What makes your character unique?

[Paeleus]

I am curious, playgrounders. What makes your character unique? Like a playable Achilles Heel/Quirk/Stipulation.

Ex. - A Wizard who is an opponent of a certain School. Transferred into game play, they reject all of that particular school's spells from their Spellbook.

Or

A fighter(or cleric) who doesn't carry a Weapon, only a shield. Transferred into character design: taking Shield Master and other awesome feats and having a reason for not carrying at least a dagger.

[ThermalSlapShot]

I am curious, playgrounders. What makes your character unique? Like a playable Achilles Heel/Quirk/Stipulation.

Ex. - A Wizard who is an opponent of a certain School. Transferred into game play, they reject all of that particular school's spells from their Spellbook.

Or

A fighter(or cleric) who doesn't carry a Weapon, only a shield. Transferred into character design: taking Shield Master and other awesome feats and having a reason for not carrying at least a dagger.

I play a shield and no weapon cleric because I'm actually more deadly without a weapon than with a weapon. If I have a weapon I might take the weapon attack action... Bleh.

I tend to leave my uniqueness in the realms of "one unique thing" from 13th Age. All fluff and filler.

One of my favorites is "I was walking down the road and fell through a crack in space and time. I now make jokes and references to things that don't exist... I don't recall what a *meme* but I recall them being funny"

This allows me to make all the jokes and references that are typically out of character chatter into in character chatter. Tons of fun roleplaying.

[Orbis Orboros]

I'm playing an Ice Genasi (homebrew race) Silver Dragon bloodline sorcerer. I only cast ice spells - if I can't figure out how to re-fluff a spell as ice, I don't take it.

My only non-combat cantrip so far is Shape Water, which I use to create all sorts of things out of ice (create a shape, freeze it solid). I carry around several waterskins and a trinket with which to re-fill them (trinket 15 on the second trinket table).

[GiantOctopodes]

I'm playing an Ice Genasi (homebrew race) Silver Dragon bloodline sorcerer. I only cast ice spells - if I can't figure out how to re-fluff a spell as ice, I don't take it.

My only non-combat cantrip so far is Shape Water, which I use to create all sorts of things out of ice (create a shape, freeze it solid). I carry around several waterskins and a trinket with which to re-fill them (trinket 15 on the second trinket table).

That sounds awesome. Where is this second trinket table you are referencing? I love trinkets, so the more the merrier, just curious.

[Orbis Orboros]

That sounds awesome.

It is. The background is amusing as well: I'm descended from a dragon, born of a Genie, and... raised by wolves. Crazy character to roleplay.

Backstory: Born of the “unnatural” union of human and genie, Auril was most likely cast out from the society in which she was born. She doesn’t know if she was abandoned by her mother or if her mother joined her in exile only to succumb to the cold; whatever the cause, Auril was adopted and raised by a pack of wolves in a cold, wintery mountain range.

Her given (wolf) name actually translates to something like “Chilly-White-Two-Legged-Daughter-of-Pack-Such-And-Such” (pack names are too long to justify recording here). She came by her “People Name” during her first encounter with other sentients – she crossed paths with a pair of hunters her one day tracking the same game; superstitious folk that they were, (and given her wild, alien appearance)they mistook her for an avatar of Auril, Goddess of Winter. Knowing only that they repeatedly called her “Auril,” she referred to herself in this way long enough to consider it her “People Name” by the time she knew otherwise.

Auril spent all of her childhood and most of her adult life amongst animals. Her manners are atrocious, although she is passably courteous. She has no concept of many things in civilization, from marriage and laws to alcohol and money. She is, however, quite adept at handling herself both in combat and in the wild, particularly in cold climes, where she feels quite at home. She has few friends, but values those she does have very highly, adopting them as family – human interaction is a new, joyous thing to her. Her upbringing has left her quite impassive to the fates of those she doesn’t know, however – there is only one law that matters in the end to her, and that is of the survival of the fittest (note that a pack or family as a whole can be fit enough to include weaker members). Despite this, she has no problem with gallivanting on wild quests to save some random person or town if it means protecting and being with her family.


Where is this second trinket table you are referencing? I love trinkets, so the more the merrier, just curious.

