D&D Players, Who was the heart of your party and why?

[@thatbloxguy5432]

Lovecraft a Human Warlock. He played more like a Druid than Warlock in role-playing. Trying to adopt every animal he finds! He was clueless to stuff and a pure innocent soul who had Cthulhu as his patreon... He was the one we all had to keep an eye on, or he could end up in really bad trouble.

[@amzinoji1582]

I have a character that sort of fits the bill; Wrug Black-Bandana, an Orc Rune-Knight Fighter. Wrug used to be a pretty simple-minded bandit in his past, but developed a fondness for reading after finding some scraps of poetry, to the point that he always keeps a few strips of paper with short poems on them because "The pretty words have always made me feel better." He managed to leave the bandit life and take the more neutral role of a mercenary. Now, before meeting the party, Wrug already had a sort of moral compass; he loves to fight, but usually only people who are fighting back, and he usually treats combat encounters like social encounters (he loves to say things mid-fight). A great example of this was when a fellow orc he was fighting managed to knock him unconscious, and he complimented him on his strength as he went down. Of course, once Wrug spent some time around the other characters, his personality was what immediately made people start falling in love with him, as everyone sort of saw him as a big, doofy himbo 90% of the time. He loves to chat with people once he's gotten to know them, he will frequently bring up memories of books he's read when in unusual circumstances, and he's incredibly protective of his friends. If people are just talking to NPCs, he's a bit blunt and awkward in a loveable sort of way where he occasionally stumbles over his words, and he'll pretty easily miss social cues like someone flirting with him. When the group is exploring, he is more than willing to be the pack mule, carrying party members piggyback over obstacles or lifting them up so they can get up a small ledge. The moment battle starts, the combat savant in him kicks in, and he prioritizes the other party members over his own life; he'll sprint over to defend our sorcerer like Officer Earl from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs the moment he so much as hears his name being called, and when our rogue/fighter marksman doctor rode on his shoulder (Wrug was using Giant's Might) he went as far as to forgo using his shield properly to instead hold it up as partial cover for him to fire behind. He's even once given his only healing potion to our resident gnome, "Granny", to make sure she was safe and healthy during a dungeon delve, despite being at half health himself. All in all, Wrug is the guy that everyone in the party looks to for a sense of security, like a big brother of sorts. He's the dependable dipshit who's actively trying to be better than he was in the past, coming up with simple or funny solutions for things to help the party, and always putting others before his own needs. He makes the party laugh, smile, and feel like they have someone they can ask for help. It also probably helps that whenever he talks to other characters, I give him a voice somewhat similar to Grog from Critical Role.

[@sspectre8217]

I played the heart of the party in my favorite campaign (I still miss it sometimes). My character was an Armorer Warlock Dragonborn and he was the fatherly figure most of the other party members really needed (the Druid in particular, they had a couple of very heartwarming moments together). Also was the only tank and frontliner and healer(all the other ~5 players went for damage focused builds…) he’d do a whole bunch of stuff except damage but I did my best to protect the other characters. Also most of the other characters were chaos gremlins so I also had to reign them in and keep us focused (they were great though, the RPs were super fun and weren’t unreasonably chaotic)

[@JustinVanTrump]

My party has a Lightfoot Halfling Druid (me) (CN), a Goliath Barbarian (CN), a Tiefling Sorcerer (LG), and a Human Bard (CG) (joined late); we all are the "heart" of the party, but Bard is the glue of the party, for instance session 2 we were arguing over how to infiltrate a room full of goblins and while Sorcerer, Barbarian, and I were arguing, Bard drank an invisibility potion and snuck into the room and cast Thunderwave and when they came out and said there were only dead bodies in there we asked why we heard a bang and Bard's response was, "I went in while you were arguing and fought them after drinking the invisibility potion we found earlier, now lets go save that Dwarf you're all looking for"

[@Drachenadler]

