What's you're favorite archetype/hybrid that's your go to in every rpg? For me, it's always potions and flower picking that buffs my mediocre magic skills. So I guess a drug mage.

Basically a street samurai. If the game lets me slam drugs, slow time, and swing a katana real fast that's what I do. A friend called me out on it after watching me stream different games, and he's like waaait a minute this is the same character!

There's a few, mostly because it's rare to find a game that allows all of them at once in a satisfying way.
I have a weakness for stuff like alchemy and enchanting, even though 90% of the time the systems involved are terrible, so that's one.
Really fond of summoning, but videogames aren't really the best way to scratch that particular itch, since... unlike a tabletop game you don't get any of the interesting stuff there.
I'm also naturally drawn to the most gimmicky thing a given game has. If there's like three types of magic but one of them is unnecessarily complicated, you bet your ass I'm gonna use that one. If there's one weapon that does weird shit out of a dozen, that's the one.
But as a backup, when all else fails, I just make a guy wearing heavy armor (in part because that always has more style than light armor options or especially robes, which pretty much always get shafted on that front) and using magic to support good old fashioned close-quarters violence. If it's an option, either the equivalent of holy or dark magic. Pretty basic bitch shit, I know, but that's the point of a fallback.

>>3780766 (OP)
Mechanically complex classes that can be turned into glorified skill spammers or autoattackers. Skyrim mage fitted into 0 cost destruction magic that spews ice shard like a machinegun, Pathfinder Call of the Wild mod Twinned Summoner that double-teams with his pet to lower enemy saves and armor class into oblivion (even Rovagug) with special weapons... Something about optimizing things into crude but effective beating sticks appeals to me.

If a game has traps I use traps.

>>3780826
If only more games let you do that in a way that didn't suck ass.
And I don't mean effectiveness either. You have games like NWN, where traps can be extremely effective, but making, setting and retrieving them is an annoying process, so to avoid the tedium you end up only really busting them out when dealing with enemies immune to sneak attacks. Not to mention it's a pain in the ass to carry them, whoever made them take up that much space needs to be shot.

I can never decide because Max Defense and Max Speed.

>>3780766 (OP)
I'm a dual-wield slut. Even better if it's with non-light weapons, like Scythes and shit. I also like jack-of-all-trades classes, like bards.
I wish there were games with some kind of Cancermancer class. Basically a healing class, that boosts one's natural regeneration to a degree it turns into turbocancer, so the enemies wither and die and end up as a cancerous, fleshy pulp.

>>3780766 (OP)
Useless peasant that dies fighting off the goblins.

I always go for fighter hybrids. 2 of my favorites is a warrior mage that uses magic specifically to augment his swordsmanship and a duelist that uses a rapier or other light sword and fights with finesse and trickery but is also still quite strong, basically Dread Pirate Roberts

>>3780766 (OP)
Heavy armor, sword and board guy that has tons of buff spells.
I don't know why but I love buff spells. Also healing.

>>3780766 (OP)
Any utility option I can get my hands on, even if I rarely use them. The character version of an item hoarder.

>>3780766 (OP)
Usually a white mage, pure caster that also heals and buffs. Not a fan of how most clerics are just defensive warriors that can heal, prefer to go full support if possible.

>>3780766 (OP)
Whatever control or sustain looks the most broken. Regen, stunlocking, time magic, teleportation...

>>3781879
I've read that book, the dude pictured is named Pol, a double wizard prince and born from rape.

I like to play melee characters that also have some kind of utility like a gish or thief multiclass. Playing pure melee just gets boring, I need some other spice to keep me interested.
Fighter/Rogue is always fun in dnd games.

>>3781983
>a double wizard prince
>Y-YOU... YOU DOUBLE WIZARD!
Is it worth reading?
Does he fuck the dragon?
I'm reading a series of books right now where the POV dragon is well on her way to fuck her human """"friend"""" (she's clearly in love and so is he).
A shame she'll probably be turned into a human at some point or whatever.

>>3782010
Exactly. Melee is cool. The coolest, but just pure melee all the time without spice gets boring fast.
To me at least.

>>3782010
Fighter/Thief is just a nigger
>break into people’s homes
>rob them, kill them, dindu nothin
>guard gets called for no reason, fight them off

>>3782118
I read it 30+ years ago, I remember liking it then, no idea about now.
It's part of two trilogies. Really neat magic system using light and color and shit.
Dragon is a bro, not a hoe, and they are more on the "animal" side of things rather than D&D style dragons.

>>3782187
>magic system using light and color and shit.
Okay, that's cool.

>Dragon is a bro, not a hoe
I fuck with that.

>more on the "animal" side of things rather than D&D style dragons.
Oh, shame. I love Temeraire etc like dragons.
Still, sounds cool, will put it on my reading list.

>>3780792
Name 3

>>3781454
Very interesting concept.
>>3781879
Which games do buffing right? I'd say the pillars idea that buffs can't be combined and aren't applied for too long is the right direction.

