Just a note on voices: You don't need fancy accents to make a cool character voice. You touched mostly volume, and it's a very small part of your character voice. A nervous character might stutter a lot, a thoughtful character might have a lot of pauses as they choose their words carefully, a curious character might ask a lot of questions, someone who doesn't speak common natively might get confused on a word once in a while and use it wrong, and so on. So much can go into your character's voice without needing any accents and it's hands-down the easiest and best way to communicate things about your character, especially for online games when people can't see your posture or small tics/actions
I feel like posturing works really well to help develop a voice. Sometimes for me, just sitting or positioning myself differently gives me a different sound. Do I wanna sound upbeat and perky? I'll sit on the edge of my chair and lean forward. Do I wanna sound confident? I'll puff out my chest and lift my chin.
I'd say one of the best known example of this is Sam Riegel. As Scanlan, his posture was far more open and bombastic than when he played Nott, who was kinda insecure and sneaky. He doesn't do much, but his vibe changes completely.
I think another great example of Riegel's character work is Taryon Darrington. How to play an obnoxious, overly privileged twerp without making people hate you and bounce you from the table like a high bounce ball.
And as a Funfact, Sam did all of the voices for all of the imps of Pillars of Eternity 2 which are a lot. As I was playing couldn't avoid to hear nott sometimes but still being aware it wasn't What do I mean? He went with a voice he was comfortable and experienced with but in a different angle, do the same with your characters and you'll get use to these changes and make something unique for you and the table.
Currently playing my first Bard, and decided to make him a camp counselor, overly enthusiastic, naïve, dense and calls any small character despite their age a camper. He heals people by playing camp tunes with his acoustic guitar. His name is Tyler 😃
Not to be dramatic, but my bard would die for yours. The world's been mean to him, so he gets overprotective over anyone naive and innocent. I hope you have so much fun playing him!
I often do things like you described in the video even if my group is doing voice only over discord just because I find it helps me get in the right headspace for speaking as my character. Specifically I use a lot of facial expressions to help nail down the voice. For example my high elf character is very intellectual and so I won't smile and look generally uninterested when roleplaying him. My dumb but loving druid character I will generally put on an expression of joy but with lazy, drooping eyes. Or with my hyperactive grung character I will widen my eyes and smile a lot.
Same here, I find even if I'm not at a physical table, it helps me just get in the right headspace. I end up steepling my hands a lot with my half-elf trickery cleric/wild magic sorcerer and snapping my fingers when he's casting. I'll fidget a lot with my young wild magic sorcerer. For my older draconic sorcerer, I'm always fiddling with something or acting like I'm tipping a wide-brimmed hat because he's got a big fancy hat. I'm always swaying with rhythm with my valor bard and tapping my left foot while keeping my right leg more mechanically stiff like his mechanical prosthetic. I mime my ranger's shots and sometimes actually speak like I've got my mouth full to bring across that he is CRUDE and RUDE and doesn't care about manners.
My favorite characters are these types. My Valor bard is that bombastic side of me. My trickery cleric is that jokester side of me. My wild magic sorcerer is actually that inner sickly kid. My draconic sorcerer is my ditzy scholar side.
Those are among the easiest characters to play well. Quite a lot of people, especially without acting training (I'm one as well) basically mix their characters from two parts: "Aspects of me turned up to 11" and "Aspects exactly opposite of me". And the longer you will be staying in the role, the more important it is that you're comfortable playing your character for prolonged time - being easy for you to play that one is an advantage here. So, it makes a lot of sense to make characters like that for, say, a week-long uninterrupted larp (or even multiple runs of such larps), while you can go far crazier for a one-shot.
Both as a player and as a DM, I don't do a ton of accents (although I do do some on occasion). My gnome girl mostly has a slightly higher pitched voice from my own and often has a giggle in her voice, while playing my halfling girl, she only recently got her tongue regenerated and has the moniker "Silent Shadow", so I play her with a softer, more halting voice. When I DMed Curse of Strahd, I did a lot of "Barovian" accents - to the point that I'm still slipping into one randomly even a year an a half after we finished the campaign (lol) - but even then, I differenciated between Strahd's powerful commanding voice with Stella's sweet voice and Ireena's determined voice with just simple inflections and degrees of volume. It's actually kind of funny how I start hearing the characters differences in my head and just the slightest change of inflection is all it takes for a different character to suddenly speak out. I do like your mention about hand gestures. I also add facial gestures as well. My cleric does a lot of eyebrow raising and face palming, so I incorprate that a lot, lol. I have also heard that using props, if you have them, can serve as showing your speaking in character as well. I saw a video about those who play who had ADHD or similar that props can help ground them into the scene. Like if a character has a necklace they always play with. I didn't have any character props, but I once had a character who would always hide under a hat when he was feeling depressed, so having a real one would certainly have been a good indicator at the table without me having to say much. I did pantomime it, though.
