Find Your Character's Kryptonite! (DungeonCraft #69)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Many D&D characters are defined by their strengths and powers--but what's is your character's weakness? Professor DungeonMaster demonstrates how giving a character a flaw can make the character more interesting to play!
Music:
"Fury of the Dragon's Breath" by Peter Crowley
Bandcamp : petercrowley.ba...
Clerics, paladins, and warlocks have literally devoted their souls to receive magical abilities. If the temple is under attack, a ruler is persecuting believers, etc., I agree that they should be played as willing to lay down their life - particularly if it means spending eternity with their deity/patron on some other plane. Why would the character not want that? Lots of real people have given their life, or taken others, for the same belief!
And IRL they did so without ever seeing proof of their deity, just by their own convictions. In my settings gods tend to lead acclaimed armies, commission from the great smiths, or pop to local bars for a drink.
I had a half orc Barbarian who was the last of his clan. So he felt that he needed to do one of two things. 1) Find a strong capable woman and begin the long journey of rebuilding the clan. Or 2) Die in glorious battle against incredible odds. So his clan would be forever remembered.
He was rude to everyone he met for the first time, got drunk all the time, and wallowed in missery for failing to warn his clan of the coming danger. He measured everyone he met by their prowess on the battlefield. He would call party members by insulting nicknames like Meat or baby warrior. Woe Souli would take on fights the party was not meant to win. Like fighting a shadow at low level. He however drove the party to step up and fight more than they wanted to. Once party members fought by his side he gave them respect. Until he met his fate defending the parties escape from a Black Dragon holding the line like barbarians do until the party made it out of the lair.
One of the most memorable deaths I had in D&D.
THAT is an EPIC death!
Stumbled upon this channel in the depths of a dank dungeon and I've had a +1 to Int and Wis ever since. Cheers mate, keep it up!
Truth
Conak sounds like he is voiced by Patrick Warburton, nice!
Russell Harrell I thought the same thing!
ProfessorDM could voice The Tick!
I don't remember where it started, but since '86 and 1st edition, all of my rangers have been phobic to slimes and oozes. It always creates memorable scenes.
Man, I fogot how great this advice is. This deserves more views. Should maybe be retitled: "HOW TO CREATE EPIC STORIES FOR YOUR RPG CHARACTERS."
Lol. Probably. Also probably needs a remake.
DO IT
"Had a fling with a succubus." As you do.
How did he get to keep his soul?
In DnD, you do not have fling with succubus, succubus have fling with you.
Did he say 24 real years? Good grief that's amazing.
And only level 6?
@@davewilson13 Yes before Computer MMO's RPG campaigns would last for years and levelling up wasn't as important as the stories ya played and not as game changing either...it was pretty much just extra HP's and a better to hit score... but since computer MMO's levelling has become more important and every level is designed to give new powers in some way and story telling has taken a bit of a back seat to the whole gaining new abilities part.
Great war stories, and you make it feel as natural as though we were tale-swapping over drinks at some old ancient inn. I'll take another such video anytime!
Thanks greatly!
Your close should be “ may all your rolls lead to adventure!” All 20s would be boring ;)
You are correct, but it's easier to say and I cannot change now. Thanks for watching!
As an former Airman and Army ROTC, armies fight their country, soldiers fight for each other. You never want to let down your fellow soldiers.
Thanks for your service and great point!
Just like Sands in the Hourglass so are the Days of Natasha and Alexa (music intro)
If you’re old enough you’ll get the joke
No, the history...the flashbacks...
this is my gum carrot and ....
We convinced our DM to allow us to create high level super characters, including crazy gear requests. The stipulation was that we had to help each other on each other's personal campaigns to collect said gear, and level our characters. Mine was a Demi-God of a human Druid (Mother Nature) and the God of Time (Father Time). His kryptonite was that over a one year time span, every year, he was reborn a babe and had to be cared for by the party as such, until he hit his prime for most of the year, then would eventually age to death, and be reborn the next day a new babe, to do it all again. It was awesome.
This video really shows how games can be very different when female players are present. When I have female players, the games are nearly always much more relationship focused, making more roleplaying drama and deeper interpersonal story arcs. Loved this video.
