I recall doing a very "lone-wolf" character who was nicknamed "The silent giant" in an ingame language. He would just talk when needed, but he would also help the others consistently, give advice when asked, or talk when he believed it was needed. He was a very straightforward, "get in get out and kill anyone who stands in our way" kind of guy who was good at it. One thing he did have fondness for was cookies and pastries... He would when shopping buy some, or when he could... Make some, and also he would occasionally write poetry which was... Generally not that good, A for effort haha. It was fun. Now my opinion on the matter is to make any lone wolf character good is to make them a true character in depth beyond "Lone wolf" you can add quirks, hobbies that impact the others and more.
Caroline is such a neat character-a great twist of the lone wolf trope. And I know some people will say "this trope is bad, that trope is awful!" all the time. But your example goes to show that tropes arent necessarily bad; it depends on how you use them.
I played a lone wolf character before, a dragonborn pirate. She was motivated by money and was only traveling with the party for the job. She was gruff and spoke little to the other members, but she formed a friendship with one of the other mercenaries and I roleplayed her backstory through that. She also became much more friendly towards the party by building trust as the game progressed, so she wasn't a lone wolf for long. She was chaotic evil in a party of good/neutral characters, and I made it work! These are very good tips for playing a lone wolf, and it's basically how I pulled off my lone wolf character before
In my opinion, I love lone wolf tropes. I dislike how they're commonly played or at least the way enough of players play them to give them the bad stigma in the community. I always looked to Wolverine or Batman for lone wolfs done right. Just look at the X-men movies, Wolverine is a lone wolf, but he grows to care about everyone around him over time and can even laugh or crack a few jokes. Lone wolfs I find are the most interesting when they're played by someone unable to let their guard down, maybe they're haunted, or just unable to unwind. Then the fun is the development for the party to help bring them out of their shell slowly. It's just like Joel from the Last of Us with Ellie. He's a total lone wolf type who ends up really caring for her and even becoming a happier person for it.
A lone wolf character could: 1. Have trust issues 2. Be self loathing ( believing they don't deserve friendship) 3. Socially awkward (very true Crispy) 4. Believe or actually be cursed, and afraid that their curse will affect ppl they care about 5. Have an unearned reputation, and ppl who perpetuate lies about them. The character expects these lies to eventually destroy any relationship anyway. 6. Have actual past actions they regret, and not want their lives to be shaped by the reputation they have earned. Most importantly, the kind of person who wants to play a lone wolf, may have these issues IRL. And role play could actually become an opportunity to overcome them.
Great, thought provoking video. Another example of a lone wolf, and one that most people know, he changed over the course of the story from a wanderer that most people did not want around to a king: "Him?" said the landlord in an answering whisper, cocking an eye without turning his head. "I don't rightly know. He is one of the wandering folk - Rangers we call them. He seldom talks: not but what he can tell a rare tale when he has the mind. He disappears for a month, or a year, and then pops up again. He was in and out pretty often last spring; but I haven't seen him about lately. What his right name is I've never heard: but he's known round here as Strider."
I made a lone wolf character who basically had the stereotypical background that made him not trust others due to losing them. I made him work by making his purpose of joining an adventuring party to overcome that hesitancy so he could finally find at least 1 friend who he could truly bond with. It made him an awkward loner, but he was constantly trying despite his social anxiety and lack of experience. Basically, he had it as one of his goals to become a social person, even though he was a lone wolf by nature and nurture.
We had a lone wolf in one party I was in who became my angsty Druid's frustrated son. He would get so into a book he forgot/chose not to eat at times--something my druid who watched someone she cared about struggled to get enough food just couldn't leave alone. It was a fun dynamic that took my druid from sheer angst and the necromancer from pure edge into comedic gags. Sorry that game had to end, I really wanted to get more of them slowly building up into a truly tight bond--which considering the parallels we had (Druid being more than a little afraid of necromancy and him diving headlong into it) would have made for such a great overall narrative.
Enter Spark-Lee, in Shadowrun, I had a sniper who was a borderline crazy airhead blonde. Picture Harley quin...with a sniper rifle. She had a very spacey personality, but was OBSESSED with firearms. She grew up on the streets and was "adopted" by an arms dealer. She was sarcastic and often airheaded, but always one to lighten the dark themed ttrpg with her naivety. Once rode a fenrir for a whole .2 seconds after jumping on it while screaming: "*GASP* PUPPY!"
For a short time I played a Drow Rogue, who was more of a Lone Wolf. That said, he was probably the more liked, according to my friends, because he wasn't being loud, obnoxious and pervy like the Paladin. He was a cook and made soup for the party, when we were split up. He enjoyed drinking apple juice from juice boxes and playing cards(sadly that last part never came up) with old people or himself. He was also an Aro/Ace character and bonded with the half-wood-elf Artificer and the Tiefling Bard to a point he was seen worth enough to be dragged off the battlefield, when unconscious. He shared his AJ boxes with people he tolerated and usually spoke up only when things needed to be said (the Paladin being an annoying twit, the Ranger wasting hours, without investigating the location they were supposed to investigate). He was inspired by John Wick and.... god, I miss playing this short lived concept :(
Currently in one game I’m in, I’m playing a lone wolf. At the start of the game, my Shifter monk experienced some traumatic and tragic things, and therefore was constantly on the move. Going from town to town, she’d do what she could to help until the town found out her secret, and she’d move on as opposed to fighting them. Then comes the party, and at first she’s standoff-ish. Over the course of their adventures together, then showing her kindness, she started opening up. Now? She is a very fierce protector of her new found family. Like you said, a Lone-Wolf character, when done right, can have some of the best and satisfying character evolution.
