When Players Bring Joke Characters to Dungeons and Dragons

[@OneShotQuips]

Thank you Established Titles for sponsoring this video and making me a Lord! Use the code ONESHOT for 10% off. Check out establishedtitles.com/OneShot

[@joshuadixon4090]

are we Ad-barians cats?

[@candrtandn]

Titles purchased, hope I'm in the first 200! Next time I'm in Scotland I'll see if I can get permission to weave all the trees together

[@LucanVaris]

Sooooo... is now a bad time to mention that I've got a Tortle named Jason Walker (or Jay Walker for short), who has a top movement speed of 210 per turn by level 6? And that the main magical item I want for him is a pair of Boots of Speed, so I can 420 blaze a trail?

[@omikun17]

@@LucanVaris Does he pick up his shell when he runs?

[@omikun17]

I purchased my title. One Shot Quips kingdom!

[@sybyseb]

“So it’s going to be hard to make a bee allergy joke?” “No it’s going to be super easy, barely an inconvenience!”

[@kasperbuyens3562]

I NEED that crossover

[@reiteration6273]

I also immediately thought of Ryan George when he said "bee allergies are tight". 🤣

[@wildste]

"Oh really"

[@isaacnikolic5895]

Bee-rly an inconvenience.

[@yourbeardlybro5887]

DM: “The Bees sting Ryan George” Ryan George: “WOW! Ow ow…ow”

[@ShirotoraGodsbane]

That's when the DM says, "No, the dragon doesn't have a bee allergy. I don't care what the dice say. He burns all your bees to very tiny cinders."

[@alvisepernechele373]

Also because you stopped the dragon burns you to the ground dealing 260 fire damage

[@Biohazbird]

For a multiple-ton dragon, how much bee venom would you even need to cause an anaphylactic reaction?

[@Merilirem]

@@Biohazbird Quite a lot but still not too much to be done. You will need to restock on bee's though regardless.

[@vukkulvar9769]

The secret is to fake roll behind the DM screen and says "The dragon is not allergic". Shouldn't have been the player who roll.

[@hexerin]

@@Biohazbird If it works like human allergy, any at all.

[@wrath4452]

It’s all fun and games until your joke character slowly evolves into actually being an intimidating presence and a force to be reckoned with.

[@dispurson6421]

managed to do it with a wild magic pink kobold. i don't even know how it happened but we all cried in the end of the Tomb of Annihilation campaign.

[@Kartoffelkamm]

Or the consequences of abducting all those bees catch up to them as the ecosystem collapses due to a lack of pollinators.

[@lordmikystroy6347]

My mushroom cleric/druid:

[@davitto01]

Don't you mean a force to bee reckoned with? >.>

[@themindeclectic9821]

My NPC started as that. The joke is that he's an insanely powerful bard, who is just too much of a prick to help. He enjoys watching them struggle lmao

[@UtterlyTangential]

My friend's little brother made a character named Spoon. He is a goblin bard who plays the spoons, fights with a spoon as a weapon, and collects spoons like a klepto. He, naturally, only uses spoons for any cutlery based application, including cutting his meat. He also has 2 brothers, named Fork and Knife, but we don't talk about them. It's a touchy subject.

[@fromthelostdays]

I hope that there were many "You spoony bard" jokes to be had.

[@YorkJonhson]

Is Knife a cut above the rest?

[@UtterlyTangential]

@@YorkJonhson That's amazing. I'll make sure to ask him next time we meet up lol We're still unsure of where the sibling animosity comes from, so that could be a good ice breaker.

[@Kineth1]

Sounds like he's not the sharpest spoon in the drawer, er, camp.

[@shuukenji6585]

And his ultimate nemesis Spork

[@VocraTheVoridian]

My friends first character was a joke one. A werewolf cleric called waffles who's oath forbid him from commiting direct violence, so he could only kill by either throwing his mace or sheild. Or dropping stuff on his enemies. He lasted the whole campaign. I've never played DnD but it sounds fun. My friends want me to DM because I write fantasy stories. So whenever we do that, I look forward to it.

[@asquirrelplays]

I think it was DungeonCraft that did a pretty good video about how writers are not dungeon masters, and dungeon masters aren't writers. I thought it was a little strange at first but could see what he meant. Then, as someone who loves writing fantasy, I took the DM position and gave it a shot one day. While there is some crossover, they are two VERY different skillsets. When you do decide to start GMing, do NOT try to make a wonderful, super in depth story, because your players are guaranteed to ruin it. And when they do ruin it, you'll either be aggravated or bummed out that they missed all the plot details you had fleshed out. This is also why, to this day, I don't plan anything until either the day of our session, or the day before. We started our 2nd campaign semi recently and the only thing I had planned out was the first session, a mentor character to push them along, and a way to acquire a "home base". That's it. I didn't even know who or what the BBEG would be when we started.

[@lkriticos7619]

@@asquirrelplays I write fantasy and DM a fair bit. The way I handled it was by putting a lot of effort into building the world and NPCs in places the players would encounter. Then I sort of sat back and let the players loose to decide where they wanted to go and what aspects of the world they were interested in. It's worked pretty well so far. Kind of the opposite approach to writing though.

[@lukeskarda1780]

The MOST important thing is scheduling. It doesn't matter if you are Matt Mercer if nobody can show up.

[@cach12]

Can’t commit direct violence so they turned to ranged attacks? Sounds like extra steps to commit direct violence. Lol

[@IceMetalPunk]

@@asquirrelplays It depends on your writing style. I'm a hobbyist writer, but I'm particularly fond of what's called "discovery writing"; that is, I decide who the characters are and design the world around them, then I just let them do what they'd do naturally with no planning or coercion from me. If a character does something I don't like, I don't just rewrite their actions, I figure out how to change the world around them to convince them to try something different. I rarely know what's going to happen on the next page as I'm writing the current one. (This, by the way, is the writing style favored by Stephen King.) I think if you're a discovery writer, your existing skillset is extremely suited to DM'ing, as it's basically discovery writing except instead of you figuring out what all your characters would do, some of them tell you what they'll do from across the table 😁

[@jonathanstern5537]

I mean, the simple solution is to say "Yeah, the dragon doesn't have any allergies. It's a fucking dragon."

