Help me build a Death Note inspired character please

[StoryKeeper]

I apologize if this should be in the homebrew section or somewhere else. I have this idea for a DnD character based off of Light from the Death Note anime, but I'm not sure what kind of class would best fit this character. Can anyone give me suggestions for a build to fit the flavor of Light from Death Note?

[Worira]

Human expert 10 with a major artifact. Max ranks in forgery, intimidate, sense motive, diplomacy, gather information, and bluff. And, uh, tennis.

[SadisticFishing]

You can't >_<

There's no real way to do this. Dominate Person people, have them sign their name, then make them kill themselves..?

Play M&M or something, there is definitely some way to do this there.

[Solo]

I apologize if this should be in the homebrew section or somewhere else. I have this idea for a DnD character based off of Light from the Death Note anime, but I'm not sure what kind of class would best fit this character. Can anyone give me suggestions for a build to fit the flavor of Light from Death Note?

Probably some sort of PrC that gives you the ability to spam an infinite range PWK as long as you know the target's name.

[Revanmal]

Probably some sort of PrC that gives you the ability to spam an infinite range PWK as long as you know the target's name.

Though the other qualifier is, they have to know what the target looks like too. There's so many rules in that damn show, I have no doubt you could build a PrC out of it. Perhaps they need friendly contact with a certain Neutral Outsider that gives them the tome necessary to use the PWK. :P

[Behold_the_Void]

If you're talking Light personality-wise, you want an Enchanter or Necromancy-based Wizard, Telepath Psion, or Beguiler. I'm personally fond of the Telepath Psion route.

[Icewalker]

I'd say this won't really work. Light is a level one commoner with 18+ int, and all the rest is RP.

To pick a class based on him would be strange, as the entire idea behind the series is the logic battles

[StoryKeeper]

Hmm... perhaps I should go with a prestige class to help accommodate all of the special rules. I would prefer to have a build using classes already out there, but I may need to just build something my self.

Oh, and Behold_the_Void, I was actually looking for a class that would let him do the Death Note stuff more than just fit his personality, although I would be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on a class fitting his personality as well as his abilities.

[sonofzeal]

I second the motion for a Rogue/Expert with a Major Artifact. PWK-based PrC also works, but not nearly as elegantly, and you're left with a massive pile of unused spells and no good explaination for some of the shenanigans that go on in the show around the Deathnote itself.

[Xuincherguixe]

The best way of handling it, would be to make a character, then give it an artifact with powers similar to a Death Note.

But, looking into the character a bit more, he's basically someone who when given a great deal of power is able to get tremendous use out of it. When one can do anything they can imagine, the limit of their power is their imagination.

Those of you who saw where I was going with this and realized I was going to suggest wizard, you get a cookie.

As an added benefit for going the Wizard route. You have spells for domination and killing. But possibly of even greater use are illusions.

It's like giving light even more power.

[StoryKeeper]

And death gods help us all when you give him even more power!

[bdh5533]

Yagami Light:

level 1 expert

10 str
16 dex (tennis skills)
10 con
18 wis (very street smart)
19 int (super genius)
18 chr (always got the girls)

equipment: a death note (same rules apply as the show, Major artifact)

abilities: bluff and sense motive, profession:detective later on in the series


familiar:
Ryuuk (devil)
abilities:
shinigami eyes
equipment
a death note (major artifact)

L

level 1 expert

10 str
15 dex (tennis skills)
8 con (-2 for never sleeping)
18 wis (very street smart)
20 int (probably slight more smart than light)
6 chr (not exactly the charismatic type)

abilities: again bluff and sense motive, profession:detective
Special ability: can call on any force he needs at will.
equipment: near-limitless funds due to profession above


as others have said, this really is not a very playable anime from a dnd perspective. might as well just have one guy play L and one play Light and just make a game around it, instead of trying to fit it into dnd.

[Xuincherguixe]

And death gods help us all when you give him even more power!

Damn straight.


That being said, I would say that Death Note thematically clashes with Dungeons and Dragons. It's just so easy to kill people. Not just kill people, but even controlling their actions. There's no saving throws, just having a Death Note basically means you more or less automatically win (until you undo yourself naturally). D&D couldn't have an item like that. Unless of course the DM puts it in, but that's probably not a very good idea.

Of course, that doesn't mean that an artifact inspired by a Death Note couldn't. And it could be made to be balanced somehow. But I think the whole point was that it was so unbalancing, and that it would lose a lot of meaning if it was made balanced.


Just go with a Wizard. Probably a "Batman" Wizard.


A Death Note roleplaying game might be an interesting thing too. Have a couple characters, one of them is chosen to be "Kira". The rest are trying to capture him. Theoretically, one could also be "L". Both of these are essentially roles that can be passed on. But strictly speaking, an "L" role is not necessary.

Another way of doing it, all the characters are investigators, or all of them have death notes. (The latter probably wouldn't work too well)

[StoryKeeper]

What in the 9 is a batman wizard?

I realize that it would need some serious tweaking to be balanced, but I think that you could keep some of the creepiness of the artifact and still balance it out. Maybe you would have to make a will save every time you used the note, and you would have a panic attack if anyone found out that you were responsible for the deaths committed with it. Maybe you would be more able to resist the will save for using the note if you were of neutral or evil allignment, and maybe your alignment changes over time (like a fiendish graft.)

Ah... but now I feel myself drifting toward the homebrew section...

