Iconic Party - suggestions welcome

I've exhausted a lot of builds playing through this game for like 2+ years now... so I figured I'd go with a Legendary party.

What I have so far is :

Van Helsing
(Ranger with Undead focus, or Fighter. I'm not sure he fits the DnD model of Ranger although he may not fit the Archery fighter either....)
Heavy crossbow user
Usual archery feats

Elric (Of Melnibore)
Fighter 2 or 4, then Wizard (Conjurer) 8 or so...
Str 8
Dex 20 (Heritage)
Con 8
Int 17
Wis 23 (Heritage)
Cha 11

Consoled Darkblade to start and offset his non combat ability
Greatsword feats
Reflexes
Improved Initiative etc

And that's where I am so far.

I'm thinking I'd also like Conan in my group, I'm guessing something like massive str and con, then dex with int wis and cha being dump stats. I realize heroes of legend are generally superhuman in their focus areas, and exceptional in the others, but I'm trying to approximate their stats with gameplay realism and playability in mind.

I'm not entirely sure how to approximate him beyond that though.

So what I need of you fellow gamers, is maybe some advice? How should I sculpt Conan out of Temple rules?

Also, I'm thinking my party wizard (I'm not counting Elric) would be either Gandalf or Merlin.

My other question would be, I need an Iconic Rogue, and Cleric. I'm thinking maybe Artemis Entreri for the Rogue, and I'm utterly stumped for the cleric.

So what I need from anyone willing to help me out is

*Should Helsing be a non spell casting ranger? (Ie- insufficient WIS to cast)
*Ideas for Conan's character sheet
*Ideas for my party Wizard
-Rogue
-Cleric

They need not be coherent or from similar backgrounds. I'm not trying to put any sort of theme together beyond the fact they are all Legends within their respective fluff.

Thanks in advance gents!

 

Van Helsing will need Rapid Reload. No Need to go past Ranger 5 because Manyshot will not (should not) work with Xbow.

Don't forget that Conan was educated in the "finer things" too. He was stealthy too and could Craft stuff (so certainly not dumb). You can consider adding Valeria as a Rogue and that other dude as his side-kick.

 

I would like to see an arthurian legend party - Arther (cleric?) Lancalot (Palidin) Merlin (wizard), Morgan le Fay (sorceres) and a druid in there perhaps.

 

i made 3 monks and the leaders name was Gojoan Devil and was to use 2 bastard swords. but i died completely at deklo spiders and therefore failed at my fantasy gaming


i think gojoan devil is more suited for high dex fighter though...

 

Make Merlin a Druid. The Arthurian stuff is rewritten old Celtic (Welsh) stories that have been "Christianized".

 

arthur could be fighter cleric

 

According to 1ed Deities and Demigods:

Arthur (LG)
14 Pal / 5 Bard
18/16/18/18/19/18

Merlin (NG)
14 Dru / 15 MU / 10 Ill
15/18/18/19/19/18

Morgan Le Fay (CE)
12 MU / 12 Sor
10/17/18/18/7/18

 

There's a thread in the general forum, with info on some Arthur's knights, Elric and Conan.

Don't forget about Red Sonja (younger-dual wielder warrior, mature- two handed great Axe warrior)

Merlin is definitely a Druid.

Iron Monkey could be monk-rogue w spiked chain.

And don't forget about Doc Savage, Tarzan, Fu-manchù and The Shadow

 

Cu Chulainn (NG)
18 Ran / 12 Ill / 9 Bard
20/19/18/17/16/17

Achilles (NG)
15 Ftr
18/18/18/12/10/18

Yamamoto Date (LG)
15 Pal
17/19/18/17/11/17

Fafhrd (NG)
15 Ran / 13 Thf / 5 Bard
18/18/18/17/14/17

Gray Mouser (TN)
11 Ftr / 3 MU / 15 Thf
16/19/17/18/14/18

Fjalar (N) Dwarf
5 Cle / 10 Ftr / 10 Thf
19/18/18/15/15/12

Conan's other friend is Subadai "Archer,Thief, Food for Wolves?"

 

Bilbo Baggins for your rogue, of course! A good second choice for rogue would be Grey Mouser, as mentioned above.

