I once played with a an edgelord swordsman. His "tragic" backstory was that he dropped his ice cream on the ground. That's it. It was hilarious. Whenever he'd go into a murderous rage, he'd play the ice cream truck tune.
Sounds like the start of a child adventurer who got the ice cream knocked out of his hand by the bbeg who laughed and licked his own ice cream as he walked away like a duche
Edgelord stories are always good for a laugh. I’ve always loved that story about the one DM who wound up in an “Oops, All Edgelords” game. They started in a tavern and the DM asked each player to introduce themselves and describe what they were doing, and *every single one* said they were standing in the corner not talking to anyone. So when it was time for the fifth player to introduce his character and he started to do the same thing, the DM actually had to stop him and say “actually, all of the corners of this room are already occupied by other brooding, dark-cloaked loners. You can brood in the middle of the room if you want.”
I recall in one of these horror stories (can't remember if Crabs covered it or not) the DM specifically made a circular tavern as a sort-of joke so that there wouldn't be any corners in which to brood edgily. A particularly dedicated edgelord in the party decided to brood edgily up in the rafters instead. Sadly(?), not as a joke.
I also heard an account where a DM made a tavern that was made of corners and dark spaces. But the only table that wasn't occupied was in the exact middle of the room with a spotlight on it in full view of everyone else.
I love writing almost edgelords, my first one is my paladin, he is 100% edgelord goth appearance, but add in gigachad arms too big for armor, his parents are alive and send letters through the shadows, legit reaches into random dark spots to get a letter, he quests with one goal "evil may touch this land, nevermore" yes he talks like a poet because Edgar Allen Poe Second is Issac, his name chosen bc it means laughter, he's a rouge who was kidnapped by a vampire lord at age 6, his original family are nobles who seek him, anyhow he has a Glasgow smile originally a punishment for laughing too much by the vamp, because the vamp would torture him for fun, eventually letting him torture and kill other humans the vamp kidnapped, the vamp would regret teaching Issac hide n seek, short is, the vamp and his guests didn't hide good enough, beforehand Issac was forced to learn piano, violin, singing, dancing and other performances to entertain the vamp and his guests, the Glasgow smile never healed right so Issac simply sews it up now and again, he also sews his own clothes, which after escaping a asylum he was in due to boredom he recycled his straitjacket, he also to offset his sadistic nature loves cats so much so his stealth clothes is a black cloak with a cutesy cat mask, he is afraid of the dark and will do anything given the right amount of sweets, he also never walks, but skips with joyous humming or singing,
Now I'm just thinking of one player in my old group that played an edgelord, but did it pretty well. First of all, he did clearly communicate off table with us that he was just here for combat and slightly uncomfortable with role-playing. He never got mad when other people wanted to roleplay in the campaign, so fair enough. Wasn't spoiling our fun, so we made sure not to spoil his. Over time he did get more comfortable narrating his actions, which gave him some great nonverbal role play moments. Things like "I wipe off the dust before giving warlock the book she dropped," or "I double check the knot on paladin's lifeline before we let him go in." In game he was this mute rogue dressed in black that followed the rest of the party around during our adventures. Since he was consistent in helping the party out and never did anything to hurt them, he had our trust pretty well. Also, he had a really funny character introduction that went sorta like. DM: "lemme guess, you're brooding in the corner?" Edgelord: "Na, I'm brooding on one of the rafters. Better place to people watch."
I'd like to see a party made entirely of edgelords: cleric, wizard, bards, druids, everyone gets black trench coats, mall-ninja weapons, and rambling backstories. The world starts off treating them like goons, but the more quests they complete, the more that the world begins to warp to fit their angsty-teen-anime reality--monsters develop anime eyes, villains start getting their own angsty back-stories and speaking in monologue. BBEG is out to stop them before their combined edge destroys the world as they know it...
I know 2 stories and they are rather nice. 1) a old dnd dm decided to dm for close friends goruo who wanted to play DND. When the got to session zero they find out the all picked the rouge and had similar backstory. Dead parents. World's ahtes them. The will go against the world. The player question if they could do this if they were all the same class and the dm was akay with it. He played the first session so they could get the feel for it and after talked with them. Asked what the wanted to play how and did the base their characters off of anything. From there the dm showed the different okay styles and subclasses for rouges. So the party was pretty much the starting point of the edgy thieves guild. The other was a fun one shot where everyone was to make the edges edge lord for ahits and giggles and see how well they could go over the top. My fav of the group was the bard cause he basically made a heavy death metal bag pipes player.
There's a Wendy's under one of the rocks, ya gotta get in and get out before high tide tho. Good service but I lost the time and nearly drowned once. 6.4 out of 7, would dine again.
So many edgelord stories makes me want to play one. Specifically: A character who TRIES to be an edgelord, but he isn't actually one/can't pull it off, and everyone/the world just keeps dunking on him for it. It would have to be a more light hearted/comedic campaign to work, but it could be fun.
I played an edgy Ranger once during Ice Windale and I had fun with him. He wasn't over the top but his back story was the typical one (lost his family and tribe in a beast attack blah blah blah sold his soul to Malar (there was back story to that as well) to help avenge his friend's death at the end blah blah blah). I had fun with him and I learned how helpful Rangers can be, especially when dealing insane damage at 100ft away. Gotta love the Sharpshooter feat. Give it a try. It's fun.
@@m-pc5334 i play a character like this. Fallen aasimar sun soul monk who's radiant bolts are flavored to become necrotic when he activates his super edgy necrotic shroud. He has pale, vampire-esque gray skin, amethyst eyes, and long black hair usually covered in a jet black cloak who's weapon is a quarterstaff flavored as a scythe. And when he activates his shroud i tend to describe how his skin becomes pure white and cracked, his nails sharpen to claws and his teeth into fangs. How a sickly green and black swirling aura shrouds him and his skeletal wings, and how his amethyst eyes turn into black pools of nothingness that not even light can escape. Absolute edgelord. At least until you have a conversation with him. He's a nuetral good character who fell not because of his actions, but due to a balor demon who is going around cursing aasimar children for plot reasons. He has confidence issues due to the way he looks and how people treated him for looking like some sort of evil monster and developed a nervous tick/speech impediment due to it and tends to stutter/stumble over certain words. All he wants to do is see the world and help people while trying to find a way to remove his curse (remove curse and greater restoration magic are not strong enough due to the nature/plot conveniences) As far as his cloak and scythe go; he got himself a cloak of displacement after the party beat and skinned some displacer beasts and the scythe was a gift from the head of the temple that raised him fashioned after bahamut's wing for the purpose of drawing the evil energies of his curse out of him if it grows too rampant/powerful to handle. As part of this activating his necrotic shroud spreads his curse along so he only does it as a last resort or if something drives him over the edge (like a friend dropping to 0hp) Essentially, i took some of the most edgy things i could think and flipped it into the sweetest cinnamon roll you could meet. I did this for 2 reasons. I thought it'd be fun to play a good character that accidentally looks like your typical edgelord/villain through no fault of his own. Bit of subversion as well as poking fun at the typical 'dnd edgelord'. Tragic past, loner, fallen from grace, looks like a vampire and a grim reaper had a child, demon powers, and plenty of motivation for revenge.... if he cared at all about it haha. The second reason why is because i thought of a storyline (likely unconsciously inspired by seasons 1-5 of supernatural) where the demon prince baphomet is using a balor servant of his on the mortal plain to curse and corrupt aasimar children in the hopes that as they mature and the curse takes deeper root he can use the curse to possess one and, with both his own demonic powers mingling with the divine powers granted to aasimar, open a permanent rift to the hells so that he can wage war and destroy to his black heart's content.
I’ve wanted to play an edgy Rogue that copies the edgy outfit, the edgy mannerisms, the edgy technique but always talks kindly and is super friendly to everyone. He just adopted the edgy persona because that’s what all the good rogues do.
" *All around me is darkness, I lost everything and everyone I've ever loved, and only through violence can I avenge my memory of them in my endless pursuit of justice...* " "So...did you want fries with that Baconator or no?"
"Yes, and a Coca-Cola please, because coke is the only beverage that reflects the darkness in my soul; why can't someone understand me? I want someone to understand me but I don't think they ever will, how can they? They have not felt the pain that I've felt" "order 223!" "Thank you"
Probably because his anxiety and reasons for said anxiety are somehow just more special and more awful than everyone else's of course. No one knows "real pain" like they do. I honestly can't stand people like that
1:49 I've heard there's a difference between antisocial and asocial. asocial being what most people call antisocial- reserved, doesn't talk to many people, could be considered shy, etc. antisocial is specifically when someone tries to ruin conversations or other social situations. it's a more aggressive approach- this guy is definitely antisocial by that definition
I think a way you could think about this is that the 'a' prefix means 'not', so asocial means "not social", and the 'anti' prefix means 'against', so antisocial would be more along the lines of "against sociality"
I don't like terms but i kinda enter in the asocial category. I noticed that when i met antisocial people who literally straight up HATE other people and HATE social interactions..... I can stay at my room not talking to anyone for a month but if i need to its okay, but these dudes are just different i rlly dont know. Living in your University shows people true colors, and some of them need therapy
@@Herogamers45 A lot of us in America need therapy, given how stressed we are just trying to make enough money to survive sometimes. We just don't get therapy because we don't want to pay people for us to tell them "I'm broken, please fix me" since we're already struggling financially as is.
I made an edgelord once. Instead of killing everyone at level one, he watched everyone die and gave up on the world. His development was opening back up to the party and seeing the good in people again
From the story: “I like to try and help people like him who are lonely and need people in their life” MAN if that hasn’t gotten me into a ton of toxic friendships/relationships! Sure it’s good to reach out so someone and feel empathetic if they seem a bit lonely. But always maintain boundaries. I’d trap myself in guilt and accommodate some awful behavior because I felt like I was providing the gift of friendship to people. Please don’t make that mistake folks. Great video as usual!
Yeah as someone who was like that when they were younger you really gotta put your foot down. They may hate you for it but they will not cross that line again whether out of fear or respect.
Reminds me of an Aesop story: A Porcupine, wanting to shelter himself, desired a nest of Snakes to give him admittance into their cave. They were prevailed upon, and let him in accordingly; but were so annoyed with his sharp prickly quills that they soon repented of their easy compliance, and entreated the Porcupine to withdraw, and leave them their hole to themselves. “No,” says he, “let them quit the place that don’t like it; for my part, I am well enough satisfied as I am.” Moral: Hospitality is a virtue, but should be wisely exercised; we may by thoughtlessness entertain foes instead of friends.
Yeah, same. Fell into that hole with a person who later would go on to betray and kick me out of a group because I couldnt get along with his toxic friends, too.
What if an edgy character’s edgy backstory was that they simply failed a big mission before and are now way too hard on themselves because of it? Now self doubt is embedded into their core beliefs and they know it to be unhealthy, so they try to confront their issues of self doubt, self loathing, and now worsened social ineptitude by joining a party of heroes, through which they think they would get the redemption they sought out after?
