Gandalf

[fireinthedust]

Servent of the fire, not servant of Iluvatar.. He serves life, not the deity that produced it..

With all due respect: Pfft, fiddle faddle. he did serve a deity in that he was sent from the west by more powerful Maiar. He's a servant of the more powerful ones, the whole point of being on middle earth.
The vague " he serves life" is missing the point. Tolkien was all about the Christianity, as was his friend CS Lewis. Sure, Gandalf serves life, but the idea that it would have been that vague is just off.

Class/race: well, Gandalf isn't 4e. I might suggest a Defender (as he marks the Balrog) and perhaps a Leader build; but he is a Wizard, and in fact *the* wizard, so let's not get too far from that.
One of the classes should be divine, the other arcane. Somehow he should have the ability to teleport (as he could appear and disappear when he wants).
Race, I think, mechanically and theme-wise Deva really works; looks I don't think so, as for all appearances he was an old man.
I'd argue a hybrid Swordmage/Invoker, or a Paladin/Wizard. I would certainly go Deva, but ask the GM to allow you to re-skin him.
In fact, I'd go Paladin/wizard simply because "you shall not pass!" is marking him. However, as this is massive MAD, I'd suggest going Swordmage/Cleric or Swordmage/Invoker (sword and staff).


Tier: Heroic. The whole series is heroic, getting into Paragon. Epic Tier is about fighting the Maiar. There are epic stats for Tiamat and Vecna, so I think LOTR is well below their level. We're talking initially 1st level halflings, moving into a normal adventuring party and dungeon crawl; then a massive battlefield set of adventures; and Frodo's gruelling two-book skill challenge. This is hardly Epic, this is obviously up to late heroic/early Paragon tier.
The Balrog, mind you, is *not* a Balor, despite the similarity in their design. I'd say a solo monster version, marked by Gandalf on the bridge of Kazad-doom, probably a Solo Brute or Soldier.
Gandalf died, but came back as a Paragon Path "The White Wizard".

 

[Garthanos]

Here is one theory that was intriguing if you are talking the whole group.
The halflings were secondary level 1 characters of the Players
Borromir, Arragorn, Legalos and Glimli probably work fine as 6th
level with Gandal low paragon.(gandalfs player didnt get a secondary
character).

Marking an enemy is one interpretation on the bridge and the reason a Swordmage could be a cool element there in -(there was some nice environmental encouragements for focusing especially if the Balrog couldnt fly when so close to the outer world) -- One can emphasize different elements of the characters and get different but In my opinion similarly valid results ;-) ...

The more presentations the better to me especially people doing Character Builder posts...

 

[Garthanos]

Class/race: well, Gandalf isn't 4e. I might suggest a Defender (as he marks the Balrog) and perhaps a Leader build; but he is a Wizard, and in fact *the* wizard, so let's not get too far from that.

He is certainly a wizened elderly appearing miracle worker of a reincarnating divine background who propagated hope and knowledge as his sources of power ... and professed servitude to higher power. Who's personality is well invoked by a defender attitude (even paladin like martyrdom and a cool horse)...
However you also get in most outdoor battles he charged about on shadowfax... doing kind of striker like moves (or even leader like moves hence people arguing Warlord as a possibility)... and the Balrog... taking an enemy one on one to allow your allies to not be subject to what might even be ranged shadow and fire attacks is an Avenger interpretation of that scene on the bridge. (not just a defender)

 

[Garthanos]

I want to encourage people to post there own interpretations and avoid dismissing anyone else... We are not going to get official versions of a lot literary characters because WOTC doesnt have the rights to them what we come up with here can be really cool and strangely having the atmosphere positive even when we disagree seems the most productive.

So far everyone seems to agree Deva is a perfect ;-) (I think human could be used too... in part because they can make awesome hybrid builds)

 

[fireinthedust]

Encouragement: yes, definitely. And I think it'd be fun to crunch out a few LOTR adventures in 4e. Sorry if I came on too strong

Secondaries: I like the party composition idea, but I think it likely there was a massive 9 person party, and that in the second book the players split up: the GM had three nights a week, but Frodo and Sam could only make it on a night that none of the others could; ditto Pippin and Merry. As such, the GM ran some solo sessions for kicks, using sub-groups. At any rate, after the pottery lessons were done with for whoever, and those other guys came back from wherever, the group slowly trickled back together. There.

