#some sort of caster but not charisma and not a wizard.
Mystery Inc as a DnD Party
I figured as long as we're still in the vicinity of spooky season, I'd build everyone's favorite gang of teenage mystery solvers as a collective unit. Pulling from their group dynamic to come up with a party roster that will give everyone in the party a designated role.
FRED JONES
PALADIN || OATH OF THE CROWN
INVESTIGATOR BACKGROUND
Skills: Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion
Freddie is the dimwitted but lovable himbo leader of the team. He's also the muscle, except in moments of athletic skill, when he's outshined by Daphne. His backstory isn't always consistent, but he's usually a jock of some sort. He's not usually all that book smart, but he has a good heart, and inspires his team to success. Paladins who swear an Oath to the Crown hold law and justice above all else, and Fred usually enjoys catching the bad guys and seeing justice served.
DAPHNE BLAKE
BARD || COLLEGE OF LORE
NOBLE BACKGROUND
Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Performance
As surprising a choice as this might seem, Bard is actually a very appropriate choice for Daphne. Modern Daphne is the most supportive and emotionally intelligent member of the group. From What’s New Scooby-Doo? to Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, Daphne has become the emotional powerhouse of the group. Sensing when her friends are off their game, and offering sage advice to her friends when they need it. She’s also become a very creative girl, skilled in singing, dancing, fashion, design, and more. She’s grown to be the group’s resident skill monkey, almost on par with Velma’s uncanny encyclopedic knowledge on all brainy subjects. If a lock needs picking or the gang needs to get out of a trap, you can count on Daphne to have a nail file, bobby pin, or something else on her person to save the day. She's typically also the face of the group when it's not Fred, meaning she's going to want high Dexterity and Charisma. I chose Lore because Daphne is a reporter in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and this is the only real career she's ever had. A lore bard is basically a more magical reporter, and singing the tale of her group's mysterious endeavors.
VELMA DINKLEY
ARTIFICER || ARTILLERIST
SAGE BACKGROUND
Skills: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature
Velma was the most debatable one for me, as she could be a wizard or an artificer. And I was really leaning toward Wizard, but I had to stay true to Velma's character. She's been a tinkerer and a gadgeteer for a long time now. Velma is absolutely fascinated by robotics. But while Velma in our world can handwave superstitious nonsense, in a world with gods, demons, and real ghosts, I could absolutely see Velma using her knowledge to become a powerful wizard. I even considered the Knowledge Domain Cleric because it's basically designed to be a magical detective, and if Velma was going to worship a deity, it'd be a god of knowledge and reading. Ultimately, I did choose Artificer as it was more in-line with her base character as a skeptic and a scientist, but she would work as a Wizard. Plus, as is, Daphne is the only full-caster in the party.
NORVILLE "SHAGGY" ROGERS
RANGER || CONCLAVE OF THE BEAST MASTER
GUILD ARTISAN BACKGROUND || COOKS & BAKERS
Skills: Animal Handling, Investigation, Stealth, Survival
No surprises here, Shaggy and Scooby are a bonded pair, and the two were going to be joined to each other one way or another. Scooby is technically a Beast of the Land, and there's no Great Dane stat block, so call him a Mastiff if you need to. You can't really build Scooby by himself per se. There's no dog race unless you go Custom Lineage or something, and even then, I'd struggle to assign Scooby a class as he's mostly an animal sidekick. Make sure Shaggy picks up Cooks Untensils and proficiency with them so he can become the party's designated camp chef.
Ultimately, I'm happy with how the team turned out. Fred's the tanky and bulky frontliner, Velma can use her robotics to help solve mysteries, Daphne is the face on top of having so many skills, and Shaggy works with Scooby. Inadvertently, they're also all classes with access to healing spells. So, while I suspect Daphne being the sole full caster will probably assume primary role of group healer, everyone is capable of healing each other up. Making this a great group of supportive friends taking care of each other.
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thinking about Dak'kon in Planescape Torment (initially because Lae'zel's popularity in Baldur's Gate 3 has me thinking about how the contrast between her and Dak'kon is a pretty good description of how thier respective peoples have diverged and also why they hate each other so much) and specifically his statline in how that nicely corrosponds to his own personal conflicts
Dak'kon is a zerth, a sort of warrior monk that practices martial skill and magical ability and serve as guardians of the githzerai cities, and due to a partially manufactured crisis of faith, he no longer truly has certainty in anything; not in the teachings of his faith, and not in himself. This is reflected in him being the only multi-class character in the game in a traditional sense; he is a fighter/mage, leveling up one after the other.
Dak'kon's stat layout is, after he is fully upgraded: Strength 18, Dexterity 18, Constituion 18, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 13, and Charisma 13. On the one hand he has high stats across the board; mechanically, he's both a capable spell-slinger that can act in support or as a combat caster, and he's a frontline tank. In what is most likely intended to be the canon-ish playthrough, he is the ONLY front-line damage dealer in a traditional sense. He can hit like a truck, once you add him to your party he is likely to be your main damage dealer, and he's just very strong across the board. This is an excellent stat line... for a fighter.
But he is also a mage, and for this, his intelligence isn't AWFUL (in fact, he's significantly more intelligent than an ordinary person would be, which is also reflected in interactions) but its not as high as would be ideal for a more specialized mage. His intelligence is significantly lower than it should be for anyone that is taking any kind of levels in wizard (and Torment's mage class is very much a wizard); his spell slots are notably less numerous, and he's most likely to be a fighter with some casting capability.
This reflects his in-game story. Dak'kon's crisis of faith was exacerbated by a holy writ of sorts that takes the form of a complex puzzle, and one of the accounts is of how Zerthimon, the prophet revered by Dak'kon's people, deceived his illithid masters by pretending to submit to them. Dak'kon has his doubts because another such teaching concerns a traitor, and then what he assumes to be the final teaching is of Zerthimon's conflict with Gith, founder-queen of the githyanki, when their peoples split. Dak'kon has come to fear that Zerthimon gave in and became a slave to their illithid captors, which was why he divided their people at the eve of victory, and if you ask him about this, he gives one of the VERY FEW impassioned and furious speeches he makes in the game, when normally he is very calm and detached.
If you have a high intelligence and wisdom scores (significantly higher than Dak'kon's, in fact) you can puzzle out more combinations to the teachings and unlock further ones Dak'kon had not found; these provide him an answer to his crisis of faith and ease his soul; Zerthimon did not give in to the illithids, but he recognized that should his people follow the path of war and conquer all that might threaten them, they would lose who they are. But the mechanical bit is that Dak'kons stats are too low to do so; he has no idea these teachings exist at all.
Furthermore, to recruit Dak'kon at all, you must speak to him on philosophy; its not difficult to have a fairly high Wisdom and Intelligent stat combination to pass this without much trouble, and this further indicates how his statline is a bit sub-par for someone in his line of work. He expresses some profound philosophical attitudes and says them well, but he's hard pressed to defend them when you poke holes in them, and he just gloomily concedes. Part of this is that, again, he IS having a crisis of faith and he has difficulty reconciling these problems to other people.
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I have been seized by a question and need input from someone for whom Xue Yang occupies the spot of blorbo prime. What do you think would be his DND class?
first of all really enjoying "blorbo prime" and I'm adopting that into my vocabulary.
so I've been thinking about this the past couple days and have come to no definite conclusion but have some Thoughts about it, as follows.
initially my immediate thought was rogue because, you know, misbehavior and lawbreaking and such, but then I decided no, stealth is not Xue Yang's strong point, actually, he's not actually that sneaky. though I feel like if he played a DnD character he might choose rogue for his character's class. I can still see it, but also then I was thinking - what about classes that focus more on magic? I feel like Xue Yang could be a caster of some kind, which took me to wizard, sorcerer, and warlock. the arguments for each go something like:
wizard: casting relies on intelligence, and one of Xue Yang's strongest assets is his intelligence. he's clever! he's got drive and grit and the hunger for (forbidden) knowledge. he could be specced as a wizard with high constitution, too, because I feel like whatever class he is he needs to have high constitution. boy is durable, and I do love a wizard tank. also this is magic as learned rather than innate, which makes sense to me.
sorcerer: specifically a wild magic sorcerer for the volatility/unpredictability, and I like the idea of Xue Yang with inborn magic that he has to learn how to control on his own; it actually vibes very nicely with some of my headcanons about how he came to demonic cultivation initially. I also feel like while at first blush a high charisma/casting as charisma based might not seem apropos, there are ways in which Xue Yang is charismatic, and charisma in the sense of, like, force of will certainly applies to him.
warlock: the obvious here is that Xue Yang would make a pact with a being of dubious motives for power. so like, there's that, right there. his powers having an external source and being sort of the inverse of a cleric's also feels appropriate to me. and you do again have the charisma focus, which doesn't compel me quite as much as the intelligence focus but still has merit.
I mean, there's always multiclassing too, but ultimately I think I like wild magic sorcerer for him. but I'm not married to it; I think any of the above options could work. I feel like you could make interesting arguments for some others, but I don't think cleric works for him (the kind of pact of a warlock feels more like something he'd go for than a bond with a god).
