Fool

It’s a pretty common thing, I think, to construct a D&D character, or other RPG, on a character from a fantasy novel, sci-fi movie, or other literary source. Countless D&D Barbarians have been based on Conan, for instance. 4th ed Rangers are basically already based on Drizzt, so that’s an easy creation. Mostly these characters are based on badass action heroes or wizards.

I’m a big fan of basing my characters on literary figures, and that’s what I’ll be doing with today’s post. I’ve always had a thing for clowns and jesters, and with 4th edition D&D, there’s a great opportunity to make a character based on one such character–that is Pocket, from Christopher Moore’s excellent and hilarious adaptation of King Lear, told from Lear’s Fool’s perspective.

Pocket has to be one of my all time favorite fantasy book characters (technically the book is a fantasy-comedy-parody thing. Whatever). Hilarious, rude, rakish, slutty, and yet strangely noble, Pocket is also a character who is unusually small and has to rely on his wits over brawn in a Might is Right world. Being a man of 5’5″, I do relate.

Pocket’s main strengths are his brutal, sharp wit, and his daggers cleverly hid on his body. His only possession other than his knives is his Jester’s rod, who speaks for him on occasion. Pocket, and the novel, is immensely vulgar and crude, and cannot help but infuriate just about anyone he runs into, though somehow manages to be about every woman in the book. What could be a better figure to base a character on?

So, my 4th edition D&D Character.

I have to say: I am no power gamer. In building this character I have not always decided on the “best” choices for gameplay, but the best choices for roleplaying the character from Fool. Still, I still think this is a definitely a playable character.

I decided against naming him Pocket though, just because I can’t make him 100% that character anyway. I named him Azdak, from Bertolt Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle, a character that is different, but still a rakish vulgar yet noble rogue. His wand is still Jenkins however. Valentine is his last name, pronounced Val-en-teen, not tine. I ripped that off from a Decemberists song.

Race: Half-Elf. It was between this and Human, but I went with the half-breed because I needed Dilettante for his knife-throwing because I didn’t want go into the paragon multi-classing. That is the other option though.The Dilettante ability is the Rogue’s Sly-Flourish. I love the extra Charisma damage on it, and I want to be able to mimic Pocket’s knife-throwing ability.

Class: Bard. Of course. And obviously, the Virtue of Cunning and the wand is the way to go. No sword for this guy.

Skills: Arcana, from the class. Trained skills: Acrobatics, Intimidate, Bluff, and Insight. I didn’t want to go with Diplomacy, unlike most bards. This bard is a provoker, not a diplomat. Stealth is also out because of the Jingle bells. I also get Thievery, with the thief multi-class at first level.

Feats: This is where the heart of the build, and the hardest decisions go. I probably won’t put all the one’s I’ve picked, but here are a few:

Psychic Lock & Beguiling Enchantment: The first gives a -2 to an enemy’s next attack if I hit with a psychic attack. The second delivers a -2 to any attack against me until the end of my next turn when I hit that enemy with a charm attack. Together, then (and they do stack), my enemy takes a -4 to hit me, and a -2 to attack anyone every time I hit with a psychic and charm power. Like my primary At Will, both build-wise and roleplay-wise: Vicious Mockery, which gives monsters a -2 to attack rolls, and is both Charm and Psychic. That’s right, a -4 to attack anyone, and a -6 to attack me. Because of how hard I just made fun of them.

Sneak of Shadows: My rogue multi-class ability, which allows me to use sneak attack on my Sly Flourish Dilettante ability. Only once per encounter, but I can only use my knife throw once per encounter anyway, so it works out!

Duelist Panache from Dragon Magazine allows me to be more of an acrobatic by adding my Charisma modifier to my acrobatic and athletic checks; Bard of all Trades, which helps my untrained skills A LOT; and Friendly Deception, which allows me to use my Word of Friendship with my bluff checks. Plus a bunch of others, of course.

Items: Master’s wand of Vicious Mockery, which makes perfect sense for a jester’s rod. This allows me to give an adjacent monster a -2 to attack whenever I hit with my Vicious Mockery. Skald’s Armor is great, because it adds to my bluff and diplomacy, already high, and allows me to avoid damage. To keep the flavor, I picked leather over Chainmail.

This depiction is already getting too long to be interesting. Basically, it’s a fun sounding controller, played more for flavor, though still effective, I think. Now I just need someone to DM an awesome game where I can play him. Especially with my friend Tyler, who has made an equally awesome Monk named Daniel Rand (Reference).

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