rogue is useful for skills, but 1/day faerie fire is not a big draw.

[Man_Over_Game]

Gnomish Great Old One Warlock. Resistance against all of your voodoo shenanigans, and eventual resistance to psychic damage.

[zinycor]

I have tried to play lovecraftian adventures with DnD, it always ends up badly.

Anyway, the best Lvl1 characters should be;

Barbarian Shield Master:
Cleric War caster
Bard War Caster

As for classes that should be allright, regardless of feats:
Monk
Fighter
Paladin

[Amechra]

Variant Human Knowledge Cleric with the Prodigy and Skilled feats.
You have proficiency in 11 skills and Expertise in three of them (with two of them required to be knowledge-based skills). You also know at least 4 languages in addition to Common (backgrounds give 0-2 languages).

Under the assumption that skill-monkeying (and having a good Wisdom save) are going to be very important in this kind of game.

[zinycor]

Variant Human Knowledge Cleric with the Prodigy and Skilled feats.
You have proficiency in 11 skills and Expertise in three of them (with two of them required to be knowledge-based skills). You also know at least 4 languages in addition to Common (backgrounds give 0-2 languages).

Under the assumption that skill-monkeying (and having a good Wisdom save) are going to be very important in this kind of game.

That is pretty good

[Amechra]

That is pretty good

And if you decide that languages are more important than skills, Linguist swaps three of those skills out for three more languages and the ability to write codes. Which could actually be kinda important if the GM lets you decode codes the same way...

[Fable Wright]

Vhuman Wizard with Ritual Caster: Druid and Ritual Caster: Cleric.

All of the rituals.

ALL OF THEM.

My ritual book would look something like...

Speak with Animals
Detect Poison and Disease
Ceremony
Detect Magic
Find Familiar
Comprehend Languages
Unseen Servant