*Thanks for watching!* Let us know in the comments below any other ideas you might have to help make your character feel more alive. Take a look at World Anvil & in particular, their character creation tool which is definitely worth your while: worldanvil.pxf.io/rPqPv Use the code Great GM for a 40% discount on a subscription. Find each point in the video easily by clicking on the timestamps in the description.
Guy, how do you always manage to do this? I was just in the process of creating a new character. And this time I wanted to make her very special and add A LOT of detail to her. So as I was browsing the rule books I saw on my phone the notification of this video. It's like magic.. every goddamn time
I once played in a campaign where the players were all resurrected heroes being brought back to save the world. My half-elf rogue died when a discount cthullu threw me into the ocean at terminal velocity, so I tell the party as we're climbing up this massive ladder to go to our new home base "Is it a bad time to mention that I think I'm afraid of heights?" as a joke. The DM cackled as she revealed home base to be an airship the size of a small town, with a penchant for see-through walkways. Silvious Fink did not spend a lot of time on that airship. It was a bit of a joke whenever Silvious had to deal with heights, since on average he was the only decent scout even though he never had been trained in stealth. He would blindfold himself to climb up any tall surface and just convince himself that he was crawling while the barbarian was trying to pull him back. The best part was when the city the airship was hovering over at the time was being set on fire via demon incursion and Silvious was the only one who had basic survival and map-making skills, so he had to make a map of the city below by lying prone on the non-see-through section of the airship and drawing the city from a bird's-eye view. A year later in the campaign is where it really shined though. He had found himself a magic that allowed a player to cast alter self, but Silvious didn't know that the ring was cursed to permanently keep the wielder in that form. Our little war with the demons was escalating at the time, to the point that the demon attacked the airship. Silvious was the kind of person who bought bombs for the "just in case" moments, and that just in case moment came at a near tpk on a fight one of the walkways. He effectively detonated all of his bombs, using rogue's evasive ability to come out of the blast unscathed. He did not however clear the jump to the walkway and began to fall the 3-mile journey to the ground. In a blind panic he used the ring to give himself wings (DM ruled that if the alter self spell could give people gills, then it could transform arms into wings if casted at a high enough level). He barely figured out flight before hitting the ground. It wasn't until several hours later that he found out the ring was cursed. It was one of the more epic moments of the campaign, all of it came from that small joke.
i always make my characters colourblind as i am myself irl. it may be a cheap detail made in few seconds, but hey that is some good start for something easy to rememmber and still can be pulled off in not one situation during campaign.
I’m actually trying to design a puzzle for a game that is color based and then put it in the dark so that dark vision, which makes everything shades of grey, is kinda nullified, with less steaks but same kinda situation as the wire cutting scene in film The Abyss. Got any tips on what would be most challenging in a color blind situation?
@@erokvanrocksalot7545 Prevent access to light spell or torches, or else they will see colours easly. And the most challenging would be ordering the puzzle in some colour combination, like Make a rainbow, as some colours can have same shade of grey (like bright green with yellow, or cyan with white, or dark green with brown)
Would love to hear your thoughts on how to run a final stand for a campaign. How would you design a final stand to feel absolutely epic for your players?
"Where the party member had been obsessed with gems their entire life" Me: *immediate PTSD moment thinking about the player in my campaign whose character is obsessed with gemstones*
Every one of my characters wears green with purple accents, ranging from loincloth to celebrity costume, all have been green (usually round a forest or jungle green) and electronic purple… not a huge thing, but my personal favorite color combo… even got green & purple metal dice.
