Boost Your Role-playing Using Flaws and Bonds - Character Tips

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ธ.ค. 2024

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  • @nelinarma3868
    @nelinarma3868 5 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    I played a halfling wild magic sorcerer whose flaw was that he was childish and forgetful. His backstory was that he was possesed by an ancient fey creature so he became magical. He behaves like a child but he is sometimes wise. Always fun to play him.

  • @CaffeineConnoisseur
    @CaffeineConnoisseur 5 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    Among my group I am well known as the guy who enjoys flaws way too much. They shape a character so nicely it's hard to not get giddy when the flaw list comes my way. I've had a quadruplegic mage, a messenger with severe mob debt, a bard who humiliated the wrong admiral, a guy containing a portal into the realm of fire in his self, giving him hallucinations, nightmares and severe "fire power". Can't help it, it's just too much fun. And in the end, it always worked out somehow.

    • @kevingriffith6011
      @kevingriffith6011 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      My favorite character with major flaws was a literal ghoul (in 3.5/Pathfinder ghouls are smarter then average humans, stealthy and quite nimble... much more fun than the 5e version). Played up his "Scary intelligent but clueless about civilization" angle and as long as he got his daily serving of meat he was actually quite sociable... but "I tend to make... stupid decisions when I'm hungry." It was a lot of fun to play, but it did kind of hit a brick wall of character motivation, since his entire goal was to survive to the next day.

    • @NordboDK
      @NordboDK 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      I bet that last guy suffered from heartburn, too.

  • @chron874
    @chron874 5 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    That intro was perfect.

  • @ebonyblack4563
    @ebonyblack4563 5 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    "Are they going to talk about it on TH-cam?"
    Guy, are you okay?
    I like to see vices have history for characters. I have one who became an alcoholic while trying to deal with the aftermath of fighting in a war. When things are good he has the support around him to keep it in check, but if he has an emotional jolt then the bottle is never far enough away...
    A phobia of drowning despite having once been an avid swimmer manifested in a character after being pulled under while fighting an elemental. He blacked out underwater, most of what he remembers is his vision going dark as he panicked, and then the gasping after his rescuer yanked him back from the brink. Now while he'd can be motivated into water if someone he cares about is in danger he gets nervious in and notably avoids anything passed calf deep...
    I think the key to working with flaws is to take them seriously. They shouldn't be taken for pure laughs or whatever game mechanic they add, in fact those with no direct number weight are sometimes best.
    A character in my setting is addicted to a street drug he used to use to self medicate an attention disorder, even now that he has the finances to get the proper meds he'll seek out old contacts for a fix of the stuff. That sort of thing can add dynamic and opportunity.
    One of my players has a character who lost her memory from engaging in combat with a demon, she later was speaking with a noble who knew her deeds and history better than she did, and that put her in a great deal of danger despite being decently leveled.
    Only real drawback to such things is if you are too invested and the GM either doesn't want to, or doesn't know how to incorporate them. At that point you have to choose what matters more to you: Playing the game as is or fulfilling personal goals. Either way keep in mind you can always play the character again, even if they may have to be in an alternate universe to the current story.

    • @miscellaneousshadow7452
      @miscellaneousshadow7452 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I agree with what you said at the end. I made a character named Roku. He was my favorite character to build I was talking to the GM while making him and, he knew what I wanted. I ended up with 5 pages of notes based solely on notes. Events I could bring up and things he could bring up. I know 5 pages is a lot so shortened it to a paragraph highlighting the important stuff. The tabletop was played almost every week for 2 months-ish. He brought up none of my stuff. He couldn't figure out how to use anything from my backstory. It just became unsatisfying. In fairness I super over prepared. No one else even began a back story. Some one just briefly said I used to be a doctor. It was weird how that all worked. He sounded supportive before the game. I don't blame him, he probably didn't know how to introduce things.

  • @Zandalorscat
    @Zandalorscat 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I like the concept of your strengths and your flaws being two sides of the same coin. Will be trying it out with some of my next characters. So far, I've got a larp character who's inquisitive and hardworking, the flaw being that once she's started trying to figure something out she just doesn't know when to stop. I'm fully expecting that to get her killed some day.

  • @TodlicheVerwuste
    @TodlicheVerwuste 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Hahaha!
    After so many episodes with creative intros spanning tens of seconds or even longer, this one took me by such surprise that I almost fell out of my chair.
    I'm still chuckling about it, it's great.