The classic way to do it is having the character flaw be that they are like reverse Disney princesses. They were born to rule and have had their kingdom taken away from them. Super entitled and imperious. Not necessarily a person who doesn't care about people around them or have love, but is raised in a position where they can only "punch down" and are used to using people like disposable resources. Basically, a casually cruel and egotistical character who can be charismatic and helpful.
thats actualy kinda creative though, and more importantly, it requires the character to have failed miserably in the past, no super cool dark and mysterious OC can have that
And edgelord throws a tantrum when they get called out for being an EL? They just demoted themselves from edgy to clown EMO since they didn't own the act.
I'm getting an idea for a backstory, Thanks! A disheveled, smeared-painted face of a man enters the tavern. In hand, a brown paper bag with probably cheap wine in it. He Begins to yell to all in the tavern/Inn, "Where's the Birthday Boy/Girl?" *Proceeds to make crappy balloon animals that nobody guesses( or gets wrong) types of animals. Commences to cry and pulls out impossibly long, multi colored, never ending, handkerchief to wipe tears and swigs wine humming "send in the clowns" ( in the corner) EDGE CLOWN!
My first Dnd character was a Half-Elf cleric who was short tempered and a bit edgy- not because I wanted her to be cool but because she was genuinely afraid and uncomfortable around other people. Her backstory intertwined a lot with what turned out to be a large plot section. A powerful group of arsonists burnt her house down as an initiation for a new member when she was a kid. That incident convinced her everyone wanted her dead until she met the party. And I was in 8th grade when I made her.
Thankfully my personal ”Edgeprince” (not a full Edgelord) in my group is a good dude who just likes sneaking, rogues, and dark backstories….. and British accents.
I just had an idea for a character. Picture this: A rogue, dressed in all black with a cloak and a hood, drinking alone in a corner of a room. He looks mysterious and strong and is extremely good at sneaking around, not attracting any attention on him. Is he an edge lord? No, he's just extremely uncomfortable around people in general and is trying to live his life with as little social interaction possible. In fact, when he goes shopping, he steals the stuff he wants and then sneaks money into the shopkeeper's pocket just to avoid talking to him.
It sucks. I think edgy characters have their place in the table and in stories but the problems always seem to stem from the /players/ that don't understand how an edgy character contributes to a shared narrative. I've always felt its better to watch the edgy behavior develop over time rather than have that at the start.
I've played a few characters who's backgrounds and traits could easily put them in the category of 'edgelord', but I think the big thing is what you do with them beyond that, and working within the framework of the game. I played a Vengeance Paladin in Curse of Strahd. His background was that as a youngster his village was slaughtered by werewolves (inspired by the Haunted background) and he grew up in to a ruthless monster slayer. My whole angle with him was that he was a monster who hunted monsters. But he got to be a real protector of the innocents during the game. Right now I'm playing a former scion of a noble house who's teifling heritage was revealed by a rival noble and her family disowned her to save face. Its a Skull and Shackles game and she's become the captain of the ship and is a scary person to anyone who threatens her crew.
I am a Edgelord at heart, I love to play Edgelords because I find the dark aesthetics and thematics cool. However, one thing that should never be forgotten is that the Edgelord is not the one sitting at the Table.
TBH, playing an edgy character good is very hard. I have a bearfolk cleric that lost his wife to a cult. And because of it, he decimated the town they occupied. I always pictured it as a small town of around 10-20 people that he demolished in his anger and heartbreak. Because of this I played him like a jerk. He was intolerant of other people, especially those he deemed as cowards and would go to the lengths of insulting them. It was only when he nearly died did he chill out. He's still a jerk but he is more helpful to the group.
I had an edgelord paladin, He was a fallen Aasimar. When mother was pregnant with him she was killed by a necromancer, and was risen as a zombie. When she was made undead, he was still alive. Fallen Aasimar states simply that they are that way sometimes from simply being touched by dark magic. Well for him it's a birth defect. He's got skeletal wings, a skeletal half mask that he wears, has pale skin and jet black hair. Wears black armor and a Dark grey purple tabard with a symbol of Kelemvor. He was raised by a knight commander of the doomguides of kelemvor, *not cannon version. He eventually got a fear aura. Was the most charismatic, people loving, ideological character I've ever played. He worked well with most of the party held them to a high standard and was reasonable. His resolve was tested on many occasions. He gave the party a moral compass that we just didn't have in past games. He had a backstory that involved multiple PCs that came into play, had a rivalry with an Aasimar Zealot barbarian *another PC. The edgelord doesn't have to be bad. They don't have to be Brooding whiny manchild. They can be a PC that has just had circumstances that lead to where they. In this case I wanted him to be proud of the people and the god that shaped his life it let him lean into his flaws. I've had characters I played longer but never a character I had more fun RPing.
Generally i find that if a long time player takes up an edgelord role, they can make some really good stories and give huge potential for individual growth within the team. If its someone who new to the game, its a red flag, will tread lightly and not expect to finish the story.
We have an 'edgelord' character in my tuesday parties. But not because the worlds against him.. no. He has rich parents, everything was given to him. He's literally just an edgelord cause he'd going through his rebellious phase (The character in question is a 19 year old goliath, started as a rouge but through character development has begun to take levels in monk! And is even growing into the role as our airships captain.), and it's played to a hilarious degree. We even recently learned his Father does drag queen shows, and is an amazing singer, and his mother is a bad ass landlord and financial advisor. The former which led to him begining to understand his parents really care about him. Was a wholesome af moment. It can be done well, but hoo boi.. The wrongs outweigh it.
I've made a semi edgelord wizard as my first character. Needless to say, there were some problems in the beginning. But after the learning curb, it went really great!
I had a mask wearing edgelord goblin, but was secretly a changling that couldnt do faces, people distrusted them in our game, but he couldnt just be any other race. So he was ashamed of who he was, making him self look small and hidden. His tell was he had a caring spot for children and street folk.
@@novasiri7809 Yeah I think edgelords CAN be done right, but it has to be well executed, and there has to be some sort of characteristic or development to mitigate the edgelord trait. For example I saw one comment on another video where a group had an edgelord party memember IC, but it was soon revealed that it was just a facade and the character is actually a huge softie
I love that the character that I am most fond of back story is pretty anime-ish and edgy... but he actually decided to become a Pacifist Monk that protects people
I have a kobold rogue Shes got a totally wholesome backstory Whenever she enters a new tavern she asks the tavern keep which corner is the "brooding corner" so she can poke fun at it
@@SaraphDarklaw or teachers who claim “90% of students don’t pass their class” the 10% likely learn on their own because the teacher was bad at their job
"Your players are not going to care about your NPC the same way they care about their character" Not me literally sacrificing my character to save Scabby the Kobolt after our DM tried to off him 😭😂😂😂
I like to make purposefully edgy characters sometime as a sort of comic relief, not to be taken too seriously. However I do also love a genuine edgy, someone with a tragic story but done right like you said, been through hell and they didn't let their hearts freeze over. It can be a genuinely interesting character, but trying to be edgy because you watched a cool anime...doesn't work like 90% of the time.
Edgy Rogue: "My parents are dead!" Drunk Barbarian: "Hey, we've got something in common then. A rival tribe caught my folks in a classic ambush and got about twenty of us. We killed double of them, but that first attack still buggered us right good! Ah! Good times!" Edgy Rogue: "But... but I'm tragic... you can't have it worse than me!" Haughty Wizard: "I'd kill for some dead parents. Mine are still out there, cavorting with demons and trying to hunt me down because one of their bargains involves my soul." Edgy Rogue: "Well, my parents..." Half-Elf Cleric: "My father boned my mother and then disappeared. My mother sold me to a farmer who needed some extra hands. I was angry for a long time, but faith heals all things and I am proud to serve today." Edgy Rogue: "..." **
Edgelord backgrounds can work if it's a one shot or if you start the campaign at a higher level. My group usually has one long campaign and then a bunch of one shots to experiment with. When our long campaign is done sometime we don't like to start at level 1 so we start at level 10 or something.
"I told him in a nice way to fuck off" I applaud his generosity, as I myself would do only one of those things if he was at my table. I have a general rule at my table that if you can't try and play as friends then the topic is just getting dropped and literally anyone who doesn't drop it gets kicked out. I don't have time for negativity in my games and it's the GM's job to make sure EVERYONE AT THE TABLE is having fun. So yeah. If 9/10 are having fun #10 can shut up or leave. Nuff said.
Now I want to try playing an edgy teenager who's convinced they were "betrayed and forsaken" because their parents "didn't appreciate or understand them." Translation: kiddo got caught doing dumb petty lawbreaking and were forced into the adventure as community service. It'd probably have to be something like a light-hearted, low level one shot for the concept to work, but it could be fun to play someone insufferable so amusingly bad things can happen to them.
I once played a twist on the edgelord swordsman by making him a gruff samurai. He gave off all the right vibes from a distance but turns out he just had resting dick face and didn't know very much common, being from a foreign land, so he rarely talked. He loved cute stuff, like small animals and children. He had a wife and child of his own and his armor was basically hello kitty themed because his old armor had scared his young son so he sold it to buy the land they lived on. He wound up being quite badass, maining a spear but also having a sword as backup, and a dagger as backup to the backup as well as a longbow he was fairly good with, but mainly used for distraction and puzzle solving, (was going for real samurai rather than movie samurai who are like married to their swords). Once everyone warmed up to him he became like the group dad (most of the other PCs were in their teens or early 20s, he was 47) and, though he let the casters take a lot of credit for the kills he'd always make sure his polearm mastery was between them and the murdery mobs.
I have an opposite for the edge lord. The blunt lord: a character that only speaks their mind and opinions openly with no regard for being gentle when it comes to facing reality. This character is usually very bland compared to the edge lord but is a grounding force for most of the characters in the show as they can call them out on their shit or openly side with someone who opposes the characters seeing their point as well.
I feel like a self-aware DM who knows how infuriating this type of edgelord Mary Sue archetype is could make a really funny reoccurring villain/foil to the party. They’d just be some insanely edgy dark and brooding vigilante character who wants to kill the party for unnecessarily convoluted reasons and he goes on and on about how much of a badass he is and when they fight the party just kicks his ass cuz he’s just crazy edgy
Its been a while since I've seen one of videos but still I just want to say thank you for getting me into dungeons and dragons so ceep up the good work
Man these edgelords would hate me. I have a tabaxi rogue with an extremely cheerful disposition since he had an actual childhood. Crazy concept but a character doesn't always have to be all dark and mysterious to be fun. This rogue I had was so naïve and trusting that it took quite a few sessions to realize that not everyone is gonna be friendly. He was still a really nice guy in game but was more wary of strangers after all his experiences the DM had him go through.