One of the things thats worked really well for me, as someone who cant do a wide range of voices, is to make it situational. The artificer im currently playing is super inquisitive, and also raised on a pirate ship, so when im peddling my little trinkets at the bar he throws the very stereotypical pirate voice on for show. But as soon as its just the party its more my normal voice with lots of pauses to skribble a note down, excited stuttering, and asking entirely too many questions
One of my character concepts I haven't played yet is a grung ranger. Since he's a green grung, he wouldn't normally know common or any other languages besides grung. But he's spent a bit of time away from his tribe, so he picked up some broken common. I would combine this with him using hunting/nature terminology to explain anything that uses bigger words he wouldn't know. He'd also refer to everyone by their species or with a generic description of their role (mage for wizard/sorcerer/etc, warrior for barbarian/fighter, healer/shaman for cleric).
I did the same thing with my grung character and it was so fun. Broken sentences, not understanding certain words in common. And I added a fun thing with his tribe of grung specifically where everyone in the tribe is referred to by their job, to the point of not having a word for name just job.
@@nathancoomber7359 I'll probably play into the slaver aspect of grungs, and have my character still view other species as lesser without fully revealing that detail about his people. So him calling them by their species/role would also serve the purpose that he doesn't care to learn their names. And he'd still view himself as a standard hunter (instead of "ranger"), so he'd see most others as prey regardless. Then maybe the party comes across the tribe or a slave auction, and things start to get revealed. By then he'd probably be close enough to the party to call them allies and actually like having them as not slaves. So he could either help his tribe see the usefulness of befriending some species, or just break ties with them entirely. As for their names, I'll probably say they do have proper names, but since green grung don't normally learn common, he wouldn't know how to translate it. So he would just have the party call him Geku-Geku. I haven't decided what his actual name would be (assuming a gold/red grung translates it for him when the party gets that far).
One thing I also find helps is having reoccurring odd phrases or words they use. I had a Sorceress that used 'Nonsense' a lot. If they were messy? "I am a nonsense! Look at me! I am in no fit state for company!" Also sayings help, maxims they repeat to themselves. Like "That sounds like a problem for future Dan!" or "Do I want to be involved in this?" or something. Also? Irrational opinions. For instance, hate coffee for no good reason. Glower at people that offer it to you. Declaim on the vileness of that bitter brew.
One thing that I always that helps is to describe your actions a little more. ESPECIALLY as a martial class. describe a little bit about how your charatcer would fight. Are they more cacluated and only strike when they feel the time is right? Do they attack brutally to beat past enemy defenses by force? Do they try and do a bunch of sick tricks to show off in a fight? This can add so much more personality than just "I get angy and hit with greataxe." And DMs, let your players briefly describe what happens when an important moment happens. It gets the players invested and lends to more memorable combat. What better, "You take down the bandit with 12 points of damage" or "I do a jumping slash to slash down on the bandit, knocking his body to the ground!" Yeah, that's what I thought. Of course, not every attack needs to be narrated like this. But something is MUCH better than nothing. Trust me.
Though the literal description did help, I was not watching this, just listening and man. The way you talked, conveyed the vibe of the people you were describing.
When I play my druid, all I have to do is make my voice a little more breathy and finish everything I say with a sweet smile for my fellow players to understand that I’m playing a kindhearted bimbo.
Plenty of food for thought!! I've always struggled with character voices in the way of accents. I tend to roleplay best with an exaggerated voice, like a weaselly goblin voice or a booming bugbear, but I really struggle with creating other voices. As a somewhat novice DM, I also REALLY struggle to keep track of what NPC has what voice, how I can memorize and duplicate it when need be, or how to vary them from one character to the next. Nonetheless, really awesome! I'll definitely try to incorporate more movement and bold posture in my next session as a player, if I can!
@@bleddynwolf8463 This! Jot down some notes about the voice (especially if there's a particular character/actor you're drawing from) and then practice ahead of time if you anticipate the character showing up in the next session.
I play one of my campaigns on Roll20. On the basic character sheet you can add gifs to actions and abilities when you link them. The right image can communicate a lot. You add [ ]( image address.gif) at the end of the description portion of the ability. I think it also really helps if you describe what your character is doing rather than saying I cast firebolt. Do they wave their hand through the air drawing tendrils of flame from the ether or do they hold their hands together, concentrating and generate fire from their own power?
These tips are great, thank you! Posture and pitch really do help a lot. Oftentimes, what I also like to do is have a prop of some kind. For example, if I'm playing a cocky rogue, I will take my pen and sometimes play with it like a character like that would with a knife. Doesn't need to be anything fancy- it's just a little token to help me articulate. Or if my character gets nervous often, I wear a necklace to fidget with it while talking, Stuff like that. I feel it helps to have something in your hands in certain situations.
I'm playing DnD over discord bc we live all over the place so I can't do tip 1, but 2 and 3 I can definitely work in. I already have 2 semi-implemented I just need to remember to fall into it but having certain descriptors for spells is gonna help a lot!
