How to Play the Battle-Hardened Survivor WITHOUT Being Predictable
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มี.ค. 2023
- Playing a Battle-Hardened in TTRPGs is difficult... but not impossible! You just have to keep a few things in mind
WATCH NEXT:
TTRPG Deep Dives: • TTRPG Deep Dives
Player Character Inspiration: • Player Character Inspi...
3 rules that change D&D as a whole? Oh yeah, you betcha.
//TOOLS & PRODUCTS I USE IN MY GAMES:
○ Tabletop Products and High Quality Maps (1985): 1985games.com?ref:jay-martin
○ High Quality Customizable Colored Miniatures (HeroForge): www.heroforge.com/tap/?ref=pl...
○ 3D Printed Customized Minatures for Tabletop Simulator Integration (Eldritch Foundry): eldritch-foundry.com/?stage=0
○ High Quality Sharp Edge Dice (Only Crits): www.onlycrits.com/?sca_ref=13...
○ Battle Maps, Dice Trays, and More! (Yarro Studios, Use Coupon Code PLAYYOURROLE335 for 20% Off!): yarrostudios.com/?ref=sdxxeue97w
//TOOLS & SERVICES I USE FOR VIDEOS:
○ Where I find my music (Epidemic) - www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
○ Content Analyzation and SEO Research Tool I Use (TubeBuddy)- www.tubebuddy.com/PYRole
For Business Inquiries: businessinquiries@playyourrole.net
TIMESTAMPS:
Come support my business:
Patreon: / playyourrole
PYR Ambience: / @pyrambience6931
TikTok: / play_your_role
Instagram: / roleyourplay
Twitter: / playyourrole3
** ABOUT ME **
Hello! My name is Jay, and I am a long-time veteran of storytelling and a semi-seasoned DM! I began playing Dungeons and Dragons roughly 5 years ago and began my first ever game as the DM. I figured things out by watching online games and fumbling my way through the rules, and never looked back! I've fallen in love with TTRPG's in general and want to share my experience and thoughts with the world and community I love so much. I currently DM two separate games regularly, and continue to learn every day.
** ABOUT THE CHANNEL **
Play Your Role is a project with the intention of helping inspire and coach players and DM’s alike to add story beats and dramatic moments into their games through basic writing concepts, interesting player character inspirations, and discussions on how to effectively roleplay in a way that helps (not hinders) everyone else's roleplay at the table!
TOPICS IN THIS VIDEO
• Dungeons and Dragons
•
• Scream
•
• Pathfinder
•
• TTRPG
•
• Roleplay Games
HASHTAGS
#pathfinder
#TTRPG
#DND
#writing
#storytelling
#Scream
#ScreamIV
#SidneyPrescott
#Ghostface
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my channel so I can continue to provide you with free content each week!
5th edition,character creation,d&d 5th edition,dungeon & dragons,dungeon master,dungeons & dragons,dungeons and dragons,dungeons and dragons for beginners,how to,how to gm,how to pc,how to player character,player character,player character inspiration,player character inspritation,role playing,tabletop games,tabletop roleplaying,tabletop rpg,dnd character creation one dnd playtest one d&d,pathfinder,pathfinder2e,scream,scream6
![In the mind of Villains [Roleplaying the baddie]](/img/n.gif)
Sydney uses her fear to motivate her so she can overcome the very same fear and defeat the source of it, especially so no one else has to go through what she has. She cares for others safety and as you said she is proactively doing something to protect those around her besides just saying "This is scary you should be scared". That's how you play this character. Have the fear, use it for your roleplay, but also use it to make plans of action to defeat whatever it is the party is getting ready to face. Another amazing video Jay!
Exactly this! Really couldn't say it better myself
It's insane how many of your videos I watched today to gather ideas to play a fighter who is the daughter of Asmodeus but gave up her power to be free of Asmodeus and hell
God you have no clue how encouraging it is to hear that! That's exactly the kind of value I want to provide to you guys, thank you!
Great video, as always. However, must add, my brain kept going to a certain tragic backstory ... "It all began on the day of my actual birth. Both of my parents failed to show up."
Poor Doof. He shouldered all that tragedy with such bravery
@@PlayYourRole ... and now I have to create an artificer with a tragic backstory for everything... (Drusselsteinian /Zemnian accent optional) ...
I've got a traumatized character that I'm playing that's developing in a similar manner to this. I wrote him as an orphan who was kidnapped by a villainous organization to be used as an experimental subject. He was basically tortured and severely harmed for several years, but eventually managed to sneak away. He later found evidence that the organization was still kidnapping people to do more experiments, so he decided to train himself up to try and bring them down. He's still paranoid and tortured by them, making him uncomfortable with interacting with people, but he still tries and will talk when necessary. Had a lot of fun when I used his stealth and other abilities to make a bandit think his conscience was finally talking to him (telepathy+stealth).
