Help me build an Almighty Janitor out of a plain ol' fighter.

[Herobizkit]

First off, via TVTropes.org:

(Fair warning: click any of the links below at your own peril - you can lose a third of your day in TV Tropes and not even notice until it's far, far too late.)

The Almighty Janitor is that character who is near the bottom of the scale in terms of rank, but is at the top in terms of what he can actually accomplish. Maybe he screwed up in the past, maybe he pissed off the higher-ups and has been paying for it ever since, maybe he's really lazy, or maybe he just likes his job (perhaps more than clinically recommended). Often, his lowly position is the very thing that grants him access to the true levels of power (for one thing, nobody pays much attention to him, so nobody interferes with him). Typically, he'll never go up in rank at all, and it's a subversion when he does.

I made a Half-Orc named Scrag. He's kind of a big deal, or at least, he likes to think he is. He is (presently) a Tempest Fighter with Spiked Chain and he sports a black Guile-esque brush cut that he lavishly maintains. He believes that 'no job is too small' - he does every odd job he can get his beefy paws on to make some scratch.

His current 'permanent' gig is as an Arena Fighter (why didn't I just take Arena Fighter? He's not a Brute, per se) but he also has Surgeon as a background. He tends to the wounded as... well... as no one else really cares about the wounded in the Pits. He eats whatever he can grab, loves whatever he can grab (take that as dark as you like - that's the idea) and, while polite, generally acts like a Big Man About Town even if it's largely undeserved.

Now, what I'd like to do:
I'd like to see what kind of character he might evolve into come Paragon (level 11). I'd like for him to actually _earn_ the right to be Big Man About Town by having access to information and abilities that are largely outside a vanilla Fighter's usual realm. I'd like to avoid making a Hybrid (seems to cheapen the challenge to me; Assassin or Bard immediately cures the Skill issue, fr'ex) but I'm not against using a multi-class feat.

Ultimately, I picture him as having 'street cred' as well as being a champion of the common people, being their sage and go-to guy for whatever.

Am I overthinking this? How might you proceed?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Let's start with basics. I understand he's a Pit Fighter, so the spiked chain is totally appropriate. But it would seem to me that an Almighty Janitor would typically be proficient with some kind of nondescript weapon. Often, it will be something they handle everyday as a noncombatant.

Years ago, I did a female paladin who came from a rural background. Her father was a fisherman, and as his only child, she learned to fish with him, becoming proficient with spears, tridents, and nets. She grew unusually large for her family- even among the boys- and soon was too big for the small boats they used. So they apprenticed her out to a mason, where she learned the hammer and pick.

Those, then, became her weapons.

So, I'd think about the kinds of things Skrag handles often that might serve as a weapon.

Look at many Jackie Chan movies, and you'll see him kick butt with brooms and mops- just staves with a funny end. Kitchens are full of deadly weapons, ranging from oversized knives to meat cleavers and tenderizers. At least one Iron Chef Japan challenger used a blade nearly 2' long and 6" at the hilt. See also Chef of Iron.

If you want humor, reskin a bludgeoning weapon as stale French bread, as was done in Cheech & Chong's Corsican Brothers.

Does he serve food? Perhaps he sharpened the edges of some of the trays, and can go "Captain America" on his opponents. You might have to go Warden for that one- I THINK that's the class that has powers that let you use ranged throwing weapons over and over again.

 

[Herobizkit]

I'm always happy to see you post in my wacky build ideas, [MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION], but I think you missed my point on this one.

Fighter's gonna fight, but what I'm really looking to do is make a (potentially) non-magical everyman/sage/skill-monkey out a class that generally just fights.

I'm debating on going Cleric and having him find some kind of Religion, or possibly Monk for lolz.

I'll Hybrid if I must, but I wanna see what I can do to break out of "generic fighter" without having to go Bard or Assassin to also skill-monkey.

I may never play him again, but it's fun to think about.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No, I got that- that's why I was thinking of Chan, for instance. Another I was thinking of- but didn't mention- was Steven Segal in Under Siege, in which he is a Navy SEAL who is now a cook on the ship.

Part of the problem with being non-magical is the system. 4Ed classes always have a touch of the supernatural about them, at least to me.

You're right In that should probably stick to one of the striker or defender classes. Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warden, Paladin, Barbarian, Battle Mind, Monk, and Assassin seem to be the best options. Warlord would probably work, too.

 

[tuxgeo]

Starting with a male half-orc fighter who is intended to be an Almighty Janitor, I would want to make him capable of doing well without needing to bear any impressive equipment. That means no plate armor, and probably not scale either. I wouldn't want him to get training in Intimidate for a while, on the grounds that the OP quotes the TV Tropes page as saying, "nobody pays much attention to him, so nobody interferes with him."

For that reason, I wouldn't want him to need to carry two weapons, or a shield, at all times. Therefore, I would try to build the guy as a Brawler Fighter.
I would put the guy in Hide armor at 1st level, with the "Brawler Guard" feat for +1 "shield bonus" to both AC and REF when fighting with one weapon, and the other hand either free or grabbing someone. If he has a DEX of 16 (easy, because Half-Orcs get +2 DEX automatically, and can't swap it out for anything else), that's a starting AC of 17, so he can wade in most places fairly well. Also, he ablates damage somewhat with his frequent Temporary HP that he gets both from his fighting style and from any Invigorating attacks he uses. The "Crushing Surge" at-will attack is the only Invigorating one of those, and that's nearly all that separates it from a melee basic attack. (He even gets Temp. HP from missing with an Invigorating power.)

For the sake of being a go-to guy, I wouldn't try to put his STR up to 18 or 20 at 1st level, because not doing that would leave me with lots more points to buy higher stats in the things that would help him be a better skill monkey. Trained at 1st level: Endurance, Heal, Streetwise. The Endurance is needed for the Invigorating stuff to work; the Heal is needed for the "Surgeon" background to make sense; and Streetwise is needed for the roleplaying that seems to be part of the plan. With the point-buy left over from not making STR too high, he could have a good enough WIS and CHA for the Heal and Streetwise to be fairly reliable.

Does any of that fit in with the actual concept?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Speaking for myself only, that sounds on target.

 

[Unwise]

The Jack-of-All-Trades paragon path could be handy for you. It gives some good skill training options and might give a bonus to untrained skills too (can't remember), it gives skill rerolls too. Although you are reluctant to MC Bard, I would do so if you see him as being a bit of a showman in the arena and a story telling braggard. That will get you training in a social skill as well as access to Bard-of-All-Trades (+3 to all untrained skills) and Bardic Lore (+2 to all lore-related skills). That would really make him a very well rounded guy who is pretty good at everything and knows a little bit about everything that is going on.

If you are using themes, the Yakuza theme is pretty sweet for adding in an intimidating aspect to the character too. If you see him becoming a bit of a Don Corleone style guy at higher levels, this works well too.

 

[Herobizkit]

I believe you've all got where I was going, and that's awesome.

Tuxego nailed the build perfectly. I orginally went Tempest Fighter because I wanted to make a Spiked Chain/Prone build around it, but Brawler (or again, even Arena Fighter) works well.

MC Bard is likely inevitable. As a general rule, every character I make ends up being Bard-like in one aspect or another.

And Yakuza is just perfect. As he gains prestige in the community having some tats should add a LOT to his street cred.