  • @terminator572
    @terminator572 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    My current Shadowrun character is a crazed Troll who, upon loosing his family to arson, became obsessed with the Carolean ideals of sacrifice, and now he roams Anatolia hell-bent on avenging his family. I'm pretty proud of this character.

    • @oz_jones
      @oz_jones 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      He sounds fun

    • @terminator572
      @terminator572 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@oz_jones you have no idea. Because of some weird turn of events, I managed to max his Body stat out during character creation. He's an absolute unit that can tank machine gun fire for a solid two rounds. Hell if I roll enough successes, I could wrestle a fucking bear into submission. He's honestly incredible.

  • @ericadomander
    @ericadomander 5 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    I love that auto captions went "Today we'll take a look at buns and floors… " :D
    They are normally quite alright though.

  • @EpherosAldor
    @EpherosAldor 5 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    The dog can learn to read and write and become a "pup"-lisher... :-P

  • @captainthorrek262
    @captainthorrek262 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The gin-drinking aunt is a great idea. Maybe she drinks that particular kind of gin because it keeps her from becoming the multi-headed monster. The downside is that there is a chemical in that gin which is killing her.
    The only ones who know are the aunt, the character, and maybe the brewer. Perhaps he knows, and keeps upping the price to where she can't afford it, or hires thugs to steal the gin back because he's too lazy to brew more. Now a kind, desperate woman sends a message to her niece or nephew with just two words: "Gin gone". Could do a couple of adventures around that plot point.

  • @sarahtorgerson9658
    @sarahtorgerson9658 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    For clarification, they do actually explain the history of Indiana Jones's fear of snakes in the third film. In the opening sequence we see young Indiana running from the baddies across the top of a train hauling circus animals. He falla through the roof of one car into a sealed off pit of snaked used for the circus. Its also the same area where he picks up the whip and gets his scar on the chin.

  • @Alefiend
    @Alefiend 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Bonds and flaws are best when they're optional and/or limited in number. Way back in my college days, we played a modified version of Champions, the Hero System superhero game. All characters were required to take Disadvantages, and not just one or two; for a starting 225-point character, 125 of those points had to come from flaws. To be on par with other characters, you were required to cripple yourself mentally, socially, or in some other way to maintain balance.
    I didn't object to the concept, just the volume-scratching and scraping for points by adding things to your character that didn't necessarily fit could be frustrating. It didn't help that you couldn't have too many of one type of Disadvantage before you were hit with diminishing returns, to the tune of half the value of #3 and #4, and 1/4 after that. We told ourselves, "If you can't come up with 125 points in Disads, you don't understand your character well enough" but I hated it.

  • @MisterJasro
    @MisterJasro 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    The bonds and flaws you describe are kind of a burden, though interesting. I was wondering if you could make a video about the opposite. I wouldn't know of a system that does, but I can imagine a sort of "motivational drives" or ???. Hmm...
    Well I guess that's why I find it interesting.

  • @MainAcc0
    @MainAcc0 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm currently playing a noble with a prosthetic leg and burns across most of her body after a failed assassination attempt on her. She makes a pact with a devil when she's on the brink of death, to save her life and get vengeance. (She also gets a cool clockworky new leg from mechanus and a walking cane she uses as a focus)
    Unbeknownst to her, it was her brother who tried to kill her and made a pact with the same fiend as she does. She's also addicted to the world's version of opium.
    My other character is a sailor who loves dueling too much and almost lost her life fighting opponents way above her skill. She also has a gambling problem and the party has to keep her in check so she doesn't bet most of her money when she feels the rush. And to top it off, she is terrified of snakes and deep water after a sea serpent attack that almost killed her.
    All of these are represented in game, both with roleplaying and mechanics. The noble has 6 dex, which really is a pain to play sometimes, thank God I have a roleplay focused DM. In addition, when she doesn't have her painkillers, she gets disadvantage on multiple skill checks.
    The sailor lost and gained hundreds of gold pieces betting, depends on how well I roll that day. Whenever she sees a large snake, she has to make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened. She also makes wisdom saves when betting, and can only stop after passing one.

  • @cobusvanderlinde6871
    @cobusvanderlinde6871 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Bonds can also be used to unlock magical weapons or new companions/pets. The character's ancestor could have had a marvelous artifact which had been lost (grave robbing, ancestor died by being mugged for the item- whatever) and the character always tells a marvelous campfire stories of the ancestor using the item, and another character recognizes the item as one he'd read about somewhere (history check). Viola you now have a quest to go recover a family heirloom with marvelous magical properties.

