Stumped on your next character? Need some inspiration because you don't want to play another god worshiping cleric or angry barbarian? Never fear, Mr Puddins is here and has you covered! Really throw a curve ball for your play group and play perhaps a new interpretation of a class with none of the crunch, but all of the flavor and wow your fellow players and DM.
Hello esteemed followers, readers, and/or adventurers and masters of dungeons! I am trying to be more consistent with my posts, but life sometimes gets busy. Funny how it works.
Anyway... Have you been stumped on what character to play lately? Tired of playing the same tried and true interpretations of classes? Perhaps you are just interested in seeing new and interesting ways to flavor characters and classes. I have just the thing for you. In today's post we are going to explore interesting ways to flavor character classes to approach them from a new angle that may not have considered before!
With Round 1, we are going to look at different ways to flavor and play Barbarians, Bards, and Clerics!
Without any further ado, let's get into it.
Barbarian - The Vessel
Raging is the result of a spirit that is along for the ride in your body
In Tale of Swordfall, my character Kraka-Tur, is actually an example of this. The idea of this barbarian is to have it so your 'rage' is not just getting angry. We explain the power of rage, which is something very powerful, as having a source beyond the character's shear fury. The character is inhabited by another presence of some sort. In Kraka-Tur's case, it is a primeval storm spirit, but you can play with various ideas. Perhaps it is the spirit of an ancestor or ancestors if you want to take on an Avatar The Last Air Bender feel with your barbarian. Maybe, it is an animal spirit that the tribal warriors adopt from the spirit realm to guide them in battle, or perhaps it is something a little more nefarious to make for a fantasy Ghost Rider if that's what you're about.
Regardless, what you choose as the other entity behind the wheel, the idea is to flavor your mechanical rage as the spirit within as taking control of your character in one way or another. Perhaps they take control when the character's emotions get the better of them like a weird Incredible Hulk meets Ghost Rider or perhaps it is in moments of battle, and the barbarian calls upon the guidance of their spirit guardian to aid them.
Sub-class is pretty open for this character idea. Path of the Totem may fit the spirit animal guided barbarian. Storm Herald fits for any sort of elemental spirits or the like. Ancestral Guardian is very nice if you want the ancestor spirit within, and I must say Zealot is cool if you want to have a sort of divine presence within.
This character can be a lot of fun for both you and the DM as it gives you a change in personality whenever the spirit within takes control of your character. You can answer questions such as does your character communicate with the body hitch-hiker, and if so, is it all internal, or can people only hear one half of the conversation as the barbarian looks like they are talking to themselves. When you rage, you may want to describe a change in your characters physical appearance and perhaps adopt a different voice or way of speaking than the one you use for you character to help differentiate between the two.
Bard - The Commissar
Inspiring your comrades through fear, intimidation, and death threats... with a soldier vibe.
If you have played Warhammer 40k, then you might have an idea where this is going. If not, a quick summary. The Imperial Guard is the army of just regular dudes who get sent in to fight all of mankind's worst enemies with nothing more than flak jackets and rifles. Essentially, for our purposes, commissars serve as a sort of captain/commander who's duty it is to maintain the morale of the troops, often through force and intimidation. The "desert and die" type of force. They also see to it their soldiers don't turn to heresy, with a very similar approach.
Now let's take that concept, and bring it over to a Dungeons and Dragons game. With this bard, you are likely to have a military background of some kind, but don't let that limit your choices on background. For one of your skill proficiencies, we are going to grab Intimidation as one of them. Other than that, the rest is up to you. Sub-class wise, the College of Valor makes a lot of sense, but you can honestly sell any of them if you want.
I am currently playing a bard like this in one of my games, and I must say he is an absolute blast to play. The big part of how the "Commissar" plays is in how you act as a character. Unlike the stereotypical cheery, go-get em, maybe flirty or bubbly bard, the Commissar is going to be a serious, severe, and perhaps even stoic figure. They are at home on the battlefield, directing orders and making sure their allies don't break rank. Outside of the chaos of battle, they may use their intimidating presence to help with social interaction and any other skills they learned in the military or what have you. If you want them to fit more of the maintaining purity and preventing heresy in the ranks for a more religious twist, go for it! Just don't go executing your fellow party members.
The really fun part is when you go to inspire fellow party members. Instead of a typical "you can do it" or "rally to me, my friends," the Commissar may perhaps yell things like "BREAK RANK AND DIE!" or "NEVER FALTER OR WE WILL ALL FALL!" The first time I busted one of these out in game and then said "you are now inspired," the table was a mixture of shock, awe, confusion, and laughter.
The Commissar is a great character to play if you want to play another bard, but take it in a different direction than the fast-talking, quip spitting charmer. This also fits well if you want to have bard that was perhaps a ranked officer in the army. You may consider grabbing a few levels of fighter to help fit the military background.
Cleric - The Shaman
Beseeching the spirits instead of the gods for that 'Cure Wounds' spell.
The typical cleric usually prays to a god within the setting, and the god is the source of their magic and spells. One big way we can change up the cleric is by changing where they get their divine magic from and what they pray to. For the Shaman, we are going to be taking our inspiration from traditional societies for a sort of "tribal cleric." The Shaman takes its inspiration from religious figures of societies of tribal societies. They may take a naturalist approach and may use traditionalist means to treating illness, wounds, and possession, and the Shaman obtains its divine magic and abilities not from a god, but rather from the spirits, either benevolent or malevolent or both that inhabit the land around them.
I had an internal battle about whether or not the Shaman would fit a Druid better or not, and I determined, due to their role in their cultures and societies, a Shaman actually fits the role of a cleric better as their duties and mantra fits that of a cleric over a druid, in my opinion. The Shaman may also be referred to as a witch-doctor, medicine man/woman, sachem, or any other cultural name you may derive from other cultures you may be inspired by, such as African cultures. Of course, it goes without saying, if you decide to play a character like this, it is important to be tasteful about your representation of such a character. But, that goes without saying. I approach this character out of a place of respect, wanting to represent, and wanting to pay homage to non-western bases for fantasy.
The Shaman may be a religious person from a tribal society in the world you are playing in that gets swept up in the party. If you are in an area that is more based out of a Western fantasy, perhaps they are from a far away land. It will be interesting, especially for your DM, as you interact with the spirits of the land. Perhaps they are spirits in the traditional sense, but maybe fey creatures or perhaps some other natural force. Whichever it is, the Shaman may commune with these spirits from time to time, and perhaps the spirits show themselves to the shaman and/or the party once in awhile. DMs, if your player wishes to play one of these, it may also be a great opportunity to add some depth to your world that may have not been there in the first place.
Sub-class wise, you can pretty much swing anything. Nature cleric does make a lot of sense, but you can sell anything you want, as long as your basis of magic remains the same. The Shaman is definitely a twist on the cleric that I am super excited about and hope to get to give it a try!
I would keep going with a new idea for every class, but I don't want to keep you here too long.
I hope continue to post more Change Ups as time goes by with unique and interesting takes on class with all of the flavor, none of the crunch! It's good to be back to writing, and I hope to keep posting for y'all.
Until next time,
happy gaming.
Puddins