Fictional characters in D&D

[dr.cello]

Nerds that we are, my friends and I have a tendency to make D&D references more or less all the time. Watching movies or playing games, it's 'Looks like someone failed their balance check' or 'I start a grapple!' Sometimes we observe that Link doesn't seem to be able to make any climb DC greater than 5 or 10, but that he is pretty decent at making tumble checks.

This ultimately leads to wondering: how would you make your favorite fictional characters in D&D? Having just re-played Ocarina of Time, I'm wondering specifically how you'd make the Zelda characters, but there have been others I've pondered in he past (including, but not limited to, the characters from Terry Pratchett's Night Watch, etc.).

So, what's your take on your favorite fictional characters (or any of the above, for that matter)?

[internerdj]

Tim the Enchanter showed up in some of our games. As did roger the Shrubber. I never gave them classes, just had them show up. Yellowbeard was another. Usually I would introduce people who had no class level and not let the party attack them.

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Best I can tell, Link from Twilight Princess seems to be a Warblade/Eternal Blade, with some shield-bashing thrown in. Previous incarnations might have multiclass or gestalt with ranger and/or bard.

As for the Night Watch, most of them seem to be multiclassed Fighter/Rogues, except for Carrot, who may or may not have paladin levels.

[Mad Wizard]

I agree, Warblade/Eternal Blade for Link.

[de-trick]

my friends do the same thing even rolling a d20 to see if we pass the check

did it in school i rolled a natural 1, and screwed up

[Kurald Galain]

Tim the Enchanter showed up in some of our games. As did roger the Shrubber. I never gave them classes,

A: Hello, I'm Tim the Enchanter.
B: Yeah, so what class are you?
A: I'm an invoker.

???

Well, you get Python jokes anywhere. I think we've had a few LOTR in-joke characters in our campaign; otherwise, not all that much.

[Thinker]

Statting out fictional characters in DnD (and probably most other systems as well) hardly ever works out.

[Stormcrow]

Aren't all characters in D&D fictional :P

[Thinker]

Aren't all characters in D&D fictional :P

Let me rephrase if you want to nitpick. Statting out fictional characters from various media outlets in DnD never works well.

[Tengu]

If you're an anime fan and value your sanity, do not click this spoiler.

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Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu
Haruhi - Smart Hero 1/Fast Hero 1
Kyon - Smart Hero 2
Mikuru - Charismatic Hero 2
Yuki - near-epic Smart Hero/Construct (or Outsider)/Psion
Itsuki - Dedicated Hero 2, with at least 10 levels of Psion added when in Closed Space

[bugsysservant]

Dorian Gray-
Um, low level chaotic evil aristocrat. Average physical stats. Low wisdom, average intelligence, and 18 charisma.

Oh wait, did you mean our favorite characters that worked well in D&D? My bad.

[Stormcrow]

Let me rephrase if you want to nitpick. Statting out fictional characters from various media outlets in DnD never works well.

I was actually refering to the topic of the thread. All characters in D&D are fictional. I'm resisting a rant about people whose lack of creativity causes them to plagarise the creative works of others into their games, even with name changes its still crass.

[dr.cello]

Statting out fictional characters in DnD (and probably most other systems as well) hardly ever works out.

Yes, but it's an amusing exercise. It passes the time, anyway.

I was actually refering to the topic of the thread. All characters in D&D are fictional. I'm resisting a rant about people whose lack of creativity causes them to plagarise the creative works of others into their games, even with name changes its still crass.

Who said anything about using them in games? I just like seeing what sort of classes or build you'd give them. (To say nothing of the assumption that the only way to be creative is to come up with purely 'original' ideas. To (badly) quote someone famous: 'Bad poets borrow; good poets steal.')

[Dr. Weasel]

Fictional Characters in D&D eh?
Sigmund Freud: Ninja 20//Wizard 20

[AKA_Bait]

As for the Night Watch, most of them seem to be multiclassed Fighter/Rogues, except for Carrot, who may or may not have paladin levels.

Carrot is totally a Marshall or a Knight.
Nobby is probably just a rogue.
Igor has some levels in cleric or necromancer.