>>3780766 (OP)
I like to play charlatan characters whenever possible. Rogue who maxes social and has a twirled mustache.

>>3782292
That's literally impossible in all games

>>3782278
Melanie Rawn is the author. Dragon Prince is the first trilogy.

>>3782314
>charlatan enjoyer lies about his class of preference
That’s how you know he’s being honest.

>>3782357
True enough. Would be fun to play.

>>3782181
That's every dungeon-crawling character. You are breaking into places, killing the inhabitants and guards, and taking their shit.

>>3782375
Games have cyberpunk tier police. If guards would be a threat, people would put thought into it.

>>3782181
Can you go 5 seconds without thinking about niggers?

>>3780766 (OP)
>herb mage
Hedge wizard.
Because your magic comes from the hedge.

>>3782470
No because they’re loud and always playing rap outside my neighborhood. Part of why I play so many rpg’s is to ignore the absolute state of my county, and even that’s ruined so I mostly stick with older games at this point.

>>3780792
So Cyberpunk?

>>3782357
>honest
The opposite is the case: an honest charlatan is out of character.

Summoner that sits back while casting buffs on his summons while debuffing enemies

>>3782287
Imo best way to do buffs is do them by the way as a bonus.
Attack that is a bit weaker but gives speed buff
Move that buffs dodge and damage

>>3782710
Which games do it like that? I dislike multiple buffs at once, if it's not one spell or item. Stacking buffs break games.

>>3780766 (OP)
Paladin, here defined as:
>Very high defense
>Sword/Mace+shield
>Healing and buff spells
Basically turning every fight into a slow, grindy battle of attrition where I slowly regenerate or lifesteal back what little damage I take.

Are there archetypes that you'd like to see, but haven't ever been tried?

>>3782829
Bg3 has paladins in act 2, it's atrocious to battle paladins in that game. The most annoying enemies, tanky, healing capabilities and burst damage.

>>3782835
Travelling merchant.
It's sort-of like a summoner, but your summons are bodyguards you hire.
You would have skills like "scream", "hide" and "throw money".
Levelling up allows you to improve your guards' skills, equipment and loyalty.

>>3782842
Somewhat like ender lilies or bards tale. Hard to imagine a traveling merchant as main character.

>>3782841
Paladins getting huge damage smites has always seemed off to me. I guess if classes are more thematically defined it's fine, but when you're trying to establish a degree of gameplay balance it seems more logical to split off the "attacker paladin" from the "defender paladin". Like D&D 4e did. God I miss that system.

>>3782842
Picrel (called "Konung: The legend of the North" in the west) has a class designed for exactly hwat you describe. The game's slavjank so play at your own risk.

>>3782877
I've played that game. It's a decent, albeit very janky rpg.

>>3782857
They did? Like how? Subclasses? Maybe off topic, but after finishing yakuza 7, the dragon quest of yakuza, I sat down and wrote down all pieces of equipment. Yakuza 7 has by no means little gear, yet I felt the whole game there's no gear. After I wrote all the gear pieces down, I realised why. There's almost no unique gear, it's just stat stick after stat stick that does little to improve or alter game play. Using the first or the last weapon makes barely a difference. That's not what gear is for in a rpg. I'm confident to say that few meaningful choices will always top huge lists of interchangeable or cosmetic options.

>>3782118
>A shame she'll probably be turned into a human at some point or whatever.
Good news! I won't say how, but fucking hell, I didn't think they'd go this path.
The series is Dragons of Mother Stone by Melissa McShane.
The covers art of the books is atrocious.

>>3782287
>Which games do buffing right?
I like the way Dragon Age Origins does it with the whole idea of sustaining the buff taking a chunk of your casting capacity beyond just the resources spent to cast the spell itself.
I think it's a good medium between D&D's current concentration mechanic and the older stack EVERYTHING.
Not that it isn't fun to have a character that can stack tons of spells and paid the price to be able to use certain buffs in ways other characters can't, like using Persist Spell Metamagic in D&D 3.5e to make certain spells that would normally last a couple of minutes last a whole 24 hours, making the buffs numerically stronger, etc.
It's a fantasy that appeals to me quite a bit for some reason.
My current tabletop character is subpar without his 24 hours buffs (via Divine Metamagic), and with them he's on par with the pure melee fighter of the group, and most of his buffs benefit the group as a whole too, with the counterbalance being that he could have had more flexibility and general power if he instead focused on just casting spells, instead of cosplaying as a warrior.
It works well though, he's potent, benefits the group in several ways, and he has enough toys, and enough moment to moment decisions to make during gameplay, that I'm never bored playing this character.

>>3782842
>throw money
Ragnarok Online has a class that does that.
At some point it used to be the highest DPS by a good margin, with the caveat that each attack of the skill wasted a fucking fortune.

>>3782897
Like reduce max mp?

>>3782897
Concentration would be decent, if it wouldn't gimp a mage completely.
>character
More info, what system, level, how comes he has tons of gadgets?

>>3782909
For games with MP, sure. Other systems could use different resources.

