(and it doesnt help that my DM's NPC's would be quite comfortable in an epic setting. For example, an old, blind elf who has different arrows [copper, silver gold] depending on which you buy determines how good he is, but even when we buy copper, he rarely gets hit and does a suspicious amount of criticals, but again i digress and that would be a rant for another time)
The character's aren't plain. There's plenty of interesting race/class combos that are anything but plain. Play a sorcerer who focuses on Illusion spells and tries to play himself off as a bard. Play a rogue who's a catburglar who poses as a minstrel, going from town to town singing songs about the various exploits of his alter-ego by day, then at night pulls off some great caper in that town, and moves on to the next, with a new story to tell. Check out the, "Converting your character" excerpts in the Archives, and that should give you some good ideas, if you're still drawing a blank.
Don't let mechanics limit flavor. Ever.
They are considered a light weapon even though they are not in the light weapon section.
Rapiers are medium weapons. They only considered a "light weapon" in terms of Weapon Finesse. You still take the full penalty for wielding a larger than light offhand weapon if you dualwield rapiers.
On a side note, your DM and other players might be more inclined to include splat books if they also were able to read and pull material from those books. Sharing is fun.
Also, just tell DMPCs to go away. You can't trust those guys, they're always stealing your xps and golds.
Cohen95 i feel I've mis-communicated (and after reading my post i know i did) i don't want to play an overpowered character, far from it. i want to play something exotic, something new. THAT'S how i feel limited. i guess saying "plain" was a bad choice of words. Thanks for helping me realize that.
Also i've given them every opportunity to read my books. it seems like the only thing they want to read up on is WoW.
i might try the cat burgler thing, that sounds fun.
Thanks for suggestions everyone, the duel-wielding rapiers sounded good in theory, unfortunately it wouldn't work.
Cohen95 i feel I've mis-communicated (and after reading my post i know i did) i don't want to play an overpowered character, far from it. i want to play something exotic, something new. THAT'S how i feel limited. i guess saying "plain" was a bad choice of words. Thanks for helping me realize that.
Also i've given them every opportunity to read my books. it seems like the only thing they want to read up on is WoW.
i might try the cat burgler thing, that sounds fun.
How about you DM and you allow more than just the PhB. If they make exotic characters and take a liking to them then theres a much higher chance that they'll allow them in a game where you're not DM'ing.
...how about a half-elven Rogue, built like a Pirate? Suave, debonaire, a capable combatant, and an overly skilled gentleman?
Again, there's a plethora of things you can do to spice up the usual suspects. It's just flavor, season to taste!
I have details about it here:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1078689
I'd suggest using that, but not sure the others would let you do it.
My main advise is if the group won't let you use game mechanics to make an exotic character, then use fluff.
For example if you really want to play a Minotaur, choose a Human or a Half-orc and set their back story where they lived as a child around Minotaurs, and learned to fight from them.
You won't have horns for the gore attack, but you could still charge and use bull rushes. It's not perfect, but that's what I came up with in a few seconds.
For example the rogue can be a thief, bounty hunter, ninja, pirate, detective, swashbuckler, or assassin.
-The core of a character, though, is his/her story. Write an interesting story, and you'll have an interesting character no matter what the class.
I don't feel like PHB only is plain. Yes, it's obviously a limited pool to pull from, but there's, what? 11 classes in the PHB? What's plain about that? There's only 8 in the 4e PHB, and six of those are 3.X PHB1 natives. I think the problem is you feel limited because you can't play some overpowered combo you've derived from another sourcebook, and that's okay. 3.X is great for overpowered combos, which allows the DM to quite literally throw the book at you guys, and you'll be just fine.
The character's aren't plain. There's plenty of interesting race/class combos that are anything but plain. Play a sorcerer who focuses on Illusion spells and tries to play himself off as a bard. Play a rogue who's a catburglar who poses as a minstrel, going from town to town singing songs about the various exploits of his alter-ego by day, then at night pulls off some great caper in that town, and moves on to the next, with a new story to tell. Check out the, "Converting your character" excerpts in the Archives, and that should give you some good ideas, if you're still drawing a blank.
Don't let mechanics limit flavor. Ever.
Aramil369 i feel your pain there is always some PHB purist out there who insists that "reflavoring" is the way to go and all those other books are only out there to "over power a DM". 3.5 has been out for years now and I have played in enough games that I have addressed all the angles I ever care to using PHB, flexible or not it eventually becomes boring. I would advise talking to your DM on the side and explaning your situation. Its possible once he understands that the basic concepts have grown old and boring for you and that you are not seeking some uber-powered combo that he will back off and let you use something else.
