THIS is How You Stay Committed to Your D&D Character
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- It is so hard to not want to swap characters....
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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.
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This is the perfect video to passive aggressively send to my players
Just post it in the chat with some hearts, nothing sends a clear message like that
I have an idea for a potential video: How to take pre-existing builds and make them your own character in roleplay. Some people might decide to use a build their friend made, one they found online, or even one based on a character they like (Tulok’s builds being a prime example of the latter two). It can be really easy, especially in the third case, to just roleplay as the original character. I would really like to hear some suggestions on how to add your own touch to it.
Man, if I can ever get that Tulok collab to become real this would be an awesome topic for it
@@PlayYourRole I'm all in on Tulok collaboration, was a patron of his but I have to be careful with my patrion budget. I could spend HUNDREDS a month if I was unfettered, try to back smaller creators where my 10 or 20 bucks can have more impact.
Anyway, yes Tulok! I wouldn't mind seeing more with clerics corner or maybe work with D4.
I have played some Tulok builds in some campaigns and the tip for what I did, which may not work for everyone but did work for me, was to make a version of that character that you've always wanted to see but never got, or a different version that would fit into the setting. I will just say that playing Wonder Woman as a cleric in Barovia gives a way different feeling, specially by the end, after she had the chance to develop into my understanding of that character and surrounded by such drastically different situations and people from what we're used to
@Get Real genuine question, what part of it is gross, and why?
I just changed my character because he was too weak compared to the party
This reminds me of my first character. He started as a very silly arcane trickster, but after one of his tricks pulled down the wrath of a thieves guild against the party and nearly killed some of his friends, he lost faith in his magical abilities. He became a very solemn scout, and eventually multiclassed as a ranger and became a gloomstalker. He used his ranger magic very differently from how he’d used his arcane trickster magic, and remained serious. In the end I had him retire to go spend time with his sisters who he hadn’t seen in years. He first helped his friends accomplish what they were working on, but when the adventure was done he told them his decision and said his goodbyes.
I use session zero to do this. I’ll have the player come to the table with several character ideas. We play test the concepts and then I let them settle in on one of them as a main character and make suggestions for flavor based on their interests from their other concepts. That is one thing I like to do with feats to give some of the flavor of the class they are thinking multi-classing into based on their ideas.
This is a great idea! Only real issue is time, I know a lot of groups don't have time to spend that much investment on testing out character concepts. But for those blessed with time, this is a great solution!
@@PlayYourRole it does take time to do this but it’s worth the investment. We all work regular jobs, adulting sucks, and the main arc session is only once a month with a definitive closure point so the PCs can do their “day” job if they survive. Not everyone at my table can make a session all of the time due to work and other real life stuff so keeping things episodic helps me and the other players with continuity. It also helps preplan if there is going to be a class change due to a character development issue or a hole in the party dynamic and someone thinks they might want to fill it as the arcs progress.
I’ll do things with small group and one on one side quests tossed in over several weeks as we have time so each person or small group can grow as individuals and develop combat strategies before the next main quest arc as well to help players “catch up” to the others if there was a level increase or some other bonus boon prior to a main quest adventure. It helps personalize their experience and further develop their back story and how each fit together based on my DM style. Example, the lone wolf rogue goes off to do lone wolf things and hides out in a monastery because sanctuary after almost getting caught, an acolyte at the monastery is in trouble for violating a temple doctrine by hiding the rogue. Enter Way of the drunken master monk, sweeping the floor that the rogue is hiding in to confront both. (Rogue/monk and a monk/rogue concept from a PC) The player can’t settle on what to start with on the outset so the player brings me both lvl 1 characters and we roll play both at the same time with the NPC, sometimes is story telling and ability checks other times it is full on combat. In the end each character gets a starting feat like skilled to cover the basics of what they might have learned and the player has an idea of what direction they might want to go and a back up character should something happen to the main one. I’ve had a player bring in four characters they had rolled to play test and it was a riot. Watching a player, who has never DMed before, play multiple characters can be humbling for them and appreciate the effort we put into their own experience a bit more.
It also allows those that can’t make a main quest arc not feel left out because their character was dealing with a “private” matter that could be explained later to the group through roll play when they can make the next main quest session. Back to the monastery, cleric from a different temple is on a side quest as a messenger transporting an ancient scroll that has a long forgotten recipe for a craft beer. Goes to the temple and drops it off and meets the two characters. The player can’t make the next main session but can the following one, there is the introduction of the character to the main campaign, but if I can squeeze in a short heist adventure or something like that before the next main arc scenario, it presents other opportunities to the players to interact with each other. It’s like Kripke on the Big Bang Theory. He is not there all of the time because of reasons, but there is a logical reason that a few people know who he is and why he is involved in the episode.
It’s not perfect but those are just ideas for people to consider doing to keep the players invested in their PC.
