I created a 5e d&d paladin/barbarian named Brisket. He was raised by Orcs in the kitchens and devoted himself to studying new recipes to bring back to his tribe. He thus worships the Chef god Garrackg and constantly talks about food and cooking, trys to swap recipes with monsters, and eats monster corpes as delicacies. He rages because of wasting food. At the end of the dungeon the dm had let me give flavors and types to all the flouresent fungi, let me fly into a rage and eat a bugbears heart to mourn him, and gave me a draconic recipe book. He carries around a meat tenderizer (war hammer). Loved it.
As a GM, I fully agree with and second the "Talk to your GM" step! Often different GMs will have very different ideas about how their worlds work and the races within them. Just knowing "Star Wars" or "Forgotten Realms" isn't enough. As an example, I ran a swashbuckling high-seas adventure with D&D, and I greatly altered the kobold race to be a seafaring one, and player-viable. Because the party sat down with me before rolling up characters, some of them actually altered their plans, and we even had a pair of kobold PCs. Talk to the GM - that's why we're there!
I informed my characters in the kingdom they are in Tieflings and Dragonborn are not looked upon kindly. two of them made Tieflings, I need to make sure that they don't forget again.
Should have seen what happened to the Miller last week. Some dolt up and shamaned his back. Poor guy was complaining about ghosts talking behind him for three nights.
OnEiNsAnEmOtHeRfUcKa sneaky Waagh! Fuck yeah! Don't forget to make him wear purple/ use purple face paint. Because purple is sneaky. I mean have you ever seen a purple orc/k
I would add one last tip: put a little of yourself in your character - something of your personality, your personal interests, your academic/work/religious background, etc. Most rewarding character I ever played was a lore bard I made into a sort of fantasy ethnomusicologist pioneering the practice of doing fieldwork rather than merely poring over dusty tomes in ancient towers (I was an anthropology major in university). Turned out incredibly fun.
In my current game, I'm playing a merchant in a homebrew campaign in a Rokugan setting. I had him start as a rogue with a strong knack for Coup de Grace opportunities and creating alchemical items. He utilizes mundane and alchemical tools above all else rather than his natural talents. Because of his Nezumi (Rokugan ratfolk) heritage, I imagined he was looked down by society and never given the right to "live". He detested military warriors, samurais especially, and made it his hobby to bring disgrace to every one of them he comes across. He found traditions to be absolutely ridiculous and a waste of incredible potential (hence why he resorts to alchemical concoctions and makes it business to sell them) He also has immunity to a corrupted plague known as the Shadow Taint because of his race, so I imagined he took that to his advantage. He took apparel from those who've died from the plague (like a belt, for one) and wears it across his torso, along with spiked leather armor and a barbed vest so that he would be physically untouchable by anyone besides other Nezumi. He does not like being in close proximity to others, even his fellow party members, and went to great lengths to ensure they don't get too near. And then something weird happened. After we rescued a town from demons with the help of the head priest, I imagined my character getting urges to visit the church. Father Shinse (the said priest) was really kind to him since the moment we rescued him, so I felt a shift in my character's head that maybe not everything's bad and Father Shinse could take on the mentor role he never got. After spending a year in downtime, I approached the gm and asked for an opportunity to change my alignment from true neutral to neutral good so that it would follow the rules of alignment for Cleric's deity worship. So under the teachings of the doomed town's priest, my character started a straight and narrow path to reform. The first act was to burn all apparel infected with the Shadow Taint, then shave off all fur to ensure I no longer had the plague, then take a blessed bath for an atonement ritual. It was so funny! The next game session that happened, everyone was grouping together and the GM made it a surprise for everyone. "The three of you gather together, but your rogue is missing." [insert party moans about losing the rogue again here] "Just as you're about to begin a search for him, a heavily cloaked figure walks up to you and grabs a seat, making a noticeable effort you don't see his face." When I pulled back my hood, everyone was so surprised! Someone even had their hand on their weapon at the ready. A completely bald ratfolk with the voice of my character shows up- Something my group would NEVER have thought would happen because I kept this all in secrecy. xD So, yeah, I'm multiclassing a Rogue/Cleric. Even though this hinders my rogue ability drastically and substitutes it with a beginner's Cleric class set that cannot even fathom with keeping up in party level, I'm quite happy with the change. This character is an absolute blast, regardless of power level. And because I'm the only Cleric, I can use my spells in thematic ways the party couldn't before. Now when we're fighting demons I can use holy spells to great benefit. And because I was a rogue first, I can look at my party and say "I can't do this because of my religion, but YOU can." So your perfect character? One that's engaged with your environment! One that has long-term consequences to adventures! One you love pulling out at the table and say "I wonder what'll happen next!" Because let me tell you, it's a thrill every day thinking about the adventures.
I think a great piece of advice that will help you create a memorable and (hopefully) fun character is to always be honest with yourself about your reasons and motivations; it sounds so simple, yet it something we often overlook and its often times easier or more appealing to avoid the truth. As an example, I fully admit I need to play more spellcasters but I tend to shy away from them or get very disinterested quickly; the easier, more appealing answer is that they're just not as fun for me as other classes, but the truth is that its simply because I find them almost too complex and frustrating because of certain game mechanics. My biggest pet peeve is (and will always be) the Spell Slots and Spells Known system; to me, at least, its completely antithetical to how Mages/Wizards/Sorcerers are depicted in fantasy novels and enforces a crippling (in my opinion) restriction on a class that would otherwise be appealing to play. I don't recall Gandalf or Elminster or Raistlin ever stopping in the middle of combat because they suddenly realized that they didn't prep the right spell this morning, or they've used up all castings of a particular spell they prepared that day, or simply run out spell slots; it completely ruins the immersion for me and because of that I tend to avoid playing spellcasters when I know that I really should give them a try more often.
