DnD Characters 5 Worst Ways to Play| D&D Player Tips

DnD Characters 5 Worst Ways to Play| D&D Player Tips
We look an article from Improved Initiative and weigh in on it. We give our thoughts on these different types of Dungeons & Dragons characters archetypes. We discuss why players and DMs don't want them in their games as well as ways to do these characters right if you must play them.
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[@Damnationization]

Both Batman and Wolverine started in a group. Batman had Rob "boy wonder" and Wolverine had the X-men, latter on he became a solo type of character.

[@shitmandood]

That's some pretty good advice. From a Vulcan..

[@Damnationization]

Yes, but Batman is famous for working with Robin and as you know has worked with plenty of others. Batman started in 1939 and the following year had Robin. Not to mention that Batman from 1939 is nothing like the Batman most people think of today. Modern Batman isn't sleeping in the same bed as Robin. Wolverine was the third guy in Hulk 180/181 and isn't famous for that. He is know for working with the X-men and latter becoming a solo character. I know of Wolverines first appearances because the Hulk is my favorite character. But most people have no clue.

[@Damnationization]

Batman is more realistic than the rest of the DC characters. You do know he sleep with boy wonder. LOL. :) Just in the same bed. This is WWHulk comic it's several videos I put together it's cool. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5mzl6uhntGZoNE

[@nihility7082]

I feel like a lot of people hate on the Chaotic Neutral alignment and I can understand overbearing showboating jester type characters getting stale and annoying pretty fast, however I love playing CN and I don't try to be overly dramatic, or jester-ish. There are two guiding principals I use when I play CN, #1 Chaotic Neutral is "desire driven" to me being CN means you are inherently focused on "going with your feelings" whether that means enjoying being surrounded by close friends at the inn, riding an adrenaline high like thieving or combat, doing something petty to someone who has irritated you or taking a opportunity to exact revenge against someone who's wronged you or someone you care about. These are all examples of being "desire driven", focused on the now and leaning away from being "Goal driven". #2 being "Morally flexible" is important to a well played chaotic neutral, if you play chaotic and always do the "right" thing you might as well have been chaotic good, if the only way you deal with confrontation is to kill it, loot it and move on, you might be more chaotic evil. Examples of being morally flexible; you might see the advantages of getting along with your party and being friendly improves efficiency... but if the situation looks like it's you or them then they are on their own. Or your party is given a decision to save a innocent but poor village or save the rich but corrupt barony, well unless you have attachments in the village such as friends or family then you stand to gain more by saving the rich. Maybe a NPC has the information you need to move on and all forms of persuasion have failed, well guess what? It's torture time! Being chaotic neutral isn't so much as being extreme in your behavior as it is being unrestricted in your choices, which I find liberating in a character and when done well, can lead to some fantastic game-play and interesting situations.

[@amishverma8415]

A friend of mine is currently playing a gnome ranger named the Lorax. He speaks for the trees, and the trees scream for justice.

[@loganfarley129]

Amish Verma how's that working out

[@amishverma8415]

Logan Farley Pretty well thus far, we're getting to the climax of the game, and it has yet to get old.

[@veronica_hon]

That's fucking great LOL

[@borderlands10]

Does he have a big mustache and sounds like Danny Devito?

[@amishverma8415]

Yup

[@Sentrygun84]

So you're telling me my super sexy mysterious slightly racist lone wolf monk who's taken a vow of silence may not be the best idea right?

[@Hylander27]

ikr!

[@markdasaro9045]

Lol yes yes i am.

[@kennywolfjr.6413]

Eyebrows.

[@shyillu]

Sentrygun84 LET UR MONK MARRY MY MONK PLZ TY BYE

[@kevinsullivan3448]

Who is exactly like the other 457630276 characters that you have ever played.

[@johnmabe3496]

Bard: I want to seduce the dragon. DM: What? Bard: Natural 20! DM: Okay, make a Constitution save, I'll roll Damage. Bard: W-what. DM: The dragon is male BTW, and an ancient wyrm, size is gargantuan.

[@fawfulbenivictor5556]

*distorted careless whisper starts blasting*

[@digitaldevil696]

Should the bard roll for anal circumference?

[@vernonhampton5863]

For reasons like this, invest points into constitution and the spell grease. You'll thank me for it.

[@lorekeeper685]

What kind? Red? Black? Prismatic? Blue eyes white dragon?

[@daisuke3726]

@@lorekeeper685 *YES*

[@CaughtDingoes]

Bard of Lurve: Hey Queenie, how about you and I- DM: roll straight charisma BoL: Yes! 25! DM: The king instantly order the guards to arrest you. BoL: But I rolled a 25 DM: I said arrest, not execute.

[@dallas1017]

CaughtDingoes that's pretty funny

[@Awesomeisme7000]

Took me a good minute to realize the joke

[@onewhosaysgoose4831]

This is what all those mind control spells are for! Wizard: "I will cast Geas upon the Queen; she must refrain from refusing my Rogue buddy's advances", Then she either complies or decides to take a bunch of psychic damage.

[@fhuber7507]

@@onewhosaysgoose4831 This is why I never let there be a Gaes scroll found in my worlds. The NPC might know it, to use it on you. You won't get the ability to cast it. A cleric praying to their deity to have it in their spell list for the day will have to give very good reason before its granted. The deity has the option to revise your requested spell list at that level and above. (Actually, the Deity could revise it at 1st level, but its just not worth their notice.)

[@chickenmonger123]

@@fhuber7507 Just ban it. Eesh. Don't pussy foot around it. You aren't comfortable with giving that amount of power to a character. Call a spade a spade. The problem isn't the spell, it's very simply and plainly that it usurps a level of control that you covet. Be up front about it and ban it, or account for it. Don't hold it like a jar of cookies to be dispensed at your own pleasure.

[@friedcaribou8066]

I played a mute once and it was a lot of fun. He had a whiteboard that he always carried with him which he used to communicate. I brought my own whiteboard to session as well. One of my favorite moments was when one of the other players fell out of a tree, and I wrote 10 on the board and held it over my head. : )

[@cameronsmith3047]

fried caribou I now want you at my table

[@Pasta_Parade]

See that's fine if he can still communicate

[@Pasta_Parade]

@Xenovista bit boring in my eyes but hey not my character to me the talking is the fun of dnd

[@therealdemen247]

I played a Mute for a bit as well. I mostly spoke with my real life body language and gestures that I was surprised how well my group picked up on. We eventually understood exactly what he meant by how he stamped his quarter staff. For example two quick stamps was asking for someone's attention, a loud hearty thwack was disapproval. Simple but it worked well. When it came time to face down some baddies that were important to the plot and my character actually had a personal connection to one of them. He lashed out in rage and eventually started speaking as a result of the encounter. He was in a constant state of meditation to keep a level head and when he came to terms with it, he spoke. It was received as a memorable and awesome moment.

[@beastwarsFTW]

I played a mute warlock who sold there voice to gain magic powers, she used Mask of Many Faces to act things out like a silent movie. Also her screaming was funny because nothing came out.

[@gregoryfloriolli9031]

The key here is “all things in moderation”. Any concept can work and be fun in the game as long as it isn’t taken to an extreme where it becomes disruptive.

[@twogruden9943]

Agreed. The overriding goal should be that everyone has fun, and to not be disruptive to others' enjoyment of the game.

[@MakeYouFeelBetterNow]

I think you are right. Even all of the concepts they mentioned, can actually be strengths when moderate and done well.