Elemental Evil Trinket Table (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/elemental-evil-trinkets)

[Yagyujubei]

sadly this campaign has kinda fallen apart and been replaced by a different one, but my first ever 5E toon was a Shadow Monk/Warlock named Rai'Un

My backstory was that I was secretly tasked to guard one of the other players (and a powerful artifact that was hidden in her bow quiver) with my life, but they didn't know or find out until like 15 sessions in when they figured my actions out when some other monks tried to steal her quiver.

aside from that though during the campaign I sacrificed myself to save the group and died, and was brought back to life by the goddess illana as a vessel for a fragment of the fallen demi-goddess Kiranselee. So there was a blight spreading across my body and depending upon how i played/how much damage I took she could influence my actions and even fully took over one time.

sigh....so sad the campaign ended ;_;

[Easy_Lee]

I stay away from stereotypes, and always add a few unusual personality quirks, which I believe makes my characters memorable.

Things I avoid:

Generic badass crap. "My body is a weapon, I don't take crap from anyone, hurr durr." If it sounds like a fourteen-year-old said it, I don't say it.
Taking myself too seriously.
Dual scimitar CG darkelf wannabe BS.
Anything resembling a broody emo.
Murderhobo tendencies, only talking when the DM asks me a question, other typical behavior.

Things I've played instead:

A halfling who mistrusts everyone taller than him until they prove themselves (this meant the whole party). Nicknamed him Tomato for his red, mop-top hair.
A forest gnome with a Cajun accent who wasn't easy to understand.
A complete and total racist (particularly against elves) human sword n board fighter.
A straightedge nature-loving druid, because everyone else was making the DM's job a living hell.
A lizard monk with an evil diety (copy of my old EQ character).

Those are the kinds of characters I enjoy.

[Magic Myrmidon]

I played a tiefling arcane trickster who was the son of a paladin of Heironius and a chain devil. The paladin actually redeemed the chain devil, as far as a devil can be redeemed.

In pathfinder (Kingmaker), currently playing a arcane archer elf who hates the stuffy elven nobility, and actually resents that he was roped into being a noble. He is the Councilor, because at least then he can look out for the common folk. He talks like the narrator from Bastion.

My main mage in 3.5 is a drow wizard who HATES when mages use spells impractically. As in, "Why make an owlbear!? That's the dumbest creature I've ever seen", or "Why did you make your house out of vines and put it into a pocket dimension that can be freely entered anyway? Bricks are just fine, last longer, and wouldn't even need as much magic to put together!" He has feebleminded and baleful polymorphed his fair share of stupid mages.

Also currently playing a "Paladin" (technically not the class, but I play him like one) who hates the gods, believes they aren't truly gods, and steals his spells from them (through the Ur Priest class).


And those are just DnD/Pathfinder characters. Not even getting into stuff like L5R or Legend.

... And, at the risk of sparking a debate, they were all pretty optimized, while I feel those are some unique characters. I know, probably shouldn't bring it up, but eh.

[JonasBell]

Eladrin in a HotDQ game who considers themselves an Emerald Enclave crusader and views the material plane like a tourist. In game terms, he's a druid/paladin multiclass. I sort of treat his Shilleagh spell like he's going all full metal alchemist on his quarterstaff, turning it into a spear or whatnot.

[Slipperychicken]

My character (a human fighter) is crass, narrow-minded, uneducated, and gets abrasive when others take issue with him. Despite him being exceedingly practical and goal-oriented, his personality, appearance, and ignorance are all off-putting, and often lead to people not wanting to help him.

[ThermalSlapShot]

My character (a human fighter) is crass, narrow-minded, uneducated, and gets abrasive when others take issue with him. Despite him being exceedingly practical and goal-oriented, his personality, appearance, and ignorance are all off-putting, and often lead to people not wanting to help him.

Soo... Umm... You are playing the classic BSF?

[Anderlith]

I liked playing a noble warlock, who worshiped cthulhu & wore a pointy cloth hood with cloth "tentacles" hanging down. He took every opportunity to convert our enemies to my "faith". Including convincing an entire goblin tribe to murder their chief. Also when i went into town I'd take off my mask & use the warlock ability to always alter what I looked like. I also had three retainers Wilikens my butler Wilfred my scribe & Willem my kennel master who took care of my mastiff Sir Barksly

[Slipperychicken]

Soo... Umm... You are playing the classic BSF?

