Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (Pathfinder)

[Seatbelt]

I'm going to be playing a game in a few weeks where the party is all dwarf. I don't know much except that the DM really liked the dwarf setting from Dragon Age.

My friend and I saw Man of La Mancha almost a year ago and thought Don Quixote and Sancho Panza would be hilariously fun to play in a D&D game.

The trick is that I'm not sure how to build them.

Not sure what dwarves are available as sub races, but we start at level 4 and the campaign is only going to go through winter vacation (about a month) so builds that shine at high levels are less useful (although if this is really fun, we might try again in a different campaign).

[Ryuuk]

Well, you really don't need much of a build. Don Quixote would be an Aristocrat who thought he was a Knight (Paladin, Knight, Crusader, take a pick) while Sancho would have probably been a Commoner with a higher wisdom then his 'liege'. The fun would come from playing the characters, which I agree, would be awesome.


That aside, stating them out as Don Quixote saw himself and Sancho is would make combat funner than playing the mundane versions. The Knight from PHBII, with its fighting challenge, use of Cha and mounted combat feats sounds good for Don Quixote, while a Bard or Rogue could make Sancho work.

[Meek]

Pathfinder released a class called the Cavalier a while ago in one of their playtest things. It can ride around on a horse and do stuff. That sounds like, basically, what Don Quixote was capable of.

[BRC]

I now have an urge to stat out a Windmill.

[Duke of URL]

Do remember that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza literally got their butts kicked in every actual fight they got into.

I now have an urge to stat out a Windmill.

It's probably similar to a gazebo.

[Ormagoden]

Windmill CR 10
Always Neutral Collosal Object
Init 0
AC 21 FF 21 Touch 6
(-4 size, +15 natural)
HD: 9
HP: 90 (9d10+45)
Fort +6 Ref +0 Will +0
Speed 0ft
Base Atk +4 Grp +27
Attack: Slam +11 2d10+7
Full Attack: 2 Slams +11 2d10+7 (only on a windy day)
Space 30 ft. (6 squares) Reach 30 ft. (6 squares)
Abilities Str 25(+7) Dex -- Con -- Int -- Wis -- Cha --
Gear: Milled flour
Total Cost of Gear: 20gp
Improved Grab(Ex): To use this ability, a windmill must hit a creature at least one size smaller than itself with its slam attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold, picks up the creature, and moves it into the air as a free action, automatically dealing slam damage. In 1d4 rounds the creature is deposited in a random square adjacent to the windmill. That creature falls from 10+4d6 feet in the air taking damage if appropriate. A creature that escapes from the grapple before the 1d4 rounds is over falls from the air as explained above unless they make a DC22 Climb or balance check to hang on.
Floury Dust(Ex): Any creature entering the windmill is covered with floury dust. This reveals any invisible creatures or objects.
Wind Driven Rage (Ex): On a windy day (over 15mph winds) the windmill can make one extra attack with a full attack action (included in stats above)
Haste(Su): After it has engaged in at least 1 round of combat, a windmill can haste itself once per day as a free action. It may only haste itself if the wind is over (30 mph) The effect lasts 3 rounds and is otherwise the same as the spell.
Damage Reduction(Ex): 5/adamantine and bludgeoning

[Seatbelt]

The Windmill is cool. :D


The general idea though was that we'd play actual functional characters and just be a bit bumbling. You know, like... roleplay their character traits and such. :P I was curious if anybody had some build suggestions beyond "bard" and "knight." which I'd thought of already.

[Ellington]

I would recommend a Cavalier once those come out, but until then you could make due with a paladin. Just be sure to give him a really low wisdom score (paladins don't need wisdom any more) and a really high charisma score.

[Haven]

Lostfang: So much win.

Anyway, the point of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza was that they weren't fighters. It might be fun to stat out Quixote as a bard, actually, if you can get your singing refluffed as giving grandiose speeches (which he does a LOT), since he knew all about stories.

[KitTheOdd]

I did something like this once, I'll see if I can find it.

But these days I'd make him a Crusader with a bit of Bard, doing a lot of White Raven stuff. The feel works (except for the competance level) and the Crusader's odd recovery method actually fits nicely.

And for Sancho, I'd actually make him very low Wisdom. He gets talked into things by his master that he knows are bad ideas.

