Help me roleplay Jayne Cobb

[Tauric]

So, I rolled my stats for an upcoming campaign the other day, and I got these: 17, 14, 14, 12, 8, 6.

After a few days of internal debate, I decided to make a fighter based on Jayne from Firefly/Serenity.

What I need to know is, what are the two low stats?

I think that low Int and Cha is the most accurate combo, seeing as he is "uncouth and unsophisticated" (PHB p. 10) However, he does seem to have some good tracking and stealth skill (after all, that's why Mal recruited him), so the low Int (and poor fighter skill selection) would hurt that. Also, he seemed to be pretty good at getting along with the ladies, so how would I reconcile the low Cha?

I want to give him a good Wis so his Spot/Listen are good, despite not being on the skill list.

Now that I type this out, it looks like maybe I should multiclass with barbarian or ranger (or both?).

So, anyone got any advice?

 

[Pielorinho]

What I need to know is, what are the two low stats?

I'd actually go for Int and Wis. He is easily tricked, comes up with idiotic schemes, and regularly rolls 1 on his Sense Motive (e.g., thinking the captain is the sort to trade his wife for a gun). As you say, he gets along pretty well with the ladies, and for the most part, he's very confident in his personality.

His tracking skills are okay, but they're not phenomenal; putting most of his skillpoints into tracking ought to make him better than most other members of the party. Consider making him a ranger with the ranged attack path of feats; this way, he'll also gain track for free, and can even put skill focus into track if necessary.

If you want to base him heavily on Jayne, max out your ranged feats: Jayne is a crack shot, and he needs point blank, far shot, and precise shot as a minimum. Dex should be his highest stat. However, a lot of that has to do with the technology of the universe; in D&D, where melee fighting is effective, he could easily be an up-close-and-personal brute.

Sounds like a great character!
Daniel

 

[rowport]

I agree with Pielorinho about his low stats being INT and WIS. From my impression of the character, I would put them this way:
STR 17, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 6, WIS 8, CHA 12

Note that if I was doing Jayne as point-buy, I would not make either good/bad scores that extreme- he is not quite that strong, nor quite that dumb. But, from your array I think that is the best fit.

Having said that, if you want your version to really have useful skills (tracking, spot, listen, etc.) putting the scores as I did above would make it fairly impossible. I like the Ranger/Barbarian multiclass idea; or you might try Ranger/Fighter for the feats. If you do want to focus more on the skills, do not put the INT 6! But, even putting a mediocre score there you could have plenty of points- he would start at level 1 (Ranger 1) with 6+1 for human even if he then took a penalty for low INT. You might also consider the Able Learner feat if you multiclass, which would let you buy any of your skills at 1 point each instead of 2 points cross-class. That would get you the most bang for your buck on buying skills with a lower INT.

If you do that, just realize that you are not optimizing the character! Making a skills-based Ranger character with low INT and WIS is just going to be limiting, no doubt about it.

 

[Pielorinho]

I like the Ranger/Barbarian multiclass idea; or you might try Ranger/Fighter for the feats.

For a straight Jayne, I'm not fond of the Barbarian class: have we ever seen him fly into a rage? He actually comes across as very cool and levelheaded in fight scenes, not at all out of control; and I don't recall his ever showing exceptional strength.

Again, if it's going to be loosely based off Jayne, barbarian might make a lot more sense. To model him strictly, I think straight ranger or ranger/fighter would be the best approach.

Also, I seem to recall his primary fighting focus being with ranged weapons; the pilot episode makes a point of his precision sniping, as does Mrs. Reynolds. Accordingly, I'd put the 17 in Dexterity.

Daniel

 

[melkorspawn]

I might switch your WIS and CHA scores. Wisdom isn't just the modifier for Sense Motive, and Jayne has pretty decent Spot and Listen. Personally, I'd think that Jayne would have a neutral Charisma (10), because he's equally likely to do something really gruff or something really endearing, but that's not an option here.

I also agree with putting the 17 in Dex, and the Ranger/Fighter model. I certainly hope that you can get a magic item to raise his Int, cause Jayne is not that dumb, I'd put him at somewhere between an 8 and a 10, depending on the day and his state of inebriation.

 

[IcyCool]

Make sure you use a spiked chain and call it "The Chain of Command."

"Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who's in charge here!" - Jayne.

 

[Tauric]

Thanks for the advice.

As far as going with barbarian, I was thinking of all the times I saw Jayne get shot, and that the d12 would help a lot.

For the idea of his tracking ability, I was going on the line from Out of Gas in which Jayne says "I found you easy enough" and Mal says "That you did" and proceeds to recruit Jayne.

I also think Jayne has good Move Silently, since he snuck up on the snipers in one of the earlier episodes (pilot, maybe?)

I'm not so concerned with making my character an exact recreation of Jayne (which is impossible given tech levels), but more on using Jayne as a model for non-combat (or pre-combat) scenarios.

 

[Borlon]

Levels of rogue would not be out of place. You could take up to 4 levels and sacrifice only a +1 of BAB. Lots of skill points make up for a low intelligence. Alternate levels with Ranger and Fighter.

 

[melkorspawn]

If you go the barbarian route, don't forget to learn how to read:

"Dear Diary, Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy. Today we were kidnapped by hill folk never to be seen again. It was the best day ever."

 

[Brother MacLaren]

What's his alignment?

I'd say CE, although Jayne is "the Diet Coke of Evil." Not Evil, but still evil. Probably chaotic, or at least neutral with chaotic tendencies.

Mal is Neutral. He won't go out of his way to help someone (Good), but he'll try to avoid hurting people if he can help it (neutral). Jayne doesn't actively try to hurt people (which would make him Evil), but he doesn't really try to avoid it either (which makes him evil).

Zoe is LN with Good tendencies (i.e. the loyal soldier with something of a conscience), and Book and Wash are probably the closest to Good (maybe Kaylee as well).