Opposite Characters

[Mr.Spastic]

Hello peoples,

Recently there was a thread where somebody was playing two characters and wanted them to be "different sides of the same coin". This got me thinking of running a game where my players would do the same. I was hoping you guys would have some suggestions that I could give my players.

Some good starting examples are:
An Eldritch Knight who use magic to protect others and defeat evil, and an Arcane trickster who uses magic for deceit and personal gain.

A Barbarian Berserker and an Archery Style Battlemaster. Both are masters of combat, but one is up close brute strength and one is long ranged finesse.

Those are some general ideas. Go to town on this, the more ideas the better.

[TheCleverGuy]

Classic example from Dragonlance was Caramon and Raistlin. One a strong but not-too-bright warrior, the other a frail but highly intelligent and powerful wizard.

[Tiadoppler]

Players in my campaign control two characters each, and they're usually developed as foils of each other:


A carefree, insulting, aggressive Bard, and the stoic, watchful, sensible Fighter hired to protect her.

A destructive, treacherous Warlock and the kind, gentle Cleric who's trying to reform him.

An idealistic, innocent Monk and the sarcastic, cynical Wizard who freed her from stasis.


Generally, the characters don't strive to be opposites from a mechanical perspective, but rather from the perspective of personality or ideology. It's more interesting that way (imo).

[SunderedWorldDM]

A Teifling Cleric and an Aasimar Warlock.
A Druid and a Pyromancer sorcerer.
An inquisitive and a mastermind, a la Sherlock and Moriarty.
An elvish life Cleric and a dwarvish death cleric.

More?

[Unoriginal]

Well, there are several ways to make an opposite.

For example, take the Eldritch Knight. Being a Fighter who learned some magic, one could argue that the opposite would be a Bladesinger, who is a Wizard who learned some swordplay.

Same thing with the Archery Style Battlemaster. One could argue that an opposite to them would be another Archery Style Battlemaster, except one who has the opposite personality.


Another example from other works: the Joker is often considered the opposite of Batman, one being a flashy, evil murderous clown who ruins people's lives for fun while the other is a dour, black-wearing crimefighter who's against killing people and tries to make their lives better. On the other hand, the Doctor and the Master are often considered opposite too, despite the fact they're both loony time-traveling ridiculously hard to kill alien geniuses with an huge ego, because while one wants to explore the universe and its wonders, and help people, the other is an eager killer who wants to conquer the universe.

Basically, it depends on which axis you're using to establish the opposite.

A few of those axes I can think of:

a) personality: their capacities are similar, but their personality is opposite

b) morality: their capacities and personalities are similar, but one is evil and the other is good

c) goals: their capacities and personalities are similar, but one wants to accomplish something while the other want to stop this something from happening

d) power/combat style: their personalities are similar, but their powers/combat style directly oppose each other

e) flavor of power/specialization: their personalities and capacities are similar, but they have opposite specialization or flavor (ex: a mechanist who creates a flying machine and one who creates a submarine)

f) power source: their personalities and capacities are similar, but they're empowered by opposite forces

etc.

Of course you can have more than one point of opposition. The issue is that if there is no point where the two are similar, it means those characters are basically entirely disconnected.

[Mr.Spastic]

Well, there are several ways to make an opposite.

For example, take the Eldritch Knight. Being a Fighter who learned some magic, one could argue that the opposite would be a Bladesinger, who is a Wizard who learned some swordplay.

Same thing with the Archery Style Battlemaster. One could argue that an opposite to them would be another Archery Style Battlemaster, except one who has the opposite personality.


Another example from other works: the Joker is often considered the opposite of Batman, one being a flashy, evil murderous clown who ruins people's lives for fun while the other is a dour, black-wearing crimefighter who's against killing people and tries to make their lives better. On the other hand, the Doctor and the Master are often considered opposite too, despite the fact they're both loony time-traveling ridiculously hard to kill alien geniuses with an huge ego, because while one wants to explore the universe and its wonders, and help people, the other is an eager killer who wants to conquer the universe.

Basically, it depends on which axis you're using to establish the opposite.

A few of those axes I can think of:

a) personality: their capacities are similar, but their personality is opposite

b) morality: their capacities and personalities are similar, but one is evil and the other is good

c) goals: their capacities and personalities are similar, but one wants to accomplish something while the other want to stop this something from happening

d) power/combat style: their personalities are similar, but their powers/combat style directly oppose each other

e) flavor of power/specialization: their personalities and capacities are similar, but they have opposite specialization or flavor (ex: a mechanist who creates a flying machine and one who creates a submarine)

f) power source: their personalities and capacities are similar, but they're empowered by opposite forces

etc.

Of course you can have more than one point of opposition. The issue is that if there is no point where the two are similar, it means those characters are basically entirely disconnected.

To make it more interesting...

ALL OF THEM

I just want my players to play characters that are opposites an any regard. Personality wise or ability wise. Whatever makes things interesting. so having some good examples of any of those things would be helpful.

[Unoriginal]

To make it more interesting...

ALL OF THEM

I just want my players to play characters that are opposites an any regard. Personality wise or ability wise. Whatever makes things interesting. so having some good examples of any of those things would be helpful.

Well, will they still have to work together, or would it be more a "each PC is their own faction" kind of campaign?

[Mr.Spastic]

Preferably they would be able to work together.