I've had a character idea in my head for a while that I guess would be a bit of a lone wolf, though I never really thought of them that way before. The pertinent details are: they area lizardfolk ranger that no longer has ties to their original tribe and has taken to selling rare meat (from monsters of possible) and bone crafts to get by. They have cultivated a friendship with one of the other party members and rely heavily on them to do this, because they struggle with navigating humanoid societal norms. When they talk they tend to be very direct and blunt, so they really need the help when interpersonal finesse is needed.
My dad's my forever DM, an I learned a lot about being a player from him. I like playing loner edgy types. One of the first lessons I learned in how to play those well was when I was playing my first character, a chaotic evil wizard, and my party got attacked while I was sleeping and I chose not to wake up. I almost died, but it accidently taught me that whatever character I'm playing, I'm still working in a team. I still play dark and edgy loner characters, but I always have to find a reason for them to work with the rest of the group.
Another method to help bring out your lone wolf character: Funny, quirky familiars. I have a half-drow/half-aasimar cleric character who started out as a warlock with the pact of the chain, gifting her a familiar. I decided to make her familiar a raven named Azrael and thought it'd fun if he had a personality like Daxter from the video game series Jak & Daxter. I was really worried about how to best get my character to open up to the others, but found no issues with it thanks to Azrael. The DM even took control of him at one point during our first session during our scene at the tavern where he had him steal one of the party's drinks. Azrael ended up with a Nat 20 on his constitution saving roll to see how well he could hold his alcohol, which ended up creating a running gag in our campaign of Azrael being the heaviest drinker in the party. Everyone fell in love with my raven almost instantly and it helped greatly in getting my character to feel welcomed into the group. Even after my character switched classes to cleric and lost her powers to summon a familiar, the DM decided to have Azrael stick around simply because we all love him so much. Azrael really helps get my character to open up to others and be more honest, even when his antics get her super mad. Due to their connection, he knows her true feelings and helps translate it to others as she has some major trust issues and is still getting used to being around others who don't view her as a "monster". He loves to mess with her and others, often playing pranks or just simply teasing everyone around him. Not in any kind of spiteful way, just looking to have some fun with everyone. I guess you could say that he represents the side of my character that she desperately wishes to let out but is either too scared to or doesn't know how to properly express. He's also a bit of a reflection of my character's father, whom she sadly lost to a cult in her backstory. Heck, the whole reason he took the form of a raven was because her father often called her "Little Raven", a reference to her black feathered wings. No matter what kind of trouble Azrael may cause my character, from something as small as annoying her to something as big as being captured by the BBEG and forcing us to go on a rescue mission to save him, my character deeply loves Azrael and would rush to the end of the world for him without a second thought. And everyone else in the party seems to really love him, too. I don't know if Azrael will make it to the end of our journey, but I hope he gets to have something of a happy ending.
my husband made a lone wolf dmpc for our duo campaign. (just him as the DM and me as the sole player. we both agreed a dmpc was needed) my character is a half moon elf, half Drow elf who - after she and her mother were exiled from their village for Reasons (tm) - was taken in by the leader of a monastery. While her childhood in her old village wasnt traumatic or horrible in any way, it was incredibly lonely, and as she continued to live at the monastery, she discovered that she absolutely loved the sense of found family, of community, of everyone gently pushing and supporting you to do your very best in anything you set your mind to. She is in a party with DMPC: a Drow Elf who - after his mother found out he was born with psionic powers - sold him to a bigger House, who then in turn wanted to trade him to a sect of Illithids for an IOU to be used against the other Houses at a later time. the illithids were on board because "hey look, a slave that already has a fraction of our power! that saves us a bit of time! :D" and agreed. Once DMPC found out what was in store for him (being turned into an illithid) he stole some supplies to make a portal that he didnt even know where it went, but anywhere was better than here. His portal opened up literally on top of my character as she was traveling, and theyve been a party ever since. Their personalities are incredibly different: she's bubbly, cheery, likes to try to talk to him and likes to sing and try to befriend woodland creatures (which usually fails). He on the other hand, is the Good Kind of Lone Wolf you describe: very quiet, grumpy cuz the sun hurts his eyes a lot, and is hesitant to talk to or even look at her because of how badly he was abused and treated by Drow females in his past. It took him a few sessions and gentle scoldings from my character to get him to stop bowing his head when she spoke and calling her "Lady Matron", and refusing to be too close to her person (they needed to share a horse and he would rather fall off than touch her sides, because of past abuse). Over 30+ sessions, they became close and theyve both admitted they have romantic feelings for one another, but he's still refusing to completely open up to her or act on them because he knows the illithids and Drow are sending people after him to bring him back to the sect, and he'd rather not get too attached to anyone or anything up here, because it would make uprooting and fleeing again (or just giving up and letting himself get caught) all the messier, because if you have friends, then said friends want to stand by you and try to help him "prolong the inevitable". he has told her specifically "do NOT try to stop them when they show up." and she goes "that's a load of hooey. of COURSE im going to stop them!" and its been so neat to watch DMPC open up more and heal his trauma, and to play my character as learning to respect personal bubbles, and learn to be a bit more reserved. (because in the monastery the mentality was "lol what are those?" they ate, slept, trained, lived, bathed, etc, all together as one unit). Currently they've gone on only one unofficial date, in which they sat in his room and just studied his spellbook and drank wine, because he's still not okay with physical touches. it was very cute, and i really enjoy the feeling of romancing my husband all over again
I wrote and played a similar concept to your Caroline a while back. A changeling rogue who forgot their past to the point that she even forgot she was a changeling, was living life as a drow for a while. Her parents were still alive and a bit nervous to approach her not knowing what kind of effect it would have (kinda riffed of leela from futurama a bit, sue me) she meets them later on In her developing story and they help her run an apothecary that treat mainly animals and the homeless. She wasn’t anxious just thought everything through very deeply though. Still.