I'm playing a Drogonborn/Tiefling hybrid who isn't aware of his devil's blood (his father was a Half-Devil). As a yungster he grew up slower than the other dragonborn and was thus bullied. He wanted to prove himself through the use of magic but ended up burning down half of his home village due to his potent wild magic he couldn't control. He was exiled from the village, and decided to never dabble with magic ever again, so he became a fighter with extremely strong body. I don't know if it was meant to be, but he always throws really bad Arcana checks xD
Played a blacksmith character who went through multiple revisions as he gained life experience adventuring from place to place. These are some points from history people could draw from as info for their characters, like I did for mine: 1: tinsmiths ( I.E.: tinkers) are metalsmiths who deal with tin, pewter, and aluminum. While they can blacksmith, they usually move from town to town to find work at odd jobs. 2: Metalsmiths that want to save their joints never swing hammers that weigh more then 5 lbs. with one hand. 2.5: Convergant point, most war hammer heads weigh about 1 to 2 pounds. 3: Tertiary point, metalsmiths know that PPE gear is a good idea, which is why they wear leather aprons, gauntlets, and leather boots in the smithy area. 4: blacksmiths in Japan were regarded as preists while in the smithy. 5: any good blacksmith that specializes in lawful breaking and entering ( locksmithing) knows that a 3.5 pound " door knocker" with a good cold cut chisel ora 10 lb. Striker hammer labeled " Door bell" open many oppertunities. XD ( learned that point from a veteran military officer. He went on to become a machinest.) 6: metalsmiths were reputed to know magic because they utilized all the elements in various iterums while making metal while in a forge and bloomery. They were also regarded as the kings of all craftsmen, for unless you knew how to make your own tools you had to see a smith to get them made. 7: farriers have to know various veterinary practices to ensure the health and safty of horses and donkeys they care for. So there you have it. Druid, Wizard, Cleric/ Paladin, Rogue, Fighter, all wrapped up in one Artificer based package.
The way i deal with my characters is basically imagining them as my children. You'll always want the best for them but they will have times where you get disappointed from them. However does that mean you'll just abandon them and get another ? if that's the case then you never truly liked the character just his/her concept. With that you'll most likely find this one character that fits the story and appeals to you for your campaign.
I would love to see a video saying something along the lines of "The 10 questions you should ask your GM before creating your character." I realize that bringing several of your videos together would achieve this list, but I would appreciate it consolidated. If I am asking to much or I have missed a video titled as such, I apologize. As always, I love the content!
I just realized from rewatching this that the only core class in D&D I've never played is a Barbarian. I've never really looked at them. I might give that a go next time it comes up for me.
This video is awesome, I'll definitely be coming back to it when creating characters. I agree that it's good to go out of your comfort zone with classes and learn new things. I think the rule of fun should apply here, though - if there's a certain game element you like, pick something that'll let you do that. If you like healing, go for a class that has some healing. If you like diplomacy and intrigue, get some persuasion and deception. If you like making your fellow players laugh by failing miserably, make a character that's really bad at something but does it all the time anyway.
My mantra as player and GM for creating characters is always "Who you are is more importand than what you are". It served me well so far, that way you get some very interssting stuff like a warrior who is affraid of blood.
nice video... im the 79 visualization, i suscribe to your channels last month and still havent seen all the videos, even when im vinge-watching them at nigths. keep goin please
one thing that can work, depending on how open the group is to it, is, if you can't find a class that matches what you envision your character doing, make a class, coop with your gm, and make something that fits the story, isn't a 100% unique class(otherwise you can't reuse it in the future), and may allow you to mechanically do things you otherwise couldn't. at one point, i wanted to play a steriotypical drow(evil), but i wanted to be a paladin of Lolth. well, all the paladins in the book are very group-centric, but to me, one of the last things they would do is boost allies instead of themselves. if your group is open to homebrew classes, don't let the book stop you from making the character you want to make. just be careful you dont make an untouchably powerful class, unless you are playing gods among men campaigns, where you are pretty much all insanely powerful anyway
I like to do step 3 before I do step 2. I wanted to play a cleric this time, and was flipping through the Pathfinder wiki and saw Tengu, and how in one of the books they were frequently seafarers. Seeing all the ways I could make a Tengu be the cleric I would want to play took care of about half my backstory.
First video of yours I've watched, I'm just about to start DMing my first campaign this week, so I've subbed and now I'm going to click on another video of yours to watch. See you in the next one!
That would be like seeing double. And hearing double. It took me a while to figure out they aren't the same person. I think. But in terms of content, I like it.
An NPC in one of my games was actually named Bob. He was the head guard of the local baron and the ork barbarian in the group had to beat him in a 1 on 1 fight, which was epic.
