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utilitycaster · 1 year

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So you're playing a D&D class

(had these thoughts while thinking about CR character builds, but relevant to D&D in general).

Here's just a brief list of three questions per class that are intended to be helpful if you're playing that class and are working on fleshing out that aspect of your character. Note that I'm only covering officially published classes for 5e. If you're a blood hunter I am just going to assume you know what you're about, and if you're a mystic then you are beyond help or hope. Also, obviously, there's way more to a character than their class! But understanding why the character is that class is pretty crucial to overall character build.

Artificer:

Did the magic come first or did the tinkering come first?

Did you apprentice or were you self-taught?

What do you dream of creating - or if you don't, what outside goal drives your creations?

Barbarian:

Is rage a cultural or family trait, or is this unique to you?

What do you feel like when you rage?

What do you feel your purpose is, outside of combat? Do you have one or are you not sure? (note - feel free to ask this about other martially focused classes, but barbarians skew especially hard towards combat skills above all others)

Bard:

What led you to be able to tap into the echoes of creation (not guaranteed for all artists!)

What is your medium, and how did you come to it/learn it?

You have a ton of skills - how did you acquire them?

Cleric:

What is your relationship with the deity/entity/concept that grants you your powers?

Since many sources have multiple domains, why this domain specifically?

What does your worship look like?

Druid:

Is your relationship to nature cultural, or personal?

What drew you to your circle?

How do you feel about wildshape? Is it a tool available to you, or an enjoyable experience?

Fighter:

Who trained you or how did you pick up your skills?

What led you to focus on fighting? Is there something you wished to attack or to protect?

Fighter is REALLY modular/subclass dependent, so dig into your subclass; if you're a champion, the 'what is your purpose outside combat' from Barbarian may apply, but if you're say, an eldritch knight or rune knight, you may have had two teachers and should dig into that.

Monk:

Who trained you?

What does Ki feel like for you?

Not a question, but: with the caveat that I know very little about martial arts, I do think that having a concept of the martial art style your monk uses is a huge help in bringing the character to life.

Paladin:

What drew you to this oath?

What continues to motivate you?

You're in a very versatile role; which part speaks to you the most- do you see yourself more as a protector? a healer? is the versatility itself what matters?

Ranger:

How did you learn your nature skills?

What is your relationship to your magic?

Why are your favored terrain and enemy what they are?

Rogue:

How did you learn to pick locks?

Did your thievery/stealth come as a necessity for survival, or was it a choice?

As with bard - what specifically led you to develop the skills you have?

Sorcerer:

When did your powers first manifest? If it was not when you were very young, what were you doing beforehand?

Are you interested in where your powers came from? How far would you go to learn about them? Or do you already know?

What would you do if your powers disappeared?

Warlock:

What led you to make the pact - even if it was accidental or a trick?

How do you feel about your patron generally?

Because warlock is truly very modular - that is, extremely reliant on the boon and evocations for flavor, analyze the choice of evocations and boon. If you picked agonizing blast, why specifically did your warlock want to make eldritch blast stronger? What drew your character to the blade vs. chain vs. tome?

Wizard:

What role do wizards play in your society?

How were you trained?

What do you most desire to learn or achieve?

#d&d

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transhitman · 2 years

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Very late on this but I did art for the Wirral segment of my fic lmfao. I'm actually really fucking pumped about how these turned out. I rendered them basically from scratch (color picked in some spots though) and it took WAY TOO LONG for what is ostensibly a joke scene. More about the characters under the cut because YES I did actually put thought into what they would play as.

Though I based the fourth portrait on Judit's, the character is actually her husband's. Judit is the GM and hosts the games at her place.

OCTAVIA KVASS -- Harry’s character of course is an OBVIOUS self-insert – a dweogr glamor bard. He actually didn’t know about the horny bard trope and just wanted to play as a musician. Then he found out you could seduce people and pogged harder than anyone has ever pogged. I also made her a woman so I could push my He/They Du Bois agenda in my fic. (I KNOW AND PERCEIVE THE TRUTH.) Harry playing as himself but a hot lady because he thinks it would be funny: "Hmmm I sure hope this doesn't awaken anything in me."