[@pedrodellallibera]

About the whole racism thing... I played a John Constantine inspired character who was a Demon Hunter ( Human Ranger - Horizon Walker). This character had tomes with every single race of fiends, demons and devils, and carried tools to kill or exorcize each and every one of them........ And I had a Tiefling Sorcerer in my party. I decided that my character had no qualms about working with a Tiefling, as he did not view them as fully fledged demons. (he instead viewed it as a disease, a blood curse that was brought on them by bad decisions made in the past) However, the Tiefling simply refused to believe a Demon Hunter did not want her dead, as she had suffered a lot of racism in her backstory. This ended up creating situations such as when her character would refuse to sleep while I was keeping watch when camping, for fear of me wanting to harm her, and instead would stay awake with me, which in the end made our characters spend the most time with eachother than anyone else in the party. Both me and the other player knew where we wanted to take this, and it created a lot of memorable situations... So I think it can work out when players are willing to work together for the sake of good storytelling. By the way, the characters ended up becoming best friends, to the point of taking arrows for each other. So there's a happy ending to this story.

[@DeadpoolsChimiChanga]

I think every one of these "beware!" archetypes can have an asterisk put on it that it CAN work if both the person playing it and the other players at the table are aware of what's coming and prepared/interested in working with it. Your example sounds like a blast, but in other players' hands, coulda gone really badly. Maybe a more accurate title would be "the 5 character types most likely to cause potential problems at the table"

[@pedrodellallibera]

@@DeadpoolsChimiChanga I completely agree with that. The best advice I can give about this is, know the people you are playing with. If it's your first time playing with a group, or you know the people you're with are not mature enough to handle it (and honestly, age is not a measurement of maturity, I've played with children who were a lot more mature than some 30 year olds) MAYBE keep the controversial characters to a minimum. And IMHO, sometimes playing a "generic", inoffensive character can be a lot of fun. Let's just not talk about my chaotic evil tiefling bard who is a serial killer.

[@frankgeisenburg9208]

As a possibility: play a character traumatized by events in the recent past. They have the ability to speak, but can't at present. This provides for great role-playing as the character heals and comes to grips with their past.

[@Pistonrager]

My issue is largely with people breaking their own backgrounds and character descriptions. Though it's largely because of the player. The super serious professional thief, stealth master... that yells constantly and has zero discretion. The Noble Warrior that kills anything that breaths and will never let enemies flee or surrender. The wise leader that charges into combat completely ignoring the plan because it turned out to be slightly different than planned.

[@thunderstruck206]

Have a player who gave his character PTSD. *Walks into a room full of dead townfolk* "I'm gonna be sick, I need to step outside and get some air" *heard a muffled sound behind a door* "FIRE BALL!!!!!!" "I SAY THAT AS I KICK THE DOOR DOWN AND THEN I CAST FIREBALL" (HE DOES IT CONSTANTLY and pitches huge fits when we say "alright you can either embrace the murderhobo you are, in which case, you need to nock off the ptsd and the freaking out you do to be in the spot light... Or... You need to stay with the party and not run off killing everything that moves" still trying to find a way to get that to sink in. he still doesn't get it and it's a problem

[@FreesTylerFurYa]

The rogue that keeps stealing from the party and never really being a team player. Problematic to deal with, and nobody ever trusted the rogue.

[@obsidiannightwolfe13]

The barbarian is tired of the rogue sneakily taking all the things, so they blatantly take it back from the rogue.

[@masterreaper115]

I played a rogue that would frequently grab items from other players, pointedly nothing super important just nothing items and they when they noticed he would get really excited and teach them how he did it without them noticing. He taught the entire party pickpocketing :D

[@dieucondorimperial2509]

@@masterreaper115 Wow, an actual good way to roleplay rogue ?

[@masterreaper115]

@@dieucondorimperial2509 I know we were super fucking shocked

[@MakeYouFeelBetterNow]

This is a good one!

[@AvatAR42420]

The murder hobo who insists on ALWAYS solving things the most violent way possible can be annoying, particularly in a heroic party.

[@AGrumpyPanda]

To be fair though, if you're playing 40k, the murderhobo who always solves things with high impact violence is probably doing it right :P

[@boomerkobold3943]

In warhammer tabletops that can work a lot of the time. I wouldn't do it in something like Call of Cthulhu though.

[@twogruden9943]

Maybe an encounter with local law enforcement can fix that.

[@borderlands10]

Austin Page: Pretty sure you gotta double down on the murder hoboing to survive that game...

[@stormcrowlegendary3512]

Join the cops to put down the rogue party member.

[@PeterFendrich]

I think players also need to remember just how fast a character-building trait forms. I had a riotous fun-loving Barbarian (who, in all fairness, included Tavern Brawls as "fun") who introduced himself in the first session by crying out in that crowded Inn "when Karl drinks, everyone drinks!" A quick 1 second flavor comment. Chucking, the DM asked me to pay for all the drinks after the tavern had enjoyed the round, and my character cried out "when Karl pays, everyone pays!" A quick and fun tavern brawl ensued, cumulating with my Barbarian knocking out the head of a local gang and winning him and his newfound companions a free stay. The whole affair was like, 30 mins tops. About 4 sessions later, in a new Inn in a new town, Karl once again entered in with "When Karl Drinks, everyone drinks!" We all had a laugh, and pretty much moved on without spending any further time on the situation. From then on, everyone knew exactly what Karl was about, and how he did things... I didn't actually HAVE to revist that joke IN GAME (though it still remains a common OOC joke for the party). 2 times in four sessions... that's all it took. I feel like you can do that with just about ANY character trait... One or two very pronounced moments displaying that character train, and then let it drift a bit to the background. It should still inform and drive your roleplay, but don't feel like you have to shove it down the party's face every session in a vibrant display... those one or two times earn you a lot of reputation if you execute them correctly. so, play that sullen loner, but only ACTIVELY sulk like once or twice, and then join in with vigor and keep that loner part just in the background.

[@madhippy3]

"When Karl pays everyone pays". Such a great save LOL

[@MrBeekhead]

That's kind of like Tiberius from Critical Role with his, "I'm Tiberius Stormwind. I'm from Draconia."

[@itsyagirlVofficial]

I have a good hearted character who is young and bold but not the brightest, I play up the fact that he doesn't realize the thief is being a thief etc. His catch phrase is "You've never done anything to steer me wrong" best when used In an interaction with a new NPC.

[@mentallyderangeddoggirl]

I feel like you put this into words very well

[@onlyoneqayin]

i odnt gewt it who makes these decisions like who gives ua free stay i dont understand the fuck???

[@Troommate]

I didn't know Vin Diesel actually had the script of what Groot was saying that's hilarious XD

[@docnevyn5814]

Apparently he also did most of the foreign language dubs, since he only had to learn one line.

[@spectratio]

Doc Nevyn Thats true! Ive seen videos of him voicing lines in other languages. Its really cool!

[@nexus1g]

I love that he did Baby Groot, too!

[@alicelitman4269]

Did you know he also plays a lot of D&D

[@sonikmuff]

Im not surprised bc he probably has to deliver an emotion to the line like inquisitive or angry or happy or sad or brave... But it is funny but dude did a great job w/ the limitations!

[@kriddius]

I forget where I read it, but there was a story where on their first adventure a lone wolf type character refused to go with the party somewhere in town to talk about a potential job "I wouldn't go with them, I want to go off on my own for a while" and the GM let him. 40+ minutes passed and the loner asked when they were going to come back to his character. The GM said "You left on your own. You don't know where the group is or what they're doing and you have no reason to want to track them down. Make a new character"

[@bobbobby475]

kriddius That's cool but kinda ducking harsh for a new player... Sounds like it was the first time that they did this and they are getting punished that ducking hard?

