Favorite Character You Have Played

Cuchulain82 · Post by **Cuchulain82** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:11 am

[QUOTE=Aramant]Thanks. My female human transmuter was really fun, too, but there aren't any particularly spectacular stories about her. She was interesting because she used transmutation spells almost exclusively, and her prohibited school was evocation. And surprisingly she wasn't useless. Soften Earth and Stone on stalactites (or whichever one it is that hangs from the ceiling) over enemies, Enlarge on enemy bowstrings and helmets, or the clothing of enemy casters... One time we were fighting enemies with massive two-handed mauls, and she enlarged those so they couldn't be lifted.[/QUOTE]
This is directly related to the all time 2nd edition cheese- the Shrink spell!

Imagine this dialogue as the initial round of combat:

Player X- "Is the 14th level Boss Badguy wearing a helmet as he charges at me?"

DM (me)- "Yes, why?"

Player X- "Great! My 3rd level PC Shrinks his helmet"

This was true of almost any humaniod- mages wearing bracelets, necklaces, or circlets, fighters wearing plate or helmets... one time an entire dwarven cavern was brought down because one of the segments of the columns was hit with a Shrink spell.

My personal favorite use was when a PC Enlarged an NPC who was trying to flee through a tunnell. The NPC failed the save and was stuck in the hole- excellent spell use, I thought!

In 3rd ed Shrink was limited (does it still exist even? now I'm not sure...), but Enlarge/Shrink are GREAT spells.

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:39 pm

The 3rd Edition version is called Reduce, and it's limited in that it can't shrink creatures (but there's a Reduce Person spell or something like that, I think), and whatever you shrink (or enlarge, as per the other spell) can only change in size so far as it's not met with resistance. So the helmet couldn't squash a person's head, but it could fit snugly enough to require tools to remove.

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 6:16 pm

mine would have to be the sorcerer im playin. hes lvl 4 (3sorc, 1ftr) and has polymorph as a spell-like ablity. my party fought an anti-paladin. its a LE version of a pali. he crited on me with a greatsword and did 4damage. we all laughed at him and killed him and his gnoll friends. then he polymorphed an oger mage, who was going off of the sorcerer stat, and had 17cha. i have 18 it was an insain fight. but i polymorphed him into a squirl and a friend fireballed him while i was right next to him... the squirl managed to bite our rouge in the, yea. he took 1point of damage but still, it was funny. unfortunatly the mage made his will save and returned to normal, and put an axe into my chest...

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:33 pm

How do you have polymorph as a spell-like ability?

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 2:06 am

My favorite character is May-var, a tiefling rogue/ranger/fighter who thinks he's actually a Balor

Don't have the full story here. Rob, do you still have it?

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 3:03 am

[QUOTE=Rudar Dimble]My favorite character is May-var, a tiefling rogue/ranger/fighter who thinks he's actually a Balor

Don't have the full story here. Rob, do you still have it?[/QUOTE]

When he was born, created, raised or cultivated he didn't know. But neither of that mattered now on this day, because today was not about the past and not even about the present. Today was about the future of the Abyss, home to all demons. And he, May-var would lead his armies into a battle with the devils who had invaded his homeland, which was sacred to him.
The Balor, with his mighty vorpal long sword and terrifying, burning whip looked out over his troops. Hordes of vrocks, nalfeshnees, hezrous, glabrezus, bebiliths and other foul beasts were his to command and they stretched out before him as far as his wicked eyes could see.

With one single word May-var unleashed a awe-inspiring sound...the battle had begun and only Ao could guess what the outcome would be. Demons and devils fell next to each other, with gazes of madness and anger still on their faces. This went on for hours, days, months and may be even years...no one knew. But at that one moment time seemed to stand still. At that one moment he appeared right in front of May-var. His red eyes burned into May-var's armoured skin and a cold rush entered his massive body.
The next moment, or so it seemed to May-var, he stood alone in that dark cave, confused about where he was, or what had happened.
He looked around in the cave, a he was on a island in some sort of underground cavern and all that surrounded him was water. Endless water. He stepped towards the shore and looked down...and then he cried, he cried like a young child that had just fallen from a two inch high rock. After he stopped crying he looked in the water again, hoping it was all a big nightmare. But it wasn't, he was a tiefling now. A tiefling!
Quickly he looked for a stick or anything that could serve as a sword and he started fighting with it against a imaginary opponent. Within seconds a tripped himself with it and that was when he realized that he had only his memories from his former life. All his abilities and powers seemed to have been left behind on the Abyss.

How long he had been in the water, he didn't know, but when he started to faint away he took one more look right ahead and then there it was. Another shore! With his last strength and willpower he managed to reach it. Then, everything turned black...