I emphasized my character’s vibe a bit…ah how to put it, slowly? They are a bit complex in some ways. First they saw the uniform, something they recognized right away. Then I had them notice my character’s height which towers over the majority of them. This sold the party on the authoritative and official side of my character. I also mentioned some scars, alluding to the character and lightning being a thing, which later showed itself in battle (I have a blade which has a once a day cool big lightning move). And then, during the rest we had as we planned our attack, I had my character sketch something, the camp we were sneaking into from our vantage point we were looking from (it was getting dark). They used this as something of a map. Then as planning I had my character volunteer to join the “make some noise” group who was being the distraction. Ended up my character played a “no nonsense hired bodyguard” for my partner in this plan and we really pulled off the stoic side of things. I had my character jumping into a lot of frontline situations and checking in to make sure all were doing ok and covering them. And then I had them be awkward and intuitive when needed. So I sold a lot of aspects of my character very quickly. That they were very accurately insightful, had been hurt before, physically, were used to covering a retreat, were used to fighting in a team, even a small one, were friendly by nature, enjoyed people and their company, but also was a bit…awkward and good at being stoic, very forgiving though (my teammate in the plan and I had some stumbles to that early friendship that the characters tripped into). Basically the group quickly realized my character was a caretaker, loyal, and friendly. I also implied quite a bit older in a scene with an npc that their characters didn’t overhear, when I referred to certain other npcs and some of the party members as “young ones” or “children” (other npc was also quite old due to our races). I’m not sure how to exactly explain my character’s vibe but what I had designed my character around was a parentified eldest child. I had taken inspiration from the song “surface pressure” in Encanto and maybe a bit from “What Else Can I Do” from same movie and bit from Moana too. Not Disneyfied of a character though. Just similar emotional and social themes there. I was trying to play the nuance of that type of psychology and the type of person that might be, especially one who maybe got away for a while from their toxic family and was still kinda finding their footing but had the support of a structure (in this case, the faction my character’s uniform was from) who let them freely do so. And of course there is more to it. I was also playing out some of the fanatical mentality, the fear they have go through them at the idea of “failing” at some task that others are depending on them for. Like when my character panicked over a party member getting separated during the escape portion of the mission. I have this portion alluding to an incident in my character’s past where they lost someone dear to them during the attack of a rampaging creature. The absolute terror my character feels when they think they may have failed to protect again is something they are still recovering from. Anyway, the general vibe of this party is basically there phrase “it’s complicated” and it is. It all flows together but yeah, all their relationships and circumstances and so on are very complicated and this is a campaign that is rp heavy and also explores complex and darker themes (with proper respect) with the nuance and gravity it deserves. Oh but we have our silly moments too! My character is known to trance up in a tree and I have already had them do silly sketches. We as players also joke that my character is secretly a spy (they aren’t) due to the sheer spread of their friends in all sorts of places (including on the opposite of the war) and because my character knows a ton of languages (linguistics researcher), and has very nice calligraphy which lends to their ability to forge documents (their family was merchants for generations, they were expected to have nice writing), oh and they draw accurate sketches of places, things, and people. Add to that my character has said before that they are writing “reports” and the table is convinced (not really, but as a joke). By the way, character works for a faction that collects information and is something of a major library so it isn’t unusual for reports to be sent back by a field researcher nor would it be too unusual for there to be a field researcher, especially where the party found my character. My character just also happens to be a field researcher with enough combat experience and skills to take care of themselves in dangerous areas is all. Which was the vibe I was going for. Not stealthy though lol. Which is an ongoing joke because my character’s subrace is usually build pretty stealthy.
an easy way of getting the hang of accents is to find the little differences, whether it's a vowel sound or a rolling 'r' it can make a difference in the voice :)
Personally, I find doing a character's body language (regardless of whether or not anyone can see me) helps me stay in their headspace. Getting my body into character helps me get into their mind. So it might still be useful even if no one else can see it.
Believe it or not, keeping that posture will still help communicate your vibe to the other players, even if they can't see you. It influences how your voice sounds, and when improvising it can subconsciously influences the things you say as well. Professional voice actors will tell you how important this is; if they are voicing a character who is really hyper and excitable it's a lot harder to convey sitting back with your feet up versus standing with your legs tensed like you might take off in a sprint at any moment.