Man I appreciated the video so much I DELIBERATELY watched the sponsor part instead of skipping it which is something I normally do. Thank you so freaking much for helping me flesh my stuff out
I love this advice. I actually already do these things but had a hard time articulating it. This video helped me figure out, in words, what I was doing in my character design. I don’t really go wild usually with physical descriptions but I add little things like..ok I’ll go with one character. They are a wood elf. Kinda typical wood elf mostly except that they are pretty tall, a trait I mention that runs in their family. Their hair is quite bushy too and they have green eyes and tan skin. All normal wood elf traits (save height). Except here is where things diverge. First, most builds for a wood elf are rather lithe. Mine has slightly broad shoulders and obvious muscular showing, still within the typical androgynous elf build, but leaning masculine. Second, the character has the distinctive scars one gets from being struck by lightning (called Lichtenberg Figures) running from their hands up to just past their elbows. Along their back and down their spine are some obvious old burn scars too. And that’s the physical features. They stand with a casual but proper stance of a practiced swordsman. The clothes are the blue uniform of their faction, one that is librarians, archivists, and researchers. On their hip is three swords, one magical, and two that are mundane with the mundane ones having their handles covered over. There can be spotted, by the observant sort, stray ink and paint stains, much like you might find on many an artist. And that was more or less how I described this character. Of course I also took into account the setting they were introduced which was in a research room and speaking with an important npc which the party learns was a conversation on being worried about the npc THEY were there to see and how that npc had been missing too long. My character was asking permission to go search for them because they were worried and the last to see that npc. I also contrasted my character’s build by mentioning the difference in build between the researchers around them and themself, to emphasize that my character was a researcher but a different sort (party learns this is because my character is a linguistics researcher and therefore is in the field and traveling and going to different locals, some of which are dangerous, to get their research). Honestly we have a ton of fun with the height differences and joke about the bushy hair. We actually had my character already pose as a bodyguard for another party member (whose noble and soldier reputation we were using) to infiltrate a group of people who had kidnapped our friend. The height difference really sold the relationship of a hired bodyguard and their charge. And for the bushy hair, the cleric, who is a sort of childlike younger sibling sort of designed character (without being obnoxious) has taken to combing and braiding my character’s bushy hair and weaving flowers into it just because it’s fun for them. To which my character returns the favor because they can’t help being an older sibling sort (their whole design was around the concept of a parentified eldest child who still, even away from their family, compulsively caretakes others). Oh and for mannerisms. I have my character often up at dawn, watching the sun rise with their three swords set before them, just quietly observing before stowing them away again. Another thing they do is that, if left alone long enough, and relaxed of course, can be found writing or sketching something. Sometimes it’s reports but they also will just draw for fun or write little poems (I have some readied in case a pc takes a peek). My character will also hone in on anyone who starts speaking a language they don’t know and will be friendly to them and ask if they might start teaching them a few words, because, as I said, the character is a linguistics researcher. They like collecting languages. I do lots of little things to make this character come alive, from small caretaking gestures to flashes of melancholy that the party has yet to pick up on the pattern of (my character lost their fiancé, a drow, some years before to a rampaging creature attack, and so romantic things, things that remind them of inside jokes in their relationship, and dark elf culture in general, tend to make them sad). When it comes to world view of my character, technically they are naturally a pessimist. Their toxic relationship with their family left them with this mentality, not helped by the customer service and other thankless tasks they did for their family’s business (well off merchants). When they met their lover though, their lover was an optimist and idealistic. Because their lover passed away, my character tries to continue their lover’s legacy by adopting some of the mannerisms and thought process of that to keep them alive. As it has been a while, some of this comes more naturally and so they are a blend of their natural pessimism and the optimistic world view their beloved used to have. They really are unmoored for the most part though. They don’t have much confidence in their own plans anymore as anything they ever wanted for themself has never seemed to work out. They do think the ongoing war between the two countries (of which they are a not a citizen of either but is the setting of the campaign) is ridiculous and petty and just something that the average person does not care about. My character just wants connection to be honest. They love people but they are a pessimist who is trying to be an optimist because they are grieving their dead lover. So that colors their entire world view. They do try to do good if they can but they really don’t have much respect for authority at this point except for a select few who hqve earned their loyalty. And thats what it comes down to, who they are loyal to. I can't honestly decide what my character's alignment but it probably leans good. They mostly define themself by how well they have and do protect and care for others. Let’s see, my character’s greatest wish, something they would make a deal with a devil (figuratively) for is their lover to be returned to life, whole and healthy. For phobia, I have the creature that attacked my character’s lover and killed them, being the source of the phobia. I have worked with the dm regarding the mechanics of this so it isn’t too much of an inference for the party however. Anyway, I enjoy this. Thanks for the video. It really helps in articulating my process of character creation for these more complex characters in rp heavy games.
For the first time in decades I have been playing a character, (in 1920's Malfaux) and I happily say that I was able to answer each question from a two paragraph background.
Great advice! I DM a lot, but have been able to play a character recently and am working on getting better at that end of things too! Also, as someone who had bad TMJ when I was younger, jaw clenching is no joke and yes, it can make you deaf 😟 I also will add to this that it's good to have a thought as to the character's death. Who will miss them and what will they leave behind if they don't make it, and what will they have left unfinished? Having a quick think about that helps prep mentally for character death and also helps understand the character better.
That's awesome. One of the PCs in my group plays a pyromancer a sorcerer who is hydrophobic. And he lives in a port city on the ocean🤣😂🤣😂 He wears a ring of water walking no matter what. If he is near water his character fiddles with the ring constantly, and his character is highly distracted while in view of large bodies of water.