i have built a drow ranger who made the choice to escape the underdark and has trouble being what he wants to be which is a hero, but because he's a monster in the eyes of others its caused him to be super socially awkward around people so I guess he's a lone wolf? he's like secretly a sweet heart and wants to help and make friends but just doesn't know how to haha I love this video it makes me appreciate cool content like this
Also worth watching for this is Overly Sarcastic Productions' videos on how exactly loner characters work in fiction, because the good ones at least don't really fall into the trope of how poorly lone wolves are usually handled in dnd. And like look at Aragorn himself, inspiration for thousands upon thousands of lone wolf OCs. He may be quiet and withdrawn but he's also sensitive and caring, and will speak up when his input on a situation matters. It's not about never contributing, and it's definitely not passive. It's about looking for the most effective moments and taking them.
One of my players is a Hill Dwarf Druid who is playing as a lone wolf due to his colony shunning him for his lack of interest for mining and increased focus on wildlife and vegetation. He also exiled himself after waking up to reports of a massacre occurring nearby. He is starting to open a little to the party but his player has been keeping it hesitant due to his past.
I had a "dark and brooding" Drow charisma-based Assassin in an Underdark-campaign, only his deep cover, alter ego was an easy-going, lazy, cowardly ex-noble. Ilvian was the child of the Isinalon family, a line of assassins who literally wrote the book on assassination as his great-great-great-grandfather wrote 'the Art of Shadows' which was the settings' equivalent of Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' but for assassination. Ilvian infiltrated the noble house he (and the party) was working for when that house massacred and annexed another, lower house. He bluffed his way in pretending to be a bastard child of that lower noble house "surviving" the massacre. He was then put through a string of humiliating and degrading tasks and suffered verbal and physical abuse, but when he feigned submission he ended up parked away as some lower guardsman in some thankless, dead-end position. When this deep cover operation was set, he made contact with the higher ups of the house as his true self, an assassin with a big family name, eventually winning the trust of one of the matron's daughters who was the diplomatic envoy and primary quest giver for our team. So my assassin, pretending to be a lazy, hapless, cowardly, chatty guardsman joined the party, and soon after my party members were occasionally helped by a mysterious black hooded assassin the moment the cowardly ex-noble turned tail to hide.
The end game for the lone wolf should indeed be the "found family" trope. The other characters that you've been put together with through fate or circumstance or whatever become your family, your brothers and sisters... Always a favorite with my own edgy loners...
My characters tend to believe that actions speak louder than words (usually cuz my group switches systems so often that I always wind up having to make my characters last minute so I'm coming up with backstory and personality as we play (making the first few sessions more combat heavy always helps)) and only speak when spoken to, in one campaign my group was doing in the Legend of the Five Rings system, I was playing a yojimbo who was a brilliant tactician when the chance presented itself but because of that always had to come up with a personal back up plan in any situation and always came off as weird and distant because they were so deep in thought about made up situations and ways to get out of them but would always help those in need and would even forsake personal honor if it meant doing what was right or needed to be done when others refused to act, a real oddball from her family and especially her clan
As a former that guy. The only advice I would add to this is accept that you could be wrong.. accept that your way of doing things might need to change and that you're not doing as good a job as you think you are at making things fun for everyone and assuming that everything you're doing is helping.
A lone wolf character could: 1. Have trust issues 2. Be self loathing ( believing they don't deserve friendship) 3. Socially awkward (very true Crispy) 4. Believe or actually be cursed, and afraid that their curse will affect ppl they care about 5. Have an unearned reputation, and ppl who perpetuate lies about them. The character expects these lies to eventually destroy any relationship anyway. 6. Have actual past actions they regret, and not want their lives to be shaped by the reputation they have earned. Most importantly, the kind of person who wants to play a lone wolf, may have these issues IRL. And role play could actually become an opportunity to overcome them.