[@VanNessy97]

Just simply make it a law of biological physics that "Dragons don't have allergies. And, by extension, neither do any Dragonborn."

[@Sairiui]

Idk man. My brother applied this same logic to his dog and gave it chocolate.

[@olivercui6104]

@@SairiuiNot sure if chocolate is like an allergy to animals like dogs and cats. I think it’s more like a chemical that just kills them. Think of it as like cyanide or other poisons for dogs and stuff. I understand the joke though, I’m sorry.

[@nafereuskortex9055]

If you don't want joke characters in the campaign tell the players. Makes things easier if your not willing to roleplay around it.

[@MarlonShakes]

If you're a player and make a joke character without asking your DM directly then you shoudo just be removed from the game.

[@asquirrelplays]

@@MarlonShakes to be fair, a lot of people should just be removed from a lot of games/tables

[@ArcCaravan]

@@MarlonShakes It sounded like the DM was informed ahead of time but didn't actually check until the session.

[@monsterberger7728]

@@ArcCaravan yeah, that's why I don't feel bad

[@xenon8079]

@@dndbasement2370 amen

[@cdesigner9178]

This is why I usually make my characters comic relief rather than a joke character. Or if I'm making a joke character, I make sure that there is more to the character than just the original joke. For example, I have a character concept called Necro Mancer. Necro Mancer is not actually a necromancer. He is an undead patron warlock, but due to his name, everybody is scared of him. He is a dhampir, and his patron is his retired vampire lord mother. He is a cool guy who wants to be a hero and make friends, since his name and heritage have made it so that he didn't have any growing up. There is some serious to the character; he has a goal, he has a personality. Nevertheless, I can make jokes about his name and how his mom will call him telepathically as his patron to "check in on my little boy."

[@davidholdorf297]

I love this fun character gotta try something like this

[@UtterlyTangential]

As a dm, I would have so much fun roleplaying those little telepathic check-ins lol

[@kylekillgannon]

Hey! I made a vampire momma's boy too! Mine was a hexblade flavor, with a Norman Bates kind of angle to him. He could be deeply unsettling, intimidating, but also absolutely hilarious riffing off of. I think it's about how much depth you give the characters and a willingness to poke fun at the layers to it.

[@echiko4932]

Hoh... I can imagine an npc called Necrom Answer who is an oracle of a death god or something.

[@stargazer1998]

How about a bard named “Nec Romancer”

[@speculativemusings3593]

My group has an odd fascination with joke names. A Fairy Barbarian named Barbie Dahl. A warlock with a raven familiar named Quoth. A Warforged Cleric named Luciforge. The list goes on.

[@deni140492deni]

I made a warforged cleric of the forge named Forget (it reads Forjet). Got to step up the game ahahahahahaha

[@IceMetalPunk]

To be fair, there are only three correct names for a raven: Quoth, Jessamy, or Matthew. Actually, wait, no, there are six if you also include Azarath, Metrion, and Zinthos.

[@MakeMeLOLZ101]

Hey, I also have a warforged cleric! It's name is Bud Wiser, created by an alcoholic halfling.

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

my group has a vampire shadow monk named bitnek.

[@deni140492deni]

@@IceMetalPunk hugin munin

[@asheronwindspear552]

After hearing your words the dragon is annoyed, a thick plume of smoke escapes its nostrils. Your bees are now asleep on the ground due to the smoke and the dragon stares into your eyes before unleashing its fire breath. What's that the damage was more than double your total HP? Beegone then.

[@senor-achopijo3841]

Nice

[@EliteSwordsMen5]

I love making "Joke characters" into actually serious characters. My most recent one is an Orc bard that Is incredibly terrible at singing. He just uses intimidation to "convince" people that his singing is good. The whole "serious" aspect of the character is: His beloved sister loved listening to his terrible singing, and was the only one to encourage his "Bard" dreams. So wanting to continue his singing career in memory of his sister, he travels across the land, spreading the word of the "Mighty Twilight! The greatest bard in the world!"

[@AlexQuill63]

Reminds me of that joke on tumblr about Grogg the Orc Rogue. No dexterity, just puts all his points into Charisma so every time somebody spots him sneaking through somewhere he just roars YOU DO NOT SEE GROGG at them and lets the high Intimidation rolls make them go I DON'T SEE YOU I DON'T SEE YOU.

[@KILLERGUNZ27]

Currently in the process of playing one of these types of characters: Carnal Mario: aasimar druid and demigod of sex

[@nathanielbass771]

this might be one of the most creative characters i've ever heard of. The annoying part? How do you determine what the NPC's intimidation checks are? and what if he rolls a 1 or they roll a 20?

[@Justforvisit]

"Are you REALLY THAT BAD at singing?!" "You can try to find out" *Wink Wink* "Uuhhmm.....maybe not..."

[@Carabas72]

If he's genuinely terrible then most of his Bard powers simply are not going to work, no matter how much intimidation he has.

[@SageGohan217]

DM: You can play your home brew as long as it’s balanced. Player: It’s totally balanced. *Kills a red dragon in the first session solo* Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[@nahlies2382]

If you allow for bee allergies capable of instantly incapacitating a dragon (WHICH SHOULD HAVE LEGENDARY RESISTANCES) the entire sequence is not only entirely your fault, but you deserve to be actively suffering such situations in EVERY campaign

[@LauraSti]

@@nahlies2382 You can just say "The dragon doesn't have a bee allergy. You can't just bluff a characteristic into existence like that." If you actively permit the player to BLUFF AN ALLERGY INTO EXISTENCE that wasn't planned to be present you deserve to lose your entire plot.