DRAUGUS INFERNITUM -- I called Kim a necromancer in my fic, but he's actually a grave cleric, or whatever the Wirral equivalent is. Draugus is a verrry subtle self-insert, as I think the ability to protect people and prevent death is sort of a wish-fulfillment thing for Kim lol. With no conceptualization skill, Kim doesn’t really like RP (he sucks at it), but he’s very good at resource management and combat (hence why he's a cleric), and probably enjoys writing lore and backstory stuff. (He and Judit bond over nerd shit lol.)

MAX MUSTERMANN -- Jean didn’t give a shit about his character, so everyone just pictures Max as normal Jean with a stupid hat. He’s a rogue, but a more str-based subclass I think, whatever that might be. (Scout? Swashbuckler?) I also think Jean eventually just loses interest in the game and stops playing, and Judit takes Max over as a DMPC. She cares more about him than Jean did and everyone ends up liking the bizzaro Jean she plays more than the real-life Jean lmfao.

JACQUES BUCHER -- I have Many Thoughts about Judit and her husband and what their relationship is like, but I'll summarize it quick. I interpreted her singular line about him as more of a lighthearted jab and less of a genuine complaint, and I think he's like a Spencer Shay type guy. Eccentric artist that can't hold down a job lol. Goofy and incompetent in a charming way, because he's at least trying. And he's also the only person among the players with the creative chops to actually make a real OC and not a self-insert. I made Mr. Minot's character a fairly normal fighter for the sake of party-balance. Although it would be very funny if he was a fucked up eldritch knight or psi warrior type class. Secretly the most insane person at the table. (And NO this is not a case of competent wife/dork ass loser husband. For you see, Judit is also a dork ass loser. (Wirral Fan) (Cop) (Willingly Spends Time With Harry Du Bois))

#disco elysium #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #judit minot #jean viquemare #art

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larkaloke · 5 months

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Yezka'al: BG3 Questions Answered

Because I'm aware that I don't really know many people on here, but I wanted to answer all those character questions anyway, I'm just doing it in this format. But hey, if you have another question not on the list about Yezka'al (in this post) or (for the coming one) Vethryn, feel free to ask it!

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What was your Tav’s place of birth and raising like? Yezka'al was born and raised in a creche on the Prime, but they never left the creche; they were (relatively speaking) somewhat coddled in the creche because of their noble parentage, and went back to live in Tu'narath once they were fully grown. [I'm cherry-picking a bit of older Githyanki lore here, but with dialogue options that are available, I think it works well enough still.]

What relationship did your Tav have with their family/guardian(s) growing up? Has that changed with age? Yezka'al didn't care much for their family or creche-sibs. They were ambitious, determined to succeed, and mostly considered how well other people would help them in doing that. If they had it to do over again things would probably be very different, but they don't, and given their current appearance, they're not likely to seek anyone out post-rebellion. Presuming they survive, of course.

Did your Tav receive any formal or informal education? If yes, how well did they learn? If no, why not? They did well in their martial studies, middling in politics and history, and rather poorly in everything else.

What hobbies does your Tav have? How did they acquire these interests? Yezka'al didn't really have any hobbies. They told themself that it was better to dedicate themself entirely to Vlaakith's service, but they also weren't given an opportunity to form hobbies. Researching other planes was their only hobby-adjacent activity, and they could write it off as being useful.

Did your Tav have any formal or informal employment? If yes, what was their job? If no, how did they make ends meet? How did they feel about it? If "on the fast track to being a knight in Vlaakith's service" counts as employment, yes. Otherwise no.

What is your Tav’s favourite childhood memory? What circumstances led to your Tav becoming their Class/Subclass? They were trained as a warrior from the time they could hold anything like a weapon, but the Eldritch Knight choice was because of their fascination with magic.