>>3782912
D&D 3.5e, a level 15 "Cleric" gish (only 4 levels of Cleric really).
Level split is Cleric 4/ Knight of the Raven 6/ Ordained Champion 3/ Crusader 1/ The Righteous Cohort of Kiri-Jolith 1 (will be 6 at 20).

>how comes he has tons of gadgets?
As far as resources and mechanics go, he has 32 uses of Turn Undead between his two pools (Turn Undead + Destroy Undead), and he can use 7 of those to cast a spell with Divine Metamagic Persist, or the ones that qualify anyway, making it last for 24 hours, 3 to activate Law Devotion, or 1 to use Smite.
He also has 2 uses of Smite Undead, a Raven sort-of Familiar that can do stuff like annoying an enemy for a debuff, a couple of minor abilities from The Righteous Cohort of Kiri-Jolith, Martial Maneuvers from Crusader, a Belt of Battle, and his Armor has the Blurring enhancement, in addition to his spells from 12 levels of Cleric Spellcasting.
So as a player I have tons of choices at different time frames.
Which spells to prepare and cast with DMM Persist up front during daily preparations, and which to save for later, when to use Divine Insight during a skill check or some other spell to heal or protect the group?
In battle, should I activate the Blurring enhancement, Law Devotion, use a Smite or a swift/immediate action spell?
Should I save my TU uses for later? What about my Belt of Battle?
Plus all the usual choices for a warrior type, like how much AB to trade for damage using Power Attack (which interacts with Smite and Law Devotion), movement, positioning, etc.
He's not as powerful as the Bard/Sublime Chord that can do almost everything well, or the item crafter that can delete enemies with a single Disintegrate, or clear a room with a Maximized, Empowered AoE spell, but he can do a few things really well and has a decent measure of flexibility.
I really enjoy playing this guy.
I'm hoping to get him a dragon for a mount at lvl 18.

>>3782924
>Knight of the Raven 6/ Ordained Champion 3/ Crusader 1/ The Righteous Cohort of Kiri-Jolith 1
Are these add ons or 3rd party content? Do you have experience in ttrpg? I guess so, if you play 3.5e.
I wanted to start publish adventures on drive thru, seeing as the median quality is literally atrocious. My idea for an usp was a system neutral approach with a dual stat block for maybe 3.5e/Pf1e and 5e. What do you think of it?
>gadgets
It's 3.5r, there are tons of magical equipment, even high end ones. Iirc there's no equip limit either. A toning might be a shit mechanic, but limiting gear is just reasonable.
>your mc
Do you have a theme in mind? When I was playing ttrpg actively, I usually made a character that's very good in one thing needed for his class or specialization and atrociously bad in another one needed for its class.
>dragon mount
I hope so, too. I never had one.

>>3782932
>Are these add ons or 3rd party content?
Knight of the Raven is from the adventure Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (so is Destroy Undead), Ordained Champion is from the Complete Champion book, Crusader is a base class from the famed book of Weeb FIghtan Magic, and The Righteous Cohort of Kiri-Jolith is from Dragonlance's Holy Orders of the Stars, which is considered "2nd party".

>Do you have experience in ttrpg? I guess so, if you play 3.5e.
Compared to the average grog, not really.
I only started playing TTRPGs in 2020. 3.5e in 2022.

>publish adventures on drive thru
That's a cool idea. People do that for 5e and PF2e, I believe.
Come to
>>>/tg/95816384
I believe some guys have published adventures.

>A toning might be a shit mechanic, but limiting gear is just reasonable.
Gear is limited by virtue of equipment slots for the most part, but there are slotless items and you can put certain effects in the "wrong" slot, but those get real expensive real quick.
But yes. The Disintegrate guy? He's the gadget guy, and the party's item crafter. He has wands, rods, Wondrous Items for days, and a bunch of robotic minions.

>Do you have a theme in mind?
Less of a theme and more of a character, really.
I looked at the setting material, the deities, the main religions, the world state, and wrote a backstory for the character, then I found the classes that fit his experiences, training, preferences, etc.
The only initial mechanical decision was that he'd be a Cleric with DMM Persist. Everything else arose from the portrayal of the character.
Hell, the levels in Crusader and The Righteous Cohort of Kiri-Jolith were a consequence of his dynamics with the party. The initial plan didn't involve either.
He's basically a melee fighter and team support with cures, heals, buffs, etc that relies on magic and temporary effects to achieve an impermanent peak melee prowess.

>>dragon mount
3.5e makes it pretty easy to get one actually, if your DM is willing to play ball.

>>3780766 (OP)
my least favorite is definitely faggot/OP

>>3782944
>Weeb FIghtan Magic
Book of nine swords?!

>>3782877
isn't Spells of Gold pretty much the same?
never played it, i just remember reading about it in a mag as a kid

Melee guy with utility magic.
If your game has something like the Cipher in PoE, I'll play as that.

No spellswords, though, those are gay.
Don't like Shadowrun adepts, either, I can't explain it.