It really does depend on a lot of factors. Take for example my old favorite character back from a 3.5E campaign I played back when I was still in the Navy. Character started out as a barbarian human, died at Level 7 Barbarian / Level 10 Frenzied Berserker (EL17) due to rolling three nat 1's in a row (When I wasn't at the table, I was away at a watch station that session), and then was later "resurrected" by having his soul anchored into the body of a large scale Adamantine-bodied Warforged that instantly gained class levels of Warforged Juggernaut upon revival, so Adamantine body spikes erupting upon returning to consciousness as well as being a walk warcrime for being a newly created Warforged. This character started out as a jovial, boisterous Barbarian who just finally started following in the footsteps of his grandparents as they were veterans of the Great War (From the Eberron campaign) and he got some specific training for his weapon of choice (talenta sharrash) from the Halfling friend of the family that worked for his (my PC's) family ranch and farm. My character basic went from a level-headed Chaotic Good Barbarian, to becoming a fight-crazed lunatic of a Barbarian / Frenzied Berserker, to slowly losing his mind and humanity as he became both a Warforged and Warforged Juggernaut (along with keeping that a secret) on top of being terrified of himself (As 3.5E Frenzied Berserkers can and HAVE to attack party members if they enter frenzy without any enemies around), to finally getting ahold of himself as he eventually became a Legendary Dreadnought and became a minor god of destruction and violence. I basically had to go from being this slightly bouncy and extremely energetic / chipper human to this cold, methodical, calm, and deep-voiced being that always slow-tilted his head when speaking and asking questions, even going as far as butchering up a loudspeaker to use to make a static generator to sell off the machine that he became. It worked real well too, especially since the idea that his strength and size made him terrifying, especially when he both (Mighty) Raged and (Greater) Frenzied at the same time, along with his magic items and just absolutely mental base stats his Strength Score hit 73...his physical strength was that he could lift a little more than two fully loaded Saturn V's (5 Kilotons) of weight as a "Light Weight Load" and nearly be able to pick up an entire aircraft carrier as his maximum weight load. Then there was the fact that his intimidation score was beyond 100, and with Terrifying Rage, he had a Fear Skill that had a DC save beyond 120. So yeah, I had to figure out how to play an absolute unit of a monster without somehow becoming a murderhobo. Basically the only place where this character would shine would be in combat and very few instances of RP outside of combat. Edit: Oh, and there was screaming. Lots and lot of screaming. I should mention when it comes to combat, this character became a borderline psychopath. Launching enemies in various directions, plowing enemies and trampling over them, smearing enemies into and through walls, completely leveling buildings, destroying mountains, picking up and ragdolling dragons by their tails, and putting the fear of death into said dragons, demons, devils, demon/devil lords, and even the gods themselves. Aside of the screaming, there was a lot of metal being played on the stereo when he fought, especially Deadly Sinners by 3 Inches of Blood (Both the actual song and the Extreme Toothbrushing version of the song, you'll have to look that one up here on UA-cam. For those too lazy though: ua-cam.com/video/CUaATA7YupQ/v-deo.html )
On note 1. I will literally stand and perform my actions. If playing multiple characters I use different props. Do note this can easily be overdone, but the killing blow on a named mob go for it. I have literally acted out carrying my boyfriend back to our room after a drunken tavern brawl. Also, you can react to what people say about you. If they lie about you roll your eyes, if you are introduced wave. You do not have to wait your turn. Rember, you are technically acting, that is what role-playing is.
If I can recommend a non-critical roll source (no hate they are just professional actors) I recommend checking out Jocat's Belkinus Necro Hunt and pay attention to Davy Chappy as Nathaniel. His voice isn't much different but it's his tones, ticks, and habits that carry that character.
it might be lazy of my group but we often times play characters the match my vibe like swishy and flamboyant big n brash clippy and rude and folks like that
This has nothing to do with the video When I saw the ad in the beginning, I couldn't help but to imagine how would dnd look in the future. Imagine an inmersive VR/metaverse experience
Just a note on voices: You don't need fancy accents to make a cool character voice. You touched mostly volume, and it's a very small part of your character voice. A nervous character might stutter a lot, a thoughtful character might have a lot of pauses as they choose their words carefully, a curious character might ask a lot of questions, someone who doesn't speak common natively might get confused on a word once in a while and use it wrong, and so on. So much can go into your character's voice without needing any accents and it's hands-down the easiest and best way to communicate things about your character, especially for online games when people can't see your posture or small tics/actions
Dang it you're right! I should have mentioned speech patterns
What does it mean if my Character has a soft and speaks like not directly to anyone
@@pilkkimies They are a very oblivious grandma/baby??
@@pilkkimies Maybe shy?
I feel like posturing works really well to help develop a voice. Sometimes for me, just sitting or positioning myself differently gives me a different sound. Do I wanna sound upbeat and perky? I'll sit on the edge of my chair and lean forward. Do I wanna sound confident? I'll puff out my chest and lift my chin.
I'd say one of the best known example of this is Sam Riegel. As Scanlan, his posture was far more open and bombastic than when he played Nott, who was kinda insecure and sneaky. He doesn't do much, but his vibe changes completely.
I think another great example of Riegel's character work is Taryon Darrington. How to play an obnoxious, overly privileged twerp without making people hate you and bounce you from the table like a high bounce ball.