[@nahlies2382]

@@LauraSti EXACTLY. Like we get this is a joke, but it's definitely a poorly constructed one considering EVERYTHING that happened is absolutely the DMs fault, from not checking the homebrew beforehand, to allowing a dragon to instantly die because of a nat 20 and nat 100 to a lvl 1 or whatever character.

[@LauraSti]

@@nahlies2382 I can kind of see what happened where they were all talking about bee allergies and the dm just focused on bees not piercing the armor, but to actually fool the dm you have to dance around for 5-10 minutes about it until they get gaslit into believing that the dragon had a bee allergy in the first place. At that point any experienced dm knows what the player's trying to do, and they'll shortcut it. That suggests that this guy, in spite of planning for a whole year for this story, is not an experienced dm, and that means this player is a jerk for hassling a newbie dm with all this nonsense.

[@nahlies2382]

@@LauraSti NO inexperienced DM knows where to even START in planning a campaign for over a year

[@cadedelafosse994]

"All of a sudden three tarrasques show up with epinephrine and bee resistance armor" -A DM who had enough

[@Asghaad]

that DM would just say "no it doesnt" end of discussion ive had a player like this in my group, trying to mess with me for no reason, when the group messed up the dungeon i prepared and got captured i instead tried to NOT get them killed and basically winged whole subsection of campaign to get them off the hook by theyr captors offering them freedom if they go on a quest ... and this dickwad sayd "no" just to mess with me ... so his character got executed while the rest of the group went on a - pretty decent for being improvised on the spot - adventure so while others were playing he was sitting in the corner rerolling another character ... that i refused to insert into the story until AFTER current session was over... remember, DM has ALL the power to say what happens or doesnt, so being an obnoxious dick doesnt pay off

[@helpme5785]

"the tarrasques are avid beekeepers and have full be protection and smokers"

[@swskitso]

If the DM knew how to read percentile there would be no problem. 0 + 00 = 10 not 100

[@tamriel7570]

@@swskitso Imagine being this confident about something you're so wrong about.

[@blade7y156]

@@swskitso That's a 100. Definitely. I have some of those, and a 10 would be 10+0. Simple.

[@frederickross8131]

I can already tell the next bbeg is going to be Asmobeeus or possibly Beeamat, I'm going to assume that Paladin worships Beehamut. 🐝

[@colddorito]

Try beehamut

[@laoxep]

@@colddorito And a pet beaver

[@kaeles3548]

You mean BeeBeeEG :P

[@frederickross8131]

Some of these bee puns are sweet as honey, others sting so bad they're giving me hives

[@ryanweible9090]

or maybe beeamat.

[@AuthorWorldbuilder]

This is honestly the DM’s fault for agreeing to the idea that the dragon would have a new allergy. Why would a dragon be allergic to bees?

[@nahlies2382]

Yeah. TOTALLY balanced homebrew... Instantly incapacitating and killing a dragon like that. Should TOTALLY be an allowed homebrew class

[@kenjutsukata1o1]

Seriously, that one's easy to fix. He made the dragon, so he gets to decide if it's allergic to bees or not. He could even just say "dragons can't have bee allergies" and been done with it. But another reason it's ultimately the DM's fault is not having a session 0 where he gets everyone on the same page about what the campaign tone he was going for is and what the expectations were. He spent a year planning the campaign but zero time getting the game itself prepped.

[@PrettierNPastel]

​@@nahlies2382that had nothing to do with the homebrew and more to do with the dm getting caught up in the players flow

[@DipUniversal]

If I were that DM, I would've just said "You tried your best, but unfortunately every single one of your bees comes from a hive with a genetic mutation that just makes things annoyed while doing absolutely 0!"

[@PixieoftheWood]

Yeah, and the game has swarm summoning rules. If I was the DM, I'd just apply the normal rules you'd get for swarm of rats/swarm of bats/swarm of imps, whatever.

[@realstorm3681]

„Bee allergies are tight!“ „No, no they are not!“ „Oh, whoops" „Whoopsie!"

[@raincloudplaysgames2136]

Oh references to other KZbin series are TIGHT

[@dougpouncey]

“It’s going to be difficult to kill this dragon.” “Actually it’s going to be super easy. Barely an inconvenience.”

[@thatoneeasilyoffendedboi1257]

DM Rule 137: According to Murphy’s Law, “if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.” Therefore, do not give your players a strong, irreplaceable enemy that is essential to forward the story.

[@ge118]

that pretty much sums up the entirety of dnd

[@FordPrefict42]

I have always preferred O'Toole's commentary: Murphy was an optimist. LOL

[@icypopsicle9082]

And if you do, have several backup plans in case anything goes south. Because they will

[@doesntmatter2467]

Honestly if such a villain does die early you could always just give they're role to a new villain.

[@blade7y156]

Oh you can totally give to players a string and irreplaceable ennemy essential to the story, but you just have to make your players understand they can't beat it the first time they saw it. It can be as simple as "a 20 misses" or simply explaining that no matter the rolls the difference of levels is just too high. Like a basic ant can't beat a human, even if the human is living the most unlucky day of his life and the ant its most lucky.

[@Ad_Astrum1121]

"I am here on time and were not canceling," said no D&D player ever.

[@SeaBunnny]

Every late player: I'm sorry I'm late but I brought pizza

[@KHeartsFan-rh3vm]

That one has been said. Now for the one you meant: “We are all here on time and we’re not canceling. “ Yours is a quote of a pissed of player who really wants to play that day.

[@Ad_Astrum1121]

@@KHeartsFan-rh3vm I typed a whole response, then it got deleted cause I typed it in the notification area on pc and I accidentally clicked off, but it summed up to "That's most likely cause I had been in that position for forever before I gave up being able to play." I just can't do online and live to far away to go to a place for it, and this situation with my friends who were interested in D&D, we just all have very different schedules so it didn't work out)

[@asquirrelplays]

Oh you know there's that one guy in every group that never cancels because D&D is his entire life.

[@Ad_Astrum1121]

@@asquirrelplays I mean when we could get together I never canceled except when I was sick and even when I wanted to for other reasons someone canceled before I could but it's more because I almost always cleared out the planed day because we planned it then dnd being my life.

