PCs and NPCs that go against racial stereotypes

[GenericGuy]

One popular way to make a PC or NPC feel original is by giving them a class or personality that doesn’t fit the stereotype of the race (Orcs being dunderheaded barbarians, elves being wise wizards or graceful rogues, dwarves being…dwarves, and etc.). So, what characters have you made that fit this description, what characters did you go out of your way to not make “typical” of their race?

My examples

Ijahak Ratsbane: An Elven rogue, who ran the largest criminal gang in the city, and was without a doubt the ugliest looking man in the city. He was missing half his teeth (the rest of them were black and brown), crooked nose, misshapen head, one of his nostrils was bitten off by one of his “babies (his nickname for his hundreds of hundreds of pet rats),”and was convinced he was the gods gift to women. He also enjoyed throwing his enemies and conquests into the pit kept all of his “babies” in, for their meal.

Noct Dirge: Orcish nationalist, fighting to create a true nation for his people from unjust human rule. Not all that original at first, as the orcs as stand-ins for oppressed peoples isn’t all that new, but Noct fully believes that his new nation will fall apart moments after his death no matter what. And he is far more racist against Orcs than any human lord, believing his own people to be gullible idiots who will adorn him with praise and wives over his “pretty and uplifting words.”

Anea Thell: Elvish sorcerer and the world biggest human fangirl ever, she has read every storybook featuring a human man and elvish girl romance (as well as written a dozen or so fanfics), likes to be called Jane Smith by her friends, and every time she runs into humans she lets out a squee.

[Daer]

Kender wizard. though i guess she is quite stereotypical as she has specialized to magical locks and unlocking them. and too short attention span has saved her from harming anyone too badly.



then few that goes against general idea of class:
Logical pyromancer. Though he has urge to burn things he keeps fighting it and usually acts somewhat like spock would.

happy happy joy joy fey powered warlock :)

[Zale]

A Dwarf Wizard would certainly be interesting. Against the whole anti-arcane magic thing Dwarves usually get shackled to.

[Saph]

Yeah, trying to make a character original by having them be "against stereotype" is popular. That's where the legions of dual-scimitar-wielding drow PCs came from. It's particularly popular for monster races, to the point where noble misunderstood unjustly persecuted monster PCs are so damn common they probably outnumber the evil ones.

The problem is that trying to play "against stereotype" doesn't make a character original - it just makes them a stereotype with the colours reversed. Most people who create original characters usually find that what really makes a character individual is their personality, not whether other players do the same sort of thing.

[Zale]

That works for inverting race personalities, but what about race/class combos that work against standing fluff?

Are they evil, also?

[RobD]

One of my favorite characters is Rowan Shortcloak, the Halfling Barbarian. When I brought him to the group (mostly older guys who've been playing since 1st or 2nd edition), at least half of them looked at me like I'd grown a second head. The other ones just shook their heads and started taking bets on how long I'd live. I mean, a halfling? -2 St? Never work.
And I played him full tilt, too. Charge and Rage were my only tactics. He was a pint-sized powderkeg, dynamite in a cape. First session, I ended up leaping onto the back of a Rhemmoraz. Everyone expected me to quickly meet my end-myself included. But here's the thing:
Rowan just flat-out wouldn't die. I ran headlong, alone, into things I had no business even looking at-hags, ogres, some terrible ice monster that knocked me down and killed my dogs with a cone of cold-and he kept surviving. It was as if, the more daring, harebrained, ridiculously impossible things I tried, the better I rolled.
By the time I had to return to school, Rowan was pretty well cemented as my flagship character.

[Pie Guy]

I made a character that dual-wielded scimitars, was a paladin, and was human because I hadn't heard of Drizz't yet.

Tri-rony! Boom!

[Dimers]

Gay dwarven martial artist turned drill sergeant, represented with bard levels.

Oriental-stereotyped human who levels up in wilder (D&D 3.5 term for someone whose psionic power is driven by explosive, overflowing emotion).

Necromancer who doesn't care about undead one way or the other.

Outgoing and active shinomen naga (in Rokugan, the race is fluffed as being in decline due to a race-wide torpor). Despite being in the caste/sub-race that holds the race's wisdom, that character is curious and expects to find wisdom specifically outside the naga world.

Elan oozemaster, slowly becoming ectoplasm. Most elan are quite satisfied with quietly living forever.

[TheCountAlucard]

I once made a Malkavian that was scarily-competent...

Oh, wait, against the stereotypes.

[meto30]

dwarf bard. He had max ranks in perform(dancing), perform(singing), and tumble.

He also liked using haste spells.

[Morithias]

Succubus Paladin with a vow of chastity.

Probably the biggest "Against racial stereotypes" that I've actually played was in an evil campaign.

