Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fox Lee 12-18-05, 05:02 AM	Just something I thought I might throw out there, to stimulate creativity in general and because I'm very fond of paired combatants. I don't know how this thread will go, but I'd be very grateful for any responses (but please stick to the topic and be serious!). If you're not interested in it, please just pass it by rather than trying to start something XP So - Post any concepts you have (or have played) that were paired characters, who function as partners in combat and out. We're talking pairs like swordfighter and shieldbearer, mage and bodyguard, fighter and mount, rock and hard place - that kind of thing. I'd particularly like to know the following: History - What is the nature of the two characters' partnership (friends, lovers, family, etc), and how did it come about? Personality - What traits does each partner bring to the table, and how do they compliment the personality of the other? Combat/Casting/Skills - What abilities does each have, and why is it beneficial to combine them? What makes them function so well as a team? I've conceived a couple of these types in the past, but never had much of a chance to play them. Probably the only one worthy of note here is Kei and Rin, a pair of twins raised to compete in a particular tournament with the goal of defeating and destroying one of the entrants. Rin (brother) was a powerful spellcaster with a zen-like calm and lawful devotion to duty, whose major drawback was that his abilities carried a hefty amount of preparation time. Kei (sister) was a fistfighter who used a combination of many styles, with a ferocious temper and a stubborn chaotic streak, who served to guard and protect Rin so he could use his complicated spells. My husband and I also had a couple of "partner" concepts we meant to play - a pair of elven twins (one a wizard who specialised in destroying things, the other a cleric who created and healed) and a pair of psion brothers (the elder a combat-capable shaper, the younger a fragile telepath) - but alas, the concept never got off the ground. <Edit> Oops, Talen just reminded me of another - a bit odd-couple, they were a Lawful Good Chaond Paladin, and a Chaotic Good Zenythri Windrider. Very fun for reflections/parallels between the two, especially since we were going to take turns GM-ing and playing :p</Edit> BTW, this is the partner thread (oh irony! :p) of this thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=8030510#post8030510) on the Character Optimisation boards, because I'm very interested in seeing both mechanical and thematic representations of this type. Go ahead and drop by both if you've the interest ^^ Anyway, please tell me about your concepts for paired characters - I'd love to know ^_^ Thanks in advance for any responses!
jay 12-18-05, 08:02 AM	A Forgotten Realms demonslaying duo: a ranger/wizard/witch hunter (OA class, but pretty easily adaptable to other settings), and a cleric of Tyr. Between them, they have a wizard (the witch hunter), a cleric (the cleric), a fighter (the witch hunter is half a fighter, and so is the cleric). The only thing they lack is a rogue. :) A Forgotten Realms crimefighting duo: a cleric of Tyr and a cleric of Hoar. The first is a by-the-book type, and the second something of a vigilante, but they manage to work together because of their common goals and the fact that their respective methods and fields of expertise complement each other. Some others: artificer and warforged in Eberron, Shiba shugenja and Shiba protector in OA, wizard of Thay and Thayan knight in FR...
jukar 12-18-05, 01:46 PM	I am currently playing two characters who are a team- a warforged and "her" master. The warforged is a pyschic warrior specializing in support powers, and the master is a rilkan (MoI race, modified for a psionic campaign rather than an incarnum campaign) nomad who uses a lot of utility powers and combat control powers. One of their favored tactics is for the nomad to telekinetically grapple an opponent, and then let the warforged pummel on them. Also, when the nomad is attacked, a contingent dimension swap is manifested, causing him to trade places with the warforged, who can shrug off the attack with relative ease. Also, being psionic, they tend to share powers often, and also create metaconcerts regularly.
sleepwalker_ 12-19-05, 09:48 AM	We have a team of 6 characters (The Pack) all from different backgrounds that got to work together at first for a comon goal and realized their strenght as a group. There's a healthy Clerick Dwarf (spell caster and pretty capable in close combat) wearing a big armor and a sheild and a tatooed Elf Archer (great camouflage and amazing speed/ precision). Usually the strong half-orc Berserker is in the middle of the fight keeping the enemies busy with the help of a mounted Vicking bard singing war songs. There's also the ones I call the runners, Two bards that will take care of different odd cues during a battle (bring a wounded character here, get a special item there, shoot the archers, flanc these guys...) One is an extremely agile Elf Acrobat and the other is a really versatile female human with her giant wolverine and racoon companions.
Morka 12-19-05, 10:54 AM	I have this idea for two "half-brothers": an half green dragon/half wood elf rogue/ranger, and his mount, an half green dragon/half tiger. The ranger also have an eagle animal companion, watching the area. Their duty is to protect their dead father former domain. The Green Wyrm had some wood elves as slaves, and to reinforce the link between himself and his slaves, he created the half dragon/half wood elf. And since those wood elves use to ride tigers, he also created his half-brother to serve him. Being LE, they usually fly over intruder and shoot them a few arrows to get their attention. He then tells them to return from where they come. If they agree, he won't pursue them. Otherwise, they will hide in the bushes and wait them. If they're able to surprise them, the half-tiger will pounce on one of them, and the half-elf sneack attack their chosen victim. The next round, while the half-tiger grapple the victim, the half-elf will keep on sneack attacking him. When this intruder fall, they will run away, and scream to the intruders to leave. They will start over until the intruders leave or are all dead.