[@brandongalvan6603]

Allow me to introduce you to Sam the Druid - a Human who likes to Wild Shape into SamMule. He's on a quest to find his Druid sister who left their circle to multiclass into Bard and become a hit celebrity - Megan the Stallion.

[@mikaneko]

... i hate that I laughed. XD

[@IceMetalPunk]

...this is the kind of pun that makes me facepalm and smile and shake my head all at the same time.

[@brandongalvan6603]

And their circle resides in Wildemount.

[@VanNessy97]

@@brandongalvan6603 NOT WILDEMOUNT 💀

[@JakeSmith-et7sp]

“And they’re gonna fight a dragon with bees” “Oh that’ll be hard” “Actually super easy, barely an inconvenience”

[@lukefranklin5]

That’s an easy fix honestly. “You see a dragon 10x the size of the first one wander up. As it comes upon its slain child, pure rage fills its heart as it vows to stop at nothing to avenge its child”. Now you’ve solved your problem, and you’ve given the dragon a personal reason to hate the adventurers

[@foisopracurtir6389]

The menssage above me was a scam

[@lukefranklin5]

@@foisopracurtir6389 yes

[@swskitso]

Easier fix would be learning the triple zero is ten not one hundred.

[@nathanielbass771]

depends upon how the DM rolls. a dragon would provide enough XP, gold and fame that it would pretty much destroy any interaction within cities, or with anyone that isn't obviously evil or distraught. They'd jump from level 1 to like level 5

[@blade7y156]

@@swskitso That's definitely a 100, there is such a thing as "10" on percentile dice.

[@mangaartist303]

I unintentionally made a character with a slightly punny name. It was Vahn. Vahn Mor. He was the most serious character in the series of one shots I used him in. I later made most of his kids have even punnier names, including the one I was playing. Unfortunately, no one ever learned Tahl Mor's real name, so there wasn't any chance for Skyrim puns.

[@Kyperium]

I'm running a campaign that I told my players at the start will probably end of lasting a few years. One of them showed up with Penguini, the dwarf cleric of Pelor who disguises herself as a penguin 24/7 and just lives life as a talking penguin

[@inkarozu2309]

Penguini would pair well with my Kenku Swamkeeper Ranger "Emperor Kowalski" who my DM allowed my particular swarm to be various species of penguins.

[@Asghaad]

joke characters are really easy to get rid of ... if they try to mess with you ... well they started it didnt they ...

[@pokemonplaya7714]

I once played a character for an entire campaign based on the ‘Nick Cage Bee Cage’ scene. He died multiple times, and kept being revived. He was a Bee-themed Mage who worshipped Enzazza. He ended up essentially becoming a Demi-god at the end. Good times.

[@NobleWolf]

Being a DM, my jaw hit he floor for the duration of this video, So much pain. But being a player, this is awesome haha XD

[@giuseppepiuma1965]

Prepare less and less by going forward and you'll solve 90% of stuff by improvisation

[@NobleWolf]

@@giuseppepiuma1965 Thanks, Thats what Ill be doing here soon onward lol

[@jonnytech7953]

@@giuseppepiuma1965 that's terrible advise. You don't know anything about the person, their game, their players, or really anything to do with them. Some people do not thrive on improvisation where as some are amazing at it. Also, some groups need to be lead more than others. The trick is to find your and your group's point of balance and work from there. Personally, I find having a well crafted story with a few alternative paths roughed out as well as some random npcs available works wonders for me. But that's for me. My newer to DMing brother (9mos) is much more a straight line, follow a module person.

[@giuseppepiuma1965]

@@NobleWolf people are hating me for this but of course you should adapt this approach to your group and your style, but preparing a lot of stuff that players can easily ignore or destroy will only frustrate a GM in time

[@NobleWolf]

@@giuseppepiuma1965 Yeah I know, I just decided to not taking it personally anymore. Thanks for the advice. Im hoping to start streaming our games again here again but wil be awhile

[@mitchellenderson7194]

If there’s one thing I learned about joke characters, it’s that they’re going to give you an unlimited amount of future hooks, and that when the situation calls for a sacrifice, everyone will cry when Wingding The Wingding-Speaking Goblin who wants to fly lays down their life to ensure the rest of the party survives.

[@Drakoni23]

My favourite part about this sketch is the other player being a hype man. Support your fellow players yall!

[@stanard_bearer]

I dunno, they seem like crappy friends

[@jamdaham9054]

Reminds me of a campaign I'm playing in that started fairly recently, involving a friend, my brother and I. My friend is playing this really cool Warforged Sorcerer, who is built in such a way that his systems can replicate spells, and is constantly searching for his creator. Meanwhile my brother is playing an insane old Way of the Astral Self Monk, who believes himself to be Sensei Wu from Lego Ninjago, and activates his Arms of the Astral Self by spinning around and calling it Spinjitsu, and I'm playing a College of Eloquence Bard named Jimmy the Amazing Guy Who is so Cool and Everyone Loves Yay (That is his name), who has started a religion (cult) which he is the messiah of, named The-Amazing-Guy-Who-Is-So-Cool-And-Everyone-Loves-Yayism, and keeps derailing the campaign by attempting to convert random citizens to his religion (His end goal is to become a god). I feel so bad for my friend and our DM, having to deal with my brother and I's shit.

[@dbrxbyt7417]

I recently started to be a dm, it suprised me how easy an owl bear is to be defeated by a group of 4 level 1 characters, any tips?

[@redrex757]

Well, maybe they got really lucky with dice rolls or are really well coordinated. Try putting more than one smaller and weaker enemy to balance things out instead of only a big one

[@Autumn_Leaf8]

You can scale up or down it's health to make it more challenging.

