1st Edition Suggestions

[IvanMike]

Your DM needs to get off his high horse and loosen up.

You need to expand your horizons.

You both need to talk TO each other, not AT each other and do some negotiating. This should NOT be an all-or-nothing, my-way-or-the-highway imperative - FOR EITHER OF YOU. But that's just me.

good advice. FWIW, if you really want, I have a typed out and paraphrased (so no copyright infringement) version of the best of the dragon bard which i could send your way if you PM me.

However, he's not a jack of all trades.

Two suggestions.

First, talk to your DM about making a class, maybe a class and a half.

Second - in older D&D "jack of all trades" is often how you play the character, not in a mechanical build. Figure out what you want this guy to be good at. If you want them to have abilities of all the classes, well, that would be a no-go for me as a DM. But if you want them to have a bunch of skills and life experiences that make them knowledgeable about a bunch of stuff, that's not so difficult to work in.

 

[JeffB]

Really AD&D was designed at it's core to AVOID a JOAT type class. the classes are narrow, and meant to excel at one or two things at best (of course we all know high level wizards kind of nix that, but). For many people that is a strength of the system, for others, as you are finding, not so much.

I understand your frustration, but I believe you are trying to get apple juice out of an orange, in this case.

 

[TanisFrey]

The best Jack-of-all-trades is a bard in 1ed. The multiclassed demihumans are a runner up to them. The multiclass could usually lagging in level but keep with in a useful range to the single classed PC.

 

[Salasis]

I appriciate the sentiment and agree whole heartedly with man in the funny hat. i've tried conversations in the past but he is one of those "if you don't wana play my game you are welcome to leave" kind of people. He is not my favorite to hang out with i go for the other group members.
Also i appriciate that first edition is not really big on Joat characters. if it was i wouldn't have posted this thread
I like the suggestions to play a bard unfortunatly a bard is allready being played in our group and while that isn't stopping me it is making me hesitate.

 

[Knightfall]

I appriciate the sentiment and agree whole heartedly with man in the funny hat. i've tried conversations in the past but he is one of those "if you don't wana play my game you are welcome to leave" kind of people. He is not my favorite to hang out with i go for the other group members.
Also i appriciate that first edition is not really big on Joat characters. if it was i wouldn't have posted this thread
I like the suggestions to play a bard unfortunatly a bard is allready being played in our group and while that isn't stopping me it is making me hesitate.

You might want to introduce him to this game....

Castles & Crusades

It's very 1e like but with a more modern design. Just a thought...

 

[saskganesh]

I'd advise a MU/Thief Multi.

gives you spells, bows, swords, special thief abilities, backstab, light armor if necessary.

half-elf gives you more stuff like infravision, % sleep/charm resistance etc and maybe cultural bumpf due to your heritage.

the rest of it is up to you to RP and won't be found on a character sheet.

 

[Ranes]

I agree. MU/Thief is a classic combination. Not quite J-o-T but pretty close.

 

[rgard]

Agreed with the previous two posts that MU/Thief. I played a boatload of multi-class characters in 1e and that combo was my favorite. There is no level cap on thief for an elf and you can get to 11th level as a grey elf using the UA level limits.

My second favorite was MU/Cleric/Fighter for the half-elf.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[LostSoul]

Elven F/M/T.

Fight, spells, thief skills. Your HP will suck and so will your AC (unless you get elven chain/Bracers of AC 2 or get lucky with a really high Dex + Mage Armour), but it's a fun PC to play. Grab a longbow and kick some ass!

 

[Particle_Man]

The major options being mentioned, here are some minor ones:

Assassins have a disguise ability. You can't actually *be* a cleric (or whatever), but you can *look* like one, which might be useful.

Illusionist/Thief is a possible combo, albeit with a low level cap on the illusionist side.

If you have something with a Thief component, you might consider Thief-Acrobat (in Unearthed Arcana) but a few other options.

Depending on your ability scores and level, you might consider a dual-classed character. Personally, I kinda like the idea of an Assassin/Illusionist, especially if you can start as a deep cover "1st level Illusionist" (heh heh).

If your DM allows, play a high charisma character with various henchmen of various different "trades" for you to be "jack" of, and also (when the spotlight requires/allows) play the henchmen.

Technically, monks have some thieving abilities, some minor magic abilities, and some fighting abilities. But this really emphasizes the " . . . master of none" side of the equation.

High-level rangers get M-U and druid spells (unless your DM bans this under the "no-druids!" rules.

Try to get Psionics! More options suddenly open up! More weaknesses too, though . . .

Speaking of Unearthed Arcana, there are some PC races with crazy racial abilities in there, which might help with the JoaT angle. Even a drow elf fighter has quite a few racial magical effects, I believe.

Magic Items uber alles. Sometimes you get lucky and find an item that can do crazy stuff. But that is not up to you.

For instance, the "hat of difference" is a good magic item for you if you can get it. It allows you to take class levels in other classes. So you play a fighter normally, then adventure as (say) an illusionist in the hat. Need to fight? Take off the hat. Need to cast spells? Put on the hat. Again, you need to actually get the hat, though.

Hope this helps!