New to playing

[crowhaven]

Hey.

My wife and I were invited to play a homebrew session by a friend. We don't know any of the people except my friend who invited us. I've watched videos, bought the players handbook and been reading articles. Everyone involved is new.

I have some questions

For my character I essentially want to play a wizard thats similar to Snape from Harry Potter. How should I go about creating this character? What wizard archtype/school of magic should I choose? Etc

My wife wants to play a druid that she says is a mixture of Radaghast from the Hobbit and The Mage from King Arthur 2017. Any suggestions?

[GlenSmash!]

With Snape's spending so many years a s potions teacher, School of Transmutation could be a good fit, but he also always aspired to be the Defense against the dark arts teacher, so War Magic or Abjuration could fit too. He's was also harry's Divination tutor so that's an option as well. I think I'd lean Transmutation though.

For a Radaghast style druid I go for Circle of the Shepherd.

[pr4wn]

Quick question, which Snape, the one from the books, or the one from the movies?

If your character is inspired by the movies, you may want to open up your choices to a charisma based caster.

Lore Bard, Sorcerer, or Warlock, Pact of the Tome could all do a fair approximation of Snape from the movies. I just think charisma when I think of any role Alan Rickman has portrayed.

For Radaghast, yeah Circle of the Shepherd is good. Pretty much any except Circle of the Moon or UA would be a good fit.

If you are all new, just focus on having fun first and foremost.

-pr4wn

[Composer99]

Hey.

My wife and I were invited to play a homebrew session by a friend. We don't know any of the people except my friend who invited us. I've watched videos, bought the players handbook and been reading articles. Everyone involved is new.

I have some questions

For my character I essentially want to play a wizard thats similar to Snape from Harry Potter. How should I go about creating this character? What wizard archtype/school of magic should I choose? Etc

My wife wants to play a druid that she says is a mixture of Radaghast from the Hobbit and The Mage from King Arthur 2017. Any suggestions?

Harry Potter-style magic doesn't translate well into D&D, and 5e also doesn't have a very robust magic item crafting system; as such working out a Snape-like character won't be easy. Let's work through it.

Race, Background, Class - Race is pretty much obviously going to be human. While Potterverse magicians can do magic from birth (making sorcerer seem like a good pick), wizard seems to me to be the way to go, given how central Hogwarts is to the stories that we have seen thus far. A few backgrounds would be okay, depending on what aspect of Snape's personality or past you want to emphasise, along with what proficiencies you want for your character - the isolated boy living at Spinner's end might be a good urchin; the young man who was briefly a Death Eater, a criminal. Folk hero and noble are not really suitable unless you are building someone who has come to have Snape's unpleasant disposition but without a similar past.

As for Arcane Tradition and spell selection: We know, or can guess, that Snape is good at potions and the Dark Arts, and is a skilled Occlumens (concealing his mind from magical attack or what passes for in-person scrying).

Potions - Proficiency with alchemist's supplies, and perhaps also an herbalism kit, would have to cover this. If your DM has worked out some sort of magic item crafting system, you might be able to take advantage of it to make potions.

Dark Arts - D&D magic doesn't have Dark Arts as a distinct category - the spells that might qualify are the undead-raising necromancy spells and a few other creepy ones (the fiend-conjuring spells, Evard's black tentacles, and a bunch of warlock spells).

Occlumency - This really doesn't have a D&D equivalent save for mind blank, which, being a very high-level spell, you basically won't have access to until very late in your adventuring career, if at all. Better to just ensure you are good at Wisdom saving throws.

With that in mind, I think we can rule out divination, evocation, and necromancy as arcane traditions. The "core" subjects at Hogwarts seem to be Astronomy, Charms, Defence against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration. Of these, Charms, Defence, and Transfiguration generally involve actually casting spells.

Most of the stuff Potterverse magic-users do seems to involve abjuration, conjuration, enchantment, and transmutation spells, with a smattering of spells from the other four D&D schools of magic (divination, evocation, illusion, and necromancy) thrown in, often depending on the preferences of the person (Trelawney goes in for divination, Voldemort for necromancy).

For a Snape-like, any one of Abjuration, Conjuration, or Transmutation seem to be most suitable arcane traditions, and I'd likely narrow it down further to Conjuration or Transmutation.

I have run out of time (have to grill some chicken), so can't really discuss spells; hopefully anyone with suggestions will chime in.

[J-H]

Your character's personality is not limited by subclass. Pick your spells, skills, and attitude based on what you want to do.
Your subclass, especially for caster-types, just influences what you are best at.

Also, if you start at level 1, your subclasses won't kick in for a while.

For druid, your choices are:
Land druid: Caster druid with extra spell choices, usually involving good crowd control.
Moon druid: Druid with animal forms that are actually good in combat. Can't cast in animal forms for a while. Potentially more bookkeeping.
Shepherd druid: Druid with more summons. Potentially more work in large combats (8 wolves to move and attack with, etc.).
Dream druid: Druid with more healing.

[Man_Over_Game]

Your character's personality is not limited by subclass. Pick your spells, skills, and attitude based on what you want to do.
Your subclass, especially for caster-types, just influences what you are best at.

Also, if you start at level 1, your subclasses won't kick in for a while.

For druid, your choices are:
Land druid: Caster druid with extra spell choices, usually involving good crowd control.
Moon druid: Druid with animal forms that are actually good in combat. Can't cast in animal forms for a while. Potentially more bookkeeping.
Shepherd druid: Druid with more summons. Potentially more work in large combats (8 wolves to move and attack with, etc.).
Dream druid: Druid with more healing.