Maybe Gandalf's secondary was Gollum. I smell GM's girlfriend or roommate...

I'll work on some builds when I get home to my computer. It is a challenge, so thanks for starting this thread!

Wizard: I mean that he was called a wizard by the dwarves in the hobbit; and the White Wizard by Treebeard. Just saying
I wonder if in general the few spellcasters could each be from a different power source: arcane, divine, necrotic (sauron/witch king), primal (radagast), etc. Since they're each the only ones of their kind, the players could choose any of their associated classes to draw powers from maybe?

If it was a Hybrid combo, could we also allow multi-classing feats to be taken? Or whichever combo the GM would allow?

Aragorn would start as a Ranger, then multiclass paragon into Warlord; it could be argued we use Half-elf for him, and give him a cleric power (healing hands) as dilettante.
Gimli: obviously fighter, hand axes and other big axes. Dwarven Defender when he gets up there, maybe?
Legolas: Archery ranger, full stop; no need to go further.
Boromi: sword and board fighter, maybe Warlord, but dies before paragon; doesn't act warlordy, so that part is fluff we never come across.
Faramir: Boromir's replacement, likely Warlord; ritual caster, as I'd heard he was taught by Gandalf, but I wouldn't hold to that.
Pippin: thief, ie: Rogue.
Merry: um, rogue.
Frodo: rogue.
Sam: fighter, specializing in club/frying pan.

The Hobbit:
Thorin: warlord
Bard: not a bard; ranger... meh, the GM was probably tired of a player bragging about their character, and let him have one good shot in.
Beorn: Warden, maybe Bear Warrior PP; maybe Druid/Beastmaster hybrid?

 

[DracoSuave]

Bah. Frodo's the guy who rolled 8s 9s 11s, and a single 15 in a group that 'somehow' always seems to dieroll themselves into 14s, 16s, and 18s.

So -of course- Frodo gets to hold the MacGuffin.

'So have we got for treasure. Let's see. A cursed ring of Invisibility that exposes your exact location to the big bad, AND his undead minions? Who wants this? No one? I guess Frodo can have it. And the dumb bastard wants to put it on? Constantly? Damn it. We're splitting the party.'

 

[Garthanos]

Heh... sure it exposes you but it does something no magic item in the game lets you do.. hide from all your allies and potential friends ..... ummm oh yeah (it also let you hide from the bad guys non undead minions) The major undead ones were his servitors and not minions by D&D standards ;-).

 

[Garthanos]

For those inclined to render Gandalf at lower levels one way of making seeming power houses at lower levels is to incorporate magic items in to the character... for instance Glamdring ... the glowing weapon could be gandalfs paladin strike (hybrid build of some sort probably). He had it for quite a long time... and even after dying and coming back.

By the way.
I use both/either Multiclassing and Hybriding trying to get the characters right. And I ignore expertise feats they really dont for me contribute to the character flavor. I seem to always have better use for the feats.

 

[Garthanos]

Here is an idea : The one ring cost Frodo surges to use it especially if he failed a fear check. ... but the invisibility works nicely (except against undead ofcourse).

 

[Klaus]

For those inclined to render Gandalf at lower levels one way of making seeming power houses at lower levels is to incorporate magic items in to the character... for instance Glamdring ... the glowing weapon could be gandalfs paladin strike (hybrid build of some sort probably). He had it for quite a long time... and even after dying and coming back.

By the way.
I use both/either Multiclassing and Hybriding trying to get the characters right. And I ignore expertise feats they really dont for me contribute to the character flavor. I seem to always have better use for the feats.

For me ... linguist would be more suited to Gandalf than (expertise of any type or weapon focus even).

You can have Gandalf be low-level if you set the opposition to be low-level as well. The Balrog doesn't need to have the stats of a Balor or Pit Fiend. It might have the stats of a Huge ogre with an aura of fire akin to a Bloodfire Harpy's.