A DM’s Eternal Struggle Of Listening To 'Your Character Is Too Normal' | Narrated D&D Story
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2021
- If only people could properly communicate 🤦
Story Source (by u/TimeTap, Reddit): bit.ly/CharacterNormal
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My dad once said his human fighter was the most unique character because all the other characters were so wild.
"Once everybody's super....no one will be." - Syndrome, The Incredibles.
I'd rather run alongside a well developed human fighter than Drizzt Clone number 4859. While I don't play humans all that often out of personal taste, I'm not going to automatically assume they are boring.
@@DHTheAlaskan yeah I personally can't stand people that are think that a crazy race class background with a funny gimmick are enough to make an interesting character. Like it's begging to become green text and it makes me cringe becuase the whole reason green text is funny is becuase it's unplanned. It's not supposed to be forced
@@andythedestro12 lmao you and me both, dont get me wrong i want everyone to have different characters but i actually loath people that make there characters a "tiefling fairy princess who is a warlock but their patron is a god that has an unicorn and saved the world 5 times over and has the legendary sword Mary Sue" because they are "unique"
like one true example ive experienced was on a theros dnd west march server, a dude wanted to be a warforge of the smith god but have a code breaker thing made into him. he wanted this pc to be special and a messenger of the gods without anything that mae a god speak through him but because of the code breaker the servants of the god would be able to decipher their gods message
What they failed to perceive is that, having a "normal" character on an full abnormal character party, makes him the only "not normal" and most unique character in the party
That's a good point !
I head that in SCP lore, all of the 05 council except one was an SCP, making the most normal 05 member also abnormal... I'd have to double check though.
@@zacharywiggins9660 Your thinking about 13 he is actually a 001 proposal
Yeah, I've been in games (PFS but still) where I, as the elf, was by far the most normal of the group! Everyone else was a tiefling, aasimar, some pseudo-undead race, or a creepy shadow-touched thing... Kinda funny! But also hard to RP in game. That was actually the reason I started playing humans a lot more... :P
But! To add to this discussion, having a "normal guy" in a group full of surgical l special/weird characters can enhance their own characters just by providing contrast, and reacting to situations as a normal person would instead of a semi-sociopathic adventurer haha
He played Sokka.
Not respecting another player's "no" is messed up. Nobody has to reciprocate a person's interest...even in D&D
I think the invitation was a trap to be honest, they wanted to see if the op would at least make their character LGBTQ. When op didn't it was just to "normal" for them to handle.
@@thehelmethead4883 yeah it was clearly a trap. Probably labeled him as homophobic and other slurs too.
@@Mosamania Wouldn't surprise me if they had.
Bruh, can I join a game with Jasper's character? Wth man you set the DM up for a golden freaking opportunity to take a literal town guard and turn them into a freaking boss.
Indeed. When the threats a party goes up against is capable of using powerful magic, it is a true testament to the character's skill and experience to be able to face those challenges, especially when the character doesn't use magic.
Right!?
Like the ads of Level 0 crook to level 50 boss
"I used to be a guard like you, until I got layed off"
But then I took an arrow to the knee
@@grumpyold-man8302this is the adventurer’s perspective not the guard who was a former adventurer
I once had a character who was a half orc warlock, two things that are kinda seen as intimidating to some people. His only reason for being an adventurer was "to get away from my ex."
NICE!😂
In a sea of diamonds even a lump of coal is special.
A lake of gold in the desert sand is less than a cool fresh spring.
In a sea of good movies, sometimes you just want to see a comically bad movie
Bro
the law of contrast
A sea of diamonds sounds like a whole lotta edge to me.
I often play "normal" character and hear that most of the time, this make it even better when the normal dude end up making some of the greatest action of the campain
You're a hero. I love players like you since I feel like you get actually more immersed in the roleplay and are less susceptible to metagaming. Unlike the people that worked out the math for their gimmick
I feel like when you play a normal character everything you do in DnD feels special and earned, because you know that this guy, had fate been less kind to him(or more kind), would have wound up with a simple job and a simple live - this makes his story so much more real.
"You're not allowed to use Zone of Truth because I didn't make a backstory or motivations for the NPC and I'm not creative enough to make any up."
Having at least one "normal" PC in the party is great because then their uniqueness comes from their interaction with the party members that aren't "normal". It's similar to the straight man's role in a comedy act but instead of telling jokes, you have the ex-guard fighter human sympathize with the rogue's most likely tragic backstory, freaked out about the warlock's occult abilities, impressed by the wizard's reality warping powers, etc. "Normal" PCs exist in DnD to help amplify the story telling because their "Normal" shows off how unique the rest of the party is and in term makes the "Normal" PCs look unique in comparison both through storytelling and character interaction.
As for the sexual shit, respect other people's consent and comfort zones. Like, seriously. It's bad enough trying to do that shit on someone who's clearly not interested and even uncomfortable about that sort of thing. It's even worse - and even a red flag in my mind - when you throw a temper tantrum about the whole thing and want the player kicked out the party because they turn down your in-game advances.