So happy to see that Alad is alive and well. I was worried for that boy ever since you left him in Saltmarsh (loved that adventure--red wig and all--and your adventurers). You come from South Africa, a place noted for serpents, and you high-tail it away from any snake-harboring location. Does that explain your sojourn in Japan? Hawaii should be good for you... and Ireland (assuming St. Patrick did a thorough job and the modern anti-clericals haven't undone his work). Also, there is always Antarctica . It's just off the coast of South Africa, so you'll be close the the fatherland. That reminds me...anyone seen my pet Black Mamba? It's past its feeding time and it has a striking attitude when hungry.
Hey, Guy, great video! It's refreshing to hear about pc's in the channel. I've got a question, tho it's mostly unrelated. I'm gonna play the two-headed serpent campaign for pulp cthulhu soon, which has snake people as the main antagonists. So, seeing as snakes have a strong effect on you (and not on me), I would love to hear your advice on making snakes and snake people actually menacing, scary, disturbing, etc.
For the pain point, I remember my GM in Cyberpunk triggering my character with pervs and such, my Amy a netrunner went mad twice in the campaign, first time a bunch of guys kidnapped a young girl, to blackmail her father which was a scientist for a Corp. One of the guys was a bit too... Well you know. My team and I said before "no lethal weapon with a kid inside", me across the street with my sniper rifle almost shoot the guy but resist with a willpower roll. Eventually we rescued the girl without killing the guys and sweared we'll let them leave (they weren't bad, they were just angry at the scientists because he was responsible of the death of their families), but since one of the guy was a some kind of a perv, I sent a killing drone to clean after. Second Time it was a motel owner who installed cams in the bedroom and bathroom to spy. He was also hosting a network. We were passing by the motel for a job, my character went so mad she almost ruined the mission, but I resisted and after the job I went back to the guy put a bullet in his head and burned his server room. Honestly, this was kind of cool, having those little side events about those triggering point.
I didn't go very creative with my current character when I made him, so that I could develop him as I go. I'm a contrarian at heart, so i started off with the monk version of me, but have fleshed him out to be his own unique person as the campaign has progressed.
The more unusual your character is, the harder you have to go on this kind of thing. I play these kinds of characters all the time, a ghoul, a literal robot, a bug-man... It's very easy to find yourself in a position as an alien or a wildcard where there just isn't anything for your character to do. Often you wind up arriving in town and just "going where everyone else goes" because your character just isn't built for mundane life... or sitting quietly in the background while the other party members take care of the plot because your character just doesn't fit into that scene. You've got to fight against that. Create some perfectly mundane scenes and try to figure out how your character would react. Are they curious? Suspicious? Are they trying to hide themselves? If you're afraid your character is going to do something that will derail the plot, talk with your fellow party members and maybe organize a scene of social coaching beforehand: The party doesn't want to have to break you out of prison or apologize to the duke for that time you tried to eat his cat, so it's in their best interest to help fill in the gaps in your character's understanding of civilized living. If nobody in your party is up to this task, maybe play a more civilized character and save this idea for another game.
...I play a drow wild mage. He's a Waterdhavian-raised city watch investigator who treats his arachnophobia with his endless flask of dwarven gin. He's very attractive-looking, though short for a drow (wild magic shrinkage), regularly sips from his flasks since spiders are frickin' everywhere, generally wants to just live a peaceful, comfortable life (fat chance, alas), has a very short fuse when it comes to lynch mob mentalities ("I'm just going to hang that tiefling, look at her, she's evil, look at the horns!" "You just resisted arrest, mate, this would have been easier for you if you came along peacefully instead of opening your mouth."), but does his best to not hurt anyone he arrests since he can't afford misconduct allegations, and as mentioned, severe arachnaphobia, which is not helped by the recent influx of Lolthites deciding to become a part of his life... Yes, he's great fun, and deals the least damage in the party, because he really, really doesn't want to risk collateral damage... :P
Well I was just starting one a few days ago, so I guess that's what I'll do for my task. Its a pokemon themed RP thing, and my character is an ice specialist who was saved by what she firmly believes was articuno, and traveled to kanto to find it. Physical description: She's got ice blue hair she keeps long, and her outfit mostly fits the warmer temperatures, but she adds in a heavy jacket and boots that seem like they'd be uncomfortable, but she wears an icium Z around her neck that keeps her cool. She wears gloves and it happens to hide the prosthetic pinky she has, but she doesn't care and is likely to startle people by just casually removing her own finger. Mannerisms: She's not one to keep still. She bounces a bit in place or fidgets with her pokeball or SOMETHING. It especially happens when she's nervous, so when she's doing contests, even when she's doing her final pose, you can see her heel tapping every odd beat. ONE two THREE four ONE two THREE four Desire: She wants to find articuno. desperately. She learned japanese so she could travel to kanto. As a hyperactive 8 year old she spent a month in the library scouring through every pokemon to figure out which one saved her, and her book worm brother swears she read more books on articuno in that time than he read at all. She wants to master ice types, both contestwise and battlewise, so she's worthy of articuno's notice. Painpoint: She hates when people belittle that of course. So what she only remembers blue wings? So what articuno has never been sighted in Alola? So what it probably won't even be the same one when she finally meets one? Get that realism out of here. Phobia: It... might actually be interesting if she's scared, at least a bit, of Articuno. As much as she claims to want to see it, she doesn't actually seek it out. Despite all of Kanto's ice types being in the seafoam islands, she refuses to go there because she's not ready to see Articuno yet. There's a sighting nearby, somewhere she can go, and she gives excuses. She claims she's not ready, but subconsciously its because she's scared that realism is right, that it won't remember her, won't respect her, won't even be the right species! She just refuses to acknowledge it.