I've been binge watching your content for like a month and I enjoy hearing theses stories of DND I especially enjoyed these ones about the edge Lords, one of my favorites has to be the one edgelord with the extremely dull and blank empty eyes I also enjoyed the one with the foolish paladin that caused two tpk
This has inspired me. I'm a DM and I'm planning for my PC's to have to go into the underdark eventually, I'm going to make a character who's supposed to guide them, they'll be leaning against the wall, in the shade, with their hood up and won't acknowledge the party until they physically touch him, because... he fell asleep. took an unintended nap
My first rogue was an Edgeling. Like, he had the cookie cutter background (drowl elf, has night visions, foresaw illithids marching through his home settlement and taking everyone with them so he left with a friend on a pretense of 'let's go gathering'; came back to a ghost town), and in my head, he was 'cool in action, awful at everything else'. Turns out he's quiet but friendly, and his highlighted quirk was that he enjoyed the simple pastime that was enjoying a good cup of tea. As he developed a poison akin to chloroform, he somehow incorporated that into drinks that were a hit for many.
I got away with the badass backstory once, but the fluff also justified the underwhelming stats . My wizard USED to be hot-s%#*, but then in his arrogance was that guy who tries to consume the energy field larger then his head. The result was the magical equivalent of spinal damage, and it was only just before the campaign began where he discovers a way to un-cripple his connection to the weave but is starting over at party level. Dm liked it and let me use it to justify Ravinica background. Since those that knew of me knew me for that’ incident, my rep couldn’t be leveraged for much nor would I expect anybody to be in awe of me . If anything it had NPC’s in the know recommending the party ditch me before I blew myself up and possibly them with me.
as a DM i can say the most beloved npc's are the ones who were supposed to be random toss asides my players saved a guard whos caravan was ambushed and for some reason called him biscotti and the name stuck. they ended up getting him promoted to second in command in his small town and then got him promoted to field scout and dragged him along their adventures. this whole time he was just supposed to just tag along back to his town and most likely never be seen again but now they count him as a party member
I like making edgelords, but typically tell the dm that its the end point and we start with a non edgelord and have them grow into the edgelord through out the story
During a one shot, Edgelord: I sit in the corner, my hood up the shadows consuming my Red skin. Me: I sit down and say hi. my Holy symbol is proudly displayed on my Cleric robes. I started to brag about my Wife and Kids. Later, Edgelord: I strike at the Goblin from the shadows stabbing it threw the Neck, I laugh at its death cry. Next fight, Me: calling the Power of My God, I invoke my Flame tongue to ignite, at the same time I pop My Angelic wings as Resight the prayer of the God of Death. Edgelord: (OOC), wait your an Aasimar Death Cleric with a Flaming Sword.... you're a literal angel of Death. Me: Yip. Edgelord didn't speak for the rest of the night.
The third story is a pretty classic example of why you should have more than one plot hook. Even if all the hooks lead to the same adventure it well worth putting in the effort
Edgelord reminds me of a guy I knew. Always played the victim when he was clearly at fault. Everyone got tired of his shit real quickly and kicked him out of the group
i totally agree with the statment "going through tradgety but not let it freeze your heart over" it works really well. characters can go through horrible heart breaking things and still be rays of sunshine and joy. it also leaves room to explore things like having a character put up a front to appear happy and fine to others but they really are not happy at all. characters can be perantless as well and just never knew them with out the super depressing backstory of them dying. just never knew them
Let me guess, you're an orphan who's parents were both murdered in front of them, then had to fend for themselves without a single friend in the world. Rogue: How did you know that???
my way of coming up with characters is usually: 1. figure out the general vibe of my guy/gal 2. decide what complimenting class, stats and abilities i want to go for 3. adjust personality to the available stats etc to make the character more dynamic and organic 4. think about a backgroundstory that convincingly works as a prologue to my characters upcoming journey i feels like many people really write to much of a background story for the characters that are supposed to still experience their adventure. sometimes this works tho if executed correctly, or if you play more advanced characters from the get go. also im definetly a sucker for unapologeticly edgy characters, and here a breakdown of my latest way to edgy creation: dark elf company leader that was willing to sacrifice his life in service, but he also was willing to sacrifice his squad, so they deserted and due to my characters harsh treatment they jumped him before leaving leaving him mortally injured on the frontline to die. my guy was picked up by a necromancer that conducted an experiment to see if he could use his necromany not only to rise the undead but also to extend a dying life, and it worked. my guy was still loyal to the military he came from, but it would be a shameful return with an entire squad that jumped him and now is deserted, so before he returns he wants to set things right and hunt down every last member of his former squad. since he was mostly a tactitian beforehand and also suffered pretty substantial dmg to his body i believe it to be believable to play him as a low level character for the start of the adventure he is in, and i cant wait to play my umbelievably edgy fuck
My thoughts on DMPC's: Personally I think they get a bad wrap, if played right they can add to the game. However, that being said they can quickly derail and ruin a game just by one being there. If your going to do a DMPC then have a good reason for introducing one and always, always, ALWAYS talk to your party about it first. If they don't want one then don't add one, even if it is a case where one is needed, don't push it. Example: I ran Curse of Strahd, and anyone who has played the module knows how difficult it is and a Cleric is practically required. No one wanted to play one, and while there was healing options for the players it wasn't nearly enough for them to survive. I offered to run a DMPC Cleric who would be shy and not engage in much RP unless they wanted to engage with her. I pitched the idea and it was rejected. Sure, a few sessions later the party got TPK'd but my reputation as a DM was entact and the players still had a good time despite it.
Late reply, but I ran a pair of DMPCs in a Gundam based game that wrapped up a few months back (An actual ending, somehow). They were to fill out the squad since I started with just 2 players, but found them rather useful for keeping things moving in RP moments and as targets for things I wouldnt do to a player (Like a pervy general getting a handful while pinning a medal to a woman's chest). The secret it to keep the players at the forefront and DMPCs quiet unless they must chime in. Next campaign I am using one as a radio guy akin to Bain from Payday 2
"I am not comfortable giving you my real name, I will however record everything that happens during this DnD session and post it online without asking ANYONE for permission". Seems about right.
I think the only character I've made that classified as 'Edgy' is my Wizard.. Only because he was a drow lowborn and that was sort of par the course background for Forgotten Realms low born drow, ESPECIALLY men. The character himself, which I've retooled through the years, is actually kind of a goofball and wound up becoming the moral compass and 'dad' of his groups. His current iteration is actually a bit of a himbo, still a drow, still the same goofball dad figure, but now in Ebberon and is a Paladin of the Silver Flame.
Oh god, I recently started playing the exact kind of character you are talking about, the "gone through hell but still trying to be good" one. He ended up with an almost unbearably edgy backstory, his father, grandfather, and two brothers dying in front of him in an archeological expedition gone wrong and having to become a paladin of a chaotic evil diety (he was, and still is, lawful good in a kind of uncle Iroh way). He blames himself for everything and still his main motivation is trying to do as much good as he can, to at least get close to redemption, and even to change the heart of his god (who is currently drained of most power and acts as familiar in-game, so it's not THAT impossible). Truly, DamagedButDoingTheirBest is my favourite genre of guy
2:12 "the world has wronged me, so im gonna be a annoying lil shit about it" cracked me the hell up, sounded like something straight out of a revengence shitpost or something
I always anxiously watch these hoping my characters aren't too edgy and then realize pretty quickly that in comparison my characters are rays of sunshine.
My character didn't want to choke on noodles but he rolled a Nat 1 and literally inhaled his food. That's how that one shot started....with a Nat 1 on eating, which was supposed to be a joke roll.
Oh wow, my story was read out(The final story). Generally surprised, thanks for telling my story. Ironic, cause the character I was playing as the time I play as a sort of anti-edgelord. He has the whole backstory of an edgelord. Dead parents, rough childhood, picked on a lot for being small, etc. But actually has a very cheerful personality to the point that some find him annoying cause of his overtly cheerful personality.
“It’s the characters that have gone through Hell but still didn’t let their hearts freeze over that are a million times more interesting.” - Crit Crab Content Warning: Edgy Backstory. (This is the SHORT VERSION by the way, lol) Tl;dr I’ve never gotten to use this character, but can’t wait to. He was a Warforged Marine, on a ship full of other warforged with a single captain to guide them. Every warforged had false memories of being human, and they were magically forced to see each other as flesh instead of machine. They were at war with undead pirates, or at least that’s what they saw. One night their ship was ambushed and fired upon. It sank, and as my warforged came to, he saw the gore of his fellow soldiers. Eventually the water clouded his vision, and he saw the truth. He saw mechanical limbs, splintered wood and metal, with glitching flickers of the illusory gore. He drowned, and realized that he couldn’t drown at all. He escaped the sinking ship with the captain’s knife, and used it to cling to the enemy ship. He climbed onboard, and murdered the entire ship’s crew, confused at what he was seeing, angry at what had happened. He saw that he had killed humans, not undead. He dove into the ocean, and wound up on a beach somewhere in the forgotten realms. Eventually he settled in with a city of dwarves, specifically a family in the city, who used him as basically C3PO, and as something interesting to tinker on. Life was peaceful, and very simple. Eventually, the city was wiped out by orcs. He saw his new dwarven family get Orced, but was unable to do anything. To make sense of his level 20 murder spree on that ship, I say that he was programmed to be a murder machine, but overcame that programming, and lived in peace for several hundred years, effectively losing all combat prowess he once had. Since then he’s started working up the ladder of hired blades, and eventually became a Paladin of Redemption. In game, he’d play as a tank and healer, preferring to talk over fight where able. And now, here’s the FULL backstory. All written up in a day, without taking heavy inspiration from anything, as far as I’m aware. “I was born some two hundred years ago, lived a twenty year life in which I had a wife and children, before I was shipped off to war in a marine company. For several years I fought alongside my fellow soldiers, obeying my commanding officers, and beating back the opposition. The war, we were told, was against undead sailors, pirates, and marines alike that had risen from the ocean’s depths; they looked and smelled like it too. In the middle of a stormy night, a massive galleon came while everyone was sleeping. The watchmen didn’t notice it. We were fired upon with cannons, our hull smashing to pieces. I awoke to see my comrades smeared against the ship’s walls, and I grabbed what I could to try to survive as the ship went down with me inside it. The exits had been closed off by shrapnel, and the water was rising. I prayed to any Gods that would listen, held my breath, and started beating away at the ship’s hull where a cannonball had breached. Minutes passed, my body ached, my lungs burned, and my vision began to blur. It was over for me. I let myself slump against the wall, and stared into the darkness. I saw reflecting light, from the corpses of my allies and from my own skin, in an otherwise black coffin, as I breathed deep and realized that I couldn’t feel my lungs anymore, and I couldn’t feel any of my aches. I saw the silhouette of mechanical limbs reflecting light in the darkness. I got up, smashed through the hull, and swam to the surface. The enemy galleon hadn’t gone far, and I swam to catch up to it, with my comrades survival knife in my teeth. I latched onto the ship’s hull with the knife, my grip steel as I climbed out of the water, my joints creaking. The rain was heavy, pelting down on my body as I held onto the ship for an hour, waiting for the time to strike. When the storm picked up, letting a loud roar surround the sea, I scaled the ship’s side. I killed every last monster on that ship, slashing tendons, cutting throats, stabbing into eyes and ribs. With every passing moment, every sailor that lay at my feet, I could hear their screams grow louder, I could see their flesh turn from blue and rotten to pink and lively, and I could see my own hands turn to cold steel, soaked in blood. With the last soldier bleeding on the deck, lightning flashed and I saw the truth. I saw the terror in his eyes. I was no man. These were no monsters. I grabbed a bag filled with food and water, before I lit the ship ablaze with its own black powder and oil. I swam aimlessly for days, washing up on the Sword Coast, far from home. I did my best to fit in, not having much opportunity in the cities and towns, so I trekked inland. I wound around the desert, and reached the Desertsmouth Mountains. For many, many years, I took refuge with the dwarves there, joining a family of tinkers who took interest in me. They gave me a home, and I learned their trade, becoming somewhat of a family member while they explored my mechanics. Every night for a hundred years, I contemplated my existence in that mountain; How I came to be, why I had memories that weren’t mine, and why I did what I did. Every night, I’ve been haunted by my victims’ ghosts, their screams, their blood. I took solace in the dwarven worship of Moradin and the creation of trinkets, but my haunted peace would not last long. My dwarven family’s home was attacked by orcs and I could do nothing but watch, petrified from what I was seeing, and what I had done so long ago. With my family gone and the house ransacked, I went to their vault and took the few coins that remained. I left the mountains and came here, where I’ve become a Paladin in Moradin’s name to seek my Redemption.”