Also as mentioned above, Merlin would make a fantastic iconic Druid.

An iconic Cleric is harder, and the only thing that comes to mind for me is Goldmoon from the Dragonlance Chronicles, but I'm not sure she was a major enough character or the books classic enough to make her iconic.

 

My problem is I want to play these characters as 1st level, and it's hard to make them distinctive from regular 1st level, except by role-playing. Also, notice that all the iconic characters essentially the same stats: ridiculously high.

I did try a 1st level Drizt Do'Urdin. But it's not a good idea for a 1st level character with 13 strength to dual-wield 2 scimitars. Later on, there are not any magic scimitars to upgrade to. But, it IS kind of a challenge.

A high-level paladin can handle most cleric skills. Or how about a younger Terjon?

 

Guardian, thank you for all your responses. I appreciate the fact you copied information out of your books for me, they will be very helpful

I pretty much echo your reservations, but I think roleplaying is enough to simulate the heroes. Eventually they will round into form when they can take on the appropriate multiclasses, but like you said a 1st level Drizzt dual wielding scimitars with a 13 str just doesn't cut it. You won't ever hit anything.

My work around? Console in magic items early to offset the shortcomings. It would be easy to level up a wizard and make your legendary weapons, then dismiss him/her and it would make your character fluffy and playable.

My elric is going to have an 8 str but he's going to be using a Darkblade, just like My Conan, while with pretty massive strength, is only going to be using a single broadsword with no shield. Hardly optimal setups but I think with the proper items they can pull their weight in the upcoming adventures.

As for the ridiculous (read : legendary) stats, I would just scale them down. For elric, I took his dragonlords of melniborne stats and multiplied them by .72. That was the appropriate number to get a 25 (his largest stat) down to an 18 (The pinnacle of non superhuman advancement. Some guess work and consoling will be necessary, but I dont think giving him a 23 in WIS or a 20 in Dex unbalances him. I don't think a fighter with 8 str and con would survive long without them...

I was thinking of making Van Helsing my cleric (or possibly even Ranger/Cleric), it's a stretch but I think within the rules a cleric with a crossbow approximates a vampire hunter pretty well. I would just focus on the undead spheres (sun, good) and take the necessary spells. Merlin (great idea guys) would handle my healing duties and be my "naturalist" wizard for a while and I think even Conan could turn into a serviceable rogue if I wanted to further keep my party roles minimalized.

Everyone else, thanks for the comments as well.

I think I'm going with :

Elric
Merlin
Conan
Van Helsing
Bilbo

and possibly an NPC.

 

So, don't leave us hanging. What are the stats, levels, beginning equipment, etc. you will be using? Does .72 mean a beginning stat of 18 will be 14?

Bilbo, not Frodo?

Whoa! Does anyone have stats for the Lord of the Rings crowd? Aragorn, Gimle, Eowyn, Legolas, etc.? (Even if they are not directly D&D compatible.)

Hurry, Hurricane Ike is coming to kill us all! (In Houston)

 

That's what I was aiming for.

I'm still pounding them out, so when I get them finished I'll give full details

I'm a little excited actually, stuff like a barbarian using a one handed sword, a non wildshaping druid, halfling rogue using one dagger etc are all diversions away from what I usually play. I'm thinking the power level of this party will be a lot lower than I'm used to.

 

Your Elric should have the vampiric sword instead the Darkblade. The vampiric sword works, the bug comes when you hit a creature that takes subdual damage...it will instantly kill it. I think that's more how Stormbringer worked

It was not rare to see Conan wielding a scimitar or a falchion. Be aware that Conan wasn't a thief, he simply had an incredible agility and dexterity. Wasn't much of a trap disarmer...

Merlin shapeshifted a lot, that's precisely why should be considered a Druid, and actually you'll rarely see him (read) something about throwing lightnings or fire. I think he should be more of a buffer.

A cleric? Quite difficult...you should think more of a healer maybe. Oriental charcters aplenty, again, Iron Monkey comes to mind: a kind of oriental Robin Hood (hey! there you have your ranger/rogue!), shaolin and specialized in healing/diseases. A true badass.
Or, if you're going for a neutral/evil party, Elric is in fact, more a cleric than a wizard. Lots of summonings, curses, and buffs.