I have a PC that has a nasty scar on his right hand. He (I) rubs it whenever thinking about something or meditating. He's a middle aged charlatan claiming to be a Monk. "Fake it till you make it". The scar is from when he punched a window while arguing with his wife about being a fake. She left him and took their kids. Now he's trying to put his life together to maybe be worth something to them.
Does an uncharismatic Gwendoline Christie sound like a good physical description? Tall, athletic comes across as reserved and taking in her surroundings almost as if focusing on something to keep her mind off of something troubling her. Is that better?
Not so rpg related but I clenched my jaw too. Was recommended getting botox injections in the jaw muscle, which was done by a dentist. Amazing results. Not sure the procedure or cost outside of Australia though
My changeling cleric wont have casual hookups due to witnessing her brother get viciously lynched and murdered for being a changeling by a one night stand. The event traumatized her so badly that she couldn't continue her career as a concert pianist. She also HATES perverts due to people being and creepy toward her due to stereotypes about changelings
You want to make your character come alive? Just use a Wish spell to wish to come to our dimension. Just make sure you're not playing an Anti-Paladin before proceeding.
I'm playing a human mage that's afraid of women but has a huge "social" stat. Just so you know he's not into men so basically he'll never get laid in his entier life except if he cures his phobia.
@@willferrellssweetnips Thanks! And I was actually inspired by a few things. I really like the Witcher Series and my favorite character in those books is named Dandelion (in English at least) so I knew I wanted my character to have some elements of him in them. And then when I was working on the actual character sheet I started thinking of the little mermaid so I decided to make her a dandelion that wished to become human so she could explore the world and meet interesting people. As for the fear of rabbits, that came a little later when my party and I were telling scary stories around the campfire and I decided that it would be funny if my character told one from her childhood as a dandelion so I came up with one about a rabbit that terrorized the field she grew up in and how it terrified her. So now whenever my character sees a rabbit she becomes scared of it eating her like the other one almost did when she was a kid.
@@elizabethzelaya6710 That sounds like that would be a really fun character to play as/interact with in-game. Thats pretty creative! Its awesome when meaningful backstory/character development springs up from random off the cuff jokes or comments mid-game. Just imagining your innocent character watching its whole family being eaten/terrorized by a small bunny, then imagining the horrifying flashbacks your character as a humanoid has when a similar rabbit comes near really hits my funny bone. That's inspired me for when I make my bard character in my upcoming campaign I'll be drawing inspiration from that, cuz that is prolly the funniest/most horrifying backstory i have seen in a while.
@@elizabethzelaya6710 LOL I will definitely give credit where credit is due my party will know where the inspiration came from. What is your level/class for that character?
I have never cared for alignments. I'm a basically nice guy who obeys traffic laws and pays my taxes on time. "Oh you're Lawful Good. You can never have anything to do with Chaotic Evil." Well, I do have a freind who is completely disorganized and a little bit selfish. "No! You're messing up the chart!" I like character development much better.
*Thanks for watching!* Let us know in the comments below any other ideas you might have to help make your character feel more alive.
Take a look at World Anvil & in particular, their character creation tool which is definitely worth your while: worldanvil.pxf.io/rPqPv Use the code Great GM for a 40% discount on a subscription.
Find each point in the video easily by clicking on the timestamps in the description.
Guy, how do you always manage to do this?
I was just in the process of creating a new character. And this time I wanted to make her very special and add A LOT of detail to her. So as I was browsing the rule books I saw on my phone the notification of this video. It's like magic.. every goddamn time
Your character needs to be fleshed out, otherwise the necromancer won't leave you alone
That's why I *am* the necromancer... Heh heh heh.
Step 1) Just like perfume or seasonings, a little bit of your characters backstory and mannerisms goes a long way.
"but pouring out all on and explaining your entire backstory at once without reason will be very awkward... People don't do that irl"
@@elgatochurro I mean, I do, but eh...
Me too! I've been using Old Spice in my food for years now.