He's also been an actual homeless person for quite a while, which went into his personality. I slapped on a stupid accent (the one that ghouls from Fallout have), and my group eats it up.

[ThermalSlapShot]

He's also been an actual homeless person for quite a while, which went into his personality. I slapped on a stupid accent (the one that ghouls from Fallout have), and my group eats it up.

I feel that most PCs are homeless... Which is why the term murder-hobos come from.

I don't see how your character is really that different from the typical murderhobo BSF.

Accent a nice touch, I pull some of my redneck speach out for games from time to time and that gets eyebrows raised.

[Slipperychicken]

I don't see how your character is really that different from the typical murderhobo BSF.

It's because his belligerence and ignorance are deliberate character traits rather than a side-effect of munchkinry and poor roleplaying. His personality doesn't just drop off when it's convenient for him to be sociable.

Also, I built homelessness into his backstory in such a way that it made him hardened and abrasive, rather than just not needing to pay as much for lifestyle. He'll still pay for a bed, because he hates sleeping in a cart or on the ground, and he also knows exactly how dangerous it is on the streets.

[Ryell]

In Pathfinder, I played a full-Orc Barbarian who was totally min/maxed. I used his one skill point per level to advance his proficiency in cooking and baking.
He was dumb as a brick and totally unaware of any social subtlety; but he had a heart of gold.
He spent all his free time in the kitchen and always carried around some spare scones or muffins. Out of pure compassion, he would offer delicious food to anyone who was distraught: sad or even angry. He would watch them eat with child-like stars in his eyes, waiting expectantly to see their countenance lift.
The DM was wild for my commitment to the monstrous child character and allowed him to be a central role: even with pivotal NPC interactions. Even the other players adored him. They sort of adopted him and took care of him. This was great, and allowed me to walk him straight into every set-up and hand out WAY too much money to any NPC with a sob story.
He was a blast to play.

[Ralanr]

I'm still playing my first 5e character, my dragonborn barbarian. On the surface he could seem pretty stereotypical in the sense that he's very hands on with problems (There is a door, smash it). Though he's juggiling guilt for killing his sister while attempting to kill his beast friend about 4 years before the start of the campaign, and for the last two years he's been searching the globe for his two adopted siblings (both human) who had been captured by slavers.

He's also remarkably good at reading the situation. Out of the group he was in, he was the only one who was trying to get more information about the secret organization they all seemed to be working for. He's the only one who can seem to reason with the psychotic halfing necromancer in the group, and he was the only one to offer advice to the nervous paladin when entering the preliminaries of the King's tournament (she saw it as an insult because she believed she was a good warrior. I'm not sure how, "Focus on your opponent, not the crowd." is insulting to her skills when she was nervous about fighting before a crowd). Out of the six of us, he was of the two that passed due to how he handled his fight (He realized his opponent was much stronger than he was with weapons. So he worked to remove the weapons). And he was the one who suggested to the other winner that they should appear as enemies in public (The city didn't like dragonborn and tiefling due to a recent attempted political coup. My character decided to abuse that and make much of the city focus on him in the tournament as a heel. That way, my secret ally could gain more allies and have a higher chance to win. He did this by going bare chested and painted himself in draconic ruins (He used red paint, but his people tend to use blood. They live in a frozen wasteland where they are on the edge everyday, blood is good enough).

If it wasn't for his spot in the tourney, the town guard would have killed him long ago. :smallbiggrin:

He also knows how to cook and knit on top of driving land vehicles.

He's probably really stereotypical. But I have a blast playing him. He's the first character I made that isn't focused on being a good guy. He just wants his family back. He's got a code and personal honor, but he's not gonna go out of his way to save people he doesn't know. He'd be perfectly content watching an Ettin ransack a market as long as it didn't attack him (It was the encounter that had him meet two other NPC's. First round he just watched it from a corner).

That was a mouthful. Sorry about that.

[Dreekius]

I am curious, playgrounders. What makes your character unique? Like a playable Achilles Heel/Quirk/Stipulation.

Ex. - A Wizard who is an opponent of a certain School. Transferred into game play, they reject all of that particular school's spells from their Spellbook.

Or

A fighter(or cleric) who doesn't carry a Weapon, only a shield. Transferred into character design: taking Shield Master and other awesome feats and having a reason for not carrying at least a dagger.

