Inspired PCs

[SD Anderson]

A lot of characters come into existence because te GM informs the prospective player that "We have X Y and Z we could really use an A or B."

Now and agian we make Pcs from something that just said "This is a character!" Be it a picture on a magazine cover, a movie or a a dramatic name, describe some characters you've made from an outside source inspiring you to make it.

Once upon a time, the people who made the Champions game licensed figures for the game. They sold kits with partially complete figures (torsoe and legs) with a selection of arms, heads and accessories you could use to make a character LOOK more like your PC.

Didn't quite sell as well as they hoped, but a local game shop had a fair number of them instock back in the late 80s and I got some.

The Packs included Secret ID figures. A rather bland civilian male Secret ID figure and a female in bell bottom pants dashing off to chanage costumes.

The running female just shouted Super Speedster . I got rid of the bell bottoms without too much trouble and started thinking of what a super speedster lady could be.

I took the percieved profesion of the other secret ID miniature for her daytime job. Certified Public Accountant. Worked prety well. Ran her in Windhaven's game under a coupld of GMs and ported her to a GURPS Supers PBEM which lasted a good six years reall time and covered an entire five DAYS of game time. ;)

[BlueNinja]

I had a character idea for Aberrant come otu in the middle of a Kamelot concert. But most of the time, my character ideas are either sparked by other players, or by random trains of thoughts and not usually attributable to one thing I saw/heard.

[LagomorphPrime]

I've long wanted to make a character based on this pic:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v115/LagomorphPrime/Rider.jpg

Any ideas on a good build using D&D 3.5?

[Stephane]

Now that's a neat pic, lago.

I'm in the GM needs a x y or z category. I've often joined a game in progress. I rarely showed up at the beginning.

It usually takes me 2 weeks to mull over a character. I've got to come up with one, and I'm finding NO inspiration. I'm a little swamped with work, so that's not helping, because I usually do this kind of thing in my moments of lull.

I think I'll scour the internet for neat pictures and come up with something.

Reading this was worth it.

(Lago, have you thought about the Ranger/Beastmaster PrC?) I don't have access to the books right now, and I vaguely remember them to be so-so classes..

[BattleNymph]

Both of my main current characters were inspired by songs my band does.

[SD Anderson]

I've long wanted to make a character based on this pic:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v115/LagomorphPrime/Rider.jpg

Any ideas on a good build using D&D 3.5?

I'm not that comfortable making 3.5 builds so I went with a system I'm more familiar with.

Excuse the GCA stat dump that follows.

I seee her as a half elf desert scout. Makes a living of sorts as an army scout and prospects when not in service.

In D&D terms, call her a ranger 3/Wizard 4 or so with a Raptor steedling for a mount. (Have fun statting out the Raptor Steedling). ;)

Background: I went for some laughs here and made these elves exiles from a foe who conquered their territory. The foes are Gnomes. That right, the elves who usually are superior to thou, whatever lesser race though might be, got their heads handed to them by Gnome forces. OIf you ask about the combined human, elven, dwarven and great eagle army (sounds vaguely familiar, dosn't it?) that tried to force the gnomes out of the elven homeland, the gnomes will proudly point out the places that serve as the grave sites for those soldiers.

If a Gmome says "Jump!", you don't ask "How High Sir?". You JUMP and only AFTER the leap do you dare speak and ask "Was that High enough Sir?" :D (Wild Gnomes are ECL 15s mwhu hoo ha hah hawwwwwww!!!!) ;)



Name: Jolly Jaqui
Race: Half Elf

Attributes [85]
ST 11 [10]
DX 13 [60]
IQ 11 (IQ includes +1 from 'Extra IQ')
HT 11 [10]

HP 11
Will 11
Per 12 [5]
FP 11

Basic Lift 24
Damage 1d-1/1d+1

Basic Speed 6
Basic Move 6

Ground Move 6
Water Move 1

Social Background
TL: 3 [0]
Cultural Familiarities: Elven (Native) [0].
Languages: Human tongue (Native/None) [3].

Advantages [74]
Ally (Raptorsteedling) (50% of starting points) (15 or less) [6]
Ambidexterity [5]
Appearance (Attractive) [4]
Extra IQ (1) (Affects displayed score) [20]
Fearlessness (2) [4]
High Pain Threshold [10]
Longevity [2]
Magery (1) [10]
Magery 0 [5]
Social Regard (Feared) (1) [5]

Disadvantages [-70]
Code of Honor (Desert Scout's) [-5]
Duty (To Army of the Countess Maeda) (9 or less (fairly often)) (Extremely Hazardous) [-10]
Enemy (Jake Mahtlander) (Equal in power to the PC) (9 or less) [-10]
Enemy (Orc raiders) (Medium-sized group (6-20 people)) (9 or less) [-20]
Impulsiveness (12 or less) [-10]
Overconfidence (12 or less) [-5]
Selfless (12 or less) [-5]
Sense of Duty (Comrades) (Small Group) [-5]

Quirks [-5]
Bowlegged [-1]
Congenial [-1]
Distinctive Feature (Arrow scar on right thigh) [-1]
Horrible Hangovers [-1]
Nervous Stomach [-1]

