Roleplaying Twins

[arguskos]

So, in an upcoming D&D 3.5 game, I might get to play a Dvati Wizard. Mechanically, I have this guy down to a "T", but honestly, I'm stuck for how to RP them. I guess I can just have the twins talk to each other, but that seems... odd, somehow.

Does the playground have any advice for roleplaying identical twins?

[Tsotha-lanti]

I have absolutely no clue what Dvati are, but apparently they've got some kind of psychic link? That pretty much negates the need to roleplay them to each other (which is, indeed, a bit pointlesS); instead, they can be finishing each others' thoughts and sentences when speaking to others. Play them as one character with two bodies, basically. (Not a piece of advice I'd give on playing actual human twins.)

[UserClone]

I played a Dvati Monk a while back, and I would have them complete each other's sentences. Constantly. Or things like, one tosses something to the other and he catches it without looking. When I would have them talking as one like that, I would mimic using a hand-puppet with one hand while saying the first part of a sentence, then the other hand for the other guy. That way my group knew who was talking. That having been said, Dvati are FAR batter for fightery-types than spellcasters...

[arguskos]

Dvati are FAR batter for fightery-types than spellcasters...

That's the point. I want to get to PLAY this character, and not outshine the rest of the party, and I like wizards, so I'm going with a caster (never fear though, I have lots of spell-completion items so I can get good use out of my action surplus).

Anyways, that's some good advice with the rp. Thanks.

[newbDM]

Instead of hands, you might get good use out of a prop like this:

Spoiler

Show

I made these for my last (and so far only) group of players, because most of them had a group of retired PCs who had essentially begun their own small (and very rich) kingdom with the help of a deck of many things. Since one was the king (the lucky card puller), and another his lord/silver dragon steed I made them important NPCs and their kingdom they made the starting point of my future campaigns. But I decided to let them continue running them at certain points, so that their actions determined the course of the kingdom. Things often got complicated, so I came up with these one night while deliriously tired.

It is made out of a $0.30-something stick from Home Depot, and their character's names printed on fitting and fancy text. To give it extra durability I had them laminated at Staples/Office Max for under a dollar per page. Then I simply stapled the name sheet unto the top of the stick.

You would be surprised at how much these helped.

I even found relating images using special fonts (www.fontspace.com is where I get my large and strange collection of fonts) that I placed next to each name. For example, the king had a crown, his dragon mount/lord had Bubble from Bobble Bubble, the lord/dragon mount's cousin got Bobble, the savage half-orc barbarian with a Cha of 1 got a skull (his name is too inappropriate to say on these forums), and so on.




edit:

For a while I have been wanting to know, could Dvati be fraternal twins instead of identical twins? Specifically, can one be male while the other is female?


Also, I always imagines that a Dvati pair would be great to play with two separate players. Maybe even with a gaming IRL couple, or just two players able to cooperate with each other.

[arguskos]

Instead of hands, you might get good use out of a prop like this:

Spoiler

Show

I made these for my last (and so far only) group of players, because most of them had a group of retired PCs who had essentially begun their own small (and very rich) kingdom with the help of a deck of many things. Since one was the king (the lucky card puller), and another his lord/silver dragon steed I made them important NPCs and their kingdom they made the starting point of my future campaigns. But I decided to let them continue running them at certain points, so that their actions determined the course of the kingdom. Things often got complicated, so I came up with these one night while deliriously tired.

It is made out of a $0.30-something stick from Home Depot, and their character's names printed on fitting and fancy text. To give it extra durability I had them laminated at Staples/Office Max for under a dollar per page. Then I simply stapled the name sheet unto the top of the stick.

You would be surprised at how much these helped.

I even found relating images using special fonts (www.fontspace.com is where I get my large and strange collection of fonts) that I placed next to each name. For example, the king had a crown, his dragon mount/lord had Bubble from Bobble Bubble, the lord/dragon mount's cousin got Bobble, the savage half-orc barbarian with a Cha of 1 got a skull (his name is too inappropriate to say on these forums), and so on.




edit:

For a while I have been wanting to know, could Dvati be fraternal twins instead of identical twins? Specifically, can one be male while the other is female?


Also, I always imagines that a Dvati pair would be great to play with two separate players. Maybe even with a gaming IRL couple, or just two players able to cooperate with each other.

Sorry for the old post, but wow, that's a great idea!! I like the idea of the props. I may have to nick that, actually.

As for the Dvati questions, under their fluff, they are both identical, though I bet most DM's would allow fraternal twins too.

Hmm... if my gf wasn't the DM for this game, I'd ask if she wanted to play the other twin. As it stands, I'll be them both (it would be fun to have two people RP the twins though).

Oh, and for those who might recognize the names, they are named Gork and Mork.

[woodenbandman]

Never tried but it sounds like awesome. I guess they're like demi-ettins, right? I'll have to play one now.

[arguskos]

Never tried but it sounds like awesome. I guess they're like demi-ettins, right? I'll have to play one now.

Sorta. You actually play two people, but they share a soul (and thus levels, hp, spell slots, etc). They're pretty neat, I gotta say. You can find the Dvati in the Dragon Compendium.

[Malacode]

...
Oh, and for those who might recognize the names, they are named Gork and Mork.

..... GORKAMORKA! GORKAMORKA! GORKAMORKA! WAAAAAAAAGHH!!!!!!!
*regains sanity* Sorry. Ork player in 40k.

Ere we go, ere we go, ere we go....