I once played in a campaign where the players were all resurrected heroes being brought back to save the world. My half-elf rogue died when a discount cthullu threw me into the ocean at terminal velocity, so I tell the party as we're climbing up this massive ladder to go to our new home base "Is it a bad time to mention that I think I'm afraid of heights?" as a joke.
The DM cackled as she revealed home base to be an airship the size of a small town, with a penchant for see-through walkways. Silvious Fink did not spend a lot of time on that airship.
It was a bit of a joke whenever Silvious had to deal with heights, since on average he was the only decent scout even though he never had been trained in stealth. He would blindfold himself to climb up any tall surface and just convince himself that he was crawling while the barbarian was trying to pull him back. The best part was when the city the airship was hovering over at the time was being set on fire via demon incursion and Silvious was the only one who had basic survival and map-making skills, so he had to make a map of the city below by lying prone on the non-see-through section of the airship and drawing the city from a bird's-eye view.
A year later in the campaign is where it really shined though. He had found himself a magic that allowed a player to cast alter self, but Silvious didn't know that the ring was cursed to permanently keep the wielder in that form. Our little war with the demons was escalating at the time, to the point that the demon attacked the airship. Silvious was the kind of person who bought bombs for the "just in case" moments, and that just in case moment came at a near tpk on a fight one of the walkways. He effectively detonated all of his bombs, using rogue's evasive ability to come out of the blast unscathed. He did not however clear the jump to the walkway and began to fall the 3-mile journey to the ground.
In a blind panic he used the ring to give himself wings (DM ruled that if the alter self spell could give people gills, then it could transform arms into wings if casted at a high enough level). He barely figured out flight before hitting the ground. It wasn't until several hours later that he found out the ring was cursed.
It was one of the more epic moments of the campaign, all of it came from that small joke.
Cool story!
i always make my characters colourblind as i am myself irl. it may be a cheap detail made in few seconds, but hey that is some good start for something easy to rememmber and still can be pulled off in not one situation during campaign.
I’m actually trying to design a puzzle for a game that is color based and then put it in the dark so that dark vision, which makes everything shades of grey, is kinda nullified, with less steaks but same kinda situation as the wire cutting scene in film The Abyss.
Got any tips on what would be most challenging in a color blind situation?
@@erokvanrocksalot7545 Prevent access to light spell or torches, or else they will see colours easly.
And the most challenging would be ordering the puzzle in some colour combination, like Make a rainbow, as some colours can have same shade of grey (like bright green with yellow, or cyan with white, or dark green with brown)
I don’t know how, but every video on this channel seems to come out exactly when I need it to.
Would love to hear your thoughts on how to run a final stand for a campaign. How would you design a final stand to feel absolutely epic for your players?
"Where the party member had been obsessed with gems their entire life"
Me: *immediate PTSD moment thinking about the player in my campaign whose character is obsessed with gemstones*
I also got a player like that 🤣 Her entire character is about gemstones
Demilich intensifies
Every one of my characters wears green with purple accents, ranging from loincloth to celebrity costume, all have been green (usually round a forest or jungle green) and electronic purple… not a huge thing, but my personal favorite color combo… even got green & purple metal dice.
Fantastic video and amazing timing, Guy! I have new players joining my campaign and this video will be perfect to show them!
Man I appreciated the video so much I DELIBERATELY watched the sponsor part instead of skipping it which is something I normally do. Thank you so freaking much for helping me flesh my stuff out
I love this advice. I actually already do these things but had a hard time articulating it. This video helped me figure out, in words, what I was doing in my character design.
I don’t really go wild usually with physical descriptions but I add little things like..ok I’ll go with one character. They are a wood elf. Kinda typical wood elf mostly except that they are pretty tall, a trait I mention that runs in their family. Their hair is quite bushy too and they have green eyes and tan skin. All normal wood elf traits (save height). Except here is where things diverge. First, most builds for a wood elf are rather lithe. Mine has slightly broad shoulders and obvious muscular showing, still within the typical androgynous elf build, but leaning masculine. Second, the character has the distinctive scars one gets from being struck by lightning (called Lichtenberg Figures) running from their hands up to just past their elbows. Along their back and down their spine are some obvious old burn scars too. And that’s the physical features. They stand with a casual but proper stance of a practiced swordsman. The clothes are the blue uniform of their faction, one that is librarians, archivists, and researchers. On their hip is three swords, one magical, and two that are mundane with the mundane ones having their handles covered over. There can be spotted, by the observant sort, stray ink and paint stains, much like you might find on many an artist.
And that was more or less how I described this character. Of course I also took into account the setting they were introduced which was in a research room and speaking with an important npc which the party learns was a conversation on being worried about the npc THEY were there to see and how that npc had been missing too long. My character was asking permission to go search for them because they were worried and the last to see that npc. I also contrasted my character’s build by mentioning the difference in build between the researchers around them and themself, to emphasize that my character was a researcher but a different sort (party learns this is because my character is a linguistics researcher and therefore is in the field and traveling and going to different locals, some of which are dangerous, to get their research).