I have a bad habit of coming up with sort of edgy characters. My favorite character I've played, however, had the most edgyboy backstory I could think of, but I played him as a happy-go-lucky guy. It was really funny when his past came up, and I got to explain all these traumatic events with a smile and his regular happy tone. Since revealing all that, he kind of comes off as either totally emotionally repressed or a sociopath (but in a fun way?).
Remembered this time me and friends got together for session and one of them decided to make his character an edgelord but the good kind. The character did talk with people but usually with short sentences like goblin slayer. He would help his party but would only help of asked, pretty much willing to do his own thing unless someone said "hey we kinda need your help" . His backstory was that he was a war orphan who merged with a two demons who tried to possess him but actually became good friends with them. Later however he was captured by a holy order and was tortured for is knowledge of demons. The two demons who were merged with him sacrificed themselves trying to keep his soul save and after he was let go they had died. Then he sweared to kill any cleric or paladin or celestial or godly person. It's also the reason why he never willingly chose go get healed by our cleric and instead relied only on potions with his own gold.
Being a edge lord is ok just when you make it overboard with the edginess is when people get annoyed. The edge lord concept is better when you are opening up to the people you are partying with the social cues of your party members becoming friends with the party you slowly start to turn from edge lord to party protector because you don't want to lose the family you just gain.
I'm preparing my first homebrew campaign for friends. The BBEG is called "The Edged Lord." He is a deliberate parody of edgelords, having moody broody backstories and personalities, and all black-and-red spike armor. Needless to say, I am hoping my friends take the story completely off the rails with hilarity.
Awwwww I was at Gen Con too!!! I could give you a story just from our one D&D event. Let’s just say it started off with our DM saying he was having a contest with another DM for most TPK’s.
I know that DM PCs are typically terrible, but our DM makes them rather fun to be around. Like, in our first campaign (the DM & I were the only ones who've played D&D before) my character and the DM PC taught other players what they can do in the world of Faerun when the DM asks "what would you like to do". We haven't really had a DM PC like that since then due to the players now knowing how to play the game, but it was fun, the character was useful, and the character is still one of my favorite NPCs. Speaking of NPCs, I may be the only person here who has this experience, but there's this one NPC from our first game that I'm obsessed with. So, when Crit Crab said that players will not be invested in the DM PC (or NPC in this case I guess), I immediately thought of my unbridled love for this NPC and how they actually do rival my love for my actual PC. Like, there's an argument that can be made that I love the NPC more than my own character, lol. I understand that my experiences are not the norm, but I still wanted to share them ☺️
I wrote quite the edgy rogue backstory for my main campaign...... but in reality she is played as an anxious gay little nerd with mommy issues 🤣 the best kind of turn-around imo
At least make your OC's Edgy backstorys unique and creative as the efforts you put into making them. Also, a good tip for a mysterous or dangerous ally controled by the DM (DMPC), make them 3-4 levels higher, a balance to the class that your current party is lacking, unique classes like monk, artificers and blood hunters included, and make sure also, the race not only matches the class, but the campaign and setting as well for added roleplay immersion. My best example was my Level 5, Shadar-Kai Bard, NG in Curse of Strahd as a companion for the first dungeon run.
My character in my current campaign is an orphaned rogue who grew up on the streets and only knows the wretched hive of scum and villainy of her thieve's guild. She grew up malnourished, her mother died when she was like five, was on death's row at the start of the campaign for a botched heist, and has trust issues due to all the backstabbing and shenanigans of her thieve's guild. She also eats like hell, has absolutely no table manners (even down to literally licking plates and bowls clean), constantly has people putting things on top of her head (due to her aforementioned lack of height), will do anything to protect a child, and loves money and material comforts. She's gradually opening up to the party, and has formed a sort of mentor/protege relationship with the de-facto leader of the party (whom she refers to as Boss-man). The way to do an edgelord character is to give them traits that take the edge off. Either something funny they do (like having no table manners) or some sliver of light in their heart (like looking out for children or the needy).
I think my current character has my favorite backstory out of all of my characters. She lives in her home town, and she grew up poor. Her dad worked at the docks, her mom couldn't work because of disability. She has two brothers and two sisters. They all love each other very much, and there's little strife. The biggest issue is that their home is big enough for five kids and two adults, but three kids and four adults is a little much. She got a good apprenticeship, and through not fault of her own, she was fired. Because it was a room and board kind of apprenticeship, that meant she had nowhere to sleep and she couldn't move in back home. This is absolutely the worst thing that ever happened to her, and primed her to take any work she could get. She still visits her family, they have a good relationship, but she has to face the very real task of making it in this world alone. I've done the edgy orphan thing, and I like this more. It's just more authentic.
As a person who wears primarily black, I say it is high time we stop associating it with edgelords immediately. Second OP could have left the "he was wearing all black" part out.
My very first character i created was a ranger with the Haunted One backstory, saying that his life was lost years ago and his mind is filled with spirits that whisper in his ears. Only after finding out what an edgelord was did I realize that my character *was* one, and immediately made some character revisions to get him out of that situation. Now, he’s still a dark and mysterious guy, but he understands the importance of friends and allies, and wants to be better and have a stronger relationship with his party. It’s a shame the campaign ended before that could happen.
One of my big issues with Edgey Guy #2 is on top of this backstory, which Almost Could Have been okay, was the lack of flexibility. It almost could've been acceptable, if maybe there was a possible redemption arc that could've happened- or space for character growth. But unfortunately these types of people just don't want anything other than the edge lord archetype.
![⭐️( ลอยกระทง 2024 ) Ver. แดนซ์ Remix BY [ ดีเจกิต รีมิกซ์ ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rMWOLhgXUHc/mqdefault.jpg)
I once played with a an edgelord swordsman. His "tragic" backstory was that he dropped his ice cream on the ground. That's it. It was hilarious. Whenever he'd go into a murderous rage, he'd play the ice cream truck tune.
What would he do for a Klondike bar....
At that point it's not even an actual edge lord, he's just memeing and I love it.
thats funny and i love it
"And those who tasted the bite of his sword named him... the Cream Slayer." *Heavy metal starts*
Sounds like the start of a child adventurer who got the ice cream knocked out of his hand by the bbeg who laughed and licked his own ice cream as he walked away like a duche
Edgelord stories are always good for a laugh. I’ve always loved that story about the one DM who wound up in an “Oops, All Edgelords” game. They started in a tavern and the DM asked each player to introduce themselves and describe what they were doing, and *every single one* said they were standing in the corner not talking to anyone. So when it was time for the fifth player to introduce his character and he started to do the same thing, the DM actually had to stop him and say “actually, all of the corners of this room are already occupied by other brooding, dark-cloaked loners. You can brood in the middle of the room if you want.”
Damn love the mental image of the fifth guy coming in realizing there isnt a corner to brood in
I recall in one of these horror stories (can't remember if Crabs covered it or not) the DM specifically made a circular tavern as a sort-of joke so that there wouldn't be any corners in which to brood edgily. A particularly dedicated edgelord in the party decided to brood edgily up in the rafters instead. Sadly(?), not as a joke.
I also heard an account where a DM made a tavern that was made of corners and dark spaces. But the only table that wasn't occupied was in the exact middle of the room with a spotlight on it in full view of everyone else.
I love writing almost edgelords, my first one is my paladin, he is 100% edgelord goth appearance, but add in gigachad arms too big for armor, his parents are alive and send letters through the shadows, legit reaches into random dark spots to get a letter, he quests with one goal "evil may touch this land, nevermore" yes he talks like a poet because Edgar Allen Poe
Second is Issac, his name chosen bc it means laughter, he's a rouge who was kidnapped by a vampire lord at age 6, his original family are nobles who seek him, anyhow he has a Glasgow smile originally a punishment for laughing too much by the vamp, because the vamp would torture him for fun, eventually letting him torture and kill other humans the vamp kidnapped, the vamp would regret teaching Issac hide n seek, short is, the vamp and his guests didn't hide good enough, beforehand Issac was forced to learn piano, violin, singing, dancing and other performances to entertain the vamp and his guests, the Glasgow smile never healed right so Issac simply sews it up now and again, he also sews his own clothes, which after escaping a asylum he was in due to boredom he recycled his straitjacket, he also to offset his sadistic nature loves cats so much so his stealth clothes is a black cloak with a cutesy cat mask, he is afraid of the dark and will do anything given the right amount of sweets, he also never walks, but skips with joyous humming or singing,
Reminds me of the Ballad of Edgardo
We must deploy the Anti-Edgelord device. A Circular tavern, so they can't brood in a corner and must talk to the quest giver and party.
Brightly lit, too. With upbeat music playing.
Don't forget the very friendly and lively patrons
you genius
No rafters either
@@daviddaugherty2816 I think we've started describing a roller rink
Now I'm just thinking of one player in my old group that played an edgelord, but did it pretty well. First of all, he did clearly communicate off table with us that he was just here for combat and slightly uncomfortable with role-playing. He never got mad when other people wanted to roleplay in the campaign, so fair enough. Wasn't spoiling our fun, so we made sure not to spoil his. Over time he did get more comfortable narrating his actions, which gave him some great nonverbal role play moments. Things like "I wipe off the dust before giving warlock the book she dropped," or "I double check the knot on paladin's lifeline before we let him go in." In game he was this mute rogue dressed in black that followed the rest of the party around during our adventures. Since he was consistent in helping the party out and never did anything to hurt them, he had our trust pretty well.
Also, he had a really funny character introduction that went sorta like.
DM: "lemme guess, you're brooding in the corner?"
Edgelord: "Na, I'm brooding on one of the rafters. Better place to people watch."
He's an Edge-King. Long may he brood in the rafters.
This is _gold._ 🤣. I now wanna meet this guy of yours IRL. 🤣.
@@psychowordsmith the rafter throne is truly one fit for Spoonman!
First edgelord that I actively want to play with just to be their opposite, sounds like a fun Jin and Yang dynamic
Ah yes, the great brooder of the rafters shall be known for the rest of time.
