The General D&D thread

so.... in the time I've been waiting for my D&D game to start, I've came up with a more interesting character while flicking through the Sword Coast Adventure Guide, an 50's Film Noir style Private Detective using the Investigator background, anyone got any advice on how to build it?

edited 16th Jun '17 6:47:01 AM by FieldMarshalFry

After using Suggestion to tell a merchant to donate all his profits to charity because he kinda pissed me off for selling dead people’s things, and after slitting a prisoner’s throat because he had no answers for us and kept offering his neck, I am beginning to think my character is low key chaotic evil while thinking she’s still chaotic good.

This is exciting

The archetype is more about the attitude and skill checks, with fighting capabilities being easily variable.

Ranger probably works best but could also do monk and focus on fisticuffs. Or even a wizard can fit.

Really, the archetype skills demand Wis and Int so any class that already has aim for one of those to be high should work nice.

edited 16th Jun '17 7:02:43 AM by Adannor

Rogue with the mastermind archetype from the same book would be quite fitting for a detective who uses quips in a fight to keep his enemies off-balance.

There's also a well designed pugilist class on the Dmsguild if you're thinking of a more "rough and tumble" type.

edited 16th Jun '17 1:28:49 PM by Braincogs

So at the end of the last game we stopped new zombies from being made in that town by turning off the artifact and then I gave it to my patron (so it won't be causing anymore harm in the multiverse, being beyond space and time in the Far Realm)

And then in montage mode I repeatedly cast Fly on the surviving townsfolk to evacuate them (as the DM played Danger Zone from his phone)

Then, using the money "acquired" from the town bank, all three of us invested in a brothel.

I must remember this money "acquiring" strategy....

To be fair, pretty much the whole town was being eaten by zombies, law enforcement and the banker included, so with a couple bags of holding it was easy.

as long as they weren't bags of devouring... by the way, you got any input into my little character class conundrum?

I don't know jack about 5.x Rogues, but in the 3.x paradigm, Rogues are the go-to class for skillmonkeys with the ability to bluff, see through lies, search and sneak, and otherwise be surreptitious, all skills that lend themselves quite nicely to extra-legal investigation. An NPC investigator would probably have levels in the Expert class.

edited 16th Jun '17 4:07:33 PM by Fighteer

In 5e, the skills grow at fixed rate with level-ups and Rogues get to double that bonus on two of them on level 1 and on two more on level 6. Also while most classes provide two skill proficiencies, Rogues get four, and from a broader list.

Still, a lot of that is multiclassable.

Hah I ninja-edited when I remembered that this is the case.

edited 16th Jun '17 9:36:02 PM by Adannor

Also, most classes get two skills starting out, but the rogue gets four.

rogue + half elf to get 6 starting skill proficiencies, then you get the two more from your background. it is kind of absurd and i love it.

For whatever it's worth, there's an Unearthed Arcana article on the Wot C somewhere ("Gothic Characters") that is an Inquisitive Rogue.

Yeah I'd go with Rogue for a film noir investigator.

I was also about to recommend the Inquisitive Rogue.

What's everyone's favorite character type? And I mean that in every way possible. For classes, I like spellcasters because I like the resource management aspect. For characters, I honestly can't play anything but an investigative, slightly paranoid type - that is me as a player who wants to find as many clues to the plot, villains, and backstory as possible while on the lookout for danger.

edited 18th Jun '17 6:07:33 PM by Braincogs

I suppose I fall under The Loonie, enjoying oddball character types. Currently friends and I are doing Out of the Abyss and my character is a gnome Bard/Ranger who is an utter Fluffy Tamer. She has recently adopted a disembodied hand that is to be returned for proper burial. She's named it Pinky.

edited 18th Jun '17 8:09:44 PM by sgamer82

I tend to go for snipers, I think, or pretty much anything that incentivizes high Dex; second-main stat is generally Wis (Perception will save your life, but Insight is for diplomats and Medicine is for healers), favored dump stats being Str and Cha (I keep playing Sorcerers; I should probably stop and play something more my style, like maybe a Wizard soon). Personality wise, uh...

I'm kinda shitty about saying anything in-character, so my characters tend to have little to no personality to be honest. I'll readily call people out on being dicks to NPC's, but otherwise not speak up except to correct people on rules and shit. :/ That said, when dealing with/scouting out a probable hostile, I will sometimes get impatient and fire the first shot.
Also bosses; when an obvious boss is within sight and gloating at us, I will absolutely shoot at them and get really pissed-off when inevitably prevented from hurting them before the scheduled time.

edited 18th Jun '17 7:31:38 PM by Knowlessman

Caster sorts, with supportive Team Mom tendencies.

I tend to play schemers with a lot of utilities and different ways to gain information; knowledge clerics, lore bards, arcane tricksters and mages and druids with mostly utility spells.

Bag-of-tricks spellcasters (varied spell lists, lots of utility spells) and Skill Monkey rogues and bards. Always had a soft spot for warlocks. Best of all worlds. I tend to favour a lot of high INT, high CHA Diplomacy/Deception-heavy characters with the occasional high-HP Dumb Muscle Meat Shield thrown in

I try to pick a roleplay gimmick to make the character memorable without running it into the ground. I have a bad habit of getting bored of the character I'm playing and wanting to switch to a new one. Games with a high PC mortality rate tend to be fun for me, for this reason.

I start with a pun for the name and go from there. longest running character is a ridiculously handsome, five time superb owl winning wizard Thomas Brayde. Current character is s face stealing assassin named Kay Osteri. Had a cleric of Anansi named Helena Hanbasquet. My next character is probably going to be a cleric of war or tempest named Tommen Hawke.

The running theme I guess is snarking and at least minor spellcasting abilities without necessarily being the focus. Brayde actually got through the first 3 levels using a longbow rather than firebolt, though nowadays he just hucks fireballs deep.

I like to play very cognitive types that use a combination of superior non-physical strength and intellect to overwhelm opponents.

In particular, I like playing characters that act like they're above it all, but occasionally have pratfall moments that are a contrast for the "too cool for school" attitude that the character builds.

Tend to play psions and wizards. Combat wise, I prefer raw control to damage, though I generally gravitate to whatever the system in question makes most efficient.

edited 20th Jun '17 1:11:10 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

Urban Horror in Waterdeep.

Think it'll work?

So for a desert island in my setting I'm slowly building, I've decided to more or less adapt the Gerudo as the race inhabiting said island.