I had a similar situation which involved the only tiefling character I legitimately enjoyed.
For context my character was a relatively normal human war cleric of a human that had ascended to godhood (one of those emperor of mankind or God-king Sigmar types). He was devout but not “holier than thou” in way kinda like Joshua Graham from New Vegas.
The tiefling was an overweight, down-on-her-luck bard. Her entire arc was centered on a increasingly-violent revolutionary group that was using Tieflings as a scapegoat for social ills. Or in other words, “I can see the holocaust coming from a mile away and I’m gonna take Bikini Bottom and push it somewhere else.” This arc combined with her being the best voice actor at the table made me really like her character.
The two played off each other really well, with each strongly disliking each other at the start of the campaign. My cleric saw the bard as “A bloated, idle devil who aimlessly mopes about life with no greater goal.” and the bard saw my cleric as “A violent man who masks his shortcomings with faith.”
Despite this start, the two would come to respect and even love each other through a combination of good rp moments, shared experiences adventuring, and the rest of the party shipping them both in and out of game.
The campaign epilogue had the bard and cleric get married and later she would be canonized as a saint in my cleric’s faith.
Simple characters are often the BEST because everyone else typically has flamboyant, tragic, or horrific backstories...
I find it sad that some people just can't accept normal or good characters in d&d, it makes me feel a little sad on the deep inside and kind of reminds me of why I don't like those kinds of people.
Generally people who keep demanding "special considerations" "concessions" and demand their characters be "unique" i find to be the most unimaginative players possible.
I mean my friend and i Broke a entire major dungeon by both being retard strong, for my character litterally since i was playing a character 1 point from brain dead but with max Str and Toughness, and well the group pointed us at the General direction of the way out, and we ran through every wall, regardless of how many yards thick it was and kept going until we hit the surface...caused the whole thing to particularly collapse and in a hilarious twist the party got ahead of the two of us, encountered a hallway with a small army of Goblins only for two retards to burst through a wall killing a dozen of them and then plowing through the next wall...DM had the Goblins panic and surrender.
Because of a Character with a simple concept meant for fun, rather than being "unique" and the two simple most "to the trope" characters in the whole group endes up being flat out the most unique and funny and unstoppable.
I have a dwarf warlock whose whole schtick is he would sell his soul for a chance at a quick buck.
“And when everyone’s super... no one will be.”
...is that from "The incredibles"?
@@Firan25 Yep.
@@Dreigonix cool I thought I was going crazy.
The incredible s always get a like.
When everyone is special then no one will be. But still a very appropriate quote for this. I actually like this idea of a completely normal person thrown into a group.
This is why my first D&D character was just an ordinary everyday baker, until he accidentally became a warlock after the BBEG tried to sacrifice him for infernal power, and getting rescued by the party. It was half to excuse my personal lack of knowledge, and half to let me develop the character as I went.
Dude I had a baker character as well, we did the customary start at an inn and I was drinking with adventurers when the town was attacked. It was a do or die situation and I ended up travelling with the adventurers and learning skills from them to ultimately become a ranger/rogue. I did have to get formal training with a Drow Gloomstalker for my specialisation but it was really cool.
A character doesn’t always got have a fancy gimmick or the most awfully complex background. Building them up can be as fun! The narrator is impressive for the little details he put in for sure! *YIRBEL LIVES!* such an anti climatically dower ending though blagh.
My favorite character, Bats, is a testament to this sentiment. His backstory is overall minimal: He's a Tabaxi that followed his natural curiosity across the world in his travels, took especial interest in music and magic, yet started out as a Fighter.
He was excitable and sensitive, kind of normal aside from being a walking catman. Yet despite this, he's pretty much the heart of the party, treating them like a second family
He started out not special in any way, but now he knows at least six different languages, has multiclassed into Bard and Ranger, and has become a (demi)human blender in battle.
My favourite character was naive noble knght. I had playes quite a lot of edgy characters, but this one is only one i wanted to cry about after his death. It is easier to play and to give depth to something simple. Nobody knows how would half-demon feel when he is betrayed by his patron, but almost onyone can relate to a simple naive guy growing up in the dark times
One of my characters was a Life Domain cleric whose entire backstory was literally "She's lived in the Temple of her Goddess all her life and helps the poor, orphans, and widows."
*Best character I've ever played.*
That's essentially what one of my players uses, with the difference that the character spent most of her time as an administrative aide for her superior. There's just so much potential and the present situation where the character is forced to make decisions between bad alternatives and deal with potentially unreliable teammates has just been endlessly fun and rewarding.
How did you expand on them with such a simple focused background?
@@vincentabramo7175 She became the "party mom" and kept the party together as the world fell apart around them. Her constant optimism and faith in her goddess drove her to 'prove' to the party that even in the midst of the end of the world, they could stand against evil and win. She even sacrificed herself to save the party at one point, which brought the group even closer together when they unanimously agreed that they would do anything to bring her back. (We were level 8 at the time and they needed a True Resurrection to do it 'cause she'd died due to a Disintegrate spell, but they found a way to make it happen.)
