Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sockpuppet31 05-31-07, 01:49 AM	how would you go about making a "looney" character that would actually be playable?
loaba 05-31-07, 01:57 AM	I guess it all depends on what you mean by "looney"? My only bit of advice is to not steal the rest of the parties thunder with your lunacy. It's okay to be a little "off", just don't overdo it.
CowMasterTrojan 05-31-07, 02:08 AM	Really, theres all sorts of ways to be out there. Try a obsessive overbearing cleric of a god that everyone thinks doesn't exist. Or a warrior who has a weapon familiar, and constantly argues with it even though no one else hears it. Or a sorcerer who uses cantrip to stay pink as long as possible. Of course if you're really going for crazy, then really paraniod person who hears things that arent there does the trick.
Vengeblade 05-31-07, 05:18 AM	I had a player in one of my gestalt games who played a binder/totemist who was crazy. During a fight with a small black dragon that he couldn't see, he jsut took out a shovel and started digging graves randomly in the dirt. He was always concerned about things that didn't even exist. One time, he missed a session, so we all decided that he was trying to kill the sun (ran accross town trying to get it at one point). When he came back next week, before we said anything, he decided that his character was trying to kill the sun while he was gone. We couldn't stop laughing after that. Crazy people who work well with the party dynamic are great.
SillyRobot 05-31-07, 07:43 AM	The simplest approach to playing a "looney" character is to do sensible things with a "looney" justification. Come up with off-the-wall explanations and reasons for the tactically advantageous choices you make as a player make.
Drausktanchache 05-31-07, 11:03 AM	Run around in a straight jacket or manacles, I've crited in manacles before :D You could always play, comepletely paranoid, or ocassionally bring up very outlandish ideas.
Apupunchau 05-31-07, 11:13 AM	Play a Lawful Neutral <insert favorite class here> with obsessive compulsive Disorder. Watch a couple of episodes of Monk as Tony Shaloub pulls it off oh so well. Your crazy and hindered by it with out being over the top loony toons.
Selgard 05-31-07, 11:15 AM	Acquire a "friend". This friend can be an object, but doesn't have to be. A rock works. A marble is fun, too. Always talk to the item and/or imaginary friend. Ask it's advice. Appear to be listening to what it's saying. Insist it gets a seat at the table, and freak out if anyone sits on it. Occasionally tell other characters to hush, 'cause It is talking. If an item- make sure you do ANYTHING to keep it safe. (think Wilson, from Cast Away) If imaginary, just express consternation at your party's inability to hear/see your companion. As long as it's merely amusing rather than life threatening, ("but wilson told me to bust the ambush!" = you die) then it shouldn't overly bother anyone- but can certainly make for an interesting character. :)
Leo 05-31-07, 03:00 PM	Don't plan anything. Act at the moment. Do the first thing that comes to your mind in every situation. Ignore all common sense and logic. I did this once,and it was a blast. But you'll be very shortlived unless the party's cleric is quite generous with cure spells.
Pyro_Azer 05-31-07, 08:19 PM	What's your alighnment? I'm guessing it would be chaotic but your charecter would at differently depending if it was good, evil or neutral. A good looney charrecter would probably demand and do weird things in religeos conviction (i died my hair blue because *insert diety's name here* told me to) A neutral looney charecter would probably act completely at random ( i am going to dance eratically in the middle of the street while singing a funeral march) An evil looney would probably kill random folk for off-the-wall reasons (i sliced his head of because i didn't like the mole on the end of his nose)
danielinthewolvesden 05-31-07, 10:07 PM	Make SURE you are not going to be disruptive to the game.
