My Character Concept
Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:56 am
Here is an idea I have for a character that I find amusing.
I want one of my friends to run C&C, with characters starting at around 50,000 xp each, so we can jump right into mid-level stuff. I almost always play some sort of pure warrior, the farthest I've ever strayed from this is a fighter/cleric. So this concept will totally keep the other players surprised, and I will be keeping my class, etc a secret from everybody but the CK as long as possible.
Garret Taylor (the name is a reference to my favorite character in all of star trek-- Garrek the Tailor from DS9)
Lv 5 human Bard/Assassin/Illusionist (yes, with 50,000 xp, this is doable!)
Garret's cover is that he is a Bard and a "Tinker" in the lord's retinue, with the other PCs being other members of said retinue. In truth, Garret is the lord's own personal catspaw, using his cover as a noble's bard to gain access to various V.I.P.s in order to spy, steal intel, and even assassinate them.
Illusionist magic is especially helpful in this regard-- Alter Self or Change Self could do in minutes what the disguise skill might take weeks-- after he has carefully cased his target of course to get the mannerisms right, etc. The right cover can be the difference between a successful death attack and an unsuccessful one.
Major Image is also a great spell for doing massive damage-- he simply pretends to be reading a scroll using a bard's Decipher Script, then uses major image to look like he Fireballed the enemies! Unless he did something stupid, like making it a 100' radius 30 dice fireball, it is VERY unlikely that anyone would disbelieve, and so, they'd take dmg!
Invisibility goes without saying as being exceedingly useful.
Hallucinatory Terrain could be of great use in performing interrogations-- make the enemy think they are in an inescapable prison or torture chamber, or that they are in another country, etc.
Of course, he's too low in level, but Mislead could become a fantastic asset to a spy/assassin type-- turning invisible while making a double of yourself to draw attention from the enemy. All you have to do is keep their attention for 3 rounds and you can pull off a death attack! This of course could be AFTER you already did a death attack-- the enemy would be unaware of your presence, and thus subject to a death attack, since they think they never lost sight of you!
The list goes on.
Then there is the Bard Class itself. I debated on taking this. Why do I really need the bard class, when I could just be pretending to be a bard? The main reason is the bard's high Bonus to Hit compared to its low xp to level ratio. It is much more efficient than ranger or fighter. I thought the idea of a magically disguised assassin, who prepared for every contingency, now ready to strike the target-- and missing because he has a godawful BtH.
The second reason is that it's my cover. If I actually CAN do all the things a bard should do, it is all the easier to maintain. When other PCs start expecting me to use Exhalt on them, It'd be nice to actually be able to do it instead of passing notes to the CK who winks and says, "sure he's giving you a +2 to disable the trap..."
Legend Lore would really fit the "know-it-all" attitutude garrek seemed to have. Since I want this character to emulate him, it seemed useful and appropriate.
Decipher Script is not only useful for reading magic scrolls, (thus allowing me to get away with casting all sorts of spells in plain sight) but also useful for cracking codes and ciphers-- the sort of thing a spy SHOULD be able to do.
Alignment: I decided go with lawful neutral. Garret believes in Order, and works for the lord because he sees this as a step in maintaining order. Unlike the lord's knights or paladins, however, garret is not afraid to get his hands dirty to make sure that what needs to get done is done. If the blackeagle baron is sending raiders across our boarders, and the king won't intercede while the baron keeps denying any involvement, Garret will lie, cheat, and steal to find the proof, and if that doesn't work, kill the man responsible. However, Garret is also not a merciless, "black ops" type of spy either-- he doesn't kill innocent people who get in the way or derive pleasure from torture.
Equipment: Garret has an assortment of equipment-- a set of weapons and armor befitting his cover as a bard, and a second set more practical in his role as an assassin. Of course, for spellcasting, purposes, he tends to avoid armor, but if he is in deep cover, posing as an enemy soldier or something, being competent in wearing the armor helps. As an assassin, Garret favors a concealed poniard as a weapon, as it is easier at getting through armor to deliver poisons, etc. If he wears any armor, it is likely a leather coat. As a bard, Garret wears a leather coat and wields a rapier and main gauche.
So, what do people think of this write-up? Did I make goofs, or are there any suggestions?
_________________
Basic Action Games http://www.bashrpg.com
Check us out for free demos and downloads or visit us onFacebook.