[@eechee2979]

Tough love. Holding their hand doesn't carry the gravity appropriate for the consequence of being obnoxious in a social environment.

[@nemesisPhD]

@@feihceht656 If a player wants to do a Han Sólo type, I think it is a good idea to mention to the group that they are a reluctant hero type, who wants to be dragged in or convinced by the party. It is impossible to tell with a new player if they intend to develop their character or to keep them the same annoying person they start out as and as far as my own experience with players of "difficult" characters goes, they are usually not into growth and change but stay annoying session after session, because that is what the player intends the character to be like. Imagine how much of a part in the star wars story Han would have had if he really did just care about himself alone and went off to do his own "plot". Would Lucas have had us follow him and see how he got on with Jabba? I think not. Edgey lone wolf types that don't mellow are not good characters even for fiction, and certainly not for group based rpgs. Therefore it is important to telegraph ahead of time that your apparent long wolf is going to mellow and bed down with the group.

[@Exthias1983]

​@Ee chee there is a big difference between tough love and just being a jerk. That situation it would have been relatively easy to just have the character make a check, and find the party with a warning that going off on your own is not advised.

[@thomashenderson3326]

One that wasn't mentioned was the character who's out to screw over the party. Typically played by someone unfamiliar with consequences of actions who will get mad when eventually the rest of the party has enough and banishes or kills them once they've had enough.

[@darlingvonf5057]

Yeah this kind is so annoying

[@0Fyrebrand0]

I can't believe people do this. I guess maybe they're new and don't totally get how D&D functions, or they've seen similar double-crossing characters in video games and movies, and thought they were cool and it would make a fun twist. I watched a bit of an adventure online where one of the characters was an assassin who was trying to kill the rest of the party and/or take their gold. OBVIOUSLY the rest of the players know exactly what is happening, but have to awkwardly pretend like their characters have no idea. Even as he's kicking/attacking them while they're unconscious and making death saves, but playing it off like it was an "accident." It was so cringey and horrible, it utterly derailed and prolonged the story, and it just made me dislike the player for even trying it. Finally, they caught him at it and captured him. Somehow he escaped his bindings before they could get the town guard to formally arrest him, so they had to just chase him down and kill him. It was all just such a stupid waste of time.

[@nemesisPhD]

Sometimes this is someone who thinks doing the worst, most stupid thing to do is "funny" so they constantly work against the party but it's the player not the character. The character will be built as some kind of socially inept moron who "doesn't know any better" and never learns from experience. The player might think its funny to fail so they keep doing the worst thing they can to bring about "hilarious" consequences. I find this kind of working against the party via stupidity really annoying, and the players usually get aggressive in game if you try to interfere with their shenanigans, no matter how you interfere they will interpret your actions as hostile, and attack you. I think it's a jerk move and not at all funny.

[@DJenser]

13:20 The ironic thing about Wolverine and Batman is that they both work exceptionally well in groups because they know how to play to the strengths of the others. They might not think too highly of their teammates' attitudes or life choices, but they are smart enough to know that they are much stronger together than separate.

[@SakraIgor0qNomoko]

I think it really comes down to proper communication with your DM when you're trying to play these types of characters. If you're going to play a racist, a murder hobo, or whatever, it should be discussed beforehand so that it enriches rather than detracts from the adventure and player experience. For example, suppose you're a dwarf that's racist against elves. Maybe as times goes on and the party gains notoriety, elves will start saying to each other "Don't deal with that dwarf, he shouldn't be trusted". The dwarf starts having trouble trying to buy goods from elf vendors. Prices go up, just for him. But maybe also a bunch of anti-elf dwarfs take notice and offer your dwarf membership in their secret society. With a special rune, your dwarf gets access to vendors or spies in ally with the society. Now the party has to struggle over whether or not they want to accept the help of these spies before going to the enemy stronghold. Maybe there's an item a pro-elf party member wants, but they don't have enough resources. The society will get them the item, but the party would have to help them out with an insidious plan in exchange. Trade-offs for different play styles can help motivate a deeper engagement with the role-playing experience.

[@socklips7655]

Such an underrated comment. Unfortunately, it's much easier for the DM, or other players, to take a moral stance and say "Don't play this" or "We don't allow you to play X" instead of creating a deeper system of story and trade-offs like you described.

[@budfahnestock2418]

we have 2 "racist" characters in our party currently and it creates some of the funniest situations i've ever had in any campaign, maybe i'm just a bad person but i think it's great

[@NewLegacy93]

It works well when the player works with it. My parties favourite character of mine is my hybrid of purity (half-elf) who's racist against half-elves.

[@Never_heart]

If there are 2 racists I would ask them to be racist to each other's race only but fate has them forced to be there together. Now just watch the fire works.

[@MeandMonkeyLP]

That never works.

[@Underleaf76]

Everybody is racist and prejudice to some degree, anybody who says they are not are only lying to themselves. With that said in a fantasy setting, it can totally be hilarious if played well and if it adds to the game. Where I could see it not working well is if the players do not know each other very well and they start to take it personally. Just be wary of that situation but otherwise it always adds additional humor to character interactions.

[@Birbucifer]

MaMLP You’d be surprised.

[@Kertezium]

My Half-Orc Cleric has a seething hatred towards monsters, so even when we encounter a 'friendly' monster she'll typically give the party a minute or two to do their thing before she runs in spells blazing. This has been incredibly amusing for everybody, well maybe not the DM, because we typically spend a hefty amount of time figuring out what we're going to do, and whenever that fringe case happens the party is suddenly scrambling to try and buy as much time as they can get before Guiding Bolt is cast.

[@connorsherman7932]

I'm playing a Half-Orc Paladin who worships a god of war, I let other players handle talking to monster type npcs. However we have a code word for when we need to fight, sadly they chose the code word: ATTACK, this bites them in the ass as when they yell out something like, "Don't Attack", I hear the code word being said.

[@LoadedFPS]

All of these are pretty subjective, honestly. Any of these characters can be fun and any can suck at your table. Depends on the player and the group dynamic.

[@joshuarichardson6529]

Only the last one is truly obnoxious. The rest all just irritate a small group of gamers, and even then, only because it keeps showing up in their sessions. That last one should have been split up into 5 categories of player types (the obstinate non-adventurer, the lone wolf, the killmonger, the backstabbing jerk, etc.).

[@jaywhit6751]

no. the mute is always a retarded idea. and the misanthorpe is just.....blah......unless you all are just there to do mechanics and fights.

[@LoadedFPS]

jay whit I agree with you to a degree. What if the character isn’t mute by choice and they’re looking for a cure? Either way this further proves my point of subjectivity. You think it’s bad and I think it could be good if done right.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

And the GMs ability to run a role playing game instead of forcing lame group only mechanics on the players.

[@DanIsAces]

Mutes can most certainly be played right. I played one who, for a very simplified explanation of it, very quickly developed a number of sign languages (for different audiences) because hers was a genetic defect and thus could not be cured. Being mute and being simply uncommunicative are two very different things.

[@Xtra_Medium]

I actually got railroaded into playing the mute by my DM. We were playing Rise of Tiamat and the enemy crit'd my half orc paladin. The DM rolled on the crit table to see what happened and decided the arrow destroyed my vocal cords. As a result my character started carrying a blackboard and chalk to communicate and I would do a lot of miming my character's body language.

[@madhippy3]

Ya, sorry Legion, unless he hid the role and faked it that is just random. Railroading is specifically when they have it planned in advance

[@Underleaf76]

That sounds like a fun way to improvise his wounds. That must have been hilarious at times!!