Hi Guy, thank you very much for the video, I quite enjoyed it, as well as many of the others you posted. I did want to follow-up and suggest an addition to the character creation process which I myself find useful. When doing step 2, I often find it difficult to find a starting point for a character with such a huge number of possibilities. Before starting to think up a concept, I've found it helpful to try to answer a couple questions to help narrow the scope of what I'd like to play. I'll sometimes ask myself first, "Is there an emotion I'd like to explore?" Perhaps wraith, or serenity, or happy-go-lucky..., and this sometimes can help provide me wish a direction. That question often comes out of another question I sometimes ask myself, "What aspect of myself would I like to explore?" Perhaps I have been feeling bullied at work, and I want to explore a character with a great deal of self-confidence. Or perhaps I've been interested in exploring what it means to be truly dedicated to something, though I don't have the time myself. If a character ties to something I'm interested in and can relate to, I often find it easier to construct, and ultimately more fulfilling. Everyone has their style, but I often use characters as a reflection of my own aspirations or flaws as a way to 'test out' or see what it is like to play someone like that. Lastly, I sometimes start thinking of characters based on the style of play that I enjoy. For example, if I know that I enjoy being in the thick of combat because of the enhanced tension, then it will help me narrow down my ideas around a more combat oriented character. That doesn't mean he still couldn't be a simply farmer, perhaps pushed to the edge of his tolerance and forced to pick up arms to defend his family. But these are just some tricks and tools I use as a "Step 1 and a half" to help narrow down my ideas in getting to an ultimate (and fulfilling) character. I find all your other listed steps helpful as well, particular the last step of testing the character out in mock scenarios - not only to test mechanics, but also how their personality might develop. Thanks again.
I love your videos on D&D. Your always so informative and formidable as far as a teacher for the game's roleplay mechanics. I hope you have a wonderful day Guy! :)
Ironically we had a player for a short time that joined mid game in the basement of the local game store, he named his first D&D character Bob, then we ended up starting a star wars game and someone made a joke "you gonna name him Bob again?" but phonetically Bobagain sounded star warsy so he went with it, not just Bob, but Bobagain. It's a fun story, though he was only around for a couple sessions there after.
I'm very visual when I play, so most of my characters come from an initial image of how I want them to *look*. My first D&D character, had flaming impossibly red hair because I wanted her to have hair like Leeloo from 5th Element. If I don't have a look in mind for them, then a name is usually the first thing I come up with. The most recent D&D character I came up with (only played her once, sadly), I had the image of a Strider-looking person, who lived in the wilderness, wearing dark/heavy/dirty leather, covered in mud, and had a raven companion. I'm pretty crappy at coming up with detailed backstories, tho. Of all the characters I've done (not that many, but we do year-long campaigns), only one had a backstory committed to paper, lol.
I was with you right to the point where you created a Rogue that will now forever be a drain on the Party because he can't do the job he was hired for i.e. being the rogue. The Numbers shouldn't define your Character, correct, but if your character is completely ineffective, then please ask the other players at the table if they are ok with that.
my gaming group put me on the spot the other day asking about a two random NPCs names so they got named Bob and Steve ....and now i have had to write biographies of them and we are about to go back into the castle we just escaped from to rescue Bob and Steve
Hey, I was just in the process of making characters, and I was asking myself a question. How do we renew our character's journey ? When you envision a character, you, well, see him entirely, his class, his background, his behavior. So, either I make him evolve toward what I envisionned -but that means I am playing another version of my character until I reach his final stage-, or I need to change him away from what I imagined. And even if I do, let's say, envision a young daring swordsman that realise he can't play solo, and decide to become a paladin to stay with those he wants to help instead of yolo-ing. Once he has reached his paladin stage... What do I do ?
For starters, nobody really goes through just one journey in life. To use an example everyone (or at least mostly everyone) knows, Luke Skywalker. Initially his journey is from farmboy to rebel pilot, then from rebel pilot to Jedi, then on to whatever he did in Legends continuity. Oftentimes the story will dictate what's next in line- perhaps this theoretical Paladin's next logical step is to ascend further in the Order, or to take a place in the local nobility. If you don't have any ideas on your own, talk to the GM- oftentimes a story-minded GM already has three or four different ways that character could go based on what they've already done.
well you can help others, there is always someone who need a hand. The Gm tho should give something to work with or the oder players maybe needs help to reach theyr goal. (sorry for my english)
Give him an apprentice to train. Typically in a fantasy story, you go from a nobody/student to whatever your job is to teacher/master/grizzled veteran then retirement and finally come out of retirement to go out in one final blaze of glory. Think Star Wars, Rocky IV, Logan, The Dark Knight Returns or The Legend of Conan.
