Character Advice

[Bluntaxe]

Hi all,

Looking for some ideas/advice as my puny mind is struggling.

I'm in my first 5e campaign with a few friends which has been going for ~2 years (we don't meed very often and all first time DnD'ers). My character is an Elf Ranger who was in isolation for a significant period of time pre-adventure and not totally aware of social cues or customs. In our most recent evening in Xonthals Tower (we were so bad at the maze) a poorly worded wish with a Djinn left my character with 'no concept of fear'. If you're familiar with Xonthals tower you'll know you can attain a respect for heights!

I'm at a loss on how to adjust my responses or motives based on this. I suspect a more chaotic alignment might be in order: No fear of companions injury/death, no fear of failure, no concept of fear.

So, hoping for some guidance on how I could incorporate some fun into this new modification!

[Zanthy1]

Essentially, without fear you need to figure out a new motivation for your character. If it were me, my character would go towards greed, because without fear there is nothing stopping me from taking something.

Though a counterpoint, without fear you could become one of the greatest heroes of all time, because no challenge threatens you.

[Zhorn]

Maybe you need to start thinking like a lizardfolk? No fear, just recognition and acceptance of threats.
You accept death as a possibility, but the fear component is just not part of your reasoning as to why your own death, or the death of people you care for, are things you'd rather avoid.

[nickl_2000]

So, you really need to decide on the character motives for how it effects your character.

It could change them to Chaotic instead of lawful/neutral. However, that would only be the case if you character followed the law due to fear of reprisal (certainly a possibility). On the other hand, if your character respects law because they felt it was the right thing, this wouldn't be the result.

Either way, I wouldn't expect that this character would ever back down from a fight. I, as a DM, would give them either auto-success on checks against intimidate or at least advantage (how can one without fear be intimidated), and also immunity to any fear effect. Without a fear of mortality and character will make poor choices when it comes to dangerous situations (charging the dragon instead of running, walking along the thin icy path instead of crawling with ropes, etc).

[Max_Killjoy]

The character could either become reckless and risk-seeking, or become coldly logical about assessing threats and challenges.

Fear isn't the only reason to avoid fights, risks, or potential problems.

[Contrast]

No fear of companions injury/death, no fear of failure, no concept of fear.

I feel like you're possibly overstating things somewhat here. Just because the character doesn't fear things doesn't mean he doesn't feel other things. He would still mourn lost companions he cares for and be frustrated by set backs and failure - he just wouldn't be afraid.

You don't need fear to tell you not to attack an enemy you have no hope of beating - logic could tell you that as well. I would imagine his day to day reactions would likely be mostly the same but perhaps more impulsive. In more extreme situations is might be more obvious when your companions are tensely discussing discussing tactics for the upcoming fight while you nonchalantly get your lunch out of your pack to eat while you discuss to keep your strength up.


because without fear there is nothing stopping me from taking something.

And here was me thinking the stereotype of an amoral person only held back by the constraints of society from doing bad things was a straw man in morality debates. There you go :smallwink:

[Keravath]

Keep in mind that having no fear does not make you stupid.

Ha! 30 orcs ... I am unafraid of taking you on single handed! However, I am smart enough to know that this would be a really dumb idea, I would probably die and not achieve whatever I want to do with my life. Thus, although it doesn't scare me, I am unlikely to leap into battle for no good reason.

The same goes for a lot of the encounters you might run across. You might even get advantage or a bonus on some skill checks since you have no fear. Swinging on ropes over lava! No problem. This assumes that you actually have a good reason to swing on ropes over lava though ... even if that reason is "to get to the other side".

Without fear, a lot of your choices and actions become more reasoned rather than irrational. In addition, you won't be affected by dragon's fear aura and other sources of magical fear (assuming that having no fear extends to magical sources as well).

If you want to role play this ... just have your character stride everywhere without fear. They wouldn't cower unless there was a reason and in that case they would need to roll a deception check to pretend that they are afraid. They don't do things stupidly, they do them fearlessly ... when they commit to a worthy course of action they will follow up ... weighing the consequences logically since the possible results including dying don't hold any fear for them ... just the possibility that they may not achieve their goals which may be sufficient to decide not to take the particular action.

[Particle_Man]

Given that in other editions of this game paladins (LG) gain the ability to be immune to fear, I wouldn't see it as necessarily chaotic.

More like the stoics. They rationally weigh the consequences of things, but have no fear of death or loss of property.

[Bluntaxe]

Thanks for the advice, I've got some good ideas from the comments here. It seemed to become a debate about morality, which is most interesting!

Until next time :)

[guachi]

You already have the pointy ears, go full Vulcan!

[Laserlight]

There's no reason "lack of fear" would necessarily mean "chaotic". You might equally well decide "I can't really judge this myself, so I will go by society's rules and/or by what my companions seem to expect" and become more Lawful.

Basically, you can spin it however you want.