I'd like to see a party made entirely of edgelords: cleric, wizard, bards, druids, everyone gets black trench coats, mall-ninja weapons, and rambling backstories. The world starts off treating them like goons, but the more quests they complete, the more that the world begins to warp to fit their angsty-teen-anime reality--monsters develop anime eyes, villains start getting their own angsty back-stories and speaking in monologue. BBEG is out to stop them before their combined edge destroys the world as they know it...
then the BBEG should be the BGGG (Big Good Good Guy)
This could actually be a fun lighthearted evil(or chaotic)-only campaign
I want to do a loner gardener with a tragic backstory who does topiary sculpture (a la Edward Scissorhands) but name him “The Hedge Lord.”
I know 2 stories and they are rather nice.
1) a old dnd dm decided to dm for close friends goruo who wanted to play DND. When the got to session zero they find out the all picked the rouge and had similar backstory. Dead parents. World's ahtes them. The will go against the world. The player question if they could do this if they were all the same class and the dm was akay with it. He played the first session so they could get the feel for it and after talked with them. Asked what the wanted to play how and did the base their characters off of anything. From there the dm showed the different okay styles and subclasses for rouges. So the party was pretty much the starting point of the edgy thieves guild.
The other was a fun one shot where everyone was to make the edges edge lord for ahits and giggles and see how well they could go over the top. My fav of the group was the bard cause he basically made a heavy death metal bag pipes player.
There's a flaw in this plan. They'd all stand in corners of the room and brood and nothing would actually get accomplished.
Never thought I'd get Wendy's humor on a crab-ridden beach, but here we are. Regardless, count me in for some good ol' fashioned edgelord roasting.
Is it wrong to create a Murderous Mime?
@@Grim_Interfaze well there was a bad ass sad clown so why not
If I ever decide to GM I'm gonna use this as a line if I ever encounter edgelords.
@@Sin_Falimus was it boso the sad clown that sacrificed himself to take out the bad demon bbeg
There's a Wendy's under one of the rocks, ya gotta get in and get out before high tide tho. Good service but I lost the time and nearly drowned once. 6.4 out of 7, would dine again.
So many edgelord stories makes me want to play one.
Specifically: A character who TRIES to be an edgelord, but he isn't actually one/can't pull it off, and everyone/the world just keeps dunking on him for it.
It would have to be a more light hearted/comedic campaign to work, but it could be fun.
That or someone who accidentally comes off as an edgelord because of mannerisms and voice font, but is just a goofy loving guy
I played an edgy Ranger once during Ice Windale and I had fun with him. He wasn't over the top but his back story was the typical one (lost his family and tribe in a beast attack blah blah blah sold his soul to Malar (there was back story to that as well) to help avenge his friend's death at the end blah blah blah). I had fun with him and I learned how helpful Rangers can be, especially when dealing insane damage at 100ft away. Gotta love the Sharpshooter feat. Give it a try. It's fun.
@@m-pc5334 i play a character like this. Fallen aasimar sun soul monk who's radiant bolts are flavored to become necrotic when he activates his super edgy necrotic shroud. He has pale, vampire-esque gray skin, amethyst eyes, and long black hair usually covered in a jet black cloak who's weapon is a quarterstaff flavored as a scythe. And when he activates his shroud i tend to describe how his skin becomes pure white and cracked, his nails sharpen to claws and his teeth into fangs. How a sickly green and black swirling aura shrouds him and his skeletal wings, and how his amethyst eyes turn into black pools of nothingness that not even light can escape. Absolute edgelord.
At least until you have a conversation with him. He's a nuetral good character who fell not because of his actions, but due to a balor demon who is going around cursing aasimar children for plot reasons. He has confidence issues due to the way he looks and how people treated him for looking like some sort of evil monster and developed a nervous tick/speech impediment due to it and tends to stutter/stumble over certain words. All he wants to do is see the world and help people while trying to find a way to remove his curse (remove curse and greater restoration magic are not strong enough due to the nature/plot conveniences) As far as his cloak and scythe go; he got himself a cloak of displacement after the party beat and skinned some displacer beasts and the scythe was a gift from the head of the temple that raised him fashioned after bahamut's wing for the purpose of drawing the evil energies of his curse out of him if it grows too rampant/powerful to handle. As part of this activating his necrotic shroud spreads his curse along so he only does it as a last resort or if something drives him over the edge (like a friend dropping to 0hp)
Essentially, i took some of the most edgy things i could think and flipped it into the sweetest cinnamon roll you could meet. I did this for 2 reasons. I thought it'd be fun to play a good character that accidentally looks like your typical edgelord/villain through no fault of his own. Bit of subversion as well as poking fun at the typical 'dnd edgelord'. Tragic past, loner, fallen from grace, looks like a vampire and a grim reaper had a child, demon powers, and plenty of motivation for revenge.... if he cared at all about it haha. The second reason why is because i thought of a storyline (likely unconsciously inspired by seasons 1-5 of supernatural) where the demon prince baphomet is using a balor servant of his on the mortal plain to curse and corrupt aasimar children in the hopes that as they mature and the curse takes deeper root he can use the curse to possess one and, with both his own demonic powers mingling with the divine powers granted to aasimar, open a permanent rift to the hells so that he can wage war and destroy to his black heart's content.
I’ve wanted to play an edgy Rogue that copies the edgy outfit, the edgy mannerisms, the edgy technique but always talks kindly and is super friendly to everyone. He just adopted the edgy persona because that’s what all the good rogues do.
I’m playing as a guy who looks like an edge lord, has an edgy backstory, but is really wholesome
" *All around me is darkness, I lost everything and everyone I've ever loved, and only through violence can I avenge my memory of them in my endless pursuit of justice...* "
"So...did you want fries with that Baconator or no?"
the thing that find a bit funny is that the whole edglord thing sounds like something Batman would say
Kek
"Yes, and a Coca-Cola please, because coke is the only beverage that reflects the darkness in my soul; why can't someone understand me? I want someone to understand me but I don't think they ever will, how can they? They have not felt the pain that I've felt" "order 223!" "Thank you"
Also let me add (ahem) "I only wear black until I can find something darker"
Can I have wings with that? :)
For someone who claims to have anxiety, Edgy King sure does seem extremely insensitive and unempathetic towards other people with anxiety.
Probably because they don't have anxiety. Or at the very least, the took an intro to psychology class and self diagnosed 😂
He Is the equivalent to a homophobic gay
Unfortunately sometimes people get diagnosed and use it like a license to be cunts. They are just terrible people imo
@@doms.6701 He felt some emotion other than deadpan edgy sadness and declared it must be maladaptive.
Probably because his anxiety and reasons for said anxiety are somehow just more special and more awful than everyone else's of course. No one knows "real pain" like they do. I honestly can't stand people like that
1:49 I've heard there's a difference between antisocial and asocial. asocial being what most people call antisocial- reserved, doesn't talk to many people, could be considered shy, etc. antisocial is specifically when someone tries to ruin conversations or other social situations. it's a more aggressive approach- this guy is definitely antisocial by that definition
I think a way you could think about this is that the 'a' prefix means 'not', so asocial means "not social", and the 'anti' prefix means 'against', so antisocial would be more along the lines of "against sociality"
I HATE SOCIAL
@@TAOBIAF society
I don't like terms but i kinda enter in the asocial category. I noticed that when i met antisocial people who literally straight up HATE other people and HATE social interactions..... I can stay at my room not talking to anyone for a month but if i need to its okay, but these dudes are just different i rlly dont know. Living in your University shows people true colors, and some of them need therapy
@@Herogamers45 A lot of us in America need therapy, given how stressed we are just trying to make enough money to survive sometimes. We just don't get therapy because we don't want to pay people for us to tell them "I'm broken, please fix me" since we're already struggling financially as is.
I made an edgelord once. Instead of killing everyone at level one, he watched everyone die and gave up on the world. His development was opening back up to the party and seeing the good in people again
After 3000 years, I found it!
An actually creative edgelord!
From the story: “I like to try and help people like him who are lonely and need people in their life”
MAN if that hasn’t gotten me into a ton of toxic friendships/relationships!
Sure it’s good to reach out so someone and feel empathetic if they seem a bit lonely. But always maintain boundaries. I’d trap myself in guilt and accommodate some awful behavior because I felt like I was providing the gift of friendship to people. Please don’t make that mistake folks.
Great video as usual!
Yeah as someone who was like that when they were younger you really gotta put your foot down. They may hate you for it but they will not cross that line again whether out of fear or respect.
Wow, that’s… yeah, that’s me alright.
Reminds me of an Aesop story:
A Porcupine, wanting to shelter himself, desired a nest of Snakes to give him admittance into their cave. They were prevailed upon, and let him in accordingly; but were so annoyed with his sharp prickly quills that they soon repented of their easy compliance, and entreated the Porcupine to withdraw, and leave them their hole to themselves. “No,” says he, “let them quit the place that don’t like it; for my part, I am well enough satisfied as I am.”
Moral: Hospitality is a virtue, but should be wisely exercised; we may by thoughtlessness entertain foes instead of friends.
Yeah, same. Fell into that hole with a person who later would go on to betray and kick me out of a group because I couldnt get along with his toxic friends, too.
I used to be of the mindset that “everyone deserved to have at least one friend” until that came back to bite me. Some people aren’t worth the effort!
What if an edgy character’s edgy backstory was that they simply failed a big mission before and are now way too hard on themselves because of it? Now self doubt is embedded into their core beliefs and they know it to be unhealthy, so they try to confront their issues of self doubt, self loathing, and now worsened social ineptitude by joining a party of heroes, through which they think they would get the redemption they sought out after?
Thats knife type edge (edge with a point) edgelords dont go for that and mostly stick to being pizza cutter type edge.
@@odstarmor557 The edge of a blade huh? Interesting…
The classic way to do it is having the character flaw be that they are like reverse Disney princesses. They were born to rule and have had their kingdom taken away from them. Super entitled and imperious. Not necessarily a person who doesn't care about people around them or have love, but is raised in a position where they can only "punch down" and are used to using people like disposable resources. Basically, a casually cruel and egotistical character who can be charismatic and helpful.
@@mattd8725 Yeah but I’d rather go for spicer flavors.
thats actualy kinda creative though, and more importantly, it requires the character to have failed miserably in the past, no super cool dark and mysterious OC can have that
And edgelord throws a tantrum when they get called out for being an EL? They just demoted themselves from edgy to clown EMO since they didn't own the act.
They be like: 👿---->🤡
take their mall Katana and shorten their trench coat!
P
I'm getting an idea for a backstory, Thanks! A disheveled, smeared-painted face of a man enters the tavern. In hand, a brown paper bag with probably cheap wine in it. He Begins to yell to all in the tavern/Inn, "Where's the Birthday Boy/Girl?" *Proceeds to make crappy balloon animals that nobody guesses( or gets wrong) types of animals. Commences to cry and pulls out impossibly long, multi colored, never ending, handkerchief to wipe tears and swigs wine humming "send in the clowns" ( in the corner) EDGE CLOWN!
man, and emo clown would be so funny tho
My first Dnd character was a Half-Elf cleric who was short tempered and a bit edgy- not because I wanted her to be cool but because she was genuinely afraid and uncomfortable around other people. Her backstory intertwined a lot with what turned out to be a large plot section. A powerful group of arsonists burnt her house down as an initiation for a new member when she was a kid. That incident convinced her everyone wanted her dead until she met the party. And I was in 8th grade when I made her.
for an 8th grader, that's not a bad character.