I'm not sure how to reconcile the competance level with a viable/playable character - but it could be very fun.

[Heliomance]

Do remember that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza literally got their butts kicked in every actual fight they got into.

Not true. They won the fight at the inn over Aldonza's virtue. Admittedly mostly by pure fluke, but still.

[Haven]

I did something like this once, I'll see if I can find it.

But these days I'd make him a Crusader with a bit of Bard, doing a lot of White Raven stuff. The feel works (except for the competance level) and the Crusader's odd recovery method actually fits nicely.

And for Sancho, I'd actually make him very low Wisdom. He gets talked into things by his master that he knows are bad ideas.

I'm not sure how to reconcile the competance level with a viable/playable character - but it could be very fun.

Yeah, unless you go straight bard, you'd have to play "Don Quixote WITH COMPETENCE!" Which is doable, just make him Elan but more psychotic and hotblooded.

Though he wasn't totally incompetent. There was the one time Quixote stared down a lion, for instance, and he apparently can wield his lance skillfully enough to intimidate people.

[T.G. Oskar]

This...is quite possibly the most bizarre thing I've seen. However, if you wish to actually stat the illustrious gentleman and his wise-yet-bumbling squire...

Here's me summoning all I can recall from Spanish class...

First, he's definitely an Aristocrat at first. His status as a lesser noble of La Mancha more than assures it. He could multi-class into Warrior later on; perhaps even a few levels of Samurai (!!) or ways to get good uses of Intimidate. Although...the part of the lion is, IIRC, more of a dream state.

Given his age (over 70, again IIRC), he must be of old age or venerable, which fits that range for a human. Of course, this makes him a human as well.

Feat-wise, he HAS Education. Plus, most of his skills are devoted to Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (nobility and royalty). Consider the insane amount of books during Cervantes' famous book critique, cleverly hidden as a book bonfire. He may also be quite protective of books in general. This also implies a very generous amount of Intelligence. Which leads to...

...his stats. He has feeble Constitution, even though he is well known for having a good and hearty meal before his travels. Strength and Dexterity are not so high either, which makes him physically weak; just, not THAT weak. More like a healthy old man, which would mean average to slightly above-average stats, naturally lowered by the age categories.

As for his entertaining skills (consider that he *had* very good entertaining skills), he has a high level of Perform (oratory) and Perform (storytelling), not to mention ranks in Perform (poetry).

I don't like the idea of placing Bard levels in Don Quixote for more than one reason. The most important one is that, while Quixote was an inspiring figure in his own way (rather, he was a pretty comical person, whose antics made everyone laugh out of schadenfreude), he wasn't a figure that inspired military might or that could inspire people to arms. Furthermore, the one person that would fit the idea of a bard would be Cide Hamete, the historian. Also, everyone had a bit of skill at poetry: it's the Golden Age of Spain, and the stringent rules of poetry were waived. As well, he could know the basics of a Knight's Challenge, but he wasn't much of a Knight (then again, this would be a delightful irony, given that Quixote would not be a full-fledged knight but still have levels in Knight). And finally, he was skilled in the use of the sword, the shield and the lance, but he wasn't fanciful as far as I can recall (thus, screw Warblade levels).

Finally...recall that, for all purposes (regardless of what modern students of Cervantes' literature may say), he was insane. He saw things where they weren't, was easily deluded (call it naivete, but he could believe that an inn was a castle, and that the innkeeper was a king), and behaved in a way that was years before his age (think of a human, a clear human, acting like an elf). While insanity often implies a loss of Wisdom, Quixote was unique in that he was wiser than most people. Thus, although that can be solved through roleplay or through soft mechanical means, any kind of insanity that affects his Wisdom would be a bad idea.

Equip-wise...well, he has between mundane and perhaps one or two masterwork items. Recall that he had a decently-working helmet at his first travels, before he found his famous helmet (which is really a barber's plate); however, he had to fix it a bit in order to make it workable. His armor also had to be worked in order to make it functional. So...no magic items, unless you actually consider his helm at face value (actually being an artifact from the god of war).

[Asheram]

I keep imagining Sancho Panza, (D&D Version) as a dwarf. I keep thinking of Modo, if anyone of you have read Terry Pratchett, the groundskeeper in the Unseen University. The Dwarf with (almost) a saints patience, and just shaking his head to the foolishness by the wizards, but helping them if asked.