LadyAlaria 05-31-07, 10:33 PM	Make SURE you are not going to be disruptive to the game. Amen. Pick ONE quirk and play it consistently. Obsessive cleaniliness. Constant rhyming. Counting everything. Lighting bits of herbs on fire and sucking them. If it's over-the-top it'll break the game in no time flat.
darkneolink 05-31-07, 10:49 PM	I will give you an example this is a CG human cleric of Pelor Cleric: CONVERT! *hits the enemy (even if its a swarm) Cleric: CONVERT! Ranger: it's dead already Cleric: I find your lack of faith... CONVERT! Ranger: stop hitting the dead body! Cleric: sorry sir (I have wisdom 18 by the way... it's just an act to fool some NPC's)
Candin 05-31-07, 11:19 PM	Two of my favorites: You think you're a deity, and you work tirelessly to preach. About yourself. Try to convert your allies, your NPCs, random people who aren't given names. Get a following, a prophet (maybe take leadership) and have them go through the world converting. Pick something audacious if you want. The patron deity of fluffy animals. Multiple personalities. Either two, or so, so many. This works out nicely, as you can play however you feel that night (: My personal recommendation is to go with two, and model them after two characters: The Merovingian from the Matrix, and Tiax from Baldur's Gate. Play as the Merovingian naturally, and come up with a catalyst to make you change. For example, become Tiax whenever you enter combat, or partake in diplomacy, or whenever else you feel would be a good example. In case you don't know, Tiax is a gnome (maybe a halfling) who attempts to rule the world. He's a BG1 character, and can be found in BG2, apparently insane, yelling things like "Tiax rules all! The winds blow on the whim of Tiax! All the planes exist at the will of Tiax! Bow before Tiax on his mighty throne!"
darkneolink 05-31-07, 11:23 PM	I used this NPC once he was a Sorcerer Gnome who didn't believe in elves. He was nice to the party except from the elf and when saw him he said "maybe if I don't talk to him he will dissapear" once he even told "Elves is an invention of the government to make you feel inferior" and "Stop speaking funny voice in my head... yet you have a good plan... that makes me have a good plan...I'M SO AMAZING!"
Jenny With The Lantern 06-01-07, 01:26 AM	I think Murdock of the A-team would be a good way to start. Don't make HIM, but check out the way he is in an episode and build something like that (although having your character 'be' something else every session may be up your alley) :)
danielinthewolvesden 06-01-07, 02:32 AM	I had a Sorc with a Weasle/Ferretfamiliar. So I bought a ferret hand-puppet, and talked to it a lot, had him nodding back, whispering in my ear, etc. Everyone loved it.
Optimized_Commoner 06-01-07, 02:35 AM	I've just started playing a new character (a psion) who certainly has a few screws missing. He's a friendly, nice pacifist most of the time and plays a role as the party's expert with his wide variety of knowledge skills. In a situation of life or death, his personality changes and he kills whatever enemy is threatening his life. This is also the only time when he has deliberate access to his psionic abilities (the rest of the time he uses them subconsciously and is startled by the "lucky coincidences"). When he's no longer in danger he blanks out the memory of the fight. Thus the character is crazy, has some interesting traits to roleplay but still works fine in the group. During combat I help in combat-type ways, during roleplaying encounters I help by being a genuinely nice guy. Note: The game is about a prison transport ship crashing and the prisoners escaping into a mysterious land, with all of the PCs as high-security prisoners. We had a lot of fun in the "meet and greet" phase of the game, with everyone trying to figure out why my geeky, naive character could possibly be locked up with the rest of them. (OOC everyone knew my concept, but the IC reactions were still funny)
Thecolorblue 06-01-07, 03:41 AM	I played a cleric (for one session :( ) that was OCD and talked in the third person. He was a neat-freak. He would always save cantrip spells to cast Purify Water and would always go off to bathe when we stopped for rest. Needless to say, he didn't get along too well with the smelly, dirty, hairy orc barb with 6 int. It was actually pretty easy to roleplay too. When I talked as my character, I just talked about him. "Jeric likes your shirt", for example. I could also bend the rules a little bit by describing how my character feels without seeming OOC. Overall, it made my character interesting and made everyone laugh at the obsurtity without stealing the spotlight. That should be your goal, add flavor without becoming a focus of the group.
