A face only a mother could love: My soft spot for abombinations of characters

[Corsair]

Hello, my name is Corsair, and I'm an addict.

Some people are addicted to power. Others to the thrill of gaining XP or wealth. Some merely crave destruction. I however am different.

I crave complexity.

I told my DM a year or two ago that I couldn't just play a fighter if I was going to be a warrior. At minimum I had to be something like a barbarian/ranger/beast master, or a Paladin/sorcerer/spellsword. Playing a rogue wasn't enough, but I had to be a rogue/spymaster with a bevy of alter egos and weave intricate plots. Arguably my "simplest" character was my most recent, a wizard/loremaster/archmage, archetypal to be sure, but with the possibly the largest selection of spells I had ever seen accumulated by any arcane caster in any game I had ever played in. Oh and I had a cleric cohort to go along with it for much of that game, just to give myself two full high level casters to keep track of.

And I loved every minute of it.

I didn't realize however just how far I had fallen until I was working on a character I knew I would never get a chance to play (at least not any time soon). My old group that I left to go to law school now has characters up to 17th level, so on a lark I decided to whip up a 17th level character that could hypothetically join them if I was back in town for any extensive period of time.

So during breaks between classes, I slowly developed: Gnome Beguiler 1 / Wizard (Illusionist) 3 / Master Specialist 1 / Ultimate Magus 9 / Shadowcraft Mage 3, using focused specialist and chains of disbelief variants, dropping evocation and conjuration as schools.

This monstrosity has as many (if not more) slots than a 16th level sorcerer from his wizard side alone, in addition to the 8 levels of Beguiler casting tacked on. He has access to every evocation and conjuration (creation or summon) of 8th level or lower, and a smattering of spontaneous metamagic. I made a character with the widest number of options and most complex, fluid casting mechanics I could (between heightened image spells, the Ultimate Magus metamagic mechanic, earth spell+heighten, Metamagic School Specialist). It wasn't enough to make a powerful character, but I had to make one that would be as mechanically challenging to play as I could. I know deep down inside that I would enjoy this character more simply because of the sheer variety of choices that I'll have to make on a regular basis if I ever played him.

I look to the madness of the mechanics. Where others see chaos, I see a dance of a thousand tiny bits of crunch, spinning and twirling, tossing and swirling, cavorting across the character sheet to some unknowable, unhearable tune. This silent music that guides their dance pulses within me. It drives me onward, but to where I cannot say. I know only that I must listen to it's beat, and I must march in time with it.

My name is Corsair, and I am an addict.

 

[Wik]

Well, the first step is admitting that you have a problem...

Seriously, though, my group is the exact opposite. I think when we played 3e, only two players ever seriously multi-classed: a paladin took a PrC to get out of "the lameness that is paladins", while the other player built towards being a wild mage.

We always tried to keep things as mechanically simple as possible, and even that was too much. We had to switch out of 3e because it was too complex, even at its simplest level.

One thing I'd like to ask - do you simply love mechanics, or is there something more? In my experience, players who enjoy mechanical complexity often also crave attention at the table, and they do this through builds as opposed through playing in character or planning. The two players I have that are most notorious for this would build fairly complex characters that took much time to run in actual play.

 

[Corsair]

I don't "crave attention" though I am outgoing. I tend to end up de facto party leader because of it (combined with the facts that 1) no one else really wants to do it, and 2) no one else trusts anyone else to do it...). That being said though, even when I was playing two full casters, and I had them go on the same initiative (they had the same bonus and it was just easier for me that way) my turns still went faster than half the other players.

I tend to like my characters to be able to do a lot of things. I don't care how good a character is at something, if all it can do is one thing (whether that is a trip fighter, or a specialized wizard who is focused on one specific arcane thesised super metamagicked spell) that bores me to tears. I like fiddly bits. In the end, I think that is why I enjoy playing 3rd edition so much more than second. Whether it is skill points, feats, combat options, there are so many fiddly bits to play with! Even a fighter in 3rd edition is far more interesting than a fighter in 2nd. (Though to give you an idea, my last three 2E characters were all multiclassed)

------

Back on point: My complex characters don't slow down play, and they aren't monstrosities to the point of being unplayable. I tend to do a lot of prep work outside of game, and in part I think the complex characters give me something to do between sessions to extend the fun for myself. (This is related to one of my pet peeves: There is no excuse for someone to have to look up the basics of a spell when they go to cast it. You should already know whether it gives SR, what the save is, etc. Ditto for fighters who rely on one mechanic, like tripping or grappling. You should already have figured out how it worked before you attempted to do it!)