I feel for the player of Jasper. I've had experiences like that. I prefer to play the normal guy as a Fighter, Ranger, or Rogue. Some tables have called me boring. And some have killed off my "boring" Human Fighter and was told to play something different or leave
I say this as a self-proclaimed real-life artificer of characters...
Sometimes, simplicity works. It's what you do *with* the simplistic character that matters.
Also, if someone's not being respectful of your boundaries? They can go to hell.
The thing with "normal" characters is the less time you have to spend explaining your existence the more time you can use to make the character interesting as a player i usually play human characters because i like the variant rule for humans and i find it versatile for builds
If normal is a problem for them, they'd hate my Charisna Bard/Rogue Winthrope. He literally travels to try and start trade routes between cities and open a chain of taverns to have multiple ways of supplementing his funds if needed.
I play a Capitalist Bard as well. He always haggles with quest givers for long term land deals percent of returns and other business nonsense often times explaining the whole system to deaf ears. That said he has 3 taverns and a castle so far at lv. 7.
I have a mage who was a farmboy from some backwater who somehow got his hand on a beginner book about magic and the only reason he was able to read it is because he was taught how to read by his uncle who is a small time merchant in a small backwater town.
In a curse of strahd-based game, I had a Barovian barb/rogue who had an old ox and was simply a courier to deliver missives and goods between the different locations in Barovia. Was afraid of magic and absolutely refused being the recipient of it, be it buffs or even healing it the wounds weren't critical and other means were available.
Reason for being in a party with foreigners? Well, they were heading the same way, and there is a certain amount of safety in groups. That ox would carry some of the group's load, and the nearly broke merchant turned out to be an ace at dealing with locks, traps and animated skeleton skulls with a mere "walking stick."
Then, was little by little convinced to go more out of the usual trade routes when it became more and more apparent that those crazy foreginers were somehow making more fang a day than running the routes would earn a year. With kinda the same risk, too.
*looks at my Gnome Artificer Merchant* "Comrades! Fellow business partners!"
I made a one shot character that was going to be a heavy hitting one hit wonder, didn't have anything special about him, not even a backstory. Just a nice 6'6 Hobgoblin named Murk. After the session everyone loved him and he turned out to be my best character.
The funniest part? They needed that "Normal guy" character. Years of media, be it books, games, television etc show us that the more wild and eccentric the person or persons, the more they need that so called "Straight man", to be a form of stand in for, well, regular people. To be there as a contrast to their out-there backstories and char designs. Without such counterbalance to them, the other characters will drown each other out and make all that makes their character special not so. When everyone's odd, nobody is.
Honestly, "simple" characters on good player's hands have some of the most potential for growth.
"What did they think they were girl scouts"
me: SAY now there is an idea a party of Junior scout heroes guild members who go on a mission together could be a fun one shot/short game
And they try to sell home made cookies. But one of tries to experiment with her batches and use customers as test subjects. Then they all try to figure out why the customers are complaining about salty, or spicy cookies.
I dunno. Sounds fun. :shrug:
@@Firan25 That is definitely the one destined for Alchemist Artificer.
Execute the prisoner to prevent interrogation, magical or otherwise.
Don't Paladins have access to speak with dead.
They do not unless they have multiclassed into cleric.
If you are going to have a wooden shield I'd advise have 3 layers of wood glued together. The steel center guard 5 layers thick. The wood in the center 2 and a half inches wider then the rest. Last and most important a gauntlet 5 layers thick and with 7 layers of cloth padding underneath.
Keep the weight under 18 pounds total.
Hey you're alive! Always good to see a friend again.
@@timwoods2852 Btw you are going to be noticing my comments disappearing after the hour mark. Google is testing out a prototype censorship bot.
@@rachdarastrix5251 Ah, yeah I didn't see your first reply until my email notification decided to show it to me today. I've also been a bit burnt out by some of the stories.
@@timwoods2852 I like to use google's censorship program to make the comment section count more comments then can actually be counted. It helps the algorithm without using spam.
@@rachdarastrix5251 Neat!
Played a homebrew 40k game almost a year ago as the only guardsman in a full party of space marines. Just a standard cadian white shield. The other players complained that my guy was too normal and would only get in the way. Over the next 10 sessions this nobody of a guardsman had managed to kill 20 Deathguards with nothing but a lasgun and a entrenchment tool, Save the entire party no less than 3 times from Necrons and out lived all the original marines all the way to the end of campaign.
Normal trumps special 99% of the time
Haters going to hate.
Did they still complain about your character after all your achievements?
@@Nikoli492 They tried. But I let my guy speak for himself. Besides he had to deal with shit that should have killed him. Like the time he lost an arm and a leg to a khorne berserker when the group had assaulted a planet in the warp. Or during the third to last part of the campaign they needed someone to stay behind in a tyranid spaceship and detonate a nuke inside of it. Before my guy had a chance to even voice a complaint, the other marines were running for the door. Leaving him to arm the damn thing and defend it from lichtors, a hive tyrant and a horde of hermaguants.
