OOTS roleswap?

[deltamire]

Someone attemped to bring a thread regarding the five man band from 2008 back this afternoon, and it got me thinking about the concept of a roleswap AU (that's a re-imagining of a set of characters in which the narrative roles/classes and abilities/dynamics of characters are swapped around while keeping some parts of their original personalities intact) for the main party. As usual, it all spiralled into a wild bloated mass of ideas, but I'd be interested in any ideas anyone else has, or if it's been considered before.

I started with the following swap, where:

Roy takes the role of Vaarsuvius, as a human wizard focusing on illusion magic and following in his father's footsteps. Memorises OSHA guidelines just for the fun of it. Somehow even more controlling and tactically-inclined than the OG Roy.


Vaarsuvius takes the role of Belkar, an insufferable, loudmouthed, semi-unhinged ranger who got sick of being a ranger and multiclassed to druid just for wildshape (Listen. Turning into a bright pink dragon and attempting to eat anyone in range is a viable tactic (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0638.html), okay?) And if you think they're bad enough, just wait 'til you meet the spouse.


Belkar takes the role of Roy. A halfling fighter attempting to corral these somehow-even-worse-than-the-OOTS-crew-at-the-start ruffians into avenging his family's murder by Xycon. He insists that even if he can't be bothered to remember a single thing about them or any of their names, it's still considered avenging, damnit.


Haley takes the role of Durkon, a human cleric of . . . I want to say Hermod? Her still being a cleric of Thor still fits though. She was tossed into Firmament as a baby when her parents mysteriously vanished, and then was sent out into the world again when she was an adult. She claims it's because she was supposed to see it all and return with that fresh wisdom, but it's probably because she kept bashing her head off all the too-small ceilings and the church didn't want a physical trauma-related death in the workplace. Somehow just the final panel here and the subsequent page (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0743.html), but all the time. A lot more outgoing and maybe a bit more naive, but just as triggerhappy as OG Haley.


Durkon takes the role of Elan as a dwarf bard, not actually raised in the dwarven lands but is currently out to collect stories and tales. Has never met Haley in his life, and is genuinely a little put out by how much she seems to know so much more about dwarven culture than he does. A lot more reserved than Elan due to Durkon's own personality, but he's still got that trademark Durkon determination and friendliness that makes people like him naturally. Whether he takes on the swashbuckler prestige class is not decided at this moment, but perhaps another prestige class?


Elan takes the role of Haley. Human Rogue. Yes, he has the croptop. He can have it, he deserves it! He's probably more of an acrobat than an archer and still has that swashbuckler flair, but definitely more on the deadly side compared to OG Elan. Haley's issues with her dad and Tarquin's whole . . . Deal have converged into a horrific mess. Best not to think about it too much.


I've been (over)thinking this all day, and might do some art for it if people are interested in it. It's just a silly writing exercise in the end (never mind how the original characters' stats probably wouldn't always line up to the changed classes, or the multiclassing needs), but I've always enjoyed thinking about how you could change certain aspects of a character and run with it, and how far you can go before they're just a separate character altogether.

[understatement]

Someone attemped to bring a thread regarding the five man band from 2008 back this afternoon, and it got me thinking about the concept of a roleswap AU (that's a re-imagining of a set of characters in which the narrative roles/classes and abilities/dynamics of characters are swapped around while keeping some parts of their original personalities intact) for the main party. As usual, it all spiralled into a wild bloated mass of ideas, but I'd be interested in any ideas anyone else has, or if it's been considered before.

...


This is pretty interesting! I definitely think Vaarsuvius would do it just for the Wild Shape. And Haley as a cleric of Hermod would be awesome to see.

What would you think of switching up...Team Evil and Linear Guild, for example?

[deltamire]

What would you think of switching up...Team Evil and Linear Guild, for example?
Terrifying, but in the best way! While I originally tried to do a complex one like how I did with the party, in which characters didn't swap but were shunted along so it wasn't just 'V the fighter and Roy the wizard', you could do something like this . . .

Xycon > Nale (sorcerers, both firmly entrenched in their belief of their class being the ideal)

Recloak > ZZ'Dtri (passive, trying to be smarter than his teammates, slowly realising that A: might not be a good thing and B: might not matter, in the end. They're both . . . Green, I guess?)

Mitd > Thog (I love the Mitd, but haven't got any opinions on Thog, good or bad.)

Oona > Sabine (completely different people, but both serve / are more interested in another group outside of their party, have their own morals and goals that are just . . . Adjacent to their respective groups but still are down to clown when they're needed.)