My first rogue was cursed to poof away at random in case I wasn't available for a game. He was also the first PC I ever swapped out, and we did so by fleshing out his curse to prevent him from benefitting from or seeing the results of his actions, even if that meant time travel or multiverse hopping. His name, Charlie Chester is now the now the equivalent of John Doe in our games, and instead of dropping him, we finished his story a few other campaigns as a recurring side plot. What was a PC I got tired of became my favorite simply by expanding on his flaw and backstory
I actually changed characters two sessions in a new campaign about a month ago, mostly because they had basically achieved the goal they set out in a couple sessions, and I felt they didn’t have a reason to stay with the party any longer. I made a new character and now have a much better fit and role in the party. Not to write off this video, just sometimes you do need that change! Great vid nontheless
Sometimes, a character is done adventuring! If it's natural, there's no reason not to go that way
Similar to what I did once, I had rolled up a ranger who didn't really have a stake in the main goal of the campaign, a civil war the DM wanted us to take sides on. I found it hard to give her real motivation to work for the 'good guys' so she parted with the group after the first level. I actually continued to struggle putting myself into a good character in this game, something I chalked up to me and the DM being on totally different wavelengths. Sometimes it's hard to really click with a character when that happens.
100% agree. I noticed as a forever DM that most of the characters I made revolves around a single mechanical gimmick or combo and after I used it once or twice it got super dull. It's cause I was playing with abilities not playing a character. I was lucky enough earlier this year to get a DM that said "No, you're playing a level 3 barbarian with nothing special" who then proceeded to knock my ass out over and over again without even giving me level 4 for a feat, ASI only after 3 months of gameplay as a barbarian. When he finally let my character become a werewolf, and a pretty potent homebrew one at that, it's been the most invested in a character I've ever been. Just me and my meaty boi.
He Mr. Miyagi'd you. 🤣
you posted this just as i was thinking of approaching my DM about playing a fighter. please get out of my mind
No. I live here, rent free. Although it is a little crowded with too many build ideas, could you maybe clear out some space for me?
@@PlayYourRole You can sit between the gelatinous cube Monk in a trenchcloak who just wants to be an adventurer and the Woodelf Cavalier who wears armor out of yellow sheeps wool. Although I must admit I don't often let illithid's sit in the queue.
Retiring a character to NPC status has happened several times at our table. Sometimes it goes well sometimes it doesn’t 😂
Excellent video with several excellent points!
I love all of my characters... But most of the times I forget how to play my characters' personalities... and they end up being just comedic relief...
I found in the last campaign my group did that I unintentionally rushed my character arc and hit a wall with being interested in playing as her because of that. In our current campaign, I’ve found it really fun to try to keep my idea of my PC’s arc out of my mind, and to allow flaws and poor responses to happen if it feels real. Then there continue to be mini arcs in the story and there’s better interplay with the other PCs because I’m not focused on just how much my character is to play, but on what effect my character is having on the group, how our paths might align to help everyone tell a better story together rather than the one I have in my head.
I had a character who I absolutely love who actually ended up leaving the party because she COULDN'T change, the party was behaving in a toxic way that was causing her mental health to spiral, so she left and came back a few sessions before the finale
You couldn't have made this before one of my players changed their character for the second time? All jokes aside this is a really nice video. And I completely get wanting to change the way your characters worked or a new character idea. Clark my Wizmonk went through multiple ideas of how I wanted him to be so that I could get this idea of a martial artist that also did cold damage. At first I was going to make him an eldritch knight with the unarmed fighting style, then I checked out if a monk in levels of arctic circle druid would work but that didn't give me all the ice spells I wanted. So I finally ended up going kensi monk and bladesinger wizard. And I'm really loving him. Especially now that I'm not going unconscious as much as I did in earlier sessions. (I was a melee fighter with an ac of 14 because I made intellegence my highest stat rather than wis or dex)
I actually specifically waited until you had swapped characters to release this, just to be a problem
Swapping characters? Never heard of it! (our table used to do very short campaigns instead so everyone would swap characters and we would swap DM every 3 months or so. Our characters weren't fleshed out at all but we tried all sorts of classes so it was it's own kind of fun!)
Point 2 nailed what I felt was wrong about my Rogue, I wrote his story but there wasn't any real personal journey to be had in the campaign I made him for. There wasn't a reason to be adventuring or anything like that. I'm gonna rewrite his backstory and personal characteristics so that it's consistent between the two, and allows for a personal journey to be had.
easy fix: get small objectives and tell the DM. Things you want your character to achieve.
Since the DM will know about it, he will at least try to work something out on that matter? It depends on how each table plays out, and you also can't depend on the DM to do all the work for you too, since he, too, has his own story to tell.
Hey! Super cool to see this video after I mentioned it a while back - thanks for covering the topic. Some really good insights here about characters evolving so you can play a sort of “different” character without ever changing so you can find a new way to play that same character without losing the development or investment
That intro, omg. I just burst out laughing when you cut to that close up shot!