Honestly we have a ton of fun with the height differences and joke about the bushy hair. We actually had my character already pose as a bodyguard for another party member (whose noble and soldier reputation we were using) to infiltrate a group of people who had kidnapped our friend. The height difference really sold the relationship of a hired bodyguard and their charge. And for the bushy hair, the cleric, who is a sort of childlike younger sibling sort of designed character (without being obnoxious) has taken to combing and braiding my character’s bushy hair and weaving flowers into it just because it’s fun for them. To which my character returns the favor because they can’t help being an older sibling sort (their whole design was around the concept of a parentified eldest child who still, even away from their family, compulsively caretakes others).
Oh and for mannerisms. I have my character often up at dawn, watching the sun rise with their three swords set before them, just quietly observing before stowing them away again. Another thing they do is that, if left alone long enough, and relaxed of course, can be found writing or sketching something. Sometimes it’s reports but they also will just draw for fun or write little poems (I have some readied in case a pc takes a peek). My character will also hone in on anyone who starts speaking a language they don’t know and will be friendly to them and ask if they might start teaching them a few words, because, as I said, the character is a linguistics researcher. They like collecting languages. I do lots of little things to make this character come alive, from small caretaking gestures to flashes of melancholy that the party has yet to pick up on the pattern of (my character lost their fiancé, a drow, some years before to a rampaging creature attack, and so romantic things, things that remind them of inside jokes in their relationship, and dark elf culture in general, tend to make them sad).
When it comes to world view of my character, technically they are naturally a pessimist. Their toxic relationship with their family left them with this mentality, not helped by the customer service and other thankless tasks they did for their family’s business (well off merchants). When they met their lover though, their lover was an optimist and idealistic. Because their lover passed away, my character tries to continue their lover’s legacy by adopting some of the mannerisms and thought process of that to keep them alive. As it has been a while, some of this comes more naturally and so they are a blend of their natural pessimism and the optimistic world view their beloved used to have. They really are unmoored for the most part though. They don’t have much confidence in their own plans anymore as anything they ever wanted for themself has never seemed to work out. They do think the ongoing war between the two countries (of which they are a not a citizen of either but is the setting of the campaign) is ridiculous and petty and just something that the average person does not care about. My character just wants connection to be honest. They love people but they are a pessimist who is trying to be an optimist because they are grieving their dead lover. So that colors their entire world view. They do try to do good if they can but they really don’t have much respect for authority at this point except for a select few who hqve earned their loyalty. And thats what it comes down to, who they are loyal to. I can't honestly decide what my character's alignment but it probably leans good. They mostly define themself by how well they have and do protect and care for others.
Let’s see, my character’s greatest wish, something they would make a deal with a devil (figuratively) for is their lover to be returned to life, whole and healthy. For phobia, I have the creature that attacked my character’s lover and killed them, being the source of the phobia. I have worked with the dm regarding the mechanics of this so it isn’t too much of an inference for the party however.
Anyway, I enjoy this. Thanks for the video. It really helps in articulating my process of character creation for these more complex characters in rp heavy games.
For the first time in decades I have been playing a character, (in 1920's Malfaux) and I happily say that I was able to answer each question from a two paragraph background.
Good breakdown
I like to give my PCs a good backstory and flavor throughout the game
Jam packed with SO MUCH great stuff I had to watch twice
Great advice! I DM a lot, but have been able to play a character recently and am working on getting better at that end of things too!
Also, as someone who had bad TMJ when I was younger, jaw clenching is no joke and yes, it can make you deaf 😟
I also will add to this that it's good to have a thought as to the character's death. Who will miss them and what will they leave behind if they don't make it, and what will they have left unfinished? Having a quick think about that helps prep mentally for character death and also helps understand the character better.
I played a hydrophobic character once. It came up pretty consistently.
That's awesome. One of the PCs in my group plays a pyromancer a sorcerer who is hydrophobic. And he lives in a port city on the ocean🤣😂🤣😂
He wears a ring of water walking no matter what. If he is near water his character fiddles with the ring constantly, and his character is highly distracted while in view of large bodies of water.
I love all of this! As a perpetual noob, I'm looking forward to adding this to my characters
So happy to see that Alad is alive and well. I was worried for that boy ever since you left him in Saltmarsh (loved that adventure--red wig and all--and your adventurers).