The Wizards Guild having an internal split on whether to play along, or fight back, due to the mundies trying to impose forced registry on them?
Oh, that X-Men (or Civil War) plot is a nice placement!
Absolutely. Good DMs borrow. GREAT ones STEAL!
Man you are on a roll!!!! Freaking loving your channel!
This is all sooo good! The essence and answer to the question "why should I play table top rpgs?"
I never tune out! Wish your videos were longer👏
Holy crap amazing stories here!
I love your d20 mug.
Thanks! It was a gift from a friend.
Excellent advice! I have a player who definitely needs to hear this! I'm running my players through a funnel, and the character he's leaning toward is a parody of another player, but not committed enough for the player being parodied to notice,and shallow as a puddle. What really kills me is that I gave all the players some character building questions (how does the PC relate to the rich, poor, religion, things they love, how they relax, etc), but told them only answer a question if the answer tells you something interesting (like if you pity the poor and envy the rich - that's not interesting); this guy is the only one to answer so far, but he answered all of them with some variation of " I like t*ts and beer." Uhg! Now I have to meet him where he is, and I fear he's going to lose interest, because he doesn't actually have a character!
Somewhere in Being Everything Else Adam Koebel says something like, "Spider Man doesn't care about Aunt May, but Peter Parker does."
"...the number one thing you can do is bring him pizza or beer..." (0:53) YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!
You mean, this doesn't happen?
Reminders never hurt.
Now isn't this just Marvel's Civil War?
Love the Father and Evil Son on top of the Pyramid. Epic.
This was your best video yet. I love this channel. I think everything you've said about DMing is incredible worthwhile and thought provoking, even though I disagree with 100% of your opinoins on game mechanics!
That Ghoul at the 9 minute mark looks amazing on camera.
This was amazing as always. I keep saying that most characters I see are not characters, but dolls because there's nothing they fear and nobody that they care for but themselves.
I wish everyone had to watch this before creating a character, games would be much more interesting.
From experience, depth to characters comes with age or experience. Look at all the popular movies these days. Superheroes, most of which I cannot relate with. I played munchkin characters in my younger days and it took a really long time to realize that faults actually make characters better then any ability could ever do. This video over all other videos is single handedly the most important topic. Heck, you were loosing yourself in all your fun memories. The only thing missing is a big ol bottle of mead and you bellied up to a bar spilling your guts on all your fondest adventures. I really felt your passion for the game in this video and it speaks volumes for how important character flaws and character role play can bring out the humanity in this game.
Like Hankerin', I too love the King's Mead. However, I would get sloppier a LOT quicker.
LOLl My wizard in one of our games is a literal glass cannon, I rolled all ones for my hit points when I made her, level 4 if I remember correctly. Two more levels now of taking the average, but she's still way behind the others in the party. She's also a drow on the surface and married to one of the other PCs. Last session he decided to teleport through a size changing door and squished me flat so now he's carrying his dead wife around a crazy labyrinth dungeon trying to find a resurrection (my husband IRL too, he will be teased about it for years.)
He wants to resurrect his dead wife? Is he going to collect the insurance money first?
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 hahaha
Watching some videos this morning before heading off the play my monthly 5e game. Our GM asked me to take over for the next camoaign arc due to time constraints balancing family-life-game prep, and I wanted to get some inspiration for putting my head in the GM mindframe. Thi was perfect! Hope your doign well
Thanks for watching my old videos. I am doing well. Peace!
I love making characters that are psychological or emotional trainwrecks.
My absolute favorite char I ever made was an involuntary demonologist with strong knightly virtues, a serious drug addiction and cronic nightmares.
All she wanted to do was settle down with a florist shop and pump out a couple kids.
But on the other hand she couldnt stand by and watch when innocent people were getting hurt when she knew she could make a difference. She couldnt sleep because of the horrors she encountered in her dreams so she had to knock herself out with drugs every night and she was half baked all the time to keep the voices down.