How about you DM and you allow more than just the PhB. If they make exotic characters and take a liking to them then theres a much higher chance that they'll allow them in a game where you're not DM'ing.
Someone always suggests this angle too... This is great but sometimes you actually want to play the game as a player instead of a DM. I personally play in a smaller group that only has 2 people who are willing to run a game. Me and another friend who insists on only using the PHB.
I have no problems with players using whatever books they bring to the table provided I get to read through it first and agree with it. I think I have only shot down one combo ever. If they choose Uber-combos then they meet uber NPC's most of my players are very clever and very willing to help each other on design so I seldom have a player who lags behind the rest of the party.
The other DM on the otherhand is deeply afraid of anything outside the PHB... dont get me wrong I am glad my source books get used but it would be nice if I could actually reap some benefits from there as well.
--A Half-orc bararian/Bard (I would not suggest heckle-ing this guy)
--A Half-orc monk with a weight issue
--Gnome barbarian
--Ranger with duel whips
--Lycanthroped Characters (story hook? It's an STD from your last "adventure")
--Arcane character with dead famillers (they insist, that no matter what, they are alive and well)
-- A nudist monk (they don't need much anyways.)
-- play yourself. (transported into this realm and stuck here to make the best of it.
-- Start off as a level 1 pesant or warrior.
Just a thought.
Or Make a sorcerer who almost exclusively takes touch spells and delivers them via high five (Throwing in a few charm spells to incite your enemies into reciprocating said high fives) :D.
Spell Focus Conjuration, Augment Summoning, Natural Spell, Power Attack, Cleave, are pretty much all you need, you might pick up empower and/or maximize metamagic to augment your summonings, then cast animal growth to end the game...
Then make a Rogue 2 / Paladin 3 / Sorcerer 15 and you can be exotic and have rediculous saving throws the DM wont be able to hit to often, coupled with evasion. Yeah, power gamers way of building it, but at least it has a story and you can work that story constantly. Being a sorcerer, if you do that at level 6, you could say that you have been feeling odd of late and suddenly you realized that the feeling was Arcane energy developing inside of you.
I had an idea to play a character in the realms who wished to reclaim his familiy lands in the Moonshae Isles from the Northmen invaders. He went to "battle college" and learned tactics and he was to be a leader.
No warrior class gets enough skill points to know anything and no class with skill points can stand up and lead a fight. Don't let me get started with a "warmage" with the wort attack in the game and the worst skill points. A marshal might have worked but the Dm said they were from the miiatures game.
I made a warmage for one level to reflect the training, and then classed into paladin so he could stand in the front lines.
A fighter/rogue could work if I spent all of my skills on knowledge, but it didn't seem quite right.
G
So my campaign is restricted to core books. But if people want to play something more 'exotic' then they can show me the stuff and I will make a judgement. I am doing this on a case by case basis. There might be heaps of stuff out there that rocks, is heaps of fun to rollplay, and that they want to try.
I have also done this because not all members of the party are of the same experience level (in gaming terms). We seem to have 2 power gamers who love rollplaying, one very experienced roleplayer (current DM), and one actor (bards who cant act just confuse me...but thats another problem).
Maybe the DM and players you are playing with read the boards here a bit and are against the splat books for balance purposes. That is very much so the impression I get.
The other thing that might be causing some issues is if you are the sort of player who takes a lot of the limelight outside of combat. If you are the type of player who is quick thinking and roleplays well, then maybe they are afraid that you will then take the spotlight from them in combat as well. I am much this sort of player myself, a combination of actor/competitor who deliberately doesnt build combat fiends. I dont want to take the limelight from all the other players, because that way it stays fun for everyone.
The best option you have (and my players have) is to talk to the DM out of gametime. Give a good explanation of what the character will then be able to do (especially in combat terms). DM's are not always able to envisage what a new ability will do exactly. I know I cant, and usually it takes me a bit to get the hang of a new ability (or spell) before I get the most out of it.
Just my 2g worth.
As far as your situation goes, I would suggest talking to the other players. Why do they take issue with using other sources for character creation? Those issues may be something you can negotiate with them on. Or maybe see if they have seen something in those books that they might be interested in trying themselves, if you give them an assist with the nuts and bolts of it.