Most probably have the investigator feat.

[JackMage666]

I once made Marv from Sin City into a character.

I set him as about a 10th level Thug (Unearthed Arcana Fighter Variant) with Sneak Attack rather than Bonus Feats (another Unearthed Arcana variant). Lots of ranks in Intimidate. High Str, High Con, Decent Dex, Average Int, Low Wisdom, Low Cha. Never got to play him, though. His weapons of choice were unarmed strikes (thanks to Improved Unarmed Strike and Superior Unarmed Strike). Also, carried a hand-axe (hatchet) if he needed a weapon.
The main problem was presented when I tried to have him unarmored. The best I could do was a Leather Coat (using Leather Armor as a base) and, as broken as they are, the "Roll with it" feats from Savage Species. They were pretty fitting, I think.

[dr.cello]

Carrot is totally a Marshall or a Knight.
Nobby is probably just a rogue.
Igor has some levels in cleric or necromancer.

Most probably have the investigator feat.

I'd probably give Vimesy a few levels of Streetfighter, too. Suits him rather well. I'm not so sure where to put Colon. Possibly just a mid-to-high-leveled rogue with relatively poor ability scores?

[Duke Malagigi]

Carrot is totally a Marshall or a Knight.
Nobby is probably just a rogue.
Igor has some levels in cleric or necromancer.

Most probably have the investigator feat.

Igor is diffinately a necromancer. His work is based on science not religion.

[Dr. Weasel]

On a slight tangent,

I set him as about a 10th level Thug (Unearthed Arcana Fighter Variant) with Sneak Attack rather than Bonus Feats (another Unearthed Arcana variant).

People keep mentioning the two variants. It doesn't work as they both trade in their first level bonus feat.

This though I'll pretend is slightly more relevant:
Quentin Tarantino: Level 2 Commoner with Divine Ranks

[JackMage666]

Doesn't it also say in there that they do work together?

Some fighters prefer stealth and cunning over martial skill. This variant can also be combined with the thug variant.

From the SRD
So, they work together, and present an interesting synergy.

[EvilElitest]

Best I can tell, Link from Twilight Princess seems to be a Warblade/Eternal Blade, with some shield-bashing thrown in. Previous incarnations might have multiclass or gestalt with ranger and/or bard.

As for the Night Watch, most of them seem to be multiclassed Fighter/Rogues, except for Carrot, who may or may not have paladin levels.

I've just finished the first book, wonderful by the way, and the Night watch seem really ranger to me, not making them so would be like not making the Dundain rangers in LOTR Rangers.
from,
EE

[Lord Iames Osari]

If you're an anime fan and value your sanity, do not click this spoiler.

Spoiler

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Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu
Haruhi - Smart Hero 1/Fast Hero 1
Kyon - Smart Hero 2
Mikuru - Charismatic Hero 2
Yuki - near-epic Smart Hero/Construct (or Outsider)/Psion
Itsuki - Dedicated Hero 2, with at least 10 levels of Psion added when in Closed Space

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You forgot Haruhi's Divine Ranks.

[John Campbell]

I've just finished the first book, wonderful by the way, and the Night watch seem really ranger to me, not making them so would be like not making the Dundain rangers in LOTR Rangers.

So Nobbs would be Colon's animal companion, then?


IME, trying to port characters from other media into RPGs very seldom ends well, largely because assumptions about how the world works and what the capabilities of characters should be are generally incompatible. "Inspired by" can work out nicely, though, given a character with a solid feel that can survive stripping away details.

[dr.cello]

So Nobbs would be Colon's animal companion, then?


IME, trying to port characters from other media into RPGs very seldom ends well, largely because assumptions about how the world works and what the capabilities of characters should be are generally incompatible. "Inspired by" can work out nicely, though, given a character with a solid feel that can survive stripping away details.

As I said. I'm not expecting a perfect representation; it's mostly an amusing exercise. Though to be honest, especially with some earlier works I can easily see Pterry's writings fitting handily into D&D.

