Character Development & RP Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Character Development & RP Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Emery1261
03-04-06, 08:32 PM Hey, how's it going? I have a few questions that I wanted to ask. First off I've been thinking about how I want my character to grow and develop and I just don't know where to go. Secondly, I kind of need help on how to play this character.

1st - Character Development

At this point my character has been born to a lost tribe (think Princess Mononoke) and due to circumstances of his birth he is now deemed a curse. Blah blah blah, skip ahead, he runs away and is taken in by a wise hermit. The hermit teaches the character how to scout, track, and use the environment to his advantage (Scout 3/Ranger3). During one lesson the character was attacked by a dire wolf and almost killed. So now the hermit rushes the PC back to the village where the priests do little for him. The hermit convinces the priests to do a ritual that will prove the PC is no horrid curse. Skip ahead, skip ahead, after the ritual the pc leaves and travels on his own for a while. A couple of years later, far away from his home, he winds up as a mercenary in the queens army. Here his talents shine and he quickly moves up the ranks to the class of 1st Lieutenant of the queens Dread Commando squadron (Scout 3/Ranger3/DC2).

This brings us to present day and the PC is 22. A group of adventurers has been enlisted by the queen's army to help with a problem. This group is quite the odd one with an ultra hippy Bonded Summoner who is very detached from reality, a Rogue/Assassin Pseudodragon, and a Paladin heading towards Dragon Rider. My PC has been put in charge of the group and is leading them on the quest (no knowledge yet of the end game). A war is being fought between the Queen's army and an army of orcs. Our group was sent to negotiate peace talks but given orders to kill the leaders if they refused to agree (kind of ironic, right?).

After finishing the DC PrC I don't know how to evolve in terms of levels. I think maybe finishing out scout but epicly I don't know where to go. Eventually I want the PC to have his own squadron of DC (like those talked about in the Heroes of Battle book). From here the PC will continue leading missions with his squadron and so on. As he ages I want the PC return to his people and rally them to his side. Depending on how my alignment slips before this period in the character's life I'll either go with a more inspiring (Marshall -> Good Cleric -> Warpriest) class or a more fearful (Ghost Faced Killer -> Evil Cleric -> Blackguard) class.

2nd - Character Role Playing

The idea I have for my PC is a sort of carefree person who has his dark side. I think the best way I could describe him would be to compare his personality to Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. I want to play a goofy and sarcastic character out of battle but a sharp fierce opponent in battle.

The reason I'm having trouble RPing my character because 1) this is my first campaign and 2) I don't really know how to be the leader. The party is very odd as well. There is an ego-centric Pseudodragon who I get the feeling would kill any of the party and not think twice about it. The Bonded Summoner is an ultra hippy who seems to have become permanently detached from reality and just talks in his own little world constantly. The Paladin is going for dragon rider and just seems generic.

The problem with the group is that the Pseudodragon's Player rushes everything and always runs off doing his own thing, the Paladin is played through the DM (this campaign is online and the Paladin is the DM's fiancée), and the Bonded Summoner throws fireballs where the group is and his elemental falls on him constantly due to bad rolls. When the Pseudodragon isn't rushing or flying off to do his own thing he tells the Paladin that gold dragons aren't as great as silver dragons for dragon riders, the paladin doesn't really join in conversations, and the gnome summoner talks to his elemental. I'm finding it very hard to establish leadership in this situation and I spend more time trying to actually bring the PCs together than getting to RP my character.

So any ideas or where to go for the 1st and what to do for the 2nd? I would really appreciate the help that y'all could give me. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Emery
Emery1261
03-07-06, 10:18 AM Hmm. Just though I'd bump this since it's been a day or so. No one has any advice to offer? No one on this whole board?
WhrenKehrsyn
03-07-06, 10:46 AM Why is he deemed a curse? What were the circumstances that made his tribe feel that way? Ive never seen Princes Mononoke so if that answers those questions Ill need it explained to me. Why did he leave his hermit mentor? Did he want to see the world? Go make a name for himself? Answering those questions can help us further your development of the character. Details can be important.

For the crunchy part, I cant really comment on classes, but normally I take classes that correspond to the things the character does in the game. Sounds like you have a martial bent so sticking with fighter types would probably be best. Make sure to take the leadership feat if you havent already. Sorry, the crunch part isnt my strong suit, Im not very good at optimization.

Its my experience that it usually works out best to do character creation together and work with eachother. Makes for a more cohesive group. But since youve all already made the characters its going to be a bit harder to work out.

As thier leader with the sort of personality youve described I think hed be the type that cares for the well being of his companions but doesnt like to show it. Gruff and seemingly indifferent to them, but would give his life to protect thiers (if hes good, which is the assumption Im working off).