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Ability Scores in 5e & Other RPGs
This little rant is inspired by a post by a blog named The Angry GM, titled "Your Ability Scores Suck" as well as a post titled "8 Abilities - 6, 3, or 4 Ability scores?" by DIY & dragons, because those two articles and my past few months of looking at various TTPRGs have led me to some insights into my own philosophy in how I like TTRPGs and how I feel about 5e's Ability Scores.
So let's look at how a couple of RPGs handle ability scores or their equivalents. Namely I'll look at D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, The Dark Eye (4th Edition Revised), CAIRN, and Pokémon. Yes, Pokémon is relevant to this. And it'll actually be the second game we'll discuss, but the first obviously has to be...
D&D 5th Edition
D&D famously has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. In most situations the exact ability score no longer is that important, however, since from 3e onwards d20-based checks have become the near-universal input you play D&D with. This means that instead the ability score modifier is key, which ranges from -4 to +5 for most player characters.
Now while these six scores might seem pretty equal, players have quickly figured out that certain ability scores are more desirable than others, unless you play specific classes.
Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom are for example the three most common saving throws. 109 out of the 361 spells in the Player's Handbook force a saving throw using one of these three ability scores, while Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma only have 24 spells. Thankfully every D&D class gives proficiency with two saving throws, one of the three major ones, and one of the lesser ones (and certain subclasses as well as the monk get more saving throw proficiencies, but that's besides the point).
Additionally, when it comes to skills, and thus out-of-combat usefulness, Strength only has one skill tied to it by default (Athletics), while Constitution has none. Charisma has four skills to its name, Dexterity three, and both Intelligence and Wisdom have five.
Now the DIY & dragons article mentions that there are effectively three axes you have to cover with your ability scores: physical vs mental, force vs grace, and attack vs defense. That leads to eight abilities total. In 5e, using what we know about the game, we can make some great deductions.
For one, Strength is almost exclusively concerned with physical force attack, while Constitution nearly exclusively covers physical force defense. Dexterity meanwhile fully covers physical grace attack, as well as physical grace defense, since it affects AC and is used for Stealth, as well covering evasion-type saving throws. Dexterity is incredibly powerful in 5e, arguably the most powerful ability score.
On the mental stat side, the lines are less clear. All three ability scores can be used for offence, though Intelligence, being the casting ability score of only wizards and the generally utility-based artificers is the least offensive of the three. Still, its association with wizards means it probably is best associated with force, because fireball. Charisma easily can be sorted into grace and is mostly offensive, and Wisdom straddles the line between force and grace, but is also both clearly offensive and defensive.
As you can see, Intelligence & Wisdom & Charisma are rather ill-defined, a point also made by the The Angry GM article, but mechanically Wisdom is universally useful, while Charisma is either super important (because you're playing either a Charisma caster or a face-type non-caster, such as a rogue), or can easily be sidelined/dumped. In fact a lot of tables seem to disregard or minimize Charisma when it comes to roleplay, my tables have definitely done that. Mostly because you don't want to have players not participating in roleplay encounters because they don't have at least a +2 in Charisma and several skill proficiencies in that area.
Speaking of proficiencies, for skills the maximum you can add is +6 or +12 if you have expertise, while with saving throws the maximum proficiency bonus is +6, so with saving throws in particular, a +5 for a saving throw from that relevant abilty score is a massive defensive boon, though it's often less relevant for skill checks.
This knowledge, as well as the known issues with Intelligence-based skill checks often being seen as gate-keeping plot relevant information, leads to the realization that Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma are the three most frequent "dump stats", with the latter two in particular often having implications in out-of-combat situations, while Strength is a "safe" choice for full spellcasters.
Now let's think about how other games handle this... Let's begin, as I threatened in the beginning, with...
Pokémon
Pokémon famously uses six so-called base stats for its collectible creatures: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Using the system described by DIY & dragons, Attack and Defense clearly map onto the physical, and Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense clearly onto the mental. There is no distinction made between grace and force. HP is a universally defensive stat, and Speed is both offensive and defensive.
Naturally, Pokémon doesn't involve dice rolls. These stats are used for formulas and comparisons. But you can already see that Pokémon, at least since Special got split into Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense starting in Gold & Silver, has a clear division of these stats, with it being clear what they do.
Now due to the mechanics and the goals of Pokémon, an individual character (read: the actual Pokémon) doesn't need to have balanced stats. Largely also because these stats only affect combat, the main mechanic of these games. Any out-of-combat activity present in Pokémon games in fact uses distinct stats, completely distinct from the base stats of the Pokémon. These can then be discarded/put into the background when that out-of-combat activity, such as Pokémon Contests, is removed from subsequent releases.
Now let's look at a D&D-related game that has a different approach to ability scores, because it provides a stepping stone to look at different RPGs...
Pathfinder 2nd Edition (Pre-2023 Revision)
Pathfinder, being a game spun out off the 3rd Edition of D&D, also uses the six ability scores that D&D uses: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Just like with 5e, Pathfinder associates certain skills with certain ability scores, and just like 5e, Strength and Constitution are connected to only one and no skills respectively.
Still, that's just part of the bigger picture. Pathfinder 2e, just like D&D 3e, doesn't use ability scores as saving throws. Rather it uses three distinct saving throws that are tied to ability scores. Those saving throws are Fortitude (Constitution), Reflex (Dexterity), and Will (Wisdom). These are, for the keen-eyed, the same ability scores that are the primary saving throws in 5e. This means that defenses are covered exclusively by these three ability scores, and of these Constitution remains purely defensive, while Dexterity and Wisdom also have offensive capabilities. Still, the offensive power of Dexterity is lowered because in general it cannot be used to increase your weapon damage, contrary to how 5e does it.
It should also be noted that both when it comes to skills and saving throws, the calculations for rolls are very different than in 5e! If you are proficient with a skill or saving throw, you add both a bonus equal to your degree of proficiency (from +2 to +8), as well as your character's level, to the roll, in addition to your ability score modifier. This leads to massive bonuses, especially since magical effects can be added to that, too. Of course Pathfinder uses a sliding scale to determine difficulty classes and has a degrees of success system, but with that knowledge, the -4 to +5 you add to your rolls will matter less than 5e's ability score modifiers do. In general, as long as the modifier is at least a +1, it's fine.
This has actually led to Wisdom being considered a dump stat for many Pathfinder players, and that especially applies when playing with one alternate rule that I want to highlight.
In the Gamemastery Guide, the Alternative Scores variant rule splits Dexterity into Dexterity and Agility, merges Strength and Constitution, and makes Charisma rather than Wisdom the relevant ability for Will saving throws. That variant rule acknowledges the power of Dexterity and the relative weaknesses of Strength and Constitution, but somehow strengthens Charisma further. I don't have any numbers or insight on how popular this alternate rule is, but given what I know about Pathfinder 2e character optimizers, I wouldn't adopt the change to Will saves if I were to run this variant rule myself.
Still, the knowledge of these three saving throws puts us nicely into the realm of indie RPGs, which have really run with this. So let's look at one as an example.
Cairn
This lovely little game written by Yochai Gal has been a well-supported indie darling and is currently in a playtest for a 2nd edition.
Cairn uses three ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower. It also uses a d20 roll under system, contrary to 5e and Pathfinder. This means that you aim to roll below your ability score, rather than adding a number to a d20 roll and seeing if you can meet the difficulty class threshold.
They are also, in combat, mostly defensive. Strength in combat mostly concerns surviving blows. Dexterity is used to determine if you move before the enemies and for escaping combat. Both Strength and Dexterity can be used for saving throws against certain spells. In combat Willpower is necessary to cast spells without suffering penalties.
Offensively none of the three ability scores are that important. They don't add to damage, they aren't important for making attacks, or anything of the sorts. Spellcasting outside of dangerous situations usually doesn't involve die rolls either.
This makes the three ability scores very balanced, but it also gives them comparatively little meaning. They are your protection from harm. Including out of combat. But Cairn doesn't know skill checks whose failure state isn't "nothing happens". If player characters have no pressure, they succeed. Especially if they have useful equipment for it.
Using the DIY & dragons blog post as reference, Strength only represents physical force defense, Dexterity only represents physical grace defense, and Willpower represents mental grace and force defense.
So, let's look at a different roll-under system, one that might provide additional inspiration for game designers...
The Dark Eye (4th Edition, revised)
The German TTRPG The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) is old, almost as old as D&D, and in its design its often as an antithesis for D&D. It's incredibly math-y, has a generally less heroic (but also categorically "good") playstyle, and is a class-less (kinda), level-less system. To ensure I know what I'm talking about, I'll focus on the 4th edition, which has by now been superceded by its own 5th edition, because that's the one edition of it I actually played.
DSA (its German acronym which I will use for brevity's sake) uses eight attribute (!) scores:
Courage, Cleverness, Intuition, Charisma, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution, and Strength.
Each of these eight attribute scores affects the character directly. Heroes have base values (melee attack, ranged attack, parry, initiative) that are calculated by adding together set combinations of attribute scores and dividing the sum, most often by 5, to determine those base values. For brevity's sake, let's look at two of these base values: attack and parry. Attack is calculated with Courage + Agility + Strength, while parry is calculated using Intuition + Dexterity + Strength. Both use two "physical" attributes and one "mental" attribute.
