#roll3d6inorder

[roll3d6inorder]

Rolling 3d6 in order, we get:

Str 10

Dex 6

Con 17

Int 12

Wis 8

Cha 8

I like the look of that constitution. Everything else is a bit of a wash, but nothing so bad we can’t get up from it. This one is really going to come down to race and class, though. Heavy armor would be great, or some way to leverage our Constitution or Intelligence. We’ve just got to pray.

Dragonborn

Rogue

The Platinum Dragon has a sense of humor. This is going to be a challenge.

Str 12

Cha 9

So, we have no Dexterity, meaning we can’t multiclass. At least not without sacrificing way too many ASI’s. Looking at the positives, we get extra strength, meaning that we can at least add a positive modifier to attacks we make with finesse weapons. The best we can do at range is throw a dart or a dagger. We still get sneak attack, but if we’re not likely to hit it doesn’t do us much good. That means getting strength up is a priority. Our dexterity is a lost cause, meaning we have to hide under a suit of heavy armor, but it’s going to take us at least two half-feats to get. Thanks to our impressive Constitution we can (with some reservation) wait on it. At least we can use our Con to be really good with our breath weapon for as often as we’re going to use that.

The real tough choice here is which archetype to go for, which for the Rogue is really hard because they’re all really good! We can eliminate Inquisitive, Swashbuckler, and Thief immediately because they rely on attributes we do not have. Assassin isn’t great for us either. Scout is never bad, Mastermind could be good for a Rogue that stays on the back lines, Arcane Trickster would give us some flexibility... I have to leave this one up to lore, and the lore that I like best for a Drabonborn Rogue would be the Green Dragon Mastermind. Let’s go to the backstory:

Medofan had a happy childhood, as most products of the Green Dragons do. And yet unlike most, little was ever expected of her. She never had the tongue for lies, nor the swiftness for sneaking. Eventually, she and her mother came to an understanding that she was not fit for the same training as her older siblings, and that she would have to find her own path. Being a young dragonborn, with support for her finances, first experiencing the world, the beginning of her path was clear. Partying. A lot of wild, alcohol-fueled partying! In fact, she became so good at drinking socially that it earned her the respect of her peers. She had always tried to deceive lesser beings into service to her, but she discovered it was easier to win their loyalty by carousing. They began to rely on her for her level head and clarity of vision, even in the depths of drink and debauchery. What was just fun and games in her youth lead to many more serious opportunities in her adulthood; organizing gangs, recruiting for covert societies, and even acting as an agent of the queen’s covert bodyguard. Medofan hasn’t seen her mother since she left, but she likes to think that she would be proud of where she ended up.

Level 1

Background: Far Traveler

Insight and Perception

Rogue 1

Athletics, Deception, Investigation, and Persuasion

Experise

Perception and Persuasion

Level 2

Rogue 2

Level 3

Rogue 3

Mastermind

Level 4

Rogue 4

Str 14

Level 5

Rogue 5

Level 6

Rogue 6

Expertise

Athletics and Deception

Level 7

Rogue 7

Level 8

Rogue 8

Moderately Armored

Str 15

Level 9

Rogue 9

Level 10

Rogue 10

Heavily Armored

Str 16

Not much mechanical synergy to this build. Mostly just lore synergy. I do like that picking the Green Dragon option with our high Constitution means that being hit by poison is twice as useless against us. Probably it’s more optimal to resist fire, especially when our Dex save is average at best, but sometimes it’s preferable to have a talent you’re committed to. The Rogue is a very flexible class, and we get plenty out of it despite not being sneaky (though we’re pretty good at disguising ourselves and passing for someone else). She’s more about barking orders at her goons, breathing deadly airborne poison on her enemies, and keeping herself safe by whatever means she’s got. She’s not a gifted soul, but she’s competent, she’s grounded, and she keeps the team together.

Hope you enjoyed this one. I was thinking I might switch it up and do a Pathfinder character soon. Probably 2e so I’m not overwhelmed by the options. 

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 10

Dex 11

Con 13

Int 9

Wis 5

Cha 7

On the whole, this is definitely worse than the last roll, but strangely I feel better about it. Maybe I am irrationally attached to Constitution and I just love to see it in the positive for once. A constitution focus isn’t bad if we happen to be a spell-caster, and most classes are so let’s see how this next part shakes out. 

Lizardfolk

Monk

Well then! Lizardfolk are strong. Unfortunately, they’re strong for a lot of the same reasons that Monks are strong, and they kind of step on each others toes. At least looking at the stat increases will make me happy.

Con 15

Wis 6

Nature and Stealth

Okay, so our Wisdom is only a -2 and our Con is a +2. Thankfully, Monks get Stillness of Mind, meaning that getting charmed or frightened won’t be as big of a problem for us. It’s 7 levels away, but we can’t multiclass anyways so we might as well call it an inevitability. I do love the +2 Con, and it’s not too far away from a +3. More HP every level, and with Hungry Jaws we can that little bit of health back every short rest. Considering this is a melee build with no multiclassing, I’m not exactly going to have to make a lot of decisions here as to how this should go, so let’s just let the good times roll.

