DnD 3.5 The most unsuspicious dude....

[Mandulis]

Hi everyone,

today I got an unusual challenge for anyone who is interested. I am looking for ideas to create an extremely unsuspicious character. He should look like a weak person not able to do much but still possess enough hidden capability (either through creative play or several minor abilities that stack and create useful effects) to be useful to the party and fun to play. Now comes the hard bit, he must not only look unsuspicious to other NPCs and creatures of the world but also to the other players in my group when they look at his character sheet.

Why do I have this strange idea?
Simple, somehow I am not allowed to play a lot of stuff as supposedely I always play cheesy stuff. My last character was already a simple barbarian level three with a spiked chain getting people of their feet. I was urged to drop that one. Although someone in the group already had a warlock, I am not allowed to get one ( he's too tough) and my idea of a factotum/chameleon to fill any gap that arises, so everybody can play whatever they want, was also rejected. Since I'm firend with all the guys in the group for over 10 years just getting another group isn't really an option. So how could I create a character that looks like it can not do anything right, but still can do so to some extend?

We use all books, except the ToB, Boed, BovD and campaign books like Eberron. Also , as you can guess, any character build with more than three classes is going to be called powerplay. Combos for endless damage or riding lvl 16 dinosaurs at level four are also out of the qustion. I guess, you can already see my dilemma. Currently the group is at level five (I've had a break for some time as I was abroad.) It consists of a Kenku rogue, a dragon shaman, a human paladin and a shape shifting druid (yes I know, some stuff in there is a lot tougher than what is allowed for me, but hey, a challenge can be fun).

I already found Dr. Jack Daniels in the gitpg-forum, but I am not sure if that goes well as a PC. Besides, it requires a mongrel. But I like the basic concept (he is a commoner, lowest of the lowest, but still has several uses).

So I hope some ideas come up here and I am looking forward to create some crazy builds from them.

Mandulis

[sirpercival]

Oh my... so your group is calling a barbarian and a warlock overpowered?  Hm.

Why don't you play a bard?  Really focus on buffing your party and hopefully they'll be happy to leave you alone.  Don't take Dragonfire Inspiration, don't cast Polymorph...

[Morph Bark]

Depending on the level, I'd say Dragonfire Inspiration is more okay than Words of Creation, but the latter is outright out anyway.

It's mainly the combination that hurts. The look on my group's faces when they found out I was giving everyone in the party +12d6 acid damage at level 8...

[Prime32]

It sounds like your group would underestimate a God wizard.

[Solo]

I would second the bard. This one, for example, looks completely inocuous... until he activates all his IC related items and spells and starts giving everyone +4 to attack and damage rolls, as well as saves vs fear and mind affecting.

Oh, and one level of Marshal allows him to add Cha to Dex checks including initiative. Consider taking that level of marshal at level 4.

If you can snag your own ship at some point, consider making him into a sort of pirate king.

[Hans-E]

The question is, what exactly are the tip-offs that have your friends screaming "over-powered!"

If a build is creative or unusual, that alone may trigger their optimization radar, even if the character is actually relatively weak.  If that's the case, simpler is better.

Remember, too, that "unusual" is in the eye of the beholder.  A spiked-chain barbarian might sound pretty vanilla on here, but it's pretty unusual from a non-rules-centered perspective. You don't see many spiked chains in historical fighting, nor do they show up much in fantasy literature, so using one will always smell a bit funny to people who aren't mostly interested in the game as a game.

A wizard really does make a lot of sense.  You can easily avoid doing much damage at all, while still being massively useful and fitting within a standard fantasy archetype. Also, while your spells may lock down enemies even more effectively than a spiked-chain tripper, there is a sense that you are using up a resource to achieve that, whereas the tripper can theoretically go on for ever.

[Amechra]

If you want really innocuous looking, may I suggest Seto Kaiba? Or at least a build that starts like him?

In a party like that, point out that you're only abilities are having money and the like.

[Mandulis]

Thanks for the input. A bard might actually work. I think the problem, as Hans-E pointed out, is that unusual builds are invoke the thought of "That sounds complex, that must be cheesy!". The point might be that I play differently with my character. I like to explore its possibilities. A rogue is more for me than just a sneak-attacker. I am not sure, but that might be a reason why I'm getting these restrictions.

Anyway, I'll give the bard a thought. But the aristocrat is also rather cool. Nobody expects that but I guess I would have to play with his hired muscle instead of him.