Once reaching the stage where he's actually recognized as a paladin... well, for starters, I'm just guessing you don't mean the "by the book" definition, since (at least in original rules, you can start as a lvl1 paladin, you just aren't particularly powerful (or for the matter worth much of a f*** at the job)...lolz If you've attained a high level, something where you're clearly going to be recognized (as a paladin anyway) before you open your mouth to introduce yourself, and you've clearly got enough "spiritual bias" going on to do about anything you need... You do still have choices... First, assess whether you're happy with the path to date... and (possibly more important) is your character particularly happy with it. Think back and (even on your own time) role play it a bit. How has battle affected him? Has he "been forced" either through circumstances or some malicious problem to do something otherwise horrible? Does that (or should it) really bother him? Among your choices are a crisis of faith... It's not entirely improbable for an adventuring cleric (or for the matter a holy knight of who-ever) to suffer a traumatic experience and later on just begin to dwell a bit too much... It can be a fascinating developmental arc for your character and (especially in RP heavy campaigns) a delightful journey for the group if the GM can work it into the rest of the story themes well... You could also (suffer the penalties) whether for crisis of faith or some other "leave of absence" kind of reasoning test the waters for a multi-class, character. While it would also work well for the crisis of faith theme, this can be a case of intellectual growth over spiritual growth for the character in mind. There is always a romance... These can be "tricky" depending on the general mood about it at the table. BUT we're not necessarily talking about the modern era ideals of a date-night ending in a one-night-stand (one knight stand?...lolz) so remind me to keep my head out of the gutter! The same can go for the rest of the group around you. There's certainly going to be an opportunity to "see someone's true beauty" from a distance and decide to "make your move" more toward a campaign of winning lands and titles on which to raise a family with the gentlest creature of the realm (obviously of your most poignant choice)... AND a good love-story in the platonic sense (you can black-out the scene(s) as necessary btw) could definitely serve as a change of pace for the table that's been all about the blood soaked earthen battlefields for a bit more than is healthy in a good role play scenario. And of course, there is the ideal of "ascension" to something or someone of higher station. It's not necessarily god-hood in so many words either. Even in the Judeo-Christian texts there are scores and choirs of angels and helpers among the "higher" entities that still serve, so it's kind of a GM's and Player's caveat to get as sacreligious (or not) as they wish about the thing you ascend to originally, or whatever it might require to build past toward demigods... and the imminently plausible fallout of an epic fail... or whatever other consequences could send one of the highest dignitaries of the Heavens to the Deplorable Depths of the Hells' own pits... SO... yeah, I wouldn't honestly worry too much about directions and new paths... just pick something that sounds "good" or "cool" out of the litany that could come to mind and chat up the GM again. It'll be alright. :o)
On the matter of choose the class that you find most daunting, one option might be that if you take the most daunting class, that your character either really wants to be that class, or that they really don't. One version will... actually if your character loves a class you don't, that might just make them annoying to you. On the other hand, if they hate the class as much as you, then you emphasize with them as they stomp forward through it or become bewildered by it's many complexities. Plus, why are they doing a class they hate? What's forcing them? How will you balance their attempts to choose another class with whatever keeps them from doing so? Just the story of them struggling their way out of a class or how they come to enjoy it despite their initial feelings can be quite an interesting story on it's own. Or at least, that's what I think.
I have a question for someone who is an experienced player. I've been thinking of playing for the first time recently and wanted to ask if any of the following are allowed. 1. Can you have a half giant character 2. Would a Blind Wood Elf be okay 2a. Can a character be dual class? like Druid & Assassin? 3. Can a Player character choose to play AS A monster but still be a part of the party?
Dakota Dugger Goliaths are the tallest race there is, but there are spells to make you giant but you can't start off giant. 2. Why would you want to be blind, you still need to have sight for dark vision. 2a You would have to multiclass into a rogue then get to third level rogue and choose assassin as a subclass. 3. In the expansions there are monster classes. Xanathars guide to everything, Volos Guide to Monsters, and Sword Coast are all expansions
you should summarize your points in the description for quick reference, so people don't have to jump around your video looking for the point you start each idea, we could just see the title of the idea and remember "oh, right, that's the part I insert my character in the system" or "ah, this is the step I test my character"
Step 1: Talk to your GM about the world and the people inside to see how your character might fit in the setting. Step 2: Take a moment and imagine characters from that world, independent of class and mechanical terms, thinking about who and what the character is and what they face within the world: outside of or leading up to the adventure you would explore at the table. Go with the most interesting character you come up that best captures your imagination. Step 3: Flesh out the personality and background of your character. Now that you have that vision of that character and how they're built into the world, you can now start to define what they're like, where they come from, and where they're going. (Not Much Detail is Given) Step 4: This is where you begin to Note: Will finish this in EDITS when I have time.
Hey Mate, as always, great video. I Have a question, I have recently decided to start a new game and to try and break the norm I have asked the players to create there Ultimate PC with only 2 rules, 1) they cant discuss with one another about there character until the game starts and 2) the character has to be able to be killed. once they have there character they are going to come over and we will discuss it and convert the idea to paper. How do you think this process is going to go? is it a good idea....or am I screwed.
Im about to start my first D&d game with some buddies from work & our DM made his own world where our story supposedly takes place in a small country/city called ShittyRunCreek. Im going to be playing a Divine Sorcerer named Shithead (Shith-eed). This is my background. I was a dictator of a country I named after myself *Shithead*, after I was ousted, I was sent to ShittyRunCreek where the name infruriated me cause part of it used the the letters S H I T & I decided to take over this country to rename it New Shithead, When I stormed The Baron Wakka's (main antagonist) stronghold he took my pet pseudodragon Godfrey so now I have to get him back while simultaneously retaking this country & my old country back. Idk if its a little much for a background but my DM whos been playing for years absolutely loves my character & finds him hilarious. I wanna make it kind of a joke character who can take care of himself in a battle while still dishing out decent damage. EDIT: I forgot to mention ShittyRunCreek is like a sorta Penal country/city. Think Australia or Arkham City from the Batman games. All the surrounding countries send their Criminals and things there. Its surrounded by a large & thick swamp so escaping is next to impossible.
0:48 "Sometimes it's better to know the system before you create your character." GEE YA FUCKIN' THINK??? I'd say this is ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT NECESSARY unless your 'perfect character' is going to be roleplayed face-down in the mud with his pants down getting his shit pushed in.
