You've Created A Bad Character. How, why and whose fault is it?

[Thomas Shey]

In my current D&D 3.5 campaign, my son decided to play D&D in "hard mode" and rolled up a half-orc cleric/paladin who purposefully refuses to wield a weapon, knowing he already looks fearsome enough as it is and is usually mistrusted because of his looks. However, he has no qualms against using his shield as a weapon if all else fails, and he's not against using damaging spells on enemies. So he's not a true pacifist, just a combatant who won't wield a (standard) weapon. This came up recently when he tried rescuing a bound captive and didn't have any kind of blade on him to cut through her ropes.

BTW, he's made it all the way to 15th level thus far, in a campaign that will be going to 20th. (We have 29 more game session scheduled.)

Johnathan

While a cleric who won't use weapons for the most part is unusual and possibly a little suboptimal, there was plenty of clerical magic in 3.0/3.5 with enough offensive punch its not really close to making someone a noncombatant.

 

[Richards]

Agreed...which is why I never referred to him as a non-combatant - I specifically called him a "combatant who won't use a (standard) weapon."

Not sure exactly what you're "correcting" me about.

Johnathan

 

[Thomas Shey]

Agreed...which is why I never referred to him as a non-combatant - I specifically called him a "combatant who won't use a (standard) weapon."

Not sure exactly what you're "correcting" me about.

Johnathan

It wasn't correcting, so much as noting its not the same kind of thing since the character might not be any less useful in routine games--including combat--as anyone else. I don't think of that as "correcting" so much as noting it was more of a side comment.

 

[Lanefan]

Don’t you play your own, highly house-ruled version of D&D? If so, then what’s the problem with people in other games making characters ahead of time? Or with having build in mind for their characters?

Wanting all that to go away even though it doesn't impact your game? That’s really odd.

Not odd if it's something I'd just rather not have to deal with if-when onboarding new players.

 

[Richards]

It wasn't correcting, so much as noting its not the same kind of thing since the character might not be any less useful in routine games--including combat--as anyone else. I don't think of that as "correcting" so much as noting it was more of a side comment.

Okay, fair enough.

Johnathan