Somewhat relevant story: my Pathfinder 2e character is actually in the process of changing classes right now, not because I was bored with her but because I thought it just made sense with where she was in her story right now (and the DM agreed). Her current class is Swashbuckler, and she tends to fight like a swashbuckler, for backstory reasons, but she's very religious and in a lot of ways behaves more like a champion (the class in Pathfinder 2e which contains Paladin as a subclass). The party recently had a very difficult fight against a Spawn of Rovagug, basically a very powerful creation of her deity's arch-nemesis, and her deity, Sarenrae, directly intervened in the fight by granting my character some buffs during the fight and a permanently upgraded weapon after it. So in the aftermath she's been doing some thinking and decided to dedicate herself even more to Sarenrae and adopt a more defensive fighting style to better protect her friends (we had a couple very near-death situations during the fight), making her a champion. I'm looking forward to it, it'll shake up my and the group's combat strategies a bit but also let me keep going with the PC's story.
Joke's on you, I'm watching this video before even playing my character because I like "studying" for my hobbies lol
Ohhhh so do I. Apparently it's not a 'neurotypical' thing to do, I've been told
Ditto
@@PlayYourRole Not really. I call it unleashing my autism. But most NTs have a few neurodivergent traits aswell. It's not as much of a dichotomy as people think.
He really caught us in 4k at the beginning
I’ve only dropped a character once so far while playing D&D. It was mostly due to the fact that both I as a player and the PC had developed a highly dysfunctional relationship with another player, so to distance myself from that dynamic and ‘start anew’ I talked with my DM about retiring him and playing a new character. It worked, to an extent, and my ranger had lots of fun shooting targets 600 feet away.
A big thing with me is I like to flavor so many of my characters abilities or spells to fit certain things, one example (smaller one) being extra attack on a fighter who uses a bow. Instead of just firing 3 arrows one after the other, the puts all 3 on the string, and fires in a spread of 3 arrows and I'll only target enemies that are placed in a way that would make it work, and it's really fun
Another example is like yours with Thunderwave (and also applies to spells that slow/speed up targets or give disadvantage/advantage). With my Chronurgy wizard, I use thunderwave if enemies get too close, and instead of being pushed back, its like I reset their positions to a previous point in time. Flavoring his spells around time manipulation really makes him feel unique and far different from other wizards with the same spells
Me, sitting on the toilet, opens this video, gets my picture taken.
🔫😞 I can't believe you're making me do this...
You're looking cute today
🥺 well now I can't go through with it...
Thank you.
I have a Battle Smith Artificier, and I have a mate that plays a barbarian that has marks that appear on her skin when she performs acrobatics maneuvers. My caracter is going to study it, trying to mimic it, tattoing transmutation runes on herself, and powering it thanks to magic. That will be the way my Artificer will be able to physically enhanced herself, mulitclassing into bladesinger !
I did this with my paladin. After seeing a fellow party memeber die, and was not able to help at the time. Now that they have access to revivify, he refuses to use use the last smite slot to make sure he can save his friends if need be.
Love it when I ask a player for their character and they say and race class combo... I just stand there waiting like “cool and what else.” Its a recipe for someone who’ll get bored quickly and want to change, repeating the process
this is what you as a DM must try your hardest to avoid.
The editing on this video is really well done. Thanks for putting in that extra effort.
Something I love to do is make a spotify playlist for my character
Thanks for the advice, this was a great video!
Please don't hurt my family
I'm just at the beggining and ouch, why you gotta call me out like that.
My savior! Just what i needed!
You are so very welcome I hope it helps!
I wish I realised this with my cleric but I felt compelled to play him since our DM comissioned art of him.
I have a ranger who's backstory is that he was s soldier who after fighting in a war decided to apply his skills in law enforcement, he started the campaign looking for proof that his rogue party member was a contract killer he had been hunting, but after an encounter with a werewolf he contracted lycanthropy, which shifted his mind, personally i find the stereotype that lycanthropy only makes you bloodthirsty and violent kind of dumb and not all that representative of what wolves are, so instead i had him develop an extreme compassion for his party members, sort of a "i must protect my pack" idea, and the fact that the law enforcement agency he worked for was now hunting him because of his condition, he realized that not every criminal is a criminal by choice and that the law isn't necessarily always right, easily one of my more interesting characters.
Yes, my friends say combat is boring to them because they like RP more, but combat can have enough RP on both the DM and player side by just describing what your character is doing with every action
I ended up having to retire my first character in my home game. We ended up going through his backstory arc very early in the campaign, and it wound up being very Percy coded, but after it was over his best friend, who he left behind before, was left as the new Duchess, the guard was in shambles, and there were two hostile nations on either side who had put the bad guy in place. Like, the shit the group had going on mattered, but especially after the DM kept hitting him with the guilt over leaving before from his bestie, he couldn't leave.
I premiered a new character, older, very wild and varied backstory the DM could pull from. Although he did manage to pick the most traumatic parts and flip other shit around with missing/changed memories. But I digress. He was excellent, and tbh we're still in the stages of solidifying post game plans, and boy is he set to change the world.