From his hatching grounds along the riverbed, Ahwuz observed the monks who trained and meditated by the river. Meditation seemed like a waste of time, but the training he could understand and appreciate. He had tried stretching, and lifting boulders, but nothing like that seemed to get results for him before. These monks trained by holding poses, sometimes in the rain or in the path of waterfalls. That Ahwuz could commit himself to. He became resilient, able to hold firm against anything. One day, he found the monks dead. He did not mourn their loss, but decided that he better leave the area before whatever killed them got to him. He’s still not sure what kind of creature it was, but he’s pretty sure it didn’t follow him (even after he took all the good monk meats, weapons, and bones for himself).

Level 1

Monk 1

Level 2

Monk 2

Level 3

Monk 3

Kensai

Longsword and Dart

Level 4

Monk 4

12 Dex

16 Con

...

Level 8

Monk 8

14 Dex

Yeah, not much too this one. Kensai makes the most sense as it basically ignores our Wisdom and allows us to boost our damage and/or AC, both of which are not great because our dexterity is not great. Con makes me happy, but that alone does not make a character viable. We can’t just stand there absorbing damage all day, we have to dodge, we have to attack, we have to do something. When we are trained exclusively to do something that we just don’t have the ability to do, it’s bound to make us feel useless. This is the first character so far where I feel like their first quest needs to be “find the belt of +4 dexterity this session.” 

That being said, I have to appreciate that a character like this is exactly what you should get with rolling in order, and the whole point of running them is to see how they pan out. Maybe our DM gives us a lot of chances to be useful for our ability to breath underwater, craft weapons and armor out of bones, or make con saves. Maybe being immune to fall damage, being charmed/frightened, and all poison and disease will prove itself relevant. Maybe struggling just to catch up isn’t the way to look at it. It’s not a competition after all, it’s a team game that functions as a story, and making it interesting is more important than simply being good at the same things everyone else is good at. 

Still, don’t be afraid to say he retires so you can roll up a new character. Then he can say “Ahwuz there, but now I’m not.” Nobody wants to spend Ahwuz as a character that can’t do much. And if another player wants to use him, I’d let them. After all, he’s not yours, he’s Ahwuz.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 6

Dex 8

Con 11

Int 8

Wis 11

Cha 9

This just feels mean. It’s less bad overall than our last set of stats, but there’s even less that stands out as good. I think this one comes down to whether we get a race and class that can compliment our existing stats enough to make it worth trying.

Firbolg

Rogue

Well then! This is a great combination. Most of the Firbolg’s strengths work very will as a Rogue, and Rogues themselves are more versatile than they might first appear. I’ve actually made a Firbolg Rogue before, so this may end up being a more under-powered version of that same character. It will take some work, but it’s too good of a concept to pass up.

Str 7

Wis 13

Wisdom is going to be our primary attribute, despite it being terrible, as it is the least terrible attribute we have going for us. It would be great if we could use that to multiclass into Druid or Cleric, but we have no Dexterity, so we have to stay in Rogue school permanently. 

Quynn watched over centuries as more and more of the forest was claimed by humanity. Unlike the rest of his people, however, Quynn was curious about humanity. Why did they do this? What was their motivation? What he found out changed his whole view of their encroachment. Criminality. It was the criminals of human society who ended up on the frontiers, on the run, trying to make a new name for themselves. Besides those, runaways, outcasts, people looking to get away from human society but ironically only expanding it at natures expense. It was humanities inability to cohere to itself that caused it to balloon outwards. With this revelation, Quynn took up a career as a private investigator, hoping to keep human settlement contained by keeping their people together and compelling them to either follow the absurd rules of their culture or riot to get them changed. 

Most Firbolg don’t have names, so after all the years he spent studying human behavior, law, and forensics, people started calling him “The Professor.” The name “Quynn” actually came later when he went undercover as an actress by that name, and eventually he became synonymous with her.

Level 1

Rogue 1

Deception, Insight, Investigation, Perception

Background: Outlander

Athletics and Survival

Expertise: Insight and Perception

Level 2

Rogue 2

Level 3

Rogue 3

Inquisitive

Level 4

Rogue 4

Feat: Magic Initiate

Thunderwave

Cantrips

Magic Stone

Guidance 

Level 5

Rogue 5

Level 6

Rogue 6

Expertise: Thieves Tools and Investigation

Level 7

Rogue 7

Level 8

Rogue 8

Feat: Observant

Wis 14

Level 9

Rogue 9

Level 10

Rogue 10

Wis 16

We were fighting an uphill battle, but thankfully Rogues have a sneaky extra ASI that I had forgotten about until benefiting from it. Magic Initiate may seem out of left field, but Magic Stone is the only way we can use our superior Wisdom modifier to fight with a ranged weapon to get our sneak attack bonus. Speaking of which, our expertise in Insight allows us to be very good at getting sneak attacks even on those foes that keep their distance from your whole party. Generally speaking, The Professor is better at making skill checks than he is at fighting, meaning he might be more at home in a campaign that focuses on an investigation specifically. Our expertise, combined with the benefits of being an Inquisitive, plus the Observant feat make us very hard to dupe, sneak up on, or hide from. Cunning Actions means we never have to be stuck in a melee, and our Firbolg abilities to turn invisible or disguise ourselves helps make up for the fact that, despite being a Rogue, we couldn’t sneak to save our lives. You’re a big, friendly, well dressed guy who talks to dogs and sees clear as day in humanity the things they fail to see in themselves. You’re not great at being subtle, but being subtle never worked on you either.

Thank you for joining me as I revisit an old friend. Happy Rolling!