When it comes to decision making try to think up options that accomplish the goal but put your people in the least amount of peril.

As for leading them, be firm, but also a friend. By this I mean be the guy that knows about them, whether they know you do or not, take the time to listen to thier stories, find out about the things they fear and love. Ideally they should have only a suspicion that you care at all, but trust you in your decisions.To keep them in line be firm with them. When the psuedodragon starts teasing the paladin tell him to stop, dont yell or curse but be firm. Have you seen the movie 'Arthur'? Look at the main villian in that film, hes a wonderfully crafted character. He never raises his voice or even seems to become angry, but he doesnt need to, he just has that commanding presence, try to emulate something like that.

Also try talking to the other players about it all, together you may be able to work out a relationship between characters youre all comfortable with and can work with to define your characters without pulling sand out of eachothers sandboxes.

Hope that helps a bit.
Emery1261
03-07-06, 02:28 PM Why is he deemed a curse? What were the circumstances that made his tribe feel that way? Ive never seen Princes Mononoke so if that answers those questions Ill need it explained to me. Why did he leave his hermit mentor? Did he want to see the world? Go make a name for himself? Answering those questions can help us further your development of the character. Details can be important.

He is deemed a curse due to the circumstances of his birth. Roka was born at night, with no moon and no stars (overcast giving the impression of no stars). He also has a birth mark on the back of his neck. It looks like a broken circle and the priests/shaman/witch doctors/whatever saw it as the end of the continuation of their people.
He left his mentor, Manso, because the ritual effectively cast him out of the tribe until his trial is over. Manso, being one of the elders of the tribe, even though he left them, was the one who suggested the ritual to the priests. There fore, for Roka's sake, he is abiding by the customs. Roka undertands this and has left to prove himself.
This is all fluff but I think I should talk about the idea of the tattoo. The ritual placed a sort of seal on Roka's body. As Roka has grown the seal has grown too and covered a large chunk of his body. This seal/tattoo will be the judge of Roka and his life. When Roka dies one of two things will happen: 1) If he dies a a good and noble man the black ink of the tattoo will fade and it will eminate a white light where teh ink used to be. The same will happen to his eyes and his hair will turn white. 2) If he dies after a life of pure evil the black ink will flicker and dance on his body in black fire. He'll grow small fangs, claws, etc.