Our DM did wind up letting me play both of them at the end of the campaign though 😂 going after the bbeg who it turned out was just a puppet for this evil sealed away dragon god, who used him to take over a titan form to try to break into the soul well and absorb all of the souls there to take control from all of the other gods. So, y'know, shit was wild and we needed the extra help 😂
I'm really excited for my new character for campaign 2 though. I'm planning stuff with another player, so our characters back stories are going to be joined. And we've got some secrets planned and so many ideas for things to do. It's gonna be great. 200 years post campaign 1. Although pretty much all of our campaign 1 characters are still kicking for one reason or another.
I am definitely one of those players who makes a bunch of backup characters in his spare time (largely to stave off boredom) lol! What I try and do with my characters in order to keep myself invested in them is to not only give them an interesting (to me at least) backstory, but also personal goals while on the adventure that I know will keep me (as the player controlling them) invested in their story! I also try to think of the many possible ways that my character can react to the things the other members of the party say and do, whether he's impressed, or cringing, or whatever lol. I almost always tend to put at least a little bit of my own personality into the characters I run. Not to the point where they're a straight up carbon copy of "me" or anything, but just enough that I can see a little bit of me in them, which also helps keep me invested in them. I know that not all players are going to have the same mindset, but that's pretty much always been my approach
Have a dwarf that wanted to make the ultimate katana through the use of an ingot that was smelted from the blood of a dimension-hopping, ancient red dragon that his ancestors had slain thousands of years ago, and now he wants to make a katana lightsaber thanks to obtaining a pair of sunblades. He was a battlemaster fighter, but sadly he was limited by his average intelligence and class to make one himself. One headband of intellect later and some retraining that was talked out between myself and the DM, and he will have some of the knowledge needed as an Artificer to understand how a sunblade works and is put together but will still need to go to where they originate from to resolve this part of his character development. Some context to this, my dwarf was distrustful of half of the party who have not been leaving a very good impression on him, and should he have stuck with making his katana and completing it after dealing with the creatures that destroyed the town where he established a blacksmith workshop, he could easily leave the party to settle in the capital city by joining the blacksmith guild. Both I and the DM don't want to see the character go though, so we came up with this solution.
Don't start a campaign with a completed character. If your character starts with the personality you most want them to have, the feats, class and skills you envision for the perfect play style then not only do they not have room to grow. You don't want them to grow because that would be change from your ideal. To have more rewardingly committed characters they need two qualities: change in reaction to their growing abilities, relationships, and events encountered; and reflection to think about themselves and decide on changes they want to make. In other words, to be more committed to your character be less committed to your character.
ive had 50% of my party either change characters or express interest in doing so in the last 3 weeks, and we're getting close to the end of the campaign. im worried the finale and climax will feel hollow since the bbeg will be defeated by the three steady PCs, as well as those two/three new schmucks who just showed up to help save the world because the party happened to be going to the shadowfell too
I think it's fair to bring up that concern with the table! Be honest and let them know yow it may end up affecting their enjoyment
I have a melee circle of spores druid and flavor the fuck out of his abilities to suit a insect theme haha. He has 2 scythes to proc the extra necrotic dmg twice, so I imagine him slicing enemies open and then (to flavor the necro dmg) putting larves or mosquitoes in the wound. Or when I cast lightning strike, I let go hundreds of fireflies that fly in the sky and occupy the space. When I cast the spell, they buzz together to create the lightning. Its honestly such a fun way to play.
I'm definitely not a forever dm stuck in dm purgatory, completely not just here to feel like a player for once
Something I struggle with as someone in a very roleplay heavy group, is I'll write my character with a few story beats and flaws to get over. But when that Character overcomes those hurdles/traumas/development beats, mid-campaign, there's still mechanical reasons for them to be involved in the plot. So it gets kind of boring playing your now perfect, self-actualized character, since I can develop mechanically but not think of any personal ways to be flawed and grow.
Did you ever think that maybe I just watched this because it was your video? Hmm? NO just strait to attacking me
I DONT KNOW HOW TO REACT TO KINDNESS OKAY
This tip about letting the characters finish their arc is interesting. I ultimately got bored with one of my favourite characters BECAUSE she figured out their character arc. All of her "thing" was that she was a biomechanic who tried very hard to discover the formula to create life, since she herself was someone's creation, her body was a sort of homunculus and her soul was put into there so that she could still live. She had her semi-alive Steel Defender, and was constantly searching for a way to re-create herself to save more lives. But after about 3/4 of the campaign she discovered that, to make one life, others need to be sacrificed, and that not only the BBEG was the one who made her body, but also that it was only possible by sacrificing the souls of the thounsands of innocents she killed during her time as a commander. She gave up on her research, burned down her lab, and decided that "what's done is done", and that she would be the last "fake human" and would use everything she learned about manipulating souls to help the party. She destroyed her Steel Defender because he was basically a being with no free-will or emotions, and instead turned him into her armor so that her soul could finally make him a whole person. She became "the Soulmaster", switching from Battle Smith to Armorer.