@@josepholberding2776 Thank you. She is my favorite to this day. ☺️
That’s actually really cool! I might try doing something similar with the idea of some kind of cult or gang messin me up
Thankfully my personal ”Edgeprince” (not a full Edgelord) in my group is a good dude who just likes sneaking, rogues, and dark backstories….. and British accents.
He is honestly a better character than the first horror story
Somebody's played Thief before
An edgelord, but a cultured one.
Just an edgeserf, toiling around in his black mud.
I just had an idea for a character. Picture this:
A rogue, dressed in all black with a cloak and a hood, drinking alone in a corner of a room. He looks mysterious and strong and is extremely good at sneaking around, not attracting any attention on him. Is he an edge lord? No, he's just extremely uncomfortable around people in general and is trying to live his life with as little social interaction possible. In fact, when he goes shopping, he steals the stuff he wants and then sneaks money into the shopkeeper's pocket just to avoid talking to him.
Behold! The not-edgelord!
Genius!
I’m honest about the above comment btw.
@@Aaa-bi8ly thanks, I'm glad someone likes it!
The most relatable dnd character
It sucks. I think edgy characters have their place in the table and in stories but the problems always seem to stem from the /players/ that don't understand how an edgy character contributes to a shared narrative. I've always felt its better to watch the edgy behavior develop over time rather than have that at the start.
I've played a few characters who's backgrounds and traits could easily put them in the category of 'edgelord', but I think the big thing is what you do with them beyond that, and working within the framework of the game.
I played a Vengeance Paladin in Curse of Strahd. His background was that as a youngster his village was slaughtered by werewolves (inspired by the Haunted background) and he grew up in to a ruthless monster slayer. My whole angle with him was that he was a monster who hunted monsters. But he got to be a real protector of the innocents during the game.
Right now I'm playing a former scion of a noble house who's teifling heritage was revealed by a rival noble and her family disowned her to save face. Its a Skull and Shackles game and she's become the captain of the ship and is a scary person to anyone who threatens her crew.
I am a Edgelord at heart, I love to play Edgelords because I find the dark aesthetics and thematics cool.
However, one thing that should never be forgotten is that the Edgelord is not the one sitting at the Table.
TBH, playing an edgy character good is very hard. I have a bearfolk cleric that lost his wife to a cult. And because of it, he decimated the town they occupied. I always pictured it as a small town of around 10-20 people that he demolished in his anger and heartbreak.
Because of this I played him like a jerk. He was intolerant of other people, especially those he deemed as cowards and would go to the lengths of insulting them. It was only when he nearly died did he chill out. He's still a jerk but he is more helpful to the group.
real edgelords give only one answer when being called out on their edge: Yes.
real edgelords would just ignore you
I had an edgelord paladin,
He was a fallen Aasimar.
When mother was pregnant with him she was killed by a necromancer, and was risen as a zombie. When she was made undead, he was still alive. Fallen Aasimar states simply that they are that way sometimes from simply being touched by dark magic. Well for him it's a birth defect. He's got skeletal wings, a skeletal half mask that he wears, has pale skin and jet black hair. Wears black armor and a Dark grey purple tabard with a symbol of Kelemvor. He was raised by a knight commander of the doomguides of kelemvor, *not cannon version.
He eventually got a fear aura.
Was the most charismatic, people loving, ideological character I've ever played. He worked well with most of the party held them to a high standard and was reasonable. His resolve was tested on many occasions. He gave the party a moral compass that we just didn't have in past games. He had a backstory that involved multiple PCs that came into play, had a rivalry with an Aasimar Zealot barbarian *another PC.
The edgelord doesn't have to be bad. They don't have to be Brooding whiny manchild. They can be a PC that has just had circumstances that lead to where they. In this case I wanted him to be proud of the people and the god that shaped his life it let him lean into his flaws. I've had characters I played longer but never a character I had more fun RPing.
Generally i find that if a long time player takes up an edgelord role, they can make some really good stories and give huge potential for individual growth within the team. If its someone who new to the game, its a red flag, will tread lightly and not expect to finish the story.
We have an 'edgelord' character in my tuesday parties. But not because the worlds against him.. no. He has rich parents, everything was given to him. He's literally just an edgelord cause he'd going through his rebellious phase (The character in question is a 19 year old goliath, started as a rouge but through character development has begun to take levels in monk! And is even growing into the role as our airships captain.), and it's played to a hilarious degree.
We even recently learned his Father does drag queen shows, and is an amazing singer, and his mother is a bad ass landlord and financial advisor. The former which led to him begining to understand his parents really care about him. Was a wholesome af moment.
It can be done well, but hoo boi.. The wrongs outweigh it.
I've made a semi edgelord wizard as my first character. Needless to say, there were some problems in the beginning. But after the learning curb, it went really great!
I had a mask wearing edgelord goblin, but was secretly a changling that couldnt do faces, people distrusted them in our game, but he couldnt just be any other race. So he was ashamed of who he was, making him self look small and hidden. His tell was he had a caring spot for children and street folk.
@@novasiri7809 that’s really cool! Really interesting character and parents as well. Very wholesome.
@@novasiri7809 Yeah I think edgelords CAN be done right, but it has to be well executed, and there has to be some sort of characteristic or development to mitigate the edgelord trait. For example I saw one comment on another video where a group had an edgelord party memember IC, but it was soon revealed that it was just a facade and the character is actually a huge softie
I love that the character that I am most fond of back story is pretty anime-ish and edgy... but he actually decided to become a Pacifist Monk that protects people
who is that?
@@returnedtomonkey8886 yeah sorry, my English is not the best. I mean the characters I have done for my DnD games.
@@returnedtomonkey8886sounds like batman to me
@@returnedtomonkey8886 Sounds like a guy named Vinland, there's an entire saga about him
I have a kobold rogue
Shes got a totally wholesome backstory
Whenever she enters a new tavern she asks the tavern keep which corner is the "brooding corner" so she can poke fun at it
“Everyone always kicks you out of their servers” huh? wonder what the constant in all of those scenarios is…
Reminds me of guys who claim all their exes were crazy. I immediately cut contact lol.
@@SaraphDarklaw or teachers who claim “90% of students don’t pass their class”
the 10% likely learn on their own because the teacher was bad at their job
Having edgy characters is fine.
..until they're also written by edgelords. Because that means you can expect no development from said edge.
"Your players are not going to care about your NPC the same way they care about their character"
Not me literally sacrificing my character to save Scabby the Kobolt after our DM tried to off him 😭😂😂😂
I like to make purposefully edgy characters sometime as a sort of comic relief, not to be taken too seriously. However I do also love a genuine edgy, someone with a tragic story but done right like you said, been through hell and they didn't let their hearts freeze over. It can be a genuinely interesting character, but trying to be edgy because you watched a cool anime...doesn't work like 90% of the time.
Edgy Rogue: "My parents are dead!"
Drunk Barbarian: "Hey, we've got something in common then. A rival tribe caught my folks in a classic ambush and got about twenty of us. We killed double of them, but that first attack still buggered us right good! Ah! Good times!"
Edgy Rogue: "But... but I'm tragic... you can't have it worse than me!"
Haughty Wizard: "I'd kill for some dead parents. Mine are still out there, cavorting with demons and trying to hunt me down because one of their bargains involves my soul."
Edgy Rogue: "Well, my parents..."
Half-Elf Cleric: "My father boned my mother and then disappeared. My mother sold me to a farmer who needed some extra hands. I was angry for a long time, but faith heals all things and I am proud to serve today."
Edgy Rogue: "..." **
Ngl I laughed at the cleric’s story
Edgelord background stories are like;
*MY TALE BEGINS AT THE DAWN OF TIME*
Me: ...and you're a Level 1 character?
Edgelord backgrounds can work if it's a one shot or if you start the campaign at a higher level.
My group usually has one long campaign and then a bunch of one shots to experiment with.
When our long campaign is done sometime we don't like to start at level 1 so we start at level 10 or something.
"I told him in a nice way to fuck off"
I applaud his generosity, as I myself would do only one of those things if he was at my table.
I have a general rule at my table that if you can't try and play as friends then the topic is just getting dropped and literally anyone who doesn't drop it gets kicked out.
I don't have time for negativity in my games and it's the GM's job to make sure EVERYONE AT THE TABLE is having fun.
So yeah.
If 9/10 are having fun #10 can shut up or leave. Nuff said.
Level 2 stable boy who struggles to throw husks of corn at rats has me dyin'. Definitely gonna be an NPC in a campaign for me at some point
Now I want to try playing an edgy teenager who's convinced they were "betrayed and forsaken" because their parents "didn't appreciate or understand them." Translation: kiddo got caught doing dumb petty lawbreaking and were forced into the adventure as community service.
It'd probably have to be something like a light-hearted, low level one shot for the concept to work, but it could be fun to play someone insufferable so amusingly bad things can happen to them.
I once played a twist on the edgelord swordsman by making him a gruff samurai. He gave off all the right vibes from a distance but turns out he just had resting dick face and didn't know very much common, being from a foreign land, so he rarely talked. He loved cute stuff, like small animals and children. He had a wife and child of his own and his armor was basically hello kitty themed because his old armor had scared his young son so he sold it to buy the land they lived on. He wound up being quite badass, maining a spear but also having a sword as backup, and a dagger as backup to the backup as well as a longbow he was fairly good with, but mainly used for distraction and puzzle solving, (was going for real samurai rather than movie samurai who are like married to their swords). Once everyone warmed up to him he became like the group dad (most of the other PCs were in their teens or early 20s, he was 47) and, though he let the casters take a lot of credit for the kills he'd always make sure his polearm mastery was between them and the murdery mobs.
I have an opposite for the edge lord.
The blunt lord: a character that only speaks their mind and opinions openly with no regard for being gentle when it comes to facing reality. This character is usually very bland compared to the edge lord but is a grounding force for most of the characters in the show as they can call them out on their shit or openly side with someone who opposes the characters seeing their point as well.
I feel like a self-aware DM who knows how infuriating this type of edgelord Mary Sue archetype is could make a really funny reoccurring villain/foil to the party. They’d just be some insanely edgy dark and brooding vigilante character who wants to kill the party for unnecessarily convoluted reasons and he goes on and on about how much of a badass he is and when they fight the party just kicks his ass cuz he’s just crazy edgy
Its been a while since I've seen one of videos but still I just want to say thank you for getting me into dungeons and dragons so ceep up the good work
Man these edgelords would hate me. I have a tabaxi rogue with an extremely cheerful disposition since he had an actual childhood. Crazy concept but a character doesn't always have to be all dark and mysterious to be fun. This rogue I had was so naïve and trusting that it took quite a few sessions to realize that not everyone is gonna be friendly. He was still a really nice guy in game but was more wary of strangers after all his experiences the DM had him go through.
