Help me build Friar Tuck [Archive] - Wizards Community

Help me build Friar Tuck [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
catsclaw
12-19-06, 02:41 PM I'm trying to build a monk/cleric who fights with a quarterstaff, but I'm having trouble putting together a build. I was thinking of taking 2 levels of Monk and the rest some kind of Cleric. The obvious prestige class -- Enlightened Fist -- has the inane requirement that you can no longer even *carry* weapons, let alone wield them.

Looking at other prestige classes the only one that seemed to fit was Contemplative, but you can't even get into it before 10th level.

Any thoughts or ideas?
kenobi65
12-19-06, 02:55 PM Cleric of Fharlanghn...favored weapon is the quarterstaff. And, as he's Neutral, you can be LN, and multiclass with monk.
LachlarlanIII
12-19-06, 03:07 PM Drunken Master might be a bit more in character.

Friar Tuck was the keeper of the sacramental wine in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives after all, and his face always seems a bit red to me.
Morgen
12-19-06, 03:09 PM Are we talking Prince of Thieves or Men in Tights?
LachlarlanIII
12-19-06, 03:16 PM Both actually. In Prince of Theives Friar Tuck was transporting barrels. In Men in Tights Rabbi Tuckman was doing the same thing.
kenobi65
12-19-06, 03:58 PM Drunken Master might be a bit more in character.

Friar Tuck was the keeper of the sacramental wine in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives after all, and his face always seems a bit red to me.

Cleric of Wenta (beer) or Olidamarra (wine), then. Alas, both are chaotic, and thus, multiclassing with monk becomes problematic.
Japangirl
12-19-06, 04:04 PM Well, it's cheesy, but take monk the first two levels as LN. Then become straight neutral when you start to worship Olidammara or Wenta. Monks lose none of their class features when changing alignments, unlike paladins and barbarians. There are multiple ways to roleplay this, but it is also understandable if you don't want to plan on an alignment change.
catsclaw
12-19-06, 04:05 PM Drunken Master did occur to me, but I've heard it's difficult to find access to it in LG.

Assuming I did go into Drunken Master, how should I build the cleric side to support it?
Britt
12-19-06, 04:09 PM You can't be a N cleric of a deity that isn't N itself, even if it's within one step.
LachlarlanIII
12-19-06, 04:10 PM Friar Tuck never seemed, to me at least, to be the most lawful sort anyway.
Britt
12-19-06, 04:18 PM Yeah, he always seemed maybe CG to me. Wanted to do the right thing, but was always drunk and had no respect for the law, or religious dogma.
catsclaw
12-19-06, 04:35 PM Yeah, he always seemed maybe CG to me. Wanted to do the right thing, but was always drunk and had no respect for the law, or religious dogma.I'm kind of stuck with the D&D alignment system, here.
Lupo
12-19-06, 04:38 PM I'm trying to build a monk/cleric who fights with a quarterstaff, but I'm having trouble putting together a build. I was thinking of taking 2 levels of Monk and the rest some kind of Cleric. The obvious prestige class -- Enlightened Fist -- has the inane requirement that you can no longer even *carry* weapons, let alone wield them.

Looking at other prestige classes the only one that seemed to fit was Contemplative, but you can't even get into it before 10th level.

Any thoughts or ideas?

i think brother tuck never made it high into the ranks of any kind of organized clergy.

so any kind of human follower tendencies to neutral good, cleric of a somehow lawful but not to restrictive god favouring a quarterstaff (sorry, so pholtus is out;)).

breeka, female touv goddess of all living things might be a try, somehow rustic

daoud, male baklunish hero god also seem fitting, especcially with his "low standard" attitude

fharlanghn already was mentioned, albeit his portfolio has nothing in common with brother tuck.

heward seems another good choice.

joramy isn't realy fitting ;) although brother tuck had a bad temper from time to time :P

obad-hai also may be a try, but not a realy good one.

ralishaz might be it :)

uvot, a male touv god, head of the pantheon, very live supporting :)

for a character with more combat orientation i would go cleric 1, fighter 1, cleric 2, fighter 2, cleric 3, maybe some barbarian or ranger (for quarterstaff double ended style) in between, pious templar later or even war priest.

ciao

martin m.
Lomiat
12-19-06, 05:45 PM i think brother tuck never made it high into the ranks of any kind of organized clergy.