The only issue being... she was done at that point. I couldn't find a good conflict for her, she was always an air-headed paragon genius, and her main conflict was that blind research that led to many characters warning her of the threats of playing god and the consequences that it could cause. I tried to make her more of a "traumatized hero" after that, sort of a redeemer, but she was a bit too chill for that. Tried to make her obcessed with protecting the party, but... she was already like that all along. I tried to make her feel a need to get revenge against the BBEG, but... I mean... she would most likely just try to redeem her and never feel very bad about it. She was certainly tormented by her war crimes, but... I couldn't translate that well. That wass my most complex character ever, but i just lost investment...
I don't know, I typically switch character when it feels like their story has come to a natural conclusion
This is why I tend to create my characters to be as basic and bland as possible, so that way I can stand to see them gain as much depth as possible later in the game. I once made a dromite soulknife. His backstory was essentially the standard of your average dromite who eventually develops the drive to leave his nest and travel. The only exceptional thing about him was his armor class. I didnt rely on any planning of character arcs or special events. I just let the game and my choices lead him on. So far, he's become known as the guy who keeps almost dying, and the reason the campaign turned on its head. He even got his arm cut off and had to struggle through a black dragon's lair with a hilt of the mind tied to his stump. Needless to say I didn't get bored of him.
Its fun to buildup for future events, i collected enemys teeth until level 3.
Then i used tree sap to glue them on my helmet to explain my new conquering aura feature.
In the end of the campain my paladin had the face of bbg son tied to his shield.
It was a organic shift from lawfull neutral to lawful evil, and i had a blast.
Watching this to help a specific friend who is this guy
I clicked on this out of curiosity lol. I've only had to swap charaters once and I just literally switched my main and backup charaters for the campaign as I always make a back up just in case. I was really enjoying the original main character, but the party just wasn't gelling mechanically and the backup filled the gaps that were causing us so much trouble so we talked it out and the two got swapped. I went from a charater made to be an up close and personal Rouge who was trying and failing to tank for a party where the rolls for HP had all been crap to a charater actually built to tank using one of the tankier cleric subclasses. Made our party more effective and also means if my current character does end up dying the rouge can come back having completed a bit of his arc off screen but into a party that has actually managed to obtain a proper tank besides my cleric now. I'm not swapping back unless something goes wrong, but it's good to know that I can actually be effective if I do swap back.
That intro was fun!!!
I really liked that intro
I just gave my players character slots. They can change out who they're playing after leaving "camp" and roleplay as both in any given conversation.
Idk I’ve been playing my character for about a year, and sure Sometimes I wanna play a different character for just a little bit. Just a little because I’m committed to my character and he is doing really well.
"A DnD player who can't stay committed to their character, that's you isn't it? Otherwise, you wouldn't have clicked on this video."
No actually, I am a dungeon master. It is my party who can't stay committed, and I want to help them out.
I think part of it is newer players have yet to build up the stamina to stick with a character for the long haul (8+ Levels). I think newer players should play a few mini campaigns of 6 to 12 sessions to try out different PCs knowing it has a limited commitment with a specified end.
You touched upon it, but I want to reinforce: flaws. Your character needs flaws. Preferably a backstory that contains those flaws and the motivations behind them, but at least give your character a set personality and flaws that allow that character moments of growth and change. I'm a firm believer that you get from your character what you put into it, and even just some bullet points of backstory and personality can help tremendously.
Along those lines, don't min-max a level 1 character. Your character is not supposed to be the King of Thieves or the very model of a modern major general at level 1. Your character needs a chance to grow through game mechanics as well. If you have a monk with a 20 dex at level 1, where does that character really have to grow, change, or improve? Sure, you get new abilities as you level up, but your standard, core stuff, remains the same for 20 levels. No one likes reading/watching Mary Sues in books or on tv, no one likes really likes playing them either. Save your min-max'd characters for one shots where you can really shine.
I just started DMing this year, I had players use the standard array instead of rolling and I asked them to write a backstory. I think my shortest backstory is 3 pages and while there was a little complaining about not rolling for stats, level 4 become so much more meaningful as they get to see their characters suddenly get a bit more powerful. I also gave them all a feat at level 4 so they got a little extra boost. All five players have a good sense of who their character is and are capable of roleplaying with each other and NPCs all session long (though, I try to avoid that, but hey, if they're having fun, so am I).
Writing 101 tbh: flaws make a narrative move forwards. Without them, most plot points are made simply to make things happen, not to tell a story
@@gamecavalier3230 I didn't hate. I said if your character has no room to grow mechanically, that character can grow stale quickly. A commoner has a 10 in all stats, whether you have a 16 or a 20 doesn't matter, you're considerably more proficient than a commoner at probably everything. My point is merely that if you give your character more opportunities to grow and improve, you'll enjoy the growth and character more and longer than you might if you dont have those avenues of growth available. This of course applies more in long term games where you'll have time and opportunities for this growth.