I kept her on a balance where the rest of the party wasnt sure if she was once a villain on a path to redemption, a strongwilled innocent suffering from a possession or even how much she was in control of her powers if at all.
Congratulations on 10k! Well deserved
Today I learned that Conak is a badass.
Love the campaign stories, fantastic stuff and great point that I've pushed onto my players for many years.
Thanks for commenting. I will tell more. Any other suggestions for episodes are greatly appreciated.
Keep'em coming! I'm sending this one to my players.
The stories of your group‘s characters and how they evolve is just great! :D I mean the apprentice, the chaos warrior son, that‘s just brilliant!!! I hope my game will develop like this! Thanks for your great Inspiration and ideas!!
I could not agree more, characters are more fun to play for their flaws.
Some of my favourites are:
Mad Dog Morgan, Bank robber and gunslinger who'd gone mad from syphilis.
Sir Tristan de Pemprage, Paladin of Tyr who would flagilate and blindfold himself at the slightest hint of indiscretion in religious fervour.
Grapthar Sheildfast, Dwarven freedom fighter with an unwavering sense of duty and burning desire for revenge.
THOSE are characters I would want to play with!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1Thank you, the flawed ones are the best either personality wise or statistically or both.
great episode, professor dungeondraft! I think character weakness or fears are essential to the game and it adds a lot more depth and shades to a character. I used that dark part not only on PCs or NPC but also on MAICAL ITEMS or ARTIFACTS... they are way more interesting when the power they gain comes with a price.
Best and most iconic example for both imho is ELRIC of Melniboné. He's a drug addict and his goodhearted character is driven and empowered by demons and his epic black runesword stormbringer is a strong manipulative force in itself... ELRIC is beyond words to me... nothing deserves the word epic more like these stories of michael moorcock.
WHY the heck is no hollywood producer touching ELRIC??? WHY????
ahhh yes... the sword that ended up killing him and taking his soul. I don't know that I ever read all of those stories, but that's a scene you don't forget.... in particular what the sword said afterwards, lol
ahhh yes... the sword that ended up killing him and taking his soul. I don't know that I ever read all of those stories, but that's a scene you don't forget.... in particular what the sword said afterwards, lol
You are amazing and I love you, I present you my like.
I think patriotism is rare among Player Characters because they almost never belong in a certain kingdom or empire with their comings and goings, and sometimes they even are excluded from society. Moreover, the feeling of pride for the flag is normally only present in the military. It takes a conflict for that pride to surface in peasants.
It's a big issue... It's something the players should decide while creating their characters
It's not the GMs job to write your character for you, I HATE that
Another great video! Chaos Warrior suicide, genius.
The best way to help your dungeon master is HAVE SOMEONE IN YOUR CHARACTERS LIFE omg I hate the "all my family and friends are dead" or "I was raised in the streets/forest all alone"
Dude, have some bound, help me to help you!
Amen, Barbara!
I did an all my friends and family are dead... and here's why.
Haunted background and talks with unseen being(s)
OK, his family was cursed and he's the last one. He's running, but he's still got this voice in his head and it messes with him.
The family home is boarded and nobody wants it because of association with the curse and hauntings.
As a beginner mage he got Find Familiar (generous tutor) and instead of a Fey spirit cat, he got an infernal spirit sickly looking bat. Tutor immediately sent him packing.
You can do the "everyone I know is dead" and make it have huge plot hooks....
I’ve outlawed hermit and last of my people backgrounds
My monster slayer has claustrophobia. He's currently hunting a group of wererat cultists.
Poor Sir Fionn.
I have a high charisma person in my group who plays a character that used charisma as a dump stat. He always approaches NPC's and comes up with these great high charisma comments and plans. When he's done explaining how he's manipulating the NPC and looks to me, I always say, "You see Thelamin approach the NPC, he looks as though he's seriously considered what to say. He opens his mouth and you hear "I am Groot!" The NPC looks curiously and moves away somewhat startled.
You probably should be more creative with that theres a difference between saying the right words and being persuasive or intimidating.
I once complimented a guy for a song he wrote, he thought I was taking the piss and tried to attack me and that was IRL!
