This was a joke when I mentioned it yesterday but my brain has been working on a stat up for Jessica Fletcher for the last 24 hours

cackles

Outcome: Lightfoot Halfling, level 3 lore bard level 17 inquisive rogue

focus on Wisdom and Charisma- you'd think Intelligence would be above Charisma but Jessica actually usually uses her connections and charm to get people to give away their secrets rather than outright deductions

Int should still be decent tho. A party face but not a great combat character

give her a crossbow to use inquisive rogues sneak attack boosting abilities from a safe distance since her ac will be quite awful- unless you get lucky with stat rolls. if you're using standard array you just kinda he to accept that you are a rp utility character. Which is fitting cuz Jessica never fights she is always saved by the cops if things go aggro

you probably have folk hero as your background

with lore bard giving more skills and some utility spells. You want your perception, insight and investgation under expertise

persuasion also needs to be trained

you could maybe dip further into bard but then you're getting more into being an outright caster

thoughts

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