I am playing an Aasimar who grew up in the fey wild. His hair has all the hues of the rainbow and changes color with his emotions. He made a pact with a fey lord to go to the mortal realm so he could explore, but failed his wisdom save to keep his memories so he found himself in the mortal realm with no idea what was going on. He's an upstanding citizen and is by far my favorite character.

[Tenmujiin]

That was a mouthful. Sorry about that.

He sounds awesome.

My two favorite characters (not currently in a game) are my dwarven tempest cleric who doesn't prepare Cure Wounds or any resurrection spells for religious reasons and a v-human fiend pact bladelock. The cleric worships a god of battle (modified Tempus) and the core tenant of his faith is helping others help themselves, this means he will arm his enemies and likes to buff allies (though he also likes to earn glory for himself in battle).
The bladelock has morals that I had trouble placing on the typical alignment scale and ended up settling on lawful evil. Essentially he believes that "The strong should protect the weak, the weak should obey the strong." Basically he will go out of his way to help others but expects those weaker than him to do as he says and only truly respects those that are stronger than he is. He also has a thick Russian accent.

[squab]

Soo... Umm... You are playing the classic BSF?

What's BSF stand for?

[Magic Myrmidon]

It typically stands for "Big Stupid Fighter", but there can be variations, depending on who uses it, such as "Big Strong Fighter".

[Slipperychicken]

What's BSF stand for?

Like Myrmidon said, it stands for Big Stupid Fighter. I've never seen it used any other way, aside from a few puns based on the "Big Stupid Fighter" meaning (i.e. "Fighter Boris, I shall call you BSF: Boris the Strong and Fair. Now go whack goblins, BSF"). It refers to the tendency for nonmagical damage-dealers to neglect mental stats and be physically imposing. It's much like calling a wizard a "pencil-neck nerd" because they tend to have poor physical stats and high intelligence. Of course, BSF isn't always derogatory; some take it as a term of endearment toward their characters.

[Paeleus]

I'm playing an Ice Genasi (homebrew race) Silver Dragon bloodline sorcerer. I only cast ice spells - if I can't figure out how to re-fluff a spell as ice, I don't take it.

My only non-combat cantrip so far is Shape Water, which I use to create all sorts of things out of ice (create a shape, freeze it solid). I carry around several waterskins and a trinket with which to re-fill them (trinket 15 on the second trinket table).

That's freakin cool. I like how you base spell choices on the theme of the character and not what is optimal.

I have mentioned this in another thread, but I'm playing a fighter/sorcerer in a setting where magic is rare and taboo. Having started out as fighter, my character doesn't know anything about magic other than what he has seen the party wiz do, which has only seen recently. Couple that with no arcane focus or component pouch, I'm left with only verbal and somatic spells. So only Shield and Catapult spells so far. Cantrips wise, I hold off on using the firebolt and shocking grasp until I can justify having seen it and being able to practice it with the help of the other party magic users, particularly the wizard. Cantrips like mending, true strike, and mage hand fit my concept of intuitive magic. It's been a blast so far.

And as an umbrella response to all these great posts, do you limit yourself mechanically? Does your simple but love able Half-orc cook go into a rage if someone doesn't like or won't eat his work because of gluten/nut allergies or they don't care for swamp rat? Does your Asimar roll with disadvantage on history checks?

[Orbis Orboros]

That's freakin cool. I like how you base spell choices on the theme of the character and not what is optimal.

Thanks

I do and don't limit myself - my DM has been very generous in letting me re-fluff spells, and he'll let me change the element of the spell's damage (upon learning it and without possibility of changing back). I have "Freezing Grasp" instead of Shocking Grasp for instance, which exchanges cold damage for electric (and similar fluff descriptors). On the other hand, I don't have Prestidigitation or Mage Hand because they're so difficult to re-fluff as ice.



And as an umbrella response to all these great posts, do you limit yourself mechanically? Does your simple but love able Half-orc cook go into a rage if someone doesn't like or won't eat his work because of gluten/nut allergies or they don't care for swamp rat? Does your Asimar roll with disadvantage on history checks?

I know a bunch of languages from character creation, but my character can't read; does that count?