For most of the campaigns I've played in, I have been the heart of the party. But I think that the best example would be my tabaxi ranger, Room Under Castle, whom I played in a friend's homebrew 5e campaign. Born as a slave in a human-centric country, he grew up in servitude and sheltered from the outside world. Thus, I made common a "second language" for him as he learned how to talk from the other slaves, who used their own languages to communicate in private. Without boring people with too many details, Room escaped, met a kind old man that taught him how to be a ranger, the old man disappeared, then met the party. He hit it off with the party immediately. I did my best to try to speak somewhat broken english when I talked to the group as his grasp on common wasn't great. Also, whenever he heard a word or phrase he didn't understand, he asked the nearest party member what it meant, adding brevity to situations that were oftentimes too serious. This led to the paladin (who spoke one of the languages Room was fluent with) holding nightly lessons on common to help him communicate better. Additionally, I tried to play without sticking to things that should be common sense to a character in that world and used the situations as learning/roleplay opportunities. For example, in the first combat encounter with the party against five bandits, I barely did anything. Room had never fought humanoids before and was still in the slave mentality that he needed permission to do anything (before I'm yelled at, we were at level three and there were five other characters. My lack of participation was not getting anyone killed). He was lightly scolded afterwards, but it portayed his naivety and innocence, which became the core of his character. He was the little brother of the group and could diffuse most of the tension between members by presence alone. For those he couldn't outright diffuse, his lack of understanding forced the others to explain their reasoning for their character's viewpoint, which ended up with compromise or changing their viewpoint entirely. Sadly I never got to see where it would all lead as we ended that campaign short due to increased work hours for the DM and burnout. TLDR: I made a cinnamon roll tabaxi that I initially played suboptimally so that the rest of the party could help to grow and he became everyone's little brother.

[@ToxicMynd]

Dr Spriggs. A kobold artificer with 3 pets, Helhen and Pecky her chickens and Wojtec her steel defender. She was the oldest of the party at 35 and became party mom, giving life advice, letting the party live out of her wagon that Wojtec pulled, and plying her trade for the party. That trade being item repairs and medical services. She even developed a sort of adoptive mom position with the party's dragonblood sorcerer.

[@HannahSiemer]

In my party, it kind of rotates. At first, it was the paladin, loved him. Loved his character, he had to bow out for life reasons, and I haven’t seen him again. Oddly enough, I still have his phone number. He was the only waffle member of our party, and therefore kept us out of trouble. I’ve kind of taken over that role, slightly more violently, however, I sometimes break into my sports mode, elder brother, played ice hockey, so especially when it comes to food, and everyone’s too, hung over to get some, my character is more than willing to go out, foraging or hunting, whatever she hast to do to get away from them. Occasionally it’s our cleric/Druid, who keeps us all saying. We also have the lovable idiot in the form of our time. Wizard, no joke, he’s a time traveler from the future, but he’s also really old. We’ve nicknamed him, grandpa, although his characters name is Norbert, Alfred Cunningham. There is a long-standing joke involving his character, having dementia and forgetting to take his medication’s. The guy who voices him/plays him has a very convincing elder human accent.

[@JRook-00]

Simon Ambrose. Despite the Human name, he was a full blood Orc. He also ended the game around a 22 Strength in contrast to his 6 Intelligence. And an Oath of Redemption Paladin. The Himbo in his Purest Form. Came into that party of borderline evil neerdowells with loose alliances with the Zhentarim and within four sessions they were all on the cusp of good, allied with the Harpers, because they just couldn't bring themselves to disappoint him. We had a Hill Giant surrender to us at one point, and one of the other party members was like "We need to finish him off so he can't keep raiding villages." Simon declared they were letting him go, and got the response "What are you going to do about it if I kill him?" "I'm going to be very upset. Cross, sure, but mostly, I'm going to sulk around camp, and when nobody is around, I might even cry a bit." Half the party broke instantly, and was like "Alright, welp, can't be having that." The frustrating part is that I brought that character in as a one off joke, expected him to die, likely at the party's hand within a session and a half, we'd all have a laugh, and I'd bring in something cool and edgy to fit the motif. Instead, I accidentally just rewrote the motif entirely.

