Ideas for a pacifist character who can't help but hurt people

[spudmuffin1128]

Hello all,

I am a new DnD player, am getting ready to start my first campaign and I am very excited. I have been doing lots of research and reading as much as I can and I came up with an idea for a character who deep down really wants to be a pacifist but is very clumsy and will accidentally hurt things.

In doing research I found a lot of people said that a pacifist character can be challenging for the dm and the rest of the group so I am hoping that this would make it easier because my character would still fight, just not really meaning to.

I would love to get y'alls thoughts on this idea about if you think it would work, if you think it would be too challenging for someone just starting out, and any suggestions for race/class ideas for this and possible "accidental" fighting techniques.

Thanks!

[LecternOfJasper]

Hmmmm, funky! If you're playing 5e, some sort of big clumsy creature that's a drunken fist monk could be amusing, as you won't be holding weapons, slap people upside the head while trying to figure out what to do, and can have a clean getaway if you decide you goal is to be over there!

If it's looking like a long form game, it may start straining the bounds of credibility if you keep accidentally punching people 4 times and rushing into another enemy while trying to escape, but it could be good fun in a short/joke game!

[The Glyphstone]

That sounds like good advice. For a joke/one-shot, I can see this being very funny. But if this is your first campaign, do talk to your group/DM to find out if this is the sort of one-note gag they will soon grow tired of.

[halfeye]

You are talking about:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oh-No-Its-Selwyn-Froggit/dp/B0042QHA6A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494017618&sr=8-1&keywords=selwyn+froggit

It was sort of funny.

[erikun]

Which edition of D&D are we talking about? Getting into builds is really going to depend on which version of the game you are playing.

One option is to make a hyper focused combat character, just roleplay them as a bumbling incompetent. This will largely depend on how much your game group is accepting of goofy character concepts, though. Especially in a shorter/one-shot session it should probably be fine, but in a multi-year campaign which you play every week, it might strain everybody's believability to have the weak town peasant just coincidentally stumbling right at the dragon... again.

Another option is to play something like Monk, who can just punch and flail and pick up random weapons while being "occasionally" effective. Sorcerer and Warlock can be played as characters whose magic is simply out of control and attacking on its own - Warlock could even be themed as having something else controlling their magic. Depending on the edition, a Cleric can have some surprisingly good options that can end up hurting enemies (Spiritual Hammer is a common one, Spirit Guardians in D&D5e) although you'll end up spending most of your time as support. Druid can be surprisingly destructive, and it's magic can be treated similar to Sorcerer/Warlock.


This would be a rather difficult thing for a beginning player to run, though. It's much easier to roleplay what you're actually doing in the game, and that's not considering dealing with spellcasting rules.

[Tarmor]

...a character who deep down really wants to be a pacifist but is very clumsy and will accidentally hurt things. ...my character would still fight, just not really meaning to.

I don't see this idea as working except for a single adventure or short campaign. In something ongoing, how do you explain wanting to be a pacifist but continuing to put yourself in situations where you "still fight".

By definition, a pacifist is "a person who believes that violence is unjustifiable". This also would suggest that you don't approve of the other characters pursuing violence. You might be better with going with a personal desire not to harm or kill in some form. Play a healer, or some other character who only deals non-lethal damage, or casts ONLY spells that don't actually cause damage.

[Pex]

You can play a spellcaster and don't choose damage spells. You can buff the party or debuff the enemy. Bane, Hold Person, Polymorph are acceptable attack spells that don't hurt people. You can alter terrain. The only issue is your Cantrips. You will need to conserve spell slots. Sometimes the best course of action is a Cantrip, usually an attack for damage type of Cantrip. However, to keep your theme choose a Cantrip that causes your opponent to make a saving throw instead of you making a spell attack roll.

An acceptable tactic is to cast a Concentration spell then Dodge the rest of the combat or otherwise hide so you don't get hit. It can't be every combat because then the other players may think you aren't contributing. However, when you have a spell that MUST KEEP GOING, the strategy works. For example, you might polymorph a party member into a Giant Ape and he needs to be that Ape. Cast and Dodge. I once had the pleasure of casting Bane on a hydra. All its head attacks had -1d4 to hit frustrating the DM. Cast Bane, hide, Dodge, let the rest of the party deal with it.

[Berenger]

To be honest, this sounds too farcical unless, of course, this is the kind of campaign theme the rest of your group is aiming for.

The other players (or rather their characters) are, to a certain degree, bound by the social contract of the game to cooperate, travel and ally themselves with your character and thus to bear a share of the consequences of your characters behaviour. Just remember that, so you don't accidentally abuse the social contract by making the mandatory association with your character annoying or embarrassing for them. In other words, I'd advise against using this type of character concept as a surprise or without the consent of your group.

[Psyren]

Something like this? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrRFzwPE0d4)

I agree that this could be fun for a one-shot but could get old fast.

You didn't specify an edition for D&D but Open Hand or Drunken Master could get you to this, maybe with some buffs from the DM.

[SpyOne]

Folks mentioned Drunken Master and that's a pretty good fit, as that is often portrayed as intentionally inflicting harm in ways that seem accidental. You didn't trip that cop, it's just that you are drunk and clumsy and got your feet tangled in his legs.
But I think that works best for someone pretending to be a pacifist. "Oh, I'm so sorry, here let me help you up" as you punch him in the face.

It will require a bit of work for you and the DM, but this could actually be handled by just "re-fluffing" an existing class. That is, keeping the mechanics but changing the description of what is being done.
Engaging the enemy in conversation, getting into an argument with them, and convincing them to leave are functionality similar to getting into combat and killing them, just described differently.
Some game systems lend themselves to this more than others.

[halfeye]

Folks mentioned Drunken Master and that's a pretty good fit, as that is often portrayed as intentionally inflicting harm in ways that seem accidental. You didn't trip that cop, it's just that you are drunk and clumsy and got your feet tangled in his legs.
But I think that works best for someone pretending to be a pacifist. "Oh, I'm so sorry, here let me help you up" as you punch him in the face.

The French for clumsy is "maladroit", I think that's perhaps a cleverer description than the English, sometimes clumsy people are angry but not aware that they are angry.

[TinyMushroom]

This concept might suit a backline caster a lot more than a monk.

You could try to roll up a Warlock who doesn't really want to get into fights but their patron keeps telling them to. Maybe at first your character doesn't want to at all, but their fiend patron keeps forcing their hand so after a session or so they sigh and settle into their designated role.

Alternately, Wild Magic Sorceror works really well for a "clumsy" character. You keep accidentally surging and doing things you don't expect.

If you want to remain pacifistish, a bard could influence the fight a lot while not necessarily participating in damage-dealing a lot. They just insult and cast at the enemy from a distance, and smooth-talk them out of the fight if at all possible.