[@doomhammer3022]

2 owl bears

[@nnnik3595]

Just throwthe adequate amount of shadows for their level at them. But all jokes aside its just experience

[@Axetwin]

2 owl bears. But seriously, the first couple sessions is a good way to feel out your party. Get an impression of what they can do, how strong they are, and the tactics each one likes to use. Once you get a sense of that, then you can really tailor your campaign around playing to their strengths and playing off their weaknesses. A few things to remember. You control more than you think. Don't give them an item you don't want to be used against you. If you think you made an encounter too hard, change the plan on the fly and give the players an out to run away. It's better for them to run away, lick their wounds than it is for them to steamroll through every encounter because then they'll end up getting bored.

[@dannydanggang1675]

My one true joke character is a goblin barbarian/rune knight fighter that uses fish for weapons. It was a joke character that some sessions later became serious, but still kept using aquatic animals. It went crazy when he was using a great white shark as a sword to fight giants

[@WundawuziAT]

So the DM spent a year and the best he could come up with for a start is "You randomly happen to be chased by a dragon". Not a big loss haha.

[@inquisitorkobold6037]

Nothing wrong with jumping right into the action.

[@solveigliljapells5800]

You really like to suck the joy out of everything and everyone don't you? Act high and mighty all you like, but know that ultimately you will suffer a fate fitting of a snarky little toerag.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

And judging by the fact that he apparently had the next fifteen minutes planned out, he was likely going to railroad them the whole way.

[@okitasoujialter]

A player of mine once had a character named "Mogus Amongus" and every time his character died he had a new variation of the name ready to go. This happened 5 times throughout the campaign. (I swear I wasn't targeting him on purpose, the dude was just really unlucky)

[@VanNessy97]

What's so funny about Sussus Amogus? Why, I have a very great friend in Rome named Sussus Amogus.

[@MantyCore201X]

My first ever character is named Impostor...

[@yourbeardlybro5887]

DM: “The dragon purposely aims its fire directly at your knees, reducing your bee knee puns to 0, effective immediately” Bee Paladin: “don’t you mean….immediatBEE?”

[@LordScrambles1]

That ad aged like ice cream in the 120° sun.

[@gre3nishsinx0Rgold4]

I was once part of a game session where one of my acquaintance started out as a joke character. But was balanced, much to the dms dread. Somehow got bored halfway, changed the character without everyone's knowledge. Into a reasonable front line brawler with good consistent healing. Dude was one of the strongest in the team. Really showing glory befitting his name. Wanto breakfree of House Queen. An ancient and noble house from the northeast.

[@TheCantripCast]

THEY MADE BEES COME OUT OF THEIR KNEES

[@hyperremnant]

I had a player who joined in late, wanted to be Freddy Freaker a small yellow goblin-like creature as a warlock, I agreed, the session he was introduced the party was fighting a priest that worshipped a fire God, and he called in a fire ball from the sky the size of a house, the rest of the party found a cellar and hid in it, they come out to find the entire place razed to ash, with the new player (Freddy Freaker) as part of the debre just standing there T-posing and violently vibrating, so the party pieces together that he spawned from the giant fireball, in the end he became an absolute powerhouse that wanted to fuse with everyone he came across and started using Kamehameha blasts and spirit bombs and ended sacrificing himself and a party member to try and stop the bbeg.

[@ianweech]

"Bee allergies are tight!" "But do you really think you can kill a dragon with bee allergies?" "Yeah, it'll be super easy, barely an incon-bee-nience."

[@emmaarvidsson6359]

In the voice of Matt Mercer: rocks falls everyone dies

[@ThefifthBishopofGord]

I was kinda expecting the character to bee rebeealed as a Hive mind of bees that beelieve themselves to bee this person. The only reason I thought of this because of Spiders Man who is a version of Spider-Man who instead of having being bitten by a radioactive spider Peter Parker was eaten entirely by a bunch of radioactive spiders that are a hive mind that has personality of Peter Parker after consuming him.

[@MANABEANS_YOUTUBE]

I have a Duck Wizard named Sir Mallard . Any time he polymorphs anything it's a weird mix of whatever beast he was trying to polymorph the creature into and a duck. Even had a friend make a custom drawing of a Duckasaurus-Rex. Only homebrew is just reskinning and flavor, no game mechanic changes (except maybe being able to pretend to just be a normal Duck).

[@philosophicaljay3449]

You see, I don't understand these types of joke characters. There are ways of making joke characters that actually fit in otherwise serious campaigns, and so you can enjoy playing a joke character without ruining it for other people. For example, a character I built for an upcoming campaign, Throbby Snowhawk. Son of a prominent wizard family's patriarch, a family where the next head is decided in a meritocratic way. He, however, is not actually talented in magic like the rest of his family. He is not that bright, and barely managed to graduate from the magic school he was sent to. He one time heard the saying "A healthy mind requires a healthy body" but misheard it as "A strong mind requires a strong body", causing him to work on his physicality in order to improve his magical abilities. He is an Eldritch Knight that thinks he is a wizard. He punches things a lot (unarmed fighting style + homebrew that lets him use his unarmed strikes for things like Green-Flame Blade). He wears a wizard robe with the sleeves ripped off because his arms are too thick to comfortably move in robes otherwise. He is a Variant Human with a slightly altered Strixhaven Student background (to represent his own magic school he went to) and the Ritual Caster feat. The graduation requirement was to successfully cast Magic Missiles. He did pass this, but it was moreso that the faculty wanted to rush him out the doors. They didn't want to expel him for bad grades because of his prominent background, but they didn't want to keep him around either. When he did the test he did cast Magic Missiles, but not all of them actually hit the target and they moved in a strange way (Jim's Magic Missile without the Royalty component). He also speaks with a mix of a Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage like voice. He can fit into a more serious campaign, since the joke elements all revolve around him not actually being that smart, yet he is a joke character. I introduced him as an NPC to the group I am currently playing with (he was originally built to play with a different group, but that game never happened) and they loved him enough that when one of the members DM's next that I am allowed to play as him.