[@metehantans7852]

Mop the mopping guy, he's a short purple middle-aged alien who was the only member of clean up crew of our space ship, all he did was mopping and all he said was (in a dead tone) "Mop" I came up with him in three seconds he didn't join any battle or did anything significant but my players f*cking loved him and to be honest I love him too

[@Author1219]

I always end up accidentally becoming the heart because I tend to play characters that are more optimistic than the rest of my groups. 😅

[@vexlyen]

Have had two campaigns with my friends, first one (Strixhaven), the heart of the group I'd say was either my character, Iritari, a dragonborn druid/paladin who fell in love with another strixhaven student and was overall just the comfort character, or Zherrus, the human fighter who had a crazy love life and fun lines to remember. Second campaign (Phandelver, run by me!) It would have to be my friends Goblin Monk, Fleurin. She is the most outspoken and funniest person ever, sometimes breaking out into musical theater before we stopped her.

[@DevilFruitZero]

My Brother's Barbarian was the heart of the party. Sawyer the red dragonborn wanted to be a black dragon. He thought he was a Black dragon because he never got the scorch marks off his scales or bathed. We all worked to try to get his wish eventually when he was the only one with a goal, and the DM hinted he might be able to get it. He befriended every dragon we met and even my Silver Dragonborn grew to like the oaf. He died once and my character even got him resurrected. Then the DM got bored and started a pathfinder 2 game. Same happens with every game he does.

[@PhantomGato-v-]

Tysm for validation at the start ❤❤❤❤❤

[@seath8055]

Lynn. Human Fighter who's family grew up in a dwarven settlement, she was absolutely FASCINATED with finding new and unique methods of crafting and served as the party smith alongside one of two tanks Her whole motivation for adventure was to find new styles to take back to her home, and adventuring let her put herself in her client's shoes to know what works and what doesn't. She died helping repell invaders from her homeland and bring down one of the most corrupt clans out there. She wound up a minor God of blacksmithing and her name is now the name of a new clan created to replace the now fallen corrupt one.

[@spartanhawk7637]

Foghoha, our gnome druid, was the heart of the party with his Tyrannosaur animal companion Fijit (she likes belly rubs) and was so well liked that our party's moral compass followed his philosophy that anyone could be redeemed. He eventually got killed by the BBEG. After we did some LOTR inspired stuff (the barbarian literally yelling "FOR FOGGY" before charging the fortress gate with his girlfriend and tearing it off its hinges, there was a pitched battle through the fort. When we faced the BBEG we had a chance to talk him down and took it. That BBEG eventually became not only an ally, but a friend to several party members, and I honestly would not be surprised if he one day becomes a PC. Foghoha's a total legend in our group and the party still uses his moral compass to guide our decisions when we fall into doubt.

[@mcspooky8180]

I have 2 Bites: bites was a home brew giant centipede race, bites had a intel of 4 and could not speak and wad in all ways a feral monster that looked like a childrens birthday party nightmare, bites would eat anything she killed but was so dumb and innocent the party loved her at one point using timetravel to duplicate funny hats to put on her head Tobias: Tobias Slicktongue was a French grung who spoke in a super over the top accent and constantly tried to bathe in wine, he wad a rogue who acted like a moron and was always crwcking jokes the party loved outa game but thei chatacters hated, at one point the dragon born ranger strangled him over a terrible pun

[@MechbossBoogie]

It doesn't matter what I'm playing, I always end up becoming the heart of the party. I actually prefer to GM, though. I need to find a new group.

[@ReinaSaurus]

the neutral aligned rogue completing the missions so that everyone else could distract themselves with random stuff.

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

PANR has tuned in.