Pan_Ai_Khan 12-20-05, 08:30 AM	My partner and I have on occation played 'paired' characters in the past. One particularly memorable pair: A Saurial Gladiator (planning to go dual-classed as Wizard). An Elven Necromancer. The sight of a tiny elven woman and a nine-foot bipedal lizard fighting co-operatively is quite an odd one. Both the characters had suffered from prejudice at the hands of humans, and found a measure of comfort in each other's company. The Saurial is learning about spells and spellcasting from the Elf. The Elf benefits from the protection of the 'combat machine'. At first, the 'friendship' was one-way. The Elf originally saw the Saurial as a tool, but after a few dangerous encounters the pair almost unconciously function as a team. Now, they look out for each other, help each other through difficulties, and share almost everything.
Pan_Ai_Khan 12-21-05, 08:17 AM	Thought of another pairing, in a Dark Sun campaign I DM'd a while back. Half-Giant Warrior and a Halfling Psion The Half-Giant had a saddle mounted across the back of his shoulders for the Halfling to ride on. In combat, the Halfling would activate 'Animal Affinity' to get claws on his hands and feet, and the Half-Giant would then throw him into the middle of combat for some extra 'rake' attacks. The two were almost inseperable (a bit like 'Master Blaster' from the Mad Max film)
squidfur- 12-22-05, 10:58 PM	Thought of another pairing, in a Dark Sun campaign I DM'd a while back. Half-Giant Warrior and a Halfling Psion The Half-Giant had a saddle mounted across the back of his shoulders for the Halfling to ride on. In combat, the Halfling would activate 'Animal Affinity' to get claws on his hands and feet, and the Half-Giant would then throw him into the middle of combat for some extra 'rake' attacks. The two were almost inseperable (a bit like 'Master Blaster' from the Mad Max film) I've actually heard of someone else doing this very same thing before. Apparently great, although demented, minds think alike. :P And speaking of Dark Sun....I have two campaigns going in which a friend and I play... 1) actually part of a larger group...but sometimes the other players don't show so we've had to pair up numerous times...i play a human psion (egoist) while he's a human ranger/fighter/psychic warrior. both characters have learned much from the other, and their interaction with each other is pretty cool. 2) the other is a gladiatorial campaign where basically we both play gladiators, him a new-race (the name of the mutant's developed by the pristine tower), and myself a mul (a human-dwarf crossbreed), beating the snot out of all that stand in our way.
DracoRuler 12-24-05, 01:44 PM	This is going to sound really dumb, but i once had pair of halfling monk/fighters, who were twins. They had almost all coop feats, and together they were amazing. They had kind of a single mind, and never went ANYWHERE without each other. It sounds really corny, but it was so much fun to play! DR
BobtheBiotitan 12-25-05, 08:30 PM	In my current campaign me and another player have a pair of characters so to say. A very strong Human wizard and my Gnome fighter/barbarian who is crazy. The tactic? The wizard throws me at the enemy wether by hand or by telekenisis. I once autokilled an ogre because my character was going some 100+ odd mph when he hit it in the noggin. :D
JDRoundtree 12-30-05, 04:52 PM	My best friend and I have had some pairing ideas that we've enjoyed playing. We did a pair of High elven Fighter Wizards. They were cousins, their father's were brothers so they had grown up together like brothers themselves and were fighters in an elite unit of elven fighters charged with protecting their homeland They were the same class to start, but mine was moving toward bladesinger and his was going toward the spellsword prestige but for his bow. Archer/swordsman fighter mages was the idea, and we would fight very effectively in combat. I.E., he would fire at people and I would stand in the square ahead of him and one over. Anyone going after the archer had to provoke an attack of opportunity from me to do it. I would delay and let him shoot a few people so that I could then go in with power attack and cleave. They were great to play on a mechanics level as well as a character level. We also had a Ranger and rogue pairing. My ranger had the Titan bloodline from Unearthed Arcana and my friend's character was a halfling rogue with knives who liked to cook. I was 6'8" and almost three hundred pounds with a greatsword and the nickname "the bull" from an incident in his youth when he had drunkenly charged a bull in an attempt to headbutt it. My friend's character was small, even for a halfling, but was very smart. He would stand behind my character in combat and use me for half-cover while he threw knives. Also, my friend thought that when they went travelling places, his halfling kept up his smarts by riding on my character's shoulder's with a book open on my guy's head, just reading. We were looking into rules or feats where I could throw him into combat so that he could attack, and then I'd move in and we'd be flanking so that he could sneak attack. Our favorite tactic was for me to get captured and then hand over my bag, which was actually a bag of holding with him inside. They'd open the bag and he'd jump out with both knives drawn and we'd go to town. Good times.
The_Grand_Druid 12-30-05, 06:52 PM	In the last game I was in I played a ninja who was married to a druid. Both are a little xenaphobic and have a love for nature. My ninja loved the dovotion of the druid and she loved my courage and honor. My ninja respected the nutrailty of nature and the druid honored the way the ninja lived. The druid defended her grove and the ninja defended her. In combat the druid would play possum and draw the enemys out while the ninja hid and flanked them. Then the druid entangled the enemies and the ninja would spring a trap. If that failled the druid would wild shape and retreat with the ninja along for the ride. They say oppsites attract, and it shown in this case.