Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 CrimeneyJim Aug 21, 2014 14:49:28	After several months of D&D Encounters, I've become bored with clerics.  Maybe it's my own fault because of a deeply ingrained love of healbotting, coupled with treating most of my recent characters as litle more than video game avatars due to boredom with the Encounters format. (Hard to find attachement to a character when it needs to be replaced after the end of an adventure.)  Maybe its because I did a wizard/cleric multiclass character last season and remembered how much I missed spells that did things beyond healing and hitting things with light beams and scaring away zombies.    So, with the stuff coming out with the advent of this new edition, like a greater focus on roleplaying intstead of the battle-centric 4th edition and a Wizards Advanced Store-requirement adventure campaign that seems to promise the idea of getting a character past level 8- maybe even into the fabled double-digit levels- I want to jump in head-first.  I want to make a character that I'll enjoy playing from 1-20 and one that'll make me want to actually roleplay and enjoy roleplaying in D&D again.  To that end, I want to make a character with a bunch of different problem-solving abilities that can be used whenever without needing a huge wallet.  Preferrably within the NG-CG spectrum.   Unfortunately, I suffer from being a balancer.  I generally don't like taking the same class or role that someone else in my party has taken so we have a nicely-tuned party.  (Hence why I end up as healer more often than not.)  Our party for the Tyranny of Dragons will include a half-orc bard, a gnome wizard, a dwarf barbarian, some sort of rogue, and an elven ranger. That means that wizard and bard are taken.  Despite having a variety of domains, the Cleric's at-will abilities are the same at the lower levels regardless of domain, and the domain abilities are essentially "do it once or twice, and then they need a nap" or buffs.  Nitpicky as it sounds, I don't want to be a human cleric with magic initiate, as that'll tempt me into doing the same thing i did last season.  Paladins are out, because their essentially clerics with less magic prowess and more beatstickiness.  I tend to shy away from beatsticks, because I love being a magic user, and most of the 'be a martial class with magic" options still kinda appear gimped to me, and don't fit into the two character archetypes that I'd really like to do.    Those archetypes are: - A performer/storyteller that uses a lot of magic in performaces to make them more exciting.  She (or he) enjoys inspiring others with stories, and is also inspired by some of the heroic tales him/herself to where she acts for good causes, though not without a bit of whimsy or chaos.  (Such as a half-elf wild mage sorceror.  A feypact warlock might also work into this, but I'm limited to being a human if I want a 16+ in CHA, but still have Eldtrich Blast, Minor Illusion, and Prestidigitation.  Weird priorities, i know.)   - A vigilante-type character who has a genuine concern for the weak and needy, but also aspires to make themselves into a legendary folk hero.  (Shapeshifting Druid or possibly a element-bending monk.)   But now we get to the crux of the problem and the even greater ridiculousness of my indecisiveness.  Aside from maybe Zennies, who I won't touch with a 10-foot pole, all the other factions have been taken save for Order of the Gauntlet.  Now, despite not necessarily wanting to be a cleric, I do want to play a religious character.  (The former would worship Tymora, and the second worship one of the NG or CG gods.)  Unfortunately, everything about the Order of the Gauntlet screams "stuffy, close-minded, one-note LG clerics and paladins clumping together":.  That's not the character I want to run the whole time, but I would prefer to pick the Gauntlet so that I don't end up relying on other party members to fulfill faction goals.     So, for tl;dr's sake, I'm asking for one or more of the following four things. 1.  Help on how I could fit in a whimsical magic storyteller  (Wild Mage Sorceror or Feypact Warlock) or a vigilante folk hero (shapeshifter druid), both decidedly NG or CG concepts, into the decidedly LG Order of the Gauntlet. 2.  Help on how I can make a cleric or other character that can fit into the Order of the Gauntlet, but still have the more chaotic magical bent of the two above archetypes. 3. Help on how to not care about the Order of the Gauntlet, because I'm not really missing anything. 4. Help on how to get over my concern for party balance and other crap so I can play the character I want to play without regrets.  (Or how I'm being stupid.  I'm fine with that, but I do prefer the inspiration speeches on how to get over certain things.)
#2 crimfan07 Aug 22, 2014 5:16:18	I think you've boxed yourself in, but it's a box of your own making. I'd try to at least eliminate one of your restrictions. So here goes.    Your party is already balanced, so you are going to repeat something no matter what you do. That's totally OK because it'll just make one aspect of your party stronger. That doesn't mean you can't be very different than the existing character. If the rogue is a stabby type who's really good at sneaking, plan on being a missile rogue or be an arcane trickster. Rogue is just a class. Nothing says you can't be LG and more of an avenger type who uses stealth skills to do the Order's business.    Or you could be someone pushed into the Order of the Gautlet because you're running from someone, trying to reform (and thus fighting against your tendencies), or due to family influence, say you are the youngest son/daughter of a family and in your family the youngest always joins the Order, even though you led a rather wild life before then. The magic storyteller works, too: Think about being the street preacher type who got taken by the Order of the Gauntlet's message.
#3 mellored Aug 22, 2014 5:45:53	1&2: Be a warlock seeking revenge against your patron.  Your mother made a deal with evil while pregnant.  The evil then killed you parents, you inhereted powers, and you want revenge.   3: They saved you and drove back the evil while you where still too young to fight for yourself.  You grew up as a foster child to them.   4: If you kill something faster, you need to heal less.  The party pretty much has everything covered.