Nor did he perform any miraculous healing. Honestly, you could play a monk "friar" without taking any cleric levels at all (or divine caster levels). Just max out your ranks in Knowledge (religion) and wear a prominent holy symbol.

Then go for the Quick Staff fighting style from Complete Warrior (requires: Combat Expertise, Dodge, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus [quarterstaff]).

Human
Monk 1: Dodge, Combat Expertise, Stunning Fist
Monk 2: Combat Reflexes
Ranger 3: Weapon Focus (quarterstaff)
Ranger 4: Two-weapon Fighting
Fighter 5: Quick Staff Style
etc.
Jay_Ibero_911
12-19-06, 10:22 PM Nor did he perform any miraculous healing. Honestly, you could play a monk "friar" without taking any cleric levels at all (or divine caster levels). Just max out your ranks in Knowledge (religion) and wear a prominent holy symbol.

Then go for the Quick Staff fighting style from Complete Warrior (requires: Combat Expertise, Dodge, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus [quarterstaff]).

Human
Monk 1: Dodge, Combat Expertise, Stunning Fist
Monk 2: Combat Reflexes
Ranger 3: Weapon Focus (quarterstaff)
Ranger 4: Two-weapon Fighting
Fighter 5: Quick Staff Style
etc.

Quick staff would have to wait till 6th in that build, as it's not a fighter bonus feat...Even then...sounds like it would be more fitting for a Little John style ranger than Friar Tuck, as while Tuck may have used a quarterstaff, he was definately no leet master of it...Friar Tuck was not also all crazy martial artsy...
Japangirl
12-20-06, 01:38 AM Tuck was so a leet master of the quarterstaff! He beat up all the other guys in the band when they failed at archery, and was equal to Little John in his abilities with the quarterstaff.
catsclaw
12-20-06, 02:35 AM Hrm. I've been poking around, and I like a lot of the suggestions in this thread. But I'm not sure the character's a great fit for many of the deities suggested. And reading over the LG Deities document, I saw something which I think works for my idea of the character.

Monk 2/Cleric 3/Bard 1/Divine Prankster 6+

Basically, take 2 levels of Monk, then get thrown out of the abbey for drunkenness (as Friar Tuck did). Convert to Chaotic Good and Olidammara. Domains would be Trickery and either Celerity or Luck. I could either level out Divine Prankster or pick up a couple levels of Contemplative or Drunken Master. Or both. I'd still look at getting Quick Staff to help boost my defenses for the Enrage Enemies ability.

Thoughts?
Lupo
12-20-06, 04:20 AM Hrm. I've been poking around, and I like a lot of the suggestions in this thread. But I'm not sure the character's a great fit for many of the deities suggested. And reading over the LG Deities document, I saw something which I think works for my idea of the character.

Monk 2/Cleric 3/Bard 1/Divine Prankster 6+

Basically, take 2 levels of Monk, then get thrown out of the abbey for drunkenness (as Friar Tuck did). Convert to Chaotic Good and Olidammara. Domains would be Trickery and either Celerity or Luck. I could either level out Divine Prankster or pick up a couple levels of Contemplative or Drunken Master. Or both. I'd still look at getting Quick Staff to help boost my defenses for the Enrage Enemies ability.

Thoughts?

i haven't the book with divine prankster, do you need the bard level for it??

the big problem with quarterstaff:

no special materials! to overcamoe anything but dr x/magic you need high damage output.

carry a lot of "potions of shillelagh" around ;)

another problem:
your build tends to have low to medium BAB and not much to beef it up or spend on "power attack".

last:
both classes, contemplative and drunken master, are special entry only.

i have seen drunken master twice, and contemplatives about hallf a dozen times, but never to some usefull deity ;) and of course never with a character who would be interested in it at all . . . .

ciao

martin m.
catsclaw
12-20-06, 08:06 AM i haven't the book with divine prankster, do you need the bard level for it??You need 8 ranks in Bluff, Perform, and Slight of Hand. So it's either Bard or Rogue.
amnuxoll
12-20-06, 02:13 PM Human
Monk 1: Dodge, Combat Expertise, Stunning Fist
Monk 2: Combat Reflexes
Ranger 3: Weapon Focus (quarterstaff)
Ranger 4: Two-weapon Fighting
Fighter 5: Quick Staff Style
etc.