I love hearing about characters like this, it's so much fun!
Another symptom of PTSD isn't always a vocal thing. Sometimes it's someone who's silent and tries to avoid the subject as well. So when playing a battle hardened warrior this is another avenue to also go down with
I agree that character growth from trauma is good, but you gotta be careful to not imply that the trauma made the person better (if you get what I mean).
Oh yeah, absolutely. People can learn lessons from Trauma, and become more experienced because of it. But trauma leaves scars. Those stay around.
trauma breaks you. scars hurt forever. But healing does make you stronger.
If you want to play someone who’s traumatized by what they’ve experienced in the past, a key thing to remember is this: they don’t *want* to talk about it, let alone re-experience it again. Their brain may replay it over and over, but they pursue avoidant behaviors in regards to it, which can lead to addiction problems.
the sole goal of a traumatized person, is to not be a traumatized person.
@@gabrielandradeferraz386 EXACTLY! And that shit is hard to achieve, especially without the proper resources
@@JamisonthaBRO15 can confirm
The grizzled veteran archetype works really well as an inspiring person as well. If you've ever worked with senior enlisted in the military or warrant officers in the army, they won't constantly bring up the time buddies died or things went wrong. They talk about lessons learned and how to apply them to the current situation. Oh, we need to fight a dragon? Alright, let's talk strategy. What are each of our roles? How do we deal with it flying? Let's battle drill some things, run some rehearsals or scenarios. Prep intelligently. You don't have to bring people down with doom and gloom. You patiently wait to look for ways to assist. You may never talk about your harrowing experiences. You might talk about them when everyone is in a sober mood to explain how you got through it in the past. Or you can definitely be that. "Back in 'Nam!" guy that everyone rolls their eyes at.
Damn you know what, I'm gonna touch on this in another video coming up somewhat soon! Can't wait!
@@PlayYourRole Awesome! Glad to help. I would also add that it works with every class. Any setting like Eberron or Dragonlance where a huge war was recent or is ongoing will have produced people with battle smarts. A caster may have been a subject matter expert on dealing with arcane threats. Druids or rangers may have been in an expeditionary force or with sappers who could rapidly alter the terrain to their side's advantage. But a book-learned wizard or cleric could have been a commander also, whose senior enlisted soldier was more of a warrior/battlefield command archetype.
Agreed. I was also going to suggest looking at real life or well-written fictional representations of veterans. The psychology of being someone who was a soldier tends towards wanting structure and organizing roles clearly, because in the middle of chaos, it is easy to get confused and panicked. And you're right that veterans are often reticent about sharing about past experiences freely; they might eventually feel comfortable on a quiet night on watch with someone they feel a bond with and share something, but it's unlikely to rant about past experiences randomly.
@@domenceuspriest Agreed. There's that odd guy out that just won't shut up about what he did, but 90% of the guys in combat arms don't want to talk about it until it's a trusted group, a drink or two in, and the vibe is right. And there's a significant lesson to be learned.
Stories about veterans immediately came to mind - both real life memoirs and fictional stories (I highly recommend Tanya Huff's Confederation series and Seasons 1-2 of Battlestar Galactica [2004 series], especially eps 1-3 of S2). As a veteran who didn't see combat, I really learned a lot about how inaccurately or caricatured survivors are portrayed (whether military or otherwise). As someone below said, a veteran is likely going to try to work proactively with people and focus on solving or preventing problems, rather than grumping about how bad something was. One thing I tend to see with veterans who did go through bad stuff (whether combat or otherwise) is that they don't openly talk about it. I occasionally share some minor stories with friends, but I find myself downplaying things (getting fuel in your water supply sucks, but we dealt) like many do.
One thing I think could inform how to play a survivor of any sort is that they may have an "action mode" they snap into when stressed or in a crisis, whether because of training or trauma (or both). Military people operate on structure and rank because you need to know who's got which job, and who to look to when a decision needs to be made. And most good soldiers will rarely try to take charge, but instead identify who is the leader and support them. They may offer to do things that they are experts in, while encouraging others in their field of expertise. They also will probably know how to MacGuyver things to get them to work (and may not bother to ask permission). Soldiers tend to take ownership of a task or a thing - they will be responsible for it and may get tetchy if someone messes with it. Non-military survivors of course could have a different style, but they probably will lean on tactics or tools that worked for them in the past.
Some ways to play out character conflict: a group of anarchists will drive a veteran batty. Indirect talk or unclear communication will piss off a soldier. If the leadership structure looks weak or indecisive, they may shut down and just do stuff to the best of their ability. They may also see themselves as disposable, since we are trained to be replaceable. These are all easy ways to play a veteran-type character in ways that create interesting conflict and reactions to other characters without dominating or playing to inaccurate stereotypes.