[@shadowscall7758]

That's not a railroad, although, the DM should have some way for the paladin to regain his vocal cords so you can start speaking again.

[@MarcAlcatraz]

If you’re a paladin why couldn’t you use lay on hands to heal your throat?

[@Person01234]

@@MarcAlcatraz I don't think that's supposed to regenerate body parts. There are spells that specifically will regenerate missing body parts.

[@kaiser5104]

I had a mute half orc bard that taught the party to speak through music and that's how my party began to understand me and it was kinda cool

[@felixrivera895]

Robo Fish so it brought them *into* the game, rather than out of it

[@TheFoggye]

I had played a mute once as part of a duo, I was playing both characters as a married couple. They shared a sign language. It allowed me to have to more manpower at table since we were short handed, while at the same time having an easier time managing dialogue. So one character would communicate verbally for both of them. Although, it was very memorable and hilarious when the mute was stuck without the other character to interpret, and had to try to find someone to communicate with the other players or NPCs; often with facial expressions. Those moments were brief enough that it didn't get stale or disruptive. Nice angle on the music.

[@thekekiorder2855]

With mute characters it's very important to emote and be expressive in some way. Groot doesn't really get tiresome simply because he takes action and does thing's in a way that give's him personality. This, coupled with an interpreter in cases where thing's get a little complex, give you the perfect tools for this kinda thing.

[@thekekiorder2855]

Also, PROPS!

[@Onno_Inada]

I played a mute once. Until I got accidentally telepathically linked to another player I communicated with notes either put-pocketed on the party members or tossing chunks of magnetite wrapped in a note at the Paladin. He didn't like the fact that I could go in and out of his bag (I respected his wishes and stayed out). It fit the character who was a former assassin who was... modified by thier former employer.

[@LordZeebee]

Just want to inform people that if you're ever playing or DMing in a "skyrim"-like setting, Jan-Erik Mann is a completely legit and honestly not even that uncommon nordic name. Do with that information what you will... (inb4 some DM populates an entire town with "Jan-Erik" npcs)

[@trustme3321]

I'm glad you mentioned that Batman works well in a group. Justice league dark is the best example. The way he just lets out this little groan at all the magical bs makes him hilarious

[@shadowgear7032]

Hey we had a mute monk who had a item that let him speak telepathically. It was very interesting and a completly stupid way around a pathfinder way of the mute.

[@tyleremery7088]

I've got a kalashtar mystic who's slightly delusional and gets worse as time goes on, slowly losing his mind even as he masters his psionic powers. He stays silent and prefers to communicate telepathically rather than verbally whenever possible because he doesn't trust his own senses. To top it off, he's got a high passive perception and occasionally hears things that the rest of the party doesn't, so he's never sure if what he heard was real.

[@falkyrie5228]

"The Bigot" is fun, specially when you have two of them and specially when they both hate each other - it's a trope, but it works 😂

[@zellcrs]

Im not mute, my diplomacy is a -2

[@madhippy3]

LOL so you are better off not talking!

[@thomascrowe1522]

Make use of that. I have a character with a 6 charisma and he won't shut up unless specifically told to by his friends.

[@jaspermooren5883]

LegOlas, you really manage to mispronounce about everything, don't you?

[@FancyKerbloops]

It's quite uncanny.

[@Nerdarchy]

It's my super power! -Nerdarchist Dave

[@koelkast9]

They say it like a million times in the movie too

[@MrFleem]

Leggy Lass

[@UNFETTER3D]

Leg o' lamb😂

[@nexus1g]

"Don't play the bigot." So just tear out the Ranger section of the PHB. :P

[@borderlands10]

That definitely wouldn't work for my game, Fallout PnP set nearly 20 years before the Great War in New Orleans; I got the Klan, a syndicate called the Dixie Mafia(Their districts have "Whites Only" signs in every shop and diner window) along with the Black Mafia for a little extra tension. Racism can be a great tool in tabletop role-playing, but some people see it as abhorrent and throw away a great narrative opportunity.

[@Pablo360able]

God-Emperor Trump If you think that cucked SJWs who insist on treating goblins like other npcs can't come up with any other way to make a game engaging I posit that you haven't played with the right cucked SJWs

[@Pablo360able]

(also if you can't see how racism against imaginary fantasy monsters could be problematic then you should look up the history of said fantasy monsters, it's pretty fascinating all told)

[@Pkay120]

Most racist aren’t aggressive and open about their racism. It’s fine to play a racist character

[@corystafford4950]

borderlands 10 I don't know what you are playing, but it's not D&D.

[@Hylander27]

I only just started playing D&D and i just realized that I've been 4 out of the 5.....I may need to change my approach and take some apology muffins or something to my next game..also explains why I almost died in my first game...crap muffins.

[@chainer8686]

I have a character who isn't mute, but just doesn't talk much, still interjects when planning or doing detective type stuff, but doesn't really partake in banter except for a shot one or two word comment here and there.

[@zemorph42]

I have a better idea; let them have their spotlight, as long as each other player gets one for their characters too.

[@fhuber7507]

The overbearing "I am the law!" LG paladin who yells at the thief for essentially everything he does.... Not bright

[@markdasaro9045]

Judge Dreed is LN. The Law or Order above all.

[@jeannietraverso903]

I play a NG druid, who honestly leans more towards LG, but only tends to get upset with the party for doing needlessly cruel things. Like when the warlock let his weird demon worm try to possess a cat by burrowing into the cat's head. Then when the wizard promptly threw acid on it.

[@DeadpoolsChimiChanga]

Potentially. But how 'bout a 8 INT/8 WIS lawful stupid heroman who constantly gets tricked into enabling the thief's shenanigans, all the while believing he's helping her reform? aka the "Kim Kaphwan" Just another example of how any of these ideas can potentially be lame and disruptive OR lots of fun, depending on how it's played and what the other people at the table are willing to do with it :)

[@Matthews_CornerYT]

Is this a good way to play a loner character? I had an idea for a Lizardfolk rogue urchin. Basically, a slightly more intelligent Lizardfolk (very slightly) who saw anyone other than Lizardfolk as untrustworthy, dangerous, or just annoying, pitiful, any number of negative associations, like a typical Lizardfolk would. Except that one day, he actually started seeing someone in his childhood of a different race as more than just a nuisance, food, or tool to aid his survival. He starts out with that mindset, but the more he talks with this person and they hang out, the more a certain appreciation forms, one that eventually results in him essentially seeing this person as a really good friend, though he doesn't actually know that's how he sees him. He just knows he likes this person and wants to keep seeing him. But one day, he goes to find the other Lizardfolk in his tribe have killed this person, for whatever reason. And when he finds out, he's left numb and confused, feeling certain things that he doesn't even know he's feeling or how to identify what exactly it is. He eventually grows a distaste for Lizardfolk as well, realizing there's really no difference between how savage Lizardfolk can be and how untrustworthy anyone else can be. So he leaves his tribe and essentially lives on his own, hopping from village to village, woods to woods, and distrusts everyone. Maybe even hates them. But, over time, he eventually grows to subconsciously desire companionship, due to him being at his happiest when he actually had a friend. These feelings conflict with each other in a way he doesn't realize. Heck, he doesn't even realize he's feeling them. Hence why he even bothers staying in villages occasionally (usually alleys or rooftops) despite distrusting everyone around him. And in his time observing humans during the days where he isn't living in the woods, through passive observation, he gains more of an idea of how typical emotions are expressed and certain behaviors that he finds strange, giving him a decent idea of how to read others without knowing how to identify what he himself feels as he can't actually know what these feelings feel like until someone spells it out for him. And when he joins whatever group is being played, he uses the excuse of survival benefits, plus extra food if they die. When really, he's just subconsciously tired of being alone and wants a friend like he once had.