I've been binge watching your content for like a month and I enjoy hearing theses stories of DND
I especially enjoyed these ones about the edge Lords, one of my favorites has to be the one edgelord with the extremely dull and blank empty eyes
I also enjoyed the one with the foolish paladin that caused two tpk
This has inspired me. I'm a DM and I'm planning for my PC's to have to go into the underdark eventually, I'm going to make a character who's supposed to guide them, they'll be leaning against the wall, in the shade, with their hood up and won't acknowledge the party until they physically touch him, because... he fell asleep. took an unintended nap
I got an ad that said DO NOT SUBSCRIBE, you have enemies out there Crab
89.9% of the time if you have explain that you're not an Edge Lord....
You're probably an Edge Lord
My first rogue was an Edgeling. Like, he had the cookie cutter background (drowl elf, has night visions, foresaw illithids marching through his home settlement and taking everyone with them so he left with a friend on a pretense of 'let's go gathering'; came back to a ghost town), and in my head, he was 'cool in action, awful at everything else'.
Turns out he's quiet but friendly, and his highlighted quirk was that he enjoyed the simple pastime that was enjoying a good cup of tea. As he developed a poison akin to chloroform, he somehow incorporated that into drinks that were a hit for many.
Best description of an edgelord I ever heard was by Josh Strife Hase who calls edgy nonsense "like a pizza cutter... All edge, no point."
Love it! 😂
Why do the worst people think they'd be the best podcasters? Because the worst people are narcissists. Pretty straightforward.
I got away with the badass backstory once, but the fluff also justified the underwhelming stats . My wizard USED to be hot-s%#*, but then in his arrogance was that guy who tries to consume the energy field larger then his head. The result was the magical equivalent of spinal damage, and it was only just before the campaign began where he discovers a way to un-cripple his connection to the weave but is starting over at party level. Dm liked it and let me use it to justify Ravinica background. Since those that knew of me knew me for that’ incident, my rep couldn’t be leveraged for much nor would I expect anybody to be in awe of me . If anything it had NPC’s in the know recommending the party ditch me before I blew myself up and possibly them with me.
as a DM i can say the most beloved npc's are the ones who were supposed to be random toss asides
my players saved a guard whos caravan was ambushed and for some reason called him biscotti and the name stuck. they ended up getting him promoted to second in command in his small town and then got him promoted to field scout and dragged him along their adventures. this whole time he was just supposed to just tag along back to his town and most likely never be seen again but now they count him as a party member
I like making edgelords, but typically tell the dm that its the end point and we start with a non edgelord and have them grow into the edgelord through out the story
During a one shot,
Edgelord: I sit in the corner, my hood up the shadows consuming my Red skin.
Me: I sit down and say hi. my Holy symbol is proudly displayed on my Cleric robes. I started to brag about my Wife and Kids.
Later,
Edgelord: I strike at the Goblin from the shadows stabbing it threw the Neck, I laugh at its death cry.
Next fight,
Me: calling the Power of My God, I invoke my Flame tongue to ignite, at the same time I pop My Angelic wings as Resight the prayer of the God of Death.
Edgelord: (OOC), wait your an Aasimar Death Cleric with a Flaming Sword.... you're a literal angel of Death.
Me: Yip.
Edgelord didn't speak for the rest of the night.
"Of course that meant everyone started *flocking* around me"
Me, who's been bingeing Crowe's Perch: They did *WHAT?*
0:00 seconds in got me thinking of: “HE LOOKS AT YOU WITH HIS DOLL LIKE EYES…”
Anything you put out with "Edgelord" in the title is usually an immediate 🏆
The third story is a pretty classic example of why you should have more than one plot hook. Even if all the hooks lead to the same adventure it well worth putting in the effort
What good is hook if it’s rusty piece of junk without bait?
@@valivali8104 Exactly, a hook is one of the most important bits of a story because it's your player's first exposure to the adventure.
Edgelord reminds me of a guy I knew. Always played the victim when he was clearly at fault. Everyone got tired of his shit real quickly and kicked him out of the group
i totally agree with the statment "going through tradgety but not let it freeze your heart over" it works really well. characters can go through horrible heart breaking things and still be rays of sunshine and joy. it also leaves room to explore things like having a character put up a front to appear happy and fine to others but they really are not happy at all. characters can be perantless as well and just never knew them with out the super depressing backstory of them dying. just never knew them
Let me guess, you're an orphan who's parents were both murdered in front of them, then had to fend for themselves without a single friend in the world.
Rogue: How did you know that???
My rogue: No, that’s the Barbarian, I’m Lyman.
my way of coming up with characters is usually:
1. figure out the general vibe of my guy/gal
2. decide what complimenting class, stats and abilities i want to go for
3. adjust personality to the available stats etc to make the character more dynamic and organic
4. think about a backgroundstory that convincingly works as a prologue to my characters upcoming journey
i feels like many people really write to much of a background story for the characters that are supposed to still experience their adventure. sometimes this works tho if executed correctly, or if you play more advanced characters from the get go.
also im definetly a sucker for unapologeticly edgy characters, and here a breakdown of my latest way to edgy creation: dark elf company leader that was willing to sacrifice his life in service, but he also was willing to sacrifice his squad, so they deserted and due to my characters harsh treatment they jumped him before leaving leaving him mortally injured on the frontline to die. my guy was picked up by a necromancer that conducted an experiment to see if he could use his necromany not only to rise the undead but also to extend a dying life, and it worked. my guy was still loyal to the military he came from, but it would be a shameful return with an entire squad that jumped him and now is deserted, so before he returns he wants to set things right and hunt down every last member of his former squad. since he was mostly a tactitian beforehand and also suffered pretty substantial dmg to his body i believe it to be believable to play him as a low level character for the start of the adventure he is in, and i cant wait to play my umbelievably edgy fuck
My thoughts on DMPC's: Personally I think they get a bad wrap, if played right they can add to the game.
However, that being said they can quickly derail and ruin a game just by one being there. If your going to do a DMPC then have a good reason for introducing one and always, always, ALWAYS talk to your party about it first. If they don't want one then don't add one, even if it is a case where one is needed, don't push it.
Example: I ran Curse of Strahd, and anyone who has played the module knows how difficult it is and a Cleric is practically required. No one wanted to play one, and while there was healing options for the players it wasn't nearly enough for them to survive. I offered to run a DMPC Cleric who would be shy and not engage in much RP unless they wanted to engage with her. I pitched the idea and it was rejected. Sure, a few sessions later the party got TPK'd but my reputation as a DM was entact and the players still had a good time despite it.
Late reply, but I ran a pair of DMPCs in a Gundam based game that wrapped up a few months back (An actual ending, somehow). They were to fill out the squad since I started with just 2 players, but found them rather useful for keeping things moving in RP moments and as targets for things I wouldnt do to a player (Like a pervy general getting a handful while pinning a medal to a woman's chest).
The secret it to keep the players at the forefront and DMPCs quiet unless they must chime in. Next campaign I am using one as a radio guy akin to Bain from Payday 2
Tbh, I would play a extremely edgy guy ironically just so me and some others could have a good laugh.
Nice to see you have a more consistent uploading, keep it up!
I'm really working on it. 🦀
"I am not comfortable giving you my real name, I will however record everything that happens during this DnD session and post it online without asking ANYONE for permission".
Seems about right.
I've been on this island for hours. No one to talk to. No food. No water. The crabs will come for me soon. Help.
the crabs shall claim thy bones >:]
I'm stuck here to, h e l p
Click click here I come to eat you
"Your players will never care about an npc as much as a pc". Ever heard of a little someone named Gilear?
I think the only character I've made that classified as 'Edgy' is my Wizard.. Only because he was a drow lowborn and that was sort of par the course background for Forgotten Realms low born drow, ESPECIALLY men.
The character himself, which I've retooled through the years, is actually kind of a goofball and wound up becoming the moral compass and 'dad' of his groups. His current iteration is actually a bit of a himbo, still a drow, still the same goofball dad figure, but now in Ebberon and is a Paladin of the Silver Flame.
Nice.
Oh god, I recently started playing the exact kind of character you are talking about, the "gone through hell but still trying to be good" one. He ended up with an almost unbearably edgy backstory, his father, grandfather, and two brothers dying in front of him in an archeological expedition gone wrong and having to become a paladin of a chaotic evil diety (he was, and still is, lawful good in a kind of uncle Iroh way). He blames himself for everything and still his main motivation is trying to do as much good as he can, to at least get close to redemption, and even to change the heart of his god (who is currently drained of most power and acts as familiar in-game, so it's not THAT impossible). Truly, DamagedButDoingTheirBest is my favourite genre of guy
"I always get kicked because they're too u p t i g h t and I have ✨️a n x i e t y✨️"
2:12 "the world has wronged me, so im gonna be a annoying lil shit about it" cracked me the hell up, sounded like something straight out of a revengence shitpost or something
I love how the rogues always have the highest charisma
I always anxiously watch these hoping my characters aren't too edgy and then realize pretty quickly that in comparison my characters are rays of sunshine.
I love playing edgelord rogues. I try to avoid cliche backstories but i love being the edgy devil on the partys shoulder lol.
Was just thinking I needed something to listen to. And the crab gods deliver!
Damn that was cringe.
Imagine having "victim mentality" in a D&D game, a game decided by chance.
A Game that allows you to build a hypersonic cannon with a spear and a couple thousand peasants
And be turned into a living rock which is poisoned while being set on fire.
My character didn't want to choke on noodles but he rolled a Nat 1 and literally inhaled his food. That's how that one shot started....with a Nat 1 on eating, which was supposed to be a joke roll.
@@LewisBowels
1: you, like, choke on air.
2-19: you eat the noodles normally
20: jaw is unhinged, noodles slide directly down the throat.
Oh wow, my story was read out(The final story). Generally surprised, thanks for telling my story.
Ironic, cause the character I was playing as the time I play as a sort of anti-edgelord. He has the whole backstory of an edgelord. Dead parents, rough childhood, picked on a lot for being small, etc. But actually has a very cheerful personality to the point that some find him annoying cause of his overtly cheerful personality.
“It’s the characters that have gone through Hell but still didn’t let their hearts freeze over that are a million times more interesting.” - Crit Crab
Content Warning: Edgy Backstory.