I've made 'inspired by' characters and such previously, with varying degrees of success. It's easier at mid to high levels, most of the time. Actually, my big project is to find a character who could most easily be inspired by Twoflower. Fortune's Friend PrC seems the most obvious, but before that I'm sort of at a loss. (In-game he'd almost certainly be an Expert or Commoner, but I don't want to gimp myself utterly in the name of an amusing character.)

I've just finished the first book, wonderful by the way, and the Night watch seem really ranger to me, not making them so would be like not making the Dundain rangers in LOTR Rangers.

Urban Rangers, maybe, and definitely sans spellcasting. In the other books (highly recommended) they become a lot more Roguish in feel.

[Conners]

SSJ Vegeta: Improved Unarmed Strike, each attack does 10,000d20 damage, 800 punches per round . Any energy attack is an instant kill for creatures under level 500,000.

[The Extinguisher]

Is his HP over nine thousand?

When I was bored once drew up stats for Derek Leech from the book The Quorum. I don't know it exactly, but there were definatly lots of Aristocrat, as well as some Divination and Loremaster. I also gave him a charisma of 40.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Statting out fictional characters in DnD (and probably most other systems as well) hardly ever works out.

Mutants & Masterminds, being an extremely versatile point-buy system, is actually pretty good for it. It's basically the entire point of this board

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There's even a Haruhi build on there. PL X, of course.

Plus everyone else from Popeye to Jack Bauer.

Anyway, I've given a few Final Fantasy characters cameos in my game...specifically Celes, Locke, Edgar, and Terra. Considered making JRPG-based adventure parties a running gag in that campaign, but it kinda fizzled before I could really go anywhere with it.

Such characters also tend to show up in Sigil Prep pretty much by necessity. Most famous are probably Yffub the Ranger Who Has Chosen Undead As Her Favored Enemy and Htiaf The Other Ranger Who Has Chosen Undead As Her Favored Enemy (and more recently Nwad, Sister of The Ranger Who you get the idea). Of course, these characters are only superficially similar to the "originals", and have their own associated plots and sight gags.

[Ossian]

Well, one of my favs is most definitely Pulp Fiction.
Hard to stat them as heroic, but here we are, in a fictonal word, statting characters we like, so:

Vincent Vega
Thug 3/Scoundrel2/Fringer1 (he's been to Amsterdam for THREE years)
Skill Emphasis: entertain, DANCE (it was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well...)

Jules Winnifeld
Scoundrel 6, Skill Emphasis: Intimidate

Marsellus Wallace: Scoundrel 7/Crime Lord3

Butch: thug 5/scoundrel 1 (improved martial arts)

(from Star Wars RCR).

I've been thinking about two more favs, but they're hard to stat correctly.
1) The LEGENDARY Jack Burton, of the Pork Chop Express (and David Lopen, even harder to stat)

2) John McLane, from Die Hard, toughest bastard alive.

[Drascin]

Mutants & Masterminds, being an extremely versatile point-buy system, is actually pretty good for it. It's basically the entire point of this board

Spoiler

Show

There's even a Haruhi build on there. PL X, of course.

Plus everyone else from Popeye to Jack Bauer.

Yup, point buys seem to be far better suited for making characters inspired by previous ones. I personally have gone around statting people like Guts and Zero (Neo Arcadia Saga) in Tri-Stat without that much trouble (though Guts's Defects list was frigging massive. It really puts in perspective just how much he's been screwed over. Cursed and Wanted and with various Nemesis and partially disabled and...), and I'm not even that proficient with the system yet. In fact, I think I'll go practice a bit by statting Prinnies as monsters right now

Anyway, I've given a few Final Fantasy characters cameos in my game...specifically Celes, Locke, Edgar, and Terra. Considered making JRPG-based adventure parties a running gag in that campaign, but it kinda fizzled before I could really go anywhere with it.

You know, I might yoink this idea. My group has pretty much played every JRPG ever translated onwards from the PSX, and a few from before, so the joke would not be lost on them.

[Serenity]

I've found the Cinematic Unisystem to be fairly perfect for statting out 'inspired by' characters, though one usually has to 'supernaturalize' them a bit if they aren't already.