I am making a Dual Class Berserker / Thief (Like Gatsu from Berserk)
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Making a new character...I'm think True Neutral or Chaotic Neutral Berserker...who duals to the Thief. I'm a big Kentaro Miura Fan...and I've read Berserk (manga) now for going on 17 years.
The caveat is he's going to obtain Grand Mastery in Two Handed Swords.
In BG1 I was thinking
++Two Handed Sword
++Two Weapon Style
Then Add
+ Cross Bow @ LLVL3
Bump to +++++Two Handed Sword over LVL's 6-12
And dual at 13 for the last 1/2 attack bonus.
***EDIT*** I forgot that he would only be able to take one + in a range weapon as a Berserker...
Next I was thinking I'd take + in daggers and + in single weapon style AND + in Darts Then So he would have access to throwing knives and darts like in the book while regaining his Berserker levels.
As a thief I was thinking he'd put points into:
100 Hide In Shadows
100 Move Silently
100 Detect Illusions (this one is key)
Then I was thinking between the flame trap, time trap and use any item abilities he'd have the arm cannon thing down, and enough attacks at a greater speed to compensate for the loss of greater whirlwind...and Carsomyr! Which will help him dispel magic and resist magic as he detects illusions.
Anyone a fan of the manga or Anime? I know this is probably not optimal gear spec wise...but I wanted to role play this one. Also...with use any item can you back-stab with weapons outside of the thief class?
The caveat is he's going to obtain Grand Mastery in Two Handed Swords.
In BG1 I was thinking
++Two Handed Sword
++Two Weapon Style
Then Add
+ Cross Bow @ LLVL3
Bump to +++++Two Handed Sword over LVL's 6-12
And dual at 13 for the last 1/2 attack bonus.
***EDIT*** I forgot that he would only be able to take one + in a range weapon as a Berserker...
Next I was thinking I'd take + in daggers and + in single weapon style AND + in Darts Then So he would have access to throwing knives and darts like in the book while regaining his Berserker levels.
As a thief I was thinking he'd put points into:
100 Hide In Shadows
100 Move Silently
100 Detect Illusions (this one is key)
Then I was thinking between the flame trap, time trap and use any item abilities he'd have the arm cannon thing down, and enough attacks at a greater speed to compensate for the loss of greater whirlwind...and Carsomyr! Which will help him dispel magic and resist magic as he detects illusions.
Anyone a fan of the manga or Anime? I know this is probably not optimal gear spec wise...but I wanted to role play this one. Also...with use any item can you back-stab with weapons outside of the thief class?
Post edited by Debaser on
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Comments
It's gone over 300 issues and it's constantly getting better and better. Unlike most comics in it's genre the world of Berserk to my mind is kind of limitless without being cheesy...and when he turns into the black swordsman later on down the line searching for revenge against the apostles he's just insane with anger and willing to do pretty much anything to beat tougher opponents.
If I played her as a Cavalier I could have her "Fall" as a Paladin too...would work.
And yea, I suppose Caska could go either pint sized beast or inspiration provider. I like her better as a fighter/thief than as a blade due to the lack of magic on her part (I could see Griffith as more blade compatible with his luck/voodoo powers/egg necklace). Fallen cavalier would be clever!
Might be better to give him 3-4 levels of thief (with heavy stealth, and a bit of picking locks), then dual into a berserker (just shadow keeper it in, since you should be able to dual into a kit anyway by the pnp rules (only one though)). He has a little bit of training in stealth, knife throwing, and lockpicking that Judau taught him, but he's almost exclusively a straight up warrior besides that.
If I was building him in 3rd edition, 4 fighter, 3 rogue, 3 Barbarian, rest frenzied berserker.
I mean there was that one time he was like an assassin, but that was early on.
As Zanath said it'd definitely be a Thief->Mostly Berserker and not Berserker-Mostly Thief
I totally know what you mean, it's slow waiting for new issues to come out...but I think if a new reader went with it from start to where it is now, it wouldn't feel that way...I reread it recently and it didn't feel disjointed or slow paced...it just comes out so slowly due to the art quality and the scheduling being so high and demanding. There's maybe six issues a year is the result.
I everyone loves the golden age but he Black Swordsman Arc is my favorite...you get into the core of who he is. Cursed...hunted by demons wanting to eat him...desperate for an answer to Caska's problem...but so angry that he's not really in control of himself. Revenge is all that matters...in recent issues he's decided that trying to help Caska is more important than revenge on Griffith. So it's more of a sea change with a new larger cast replacing what The Band of the Hawks was. Golden Age is setting you up for so much heartbreak and motivation...but characters like Skull Knight are super interesting to me and they come later.
Also I would love to build him with 3e or higher rules...but I feel Berserker for the rage ability to thief for all the high level abilities that can mimic the arm cannon and time trap, etc to make him move faster is probably closest to how he is in the manga / show. He's got to feel a bit superhuman, that's what makes him Guts...but magic and demons have to be a problem he thinks his way around rather than just relying purely on his sword. I do think he should have Darts as well as Knives exactly for the reason you mention.
