The Investigator: 9 Key Aspects - Player Character Tips
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- You know the famous detectives/investigator, the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Jessica Jones or Hercule Poirot, we take a look at 9 important things you need to do on how can you play a detective character in your role playing game.
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Law enforcement here. I won't go into too much detail, as this is an extensive topic with a large range of operations and tactics. but I will mention one subject.
The interview. When you interview someone, you want to ask open ended questions. For example, you are interviewing a subject of interest in a robbery. Instead of asking him, did you rob this man last night at 8pm? You would ask "tell me about how you spent your day yesterday, starting in the afternoon" The subject now has to say more than just "no, I didn't", and now you can start gauging their mannerisms and body language which is crucial in identifying their intent.
As a GM, when you are having your player roll insight in 5e or sense motive in Starfinder, you should not be saying "yeah he is lying, or from what you can tell, he is being truthful. You should be describing their mannerisms and body language. 'When Gruff explains to you that he doesn't know how his jacket was in that alleyway, he taps his foot repeatedly on the floor, and does not make eye contact until he finishes talking"
That is alert that I struck something, and the subject is possibly not telling the truth, and he is nervous about potential evidence against him. Always open ended until you've got them all wound up, to the point that they believe you actually know everything(even if you don't) and it's a release of pressure to just tell you everything from their point of view.
As a player, you should be asking you GM to explain how the subject acts and looks as you converse. Obviously, the higher the skill DC, the more adept the subject is to making these mannerisms, quirks, or body language, hidden.
So, get familiar with what happens in L.A. Noire?
Tevo77777 I've never played it. If the game is like I described, then definitely. If you want to look into the actual technique, Google The Reid technique and the wz technique.
I screenshotted this whole thing. Thanks!
Great post!
@@thefitgm335 Doesn't the Reid technique bring a lot of false confessions? I've heard it's been largely discredited in academic circles, though it's still used by a large number of law enforcement agencies.
I've been working with the Police for 10yrs. I've only ever caught 1 murderer though. Thankfully they're pretty rare here. I'm taking you're advice in hand and buying some beard wax just in case it helps.
And cocaine goes great with beard wax
Columbo is one of the best TV detectives to watch as an investigator and for his character. The writers of Columbo had him do every thing Guy suggests and more. Columbo would construct a time line of events, look for clues, interview witnesses and suspects, use logic, deductive reasoning, and a little bit of miss direction. Then test his reasoning.
In one episode Columbo had a full scene were he used logic to formulate a solid theory on how the murder happened based on were, and what position, the victims body was found in relation to the set up of the room. He went over a hand full of possible actions with a Jr. detective until he got a solid theory. Every episode had it's own murder to puzzle out, Columbo always used his intellect to solve a case.
Columbo is also believable as a person. He had many personality quirks that made him real. He was a little absent minded, he had a frumpy appearance, he told anecdotes about family members, and asked questions that seamed like they had no relevance to the subject at hand. What is great about the character is that all of these traits were both real, and a facade put on by Columbo. However is greatest character attribute is his humanity. Columbo never dehumanized a suspect, he always treated them with respect and understanding. Even the only suspect he admitted he didnt like. Some of them he found to be nice people except for this one horrible action.
Sorry to bother you sir. Just one more thing...
Can I ask you a personal question?
I should watch this.
He was also super humble and good-hearted. It was hard for even the antagonist not to like him by the end. Even the one that tried to murder him, haha.
I think he'd have been shot in season one, if someone has murderer a person, what's to stop them from shooting a lone detective asking questions in their home in the middle of nowhere. Still a great show.
"Detective" is a sub category of "Investigator".
Many other categories can be investigators too, scientists and journalist, for example.
And the more obscure, like: UFOlogist and the ghost-buster.
About to start a Changeling: The Lost game, and considering some beginner-level antagonists for the PCs to deal with: A "Scooby-Doo" type gang of teen investigators.