Hope that helps clarify some things.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Emery1261 03-04-06, 08:32 PM	Hey, how's it going? I have a few questions that I wanted to ask. First off I've been thinking about how I want my character to grow and develop and I just don't know where to go. Secondly, I kind of need help on how to play this character. 1st - Character Development At this point my character has been born to a lost tribe (think Princess Mononoke) and due to circumstances of his birth he is now deemed a curse. Blah blah blah, skip ahead, he runs away and is taken in by a wise hermit. The hermit teaches the character how to scout, track, and use the environment to his advantage (Scout 3/Ranger3). During one lesson the character was attacked by a dire wolf and almost killed. So now the hermit rushes the PC back to the village where the priests do little for him. The hermit convinces the priests to do a ritual that will prove the PC is no horrid curse. Skip ahead, skip ahead, after the ritual the pc leaves and travels on his own for a while. A couple of years later, far away from his home, he winds up as a mercenary in the queens army. Here his talents shine and he quickly moves up the ranks to the class of 1st Lieutenant of the queens Dread Commando squadron (Scout 3/Ranger3/DC2). This brings us to present day and the PC is 22. A group of adventurers has been enlisted by the queen's army to help with a problem. This group is quite the odd one with an ultra hippy Bonded Summoner who is very detached from reality, a Rogue/Assassin Pseudodragon, and a Paladin heading towards Dragon Rider. My PC has been put in charge of the group and is leading them on the quest (no knowledge yet of the end game). A war is being fought between the Queen's army and an army of orcs. Our group was sent to negotiate peace talks but given orders to kill the leaders if they refused to agree (kind of ironic, right?). After finishing the DC PrC I don't know how to evolve in terms of levels. I think maybe finishing out scout but epicly I don't know where to go. Eventually I want the PC to have his own squadron of DC (like those talked about in the Heroes of Battle book). From here the PC will continue leading missions with his squadron and so on. As he ages I want the PC return to his people and rally them to his side. Depending on how my alignment slips before this period in the character's life I'll either go with a more inspiring (Marshall -> Good Cleric -> Warpriest) class or a more fearful (Ghost Faced Killer -> Evil Cleric -> Blackguard) class. 2nd - Character Role Playing The idea I have for my PC is a sort of carefree person who has his dark side. I think the best way I could describe him would be to compare his personality to Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. I want to play a goofy and sarcastic character out of battle but a sharp fierce opponent in battle. The reason I'm having trouble RPing my character because 1) this is my first campaign and 2) I don't really know how to be the leader. The party is very odd as well. There is an ego-centric Pseudodragon who I get the feeling would kill any of the party and not think twice about it. The Bonded Summoner is an ultra hippy who seems to have become permanently detached from reality and just talks in his own little world constantly. The Paladin is going for dragon rider and just seems generic. The problem with the group is that the Pseudodragon's Player rushes everything and always runs off doing his own thing, the Paladin is played through the DM (this campaign is online and the Paladin is the DM's fiancée), and the Bonded Summoner throws fireballs where the group is and his elemental falls on him constantly due to bad rolls. When the Pseudodragon isn't rushing or flying off to do his own thing he tells the Paladin that gold dragons aren't as great as silver dragons for dragon riders, the paladin doesn't really join in conversations, and the gnome summoner talks to his elemental. I'm finding it very hard to establish leadership in this situation and I spend more time trying to actually bring the PCs together than getting to RP my character. So any ideas or where to go for the 1st and what to do for the 2nd? I would really appreciate the help that y'all could give me. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Emery
Emery1261 03-07-06, 10:18 AM	Hmm. Just though I'd bump this since it's been a day or so. No one has any advice to offer? No one on this whole board?
WhrenKehrsyn 03-07-06, 10:46 AM	Why is he deemed a curse? What were the circumstances that made his tribe feel that way? Ive never seen Princes Mononoke so if that answers those questions Ill need it explained to me. Why did he leave his hermit mentor? Did he want to see the world? Go make a name for himself? Answering those questions can help us further your development of the character. Details can be important. For the crunchy part, I cant really comment on classes, but normally I take classes that correspond to the things the character does in the game. Sounds like you have a martial bent so sticking with fighter types would probably be best. Make sure to take the leadership feat if you havent already. Sorry, the crunch part isnt my strong suit, Im not very good at optimization. Its my experience that it usually works out best to do character creation together and work with eachother. Makes for a more cohesive group. But since youve all already made the characters its going to be a bit harder to work out. As thier leader with the sort of personality youve described I think hed be the type that cares for the well being of his companions but doesnt like to show it. Gruff and seemingly indifferent to them, but would give his life to protect thiers (if hes good, which is the assumption Im working off). When it comes to decision making try to think up options that accomplish the goal but put your people in the least amount of peril. As for leading them, be firm, but also a friend. By this I mean be the guy that knows about them, whether they know you do or not, take the time to listen to thier stories, find out about the things they fear and love. Ideally they should have only a suspicion that you care at all, but trust you in your decisions.To keep them in line be firm with them. When the psuedodragon starts teasing the paladin tell him to stop, dont yell or curse but be firm. Have you seen the movie 'Arthur'? Look at the main villian in that film, hes a wonderfully crafted character. He never raises his voice or even seems to become angry, but he doesnt need to, he just has that commanding presence, try to emulate something like that. Also try talking to the other players about it all, together you may be able to work out a relationship between characters youre all comfortable with and can work with to define your characters without pulling sand out of eachothers sandboxes. Hope that helps a bit.
Emery1261 03-07-06, 02:28 PM	Why is he deemed a curse? What were the circumstances that made his tribe feel that way? Ive never seen Princes Mononoke so if that answers those questions Ill need it explained to me. Why did he leave his hermit mentor? Did he want to see the world? Go make a name for himself? Answering those questions can help us further your development of the character. Details can be important. He is deemed a curse due to the circumstances of his birth. Roka was born at night, with no moon and no stars (overcast giving the impression of no stars). He also has a birth mark on the back of his neck. It looks like a broken circle and the priests/shaman/witch doctors/whatever saw it as the end of the continuation of their people. He left his mentor, Manso, because the ritual effectively cast him out of the tribe until his trial is over. Manso, being one of the elders of the tribe, even though he left them, was the one who suggested the ritual to the priests. There fore, for Roka's sake, he is abiding by the customs. Roka undertands this and has left to prove himself. This is all fluff but I think I should talk about the idea of the tattoo. The ritual placed a sort of seal on Roka's body. As Roka has grown the seal has grown too and covered a large chunk of his body. This seal/tattoo will be the judge of Roka and his life. When Roka dies one of two things will happen: 1) If he dies a a good and noble man the black ink of the tattoo will fade and it will eminate a white light where teh ink used to be. The same will happen to his eyes and his hair will turn white. 2) If he dies after a life of pure evil the black ink will flicker and dance on his body in black fire. He'll grow small fangs, claws, etc. Hope that helps clarify some things.