Craft Backgrounds, Specialities, and builds

gyor

Legend
Anyone want craft or share thier own ideas for Backgrounds, Specialities, and Builds?

By Builds I mean stuff like Rogue Schemes, Fighter Styles, Cleric Domains, Warlock Pacts, Wizard Traditions, Sorceror Origins.

I get started:

Background: Pirates

Skills-Bluff
-Thievery
- Sailing

Trait: You can raise the skull and crossbones on any ship your one and fellow pirate will leave you be. Any Pirate crew will be glad to hire you. You know buyers for captured ships.

Scheme: Pirate

Gain Pirate Background.

Sea Dog: You can insult an enemy something fierce. Make a bluff check against a foe as an action. If you succeed gain advantage next turn when attacking your target. Target gets disadvantage if they attack anyone else until the end of your next turn.

Sea Legs: If you get knocked prone you can,stand back up as a reaction.

Parrot: You get a parrot, use the stats for a raven familar, but without any magic effects like sharing you familars senses. You familar flees upon getting knocked to zero, instead of,dying. It takes 30 minutes to fetch him back.

Just an example, needs work. I figure fighting style will come from a specialization, like Dualist or Archer.
 

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I made an undead-type heritage for the Sorcerer (and added a few spells to the Sorcerer list, because the current list is crazy small and omits some spells that I think are really good sorcerer material. I still can't think of a good Level 4 power, though. Any ideas?

Code:
Necrotic Heritage
The taint of the grave runs through your family. Perhaps 
one of your ancestors became a powerful lich or vampire,
 or maybe you were born dead before suddenly returning
 to life. Either way, the forces of death move through you
 and touch your every action.


	Hit Dice: 1d6 per sorcerer level

	Hit Points: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution
modifier per sorcerer level gained

	Armor & Shield Proficiencies: You gain proficiency 
with all light and medium armors and shields. Also, you 
are able to cast sorcerer spells while wearing armor. 
Also, you have necrotic resistance.

	Weapon Proficiencies: You gain proficiency with 
all simple melee and missile weapons. Also, the bonus 
to your weapon attack rolls increases by 1.

	Sorcerous Powers: At 1st level, you can spend 1 
willpower to use the Withering Grasp power. 
	Additionally, each day, after you have spent 3 
willpower, your hands become skeletal and your body 
becomes drawn and wizened. Until you you complete 
a long rest, you gain a +3 bonus to the damage rolls 
of your melee attacks.

	Level 4: You can spend 2 willpower to use the [xx] power.
	Additionally, each day, after you have spent 10 willpower, you 


Withering Grasp
You channel the horrid power of the grave. causing 
you to deal heavy damage and weaken the target 
of your attack.
	Effect: The next time you hit a hostile creature 
with a melee attack during the next minute, that 
creature takes an extra 2d6 damage and becomes 
stunned until its next turn.

Additional Spells Available: 

Level 1 Spells
Ray of Enfeeblement
Sleep
Thunder Wave

Level 2 Spells
Flaming Sphere
Hold Person
Sunburst
 

For some reason I'm only seeing parts of necrotic hertiage, so I can't see the powers.

Still off the top of my head I'm assuming you already have life stealing powers so maybe a paralyzing touch attack.
 

Anyone want craft or share thier own ideas for Backgrounds, Specialities, and Builds?

Related to Backgrounds, I really want to see some Rogue Schemes (which imply a correspondent background with the same name) that aren't related to crime, for example an Acrobat scheme/background, then maybe a Forestman (wilderness rogue, Robin-Hood type), a Vigilante and a Jack-of-all-Trades (unfortunately already a Specialty, but I mean someone who survives in society by doing a lot of minor jobs).

The reason why I want these, is just because I don't necessarily want all Rogues to be associated with crime... But at the same time the difficulty is that those schemes must also be backgrounds and therefore they must represent a way of living in the world, civilized or not.
 

I'll leave the "building" to those who are more acquainted with the rules than I. But here are a few things that just pop into my mind that I'd like to see.

Rogue Schemes:
I very much agree with Li Shenron's desire for "non-criminal" rogue schemes. Nice work on the Pirate, gyor. :) In the non-crime column, how 'bout:
--Acrobat: love me some flipping, tumbling, thrown stuff and quarterstaff swingin', balancing expert.
--Swashbuckler: always struck me as more "rogue" than "fighter".
--Minstrel: not a full blown "bard", per se, but a rogue with a knack for performing/musical talent. Get into all the best parties? Gather Info?
--Spy: lots of disguise and info gathering stuff along with skills for getting into and out of places.

Fighter Styles:
Pretty sure we've seen at least some of these...
--Duelist
--Two-weapon fighter
--Archer
--Sword n' Board
--Weapon [group or type?] Specialist: Swordsman, Axeman, Spearman, at least.
--Mounted/Lancer
--Skirmisher/Ambusher
--Wrestler

Cleric Domains: (I'm sure I've listed these around somewhere)
--Sun/Day
--Moon/Stars/Night
--Nature (plants n' animals n' the 4 cardinal elements kinda nature, which all could conceivably be their own domains)
--War
--Healing/Life/Peace
--Knowledge/Magic
--Storms/Weather
--Seas/Rivers/Water
--Death (either in the ominous "Dark Evil Jailer of Souls" way and/or the "Peaceful Neutral Judgement/Cycle of Life" way)
--Undeath/Disease
..I could keep going but that is certainly enough to get started.