Similar rules also apply to calculating how much your character can withstand, be it through their general vitality (which is equivalent to hit points), their endurance (mostly used as a resource for athletic feats), and their wound limit, all of which can be used to defeat characters. Even the amount of astral points, the spellcasting resource, is calculated using your attribute scores. Every attribute is used at least once when calculating these eight values, with only Cleverness, Charisma, and Dexterity being used only for one of these eight fundamental character traits, with Charisma being the least important, because it is only used to calculate astral energy points, which are irrelevant for characters that don't know spells.
Furthermore skill checks in DSA are made by rolling three attribute checks in a row and then using skill points to modify the results if necessary. Skills use either three distinct attribute scores (e.g. Cooking, which requires Cleverness & Intuition & Dexterity), or two attribute scores (with one being used twice, e.g. Perception requires one Cleverness check and two Intuition checks). Simple attribute checks where you use only one attribute are rare, with heavy lifting often being the key example for it. There are also loads of skills in DSA, with the character sheet per default having twenty four skills, with more being common on most characters.
As you can hopefully see, all eight ability scores are used very often and impact your character greatly. They are furthermore more clearly delineated than the D&D standard, however they also don't map onto the DIY & dragons parameters for ability scores, despite having eight of them!
Conclusion
What can we learn from this? Well, honestly, draw your own conclusions. The six ability scores of D&D and Pathfinder are not the "be-all and end-all", that's for sure. You really need to think about what your game wants to do.
Is it just combat-focused? Then all ability scores should matter in combat and to (roughly) the same degree!
Does your game consist of multiple gameplay elements? If yes, then they should all be accessible and fun for players even if their base stats are "bad" in one aspect, while still allowing for specialization of player characters.
Generally, there is no "one size fits all" solution, and this rant hasn't even gone into ambiguity between different terms, the implications of specific terms and associated thresholds, or the exact history of ability scores in D&D before 3rd Edition!
Anyway, I hope this was legible, fun and informative.
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@roccondil asked about my pf character based on this art and ofc I will take any excuse to talk about ocs at the slightest prompting, but beneath the cut because I know it'll be rambly (of course it will be, I'M the one writing it and I write on this site in the same long-winded excitable manner I speak. There's GOTTA be tangents, I cannot stay on a single thought)
OKAY SO apologies in advance this is long + turns a little personal abt my own feelings on romance at the end
I won't go into the whole campaign plot bc that would take forever, but it's a pathfinder 2e campaign in a homebrew setting. The game takes place in a wintry country near the northern pole, it is an elven nation and largely made up of magic users, everyone is lowkey snooty and Very Serious, except on the politically&religiously approved festivals when shit gets wild. The basic premise is heavy on the political intrigue and assassinations.
My character - Periklea Alkmeonidae - is a wizard grad student, essentially. She's an elf, but only 74, so by societal standards quite young, and is in many respects a 'young scrappy hungry' upstart. She's not nobility, but from a decently well respected family of scholars, her brother Alkibiades is several decades older, always showing her up, and some sort of up and coming politician.
Periklea attended the Fancy Wizard University in the capital and specialized in illusion magic (utility caster for an intrigue themed campaign!) and her research is in the magic & gods of the previous age [there was a world shattering calamity, stuff happened with the gods, etc etc, this was way way way way before the campaign, she's basically a magic archaeologist]. After her time at the academy she became apprenticed to one of the top mages in the country - Lyrian - however, Lyrian is a bit of a bitch. She's selfish, and ruthless, and is a little cutthroat and perhaps unethical in her attempts to gain political & academic power. That's fine, because that suited Periklea perfectly - she is also less scrupulous in her attempts to gain academic prestige and renown. She's not /evil/ just true-neutral selfish and has a one-track mind on her own ambitions. She also has a raven familiar named Diomedes but that's not relevant to the romance.
When the campaign starts, Periklea's been sent to work with a senate member trying to reform the fucked up govt in the country, not because she has good intentions, but because Lyrian told her to + it'll help her gain hard to get research access to a restricted site if she has the favour of some high-ranking politicians. This is how the whole party gets involved with each other, except most of them are good-aligned to some degree or another.
A whole political assassination plot (possibly involving an evil Alkmeonidae ancestor??) happens, and I'll spare you all the details, but in the course of trying to solve this mystery (and for Periklea to further her own aims) she attempts to make connections with a prominent senator, Count Vyllsen. She's never met the count before, for all her ambition, she's a /scholar/ not a politician, and despite having a decent charisma score, she's absolutely awkward when it comes to manoeuvring outside of academia - she can handle the academic manipulations with ease, but non-academics?? Yikes.
So to get in with Vyllsen she calls on an acquaintance of hers from her academy days - Illdaria. Illdaria is a 'wizard-jock' - pathfinder's magus class - where Periklea is a vanilla wizard nerd, Illdaria specialized in magus training. They were classmates, but Periklea never really considered her a 'friend', an acquaintance and a colleague at most, however, she kept contact with Illdaria because she could be useful politically - Illdaria is Vyllsen's niece, and has connections to the nobles of the neighbouring empire - her half-brother is the emperor and her father a duke, but due to her nebulous heritage this is kept somewhat on the down-low.
As one can imagine, Periklea had no qualms about using Illdaria's friendship to arrange a meeting with Vyllsen. Illdaria finds out the truth, is DEEPLY upset, and Periklea has to deal with feeling guilty - it's her first emotion in nearly a decade - Rose's character Katya is appalled to find out Periklea's only emotion is usually ambition.
The party keeps running into Illdaria throughout the campaign, because she's part of a significant noble family that's plot-relevant and every time Periklea is like....oh God The Guilt. At one point she decides she's going to try to do something /good/ and /selfless/ for once, and in her research she finds a bunch of stuff related to Illdaria's family history + Illdaria's area of research - Periklea gives this to her as an apology and makes it clear that it's a gift with no strings attached, she's not looking for any political gain from this gift. She also offers some of her research notes & to commit library crimes by breaking in to the restricted section together. It's a very stilted awkward apology, and Illdaria (rightly) is like....hm maybe you should try to be a better person 'you really ought to think... do you REALLY want to be like Lyrian? Is that what you REALLY want in life?'... Periklea has an existential crisis upon realizing that Illdaria has genuinely considered her a friend THIS WHOLE TIME. And perhaps even sadder, Illdaria is the closest thing Periklea HAS to a friend, she just never realized it til now.
Tons more plot stuff happens, at one point they have to go to a masquerade to try to gather intel on a related govt conspiracy + they're also now doubling as vigilantes at night. ANYWAY at the ball, Rose, out of character, suggests Periklea go talk and dance with Illdaria since she's been really trying to be a better person and Periklea isn't great at the political schmoozing anyway. I think to myself, sure why not, and so I do.
Now, at the beginning of the campaign, I thought it would be funny to take a voluntary penalty to strength, I'm a utility caster, surely how often will I ever need athletics as a skill. WELL..... in trying to get across the crowded ballroom, my extremely awkward wizard trips and falls flat on her face and loses her glasses, cue a Velma from Scooby-Doo type situation, except lo and behold who scoops up Periklea's glasses and comes to her rescue? Why of course her dashing wizard-knight, Illdaria. They have their little meet-cute (even though they've known each other for years) and they talk and have a heart to heart. Periklea fumbles both the dancing and talking - trying to be genuine and truthful for once does NOT come easily - but apparently it's charming enough for Illdaria, who likes this new, earnest Periklea.
I /FRAN/ am not a smooth person, and a terrible flirt because I mean everything So Much and have no emotional restraint, but I managed one real smooth line about how we can sneak Illdaria away from her overbearing uncle because I'm an illusion wizard, clearly offering spell slots is a sign of love. To paraphrase Rose about the GM (her fiance), 'he's a Straight Man but very good at playing charming lesbian npcs'. (Apparently this has happened in previous campaigns lmao)
It is all VERY sweet and VERY Top Tier Romance To Me. I didn't go into the campaign with any notions of Periklea's romantic inclinations* so this kinda just crept up on both me AND her**, but it's SO SOFT??? Like peak romance is hand holding, awkward blustering flirting, exchanging wizard notes, and going to the festival. They have a festival date which will SURELY be interrupted by plot-relevant murder attempts, but like.....THE ROMANCE OF IT ALL. Wizard romance for the win.
Like. Maybe I'm Just Realizing Things About Myself, but I crave that romantic intimacy with the intensity of a thousand suns, but not really the carnal aspects? Don't get me wrong, I would like that, but it's a lesser concern, only one sun intensity, and besides there's the whole Catholic Guilt thing and my aversion to physically having children bc of various mental things. PURE ROMANCE on the other hand??? The tenderness of it all??? THE TRUST AND FORGIVENESS ??? THE COMMITMENT AND SOFTNESS AND TENDER TOUCH?? I am maybe obsessed with lavender marriages and romantic friendships and qprs and all other hard-to-define relationships for said reason. I'm insane about die in my arms mutual lifelong devotion <- to no one's surprise says the person who is literally always blogging about yearning and devotion. Greatest desire of my heart!! Maybe!!!
As a teen I was never the 'lying in bed with my feet kicked up doodling hearts in a notebook' type, but now, aged 27, in all ways except physical, I am absolutely doing that while thinking about these two. Deadass I added some heart doodles to my campaign notes for last session.