@@vernonhampton5863 they did at first and then he made them love him
And as a Funfact, Sam did all of the voices for all of the imps of Pillars of Eternity 2 which are a lot. As I was playing couldn't avoid to hear nott sometimes but still being aware it wasn't
What do I mean? He went with a voice he was comfortable and experienced with but in a different angle, do the same with your characters and you'll get use to these changes and make something unique for you and the table.
I disagree he’s pretty much just Sam but more crass.
Currently playing my first Bard, and decided to make him a camp counselor, overly enthusiastic, naïve, dense and calls any small character despite their age a camper. He heals people by playing camp tunes with his acoustic guitar. His name is Tyler 😃
I'm picturing David from Camp Camp.
Not to be dramatic, but my bard would die for yours. The world's been mean to him, so he gets overprotective over anyone naive and innocent. I hope you have so much fun playing him!
@@liangshanlun5142 literally my first thought
My name's tyler😎
Tyler the bard my beloved
I often do things like you described in the video even if my group is doing voice only over discord just because I find it helps me get in the right headspace for speaking as my character. Specifically I use a lot of facial expressions to help nail down the voice. For example my high elf character is very intellectual and so I won't smile and look generally uninterested when roleplaying him. My dumb but loving druid character I will generally put on an expression of joy but with lazy, drooping eyes. Or with my hyperactive grung character I will widen my eyes and smile a lot.
Same here, I find even if I'm not at a physical table, it helps me just get in the right headspace. I end up steepling my hands a lot with my half-elf trickery cleric/wild magic sorcerer and snapping my fingers when he's casting. I'll fidget a lot with my young wild magic sorcerer. For my older draconic sorcerer, I'm always fiddling with something or acting like I'm tipping a wide-brimmed hat because he's got a big fancy hat. I'm always swaying with rhythm with my valor bard and tapping my left foot while keeping my right leg more mechanically stiff like his mechanical prosthetic. I mime my ranger's shots and sometimes actually speak like I've got my mouth full to bring across that he is CRUDE and RUDE and doesn't care about manners.
I personally have the best time when my character is just a facet of my personality but turned to 11
Can't lie and say I haven't done this
That’s always fun to run. One time I played a fighter and cranked my impulsivity up to 11, basically became soldier TF2. It was a good time.
My favorite characters are these types. My Valor bard is that bombastic side of me. My trickery cleric is that jokester side of me. My wild magic sorcerer is actually that inner sickly kid. My draconic sorcerer is my ditzy scholar side.
Those are among the easiest characters to play well.
Quite a lot of people, especially without acting training (I'm one as well) basically mix their characters from two parts: "Aspects of me turned up to 11" and "Aspects exactly opposite of me". And the longer you will be staying in the role, the more important it is that you're comfortable playing your character for prolonged time - being easy for you to play that one is an advantage here.
So, it makes a lot of sense to make characters like that for, say, a week-long uninterrupted larp (or even multiple runs of such larps), while you can go far crazier for a one-shot.
Both as a player and as a DM, I don't do a ton of accents (although I do do some on occasion). My gnome girl mostly has a slightly higher pitched voice from my own and often has a giggle in her voice, while playing my halfling girl, she only recently got her tongue regenerated and has the moniker "Silent Shadow", so I play her with a softer, more halting voice. When I DMed Curse of Strahd, I did a lot of "Barovian" accents - to the point that I'm still slipping into one randomly even a year an a half after we finished the campaign (lol) - but even then, I differenciated between Strahd's powerful commanding voice with Stella's sweet voice and Ireena's determined voice with just simple inflections and degrees of volume. It's actually kind of funny how I start hearing the characters differences in my head and just the slightest change of inflection is all it takes for a different character to suddenly speak out. I do like your mention about hand gestures. I also add facial gestures as well. My cleric does a lot of eyebrow raising and face palming, so I incorprate that a lot, lol. I have also heard that using props, if you have them, can serve as showing your speaking in character as well. I saw a video about those who play who had ADHD or similar that props can help ground them into the scene. Like if a character has a necklace they always play with. I didn't have any character props, but I once had a character who would always hide under a hat when he was feeling depressed, so having a real one would certainly have been a good indicator at the table without me having to say much. I did pantomime it, though.
The idea of having your tongue regenerated and having to relearn how to speak is actually very good
One of the things thats worked really well for me, as someone who cant do a wide range of voices, is to make it situational. The artificer im currently playing is super inquisitive, and also raised on a pirate ship, so when im peddling my little trinkets at the bar he throws the very stereotypical pirate voice on for show. But as soon as its just the party its more my normal voice with lots of pauses to skribble a note down, excited stuttering, and asking entirely too many questions
One of my character concepts I haven't played yet is a grung ranger. Since he's a green grung, he wouldn't normally know common or any other languages besides grung. But he's spent a bit of time away from his tribe, so he picked up some broken common. I would combine this with him using hunting/nature terminology to explain anything that uses bigger words he wouldn't know. He'd also refer to everyone by their species or with a generic description of their role (mage for wizard/sorcerer/etc, warrior for barbarian/fighter, healer/shaman for cleric).