Did your Tav have any romantic and/or sexual relationships prior to their illithid adventure? If yes, who was it with and what was it like? If no, how did they feel about being single? No. They were never interested in any of that. That's the one thing about their past life they don't regret.

What was your Tav doing when they were taken by the mind flayers? Hunting a mind flayer, ironically. It failed... rather spectacularly.

What would your Tav consider to be their greatest skill? Is this accurate? Yezka'al is aware that taking things apart with a very large sword is their greatest skill. They also think they're pretty good with the spells they've learned, but that's not accurate. The sword thing is. (They also think they're a decent diplomat. Not true. They just happen to know proper Githyanki etiquette which doesn't exactly translate well to most cultures.)

What would your Tav consider to be their greatest flaw? Is this accurate? They are, at this point, keenly aware that their judgment is in question and they made a lot of truly fucked choices.

What opinion does your Tav have about the Gods? Fairly neutral. They exist. Some of them are reasonable to worship. Some of them aren't. One of their friends is a god now, so I guess there's that.

How does your Tav feel about the wilderness? It's... interesting. Different. Often uncomfortable and dirty. It lacks the austere majesty of the astral sea.

How does your Tav feel about the city? So many people, so many smells. Actually worse than the wilderness.

What motivates your Tav to either embrace or resist the tadpole? Yezka'al did great at resisting the tadpoles because obviously they didn't want anything to do with illithid anything until they met Vlaakith and learned what was going on in the astral prism, at which point (after killing as few people as possible on the way out of the creche) they found a nice hole and binged on tadpoles. It was one of those bad decisions they made.

How does your Tav feel about killing? Killing is what they do best. It is a necessity. It's just... killing. They don't see it as anything special in particular.

How good of a liar is your Tav? How do they feel about lying? They are not a good liar, and usually don't bother. Generally they equate lying with cowardice and cowardice is the worst character flaw one can have, to them.

What is your Tav’s greatest fear? Ironically, becoming a mind flayer.

What is your Tav’s greatest desire? It was once to serve Vlaakith as well as possible and rise to the highest position in her court they could, but now they're completely focused on overthrowing Vlaakith and serving Orpheus instead.

What is your Tav’s greatest regret? It's hard to say, because they made a lot of bad decisions. Helping that one guy kidnap Isobel in the Last Light to try to infiltrate Moonrise Towers and then giving up on the infiltration angle anyway has got to be up there. Then there's helping that vampire rogue they took along to pick locks ascend but realizing that was a bad idea and immediately killing him. Or killing Kagha in the grove because obviously someone needed to and accidentally starting a massacre. Or... well, you get the idea. Lots to choose from.

How does your Tav feel about love? It's better to have friends. They just Do Not Get It.

Has your Tav become particularly close to anyone romantically and/or platonically in their journey? If so, who, and what is the relationship like? If no, why not? They're very good friends with Lae'zel, considering her almost like family at this point (specifically, like a younger sister who is sometimes annoying, but mostly great). Shadowheart is their best friend other than that.

What are 2-3 songs that your Tav would relate to? Uh... let's see. Veteran of the Psychic Wars - Blue Oyster Cult; Rebellion in Dreamland - Gamma Ray; When Legends Rise - Godsmack

What first impression does your Tav give off to strangers? They try to avoid being seen by strangers now, since it would be 'agh illithid', but before that they were fairly intimidating already.

How does your Tav feel about what others think of them? They really don't care. Or so they tell themself. In fact, they do care about what a few people think; mostly their chosen leader (Orpheus, now) and the handful of people they actually care about enough (Lae'zel, Shadowheart, maybe Gale).

Does your Tav have a treasured item with them? If yes, what is it and why is it special? If no, how do they feel about item sentimentality in general? They treasure their silver sword. It's a symbol both of what they had striven for their whole life and the new world they seek to build. Holding it now reminds them that they are still, somehow and to some extent, Githyanki.