I have a question as an inexperienced GM just really starting out running games for my friends: How do I learn to say no to a player without feeling like a controlling dick? I've run a couple of games now and each time I have an idea for what I'd like in my setting but I always get one player who just has to ask "is this in it, is that in it, can I play this, but the rules say that, why cant I play the race I like..." and I feel bad telling him he isn't allowed to play what he likes so I feel like I have to say yes every time
RazzlePhoxx I listen to see if the idea is simple to implement. If it is not too much to manage, then I work with it. If it is too much, then I say, "being a GM is a lot of work, even though your idea is fun and possible, we just do not have the time. Please let me know if you decide to GM your own campaign with that race/class/etc.
I had a GM tell me how to min/max my characters. I hated it. I create characters to play and act out in ttrpg's, not the best toon to make in World of Warcraft
How do you feel about hamstringing the character you made for RP purposes? Example, in one campaign, I was a War Forged Fighter that specialized in bows (Kyujusu specifically). However, as the character was originally built as a library aid by a wealthy recluse, I ignored the constitution bonus.
That seems unneeded. Were you using point buy, rolling, or what? If point buy, I would take the con bonus, and put no points into con, then you'd have your low con but not be hamstrung.
the one thing that kind of gets in the way of character creation within a system for me, specifically talking about d&d since i've never played anything else, is that certain classes are very reliant on not just physical characteristics but actual personality traits. you cannot have a low wisdom cleric that is viable in play, for example, and i find that so limiting. i have a character in mind--a changeling who, for reasons that i won't get into for the sake of brevity, was raised in the mountains by an old stone giant, the last remaining member of a tribe which for centuries has been in possession of a powerful source of magic--an ancient soul of this tribe's forefather that has been magically preserved over the long generations in a subterranean lake deep in a cave. there's an old tribal tradition which the giant maintains where every seventh night he absorbs the soul into himself, climbs the mountain, and paints the sky with a spectacular aurora, before returning the soul to its resting place. long story made very very short, one night the giant isn't there so being a person without much in the way of wisdom, she decides to perform the ritual in the giant's place. long story made very very short and simple, she takes the soul, realizes she doesn't know how to put it back, panics, and runs away. and...ta-da, level 1 giant soul sorcerer lol. but the POINT of my sharing that is this: a character like that, raised in isolation by such a slow and stoic creature as a giant, wouldn't exactly be a pinnacle of social graces--in my mind she's a pretty odd individual--yet charisma is a required stat for a sorcerer. it seems like i would have three options: change the character to be true to the sheet, change the sheet to be true to the character (neither of those are really options at all), or play the character in spite of the sheet. i don't know if that's a generally acceptable thing to do, and if it's not, then it seems like tying personality traits to classes is very restrictive to the creativity of players.
"is it a man, is it a woman, is it inbetween" THERE IS NO INBETWEEN REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... Except if there are androids. Or Ship-AI. Or Cybernetic Genitalia. Or weird mutations. Or Ghosts, possesing people. Ok, maybe there can be an inbetween. Aside from that, I rather create the mechanical character before the fluff. After that I envision a character on that and iterate the mechanics towards that. And towards the campaign and group, including mechanical strength. And yes, In my opinion the Numbers define the character, because they ARE the character in the game world. I cant say "this is a master huntsman" but have only mediocore Shooting-Skills for the setting. Aside from all of this, I see no reason behind doing ALL of this if I face a Killer-GM (because I will do it again in two sessions) and/or a group that really doesnt roleplay (because the minute details will not shine through and time is better spend elsewhere).
Yes, but I was assuming it was an issue since he complained about it. Obviously if he is the only one disliking how they play, the only options are either accepting it or getting another group.
I played a Star Wars game, we all agreed we would be members of the Empire. So I made a Stormtrooper. Our friend decided to play an Ewok. He tried to steal something, I think it was a credit chip, me being a Storm trooper on duty said you need to stop and come with me, hoping he would just come with me so I could get the party together. He said no and ran. So I shot him in the back as he ran. He died and was very salty, GM ruled it would have been stun rounds so all is well. Point is Ewoks are stupid.
Bear in mind that the friend who knows all the rules and how to optimize everything is also likely the person who can help you take those unconventional character ideas and make them work well with the game mechanics.
I would have been. XD There's no reason in a fantasy setting where Kellogg's cereal doesn't exist that a name like that should be frown worthy. You even went to the effort to fantasyize it.
An old GM we had was like that. Sony, for example, was a name he had. He also used a lot of names from Dune. One player named his guy Eman Retcarahc, which is Character Name backwards...
Something I disagree with is not bringing your class into it. You can break the mold, surly, and you can expand on the whats and why's. But classes do tend to draw a certain stereotype. A rogue may play fast and loose with "rules" and "law" and "honor". Where a paladin/knight/whatever type character will be fairly opposite to that and see things like law and honor to be a large part of who they are. A druid will probably be quite in tune with nature and care a fair amount about it. or at least more than your average person. A mage will, depending on the source of their powers, probably be quite learned. I mean if we use star wars, there is quite a bit of what make a jedi a jedi and if they AREN'T that then they are either on their own and not part of the order...or are just straight up a dark jedi/sith. so in this sense, the class does indeed tell you quite a bit about the character. The details are where the meat comes from, but the class can really help build the skeleton. And many people already have an idea of what class they want to play, or at least the style in which they want to play (in which case there will probably be 1-3 classes to choose from that fits). so to say your class doesn't say anything about your character i just find completely false unless you knowingly plan on subverting tropes...but if you plan on doing that then the idea of what a rogue typically is STILL helps since you'll be the opposite of that in a few/most/all cases. Tropes and stereotypes and the like exist, and they exist for a reason. Make use of them, don't run away from them and pretend they don't exist.