Well, when you have a 8 foot tall walking tank to shoot at, your probably gonna ignore the little guardsmen plinking away at ya
@@Steelstriker I can hear them snikkering all smug to each other: " finally that pesky guardsmen is dying, he was ruining my experience with my three super-special Space Marines. * laughter * "
Also, what space marines were they? Black Templars? Smurfs?
@@definetly-not-trotzky I think they were mostly ultra marines, except the apothecary of the group. He was a imperial fist.
The normality of a character can sometime be what is most extraordinary about it. A guy so common and bland, he fits everywhere and can get real good at infiltration because nobody pays attention to TownGuard n5. Not even talking about the perspective of evolution, the good rp reactions it can offer etc... Never underestimate a normal character
eh, nothing wrong with John Basic the human fighter. He's the straight man to the party's wild side.
This! You need a normal person for all the other characters to bounce off of. Also someone with normalacy and common sense can stop the party from getting into trouble without the others having to break character in their wacky intentions.
Lol apparently they don't want any straight men 😂
@@iBloodxHunter that does seem to be what one of the other players was saying.
“I am just a guy with boomerang.” A human fighter probably
Basically Sokka.
It seems like that group lacked self confidence and awareness as people. It’s too bad that they all had to be weirdos because they lacked the courage to let their actions separate them from others.
If my first D&D session ends up as bad as these, there will not be a second.
I usually play ranger. Reason? Why not? It's fun for roleplay and it makes min maxers mad. Because I play such a generic class, i usually have really generic backstories. Something like being a hunter, or a guard. I struggle to make a character who "killed a dragon in one shot" a level one character. That's like, a level 15 dmpc. Anyway, tangent over, I agree with the first guy
i have yet to encounter a player that has "i killed a dragon in one shot". have you? and if so can you share?
Normie
"Is it cause I wanna make him have historically accurate armor?"
I’ve made people get pissed cause I asked for a matchlock. I they explain that said gun and the full plate paladins are often seen in came around in about the same time.
It's going to be Interesting when the player he was talking about out themselves as mean people
First!
Edit: Flashy backstories are cool and all but going from normal person to experienced adventurer is far more intriguing in my opinion.
@Chad Kroeger I am, and have always been, the first.
Main reason I go with flashy backstories is to give my DM plenty of opportunities to mess with me :) ATM I'm playing a Dwarven Artificer who went full hippy (never go full hippy) and experimented with alchemy one time too many. Now he has no recollection of what he's been up to for the past 20 years. Knowing my DM I've probably got a long lost family out there somewhere and now owe 2 decades of child support @:^}
Even the most ornate weapon requires plain steel to forge the blade, and even the most quirky party requires a plain man to make a strong group.
Dude, if someone isnt interested in romance, don't push them.
I am very often a Forever DM, but I've managed to find some groups to play with. For one of them, after I finished running Rime of the Frost Maiden, we agreed to "round robin" the DMing for Candlekeep Mysteries. Now there are five of us and we each take turns running a chapter, so everyone gets a chance to play and a chance to DM. It's been working really well for us.
I’m encountering something similar in my game I am DMing. Because my players are relatively new, they are using 5e core/vanilla classes and subclasses and spells. They were absolutely harangued by other groups for being bland and typical. But because they knew their classes well and their spells - to the point they didn’t have to look at 9 different modules and supplements on top of a next level story by me; they now see my players as celebrities and they ask to join my game from time to time. Nothing wrong with the basics people!
They are so bland irl that they make the wildest characters and when they see that the characters they made are too abnormal, they get angry.
Humanity can be unique, if you’ve got the imagination and creativity to truly expose such uniqueness. Such as: human ideals, human innovation, human determination, human compassion, the human wickedness, the human intrigue.
I MEAN WE’RE ALL HUMAN BEINGS, AND YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU CANT THINK OF ANY SPECIAL PEOPLE THROUGHOUT HUMAN HISTORY? ARE WE THAT BORING?
No, we aren’t.
Edit: foo
That is so stupid, Sometimes the "normal" character is actually the most unique because everyone else is eccentric yet despite that. This seemingly normal guy is there going through the same stuff with these people. all the same. For example, there are times when it is not in someone's character to do something, well if everyone is playing a special snowflake and can't act, that normal guy would be able to because he doesn't have a tragic back story preventing him, or secret agenda. Also sometimes when everyone is being eccentric then the party can't come together, that normal player can be the foundation. Like if everyone is thinking about their own interest and engaged in other stuff, and the normal player is not. Then maybe he would be the only one who might spot something weird or shady. Also, a player is NOT obligated to go with someone's attempt to woe them. Again these are all things a session Zero could have solved, the group would have learned that what they wanted from this dnd was not the same. Also if the other players were going to take an issue with him not wanting to be a special snowflake, then session 1 would not have happened.