[@stanard_bearer]

my joke characters are similar in approach. for example, an undying pact warlock, pact of the tome, required invocations are aspect of the moon (can't sleep) and a homebrew one that lets me know the name, race, height, weight, and cause of death of any corpse I look at. (reasons explained later) he made a pact with the grim reaper to serve as a sortof supernatural middle management, he simply must record the info given by the second invocation from every corpse into the book of the dead. this grants that being admittance to the afterlife. he travels with the party because pages are missing from the book of the dead (be it ancient heroes that we quest to find the tomb of, or just beourocratic Incompetence and he's the fall guy) it made one of the most interesting stereotypical edgelords (my party dubbed him such) ever.

[@chucksucks8640]

I wouldn't consider that a 'joke character' at all.

[@philosophicaljay3449]

@@chucksucks8640 Why not?

[@GoodNeutralEvilChaos]

OSQ: Can you believe that? A year of love, dedication and hard work?! Me: That's nothing. Try 200+ hours of research for 1 character. ONE F***ING CHARACTER!!!

[@kevinkorenke3569]

Maybe I'm just part of the old fashioned generation of role-playing games, but my character generation usually starts off with me taking about 15 minutes to think of a fun character hook and then build off of that. In an hour I have a character that is going to be fun to play and found to play with. Players today are trying way too hard to impress people with their creative skills.

[@GoodNeutralEvilChaos]

@@kevinkorenke3569 oh, I'm not trying to impress anyone, I'm just autistic. I make a character and in 5 minutes I have pretty much everything done but then my mind goes "What about the parents? The city? Does that powers really work that way? Doesn't that power contradict that weakness? When did the sun go down?" It's hell living in my head.

[@TheDjMoo]

Try building a 3.5e character. I've been working on this one for the last 5 weeks and only just finished everything. I still second guess myself about it constantly, thinking about possibly changing a few feats or one class for another. Its wonderful and terrible.

[@GoodNeutralEvilChaos]

@@TheDjMoo I feel you, my solution? Listen to your gut. If I want to make a change for any reason, I always get feeling behind the conflict that help me with the decision I like more.

[@kenroach5469]

Try a DM who built his own colored world maps on hex paper with colored pencils and contour lines for the mountains and hills. And laminated every area map of the entire world. And fully documented every city and town with area maps, also colored and laminated, and full writeups on every NPC, including tavern keepers. In 1978. All while being accused of worshipping demons because of playing D&D. And is still using all the maps and campaign info for his current campaign. Psychosis?!? Why would you think I have some kind of psychosis?

[@hitrapperandartistdababy605]

My favourite type of characters are ones that are lighthearted, but still engaging characters that aren't just made for laughs. One of my favourite characters I have made was a warforged who was a war machine that forgot how to fight and so he instead decided to become a chef.

[@mikeanco]

Being honest here, if someone brings a joke character to my campaign I speak to them in advance asking them why they're bringing a joke character and what the joke is, and if we can come to agreement on some sort of genuine character growth for them I allow it, (example, one of my groups created a new culinary item called an umlet, as in um, let's see what this makes, but they made it as a genuine attempt to influence an npc, I just did the whole "and what's it called thing" that pcsnormally do to DMs, it made me laugh, so I ran with it), otherwise I ask them to kindly make a new character, if they refuse I inform them I'm not comfortable running a campaign with that character

[@ProfiteerProphet]

To be honest i'm always confused by these videos where players just...deliver their character sheet on session one and thats it? I am NOT starting a campaing without knowing exactly who the characters are. How do you possibly customize your story to fit your players' narrative if you don't fucking know who their characters are?

[@Jessie_Helms]

“Oh bee allergies are tight!” I think that would have made the fight super easy, barely an inconvenience.

[@liastining4836]

They all made joke characters for my campaign... They all did... I spent months preparing... We actually have a really good time the tone just changed a lot from more gritty to hey let's name Frankenstein creation Timmy kinda thing. I know it's frustrating but just roll with it you can't control your players all you can do is have fun

[@victoriam.4927]

Don’t the players & DM typically talk to each other before the first session, so that they know what kind of setting/tone it is, what kind of races are allowed, etc?

[@rkcpek]

The Half-Orc whose under a curse. It makes him "believe" that the curse actually makes him look like a tiny kobold when it doesn't.

[@ryuichy95]

"Bee allergies are TIGHT!" ... was that a nod to Ryan George?!

[@paragamer85]

So wait, does that mean you’re a Lord AND a Duke now? 😉

[@stevenn1940]

It means he was scammed, those sites are as legitimate as making a title yourself and printingnit out

[@rakso3820]

@@stevenn1940 Yee, people keep falling for that, that's honestly amazing

[@FredrickTesla]

@@stevenn1940 All titles are meaningless prestige anyway. They only mean something if you decide they do. His title is just as legitimate as any other.

[@paragamer85]

@@stevenn1940 fair point… those poor saps that are now lords of Sealand or whatever it’s called…

[@stevenn1940]

@@FredrickTesla Tell that to a doctor (medical or otherwise), military officer, knight of Britain, etc. Titles have weight to them, and many have laws in various countries restricting their use. And while it's arguable that any distinction created by society is meaningless prestige, half of what we do as humans is for meaningless prestige, real or contrived.

[@thefriendlyknight]

My joke character was a Cleric of Heavy Metal. He was a tank cleric that was basically a Valor Bard. He was a fun character (I am still playing him).

[@jonathonpolk3592]

The trick to having joke characters in a serious campaign is to find a way to keep them useful for the scenario while leaving room so that they can perform their role (usually comic relief) without disrupting the world. Example: I played a guy named Sir Trevor Proudlance, who (consistent with his namesake) was very impressed with the apparent size of his manhood (which was actually quite diminutive, but i digress). In every respect, his gigantic ego dwarfed his talent and achievement. Case in point: he wasn't really a Sir or lord of anything and wasn't a knight; he was just a bard, and a really bad one at that (CHA of 8; it was his dumpstat). His other stats were mostly mediocre, and he wasn't particularly good at the lute either, but he was part of a troupe that kept him along out of pity's sake. His utter lack of social skills and self awareness made the game quite hillarious at times, and everyone (including the DM) had a blast. That said, it wouldn't have been fun if he was completely useless to the campaign, since he couldn't even use most basic bard abilities and spells due to the low CHA. So the DM gave him a blessing from the goddess of luck (she also felt sorry for him) with a bow of chaos (cue the absurd old d100 wild magic table) and let him use unlimited bardic inspiration as a free action 1x per round. It mostly made up for the handicap and let him be useful in buffing the rest of the party. By maintaining some utility, he didn't become a drag on the rest of the party.

