How to Play an Isolated Character WITHOUT Ignoring the Good Drama

[@Solstice261]

I always thought the reason it wasn't very common was because it took importance from the rest of the party by creating what would be a protagonist in most media

[@jeice13]

It is also stepping on the dms toes a bit unless you discuss it with them. Decide to play an elf, fine. Decide elves are extinct (while playing an elf)? Not your choice as a player

[@joetheschmoe1066]

I thought the same. Its a great story trope for a book or a movie, but I think its something that can be very hard to play in a cooperative setting. Because as you said it immediately feels like you've created what would be a main protagonist. And as the other commentor mentioned it immediately changes the lore when you do it. Definitely isnt something that CANT be done, but I dont think its something that can be easily done. And I dont think it can be done without discussing it with the DM, and maybe even the group, first.

[@imadude7910]

@@jeice13Eh? If you want that to be the way you are the “only one of your kind,” then yes. The last elf barbarian, though? Not nearly so bad- maybe it was a thing at one point, and it just isn’t now. If the player is willing to compromise with something like that, I think it’s unlikely to be much of a problem from a worldbuilding perspective.

[@jeice13]

@@imadude7910 the bigger the group or category you want to be the last of (without dm collaboration) the more of the world you are writing with your backstory. Its kind of like deciding your character is a king and saying what place you ruled (culture, laws, races, etc). Great plan as long as the dm agrees and works with you though

[@jeice13]

@@imadude7910 i suppose another comparison is deciding one of the other pcs is your brother, they can say no

[@ethanleach1252]

I had a player who made a jackel warforge that was 2000 years old who's entire civilisation was wiped out by an anchient red dragon. At the end of the campaign his character, who had been very level headed about everything in the game, encountered the anchient red dragon, all reason went out the window and used his body as a destructive mechanism to kill the dragon. Without talking to the party, he instantly set himself for self destruction. Was really sudden but super compelling

[@poisonpen37]

What a conveniently timed video. I just started playing a character that is essentially a man out of time. He was trapped in a different dimension for 4000 years and when he escaped, everything he ever knew had faded with time.

[@megaplays2748]

That's a crazy concept yooo

[@Aurora_Lightbringer]

I know it's constantly getting retconned and such, but I'd recommend Doctor Who as research if you ever get the chance. It's incredibly goofy at times, but it was one of my favourite shows and it absolutely nails the "lonely god" aspect, being the last of his kind. It's also important to not fall into the loner archetype, which The Doctor absolutely doesn't. In fact, he's the antithesis as he needs his companions.

[@Maninawig]

That was actually one of my first concepts when I read the Reborn, but I couldn't make it work.

[@browut644]

Ngl I might have to steal this for my next mage the ascension character (chronomancy bullshittery as the reason obviously)

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

@@megaplays2748 one anime takes a dormant for 1000 years Demon lord an plops them in a scifi war towards malformed versions of all the races of hidden history an now he must fend for this human settlement until the day he can subjugate humanity the problem is that there returned to human child form

[@carlbernier3960]

I played a warforged character for 3 and a half years, in which they were not the last of their kind, they were the first of their kind; they were the first sentient artificial being. Each of the other party members each had their own intricate and interconnected backgrounds, each with their own villain and pulling strings -- but not him. He had no villain. He had no plot threads pulling the party into "his arc" like the others did. His "villain" was himself, and his struggle to understand what it meant to be alive; what it meant to know he would watch all of his companions die, and then be unable to join them in the afterlife -- he had no soul. It was his constant struggle to understand his own emotions and connect with his companions that made him the most "human" of the party, even though he was the only one who wasn't human. He tried to make other constructs to be like him so he would have people of his own that he could understand and could understand him, but they were all mindless and blank, and drove him further into his isolation. He hated his reflection and he hated that he didn't know why he did. It was his intensely robotic following of logic to a fault coupled with the profound and fledgling emotional roil in him that made him my favorite character ever.

[@tonysladky8925]

I didn't play the Last Of My Kind by intent, and not for the whole campaign, but I did get to spend the climax and epilogue of a campaign doing this trope. After completing my Kobold Paladin's backstory quest and sending the rest my tribe safely (-ish) back to their home plane, it didn't feel right to join them while the BBEG was still threatening my friends and the plane that had been our home for generations. So I stayed behind to finish the fight and spent my epilogue trying to figure out a way to join my people and save them from the fact that our Promised Land wasn't as safe as we'd been led to believe.