  • @eschsoapy2809
    @eschsoapy2809 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    But I didn't come here to talk about milk lol... Very good talk. I arrived here via a search for bonds and flaws; I am designing a bond-centered Low Fantasy Bard class, based on the bards of tradition, more Chaucer than Python's Holy Grail. Essential to this class will be the Bond Point, a system where the bard will reward great things in the game with points that allow transferring of talents between members of the party (particularly to the jack or jill of trades themselves, the Bard). Kinda neat if you like story and bonds, right? My proto-playtester is in love with the idea. I think bonds between characters are the most essential aspect of building a cohesive narrative team, it's the equivalent of the afterwork party, or else it's just people grinding stats, even in a light rules game.

  • @ordersmilitant5998
    @ordersmilitant5998 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    THESE VIDEOS ARE SO USEFUL!!!

  • @SilentChelsea
    @SilentChelsea 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    i love creating my character's flaws based on their stats. low INT= they come up w/ a lot of bad ideas. low CHA= talk too much and always say the absolutely wrong thing and the wrong time. as for bonds, i really never knew just what i was supposed to do w/ them, so this was really helpful!

    • @NachoBran_CandyCabbage
      @NachoBran_CandyCabbage 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      I'm the same way. Usually I choose to have wis be my dump stat because of that. I don't know why, I just love playing the naïve character.

  • @slikshot6
    @slikshot6 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    What do you think "Dreams and Goals" would fall under?

    • @Ishoam
      @Ishoam 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Bonds, probably.

    • @niko3648
      @niko3648 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Bonds I think. But it depends on what it is.

  • @orestisfraSPDR
    @orestisfraSPDR 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    on your keyboard:
    0: my name is errol
    1: ok

  • @TheShadowChesireCat
    @TheShadowChesireCat 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Pathfinder has drawbacks. 2 traits (benefits) and a drawback is the usual if you use them.
    I think my upcoming Strange Aeons campaign is 4 traits (one from the Strange Aeons Adventure Path players guide), 2 drawbacks. And a written overview of the character (cause forgetful DM needs it written somewhere for referral), and a suspectibility for mental illness (cause it's a big theme of the campaign given it's based on HP Lovecraft's works; but it can be anything, so long as it's done respectfully).
    Also ambitions are useful. Sure, Sir Bearington wants to be the best awakened bear knight-rogue ever. But does he want something more? Does he want to earn enough money to buy a town and set up the country's finest honey farm, serve the realm's finest estate made mead in the local tavern and save local bears that may be his family by preventing encroachment on the bears territory by the town's prime industry of logging?
    Or like my Paladin, Constance Appleseed, who is enriching her family by sending money home that allows her family to buy a new plough horse (she bought her mount off her father who bought it off a retiring Paladin), upgrade the farm and pay for her family's educations (her older brother Patience has had training and is now a Cavalier himself, keeping the peace wherever he goes, her adopted sister Temperance has had Inquisitor training and is off to return the undead to the Boneyard in her deity's name, and her youngest twin brothers Earnest and Diligence are learning Alchemy in order to make the family's secret Moonshine recipe even better).
    Having those added goals of outside wanting to wanting to be the best or romance just make it for me in a game. Any game, including Pathfinder & Starfinder Society games.

  • @O4C209
    @O4C209 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Indiana Jones's fear of snakes is explained in the third film. When he was young (at the start of the film) he moves a snake and says "it's just a snake", showing he wasn't afraid, then later falls into a "pit of snakes" and freaks out.
    Yes, we don't know it in the first one at the time he confronts his fear.

  • @timothysheffield456
    @timothysheffield456 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    One of my favorite recent characters is a paranoid germaphobe. Fortunately, he's a telekinetic mage, so he doesn't actually have to touch anything.

    • @tkgwildfire5339
      @tkgwildfire5339 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      LMAO. Does he have to wash his hands for a hour or 2 to wash a speck of blood off his hands.

    • @timothysheffield456
      @timothysheffield456 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@tkgwildfire5339 Well, he does compulsively cast Prestidigitation. A lot.

  • @argenthellion
    @argenthellion 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Sure, you can have cool bonds and flaws if you got a GM who's willing to work with them properly... Unfortunately, most GM's tend to be EXTREME with these, either they pay way too much attention to it and effectively find ways to exploit them for their fun, or they tend to ignore them altogether...

  • @japphan
    @japphan 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    How did it go with the algae? Are the snails all right?

  • @captainmanx5615
    @captainmanx5615 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Secret bonds or flaws can add mystery to a character, but shouldn't be overused to the detriment or derailing of the GM's story.