[@HerobrineMC4267]

My Wood Elf Gloom Stalker Ranger named Aeon kind of took on the role of the party's big brother figure both intentionally and accidentally. I just wanted to make jokes about being the oldest in the group (I was about 240-250 while the other members were in their late 20s early 30s), but ended up becoming the one who cooked, made sure the party had all of their gear, had enough rations, ammunition, whatever they needed, I made sure they had it on hand. I got a lot of groans and complaints from the members who just wanted to run in head first without a plan, but always used my Dread Ambusher ability to go invisible so I could sneak around in dark areas and scout ahead to help out the party wherever I could. He also liked talking to both the PCs and NPCs just to remind people that they never have to shoulder the realm's problems, and it's okay to be vulnerable at times. My favorite line I think I've told so far was to our Paladin who was keeping lookout during a festival, and chose not to participate in any of the games: "I'm not gonna pretend I know what you're going through. You lost everything; your home, friends, family, so much. But, I think they'd rather you enjoy the life you have, rather than trying to save the lives they've already lost. Keep their memory alive, my friend, and they'll never truly die. You'll see them again some day, be it in the living world or the afterlife. No need to rush things as they are now."

[@wolvo5441]

Our party’s is an axolotl Druid called Ember, best way to describe him would be “free” he’s simple minded and just does things, shows up at random times and we all love him. First time we met he awakened a players donkey so he can talk. Since then he gave us a magic cart that’s bigger on the inside and self driving and we, as a party during a halloween session gifted Ember with a demiplane all his own :) our party name is the Embers of the flame. (We stoke the flames of hope where ever they grow dim).

[@robert.7230]

Nice

[@UltraManager]

I love this channel. Wish you all a great time!

[@shelbyherring92]

Love the editor's notes at the bottom... wish they were just a hair more pronounced so we could see them easier - but the banter is S tier.

[@jordieevaans9614]

I forgot what this guy was playing, but the problem was his ridiculous ability rolls. He once rolled persuasion to hook up with an enemy and be taken back to their hideout with a nat20. Then rolled another nat20 to persuade the other grunts into an orgy when they got to the base to lower the amount of enemy encounters our group would have when we infiltrated the base

[@Garbagecant24]

Love this character trope

[@deepseastonecore3017]

When do monster like to party the most? April Ghoul's Day.

[@casinothechao]

I Played a Harengon Stars druid who was Hopelessly Pure Hearted..in a CoS Campaign.at first the party saw her as Dead weight as she wasnt partook to being violent unless necessary. But she kept her party alive so she was at least useful to them.. until at one point the Party was back into a corner by an army of tree blights .making my druid lash out with a swarm of giant Geckos and Spike Growth. AFTER that the party became protective of her innocent nature. Not because they were a fan of it but more so they were terrified with what would happen if she had a sudden change of heart. Best Campaign I ever played

[@pcalix17]

Lurch the One Armed, a Human Fighter who only fought with a shield and brute strength. Once a man who fought with a weapon in each hand and arrogant bravado, he was traumatized when his actions got one of his party killed by a demonic creature when he sought to kill the beast instead of save a life. Though he had seen party members die before, he had never heard someone scream for their life and ask him specifically to save them. Unable to live with the grief and shame, he cut off his right arm with a heated blade saying to those who witnessed the grim act, "Killing didn't save them." He spent months afterwards in personal isolation, trying and failing to adapt his fighting style to one arm. The Kobold Rogue of his former group was the only one to visit him after many had simply forgotten he existed. Her first act was to tell him in a snide remark, "You couldn't wield a blade to save a life then, not even your own, and you can't do so now." Rather than be disheartened, this remark inspired him to take up a shield instead and use it as a blunt instrument as well as a defensive tool. He rejoined the unwilling party as a defender, placing himself between danger and the party members who couldn't defend themselves. At first, the party was indifferent to his plight but seeing the arrogant fighter return as a humble man looking to redeem himself and others, they slowly grew to empathise and respect him. Lurch redeemed himself in the end by killing the daemon from so long ago at the cost of his life, delivering the killing blow as he made sure his body blocked the creature from attacking the Kobold who insulted him. As he was being disembowelled while he kept slamming his shield into the daemon's head, he smiled and whispered, "Now we're even." After his death, the party did everything they could to claim that Lurch was a hero who slayed an evil creature in defence of another.