A lone wolf is not necessarily socially awkward or impolite of any sorts. It's also just someone who either prefers to do stuff on her/his own or is used to do stuff on her/his own. Also someone who not necessarily prefers to be alone but don't mind if left alone. A lone wolf type, as real persons, is not dependent on the positive acceptance from others and is therefor extremely independent. Pulling that off as character this can Come off as "selfish", but remember a lw doesn't demand from others to do this or that but finds a way to it her/himself while not being immune to better options. Anyway a lw will have problems relying on others and this will be the core for her/his character development. While a lw is not trying to be the boss, her/his independence and will to take action her/himself are classic leader skills. See Aragon for example. He is the de facto leader, but not by "I am the boss" or through "Do this! Do that!" But simply by being active and problem-solving himself. And he is as very social character. He just also functions without others.
I've tried to make more socially awkward, not-all-that-talkative characters in the past but I'm not sure I always do well with them. And I'm always afraid to go total lone wolf because of the horrific stereotype that people apparently fall into quite often.
The archetype of the brooding edgelord who spends most of his time either sulking in dark corners or being gratuitously destructive is such a common one in horror stories that there must be something about role playing games or their communities of players that explains it. I've heard a few things, but they are all anecdotal and could potentially be countered by a systematic study. Young, inexperienced players seem to have a higher likelihood of creating this sort of character. I wonder if this comes from a combination of feeling like a misfit in real life, as many teenagers do (probably even more so in the RPG crowd than in the general population), and limited experience at creating characters and separating their characters from themselves. Maybe it is necessary for some people to pass through an edgelord phase as they learn how to make better characters. Although their characters may annoy other people at the table, I see nothing inherently wrong with this as long as the player is willing to take constructive criticism and use it is part of the learning process. If someone gets stuck permanently in this phase, then it is a problem. Lone wolf characters can be excellent, but it takes a lot of planning and effort to give them the required complexity. I have a few characters I have created for stories, but which could be ideal for RPG adaptation as they already have well developed back stories. Some of them are, for lack of a better term, semi-lone wolves. These are people who feel somewhat of a disconnect from society in general but have places and/or social groups to which they feel a strong connection. Being in this situation can give the character the necessary wander lust for adventure while also providing some grounding upon which the character can build connections and interact productively with other player characters and NPCs. In general, pushing a character toward the extreme of any archetype is likely to result in a one-dimensional, annoying, and boring character. Providing some balance, such as creating a semi-lone wolf rather than an extreme lone wolf, automatically creates complexities and internal conflicts that make a character far more interesting.
A good point. Unfortunately I got stuck in this phase in my first real campaign despite receiving constructive criticism from both DM and players. Due to some other factors, like my character being unintentionally creepy AF and sketching out other players with that behaviour, I was eventually kicked out. Rightfully so. My character was no longer fun. *I* was no longer fun. And if a player can't implement constructive criticism on the small things, how will they adapt later on?
A lone wolf character could: 1. Have trust issues 2. Be self loathing ( believing they don't deserve friendship) 3. Socially awkward (very true Crispy) 4. Believe or actually be cursed, and afraid that their curse will affect ppl they care about 5. Have an unearned reputation, and ppl who perpetuate lies about them. The character expects these lies to eventually destroy any relationship anyway. 6. Have actual past actions they regret, and not want their lives to be shaped by the reputation they have earned. Most importantly, the kind of person who wants to play a lone wolf, may have these issues IRL. And role play could actually become an opportunity to overcome them.
A lack of speech could work, if it's played off with another quirk. Maybe they aren't able to articulate very well for whatever reason, so they use basic universal gestures that show they're willing to stand beside the party or even a particular member. This could even work for a mute character who has had bad experiences that stem from others mocking them for their disability. Now obviously, this shouldn't be the case with the player as well, which is the most egregious thing some people do when they take their roles too seriously (or they're just jackasses who think it's funny to act like their character at the table).
The worst edgelord archetype in TTRPG: "Your character should be dating my character instead!" The date magnet edgelord only works if the narrative is controlled by a single person. Some people seem to think edgy or hurt equals interesting. I like the trope of and edgelord who eventually must accept or even ask for help. Can't do it well in a TTRPG myself, though.
I have a character concept for a 5e Redemption Paladin kind of styled after the wandering samurai trope, and his main thing is that they made a vow to only draw their sword when someone will die, be it them, or their enemy, and as a result they try to be diplomatic in the kind of "Speak softly and carry a big stick," manner. Wouldn't kill unless absolutely necessary and always tries to talk others down from bloodshed, even if they don't like conversation and sometimes find it pointless, the attempt is better than bloodshed, and they can get time to pick their words carefully.
Caroline sounds like such a cool character! I never thought of playing a character with social anxiety! Her artwork is lovely too!
Those are some nice tips. I like that!
I recall doing a very "lone-wolf" character who was nicknamed "The silent giant" in an ingame language. He would just talk when needed, but he would also help the others consistently, give advice when asked, or talk when he believed it was needed. He was a very straightforward, "get in get out and kill anyone who stands in our way" kind of guy who was good at it. One thing he did have fondness for was cookies and pastries... He would when shopping buy some, or when he could... Make some, and also he would occasionally write poetry which was... Generally not that good, A for effort haha. It was fun.