@@gamecavalier3230 No worries man, I love playing strong characters, I just personally, enjoy the journey getting there.
Great advice! Unfortunately I just signed my "forever DM" sentence lol
I had an automaton character who could only speak through spells, which made playing him 1000x more interesting tbh. And he often learned caution based on his experiences. If he encountered something new, I'd roll a d10 and if he got 5 or lower, he would be afraid of it (he had a serious situation happen to cause this problem) and if he got 6 or higher, he wouldn't know to be afraid and probably would make some probably reckless decisions based on it. It made him unpredictable in a good way.
I don't get to actually play much unfortunately, but I find there are a few archetypes I actually find fun that every character I've played that I actually find fun.
Badly traumatized veteran with impostor syndrome and severe psychological issues, deranged shrieking zealot who accuses everyone of being a heretic and is constantly trying to burn things, ruthless and death-seeking wildman who exists solely for blood and battle with no patience for finery or diplomacy, and warrior-artisans (warrior-poets/skalds and warrior-armorers in particular) who have to contextualize everything through their craft are the main ones. There are divergences, but most can be slotted in nicely under one or two of those.
This came at a great time
It's because I'm secretly watching you
Uh oh
1:04 pm?
"A D&D player who can't stay committed to their character! That's you, isn't it??"
Um... actually, not at all. Don't even play D&D.
But what I am is a GM for a different TTRPG, and I'm seeing what I might be able to learn from this for my group, vuz boy do I have plots galore for this crew, and I'll be very sad if we never reach them.
(Part of my plan includes allowing miniature side arcs where they can play around with side/back-up characters, that way we can avoid burnout and extreme powercreep)
... i mean... out the gate attack? shiiiit dude, I'm just here for character development ideas, I love my characters...
As someone who has done text-based RPs for nearly a decade now, I figured out you and your party around you tend to make "types." People generally have 2-5 basic Archetypes they love playing and will generally, **generally** stick to.
You have your mains that you really can't get enough of, or already existing characters that already fill that niche and you want to use again. And then there's those backburners you always thought were cool but might be less connected to unless the time or campaign is just riiiiight.
My type currently is apparently "accidentally more charismatic than the Bard" and "Extremely edgy concept/backstory but execution made them the biggest himbo/cinnamonroll."
Im staying committed to a character that my dm likes but doesnt fully enjoy how he isnt a team player but he and the entire table agrees its due to everyone's fault as to how their character reacted and the events in the campaign.
So the character is a monster slayer ranger who focuses on throwing weapons and fisticuffs so he is already limited on his team building and he is very squishy as well. Currently level 9 with only 67hp.
He was made to be a sociopath and has definitely butted heads with the party except for the two he respects and enjoy their company. As the campaign continued i treated him as learning from their encounters like putting a bigger focus on hidding their tracks, becoming a backup healer incase our main healer dies or is unconscious etc.
Because he focuses on punching due to them being unable to resupply so he makes improvised weapons made out of bones and uses his familiar to think outside the box. However he is basic with his limited arsenal due to being built on social roleplay almost like a bard so to not lose interest I began to put more detail into his attacks.
For attacks i would take advantage on a successful hit and explain how the knee to the stomach gave him a chance to grab him in a headlock (tavern brawler) and if its a success i followed that up with either an attack like a ddt or do an athletics check to choke him out. At some point i told the dm that as i rush towards the enemy i do a slight spin to grab the nearby barstool and use the momentum to swing it at their head.
I do plan on using the maps to my advantage like using a wall to bounce off ontop of an enemy to do an elbow drop. I even made sure to be brutal (not gorey) to the point of the dm questioning if im even still neutral. There is a lot of context needed but to stay short the party has been dealing with shit this entire campaign but its obvious my character has it the worse and aftee months of playing he finally opened up to one party member after losing his new pet owlbear and facing mortal fear that would fit the evil within
Absolutely without a doubt the biggest reason I get bored with a character is that I feel like they don't belong to the story.
An extreme example of this could be a forest Ranger who suddenly finds themself in a naval quest, but also a social character stuck in a dungeon that just doesn't end, or a more fighter-y type stuck in political intrique with minimal combat fit that problem.
This has happened many, many times, despite my best efforts to find out what kind of campaign we're about to embark on.
Which is why I prefer the role as the DM, and custom build every one of my campaigns to the characters in the party.
