Creating Characters with D&D's Mike Mearls

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[@tiptap2352]

This one time my characters flaw actually helped the party win a fight. We were playing lost mines of phandelver and I was playing a Kenku Rogue Thief that was obsessed with shiny objects and trinkets and knickknacks. We were about to approach Glasstaff and had a plan to sneak into his chamber disguised as Redbrands who captured a prisoner. He immediately knew something was up, but I rolled highest on the initiative. I stealthed over to his chair while the party was distracting him and stole his staff right from under him. (It was shiny) I failed the slight of hand check, however and he noticed. So I bonked him on the head with his glass staff and ran out of the room. His staff gave him +1 AC and the Shield spell as a reaction and he lost it. The party downed him in one turn when the Cleric led in with a Guiding Bolt and the Paladin got advantage on a smite, which he crit.

[@Razzrazz90]

My favorite characters that I've played were a Dragonborn rogue who was raised by a sailor, but the problem was, he had very severe aquaphobia (like, knee-high water would freak him out) and it was interesting whenever we ran into a river, lake or the open ocean...then there was the water elemental... And another one was an artistic Goliath barbarian who was dyslexic, as such, she was expectedly not very well-read. So to compensate, she loved hearing and telling stories instead. Music, carving and spoken arts were her interests and it actually led to some interesting situations, like when she asked someone to read a bounty warrant for her, and that person just so happened to be the guy on the bounty! Ultimately, I love playing characters with very unusual weaknesses, but are able to work around them in creative or interesting ways

[@MichaelNovotny]

So tempting to just buy all the races and classes :3

[@Harcagnel]

I guess I am just a wrong player. I enjoy building things and theory crafting. I build characters all the time that I will never play. I even rebuild my current characters possible future design once in a while just for fun. I don't really write much back ground, I don't detail histories places and things. I like the function the mechanics. So I am called an optimizer even though I play a human warlock as a scout, even though I choose alert and Magic initiate warlock before I choose ASI in charisma. Why? because I like my design to inform my character story more than my story to inform my character design. I said wow a character who can see 120ft in perfect darkness and through magical darkness and so can use darkness like invisibility! How can I use this .... hmm... that could make a pretty cool scout. Session one I was told I was wrong. Session 4, the party is like here is our scout., he is a bit unusual but he is pretty good at what he does. My biggest character flaw is that I am the person playing it so its unlucky and does weird things. It feels like what makes D&D great to me, is that different types of players can play different ways and still come together and play a constant group. Our story centric GM deals with me making character who is really good at his job by "attacking the squish guy too far in front" and countering my high perception and Eye's of the eagle with 120ft dark vision by hiding enemies be hide tree's and doors a lot. So I maybe "wrong" but even so the sessions turn out just fine. So sure follow this advice if you want, but don't let even the creator's tell you your fun is wrong because you like tactical or theory crafting (optimization) part of the game more than the story part. You may find that your path may lead to unique story paths that the other players like without planning them. Just my tiny opinion.

[@mooxim]

THIS! Can you ask Mike to elaborate on this idea. Or does anyone know of any resources or guides to roleplaying flaws in fun and interesting ways that don't ruin the game for other people?

[@nickwilliams8302]

There's plenty of people right here on the 'tubes. Taking 20 is pretty good. Surf a bit. My two cents: Make a character who is good at what they do. A Wizard should be smart. A Barbarian should be strong. And so on. The basic idea is that your character should be good enough _at their role within the party_ that the other players don't have to invent justifications why they allow him/her to tag along. Other players will be pretty forgiving of flaws as long as they don't prevent you from coming through with the goods when it counts. The result of this will most likely be that you'll end up with some low stats in attributes you have deemed nonessential. That's one inspiration for a flaw. Another is to look at the limitations of your chosen class. And there's of course the flaws already provided in the Background section.

[@NuthrMattWright]

I like to remember that the stats rolled during creation don't have anything to do with a characters personality.

[@Tooopper]

Some people take the opposite approach. I know in Critical Role, the player who plays Keyleth based her naive personality off of her decently low intelligence during creation.

[@nickwilliams8302]

I would argue that the mental stats _do_ have roleplaying implications. Smart people (high INT) behave differently to stupid ones. Highly perceptive (high WIS) people behave differently to clueless ones. Confident (high CHA) people behave differently to those less sure of themselves.

[@dnaseb9214]

Dont forget to tell people to NOT meta game or write a novel as a backstory or try to act as "the main character" in a party.

[@bostyt50]

Dank