How much do you fudge your fluff?

[Steampunkette]

I fudge fluff a LOT when I make characters. I've got a frenzied berserk barbarian who I roleplay as a werewolf. Rage is wolf form, her d12 greataxe is claw or bite damage.

I've got a pact of the fiend warlock I roleplay as a necromancer, with hurl through hell refluffed as skeletal arms dragging the target 6 feet under and forcing them to climb out.

Both are in dark hero and gothic horror games.

I've got a half elf mystic with fighter levels that I roleplay as a Githyanki psychic warrior.

How far do you go, and how much fluff will you let your players fudge to get the concept that is desired out of the rules as written?

[Fri]

Depends on the game premise.

I once played in an alternate history steampunk world war 1 game where everyone's class are refluffed into non-fantasy character. My bard is a war reporter who buff others with speech and debuff enemies with mockeries. A player play a druid refluffed into an engineer with steam-powered exoskeleton as his wild shape. And so on.

If the premise is a standard fantasy game? Of course those won't run. But if everyone are fine with your concept or it's specific premise, I see no reason to not let it run.

[steppedonad4]

I fluff my fudge a lot. I'm a fluffy fudger. A fudgey fluffer.

Oh come on, you know you worded the title of this thread like you did for a reason.

[hellspawnfish]

That's a question of world cohesion for me. I admit I never tried it. As a player I usually play a character that is a semi-average Joe. Yes, they're a wizard, but they're your typical wizard and not a bound demon who lost their powers in an arcane mishap and is now trying to get them back. Dragonborn sorcerer and not a prematurely-hatched dragon with a genetic condition.

I am however currently playing a lore bard that uses arcane incantations instead of music for inspiration/cutting words. She's more of an arcane researcher/spy than a performer, so I asked the GM if I could change it to a more conceptually fitting fluff.

As a GM I usually start with a pretty firm world concept, so I prefer small fluff changes to big ones. Like changing the activation of inspiration/cutting words, or having the Draconic Sorcerer say that their spells come from a celestial bloodline (with this holy fire be purged!) but if a player came to me with an idea like playing a barbarian as a werewolf or a fighter/mystic as a githyanki I'd... have to consider it carefully.

There are a lot of things that go into this. Will this 'refluffing' have an effect on the plot? How does the world treat werewolves? Are there githyanki in this cosmos?

I need to tell the players now that there is going to be a werewolf character in the group. Will other players want to do some sort of 'refluffing' too and how will that affect the campaign? Will some players be annoyed they have to roleplay their characters' reaction to such an unusual character and have them get along even if it strains credibility?


A whole party of refluffed PCs in a campaign that assumes it is easier to deal with. Sure lets be jedi warlocks of blade. Never run anything like it though.

[Socratov]

I apply refluffing as the Theory of Narrative Causality demands.

Usually ti depends on wether I want a certain class chassis when the standard fluff wouldn't fit in the world, or I would try to fullfill a character concept by putting a round peg in a square hole, trim something off, fill something in until I have a decently fitting character.

Both things I would do with the DM to avoid the special snoflake/whiney-ass/bitchy player aspect.

[Inevitability]

It depends. I've played several characters completely true to the fluff (mostly in PbP games), but when gaming with my RL group I tend to alter the fluff significantly.

For example, I'm currently playing a druid focused on wildshaping and shape-changing in general, and I've changed almost all of his spells to reflect this. Thorn Whip involves his entire arm briefly changing into a thorny vine, Jump sees the target's legs changing into those of a jumping spider, and when he casts Goodberry the food appears to grow from his own body.

[Sigreid]

I take their fluff as simply there to give you something if you can't think of your own. For instance if I wanted to do a swashbuckler I would probably do a monk, have rapier, scimitar, and dagger as their martial weapons and be set.

[Talyn]

Back when I played 4e, my group re-fluffed the hell out of stuff. Like whoah.

In our current 5e game, our refluffing is pretty minimal, although our DM has already said he's okay with refluffing that isn't game-breaking. Right now, I've got a backup character in the bullpen who is a barbarian mechanically but fluff-wise is a paladin of the Bloody-Handed Goddess, and her 'rages' are entering into a battle trance to become one with the Goddess.

[JackPhoenix]

Though I never actually got to play it, I had an idea for a gunmage (Iron Kingdoms inspired).

Fiend bladelock, Eldritch Blast was "normal" magic gunshot, Fireball was an explosive round, etc.

[Tenmujiin]

When I DM fluff is almost entirely mutable. I even let casters puck their casting stat regardless of class (so long as they explain why they use that stat) and I let Martials make their own weapons so long as they are no more powerful than the PHB options.
In my current game I have a tiefling warlock who's powers come fron his studies and his fiendish heritage and thus casts from int and who's eldritch blast is a number of fiendish tentacles lashing out from his hand.
Previously I had a player who wanted to play a "single strike" anime samuri type character so I let him have a finesse longsword refluffed as a katana, he used it with battlemaster 3/rogue x and the 1 extra average damage from versatile (compared to a rapier) didn't overpower anything.
I also have another warlock in my current game who's eldritch blast does radiant damage and manifests as a bow of energy (his inspiration was a quincy from the anime Bleach, yes my group has a lot of anime fans).

TL;DR I will even change crunch to match the player's fluff so long as it remains in line with or is weaker than the original power level.

