D&D 5E Let us stat up Conan the *insert sub-title here*

[Guest 6801328]

Another item I think is important is that Arnold from the first Conan movies was a horrible choice, his build did not match Conan as described at all. Conan can climb a sheer cliff with his fingers, he can run for hours easily. Neither of these describe a man with a body builders muscles. The Jason Momoa Conan from the much more recent movie while far from perfect showed someone with a build closer to the Conan as written.

Yeah, I think the common conception of Conan is too heavily influenced by the Ahnold movie. (Although the scene where he punches the camel is pretty great.)

I've read all the original stories multiple times and think they're great. Cheesy and, at times, juvenile, but tons of fun.

FWIW, although straying off-topic (and really off-sub-forum), I'm very disappointed in the Modiphius game. I really don't like the 2d20 system in general, but also for a setting like Conan's world the starting point should have been the fiction and then game rules built to support it, instead of adapting an existing (generic?) system.

Like what Cubicle7 did with "The One Ring".

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Everyone is maxing out his Str, but I think he started off with higher Con that Str (and maybe spent his ASIs on Str later). Even as a young thug his 'durability' was the standout characteristic.

While he certainly had very high scores in all his physical abilities (and no slouch in the others either), a lot of what he gets away with in the stories can be explained away as just plain being higher level than the mooks and goons he usually encounters.

Conan's hard 'savage' upbringing has led to him being more experienced with most combat and other situations than the "soft, civilised folk".

 

[BookBarbarian]

Conan's world the starting point should have been the fiction and then game rules built to support it, instead of adapting an existing (generic?) system.

Like what Cubicle7 did with "The One Ring".

I still have yet to try Primeval Thule, but it seemed to me like it could be used to make a great Hyperborea setting.

Conan's hard 'savage' upbringing has led to him being more experienced with most combat and other situations than the "soft, civilised folk".

This is exactly the point Howard makes with Conan (and Kull, and all his heroes actually) being a savage man is far better than being a civilized man, and it's what let's him run roughshod over anything civilization throws at him.

 

[Yardiff]

Yeah, I think the common conception of Conan is too heavily influenced by the Ahnold movie. (Although the scene where he punches the camel is pretty great.)

I've read all the original stories multiple times and think they're great. Cheesy and, at times, juvenile, but tons of fun.

FWIW, although straying off-topic (and really off-sub-forum), I'm very disappointed in the Modiphius game. I really don't like the 2d20 system in general, but also for a setting like Conan's world the starting point should have been the fiction and then game rules built to support it, instead of adapting an existing (generic?) system.

Like what Cubicle7 did with "The One Ring".

I think its more the art of Conan than the Arnold movies. Conan has always been depicted as heavily muscled on the book covers and comics so the choice of Arnold as Conan made some sense.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

This is exactly the point Howard makes with Conan (and Kull, and all his heroes actually) being a savage man is far better than being a civilized man, and it's what let's him run roughshod over anything civilization throws at him.

"Better" doesn't seem quite accurate. I don't think Howard was making a value judgment when he wrote that "barbarism must ultimately triumph". More along the lines of a scientific hypothesis.

 

[Guest 6801328]

This is exactly the point Howard makes with Conan (and Kull, and all his heroes actually) being a savage man is far better than being a civilized man, and it's what let's him run roughshod over anything civilization throws at him.

And that's a great example of why I don't like the Modiphius system: this theme is absolutely core to the Conan stories and should be present in the mechanics. I would have liked to have seen, for example, a stat to represent how "Civilized" vs. "Barbaric" a given individual is, with mechanical impact. Of course, being an RPG it needs to be a double-edged sword: being Barbaric has to have downsides, and a character all the way on the Civilized end of the spectrum needs to be really good at stuff, too.

 

[BookBarbarian]

"Better" doesn't seem quite accurate. I don't think Howard was making a value judgment when he wrote that "barbarism must ultimately triumph". More along the lines of a scientific hypothesis.

You're completely right. I didn't mean better as a value judgement as much as I meant "It's better to be a barbarian in a civilized world than a civilized man in a barbaric world" which is what I think Howard's worldview was.

 

[BookBarbarian]

And that's a great example of why I don't like the Modiphius system: this theme is absolutely core to the Conan stories and should be present in the mechanics. I would have liked to have seen, for example, a stat to represent how "Civilized" vs. "Barbaric" a given individual is, with mechanical impact. Of course, being an RPG it needs to be a double-edged sword: being Barbaric has to have downsides, and a character all the way on the Civilized end of the spectrum needs to be really good at stuff, too.

I think that would be pretty cool. It makes me think of the story were Conan is brought before a magistrate, and being barbaric he doesn't understand how the legal system works and get's railroaded with a guilty verdict. Of course, being barbaric, he straight up murderhoboes his way out of there and onto a pirate ship.

 

[Slit518]

I think that would be pretty cool. It makes me think of the story were Conan is brought before a magistrate, and being barbaric he doesn't understand how the legal system works and get's railroaded with a guilty verdict. Of course, being barbaric, he straight up murderhoboes his way out of there and onto a pirate ship.

Was he in a furious rage during any of this?

I know if I didn't understand something and was being put somewhere to rot for reasons I don't understand, I'd be pretty mad.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Was he in a furious rage during any of this?

I know if I didn't understand something and was being put somewhere to rot for reasons I don't understand, I'd be pretty mad.

He certainly wasn't happy. If I remember correctly, he made sure the Judge was the first one to eat it.