*Sebastian, my broken cleric from a Stahd campaign, had a very clearly defined bisexuality from the start. He was in a horrible awful space after betraying his previous party and becoming trapped in Barovia, and so he spent a LOT of years pre-campaign being an alcoholic and charlatan prelate and sleeping around - both for self-loathing guilt induced reasons, and because a little coin and a warm bed goes a long way in Barovia. I knew from the start I wanted him to have some sort of a recovery arc, and so when Strahd kept trying to trick Seb into betraying the party AGAIN and becoming one of his spawn-brides & Escher kept appearing and there were clear parallels between Seb and Escher....from there it was an easy jump to romance. I DID NOT plan the same for Periklea. Though I suppose if Seb was a manifestation of my depression, Periklea is my anxieties, and they're being handled differently by this co-creative narrative venture.
** Ironically, 'it crept up on me' is exactly me, aged 18, being like 'wow girls are cool too and I guess I'm bisexual???' I was suchhhhh a late bloomer and had had only a few crushes on guys, and only ever if we were friends, in highschool so it was like, oh okay this is just what it's like. Get to university, am studying abroad, have really small class sizes, have a few classes with this cool af girl, we spend a lot of our class travel time on long bus & train rides talking about lotr and medieval history and all sorts of things. And it was like an /oh/ moment of I could just curl up and lean on your shoulder and keep talking like this forever and hold hands and maybe sometimes kiss gently and that would be the happiest thing in my life. Also she had streaks of blue hair. And pronouns. Ofc.
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While I delight in making cool and outlandish characters in BG3, I do have one relatively "boring" character. No halfling bard with a side-shave and edgy piercings, this one—Alethra Emberfell is a human noble who escaped an arranged political marriage (with the help of her betrothed, who was actually a cool guy and didn't want anything to do with it, either) to run off and go adventuring. Disdainful of the current state of her house, she seeks to bring back some of the honor her name once signified: her great-great-great-grandfather and equally-great grandmother were adventurers themselves, and it was their heroism that earned them passage into the aristocracy... not the sort of political maneuvering and scheming that Alethra's parents, aunts, and uncles engage in.
Actually this is based on one of the earliest characters I made for Fifth Edition as a pen-and-paper creation, although I've never gotten around to, well, actually playing as her. She fights with a rapier and a whip, primarily, using the "Duelling" style. For ranged combat, she wields a bow... though she isn't averse to chucking a few daggers.
That said, Alethra's "build," as it were, is actually geared toward leveraging her aristocratic background into a strong talent for leadership and social savvy. Her Dexterity is 16 at level one, but so is her Charisma; her Intelligence and Wisdom are decent at 14 and 12, respectively, giving her a bit of an edge in insight, investigation, and other such things. Her Constitution is unremarkable at a flat 10 and Strength, being quite unnecessary for a noble lady (and also for a Dex Fighter), is her dump stat at 9.
(This is all point-buy and with the pen-and-paper game's rule where humans get +1 to everything because wow so adaptable. In BG3, her stats would follow a similar curve but aren't quite so flexible.)
At Level 3, Alethra turns these talents down the path of the Battle Master, with her first maneuvers being Commander's Strike, Maneuvering Attack, and Commanding Presence. The maneuvers she picks at subsequent level-ups adhere to this theme of social/leadership advantage on and off the battlefield: Tactical Assessment, Bait and Switch, Distracting Strike, and so on.
In terms of personality, Alethra is the type to at least attempt to draw her party members out of their shells, where applicable, and learn as much as she can about them. While honorable on the whole, Alethra is still willing to bend the law to do the right thing and would get along relatively well even with mischievous and roguish party members. She also has an interest in learning skills outside of fighting, and would be inclined to ask her party members to teach her the tricks of their trade while they travel. While her class build remains strongly focused on Fighter levels, what she learns of magic or other such things might manifest later in a campaign in her Feat choices. She might take Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate if she learns some magic from a wizard, for example, or might take Skilled and gain Sleight of Hand proficiency or proficiency with a musical instrument, if she makes friends with a rogue or a bard.
I'm quite fond of this character concept, and really do want to play as her in a tabletop campaign one of these days... but, alas, for now, I must content myself with Baldur's Gate III.
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what dnd class i think the stranger things characters are (not what they would play but literally what their characters are/would be in a fantasy setting):
robin: bard. i know she's got the intelligence stat of a wizard but i think she likes talking about her interests, collecting knowledge about a lot of diverse topics, and, obviously, playing the trumpet. she feels like a bard to me
eddie: also a bard. MAYBE a warlock. but like. bard. everything about him is theatrical
steve: i know paladin steve is not a new take but it's a good one and i definitely can't come up with anything better. maybe king steve steve is something else bc he didn't have anything to have an oath of? but overall he's a paladin
nancy: rogue�� good combat skills but with more subtlety and strategy, sort of like the rogue vibe that riz gukgak has going on in d20. but also gunslinger ofc
jonathan: honestly i'm kind of stumped for jonathan. maybe a cleric? then when he meets argyle and starts letting himself be someone outside of his ability to care for other people he multiclasses into something else. artificer maybe? i think i'm just imagining him with a fantasy camera lol
argyle: druid. idk if it seems too "druids are hippies" of me but it feels correct. and i feel like he would totally jump at the chance to wild shape
will: sorcerer. i know he plays a wizard but sorcerers are charisma casters and i think will's tapping into that what with being an artist and sort of connected to the upside down and overall an intuitive person
dustin: wizard. i think he might play a bard in the show but dustin LOVES books and knowing all the details of something come on. however i will allow for artificer dustin bc he loves inventing things
lucas: i'm a little uncertain about lucas but i'm thinking about paladin? idk if he's really the archetypal paladin but i feel like he just cares so much and so genuinely, it feels like a paladin trait. i think he might play a ranger in the show idk enough about rangers to interrogate that
mike: i do not feel super knowledgeable about mike. why do i feel like he might actually be a ranger? i could be totally bullshitting idk why i get that vibe
erica: i believe lady applejack is a rogue and i think honestly that applies to erica too. strong enough but also incredibly clever. for some reason tho my other thought is monk? that being said i think she somehow manages to learn vicious mockery whatever her class is
el: wild magic sorcerer!!! she's so powerful!!!!
max: i'm getting rogue vibes but my reasoning is just like...she's cool she's fast she's kind of angsty
hopper: fighter or barbarian probably
joyce: why do i feel like joyce is a paladin. i'm sure that logic doesn't hold up but she just. is so passionate about protecting her family. it feels right. also the idea that she could heal with lay on hands? a hug from joyce byers is literally healing? yeah
i'm really just spitballing i would love to hear what other people think bc this is very fun for me to imagine
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raven cycle dnd......... ok thinking. anyone got any class/race thoughts.
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THe Box of Shuffle Your Brain Cells
a cursed item that, when touched by a magic user, changes their spellcasting ability for 24 hours (eg a wizard becomes a charisma caster for a day)
the only way to remove the effect is to wait or to cast some sort of restoration/remove curse, but good luck trying to cast when suddenly your dump stat is your spellcasting ability modifier
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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."
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Miette, 5e
The only thing more entitled than adventurers is a cat. Give them a taste of their own medicine with Miette.
Miette acts, essentially, like a mimic, blending into an existing object. When a player attempts to interact with the object, however, an outraged Miette will turn out to have been part of, or the entirety of, the object. Miette is vaguely catlike, but will have odd protrusions and color schemes to assist her camouflage. Both Truesight and Detect Magic will reveal the presence of Miette beforehand, and interaction this way will typically find her to be in a good mood (DM’s choice, or 5-in-6 chance).
When Miette is outraged, however, she is quite unreasonable. Run her like a sphinx, or even a dryad, either forcing the players to solve a puzzle or riddle, or making unreasonable demands like leaving behind a player to stay with her for one thousand years. If the players fail the puzzles, or can’t talk their way out of the heavily biased deal, Miette may become hostile and attack. Solving the puzzle or coming to some sort of compromise has a 2-in-6 chance to put her in a good mood.
When Miette is in a good mood, she can purr, granting 2d8 health and the effects of a short rest on the party immediately. She is also happy to cast Bless or Protection from Lawful (See Below) on the party, if requested.
In combat, Miette fights smart and will attempt to use Hold Person on casters and ranged fighters to force melee fighters to activate her reaction. She will usually cast Protection from Lawful as soon as the party is nearby, and has a 3-in-6 chance to also cast Bless before combat begins.
Anyways, here’s the statblock:
Miette
Small fae, Chaotic Neutral
Armor Class: 18 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points: 72 (29d6-29)
Speed: 40ft, climb 30ft
STR: 8 (-1) DEX: 18 (+4) CON: 9 (-1) INT 16 (+3) WIS: 13 (+1) CHA: 15 (+2)
Saving Throws: Dex +7, Con +2, Wis +4
Skills: Acrobatics +7, Stealth +7, Perception +4, Deception +5
Damage Resistances: Non-magical piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning
Condition Immunities: Charmed, Restrained
Senses: Blindsight 5ft, Darkvision 60ft
Languages: Common
Challenge: 6
Abilities
Underfoot: Creatures within 5 ft of Miette have disadvantage on attacks made against it. Miette can occupy another creature’s space without penalty, regardless of size. Miette does not trigger opportunity attacks when exiting a creature’s space.