[@basbarbeque6718]

about the character making puns all the time. me and my friends had a Christmas 1shot where one of the predetermined rules was that our names had to be either Christmas themed or contain sex jokes. there was a tall dwarf called Bhaldick Giantknob and he kept coming up with dumb puns like "I have an axe to grind with you" after attacking a Tinsel snake with his Battleaxe. or "Guys, I could use some help, I have my hands full here" while holding an enemy in a grapple. and then there was the other guy... a robot from a future where Christmas didn't exist called Will-E, also known as Robocock. coming up with stuff like "when you fight Will-E, you get messy" or the worst of them all "don't worry little girl, Will-E is coming"

[@josephorona6614]

Ive had to play a game with the majority of these types of players throughout a relatively short number of years playing the game, and i have to say, its like walking into a new layer of the nine hells everytime. Great video guys.

[@Zthewise]

One of my favorite characters is a tea loving kenku monk with a vow of silence. He's only broken his vow once, but the situation at hand demanded it. Ironically I communicate better with him, then some of my other characters that do talk.

[@Ashrubel]

Zthewise how do you effectively communicate? Hand signals?

[@Diabolik771]

That's fucking stupid.

[@Person01234]

Vow of silence probably works better for kenku than for most, as kenku obviously don't speak normally and unless you're matt mercer, constant attempts to badly imitate noises made by other people could potentially get annoying (Volo's even points this out). Depends on the group.

[@FancyKerbloops]

Why is racial distrust such a terrible thing? Why does it require setup? Maybe the cutoff is "does it detract from cohesion in a meaningful way?" "Does it make any player uncomfortable to handle?" "Is it a dynamic both people are invested in exploring (if no, I guess there will be no movement on anyone's mindset.)?" There can be intrigue involved. My human fighter was once a slave of a dwarven kingdom, he and his family were treated horribly (as expected). It would be nice if everyone treated everyone the same, in some egaliatarian super-fantasy, but this character's experiences definitely color his perceptions of other dwarves.

[@kyleellis9177]

I found the only time in game racial tension was a problem was a few years ago when one of my white players was being a little to rascist towards ablack players dwarf. after about 3-4 sessions it felt like it wasent about the game and was just an excuse to be rude to the dwarf and say it was just ingame. 1 of only 2 players i ever asked to never come back.

[@FancyKerbloops]

Racial/Cultural tension was a trope long before the 1990's/2000's. Good try, though.

[@simpbeforeusleep]

what exactly did the player do that irked you so Kyle? As compared to the other ones that had played as characters with bias towards another in game race.

[@leodouskyron5671]

Joshua Shank that really does not work that way. It is like a person tells a racist joke and then they say they got it from here or there and it was nothing...just a joke. It is something because they CHOOSE to have that as part of what they thought was fun. As a black guy, I can tell you I if it felt like it was directed at me I don’t ask the possible racist, religious bigot or male/female hater if they meant it because they brought it up and so it is on them to deal with the consequences of my reception of it. I have books with hundreds of stories and character with weaknesses nd it they choose one that feels like it was crafted to get his issues off his chest or to run me off - I believe they mean it because in my years of experience they DO (they just don’t want to deal with the fallout).

[@HairofSteel555]

For the same reason 90% of these reviews piss me off and I really should stop watching/listening to them. If you break down what these (along with any other KZbin DnD "experts") guys say and redistribute it across all of their videos. You're bound to find at least five cases of contradicting themselves. "Make an interesting or compelling character/back story!" : Great! I have a Tiefling that hates pretty much any non-out cast race for having the privilege of NOT being a god damned Half-Demon thing. But according to them; this would be an issue character. "Give your character a personality and make it your own!" : Cool my Chaotic Good Drow that is trying to make a name for himself against the fighting stereotypes doesn't believe in senselessly murdering a king just because the plot line demands it. That's called breaking their campaign. "DM's shouldn't get too involved or write actual plot lines or hooks and let the players have free reign over the story!" : If you really believed in this, the example right above this would be null and void. "DM's that don't pay enough attention to making a gripping plot that attracts players are bad!" : Did you NOT just tell me to stop being so involved in story writing and plot hooks three Podcasts ago? This is pretty much the standard set up for DnD-Tubers that I've noticed.

[@mitchelle.3559]

There's a guy in my current party who is an edgelord loner, and the one who solves everything with violence, AND the one who won't shut up🙄 Infuriating.

[@sandorsbox]

Dwarf: grrr. I hate orcs. DM: whoah, whoah. Don't be such a bigot. Really, guys? A strained association between two people from CULTURES that hold dramatically different values from one another isn't bigotry

[@jakubjanicki3989]

But orks are just peaceful nomads, with culture and... stuff, I guess.

[@Ashrubel]

Orks are responsible for a disproportionate number of highway crimes!

[@YukonHexsun]

Yeah that threw me off. The seemed weirdly against racism as a character trait, like you have to grow and change as a character. That's not really how that works, plenty of people are racist to the grave. Irrationally stupid racists can be annoying, but strained relations is fine. Just don't bring it up every 3 seconds because that's annoying with any character trait, especially abrasive ones.

[@GodActio]

The poor orcs are a race of peace and want to merely bring cultural enrichment to everyone they meet. The bring peace to the world and culturally enrich many people, that cultural enrichment is where half orcs come from. #orcofpeace

[@michaelrobins2955]

I think a fun way to play a 'mute' character would be a wizard or other magic user that uses a form of magic text to speech, writing magic runes into the air that then echo out what he writes.

[@TrickyTrickyFox]

Naaaaah, I absolutely loved playing my gnome-cleric, who was a war veteran and now completely hates thielfings. I posted my backstory in group discussion - and when session 1 started, we had 3 thieflings in our team. That was some glorious comedy

[@sarahprice4960]

My group had a character that would always try to seduce NPC's and our DM would allow it. Somehow he would always roll super high and when he and that character would do the do, he'd have to roll performance which usually ended up pretty low. We also implemented a thing where if a guy and a girl go at it, and the guy didn't cast Mage Armor, you had to roll to see if the girl got knocked up. That part was thanks to me accidentally succeeding on a roll for seduction and later asking if there was a D&D equivalent to Plan B. He had me roll and I got a Nat 20.

[@chummer2060]

Disruptive characters are usually the biggest problem. When one person keeps derailing things and making a mess because "it's what my character would do", everyone else is miserable. There are other game systems that can handle characters like that. Like you said, D&D is a team game. The characters should have a reason to be working together.

[@Lordtheobald]

i can't stand Jake in my games. Oh, sorry, you don't know Jake. Well, Jake insists on making everything harder for all the other players, all the time. If you need to go to one town, he will find a way to go the other. If you need to be persuasive, he'll attack the npc. and he does it no matter what type of character he plays. I would call him the contrary player.

[@Drakshl]

You said something which left me scratching my head, about never going to a player who was doing something on their own. This just doesnt make sense at all. Let's say a party are making camp near enemies and they need someone to scout the area whilst they make preparations. If they have a ranger in one of his preferred retains it makes complete sense for this character to do the scouting alone, so as not to be hindered by other members of the group. Similarly, if a group of players was going to lease with a local lord, it might not make sense to take their incredibly uncarismatic and offensive fighter or barbarian with them, and thus character could spend their time productivley elsewhere

[@ClintLowe]

Don't be a bigot **rangers with favored enemies triggered***

[@simonprod1001]

I made a mute for a game. His tongue had been removed after he deflowered a noble's daughter as punishment. "Your wicked words will never charm an innocent lady again, you villain!" It was awful. We remedied that crap within the first session. Everyone agreed that it was just awkward. Then, the GM had the High Cleric of the temple get annoyed with him during a conversation. He offered to regenerate his tongue for free because he was a busy man, and didn't have time to play pictionary. I should have had a stack of paper with commonly uttered phrases handy to hold up. It could have been done, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of dedication not speaking required.