Now my opinion on the matter is to make any lone wolf character good is to make them a true character in depth beyond "Lone wolf" you can add quirks, hobbies that impact the others and more.
Caroline is such a neat character-a great twist of the lone wolf trope. And I know some people will say "this trope is bad, that trope is awful!" all the time. But your example goes to show that tropes arent necessarily bad; it depends on how you use them.
I played a lone wolf character before, a dragonborn pirate. She was motivated by money and was only traveling with the party for the job. She was gruff and spoke little to the other members, but she formed a friendship with one of the other mercenaries and I roleplayed her backstory through that. She also became much more friendly towards the party by building trust as the game progressed, so she wasn't a lone wolf for long. She was chaotic evil in a party of good/neutral characters, and I made it work! These are very good tips for playing a lone wolf, and it's basically how I pulled off my lone wolf character before
In my opinion, I love lone wolf tropes. I dislike how they're commonly played or at least the way enough of players play them to give them the bad stigma in the community. I always looked to Wolverine or Batman for lone wolfs done right. Just look at the X-men movies, Wolverine is a lone wolf, but he grows to care about everyone around him over time and can even laugh or crack a few jokes. Lone wolfs I find are the most interesting when they're played by someone unable to let their guard down, maybe they're haunted, or just unable to unwind. Then the fun is the development for the party to help bring them out of their shell slowly. It's just like Joel from the Last of Us with Ellie. He's a total lone wolf type who ends up really caring for her and even becoming a happier person for it.
Until he took up golf... Too soon?
A lone wolf character could:
1. Have trust issues
2. Be self loathing ( believing they don't deserve friendship)
3. Socially awkward (very true Crispy)
4. Believe or actually be cursed, and afraid that their curse will affect ppl they care about
5. Have an unearned reputation, and ppl who perpetuate lies about them. The character expects these lies to eventually destroy any relationship anyway.
6. Have actual past actions they regret, and not want their lives to be shaped by the reputation they have earned.
Most importantly, the kind of person who wants to play a lone wolf, may have these issues IRL. And role play could actually become an opportunity to overcome them.
Great, thought provoking video.
Another example of a lone wolf, and one that most people know, he changed over the course of the story from a wanderer that most people did not want around to a king:
"Him?" said the landlord in an answering whisper, cocking an eye without turning his head. "I don't rightly know. He is one of the wandering folk - Rangers we call them. He seldom talks: not but what he can tell a rare tale when he has the mind. He disappears for a month, or a year, and then pops up again. He was in and out pretty often last spring; but I haven't seen him about lately. What his right name is I've never heard: but he's known round here as Strider."
I made a lone wolf character who basically had the stereotypical background that made him not trust others due to losing them. I made him work by making his purpose of joining an adventuring party to overcome that hesitancy so he could finally find at least 1 friend who he could truly bond with. It made him an awkward loner, but he was constantly trying despite his social anxiety and lack of experience.
Basically, he had it as one of his goals to become a social person, even though he was a lone wolf by nature and nurture.
We had a lone wolf in one party I was in who became my angsty Druid's frustrated son. He would get so into a book he forgot/chose not to eat at times--something my druid who watched someone she cared about struggled to get enough food just couldn't leave alone. It was a fun dynamic that took my druid from sheer angst and the necromancer from pure edge into comedic gags. Sorry that game had to end, I really wanted to get more of them slowly building up into a truly tight bond--which considering the parallels we had (Druid being more than a little afraid of necromancy and him diving headlong into it) would have made for such a great overall narrative.
One of the character types I love is the ray of sunshine who is determined to make the lone wolf their friend! :D
Lone wolf! Also those are the same things I loved about Yasha.
Enter Spark-Lee, in Shadowrun, I had a sniper who was a borderline crazy airhead blonde. Picture Harley quin...with a sniper rifle. She had a very spacey personality, but was OBSESSED with firearms. She grew up on the streets and was "adopted" by an arms dealer. She was sarcastic and often airheaded, but always one to lighten the dark themed ttrpg with her naivety. Once rode a fenrir for a whole .2 seconds after jumping on it while screaming: "*GASP* PUPPY!"
For a short time I played a Drow Rogue, who was more of a Lone Wolf. That said, he was probably the more liked, according to my friends, because he wasn't being loud, obnoxious and pervy like the Paladin. He was a cook and made soup for the party, when we were split up. He enjoyed drinking apple juice from juice boxes and playing cards(sadly that last part never came up) with old people or himself. He was also an Aro/Ace character and bonded with the half-wood-elf Artificer and the Tiefling Bard to a point he was seen worth enough to be dragged off the battlefield, when unconscious. He shared his AJ boxes with people he tolerated and usually spoke up only when things needed to be said (the Paladin being an annoying twit, the Ranger wasting hours, without investigating the location they were supposed to investigate). He was inspired by John Wick and.... god, I miss playing this short lived concept :(
Currently in one game I’m in, I’m playing a lone wolf. At the start of the game, my Shifter monk experienced some traumatic and tragic things, and therefore was constantly on the move. Going from town to town, she’d do what she could to help until the town found out her secret, and she’d move on as opposed to fighting them. Then comes the party, and at first she’s standoff-ish. Over the course of their adventures together, then showing her kindness, she started opening up. Now? She is a very fierce protector of her new found family.