Innate Spellcasting: Miette’s innate spellcasting modifier is INT (DC 14). She can cast the following spells without material components.
At Will Disguise Self, Protection from Lawful
3/day Hold Person, Bless, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
1/day Cure Wounds
Actions
Multiattack: Miette makes 3 attacks, two claws and one bite
Claw, Natural Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, 5ft range, one target. Hit: 12 (4d4+4) Slashing Damage
Bite, Natural Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, 5ft range, one target. Hit: 6 (1d12-1) Piercing Damage
Jail for 1,000 Years!: Miette may cast Hold Person as a bonus Action
Reactions
You KICK Miette?: After a creature within 5ft deals damage to Miette with a weapon attack, Miette may spend its reaction to chastise, dealing 3d8 psychic damage to the creature. A successful Charisma Save reduces this damage by half.
Unique Spell
Protection from Lawful
2nd Level Abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Target: One willing creature you touch
Components: V S M (A set of scales, broken in half, which the spell does not consume)
Duration: Up to 10 minutes
Classes: Cleric, Paladin, Warlock, Wizard
Until the spell ends, one willing creature you touch is protected against certain types of creatures: celestials, constructs, fey, fiends, and undead. In addition, they are protected from any humanoid with the Lawful alignment.
The protection grants several benefits. Creatures of those types have disadvantage on attack rolls against the target. The target also can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. If the target is already charmed, frightened, or possessed by such a creature, the target has advantage on any new saving throw against the relevant effect.
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Fate and Phantasms #192
Today on Fate and Phantasms we're building the enchanting Caster of Okeanos, which despite her name doesn't actually show up in Okeanos, but rather the fourth pseudosingularity, Salem. She's also one of the last servants in the game (so far) to have her true name hidden, so pretty soon I can stop pointing out how her character build below the cut has true name spoilers. Specifically, this build also includes spoilers for the Salem pseudosingularity, so read at your own peril.
If you'd rather just check out her character sheet, you can find that over here.
Next up: The equal to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, so just, equal to heaven, I guess.
Circe is a Transmutation Wizard, because she is a witch, and Transmutation is where they stuck polymorph.
Race and Background
Like her protege, Circe is an Elf, but if we want kindasorta falcon wings, that might be tricky. Just kidding, for some reason WotC thought winged elves were a priority, so we got Avariel Elves from an unearthed arcana. This means you only get +2 to a single stat, but we can make that Intelligence thanks to Tasha's for a brain blast. Your subrace gives you 30' of flying speed as long as you don't wear medium or heavy armor (not an issue), as well as the standard elf kit: Darkvision, Fey Ancestry to protect against charms, Trances instead of sleep, and proficiency in Perception thanks to your Keen Senses.
Circe lives on her island alone (if you don't count pigs) so that makes her a Hermit, privy to the secrets of the universe as well as Medicine and replacing the other proficiency (which we'll get back as a class proficiency) with Deception. Tricking men into turning into pigs is kind of a hobby for you.
Ability Scores
Your strongest score should go into Intelligence, that's how you cast spells, and also you're clearly more intelligent than the men who show up on your island. Speaking of, Charisma is next- you're a witch in the middle of a witch hunt that somehow never got caught, and there's also that whole Pig Island thing. Your Dexterity is also pretty good, it's hard enough to cast spells while walking, let alone flying. Also those heels, oh my fucking god how have you not broken an ankle yet. Your Constitution is above average mostly because I'd feel bad putting it any lower. That means your Wisdom is pretty low. You publicly introduce yourself as a witch in the middle of the Salem Witch Trials, and you're pretty flighty in general. Finally, dump Strength. You're a wizard, and you're clearly not that buff.
Class Levels
Circe is a wizard, meaning she starts off with proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, as well as Arcana and Religion. When you worship the goddess of magic, there isn't much of a difference, tbh.
Speaking of magic, you can cast and prepare Spells using your Intelligence. Your spell slots normally only recharge on long rests, but once per long rest you can get a couple slots back on a short rest thanks to your Arcane Recovery, giving you back slots of a total level equal to half your wizard level rounded up. So when you hit level three, you can get back one 2nd level slot, or two 1st level slots.
The thing about wizard is, they get a lot of spells. Six now, and two each level, plus whatever they can scavenge from other wizards. Since Circe's whole power set is "good at magic", there really isn't a set of spells that fit- any spell you could cast would be applicable. So rather than try to boil it down myself, we're just giving a rough guide here. There's a whole ass list on the character sheet, and we'll bring up the super important ones here, but really there's three qualifications: if a spell fits into one of these categories, Circe would probably have it. 1. Is it useful? The most open-ended, but just fill in spaces left by the other 2 with spells you want. I'm not a goddamn baby sitter, pick spells you like. 2. Can it turn one thing into another? Men to pigs, You into Medea, whatever kykeon is made out of into kykeon, this one's pretty easy to spot. 3. Can it help someone sail a ship? A bit specific, but helping the sailors she doesn't turn into pigs is also Circe's thing. Skill empowerment, weather control, that kind of thing.
With all that out of the way, the big spells you'll probably want at first level are Mage Armor for not dying, Magic Missile for caster balls, and Sleep to knock out the sailors while you go around turning them to pigs. True Polymorph takes an hour per sailor and you need to recharge with a long rest, so this’ll take a while.
At second level, you become a Transmutation Savant, giving you all sorts of bonuses, like how copying transmutation spells into your book is cheaper and faster now. You can also make Minor Alchemy, turning 1 cubic foot of wood, stone, iron, copper, or silver, into another material on that list over the course of 10 minutes. You're not strong enough to shatter wooden chains either, but hopefully someone on your team is. This transformation lasts up to an hour or until you lose concentration, then it turns back to its regular form.
Third level wizards get Cantrip Formulas, letting you swap out one cantrip you know with a cantrip you don't know at the end of a long rest.
You also get second level spells, like Alter Self to turn into Medea (among other benefits), and Gust of Wind to help out with sailing.
Use your first Ability Score Improvement to get a Keen Mind- always knowing which way you're facing and the angle the sun should be at are both really useful on the open sea. It also rounds up your Intelligence for stronger spells, and you can make your DM's life hell by remembering things up to a month after they happened.
Fifth level wizards get third level spells. Feign Death will help fake Mata Hari’s hanging later on, and Bestow Curse is super useful, since it can give a creature disadvantage on one kind of save. Like, say, wisdom saves. I wonder if there's a spell you like that requires a wisdom save coming up?
Sixth level transmutation wizards can create a Transmuter's Stone, a tiny object that gives its holder one of several benefits. When you make the stone, and if you're holding it while casting a transmutation spell, you can choose its beneft from the following: Darkvision, increased speed, proficiency in constitution saves, or resistance to one of acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. You can only make one at a time after 8 hours of work, so don't try to stack them.
Seventh level wizards get fourth level spells, and you could get polymorph now if you really want, but you can also get that spell later for free, so if you're patient, you can get another spell now. If you do go for polymorph, it forces a wisdom save on a creature, and if they fail the save or they're willing, you can turn one creature into a beast with a CR equal to or less than the target's CR or level. All of the creature's stats are replaced by the new creature's, outside of alignment and personality. If it drops to 0 HP in this form, and hour passes, or you drop concentration, they turn back to normal.
You can also cast other fourth level spells, like Control Water for sailing, Fabricate to turn... barley, just looked it up, into kykeon. Or any raw materials into a finished product that is Large or smaller.
At eighth level, you get another ASI that'll let you max out your Intelligence for super strong spells. That, plus your curses, will make your polymorph super hard to resist. When you get it.
Ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, like Control Winds and Skill Empowerment, as well as Scrying.
A tenth level transmuter is a Shapechanger, giving you the polymorph spell for free. You can also cast it on yourself once per short rest for free, but only if you turn into something CR 1 or lower. Sadly Medea isn't a beast or CR 1, but it doesn't hurt to practice.
Also, yeah! You can now turn pretty much anyone into a Pig (CR 0, so there’s no excuse) or if you want to weaponize it, a Giant Boar (CR 2). Just promise to turn them back if they do your bidding. Still only lasts an hour, but they don’t have to know that.
Eleventh level wizards get sixth level spells. There really isn’t anything specifically Circe-like I want at this level, so just grab whatever your heart wants. There will be time for specifics later.
At twelfth level you get another ASI, and since your intelligence is maxed out we can diversify. Grab the War Caster feat for advantage on concentration saves (very good for pigmaking), the ability to cast spells with your hands full (not applicable), and best of all, you can cast spells as opportunity attacks if that spell as an action casting time and targets a creature. Oh hey, guess what spell fits that description?
Thirteenth level casters get seventh level spells! Again, not necessarily anything you need from here, but Plane Shift is always cool. Maybe you can stumble onto the pig dimension or something.
Your last goody from the transmutation specialty is to become a Master Transmuter, burning your transmuter stone in one go for a burst of magical power. Afterwards, you can’t make a new one until you take a long rest. You can use this for a Major Transformation, permanently changing a medium or smaller nonmagical object into another of similar size & mass (you also can’t cheese value out of this) over the course of 10 minutes. Alternatively, you make a Panacea, removing all curses, diseases, and poisons from a single creature, while also healing it back to full health. That’s some good eating. Going even further, you can Restore Life to cast Raise Dead without a spell slot. Death is a pretty hard line in the Nasuverse, but if anyone could do it it’d probably be Circe. Finally, you can Restore Youth to reduce a creature’s age by 3d10 years without extending their lifespan. You’ve clearly used that on yourself a couple times, but I can’t blame you.