They also could have hashed out what each person is comfortable with. The guy here had no issue with the others doing their RP, he just didn't feel okay with a romance angle for his character. Thye should have respected that and been adults. If anything like I said before the fact that his character is not anything like thiers, makes him even more special. If an NPC sees a strange group comes in and that intimidates them or they felt they could try to pull one over the party's eyes. They most likely approach the "ordinary guy" as the most relatable or gullible-looking one to use. The fact that they could not see any advantages he brings to the table speaks to how bad or little their dnd experience is. If everyone is doing stuff as a diversion, no one may notice the normal guy disappearing away from a crowd. Or if the normal guy is being completely normal, I'd say if he engages it talks with someone as a diversion, he would get an advantage to his efforts, since he literally wouldn't raise a red flag, with them approaching or talking to me.
My, advice? Use session zero thoroughly and find good players, if people can't find a middle ground and have to try to force their opinions of how to play dnd, then you were not ever going to have fun. Since they will try to make it about them and not as fun for EVERYONE. On drivethrurpg.com you can download the free pdf - www.drivethrurpg.com/product/288535/Consent-in-Gaming - that at least gives you a checklist for everyone to go over. If you can come up with the do's and don'ts that are not on the list include them in the talks as well. You can't be afraid to do social Contracts between players and dm's. You are going to invest a lot of time and energy playing this game. So make sure it is a fun and safe (not being coherence or forced to do things you the player or character are not okay with) place to play in.
Did anyone else start thinking of that "Maybe WE are the baddies?" skit, where the soldiers were wondering if they were really the baddies, when even their uniforms and mugs had skull logos on them.
Aw I love Jasper! I also really enjoy the little rp touch of the paladin that wanted to give fallen foes a proper burial and mad at the DM for not supporting it. As a forever DM I would have happily had both these friends along for an adventure.
a group of forever DM's who rotate to give each other a chance to play is the premise behind the podcast "DM's Treehouse"
great a new podcast to check out :3 therez a wonderful fantasy rpg where it is part of the game where all the participants can be GMs and everyone creates multiple characters. it is called Ars Magica. it has one of my favourite magic systems in an rpg.
I love running games for "normal" PCs. Essentially, this makes the campaign itself their backstory. That special event that changes their life from normal to extraordinary.
The difficulty I often have with my stranger characters is that they often become stereotypes. So, rather than feeling like actual people with depth they often feel like they are just... well, premises.
I realise this is a flaw with my own abilities, not anything else, and I'm working on improving my rp.
As a GM, I usually ask the players for 2-3 paragraphs of background; nothing extravigant, just some basic info to work with. Those who show up with character essays or longer are usually told to edit it down to 2-3 paragraphs.
The best character I've ever played is my Divine Soul Sorcerer. She herself was just a normal farm girl who discovered her powers in a freak accident when an in-progress barn collapsed on her and her brother, and he almost died.
What made her extraordinary to me was how the DM chose to run her story. What's the fun in a character who has already had everything happen to them? I'd rather play a character who can experience things and be astounded at the world around them, than a character who looks at it all with a "been there done that" attitude.
Jasper sounds awesome. The kind of character that grows on you through out the campaign
I love a good simple character. Low energy input, good for playing the middle-man, good for directing the party when the DM needs some help.
Joe Everyman is the perfect excuse to sit back and prompt the other players so they can shine and you can just enjoy the chaos.
History is full of great heroes with humble beginings that is what makes them amazing
My favorite character ever was a half-elf farm girl who rushed through bard training (AD&D) and set out to adventure to make her own epic story. Her mother had died while she was young but not from some horrific event. Her home life was actually healthy and happy. There was no motivation or drive aside from the elven wanderlust that struck her.
Her lack of experience in the ways of the world was so fun to play. (The mage got frustrated trying to explain to her that there was a fundamental difference between dragons based on their color and actually started to hide polymorph spells so my bard couldn't use them.) It was also this lack of experienced that came up with some very unusual (surprisingly that worked) solutions to our problems.
(Also, Illmater!!
When I make a character, I come up with a basic concept then ask myself how they might contribute to, and act with a group. The backstory comes from these three simple things.
This reminds me of my Dwarf Battle master, Balor Bannerlord. He was a simple rookie for his clans army, but was dishonorable discharged due to poor tactical choices and was exiled for his actions. He later joined a guild to hopefully regain a bit of his honor, tho every time he failed his mission or had an ally fall, he'd mark his body with a scar to remind himself of his failures. The part I enjoyed is that he never told his group why he does this, he just wants to go back to his normal life.
