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Drache64
2018-08-24, 04:33 PM
In 5e I played a paladin named Icarus of Pelor who carried a giant shield and no weapon. He would only aggro on undead and demons/devils.

When attacked by bandits or wolves or other natural antagonists he would defend his group and focus on healing while pleading with everyone to stop fighting and embrace the light of Pelor.

When the party really needed backup on DPS Icarus would "pray for pardon" on the target and talk to his holy symbol for guidance which was a small vial of his father's ashes. I would cast Sacred Flame and Icarus would blame his father screaming "Father why!?!?"

Another smaller detail was Icarus would always talk to his holy symbol and assume that everyone could hear the reply. "here father can explain the plan better, father tell them what you told me" *holds holy symbol up to NPC's face and casts Thaumaturgy do they hear vague whispering*

He was also fearless often walking boldly into terrible situations saying "Pelor protects! Keep up friends!"

Have you ever played a pacifist? How did you handle combat and other situations? What was the personality?

HMS Invincible
2018-08-24, 05:08 PM
You're a bad person and you should feel bad for posting this. How do your teammates think of your hero? Positively or negatively?

Drache64
2018-08-24, 05:08 PM
They love him.

Even when I DM I'll sneak him in as an NPC here and there as he's just always traveling looking for trouble to resolve in the name of Pelor and they tend to laugh smile and go "ICARUS!" in excited enthusiasm.

I think it's mostly because I take all the agro and heal everyone, so although he doesn't fight he stays in his lane and does his job well.

Mastikator
2018-08-24, 05:10 PM
I don't think I'd play a pacifist that pacifist if it was a warrior, probably just doing non-lethal damage and promising they won't be harmed if they surrender.

I did play a pacifist that pacifist though, but he simply wasn't a good fighter, didn't have the stomach for blood and believed that any conflict the can't resolve using words, that's a conflict you flee from!

Basically I rolled absolutely atrocious stats and he'd die instantly in a fight so I decided he lives by getting out of fights, not into them.

At first I just wanted him to die so I could roll up a new character that didn't suck but everyone in my group was too taken with him, he was too much of a sweetheart for me to let him go like nothing so I rolled with it. He was going to be an utter burden, the only way he contributes is by giving away his share of the treasure to the poor, he doesn't help in any way to getting the treasure. Apparently this made him more endearing to the rest of the party.

JMS
2018-08-24, 08:31 PM
Well, Pacifist druid, but the pacifism was religious, and so only affected sentient living beings (faith of Eldath) so fights against Demons, constructs, were fine, and she regularly just tried to keep the party sane, and healthy.

Knaight
2018-08-24, 11:18 PM
I've had pacifists in my games, including pregens I've made - but as a near permanent GM I've never actually played one (NPCs aside). They tend to work fine, especially in lower combat games.

As a GM I've also used pacifists as antagonists more than once - an unwillingness to kill isn't going to seriously affect the sort of harm being done by, say, a lawyer or most politicians.

Minty
2018-08-25, 05:16 AM
I haven't played an actual pacifist, but I've played non-combat characters that would mostly hide during a fight.

I also once played a Sorcerer that was concealing his abilities and pretending to be a regular guy, to avoid bringing shame to his uptight family. He mostly acted as a servant/valet/squire for the party, and only ever cast spells when nobody was looking. The other players knew about it, but their characters didn't (except the wizard, who agreed not to tell anyone), and fortunately it was a group where the players didn't obnoxiously metagame to expose each other's secrets. He was like the Bilbo Baggins of the party. Ostensibly useless, yet somehow mysteriously able to get stuff done when nobody was watching.

Hooligan
2018-08-25, 08:44 AM
You're a bad person and you should feel bad for posting this. How do your teammates think of your hero? Positively or negatively?

Strongly agree. Your teammates should have thrown you down a mountain. Shame on you.

legomaster00156
2018-08-25, 10:09 AM
I am playing a pacifist right now. I'm playing a Wizard who is a doctor. He tries to end every combat he can with as little injury as possible. There are no mechanics for nonlethal damage in 5e, so I just make sure to accentuate that when he is forced to deal damage, he's never looking to kill, only subdue. He will tend to any captives while interrogating them. Then, because he's pacifist, he gets his revenge for senseless attacks via the medical bills. :smallwink:

Drache64
2018-08-25, 10:35 AM
Another Pacifist character I really enjoyed was when one player asked to DM a fallout campaign. I asked if I could be a synth gunslinger, he agreed but said I had a safety protocol that stopped me from killing anyone or harming humans. I said "VASH THE STAMPEDE!" and agreed heartly, he didn't watch Trigun so he didn't catch the reference, but the character was loads of fun to play going for disarm shots and other things. And the restriction only applies to my targeting array, so I could shoot nearby explosives or other environmental things to cause lethal damage.

It was a great way to challenge me

Mordaedil
2018-08-27, 01:00 AM
That actually like kind of fun, a fighter or warblade specializing in disarm or sunder techniques. Or maybe a wizard that heavily emphasizes the Shatter spell and spells for fleeing combat.

tensai_oni
2018-08-27, 04:38 AM
I never played a hardcore pacifist character - I had plans for one but they fell through. Instead I played characters who are either okay with fighting but not with killing (so they deal with threats nonlethally), or characters who consider it a priority to try to solve encounters peacefully, but are willing to fight if there is no other choice.

