A mix of having a down kind of day and general creative fatigue means I'm having a really tough time trying to think of a new character that sounds fun to play before Monday.
Anyone want to brainstorm some concepts with me? It's a 5th edition game with everything in the core rulebook, SCAG, and Unearthed Arcana available, and we're starting at level 5.
I'm not really interested in "builds" or Munchkin-ing, and caster + martial characters are what I tend to enjoy the most.
I always wanted to play a transmutation wizard that doesn't place any value on material things, because if he wants something he can just make it out of dirt
Luke Murphy
I like the idea behind that, it seems like a realistic state of mind.
I was leaning towards wizard, simply because I've never played one before that didn't have some sort of combat skill, however minor.
Maybe a conjurer? I don't know.
Gavin Wright
I've always entertained the thought of having a non-combatant, but then I realized very quickly I'd get my shit wrecked, as it'd probably be a caster I was playing, and they're squishy. At the very least take some cantirps that deal damage. I usually go with one utility and one damage spell when my 5e wizards level up though.
Bentley Howard
Yeah I'm looking at the spell lists and I know I want some of the cantrips to be offense if I'm avoiding weapon use.
I'm flipping through the druid materials, is any of the SCAG/UA druid stuff any good? Their aversion to metal helps me explain the characters tendency to not carry any sort of weapons.
Juan Bailey
Don't play druid very much, and thus haven't checked stuff for UA druid, and I don't think there's any new stuff in the SCAG for them either. Do you have the Elemental Evil/PoA stuff? I can drop a PDF for the spell if you'd like to look through em
Leo Mitchell
I don't have EE, and I'd appreciate it greatly.
Daniel Lee
I gotchu mang, there's all sorts of good shit in here for the casters
Sebastian Lee
Thank you, user.
I'll start flipping through it while monitoring the thread.
Justin Flores
No problem my dude, anything else you're looking for? I might have it
Logan King
Not specifically, and looking through EE, Water Genasi seems really interesting to me.
Maybe one that makes a Warlock Pact in a bid to learn more about his heritage or something?
Joshua Clark
I played an Air Genasi monk, that was lots of fun. Dad was the Djiinn and left mom, and mom didn't wanna get stuck with some blue kid, So once he was able to feed himself he got dumped on the streets, mugged and beat up by other street kids, and taken in by a shadow monastery. He was lots of fun, and the racial levitate was hilarious when combined with his sick kicks and flips
Nathan Walker
I'm not sure how campy this is, but maybe this water genasi is a deckhand on a ship, and learns lots of myths and superstitions this way.
One such myth is an entity deep below the water that holds a wide span of knowledge (hidden/recorded/speculative) which piques the interest of the genasi since he's able to explore the depths fairly easily.
Then he finds the thing and it turns out to be an eldritch sea monster of sorts that won't allow him to leave without forming a Pact to bring him more knowledge or something and I'm kind of rambling at this point.
Jayden Morales
Eh, campy is whatever, what matters is you like it. I do much like that idea, a really superstitious guy who pretty much will believe whatever exaggerated story he gets told, cause of how he was raised and what he's seen. Sounds fun.
Isaiah Collins
Yeah, I've got his INT pretty low, he probably didn't get any kind of formal education and just started working when he was able. High CHA for being a genuinely likeable guy with a decent personality, and he's a great storyteller from all of the sea-stories he's heard/lived through the years.
Nolan Anderson
Ooh, I'm thinking seeker would be cool for him, if you still wanna go the whole myths and superstition thing. I can imagine his patron as some hyper-paranoid being that just found some poor sucker to go out and experience the world FOR him, so maybe it's not such a bad deal after all
I think I'm too stuck on the spooky sea monster, and I've given this guy enough WIS to hopefully not fall for blatant lies or trickery.
Wyatt Fisher
Ah, that's a fair point. Hmm, I'm not sure to do Warlocks with decent WIS, as it seems like the average person wouldn't be making deals with cosmic beings or fey or demons all willy nilly. Maybe he was pressed to do it?
Luke James
Yeah that's what I was aiming for in my ramble post here .
This being basically gives him the options of >Go out and learn more secrets for me And >Die here
Sort of like a more aggressive Hermaeus Mora.
Andrew Fisher
Yeah, that does sound fun
>"Hey go look at this rare thing for me or else I'll smite you."
Logan Peterson
Basically yeah. "Here are some tricks to keep yourself alive, now go do my will".