[JohnnyMayHymn]

Cleric, it's 'just a heal bot' you might even consider cloistered cleric if you want to "tone it down" a little bit 

As inconspicuous as the spells you prepare

[Arturus]

If they don't want you to play something like barb or lock, then ask them what you should play.  Chances are their answer will be just as strong or stronger.

Honestly, sounds like laziness on the other players/DM part to me.  They don't want you to steal the spotlight/make their job tougher so instead of upping their game, they're gonna dictate what you're allowed?

[muktidata]

JohnnyMayhem, thanks for giving my wife a good laugh with the avatar.

OP, I agree with Wizard. What? It's a Wizard. Many people don't realize how busted Glitterdust, Rope Trick, and other commons spells are. Go for Focus Specialist Conjurer and be done with it. You won't "do" any damage, all you'll do is "cast some old PHB spells". "I mean, come on, it's just a freaking Wizard." Stick single-class, no PrC's, go Human, get Improved Initiative, Spell Focus Conjuration, Cloudly Conjuration. You'll be broken and quiet at the same time.

[Empirate]

How about the good old Horizon Tripper? Simple, core-only, melee dude with skillz. Nothing fancy, but usually effective.

[Solo]

It is an overcomplicated munchkin build because it relies on multiclassing.

[Mooncrow]

I always just go druid in those types of situations.  It's super easy to tune your power level down however far you need to - toss your unbuffed pet into battle and use your own actions to heal if they're that bad.  But, if need arises, you're still a super badass that can rain down hell - all without any "cheesy" multiclassing, "weird" feats, or the like.   

[Pencil]

I mean, how strong could a core only  druid possibly be?

[Halinn]

JohnnyMayhem, thanks for giving my wife a good laugh with the avatar.

OP, I agree with Wizard. What? It's a Wizard. Many people don't realize how busted Glitterdust, Rope Trick, and other commons spells are. Go for Focus Specialist Conjurer and be done with it. You won't "do" any damage, all you'll do is "cast some old PHB spells". "I mean, come on, it's just a freaking Wizard." Stick single-class, no PrC's, go Human, get Improved Initiative, Spell Focus Conjuration, Cloudly Conjuration. You'll be broken and quiet at the same time.

Or toss in one of the relatively simple prestige classes, like Mage of the Arcane Order ("The name felt fitting for a wizard."), Archmage, Fatespinner, Master Specialist, or Malconvoker. When describing the abilities of those, don't go into too much detail about what exactly they do, but keep it vague. The Arcane Order is about wizards working together to be a bit more versatile in day to day matters, Malconvoker is just about making summons a bit better, etc.

[xaotiq1]

Psion (Telepath) 20? Most psionic powers are pretty covert.

[Mandulis]

I really dig the cloudy conjuration.  It should be fairly funny to scale that up from "I am a crazy mage still doing the old *poof* thing with each spell" to actually doing fun stuff with it. I'll give that a try. Maybe I am allowed to trade in some class features of the wizard. The PHB or the Spell Compendium should offer some nice spells which by themselves don't do much, but create a lot of smoke. Thanks for all the input.

[Wiggins]

I wanted to do an extreme version of this for a skype campaign, literally pretending to be an NPC, muting my mic and communicating with the DM by PM.

I was going to be a Ventriloquist Sorcerer!

Using Versatile Spellcaster

My Level 2 Spells would all be Silent, Disguised Flare

My Level 3 Spells would be;
Still, Disguised Distract,
Silent, Disguised Hold Portal,
Silent, Disguised Power Word Fatigue,
Silent, Disguised Power Word Pain,
Disguised Price of Loyalty,
Silent, Disguised Slide and
Silent, Disguised Ventriloquism

My Level 4 Spells would be;

Silent, Disguised Baleful Transposition
Silent, Disguised Blindness/Deafness
Silent, Disguised Delusions of Grandeur
Still, Disguised Desiccating Bubble
Silent, Disguised Greater Slide
Silent, Disguised Knock
Silent, Disguised Power Word Sicken
Silent, Disguised Stay the Hand

... I'm still tempted to do this as a Fighter in a Gestalt campaign...

[Mandulis]

Today our group met. I ended up playing a normal human conjurer (wizard 5, malconvoker 1) and had a lot of fun. I almost never used direct damage spells and still had a lot of fun. All summoned monsters also seemed rather harmless to the others, so that should work out as well.

Thanks for all the input.