Much fun to be had when my wizard is feebleminded... Disappointed am I when cured he is . Héhé
That barbarian sounds a lot like if David Putty from Seinfeld played D and D.
The weakness of most PCs is the player.
Clerics will either die for their god... or will abuse their position like Catholic priests preying on altar boys.
There's not much in the middle.
In the Hero System, players are incentivized to create their Kryptonite in the form of Disadvantages or Complications. Perhaps it should be renamed Personality. A hero without family or friends are less interesting. I played an exiled Jedi Wookie who was separated from all his friends and family in the mystic land of Shang Ri Lah until he recovered three powerful artifacts. He was an alien in trapped in a human world. He was more of a hack and slash character until I developed an interesting code of honor in game, something not in my character sheet, then I felt I was really role playing a character because the GM knew there were things I would not do even if it were more convenient. The zombie ninjas that fought our team several times were fun.
Thanks for watching, Jedi Wookie!
Your comment, Molly, reminds me of the way the table top rpg James Bond game used to implement weakness. I think the rules aloud hero points in exchange for weakness. Players could use Hero points to improve bad situations or bad dice rolls, much like Professor Dungeon Master has said in a prevoius video. Attraction to women was Bond's weakness in the games example character sheet.
@@dldouglas6406 Exactly! And James Bond 007 RPG was a GREAT system! Very innovative.
@@dldouglas6406 I loved reading the RPG book, but I was not fortunate enough to find a group to play some games. Agent 004 seemed to have more dangerous fun than 007.
I see the point PDM is trying to make but I don’t really agree with the way this theme plays out in the game.
I don’t even think his own example of Konig is an example of “finding a characters Kryptonite”. Konig had an INT of 5 you get that from having players roll 3d6.
What I generally see with players trying to do with their 75 page background story is trying to make their characters interesting after they’ve rolled 4d6 over and over again until they’ve got characters whose lowest score is 14. If people would just go back to rolling 3d6 straight and make 3-4 characters run through a funnel a la DCC they’d end up with characters that were a lot more interesting and fun to play than their soap opera back story.
Just my two cents
PS
I’d also like to know who turns off PDM before the end of the video? I mean I have to pause it while listening while making deliveries but turn it off before the end?
Funny because that's exactly what PDM does, roll 3d6 straight for 3 characters and see which one makes it to level 1.
I once would have died for those to my right and left no matter how stupid the lawful commands of the officers appointed above me.
Thanks for that insight
I love these videos! It's really awesome getting a look inside the DM's brain once in a while.
Think you could make a video about writing your own D&D campaigns? I know you've got one or two about writing mysteries and the different points in a story, but anything that comes to mind would help me more than you'd think. Thanks so much, Prof.! :)
Great idea! That's an episode. Probably next month. In the meantime, watch tonight at 6pm.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Looking forward to it!
You mentioned clerics again in this video and I was wondering what gods or pantheon you use in your campaign or do you use homebrew gods or pantheons?
Yep me too what pantheon do you use for your campaign? Could you do a video just on your campaign world?
Conak sounds like John Wayne! XD
Nice
Thanks!
Bring pizza and/or beer... Noted!
I rely want to be a player on your campaingns now!
I'm about to Co-GM for my group I have a PC I had who traveled with the group. He is now an NCP since I have to leave for a while. This NPC (Aron) traveled with them for a long time but left after finding someone from his past and went back to his hometown to reconcile some 'issues'. Nonetheless, the group will have to stop by there possibly (if the right hook is planted) in order to figure out some rumours. Right now, Aron, a noble's son who ran away, came back to find his family had been slaughtered by an adopted son. The noble family runs the guards as well as the production of the mines which is the town's primary export. The mines cause terminal illnesses to those who mine or are exposed to the mineral. Aron has this terminal illness as well and is NOW in the late stages of it. Time is now limited for him and only 1 member of the group really knows about it. Aron has been confronted with the Big Bad's minions as well as having dreams influencing his decision to take over the town (which he did) and lure his old group in order to destroy them or capture them for interrogation. As a side effect from the mineral, insanity sometimes occur; Aron is going to become a little bit as well. As a gift, Aron was presented with a dragon (homebrew of my own) as a pet to help things out. The session hasn't occurred yet, but I'm sure there will be many feelings as the party will have to make a decision to either kill Aron, take him prisoner, or liberate the town from him. This is, of course, after many other big events are occurring at the same time. I can't wait to see what they will do and how they will handle the situation at hand. If they do capture him, I wonder how I will continue his sanity or life at this point. I'd say he'd only live a short life due to the illness. Nasty stuff!