@jflieder I see Caska as a Lawful Neutral...a soldier who is dedicated, but not really that concerned with morality or self interest. Maybe a Jester from the start due to the nature of what happens to her later...but she's a tougher character to plan out. Making her a Paladin isn't quite right when I go to draw her up because she's just...more loyal than benevolent towards others. Maybe just a straight fighter who can tank while he off tanks...but if I made her, I don't want her to be boring is all.
Yeah, I read the manga and I get what you are saying. He has just never seemed like a thief to me.
When I think of him I normally think of him in the berserker armor and just an instinct driven rage fueled death machine.
Barbarian seems like him the most to me with the larger hit die and the damage resistance.
I mean, I guess he should be a Berserker/Barbarian/Thief/Monk/DeathMachine so, Berserker/Thief works.
I really want the detect illusion ability to be a focus when he goes thief....that whole...seen magic at worst...fear of the demonic aspect really works there...he's always trying to root out the supernatural so he can kill it by default either way.
With Caska...I keep coming back to Lawful Neutral Fighter with ++ in Single weapon fighting and ++ in longsword. High Charisma being a factor because Guts is again...scary.
Maybe I should do the Berserk Cast? Or maybe see if anyone on the board would do a multiplayer campaign around these ideas?
Guts - (Chaotic Neutral) Berserker / Thief (Dualed at 13)
Caska (Lawful Neutral) - Swashbuckler / Fighter? With Find Traps lock Pick Maxed Out.
Griffith (Neutral Evil) - Elf Fighter / Mage (Revering his dark gods in a Neutral Evil way, always obsessed with Power) (I know Griffith isn't an Elf, but he looks like one...so this kind of fits to me, plus that bonus to longswords and bows totally makes sense)
Skull Knight (Lawful Evil) - Blackguard, twisted by centuries of fighting the Apostles and eventually becoming one of them.
Nosferatu Zodd (Chaotic Evil) - (Half Orc since we don't have vampires) Fighter / Cleric given immortality and unholy powers by his dark gods.
Judeau (Neutral Good) - Blade (This fits...after really thinking about it) Just make this guy about Darts and Knives all the way, maybe give him short swords and defensive spin.
BTW you guys have seen the new movies right?
Caska's basically the same fighting style-wise as Griffith, single weapon, longsword, but weaker and less agile. Though she was shown using a crossbow once...so..there's always that. And I don't recall her displaying any thief-like abilities at any time..though if Judau taught Gutts, it's a safe bet he taught her something as well..maybe...but they never showed anything to even hint at it. So..basically fighter, just a few levels behind and/or less str.
Judau's more of a swashbuckler then any of the other characters, he doesn't display any magic (unless having a very small pouch of healing salve counts), so a blade doesn't fit as well as a swashy does. And he's definitely the skills man of the group. None of the Hawks really jump out at me as "good". They're all basically some form of neutral, except a few jackasses like Corkus, who are or at the border for evil (just because he's comic relief doesn't change the fact he was a leader of a small band of robbers who tended to murder their victims, before the Hawks took them down). While they're decent people overall, they still do a lot of bad things for bad people if that's where the money is.
Nah, Zodd is a Blackguard, through and through. Though he does look A LOT like a half-orc in his base form (He was human...at some point)...so..just race swap him (and not having access to his ridiculously huge swords and dual-axes would just be wrong) (he's not really immortal, he just doesn't age and has a ridiculously high capacity for regenerating wounds, and probably some straight up damage resistance.)
Skull Knight is debatable...I'd actually say he was probably Lawful evil to begin with (depending on if that theory about his past is correct), and became more lawful neutral, after he was snared into the web of fate and effectively lost the ability to act meaningfully outside of the proper time.
And no, other then trailer haven't seen them yet. Though I spotted the first one while Christmas shopping the other day, so I'm gonna grab it once payday gets here. I have the full anime collection (*sigh* So much potential wasted) and all the currently released english volumes (and all the scans up to current), so I'll pick it up, just been busy with other stuff lately.
I can tell you what i am, but then it wouldn't be a secret, would it?
To your knowledge has anyone subbed the second OVA yet?
http://www.pinoyanime.tv/berserk-golden-age-arc-ii-the-capture-of-doldrey/
this is a subtitled version but it's kinda...bootleg translation level...the english is a little clunky at times, but it's definitely watchable my friend.
I'm going to look into movie three next. See if it's out there.
Thanks, haddn't found that subbed yet. Doldrey battle foooooooooooooooooor tttttttthhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeee wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn
I still can't decide if Caska should be a Swashy that duals at level 6 to Fighter...or a fighter who duals to something else. But I've already made a ton of portraits to choose from.
The Doldrey battle is still...wicked great.
That is a bit disappointing. I thought one of the points of the OVAs was to be more true to the manga, oh well.
Maybe I should do Shierke, Ishidoro, Farnese and Serpico, and make Caska mentally ill?
But personally my Guts would kill Griffith... then I'd raise him and kill him again.