And now it makes me think of Legacy of Kain actually, if you ever played those.
Jackson Kelly
Not familiar with those, sorry. This what you're going with then, Big Brother Sea Monster?
Jacob Brown
I think so. I'm going to try to stitch together a reference image and gamble in the drawthread. Thanks for your help tonight.
If you have any other ideas for this character or story ideas that can develop as his own personal plot I'll keep the thread up.
Hunter Parker
Hey no problem my man. I currently play a pirate wizard in 2e (that's the edition I play the most) so if you want more to add from his personality you can borrow whatever parts aren't centered around brutal murder and plundering from him. Glad I could at least get you this far
Jordan Butler
I don't have much but my reference image now, which I think is as good as it's going to get.
Which boon, do you think? Bladelock always seems fun to me, and the UA added some cool Invocations for GOO.
Luis Ramirez
Honestly, that Star Chain boon that you can go for instead with the Seeker sounds pretty good. Lots of stuff for the Patron to protect his second pair of eyes, and in only one level (assuming you're still gonna start at 5) you'll be able to buff yourself twice. The spell list looks nice thematically, and not needing to breathe at all, as well as Cold and Fire resistance sound great. The 14 feature looks awesome too, spend five minutes and get a short rest. Augry for free sounds pretty sweet too. You won't have the same damage output as a bladelock, but your party is gonna love how much of a useful utility you are
Benjamin Miller
I went ahead and settled for GOO and the Pact Blade, I'm not sure why I'm so hellbent on it but maybe it's a sign.
I think my guy (still unnamed, do Genasi just use naming conventions of those they grow up around?) will be unwilling to dig up these secrets, but will do so out of some kind of threat on his life, or maybe the lives of his old sailing mates.
Adam Davis
Yeah they do use whatever naming conventions they grew up near. That does make sense, and having a bunch of friend's lives on the line is real motivation. Maybe if he worked up the courage he could defy him if it was just him, but no decent person is gonna go and put innocent lives at risk
Gabriel Rodriguez
Exactly, so maybe he does what he has to for the time being, and may even be reluctant to use any of the spells he's been taught, but he knows that one day he's going to have to do something drastic to sever the bond for good but in a way that doesn't turn a ship's crew into a warning message.
Wish me luck in the drawthread. Any other plot points you can think of? I don't think he'll ever lear anything about his heritage, not from his Patron anyway.
Julian Nguyen
Is his heritage really that important in comparison to his current situation? What's he getting out of it aside from closure of the sorts? That does sound like a solid character goal, ditch the power he has and sever the tie with this fucker forever, maybe even seal him away somehow.
Samuel Jenkins
It's not important in the grand sense I'd say, but the desire to learn it *is* what got him in this trouble.
I'm thinking he's definitely the "I need to figure out how to seal this thing away" type, so maybe he accepts the arcane power half-begrudgingly, knowing that it's supposed to be used to steal knowledge and control people, but maybe if he learns enough, he can discover a way to lock the entity away forever.
Christian Lewis
Fair enough. That really does sound great, eventually the Patron entrusts him with too much power, or he snatches up some power while the Patron is not looking and turns on him. That'll make for a great character arc
Aaron Peterson
Cool. I feel pretty good about this one.
Parker Wright
Good, we worked pretty well together on this. What invocations do you plan on taking?
Camden Roberts
I grabbed Detect Magic Expert and True Reading, for secret hunting, and Improved Darkvision to help him in the depths he'll be swimming to in order to unearth some of the more hidden knowledge.
Adrian Foster
Nice. I suggest the one where your Eldritch Blasts push the victim back 10 feet, seeing as Eldritch Blast is already one of the best damaging cantrips and there's no creature size limit of the push. Hit a giant and he gets knocked back 10 feet
Julian Nelson
I considered that but figured that being able to read any sort of written language. The utility/roleplay heavy stuff is always fun.
My other warlock from an unrelated game has the push blast and it's great, I agree.
Tyler Lopez
What about the Armor of Shadows? Free Mage Armor 24/7 sounds great
Adrian Morgan
I considered that but elected that given his background he probably had some tough clothing already, but for those extra tough encounters I gave him Armor of Agathys.
His DEX is a bit shit for Mage Armor to do him much good, so he'll rely on getting better physical armor throughout his adventure.
You aren't by chance on the /oct/ Discord server, are you? If not, do you want an invite?