Edit: On a more on topic note, is this a 3.5 game? As far as I'm aware, Dvati disappeared after 2nd ed. The choice of names is quite appropriate really, as two Boyz iz better than one, and you getz twice the Dakka! Very Orky

[imperialspectre]

Dvati are 3.5-legal as of the Dragon Compendium.

Holding up a sign is probably the best thing you can do to distinguish the twins, and might make for some humorous visual aid in letting everyone know when they say the same thing at once.

[Another_Poet]

I'm surprised no one mentioned it, but you could jut use two different voices. That assumes you have the vocal chord capability to make two distinctly different non-annoying voices, but many gamers I know have a wide arrange of non-annoying voices (and, sadly, an even larger array of annoying ones).

Frankly, that's how I'd do it. It sounds fun.

[esorscher]

Can Dvati rogues use each other to flank, and thus get sneak attack?

Also, this sounds awesome. Since one Dvati could be paralyzed by a gorgon while the other still lives, it seems like the very race itself lends itself to a plot-hook.

[Mr Pants]

Well I would have one of them be slightly more cunning than the other and the other be slightly more brutal. Also because they're Gork and Mork, never remember which one is which.

[huttj509]

Conman.

Seriously, if it's like 1 person with 2 bodies, magic mind reading act or something, though that might not work so well in a world where there's actually magic mind reading.

I'm sure you can come up with something. Make everyone think you're 2 different people, though sometimes "slipping up" by passing something over to your other body without thinking of looking over or something. I mean, do you look all the time when you pass something from your right hand to your left? Occasionally someone asks Gork a question and Mork answers from the other side of the room (you were distracted and forgot which mouth to use), that sort of thing.

[Malacode]

Well I would have one of them be slightly more cunning than the other and the other be slightly more brutal. Also because they're Gork and Mork, never remember which one is which.

Oh, come on. They have clearly defined roles: Gork is the bashy one, Mork is the sneaky one. Gork his things over the head with his club, Mork waits till their looking the other way, then hits them over the head with his club. Veeerry separate.

If I was to play a Dvati (And I'd never get the chance. Stupid DM and his "Nothing from a supplement I don't own" rule...), I'd just RP them as two characters who always take wildy differing stances. One argues that the party should let the repenting BBEG live, the other says that he's just going to do X evil deed again, we should kill him now. Next time this comes up, its the other way around. The thing is, they share a soul. They don't share a mind. Also (According to Dragon 271 and the original creator), each tries to look at a situation from a different angle, so they can truly understand all sides. They aren't Neutral for nothing.

[Narmoth]

If I was to play a Dvati (And I'd never get the chance. Stupid DM and his "Nothing from a supplement I don't own" rule...), I'd just RP them as two characters who always take wildy differing stances. One argues that the party should let the repenting BBEG live, the other says that he's just going to do X evil deed again, we should kill him now. Next time this comes up, its the other way around. The thing is, they share a soul. They don't share a mind. Also (According to Dragon 271 and the original creator), each tries to look at a situation from a different angle, so they can truly understand all sides. They aren't Neutral for nothing.

Good idea. Try also giving them different habits and preferences. Not in the important stuff, like class or hobbies, as these often will be shared, but rather in small things, like color preference, different weapons, although they could have one main weapon in common, and different bad habits as well

[kopout]

can some one explain Dvati to me?

[Mr Pants]

Oh, come on. They have clearly defined roles: Gork is the bashy one, Mork is the sneaky one. Gork his things over the head with his club, Mork waits till their looking the other way, then hits them over the head with his club. Veeerry separate.

I thought that Gork was the god of cunning brutality while Mork was the god of brutal cunning. It's stuff like this that proves my point that no ones knows which one is which. Besides can't we just agree that they're both green and green is best?

[arguskos]

Gork: Cunnin', but fighty.
Mork: Fighty, but cunnin'.
Gork and/or Mork: All Dakka, all da time.

orkzorkzorkzorkz....

*ahem*

Anyways, I do like the Conman idea. I might have to mix that into my Force Missile Mage routine (balance request by said DM). I was definitely going to use unique voices (one deep, one higher), and have them argue with each other and the party on every major decision of note (Gork is a pacifist, with violent streaks; Mork is violent, with occasions of kindness; etc...).

Good idea. Try also giving them different habits and preferences. Not in the important stuff, like class or hobbies, as these often will be shared, but rather in small things, like color preference, different weapons, although they could have one main weapon in common, and different bad habits as well

I actually planned on this too. Gork likes his ale (fine ales only) and whores (fine whores only), whereas Mork likes to smoke, drink fine wines, and eat fine foods. They are also going to dress somewhat differently (Gork has rougher clothes, whereas Mork has finer ones; going for the whole "he's the bodyguard" trick).

[Aether]

For humor, you could have them try to walk through a door at the same time, fight for the last bit of food, or get into a routine where they say the same thing at the same time, turn to look at each other "what?" "stop copying me!" e.t.c.

If twins that are practically supposed to speak at the same time get worried about copying each other... Um, well, it was funny to me...

[Prometheus]

Different voices is a good idea, as a RL twin, that is probably the most reliable method of telling us apart (superficially that is). Contrasting ideas or roles are a good idea, but be sure not to overdue it. They should neither agree on everything nor disagree on everything.

[Jera]

edit:

For a while I have been wanting to know, could Dvati be fraternal twins instead of identical twins? Specifically, can one be male while the other is female?

When a player asked me this a while back I told him no. As Dizygotic twins or Faternal twins usually occur when two fertilized eggs are implanted in the uterine wall at the same time. IE When two eggs are independently fertilized by two different sperm cells.

I personally believe that Dvati are Monozygotic twins, where only a single egg is fertilized, but it splits into two different embryos.