Sometimes players the the urge to play something wacky. It probably all started out with bad die rolls, when someone decided to play a Magic-User even though his Int was 11 while his Str was 16.
Players playing against type, players trying out ridiculous disadvantages. Every HackMaster character.

Now, sometimes those characters actually manage to become useful -- and I'm not talking about those who were just wacky for optimization's sake.

So, tell me about the dead bards who managed to do impress the rest of the group. I hunger for gaming stories right now.

I once rolled up a 3.5 cleric the hard way:

3d6, in the exact order of the stats.

He came out with an 18 DEX, WIS 12 and a 6 CHA. I played him as the grumpymost pock-scar-faced Peraine-Cleric that ever was. He had a heart of gold [LG], though.

He took weapon finesse and kept clubbing enemies unconcious with his sap, he was the peaceful sort.

He totally sucked at evangelizing and turning undead, and couldn´t cast spells above third level.

He´s still kicking around, at level 6, guiding a trek of freed galley slaves through the Jungles of southern Aventurien.

I like him, it´s a special feeling when he keeps surviving stuff and helping out. It has a very down to earth feeling: He shouldn´t be adventuring with the real heroes, but does so nonetheless, and keeps being useful.

Could it be that playing against type is a solution for the "constraints" of class?  I mean, Sett's talking about having a Cleric who can only cast third level spells - which in 3.5 sounds like a multiclass effort: "I'll take 5 levels of Cleric so I can cast spells X, Y, and Z. Then I'll go to Theif; I mean, look at my Dex!"

Interesting...

Quote from: James J SkachCould it be that playing against type is a solution for the "constraints" of class?

A solution without advantages? Not really.

Quote from: SosthenesA solution without advantages? Not really.

"solution" might not have been the word I was looking for...perhaps "reaction to"..I'm not sure.  It just seems really interesting to me.  I mean, in 3.5, his cleric could take skills that were, in previous editions, not allowed to him - thief skills to be frank. True, they'd be cross class, and more expensive, but that cost could be a great role-playing or character building aspect.

So here you could have, essentially, a Cleric/Thief without the multiclassing - admittedly without mechanical advantages, but certainly an interesting character which is always an advantage.

Quote from: James J SkachSo here you could have, essentially, a Cleric/Thief without the multiclassing - admittedly without mechanical advantages, but certainly an interesting character which is always an advantage.

Not if there's a better choice. The mechanical implementation of the character concept is sub-optimal, it's hardly a simulation of most character concepts at all. This is only interesting if the core concept is about a bumbling character whose talents lie otherwise but who obstinately resists his true calling.
Still, getting kinda off-topic here. Create a new thread. Australians will thank you for it

yeah...sorry...I realized after the last post that I drifted and then jacked...

I had a dwarf theif that was the least Dextrous member of the party. As it was ad&d though, i was alright!

A player had a character in one of my campaigns who was a mage from the desert. He figured that water was cursed because we depend on it so much, yet it's hardly ever available. So the party set off and...buy a ship. They travel around in the boat, the mage buys a special helmet with a tiny slit in it, so that he can't see the sea all around him (he wears this only to get on the boat and off of it!) then spends all of his time getting drunk in his bunk.

It just so happened that the boat got attacked once and they needed his firepower. Well, the combat was amusing to say the least and ended up with the mage summoning an elemental in giant eagle form to ferry him and an injured crew member safely to the shore. He didn't have his special helmet on, so he closed his eyes the whole way. There was a cliff face on the shoreline which he had glimpsed briefly and he tried to gauge the distance via time, with his eyes shut the whole while, before he could land safely. Sadly, he got his timing wrong and they smashed into the cliff face...

Then there was the time that there was a riot on the dockside and the mage already feeling worried about the journey went nuts and blasted a fireball into the sky to get everyone to piss off! Oh, happy days...

I have a player who only plays oddballs. I mean she comes up with the most disadvantaged character concept in game terms and runs with it. Low scores, useless abilities etc. During chargen when she makes a high roll you can bet she will put it in a "useless" stat. Quirky characters she calls 'em

Regards,
David R

I had a player who made a character named Merge who was as screwed up as Shadowrun characters got. This was in first edition, well before the Companions, and Edges and Flaws were introduced.

Merge was a schizophrenic, with multiple personality disorder. He had six distinct personalities, and when he came under stress he made a will power roll, and if he failed he rolled a D6 and switched personalities. Pretty fun stuff.

I had a soldier in WWII game that had a Cha of 5 and a con of 8.

I just made my concept to work with those stats and came up with the idea that he was a War vet that recieved some terrible facial wounds and massive shrapnel damage across his body. The result: one ugly SOB with some lingering effects of the wounds.

He was a fun character to play.

On a general note, I love playing PCs with extreme values, advantageous or not. What really irks me is those with all values in the 10 to 12 range. I've no idea what to do with them.

We once tried running an evil party.  I had started later than everyone else and ended up rolling a cleric with his highest stat being a 12.  The party had acquired a magical item which was the face of an evil god, my god.  He was the heel of the group who ended up doing all of the crap jobs.  Eventually the party ended up giving him the face to carry because it was too creepy for them.  He ended up nearly killing the best fighter in the group who had been tied to a ship's mast because wild elves were afraid of water.  GM fiat saved him but left him with a horrible scar.  He then escaped from the party, alluded them, and offered the face up to his god.  With the god complete the world was plunged into darkness, I became the demi-god of treachery, and the campaign was ended.

No more evil parties.