>>3782957
Yep.
Thanks to the Neverwinter Nights 2 mod, I already knew exactly how the systems for each Martial Initiator worked, so that made playing one really easy.
There's a Half-(Gold) Dragon Knight/Warblade in the group too, which is where my character learned this idea of Martial Maneuvers. Him and the Not-australian Orcs.

>>3782985
>Cipher in PoE
Can't Ciphers summon dragons and shit?
Or was that Chanters? It might have been Chanters.

>>3782992
It was Chanters.
Ciphers were all about either damage or (usually single-target) control. And getting a fucking paralysis ability pretty much immediately making a lot of the early encounters piss easy.

>>3782995
>the spoiler
Lol.
Chanters looked cool as hell.
Are Chanters "spellsword"/gish a thing?

>>3782992
that was the Chanters yeah

Chanters were
>you just gotta believe and it becomes real
type bard-shamans

Ciphers are psions but they work up their psionic energy through fighting.

>>3780766 (OP)
If the game can be beaten in a not-annoying way with no magic? Then BBC Warrior with Ax. Or Amazonian slut with a sword.

If magic kind of needed, then a paladin/cleric or a multiclass battlemage thingy.

>>3782944
>DM is willing to play ball
They are the culprits!
>tg
Never left vrpg, maybe it's time to do so. I might even post a sketch there or two, what could possibly go wrong?

>>3782997
Chanters are... weird. Their core ability is just a cycling passive buff for the party, and their active abilities run the whole spectrum, with their main gimmick being summoning of course. The also have the honor of having really early paralysis, through their phantom summon, which stuns AND has sneak attack and basically tears shit apart early-game.
It's all basically completely independent on what else they're doing, so sure, you could make one a gish-adjacent thing. The Chanter companion you get just blasts shit with his gun when he's not conjuring bullshit from thin air. If anything, both the strength and weakness of the Chanter is that, honestly, the class doesn't give a rat's ass what the hell you're doing, since so long as you stick to the strengths of your stats it'll always work out. With others you kinda have to build into their archetype, Chanter gives no fucks.
I played one that had basically fuck all physical stats and maxed out mental stats, just a borderline cripple usually high on some shit shambling around singing about monsters and making them pop into existence, and it did not matter one fucking bit (so long as he stood behind the wall of summons and companions)

>>3783000
>bard-shamans
Alright agent triple-O, that sounds even cooler than I thought. Time to try playing that game again.

>>3783027
>>3783027
>It's all basically completely independent on what else they're doing, so sure, you could make one a gish-adjacent thing
>Chanter gives no fucks.
Fuck yeah. Perfect.
I don't remember, is multiclassing a thing in the first game or just the second?
If their main sthick is so independent from anything, getting a second thing to focus on might work out really well.

>>3783019
>I might even post a sketch there or two
Please do. There are a couple of art fags that post some OC from time to time and it's always cool when they do.

>>3783029
Yeah, I might do. As soon as I have something I deem interesting, I'll upload it in tg 3.5e

sword & board
a sword to vanquish evil
a board to shield the world from injustice

>>3780766 (OP)
I always go for a blaster mage. If possible, I also like to have high charisma/persuasion. Basically a D&D sorcerer. I fell in love with that concept when I first learned of it and I try to recreate it whenever possible.

Edgy cultist with death magic, zombies, curses, and undead waifus when it's available.

>>3783123
Holy based

>>3783208
>I fell in love with that concept when I first learned of it and I try to recreate it whenever possible.
Me with D&D Clerics.

>>3783412
They weren't buffed in 5e, on the contrary.

>>3783418
They are fine in 5e.
Nowhere near Bards or Paladins, but they work at all levels.
The only thing that baffles me about Clerics in 5e is how they designed the War Domain.

What should really count, what you think you want but what you really always end up playing as?
I think I want wizard, but as the early game is usually tough for wizards I always end up playing as a... ranger. I don't even like ranger! But for some weird coincidence of me starting a new playthrough and the stuff I'm watching currently he always comes up.

>>3783422
Sure, they are fine. It's just that those two you mentioned got buffed into oblivion. It's ridiculous. Haven't played cleric, yet. What's wrong with the domain?

>>3783430
>What's wrong with the domain?
In 5e 2014 it doesn't do much for its theme.
Look at its features
>Lvl 1 Martial Weapon, Heavy Armor, Extra Weapon Attack as a Bonus Action wis mod times per day.
>Lvl 2 Channel Divinity to get +10 to an attack (weapon or spell)
>Lvl 6 Can use the lvl 2 Channel Divinity on a buddy
>Lvl 8 Exta 1d8 Weapon Damage of the same type as the weapon
It's a seemingly weapon attack themed domain, like a war priest kind of deal (that's even the name of one of their class features), but you never get Extra Attack or something else that makes it worth it for you to risk losing concentration by staying in melee range, making it so that after level 5 or so you are always better off using cantrips and staying behind the front line.
Wizards and Bards get Extra Attack from their weapon themed subclasses, and Wizards even get a special version of Extra Attack where they can cast a cantrip as part of it.

