Columbo, an attempt at statting him out

[Fortuna]

I am one of those random people who see media in terms of D&D. So when I recently found Columbo on DVD, it was natural that I should try to stat him out. Here is the result.

Columbo
Aristocrat 3
Str: ??? (10)
Int: 16
Wis: 16
Dex: ??? (10)
Con: 8
Cha: 15

Heavy investment in Sense Motive, Bluff, and Intimidate. Possibly Diplomacy for getting other people to cooperate with him. Almost certainly Knowledge(Local).

So, thoughts?

[Thurbane]

I would say the Investigate feat from ECS is a must.

Using the elite array:

Human Expert 3

STR 12
DEX 10
CON 8
INT 15
WIS 14
CHA 13

Feats: Investigate, Investigator, Negotiator

Skills:
- Bluff 6
- Search 6
- Sense Motive 6
- Diplomacy 6
- Gather Information 6
- Knowledge (Local) 6
- Spot 6
- Listen 6
- Open Lock 6

[Toliudar]

Given the number of episodes in which he was sick, you might even drop the constitution lower.

He'll also need ranks in search and spot. Probably listen.

Perhaps the Jack of All Trades feat, to reflect his ability to pick up a basic understanding of everything.

But I really like that you're keeping him low-level and not rising straight to genius. I'd consider making him an expert rather than aristocrat, to reflect an even poorer combat ability (I seem to recall an episode where he had another officer take his firearm certification test for him).

[Fortuna]

That looks awesome Thurbane! But my impression was that he was one hell of a lot better at bluff than you appear to give him credit for. His entire investigation method, early on at least, was roughly "Pretend that important piece of evidence is lost so that baddy can give themselves away either looking for it or revealing a bit too much", and with only six ranks he would be looking at opponents beating him rather more often.

[Thurbane]

Well, true, but level 3 has a max of 6 ranks. You could swap out feats for Persuasive and Skill Focus (Bluff). That would pump him up to a +12 modifier...

Actually,. he could have two flaws to get the extra feats...maybe Noncombatant and Shaky.

[quicker_comment]

I'd say extremely high wisdom and charisma, above-average intelligence, average strength, below-average dexterity and constitution. Definitely not an aristocrat, expert seems right. Probably first level; he's not a fighter. The most essential skills would be Bluff and Sense Motive.

His charisma score is really a demonstration that not every character can be satisfactorily summarized with a stat block. With this build we basically have to assume that he's just completely faking his bumbling, awkward manner, which doesn't seem to fit very well with the show.

[Fortuna]

...which sounds about right, honestly. Sense Motive and Diplomacy are secondary at best, because he only uses Diplomacy on people who are already friendly to him, and his Sense Motive is (IMHO) nowhere near as prominent as his Spot.

EDIT: Ninja'd (For the first time!)

[Thurbane]

It's been a while since I've seen the show, but I would have thought Sense Motive fairly essential to Columbo. He always seemed to be able to figure out what the murderer's motives were.

[Fortuna]

True. I didn't think of that. So what we need is to get Bluff and Sense Motive in the +8-10 range if possible? He virtually never gets it wrong, so it should be a fairly high boost. Actually, Sense Motive wasn't usually all that hard, because once you assumed (from Spot) that X did it, it is quite easy to work out why X did it (in the episodes that I have seen so far, anyway.)

[Fortuna]

A random thought occurs: What skill would you base connecting little details that you have noticed off? That would be highly important to him.

[Keshay]

I would say the Investigate feat from ECS is a must.

Alternatively you could take a feat that allows you to do something that Search would not let you do even without the feat...

[Talbot]

I dunno if you play 4e, but I have a Private Eye class for 4th over in the Homebrew section that Columbo would fit into more or less perfectly, so long as you give him a suitably weak con and focus on the more "talky" powers and feats.

[ericgrau]

A random thought occurs: What skill would you base connecting little details that you have noticed off? That would be highly important to him.

Intelligence

[Thurbane]

Alternatively you could take a feat that allows you to do something that Search would not let you do even without the feat...

I've heard that argument before, but the feat does specifically spell out uses for Search that are not directly spelled out in the skill description. Sure, they might be implied by the skill, and a reasonable DM might let you use skill this way, but the feat makes it concrete.

[Keshay]

I've heard that argument before, but the feat does specifically spell out uses for Search that are not directly spelled out in the skill description. Sure, they might be implied by the skill, and a reasonable DM might let you use skill this way, but the feat makes it concrete.

The verbiage of the skill descripton in the PHB (pg81) states:

The Search Skill lets a character discern some small detail or irregularity through active effort.

Please educate me as to any specifics spelled out in the feat description that can not reasonably be covered under that phrase. Any DM that requires having the Investigation feat in order to do anything it covers needs to go back to making "pew pew!" noises in the backyard and insisting "I got you!".

That or a seperate skill or feat is needed to search for books in a library, or socks in a drawer, or my car keys since none of these are explicitly mentioned in the skill description.

There is absolutely nothing Investigation does that can not be covered by Serach and/or Knowlege checks.

[Telonius]

The Master Manipulator feat from PHB2 would fit perfectly, though this would put him at a minimum of level 6 (to get the 9 ranks in Diplomacy needed).

EDIT: Regarding his Int score, I vaguely remember one episode in which he completely aced the MENSA entrance exam ... bah, now I have to go look it up on the internets to see if I'm going crazy.

EDIT2: Here's the synopsis. Yay, memory!

[Thurbane]

There is absolutely nothing Investigation does that can not be covered by Serach and/or Knowlege checks.

SEARCH (INT)
You can find secret doors, simple traps, hidden compartments, and
other details not readily apparent. The Spot skill lets you notice
something, such as a hiding rogue. The Search skill lets a character
discern some small detail or irregularity through active effort.

INVESTIGATE
Benefit: This feat expands the way you can use the Search skill by allowing you to notice and analyze available clues in a specific area. This use of the Search skill is a full-round action. Clues are pieces of evidence that lead to the solution of a mystery. Clues are physical and can be seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted. A clue stands out because it's not a normal feature of the area being searched. Examples of clues include a trampled flower-bed, a broken urn, a pin snapped off in a lock, a torn strip of cloak, a burnt scrap of scroll, or a brooch clutched in a dead man's fist.

...well for starters, the PHB definition of Search says nothing about non-visual clues, while the Investigate feat specifically includes other senses (hearing, touch, smell and taste).

The Master Manipulator feat from PHB2 would fit perfectly, though this would put him at a minimum of level 6 (to get the 9 ranks in Diplomacy needed).

EDIT: Regarding his Int score, I vaguely remember one episode in which he completely aced the MENSA entrance exam ... bah, now I have to go look it up on the internets to see if I'm going crazy.

EDIT2: Here's the synopsis. Yay, memory!

Maybe Columbo would have the Prodigy (Intelligence) NPC trait from the DMGII?

[Domigorgon]

Personally, I'd say he's more in the INT department than WIS. Though he always *seems* more absent-minded than he really is, most detectives like Columbo or Poirot in the end (story-wise) need a little nudge of inspiration before they decide who the killer is, and that's more external than internal.