I want one of my friends to run C&C, with characters starting at around 50,000 xp each, so we can jump right into mid-level stuff. I almost always play some sort of pure warrior, the farthest I've ever strayed from this is a fighter/cleric. So this concept will totally keep the other players surprised, and I will be keeping my class, etc a secret from everybody but the CK as long as possible.
Garret Taylor (the name is a reference to my favorite character in all of star trek-- Garrek the Tailor from DS9)
Lv 5 human Bard/Assassin/Illusionist (yes, with 50,000 xp, this is doable!)
Garret's cover is that he is a Bard and a "Tinker" in the lord's retinue, with the other PCs being other members of said retinue. In truth, Garret is the lord's own personal catspaw, using his cover as a noble's bard to gain access to various V.I.P.s in order to spy, steal intel, and even assassinate them.
Illusionist magic is especially helpful in this regard-- Alter Self or Change Self could do in minutes what the disguise skill might take weeks-- after he has carefully cased his target of course to get the mannerisms right, etc. The right cover can be the difference between a successful death attack and an unsuccessful one.
Major Image is also a great spell for doing massive damage-- he simply pretends to be reading a scroll using a bard's Decipher Script, then uses major image to look like he Fireballed the enemies! Unless he did something stupid, like making it a 100' radius 30 dice fireball, it is VERY unlikely that anyone would disbelieve, and so, they'd take dmg!
Invisibility goes without saying as being exceedingly useful.
Hallucinatory Terrain could be of great use in performing interrogations-- make the enemy think they are in an inescapable prison or torture chamber, or that they are in another country, etc.
Of course, he's too low in level, but Mislead could become a fantastic asset to a spy/assassin type-- turning invisible while making a double of yourself to draw attention from the enemy. All you have to do is keep their attention for 3 rounds and you can pull off a death attack! This of course could be AFTER you already did a death attack-- the enemy would be unaware of your presence, and thus subject to a death attack, since they think they never lost sight of you!
The list goes on.
Then there is the Bard Class itself. I debated on taking this. Why do I really need the bard class, when I could just be pretending to be a bard? The main reason is the bard's high Bonus to Hit compared to its low xp to level ratio. It is much more efficient than ranger or fighter. I thought the idea of a magically disguised assassin, who prepared for every contingency, now ready to strike the target-- and missing because he has a godawful BtH.
The second reason is that it's my cover. If I actually CAN do all the things a bard should do, it is all the easier to maintain. When other PCs start expecting me to use Exhalt on them, It'd be nice to actually be able to do it instead of passing notes to the CK who winks and says, "sure he's giving you a +2 to disable the trap..."
Legend Lore would really fit the "know-it-all" attitutude garrek seemed to have. Since I want this character to emulate him, it seemed useful and appropriate.
Decipher Script is not only useful for reading magic scrolls, (thus allowing me to get away with casting all sorts of spells in plain sight) but also useful for cracking codes and ciphers-- the sort of thing a spy SHOULD be able to do.
Alignment: I decided go with lawful neutral. Garret believes in Order, and works for the lord because he sees this as a step in maintaining order. Unlike the lord's knights or paladins, however, garret is not afraid to get his hands dirty to make sure that what needs to get done is done. If the blackeagle baron is sending raiders across our boarders, and the king won't intercede while the baron keeps denying any involvement, Garret will lie, cheat, and steal to find the proof, and if that doesn't work, kill the man responsible. However, Garret is also not a merciless, "black ops" type of spy either-- he doesn't kill innocent people who get in the way or derive pleasure from torture.
Equipment: Garret has an assortment of equipment-- a set of weapons and armor befitting his cover as a bard, and a second set more practical in his role as an assassin. Of course, for spellcasting, purposes, he tends to avoid armor, but if he is in deep cover, posing as an enemy soldier or something, being competent in wearing the armor helps. As an assassin, Garret favors a concealed poniard as a weapon, as it is easier at getting through armor to deliver poisons, etc. If he wears any armor, it is likely a leather coat. As a bard, Garret wears a leather coat and wields a rapier and main gauche.
So, what do people think of this write-up? Did I make goofs, or are there any suggestions?
_________________
Basic Action Games http://www.bashrpg.com
Check us out for free demos and downloads or visit us onFacebook.