[@Max3110]

Wow that sounds awesome. I hope that I can work with my players to get equally awesome stories.

[@johnnewhouse5326]

I have had a character concept for the longest time. A loxodon woolly mammoth 🦣 barbarian path of the ancestral guardian. Who was frozen in a blizzard and is now thawed out. Alone in the world the only time he feels connected to his family is when he rages and for that brief moment he is reconnected to his family

[@EilonwyG]

I have a firbolg I haven't quite gotten to play yet who was the sole survivor of a volcanic eruption that destroyed the island her people lived on. She wants to hope there are more firbolgs out there, but no one has ever seen one until her. Then I had a unicorn girl who, while not actually the last of her kind, grew up in an isolated community of dwindling numbers as she learned there is a fertility issue with her people and they are dying out. She left home with the hopes of finding help to continue into the next generation.

[@Maninawig]

I think the only two of this genre that I can think of having created is my reborn fairy who doesn't know anything from his past life (a year ago) and my biological warforged who was a human experimented on during the last war, and the sole survivor of his ilk. I mention these as I find it interesting the differences they have... not one out of four share a goal, origin, or race.

[@Calebgoblin]

I started a campaign with this kind of character I was SO excited The last session ended with one of the party members being killed in combat in a very dramatic fashion and that was 2 years ago and the DM never scheduled another session

[@davidebenino7561]

I'm going to share real quick the situation regarding gnomes in Ebytus (my homebrew) since one of my players has a gnome character and it's very close to this trope. Gnomes are becoming exceedingly rare since apparently female gnomes are nowhere to be found anymore, their especially long lifespan didn't really put them in a hurry to unveil this mystery, to the point when people think the race is destined to go extinct. Every gnome knows he might as well be the last one of them and tries with all his might to leave something to the world, most become teachers, artists or take similar occupations because of this situation. My player's gnome is a veteran on a mission to teach people how terrible war is in the hope of preventing more of it.

[@bacongrabber]

Vegeta is literally the second trope you mentioned of the opposite of upbeat but written with the intent of being able to grow.

[@Jaeger_Bishop]

Another character that embodies this archetype, is Ratchet from the Ratchet and Clank series. Another one is John Jones, A.K.A Martian Manhunter.

[@quban234]

I think, this is a great archetype to take inspiration from for even less dramatic character ideas. Even stuff like being the only survivor from the tribe or a small village can explore similar tones.

[@toku_fox]

I have a character I am playing in a Pathfinder group... who while not exactly the last of his kind... is certainly the last he knows. He was never meant to be this kind of trope, much more so meant to be the poor migrant farm boy who leaves home to find adventure when it calls... instead the first session of the campaign begins with the starting town, the town he and his family live in, getting destroyed. All of its denizens annihilated instantaneously by a detonation of radiant damage caused by the bbeg. And now he is alone, a young kitsune man who just lost everything but his bow and the clothes on his back traveling in a party, who all lost something in the blast, but they all have something to make it back to. Now he has to figure out what to do with his life when this is all over, cause at the moment in the campaign he's not quite thinking that far ahead yet being too focused on trying to take down the big bad however he can

[@Missiletainn]

I'm currently playing to play someone whos the last of her culture, but using that as a reason why she's so social, she has no one she feels she can relate to so she tries to build as many friendships as possible, searching for commonality.

[@critespranberry8872]

11:48 you can clearly see that allot of those entries are multiple versions of Jor-El who does not often survive past the destruction of krypton

[@justinhess2747]

Excellent commentary, I never considered this type of character. Now the gears are turning.

[@yosoydave8521]

I ended up playing a character like that not on purpose, originally he would just be a Happy go lucky hobo, but after the dm made him the reason the rest of the party joined the story I had to come up with a lot of world building too, all in all he still ended up being the happy go lucky hobo, that I intended but with amnesia and deep spiritual scars that I subtly try to play as his virtues, altho he did encounter some pieces of his past, he still doesn't know what they mean (as a player I do, but as a character he's not smart enough to put 2 and 2 together) all in all it's been fun to see the rest of the party made different assumptions about my char and it gave us great rp moments

[@Altmaster-vd8zo]

outlining a story right now about love & hope this helps love your videos I find them good for writing ❤

[@devonhappe]

In my Saturday game, I'm playing the opposite of this trope, but it has a lot of the same stuff. I'm playing a warforged in a world where warforged don't exist. Quite literally the first of my kind. I don't play him as something to be marveled at. I play him as something that has to navigate a world where he is literally the only one of him that exists. He attracts way more attention than any other character, just by simply existing.