I did the same thing with my grung character and it was so fun. Broken sentences, not understanding certain words in common. And I added a fun thing with his tribe of grung specifically where everyone in the tribe is referred to by their job, to the point of not having a word for name just job.
@@nathancoomber7359 I'll probably play into the slaver aspect of grungs, and have my character still view other species as lesser without fully revealing that detail about his people. So him calling them by their species/role would also serve the purpose that he doesn't care to learn their names. And he'd still view himself as a standard hunter (instead of "ranger"), so he'd see most others as prey regardless.
Then maybe the party comes across the tribe or a slave auction, and things start to get revealed. By then he'd probably be close enough to the party to call them allies and actually like having them as not slaves. So he could either help his tribe see the usefulness of befriending some species, or just break ties with them entirely.
As for their names, I'll probably say they do have proper names, but since green grung don't normally learn common, he wouldn't know how to translate it. So he would just have the party call him Geku-Geku. I haven't decided what his actual name would be (assuming a gold/red grung translates it for him when the party gets that far).
These are some great tips and ideas! I am playing in a new roleplay heavy campaign soon and I can't wait to try out some of these!
Hopefully it helps!!!
One thing I also find helps is having reoccurring odd phrases or words they use. I had a Sorceress that used 'Nonsense' a lot. If they were messy? "I am a nonsense! Look at me! I am in no fit state for company!" Also sayings help, maxims they repeat to themselves. Like "That sounds like a problem for future Dan!" or "Do I want to be involved in this?" or something. Also? Irrational opinions. For instance, hate coffee for no good reason. Glower at people that offer it to you. Declaim on the vileness of that bitter brew.
One thing that I always that helps is to describe your actions a little more. ESPECIALLY as a martial class. describe a little bit about how your charatcer would fight. Are they more cacluated and only strike when they feel the time is right? Do they attack brutally to beat past enemy defenses by force? Do they try and do a bunch of sick tricks to show off in a fight? This can add so much more personality than just "I get angy and hit with greataxe." And DMs, let your players briefly describe what happens when an important moment happens. It gets the players invested and lends to more memorable combat. What better, "You take down the bandit with 12 points of damage" or "I do a jumping slash to slash down on the bandit, knocking his body to the ground!" Yeah, that's what I thought. Of course, not every attack needs to be narrated like this. But something is MUCH better than nothing. Trust me.
Though the literal description did help, I was not watching this, just listening and man. The way you talked, conveyed the vibe of the people you were describing.
When I play my druid, all I have to do is make my voice a little more breathy and finish everything I say with a sweet smile for my fellow players to understand that I’m playing a kindhearted bimbo.
I am new to both dnd and your channel and have found your channel to be one of the helpful ones. Im excited to play each week so I can try new things.
Plenty of food for thought!! I've always struggled with character voices in the way of accents. I tend to roleplay best with an exaggerated voice, like a weaselly goblin voice or a booming bugbear, but I really struggle with creating other voices. As a somewhat novice DM, I also REALLY struggle to keep track of what NPC has what voice, how I can memorize and duplicate it when need be, or how to vary them from one character to the next.
Nonetheless, really awesome! I'll definitely try to incorporate more movement and bold posture in my next session as a player, if I can!
I realllllly struggle with subtle voices. They always turn into the bombastic ones.
I feel that. Voices can be really difficult, haha
I agree about keeping track of what voice I use with which npc. Especially with multiple npcs in a scene.
i like keeping a note book with the npc name with a description of the voice/accent, helps me remember
@@bleddynwolf8463 This! Jot down some notes about the voice (especially if there's a particular character/actor you're drawing from) and then practice ahead of time if you anticipate the character showing up in the next session.
I play one of my campaigns on Roll20. On the basic character sheet you can add gifs to actions and abilities when you link them. The right image can communicate a lot.
You add [ ]( image address.gif) at the end of the description portion of the ability.
I think it also really helps if you describe what your character is doing rather than saying I cast firebolt. Do they wave their hand through the air drawing tendrils of flame from the ether or do they hold their hands together, concentrating and generate fire from their own power?
These tips are great, thank you! Posture and pitch really do help a lot.
Oftentimes, what I also like to do is have a prop of some kind. For example, if I'm playing a cocky rogue, I will take my pen and sometimes play with it like a character like that would with a knife. Doesn't need to be anything fancy- it's just a little token to help me articulate. Or if my character gets nervous often, I wear a necklace to fidget with it while talking, Stuff like that. I feel it helps to have something in your hands in certain situations.
I'm playing DnD over discord bc we live all over the place so I can't do tip 1, but 2 and 3 I can definitely work in. I already have 2 semi-implemented I just need to remember to fall into it but having certain descriptors for spells is gonna help a lot!