Good info. I'd love to see one of your game sessions. Any links available? Also, your +1 Tweed Jacket of Insight hides your t-shirt. Just curious what it says or if it's also magical. Cheers!
It says, "Metaphors Be With You" in Star-Wars lettering.
Radiation
Konik should be played by Patrick Warburton.
Conak is Kronk?
so did professor just explain how to do marvel civil war in dnd
Ah so this is the funny nice video hmm interesting.
Just discovered your channel and love the content. I have to ask do you play D&D 5e, DCC, Torchbearer, or some combination of all of them. All the little mechanics you talk about I would really love to use.
Thanks for watching! I'm going to talk about that in the next video, to air either next Thursday or the one after that. Cheers!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Awesome. Everything you mentioned, magic, leveling up, and more, I want to use. Lol
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 It would be good to hear your thoughts on Torchbearer
So Conaks voice was based on Patrick Warburton right? :P
... ... What the hell did you do to your hair?
Ok, it's pretty cool actually
Uh....cut it. I do that every so often.
Document one of your games!
Explain. Stream it? If you want the blow by blow, watch the campaign updates. They're pretty well documented.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 oh right, haven't really checked all your vids man! Thanks!
Gold!
So when do we talk about Energy Drain?
Konig wants ale
Subtitles have you announce this as "today on dungeon crap." Just saying...
Love it. Too often players are trying to be the best of the best. Boring.
Greetings professor DM, do you have any e-mail/Twitter where we can send our questions? *Rolls %dice waiting for positive answer*
dungeoncraft@twiiter. No?
Your character's weaknesses will also force you to work as a team with your fellow players. I spent 29 years in the military and learned how to work as a team of specialists in order to achieve an end. You learn to love and trust those people because your life depends upon them. Based on my life experience, I find it unsatisfying to play with D&D with people who want invulnerable superheroes who can act autonomously without care for anyone else. If nothing else, they wind up hogging the table if the DM doesn't control it. Completely disrespectful. D&D is a team effort, not a display of virtuosity.
First! Nice vid
I have one player who has looked up on the internet to make the ultimate character... its annoying. no flaws. stats are good and his character is very boring and getting predictable after 3rd game. at the moment he's lapping it up... but i can tell he will get very bored soon
I agree. As a DM, they're impossible to write for.
Alright well trick him into drawing from a stacked deck of many things that ought to nerf him good and proper then, a good parlour game and alittle appeal to his pride later and you have a villain and a more interesting PC.
In game romantic relationships between PCs sounds like such a terrible, terrible idea
Actually, it was awesome. And no--the people were not dating, nor did they have an IRL romantic relationship of any kind. Very mature players, though.
You need to check your CC because it says your channel name is Dungeon Crap, unless You like being called Dungeon Crap
Ha! Like #666
So. Claudia Von Hammerstein is a Democrat…
CHRISTIAN style clerics may seek martyrdom, but what about a cleric of Justice? the roman goddess I mean. A cleric like that hes not gonna be lookin for opportunities to die gloriously, so much as "Youre coming with Me, creep" kinda like robocop or judge dredd more. equally a lawful a religion most GMs would agree Im sure. In my own games, I try very hard to avoid any living religions from earth, but no so much outta some cultural sensitivity to christian players or whatever .. its more the DnD characters wouldnt have a clue where palestine is, or what philosophy or myths were from there. Notable Exception .. very hard to do vanilla Ravenloft without crucifixes getting involved for some reason, or a circle of powdered jesus to keep those pesky vampires away til the sun comes up .. cant think why Ravenloft should be specially linked to an earthly religion in that way .. ah well Ill figure it out ;)