Warlock Pacts
--Infernal....that's all I want to see. *sigh* But I have little doubt we will also see...
--Fey
--"Star" (which I think is a crap name for dealing with the Far Realms)
--Elemental Lords/Genies

Wizard Traditions
--Illusionist
--Necromancer
--Conjurer
--Thaumaturgist: access to Mage and Cleric magics, prolly really good with rituals.
--Sorcerer: separate from the class to allow some spontaneous casting among the mage's daily allowance of spells.
--Witch: Access to Mage and Druid magics, prolly really good with divinations/communing with stuff and gets a familiar.
--Diabolist/Demonologist: 2 separate things, really, but the class might be built with similar mechanics, abilities and skills. Then its just a matter of whether they deal with Devils or Demons.

Sorceror Origins
--Dragons (we know this already)
--Fey...again.
--Elementals/Genies...again.
I suppose a case could be made for "Giant" if you have giants with magical ability or fluffed as magical beings in your setting. A Sorcerer with a "Storm Giant Origin" might be kinda wicked to play. hmmm....
 

Rogue Schemes:
In the non-crime column, how 'bout:
--Acrobat: love me some flipping, tumbling, thrown stuff and quarterstaff swingin', balancing expert.
--Swashbuckler: always struck me as more "rogue" than "fighter".
--Minstrel: not a full blown "bard", per se, but a rogue with a knack for performing/musical talent. Get into all the best parties? Gather Info?
--Spy: lots of disguise and info gathering stuff along with skills for getting into and out of places.

I don't know about Swashbuckler, it strikes me more as a fighting style or a specialty than a rogue scheme, but it might work.

I will be personally offended if the Spy background doesn't get a Rogue scheme. And we already know that the Charlatan will.

There's yet to be a Townie or even a Street Urchin background. The latter could maybe be a scheme.

Fighter Styles:
Pretty sure we've seen at least some of these...

Most of them, in fact.

Cleric Domains: (I'm sure I've listed these around somewhere)

Sure, one can go on all day with these. I think 'Nature' is too broad, though. Plants, animals, and the four elements all make good domains on their own.

Warlock Pacts
--Infernal....that's all I want to see. *sigh* But I have little doubt we will also see...
--Fey
--"Star" (which I think is a crap name for dealing with the Far Realms)
--Elemental Lords/Genies

On the contrary, I find 'Star Pact' to be all kinds of suggestive. It's quite Lovecraftian.

I'd like to see a pact focussed on the Plane of Shadow and/or the Shadowfell. (The cosmology is one of the few things I like about 4e.)

Any reason why one can't make a pact with powerful this-planar entities, like great wyrms or the like? (A friend of mine once had a weird idea for a warlock-like pact with a powerful dragon, in which to regain granted magics one had to send gold through a magical link.)

Wizard Traditions
--Thaumaturgist: access to Mage and Cleric magics, prolly really good with rituals.

Eh. I don't think they need cleric spells. They're just focussed on the big flashy magics, like transmutations and evocations.

--Witch: Access to Mage and Druid magics, prolly really good with divinations/communing with stuff and gets a familiar.

...Possibly. But this might be better as a class of its own, or as a warlock pact of some sort - ironically enough.

--Diabolist/Demonologist: 2 separate things, really, but the class might be built with similar mechanics, abilities and skills. Then its just a matter of whether they deal with Devils or Demons.

I don't see why they need to be so discriminating. :) They just deal with the planes in the ventral position, as Vaarsuvius would put it.

I sincerely hope they don't feel a need for completionism in making wizard traditions. The abjuration school just doesn't cry out for a specialist version.

But Divination should definitely qualify, though the school needs more interesting spells.

Sorceror Origins
--Dragons (we know this already)
--Fey...again.
--Elementals/Genies...again.
I suppose a case could be made for "Giant" if you have giants with magical ability or fluffed as magical beings in your setting. A Sorcerer with a "Storm Giant Origin" might be kinda wicked to play. hmmm....

Giant could indeed be cool. You might actually grow when you get low on willpower.

We already know there will be an 'Arcane' origin, which will basically be a spell-point wizard. Here's my stab at it:

Arcane Origin:

By intensive study and disciplined research, you have unlocked the core of magic deep within yourself. Or perhaps you are descended from a great mage, and have learned to tap into an ancestral wellspring of power. Whichever, the power crackles through your veins and forces its way out of you when your willpower runs low.

Hit Dice: 1d6
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Same as wizard. (Or maybe all basic weapons?)

Sorcerous Powers:

Level 1: Arcane Blast: Rather than shaping energy carefully into a spell, you lob it in undifferentiated form. At the cost of 1 Willpower point, you can blast a single target within 50 ft. for 4d6 damage. This is generally the same damage type as the last arcane spell you cast, or force if it didn't have a type; but you can make a Cha check vs. DC 16 to wrest it to a different type if you wish. Alternatively, you can make a Cha check vs. DC 16 to spread your blast to hit two adjacent targets for 2d6 each. (You can't do both.)

Once you have spent 3 Willpower in a day, energy crackles around you, doing 1d6 damage to anyone who touches you (or whom you touch). The energy type will be the same as the last spell (or sorcerous power) you cast, or force if it didn't have a type. (The aura will change type as you cast further spells.) You can suppress this energy aura for one round by making a Cha check vs. DC 13.

Level 4: Arcane Boost: You can apply extra energy to an arcane spell, stretching it beyond its usual parameters. By expending 2 Willpower more than the spell normally costs, you can take advantage on your damage rolls or force the victim to take disadvantage on their save against it, your choice. (Note: Advantage on a damage roll here means you roll the total damage for the spell twice and take the better result, not each die twice.)

Once you have spent 10 Willpower in a day, your energy aura from Arcane Blast gives you resistance to its current energy type.

How's it look so far? Do note that Arcane Boost applies to spells gained from wizard levels as well as sorcerer levels.

EDIT: Oooh, just thought of another Arcane power, though I'm not sure what level it should come at. Basically, you can trade in hit dice for extra Willpower, probably 1 for 1. Sound about right?
 
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