6 Steps: Who before what. - If you know WHO they are, then you're more likely to be able to apply that WHO to any number of races or classes (where applicable). If you can't close your eyes and SEE this character, you've built a WHAT. What does this character believe? What do they like? What's their defining characteristic that's NOT a magic item, piece of gear, spell or a feat. Are they rebellious, traditional, arrogant, evasive or courageous? I use music to inspire concepts, because the emotion behind the music defines what that character FEELS. Challenge - Does this concept challenge you in some way? If it doesn't, then you'll likely find yourself dealing with boredom because you've done it before Comfort/Happiness - Do you LIKE this character? Being happy with what you're running is important. You'd think that was obvious, but you'd be surprised. Knowledge - Knowing the system, even if only in passing, and how you can interact with it will build story. Playing something that obviously doesn't fit will just end in frustration. Cohesion - Playing an outsider or loner is fun, but if you can't find an way for this character to deal with other players, then it's best left for another game or time. Challenging other players concepts is fine so long as it builds story. But if it creates conflict above and beyond, best avoid that concept. Growth - Leave room for imperfections, changes, and evolution. I see players write a 20 page background and then can't seem to proceed forward because this vision is entrenched in A way of doing things. Leaving room for growth leaves room for surprises, including for yourself.
I played a character that had a disfigured face and therefore wore a mask. He was the medic of our group because he didnt want anyone else of the people he knew to experience what he had gone trough. The fun part was when he took his mask of. The enemies had to resist not to run away and most of them did. We had very little fights as his face was basically unwatchable to anybody unprepared.
I've had a great number of PCs and NPCs that I've made over the years, but none have been as fun and interesting as my characters Grant and Gwynevere Alwood. They're twins, Gwynevere being an NPC while Grant is my PC. The theme is that they were once nobles, the children of an estranged Countess within the Capital. However the twins faced many issues in their early youth due to their blood. They were both Half-Orcs, whether it be a curse or a blessing dependent on who you ask, because of their mother's particular interests. As very young children they were forced to live through an attack on their family which took their mother from them and got the both of them enslaved. They were transferred to and sold to the Gladiator Pits of a neighboring city to be killed for enjoyment. But Grant wouldn't have it so. He fought ferociously, even as a child, and survived the ordeal. Saved his sister and garnered interest. Over the years he fought in the Pits against animals and men much larger than he until he had earned enough money to pay for his sister's freedom, and then again longer to pay for himself. Once freed, hardened and built from the years of rigorous training, Grant and Gwynevere reunited and returned to their home town, heads high in defiance. The twins used a portion of their summed gold to purchase a small Tavern on the waterfront, a home that they called The Rusty Board, and made small name for themselves. Fast forward to present Grant is part-time owner of The Rusty Board and part-time adventurer, acting as second in command to the only man to ever best him in combat for his adventuring crew. This leader, a Tiefling named Alerrus, often adventures solo, leaving his crew to follow in-line behind Grant. And so the small, ragtag team of Adventurers go out and discover the glories of the world. All of which he returns home with and regales his sister with tales of excitement and treasure. Grant is a serious character, with a fractured child still within ever-present, who has 2 rules in life: You don't mess with his sister, and you don't leave his bar hungry. He's cleaned himself up, the only memories of his life as a Gladiator being the few scars upon his face and the etched, wooden sword mounted above the counter. He excels in hand-to-hand combat, to which I chose the adaptability and skillset of the Brawler class, and dons what would almost look like Court attire crafted of a Monk's Robe. He's designed to have leadership abilities, good cooking and survival skills, a sense for appraisal, and of course the natural combat prowess that he and his sister's survival banked on throughout their childhood. One thing is for certain when you look at the siblings: While Gwynevere takes great beauty after her mother, Grant as attained much power and ferocity from the father he never met. Perhaps one day he will learn of his heritage. Of the royalty lying within him. But not today. Today he rests at home, taking day by day with his sister. The way he prefers it.
Oh gods, number four. "But that's not my type of rogue." I want to ink that on a hammer and hit a friend in the face with it over and over until he gets that a character class is not a square slot for you to put a square shaped character in. It's possible for a wizard to enjoy exercising everyday. It's possible for a ranger to want to be muscular. It's possible for a swashbuckler to want to wear armor.
The problem with that is half the time you end up with a worse version of a different class. take a heavy armored Rogue that essentially becomes a shit Fighter that can find traps
True, but if your character becomes too much more like another class it might be better to pick that class instead. What bugs me is the whole "all characters of class x are exclusively y and never z" idea. With your example it would be better to play a fighter and pick up the disarm traps skill, but at lot of people (and systems) really hate that for some reason. According to those you can't because disarm trap is not a fighter skill, it's a rogue skill, so fighters never learn how to do that. Despite that your character is interested in traps and how they work. Gotta play a rogue if you want to do that, and that means you also HAVE to be sneaky, pick locks and pockets and do the typical rogue skills because all rogues do that and only that. A fighter could never want to fiddle with traps or use any social skills at all. "If I mess up this disarming the trap will fire poisoned darts into my stomach. Good thing I'm wearing steel plate over it." It makes sense to wear heavy armor to protect yourself, dodging is fine too of course, but it's not the only way. I'm used to more flexible systems than DnD and things usually(!) work fine in them. For example in Shadowrun (which doesn't even have classes) if you want to be able to pick locks you just pick up the locksmith skill and there's no problem whatsoever regardless of whether your archetype is a mage, a hacker, a streetsam or a face. For the record I do like Dungeons and Dragons.