Like you said, a Lone-Wolf character, when done right, can have some of the best and satisfying character evolution.
I've had a character idea in my head for a while that I guess would be a bit of a lone wolf, though I never really thought of them that way before. The pertinent details are: they area lizardfolk ranger that no longer has ties to their original tribe and has taken to selling rare meat (from monsters of possible) and bone crafts to get by. They have cultivated a friendship with one of the other party members and rely heavily on them to do this, because they struggle with navigating humanoid societal norms. When they talk they tend to be very direct and blunt, so they really need the help when interpersonal finesse is needed.
My dad's my forever DM, an I learned a lot about being a player from him. I like playing loner edgy types. One of the first lessons I learned in how to play those well was when I was playing my first character, a chaotic evil wizard, and my party got attacked while I was sleeping and I chose not to wake up. I almost died, but it accidently taught me that whatever character I'm playing, I'm still working in a team. I still play dark and edgy loner characters, but I always have to find a reason for them to work with the rest of the group.
Another method to help bring out your lone wolf character: Funny, quirky familiars. I have a half-drow/half-aasimar cleric character who started out as a warlock with the pact of the chain, gifting her a familiar. I decided to make her familiar a raven named Azrael and thought it'd fun if he had a personality like Daxter from the video game series Jak & Daxter. I was really worried about how to best get my character to open up to the others, but found no issues with it thanks to Azrael. The DM even took control of him at one point during our first session during our scene at the tavern where he had him steal one of the party's drinks. Azrael ended up with a Nat 20 on his constitution saving roll to see how well he could hold his alcohol, which ended up creating a running gag in our campaign of Azrael being the heaviest drinker in the party. Everyone fell in love with my raven almost instantly and it helped greatly in getting my character to feel welcomed into the group. Even after my character switched classes to cleric and lost her powers to summon a familiar, the DM decided to have Azrael stick around simply because we all love him so much.
Azrael really helps get my character to open up to others and be more honest, even when his antics get her super mad. Due to their connection, he knows her true feelings and helps translate it to others as she has some major trust issues and is still getting used to being around others who don't view her as a "monster". He loves to mess with her and others, often playing pranks or just simply teasing everyone around him. Not in any kind of spiteful way, just looking to have some fun with everyone. I guess you could say that he represents the side of my character that she desperately wishes to let out but is either too scared to or doesn't know how to properly express. He's also a bit of a reflection of my character's father, whom she sadly lost to a cult in her backstory. Heck, the whole reason he took the form of a raven was because her father often called her "Little Raven", a reference to her black feathered wings. No matter what kind of trouble Azrael may cause my character, from something as small as annoying her to something as big as being captured by the BBEG and forcing us to go on a rescue mission to save him, my character deeply loves Azrael and would rush to the end of the world for him without a second thought. And everyone else in the party seems to really love him, too. I don't know if Azrael will make it to the end of our journey, but I hope he gets to have something of a happy ending.
my husband made a lone wolf dmpc for our duo campaign. (just him as the DM and me as the sole player. we both agreed a dmpc was needed) my character is a half moon elf, half Drow elf who - after she and her mother were exiled from their village for Reasons (tm) - was taken in by the leader of a monastery. While her childhood in her old village wasnt traumatic or horrible in any way, it was incredibly lonely, and as she continued to live at the monastery, she discovered that she absolutely loved the sense of found family, of community, of everyone gently pushing and supporting you to do your very best in anything you set your mind to. She is in a party with DMPC: a Drow Elf who - after his mother found out he was born with psionic powers - sold him to a bigger House, who then in turn wanted to trade him to a sect of Illithids for an IOU to be used against the other Houses at a later time. the illithids were on board because "hey look, a slave that already has a fraction of our power! that saves us a bit of time! :D" and agreed. Once DMPC found out what was in store for him (being turned into an illithid) he stole some supplies to make a portal that he didnt even know where it went, but anywhere was better than here. His portal opened up literally on top of my character as she was traveling, and theyve been a party ever since.