[@IceMetalPunk]

A bard with a charisma dump stat of 8... now I've seen everything.

[@thebeartubechannel7022]

One of the characters that are in the campaign I'm playing in (Storm King's Thunder) is called Schmelfae, last campaign (Temple of Elemental Evil reworked for 5e, we didn't finish it) he played Schmelfoe and he's planning to play Schmelfee, Schmelfie, Schmelfoo, Schmebulok, and many more stupid 1000 yr old high elves that are 8'7" (this is a public game in a game store). And you could say he's helping the party in combat or in roleplay. No. Not at all. He cast fly to escape combat. He ran away to escape combat. He roleplays in a wheezey grandpa voice that sounds like someone is having severe allergies and telling you to use the epi pen. So I hope he changes his mind next campaign and plays an original character because I don't want Schmelfie in the next campaign lol.

[@Yeeman64]

I have this one member of my party that ALLWAS brings a joke character to EVERY single campaign.

[@amarinreyny5316]

Okay, but why did the DM's campaign, which he worked on for a year, start off with the characters being chased by a dragon without any context given as to why, or even any info on their surroundings? Like, I understand it's meant to be a joke, but it's kind of hard for me to see the joke character player as being any more responsible for the ensuing chaos than the DM.

[@Take2TheStars]

It's a skit-

[@Barksdale-em8sw]

Most likely he adlibed a dragon to kill the joke character

[@minokakio6758]

Or maybe the joke characters last character died last session against the dragon and thats why they are running away and he needed to introduce the new character into the game.

[@amarinreyny5316]

@@Take2TheStars True, but it was rather distracting from the humor.

[@amarinreyny5316]

@@Barksdale-em8sw That is actually a very good point.

[@justanothermichigander4683]

I made a joke character called Greg, who was a pacifist Druid from Minnesota who worshipped at the church of Greg and fought with a home brewed ent-like monster called Greg Jr. he traveled around in a potted plant that Greg carried with him all the time and summoned him in battles. Thing is, this is a level 5 campaign and my DM never scaled the stats of our enemies, so Greg Jr and our barbarian just wrecked everyone through the whole campaign. It was one of the best campaigns we’ve ever had, and now I’ve been nominated to write a whole Campaign around the church of Greg and the various Gregs that inhabit it. If you’re gonna make a joke character, at least make them useful

[@melissaclaassen9707]

How does one petition to join the Church of Greg? Asking for a friend.

[@NoelmIsAlive]

If my players did this then I’d just brake in to laughter as I tried to wright it in. Maybee you have to take him to a dragon hospital and save his life so he will tell you the location of his horde

[@traviscummings9178]

And then the joke character turns into an absolute boss that wrecks any monster or person they face

[@deni140492deni]

I made a Skaven plague monk. (Ratkin druid of the spores), he carries a staff with a bell on top of it that he bonks his enemies with. He has no restrictions to food being canibalistic if he fancies, he never took a bath and the very spores of his skill are what keeps the stink from spreading, he has an addiction to warps... I mean, allucinogenic shrooms that calms him otherwise he's always skittering and shivering, he grows the shrooms in his own filthy skin and he grinds them up to snort or smoke them. Also, I act as a proper Skaven, speaking as fast as I can and repeating words of similar meaning to murder-kill the enemies yes-yes. Also, everyone sees him as a gross repugnant being while he sees himself as the prettiest creature in the world. Of course he's caótic evil.

[@MurasakiTsukimaru]

DM: "The stings mildly irritate the dragon, but the bees don't have nearly enough venom to do more than piss it off. He now uses his fire breath for (rolls) 147 damage."

[@nahlies2382]

Even then, if the player handed him homebrew that looks balanced enough, and then MID SESSION tries to argue over allergys, it's NOT balanced, the DMs an idiot, and the players a dick

[@raeishimura]

Yeah, this happens in a serious game I've spent that long working on, then that's the moment you use the classic "you can certainly try" and when he rolls a nat 20 just say "nope. The dragon Is not allergic to bees. But while you are kneeling to release your bees, it unleashed a flaming blast that hits you and does 150 damage, and ignites the building behind you, which is the only temple to bees in the kingdom. Your religious order of bees burns along with your now crispy body and no longer will a new paladin of bees arise. You may kindly roll up a new character and you may no longer use the oath of bees." But I'm petty like this.

[@oz_jones]

I mean... this was totally on the DM for not reading the character sheet beforehand. And approving homebrew (homebeew?) of a *bee paladin*

[@ДвирникЯрослав]

"Oh no, not the bees! Not the bees! Aaaaah! My eyes! My eyes! Aaaaah!" - The Dragon, probably

[@user-cx9un9fs7q]

Inaccurate red dragons are instinctual fighters the moment they start fighting you the only thing they can think of is killing you, paying attention to sounds and visuals around them, tactics they thought of beforehand for certain situations and finally the motions and words for casting spells. Regardless quite funny.

[@emporioa5568]

Pov: The Thought Process of the dudes who beat the ender dragon with a bunch of bees

[@gortharthegamer8572]

Someone didn’t know D&D dragons have four eyelids, two of which are almost always covering its eye to prevent its eyes glowing in the dark and giving it blindsight. The only way it’d have all its eyelids open is if it were nighttime, and the dragon was wanting to give away its position

[@HappyMagolor2]

2:03 I caught that Ryan George reference don’t think your sneaky

[@willc3697]

I know exactly how that feels. In my VERY FIRST D&D campaign, I felt like I was the only one(except the dungeon master) who was taking the game seriously. And it infuriated me because everyone else was experienced players who were making ridiculous decisions and jokes.