[Rusvul]

I tend to alter fluff a little bit. My Eldritch Blast is a flaming dagger that's been thrown, and my Acid spells appear more as quicksilver than acid. In games that I run, I'll allow (even encourage) minor things like that, but werewolf fluffed as barbarian rage would never fly. I'm a bit more likely to refluff when I'm DMing, largely because it's easier to have a refluffed will-o-wisp than it is to write out stats for a lantern construct.

[Vogonjeltz]

I fudge fluff a LOT when I make characters. I've got a frenzied berserk barbarian who I roleplay as a werewolf. Rage is wolf form, her d12 greataxe is claw or bite damage.

I don't fudge anything, it's typically not needed.

If your werewolf can't be disarmed, then it's not just messing with the fluff, it's granting a mechanical advantage.

[Steampunkette]

Sure she can be disarmed. I just fluff the disarming, too.

So she rages and charges at a target. The target uses an ability that disarms her. Essentially the target just biffed her across the face so hard she has to spend an action recovering (her weapon) before she can make a bite attack.

Or if she's disarmed in a prison cell, call it a muzzle. Or have her use whatever weapon is available and ignore the damage dice difference and call it a claw.

Mechanically it's all the same, when I alter my fluff. It just gets a new description.

[Mr.Moron]

I prefer to avoid it. I like my games narrowly focused from a thematic and tonal standpoint. I'd rather just use mechanics that support what I'm looking to do from the outset than bend something else to fit. If the mechanics don't exist in a clean fashion I'd rather look to home brew or an entirely different system that supports what I'm trying to do. Some re-fluffing is fine for things that have short onscreen lives (incidental monsters and the like), but I don't like it for core game content.

[MaxWilson]

How far do you go, and how much fluff will you let your players fudge to get the concept that is desired out of the rules as written?

I don't go that far. So far in 5E, the most I've done is to take some throwaway lines in the Warlock description and run with them, to make 2nd level Warlocks who don't have any kind of allegiance to Cthulhu at all. Rather, they just stole some knowledge and then quit without making any pacts (3rd level).

My players have never attempted to change any fluff so I don't know how far I'd let them go. I'd probably discourage anything beyond the scope of what the PHB already has. I'm pretty strict about playing the game that you're playing, and "re-fluffing" things without changing the mechanics is an idea that has always seemed bizarre to me and unattractive. I'm a grognard at heart.

[KiltieMacPipes]

In my campaign world there's a Japanese-flavored human culture whose elite warriors are re-fluffed barbarians who have "battle focus" instead of "rage". Mechanically identical, just a different feel.

[Malifice]

I don't go that far. So far in 5E, the most I've done is to take some throwaway lines in the Warlock description and run with them, to make 2nd level Warlocks who don't have any kind of allegiance to Cthulhu at all. Rather, they just stole some knowledge and then quit without making any pacts (3rd level).

My players have never attempted to change any fluff so I don't know how far I'd let them go. I'd probably discourage anything beyond the scope of what the PHB already has. I'm pretty strict about playing the game that you're playing, and "re-fluffing" things without changing the mechanics is an idea that has always seemed bizarre to me and unattractive. I'm a grognard at heart.

What about a dragon sorcerer who is refluffed as a fiend blooded sorcerer?

Or a monk who uses a shortsword (refluffed to a Kensai with a katana).

Or an Aaracrocka refluffed into a Valkyrie?

That kind of thing.

[Spore]

We almost never fudge our fluff. We Germans are adamant about our regulations and rules. We love to create houserules to display character concepts not feasible within the rules however. As long as it's regulated and predetermined. We have people upset regularly by DM decisions - even if rule 0 stands we do not necessarily have to be happy with it.We've made rulesets for several 3.5 races (half elf as githyanki? come on that's just lazy!) as well as personalized spells (Demon Transformation spells for PF) and Feats (Blood Magic).

If I were to realize my mindblade/psyblade/lightsaber guy concept for my next character I would surely not be able to freely choose my class but rather pick the one with the most features already designed to be easily adaptable. For the psyblade itself, Bladelock comes to mind, so that you just need some kind of patron that works with your fluff. Of course the ability of a psyblade to cut through almost anything will cost at least an invocation.


In my campaign world there's a Japanese-flavored human culture whose elite warriors are re-fluffed barbarians who have "battle focus" instead of "rage". Mechanically identical, just a different feel.

This is the kind of refluffing I'm very okay with. You can refluff insubstantial metaphysical things. But you cannot refluff a Greataxe into a claw. It's just weird.


Though I never actually got to play it, I had an idea for a gunmage (Iron Kingdoms inspired).

Fiend bladelock, Eldritch Blast was "normal" magic gunshot, Fireball was an explosive round, etc.

What do you do when the necrotic damage gets resisted? Are Aasimars and Paladins naturally bullet proof?

[goto124]

Are Aasimars and Paladins naturally bullet proof?

For some reason, being bulletproof by GOD'S WILL sounds pretty awesome :smalltongue:

[Spore]

For some reason, being bulletproof by GOD'S WILL sounds pretty awesome :smalltongue:

So there's bulletproof from chest hair (bearbarian) and by god's will. Undead are completely immune then....

You know what? That's actually genius.

[JackPhoenix]

What do you do when the necrotic damage gets resisted? Are Aasimars and Paladins naturally bullet proof?

When the little necrotic damage from Hex gets resisted, it's no big deal, the target still takes full force damage from Eldritch Blast