I am very much invested in my character but I still wanted to hear what you had to say
My current character's conflict is pretty vague (religious doubt) and although he's currently on a mission for his god, traveling around the world to do it is a pilgrimage of sorts that gives him a lot of time to think and reevaluate what's important in life
At first he was completely reckless since he was both a selfless and ambitious person willing to do anything to accomplish his goals
He was hyper aggressive when it comes to combat and would take unnecessary risks to get a chance for a slight advantage
After his first near death experience, right when he was healed awake outside of combat, he was given a very tough personal choice in which the very first sliver of doubt as to the immediate importance of his goal sprouted and decided to preserve himself rather than risk his life again trying to catch one part of his goal which seemed so close yet so far
He still is dedicated to his religious mission, but now holds self preservation to a higher standard
I started using the dodge action more, I started taking steps back more, I stopped focusing on taking every single opportunity to deal damage and focus more on what he did best: tanking and battlefield control
This will also later be presented with me changing agonizing blast in favor of more control tools
But this is only the very first steps of hie development
There's way more I need to work on for him but what he goes through would decide whether he abandons his mission or go through the evil route he first set out for
Could you update your how to dm fighters video?
Would love to see your updated thoughts on that
I hate having my picture taken and had a real reaction to the intro
my technique was to join mcdm’s server and do playtesting so i can play whatever character i want without getting bored :)
Thank you to ZombiesWerePeople2 for paying for patreon to some of my favorite creators.
They have my everlasting gratitude as well
Thanks.
as a side note, this might’ve been by accident but i appreciate you ending the video without saying “beautiful bastards”. for some reason the phrase has always felt a bit out of place to me, so i liked that it was left out for whatever reason
I have a weird issue, I love my character a lot, also an artillerist artificer. I’m not bored of my character at all. But I also want to try other things. What do you think?
5:15 Is that guitar missing a string?
Great video btw
It is! It's not my guitar actually, but the person who does own it hasn't gotten around to replacing the snapped string yet
I kind of feel bad because one of my players is constantly trying to change his firbolg druid character into something else, but things that mechanically, narratively, and characteristically make zero sense, and I just can't allow it.
For a little context, his character is from a drug/herb growing druid family, he's not very bright, circle of moon druid, with a 19 strength, 17 constitution, and a 15 wisdom. When he made the character he said he wanted to focus on his wildshapes and melee abilities. He has wildshaped a total of 3 times in 7 sessions.
First level up he said he wants to take a level of artificer so he can use guns. His intelligence score is a 9, and druids don't use guns. So two reasons he cant really do. And he also wanted to learn a bunch of necromancy spells to become a necromancer, another very anti-druid thing to do.
I think what he really wants is to be Dr. Frankenstein. Which is cool. But why make this elaborate stoner druid shapeshifter if you don't want to do annnny of that
my biggest issue in tabletop games is when i have to make a speech check of some kind, because i'm socially awkward and usually don't have any good ideas for lies or speaking in the heat of the moment, and it slows my party down when i need to stop and think for like 5 minutes to think of what i want to say. (this is why i generally avoid face classes)
do you have any tips or tricks to help me come up with things to say for these situations? it'd help if i can actually act out the nat 20 bluff i roll
Speaking of I would like to switch to playing a simic fighter/ranger, do you think we could make a way for that to happen? 😜
Nope, literally impossible, I'm pretty sure it's in the rules somewhere
My first character wasn’t great (everything was wrong) so I created a skeleton (homebrew) death domain cleric. Its great so far.
My character is going to soon be swapped, although it's just because he is starting to get sick of adventuring. HOWEVER, he is an adventurer and will return soon. Also I just wanted to play an Earth Genasi Ranger lol
I'm watching because this is my brother...he's changed race and multiclassed by levell 3...
Despite playing a character I enjoyed, I had to switch them out because the party had its own goals leading them places while he had business elsewhere. Eventually, he couldn't justify staying with the party and ignoring his other duties, so he had to leave. It felt right to have him go, but I didn't want him to because I was still invested in playing him.
This led to the follow up character being empty and shallow, leading me to sit around not doing anything during the sessions.
I can't decide weather to regret my decision or not.
Ah. Sometimes, that's just how it goes and ya just gotta roll with the punches
It sounds like you should have worked out a way with the DM to keep that character. And always try to make sure your character has flexible goals/commitments, since you can't expect the adventuring party's agenda to revolve around you. That's my take anyway. Good luck.
What if you have a character that you don't like, and you can't swap it? Like the dm won't allow you to use another character...
Honestly, i've played my fair share of systems and my whole problem with commitment goes away if i'm playing a more complex system when it comes to weapon fighting.
I'm a sucker for HEMA and stuff like it, so most character i want to play are warriors and i'm not really a big fan of magic, so the vast majority of systems are offensively underwhelming to me with how melee combat often boils down to "i attack" with maybe some small mechanical differences between one class to the other that is either always on or is a button that's easy to figure out when to press. Combat ends up being just a numbers game and an optimization race most of the time when it comes to martials.
Idealistically, i rather just play GURPS using the Martial Arts and Low Tech with the "realistic" rules enabled or a another system where melee combat mechanically gets as complex as it does with fights going from number's games to strategy games, but it really isn't easy to find other people running said systems or willing to play when you're DMing. So realistically, what ends up happening is that i gotta chose between playing TTRPGs with this systems i'll quickly lose investment in with each character or i play no TTRPGs at all and that really ain't an actual choice to be made.