>>3783435
>>Lvl 8 Exta 1d8 Weapon Damage of the same type as the weapon
Omg, how cheap

>>3783435
>Wizards even get a special version of Extra Attack where they can cast a cantrip as part of it.
Wait, what? Like an eldritch fighter? They are obviously op af already.

>>3783449
>Like an eldritch fighter?
Yes. With a rage mode of sorts (Bladesong) that adds their intelligence to their AC and con saves too so that they can be in the frontlines concentrating on a spell without getting fucked.

>>3783447
It's at most a ribbon, but would be worth something if they got extra attack since at that point it would apply to both attacks, which is kind of a thing if they use Warpriest (the bonus action extra attack a couple times a day), but at that point you might as well cast Spiritual Weapon or some other bonus action spell. Or even use a second weapon.

Don't get me wrong, the sub-class works, it doesn't make you weaker and the ability to add +10 to one attack, yours or a friend's, is crazy since you could, say, cast Guiding Bolt, use the +10 to guarantee a hit, which deals good damage and guarantees advantage to the next person to attack that target, I like that specific combo quite a bit.
But it doesn't play into the warpriest fantasy at all past the early levels.
Oh, and the spells the domain gives you are pretty meh.
At low levels, it's really god damn powerful. Those 3, maybe 4 bonus action extra attacks are crazy if you are, say, wielding a great sword.

/tg/ buildfags are the worst

>>3783458
>But it doesn't play into the warpriest fantasy at all past the early levels.
This is the most important element for me, but designers tend to escapism and powerfantasy, that's what normgroids care for the most.

>>3783458
Fix it.

>>3783470
No

>>3783461
Playing into the specific character fantasy a player has in mind is the whole point of having builds as far as I'm concerned.
You'd be a lot better served by taking 5 or 6 levels of Paladin then the rest in Bard, or better yet Divine Sorcerer, as far as making a warpriest kind of character goes, I think.
I actually liked Solasta version of the classes better. Their version of the war domain wasn't very powerful, but at least it was truly meant to use weapon attacks.

>>3783470
Lmao.

>>3783494
Solasta had decent classes, but shit itemization, unfortunately. I hope they learned a lot, but I'm positive they did. Curious about solasta 2.
>builds
Most go for number go up or power gaming. Pf1e is power gaming only.

The single worst thing to come from D&D post 2e is the wild multiclassing and dipping bullshit.
Yes, I realize it CAN be used to finetune your character to fit your vision in a way the previous system would struggle with even given more support and class options, but the way it's usually done has permanently soured me on it to the point I feel instinctive disdain the second I see more than two classes, and outright nausea when one of those is just one to three levels with no intention of raising it further.

>>3783514
>but the way it's usually done
Is that lived experience or just hearsay?
I'm always curious about that topic since I only started playing TTRPGs as an adult, 4-5 years ago, with my longer lasting, and still ongoing, game being D&D 3.5e.
I wonder how much of the whole
>asshat comes to the table with an abomination meant to break the game
used to happen back in the day and how much still happens today, since I have heard read horror story after horror story.
I'll say, building a fully realized character out of a thousand lego is pretty fun. Doubly so when some of the lego are picked due to the way the game transpired rather than just the initial planning stage, but I get why some people would be traumatized by the idea.

>I feel instinctive disdain the second I see more than two classes, and outright nausea when one of those is just one to three levels with no intention of raising it further.
Oh shit, my character (>>3782924) probably gave you an aneurysm.
If it's any consolation, I could have gotten a throwaway level of Church Inquisitor instead of the 4th Cleric level, but I didn't because neither the fluff (which we do take into account to some extent) neither the abilities really aligned with the character's history or portrayal.
As with so many things, there's a point of ideal balance when taking this kind of character building design into consideration, I think.

>>3783514
Is pf2e better? They have a multiclass system where you only get few abilities from the second class, something like that.

>>3783527
Not that anon, but in PF2e you use your class feats to get what's known as a Multiclass Archetype, which gives you delayed and sometimes nerfed features. There's no "true' multiclass in that you mix and match levels of different classes like you would in D&D 3.5e or 5e, or PF1e.
So in that sense, yes.

>>3783515
>I see more than two classes
On the contrary, if it's full of flavour, it's awesome. I once played 6 kinetic knight, 2 fighter, 2 paladin, monk 5. The idea was a wild prodigy that trained body and mind and ultimately used his powers for the community, while finally living as a hermit.

>>3783528
The only way to hinder power fantasy is to have a system that doesn't allow it. These systems usually suck, like zweihander.