I was using pathfinder for my example so sorry i didn't state that at first. What i do like about their class system is that they can be flexible by using Archetypes so you can trade a skill that would be useless to how you would play a class for something that would be more useful. In the end most of the problems can be solved with a good gm that is willing to work with a player to form a class to fit that player without breaking the class in either making it overpowered or turning one into a glorified follower.
I've had so many amazing Ideas for a spellcaster, but everytime I discuss it with my GM, he shoots them down " Oh well we already have 3 spell casters in a 5 man group, be a fighter." Or " Well it's a low magic campaign so spellcasters are very,very hard to play right in this setting." Or my favorite one " Why play a wizard, you've played a Fighter or Barbarian or both so effectively before, you were the best upfront DPS why stop?" I want to try something new, I want to be the the Wizard boy who was stuck in a Orc military family and was expected to honor that tradition, but was shunned because I would spend my time studying in schools of magic and casting 0 lvl spells in my room for practice behind my family's back. Or the Cleric Dwarf who worshiped the God of Labor, able to forge amazing weapons of wonder and shoot molten metal out of her hands. Or my favorite one, the Human Warlock who used his lose and pain at the hands of a Devil, to fuel his spells with the help of the God of Justice, bringing unyielding punishment to those who wronged the innocent but not being Mrs. Paladins best friend as I rarely show mercy and make brutal examples of those of violate the laws of balance and order. They all fit well with the campagins too but the GM just shoots them down, I left him cause after the 4th campaign of being forced to be a fighter or he would literally make my character go through hell until I switched to a fighter or barbarian. Now I am groupless :(
And before you say those are not optimized builds with the minuses, they were making full blooded orc wizards and elf barbarians and the DM catered to them :/
You sound like you had an immature GM with control issues. If you weren't enjoying the campaign, leaving was the right decision. Perhaps there is a better group in your community that you can find with a little research; inquire at a local game store. In addition, there are lots of new games advertised on Roll20 every day; hopefully you can find one that suits you better.
After a bit of research I found a group and they were just starting to build the campaign, the GM invited all of us to this nice Game shop with a coffee shop next door so he got us all some nice donuts and Coffee and started discussing our characters ( He's the GM that makes the character basis then the world then we fill the backstory accordingly and stuff.) I told him about the Dwarf Cleric idea and he loved it, he said " Alright well for your devotion, you are able to forage masterwork weaponry and armor at no addition cost, just an additional day of labor ( He abridged the crafting process to about a week per item instead of years) So all my starting gear was MasterWork, He is allowing me to use 1/day casting of Flame Blade but applied to a weapon of my choice and 3/day of burning hands :D.
''you cant play this class because i think its not good for you, so, you should be deprived of fun in a hobby which is supposed for people to have fun... except you'' that GM makes no sense at all, the point of the game is disregarded
I always play Ewoks in Star Wars games, and they're always descended from the same slave population sold to a particular Hutt on Nar Shadaa. Now free, and culturally disconnected from their Endorian ancestors, they're always resourceful and quite adept at navigating Hutt culture. Lose language Ewokese, lose restriction to primitive weapons at lvl 1.
Thank you! Last character I played from that family of Ewoks was a smuggler working for the Hutt who bought his ancestors 5 generations prior. His best friend and partner in crime was a Trandoshan pilot (Trandoshan saved him from some drunk Wookie mercs).
Nothing quite seems as flavorful as a Warforged Warblade Blacksmith. Do you think a warforged blacksmith is weird? He's building things from the very material he is made of. He is sympathetic to necromancers because of that logic. He wants to uncover the secrets that made him so he won't be alone.
I've been playing with the same group since high school and their all old friends but NONE OF THEM MAKE BACKSTORIES. I've slowly gotten them to make some with every campaign we do. My one friend finally has a backstory of some content... we know his home country. But family? no idea. He refused to do any more work than that.
They're slowly making more because the players who did work with me on backstories always had more fun so they've been like "Maybe I'm missing out" and started to make some of barely any substance.
I once found a skeleton race, and basically made ainz ooal gown/Mammon from overlord. His name is Itoh and he hates religion, and holy places/people because he was once dead and thinks there is no afterlife.
I am in the Warhammer 40K universe and I asked to be named Tyler Morriss and my GM said okay. The players give me shit all the time and call me other common names like Keith. I will make that galaxy fear the name Tyler one day.
I'ts funny how much I agree with the procedure this video suggests while simultaneously doing basically everything the opposite way. I'm mostly starting by rolling on (unless they are provided by the publisher) self-created random tables to find out what ancestry and class I'm using and how the background of that character looks like and only then start to think about how to fit those mostly disparate pieces of information together and create a character that not only makes sense as a person but also fits perfectly into the setting. Reason being that I'm the GM most of the time, and when I'm not, we still mostly use settings I generally know more about than the GM of that game does; also I like to challenge myself to do things I generally wouldn't chose by myself. This said, the procedure suggested in the video is certainly much more foolproof, especially when you don't know much about the setting used for the game.
I always find that when I create a character, once I figure out their personality, everything else just comes right out from there. One of my friends finds that once they find speech patterns for their character, everything just comes out smoothly. Once you find the one thing that just sparks your character creation, try to figure that out early on and usually you can make great characters really easily. It’s all about finding what works for you.