You come from South Africa, a place noted for serpents, and you high-tail it away from any snake-harboring location. Does that explain your sojourn in Japan? Hawaii should be good for you... and Ireland (assuming St. Patrick did a thorough job and the modern anti-clericals haven't undone his work). Also, there is always Antarctica . It's just off the coast of South Africa, so you'll be close the the fatherland. That reminds me...anyone seen my pet Black Mamba? It's past its feeding time and it has a striking attitude when hungry.
Hey, Guy, great video! It's refreshing to hear about pc's in the channel. I've got a question, tho it's mostly unrelated. I'm gonna play the two-headed serpent campaign for pulp cthulhu soon, which has snake people as the main antagonists. So, seeing as snakes have a strong effect on you (and not on me), I would love to hear your advice on making snakes and snake people actually menacing, scary, disturbing, etc.
Fantastic video.
For the pain point, I remember my GM in Cyberpunk triggering my character with pervs and such, my Amy a netrunner went mad twice in the campaign, first time a bunch of guys kidnapped a young girl, to blackmail her father which was a scientist for a Corp. One of the guys was a bit too... Well you know. My team and I said before "no lethal weapon with a kid inside", me across the street with my sniper rifle almost shoot the guy but resist with a willpower roll. Eventually we rescued the girl without killing the guys and sweared we'll let them leave (they weren't bad, they were just angry at the scientists because he was responsible of the death of their families), but since one of the guy was a some kind of a perv, I sent a killing drone to clean after.
Second Time it was a motel owner who installed cams in the bedroom and bathroom to spy. He was also hosting a network. We were passing by the motel for a job, my character went so mad she almost ruined the mission, but I resisted and after the job I went back to the guy put a bullet in his head and burned his server room.
Honestly, this was kind of cool, having those little side events about those triggering point.
I didn't go very creative with my current character when I made him, so that I could develop him as I go. I'm a contrarian at heart, so i started off with the monk version of me, but have fleshed him out to be his own unique person as the campaign has progressed.
The more unusual your character is, the harder you have to go on this kind of thing. I play these kinds of characters all the time, a ghoul, a literal robot, a bug-man... It's very easy to find yourself in a position as an alien or a wildcard where there just isn't anything for your character to do. Often you wind up arriving in town and just "going where everyone else goes" because your character just isn't built for mundane life... or sitting quietly in the background while the other party members take care of the plot because your character just doesn't fit into that scene. You've got to fight against that.
Create some perfectly mundane scenes and try to figure out how your character would react. Are they curious? Suspicious? Are they trying to hide themselves? If you're afraid your character is going to do something that will derail the plot, talk with your fellow party members and maybe organize a scene of social coaching beforehand: The party doesn't want to have to break you out of prison or apologize to the duke for that time you tried to eat his cat, so it's in their best interest to help fill in the gaps in your character's understanding of civilized living. If nobody in your party is up to this task, maybe play a more civilized character and save this idea for another game.
...I play a drow wild mage. He's a Waterdhavian-raised city watch investigator who treats his arachnophobia with his endless flask of dwarven gin.
He's very attractive-looking, though short for a drow (wild magic shrinkage), regularly sips from his flasks since spiders are frickin' everywhere, generally wants to just live a peaceful, comfortable life (fat chance, alas), has a very short fuse when it comes to lynch mob mentalities ("I'm just going to hang that tiefling, look at her, she's evil, look at the horns!" "You just resisted arrest, mate, this would have been easier for you if you came along peacefully instead of opening your mouth."), but does his best to not hurt anyone he arrests since he can't afford misconduct allegations, and as mentioned, severe arachnaphobia, which is not helped by the recent influx of Lolthites deciding to become a part of his life...
Yes, he's great fun, and deals the least damage in the party, because he really, really doesn't want to risk collateral damage... :P
Well I was just starting one a few days ago, so I guess that's what I'll do for my task. Its a pokemon themed RP thing, and my character is an ice specialist who was saved by what she firmly believes was articuno, and traveled to kanto to find it.
Physical description: She's got ice blue hair she keeps long, and her outfit mostly fits the warmer temperatures, but she adds in a heavy jacket and boots that seem like they'd be uncomfortable, but she wears an icium Z around her neck that keeps her cool. She wears gloves and it happens to hide the prosthetic pinky she has, but she doesn't care and is likely to startle people by just casually removing her own finger.
Mannerisms: She's not one to keep still. She bounces a bit in place or fidgets with her pokeball or SOMETHING. It especially happens when she's nervous, so when she's doing contests, even when she's doing her final pose, you can see her heel tapping every odd beat. ONE two THREE four ONE two THREE four
Desire: She wants to find articuno. desperately. She learned japanese so she could travel to kanto. As a hyperactive 8 year old she spent a month in the library scouring through every pokemon to figure out which one saved her, and her book worm brother swears she read more books on articuno in that time than he read at all. She wants to master ice types, both contestwise and battlewise, so she's worthy of articuno's notice.