[@MrSarcasticGaming]

Back in high school I was in a DND campaign with a friend who was DMing a campaign for his GF and her friends who were all interested in DND but never played. They all had no clue what they were doing so I knew my job... MR. TEAK, a cleric of some good aligned God(can't remember) who was like an Alfred to the whole party. Wizard caught stealing books from the local libraries? He bailed her out and taught her the importance of right and wrong. Rogue having shady deals by the docks at night? Mr. Teak ran them off and gave her a lecture about running with the wrong crowds. He dove to heal mid combat, and even made their damn beds. He just wanted to help people, good wholesome man style. Well Mr. Teak wasn't the strongest, and when he died protecting our sorcerer from an ogre who was attacking the town they cried... the players cried. I've never made a whole table weep like that in my 10 years of DND. I just gave my buddy a firm handshake, I knew there was no number fudging it was a straight and fair death.

[@AzaloonyToons]

Can I give Daphne a hug

[@LordCraneo2]

A love it when everyone in the party is psychotic but tries to control it or the motherly character would be sad Lul

[@zeroknight1311]

I say Lady Piscia, as she's the literal leader of the Party who's the head of House Corb. With house Corb being noble house that has a military academy where the children of Noble have been sent to get training, think Garreg Mach Monastery from Fire Emblem 3 houses. Of course, there is my character Z. He's a half elf knight who is the party's second in command and is a teacher at the Military Academy, also his parents are farmers so he helps out at the farm we have once in a while. Anyway, the two of them are both literally the foundation of the party. Since Aestra is a blind half dark elf woman while Lord Dorian is Piscia's eccentric relative who nearly got himself killed during our travels at sea. Of course, Aestra is someone who I say is in the running to be the heart of the party due to how she has no defensive abilities but is capable of resonating with the feelings of others.

[@eldritchepics1]

It's always the same player in my party. Right now he's playing a 14 year old boy as a bard. I'm afraid to tell more to not spoil his background as I run a podcast as well.

[@DonavenTitley-ud7cf]

Assamar celestial hex blade warlock named Elizabeth, she was a trigger happy air head with a woping 7 int and 8-10 wis, but every loved her and feared her cuz her favorite spell was cone of cold and if she received any dmg she instantly fire a spell off, she accidentally shot the part once cuz one was trying for murder hobo but didn't get the hint she's a loose canon when she get attacked 😂 best campaign iv had so far

[@coffeetime89]

I have done this a few times. Must be the mom status but I always kinda twist it. 1st was a tiefling summoner who basically was the only one who had any common sense (her background allowed for it) while the rest of the party just flailed in their existential crisises. We had an alchemist Dragonborn who was obsessed with her living house and hoard. Another Dragonborn bard who was far to interested in hoarding knowledge and “princesses” (the DM made him regret him seducing ways multiple times though), an “oath-breaker” (actually her religion was corrupted) paladin who turned to the bottle because she was reliant on “infidels” (aka not human), and finally a half orc barbarian who’s answer to everything was “I eat it”. I had to save the party constantly, though funniest was definitely when the alchemist’s chaos monkey familiar decided to try pumping out said master and the paladin when they were drunk. 😂

[@Salad_Pickle]

Leon the Lion! Our echo knight, his character was pure endearment, using his grandma's cooking pot lid as a shield, putting himself between any friend and a threat, and always being just enough cheesy. Kept our hands clean and our bones unbroken, doubley since he multiclassed into cleric.

[@GTdba]

Marbles here, the Demon Ichor looked like neon green Apple Jello but tasted like poop. It made my tummy hurt soooo super bad! The Fox looked nice in pink, but then a turkey tail popped out of my bottom and suddenly I became the laughing stock! Also let me tell you a secret: Foie Gras is not a duck but a baby golden dragon. I am pretty sure of it, she spat out a fireball when we fought the bandits so what else could she be?

[@Keelinosity]

TL;DR: i love my party's nudist rogue/bard Anyway for more context: For me the heart of the party is our rogue/bard who is essentially a joke character done right. His name is Robin In-the-Nood and he's basically the seductive bard trope mixed with robin hood if his moral compass was pointing directly south. He steals from the rich to give to himself, but he's also funny as hell, helping our high elf wizard to spike someone's drink and helping my deep gnome fighter/sorcerer pickpocket our own money back from a bartender. He is also highly religious, except his religion is... Nudism... He's a nudist but for religious reasons, and he's a joke character who's actually useful and isn't wholly based on the joke and nothing else which i like a lot. Also despite being a bard he doesn't have any sort of musical instrument??

