Interesting, annoying or unusual builds

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bluejay
Posts: 430
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:41 am
Location: Reading, United Kingdom

Interesting, annoying or unusual builds

Post by bluejay » Wed Mar 25, 2015 11:32 am

Spurred on by some of the comments and thoughts in the Great Orc Protection thread I was thinking about some of the weirder builds I've contemplated during the time I've been playing.

Captain America or they call me MISTER turtle
So the idea of this character is to wear down opponents and ultimately loremasters by dragging out every single fight into an epic spanning several hours.

Culture: High Elf of Rivendell,
Background: Guardian of Imladris
Body: 5
Heart: 4
Wits 9*

Reward: Lesser Ring (+1 Wit)
Equipment: Great Shield, Mail Shirt

Endurance 29
Fatigue: 17

Parry: 12

Yes this man turtles away in Defensive Stance behind his enormous shield and huge parry rating of 12. Of course he can be hit but he still has a mail shirt to help shy away the potential wounds. Mind you all that armour and shield is pretty heavy so he only uses his bare fists to fight back (true purists here will not increase his Dagger skill above 1 to really drag out these fights!) I even picked the lowest Body score a High Elf can have.

Honestly I should really try fully statting this guy out and see how well he performs against standard orcs and goblins. Of course without a weapon he can't actually defeat creatures of great size but you could always give him a Dagger for those bigger creatures. Of course a parry of 12 is pretty easily countered once you're going up against attribute level 8 or 9 with favoured weapons but against low powered opponents this guy is guaranteed to drag out even the most trivial fights!

To the MAX!
So to exaggerate this character to his daftest potential it would be best to have him find an enchanted great shield with the following qualities: -
Rune-Scored Shield
Superior Reinforced
Warding-Spell (against the most common enemy in your campaign)

At this point his transformation is basically complete. With Wisdom and Valour both 6 against a Bane creature and spending a point of Hope he can ramp his parry up to a Loremaster-wearying high of 23!!!!! Yes that means a Bane creature fighting our elf in defensive stance needs to roll a shocking 35 to hit him!

Similar alternatives
Hobbits with the Witty Gentleman Background and Small Folk Virtue are classic contenders but cannot use a great shield limiting their true turtle power. On the other hand the Witty Gentleman does have a Body of 2 which really will help to make their unarmed attack about as dangerous as a sponge and may drag out combat even longer!

There is a potentially better woodman build using the Seeker background. This guy has a Body of 2 (nice!) and a Wits of 7 but can have a favoured Wits score of 10. With their Woodcrafty cultural blessing this gives them a base parry of 10 in wooded areas. So with the magic great shield he could be right up at a parry score of 24 however this is conditional on fighting in woodland. Having said that many might say a true turtle wouldn't leave their defended area...
James Semple, occasional composer of role playing music

mirkwoodfalcon
Posts: 124
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:52 pm

Re: Interesting, annoying or unusual builds

Post by mirkwoodfalcon » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:58 pm

In our campaign, we have a rather large Beorning that is putting most of his skill points into Stealth and trying to be as quiet and ninja-like as possible while simultaneously wielding a Great Spear (and often, attacking from stealth with his great spear.) It's pretty comedic. I'd consider it an 'unusual' build, lol
“...his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front...”

Otaku-sempai
Posts: 3397
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 2:45 am
Location: Lackawanna, NY

Re: Interesting, annoying or unusual builds

Post by Otaku-sempai » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:15 pm

mirkwoodfalcon wrote:In our campaign, we have a rather large Beorning that is putting most of his skill points into Stealth and trying to be as quiet and ninja-like as possible while simultaneously wielding a Great Spear (and often, attacking from stealth with his great spear.) It's pretty comedic. I'd consider it an 'unusual' build, lol
He sounds a little like the evil ninja priest from the anime film The Dagger of Kamui.

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Angelalex242
Posts: 1116
Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:52 pm
Location: Valinor

Re: Interesting, annoying or unusual builds

Post by Angelalex242 » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:35 pm

I now wonder if there's a way to get a 'throwing' enchantment on a shield.

"When Captain Aragorn throws his mighty shield...all those who choose to oppose his shield must yield..."

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