>>3783515
Very much lived. By no means the norm, make no mistake - most people don't fuck with that, and the majority who multiclass at all do a relatively balanced split, pick up a PrC, that kind of thing.
But in a good few years of having played - and DM'd - 3.5 specifically, I've seen some true abominations, and worse, I've had to put up with the kind of autist who will, unprompted, start telling you how you could make your character so much better by dipping this and that and taking this obscure feat and that one, and worst of all, pulling that kind of shit on new players and both overwhelming them and giving them a warped idea of the game.
>asshat comes to the table with an abomination meant to break the game
I don't fully support that view though, as in MOST cases, breaking the game wasn't the purpose, or rather, maliciously doing so wasn't the purpose. They just could not possibly contain their autism, which demanded they create the best character possible at one task or another, regardless of the domino effect it would have on the game as a whole and how others might be affected.

>Oh shit, my character probably gave you an aneurysm.
Funnily enough, only the Crusader dip. Cleric 4 is about right for qualifying into PrC, which most of the others are; 6 levels of KotR is respectable enough, Ordained Champion has 5 levels total so taking 3 is a big whatever, and the last isn't a dip since as you say, you're just leveling that from then on. And I see the theme clearly and uniformly through all of them, rather than some absolute horseshit of like... Cleric 1 for some obscure domain powers on a character that is in no way faithful enough to justify it beyond lip-service, Paladin 2 on a Cha-caster for NO reason but the saves with no attempt to explain it, Binder 1 to pick up some bullshit vestige, and so on.
But yes, at first glance I was immediately disgusted. But it's not some universal no-forgiveness principle.

>>3780766 (OP)
Generally my favorite archetype is the “utility” specialist or multi-role characters. The more complex the better.
>Magic manipulator with access to all magic types (only seen in FFXI as scholar and bravely second as wizard)
>Item user, specifically the type that can mix items to create a myriad of different effects (so things like Salve-Maker or Alfyn/Castti in BD and Octopath). This type of class is usually good at doing everything, buffing, healing, debuffing and even damage
>magic generalist, basically red mage but without the physical/melee part. Something like Leonora from FF4 the after years
>bard archetype, the kind that focuses on buff utility.

>>3782886
>They did? Like how? Subclasses?
They separated classes into roles and power sources. So Paladins were Divine Defenders, whereas the Divine Strikers were Avengers, who were sort of like priest-spellswords. Lighter armour, big weapons, and spells that use their weapons.

>>3783537
Unsure if light armor and paladin is something I can approve. Glass cannons are very archetypical in gaming.

>>3783533
>By no means the norm, make no mistake - most people don't fuck with that,
Thank fuck.

>and worse, I've had to put up with the kind of autist who will, unprompted, start telling you how you could make your character so much better by dipping this and that and taking this obscure feat and that one, and worst of all, pulling that kind of shit on new players and both overwhelming them and giving them a warped idea of the game.
Yeah, that sounds like a horror story alright. Damn.

>They just could not possibly contain their autism, which demanded they create the best character possible at one task or another,
Our Bard has moments like those too, but he's easily reminded that flavor and "character feeling" are a lot more important than raw output. Hell, his own character, for as powerful as it is, is "gimped" in that he has several choices that are sub optimal in the context of the mechanics and raw power.

>Funnily enough, only the Crusader dip.
That dip was a homage to both the party's warblade, whom my character respects greatly, and the not-australian orcs that trained with us who were also martial initiators.
Not that it didn't work out wonderfully for my character from a mechanics point of view what's with how Martial Initiator Level works. But yeah,
>I see the theme clearly and uniformly
is a big thing for me when making these choices.
It also helps that our DM likes the party to be pretty strong so that he can throw any and all bullshit he can imagine at us.

>>3783540
>light armor and paladin
If I got that right, it's the Avenger that uses light armor.

>>3780766 (OP)
red mage

>>3780766 (OP)
Necromancer with lots of skellies.

If not, a magic user with lightning, earth, and dark magic (or at least one of them) works too.

>>3783542
>It also helps that our DM likes the party to be pretty strong so that he can throw any and all bullshit he can imagine at us.
That's a big factor. Ultimately the key to a successful and enjoyable game is uniform understanding. Whether it's the tone of the game, interpretation of the rules, the setting, whatever... optimization is no exception. Just like someone trying to play shit'n'mud gritty merc man in a party that's borderline clownshoes is a massive clash (unless done in jest) and bound to cause trouble, so does one single person showing up with some charops tier five dip abomination when Tim over there is playing... just a Fighter. Not even a 2h trip one or anything.
The reason optimizers often get a bad rep, is specifically because many of them can't help but impose their autism upon others. THEY enjoy fucking with the mechanics and breaking the game, or making a hypercompetent character... and so now everyone else should as well.

>>3780766 (OP)
My autism is tickled by any archetype that lends itself to a sort of... collection playstyle. Like getting all the spells I can as a Wizard in a D&D game, for example. It's not as much about my completionism, though it's part of that, it's just the fantasy of it tends to be appealing, even if the game itself doesn't support or even acknowledge it. To carry on with the example, it's not about just being a mage, it's about obsessively collecting every scrap of arcane knowledge and power available.

>>3783662
>even if the game itself doesn't support or even acknowledge
Missed opportunity, actually.
>obsessively
I imagine quite a few arcanists are obsessive.