Lol the healer was extremely on point fjgjt mostly bc i think healing is kinda boring.😅😅 i'm thinking of ways to make them more fun bc like.. Surely there has to be Something fun about it ya feel
Comment to appeal the all powerful youtube overlords
Welllll, actually no, I’m hyper committed, just interested in your vids you fricking goober
I didn't expect anyone to appreciate me like that 😭
@@PlayYourRole take my appreciation and sub (secretly I didn’t realize I wasn’t all this time)
Listened to half of it. Should be titled "listen to me talk about me."
Great creativity with your character name. We all love the character we started when we were 12.
Every game make 4 to 6 characters and pick one to play. I’ll play the other 5 later… next game I play there is another 4-6 lol at one point I had a binder of like 100 characters
Idk why I'm here I've had the same character in each campaign since their start
Nice beard
One thing I have found to make me bored of my character is how long it can take to lvl up and gain new features/spells. I've been playing my sorcerer for seven months now and barely got to level 5 two weeks ago. I know the game "really" starts now, I can only cast Catapult and Dissonant Whispers so many times before I'm sick of it.
This is very good advice, but what if the issue isn't that you're feeling bored with your character but rather that you're feeling burned out with them?
I think the reason I'm losing interest in my character is that I get interrupted so much, which means I don't get to say anything, so I can't develop my character.
which sucks, because I actually really enjoy rping as him.
will say this was very helpful for other characters that I'm losing interest in though.
Sounds like you need to have a chat with your group, if you haven't already, and explain that the constant interruptions are making the game way less fun for you. Hopefully, you and they can resolve it together. I don't know your fellow players but IME, a lot of people often get excited and don't realise they're talking over others. If they're doing it on purpose, that is what Matt Colville would call a different fettle of kish and you may need to decide whether you want to keep playing with that group or take yourself and your character elsewhere if they're not willing to let you get a word in edgewise.
I stay comitted, I just wish the my DMs would stay committed to the campaign and not stop after a few sessions
My character is a seduction rogue. My dm is extremely prudish. It basically nerfs me
The best advice is don't play a system like 5e where you pick a subclass once - choose a system like Shadow of the Demon Lord 😈 where you have multiple paths or Pathfinder 2e where every single level up gives you choices
this is really good advice. I am a D&D 5e forever DM and am regretting taking 5e everyday. I only ever played pathfinder 1 and I tried being a DM for pathfinder 2e and while we finished the one-shot without any issues and was one of the best games I DM'd, my players told me they felt the system was too complicated because it had too many options. The problem with Critical Role is it alienates people from trying different things, and they immediately try to apply 5e logic to everything. My solution is to just spice things up once in a while to encourage the players to try different things.
Something wrong with my players is changing too fast instead of not changing at all. It feels like unnatural change, one session they will act one way, the next they aren’t even playing a similar character other than appearance and class, and I’m left wondering “why are you suddenly a reckless idiot now when you were a fearful timid one last session”.
Well MAYBE I would play a character consistently if the only campaign I played in that lasted for more than 2 sessions didn't have my character chosen for me!
When I get bored of characters, part of it is because I am either not useful to my party, or I am wanting to fill a role I realize my party needs. Of course, the character becoming Stagnant also plays in. I have been in… 4 games now. 2 I wanted to change characters in. One was an Eberron Game where I was a monk. I had terrible stats, was the weakest party member with the lowest AC, and I never got a chance to even give him a story beyond “Drunk Himbo that Punches Stuff”. I wanted to change characters, but just ended up leaving that game.
The second game, I was a Cleric in Pathfinder. Not exactly a good choice for me as a first time player cuz of the difficulty level of a mage that has to try and guess what spells I need every day, especially since the dm keot bringing new mechanics like curses, diseases, and even Instant Death magic in. Then there’s the fact that I wasn’t stagnating with him, but rather REGRESSING, instead of growing, because the dm would keep making me have to second guess every single choice I made at threat of stripping my powers if I went with any plan the party decided on. I had been forced from a badass Angelic Warrior of Fire and Healing into an “uwu, so soft” white mage. So I requested changing with my frustrations, and wanted to bring a ranged character in since the party ni longer needed a cleric since we had 2 paladins that kept spam healing when they got a chance (they joined days before my character change). What did I get to play?
Another melee tank for the oarty, made from reclassinf an ogre npc my cleric had talked to about getting a second chance as his final act with the party. I was, okay, with him, but quickly got bired because it was just me playing an npc for the dm, instead of bringing anything the party actually needed like the skinwalker Slayer I had proposed to my dm (he turned it down because “this adventure has nothing to do with werewolves” even though the second the current adventure was done, the ogre would have no reason to care about the party since his home would be freed.
@@gamecavalier3230 Eh, It’s been about 6 months since I left his table so I am thankful to be in some games that dont leave me feeling terrible.