[@axelgrim4944]

I'm glad someone else is speaking about cultural context! It seems like an idea that most people don't even think about. But different cultures, especially one very foreign and alien (whatever caused this divide, be it identity, genetics, distance, or time), it is a great place for roleplay and group conflict and growth to occur. It doesn't even have to be the extreme to the level of a "last of your kind" as much as as long as someone finds themselves in a space that is alien enough from their usual world to cause conflict of understanding. I'm currently playing an astral elf that got kidnapped by enemies and the ship crash landed on Faerun for an Icedale campaign.

[@omilpseudo5883]

… meanwhile I did the litteral opposite, playing the first of your kind. The lore is that the land we are in is new, and the elve coming there started to evolve to adapt to the conditions. With my character being the first to be a fully different sub species of Snow Elves !

[@CurtisRooney]

A good example of an isolated character, who doesn't get referenced much, but also doesn't clash with the party, is Fina, from Skies of Arcadia.

[@GrizzlyHillman]

my friend is running a homebrew campaign soon, and I'm playing an Autognome wizard, and he later built his world around the fact that automatons were made for battle, and no longer exist, so this technically applies to my character.

[@mrjotax40]

I just realized my character I've been playing since 2015 is a last of his kind and leaned into some things jay said without even knowing, also not upbeat but charismatic bard

[@LoudYapper]

Now comes the opposite question. What about playing a character that is the first of their kind? They are supposed to define what their kind would do, their traditions, how do you play that?

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

my homebrew species is built in a way where they all are isolation trope but over time a culture can be formed since they can bump into each-other an have memories of each-other merged into a shared history making for a trippy culture lol

[@LoreSeamstress]

Haven't gotten into the video proper yet but I have a player in my campaign who is the First Warforged in the world, and all others are cheap imitations of her. Which i think is a fun inversion of the Last Of Their Kind trope, and we've had some fun with it.

[@Khailward]

I'm in a campaign currently where my character is in the opposite situation. Their race is the newest to emerge on the world, so he's among the First of Their Kind.

[@Lrbearclaw]

15:30 - Oh hey it's me in real life. My parents died years ago, sister and I are more or less estranged (for good reason) and I moved across the country to NYC just over 2 years ago. I don't really know anyone outside of work and the D&D group I fell in with last year... I don't really feel a connection to. They have their friends and family, almost all of them are born and/or raised in NYC. They have connections here and two of them started dating through our weekly game. Then there is me... the outsider. I adore them but don't feel a bond to them and know I could walk away easily because of it. And they cannot fathom how it feels to be so absolutely alone.

[@trevorwilliams6362]

I love the examples that you showed in this video!

[@SparkyUpstart]

Jay...you should do a video on how to conclude a campaign! I don't think I've ever seen a TTRPG-tuber discuss how best to pull that off.

[@shaydvil7905]

Ooh speaking of socially isolated archetypes, I think an interesting archetype would be the ostracized/exile character archetype. Will the PC character accept the stigma from society, or will they be the type to look for friends who would accept them for who they are? I think that would make a great video that I'd love to hear your thoughts on. Anyways, nice video!

[@andrewsilverfox]

I made the last wood elf for a one shot that turn into a game that is going on 8 years now lol The first half of his story was dealing with the grief of the lost And the second half is preventing what happened to him and his people happening to others.

[@mobgabriel1767]

elf pc:i'm the last of my kind the bbeg:(liquid ocelot's voice):brother! it has been too long

[@BenLJudy]

I personally like the idea of a monster character who doesn't want to be a monster. I've been trying to find a campaign where I play a gnoll-like character who wasn't raised among his own kind, so he's kinda stuck outside of both worlds. On one side, he can't fit in with barbaric tribes since he was raised on different morals but he can't fit in with the civilized world because he's still the same monster as those tribes.