[@blazer168]

Even if it's a joke a giant swarm of bees would be pretty terrifying

[@Xecryo]

Just in case anybody wanted a bad idea. Space Clowns in Spelljammer are fiends. As Tieflings are descended from fiends this means your tiefling can now be a literal clown. So listen to me carefully, under no circumstances do i want any of you to make clown tieflings as a joke character. ;)

[@jeanlukvolker6647]

My joke character was named wiggles the clown a variant human bard who went to the college of humor who tells jokes and they actually happen in real life and can make people laugh to death. That was called death laughter

[@No0neat]

Well, it's like they say. Beeauty is in the eyes of the beeholder. I'll see myself out now.

[@joncarroll2040]

The funny thing about this is that Beowulf did kill a dragon with bees.

[@SupahTrunks7]

Literally all my characters start out as joke characters and then quickly develop so much depth through play that the original joke is often only left in the name and appearance. The feeling of “oops it’s deep now” is one I genuinely love lol.

[@eminkilicaslan8945]

DM: Let's see if dragon has a bee allergy. *rolls nat 1* And that's what DM screens are for

[@tadeuszjastrzebski1386]

Started a campaign recently. First time DMing. I had two joke characters in my party. One was an IRS gnome from United States of Goddamn America (yes, USGA) and the other was an elf rouge named "Femboy Slayer" who was also a communist. They haven't killed any of my quest giver NPC's yet, but there is now an America in my world and a communist party... it turned out better then you would think.

[@MantyCore201X]

This probably shows my broken humor, but I have a Chaotic Evil Tabaxi Druid named Impostor.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

"THEDRAGONISUNAMUSEDBYYOURPUN!"

[@zacharyrollick6169]

DM had no one to blame but himself. If it had been an inorganic creature, this wouldn't have happened.

[@xaviro758]

This is why I always opt to make characters that have entertaining or funny parts, but also are extremely deep and have many stories to tell.

[@McBurns]

I'm of the mind that if someone knew the effort that you put into a campaign only to do something like this then they aren't really your friend. And honey, you better beelieve I'm kicking their ass straight to the curb.

[@CynicalPete]

Honestly, starting a campaign with an adult red dragon encounter was a dick move

[@Alpatrixx]

joke characters are good when they take it seriously, and roleplay as if they were actually their "joke" character

[@RodrigoMacielCosta]

DM: bees stings is poison damage, and the dragon is immune to it. And the other dragon uses Legendary Resistance to resist your suffocating attack. Rolls Dex Save DC 23 or take 128 points of fire damage. Half if you pass.

[@alyssasowell774]

Our joke character is the most lethal in a different TTRPG. Its quite terrifying.

[@thecornerkid402]

Pitch Meeting reference out of nowhere! I love it.

[@jessebauer2284]

Sneaking in a Ryan George reference is super easy, barely an inconvenience

[@KasaiRayquaza]

Funny enough, I have a joke character kinda similar to Gunny Bee. He's a Kobold Swarmkeeper based on the Jasper the bee bit from Code MENT (it's on KZbin) and JoCat's "Use the Bees" bit (also on KZbin). He's just an insane beekeeper who speaks with a Kronk voice. I love him. Might need to borrow your bee's knees thing though. XD

[@FlaschenJoe11]

Batman: "Bees, My God"

[@Cecona]

There is one person in my D&D group that is like this, but it’s more like he just refuses to think before he acts. Like he tried to take an impossibly heavy door he had no way of lifting that had just trapped us inside a temple because it was made of a material supposedly sacred to his people. He is very much an attack before you think kind of person because he does that all the time. He had his Kenku shoot something through a window because it scared him and he almost killed the person we were trying to protect from an oni. He does all this stupid shit then gets upset with us and claims we won’t let him have any fun because we always all collectively tell him no, or ask why and his answer is never good enough. If we let him do even a fraction of the stuff he wanted to do every campaign would have been ruined. At least he isn’t an asshole and insists after being told no. He just waits until the next time he can act before thinking.

[@gandalftheantlion]

That’s what happens when you don’t look over the character sheets. The DM should’ve communicated with the players on what the tone of the campaign should be. Shit, was that a bee pun at the end?!

[@haaly7245]

"The dragon immediately stops at the sight of bees, its only weakness. And uses its breath weapon on them. You get caught in it, roll a dex save." - dice roll, damage happens, etc. "The dragon uses legendary action to attack again with its breath weapon. To make sure no bees survived."

[@ZarHakkar]

One of my best and only joke characters I ever played was Ramsey Norton, chef-at-arms, a barbarian fighter multiclass who would beat things to death with a cast-iron skillet.

[@justatheoontheinternet]

My first dnd character was a joke character called TARS. And yes, for you interstellar lovers, he was a robot, previously sailed on a ship called the endurance, and was apparently from space. The only real thing he ever did was kill a chimera by sticking a torch up it’s asshole. The next session I made a proper character named Hallast, who I use to this day.

[@cl1cka]

I think it's important to know (if you continue to be sponsored by Established titles) - you don't get ANY land. It's fake - it's a joke. You don't get land or actual title - the founder herself had to explain in interview....

[@EveloGrave]

I have a character ready to go in case my current one dies. It is a Lizardfolk that is a grapple/biting monster. One of the players doesn't like it because they think it is a joke characters. Jokes on them, Gilrah is a bad ass.

[@EternaLReaper]

The barbarian advertising everything is hilarious

[@MyLittlePonyTheater]

Don't let the player roll for it if you don't want there to be a chance that it works.

[@swskitso]

That and know how to read the dice before becoming DM Triple zeros equal 10 not 100.

[@fenixmeaney6170]

"The bees aim for the dragon's eyes!" Which are also covered by translucent scales. Like a snake.

[@Nat-hi2ke]

I like the Ryan George reference

[@dingusdongle]

The best thing about joke characters is when you treat them seriously and they just become an utter force during the campaign