[@RoundRobin0]

CN alignment means Chaotic Neutral NOT crazy nut or cartoon network which is how many people MISTAKENLY portray it. Minor adjustments in definitions: PLAYBOY: character is obsessed with carnal pleasure, tries to seduce any NPC described as attractive if they fit the character's critetia. HEDONIST: out to have fun, blows at least 25% of money earned on lavish social events. LONER: character is independent but will work with a team LONE WOLF: character hates the idea of relying on anybody for anything and NEVER cooperates with anybody for any reason.

[@DareMurdok]

"I only work alone...except also with my party and friends I am invested in" imagine this brooding loner batman parody that tries to play up being a loner while simultaneously acknowledging the contradiction of that trope being in a party. "i have a solo quest to do, but is pizza ok, I will get pizza while i'm out"

[@PokeBattlerJaze]

I...isn’t that literally JUST Batman then? XD

[@anthonypaolilli253]

I know a game, 26 years running, that has those characters types in it. Runs fine, the GM even nicknamed the endless campaign we have been playing "DnD and bad roleplaying" The problem you listed with those character types is the rest of the group is uptight murder hobos and the GM likes it that way. Of course a hedonist, or a disabled person would detract from the murder hobo agenda. Which brings me to my next point... You left out the murder hobos! Dont play murder hobos, if you are in a group and the GM allows murder hobos, leave the group. Just my 2 cents. Cool video.

[@matheusmoreira9951]

About the mute part: I kinda do that with my Barbarian character. In our campain, we have a homebrew race called Bearkin, and they have a variant for barbarians that makes them only able to comunicate in bearic, which is basically growls, roars and bestures. So, when I'm raging, people have to basically point at stuff if he doesn't see something, like getting tricked by illusions.

[@Tareltonlives]

I'm playing with the first, trying to not make that mistake: a black werewolf in 20's Chicago with white vampires. Suffice to say, he gets exasperated; however, he's loyal to the group, he helps them when possible, and never turns into serious bigotry I make jokes all the time, and make creative characters with goofy names and backstories, but what I try to do is still give them serious motivations, and make them realistic. Like a mushroom themed druid who enjoyed eating and smoking mushrooms, he's still not going to do a joke every time. I make him serious, and genuinely good at his job. The best thing about the flaw system our DM lets us is that the flaw can be funny or serious in different situations. My catfolk is distracted by shiny objects, and I play it as a problem when it interferes with situations, making will saves and such. Flaws give character but they are not a character in of themselves. One of the reasons I've been putting off playing a character without hands like a horse is that it would be an annoyance to the rest of the party. When I will roll up the character, he will come with partner. Hedonists and misanthropes I consider very similar: they're show stealers. They don't care about the rest of the party, they just want to cause trouble and make the wholething about themselves. Thankfully I don't have any in my group, and I talk to my DMs and players as often as possible in case there might be a similar problem

[@borderlands10]

Heh, I chuckle at the idea of a vampire saying "Great, here comes the flea-bitten spook; Hope he's had his shots."

[@borderlands10]

Ha! I love it.

[@G1NZOU]

My brother did the best variation of mute I've seen, he had a Kenku Wizard where as a player he'd write down phrases other characters say throughout the game, and repeat it back in relevant situations in their character's accents, when he found spellscrolls he'd ask another character to read it aloud so he'd be able to do the verbal components of spells. He ended up the most likeable character in my campaign and turned up as an NPC for my brother's campaign which shared the same homebrew setting as mine.

[@juancholo7502]

I HATE the moody loner type characters. They make the game a royal pain the butt!

[@Sasquatch-fx6gw]

I once had a biggot in my game which actually was pretty good. One of our party memebers who was elven royalty hated aaracokra and I was an avian who was indebted to hee farther who had to watch her. It got pretty awesome when i died half way through the campaign and she broke down. It was pretty fucking awesome.

[@johnwendel702]

My friend's character was mute and just used minor illusion to make the sound of a voice

[@kykisaky7841]

Messege would be more fitting cantrip but good for him/her, did the DM allowed it to be like talking, did you get an exact messege or just close enough to barely understand?

[@johnwendel702]

@@kykisaky7841 It was exactly as though they were speaking

[@kykisaky7841]

@@johnwendel702 good for them, although still think messege may be better in stealth missions or combat.

[@Malefor666]

Had a friend whose character was mute. As a Kenku, he couldn't vocalize with words so much as he could imitate the words of others. This actually went over pretty fun, cuz he'd use sound effects and imitate enough that it would get his point across. Oftentimes, he would pull a Solid Snake and repeat key points in a sentence to communicate. It was surprisingly fun, I would consider it a successful time as a mute character

[@saeyabor]

A Warforged trickery cleric who worships Overclocked Bender!

[@asArsenic]

I actually ran a mute character in an apocalypseworld one-shot, a child-thing character. It was very challenging but what made that work was that my group is very roleplaying heavy and I've got somewhat of an acting background and I got VERY descriptive. A big part of that was having a character that wants to communicate, and more than meets the other characters halfway in doing so. It also helped that it didn't overstay it's welcome, being a one-shot we didn't have time to tire of it and we ended up making them attempting to speak again part of the final culmination of the story ( it went horribly horribly wrong in the best possible way ).

[@TweeterTheElf]

Man, I had three jokers in a table of six and we never left town

[@TimdeVisser86]

I love how our two examples of 'loners' are both compulsively adopting every orphan they meet. Batman and Wolverine are both fiercely protective of at least three teenage characters at any given time. Which I think could be a very interesting character dynamic for a PC: maybe they're very gruff and isolated normally, but they end up as a reluctant mentor to a gaggle of street urchins or they just get very worried about that one PC who's a total flake not surviving on their own.

[@robertallenpayne]

More great stuff guys. Sorry for finding it so late! Feel like I've been missing out! Of course, a lot of this advice works in real life too. "If you're not adding anything to the group narrative, then you shouldn't be here messing it up for the rest of us." I'm looking at you, you "my way is the only way" guy! Ah, if only there were a GM for real life. LOL

[@lumilir7391]

For the mute character concept, my dm made a short lived half orc fighter that had a pact of silence until the lord who slaughtered his family was dealt with. This worked quite well for us due to me being a great old one warlock, he was stubborn at first but then accepted the idea of being able to tell his purpose in our group. The reason the character was mute originally was because it was a dm played character to help start off our campaign with few players, but the dm didn't want to have much say in the decisions we made hence being mute. Character ended up being a revenant with a deal for the lords death

[@chrisleeuwen8399]

I've actually noticed that several of my players are playing almost all of these archetypes (all of them are first time players) and I want to try deter them from coming across these issues without altering their characters too early on in the game as we are 2 sessions in. And as a side note in case you guys read this I'm also having trouble trying to get remainder of the players to not play themselves in the game (I don't mean this as an insult to them, but more as a way to get them more comfortable with role playing and seeing things through the eyes of someone else and learning through it). By the way I'm loving the content recently. Keep up the good work guys.

[@XanderCottrell]

let them be themselves once or twice, they might not get that being someone else is a thing, not to sound condescending :) also some people jsut like playing themself in different situations, thats the like interesting part for them i think (some people obviously) :P

[@chrisleeuwen8399]

Xander Cottrell thanks man. I'll give it try.