Their personalities are incredibly different: she's bubbly, cheery, likes to try to talk to him and likes to sing and try to befriend woodland creatures (which usually fails). He on the other hand, is the Good Kind of Lone Wolf you describe: very quiet, grumpy cuz the sun hurts his eyes a lot, and is hesitant to talk to or even look at her because of how badly he was abused and treated by Drow females in his past. It took him a few sessions and gentle scoldings from my character to get him to stop bowing his head when she spoke and calling her "Lady Matron", and refusing to be too close to her person (they needed to share a horse and he would rather fall off than touch her sides, because of past abuse). Over 30+ sessions, they became close and theyve both admitted they have romantic feelings for one another, but he's still refusing to completely open up to her or act on them because he knows the illithids and Drow are sending people after him to bring him back to the sect, and he'd rather not get too attached to anyone or anything up here, because it would make uprooting and fleeing again (or just giving up and letting himself get caught) all the messier, because if you have friends, then said friends want to stand by you and try to help him "prolong the inevitable". he has told her specifically "do NOT try to stop them when they show up." and she goes "that's a load of hooey. of COURSE im going to stop them!" and its been so neat to watch DMPC open up more and heal his trauma, and to play my character as learning to respect personal bubbles, and learn to be a bit more reserved. (because in the monastery the mentality was "lol what are those?" they ate, slept, trained, lived, bathed, etc, all together as one unit). Currently they've gone on only one unofficial date, in which they sat in his room and just studied his spellbook and drank wine, because he's still not okay with physical touches. it was very cute, and i really enjoy the feeling of romancing my husband all over again
I wrote and played a similar concept to your Caroline a while back. A changeling rogue who forgot their past to the point that she even forgot she was a changeling, was living life as a drow for a while. Her parents were still alive and a bit nervous to approach her not knowing what kind of effect it would have (kinda riffed of leela from futurama a bit, sue me) she meets them later on In her developing story and they help her run an apothecary that treat mainly animals and the homeless. She wasn’t anxious just thought everything through very deeply though. Still.
i have built a drow ranger who made the choice to escape the underdark and has trouble being what he wants to be which is a hero, but because he's a monster in the eyes of others its caused him to be super socially awkward around people so I guess he's a lone wolf? he's like secretly a sweet heart and wants to help and make friends but just doesn't know how to haha I love this video it makes me appreciate cool content like this
Also worth watching for this is Overly Sarcastic Productions' videos on how exactly loner characters work in fiction, because the good ones at least don't really fall into the trope of how poorly lone wolves are usually handled in dnd.
And like look at Aragorn himself, inspiration for thousands upon thousands of lone wolf OCs. He may be quiet and withdrawn but he's also sensitive and caring, and will speak up when his input on a situation matters. It's not about never contributing, and it's definitely not passive. It's about looking for the most effective moments and taking them.
One of my players is a Hill Dwarf Druid who is playing as a lone wolf due to his colony shunning him for his lack of interest for mining and increased focus on wildlife and vegetation. He also exiled himself after waking up to reports of a massacre occurring nearby. He is starting to open a little to the party but his player has been keeping it hesitant due to his past.
I had a "dark and brooding" Drow charisma-based Assassin in an Underdark-campaign, only his deep cover, alter ego was an easy-going, lazy, cowardly ex-noble. Ilvian was the child of the Isinalon family, a line of assassins who literally wrote the book on assassination as his great-great-great-grandfather wrote 'the Art of Shadows' which was the settings' equivalent of Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' but for assassination. Ilvian infiltrated the noble house he (and the party) was working for when that house massacred and annexed another, lower house. He bluffed his way in pretending to be a bastard child of that lower noble house "surviving" the massacre. He was then put through a string of humiliating and degrading tasks and suffered verbal and physical abuse, but when he feigned submission he ended up parked away as some lower guardsman in some thankless, dead-end position. When this deep cover operation was set, he made contact with the higher ups of the house as his true self, an assassin with a big family name, eventually winning the trust of one of the matron's daughters who was the diplomatic envoy and primary quest giver for our team. So my assassin, pretending to be a lazy, hapless, cowardly, chatty guardsman joined the party, and soon after my party members were occasionally helped by a mysterious black hooded assassin the moment the cowardly ex-noble turned tail to hide.
The end game for the lone wolf should indeed be the "found family" trope. The other characters that you've been put together with through fate or circumstance or whatever become your family, your brothers and sisters...
Always a favorite with my own edgy loners...
Din wasn't even alone when the show started he had the rest of his clan which visted reglularly prior to going on the run.
My characters tend to believe that actions speak louder than words (usually cuz my group switches systems so often that I always wind up having to make my characters last minute so I'm coming up with backstory and personality as we play (making the first few sessions more combat heavy always helps)) and only speak when spoken to, in one campaign my group was doing in the Legend of the Five Rings system, I was playing a yojimbo who was a brilliant tactician when the chance presented itself but because of that always had to come up with a personal back up plan in any situation and always came off as weird and distant because they were so deep in thought about made up situations and ways to get out of them but would always help those in need and would even forsake personal honor if it meant doing what was right or needed to be done when others refused to act, a real oddball from her family and especially her clan
I love u caroline
Lone Wolf!
That is a lot of good advice. I don't think I'll be trying out a lone wolf myself though.
As a former that guy. The only advice I would add to this is accept that you could be wrong.. accept that your way of doing things might need to change and that you're not doing as good a job as you think you are at making things fun for everyone and assuming that everything you're doing is helping.
A lone wolf character could:
1. Have trust issues
2. Be self loathing ( believing they don't deserve friendship)
3. Socially awkward (very true Crispy)
4. Believe or actually be cursed, and afraid that their curse will affect ppl they care about
5. Have an unearned reputation, and ppl who perpetuate lies about them. The character expects these lies to eventually destroy any relationship anyway.