[mikeejimbo]

At another forum I go to, we're running a Death Note free-form Play by Post. Or we're going to. Maybe I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Xuincherguixe]

A Batman Wizard is one who focuses on Utility Spells, instead of Damaging spells. They're a particularly nasty way of playing Wizards, but it's one that works well with others.

A regular wizard might use Fireball. A Batman Wizard uses Grease and lets his team mates kill the thing. Or Cloudkill in order to deal ability damage which is usually much more effective than HP Damage.

Some would go so far as to say it's broken, but it's probably safe.


Oh, and I'm pretty sure that someone made up some rules for Death Notes already in the Homebrew section. But it may not be what you're looking for.

[Squash Monster]

Perhaps Truenamer from Tome of Magic fits? It's based on effecting people via figuring out their name.

However, it's a really weak class at later levels, and if you want to use it you probably should look into some heavy optimization.

[Aquillion]

A Death Note roleplaying game might be an interesting thing too. Have a couple characters, one of them is chosen to be "Kira". The rest are trying to capture him. Theoretically, one could also be "L". Both of these are essentially roles that can be passed on. But strictly speaking, an "L" role is not necessary.

Another way of doing it, all the characters are investigators, or all of them have death notes. (The latter probably wouldn't work too well)

I think it would work best with a card/board game, not a role-playing game. In a setting where absolutely everything can turn on extremely extremely minor events, trying to DM could be extremely problematic; it would be better to give everyone very rigid rules to define what they can and can't do, then play from that. (Also, I think that a game that is so heavily based on 'pure logic' would be better suited to a card/board game than a role-playing game. You don't have anything to roll D&D-style dice for, and the characters -- if they're in-character -- will, ironically, be powergaming 24/7 and trying to use absolutely everything they have optimally. That fits a boardgame, to me.)

I remember an old board game where every player but one played an investigator, and the other player played Mister X, a criminal trying to avoid them (using a notepad to mark his moves 'invisibly'). Of course, the detectives got limited information about Mister X's moves from the rules (I think they were alerted whenever he took a bus? Or something?) Anyway, that seems like it would be a very good thing to make a Death Note game based on. Heck, have Kira mark his moves in the Death Note.

Actually, you know what other game would work well as a basis for a Death Note game? Mafia, the party game. The only problem is that it really requires multiple 'Kiras', but that's not such a big deal.

[Rutee]

Daybreak Abyssal with special Necromancy or Artifacts? Not sure if you can do it ni DnD. Try MnM or something more point based?

[EvilElitest]

I apologize if this should be in the homebrew section or somewhere else. I have this idea for a DnD character based off of Light from the Death Note anime, but I'm not sure what kind of class would best fit this character. Can anyone give me suggestions for a build to fit the flavor of Light from Death Note?

Good luck
from
EE

[mikeejimbo]

I was trying to think about how to do it in GURPS earlier. The heart attack part is quite easy, as heart attacks are one of the Affliction modifiers. Stack Malediction with some absurdly large maximum range and the gadget limitation, and you can at least have a heart-attack notebook.

[Rutee]

Maybe a restriction for needing a name too?

[Aquillion]

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that someone made up some rules for Death Notes already in the Homebrew section. But it may not be what you're looking for.

It isn't like it's very hard; I mean, all the rules are already given, and you could pretty much just print them in D&D, adding "no saving throw" at the appropriate places (I would add that people whose names are properly written into a Death Note cannot be restored to life by any means; this would add an appropriate level of fear to them, which would otherwise be absent. And if you played it as written without that, after you'd been killed via death note once and resurrected, you could never be killed by it again.) You'd have to say how long it takes to write a name. Probably a standard action per name, full-round or longer if they want to write a detailed cause of death (beyond a few words.)

Another question is whether they would affect deities and other entities of similar power. This would obviously be a major decision, completely defining the campaign; if it affects deities, you can expect every deity there is to be trying to get their hands on it (or, failing that, destroy it.) If you go this route, it would probably circumvent all other protections against death, too.

Remember that 40 seconds is actually a long time in D&D combat time (6 rounds?) It isn't possible to kill someone via death note faster than that; if you write a cause and time of death, it actually takes longer (because you get an extra period of time to finish writing that which, as far as we saw, cannot be skipped.) So even giving a Death Note to the PCs is not necessarily completely broken if you want to write your campaign around it, although, needless to say, you will have to. A powerful enough opponent could still kill the PCs before the Death Note hits if they take them even remotely by surprise; and if they start killing off deities, they're definitely going to face opponents dangerous enough for that to be a problem. Divinations make things even tougher, especially since Mind Blank etc won't stop deities.

[Person_Man]

You need a class feature that allows you to make brilliant deductions while sitting in an odd position and eating all day.

[mikeejimbo]

Maybe a restriction for needing a name too?

Oh yeah, of course. What would that be? -20%?

Edit: I may take this over to the SJ Games forum, I'm interested enough.

[jcsw]

Why can't you just use truenamer and get your DM to let you use truewrite instead of truespeak?

[kamikasei]

Why can't you just use truenamer and get your DM to let you use truewrite instead of truespeak?

Because Light is actually good at something.

[Rutee]

Yes, but what in the True Namer class prevents character derailment?

[Behold_the_Void]

Honestly, without breaking the hell out of whatever game you want to play in (relatively, considering the classes I'm about to suggest), Wizard, Psion, Archivist or Artificer is likely your best bet. Cloistered Cleric with a specific cause may also work (I will become the god of this new world!).