As a DM and aspiring player (just don't know where to find groups online or such), I respect the lawful good normal human fighter who is just a guard that gets roped into adventuring and evolves into something so much more. It's brilliant and delicious plot and character development
The dm should have told his players how stupid they were
My very first character was a human cleric named Gunter. My friend knew I wanted to play and was starting up a group. He asked if I'd be designated healer and seeing as I was just eager to play I had no issue with it. As I was thinking Gunter up and putting him to paper, I realized just about everyone else in the party was probably going to be some shade of unique protagonist complex. So, bearing that in mind, I made my guy as straightforward and relatable as possible. All except for one guy, whose house I was unfortunately staying in, loved it. Gunter had one task and by the gods he was good at it. No fanfare, no fuss, no flamboyance. He kept them alive and they appreciated him for it. We ended that campaign at level 11 with Gunter retiring from the road and opening an apothecary and community garden where the monk and druid/necromancer (unfortunate roommate) would hang out from time to time. From start to finish only one person ever died while he was on duty, and only due to unfortunate party separation. I've since DMed for and played several fantastical characters. But that run of the mill medic without an ounce of ordained destiny in him is still my absolute favorite.
I love it more when a normal character is made to do special things than a special character doing....normal things...
“Normal” says the potentially lvl 20 demon sword wielding badass with simple looks
I did a similar thing when playing Curse of Strahd. I was a human teenager, just graduated from wizard school, and i had both middle class parents, and both of my siblings at home with me. A basic normal backstory. Best character ever!
In my experince having a basic backstory and then making stuff up as you play is the most fun.
I sadly have a bad habit of making a long backstory and yet the DM is very happy with it.
Ive been playing dnd long enough to know characters don't get interesting till 2nd or 3rd session
I dm on occasion and when I find a new person I usually just help them make a character they can be happy with and help them with backstories and whatnot. for newbies that have trouble getting into character I simply said that if you're having trouble figuring out what you should do if you're not the type to say "I wanna do this" then having a decent backstory with a good amount of detail can help because it helps settle what they might do if it has clear guidelines on what they might do. Seems to work as a beginner and I try to help make sure they survive the first campaign which I tend to make goofy and full of random callbacks to old music videos.
Once had a bunch of harmless zombies roaming around with a group of beholders. During the full moon, as it moon started reaching its zenith, they all went into a cave and started dancing to "Thriller" as the beholders acted as fog machines and illusory beams of light. they could either dance or get some free xp with it but gain distrust from villagers as the zombies should they kill them as they were keeping worse things away.
Nothing more interesting than an normal guy finding ways out of abnormal situations.
I have a similar, yet completely opposite, experience.
In a campaign with a bunch of friends, I play a human wizard name Jacob who looks pretty normal. They're a private investigator. The other three are 2 tieflings, and a drow. The DM decided at one point to play off this. While at a fancy rich person's estate, the butler approached and introduced himself. To Jacob, and only him. The butler refused to even acknowledge the rest of the group except when they acted up, in which case he'd tell Jacob to "control your pets".
If this were MOST of my chars, they'd have backed up their allies and what not. But Jacob doesn't care about that. If it gets him on good terms with a key witness/someone who might know things, he'll roll with it.
Even my more outlandish characters tend to have relatively normal backgrounds, like loving families to return to, a good job, skills outside of combat, etc. Even my current one, a werewolf fighter/artificer, has a pretty basic background and desires. Loving family, no real tragedies, etc. The beauty of doing this is it leaves a lot of room for character development through adventuring, like different wants and desires emerging. Her motivations slowly shift and change over time and it feels very natural.
One of my favorite characters to play was a former town guard named Bland. He was average height, had average looks, and in no way had ever shown himself to be anything but ordinary. His best achievement was when his boss gave him a 'met expectations' review. When he joined the party, I played him as having a huge inferiority complex compared to all the other 'heroes' in the party. The rest of the players loved him and were constantly trying to boost his confidence. Everybody thrived in that campaign and it was voted one of our best ones.
I had a similar situation happen to me. It was my first time ever playing DND, I decided to make a gnome sorcerer. His whole backstory was he was originally a normal gnome that lived in a normal gnome village and suddenly his powers awoke. So he leaves home to gain mastery over his power and not accidentally hurt anyone he cares about with it and his plan was to come home when he mastered his magic: i.e. the end of the campaign. (It was supposed to be a one off so I figured it wouldn't matter). He would either go home after the adventure was over or find a reason to make an appearance in a new campaign.
Everyone treated me like I was weird as fuck for not making a tragic/tortured backstory or setting him up to be some big hero and instead giving him a relatable, relatively normal life.
"normal and boring" characters that mature into a badass hero by the campaign end are some of my favorites. The normal underdog showing the world that everyone can become a powerful hero with enough effort.
The virgin sweaty special pc vs The chad every man Jasper.
Sometime a normal Character is so normal that it is special.
Because by being "normal" you were the weirdest character there.
I've been playing a Human Fighter (just multiclassed into Rogue) in a group with an Elven Monk/Druid, Goblin Paladin, Vedalken Warlock/Bard, and Simic Hybrid Barbarian/Artificer for about a year now, and it's just delightful. Fortunately, I've got a group of friends who are all on the same page and we have a blast despite my Fighter being the most mundane guy ever.