6. Have actual past actions they regret, and not want their lives to be shaped by the reputation they have earned.
Most importantly, the kind of person who wants to play a lone wolf, may have these issues IRL. And role play could actually become an opportunity to overcome them.
A lone wolf is not necessarily socially awkward or impolite of any sorts. It's also just someone who either prefers to do stuff on her/his own or is used to do stuff on her/his own. Also someone who not necessarily prefers to be alone but don't mind if left alone. A lone wolf type, as real persons, is not dependent on the positive acceptance from others and is therefor extremely independent. Pulling that off as character this can Come off as "selfish", but remember a lw doesn't demand from others to do this or that but finds a way to it her/himself while not being immune to better options. Anyway a lw will have problems relying on others and this will be the core for her/his character development.
While a lw is not trying to be the boss, her/his independence and will to take action her/himself are classic leader skills. See Aragon for example. He is the de facto leader, but not by "I am the boss" or through "Do this! Do that!" But simply by being active and problem-solving himself. And he is as very social character. He just also functions without others.
I've tried to make more socially awkward, not-all-that-talkative characters in the past but I'm not sure I always do well with them. And I'm always afraid to go total lone wolf because of the horrific stereotype that people apparently fall into quite often.
You can do it. Don't give up on your character idea.
Best D&D lone wolf example? Goblin Slayer.
Batman's not a lone wolf, he's just unfriendly.
The archetype of the brooding edgelord who spends most of his time either sulking in dark corners or being gratuitously destructive is such a common one in horror stories that there must be something about role playing games or their communities of players that explains it. I've heard a few things, but they are all anecdotal and could potentially be countered by a systematic study. Young, inexperienced players seem to have a higher likelihood of creating this sort of character. I wonder if this comes from a combination of feeling like a misfit in real life, as many teenagers do (probably even more so in the RPG crowd than in the general population), and limited experience at creating characters and separating their characters from themselves. Maybe it is necessary for some people to pass through an edgelord phase as they learn how to make better characters. Although their characters may annoy other people at the table, I see nothing inherently wrong with this as long as the player is willing to take constructive criticism and use it is part of the learning process. If someone gets stuck permanently in this phase, then it is a problem.
Lone wolf characters can be excellent, but it takes a lot of planning and effort to give them the required complexity. I have a few characters I have created for stories, but which could be ideal for RPG adaptation as they already have well developed back stories. Some of them are, for lack of a better term, semi-lone wolves. These are people who feel somewhat of a disconnect from society in general but have places and/or social groups to which they feel a strong connection. Being in this situation can give the character the necessary wander lust for adventure while also providing some grounding upon which the character can build connections and interact productively with other player characters and NPCs. In general, pushing a character toward the extreme of any archetype is likely to result in a one-dimensional, annoying, and boring character. Providing some balance, such as creating a semi-lone wolf rather than an extreme lone wolf, automatically creates complexities and internal conflicts that make a character far more interesting.
A good point. Unfortunately I got stuck in this phase in my first real campaign despite receiving constructive criticism from both DM and players. Due to some other factors, like my character being unintentionally creepy AF and sketching out other players with that behaviour, I was eventually kicked out. Rightfully so. My character was no longer fun. *I* was no longer fun. And if a player can't implement constructive criticism on the small things, how will they adapt later on?
A lone wolf character could:
1. Have trust issues
2. Be self loathing ( believing they don't deserve friendship)
3. Socially awkward (very true Crispy)
4. Believe or actually be cursed, and afraid that their curse will affect ppl they care about
5. Have an unearned reputation, and ppl who perpetuate lies about them. The character expects these lies to eventually destroy any relationship anyway.
6. Have actual past actions they regret, and not want their lives to be shaped by the reputation they have earned.
Most importantly, the kind of person who wants to play a lone wolf, may have these issues IRL. And role play could actually become an opportunity to overcome them.
Please tell me I'm not the only one that find this guy attractive💕. BTW I'm also a dude
A lack of speech could work, if it's played off with another quirk. Maybe they aren't able to articulate very well for whatever reason, so they use basic universal gestures that show they're willing to stand beside the party or even a particular member. This could even work for a mute character who has had bad experiences that stem from others mocking them for their disability. Now obviously, this shouldn't be the case with the player as well, which is the most egregious thing some people do when they take their roles too seriously (or they're just jackasses who think it's funny to act like their character at the table).
The worst edgelord archetype in TTRPG: "Your character should be dating my character instead!" The date magnet edgelord only works if the narrative is controlled by a single person. Some people seem to think edgy or hurt equals interesting. I like the trope of and edgelord who eventually must accept or even ask for help. Can't do it well in a TTRPG myself, though.
I have a character concept for a 5e Redemption Paladin kind of styled after the wandering samurai trope, and his main thing is that they made a vow to only draw their sword when someone will die, be it them, or their enemy, and as a result they try to be diplomatic in the kind of "Speak softly and carry a big stick," manner. Wouldn't kill unless absolutely necessary and always tries to talk others down from bloodshed, even if they don't like conversation and sometimes find it pointless, the attempt is better than bloodshed, and they can get time to pick their words carefully.