Tsukiko > Hilgya. (Hear me out. They're both obsessed with overcoming their societies' rules on what they can and can't do, but while Tsukiko was ruined by her ultimate reliance on what she saw as the 'perfect' form that couldn't be manipulated like a living being could, Hilgya was just ruined (got better, though) by . . . Other people's views, and also her teammate double-crossing her. Also you can keep that Haley vs Tsukiko thing going with Hilgya and Durkon, although I haven't been swapping romantic relationships in this au. (they're more based on inherent personalities, anyhow. I don't care if Durkon canonically has a thing for blondes, I accidentally just thought about Durkon and Elan dating and I shrivelled up like a dried apricot. I'm not sure who I feel sorrier for.)

[dude123nice]

Someone attemped to bring a thread regarding the five man band from 2008 back this afternoon, and it got me thinking about the concept of a roleswap AU (that's a re-imagining of a set of characters in which the narrative roles/classes and abilities/dynamics of characters are swapped around while keeping some parts of their original personalities intact) for the main party. As usual, it all spiralled into a wild bloated mass of ideas, but I'd be interested in any ideas anyone else has, or if it's been considered before.

I started with the following swap, where:

Roy takes the role of Vaarsuvius, as a human wizard focusing on illusion magic and following in his father's footsteps. Memorises OSHA guidelines just for the fun of it. Somehow even more controlling and tactically-inclined than the OG Roy.


Vaarsuvius takes the role of Belkar, an insufferable, loudmouthed, semi-unhinged ranger who got sick of being a ranger and multiclassed to druid just for wildshape (Listen. Turning into a bright pink dragon and attempting to eat anyone in range is a viable tactic (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0638.html), okay?) And if you think they're bad enough, just wait 'til you meet the spouse.


Belkar takes the role of Roy. A halfling fighter attempting to corral these somehow-even-worse-than-the-OOTS-crew-at-the-start ruffians into avenging his family's murder by Xycon. He insists that even if he can't be bothered to remember a single thing about them or any of their names, it's still considered avenging, damnit.


Haley takes the role of Durkon, a human cleric of . . . I want to say Hermod? Her still being a cleric of Thor still fits though. She was tossed into Firmament as a baby when her parents mysteriously vanished, and then was sent out into the world again when she was an adult. She claims it's because she was supposed to see it all and return with that fresh wisdom, but it's probably because she kept bashing her head off all the too-small ceilings and the church didn't want a physical trauma-related death in the workplace. Somehow just the final panel here and the subsequent page (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0743.html), but all the time. A lot more outgoing and maybe a bit more naive, but just as triggerhappy as OG Haley.


Durkon takes the role of Elan as a dwarf bard, not actually raised in the dwarven lands but is currently out to collect stories and tales. Has never met Haley in his life, and is genuinely a little put out by how much she seems to know so much more about dwarven culture than he does. A lot more reserved than Elan due to Durkon's own personality, but he's still got that trademark Durkon determination and friendliness that makes people like him naturally. Whether he takes on the swashbuckler prestige class is not decided at this moment, but perhaps another prestige class?


Elan takes the role of Haley. Human Rogue. Yes, he has the croptop. He can have it, he deserves it! He's probably more of an acrobat than an archer and still has that swashbuckler flair, but definitely more on the deadly side compared to OG Elan. Haley's issues with her dad and Tarquin's whole . . . Deal have converged into a horrific mess. Best not to think about it too much.


I've been (over)thinking this all day, and might do some art for it if people are interested in it. It's just a silly writing exercise in the end (never mind how the original characters' stats probably wouldn't always line up to the changed classes, or the multiclassing needs), but I've always enjoyed thinking about how you could change certain aspects of a character and run with it, and how far you can go before they're just a separate character altogether.

Roy, Vaasarius and Belkar have almost completely swapped their personalities amongst each other, to the point that it almost feel like the og characters of different races. Like if V was human, Belkar was elven and Roy was halfling. There's no reason to have Haley have been raised in Firnament, it's convoluted and kinda also makes her into Durkon if he were an adopted human female. Elan ios just....what? I don't even understand what you're trying to say about him.

[deltamire]

Roy, Vaasarius and Belkar have almost completely swapped their personalities amongst each other, to the point that it almost feel like the og characters of different races.

While I'm not sure what you're confused about regarding Elan, the fact that they're wildly different people is kind of the point! Like I said, it was just an exercise for fun to see how far you could take well-developed, original characters and put them in situations in which they would have been raised differently / make wildly different choices, and see how much of the original character stands up. Nothing serious, just spurred on by the thread regarding character roles.