Post/Author/DateTime	Post
RiceGuy 01-12-07, 01:35 AM	Since the title of my thread might be a little confusing, I'm mainly interested in finding out if any other players out there have willingly taken some kind of disadvantage or penalty on a PC in order to create a better roleplaying experience for themselves and a deeper overall character? For instance, my girlfriend is playing a paladin character that was "put on the disabled list" with his order after a training accident that left him with a mangled leg. She's taking a 10ft per round penalty on her speed (so 20ft per round for a human), and can only run at 3x speed, but as a result her character has become a deep, driven individual that seeks to prove her worth despite her injury. Likewise, a friend of mine is running an elf archer who was captured by orcs and had his right hand cut off. Determined to get revenge, he is aiming to become the best swordsman in the land so he can get up close and personal when he finally kills the orcs who mutilated him. In both cases the players willingly took disadvantages and die penalties in order to create deep, fascinating characters that bring more to the table then the ability to slay big nasty monsters. Have any of you done something similar? Would you? I'm interested to here your stories, ideas, or opinions.
cog_n_taz 01-12-07, 01:40 AM	Not nearly as deep, but yes. A chaotic neutral gnome artificer, with his wis intentionally lowered to four for hillarity's sake.
ressurrector 01-12-07, 04:21 AM	I run nearly all of my spellcasters as inefficient crazy people...definitely for kicks alone. No, it dosen't have any mechanical disadvantages, but it still hurts when done correctly.
GoofsterStud 01-12-07, 04:37 AM	I made a timid gnome who everyone assumed was a mute. Players didn't realise she could even talk tell one day she shrieked when a guy tried to groap her and stabbed him in the heart. Love that feat that lets me use my sneak attack when pulling out a weapon. She claimed it was self defense.
Azezel 01-12-07, 08:03 AM	Yes. I ran a Halfling Wizard with a CON of 7, just because it fit (I did not roll any sevens on my ability dice, I just reduced one score to seven.) I played another Wizard who had a -2 to spot and search due to bad eyesight (-6 without her glasses). I'm currently playing a Cleric who does not wear armour. Although the class is preofficient with armour, this Cleric has never had reason or opertunity to learn.
User5127 01-12-07, 09:17 AM	they call those flaws iirc and you can get a bonus to balance the disadvanage. i've done it with some characters, like playing some one who was blind from birth.
Stoyrm 01-12-07, 09:18 AM	my new character has his arm and eye cut out. he is human so no grumsh here ;)
Adrian_Crane 01-12-07, 11:51 AM	my new character has his arm and eye cut out. he is human so no grumsh here ;) ...seeking some Vecna parts? Course, he'd need an arm to attach the hand to.
TheFallenWriter 01-12-07, 01:09 PM	I once played a sun elf wizard who was half-blind due to an arcane training accident. She constantly had to use her link with the familiar to see correctly, and it was quite interesting what people thought when they saw her talking to her familiar all the time. Even the party companions, when they first met her, thought she was insane. Ironically, she favored ray spells rather than Area of Effect spells to prove to everyone that she was still as good as any other wizard. She hit more often than the Warforged tank heh. ~The Fallen Writer
Dei 01-12-07, 01:10 PM	I've rarely done anything as big as that but because I usually play skill point heavy characters like rogues and rangers and so I tend to RP using skill points, putting them in obscure knowledge skills and proffessions because it fits with his history. I once played one who had half a dozen ranks in Proffession: Childcare because he came from a huge family and had helped to raise half his younger siblings. It meant his disable device and other more core skills took a hit but it was worth it when the DM dumped a scared little elven girl in the party's lap and I was the only one she wouldn't claw to death if they tried to touch her plus it really rounded out the character and gave him a lot of feeling. I try to do it with all my characters if I can.
Stormbrand 01-13-07, 03:09 AM	My favourite character was a tiefling paladin-sorcerer - took a race with a CHA penalty and 2 CHA dependant classes, mostly because I wanted to try out the concept. Anyway, he ended up as a really spooky demonologist-type figure, using his knowledge to keep the infernal hordes at bay. Most of his spells fit that theme as well, such as Magic Circle, Snake Sigil etc. I gave him extra problems, but not mechanical ones, instead they impacted his life in-game. One was something called a Place Prepared For You. A side effect from his demonic lore, which just sounds more unfair the more you learn about it.