>>3783691
That's what I'm saying! But unfortunately, most of the time games have very little to offer in terms of actually roleplaying that kind of thing. Even when you get to be explicitly power-hungry there's rarely reactivity to that kind of approach, to say nothing of (in my mind more interesting) obsessive curiosity and need for knowledge, which is downright archetypical for all sorts of mages in fiction, but gets basically no representation even in games where you specifically play one.

>>3783992
>reactivity
That's a meme, really. Reactivity has to tie in into story and character concept. Cp2077 tried character concepts with life paths, but failed miserably. Magic should be dynamic, like mixing spells should be a thing. Think morrowind, just much more sophisticated.
>power hungry
This leads eventually to the evil path and that's almost always summarised : "I dislike you, die!" that hardly counts as rp.

>>3784011
I feel like that's half talking past me and half misrepresenting things. I'll pass.

>>3774397

i roleplay as a woman with short skirt because i like sexy chicks in RPGs unlike certain buttmad trannies here.

>>3784011
>Cp2077 tried character concepts with life paths, but failed miserably
They intended to try, but these were almost entirely cut from the released game, along with most of the other RPG elements, save vestiges.

>>3784130
>they were cut
Hence they failed miserably. Took them only 3 years time to repair the game. As long as scummy normgroids buy on first day, we will continue to see mispractice.
Even after the corrections it hardly qualifies as rpg. They should've had 1st and 3rd person view and, we'll, actual rpg elements in it. I doubt co2 will be better. Especially as they ditched night city, such an unwise move. Kamurucho works well for 20 years for yakuza.

>>3784136
>co2
Cp2*

>>3780766 (OP)
Man with sword. That's it. Just some knight with a sword and a shield or a great sword. The simplicity lets me improvise and adapt to most situations, and if I'm creative, I can find solutions to almost any problem

>>3780766 (OP)
Spellswords, i like using magic, i like fighting in melee combining them both is dope as fuck, usually using offensive magic and two handers if possible
its a shame that archatype ensnares my autism in such a way because god damn is it usually a pain in the ass to play

>>3784322
Honestly, spellvlade is among the most stupid classes. Limiting the combo of magic and melee in only one class is always unsatisfactory.

>>3784331
Depends on the system. Spellswords are either done horribly wrong or are so powerful there’s no point playing a baseline warrior, no in between.

>>3784358
Hence my post

>>3780766 (OP)
I usually go for Lord of the Rings characters. Ranger/fighter mix for Aragorn, elven Ranger for Legolas, dwarven fighter for Gimli, battlemage for Gandalf. If the game has guns I try to go for a highwayman kind of build.

>>3780766 (OP)
Anything that is either cc/mez or summons minion swarms.

>>3782286
>Name 3
Cyberpunk with the Sandevistan
Shadowrun with Slo-Mo
Fallout NV with Turbo
Starfield with Blend from Neon
Hell, even Skyrim with an Akaviri blade and the Slow Time shout

Raid leader with a primary focus on party support and all rounder hybrid backup utilities with as many detailed followers as possible and as many generic followers/summons as can be until it becomes counter productive. Every single time.

>>3784502
Funny definition of rpg. Haven't played anythinh, except cp. Massive disappointment. Main missions are drive from a to b.

>>3784376
Legolas is an archer fighter, not a ranger.

>>3784679
An archer is just a fighter using a bow.

>>3784679
Legolas is a wood elf who grew up in Mirkwood. He would have fought against orcs and spiders using hit-and-run tactics rather than fighting in pitched battles. He's definitely a ranger, as are most of the elves who appear in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Gil-Galad and Fingolfin would be fighters.

>>3780801
>Really fond of summoning, but videogames aren't really the best way to scratch that particular itch, since... unlike a tabletop game you don't get any of the interesting stuff there.
What are you talking about, summoning in TTRPGs is a whole can of worms that adds tedium and potentially borks the action economy. In non-combat centric games where those things don't matter I rarely see them at all.
They're one of the playstyles that benefits from being in a videogame where all the calculations are automated.

>>3786395
Exactly.
There's a reason they gutted all summoning in the new D&D version.
Having seen 4 celestial lions in the board alongside the players and the monsters, having all of those extra interactions can grind the game t to a halt if you stray from the most basic "attack, subtract health", and even that adds significant overhead.

>>3785021
>fighting in pitched battles
Like the one at the end of The Hobbit he probably fought in? Ascribing classes to Middle Earth characters is dumb.

>>3786531
Where do you think that D&D got the idea for its classes?

>>3780766 (OP)
I always want to make holy and divine style stuff like paladins and clerics, sometimes it's great, sometimes it ends up feeling too restrictive, weak and blandly goody goody with respect to the RP restricted choices I allow myself and I end up going with a gritty dual wield barbarian or fighter thief often with no such restrictions instead. "The ultimate in no-magic practical gish" just getting it done with raw combat and dirty fighting while everyone else is trying to be a fancy poncy mage has an appeal too, i.e. "I cast curb stomp and then backstab you in the kidneys"

Sometimes I go necromancer or summoner but summon systems are very hit or miss.