This, to me, is the closest build I've seen to my mental image of Tuck. Remember, he won Robin Hood's when they faced each other on the log over the stream with quarterstaves. Also, the Merry Men were all woodmen. Tuck wasn't great at this but good enough to merit two levels of ranger.

I'm also a firm supporter of the Drunken Master pclass.

:AMN:
Japangirl
12-20-06, 02:46 PM I'd go rogue over bard in that specific build. If nothing else, you can get 1d6 extra damage in a flank, and with the monk levels you have the movement and possibly the tumble ranks to get to a flank easily.
Herrbard
12-20-06, 08:02 PM This, to me, is the closest build I've seen to my mental image of Tuck. Remember, he won Robin Hood's when they faced each other on the log over the stream with quarterstaves.
Um... as I remember it was Little John who fought Robin on the log bridge, and gave him a good soaking. :confused:
kegdrainer
12-20-06, 09:09 PM This, to me, is the closest build I've seen to my mental image of Tuck. Remember, he won Robin Hood's when they faced each other on the log over the stream with quarterstaves. Also, the Merry Men were all woodmen. Tuck wasn't great at this but good enough to merit two levels of ranger.

In the actual story (Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch123.htm ) that Friar Tuck appears, he is a yeoman (123A.6), so more ranger or fighter than cleric and no D&D monk. Will Scadlock (Scarlet) says that Tuck is a better archer than him or Robin. (123B.6 but not in the original story) When Robin meets the Friar, he is wearing armor, along with a sword and buckler. (123B.12)

After he crosses the stream on Tuck's back, Robin takes the Friar back the other way. On the next trip across, Tuck drops Robin in the middle. They both swim to shore and Robin starts shooting Tuck with his bow but Tuck blocks it with his buckler (123B.13-22) After Robin runs out of arrows, they go at it with swords for six hours (123B.23-24) Robin then tricks Tuck into letting him blow his horn thrice, as a boon, summoning his Merry men. Tuck returns the favor and summons 50 (War?) dogs.(123B.25-32)