Fifteenth level wizards get eighth level spells, and for once there is something I want to get. You might not use Scylla in-game, but hey, giant sea monsters are cool, so use either Summon Greater Demon, Dominate Monster, or Illusory Dragon to get one, depending on your preferred method.
You get yet another ASI, so bump up your Constitution for better concentration and more health- remember, health gets added retroactively, so that’s 16 extra this level, not one.
At seventeenth level you finally get ninth level spells, giving you access to Mass Polymorph for a proper pig banquet. This one is limited to only half the targets’ levels, but a pig is still CR 0, so it shouldn’t be a big issue. However, if you’re feeling really cruel, you can use True Polymorph for a more... permanent solution. If you keep concentration up for a full hour, the change lasts until it is dispelled. You can also turn objects into creatures, or creatures into objects, but none of those are particularly in character.
Eighteenth level wizards get Spell Mastery, giving you a 1st & 2nd level spell that you can cast for absolutely free, no restrictions. You can always change it later, but I highly suggest Magic Missile so you always have some damage on standby, and Alter Self for the versatility of it.
Your penultimate level grants you your ultimate ASI, so bump up your Charisma for an easier time tricking sailors. It doesn’t do much for the build, but at this point it doesn’t need to.
Your final level of the build gives you two Signature Spells, 3rd level spells that you can cast once per short rest without spending a spell slot. Sadly polymorph is a fourth level spell so it isn’t in the running, but Bestow Curse and Tidal Wave are good runners up. I never said you had to be nice to sailors, just help them out occasionally.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Polymorph is one of the easiest ways to utterly shut down an enemy if it hits, at the very least buying you an hour to run away and regroup. It’s also very funny.
The Transmuter’s Stone is a very powerful support tool, protecting you and giving you healing options wizards don’t normally get. You also come loaded with tools like Skill Empowerment, which is just flexible enough to be useful even when you’re not on a ship.
You get concentration free flight, which is incredibly useful for a spellcaster. Being able to completely avoid an enemy’s front line and turn their back line into pigs is very useful.
Cons
The reason your flight being concentration free is such a big deal is because a lot of your spells use concentration. Honestly, your saves aren’t that bad (esp. with war caster) but it still limits your options, especially when your signature move requires concentration.
While your stone is powerful, it has a huge recharge time to contend with, requiring a long rest followed by an extra 8 hours of work, and the entire time between now and then you might as well not have a subclass. It’s a pretty harsh penalty for actually using your class feature.
It takes a while for this build to go from level one to casting polymorph, so if you want a build you can jump right into and feel like the character, this build definitely isn’t what you’re looking for.
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What dice do you think everyone would have? You can't tell me Fitzjames wouldn't have some bejeweled gay ass dice while croziers probably been using the same set since the 80s. Hickeys are all stolen from other players while Edwards d6 isn't even a DND dice it's from Yahtzee
fitzjames has an immaculate and varied dice collection. he stores them in a fancy embroidery thread storage box, the kind with the drawers and dividers. he mainly buys custom-made dice sets from people on instagram and etsy and stuff, but he has a few chessex gemini sets from the dark early days of his dnd career. he curates a collection of 5-10 sets for each character, and considering how many charisma casters he plays, they tend to skew towards glittery.
crozier has a pound-of-dice that he carries around in its original packaging. it makes a satisfying thud on the table which is good for emphasis.
all of hickey's d6s, d8s, d10s, and d12s are appropriated from hodgson's bardic inspiration. his d4s are from mcdonald's guidance. he has a rule, official or unofficial, that any die that gets handed to him is now his. however, he doesn't have any d20s because bardic inspiration doesn't go that high, and whenever he asks to borrow a d20 someone just rolls and gives him the number on the die.
nedward forgets his dice on the regular. sometimes he has to buy a set on the way to the game, which means he's slowly accumulated a collection. most are chessex, because everything is chessex, though he lucked out with a crystal caste set that was just sort of living on a back shelf. he's got no clue how much it's worth and hickey keeps trying to borrow his dice, but fortunately nedward "tell me to make a decision under pressure and i'll burst into tears" little is playing a fighter and has no reason to give him anything.
jopson's got a nice collection too. his is much more curated, and he's the type to put together a color-coordinated set for each character he plays. he also sewed his dice bag himself, and sells them on his etsy store (jop's shop).
blanky's dice are all from the last century. by this i mean he's got dice sets he purchased in the 80s and 90s and he's also got like, vintage casino dice. nowadays he refuses to purchase any new dice sets (will go on ebay for pre-2000s singles though) and his most reliable die by far is one he found on the ground in a parking lot. he's also the kind of player who prefers rolling spicy to rolling high, and min-maxes his characters to give them the opportunity to roll a -1 on a check.
mcdonald is extremely normal about his dice. he has some sets. he doesn't mind receiving a set as a gift, and if he's around a mismatched singles tray he'll have a look. you look at him and think, wow, that's a normal guy who's regular about dice. then when he empties out his dice bag on the table it roars like a waterfall.
goodsir has four sets. the only reason he has four of them is to roll 4d6 for his stats (i know i used point buy for his character but like. can you blame me). he bought them from barnes & noble, they're all chessex, two of them are duplicate sets. he now has one set of solid white with black ink, two sets of chessex light green borealis, and one set of chessex frosted caribbean blue.
gore is one of those one-set-per-session players. he brings one of those little chessex boxes with a set and uses it for the game. crits are excruciating, but at least he's not playing a wizard.
dundy brings three sets to the table: a low-rolling set, a high-rolling set, and a wild card set. to determine these, he rolls all the d20s in his collection and picks the sets corresponding to the high and the low, and then picks whichever third set he wishes. at the table, he taps the high-rolling d20 against the table three times on its 20 face, and the low-rolling d20 three times on its 1 face. he then proceeds to mostly use the wild card set.
hodgson has no clue where all his dice keep disappearing to- oh well! just have to buy some more! like fitzjames, most of his collection is from dice makers on instagram and etsy, so it's a real shame so much of it just goes to hickey. also, hodgson is the only one at the table who uses metal dice.
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5e Olaf, the Beserker build (League of Legends)
(Artwork by Phroilan Gardner. Made for Riot Games.)
Olaf sounds like ProZD’s Archibald voice. Especially Olaf’s voice lines for using his Q it sounds exactly like ProZD’s “Huah! I think that enemy got the point!” Like I’m not crazy right? Please tell me I’m not the only one who hears this.
Anyways Olaf has been on my To Do List ever since I realized that I haven’t made a single champion whose name starts with the letter O. My desire to make Olaf was only further accentuated by the Sentinels of Light event, even if his inclusion in that event could best be summed up with...
But I won’t ignore Olaf just because the Sentinels of Light event was a flop. He’s still a compelling character that I have actually gotten some requests to make. After all: the dual-axe wielding Barbarian is an iconic image!
I mean, Olaf is probably just going to be 20 levels in Beserker Barbarian so I don’t know why you need me to make a build for that.
GOALS
C'mon, I won't hurt you - We’ll need ways to heal when we harm in the middle of combat.
Death by steel! - Swing axe, throw axe; unga bunga me play Olaf.
The might of Lokfar approaches - I didn’t manage to do so with Mundo but Olaf is going to need to have CC immunity.
RACE
Olaf is a human; feel free to pick a different race like Goliath or even Custom Lineage to justify him being Iceborn but Variant Human is still the best option. Increase your Strength by 1 as well as your Constitution, grab any skill proficiency of your choice as it honestly doesn’t matter much for Olaf (maybe you should’ve been Custom Lineage for Darkvision after all?), and the Primordial language because I’m sure you picked up on the language of the wild.
For your feat you have a choice: Dual Wielder will let you wield two d8 Battleaxes (instead of d6 Handaxes) and also increase your AC by 1 while dual-wielding, but the Fighting Initiate feat will let you grab Two-Weapon Fighting which will let you add your Strength modifier to your second axe’s swing. I persually opted for Dual Wielder as it gives you more benefits overall, and we’ll be getting ways to throw axes without having to hold onto them first.
ABILITY SCORES
15; STRENGTH - I mean, you’re a shirtless Barbarian running around with two axes. You thought this would be a DEX build?
14; CONSTITUTION - The reason you can’t die is because you’re so hardy. Sucks!
13; CHARISMA - Despite Riot’s great attempts at writing you as poorly as possible you do still have some sort of Charisma. Remember that Charisma is force of personality, not necessarily good looks or personal hygiene. Charisma is needed for Intimidation as well as multiclassing.
12; DEXTERITY - You need to be quick on your feet to run at your enemies with reckless abandon.
10; WISDOM - If you were wise you wouldn’t be trying to kill yourself.
8; INTELLIGENCE - You stopped caring about education the moment you were born. Battle is the only thing in your blood!
This build is also quite viable with Point Buy, going for a stat array like 15 / 12 / 14 / 8 / 8 / 14 if you want lower mental stats but higher combat stats.
