The comic relief character...

[tetrakoiwai]

So, i suppose I'll ask and answer my own question(s) first and formost,

How do i not die in D&D?
Of course this question is more related to, how do i use common sense/ how do i shot web?

More or less i have this problem in D&D in general, i tend to die, and usually for unintellegent reasons, mostly being: talking to much (in reguards to saying things i shouldn't say to NPC's i shouldn't say them to) running ahead; feeling as if i deserve items,loot, equipment etc, that i often do not; Stealing from party members; Contenplateing or attempting to kill party members; back talking to gods; and or just out right lack of common sense, such as my most recent running into five Balors and assuming (due to a failed sense motive check) that they'd be friendly and trade souls for magical items with me... Yeah, :smallamused: i got my head cut off by a vopal blade... so I'll make some side post and explain exactly what's going on and banter a bit.

[tetrakoiwai]

Ok, so here's the thing, we're all level 17, with the exception of: a level 20 scout, the now level 20 rogue, and likely level 20 monk in our party, the level 18 samurai, and the now level 16 shur... so yeah, <i went down a level after being head raped, ok then stupid? approched? ... :smallannoyed: ok, i went down a level after being raised due to the sudden but envitable treachery of the balors



THEY WERN'T FRIENDS WITH YOU!



in anycase, I find myself wanting to play the comic relief character. Trust me there's a backstory to him, it's just that i'd be funny to explain why he acts the way he does, due to a lack of common sense, which out of game lack as well. how i haven't been hit by a truck i can only blame on stop signs... wait??? yeah, it's because of stop signs that i'm fine, i'm pretty sure.

So i'm level 16 now, and the party is pretty epic. the more post or interest people put into giving me useful tips to stay alive the more i'll post up and let you know how things are going/went. We play every tuesday night and we're full now. we run 3.5 forgotten realms and the shur just happens to be the son of jarlaxle and rhyxali, I assumed that giving him a carefree nature, making him live a sheltered life in the abyss for about 60 years and then sending him off would of been enough to let others know, :smallamused: he's very unusual for a shur, and usually doesn't do anything evil. Aside from selling,trading and buying souls in exchange for secrets and all.


Hey it's a legitimate business pal, and my mom approves of it, dad however... well not the point, back to the story.


And the occasional sacrifice to shar of Selûne clerics

honestly, they're pretty stuck up.


I suppose i should perhaps clarify that i'm not evil, just chaotic neutral, although it seems that serving Eilistraee has been my bane since character creation, or in this espect my character's life.

[tetrakoiwai]

ahh... moving on, I like to give my character a nice little attitude towards life, most people are new friends you just haven't met yet.


and within a 24 hour time period (since the character encoutered me) My character Amalolin has been bit by a dragon, threated by the party, killed once, seen a council of over deities, been banish to a frozen plane of existance, beaten unconscious by the party, **** his pants 4 5 times including the voiding of the bowels after death, met a necromantic deity face to face and placed within a abyssal dungeon. so i've had a very, very, very, interesting day. more so, NONE OF THAT WAS IN THE JOB DESCRIPTION WHEN I DECIDED TO WORK FOR AN AGED TALON OF TIAMAT.


now the question remains, do i continue to play the funny yet highly death prone character i am now, or next week, start using what common sense i actually have to make him more serious under the mantle of, "You've beaten some sense into me." I don't have a problem being serious, it's just that i feel like i'd be less attached to the character if i become very serious, it's not that i can't balance both, it's just that i'd rather be one way or the other. in all seriousness i could very easily play a character who sits in the back and waits to attack, or i could be the one idiot in the front who often gets laughed at by higher level characters and very often begs for pants of continence, when not making self insulting remarks. i suppose i could be a bit more crafty and avoid making direct insults or sheer remarks of stupidity to dieties/NPC's, but then i'd be very, very quiet. I think it'd be like deadpool if he suddenly became mute.

[Zorg]

To your question of not dying, I present a 3 step plan:

Step 1 - you'll wan't the roleplaying games forum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30&order=desc), this one is for tabletop wargames and PC/console gaming.

