Reskinning Class Fluff

[Barastrondo]

I had a druid player who used his Wild Shape to represent kung fu stance.

Oh, that reminds me of one. This one's probably not as dramatically surprising, but:

Whirling Barbarian: Dervish. Her "rages" become "dances," less transformative and more simply falling into strenuous and deadly patterns of steps and strikes.

 

[JoeNotCharles]

Not even a reskin, really, but over in Living 4E we have a Warforged Druid who turns into a bear. That's right, robot that turns into a bear.

 

[Piratecat]

Is it a robotic bear?

Transformers - more than meet the eye!

 

[Engilbrand]

I love reskinning. I'm currently playing a "Human Blacksmith" in a Ravenloft game. When he gets bloodied, he suddenly changes into a Werebear. He's a Shifter Barbarian.
One of the players was new to 4e. He wanted to play a Necromancer. OH MY GOD! He was absolutely stuck on things being exactly what the book said.

Him: You mean I can't be a Necromancer? That's stupid.

Me: You can. Just reflavor your abilities to be anything that you want them to be. There's no reason that Magic Missle can't be a screaming ghost skull that hits an enemy. Why can't Cloud of Knives be skeletal hands busting out of the ground and tearing at the enemy's legs?

This went back and forth for a while. Based on some other desires, I advocated that a Sorceror may work better for what he wanted to do. He actually laughed at that and called it ridiculous. The other people involved and I tried to make him understand that the character isn't exactly what is on the page. He's whatever you want him to be.
I eventually got tired of his complaining and whipped up a 10th level Wizard with nearly everything that I could find in the Character Builder to create a Necromancer. Some of the things only required some minor refluffing. He's a Wizard.

I had a Windsoul Genasi Swordmage with the Dhampyr feat at one point. I flavored him as coming from the Shadowfell. I chose just the right equipment that I was doing a lot of Necrotic damage to the enemies. The armor allowed me to disperse and walk through things, and the Windsoul ability to fly just seems "natural" to me when it comes to vampires.
I'm definitely a fan of separating the fluff from the crunch. Some of the ideas that other people have posted are phenomenal.

 

[Rechan]

Here's a real easy one:

The Sorcerer can be a Warlock with Pacts that just aren't available/different Powers.

Chaos Sorcerer: pact with an Ancient Slaad/Primoridal/Elemental Chaos Itself.

Storm Sorcerer: pact with a powerful Storm spirit/Storm Titan/Primordial.

Cosmos Sorcerer: Another version/sect of the Far Pact.

Dragon Sorcerer: pact with an ancient dragon spirit/Tiamat/Ancient Dragon.

 

[Barastrondo]

Is it a robotic bear?

Transformers - more than meet the eye!

This one's from RPGnet, actually: Warforged summoner-wizard (or possibly it was a shaman). Calls its summons things like "Laserbeak" and "Ravage."

Could maybe also be multiclass druid.

 

[Kzach]

I just thought of another one.

My uber healer cleric eventually takes Spirit Talker and then Mending Spirit. Part of his back-story is that he was once a lowly grunt soldier in a large-scale war against goblinoids. Because of the horrors he witnessed and losing all his buddies, he lost faith in the gods.

He became a begger on the streets and got beaten up one night. A kindly cleric brought him to his temple and mended his wounds, both physical and psychological. As payment, he worked in the temple for several years doing menial tasks and was content.

He was asked to accompany the cleric on a journey to another town. They were accosted by bandits and despite surrendering and handing over their valuables, the bandits killed the clerics anyway. The character cursed the gods and claimed they were heartless bastards and lashed out at the bandit leader.

This manifested his own clerical power and smote the bandit leader. An angel of the cleric's god descended and took the cleric's soul, and the character could see it. The angel spoke to him and told him he had a path to follow, and that he was meant to combat the evils of the world and alleviate the suffering of the innocent against the tyrannical.

So now he has the Dragon Coast benefit to gain Supernal (speaks with angels that nobody else can see, so he seems like a crazy old man). And once he gains Spirit Talker, his Spirit Companion is actually an angel that manifests so that everyone can see it, finally justifying all that crazy talk

 

[Rechan]

One class I would like to see some reflavoring suggestions for is the Bard.

Namely because I just do not enjoy the Music/song element of the Bard. Whenever I play a bard, I get teased about carrying around a lute or singing awkwardly mid battle. I have no intention of doing either, nor seeing my characters doing either.

 

[FireLance]

One class I would like to see some reflavoring suggestions for is the Bard.

Namely because I just do not enjoy the Music/song element of the Bard. Whenever I play a bard, I get teased about carrying around a lute or singing awkwardly mid battle. I have no intention of doing either, nor seeing my characters doing either.

I think the bard can easily be reflavored as an enchanter or beguiler, something like an ardent, but using arcane magic instead of psionics.

Similarly, I think a shieldling swordmage would make a good specialist abjurer.

 

[Barastrondo]

One class I would like to see some reflavoring suggestions for is the Bard.

Namely because I just do not enjoy the Music/song element of the Bard. Whenever I play a bard, I get teased about carrying around a lute or singing awkwardly mid battle. I have no intention of doing either, nor seeing my characters doing either.

One of my players has done a librarian. Now admittedly this is setting-specialized (a library so large that its own guild-clan has taken care of it for generations as one of the setting elements), but the character's powers are all expressed as Words of Power, learned from musty tomes. And Vicious Mockery is, well, a "shushing."

Another's a gnoll bard. Bone rattle, eerie laughter, howls and other hyena-ish vocalizations in lieu of actual songs or human-style music; more of a mystic with a very primal, unearthly feel. Vicious mockery is of course a peal of unnerving laughter, mystically reinforced.