When he woke up, it didn't take long for him to find out that he was in a cage. And the cage was guarded by some creature May-var was sure to have heard or read about sometime. When his guard turned to face him, the knowledge popped back right into his mind...drow! He was captured by drow and for all he knew, he was going to serve as a slave. He, who once commanded hundreds of thousands of demons, was now going to be a slave! Ah, the irony of life.

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:38 am

Thanks Rob-hin!

Many things have happened to May-var after that. He escaped from Ched Nassad with the help of a drow, named Oropher, who later on became his best (and may be only) friend.
May-var now serves Selune, as a result of saving Oropher from death. He promised a high priestess of Selune he would dedicate his life to Selune if she would save his friend, which she did. But May-var doesn't mind serving Selune anymore; he actually is becoming one of her most dedicated worshippers.

But there's always the dilemma: will he remain on Faerun to serve Selune, or will he go back to the Abyss someday, to become a Balor once again and reclaim his position? Or is the memory about May-var being a Balor only a dream?

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:38 pm

[QUOTE=Aramant]How do you have polymorph as a spell-like ability?[/QUOTE]

from a feat called "Gifted" (up to a fourth lvl spell and be used as many times a day as you class lvl. i.e. a fifth lvl char could use polymorph 5 times a day. but to balance it out, theres a 3% xp drain for each lvl of the spell. 4th lvl = 12% xp drain.)

yea it sucks becuase im not as high lvl as everyone else, but i can transform myself or another person into something else. like an oger mage into a squirl.

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:47 pm

Where's that feat from?

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:04 pm

I have to ask as well, because it seems to be missing from my Tome of Feats...

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:39 pm

acouple of my friends created it. its suppose to be balanced for gaming.

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 6:11 pm

I'd say that feat isn't quite right, but maybe I'm missing the whole picture.

Having a feat that lets you cast a spell you normally wouldn't be able to cast (a third level Sorceror can't cast fourth level spells), and that isn't even on your list of spells known, seems a little off. It also unbalances the game at earlier levels, as you could have a first level spellcaster throwing around a fireball once per day, when he can't even cast Acid Arrow. And then later on, it just gets ridiculous. You could have a 20th level spellcaster tossing out 20 extra spells per day. Even with the experience penalty, that's pretty excessive.

I'm also just generally uncomfortable with an experience point penalty for anything, really.

You'd probably be better off just buying a wand of Polymorph or something.

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 6:27 pm

its a touch attack, which means as a sorcerer, i would have to get in close, and i can only polymorph you into a creature. true you would have a lvl1 char throwing around a fireball/day, but you also go with the spells ajustment. 1d6 at lvl 1. and i would much rather have the ablity to transform into an orc or oger so i get the str, then pick up a weakend party member and move them to safety. it gives a tactical advantage in combat, all you have to do is modify it.the normal spell says 10min/lvl i think. my DM changed it to 5min/lvl. but hey, he planned on throwing some of the most powerfull creatures we could take at lower lvls, im glad to have it.

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 7:17 pm

I'm sure you're glad to have it. My point is that I think it's too powerful of a feat.

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 5:30 pm

how is it overpowered? all the changes made to it, made it weaker. besides, for an rp prespective, it represents the persons "curse"/"blessed" nature of chaos.

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 6:09 pm

It's overpowered because you get an obsene amount of extra firepower basically for free. The only time the experience drain is really an issue is just after you've levelled up, because then it can knock you back a level. Aside from that, it's really a non-factor. It's an abstract, unimportant penalty for the ability to potentially do hundreds of extra points of damage in a day, or cause a huge number of other magical effects.

And I suppose it could help roleplaying, if you model your roleplaying style after Dragonball Z or something.

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:03 pm

ok that last analogy, was crap. and you would think that i would abuse it that often?! i am insulted. besides, when your party is injured and has no str, you change into a form with massive str and help move them

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:34 pm

The balance of a feat shouldn't rely on the player's tendency for using it. You can give a first level character a +5 vorpal longsword, and regardless of how often he uses it, it's an overpowered feature for the character to have.

Before you say that the above example isn't comparable, let's do some cutting, pasting, and substitution:

"besides, when your party is injured and has no str, you take out your +5 vorpal longsword with massive killing ability and help save them"

Additionally, when you have the potential for polymorphing twenty times in a day with no real penalty, on top of the standard abilities for a normal character, I'd say that's on a level of absurdity equal with crazy anime nonsense.

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 7:27 am

I thought this thread was about favorite characters???

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:17 am

Right you are Rudar.
Back on topic guys.

I have to agree that May-var is am intriging character. He really changed from the start of the quest.
Problem with many characters is that, after they are created, they don't chance; they will always be the same. That's what I like about Rudar's character.