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View Full Version : Fluff, how far can you throw it out.



Emperor Demonking
2007-12-30, 10:12 AM
Fluff, how far can you throw it out?

I think you can throw it out quite a bit, but classes should be classes and races should be races.

What is your favorite character using changed fluff?

Xuincherguixe
2007-12-30, 10:29 AM
I don't quite follow this, but if I understand correctly? As I see it fluff is easy to throw out.

"Sorcerers get their power from having dragon blood!"
*sounds of page tearing*
"Oh hey, no they don't!"
"Paladins have all these obscure and hard to follow vows!"
*scribble sounds*
"Or maybe it's slightly more reasonable!"

Depending on what you call fluff, I had an interesting Chaotic Evil Monk. He cooperated with the party, but enjoyed beating stuff to a bloody pulp a bit too much. Also when he started changing genders with some frequency, he took it unnervingly well.
The only real difference was that Lawful abilities became Chaotic. He was prone to being fairly arbitrary, and managed to be both fearless at some points and paranoid at others. Fun, fun character.

Prophaniti
2007-12-30, 10:49 AM
Well, I pretty much burn all the printed paladin fluff (and a lot of crunch) for my campaign world. Paladin is actually a title one gets from certain churches, though I am making a prestige class to go with it. They have to follow very specific vows, mosly taken from Fax Celestis' Paladin fix, depending on which church they follow. And yes, there are evil churches that have paladins, and they still call them paladins.

I also ignore all alignment qualifications for base classes and some PrCs, as long as the player has a good backstory, but that's more of a change to rules to match fluff, rather than throwing fluff out.

Tempest Fennac
2007-12-30, 11:18 AM
Regarding Xuincherguixe's CE Monk, there is a variation called the Chaos Monk on page 58 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Classes-Base.pdf which has a few differences to the normal Monk.

Xuincherguixe
2007-12-31, 12:33 AM
Yeah, I know about the Chaos Monk. It was pointed out after the character was kind of already in use by someone else. And, we were mostly going by just the SRD in that game.

Xefas
2007-12-31, 01:17 AM
I think you can throw it out quite a bit, but classes should be classes and races should be races.

I have to disagree with this. It's all numbers and the way you dress them up factors in only a little.

Especially with the Warlock class which gets perma-flight or perma-climb speed, taking a base race, slapping on some class levels, and calling it something else is easy and has worked fine for me in the past.

I mean, what's the difference from saying "This demon can fly and breathe cones of fire. It has an Outsider type and a racial Charisma bonus" and "This is an (lesser) Aasimar Warlock who has Fell Flight, and can use Eldritch Blast with Brimstone Blast and Eldritch Cone to spray cones of fire." Just the name and how you describe the creature.

It's even more so in the very low levels. The only difference (mechanically) between an Orc, a Kobold, a Goblin, and a PHB Race Melee Class is a couple points of AC (maybe) and a point of damage or two, neither of which are really "visible".

If the monster is never meant to be played by the players, then it's even more flexible. A Wizard who casts Color Spray can just as easily be an LSD Golem who gets everyone high who comes near it. Because it'll only be alive for a few rounds, 3-4 castings might as well be "At Will" or "Permanent".

Draz74
2007-12-31, 01:18 AM
I was just thinking of making a Wilder/Thrallherd who has no idea that he's a Thrallherd. He just has some weird destiny on him ("one of those accursed meddling deities taking an interest in him, darn it ... can't tell yet if it's benevolent or malevolent interest ... bad news either way, really") that makes people keep showing up to help him out of tough situations. I was thinking this would be a character whose thralls and believers die rather often (so he can get new ones that fit the given situation at the time, and doesn't get "tied down" to the area where his believers live). He's kinda sad that helpful people keep getting themselves killed around him, but he doesn't really feel any responsibility since he's (in-character) not doing anything to convince them to be helpful, and he's learned not to get too attached to them personally while they're around.

RTGoodman
2007-12-31, 01:29 AM
I have to disagree with this. It's all numbers and the way you dress them up factors in only a little.

Especially with the Warlock class which gets perma-flight or perma-climb speed, taking a base race, slapping on some class levels, and calling it something else is easy and has worked fine for me in the past.

And is the next character I'm going to make in an Eberron campaign. He's gonna be a Warforged Warlock, but his powers are built-in and just "unlock" at higher levels. His eldritch blast is an arm cannon (a la Megaman), his fell flight is actually a jetpack, and other stuff like that.

horseboy
2007-12-31, 01:49 AM
And is the next character I'm going to make in an Eberron campaign. He's gonna be a Warforged Warlock, but his powers are built-in and just "unlock" at higher levels. His eldritch blast is an arm cannon (a la Megaman), his fell flight is actually a jetpack, and other stuff like that.

You know, Megatron would be cooler. :smallwink:

Nebo_
2007-12-31, 01:51 AM
Most of the Sorcerer fluff. In the PHB it says "some sorcerers claim that they get their power through draconic blood and sometimes that claim is true". Then they go and release splat books that practically shove dragons down your throat.

I don't like the warlock fluff either. I liked the idea of a warlock (Crunch only) who worships the Silver Flame. His eldritch blast is a gout of silvery fire. It really irks me that WotC doesn't account for that sort of thing before they put retarded alignment restrictions on things.

Sucrose
2007-12-31, 02:22 AM
I think that fluff attached to races, classes, feats, and so on can be thrown out as far as the attendant in-game effects allow.

If you deal electricity damage, you'd better have a technological or magical explanation. Same goes for dominating minds, flying under your own power, and other supernatural stuff. Abilities that involve skill in melee combat indicate that your character probably has been in or prepared for some sort of armed conflict.

Essentially, take what a class, race, or feat allows you to do, in broad in-game terms, and use that to determine what character concepts it will work for.

Draz74
2007-12-31, 01:24 PM
Another (Psionic) example. I usually don't play around with races too much in the fluff ... but I'm planning a "Blue" who's actually just a Goblin. His skin is blue, he was born a blue, but he's frustrated by how slowly he learns psionics compared to all the other Blues. On the other hand, he's quite a renaissance man when it comes to learning anything else (no +1 LA).

Bryn
2007-12-31, 01:33 PM
From the most recent game I DMed...

Classes need not follow the background that's written for them: a barbarian could be a warrior of the wilderness prone to flying into massive rages, or he could be an experimental warforged which has special enchantments to boost the magical energy empowering it for a short time. You should have some way to explain the mechanical abilities, but apart from that anything goes.

In other words, I consider any fluff acceptable as long as it explains the crunch.