Step 2 - start taking either a whole lot more, or a whole lot less of whatever you're on :smalltongue:

Step 3 - funny doesn't have to equal stupid. From your actions it sounds like you're playing a stupid character, not a funny one. For example:


talking to much (in reguards to saying things i shouldn't say to NPC's i shouldn't say them to) running ahead; feeling as if i deserve items,loot, equipment etc, that i often do not; Stealing from party members; Contenplateing or attempting to kill party members; back talking to gods; and or just out right lack of common sense, such as my most recent running into five Balors and assuming (due to a failed sense motive check) that they'd be friendly and trade souls for magical items with me... Yeah

Doing all of this would get you kicked out of any game I ran. It does sound like you are playing the unfortunate 'chaotic stupid' CN archetype, the "I'm crazy because that's chaos, and do whatever because I'm neutral" - it's honestly not very funny, even if the player thinks they are the height of hilarity (not that I, uh, would know... *cough* my excuse was I was 13 at the time). The game itself doesn't sound particularly sane anyway, which probably doesn't help matters.

My advice if you're not happy with dying all the time but want to play a humourous character is to either stop relying on stupidity for humour and try to be funny - back talking Gods can work, but lack of common sense is simply annoying.
Comic relief characters, as they are portrayed in media, generally don't work in an RPG. Sure, the viewer's reaction is to laugh, but the other characters usually get annoyed or frustrated at the relief's antics. At the very least they're usually treated with a patronising eye roll and exasperated sigh. Funny characters are just that - the funny guy - they also tend not to get into situations that'll kill them as often.

Think Murdoch from the A-Team - he was crazy, would say stupid stuff and be generally a bad portrayal of mental trauma, but he was incredibly good at his primary job (flying). He'd occasionally say something wrong and get the team into trouble (but Hannible could count on it), but he didn't decide to shoot BA in the crotch or fly the team's chopper into a mountain one day for teh lulz.

Or find a new group that won't put up with a character like that and won't run games where they're a viable choice. It'll greatly expand your not dying options.

[tetrakoiwai]

Well put, I suppose i could go on and act my age, in game. I think i'll do that, since the party did consider leaving me in the dungeon briefly. However, I'm wondering if the sudden shift of personality will cause them to think that, I'm taking the game to seriously all of a sudden of if they'll assuming that i harbor some ill feeling about our last meet up.


I rarely feel any desire to kill off another PC, however in game I'd somewhat like to apply the experience of the days events into the character, someone he was obsessed with knocked him out with the help of the monk, however the monk often travels with a small child, the question now turns to, would i be wrong in game to consider vengence and wait for a oppertunity to arrive if i so decide to act out the part more maturely? It's not that i harbor ill will for being knocked out, it's more to the character mentality. The day started off as tedious as any other, he was simply suppose to do his job and keep everything in line until they showed up, and at the end of the day (or rather our last encouter) i was rendered unconscious by the party, He doesn't know anyone in the party, and was pretty much a fanatic over recent events. not only that but the DM let me take the time to confer with his mother about what happened and i shouldn't have assumed she'd give me weapons or equipment or anything of the sort, but i thought maybe he/she'd do me the favor of being a bit harder to kill or something. Nope. so now i've given him the complex of things aren't what they appear to be, so in game it would make perfect sense for him to understand that his over naivety is leading to problems. although would it make sense in game for him to immediately catch that and suddenly act as a mature person? I think he could vent his frustrations out on random NPC's or in battle, such as mutilations or unnesseary fighting. The question that comes with that afterward tends to be, is this character changing to fast? or is he over-reacting to events that are playing out in his life? i think as long as i'm careful i can still be somewhat of a gag reflex without being that much of a burden to be asked to leave. Is it possible to become consciously aware that you can maintain a boarderline of annoyance (be it knowing or unknowing) while retaining just enough matureity to remain "friends" with others? i suppose to simplify, could one act like an idiot while lessing it to the degree of i was obviously not being serious. Pretty much a troll trying to recover face when he wasn't trolling. or can an idiot dust himself off and retain some dignity?

[Starwulf]

This is 100% in the WRONG forum. This is dedicated to VIDEO gaming, not D&D Gaming. I would ask a mod to put this into the Roleplaying forum, where it will likely receive much more attention ^^