BACKGROUND
The Uthgardt Tribe Member background from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is basically the Outlander background but you actually belonged to Freljordian society once. Regardless you do get proficiency in Athletics as well as Survival (”Survival” as in finding food to eat, not as in keeping safe on the battlefield!), a musical instrument or artisan’s tool of your choice (choose whatever you fancy and make your own Olaf, as long as it’s something a warrior would do! I personally opted for Smith’s Tools to sharpen your axes), and a language of your choice (pick whatever language they spoke back in the villages.)
Your background Uthgardt Heritage is the Outlander’s Wanderer feature with extra steps: along with being able to find food and water you are also treated well by nomads and wanderers who have heard of your glorious battles!
(Artwork by Marie Magny and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)
THE BUILD
LEVEL 1 - BARBARIAN 1
Starting off as a Barbarian because what else would we be? You get proficiency in two skills from the Barbarian list: Intimidation is an obvious must and Perception will help you find good fights to take!
As a Barbarian you get Unarmored Defense equal to your Dexterity plus your Constitution, which is currently a 13... Well Medium Armor is an option if you want to finally put on a shirt. And of course as a Barbarian you can Rage to deal more damage and resist incoming damage! You can’t cast spells while Raging, but that won’t matter, right? It’s not like I’m about to give you caster levels.
LEVEL 2 - FIGHTER 1
Quickly hopping over to Fighter to further your martial skills. You can grab a Fighting Style like Thrown Weapon Fighting to draw weapons in the same action you make to throw them, and also do +2 damage with thrown weapon attacks. See? Told you we’d be able to throw axes easily!
You also get Second Wind for some not-quite-Lifesteal to keep you in the fight to claim even more glory! Certainly not to stay alive.
LEVEL 3 - FIGHTER 2
Well another Fighter level for Action Surge is certainly worth it, as you can push yourself to destroy your foes!
LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 3
But we need one more Fighter level to be able to get our axes back after we throw them. Eldritch Knights get Weapon Bond, allowing them to always keep two weapons on hand and never lose them. While bonded with a weapon you can’t be disarmed of them, and you can use a Bonus Action to recall a weapon if it’s not in your hands. My suggestion would be to bond to a Battleaxe and a Handaxe, so you can’t be disarmed of at least one of your main weapons and can also call your thrown axe back to throw it again!
You also get Spellcasting as an Eldritch Knight: You learn two cantrips from the Wizard list, and three spells as well. You may be thinking “wait; didn’t you dump Intelligence?” That is correct, but you don’t need Intelligence to cast Light to see with your dumb human eyes (I mean technically you need Intelligence if you want to cast Light on someone else but it’s probably easier just to light up your axe and throw it at them) or Prestidigitation, which is a better spell for creating bonfires than the actual Create Bonfire spell.
Your leveled spells have to be from either the Evocation or Abjuration schools, but thankfully Absorb Elements and Shield are both from the Abjuration school and also don’t need Intelligence. Protect yourself from damage to have a truly glorious death! Because it’s not like blocking attacks will keep you alive.
You can also learn one spell from any school and uhhhh... Pick your poison between Jump and Longstrider, to make it easier to chase your foes. Are there probably better spells? Yeah, but do they fit Olaf?
(Artwork by Xiao Guang Sun and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)
LEVEL 5 - PALADIN 1
Jumping over to Paladin for a few abilities, such as Divine Sense to find some things that will put up a good fight like Fiends, Undead, or... Celestials? I’m sure they hit hard! You can also find a good desecrated (or consecrated) battleground with this ability, as I’m sure there will be good enemies there! You only know of an enemy’s type however, not their name. And if they’re hiding from you this ability won’t make it any easier to find them.
You also get Lay on Hands, which is like lifesteal you can give to allies! You have a pool of hit points equal to your Paladin level times 5, and you can use it to either heal (at a rate of 1 point per hitpoint) or neutralize a poison or disease affecting a target. (5 Lay on Hands health to neutralize one poison or disease.) Dying to natural causes isn’t a glorious death, brother!
LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 2
We’ll also need second level in Paladin to get a Fighting Style, but since Wizards of the Coast hates fun you can’t can’t take Two-Weapon Fighting, and since we’re running around in our birthday suit Defense also isn’t an option. The best official Fighting Style you can take is Blind Fighting (Blessed Warrior is okay too if you want Guidance I guess) but talk to your DM about potentially letting you take Two-Weapon Fighting? It’s not like it’s OP or anything (in all honesty it’s kinda shit.)
Paladins also get... more Spellcasting?! Disgusting! Well this spellcasting is based on your Charisma modifier instead of your Intelligence, which might be why we have it at a 14. But even so you can’t prepare that many spells: Divine Favor will let you empower all your attacks with more damage for some Vicious Strikes, Cure Wounds will again be acting as life-not-quite-steal, and Shield of Faith will let you or an ally absorb more blows, not that you want to live or anything. Also remember to check the Player’s Handbook to see how many spell slots you’d have after mixing two casters together.
But I still think the best course of action for your spell slots is to use them for Divine Smite! Throw caution and magic to the wind to make a Reckless Swing that does extra Radiant damage (depending on the level of the spell slot used.) The Smite deals 2d8 of damage for a first level slot, and an additional d8 of damage for every slot above first. (The simple way to remember this is that you roll a number of d8s equal to the spell slot used plus one.) If the enemy is a Fiend or Undead the damage increases by a d8! The maximum level spell slot you can use for this is a 4th level slot (for 5d8 damage, or 6d8 against a Fiend or Undead), but I doubt we’ll get spell slots that big.
LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 3
We may as well take a third level in Paladin for a Sacred Oath, and you swore an Oath of Glory in battle! Along with Guiding Bolt and Heroism being added to your spell list (as if you can cast spells lmao) you get two Channel Divinity options: Peerless Athlete turns you into... well, a Peerless Athlete with advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks. You can also carry, push, drag, and lift twice as much weight as normal, and to top it off the distance of your long and high jumps increases by 10 feet. This boost lasts for 10 minutes which should be more than enough to give it your all in battle!
Alternatively for some more not-quite-lifesteal Inspiring Smite can be activated after you Smite to give yourself or nearby allies within 30 feet temporary hitpoints. The total number of temporary hit points gained by this ability equals 2d8 + your Paladin level, and you can distribute them amongst yourself and your allies however you wish. Technically the most gameplay-accurate way to split the Temp HP would be to take it all yourself but being helpful has its benefits. A battle is truly glorious if fought alongside an army of companions!
You also get Divine Health, because Glory doesn’t die on sick days!
LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 4
It’s about time to take that 4th Paladin level to finally get an Ability Score Improvement: +2 to Strength for stronger axe swings is an obvious choice!
You can also prepare another spell like Bless, which will make it easier for you and your allies to smite your foes and survive their blows! Wait, what was that about surviving?
(Artwork made for Riot Games.)
LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 5
Since it’s so close we may as well take the 5th level of Paladin so you can finally make an Extra Attack. That means you have two attacks normally and a third attack with your Bonus Action thanks to Two-Weapon Fighting!
You can also prepare second level Paladin spells now, and the Oath of Glory gives you Enhance Ability and Magic Weapon as spells you can cast. Believe it or not these are actually useful, even with your low spellcasting modifier!
LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 6
The 6th level of Paladin is honestly too good to pass up: even though Aura of Protection is only adding +2 to all your saving throws (since your Charisma is kinda uhhh... not good?) that’s still +2 to all your saves, as well as the saves of your allies within 10 feet. That’s like, two whole Rings of Protection!
Speaking of rings: Warding Bond was added to the Paladin spell list thanks to Tasha’s and it’ll let you take damage for your allies to die in their place! As long as you don’t mind wearing some platnium rings in your beard, at least.
LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 7
What we’re really here for is the 7th level of Glory Paladin. Aura of Alacrity will increase the speed of you and your allies within 5 feet (not 10, because Wizards of the Coast are weird) by 10 feet, so you can charge at your foes with the might of Ragnarok!
LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 8
But we may as well take the 8th level of Paladin for another Ability Score Improvement: cap off your Strength for the deadliest strikes possible.
You can also prepare another spell but it would be wise to wait for...
(Artwork by JoJo So. Made for Riot Games.)
LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 9
9th level Paladins can prepare third level spells like Crusader’s Mantle to give all your nearby allies the Divine Favor buff to rush into battle with you! But the main reason we’re dipping this deep into Paladin is for the two spells from the Oath of Glory: Protection from Energy perhaps isn’t all that fitting, but Haste is insanely useful and powerful. More attacks, more speed, more... armor? Well, it’s no matter. More glorious battle!
LEVEL 14 - PALADIN 10
10th level Paladins won’t be swayed by magic swaying their hearts! Aura of Courage will let you (and your allies within 10 feet) laugh in the face of death as you gain immunity to the Frightened condition!
You can also prepare another spell like Aura of Vitality: you can use it to heal yourself but healing your allies will lead to a far more glorious story to tell of your death.
LEVEL 15 - PALADIN 11
I promise that we’ll go back to Barbarian levels soon but 11th level Paladins get a huge boost to their damage output thanks to Improved Divine Smite. This ability affects all your attacks (not just your Smites despite the name) to give them an extra d8 of Radiant damage. This has obvious synergy with your choice to swing two axes since your Two-Weapon Fighting attack will also get that extra d8 of damage!