[ThermalSlapShot]

Like Myrmidon said, it stands for Big Stupid Fighter. I've never seen it used any other way, aside from a few puns based on the "Big Stupid Fighter" meaning (i.e. "Fighter Boris, I shall call you BSF: Boris the Strong and Fair. Now go whack goblins, BSF"). It refers to the tendency for nonmagical damage-dealers to neglect mental stats and be physically imposing. It's much like calling a wizard a "pencil-neck nerd" because they tend to have poor physical stats and high intelligence. Of course, BSF isn't always derogatory; some take it as a term of endearment toward their characters.

Endearment all the way, usually the only way to keep up with the game in 3e was to be the biggest BSF of all time, which was fun.

Uberxharger, Hulking Hurler, and Totemist "I grapple the terrasque" were all very fun builds.

It is less like calling someone a "pencil neck nerd" and more a kin to calling someone a "glass connon".

When you have a mage that is extremely powerful but can be broken quite easily. Pretty much the opposite of the BSF.

Fighter is the BSF and Black Mage is the Glass Connon. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_8-Bit_Theater_characters

Also it sounds like the PC was the typical bsf murderhobo.

[Tenmujiin]

And as an umbrella response to all these great posts, do you limit yourself mechanically? Does your simple but love able Half-orc cook go into a rage if someone doesn't like or won't eat his work because of gluten/nut allergies or they don't care for swamp rat? Does your Asimar roll with disadvantage on history checks?

My cleric made the party trek to a nearby city to get the rogue resed because the rogue's death brought him such glory that he had surely gone to the greatest of rewards and would resent being forced to return. Needless to say they party was anoyed (and the DM since he had to make up a cleric NPC that could res the rogue) but it would have been too out of charcter for him to do it. If a party member had have been poisoned or fallen in a trap then sure but a glorious death in battle? Let them savor their final reward.

[1Forge]

Im playing a fallen paladin
(he was a blacksmith, that lost every thing exept his family,He went to become a paladin with his brother, during training he accidentally killed him with the family sword. He was later found by dwarves near the body, they branded him with the dwarvish symbols for liar, murderer, and traitor; he escaped later but never went back to the paladins thinking he could never repent)
so he left and wandered the world, with 1 level in X-paladin, wielding a spear because he wont wield the sword he carries.

[BoutsofInsanity]

Kaius the 4e vampire: Long story short boiled down to:


Turned into a vampire
When he awoke killed and drank from his fiance
Her brother saw and attempted to kill Kaius
Kaius' best friend attempts to protect him
He dies to the brother
Kaius in grief and rage from everything having awoken from his hunger swears vengeance
The brother also swears vengeance
Enter a 400 year game of cat and mouse

The worst part? Because they have such honor to their words, both characters despite having settled their differences long ago and became friends won't stop because
A. Kaius is a Vampire
B. They gave their word
C. Kaius still wants to live
It was weird playing a character with honor as a central feature. Very little practicality, would want one on one battles with honor involved. In formal settings didn't lie. (Out on the street all day, but in matters of formality he wouldn't.) And he had this Paladin elf who was his best friend trying to kill him who he was also trying to kill. Furthermore he swore protection on his best friends family for as long as he was Undead. Complicated guy.

[Mrmox42]

Fungus the Druid.
He had a thing with insects. All kinds of insects, small and big. I mean, he LOVED them and would spend long times communing with them. Every evening, he would have a kind of Disney inspired song-and-dance routine with all the insects in the vicinity (usually grasshoppers, crickets and mosquitos), to the great annoyance of his fellow adventurers, but it was bringing the RL players into tears of laughter.

Ah, he died too soon. Stupid Bugbears.

[recapdrake]

What makes Yuri unique (other than the name that makes those from more wuxia like backgrounds give him funny looks) is that he carries around a silver chest around on his back that can't be more than 60 feet from him and is indestructible. This chest cannot be opened by any means due to it having been sealed shut by his deity (he's a silver flame cleric paladin multiclass) and so whenever the silver flame commands it (aka when the dm put us in over our heads and we need a power boost or else it's going to be a tpk or he needs something for my divine intervention to do) the chest opens and out pops...a +5 holy burst silver longsword of greater fiend bane. No I don't mean +3 that thing was ported directly from 3.5 and it works great. This is part of this set up for him to become something similar to tira mirone and become the hand of the flame.