Building Themes [Archive] - Wizards Community

Building Themes [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kurama Youko
10-27-07, 10:19 PM Has anyone ever thought. "Man, it'd be cool to play a vampire." then realized the mechanics no matter what source never seem to allow it in a player friendly way. Anyone ever decided to just emulate all their abilities on that on a type of mythical creature and play as if it were one only to have everyone else around you, play you off as if you your not or just insane. :( It's not really your fault that the game itself doesn't accomedate you, but you shouldn't be penalized anymore or less right?

This might be the wrong board, but what themes have you guys built your characters around, how close were you to satisfying your ideal character concept?
albinomonkeyking
10-27-07, 10:38 PM Unfortunately there are quite a few concepts that don't work in D&D, at least vampire is feasible as opposed to something you simply couldn't play.

As for odd ideas... I once wanted to play a knight who specialized in throwing - people to be specific. There are really no rules anywhere to cover that and the only abilities close to it are in ToB, a book my DM banned. I spent countless hours trying to find a throwing system that was feasible and not simply a waste of a PCs turns when it would be more useful to make a nuker. Needless to say, I ended up with a system, but a faulty one. The campaign ended up dying shortly after start-up, so my experience with trying to play an idea you can't, not a good one.
Hack and Smasher
10-28-07, 06:46 PM Its a matter of finding the right tool for the right job. D&D is awesome for knights, wizards, dwarves and elves but bad at, for example guns finding a different game which caters more towards what you want for my guns example d20 modern, might be a better idea.
ChaoticGood
10-29-07, 12:41 AM I once wanted to play a knight who specialized in throwing - people to be specific. There are really no rules anywhere to cover that and the only abilities close to it are in ToB, a book my DM banned.

Did you try the "Throw Enemy" and "Throw Ally" feats in Races of Stone?

As for themed characters... I always try, and usually fail due to the needs of the given campaign. For example, my current character was meant to be a Searing Light machine, a Cleric/Deadgrim with Extra Turning, Domain Spontaneity (Glory), and an Eberron feat that allows me to burn Action Points to activate Divine feats. Now, at the time that I made this character, there was a big war with the undead army of Karrnath on the horizon. A session after his introduction, the whole focus of the campaign shifted to fighting the psionic Quori. Argh!

In the same vein, that character replaced a Lyrandar skyship pilot, a reckless half-elf swashbuckler trying to make it on his own and prove he didn't need the noble to house to be a successful sky sailor. He, unfortunately, got sidetracked into taking warlock levels because we had two other fighter-types and no offensive spellcasting capability. One of the fighter-types didn't like that idea and decided to off the captain. (That guy isn't allowed to play in our group anymore...)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kurama Youko 10-27-07, 10:19 PM	Has anyone ever thought. "Man, it'd be cool to play a vampire." then realized the mechanics no matter what source never seem to allow it in a player friendly way. Anyone ever decided to just emulate all their abilities on that on a type of mythical creature and play as if it were one only to have everyone else around you, play you off as if you your not or just insane. :( It's not really your fault that the game itself doesn't accomedate you, but you shouldn't be penalized anymore or less right? This might be the wrong board, but what themes have you guys built your characters around, how close were you to satisfying your ideal character concept?
albinomonkeyking 10-27-07, 10:38 PM	Unfortunately there are quite a few concepts that don't work in D&D, at least vampire is feasible as opposed to something you simply couldn't play. As for odd ideas... I once wanted to play a knight who specialized in throwing - people to be specific. There are really no rules anywhere to cover that and the only abilities close to it are in ToB, a book my DM banned. I spent countless hours trying to find a throwing system that was feasible and not simply a waste of a PCs turns when it would be more useful to make a nuker. Needless to say, I ended up with a system, but a faulty one. The campaign ended up dying shortly after start-up, so my experience with trying to play an idea you can't, not a good one.
Hack and Smasher 10-28-07, 06:46 PM	Its a matter of finding the right tool for the right job. D&D is awesome for knights, wizards, dwarves and elves but bad at, for example guns finding a different game which caters more towards what you want for my guns example d20 modern, might be a better idea.
ChaoticGood 10-29-07, 12:41 AM	I once wanted to play a knight who specialized in throwing - people to be specific. There are really no rules anywhere to cover that and the only abilities close to it are in ToB, a book my DM banned. Did you try the "Throw Enemy" and "Throw Ally" feats in Races of Stone? As for themed characters... I always try, and usually fail due to the needs of the given campaign. For example, my current character was meant to be a Searing Light machine, a Cleric/Deadgrim with Extra Turning, Domain Spontaneity (Glory), and an Eberron feat that allows me to burn Action Points to activate Divine feats. Now, at the time that I made this character, there was a big war with the undead army of Karrnath on the horizon. A session after his introduction, the whole focus of the campaign shifted to fighting the psionic Quori. Argh! In the same vein, that character replaced a Lyrandar skyship pilot, a reckless half-elf swashbuckler trying to make it on his own and prove he didn't need the noble to house to be a successful sky sailor. He, unfortunately, got sidetracked into taking warlock levels because we had two other fighter-types and no offensive spellcasting capability. One of the fighter-types didn't like that idea and decided to off the captain. (That guy isn't allowed to play in our group anymore...)