Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Passionateapathy 09-01-04, 02:20 PM	Hey all, I’m a relative novice to gaming and have recently started playing in Living Greyhawk. I’ve got a couple of ‘neato cool’ ideas that I’m having trouble consolidating into acceptable forms. I’ll admit that I’m also a novice “optimizer” (some would say Min/Maxer) so I’ll understand somewhat if I’m shunned on this board… I’ve tried a couple of times to get ‘help’ on the optimization board and apparently don’t have what it takes… cuz I’ve never gotten more than a very few responses… My ideas are largely circling (but not quite pinning down) some basic concepts that sometimes might work.. but other times are obviously contradictory. They are ALL based almost exclusively on some ‘visual’ idea that I’ve got floating around… 1) An Albino… at first I was thinking a Huge warrior, maybe a Half-Orc (I’ve got a prejudice against having green skin heh!) but I’ve already got one Half-Orc fighter/cleric that I’ve almost given up on because I designed him poorly. 2) An Ebony/Jet guy… This idea is almost 100% inextricably intertwined with my beardless (and in fact hairless) dwarf, with metallic tattoos…. I can’t decide what class to make him… any help would be fun…. I’m leaning towards a melee build… but I can also see how a mage could be fun (it would show off his tattoos)… Also see that a monk could be interesting…. Although I’m worried about the ‘relative’ weakness of monk builds… (I’ve heard that they have a very short life expectancy in LG) Also, the coolness of the mental picture makes me ‘afraid’ to ‘waste’ it on a char that is likely to die! 3) A human (or possibly Half-Orc) that believes he’s a dwarf…… He will argue with everyone that he’s a dwarf etc… He may have been raised by dwarves, he might choose to wield hammers and axes because those are ‘dwarfly’ weapons…. 4) An ‘arabic’/Persian style woman that wears a veil… (I’ve got a painting that I call an “eyes” painting because it only her head and she’s wearing a veal and head cover so all you see is her eyes…. ) I am leaning towards a sorceress…. But I’d accept alternatives.. (she can’t really wear anything more than the lightest of armors…) 5) A female char based on the Confrontation figure (Mira the Reckless)…. I’m tentatively making her a Cleric/Paladin/Sorceress/Dragon Disciple…… but am open to suggestions… Thanks for taking the time to read this… I’ll welcome any suggestions you feel like sharing  v/r b
TheMightyMcClaw 09-01-04, 06:25 PM	When I start getting more character concepts that oppurtunities to use them, I try to combine as many as are fitting. It seems to me that 4 and 5 could be combined quite well - you have a culture for one, and a personality/build for the latter. The dragon disciple part may ruin the look your going for, but it could work well (if so, I'd recomend going brass or copper dragon for your metamorphisis). Likewise, 1 and 3. I don't see why you couldn't play a huge albino half-orc who insists he's a dwarf. Don't forget to shout "By Moradin's beard!" every five seconds, because apparently dwarves do that. It would be especially funny if the dwarves in that game had depth, and you were playing one of the super-one dimensional dwarves from the PHB.
Winternova 09-01-04, 10:01 PM	When I get too many ideas, I keep 'em jotted down as complete as they come to me, and in the event that a DM starts a new campaign, I look over the list, and pick one that fits the setting, the group, and my mood and whatnot. Currently, I've got a file of 7 modern characters, each different. Too different to meld together. ~
Trydan 09-02-04, 08:37 AM	I agree that these ideas are very separate, and I would leave them that way. As Winternova said, jot them down, or type them into a "character ideas file", and keep them for other campaigns.
Persephone Imytholin 09-02-04, 09:57 AM	If you don't have a complete character idea, then you might want to try mindmapping all the cool stuff you want to throw into your character. Scribble down any idea you might like to play, then cross out anything that simply can't go (if you've got, say, 'tall' and 'short', cross them both out). From there, keep crossing things out until you simply can't get rid of anything else. When you can't take anything else away, chances are you'll have a good, solid character concept.
Passionateapathy 09-02-04, 02:13 PM	I do appreciate the ideas... I'm still struggling with them, so far to no avail hee hee. I've got approximately 14 days to try to turn 'them' into at least one 1st lvl Character :) And I would like to turn them all into a 1st lvl char :) We shall see. b
Morka 09-02-04, 08:50 PM	Complete Warrior gets a nice prestige class named the Tattooed Monk; basically, each level you get a new magical tattoo that gives you some power. Like MightMcClaw said, you could play a human who thinks he is a dwarf because he is albino. You know, a white beard, and some light sensitivity due to red eyes. And this big white guy could be a monk!
annalivvie 09-15-04, 07:03 PM	4) An ‘arabic’/Persian style woman that wears a veil… (I’ve got a painting that I call an “eyes” painting because it only her head and she’s wearing a veal and head cover so all you see is her eyes…. ) I am leaning towards a sorceress…. But I’d accept alternatives.. (she can’t really wear anything more than the lightest of armors…) I really like this idea and thought about the visual before myself and never used it. You are welcome to it, if you like. I was going to use the black head wrap, and only black cloths on her body, also wrapped, arms, legs, and so on. I was going to call her black sunder. She wore the wraps because she was extraordinarily beautiful and every man that she came in contact with was only interested in looking at her. So she wrapped herself to gain respect from her people and others, saying she was horribly scarred in battles. As far as development, I dont really think sorceress is the way that you would want to go with someone you dont want to be armoured. If I were you I would do one of two things. Thing 1: Make her a monk, they get to add their wisdom to their armour class, and they also get armour bonuses. In addition to which she would look really bad a** fighting. Thing 2: Use the variant druid from unearthed arcana, which I am playing right now. They use wild shape, but you would still get to use powerful spellcasting. You gain the monks unarmoured bonuses, as well as wisdom to your armour class, and can use low level spells to buff yourself and make you virtually untouchable, that is if anyone can catch you. In addition to the armour bonuses, you will also get the monks speed. Then, you get a rangers ability to track, swift tracker, and favored enemy. All of these things together have worked out really well for my new character. If it's too late for this one, you can file it under character idea's and perhaps use it in the future.
annalivvie 09-15-04, 07:05 PM	I cannot edit a post on here to save my life, but what I meant was they LOSE wild shape, not use it.