I don't consider it a bad thing really, though I admit it does mean that I am unlikely to play certain characters. For instance, why play a paladin when you can play a Fighter/Cleric or Fist of Raziel, or Paladin 4 / Favored Soul X? I'm pretty sure I've never played a paladin past 5th level without multiclassing or going into a PrC. Ditto for Fighters and 4th. Sorcerer and wizard just SCREAM "multiclass!" at me.

All in all, I have fun, it doesn't negatively affect those around me, and I'm still an asset to the party. I just had to get that off my chest.

I am unrepentant!

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Let me get this straight:

You take great joy in rummaging through the minutiae (sp?) of dozens of obscure, specialist tomes. Tomes that are basically lists of rules and rules for using those rules. Rules that frequently have poor and/or complex phrasing; that are intended to interlock with the various unique rules contained in other highly specialised tomes, yet are almost never tested in said combinations. You take these rules and construct highly complex logical chains from them, thereby defining the rules (at least locally within your sphere) by using them/proving them in subjective ways.

And you've gone off to law school.

I foresee a long and prosperous career for you. Best of luck, although I suspect you won't need it.

 

[Corsair]

Let me get this straight:

You take great joy in rummaging through the minutiae (sp?) of dozens of obscure, specialist tomes. Tomes that are basically lists of rules and rules for using those rules. Rules that frequently have poor and/or complex phrasing; that are intended to interlock with the various unique rules contained in other highly specialised tomes, yet are almost never tested in said combinations. You take these rules and construct highly complex logical chains from them, thereby defining the rules (at least locally within your sphere) by using them/proving them in subjective ways.

And you've gone off to law school.

I foresee a long and prosperous career for you. Best of luck, although I suspect you won't need it.

And much like the numerous characters that I build and never play, 95% of cases filed never see the court room, and 99% aren't played to the end (settled before the verdict).

Eerie.

 

[Kelleris]

Let me get this straight:

You take great joy in rummaging through the minutiae (sp?) of dozens of obscure, specialist tomes. Tomes that are basically lists of rules and rules for using those rules. Rules that frequently have poor and/or complex phrasing; that are intended to interlock with the various unique rules contained in other highly specialised tomes, yet are almost never tested in said combinations. You take these rules and construct highly complex logical chains from them, thereby defining the rules (at least locally within your sphere) by using them/proving them in subjective ways.

And you've gone off to law school.

I foresee a long and prosperous career for you. Best of luck, although I suspect you won't need it.

Heehee. Well put! I'm pretty much the same way, except I'm a graduate student in philosophy instead of a lawyer.

I'm with Corsair - I enjoy coming up with a character concept and carefully honing the fiddly bits to instantiate it. It's not a matter of power gaming (boring anyway), but of coming up with a unique character with a lot of options in how he handles things.

 

[Orius]

You take great joy in rummaging through the minutiae (sp?) of dozens of obscure, specialist tomes. Tomes that are basically lists of rules and rules for using those rules. Rules that frequently have poor and/or complex phrasing; that are intended to interlock with the various unique rules contained in other highly specialised tomes, yet are almost never tested in said combinations. You take these rules and construct highly complex logical chains from them, thereby defining the rules (at least locally within your sphere) by using them/proving them in subjective ways.

And you've gone off to law school.

So you're saying the OP is a rules laywer?

 

[Corsair]

So you're saying the OP is a rules laywer?

This I do not deny. Actually in my group whenever there was a rules question, they'd ask me first. At the end of any explanation though, I'd remind the DM that it's his game, and as long as he is consistent with his rulings and everyone is having fun, who cares? (Though I admit I prefer RAW whenever possible, as it makes consistency easier to achieve)

 

[Dan Bell]

Corsair,
Forgive me for suggesting a product, but you might like HarnMaster. It is an optional rules systems for HarnWorld that is detailed and skill based (no clases). Good luck with law school.
Regards
Dan

 

[rowport]

Corsair-

Holy cow, I have found a kindred soul! I, too, am all about scouring through books for the most obscure, oddball character combinations that I can cobble together. (Dannyalcatraz is another one of us, by the way.) The key, I think, is the sheer interest in the complexity itself, the idea of creating wackiness and/or flexibility for its own sake, rather than for strict power.

I once made a dwarf paladin/hammer of moradin that was greatly effective-- but he bored me to tears. Throw or bash with hammer, rinse, and repeat. Instead, I greatly prefer playing my ninja/ranger/cleric. Sure, he is mediocre in "power" but he has something to do in almost every situation!

I love the idea of "craving complexity."

@Wik: I never really thought about it, but I suppose that I *do* enjoy attention at the table. I am never the most effective character, but the flexibility I take in several character roles ensures that I am playing in every "scene." Hmm.