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Jun 8, 2011 -- 7:48PM, Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:

Jun 8, 2011 -- 3:43PM, Istaran wrote:

My big problem with it is that it's all just handed to you in one neat and tidy bundle, so it doesnt' feel like you had any hand in making it. Had the character I ended up with been constructed out of disparate pieces of 3 different classes I'd have some quirky pride in my frankensteinian monster. Had I chosen his pieces out of a typical class list of potential powers and features, even then at least I'd have felt some agency about it, like it was my vampire rather than just the vampire. 

My thoughts exactly. I also like a little more choice than 'hey, take this'

Yeah, when I play any class I need a viable character concept and story, especially for essentials characters.  Simply playing a generic vampire or ranger isn't interesting to me. 

By the way, I applaud your unique builds.   They seem like a lot of fun. 

I want to say I do the same, but I don't think I actually do.  I feel like I do because each character I have feels significantly different from the norm, but that is mostly a roleplaying and mindset issue (and my love of hybrids). Typically, I play less powerful classes, like monks, warlocks, and sentinels, and make the most of them mechanically, all the while having a fun character concept.   For example, my LFR monk 16 is a child (literally) who is the halfling (culturally) son of Brandobaris, which is the source of his power.  He sees adventuring much like normal children see the game of Tag.  With an effective AC typicially of 42, he mechanically plays very similar to the concept. 

My LFR sentinel 14 is my next favorite character, and she is a hillbilly dwarven druid/shaman from the Vast Swamp.  She's a not terribly unique build for a sentinel, but she is a ton of fun to roleplay and play, and people remember her as a result.   

At any rate, your builds seem like a lot of fun and gave me some fun ideas.  Like a hybrid or full shaman that thought he was the sidekick and the spirit companion was the character (you know the strong silent type).    I don't know why you don't see more hybrid shaman.  The control and roleplaying possibilites are so much improved by the hybrid. 


 

Jun 8, 2011 -- 10:39PM, BlinkBlink wrote:

Jun 8, 2011 -- 10:27AM, Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:

Beldan the Paladin 14

My 1st LFR character. Psychopathic Liar who claims everyone else in the party is working for him. One of the oddball effects of this is that gamers tend to go the same routes for denying that they work for him. Which means I'm prepared for what they might say and they're not usually expecting that. However, not so interesting in combat any more.

I am very curious to hear the standard routes of denial and your responses to them.

I use the words henchmen and hirelings. If they're a player in your 30s-40s, odds are good that I've just called them the equivalent of a red-shirt. That has to be responded to with snark. 

It isn't snarky to say that they don't work for me. It is to ask me when are they getting paid, why haven't they gotten paid yet, etc...so they confirm the basics of my story and get committed. I throw out a one-liner that's easy to deny("What? I already paid you in advance."), they deny it, often going to the extent of claiming that they don't have any gold from me, and then I do 3-4 sentences of complaining how they're trying to take advantage of my character's good nature, how they're forgetting they got paid, that they must have spent everything already, those bonks on the head ruining their memory, but good thing I'm one of those employers who gives out a fair share to all their employees, etc...

After playing the character 40 times or so, I can improvise on the fly. Denying that they work for me doesn't really work for them either.

Just to point out - in terms of combat, I don't give out orders or tell people what to do. I engage targets like a good Defender and don't kite with Eyebite - I use it on targets and then move up to them.

Jun 9, 2011 -- 5:26AM, Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:

Jun 8, 2011 -- 9:05PM, furious_kender wrote:

At any rate, your builds seem like a lot of fun and gave me some fun ideas.  Like a hybrid or full shaman that thought he was the sidekick and the spirit companion was the character (you know the strong silent type).    I don't know why you don't see more hybrid shaman.  The control and roleplaying possibilites are so much improved by the hybrid.

Cool. Thanks. The Invoker|Shaman is fun - her shtick is that at some point in one of her past lives, she has done tons of horrible things and she is trying to make up for those past deeds. Specifically to the ancestors of player characters who say the wrong things to her or any historical fact of faerun thrown around in a mod.

"Oh, now I see why you reminded me of someone. Your great-great-great grandfather said almost the same thing once. I'm truly sorry I tortured him to death. I'm a much different person, now." 

That's sounds like awesome fun!  That's such a great concept.  Did she used to be a Rakshasa? 

Jun 9, 2011 -- 5:37AM, IST206 wrote:

I appreciate people that -can- optimize to the highest degree, but don't do it constantly.  Props!  Also jealous of people that actually get to play LFR regularly...

It's not whether you optmize or not.  It's what you optimize that is important.   There are a lot of things you can optmize that won't break the game, such as defenses, skills (other than intimidate), well-roundedness, movement, soft control, forced movement, and most defender tricks.  The game breaking generally comes from taking a powerful chassis and then optimizing damage, hard control, or party buffs on the already powerful chassis. 

Jun 9, 2011 -- 7:33AM, Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:

Threw in the basic quick hooks for the characters. One of the things about LFR is that you need to establish your character's personality fast at a convention table, something that lets people remember you later on in a minute or so.

Those are great man, and they all sound like good fun.  I have to say I really enjoy the speed roleplaying aspect of LFR. 

Given that you have stated that these builds aren't mechanically optimized on purpose, and that you're primarily doing this to show how a theoretically optimized build can be changed for role-playing and table balance purposes, wouldn't this thread fit better in the Character Development forum?