How does your Tav feel about giving and receiving orders? They'll take orders from a very few people, and are completely comfortable giving orders. They expect to lead.

How well does your Tav function under pressure? Yezka'al would still tell themself that they function well under pressure, of course they do, but they really don't. Thus all the messed up choices they made.

What advice would you give to your Tav? Most of the advice would only be useful in retrospect, such as "hey, if you actually don't kill Karlach you might not have to become an illithid eventually!". After what they've done... well, they're making the best of it they can now.

What are your Tav’s intentions/goals after the end of the game? Yezka'al's sole focus now is to see Vlaakith defeated and Orpheus enthroned with their people free. After that is done - earlier if they start to slip and become unrecognizably themself, wholly illithid - they have asked Lae'zel to kill them.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #character ask #githyanki #bg3 oc #bg3 tav #bg3 spoilers

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red-dragon-archfiend · 3 years

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Sometimes I have multiple ideas for one class when really I should just figure out what I would do if I had ONE character for each class

#musings #dungeons and dragons #realistically speaking i'm going to prioritize trying new classes over playing the same one in a slightly different way #i have a bunch of ideas for fighters but do i really think i would have enough opportunities to play new characters to play fighter twice #so instead of making several ideas i should boil most of them down into one character with all my favorite parts #the 'bandit king' idea is the only one i feel can't really be combined with the others neatly because it's so different in feel #and the character in question has too much pronounced personality for it to feel natural to alter her significantly #so what i'd probably end up doing is a dragonborn eldritch knight to play with the new ua #because eldritch knight is the subclass i'm most interested in #at first i considered fire genasi before i realized i really just wanted fire bolt and the fire genasi features are underpowered #then i wanted to try high elf for perception and the extra cantrip #but that may feel too similar to my cleric who is a high elf for those same reasons #the new ua dragonborns are the first lineage i looked at and really wanted to play a fighter with #so i may do that?

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cranesofibycus · 4 years

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So I've yet to play any wizard or paladin so I was wondering what thoughts you may have had mechanically how Eodwulf could work.

Rn I have an idea of specifically a Swordsinger for the wizard subclass. As for the oath... I think Conquest and Vengeance actually fit best. Like my first thought was Crown but I don't think that fits with the raven queen at all.

There can be paladin not related to a deity yeah but I don't think that his shtick so I think Vengeance or Conquest is more likely. Especially looking at the features. Maybe the Treachery UA but I think the first too fit better in the confine of a Raven Queen connection. I'm curious what you think tho I'm trying to figure it out for writing something

I sent the last Eodwulf mechanics/class theory based ask. But I was just reminded of Thurgy wizards in UA. So now I'm just like hmm. I wonder if he's actually an Eldritch Knight/Thurgy wizard?? Swashbuckler rogue maybe that has charisma involved

All very interesting musings! My first thought was that he was an Abjuration/Oath of the Watchers Wizard/Paladin. I can’t really see any of Trent’s students not having any levels in wizard, though it’s entirely possible that Eodwulf and Astrid have only a few levels and then specialized in different areas early on.

Oath of the Watchers was my initial thought mostly because of the bodyguard-vibes I’ve gotten off of Eodwulf in the last episode (and even more so at the Vergessen Sanatorium, where he said two words the whole time and was basically just there as back-up for Trent). The spells that come with the Watchers oath are all meant to protect and shield from unwanted magic and monsters, which feels like a good fit for a Scourger of the Empire - especially one who might’ve been trained to protect Ikithon. I don’t quite see how the Oath of the Watchers goes with the Raven Queen, but then again most Oaths are more about mechanics and moral principles than about specific deities.

I’m not sure Vengeance would fit with Eodwulf, but I love the idea of him being a Conquest paladin. The Conquering Presence feature of the Conquest Oath would fit him really well.