Now the main problem is that Childs version is not close to what is written in the original story but it does give you a good idea as to Tuck's abilities.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
catsclaw 12-19-06, 02:41 PM	I'm trying to build a monk/cleric who fights with a quarterstaff, but I'm having trouble putting together a build. I was thinking of taking 2 levels of Monk and the rest some kind of Cleric. The obvious prestige class -- Enlightened Fist -- has the inane requirement that you can no longer even carry weapons, let alone wield them. Looking at other prestige classes the only one that seemed to fit was Contemplative, but you can't even get into it before 10th level. Any thoughts or ideas?
kenobi65 12-19-06, 02:55 PM	Cleric of Fharlanghn...favored weapon is the quarterstaff. And, as he's Neutral, you can be LN, and multiclass with monk.
LachlarlanIII 12-19-06, 03:07 PM	Drunken Master might be a bit more in character. Friar Tuck was the keeper of the sacramental wine in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives after all, and his face always seems a bit red to me.
Morgen 12-19-06, 03:09 PM	Are we talking Prince of Thieves or Men in Tights?
LachlarlanIII 12-19-06, 03:16 PM	Both actually. In Prince of Theives Friar Tuck was transporting barrels. In Men in Tights Rabbi Tuckman was doing the same thing.
kenobi65 12-19-06, 03:58 PM	Drunken Master might be a bit more in character. Friar Tuck was the keeper of the sacramental wine in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives after all, and his face always seems a bit red to me. Cleric of Wenta (beer) or Olidamarra (wine), then. Alas, both are chaotic, and thus, multiclassing with monk becomes problematic.
Japangirl 12-19-06, 04:04 PM	Well, it's cheesy, but take monk the first two levels as LN. Then become straight neutral when you start to worship Olidammara or Wenta. Monks lose none of their class features when changing alignments, unlike paladins and barbarians. There are multiple ways to roleplay this, but it is also understandable if you don't want to plan on an alignment change.
catsclaw 12-19-06, 04:05 PM	Drunken Master did occur to me, but I've heard it's difficult to find access to it in LG. Assuming I did go into Drunken Master, how should I build the cleric side to support it?
Britt 12-19-06, 04:09 PM	You can't be a N cleric of a deity that isn't N itself, even if it's within one step.
LachlarlanIII 12-19-06, 04:10 PM	Friar Tuck never seemed, to me at least, to be the most lawful sort anyway.
Britt 12-19-06, 04:18 PM	Yeah, he always seemed maybe CG to me. Wanted to do the right thing, but was always drunk and had no respect for the law, or religious dogma.
catsclaw 12-19-06, 04:35 PM	Yeah, he always seemed maybe CG to me. Wanted to do the right thing, but was always drunk and had no respect for the law, or religious dogma.I'm kind of stuck with the D&D alignment system, here.
Lupo 12-19-06, 04:38 PM	I'm trying to build a monk/cleric who fights with a quarterstaff, but I'm having trouble putting together a build. I was thinking of taking 2 levels of Monk and the rest some kind of Cleric. The obvious prestige class -- Enlightened Fist -- has the inane requirement that you can no longer even carry weapons, let alone wield them. Looking at other prestige classes the only one that seemed to fit was Contemplative, but you can't even get into it before 10th level. Any thoughts or ideas? i think brother tuck never made it high into the ranks of any kind of organized clergy. so any kind of human follower tendencies to neutral good, cleric of a somehow lawful but not to restrictive god favouring a quarterstaff (sorry, so pholtus is out;)). breeka, female touv goddess of all living things might be a try, somehow rustic daoud, male baklunish hero god also seem fitting, especcially with his "low standard" attitude fharlanghn already was mentioned, albeit his portfolio has nothing in common with brother tuck. heward seems another good choice. joramy isn't realy fitting ;) although brother tuck had a bad temper from time to time :P obad-hai also may be a try, but not a realy good one. ralishaz might be it :) uvot, a male touv god, head of the pantheon, very live supporting :) for a character with more combat orientation i would go cleric 1, fighter 1, cleric 2, fighter 2, cleric 3, maybe some barbarian or ranger (for quarterstaff double ended style) in between, pious templar later or even war priest. ciao martin m.
Lomiat 12-19-06, 05:45 PM	i think brother tuck never made it high into the ranks of any kind of organized clergy. Nor did he perform any miraculous healing. Honestly, you could play a monk "friar" without taking any cleric levels at all (or divine caster levels). Just max out your ranks in Knowledge (religion) and wear a prominent holy symbol. Then go for the Quick Staff fighting style from Complete Warrior (requires: Combat Expertise, Dodge, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus [quarterstaff]). Human Monk 1: Dodge, Combat Expertise, Stunning Fist Monk 2: Combat Reflexes Ranger 3: Weapon Focus (quarterstaff) Ranger 4: Two-weapon Fighting Fighter 5: Quick Staff Style etc.