[@kevinthomas4064]

"I don't believe in the heart of the party.... I believed in the heart of my CREDIT CARDS" says a player in a compaign set in a modern-like world

[@leekonze7441]

In Shadowrun, it was my gunslinger adept, Rico, and his death united the team in a way that the GM didn't expect. Rico protected the party, made sure they were fed & rent was paid. If they were doing something dumb, he called them out on it. Rico went after the jobs & plot hooks, and made sure the team got paid. Towards the end of the game, the team was falling apart: the Enforcer was using her Russian mod connections to try to control the team, the team mage was using mind control to steal team money, the player of the hacker fell apart because she thought that the GM was going to kill her character. And Rico solved all of these issues. But, an entire session was spent roleplaying to solve these issues. After the session, the GM comes to me and says that Rico needs to die, because the team needs a martyr to rally behind, and he begins to define how Rico is going to die during a session. And I immediately explain 6 different ways that Rico could use his skills, abilities, and gear to get out of it. GM says I'm not allowed to "get out of it," he says Rico needs to die. I tell him that if he does this, he loses me as a player because my character's death is being scripted. We argue about it, the GM so far as to say "it's my game, I do what I want. " I finished with he will lose me as a player, and he relents. Next session rolls around and the GM opens the session by telling everyone that they all recieved a message from their Fixer that Rico was taken out by a Yakuza hit squad. I call bs, and the rest of the players start asking what crap is this. GM said he needed a PC death to salvage the game, and that it's his game and he can do it if he wants. Us players all had a quick conversation and told the GM that we all quit. The GM looked at us in shock. I told the GM that in my quick conversation with the other players I told them what he said, and the others agreed it wasn't right or fair, so we quit. We all collected our stuff and left the session.

[@Cheshire5174]

Mokosh Ka Pryesun Tabaxi bard with 7 intelligence. We recently got a pet for the party and it is smarter than him. He might as well have 7 wisdom as well, because his entire character is "do the most stupid thing that will get the pary killed." But we always followed him. Even my character, who kinda hated him. Because he always found a way to get us out of the messes he got us in. Because he nade us rich. Because he convinced a god to bless us. And most importantly, he helped our characters develop. Not into good people. Not into smart people. But better people

[@AnxietyArchfeyPwincess]

I have probably been the heart of the party… but was never told I was… One time I was a warforged wild magic sorcerer who had no memory of her past, but had a fondness for tiefling and wore a disguise that (poorly) looked like them. She was a trans woman tiefling who had her soul put into the Warforged to save her from a disease… unknowingly an evil dark elf was also in the Warforged… the dissonance between the souls resulted in her wild magic surges. The campaign unfortunately petered out. My current character is the granny of the group. Clocking in at 200. She is a bard whose art is cooking. So all her spells are baked goods. She is secretly sick with a disease that would prevent resurrection if killed…

[@angelinapuiia34]

You should make a podcast

[@samzilla1281]

I would have to say the Artificer for the last campaign. The guy who played him is the DM for our current campaign. Our current campaign is definitely the human wizard. Played by the DM from the previous campaign. My characters are fun to play but definitely not the heart.

[@Tribozom]

There's no such thing as a heart of the party, the CIVILIANS are.

[@some_Russian_dude]

Me a neutral evil yuanti dendari cultist. Because the good members of the party acted like sociopaths and would do evil or dishonest acts all the time. I have to remind them that yea even the evil snake lady wouldnt do what they are about to do. Its a bit irritating as the whole point of playing the character was for her to join a party of good characters and show her that people aren't that bad and she should try and open up to the world again. I currently think she will remain evil as the party continues to act like logical psychopaths. But it is usually her that tries to let them know that the ghost that seems to attack anyone that doesnt do its freaking bidding is a bad idea....

[@oskark312]

Like NR.19 is mine :)

[@commanderkit-kat9314]

2nd! Love the Vids yall

[@TheStickCollector]

hi