Harleaquinn 01-13-07, 03:19 AM	One of my all time favorite set of characters was two brothers I played in a campaign (Took leadership). They were twins but at a young age were mauled for plot reasons. The one was blind, the other was mute. The only benefit i got for the blind character was allways having listen as a class skill. They were some of the most fun characters I've ever played.
Always-Late 01-13-07, 03:39 AM	As User5127 pointed out, and as I will elaborate on, in Unearthed Arcana ()abailivable in some versions of the SRD), you can take flaws to handicap your character. You gain feats in return. I think it's a 2 to 1 ration, i'm not sure. Just if you don't want to take mechanical disadvantage without recieving (mechanical) compesation; yoj might fall behind teammats.
cog_n_taz 01-13-07, 03:49 AM	...seeking some Vecna parts? Course, he'd need an arm to attach the hand to. nahhh, everyone knows you need a headless character for the whole deal!
kelvinaw273 01-13-07, 03:45 PM	The problem with physical restrictions like these are that you take them, you gaina bonus feat, and somewhere up the line you get sufficient wealth or ability to get a spell in order to get rid of the handicap, or else a device that compensates in some other way. How about a custom made hand magic-item for the elf archer? Armour of Speed for the Paladin? While good for flavour, always remember that these handicaps can be overcome. Character concepts I have used/seen used: A Favoured Soul/Sorcerer/Mystic Theurge who had a pair of Warforged hands grafted onto her after her real ones were cut off for theft as a child (it was during the Last War). A one-eyed wizard who created themselves a replacement eye - which could use clairvoyance. A monk who was conventionally blind ... actually her vision worked perfectly, but only saw on the Ethereal Plane. She could function with a bit of help, and sometimes saw things the rest of the party didn't. All of these add flavour without seriously handicaping the character or running afoul of the problem of what happens when you have the power to make the handicap go away?
Erato 01-13-07, 04:18 PM	I had a journalist character, partly inspired by the stupid Louis Lane from old Superman cartoons, who always got too close to danger in her eagerness to get good pictures. She had a flaw named ‘Curious’. Actually it wasn’t an official flaw, it just meant that whenever she was in a situation where curiosity could be dangerous (‘don’t come any closer’, ‘run!’, ‘hide!’, and ‘don’t peek’), I would roll the equivalent of a will save, to see if her common sense prevailed. If not, she would try to get as close to the action as possible. This was in a ‘Call of Chtulhu’ game…
ressurrector 01-13-07, 07:21 PM	I just had a player for my group who wanted to play a blind warforged psiblade. I gave him freebie 5' blindsight and listen as a permanant class skill to comp though. He's concidering going into soulbow, which would be entertaining.
Vaelan 01-14-07, 01:39 AM	The lapse in logic required to maintain this trite, self-indulgent idiocy in the face of the power of healing magic damages the consistency of the game. I played with someone who tried this. I took great pains to acquire a scroll of regeneration and used it on him while he slept. He didn't take it, and the accompanying criticism of his idea, well.
Krusk 01-14-07, 02:27 AM	I had a knight, who as we played it was obvious his int was lower than on the sheet. Then i noticed i didnt use my human skill points, so that int dropped by 2. Another character, I really wanted to play an archer. The dm said you will fight undead, a lot. I said thats fine, and went rogue/fighter. This guy was so horribly ineffective the dm offered to let me spend a feat to sneak attack and crit undead. I didnt do it, because that wasnt what the guy was about. He was about being helpless and running away. The party gets a little annoyed when im useless, but the melee guy min maxed and ontop of that bought undead bane greatclub. so he makes up for it. Plus the one time we fought non undead i owned everything.
ressurrector 01-14-07, 04:25 AM	The lapse in logic required to maintain this trite, self-indulgent idiocy in the face of the power of healing magic damages the consistency of the game. I played with someone who tried this. I took great pains to acquire a scroll of regeneration and used it on him while he slept. He didn't take it, and the accompanying criticism of his idea, well. Well, as far as the warforged goes, I pretty much said that he was designed without eyes, kind of a factory defect. No amount of magic short of a wish is ever going to fix that one in my game.
draco1119 01-14-07, 07:41 AM	The lapse in logic required to maintain this trite, self-indulgent idiocy in the face of the power of healing magic damages the consistency of the game. I played with someone who tried this. I took great pains to acquire a scroll of regeneration and used it on him while he slept. He didn't take it, and the accompanying criticism of his idea, well. Sometimes the gods just will it to be so. If I was the DM, I would have made the spell work on you and grow you a third foot on your back, just so you'd kick your own ass whenever you moved. That's actually a really ****ed up thing for you to do. It's not your character; you're not the DM. Deal with it.