The two major issues with playing a pacifist character is to make sure you contribute in fights when they inevitably break out anyway, and how their pacifism meshes with the rest of the party who probably won't be pacifists themselves. For the first you can heal, buff, tank or distract enemies - it's system dependant obviously but it usually can be done with minimal trouble. The second is more troublesome: you need to figure out a reason why your character is a pacifist but is okay being surrounded by people who are not and deal with encounters quite violently. Inter-party character conflict may sound interesting on paper but nobody likes a holier than thou character who constantly gets into arguments with the rest of the party and tries to force them to act in a specific way. On the other hand, I generally found it much easier for the party to agree on dealing with opponents non-lethally, perhaps with exceptions - undead, demons, really vile villains, etc.

OP, I approve of your character idea. It could have been done in an annoying way but your party loved him, so obviously you did it well. Kudos for that.

Minty
2018-08-27, 07:37 AM
The two major issues with playing a pacifist character is to make sure you contribute in fights when they inevitably break out anyway, and how their pacifism meshes with the rest of the party who probably won't be pacifists themselves.

This really depends on the style of play and focus of the game. For a game in which the tactical aspects of combat are unimportant and the main focus is on the narrative, it isn't really necessary for all characters to contribute tactically in a fight.

JeenLeen
2018-08-27, 09:55 AM
While I would be annoyed playing with a PC like this (since the team is more likely to fail in goals if everybody not doing their best), I can see it being fun if everyone is in on it.

Since 5e gives Inspiration for playing your traits... I can see this working well if you make good use of that meta-currency to help your teammates. That could actually balance it out. Your PC acts non-optimally, but you use Inspiration to impact the rolls of others. (You can do that, right? Or just your rolls? Don't recall.) If it is limited to just you, I could see a DM letting it impact allies to compensate.



When the party really needed backup on DPS Icarus would "pray for pardon" on the target and talk to his holy symbol for guidance which was a small vial of his father's ashes. I would cast Sacred Flame and Icarus would blame his father screaming "Father why!?!?"

Another smaller detail was Icarus would always talk to his holy symbol and assume that everyone could hear the reply. "here father can explain the plan better, father tell them what you told me" *holds holy symbol up to NPC's face and casts Thaumaturgy do they hear vague whispering*

That sounds like he is literally insane. He is actively casting spells and surprised when they do what he casted them to do.

Not really a criticism. I've played some insane characters and with folk playing insane characters, and it can be fun. But just make sure your party finds it amusing.

Drache64
2018-08-27, 04:00 PM
While I would be annoyed playing with a PC like this (since the team is more likely to fail in goals if everybody not doing their best), I can see it being fun if everyone is in on it.

Since 5e gives Inspiration for playing your traits... I can see this working well if you make good use of that meta-currency to help your teammates. That could actually balance it out. Your PC acts non-optimally, but you use Inspiration to impact the rolls of others. (You can do that, right? Or just your rolls? Don't recall.) If it is limited to just you, I could see a DM letting it impact allies to compensate.



That sounds like he is literally insane. He is actively casting spells and surprised when they do what he casted them to do.

Not really a criticism. I've played some insane characters and with folk playing insane characters, and it can be fun. But just make sure your party finds it amusing.

To this day I'm not sure if he's aware that he's insane or not. Lol, but yes he is definitely crazy.

The most recent itaration to him had me swapping his personalities from Icarus to his father. Basically the spirit of his father would "possess" him and he'd turn into a master strategist fighting machine, but if he ever lost his holy symbol the personality would leave him. This was a different campaign and ruleset but I found myself in a game randomly and had to come up with character traits on the fly so I went with something old, something new.

Bohandas
2018-09-01, 01:53 AM
Walls, charms, and curses

Cealocanth
2018-09-02, 12:03 AM
I've played pacifists ranging from Batman (being a 1, as in won't kill but will do basically everything else.) to Ghandi (10, won't incite or allow violence in any form). I find that a character is playable in a standard RPG group if they are an 8 or below. The high ranges work as a designated healer or buffer (in systems where this works), and the low ranges work as tank or DPS. The Batman-style is actually quite fun as you have to come up with clever ways to brutalize your opponents without technically murdering them.

Bohandas
2018-09-02, 09:30 AM
I've played pacifists ranging from Batman (being a 1, as in won't kill but will do basically everything else.) to Ghandi (10, won't incite or allow violence in any form). I find that a character is playable in a standard RPG group if they are an 8 or below. The high ranges work as a designated healer or buffer (in systems where this works), and the low ranges work as tank or DPS. The Batman-style is actually quite fun as you have to come up with clever ways to brutalize your opponents without technically murdering them.

How about a character who kills but not with violence?

Wall of stone and wall of iron only take six seconds to cast, and dungeons are full of dead ends waiting to be sealed off with enemies inside of them. "For the love of god Montressor!"

And spells that make the enemies kill each other, like that one scene in Dune

Mr Beer
2018-09-03, 07:42 PM
No but a wizard using battlefield control/buffs/de-buffs can more than hold up his end of every combat encounter without ever directly injuring an enemy.