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

I made a whole caravan faction for my world of all the mutated fellas an undeads who fear the world and another faction which is basically one of those monster nations from anime but its leader gladly slaughters whole congress buildings hehe

[@azdixon7700]

Haircut looks great Jay. Beard blend looking good brother

[@iduno3592]

Every single time, Jay always either makes an awesome and really helpful video, or makes an awesome ans really helpful video that also makes me cry and question my existence. I am scared 😭 This time it was the first one lol, but I never know when Jay is gona pull out the uncle iroh clips 💕

[@tatersalad76]

I'm playing a Chronurgy Wizard in a mini-campaign who was developing a time machine with their teacher roughly one thousand years prior. His teacher went through first, came back appearing to be years older, and immediately threw my character through the portal as the pantheon of deities in the setting showed up to eradicate them both for tampering with powers beyond their own control. Now he's running around a thousand years later. Everything is incorrect in his eyes, everyone he ever knew has died, and the technology has regressed exponentially

[@khanbomb]

I find it funny that you remind me of high school English teacher who also plays DnD. Funnily enough, he has the same last name as you

[@snoeleppard]

Have you made any videos on playing an exile/outcast? I’m going to be playing a ranger who lived in a nomadic tribe until she accidentally killed her best friend and was exiled for it. She still clings to the mark of her nomadic tribe, who the surrounding provinces see as cowards and defectors as they withdrew from the war to be free of established society. Even though my character wasn’t around when her tribe was created, when others see her tribal mark that she refuses to get rid of they shun her as well.

[@gh0st788]

I actually created a race for a D&D campaign that was rare, possible the last or very few left. One of my players liked the idea of it. She chose to be an assassin. But this character was more willing to interact with people. Her edge is the right amount of edge. Another of the characters, the paladin is the last of the royal guard, unbeknownst to her. I rolled to see how many survived. There were only 2. The rogue saw those last 2 die. I just let the game unfold the way it was going. I could've found a way for them to live, but the session was running late. The wizard is the only one that's not the last of his kind. However, he IS the only one of his kind on this plane. Does that count? 😅

[@michaelcampbell7037]

I diddnt even realize I was doing this trope with an npc in my world. The king of one of the cities is the only dragon in the world.

[@boxturtlebruce6110]

Played in a wildemount game as a tortle in the game the dm had tortles as a species that was very rare because they were on the verge of extinction I loved the concept but the game fizzled out and I didn't get to play that character for very long

[@alexplaysgames_2]

Would love to be a loan wizard or wise man who is the last of his traditions and lives to tell other aspiring wizards of his methods and skills.

[@rubygamer8921]

What about the flip-side, playing the FIRST of your kind? I have a player who wants to play the first appearance of a class in my world, so how do I go about it?

[@angrytheclown801]

For a class, I would look at the history of the Angry Video Game Nerd for inspiration. Or even the start of any major KZbin channel since Class is just a job and you get to see how they started.

[@captaindudeman3613]

I always wanted to do a first world campaign. The lineages are entering the world for the first time. Elves have never seen dwarves and vice versa, they havent yet established all the tropes we know. They haven't had a history nor relationships. All that is fresh and the characters are right in the center of all the "firsts". As for how you go about it. You look at the first age of Tolkiens middle earth, you look at examples of lore from any fantasy that has a chronology and how the first events of that world went, then imagine the PCs being so close in kinship to their gods, their entitlements and endowments and set them on paths of interaction and conflict. Then sit back and see what happens, chronicling all of it to use as the played history of your game.

[@angrytheclown801]

I was playing an orc and the GM decided to play with the last of his kind, so my orc was sitting there with that knowledge. I decided that he accepted it but decided if he truly was the end, then it was time the orcs shook the heavens one last time. To make sure they were never forgotten even into antiquity. Then he found the last remaining orcs scattered to the winds and brought them back, honing them into an army for redemption. June 14th.

[@nedleeds449]

This has nothing to do with the video topic but was the music used for the video from the Challengers soundtrack?

[@VestigialLung]

Jaal from Mass Effect 3 is one of the only times I can think of where there’s a character of this archetype who runs counter to the generally pretty upbeat character trait you laid out. He’s dour, hyper focused on revenge, pretty nihilistic overall, etc. He’s very close to the brooding edgy loner rogue. He holds up (in my mind) for a couple of reasons. 1.) limited run: he’s in most of the game, but when you talk about actual meaningful interactions with him, you’re talking about 1-3 sessions worth of a TTRPG. Hours of conversation with him would probably be a pretty miserable experience. 2.) what he represents. The whole trilogy, you’ve been having the protheans built up as these legendary figures; then you meet him, the pinnacle of his kind, and he’s just another person. Good in many ways, flawed in others. This is particularly brought to bear through Liara’s eyes and the disenchantment and existential crisis meeting him causes in her. TLDR, I think you’re probably right about this and wanted to talk about Jaal for a few.