I was hoping to hear more about was how does your detective behave outside of investigations. There could be a lot of interpretations, but when being a current or former detective is a core part of your character, it has taken me much more time than I expected to flesh out how my character expresses their detectiveness.
Rogue/Assasin works really great with this. I highly recommend it. Make it Lawful Good for extra challange.
OnlyHuman I'd say more Mastermind, maybe with splash of Fighter or Cleric
Wizard is interesting if you're running "pursuit of knowledge wizard", but Charisma is a rough dump stat for this archetype. Out of D&D a 40k Inquisitor is the perfect model.
Ben Wall the Glorious Inquisitor of his Holy Ordos. You could always dum Con and STR if you go wizard Route.
Using D&D5, I'd pick a Rogue/Bard mix for this, myself, with Mastermind as the Rogue archetype. You'll want to be as much a skill monkey as you possibly can, with emphasis on Perception, Investigation, Insight, all of the social skills and as many INT skills (History especially) as you can get your hands on. Expect your CON and STR to suffer for these, but don't skimp too much on DEX so you can do some light sneaking and pickpocketing when needed.
...of course, that's the optimal build. You could also play a Half-orc Barbarian who dumps everything he can into Intimidation and beats the answers out of his "suspects".
In 5e why wouldn't you just play inquisitive rogue archetype?
Hey man, thanks for posting this. I'm actually preparing to play an 'inquisitive' archetype Rogue (read: detective) in a new game next week. Great timing with the video! Fantastically useful advice. Very practical and easy to follow. Much, much, appreciated. Subscribed.
I’ve been working on “Ghost Stories” themed mysteries for my writing.
I like to imagine a detective traveling through the Mists of Ravenloft.
I am playing a detective character in Curse of Strahd, only level 2 now, but I took the investigator background and I'm taking the Inquisitive subclass.
Detective Doyle Dibny is his name.
Barbarian is best bad cop, and can be a lot smarter than people give them credit for as well.
I'm not in law enforcement, but I am studying to enter the field, and while it may not seem interesting at a glance, the relevant laws governing an investigation can make for an interesting challenge. An officer can't just waltz into a house and search, otherwise while they may prove the culprit guilty, the evidence might not be usable against them because of how it was obtained. For instance, if you have a Batman like investigator, this becomes a challenge of getting the evidence to the proper authorities in a way they can use it. Or, if you cannot find a way to bring proper authorities into the situation, maybe improper authorities can help, like rival gangs or enemies of the culprit. It may not appeal to people who don't want to play the cerebral element of it, but I think it could make for an intriguing puzzle.
Paladin585 Thank you for this. You should make a video about it.
Why did you put 2 spaces between every word? It's painful to read.
"A detective should have a quirk" how about being a prehistoric animal under the influence of an awakening spell?
Or an awakened chimp?
If I made a detective character he would be crap at it and his quirk would be treating everything like a master mystery and making a show of deducing the obvious and already understood.
Guy Bowden-Kerby This sounds hilarious. 😂
Been a cop in the Air Force for 5 years now! Loved this video, never had to work on a case like this before but loved seeing your insight on making an investigator
I deduce: The murderer came in through the window, most likely by scaling the walls below due to the lack of rope. They then proceeded to murder the victim, who was eating their soup, which had been served to them 15 minutes prior. The gas lamp was still burning and the window was still open because the murderer was still in the room when we arrived. The butler was the murderer
The butler is always the murder: first lesson of detectiving school
@@lucajustluca8257 don’t forget the wife
You're mistaken, it was, in fact, Colonel Mustard, in the study, with the lead pipe!
I kinda like the idea of an investigator being a bard. Bard has a lot of useful utility for the purpose, the charisma to talk information out of someone / jack of all trades and of course... you could always play music of the tales you will no doubt inherit from the trade.
I'm about to start playing in a pathfinder campaign as an investigator, and this is a good primer. Thanks for the great content!
I think "No, you're completely wrong" can seem antagonistic, so I suggest using the dignified variant of "Yes, and", if you don't already know the mystery, which if you do, kudos to both you and the GM, especially if it seems believable that you figured it out, but if you don't know it, hit them with a "Perhaps, perhaps" if you do know, I'd suggest running the party member acting as your foil through the thought process in a way that guides them to your conclusion
though, personally, I suggest doing a spin on the typical smart investigator because they can often seem either two dimensional or grating because they're so detached, one I thought up while listening to this is the Heart Detective, who focuses on people skills and interviews to solve cases rather than intellect and calculations, this creates a character who is both intelligent and easier to get along with the party, but likely lacking in specific knowledge skills, which can be made up for in other party members
So, using Emotional Intelligence to solve crimes? I like it!
In TV shows, the sidekick also serves as an audience substitute, so the in-show (literally referred to as 'Watsonian') thing is Holmes explaining to Watson but the outside ('Doylist') thing is Watson serving as a way for Holmes to explain things to the audience.
If you happen to play Shadowrun, the PI is probably the most useful type of character IMO, especially a magic one.
Was looking for some help with how to run my investigator in a pathfinder game I'll be taking part in soon, thanks for the info!
Great Scot! He just made A Scandal in Bohemia reference! *Glares at Sherlock Holmes.* (11:24-11:30)
Can shape shifting into other people be a quirk
"Hey Charlie?" He says to his new partner as they survey the scene. "I need to barrow your face."
"YOU WHAT!"
"...Or they could even be a cocaine addict"
Sherlock?
What do you think of the inquisitive rogue archtype for a detective?
It's probably best suited for it, but it's a generally pretty weak archetype tbh.
Yes, you do have a police worker watching your videos. ;) Although I do not work with murders or violent crimes. I work as a digital specialist investigator with sex crimes against children online.
Quite different investigations, but still "just" investigations.
Tried this once, There was monster in the sewers (slimes i think) I said there was only 2 ways it could of happen, they or someone moved them there or someone made them there, GM called me a metagamer as i knew it a game and something had to happen, i was right as well as it a goblin artifact from goblins who got in and it was kind of broken that was making them.
Rather crazy idea but im running a Blood Hunter as an investigator soon and it is,,,quite the combo
Proficiency in investigation for a class based on the witcher!? Never heard of
Mind cleric detective here
I needed this for my half Incubus half Eladrin Detective hes going after monster cases like Dean and Sam or Hellsing stuff His names Mal (Mallow) Cardovan Hes from a rich family and got told he could always be what ever he wanted to be not sure if he'll be a good detective yet XD
5e So to make an investigator choose variant human ability score increase in int and wisdom with the feat observant the class would probably be mystic of the awakened class make your highest skills int and then wisdom if your going via clues or reverse if your an interrogation investigator skills being perception and insight with the investigator background changing the insight proficiency for survival if you can make it at higher level 6 mystic awakened 6 alchemist for your own sidekick
vet, and future P.I. here
you can (especially in modern settings) go a 'profiling' route, not only look at WHAT has happend, but HOW it was done. Is the victim brutally ripped apart, or died sleeping? What weapon was used to inflict what kind of wounds? etc.
to get an impression how the 'murderer' operates... coldhearted, emotional, caluclating, in a heated moment, tried to hide the crime or made a show out of it...
all this tells about the character of your 'villian'.. which you can go looking for in the ensemble of characters. Maybe even set up a 'test' to gauge the reaction of your suspects...
I liked the first two or three seasons of Criminal Minds for a decent depiction of profiling, and victimology. After that the show becomes more of a drama series with the cast, and gimmicky with the killer. The Netflix show Mindhunter is even better. Mindhunter is about the creation of the Behavior Analysis Unit for the FBI.
It would be funny if there actually was a detective here. Like, Imagine a guy who cought a serial rapist on teusday and pretends to be a magician on wednsday.
Army all the way
I don't understand how this will fit ina rpg grouo. It seems that you need a campaign just for you if you want this class
No
USMC vet