I'd suggest something similar. Start with mechanics that sound ideal, then work backwards. Being a transmutation wizard might sound good as Snape, in theory, but that doesn't matter if you don't plan on converting stone into wood into silver, and back again (which is the primary mechanic of transmuters).

My advice is just to scroll through the subclass benefits for wizards, bards and druids, then pick one that sounds good. It shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes to skim them all.

Once you know what you want to do, go back and learn how to do it.

Being a perfect Snape isn't going to do you any good if you don't want to use the powers you picked. Personally, I think he'd fit closest as a necromancer, transmuter, or war mage.

[GentlemanVoodoo]

Snape was a magic user that covered a lot of areas. He was a potion master so transmutation would work. However, he also was a death eater so necromancy could be an option. Likewise there is also the defense against the dark arts and he did know that one charm spell to fight off the dementers so abjuration is an option. I would suggest look at dnd classes more as what peaks your interest in play style.

Generally speaking the wizard is the one of the party to make big blast spells or general utility. So I would confirm what your DM's tone of the game and if he is expecting the players to fill the standard party roster of tank, healer, skill monkey, and magic guy. Or if he is one of those DM's that makes whatever work. That really will determine choices you make for a character.

[Aett_Thorn]

Quite honestly, I like the suggestion of going Lore Bard for Snape, using the Variant Human to grab Magic Initiate: Warlock for Eldritch Blast and another cantrip.

Snape is fairly charismatic, and can deceive people pretty well. Plus, picking up Counter Spell and being good at it seems like a very Snape thing to do. Other than that, mainly use mind-affecting spells and you should be able to pull it off pretty well.

[crowhaven]

Quick question, which Snape, the one from the books, or the one from the movies?

If your character is inspired by the movies, you may want to open up your choices to a charisma based caster.

Lore Bard, Sorcerer, or Warlock, Pact of the Tome could all do a fair approximation of Snape from the movies. I just think charisma when I think of any role Alan Rickman has portrayed.

For Radaghast, yeah Circle of the Shepherd is good. Pretty much any except Circle of the Moon or UA would be a good fit.

If you are all new, just focus on having fun first and foremost.

-pr4wn

Movie Snape

[KorvinStarmast]

For my character I essentially want to play a wizard thats similar to Snape from Harry Potter. Harry Potter magic isn't D&D magic. Forewarned is forearmed.

How should I go about creating this character? What wizard archtype/school of magic should I choose? Etc What about Snape appeals to you most. He's good at a lot of stuff. (The Transumtation school of magic has some neat features, the Stone being one of them).


My wife wants to play a druid that she says is a mixture of Radaghast from the Hobbit and The Mage from King Arthur 2017. Any suggestions? Yes. Circle of the Shephard. But also be aware that "hobbit movie" magic and D&D do not match up very well.

The point of D&D originally (going back to when the game first happened) was to create your own character and through play write their story. What emerged was a hero who became that way through the adventures they undertake, the quests they complete, and the magical treasures they uncover/recover.

That approach remains superior (IME and IMO) to taking someone else's idea and trying to shoe horn it into the system. However, YMMV and trying to "fit" characters from popular fiction into the game is a common practice.

An Alternate Idea:
For your Wizard-Snape: have you thought about playing a sorcerer?
With the Charisma as a casting stat, you can tie spell casting and magical power to various interpersonal interactions, deception, and persuasion.

Give it a look. Caveat: I don't usually recommend sorcerer for beginner players because spell selection can be a bit of a trip hazard. However, this web site has some Great Sorcerer Guides. Take a look at them.

For example: if your DM allows material from Xanathar's Guide to Everything, I'd suggest this.
Sorcerer (Shadow)
variant Human.
Feat: Magic Initiatie (Warlock) (Hex; Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand)
Background: Sage (Others might also work, like Charlatan)
Additional Skill: Either persuation, Intimidation, or Perception.

If it's just PHB, Draconic Origin fits better.

[DevilMcam]

If that's a table full of new players, you'll most likely all start level 1 son you don't need to stress that sublass thing just yet.

As a new player I would highly recommand (against some of the other post here) to NOT PICK SORCERER as your first character ever. Many have tried it, a lot have been disapointed.

wizard and druid are fine first character that can do a lot of diferent things. Start at level 1, do cool stuff, enjoy your game and then pick your subclass and features when it's the right time to do it.
I ran several games where I initially wanted to pick one subclass, but by the time I got to actually pick it in game i had changed my mind.

Once you found how you liked to play your character pick something that enphasis this aspect of the character.
Druids and wizards are so versatile anyway, you can't really go wrong. Even if you end up never using your subclass, you will still be doing great

[KorvinStarmast]

As a new player I would highly recommand (against some of the other post here) to NOT PICK SORCERER as your first character ever. You do note that I added a caveat, right? :smallwink:


Caveat: I don't usually recommend sorcerer for beginner players because spell selection can be a bit of a trip hazard.

Completely agree with you on Wizard and Druid both having lots of flexibiilty.

[nickl_2000]

If you are open to other classes other than Wizard and Alchemist Artificer would be pretty fitting for Snape. You create potions, you are intelligence based, and you cast spells

[GearsX]

If you are open to other classes other than Wizard and Alchemist Artificer would be pretty fitting for Snape. You create potions, you are intelligence based, and you cast spells

I was going to say Alchemist subclass artificer also would work, maybe multiclassed with wizard could work for snape. You get to brew potions, have int as main stat, and spells from both artificer and wizard.