Fuck bards, I cannot stand playing some snarky noncy bard adding extra reddit faggotry to games that are probably oversaturated with it in the first place. BG3 really driving that home for me since swords bard/paladin multi is easily the most powerful class in the game that can do literally everything better than every other class but I won't play it.

>>3782897
>I like the way Dragon Age Origins does it with the whole idea of sustaining the buff taking a chunk of your casting capacity beyond just the resources spent to cast the spell itself.
>I think it's a good medium between D&D's current concentration mechanic and the older stack EVERYTHING.

Good points, concentration is one of the best pro-balance anti-tedium mechanics though, and where it is superior to Origins is it has a counterplay of "barbarian can bash the held spell out of the wizards hands".

I feel it's a little restrictive too though and it begs for a system where two spells could be held through concentrating (perhaps with some investment like the glorious level 5 extra attack level for martials enables it for spellcaster classes) to add depth to the casting, obviously holding two spells would be a harder roll than just one when barbarian comes to bash your caster in the face as well. I intend to homebrew this rule should my 5e TT campaign plans come to pass.

>>3787375
Lots of places.

>>3787608
>nd where it is superior to Origins is it has a counterplay of "barbarian can bash the held spell out of the wizards hands".
Oh yeah. Concentration is essentially two mechanics. One where you can only have one concentration spell up, and another where you lose a spell if you fail a concentration check, which is something old D&D versions had to some extent.
Sustaining spells while having the concentration check would be ideal, I agree.

>>3787608
>I intend to homebrew this rule should my 5e TT campaign plans come to pass.
I've thought about suggesting to my 5e group a rule where a character can concentrate on more than one spell, but then he has to make increasingly difficult concentration checks every turn to sustain them. Something like that.
The problem with homebrewing that into D&D is that concentration spells range from pathetic (divine favor lol) to really good (Spirit Guardians, Hastes sometimes, etc). I think for 5e, unless you are willing to rebalance the whole spell list, it's easier to simply add or remove the concentration tag from certain spells and let concentration work as it does.

>>3780766 (OP)
If the game allows me to craft unique items distinct from anything that can be bought or looted then that’s usually what I go for.

>>3780766 (OP)
critical hit guy. glass cannon so to speak

I guess a bit of a jack of all trades, but far more on the warrior side, supplementing that with a bit of sneaky bullshit and some magic (usually in the form of alchemy, maybe using scrolls or weird trinkets or what have you), to be ready for anything. Bonus points for preparing any of those extra means of handling problems themselves.
Ironically I don't like the Witcher much despite those being precisely that, which is greatly unfortunate. More to do with the games themselves than anything though.

Item user. Sometimes it's alchemy, sometimes wands or scrolls, sometimes bombs or traps, doesn't really matter. I'm a sucker for that. The crafting aspect I can take or leave, so long as there's a reliable way of ensuring a steady supply or the items are reusable/rechargeable.
I think some of the better examples come from roguelikes, some Angband variants especially have a class which instead of using magic normally, uses mana to fuel charges for items instead and enhance their effects. I'm already bound to hoard those things anyway, so having an option dedicated to it is just perfect.

>>3780766 (OP)
I have a hard time not stacking speed/agility. I'm generally impatient and like to explore, so going fast is helpful for autisticly clearing every corner of a dungeon. Recently I finished Avowed, and was pleasantly surprised at how fast that game let me get. It felt gamebreaking at times.

When I was younger I was also really into necromancer and summoner classes, but not enough games did it well. I did roll a necromancer in D:OS 2 though.

>>3780766 (OP)
I usually want to see if a game offers something cool for thieves.

>i do dis
>l iike dis
What a boring ass thread.

>>3794503
>no contribution or discussion of archetypes
>bitching

You're less than useless.

For me, it's the speedy swordsman with high dodge and high crit chance. I like rapiers. Also I like psychic powers/Psychic types with sleep spells n shit
>>3781468
based. I like using agility for weapons but I'm ok with strength

>>3794443
Same, though only recently. I mean, I always enjoyed the artificer archetype in tabletop and such, but in vidya it's not that often a thing, and I suffered the natural instinct to hoard items and refuse to use them for way too long, until I started forcing myself to use them and realized man, what a vastly more convenient way to do things.

>>3780766 (OP)
Swinging the biggest, heaviest sword I can find, all my points into strength, full plate armor

>>3794503
apparently the thread is so boring that you couldn’t help yourself from contributing.

>>3780766 (OP)
knight with a longsword

>>3794503
You didn't read the thread did you?
Most of the thread are tangential discussions about movies, ttrpgs, magic systems, buff spells, etc, as well as how certain archetypes work or don't in actual videogames.

>>3780766 (OP)
I go for abnormal status weapons and spells even if they suck. Archer, fighter, mage, whatever I don't really care as long as I get to poison shit

>>3796337
Does it count if you are herding poisonous animals instead?
Like a Druid sort with mostly elemental shit but who has a combat spider pet?