Calen Dalobrand Halfling Bard.... Or not. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Calen Dalobrand Halfling Bard.... Or not. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Calen
02-26-08, 10:55 PM So in a daring attempt to end my lurker ways I come to this board asking for advice on a certain conundrum.

Over the past weekend we met for DnD, and in typical fashion managed to derail the entire planned quest... only this time it took us about one decision, and a half hour. This decision lead to myself, and two of the four gathered characters dead. Luckily the third had a one time vial of true resurrection on him. He of course used it on our only player who could raise the others, our artificer. Unfortunately for us this lead to the only resurrection he had on him being cast on us... Reincarnation.

And so now our Dwarf is a short fat human, and Calen finds himself a female gray elf, and unfortunately for him (as far as these campaigns are concerned) a rather attractive one at that.

My question to all of you is this how can I play this up fully, without hogging the spotlight, or overall annoying the other players. I've already decided he's going through a rather major identity crisis, but I was wondering what other ideas would spring up from the brilliant minds of this forum.

Thank you all, Calen.
I_roll_ones
02-27-08, 09:13 PM Act like a man. Just because you have jigglies on your chest does not mean that you're not a man!

I also assume from the attractive comment, that the NPC's might be noticing. Now, occasionally is fine, but you should probably only play up a horrible rejection of someone once. If it's during a conversation, it might be expected RP time and not an issue. The key is timing and frequency, and how silly campaigns are normally. Any indication of how they go normally and where this is progressing?
Terjon of the Blue Rose
02-29-08, 02:36 AM A major identity crisis as in I don't know if I want to be or as in I sure as heck don't want to be but am and don't know what to do about it. You can probably get a powerful spellcaster to turn you back into a halfling if you prefer but if you "like" being an attractive female elf consider the effects of a hat of disguise. Your true (halfling) form is the illusion and the elf is what others see only when the hat is off.
I_roll_ones
02-29-08, 03:53 AM A major identity crisis as in I don't know if I want to be or as in I sure as heck don't want to be but am and don't know what to do about it. You can probably get a powerful spellcaster to turn you back into a halfling if you prefer but if you "like" being an attractive female elf consider the effects of a hat of disguise. Your true (halfling) form is the illusion and the elf is what others see only when the hat is off.

I...Would shy away from this, unless the OP feels that 1) He can RP the opposite gender well and 2) He can do it without being offensive. If he doesn't do it right, it can and probably will get highly offensive.

Mind you, this is not meant as an insult to the OP. I just think that RPing the opposite gender is very difficult and can lead to a lot of upset people. I don't consider myself able to RP a man convincingly.

The only time I think it worked well, he was from a culture where oddities got explained away really well, and it was with people I knew well that wouldn't be offended by it. Which is another issue, so if he doesn't know everyone, he stands a good chance of offending someone.

Also, trying to remain manly is just doing what the character does normally. He wouldn't go off on a personal identity crisis, (He knows he's a man, he just has to convince the rest of the world) and he wouldn't attempt to do much, other then get his body back. I think that simply RPing a man in a woman's body as a man would not detract from the party as much as someone who is constantly doubting who they are. Which is not to say that the personal identity thing is a bad idea, just that I think it detracts from what the OP wants.
Terjon of the Blue Rose
02-29-08, 06:09 AM I was more suggesting the concept that his character could be played as a man in a woman's body and taking advantage of that fact. Think Bender in the Futurama episode where he becomes Coilete. You're absolutely correct that this requires a player who is both tactful and mature, however.

Of course if he's not in a mature group the fact that he was transformed into a woman at all is a bad decision (albeit one by the DM not the players). Many DMs have made the mistake of flipping a gender as a joke and not given due consideration to the long term effects of such. If that's the case I highly reccomend he find a mage capable of casting polymorph any object and returning himself permanently to the form of a male halfling or at the very least that the DM let him get access to a belt of gender change that has been stored by some mage for just such emergencies.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Calen 02-26-08, 10:55 PM	So in a daring attempt to end my lurker ways I come to this board asking for advice on a certain conundrum. Over the past weekend we met for DnD, and in typical fashion managed to derail the entire planned quest... only this time it took us about one decision, and a half hour. This decision lead to myself, and two of the four gathered characters dead. Luckily the third had a one time vial of true resurrection on him. He of course used it on our only player who could raise the others, our artificer. Unfortunately for us this lead to the only resurrection he had on him being cast on us... Reincarnation. And so now our Dwarf is a short fat human, and Calen finds himself a female gray elf, and unfortunately for him (as far as these campaigns are concerned) a rather attractive one at that. My question to all of you is this how can I play this up fully, without hogging the spotlight, or overall annoying the other players. I've already decided he's going through a rather major identity crisis, but I was wondering what other ideas would spring up from the brilliant minds of this forum. Thank you all, Calen.
I_roll_ones 02-27-08, 09:13 PM	Act like a man. Just because you have jigglies on your chest does not mean that you're not a man! I also assume from the attractive comment, that the NPC's might be noticing. Now, occasionally is fine, but you should probably only play up a horrible rejection of someone once. If it's during a conversation, it might be expected RP time and not an issue. The key is timing and frequency, and how silly campaigns are normally. Any indication of how they go normally and where this is progressing?
Terjon of the Blue Rose 02-29-08, 02:36 AM	A major identity crisis as in I don't know if I want to be or as in I sure as heck don't want to be but am and don't know what to do about it. You can probably get a powerful spellcaster to turn you back into a halfling if you prefer but if you "like" being an attractive female elf consider the effects of a hat of disguise. Your true (halfling) form is the illusion and the elf is what others see only when the hat is off.
I_roll_ones 02-29-08, 03:53 AM	A major identity crisis as in I don't know if I want to be or as in I sure as heck don't want to be but am and don't know what to do about it. You can probably get a powerful spellcaster to turn you back into a halfling if you prefer but if you "like" being an attractive female elf consider the effects of a hat of disguise. Your true (halfling) form is the illusion and the elf is what others see only when the hat is off. I...Would shy away from this, unless the OP feels that 1) He can RP the opposite gender well and 2) He can do it without being offensive. If he doesn't do it right, it can and probably will get highly offensive. Mind you, this is not meant as an insult to the OP. I just think that RPing the opposite gender is very difficult and can lead to a lot of upset people. I don't consider myself able to RP a man convincingly. The only time I think it worked well, he was from a culture where oddities got explained away really well, and it was with people I knew well that wouldn't be offended by it. Which is another issue, so if he doesn't know everyone, he stands a good chance of offending someone. Also, trying to remain manly is just doing what the character does normally. He wouldn't go off on a personal identity crisis, (He knows he's a man, he just has to convince the rest of the world) and he wouldn't attempt to do much, other then get his body back. I think that simply RPing a man in a woman's body as a man would not detract from the party as much as someone who is constantly doubting who they are. Which is not to say that the personal identity thing is a bad idea, just that I think it detracts from what the OP wants.
Terjon of the Blue Rose 02-29-08, 06:09 AM	I was more suggesting the concept that his character could be played as a man in a woman's body and taking advantage of that fact. Think Bender in the Futurama episode where he becomes Coilete. You're absolutely correct that this requires a player who is both tactful and mature, however. Of course if he's not in a mature group the fact that he was transformed into a woman at all is a bad decision (albeit one by the DM not the players). Many DMs have made the mistake of flipping a gender as a joke and not given due consideration to the long term effects of such. If that's the case I highly reccomend he find a mage capable of casting polymorph any object and returning himself permanently to the form of a male halfling or at the very least that the DM let him get access to a belt of gender change that has been stored by some mage for just such emergencies.