Jay_Ibero_911 12-19-06, 10:22 PM	Nor did he perform any miraculous healing. Honestly, you could play a monk "friar" without taking any cleric levels at all (or divine caster levels). Just max out your ranks in Knowledge (religion) and wear a prominent holy symbol. Then go for the Quick Staff fighting style from Complete Warrior (requires: Combat Expertise, Dodge, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus [quarterstaff]). Human Monk 1: Dodge, Combat Expertise, Stunning Fist Monk 2: Combat Reflexes Ranger 3: Weapon Focus (quarterstaff) Ranger 4: Two-weapon Fighting Fighter 5: Quick Staff Style etc. Quick staff would have to wait till 6th in that build, as it's not a fighter bonus feat...Even then...sounds like it would be more fitting for a Little John style ranger than Friar Tuck, as while Tuck may have used a quarterstaff, he was definately no leet master of it...Friar Tuck was not also all crazy martial artsy...
Japangirl 12-20-06, 01:38 AM	Tuck was so a leet master of the quarterstaff! He beat up all the other guys in the band when they failed at archery, and was equal to Little John in his abilities with the quarterstaff.
catsclaw 12-20-06, 02:35 AM	Hrm. I've been poking around, and I like a lot of the suggestions in this thread. But I'm not sure the character's a great fit for many of the deities suggested. And reading over the LG Deities document, I saw something which I think works for my idea of the character. Monk 2/Cleric 3/Bard 1/Divine Prankster 6+ Basically, take 2 levels of Monk, then get thrown out of the abbey for drunkenness (as Friar Tuck did). Convert to Chaotic Good and Olidammara. Domains would be Trickery and either Celerity or Luck. I could either level out Divine Prankster or pick up a couple levels of Contemplative or Drunken Master. Or both. I'd still look at getting Quick Staff to help boost my defenses for the Enrage Enemies ability. Thoughts?
Lupo 12-20-06, 04:20 AM	Hrm. I've been poking around, and I like a lot of the suggestions in this thread. But I'm not sure the character's a great fit for many of the deities suggested. And reading over the LG Deities document, I saw something which I think works for my idea of the character. Monk 2/Cleric 3/Bard 1/Divine Prankster 6+ Basically, take 2 levels of Monk, then get thrown out of the abbey for drunkenness (as Friar Tuck did). Convert to Chaotic Good and Olidammara. Domains would be Trickery and either Celerity or Luck. I could either level out Divine Prankster or pick up a couple levels of Contemplative or Drunken Master. Or both. I'd still look at getting Quick Staff to help boost my defenses for the Enrage Enemies ability. Thoughts? i haven't the book with divine prankster, do you need the bard level for it?? the big problem with quarterstaff: no special materials! to overcamoe anything but dr x/magic you need high damage output. carry a lot of "potions of shillelagh" around ;) another problem: your build tends to have low to medium BAB and not much to beef it up or spend on "power attack". last: both classes, contemplative and drunken master, are special entry only. i have seen drunken master twice, and contemplatives about hallf a dozen times, but never to some usefull deity ;) and of course never with a character who would be interested in it at all . . . . ciao martin m.
catsclaw 12-20-06, 08:06 AM	i haven't the book with divine prankster, do you need the bard level for it??You need 8 ranks in Bluff, Perform, and Slight of Hand. So it's either Bard or Rogue.
amnuxoll 12-20-06, 02:13 PM	Human Monk 1: Dodge, Combat Expertise, Stunning Fist Monk 2: Combat Reflexes Ranger 3: Weapon Focus (quarterstaff) Ranger 4: Two-weapon Fighting Fighter 5: Quick Staff Style etc. This, to me, is the closest build I've seen to my mental image of Tuck. Remember, he won Robin Hood's when they faced each other on the log over the stream with quarterstaves. Also, the Merry Men were all woodmen. Tuck wasn't great at this but good enough to merit two levels of ranger. I'm also a firm supporter of the Drunken Master pclass. :AMN:
Japangirl 12-20-06, 02:46 PM	I'd go rogue over bard in that specific build. If nothing else, you can get 1d6 extra damage in a flank, and with the monk levels you have the movement and possibly the tumble ranks to get to a flank easily.
Herrbard 12-20-06, 08:02 PM	This, to me, is the closest build I've seen to my mental image of Tuck. Remember, he won Robin Hood's when they faced each other on the log over the stream with quarterstaves. Um... as I remember it was Little John who fought Robin on the log bridge, and gave him a good soaking. :confused:
kegdrainer 12-20-06, 09:09 PM	This, to me, is the closest build I've seen to my mental image of Tuck. Remember, he won Robin Hood's when they faced each other on the log over the stream with quarterstaves. Also, the Merry Men were all woodmen. Tuck wasn't great at this but good enough to merit two levels of ranger. In the actual story (Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch123.htm ) that Friar Tuck appears, he is a yeoman (123A.6), so more ranger or fighter than cleric and no D&D monk. Will Scadlock (Scarlet) says that Tuck is a better archer than him or Robin. (123B.6 but not in the original story) When Robin meets the Friar, he is wearing armor, along with a sword and buckler. (123B.12) After he crosses the stream on Tuck's back, Robin takes the Friar back the other way. On the next trip across, Tuck drops Robin in the middle. They both swim to shore and Robin starts shooting Tuck with his bow but Tuck blocks it with his buckler (123B.13-22) After Robin runs out of arrows, they go at it with swords for six hours (123B.23-24) Robin then tricks Tuck into letting him blow his horn thrice, as a boon, summoning his Merry men. Tuck returns the favor and summons 50 (War?) dogs.(123B.25-32) Now the main problem is that Childs version is not close to what is written in the original story but it does give you a good idea as to Tuck's abilities.