(This is the SHORT VERSION by the way, lol)
Tl;dr
I’ve never gotten to use this character, but can’t wait to. He was a Warforged Marine, on a ship full of other warforged with a single captain to guide them. Every warforged had false memories of being human, and they were magically forced to see each other as flesh instead of machine. They were at war with undead pirates, or at least that’s what they saw. One night their ship was ambushed and fired upon. It sank, and as my warforged came to, he saw the gore of his fellow soldiers. Eventually the water clouded his vision, and he saw the truth. He saw mechanical limbs, splintered wood and metal, with glitching flickers of the illusory gore. He drowned, and realized that he couldn’t drown at all. He escaped the sinking ship with the captain’s knife, and used it to cling to the enemy ship. He climbed onboard, and murdered the entire ship’s crew, confused at what he was seeing, angry at what had happened. He saw that he had killed humans, not undead. He dove into the ocean, and wound up on a beach somewhere in the forgotten realms. Eventually he settled in with a city of dwarves, specifically a family in the city, who used him as basically C3PO, and as something interesting to tinker on. Life was peaceful, and very simple. Eventually, the city was wiped out by orcs. He saw his new dwarven family get Orced, but was unable to do anything. To make sense of his level 20 murder spree on that ship, I say that he was programmed to be a murder machine, but overcame that programming, and lived in peace for several hundred years, effectively losing all combat prowess he once had. Since then he’s started working up the ladder of hired blades, and eventually became a Paladin of Redemption. In game, he’d play as a tank and healer, preferring to talk over fight where able.
And now, here’s the FULL backstory. All written up in a day, without taking heavy inspiration from anything, as far as I’m aware.
“I was born some two hundred years ago, lived a twenty year life in which I had a wife and children, before I was shipped off to war in a marine company. For several years I fought alongside my fellow soldiers, obeying my commanding officers, and beating back the opposition. The war, we were told, was against undead sailors, pirates, and marines alike that had risen from the ocean’s depths; they looked and smelled like it too. In the middle of a stormy night, a massive galleon came while everyone was sleeping. The watchmen didn’t notice it. We were fired upon with cannons, our hull smashing to pieces. I awoke to see my comrades smeared against the ship’s walls, and I grabbed what I could to try to survive as the ship went down with me inside it. The exits had been closed off by shrapnel, and the water was rising. I prayed to any Gods that would listen, held my breath, and started beating away at the ship’s hull where a cannonball had breached. Minutes passed, my body ached, my lungs burned, and my vision began to blur. It was over for me. I let myself slump against the wall, and stared into the darkness. I saw reflecting light, from the corpses of my allies and from my own skin, in an otherwise black coffin, as I breathed deep and realized that I couldn’t feel my lungs anymore, and I couldn’t feel any of my aches. I saw the silhouette of mechanical limbs reflecting light in the darkness. I got up, smashed through the hull, and swam to the surface. The enemy galleon hadn’t gone far, and I swam to catch up to it, with my comrades survival knife in my teeth. I latched onto the ship’s hull with the knife, my grip steel as I climbed out of the water, my joints creaking. The rain was heavy, pelting down on my body as I held onto the ship for an hour, waiting for the time to strike. When the storm picked up, letting a loud roar surround the sea, I scaled the ship’s side. I killed every last monster on that ship, slashing tendons, cutting throats, stabbing into eyes and ribs. With every passing moment, every sailor that lay at my feet, I could hear their screams grow louder, I could see their flesh turn from blue and rotten to pink and lively, and I could see my own hands turn to cold steel, soaked in blood. With the last soldier bleeding on the deck, lightning flashed and I saw the truth. I saw the terror in his eyes. I was no man. These were no monsters. I grabbed a bag filled with food and water, before I lit the ship ablaze with its own black powder and oil. I swam aimlessly for days, washing up on the Sword Coast, far from home. I did my best to fit in, not having much opportunity in the cities and towns, so I trekked inland. I wound around the desert, and reached the Desertsmouth Mountains. For many, many years, I took refuge with the dwarves there, joining a family of tinkers who took interest in me. They gave me a home, and I learned their trade, becoming somewhat of a family member while they explored my mechanics. Every night for a hundred years, I contemplated my existence in that mountain; How I came to be, why I had memories that weren’t mine, and why I did what I did. Every night, I’ve been haunted by my victims’ ghosts, their screams, their blood. I took solace in the dwarven worship of Moradin and the creation of trinkets, but my haunted peace would not last long. My dwarven family’s home was attacked by orcs and I could do nothing but watch, petrified from what I was seeing, and what I had done so long ago. With my family gone and the house ransacked, I went to their vault and took the few coins that remained. I left the mountains and came here, where I’ve become a Paladin in Moradin’s name to seek my Redemption.”
This is a really interesting character, did you ever end up using it in a campaign?
6:39 He had that "Mr. Electric! Send him to the principal's office and have him expelled!" kind of energy
I have a bad habit of coming up with sort of edgy characters. My favorite character I've played, however, had the most edgyboy backstory I could think of, but I played him as a happy-go-lucky guy. It was really funny when his past came up, and I got to explain all these traumatic events with a smile and his regular happy tone. Since revealing all that, he kind of comes off as either totally emotionally repressed or a sociopath (but in a fun way?).
So the Joker?🃏
Remembered this time me and friends got together for session and one of them decided to make his character an edgelord but the good kind. The character did talk with people but usually with short sentences like goblin slayer. He would help his party but would only help of asked, pretty much willing to do his own thing unless someone said "hey we kinda need your help" . His backstory was that he was a war orphan who merged with a two demons who tried to possess him but actually became good friends with them. Later however he was captured by a holy order and was tortured for is knowledge of demons. The two demons who were merged with him sacrificed themselves trying to keep his soul save and after he was let go they had died. Then he sweared to kill any cleric or paladin or celestial or godly person. It's also the reason why he never willingly chose go get healed by our cleric and instead relied only on potions with his own gold.
Being a edge lord is ok just when you make it overboard with the edginess is when people get annoyed. The edge lord concept is better when you are opening up to the people you are partying with the social cues of your party members becoming friends with the party you slowly start to turn from edge lord to party protector because you don't want to lose the family you just gain.
I'm preparing my first homebrew campaign for friends. The BBEG is called "The Edged Lord." He is a deliberate parody of edgelords, having moody broody backstories and personalities, and all black-and-red spike armor.
Needless to say, I am hoping my friends take the story completely off the rails with hilarity.
I feel that edgelord characters can be done well if written/utilized properly. Most aren't. Also good afternoon everyone.😊
Execution matters more than concept. I subscribe to the idea that any concept works if you do it well, even tropes and cliches
True. I have no problem with cliches if it is done in a way that puts a fresh spin on it.
Best I could do with my comedy ridden mind for a edgy character is a murderous Mime
as someone who plays an edgelord (granted not the quiet brooding type), it's really easy to. yknow be cooperative with the party and participate lmao
"I'm not an edgelord!"
*Proceeds to nuke the campaign just to prove it.*
Awwwww I was at Gen Con too!!! I could give you a story just from our one D&D event. Let’s just say it started off with our DM saying he was having a contest with another DM for most TPK’s.
New critcrab baby!
Thanks for fixing the grammer mistakes in the second story for the reading. The extra effort doesnt go unnoticed.
Every time i hear about this stories, i gain -1 points in the new stat "Faith in Humanity"
I know that DM PCs are typically terrible, but our DM makes them rather fun to be around. Like, in our first campaign (the DM & I were the only ones who've played D&D before) my character and the DM PC taught other players what they can do in the world of Faerun when the DM asks "what would you like to do". We haven't really had a DM PC like that since then due to the players now knowing how to play the game, but it was fun, the character was useful, and the character is still one of my favorite NPCs.
Speaking of NPCs, I may be the only person here who has this experience, but there's this one NPC from our first game that I'm obsessed with. So, when Crit Crab said that players will not be invested in the DM PC (or NPC in this case I guess), I immediately thought of my unbridled love for this NPC and how they actually do rival my love for my actual PC. Like, there's an argument that can be made that I love the NPC more than my own character, lol.
I understand that my experiences are not the norm, but I still wanted to share them ☺️
Try not to cut yourself on that edge bud.
Gotta love it when DMs get angry that the players don't fall for the totally obvious trap that is totally obvious.
I wrote quite the edgy rogue backstory for my main campaign...... but in reality she is played as an anxious gay little nerd with mommy issues 🤣 the best kind of turn-around imo
At least make your OC's Edgy backstorys unique and creative as the efforts you put into making them.
Also, a good tip for a mysterous or dangerous ally controled by the DM (DMPC), make them 3-4 levels higher, a balance to the class that your current party is lacking, unique classes like monk, artificers and blood hunters included, and make sure also, the race not only matches the class, but the campaign and setting as well for added roleplay immersion. My best example was my Level 5, Shadar-Kai Bard, NG in Curse of Strahd as a companion for the first dungeon run.
Embrace being a bit edgy from time to time.
Have fun with it, as long as you are self-conscious and capable of laughing it off.
And it doesn’t ruin game for others.
@@valivali8104 hence self consciousness.
My character in my current campaign is an orphaned rogue who grew up on the streets and only knows the wretched hive of scum and villainy of her thieve's guild. She grew up malnourished, her mother died when she was like five, was on death's row at the start of the campaign for a botched heist, and has trust issues due to all the backstabbing and shenanigans of her thieve's guild. She also eats like hell, has absolutely no table manners (even down to literally licking plates and bowls clean), constantly has people putting things on top of her head (due to her aforementioned lack of height), will do anything to protect a child, and loves money and material comforts. She's gradually opening up to the party, and has formed a sort of mentor/protege relationship with the de-facto leader of the party (whom she refers to as Boss-man).
The way to do an edgelord character is to give them traits that take the edge off. Either something funny they do (like having no table manners) or some sliver of light in their heart (like looking out for children or the needy).
@@greatestcait Write a person, a human, in a sense.
@@ShiryuCain Pretty much exactly that.
I think my current character has my favorite backstory out of all of my characters. She lives in her home town, and she grew up poor. Her dad worked at the docks, her mom couldn't work because of disability. She has two brothers and two sisters. They all love each other very much, and there's little strife. The biggest issue is that their home is big enough for five kids and two adults, but three kids and four adults is a little much. She got a good apprenticeship, and through not fault of her own, she was fired. Because it was a room and board kind of apprenticeship, that meant she had nowhere to sleep and she couldn't move in back home. This is absolutely the worst thing that ever happened to her, and primed her to take any work she could get. She still visits her family, they have a good relationship, but she has to face the very real task of making it in this world alone. I've done the edgy orphan thing, and I like this more. It's just more authentic.
Nobody uderstds me, Im so brocken 😞
his ocean backround is literally saving 70% of my braincells while listening to this guy. big W bro +1 sub
As a person who wears primarily black, I say it is high time we stop associating it with edgelords immediately. Second OP could have left the "he was wearing all black" part out.
I second that! Black looks stylish, not edgy (as long as it's not a trenchcoat)
Preach brothers/sisters!
[Makes drawerful of black t-shirts into a flag and waves it with pride]
My very first character i created was a ranger with the Haunted One backstory, saying that his life was lost years ago and his mind is filled with spirits that whisper in his ears. Only after finding out what an edgelord was did I realize that my character *was* one, and immediately made some character revisions to get him out of that situation. Now, he’s still a dark and mysterious guy, but he understands the importance of friends and allies, and wants to be better and have a stronger relationship with his party. It’s a shame the campaign ended before that could happen.
One of my big issues with Edgey Guy #2 is on top of this backstory, which Almost Could Have been okay, was the lack of flexibility. It almost could've been acceptable, if maybe there was a possible redemption arc that could've happened- or space for character growth. But unfortunately these types of people just don't want anything other than the edge lord archetype.