I also love playing the average joe in a party of exotic and magical characters. It's a lot of fun exploring a world of great wonder through the lens of an average Joe and it's a good source for player interaction.
In many of the most epic, thrilling, heart wretching and diabolical sessions I have seen.
The absolute VIP of the party or the villian was always a normal guy or girl thrown into the chaos of the "unique" characters actions and ends up becoming the final stage all Because the realistic domino effect of life changed them.
What's better than a group of godly characters and jasper that just sounds hilarious and awsome why not
I’m a forever DM because I absolutely love being a DM and love the interaction of my players with the NPCs and watching them strategize and brainstorm over how to figure out the solution to the next obstacle
On the topic of normal characters vs ‘unique’ characters...
In a campaign I’m presently in, I play a half-elf ranger (multiclassed into Druid). But the main thing about her that the party liked is that she essentially became the party’s ‘mom’ despite being one of the youngest in it.
She comes from a poor family with a human father who basically manipulated her mother into giving up all but the bare essentials of elven culture and tried to make their kids act human in all but name. She ran away with what money she could scrounge up, and ended up getting as far as the beginning village where a charitable hunter took her in and taught her how to hunt and forage. After Session 0 where the village and party falls victim to mass abduction and experimentation, the party formed officially and...she ended up becoming the leader in all but name.
She’s the strategist whose ideas for combat encounters worked out the most. (Mainly from me having years of experience in combat encounters)
She regularly asks the right questions (high modifier on insight).
She has a pet falcon who she puts to good use (using the ‘help’ action to give her advantage on an attack, tracking targets at a distance, etc).
Her subclass gave her skills with a longsword to parry or counter attacks, and I took the Defensive Duelist feat so she could choose to increase her AC by her proficiency score as a reaction.
She typically has the best luck in consoling party members with their problems (that insight modifier reeeeeally helps) and demonstrates a persistent protective streak for them.
Only romance she has is with an NPC: her husband, the aforementioned hunter who she got hitched with on the grounds of ‘life is too short and our’s almost came to an end.’ They didn’t tell the party because they made it a short, quick and private affair and hadn’t wanted to distract the party with their personal affairs. When they did find out they fell over themselves congratulating the pair. Any romance is always off screen and rarely factors into the actual session except in one way: her failing a particular roll to remember to ingest some ‘birth control herbs’ led to a pregnancy which the DM has factored in nicely without it derailing the actual plot.
Even though she usually has the lowest body count in fights and doesn't have any big, bombastic spells or funny personality quirks, the party defers to her regularly. They regularly point to her as the de facto leader, representative or the ‘group mom’.
The game that I’m in (game currently on hiatus for education) was tailor made for two shiny new players. I’ve personally been playing since before 3.0, so I like to consider myself a veteran/ pro player.
My 5.0 character was a rogue that (not intentionally trying for a tragic back story) was orphaned at around 4 or 5, parents were high elf and drow that were tortured and killed for having a mixed child.
He was taken in and raised by myconid in an abandoned cathedral in the forest along with other orphaned misfits.
We were taught various things to help us survive in this world.
After my character grew up, he became a thief that worships the god of life and death (kelemvor) that only has the one goal of making sure no child ever has to suffer and starve.
As he was frequently in the front lines of the party, I took 2 levels of fighter, and his god ( a frog god that he payed homage to for passing through his temple) spoke to him and granted him the power to heal ( 3 levels of cleric).
We’ve been playing since level 1 and have plans to pick back up in a couple months!
I love good drama in my character's backstories, but I also have some that are just "normal" and the "drama" came much later on.
The important thing is that everyone enjoys the game.
In our recent DnD campaign I rolled a harengon rogue with the smuggler background. She had just arrived from the faywild and since her background said that something important was stolen from her (I rolled the prompts) I rolled the faywild trinket table to determine what it was and got a single glass shoe.
So now her father has a museum with all these weird things and claims they are special. He told her how this shoe had once belonged to a princess and her prince had found her by having every girl trying on the shoe.
Lieven found this story problematic. She thought that maybe the prince just took the first girl that fit into the shoe or something along the lines and so she took the shoe and left home to find the other glass slipper. Then she stumbled into the material plane, her show got stolen and now she is on a mission to get her shoe back and then find a way home.
When I typically make a character, unless it's a warlock(which some of the unique stuff is kind of baked into them), I typically give them a backstory that could be summed up in a sentence. For example my human wizard Lairan Noor: merchant's son who bought his way into apprenticeship. My Fallen Aasimar Grave Cleric Darul Kuu: On a trial by ordeal to get his deva back after losing her to a very bad decision. My Half-Orc Fighter Derroth Gradsith: Aged retired border guard going on an adventure to save his farm for his son.
I’ve had “simple, basic” characters, like my first Second Edition character, the Half Elf Ranger with wolf animal companions; though he also wielded a Polearm hammer…got a very odd look about that from the DM until he used it for a variety of non-combat functions, like an emergency climbing pole (hook on the back used to hook a tree limb and climb right up, pulling it up behind me) to hide in a tree, or to open a chest from several feet back.