[@kyleellis9177]

yeah i fully agree with xander some people arent as creative and enjoy playing themselves. i hate playing humans in games but one of my best friends only plays a human because he wants to focus on the aspect of how humans treat those that are different. It might be easier instead of telling them not play as themselves tell them to play as themselves but with extra. so they play as themselves but with a trait or flaw they dont have. like play as yourself but your super into gambling or somthing. i find it helps my newer players get comfortable since they can relax and only focus on a couple new aspects at first.

[@Nerdarchy]

Chris Leeuwen as they play more perhaps they will begin to change and grow. Not only that but their characters will have experiences that real people don't. That may begin to create personality divergences of itself. Nerdarchist Dave

[@littleblueclovers]

Chris Leeuwen I think you should voice your concern to the players directly. Even if you don't come up with a solution, that concern sticks in their minds and they'll be more aware of it. Obviously, this won't fix itself suddenly, but I'm sure they'll get the hang of it with experience. A new player making amateur mistakes is a given. Give them tips, let them mess up, and help them learn from it :)

[@hugmonger]

Another way the "Bigot" CAN work in game is the Monsterous Assumption, which is the assumption that if a monster exists it must exist to serve or die. This exists with Goblins a lot of the time. I remember playing a goblin and being very disappointed to not be subject to the monstrous assumption, because that was everything I wanted. Instead I was met by a resounding "Yeah but Im special, I am not like that" from the entire group.

[@smilingbear7430]

I am currently playing a mountain dwarf wizard who uses war magic. At one point there was a bugbear rogue in the party, who he ABSOLUTELY did not trust or like at all ( and his flaw is slow to trust new people anyway ) but we kept the rp between us pretty light hearted and good natured ( lots of ribbing and making fun of how he smells and for him to resist stabbing everyone he meets ). The current elf in the party, who he has known for a while is using illusion magic to cover his real identity due to his wand of detect magic, that the party just found out is actually a drow, is an ENTIRELY different story.

[@masterreaper115]

The Loner can be played if its mostly downtime. My character worked fine with a group but typically camped a little bit away from the rest, his familiar positioned so it can keep an eye on both camps. He was part of the party, he was paid to work with these people so he would work with them, he eventually did indeed become good friends with them but the end of the campaign had him leave the group to go back to his loner ways but left them an item so they could always communicate with him if he was needed again. Everyone was fine with it at the table so it worked.

[@snowman9631]

Accept other races exist beyond skin color, racism would be so much worse and would make the game much more dynamic. The real question would by why don't u have racism. If it exist it can completely change social interaction or how youre treated in certain places

[@borderlands10]

I put that into consideration when making my Fallout PnP game, the time before the Great War was a spitting image of the 50's and I thought "Hmm, I wonder if the Klan existed before the Great War? Oh well, they do now!". Plus the setting is New Orleans: A crime-ridden city ignored by the US government and is split into districts by the ruling crime syndicates, The Italian Mob, the Irish Mafia, the Black Mafia and the Dixie Mafia(Yeah yeah, I ripped off Mafia 3; So what?). I figured why not add a load of racial tension to the game, should make it interesting when I finish and find some players.

[@Nerdsammich]

Back in the beginning of 3e, there was a book put out by Wizards called "The Hero-Builder's Guidebook". It was full of advice for building and roleplaying a character for newer players. The only piece of advice I recall off the top of my head was in the section on "big don'ts": No Joke Names. "Sure, it may give you a chuckle now to name your character Tim the Dim or Medium Rary, but wears thin fast. You'll feel silly wandering around with a 20th-level character named Gleep Wurp the Eyebiter." The moment I read that, I knew that I had to make a character for whom Gleep Wurp the Eyebiter was an appropriate and proper name. One character sheet later, I had a CE troglodyte cleric of Sebek with the Hatred and Scalykind domains and a background in slave trading. He was actually a table favorite, and incredibly effective at recruiting new followers for Sebek.

[@tomnickmully]

I've been building a character idea in case my current one dies. A goblin multi class of shadow monk and ancient ones warlock. Going for a guy that likes to mess with people's heads with a heavy prankster compulsion. Sneaking around, whispering in people's heads, making them paranoid. I picture using unseen servant to tie someone's shoe laces together before a fight, making rude gestures with mage hand etc.

[@michaelcohen8259]

I ran a character who was a loner, but not for the typical reasons: He, a human, was displaced from his plane of birth (he had been left on Elysium by his unknown parent(s) to be raised by neutral good elves) and truly had no idea how to interact with people. This was a matter of "How do I do this?" as opposed to "I don't want to do this", so he could be taught social skills very quickly.

[@kramerfortuna7228]

I once played a mime assassin, and trying to communicate without speaking was definitely tricky, but it led to some of my favorite moments in the campaign.

[@supersinger9000]

My current character was a misanthrope, but the party became the first friends she's ever had, so she would do anything for them.

[@Skewrz]

One way to do a mute may be with the telepathy feature in Warlocks and such, he can't speak due to disfigurement etc. but can speak with his mind. Also makes interesting bits with anti-magic fields where he can't communicate all of the sudden ;) Just a thought.

[@kickassv8]

I'm glad I found you guys. Thank goodness I'm not the only old dude into D&D.

[@Nerdarchy]

We do exist. Nerdarchist Dave

[@filchhoff]

I really don't know why everyone says solo sessions are so difficult. I'm running one at the moment and we are at level 5 now. The plot line is him working to hunt down 5 cult members who caused his banishment from his home. Focusing on role playing based solutions, an animal companion, and a bit of homebrew presented a very functional storyline with solid passing and a huge amount of interaction with the world. I'd really love if you guys descussed the challenges a solo game presents in a video!

[@benjaminprentice6837]

For the mute there are good options inbetween can communicate and can't, playing a character with Poor Languistic Skills (She was an Outlander Druid with 'Raised by Wolves' as a Feature), because it allows your character to still have trouble communicating without making it too impossible, and your character can still learn the language in the end. I've also played a Semi-Loner type, as the Stereotype Elf-Ranger, because I chose 'Slow to Trust Others' as a Flaw, but at the same time he never refused to work with others he just because he wasn't trusting, it played itself out more as a 'he keeps secrets and internally plans how to kill the characters if they turn against him'. At the same time however in the end he always helped the party.

[@Yapity111]

I really appreciate the effort you put into making it clear that this is based off someone else's blog post.

[@chaosmastermind]

In one Pirates campaign, I made a noble named Lord Periwinkle Von Fontlebottom. I played him straight, but the name was hilarious to say. The GM thought he was totally gay and made him wind up as some kind of half-fey hybrid (with wings and charm powers). Which actually turned out awesome.

[@josephineshein6959]

I`m not sure if this will help anyone but I currently play a character who started out as that loner type of character. My previous character had died and I needed a new one so I collaborated with the DM and we came up with the idea that the party comes across this cabin where my character lived on their own for pretty much their whole life relying on hunting to survive and didn`t really interact with people often. the party was lost and hired her as a guide. I did my best to play her as a begrudging character who was just trying to get these strangers out of her forest knowing that my goal was to have her want to join the party and become a part of their adventure As it goes in D&D things went less than smoothly and we ended up diving into an ancient ruin. By the end of it she decided to join the party in the hopes of finding more excitement in life. She was starting to feel bored with her daily routine. As time went on she grew to think of them all as friends and people she could trust. Even so she still has zero experience with cities and almost no experience socializing so she is often uncomfortable and awkward in those situations. and that has lead to some funny, odd and unpredictable scenarios for the entire party.