Painpoint: She hates when people belittle that of course. So what she only remembers blue wings? So what articuno has never been sighted in Alola? So what it probably won't even be the same one when she finally meets one? Get that realism out of here.
Phobia: It... might actually be interesting if she's scared, at least a bit, of Articuno. As much as she claims to want to see it, she doesn't actually seek it out. Despite all of Kanto's ice types being in the seafoam islands, she refuses to go there because she's not ready to see Articuno yet. There's a sighting nearby, somewhere she can go, and she gives excuses. She claims she's not ready, but subconsciously its because she's scared that realism is right, that it won't remember her, won't respect her, won't even be the right species! She just refuses to acknowledge it.
Thanks.
Is there a playlist on this channel for "how to be a great player videos" like there was on the last channel?
I have a PC that has a nasty scar on his right hand. He (I) rubs it whenever thinking about something or meditating. He's a middle aged charlatan claiming to be a Monk. "Fake it till you make it".
The scar is from when he punched a window while arguing with his wife about being a fake. She left him and took their kids. Now he's trying to put his life together to maybe be worth something to them.
Good job, 4 sentences any you've described an interesting backstory.
Does this advice also apply to larp characters or would you have anything different to say about those?
Is there a difference between "pain points" and "daggers"?
Idunno if it’s on purpose but I find it very funny that this Guy has a character called A-lad
Does an uncharismatic Gwendoline Christie sound like a good physical description?
Tall, athletic comes across as reserved and taking in her surroundings almost as if focusing on something to keep her mind off of something troubling her.
Is that better?
Not so rpg related but I clenched my jaw too. Was recommended getting botox injections in the jaw muscle, which was done by a dentist. Amazing results. Not sure the procedure or cost outside of Australia though
"What is the lie, that you character believes in?"
How do you gingerly stroke black hair? Wouldn't you need ginger hair for that?
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Why do I get this feeling that doing this will lead to a TPK soon therafter ruining hours of work fleshing out a character?
4:00
My changeling cleric wont have casual hookups due to witnessing her brother get viciously lynched and murdered for being a changeling by a one night stand. The event traumatized her so badly that she couldn't continue her career as a concert pianist. She also HATES perverts due to people being and creepy toward her due to stereotypes about changelings
You want to make your character come alive? Just use a Wish spell to wish to come to our dimension. Just make sure you're not playing an Anti-Paladin before proceeding.
I'm playing a human mage that's afraid of women but has a huge "social" stat. Just so you know he's not into men so basically he'll never get laid in his entier life except if he cures his phobia.
I’m playing a character who used to be a dandelion so she is deathly afraid of being eaten by a rabbit despite the fact that she’s now a human 😆
That sounds hilarious! What prompted you to come up with that idea?
@@willferrellssweetnips Thanks! And I was actually inspired by a few things. I really like the Witcher Series and my favorite character in those books is named Dandelion (in English at least) so I knew I wanted my character to have some elements of him in them. And then when I was working on the actual character sheet I started thinking of the little mermaid so I decided to make her a dandelion that wished to become human so she could explore the world and meet interesting people.
As for the fear of rabbits, that came a little later when my party and I were telling scary stories around the campfire and I decided that it would be funny if my character told one from her childhood as a dandelion so I came up with one about a rabbit that terrorized the field she grew up in and how it terrified her. So now whenever my character sees a rabbit she becomes scared of it eating her like the other one almost did when she was a kid.
@@elizabethzelaya6710 That sounds like that would be a really fun character to play as/interact with in-game. Thats pretty creative! Its awesome when meaningful backstory/character development springs up from random off the cuff jokes or comments mid-game. Just imagining your innocent character watching its whole family being eaten/terrorized by a small bunny, then imagining the horrifying flashbacks your character as a humanoid has when a similar rabbit comes near really hits my funny bone. That's inspired me for when I make my bard character in my upcoming campaign I'll be drawing inspiration from that, cuz that is prolly the funniest/most horrifying backstory i have seen in a while.
@@willferrellssweetnips Lol I’m glad you liked it. And I hope you have as much fun playing a weirdo Dandelion as I do! 😂
@@elizabethzelaya6710 LOL I will definitely give credit where credit is due my party will know where the inspiration came from. What is your level/class for that character?
Spurt
My character is afraid of mountains...
I love your 2 cents because they are worth 2 dollars, or...2 pounds...🤭
I have never cared for alignments.
I'm a basically nice guy who obeys traffic laws and pays my taxes on time.
"Oh you're Lawful Good. You can never have anything to do with Chaotic Evil."
Well, I do have a freind who is completely disorganized and a little bit selfish.
"No! You're messing up the chart!"
I like character development much better.