I emphasized my character’s vibe a bit…ah how to put it, slowly? They are a bit complex in some ways. First they saw the uniform, something they recognized right away. Then I had them notice my character’s height which towers over the majority of them. This sold the party on the authoritative and official side of my character. I also mentioned some scars, alluding to the character and lightning being a thing, which later showed itself in battle (I have a blade which has a once a day cool big lightning move). And then, during the rest we had as we planned our attack, I had my character sketch something, the camp we were sneaking into from our vantage point we were looking from (it was getting dark). They used this as something of a map. Then as planning I had my character volunteer to join the “make some noise” group who was being the distraction. Ended up my character played a “no nonsense hired bodyguard” for my partner in this plan and we really pulled off the stoic side of things. I had my character jumping into a lot of frontline situations and checking in to make sure all were doing ok and covering them. And then I had them be awkward and intuitive when needed. So I sold a lot of aspects of my character very quickly. That they were very accurately insightful, had been hurt before, physically, were used to covering a retreat, were used to fighting in a team, even a small one, were friendly by nature, enjoyed people and their company, but also was a bit…awkward and good at being stoic, very forgiving though (my teammate in the plan and I had some stumbles to that early friendship that the characters tripped into). Basically the group quickly realized my character was a caretaker, loyal, and friendly. I also implied quite a bit older in a scene with an npc that their characters didn’t overhear, when I referred to certain other npcs and some of the party members as “young ones” or “children” (other npc was also quite old due to our races). I’m not sure how to exactly explain my character’s vibe but what I had designed my character around was a parentified eldest child. I had taken inspiration from the song “surface pressure” in Encanto and maybe a bit from “What Else Can I Do” from same movie and bit from Moana too. Not Disneyfied of a character though. Just similar emotional and social themes there. I was trying to play the nuance of that type of psychology and the type of person that might be, especially one who maybe got away for a while from their toxic family and was still kinda finding their footing but had the support of a structure (in this case, the faction my character’s uniform was from) who let them freely do so. And of course there is more to it. I was also playing out some of the fanatical mentality, the fear they have go through them at the idea of “failing” at some task that others are depending on them for. Like when my character panicked over a party member getting separated during the escape portion of the mission. I have this portion alluding to an incident in my character’s past where they lost someone dear to them during the attack of a rampaging creature. The absolute terror my character feels when they think they may have failed to protect again is something they are still recovering from.
Anyway, the general vibe of this party is basically there phrase “it’s complicated” and it is. It all flows together but yeah, all their relationships and circumstances and so on are very complicated and this is a campaign that is rp heavy and also explores complex and darker themes (with proper respect) with the nuance and gravity it deserves.
Oh but we have our silly moments too! My character is known to trance up in a tree and I have already had them do silly sketches. We as players also joke that my character is secretly a spy (they aren’t) due to the sheer spread of their friends in all sorts of places (including on the opposite of the war) and because my character knows a ton of languages (linguistics researcher), and has very nice calligraphy which lends to their ability to forge documents (their family was merchants for generations, they were expected to have nice writing), oh and they draw accurate sketches of places, things, and people. Add to that my character has said before that they are writing “reports” and the table is convinced (not really, but as a joke). By the way, character works for a faction that collects information and is something of a major library so it isn’t unusual for reports to be sent back by a field researcher nor would it be too unusual for there to be a field researcher, especially where the party found my character. My character just also happens to be a field researcher with enough combat experience and skills to take care of themselves in dangerous areas is all. Which was the vibe I was going for. Not stealthy though lol. Which is an ongoing joke because my character’s subrace is usually build pretty stealthy.
Hey Editor! I loved the We Love Beans comment. I love a bit of snark in an editor. :)
Quick practical note, it looks like your description is still the one from the mechanical negatives video. Keep up the great vids!! :)
an easy way of getting the hang of accents is to find the little differences, whether it's a vowel sound or a rolling 'r' it can make a difference in the voice :)
Figuring out the voice for my half-feral Halfling Beast Master will be fun.
"Use your posture." - I would love to. Kinda hard to do when we play on Roll20 with no camera (because it makes everything lag incredibly).
Personally, I find doing a character's body language (regardless of whether or not anyone can see me) helps me stay in their headspace. Getting my body into character helps me get into their mind. So it might still be useful even if no one else can see it.
Believe it or not, keeping that posture will still help communicate your vibe to the other players, even if they can't see you. It influences how your voice sounds, and when improvising it can subconsciously influences the things you say as well.
Professional voice actors will tell you how important this is; if they are voicing a character who is really hyper and excitable it's a lot harder to convey sitting back with your feet up versus standing with your legs tensed like you might take off in a sprint at any moment.
Next Play your Role thing: how to do voices, easy tricks to do a scottish dwarf, or an australian halfling!