Aasimar Paladin of Tyranny/Blackguard

She was deadly, and EVIL!

[LibraryOgre]

One of my favorites of this was a Rodian Jedi, many moons ago, played by a very tightly wound tech support guy. His idea was to play a Rodian Jedi... someone who broke the mold of Rodians, showing one that was just and wise and well-mannered.

Did I mention that the player was tightly wound? And frequently frustrated by work?

First game, they're launching a multi-pronged assault on a pirate base. The Rodian was supposed to cut down the fence and one of the guard towers with his lightsaber and ambush the guys with the repeating blaster.

Despite the difficulty being like 5 or something, HE KEPT FAILING. His dice HATED him that night. Finally, after the third attempt, he shouted, "Dammit, I'm spending a force point on this damn thing!"

Boom. Force point in anger, specifically to hurt someone. He gets a dark side point.

Later, they're doing some legwork. He goes to talk to a friend who works with Sorosuub... and walks in on a murder scene. Cops show up, but he's not going to be taken prisoner. No sir, not him. He leads them on a chase through town, force-throwing stuff at police speeders, using his lightsaber to cut down fire escapes (that happen to have cops on them)... basically cutting a swath of force-aided death through town. Actually pushed Sorosuub towards the Empire and away from the Jedi Order with his antics.

End result? He was BARELY on the light side when the Sith apprentice showed up. Every so often, I'd point out "You know, if you spent a force point, this would be pretty easy. Heck, I'll GIVE you a force point to do it..."

(Un)fortunately, the player was savvy enough not to take the Dark side up on its offer of free force points.

[NikitaDarkstar]

I haven't done many since I like to take the stereotype and go over-the-top with it.. and if it turns into a long running character well it usually ends up evolving into something that can't really be categorized all that easily, other than "somewhat insane." (okay my longest running character was probably bipolar and completely lacking in survival instinct later on...)

But lets see there was my human necromancer, arcane variety (wizard specialized in necromancy and with some bonuses in that school), started out neutral ended up as good and was of the general opinion that hordes of undeads were something anyone with half a brain and a decent spell-book could handle. But the guy was also casting Drain Energy and Wail of the Banshee meta-magiced like it wasn't that big of a deal, he was entitled to that opinion.

And there was my Aasimar barbarian. She tended to shift between good and neutral, and while I suppose it's not that off they seem to be paladins and possibly fighters more than anything.

[Niek]

Humility Plainfield, Aasimar binder questing in order to obtain enough power to get back at his pompous ass of a half-celestial father who abandoned the city he was sworn to protect at the first sign of danger. This soured his view on celestials in general, prompting him to look beyond the outer planes for assistance.

Rawlock Cardhast, fey-blooded sorcerer who insists vehemently that he is actually descended from demons, due to considering fairies to be too sissy. Described as looking like a bishie Conan the Barbarian. Compensates for his masculinity issues by generally acting in the loudest and most boorish manner he can. Prefers hurling tridents to casting spells, and has far more hit points than a caster reasonably should.

[TheCountAlucard]

Rawlock Cardhast, fey-blooded sorcerer who insists vehemently that he is actually descended from demons, due to considering fairies to be too sissy. Described as looking like a bishie Conan the Barbarian. Compensates for his masculinity issues by generally acting in the loudest and most boorish manner he can. Prefers hurling tridents to casting spells, and has far more hit points than a caster reasonably should.

...I want to transplant this character over to Exalted, like, right now.

[tribble]

Rawlock Cardhast, fey-blooded sorcerer who insists vehemently that he is actually descended from demons, due to considering fairies to be too sissy. Described as looking like a bishie Conan the Barbarian. Compensates for his masculinity issues by generally acting in the loudest and most boorish manner he can. Prefers hurling tridents to casting spells, and has far more hit points than a caster reasonably should.

I'm having trouble envisioning this, in part due to my image of conan being Arnie. He didn't happen to make/find a picture of this "bishie conan", would he?

I once tried to make a noncombat Twilight caste doctor. By the end of the story I had acquired a reputation for shattering pelvises with my feet. I hadn't realised just how potent channeling four points of a virtue and five motes of excellency into punting someone could be.

[tensai_oni]

An orc-equivalent (it wasn't DnD) female paladin. She was gentle, kind and well-behaved - a properly mannered young lady. Her family had a long warrior tradition, but more in a chivalrous way than raging barbarians, so she was sent off to the paladins' guild to receive education as fitting someone her station. History, eloquence, crushing enemy skulls or decapitating them with your blade - just what every young woman needs. Also she should try to find a potential husband if possible - only orc-equivalents need to apply!

