PDA

View Full Version : Smugglers and Underdark: Character Insight Help?



Penelomeeg
2017-09-26, 02:20 PM
My friend got interested enough to join our D&D group for the first time and we decided I'd make a new character to come in with hers to help her integrate i to the party better and give her someone she can play off of. It turned out great and we ended up making a pair of half elves who are a bit of a joke towards our own friendship (two people from very different backgrounds and personalities who somehow still work as friends.) The only issue is I gave my character a rather interesting backstory that has me questioning how I should play her worldview and morality. I wanted to seek some outside insight based on certain parts of her background and how they may typically affect someone, and maybe some insight for an appropriate alignment?

My friend is playing the cheerful eager to help and exolore the world half wood elf daughter of an adventurer who settled down and built a leather shop and is trying to find a cure to save her fathers life (was cursed by a hag). My character is a half drow who was raised in the Underdark in the house of a relatively prominent matron and conceived with the matrons favorite human slave.

The character (Val) was desperate for her mother's approval over her pureblooded half sisters and as such did spend the first 19 years of her life as part of the status quo in the Underdark. However, she was secretly a bit hesitant. Her human father acted as her personal servant and behind clpsed doors was actually kind and loving to her. He was her only escape from the rest of her awful family. Eventually she did make it out (not before unintentionally blaming her father for a mistake she made and getting him executed as a result) but was sort of forced to and taken in by a group of smugglers and thieves who are mostly former slaves and use knowledge and connections of the Underdark to strike at the matrons and free other slaves. Her time on the surface has been helping this group as a messenger and smuggler and her only "friend" or contact outside of this group being my friends wood elf who is a sort of new entry into her life.

The character has definitely acted selfishly in the past and probably done terrible things in the Underdark which she lived in for the first 19 years of her life , but I feel does have some regret and sees it as doing what she had to in order to survive. She also definitely has a cynical mentality towards people and their motivations outside of her new friend and has been living as a "criminal" ever since leaving the Underdark. I don't see her flippantly murdering or ruining lives for convenience sake, but stealing from, lying, and mnipulating people to further her goals? Definitely. Violence isn't even out of the question if she feels justified probably.

At the same time I have her traveling with and being fond of a rather naive and selfless person and even dedicating herself to helping the girl's father who she's never met because she cares about her and being a loyal member of a group whose main goal is ultimately to free slaves and bring down tyranny.

I'm not sure if I'm rambling or this makes any sense, but I'd really like some points, things to consider to help me get into thos characters head properly for game day and thoughts on alignments to write down. Please and thank you!

Tinkerer
2017-09-26, 03:00 PM
I'm not sure if I'm rambling or this makes any sense, but I'd really like some points, things to consider to help me get into thos characters head properly for game day and thoughts on alignments to write down. Please and thank you!

Sounds like you are confused which is probably the right head space to be in :smallwink:

It sounds like Chaotic Neutral would be the best starting place, although she would probably consider herself closer to evil than neutral (guilt as a sign of remorse). She's been a messenger and smuggler so respect for authority figures probably isn't at the top of her list. She might wind up being surprised if she does encounter authority figures which do respect and care about their underlings. Would she view them with respect or as weaklings unsuited to the callousness that leadership requires (in her head). Use the manipulation aspect but bear in mind she's used to manipulating evil, manipulating good creatures might be a new experience for her. Of course the above depends on how long she's been out for.

Lord Torath
2017-09-26, 03:05 PM
It sounds like Chaotic Neutral would be the best starting place, although she would probably consider herself closer to evil than neutral (guilt as a sign of remorse).Probably with a longing to be Chaotic Good. She wants to be good, but feels nothing she does can make up for the things she's already done.

Penelomeeg
2017-09-26, 06:57 PM
Sounds like you are confused which is probably the right head space to be in :smallwink:

It sounds like Chaotic Neutral would be the best starting place, although she would probably consider herself closer to evil than neutral (guilt as a sign of remorse). She's been a messenger and smuggler so respect for authority figures probably isn't at the top of her list. She might wind up being surprised if she does encounter authority figures which do respect and care about their underlings. Would she view them with respect or as weaklings unsuited to the callousness that leadership requires (in her head). Use the manipulation aspect but bear in mind she's used to manipulating evil, manipulating good creatures might be a new experience for her. Of course the above depends on how long she's been out for.

I really like this suggestion especially how she would be unused to the idea of benevolent leadership! Thanks so much CN seems like a good starting place.

I definitely want to acknowledge her drow heritage and have it affect her worldview, its a part of drow blooded PCs that gets looked over a lot I feel like and didn't want to do it myself.

Penelomeeg
2017-09-26, 06:59 PM
Probably with a longing to be Chaotic Good. She wants to be good, but feels nothing she does can make up for the things she's already done.

I was thinking along a similar line. Even that her new half wood elf friend is the type of person "she wishes she could be" aka the type of person her father was/would be proud of

redwizard007
2017-09-28, 01:15 PM
I would take this a slightly different direction. She's evil, but not irredeemable. She will lie, cheat, murder, and torture so that her friend doesn't have to. That's the angle here. She will do the things that must be done. Things that would break her companions. And she will do them to protect her friends from the moral anguish that would chew them up inside.

This isn't the type of friend you invite over for tea. She's the friend you call when there is a body you need to dispose of, or when you need backup going into a Most Eisley cantina. She is like Doc Holiday from Tombstone, or Jack Bauer from 24. She can be gentle, and caring, and is the most loyal of friends, but when something bad has to happen, she is the one you want running point.

Play her like a soccer mom with a few rough edges. A lady that "needs a few minutes alone with the prisoner" and closes the door with a smile on her face. A lady that will bring hell down on anyone who hurts her friend, and will brush the ashes out of her hair with a smile when she finds that hell brought a nice bottle of wine.

I would run her as CE, but with a strong sense of loyalty to (or ownership of) her friends and companions. She need not be a mustache twirling devil or seductive demon, just a girl who will take vengeance to a level that has Lolth taking notes.

Penelomeeg
2017-09-28, 01:57 PM
I would take this a slightly different direction. She's evil, but not irredeemable. She will lie, cheat, murder, and torture so that her friend doesn't have to. That's the angle here. She will do the things that must be done. Things that would break her companions. And she will do them to protect her friends from the moral anguish that would chew them up inside.

This isn't the type of friend you invite over for tea. She's the friend you call when there is a body you need to dispose of, or when you need backup going into a Most Eisley cantina. She is like Doc Holiday from Tombstone, or Jack Bauer from 24. She can be gentle, and caring, and is the most loyal of friends, but when something bad has to happen, she is the one you want running point.

Play her like a soccer mom with a few rough edges. A lady that "needs a few minutes alone with the prisoner" and closes the door with a smile on her face. A lady that will bring hell down on anyone who hurts her friend, and will brush the ashes out of her hair with a smile when she finds that hell brought a nice bottle of wine.

I would run her as CE, but with a strong sense of loyalty to (or ownership of) her friends and companions. She need not be a mustache twirling devil or seductive demon, just a girl who will take vengeance to a level that has Lolth taking notes.

I actually really like this angle. I tend to play very goody characters in the past, so something less morally rigid would be nice gor a change of pace. And between her friend and the smugglers its great for "devil with a good cause" type of moments.