[@kyber2516]

can you do roleplaying a mystical character next? i am trying to play one right now but failing miserably 😭😭😭

[@paulgrotebeverborg1119]

One interesting case of The Last Of His Kind is the Doctor Because he himself is the cause of that fact

[@pedrorosa9893]

Is that a overlay sarcastic production

[@collinevans4473]

I would just play a race that my dm never uses

[@jeice13]

In a dnd world with medieval communication you probably wouldnt know you are the last of a species, you could be the last of a village but even at city scale you wouldnt notice a few other people escaping

[@captaindudeman3613]

Its only as medieval as you want it to be. Thats a tone thing. There is active magic in the world after all. Civilizations rise and fall. Everyone feels the ripple effects of war and politics. Cataclysmic forces are at work in the world and an entire way if life or group of "people" could be removed in fantastical fashion. Grand tales, speculation, and gossip are seed beds ready to sprout in this kind of environment. It would not be hard to work this in as long as any sort of historical accuracy didn't ruin the fantasy of it all.

[@jeice13]

@@captaindudeman3613 even in high magic setting theres usually no equivalent of social media outside of cases where its just a modern (or futuristic) setting that is claimed to use magic instead of electricity. Usually the best you get is long range communication with specific known people or places, you might get bards telling legends about a race being extinct if there are few of them left but that wouldnt confirm you are the last and might even happen if your homeland was still inhabited but faraway

[@jeice13]

@@captaindudeman3613 groups can still be destroyed but confirming that it succeeded will be unreliable

[@captaindudeman3613]

@@jeice13 the fantasy equivalent of the "Silk Road" argues otherwise. :) Wherever there are caravans there is a flow of goods and information.

[@jeice13]

@@captaindudeman3613 theres a difference between knowing the ottoman/orcish/elvish empire is gone and confirming that 100% of its previous citizens were destroyed

[@nathanparis3573]

June 25th

[@Maninawig]

Sorry, Jay, but where did you get that Goku was based on Superman? Son Goku is the Japanese name for Son WuKong, the monkey king in Journey to the West, and his ship is a reimagining of the simian being born when a magic rock cracked. Bulma it Tripitaka, Oolong is Pigsy (a 1-1 retelling), and Chichi is Lady Iron Fan, daughter of the Bull King. On the other hand, Superman is based off of the Golem of Prague, Moses, and Samson. Different cultures completely from the Monkey King.

[@joetheschmoe1066]

Its because of their similar backstory. Both are orphaned aliens from another planet that was destroyed, and then came to earth and were raised as humans. Youre not wrong in that Dragon ball is heavily inspired by the legend of Wukong, but seeing as how Toriyama also borrowed a lot from western comics and sci fi (such as terminator) its not unlikely that superman was apart of that inspiration. Like I said even though Goku shares more with Wukong than Superman, their main backstory is almost a 1:1 comparison.

[@storytime7408]

June 2, 1998 (it's as good a guess as any)

[@StrewthStoatPirate]

Ah, but what about the *first of their kind* character?

[@somecallmeblue]

June 4th

[@flutegirl1001]

I'm going to guess June 27 (my b-day 😊)

[@EStensland88]

Hmmm Aang is upbeat and positive was done for a reason? Netflix version made him super serious? Interesting....

[@dklepto28]

I'm going to guess June 28.

[@me82sjm]

Am I the only one who wants to know who the 6 or 7 you tubers mentioned are?

[@i-am-a-furret9716]

Why did you get rid of Po’s ears in the thumbnail?

[@jasonjernigan7117]

I like playing plasmoids like this

[@critespranberry8872]

6:45 "All three of them are extremely hopeful characters and by taking that away from them you make them a less compelling character" Zack. If you make Superman a brooding edgelord you make a bad character, Zack. ***Why did you ruin superman Zack Snyder, what did you gain from doing this.***

[@santiagosaracho2271]

Kung fu panda

[@joell21]

Unfollowed because no squirrel

[@Roshiyu]

No spoiler squirrel!? D: