What would happen if your character or your PCs had an 18 in every stat?

[Privateer]

Now, I had an idea for a campaign sorta based on the short-lived "John Doe" TV series. The basic concept is that the characters wake up without any coherent memories and find themselves to be superior physical specimens. In this case, I'm curious as to how my players, and the society around their characters, would react to the almost infinitely high probablility chance of not one, but three characters having perfect rolls.

A bodybuilder's strength, a marathon runner's endurance, a gymnast's flexibility with the mind and charisma of Einstein, Aristotle, and Napoleon combined, all in one body.

For players:
What sort of PC would you make?
What class/es would you choose? Remember, you have no dump stats, and no weak area.
How would you react to society?

For DMs:
How would society react to these perfect speciemens of human(oid) possibility?
What troubles could face such characters?
What sort of challenges would you give them? Would you treat them as LA +1, for instance?

EDIT: Clarification: Yes, all of the players would have such high stats, not just one... that'd just be blatantly unfair.

 

[Crothian]

I'd be tempted to make someone like Galahad. I'd go with a human Paladin, the perfect example of the power of his god.

 

[RithTheAwakener]

To tell you the truth, i'd still be inclined to pick a character as if i had "regular" stats. But, id try to maximize the characters performance, like having a fighter, with good skill choices, that can use his physical attributes to a near-full potential. I'd go with a Ranger, two weapon fighting style. You'd have great hp with d8 +4 a level, and you'd be great at hitting stuff and dealing damage, with the quickness to wear light armor effectively, and the intelligence to fill up their great skill list. the charisma and wisdom would help with person-to-person skills (diplomacy/bluff) and the spells and skills necessary (ranger spells and spot/sense motive, etc)....

Well i think you get the idea. I think a ranger would be the optimum choice for an overall amazing character. A paladin would very VERY good as well, but the Dex wouldnt be all that useful.



EDIT: oh right, race. id go human

 

[Torm]

I'd probably go LG Wizard\Paladin. I almost always go that way. I guess I'm typecast er sumtin.

But what would race do to this equation? Are you assuming all 18s before or after race selection? Cause if its before, there could still be a good bit of race\class combo preference.

 

[fba827]

Now, I had an idea for a campaign sorta based on the short-lived "John Doe" TV series. The basic concept is that the characters wake up without any coherent memories and find themselves to be superior physical specimens. In this case, I'm curious as to how my players, and the society around their characters, would react to the almost infinitely high probablility chance of not one, but three characters having perfect rolls.

A bodybuilder's strength, a marathon runner's endurance, a gymnast's flexibility with the mind and charisma of Einstein, Aristotle, and Napoleon combined, all in one body.

For players:
What sort of PC would you make?
What class/es would you choose? Remember, you have no dump stats, and no weak area.
How would you react to society?

For DMs:
How would society react to these perfect speciemens of human(oid) possibility?
What troubles could face such characters?
What sort of challenges would you give them? Would you treat them as LA +1, for instance?

Actually, I did something like this back in 2e days - the players in my group would always just keep rerolling stats until they got near-perfect scores. So, I got sick of waiting _hours_ while they rerolled and ended up just assigning them 18s in each stat. They all "woke up" on some ship, rowing as if slaves (but not quite that bound), with few memories of anything at all. The campaign became one where they tried to figure out who they were (i.e. what it is that they aren't remembering and why they are such highly attributed people...) I was the DM and the players (keep in mind that dual classing was very different in 2e) all went for human so that they could dual-class between classes since the scores were so good. As for how the general society reacted to them, no one seemed to notice (aside from the high charisma).. though, several of them quickly became very hauty with a better-than-though attitude so society that they interacted with came to eventually not like them.... speaking in generalizations anyway..

 

[wizardneedsfood]

I think Paladins/Monks would benefit most from those stats. However I'd probably use a Monk/Cleric/Rogue build I've always wanted to try out. As such, the character would be benelovent, but aloof. Trying to asist mankind as he thought best but misunderstood by the 'lesser' peoples around him. Of course, I'm mainly just ripping off Paul from Dune, but yeah. He's a cool character.

 

[jollyninja]

a gestalted paladin/monk (all good saves +charisma mod) or barbariai/bard. can you sing while you rage?

from a character perspective, i'd be tempted to play a rogue if in a group. super cat burglar type or if it was a solo campaign ala the previously mentioned tv series as i recall, i'd be all about the ranger. with those stats a ranger could do anything, just me and my wolf against the secret organisation that created me. i miss 3e's pack possibilities with that ability.

 

[Tuzenbach]

Extreme boredom rather quickly.

 

[wizardneedsfood]

Extreme boredom rather quickly.

And why exactly is that?

 

[Sejs]

Either:

1) a human ascetic monk, who was focused on being strong. Not just physically strong, but strong in every sense - strong in mind, body, spirit. Not relying on any crutches to his ability such as equipment. Sure, a master swordsman is quite strong, but take away his weapon and his strength evaporates. Being exalted, he's still quite a nice guy of course. Aiding others to be self-reliant, and helping those who can't help themselves. In the long term, he'd roam about from place to place, constantly testing and seeking to improve himself in his quest to be strong.

or...

2) a human wizard, probably chaotic neutral, more or less patterned after Dark Schneider.