Dungeons of Dredmor (and Dragons), Part 2

After talking a lot about the Dungeoneer with his Pet Mimic, I could not imagine what other sorts of ridiculous characters would come out of this relationship.  It did not take long until my good friend Dominic came up with even more ridiculous ideas.  I suspect the next character he provided was inspired, in part, by the ever popular sequence from UHF: Conan the Librarian.

When we really began talking about it, I had spent a significant amount of time reading about the Berserker character class featured in Heroes of the Feywild.  The idea of the calm, collected librarian who eventually loses his cool and rages against errant teenagers and book graffiti artists was too entertaining and ridiculous an idea to pass up.  With a little talk and a little inspiration from Phil Foglio, Grom of the Reference Desk, Lord of Circulation and Shelving was born.

Grom, from a long line of noble librarians

Be wary of the Shush of the Five Tribes

When Dominic gave me Grom's character sheet, I was surprised to see how similar to my previous Berserker, Anakin Skywalker, Grom was.  Other than a few power and feat selections, the biggest difference was that Grom was also a Scholar (character theme), which gave him a slightly different set of abilities.  Comically, one of Grom's abilities has an ability based of his Intelligence modifier, which Grom is sadly lacking in.
Despite being very similar to Anakin, there is something very different about Grom.  A new player who chooses to play Anakin versus a new player who chooses to play Grom are undoubtedly going to have a very different experience.  Honestly, making the same mechanical character in two very different presentations does emphasize the point I tried to make when I first set out making these novelty character cards.  Although the rules provide a framework, it's what you bring to the table in the role-playing department that makes the game the fun that it is.  My biggest concern has been that, as a Dungeons & Dragons: Encounters DM, I rarely get an opportunity to play these characters myself.

Which is too bad...

Dungeons of Dredmor (and Dragons)

A friend of mine recently began talking to me about making strange Dungeons & Dragons characters in the style of the popular Rogue-like, Dungeons of Dredmor. Having never played the game, I did not have a whole lot to say about it, but I was happy to oblige his interest. Apparently, this interest was ... absolutely ridiculous characters. His first idea was an iconic dungeon explorer who had acquired a sort of "pet" in his travels: a mimic. As the story goes, after years of exploring the deep dungeons, this erstwhile adventurer found a very strange creature began following him around. From that idea came the most peculiar D&D character I've been party to...

My friend assures me that this makes perfect sense in the world of Dredmor. I suppose, as a fan of Torchlight, I understand how a Mimic might end up hopping alongside an adventurer, although it still felt a bit weird. Nonetheless, the idea of a brave dungeon explorer being followed around by a Pet Mimic has now been done in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

Danger is, in fact, his middle name...

Dungeon Adventurer, Born and Bred

When I was first approached by this, the real question centered on how to make a character that had a "pet" that acted enough like a Mimic. There were options, including some interesting character themes from Heroes of the Feywild, but the Sentinel Druid ended up being the one that made the most sense. If nothing else, granting combat advantage to everybody around it seemed like a viable feature for the Mimic. Who wouldn't be weirded out by a hopping chest trying to eat you?

Normally, all of my pre-generated D&D characters are "street legal."  This is the first time I changed text to better suit the needs of the character.  I suppose this partially motivated by the fact that I did not create this character; I just generated the character card. The daily power "No Dirty Fighting Here..." has been modified to be more expansive than its original form. The original ability, Shillelagh, only applied to hammers, maces, and staves. I felt that was far too limiting for "Danger" McCallahan, so I expanded it to be any weapon. It's a small deviation that I hope will not anger too many people that follow the blog.