Skills [68]
Area Knowledge (Brasai Desert) IQ/E - IQ+1 12 [2]
Bolas DX/A - DX-1 12 [1]
Bow DX/A - DX+1 14 [4]
Brawling DX/E - DX+0 13 [1]
Broadsword DX/A - DX+0 13 [2]
Camouflage IQ/E - IQ+1 12 [2]
Climbing DX/A - DX-1 12 [1]
Fast-Draw (Arrow) DX/E - DX+0 13 [1]
Fast-Draw (Sword) DX/E - DX+0 13 [1]
Fishing Per/E - Per+0 12 [1]
Geology/TL3 (Earthlike) IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Leadership IQ/A - IQ+1 12 [4]
Navigation/TL3 (Land) IQ/A - IQ+1 12 [4]
Occultism IQ/A - IQ-1 10 [1]
Prospecting/TL3 IQ/A - IQ+3 14 [12]
Riding (Raptor steedling) DX/A - DX+1 14 [4]
Saber DX/A - DX+1 14 [4]
Savoir-Faire (High Society) IQ/E - IQ+0 11 [1]
Shield (Buckler) DX/E - DX+1 14 [2]
Shoot Over Mount (Bow) Tech/H - def+4 14 [5]
Singing HT/E - HT+1 12 [2]
Survival (Desert) Per/A - Per+1 13 [4]
Tracking Per/A - Per+1 13 [4]
Weather Sense IQ/A - IQ+1 12 [4]

Spells [23]
Apportation IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Catch Missile IQ/H - IQ+1 12 [4]
Cook IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Create Fire IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Create Food IQ/H - IQ+1 12 [4]
Create Water IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Deflect Missile IQ/H - IQ+1 12 [4]
Ignite Fire IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Missile Shield IQ/H - IQ+0 11 [2]
Purify Water IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Seek Food IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Seek Water IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]
Test Food IQ/H - IQ-1 10 [1]

Stats [85] Ads [74] Disads [-70] Quirks [-5] Skills [68] Spells [23] = Total [175]

Hand Weapons

Ranged Weapons

Armor & Possessions

Notes
'Jolly' Jaqui was born of a human prospector and an Elven not quite maiden. These were desert elves more of necessity than choice. Wild Gnome invaders had driven the elves out of their woodland homes and into the near desert and the hills betwwen the desert and their lush former homes.

Like many here, fortune might be found in the mountains to the southeast, where small deposits of Turquoise, Lead and Salt can occasionally be found.

As a young girl (human equivalent of 15) she was accosted by a Wild Gnome who thought she'd make a good slave to sell. She managed by some fortune to put her arrow through the gnome's eye.

Taking his Raptor steedling as her prize she planned to find a buyer for it. The beast laid several eggs a half month later, showing it was a mare, and her people lived prosperously for a time.

One egg she kept for herself and trained it as her own mount. An uncle, who knew how to make some elixirs and who had profited quite well from her clutch of eggs brewed an unguent of Wisdom and applied it to the egg before the beast hatched. The elixir worked through the shell and affected the raptor on a more permanent basis, giving the beast a fair intelligence.

She and the beast are fairly inseparable.

Jaqui can cast spells to feed and water her mount and herself, which has made possible for her to go deeper into the desert and badlands than most other prospectors. In turn this has made her a much better scout.

She serves a fair portion of her time in the army of Countess Ehaysha, ruler of her community, in the role of a scout.

[Kalzazz]

Hmmm

Raptor Steedling

ST 25 90 (Enhanced Str cost and No Fine Manipulators Discount)
DX 12 20
IQ 7 -15
HT 12/16 20/20


Enhanced Move 2 (20)
Scales DR (3)
Sharp Teeth (Cutting Damage) (5)

-10 Short Arms
-10 Color Blindness
-30 No Fine Manipulators
-25 Mute (I dont think Raptor Steedlings can talk)

Klutz -5 (it doesnt always know where its feet or tail are, crash!)
Fanaticism (Jolly) -15 (like a big green fangy puppy!)
Dependency (Fresh Meat) -5 (its a raptor, birdlike metabolism and a huge thing, it costs a lot to feed the beasty)

Riding (Being Ridden) 11 1
Running 10 1
Im not sure how much it needs to pay for Jolly being its ally

There, its spent 65 pts, and has 10 left. And may need some quirks and things

[SD Anderson]

Not bad. He's got 87 pts (1/2 x 175) so at 65 pts you have another 22. I wouldn't charage the steed an ally cost for the rider since most of the time the rider won't be helping the steed with it's problems.

I'd add another point of Basic Speed for 20, give it a Perk Intimidating appearance and spend the last point on jumping skill. That thing's legs just shout "Jump!" (That and it allows me to make a pun about it being a "Leaping Lizard". ;)

Edit: Alternatly drop the perk and ive it a point in spoken language (Elven). It can't speak but can understand , with some difficulty what it's told. Admittedly since it's color blind "No I want the Red box brought to me!" doesn't work too well. ;)

[Whimsical]

Jumping mounts are fun. For one session, I played a 9th level halfling outrider where her war dog animal companion had max ranks in Jump and jumping feats, plus had enhancement bonuses to Jump and movement. I was able to jump over an ogre (DC 40 running high jump), deflect the AoO with the Combat Riding feat, charge the leader behind him doing 3x lance damage of around 60 points (D&D FAQ clarifies that if you can jump over obstacles then they don't break your charge), then jump over the leader since I had Ride-By-Attack, then end my movement behind cover (which I jumped over). All with a straight line of movement. Lotsafun!

[Whimsical]

What made that combat super-awesome is that I was able to get use out of the Run feat that the war dog had. The combat was set up that the encounter distance was around 500 feet. My character shot forward with her dog that had 90 ft. of move (40' base + 30' from haste and +20' from the Halfling Outrider prestige class) times five and closed the distance in one round. Which allowed me to disrupt their ranged tactics having them focus on me while the rest of the party closed in.