User5127 01-14-07, 08:06 AM	They way I see it your flaw grants you two feats. so imo if you lose the flaw you lose acess to the feats it granted. therefore it would remain balanced even at higher level play.
Vaelan 01-14-07, 12:53 PM	No amount of magic short of a wish is ever going to fix that one in my game. Then I would have found a Wish. Does that give you some idea of just how inane I think the idea is? There were also some less obvious, in-character reasons for doing what I did. Both would have been served. If I was the DM, I would have made the spell work on you and grow you a third foot on your back, just so you'd kick your own ass whenever you moved. No, you wouldn't have, actually. If you were the DM, you would be acquainted with my group's dynamic and either see this as perfectly acceptable, and perhaps even applaudable, behavior or want nothing to do with us due to our unconventional playstyle. It's not your character; you're not the DM. Deal with it. So you're lecturing me on the grounds that I did not partake in an activity that is almost universally looked down upon on these forums and goes against the very purpose of the game (that would be metagaming, just in case you didn't pick that up)? This would deserve a hearty chuckle, were I not so convinced that you are serious. My favorite part of this is that my character was the only non-Evil character in the group and healed him to stop the rest of the party from scheming his demise on the grounds that he is no longer useful to us and the deception will make it less likely that his spirit will seek revenge. Seriously, putting aside the fact that I think I'm better than you: this is part of what my group agreed to when we started this game. It was artfully, deliciously ironic, exhibited a greater degree of roleplaying than I have seen in any normal game, explored themes far less trite than the ones espoused in this thread, and did not cause any harm to our friendships. Chill the :censored: out. This falls under the whole, "there's no wrong way to play" deal, which I actually object to, but that is even further off-topic than my off-topic response to your off-topic response.
ressurrector 01-14-07, 04:56 PM	Then I would have found a Wish. Does that give you some idea of just how inane I think the idea is? There were also some less obvious, in-character reasons for doing what I did. Both would have been served. Frankly sir, I don't give a damn what you think, it's my campaign, and I will let my players have their fun. Aside from that, wishes aren't that easy to get in a Low level Eberron game so shove it.
Dei 01-14-07, 06:20 PM	Frankly sir, I don't give a damn what you think, it's my campaign, and I will let my players have their fun. Aside from that, wishes aren't that easy to get in a Low level Eberron game so shove it. :clap: I agree, seriously, what you've basically done is run into a room where a group of people are happily trading stories and yell "You're all stupid and your stories suck." It's not big, it's not clever and it makes you look like an immauture dumba$$ Vaelan. If you want to discuss wether or not it's a good idea go make another thread, this is not the place. Now can we get the thread back on track? Anyone else got some cool stories of character flavour?
User5127 01-14-07, 06:34 PM	well it wasn't really flaws, but I had a character who didn't care about his body, just power. as such he went for lichdom and eventually demi-lichdom. I also got the 12cl back pretty easily. so it wasn't to bad. He was really fun to play. I would sacrifice anything for more power. even my body and my mind.
elsajeni 01-15-07, 12:31 AM	So you're lecturing me on the grounds that I did not partake in an activity that is almost universally looked down upon on these forums and goes against the very purpose of the game (that would be metagaming, just in case you didn't pick that up)? ... Or, he/she is lecturing you on the grounds that you refused to allow your fellow player to partake in an activity that is almost universally applauded on these forums and advances the very purpose of the game (that would be roleplaying, just in case you didn't pick that up). Seriously, putting aside the fact that I think I'm better than you: this is part of what my group agreed to when we started this game... and did not cause any harm to our friendships. Comparing this to where you just said, in your original post on this thread, that your fellow player ... didn't take it, and the accompanying criticism of his idea, well I find it a little bit difficult to believe that your group -- a phrase which implies the participation of your entire group, by the way, not "everyone except the one guy we wanted to be a jerk to" -- agreed to this behavior. I can accept that it didn't cause any lasting harm to your friendship, but overall, I think it's more likely that you're coming into this thread with a made-up story for the sole purpose of stirring up a fight.
Bill Bisco: Average Adventurer 01-15-07, 12:47 AM	I play a Necromancer who talks to his mindless Undead......a lot of fun.