Of course she still had more orc-like traits, like bloodlust on the battlefield or eating by putting whole pieces of meat into her massive-jawed mouth and only then starting to chew. Not to mention, awkwardness due to being one of the largest and strongest people around, who could easily hurt others if not careful.

[Yora]

My half-elf barbarian/sorcerer was always one of my favorite characters.

[Friv]

Raksha Darkcutter, the Kender barbarian. Three feet tall, completely fearless, and with no concept of property rights. The step to barbarian was pretty tiny, honestly. He was as good-natured as any kender sometimes, but he had a hair-trigger temper and a general belief that he could take any enemy.

Some of my favorite moments for him:

* "Picking a lock". We reached a tower, he walked up to the lock, considered it seriously, gave it a halfhearted try, and when that didn't work he hacked the door off its hinges with a greatsword. "There. Lock picked."
* Disarming traps. He saw a chest, pulled it open, and got hit with a poison needle trap. He spent a minute walking around shaking his hand, and after two successful Fort saves announced that the poison must have gone bad or something, because he felt fine.
* Charging a dragon head-on in midair after the party bard decided to cast Haste and Fly on him. He won.

[Niek]

...I want to transplant this character over to Exalted, like, right now.

Why? Would he fit there particularly well? *doesnt know much about Exalted except through second-hand sources*

[TheCountAlucard]

Why? Would he fit there particularly well? *doesnt know much about Exalted except through second-hand sources*

Given Exalted's animesque feel, pretty much every guy with a high Appearance is bishie.

Plus, mortals descended from demons or Fair Folk get an awakened Essence and can learn sorcery and supernatural martial arts, in addition to learning the abilities of their parents.

It'd still be funny to have him deny being descended from a Fair Folk and claim a demonic heritage, though.

[LibraryOgre]

Ah, just remembered Cathoris (name blatantly stolen; it's from when I stopped taking 4e seriously). Half-elf barbarian. Loud. Pushy. Rude. Very much an alpha-male personality, who tended to say what he was going to do then do it, and damn the man.

I also blatantly stole from Kull for him. "By this Axe, I rule."

[Anderlith]

I played an Elven Barbarian who took levels in Cleric (he thought he was learning to be a wizard)

Also I regularly have evil devil worshiping elves as tyranical imperialist slave owners, just because I have the Tolkien-esque elves.

[Cerlis]

what would impress me is Original characters that go against type,but not just simple inversion of type.

Its my -personal-belief that the thing that makes humans in D&D unique is that they can have any personality. The way the races are presented it seems that, whether or not they give into their instincts, that certian races are always on a certian side of a personality slider.

Example: Elves are ALWAYS flighty, and Dwarves are Always stubborn. Now HOW stubborn or flighty is a different matter, and if they took their natural instincts as a sign that they are falling into their old ways.

A Dwarven Wizard who is basically a Gnome in a dwarven body. Eh.

A Dwarven wizard who is so because he sees a weakness in his people always going on way, and seeks to turn his and his peoples own weakness into a strengh by being one of the few who studies the arcane and uses his stubborness as a big red flag that says "Now is the time when you need to be the most open minded". Better.

[The Gilded Duke]

One of my favorite characters was Karl the Conqueror. Chaotic Neutral Gnome Illusionist.

Who married into the Tiger Claw barbarian clan and liked conquering cities. He also had an deep loathing for necromancers. An arrogant bully, he liked to mock evokers. He shouted out battle cries while casting, and was just about to annex a drow city when the game started to fall apart.

[Malfunctioned]

In one campaign, probably one of my favourites, though short-lasting, the party consisted of...

Galad - Orc, cleric of Pelor, believing the rest of his people were misguided in their pursuit of war and bloodthirst and spent as much time defending people as trying to convert them.

Rolder Oakflask - Dwarven Wizard. His spellbook was constructed from solid slabs of very light stone, each rune was hand chiseled and all his magic was rune-based in one way or another.

Clasan Freanivirrea. Elven Monk, planning to take levels in Drunken Master and well on her way to do so.

Ampkin Gimbaltopple. Gnommish Paladin. And not the 'I'm small-sized so I'll use ranged weapons' kind of Paladin. Full plate armour, wielding a Gnome Hooked Hammer. Three crits in a turn let her bring down a Iron Golem the others could barely scratch.

[LibraryOgre]

Also I regularly have evil devil worshiping elves as tyranical imperialist slave owners, just because I have the Tolkien-esque elves.

So you prefer Dunmer?

[Anderlith]

So you prefer Dunmer?

More or less. They look like normal elves though, they weren't cursed by Azura

[LibraryOgre]

More or less. They look like normal elves though, they weren't cursed by Azura

Ah. So you're a Chimer supremacist.

[Socratov]

More or less. They look like normal elves though, they weren't cursed by Azura

could be altmer... they are nasty too...