• NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.

Need help w/character direction

DonAdam

Explorer
Ok, one of my players has the following stats:

Human, 2nd level expert
Str 13
Dex 10
Con 11
Int 15
Wis 10
Cha 14
Skills: wild assortment, some decent charisma based skills
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Soul of Sincerity (-2 Bluff, +4 Sense Motive)

What character classes/combinations should he take?

I'm using an ability score increase system stolen from Jack Daniels, granting 1 pt/level to add to ability scores, but they must be purchased at the rate in the DMG.

I'll be allowing the following classes:
PHB:
All except bard, sorcerer, and ranger

WoT:
Woodsman

BoEM2:
New Bard
New Sorcerer

OA:
Shaman
Sohei
Wu Jen

Rokugan:
Courtier

The rest of the party will probably end up consisting of a wizard, a monk, a bard, a courtier, and a figher (duelist).

So, give me some ingenious way of exploiting this guy's random stats.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Are you looking for a min-max perspective? Good luck with that :) Or are you just looking for filler information,as to guide to a more fully developed character idea?
 

the character idea is fully fleshed out, i'm look for a few min/max suggestions.

Also, psions (with ITCK rules) and psychic warriors are allowed
 

DonAdam said:
the character idea is fully fleshed out, i'm look for a few min/max suggestions.

Pardon me while I laugh really, really hard... :D

You want to Min/Max an Expert?! :p

Oh... wait... you're serious...

Um, okay. Give me a while to think about that one. ;)

[Edit] Okay, since he's focusing on Charisma-based skills, he might want to look at taking levels of either Rogue (for better combat effectiveness) or Courtier (for better non-combat abilites).

Since his Dex and Con are severely lacking, I would go with the Courtier. He shouldn't be getting into too many battles with those stats. He can be a big help to the party in the social aspect of the game, and should act as the party's diplomat.

As such, I wouldn't use any more of his feats on combat-related ones. His HPs, AC, and BAB will all be really low, so he should avoid combat if at all possible. Perhaps some levels of Wizard or Sorceror will help is he keeps getting forced into battle. That way, he will still retain his combat effectiveness, while hopefully staying out of the way of most of the hits.

Keep raising Intelligence and Charisma to help with his skills. [/Edit]
 
Last edited:

Yeah, I know. Expert. Those levels are already set.

Why?

Because I'm making my players play themselves.

We went to the gym, tested strength, flexibility, and con. I had them vote to decide who was the most charismatic. I had them take the online mensa workout to determine intelligence scores. And then I just used wisdom as a balancing factor, giving the higher scores to the characters with the worst stats.

Pretty soon they'll have the opportunity to take a year of game time to train and pick up core class levels.

That's what I want the min/maxing for.
 

Also, the alternate ability score increase system, coupled with his seemingly random stats, might eventually make him a fairly effective Psion. The light armor proficiency from the levels of Expert will help, since a Psion can wear armor without disrupting his powers.

The PsiHB Psion is required to have decent scores in every stat, so this character might fit that well, if he gets his Dex, Wis, and Con raised. And his focus on charisma-based skills will mesh well with the skill selection of a Telepath.

(Note: I've been meaning to buy ITCK, but haven't, since I have yet to use Psionics... So this suggestion might be moot, depending on how much Psions were changed.)
 

I'm not too familiar with the Courtier, but in a party that already has both a bard and a courtier, I don't know how different he can be from the others. Same goes for becoming a rogue that focuses on Cha skills.

The two more obvious choices would be wizard and sorcerer, since they aren't too dependent on a lot of good stats, and this guy already has good Int and Cha. Yes, he's somewhat penalized by being behind 2 levels as a spellcaster, but this path might be best in the long run.

The less obvious choice is cleric. His Wis is low, but with your ability variant system, he'll catch up soon enough (Wis +1 next level, enough to cast level 1 spells). The party could use a cleric, and clerics are arguably the most powerful class.

Telepath can also be a good route, as RogueJK said, especially using the ITCK variant.

I can't see making this guy into any kind of warrior (fighter, ranger, paladin, barbarian). Sure, it's possible, but the stats aren't really there.

Soul of Sincerity can be a defining trait, and sincere types are probably more likely to go with something like cleric or telepath. On the other hand, a character who comes across as very sincere makes a great deceiver (and -2 bluff can be easily made up for, since there are so many feats that give +2 to bluff).
 

Although wizard and psion are good choices for this character, I also suggest cleric. Up the wisdom each level and wear the heaviest armor you can afford. Use a large shield and wield a heavy mace or morningstar and a light crossbow.
 

Into the Woods

Remove ads

Top