Or my Human Fighter (3E) who didn’t even carry a weapon, he would use his shield, environment or any handy object (including enemy combatants) as a weapon.
When the "Different" thing about your character, is that you arent like anyone else, even when everyone else, is outlandishly bizarre, and you are the only one that isnt :P
You are special, just like everyone else :D
I started a d&d group for my son and his friends last year and thought I would be the forever dm for them. I was actually glad to find out they each wanted to take a turn at dm. There is my son and 2 friends. I started as dm and one of his friends started the second game. My son wants to go next. I am glad I don’t have to be a forever dm. Oh, my game was the first time those 3 had played before too.
I am both a player and a DM. Though these days I have done more DM-ing than playing. One thing I have learned over my time with these kinds of things; Is that no matter your character's race, class, or background. The best characters are ones with humble beginnings. Nothing overly complicated. Just normal folks, caught up in extraordinary situations. Because as the story progresses, this gives players freedom to improvise details and experiences and how they relate to the adventure. And by the end of a campaign, they have fully fleshed out heroes who rose up out of nothing.
In my 1st D&D campaign that I played in, our "Jasper" was a man named Malak, the 2nd pc for our previously Goblin Barbarian. He was a Death Cleric and was meant to look average, but the entire party of tieflings, genasi(later changeling), and half-orc fell head over heel with him! God, I wish we could have finished that game :T
A character doesnt need to be super flashy or tragic to be fun. A Human Fighter can be just as enthralling and fun as a wacky character concept, just so long as they are played well. Besides, in most settings, unless you have tentacles growing out of your face, everyone in a DnD party is considered normal for the world they inhabit at least physically. If your campaign takes you through bustling cities or merchant towns no one is really gonna bat an eye at you until you get more notoriety.
Each snowflake is unique, but that is lost when they fall together.
I like the "normal guy" in my parties. He/she winds up being the guy whom all the nutty PCs gravitate to when they need a break from the chaos. "Normal guy" usually winds up becoming somebody extra special by the end of the campaign, since he's the easiest party member for NPCs to talk to, or he winds up having the greatest life changes. I love nothing more than watching a "normal guy" turn into a deep, complex, and unforgettable character.
This story is just wow can’t believe it
I feel like making more normal or basic characters is better than an exotic and overly “special” one. For one thing it gives you a lot more freedom to become unique and fleshed out throughout the story of a game, and you have no need to worry about previously established wackiness with your character’s backstory. Making a generic human fighter who lived in a town as a basic citizen or a guard or something that became an adventurer to see the world or to make something of themselves is a great way to set yourself up to be open to development, and creativity. Not to mention you don’t really attract attention from those who don’t exactly like other races. It can make you a simple voice of normalcy or reason.
I can kind of relate to this I had a dwarf monk kensei/ samurai fighter who was really just a blacksmith who loved weapons and practiced with them often (like Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean.) I put in some basic details, their family was alive and could be used by the dm, and had some small tragedies in that said family was having economic troubles that were only worsened when he lead a group of friends to look for a mine so they could branch out and supplement their blacksmithing business, only for a cave in to occur that left him as the soul survivor. But the DM just brushed them off. It was as though they had a bias against dwarves from the start given that they were not allowed to use magic in a game where not only are most classes magic centered, the campaign that was being run was inherently geared towards mages even though nobody had originally intended to play one.
I have a character called Randal he is a former pikeman from the imperial army who suffers from amnesia due to a blow to the head from a mounted knight. He has a fear of horses and is trying to find out more about his family(mentioned in a journal he began scribbling in shortly before his injury)
My father is a Forever DM. He has had to DM so much for me and my sisters over the years. But recently, I started a 5e campaign of my own design, and I invited him to play and gather some of his friends. So far, my campaign has been a blast, and he even has a special character. Elias the half-elf rogue is a sort of a made-man/independent operator for the 40's mob style thieves guild I have. He has been having a load of fun with him.
My last dnd character was a half elf empty nester. He was an ambassador when the kids were young but decided to change his pace when they grew up. The diplomacy helped with the rogue antics.
I'm glad my gaming group of 5 has 3 DMs
Truly I want to play this guard character.
This is the beginning of a story. Most of the best stories start with a normal person that than becomes great. Usually i notice players that start out with amazing & exotic characters at 1st level are either; #1: edgords or that guys/girls, #2: it's a power fantasy where ALL are special powered super heros, #3 something like Critical Role where its a very specific narrative driven story.
The last "normal" character i played was a human fighter, as an in between pc while i made my bard, after my rogue died. He was a redeemed minion of the earliest villian of the campaign, and part of the military of a local empire. While his goals alligned with the party, he stayed, but then got back to his country after recieving orders, and now hes a npc that the party goes carefully around. Dude is probably the best pc i made so far