LEVEL 16 - PALADIN 12
Okay but let’s quickly grab the 12th level of Paladin first. You can either increase your Constitution for more health and AC, or your Charisma for better saving throws and spellcasting. I personally opted for Charisma but if you value health and AC then Constitution is good too!
Oh and yeah you can prepare more spells, but there aren’t really that many other third level spells I want.
(Artwork by Alvin Lee. Made for Riot Games.)
LEVEL 17 - PALADIN 13
That’s because 13th level Paladins finally get 4th spells which most importantly means��Freedom of Movement! There you go you finally have Ragnarok’s CC immunity! You also get Compulsion which sure would be a good spell if you had any Charisma to actually cast it.
But you can also prepare more spells like Aura of Purity so you and your allies can shrug off whatever your foes might throw at you to stop you from reaching them, or Death Ward which you ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT USE ON YOURSELF.
LEVEL 18 - PALADIN 14
Okay but the 14th level of Paladin gives you Cleansing Touch, letting you cleanse spells without spell slots to cast Freedom of Movement. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all expended uses at the end of a Long Rest.
You could also perhaps prepare another spell like... Aid? I don’t know really by this point the magic is secondary. We’ll be going back to Barbarian soon anyways.
LEVEL 19 - PALADIN 15
But 15th level Glory Paladins get Glorious Defense, and we can’t pass that up! When you or another creature you can see (technically an enemy if you so desire!) within 10 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to grant a bonus to the target’s AC against that attack equal to your Charisma modifier. If the attack misses you can make one weapon attack against the attacker as part of this reaction, provided the attacker is within your weapon’s range. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all uses at the end of a Long Rest.
LEVEL 20 - PALADIN 16
But since it’s so close one final level in Paladin would be good for one final ASI: again more Constitution means more health and AC, but more Charisma will boost all your Paladin abilities!
Speaking of Paladin abilities you can prepare one more spell before we start taking more Barbarian levels... honestly you can pick your poison as it won’t matter much when your Raging!
...Wait.
WHY NO BARBARIAN LEVELS?
There’s a lot of things that I can’t do as a Barbarian. The most notable option that would be restricted if I went pure Barbarian would be Freedom of Movement, and while crowd control is somewhat rare in D&D being able to ignore it is far more important to Olaf as a character.
There’s also no Barbarian that has lifesteal besides Path of the Beast, and the only Barbarian that can throw its axe easily is Path of Wild Magic. Obviously neither of these fit Olaf.
Ultimately Paladin gave us more of Olaf’s abilities. The only ability that Barbarians have which fit Olaf other than Unarmored Defense and I guess Unarmored Movement would be Feral Instinct. But even the Barbarian subclasses don’t fit Olaf with the only ones which make any sense being maybe Totem Warrior? (Despite Olaf’s title Berserker wouldn’t fit him well, mostly because Berserker is a bad subclass.) But we miss out on so many of Olaf’s actual abilities by making him a Barbarian.
tl;dr Barbarians can’t do magic and Olaf has a ton of abilities that can only be recreated in D&D with magic
FINAL BUILD
PROS
Urge to kill rising... - Two-Weapon Fighting really doesn’t get the respect it deserves by the D&D community. You wouldn’t be able to get three attacks as a level 11 Paladin in any other way, meaning that you can truly capitalize on Improved Divine Smite. Not to mention the general increased DPS of 3 attacks and 3 chances to Smite!
Faster to battle! - It was not my intention but Glory Paladins are surprisingly good team players with a variety of spells and abilities that can keep your team alive and increase their strength in battle.
Obliteration! - You’re fairly hard to kill... oops. But between decently high health, spells to defend yourself, and damn high saving throws no matter how you increase your Charisma you’ll be quite a challenge to eventually take down! Sure your AC might suck... we should probably talk about that.
CONS
The worth of a man can be measured by the length of his beard, and the girth of his belt buckle - Hey remember that one Barbarian level I took pretty much entirely so you could have Unarmored Defense? Yeah honestly it’s gimping you hard, to the point that even Mage Armor would give you more AC. Honestly playing this build as Fighter 4 / Paladin 16 would be far better as you’d get one more ASI at the cost of actually having to wear armor. Hell going full Paladin 20 would give you the Living Legend capstone which is crazy strong, and while the loss of Action Surge would hurt you can grab the Thrown Weapon Fighting Style with a feat. (Or just take Two-Weapon Fighting style with your Variant Human Feat and run around with Hand Axes.)
If you’re really dead-set on going unarmored beg your DM for a Barrier Tattoo: either a Rare one (you’ll still need 14 DEX for something something legally-not-Medium Armor) or a Very Rare one (so you don’t even have to worry about Dexterity.) You can even go the Tahm Kench route and grab Eldritch Adept for Disguise Self to look unarmored if it’s really that important to you.
Well that was a pretty long con to say “Barbarian Olaf bad.” What else is there?
Chop chop! - Who would’ve guessed that dumping both mental stats would make you a dummy? While Aura of Protection saves you to some extent the party won’t be turning to you for any History checks.
Finally, some fun! - You have a rather silly amount of spells relative to your spell slots, and a good number of them are Concentration as well. Throwing all your slots to the wind to Divine Smite with reckless abandon sounds fun but managing both your Concentration and your spell slots will take some effort.
But your choice to go in without armor is just a self-handicap after all: you really want to die, and prove yourself in death! Fight the toughest fights and take down the strongest foes until you finally prove your prophecy wrong and fall before the blade of the mightiest foe! But perhaps you should instead sit down and have a muffin, and think about why you truly want to die die die.
(Artwork made for Riot Games.)
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these arent character predictions so much as just a mess of what i think would be fun to watch them play in the next campaign but:
Ashley: bard, mainly because she mentioned wanting yasha to multiclass into it but her charisma was too low and i just really want to see what she would do with it.
Laura: i think the chaos of her playing a wild magic sorcerer(or wild magic barbarian) would be extremely fun but more than anything i just want her to get her first choice for once. please.
Liam: literally anything with a decent amount of hit points. id love to see him play a barbarian or any sort of tank melee character, maybe a melee-based cleric or a circle of spores druid since he loves to flavor spellcasting
Marisha: paladin seems to be the one everyone is saying for her and i'd love to see it tbh. in general i think either a strength-based melee character or a charisma caster would be good options so paladin is just the best of both worlds
Sam: i honestly have no idea what i want to see him play? probably a full spellcaster so maybe a druid or cleric? itd be pretty funny if liam keeps having sam play the last class he played and told him to play a wizard though
Taliesin: i really want to see him to play a charisma-based character. warlock would be the most fitting for him thematically but any of them would be fun. outside of charisma casters, maybe a gloomstalker ranger so no matter what, he can actually have darkvision 😌
Travis: i think he's kind of the inverse of liam where i want to see him play a character thats a little more squishy? thats really vague but honestly just anything he hasnt played could work, maybe a rogue or a sorcerer of some sort? it would be Really fun to see what he'd do with a bard but i dont think thats something he'd go for
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[Bit of a complicated summon, but it's always the same for the same summoner. Just make sure the player who has this has their version of the phantom sorted out before rolling initiative.]
Summon Essential Phantom
4th-level Conjuration
Casting Time: Action
Range: 30 ft.
Components: V, S, M (a strand of hair, a fingernail, or other small piece of your own body)
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
Description: You coalesce ambient spirits into an essential phantom that mimics your appearance and some of your abilities. The phantom acts immediately and on each of your subsequent turns, and obeys your telepathic commands. The phantom’s appearance is that of a ghostly duplicate of you.
Appropriate For: Arcana Cleric, Shepard Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
---
Essential Phantom
Small or Medium Elemental (size matches its summoner), unaligned
Space 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Initiative +3
HP 42 (5d10+10)
AC Varies (Depends on the armor it wears. If unarmored, 13)
Proficiency Bonus +3
Str 16 (+3) Dex 16 (+3) Con 14 (+2) Int 6 (-2) Wis 14 (+2) Cha 16 (+3)
Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 12
Languages Understands all languages the summoner understands, but can’t speak
Speed Same as the summoner
- - -
Mimicry: The Essential Phantom mimics its summoner’s equipment. It appears wearing a copy (including magical properties) of the armor and shield the summoner is wearing, and wielding copies (including magical properties) of the weapons that the summoner was wielding. If any of these items have activatable abilities that can be used a limited number of times, the phantom cannot use those abilities. These copies are bound to the phantom and disappear if they ever leave its possession. The phantom also knows one cantrip with a casting time of one action that the summoner knows, if any. If you have the Martial Arts class feature or a similar ability, the phantom benefits from it as well. If you have the Natural Armor ability, the Unarmored Defense class feature, or another similar ability, the phantom benefits from it as well.
- - -
Actions
(With no other bonuses, the phantom’s attack bonus is +6 and its spell DC is 14)
Multiattack: The phantom makes two weapon attacks.
Cantrip: The phantom casts its attack cantrip. Its caster level is 5 and its spellcasting ability is Charisma.
Bonus Actions
Dual-Wield: The phantom can make a dual-wielding attack, if applicable.
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