Hey thanks so much for adding onto the conversation. I absolutely love seeing this stuff!
@@PlayYourRole Thank you! I really appreciate your deep dives on these different character personalities and am glad I could contribute.
Another thing I thought of - having little rituals or superstitions might be a thing survivors and veterans have. Or setting aside an extra drink for a friend who died. A player doing little gestures like these could invite opportunities for characters to interact and learn about who that person was, or more about how that ritual was picked up.
I have two of these characters: one of them is an elf war hero, banished for "treason" centuries ago. He takes it upon himself to be the party dad, trying his best to use his experience to build them up. The other is secretly a reborn who is many centuries old, but still looks like the young man he was when he went through the trauma that changed him. He maintains a cheery attitude and is just trying to have a fun time with the party, whom he considers his friends, while keeping his trauma to himself
I know you've been covering other systems lately, so I was wondering... Any chance you gonna make a video about Cyberpunk Red? it really deserves some love, and it's a great system (in my opinion).
Anyway, love your content! Keep being a great creator
Short answer: eventually!
Long answer: I'm taking a bit of a break from other system breakdowns while I learn them more in depth. I'll get back to them at some point but right now I feel I'm not doing them justice without playing them some ya know?
Perfect timing for a video of this sort. I've been roleplaying a character traumatized by events that occured in-session (a near-tpk happened, my character was the sole survivor) I thought it was a clever way to hold onto the memory of the dynamic of the original party, while demonstrating some more realistic reactions to loss. I'm at the point now where my character is being made to face down the thing that killed his original party, and needed some good inspiration for when a character is re-traumatized. This video inspired me to consider making them hardened by the events, using the knowledge of what happened as a weapon against the ones that hurt him.
For added context, since I heard you like character stories. TOA campaign. Two dragonborn brothers who came to Chult to find their lost brother and father, who both came to Chult to make money through adventuring. Joined Syndra Sylvain and an Ahnian noble named Thraxis Mundar. The dragonborn brothers (of which I played the red dragonborn) where a red and a white dragonborn with contrasting personalities. The red dragon was a paladin of conquest, white dragon was an abjuration wizard, Thraxis Mundar was a human fighter w/ a dog companion. Through the GM"s homebrewed Port Nyanzaru segment, my character received visions of a sentient weapon hidden in Kwayothe's dungeon, and over the course of a few sessions, curried favor to meet with her. My character was kidnapped, charmed and probed for information, and then tortured (His right eye was surgically extracted), until his companions intervened. They'd been searching for him and one of them went into the villa, the other (the human) went into the dungeon. The human broke down the torture room door and began fighting Indar and Ixis (who are devils or succubi in this session), while my character's brother (the white dragonborn) was stuck in 1v1 battle against Kwayothe.
In the end, my character found the sentient weapon and escaped, as his brother reached the dungeon just in time to be tragically murdered in front of my character. Indar and Ixis revealed their true forms and took chase, flying after my character and Thraxis. The human fighter character's dog was slain in the battle, and he sacrificed himself to give my character a chance to escape. A lot of time has passed since this event, but the perps (Kwayothe, Indar and Ixis) are currently big players that the party is facing down right now in session. My character was kidnapped again as the party reached the city, and was charmed and forced to lie about what happened to him to incite a riot (In our game, Indar and Ixis are working with Kwayothe to overthrow the other princes). The two party members are in Kwayothe's villa, facing her down currently.
I played a Forest Gnome Illusionist Wizard whose entire forest village was burned down in a massive fire. Following the fire, he ran from the burning forest and made his way into a desert. Refusing to turn back, he trekked across the entire desert, nearly dying in the process. The aftermath left him mentally shattered. He didn't have a sour disposition though, he was fairly jovial, just had a lot of screws loose. But if there was a fire around (not just a simple campfire or torch, but a roaring uncontrolled flame) he would kinda just freeze up.
Paranoid can be cool, like batman, or iron man.
Agreed, but it sounded so nice in the title lmao
"We're all going to die. However, if we are going to do this, we have to prepare. This is what we are going to need..."
Okay, you just gave me an idea for a character, though not actually a battle hardened one.
Someone who faced a Dragon and is a ranger...a drakewarden.
Flavor it as someone who was in a group that killed a dragon (or drake)...and then found it's young.
A Drakewarden ranger who is remorseful over killing his drakes parent.
I admit this idea is probably also due to Aurelio Voltaire and one of his songs. (I think it's called "Crusade")
I love this!
My first ever paladin (D&D5e) was Elo Gjenford, an Oath of Redemption Reborn in a homebrewed Curse of Strahd campaign (all npc names, personalities and some of the lore were different)
Super long story short (but still long, sorry)… he was “Strahds” loyal servant all his life and right hand man for many years. Eventually grew old and started to question things, was sent to hunt down “Van Richten” (in expectation of being killed), was defeated but spared, but then Strahd had “Rahadin” assassinate him, throw the body in the castle mote and take his place.