Blue Mage Yui Ikari 06-01-07, 04:47 AM	I once had a character, an undead Nezumi (Oriental ratfolk) who was incredibly paranoid. He was focused entirely on running away and survival (with a healthy dose of Spring Attack), and screamed at the slightest sign of danger (so great was his fear that he forgot his own name, and was eventually dubbed "Mr.Squeaks"). He did eventually play a very integral role in taking down the BBEG, for which his reward was eternity in his own personal hell (he was eventually freed, as his actions helped to save the world). A more recent character was an old sea dog of a sailor. He's the ship's cook, the oldest member of the crew and an aspiring druid. His animal companion in a mangy dog that doesn't really do much, just follows him around all day. The fellow, however, believes that the dog talks to him (the dog might really be talking to him, or it might just be in his head...that's up to the DM), telling him to do...things. Nothing major, just stuff like feeding the dead back to the crew to make them "stronger", aquiring rare and unique items for some future ritual and hints of some plot of world destruction. The character himself if friendly and nice, but every once in a while people hear voices coming from his kitchen...
sbattisti 06-01-07, 11:17 AM	"Go for the eyes, Boo!" 'nuff said. :D
Shan_TheBabau_Burke 06-01-07, 02:33 PM	I am playing a crazy character just now, but I'm in a solo campaign so that makes it easier to not get on everyone else's nerves. He's an assassin called, of course, Shan "The Babau" Burke. He spent his formative years as a slave and was driven mad. He came to lack any respect he ever had for life and now sees it as a game to be played out. His philosophy... "If life is just a game, then it doesn't matter how you play because in the end, everybody dies anyway." First off, I gave him high intelligence and low wisdom. He's pretty well unaware of the world past his elbows, and he doesn't see others for what they are, only for what he is told to see them as (by his horse). However, it's almost impossible to outsmart him and he is highly suspicious. He has a horse, the only thing he's really attached to, and he talks to it like a companion, as though it were answering back. He reveres no god, choosing instead to follow the Star People. These are no more than the shadows that move slowly around his bedroom at night when there is a bright moon. He sees them as his protectors. For the little things, he laughs when there is no reason to laugh, he mutters "counter curses" (along with somatics) when he passes Elves, he refers to everyone by the name of a card from a Tarot deck (whatever Major Arcana card he feels fits them), and he lashes out at things that aren't there. These are just a few of the things he does. Nothing really dramatic, but all very strange.
Pippa 06-01-07, 03:32 PM	Nice stuff here. I once had an npc goblin who had gone mad on an isolated island and believed himself to be the god of the island and of Woodcutting. Make sure that if your character wants to be a god, he doesn't have to broad a portfolio. He could be god of his Personal Stuff, for example. In that case, he would regard aquiring new items as reqruiting folowers, and he might, when on guard, lay out his belongings before him on the ground and give a long speech about him being a caring god etc. Looney people might also get upset or realy happy or whatever by things that would leae other people indifferent. Soup. Trees. Small races. Pants. Have him stand on a ladder crying out he won't come off until the guy with the axe takes off his shiny boots. And kills them. Burns them. Burn all shiny boots! Or your character may be convinced he's a dwarf (which he isn't, he's an elf), and be realy, realy reproachful and sorry for it. Give him an imaginairy, invisible friend. Then make him go and look for that friend whenever he thinks he lost him. This doesn't have to be bad for gaming. It might give you a reason to check out little alleys and corridors you wouldn't have gone otherwise, and lets you walk into other people's rooms and houses. Whenever I was childishly curious and blatantly unashamed to ask questions to anyone, I learnt one thing and another about npc's and locations quite quickly. Fun thing about a real fool is: nobody takes him seriously. And that's the best thing there is: insulting the queen, prying loose important information about a prisoner, generally saying what's on your mind... the fool goes scot-free.
Prator_the_Legendary 06-01-07, 03:52 PM	Depending on what level you start at, you may have to ask your DM is this is acceptable, but your character should have a returning weapon of some kind as part of its starting equipment. Dagger, axe, javelin, whatever. It should have a happy face painted one it, and must be named. For my example, I will call it "Giorgio." Whenever a battle begins, throw the weapon and yell "Giorgio, use your (pokemon-style attack name like 'Mega Bite!')" If anyone ever asks ANY questions about it, say "Mommy wouldn't let me get a puppy," and hug Giorgio protectively.