As far as wizard subclasses go, again, my gut instinct was Abjuration for the added protection for Trent. The way Eodwulf has been shown and described just screams “bodyguard” to me, so Trent may have been eager to train Eodwulf more specifically in that direction. But now that you mentioned Theurgy... that would be the bomb. And now all I can think is: WHAT IF HE CHOSE THE GRAVE DOMAIN JUST LIKE CADUCEUS? Which would go really well with the Raven Queen and would make his interest in Caduceus (who is a Grave Domain Cleric) even more interesting.

Okay, yes. I love that idea. Theurgy(Grave Domain) Wizard / Oath of the Watchers Paladin. If this is actually what Matt did with Eodwulf... man, how extra.

#cr spoilers #critical role #dnd #eodwulf #Anonymous #b answers

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utilitycaster · 2 years

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A wholly speculative discussion of all classes and if Travis's new character should be that class

I have zero answers and anyone who thinks they do is lying to you, but I do think this is an interesting opportunity; even if Travis had some sort of character in mind there's some wiggle room after seeing the rest of the party to fill in the gaps (much as Taliesin was able to do last campaign). Also, mechanics are fun.

Artificer: this is very good for several reasons. First, the party could use an intelligence-based class as well as someone that can cast identify more than once per day, and having extra healers doesn't hurt. Second, operating under the (valid) assumption that Dorian's presence is temporary, this helps maintain the tankline. Third, I just think Travis should be allowed to make his own cursed sword.

Bard: A relatively high-int bard would be pretty good, what with the multiple proficiencies/buffing and healing options, again assuming Dorian's presence is temporary (and any brief overlap will be very fun). The party is doing pretty well on charisma this time around, Ashton notwithstanding, though, and this campaign is an opportunity to step back from the face role.

Barbarian: There already is a very good one in the party and Travis has already played this class; no real need.

Bloodhunter: not going to lie, I'm not terribly into the class, but it is now intelligence based which, again, good opportunity to fill that gap and also tank and do some fun debuffs, so not bad.

Cleric: I would absolutely love to see this but I cannot imagine Matt accepting a two-cleric party again.

Druid: This is actually not a bad call and less likely to be nixed than cleric, because druids are less solely healing focused and Fearne in particular hasn't leaned in heavily to that role. It also permits you to dump most of your physical stats if you really want.

Fighter: I think this would be extremely funny, but also in all seriousness, an eldritch knight specifically seems extremely up Travis's alley and doubles as a great way to balance the group. Plus, once again, he gets the ability to summon a weapon, and I think that's a good call.

Monk: I like monks, and some of the subclasses do have great abilities (way of mercy stands out for me) but it's not really an area this party needs; everyone other than FCG has a pretty good dex score. It's not bad, and I'll admit some of my hesitancy towards it is all the condescending and shitty predictions earlier from condescending and shitty people; I just think there are better options.

Paladin: Been there, done that, much as I enjoy the idea of paladin from the start. I wouldn't be mad at it but I don't see it likely to happen.

Ranger: I am actually quite here for it; the newer ranger subclasses are far more powerful with all kinds of weird subclass abilities, and I think the high utility (ranged to melee; some healing and useful casting; helpful skills and class abilities) would be a good fit for this group which does seem to skew towards city mice.

Rogue: My general distaste for rogues aside, it does in fact fill the intelligence/skill niches admirably if he picks a good subclass. I'm just not sure "you can attack once and dash/disengage/hide" will be interesting mechanically for the erstwhile Fjord player.

Sorcerer: we already have two, this would just be weird.

Warlock: see Barbarian.

Wizard: while this is a very caster-heavy party, and Laudna and Imogen specifically are very glass cannon casters, this really would fill the intelligence niche and expand the spell list in a great way. Travis is also on the short list of "people who could sell me hard on Bladesinger."

#critical role #critical role spoilers #the list is: travis willingham. anyone in the naddpod cast including murph. lou wilson. i go back and forth on taliesin and ashley.#(and matt and brennan in their rare appearances as players but it doesn't seem brennan's style.)#i'm also inclined to say jasper cartwright would pull it off.

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