Aussie halfling? Halflings always struck me as the american southern christian woman type voice, idk
It really does depend on a lot of factors. Take for example my old favorite character back from a 3.5E campaign I played back when I was still in the Navy. Character started out as a barbarian human, died at Level 7 Barbarian / Level 10 Frenzied Berserker (EL17) due to rolling three nat 1's in a row (When I wasn't at the table, I was away at a watch station that session), and then was later "resurrected" by having his soul anchored into the body of a large scale Adamantine-bodied Warforged that instantly gained class levels of Warforged Juggernaut upon revival, so Adamantine body spikes erupting upon returning to consciousness as well as being a walk warcrime for being a newly created Warforged. This character started out as a jovial, boisterous Barbarian who just finally started following in the footsteps of his grandparents as they were veterans of the Great War (From the Eberron campaign) and he got some specific training for his weapon of choice (talenta sharrash) from the Halfling friend of the family that worked for his (my PC's) family ranch and farm. My character basic went from a level-headed Chaotic Good Barbarian, to becoming a fight-crazed lunatic of a Barbarian / Frenzied Berserker, to slowly losing his mind and humanity as he became both a Warforged and Warforged Juggernaut (along with keeping that a secret) on top of being terrified of himself (As 3.5E Frenzied Berserkers can and HAVE to attack party members if they enter frenzy without any enemies around), to finally getting ahold of himself as he eventually became a Legendary Dreadnought and became a minor god of destruction and violence.
I basically had to go from being this slightly bouncy and extremely energetic / chipper human to this cold, methodical, calm, and deep-voiced being that always slow-tilted his head when speaking and asking questions, even going as far as butchering up a loudspeaker to use to make a static generator to sell off the machine that he became. It worked real well too, especially since the idea that his strength and size made him terrifying, especially when he both (Mighty) Raged and (Greater) Frenzied at the same time, along with his magic items and just absolutely mental base stats his Strength Score hit 73...his physical strength was that he could lift a little more than two fully loaded Saturn V's (5 Kilotons) of weight as a "Light Weight Load" and nearly be able to pick up an entire aircraft carrier as his maximum weight load. Then there was the fact that his intimidation score was beyond 100, and with Terrifying Rage, he had a Fear Skill that had a DC save beyond 120. So yeah, I had to figure out how to play an absolute unit of a monster without somehow becoming a murderhobo. Basically the only place where this character would shine would be in combat and very few instances of RP outside of combat.
Edit: Oh, and there was screaming. Lots and lot of screaming. I should mention when it comes to combat, this character became a borderline psychopath. Launching enemies in various directions, plowing enemies and trampling over them, smearing enemies into and through walls, completely leveling buildings, destroying mountains, picking up and ragdolling dragons by their tails, and putting the fear of death into said dragons, demons, devils, demon/devil lords, and even the gods themselves. Aside of the screaming, there was a lot of metal being played on the stereo when he fought, especially Deadly Sinners by 3 Inches of Blood (Both the actual song and the Extreme Toothbrushing version of the song, you'll have to look that one up here on UA-cam. For those too lazy though: ua-cam.com/video/CUaATA7YupQ/v-deo.html )
PYR: [talks about posture]
Me who plays through Discord vc:
On note 1. I will literally stand and perform my actions. If playing multiple characters I use different props. Do note this can easily be overdone, but the killing blow on a named mob go for it. I have literally acted out carrying my boyfriend back to our room after a drunken tavern brawl. Also, you can react to what people say about you. If they lie about you roll your eyes, if you are introduced wave. You do not have to wait your turn. Rember, you are technically acting, that is what role-playing is.
If I can recommend a non-critical roll source (no hate they are just professional actors) I recommend checking out Jocat's Belkinus Necro Hunt and pay attention to Davy Chappy as Nathaniel. His voice isn't much different but it's his tones, ticks, and habits that carry that character.
Great video!
Thanks for watching, I hope you enioyed!!!
@@PlayYourRole definitely! And will be sending to some of my players :)
it might be lazy of my group but we often times play characters the match my vibe like swishy and flamboyant big n brash clippy and rude and folks like that
Your number 1 tip do be ignoring online play tho
This has nothing to do with the video
When I saw the ad in the beginning, I couldn't help but to imagine how would dnd look in the future. Imagine an inmersive VR/metaverse experience
It's closer than you think! I've seen TONS of projects trying to make it a reality
I put this video on 1.75x speed to power watch it before my session
This is the way
My secret is that I watch all videos in 1.75
Hopefully it helps!!!
@@PlayYourRole i find sped up videos less enjoyable to watch
We vibin boiz
Thanks.
But of course!
Great vid!
First!! 😄
Yesss!
You did it!!! So proud of you
Question…. Why do all pc’s give dwarves Scottish/Irish accents.
Uh I play online
The majority of the video still applies! Voice changes, posture (if you're on camera) and descriptive words all still work online!
@@PlayYourRole yeah true I was just talk about the first one
3:07 Me, who has tics ALL the time: 🥲