  • @eschsoapy2809
    @eschsoapy2809 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Milk like many types of food can be "an addiction," as much as your valium might be, as tryptophan is a psychoactive and very relaxing, and milk has tons of it. It's the thing you get after you a eat a gigantic feast on the holidays. It won't make you TIRED, though, because it contains other things like protein that keep you up. So you get a nice relaxing high after 1 or 10 glasses of milk... I knew a kid in high school who's mom drank four gallons of milk a day, I'm not kidding.

  • @zemorph42
    @zemorph42 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I have(barely noticeable, but hampers my left side significantly, though I have somehow apparently acquired a high level of sneak) cerebral palsy, diabetes and epilepsy. How would those conditions work out as flaws in d&d and could a viable pc be made with those conditions?

    • @zemorph42
      @zemorph42 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      PS: im also a pothead.

    • @zemorph42
      @zemorph42 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      P. P. S: my favorite class is the wizard.

  • @RedFeralWolf
    @RedFeralWolf 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I made a character who’s goal is to become rich. He grew up poor and that sucks so he wants to get money. He did just become a warlock to an arch fey and so I’m looking to see how his goals can change and develop.

    • @Cloud_Seeker
      @Cloud_Seeker 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      I should say that is a to much of a simple goal. Simple goals can be fine, just look at Frodo. But you should have something more, like Frodo. Becoming rich can be very easy in D&D so your character goal can be completed very very quickly.
      Frodo have a simple goal. Destroy the ring. But his goal is to return to how things used to be, before the ring was introduced to him. That is his goal, that is what he wants. He eventually fail in this because he finds out that it is him that has changed, and he can never go back to how things used to be.

  • @MrTwyres
    @MrTwyres ปีที่แล้ว

    Good.

  • @aymericrichard6931
    @aymericrichard6931 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    A common flaw like smoking may also have other impacts. Like the character is dedected because of his smell. Remember the smoker in xfiles.

  • @Gnarlf
    @Gnarlf 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I have mixed feelings on this topic.
    In general i would agree that they are excelent opportunities for more roleplaying.
    On the other hand i had bad experiences with them.
    Once i had a character that was forced into a bond and then subsequently itinterrupted gameplay quite heavily.
    Somehow my gm found it funny. 😡
    Since then i shy away from giving to much target surface, that an unresponsible gm could use against me.
    It is a severe trust issue for me.
    Flaws are nice aditions to a character IF they were chosen for rp puposes.
    Some systems give you something in return if you take a flaw. That's where the problems start.
    I was always interested in playing some kind of deranged charactet and explore mental instabilities, bit then i always decide sgainst it. Probably because i feel, i lack something to do such severe problems justice.

    • @dm_ex_machina3395
      @dm_ex_machina3395 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I don't see how you can properly enjoy these games if you don't trust your DM. It's necessary for the suspension of disbelief. It's like not trusting a writer to tell a good story. There's no magic. If you lack any bond at all, you should still have a strong one with your DM. I communicate with all my players, and I don't see how I could run a fun game without knowing what they want and what they expect and being able to play to that in ways they maybe don't see coming.

  • @myownmusic8182
    @myownmusic8182 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    You misspelled Cthulhu in your thumbnail.

  • @curtsauer6572
    @curtsauer6572 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Alright, Errol.

  • @warrenokuma7264
    @warrenokuma7264 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'll drink to that!

  • @ML-di8lt
    @ML-di8lt 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    PUPlisher. PUPlisher for crying out loud.

  • @TPretzel
    @TPretzel 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Credits? Welcome chummers

  • @servernomad8111
    @servernomad8111 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    @how to be a great game master and this is why i dont like the D&D offical channel they block all comments and in your 1ep of the saltmarsh game whenever u transit into another screen of the stat your players audio is muted and its very annoying end up not hearing what they say and u know whats more annoying i have to come all the way to leave a comment here to let u know because that video wouldnt allow anyone to comment. hope you and D&D would fix this technical difficulties or able to find it in the first place

  • @Tanath
    @Tanath 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    What? Bonds didn't come from D&D - it was copied from Dungeon World.

  • @TPretzel
    @TPretzel 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    But people are babies 😭

  • @fhuber7507
    @fhuber7507 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The vast majority of student loan money gets spent on lifestyle, not tuition, books or basic costs of going to the school. In other words... it is wasted.
    Long term debt for short term enjoyment.
    Responsible people call that STUPID.