[@prestongobrien]

We had a Scooby Doo themed one-off campaign where everyone was required to multiclass one level of bard, and our mystery solving band was meat themed for some reason? I was a bard paladin named Sir Loin. What a time

[@AdThe1st]

You forgot the meta-gamer and there's only one way to play it and thats the monster hunter-esc background and this requires work with the dm to establish maybe what monsters you would know based on the regions you've worked in and that's difficult to make balanced

[@kazumablackwing4270]

Adamin if you're gonna go that route, just play a ranger and work it in with the ranger's "favored enemy type" feats..

[@badreddinekasmi8919]

That one chaotic evil character that wastes 2 hours of the game being an ass to a guard. And MANY other hours on other dumb shit, like trying to kill the team (and succeeding some times)

[@frankwieser478]

Watched this video before my game and we tpk’ed another player made a mute character. There logic is if I roll high on a die then I understand what there sign language is at that moment. If low I don’t. I sat in on my mothers sign language classes. It takes a long time to learn. I straight up told the player that i won’t understand you and to watch your vids. Love you guys

[@Neveko]

The character who is constantly going out of their way to mess things up for the party. I'm probably thinking of a specific kind of player and not character, but basically what I'm thinking of is the character who acts selfishly and single-mindedly ALL the time. Occasionally the brash move can be funny or thrilling, but when it's baked into the character that they basically do whatever they think, then it's basically like playing with a anthropomorphic timed bomb.

[@animefan3794]

I once played a Misanthrope Dhampire Monk. Or rather, tried. Game fell apart before it actually started because of schedules. Even with him being very “I don’t want to get involved, because moment things go wrong they’ll use my parentage as a way to blame me for it and persecute me,” he still had a connection to the party and possibly the adventure itself (never got to find out but hey, possibility was there. Connection to the party: his best friend and sparring partner, a Tiefling Fighter who I had planned that out with in advance. Possible connection to the story itself: NPC crush/love interest that I had the trait to get 1/day bonuses from via CHA checks (CHA was my dump stat, even at a 10, to keep that from becoming overpowered).

[@thefakeslimshady8881]

The thing that people often forget about loners in media is that none of them are actually really loners. It takes more than one character to have a story and normally it involves helping people

[@SavageGreywolf]

The problem with 'misanthrope' characters is right there in the description: "They're usually trying to reach for the essence of characters like Batman or Wolverine, but instead they just end up as surly murderhobos who will grumble and growl until it's time to kill more things." It's worth remembering that Wolverine and Batman are both characters who are almost never seen without their team (the X-Men and the Bat-Family and/or Justice League respectively- Batman's on _two_ teams imagine that). Both of those characters are, in fact, _team players._ They care about, respect, and rely upon their teammates- even if your character 'doesn't like' most people, they should like _their team._ Actually the way you can fix almost any 'bad' character is to make them a team player. I've often said that the way to play a Chaotic Evil character well in a D&D game is to make the party their _best friends_ and that they'll do _anything_ for their friends... **anything.** As for characters who actually _are_ misanthropic lone wolf types, such as the Punisher, it is worth pointing out they are infamous for being difficult to write well and for often having strings of time where they're poorly written. Maybe don't make a character that's hard to write.

[@Tomoose736]

I played a semi-mute once. Low charisma so at the start of the campaign he could only communicate with single words and short phrases. Later on his charisma increased and moved up to short sentences but never gave long speeches or negotiated. It was definitely challenging because I was more knowledgeable about rules and gameplay than the other players so I often had to bite my tongue in social situations. You can really play any type of character as long as you do it right.

[@jdhbeph]

I like how most of these are "don't play this character" and then "here's how to make this character work."

[@brandonhughes179]

"Captain 'How Can I Break the Game'"-- the one who tries to take every convoluted trick possible so that they can command an army of dinosaurs at 3rd level and thus out-power the rest of the party

[@CrazyMarioDudes]

Im currently playing a mute Merc in a scifi game. He has a helmet that just constantly displays Emoji's to help get his point across. We have a large group so most of the time he is just interacting interparty and just lets the group decide what is going on without his "voice". Its been a fun time, and any player that takes the skill for sign language gets passed notes or i will talk to them.

[@Halinspark]

I hare the character who's solution to everything is violence and murder. If we're doing am interrogation, and the cleric is having to actively fight to keep them alive, YOU'RE NOT HELPING. If we're trying capture somebody, maybe try not beating their face in.

[@HadesGamer100]

As a person who has played a mute character in a long running campaign (homebrew Druid archetype, basically griot but with more magic and sage like) you can easily overcome the problems mentioned by describing your characters actions in great detail and describing non verbal communications. Example: Torr slumps his shoulders and turns away it is obvious he is upset. The female dwarf walks towards him asking what is wrong but before she can get there he tosses something back, a burned acorn from the village that was burned. Turning around she sees a shield in his hands, with the insignia of the bandits. He looks at it and his arms grow in size crushing the shield. Stepping on it and moving towards the road his intentions are clear. He wouldn't let them get away.

[@HadesGamer100]

It helped that he was pretty powerful

[@rfrazier9231]

That is a lot of omniscient data in that "description." You're not describing anything. You're flat out telling them that Torr is "upset" because of "the village that was burned." That isn't describing action. Basically, the character just spoke. It would get old playing charades with the character every hour. And charades sucks as a game.

[@SuperYxskaft]

How did the others know that this random burnt acorn was from that village? Did they recognize it? "Oh, thats that acorn we saw earlier in that town that is now burnt down!" And in a way you are deciding how the other players interpret your actions, shouldnt that be up to them? Describing your characters actions you seemingly did a very god job at, but I would be annoyed if you thought it was ok to choose what my character thought your gestures were meant to convey for message.

[@MrIzzy5466]

My buddy is playing a Goliath that is Afraid of Gnomes. Only him and his DM knew this. So they went to a city...that was entirely Gnomes. One came out to greet him and he screamed on the Discord and smashed the poor gnome to death. The entire crew was super confused while dieing laughing. Sad I missed it

[@hugmonger]

I played 1 good mute character who got the pay off, but I had to make him Illiterate as well. In my groups Mute is often easily overcome and non-impactful, and we prize heavily our inter-player interactions and in particular players came to rely on me because I know our story teller and how he thinks so well. So when I took on the Role of the "Golem" in Vampire the Masquerade, being this massive hulking vampire who would draw the eye of everything, and serve as its master puppet through extended rituals, the players were made very uncomfortable. They kept trying to subvert the character's inability to speak and read and write but never could. They learned that they could not rely on me to lead them anymore as I had with so many other characters, I was no longer driving the tension as they grew so used to, so someone else had to learn how to. It made our entire group better as you didnt have my Vampire Prince hitting on everyone to try and get them to see things his way (Ventrue who regularly fed on Deva blood), you now had this thing that always listened for danger and knew how to intuit when someone became a threat and how to deal with them with mad efficiency.

[@davos6129]

The mute, or as I call him: My DMPC whenever we're down a person for a one-shot. We played Death House and one of the players couldn't make it cause something important came up. So I just used the opportunity and created a plague doctor type alchemist who didn't talk. He wasn't mute, he just suffered from a trauma. That in combination with no facial expressions(plague doctor mask) truly turned him into nothing more than another ally in fights

[@moonkingdomify]

people always say they hate Murder Hobos, but I don't think you fully understand what a murder hobo is until you've DMed for an 8 person group with 6 murder hobos. I have a solution for murder hobos in my setting now, but only if the entire group is full of murder hobos.