He was later revived by Richten, never got a clear answer as to why, and taken in as a pupil for a bit until Richten left Ravenloft and this life behind. “Ezmeralda” and Elo stay, but also part ways (she never liked him).
Years later (campaign start), Richtens adoptive son (one of the pcs) is brought to Barovia after his death and Elo sees it as his responsibility to help him.
This video really reminded me of Elo because, throughout the game, he was always terrified of having to face “Strahd” and focused entirely on helping the others survive and get back home, that is, until he had a one-on-one conversation with the lord himself. No swords, no threats, no tempers lost, only realizations. One wanted to bring the other “back to the good side”, but that just wasn’t gonna happen. The history between them lead to a lasting mutual respect, but also a professional acknowledgment that they would inevitably clash.
Elo basically served the group as a more serious and gloomy (and hella tanky) Uncle Iroh, and even knighted Richtens son himself at one point. At first he swore to his fallen friend that he would protect “the boy”. Afterwards, they all, as a team, swore to finish the mission and beat the ever living crap out of that clusteryoutube of psycho vampires.
Elo poetically died in the final battle, by the same hands of his original killer, after protecting his companions.
I am recently playing a traumatized character. His backstory has him be a refugee already who fled his born homeland. Then the start of the campaign opens with him and the party fleeing what was their hometown, his newest homeland he has been settled in for decades by then. This, obviously, opens old wounds for him. Except, there is one caveat this time. Those other party members? They may be adults, but they are also former students of his. So he is in. A position where he has to stay strong, lighthearted even, to help them cope with a very traumatic event they just went through, losing the home they grew up in. So for me, it’s a ticking time bomb for him before he breaks down from the overwhelming grief he will feel. I’m working with my dm regarding this. The students part of this was already something I created with the other players, they came up with it even. We just go with it because my character is the absolute eldest by a wide margin, being he is an astral elf and the other two are of races that live human level life spans instead. So we filled in by having them be persistent students of his because, despite his hermit status and reclusive nature, he was still a trusted local figure of the community. They had every reason to turn to him to learn specific skills which he is amiable enough to teach. Anyway, I play on his grief but also his desire to be part of a community and look after it. I sadly imagine him like that kid on the beach who persistently builds sandcastles on the beach but the tide keeps washing them away. He does it again and again even so, sometimes with others, sometimes not. That’s how I think of his sadness and desires. Anyway, thought I might share.
The Ravenloft setting has Survivor stat blocks and I think they're so good for slasher themed one shots
Played a Dragonborn Bard who was a veteran of the big war in Eberron (can't remember the name for the life of me.). Played hi mas a bard who was originally trained as a soldier-bard during peace-times and never expected to actually see his abilities applied in warfare, but then actual war broke out. Now he has extremely mixed feelings on the magic he wield seeing as he's now fully aware of the damage he is capable of bringing to everything around himself. (For context, I play him as someone who was once very good at both laying waste to scattering people with thunderwave AND interrogating people in some pretty brutal ways. Charisma casters are one hell of a force.)
I think I'm early
It's entirely possible, or maybe everyone else is just late
Y'know, Malone from The Untouchables would be the perfect character for that archetype.
My Cobalt Soul Monk has had an incredibly difficult life. As a kid he almost lost his eyesight to Eyerot and starving to death while doing some “Expositing” in the sewers of the city.
He worked past it with the help of his mentor and became a prodigy, Expositor at 17! Then he lost the title after exploding the Plank King’s private villa and becoming a wanted man in the Menagerie Coast. He became the laughing stock of the Cobalt Soul and became a regular monk again.
Then when he caught his break and teamed up with an adventuring party, reuniting with his grandmother he thought was dead, and making friends with multiple of them. And then it got chattered again when his grandma sacrificed her life to save another party member, and her friends eventually all went insane and retired from adventuring, leaving him alone again.
BUT HE STILL TRIUMPHS! Through it all he has never lost his upbeat and cocky attitude, but now with an extra layer of experience, transformed from a naive Cobalt Soul prodigy to a wizened and experienced adventurer and defacto leader of the new adventuring party he’s a part of, ready to save the world once again. He still has his traumas and his triggers, but now he has the willpower to withstand that anguish and fuck shit up despite his fears.
YEAH this is a good video thanks man
artificer artillerist. seen the horrors of war. instead of creating weapons of war now, carves magically infused toys/puppets/jack in the box. the spells are used for "performance magic" combat is just a preformance for the stars of the show and they toys show emotions. add in illusionist wizard for extra effect and sounds. the character often dissociates with the real world and lets the inner dialog be communicated to the creations.