Playing as a childlike character

[Mystical-man]

I was planning on playing as a childlike character for a upcoming campaign session with some friends, in the lore he is a child who was imbued with magical energy which made him physically far superior to most children but it had side effects, one was stunting his growth and having his personality stay in a child like state. My main question is what tips would you give for playing a character like this and what characters have you seen that are child like yet they have worked well.

[Geddy2112]

One of the best executions of any childlike character I have seen is Babette (http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Babette) from Skyrim. She was turned into a vampire as a child, and now several hundred years old she works as an assassin. She uses her appearance and assumed innocence to lure in targets.
If you want a more anime/cutesy adaptation of virtually the same thing, there is Moon Phase (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukuyomi:_Moon_Phase).

A big thing is that a lot of adventures go into some grimdark territory. Even in a noblebright setting, violence, gore, and other adult themes are common so being a child exposed to these things and possibly maimed or killed can be cringy for your gaming group and not things people want to roleplay. So if you are much older in a younger body, be clear that your maturity follows.

One thing to consider in fantasy settings is that races mature differently. A preteen could easily be an adult to a short lived race, and even human(and similar lifespan creatures) teenagers are often considered legal adults in such settings. Other races, particularly smaller ones like gnomes and halflings have very long lifespans but retain childlike features well into adulthood and even middle age. The point being that a good race selection can allow you to play a childlike character that is actually an adult.

I am currently playing Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardcaptor_Sakura), who is 11. I am playing her as is, an 11 year old human girl. Before doing so, I asked the table if this is alright for reasons stated above and received the blessing of my group. It comes up in roleplay, that the older party members will occasionally treat her as a child but also protect her as such. That said, magical children are superpowered and wise beyond their years. Be ready to balance the fact that the party will treat you like a child but that you can earn respect as deep down, you are far more mature.

For a light hearted take on grimdark, you can play the pint sized slasher (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Pint-Sized_Slasher) from the Fallout Series.

[Thrudd]

My advice is- please don't, unless the game is explicitly of a comedic tone. That sounds incredibly annoying for everyone involved, and at the same time is terribly contrived.

[Sajiri]

I have played 3* childlike characters, although none of them were an actual child. One was a 16 year old (who looked younger) with no world experience, one was an android who had just been 'born' but had not been finished, so she had a rather childlike mentality, and another is a race that was designed to reach adulthood rapidly and was only about 7 years old.

I think the important thing is how much experience they have. Generally children do not have a lot of worldly or life experience, so a lot of situations will be new and confusing or exciting to them. They tend to look at things in black and white, its either wrong or right, good or evil, and difficult to understand shades of grey. Traumatic situations will have a huge impact on them that a normal adult may handle better. Likewise, good situations can have a huge impact too.

If their body and personality are childlike, but they have a more mature mind, the experience thing could still apply, but obviously they will (hopefully) handle things in a more adult-like way. If people view them as a child, they may get irritable about it, or they may embrace it and use their appearance to their advantage to manipulate or deceive people around them.

Personally my 16yo (who at first glance people thought was a child, due to a stunted thing) was one of my favourite characters to play and did the whole manipulation thing. She's since grown up and now looks her age (but she's 18ish now) and its a pretty amusing to roleplay her as still trying to do her childlike act when nobody falls for it anymore.

[KillianHawkeye]

I was planning on playing as a childlike character for a upcoming campaign session with some friends, in the lore he is a child who was imbued with magical energy which made him physically far superior to most children but it had side effects, one was stunting his growth and having his personality stay in a child like state. My main question is what tips would you give for playing a character like this and what characters have you seen that are child like yet they have worked well.

You basically just described Goku as a kid.

[dps]

You were presumably a child at some point in time. Simply have your character behave as you did back then.

[Mordaedil]

I've played a young girl of 10-11 years old before. We did it over roll20 and I used the chat mostly to properly roleplay it without sounding awful. It's not something that works in all groups, but using slightly childish language like making up nicknames for everyone you meet tends to work out.

[Mystical-man]

I think the important thing is how much experience they have. Generally children do not have a lot of worldly or life experience, so a lot of situations will be new and confusing or exciting to them. They tend to look at things in black and white, its either wrong or right, good or evil, and difficult to understand shades of grey. Traumatic situations will have a huge impact on them that a normal adult may handle better. Likewise, good situations can have a huge impact too.

If their body and personality are childlike, but they have a more mature mind, the experience thing could still apply, but obviously they will (hopefully) handle things in a more adult-like way. If people view them as a child, they may get irritable about it, or they may embrace it and use their appearance to their advantage to manipulate or deceive people around them.


This sums up a idea I had for their personality, them being overoptimistic and a bit too easy on determining who he can trust. He'll trust someone a lot more easily than other people and will understand that there are grey areas instead of just good and evil but will try and look at people for their good traits but sometimes he looks only at there good traits and doesn't reflect on their flaws and possible evil intentions.