I also do something I call either ‘quote mining’ or ‘populating the character’s wall with posters’. Take a large quote collection separated by topics and start collecting ones that either seem like something your character might say, or that they might have on a poster on the wall, or as a quote at the beginning of a chapter of their book. By the time a large number are collected, I have a fair idea how this person thinks on even some obscure topics.
Honestly, it would be so much nicer if there was a life path system for character creation in most games. That way while you think about your character you can pick up appropriate packages as you design your character, or design your character around the packages.
Me and my friends all stated pen and paper rpgs together so no one of us had a lot of experience with it, i became the gm. Since we started new i asked them what character do you want to play, let your imagination flow and i will try to build a world where they fit in, as long as it is not overpowered or unreasonable alien. But not only they were happy, i was happy aswell for the races and creatures that they suggested. And we play well over a year now on that campaign and still having tons of fun. I have to thank this channel a lot for so many videos to help me creating fun and adventure for my group.
In general what players expect is a certain standard reason why someone turns to a specific class and no matter what kind of background you create its hard not to fall into these cathegories: rogues might have a hard life so since young they turn to questionable jobs, priests might come from a devoted society and/or family, sorceres are naturally born and cant help but display their magic, warlocks seek power for some reason and have little care for life, druids have spent a long time communing with nature wether belieave or society like priests, etc. you can only add little flavour details about them but in the end the reasons never stray to far or else its hard to picture
Doesn't matter how many times I tried, I just COULD NOT play evil characters... when I figure out the game is turning my character into the antagonist I'm simply unable to force my way through the story...
Step #6 is a great idea. Too often, I've had an idea for a character and a backstory and where I want that character to go, but the character doesn't really take shape in a meaningful way that I can play with until a couple of sessions into whatever game is being played.
yeah i have tried to explain this so much but with my friends they tend to name their characters like; "Dogfish" our cleric, or "Corvo atano" from dishonored, or Loghan Morris for my fried Logan Noriss. i have treid to encourage serious role play but i can't seem to get past there desire to play jokes and stats or the actual game. this frustrates our DM as well. what do i do?
Rest In Peace( We are playing for a month already, yet Arthur of Magnimar is alive, an adventurous rogue who is wishing to be a well known dexterous adventurer
Step 1, I would argue falls under the category of knowing what system you are using. Yes, some systems are game setting agnostic, but yeah... Know what game you are playing. That's the setting, that's the system, that's picking a game-legal race/class/background/whatever.
Honestly the characters I thoroughly enjoyed were after speaking to my GM, rolling it up as randomly as I can and then as little tweaking as possible for the setting. Owing to this I'm playing in a 5e game with a seafaring wizard, with Con 17, Int 9 and is a gold brick, and Masquerade with a Ventrue Catholic priest who is at heart a pacifist. I wouldn't have played so many different characters, with such wildly different motivations, skills, inclinations or moralities without a healthy level of randomisation. I truly believe the rich amount of life I could breath into these characters was from lack of choice.
On this note: I'm currently creating a cat folk hunter, which fits, who is a bowyer, she built her compound bow with her father, she's strong to use the bow so it's poundage is higher then usual, and she likes flowers so she was helping the local herbalist, learning the craft and during her visits she became a believer of Domvik. It's part of a Hungarian fantasy RPG so I don't expect a lot of people to know about it :/ but that's the premise. She served in the local military so she learned the use of spear and dagger and has a custom tailored light armor, with some of the traditional feathers of her great-grandmother's hunting bird. She doesn't have the skills to tame an animal companion yet, but she wants a lion, befitting of her own characteristics. Now she's on the run with her family from the advancement of the necromancers' hordes to the capital with other refugees, but as she's not a citizen of the empire is stopped at the border outpost, awaiting registration and taxing. Hope you enjoyed :)
Very good advice. I especially like #6, where you wander around an imaginary town with your character and play out how they interact or respond to different situations. I'd supplement that point with the suggestion: do a little research. If you're a cleric, or paladin, or otherwise attached to a deity, what tenets do you hold, what gestures do you make, what are some common prayers or scriptures that resonate with you? If you're an archer, learn a little about archery; if you're a blacksmith, research what tools and processes you're familiar with. What sorts of specialized vocabulary might your remarks be peppered with?
As an example the other day I was drawing up a character and I on a whim gave him two sets of pointy furtipped ears so right off the bat it was going to be a monstrous race I supposed, they looked cute. And while drawing the hair it went a little long, at first I thought 'he has long hair' but as I drew the shoulders I realized no, it goes down his back. I gave him distinct scales under his eyes and on his arms cause I always like those but I'd never used them on a DnD character before and cause he was already so reptilian I gave him these cute skinny toewalker legs. But then I returned to his hair, and while I was drawing it down his back a weaver faerie I recently drew came to mind. I really liked the hair-like wings I made it and I gave him small ones on his back, small enough to be mistaken for just more hair if you weren't looking. Then I drew his tail and I figured since he had hair down his back it probably went down his tail and I gave them floofy feathers at the end. so I had this feathered dragon like character and then I thought of quetzalcoatls and made him all sorts of bright colours. He ended up with a very solemn expression on his face but he looked very gaudy especially once I designed his outfit. then my DM told me Couatls are celestials when I showed him wondering what to do with him. And that's how I ended up with a couatl aasimar sorcerer who was the trophy-magician of a flamboyant court.
