I'm making a new character in a 3.5 campaign, but I have a tendancy to overact my pc. I want this new character to be well-liked by his fellow team mates (the one we are killing off for the replacement was hated by half the party, and only one had any sort of positive relationship with him). As such, I need to fit in with the other characters (a paladin, cleric, and rogue) and still be able to have a fun personality. This is what I have so far:
My character is a Warforged Artificer named Citadel. Our campaign isn't in Eberron, so there was no Last War, or any war in general for Massive amounts of Warforged to be created. Instead, he was created by a Gnome Wizard who wanted a child of her own, and liked making things. However, Citadel was only alive for around five years before dragons came and captured both himself and his "Mother" for interrogation on how she created Citadel.
Instead of letting them disect me, she "deactivated" Citadel so that they would learn nothing by taking me apart. Since they couldn't just throw something that valuable away, they decided to keep Citadel in a locked treasure room, so that they might somehow figure out how to wake him up, and THEN destroy him. Citadel's Mother was killed shortly after this, but since Citadel wasn't awake, he doesn't know that. When the PCs wake him up (spark of life from a nondragon brings him back up), he is greatful and decides he likes the PCs enough to follow them until he meets his mother.
Citadel only experienced around five years of life, so he lacks the maturity that usually comes with age, and although he was no stranger to combat (his mother's tower was often attacked by someting or other) he still prefers nonviolent solutions.
He finds living creatures both strange and boring at the same time, since he has no concept of sleep or eating (he cannot do either). The idea of someone laying on the ground or on a table with pillows on it for 6-8 hours is very odd to him (his mother rarely slept or ate around him). He has an instinctive knowledge of building and inventing, like Mekboyz for Warhammer 40k Orks.
His Alignment is Neutral good, and he has a Child's morality, rather black and white. He likes simple things, like building things or telling simple jokes. As above, he prefers nonviolence to fighting, and likes making friends. He is extremely curious, and might suffer for it if he isn't careful.
What I guess I'm asking is, would you enjoy having a team mate like this? I would appreciate any insight on what I should (or should not) do when playing this character so that he doesn't rub someone the wrong way. I want him to be memorable and fun to play, and make him fun to play with if you are on the same team.
I appreciate all info, thanks!
If you want a bit more through analysis you have both a Paladin and a Cleric in the party presumably since only one character liked your last one that means one or both of these didn't like your last character so should be at least a partial focus in making your next one more likeable (which I wouldn't do myself but since you are trying this is where you'll have to start). Now without their background I don't know much about them but they are a Paladin and a Cleric so they are obviously going to have some level of religiousity which is either A) going to result in a debate as to whether you are actually alive or not, and what that means as far as the tenats of their faith goes and B) at some point they are going to try and did into the religiousity of your character which given his nature as both a child and a constructed being is likely going to be something that you don't really have any of (which would provide a point to get upset, or one where they can try and convert you).
Then obviously you have the fact that the living are alternately fascinating and boring, which is no doubt going to result in at least a few circumstances during an extended rest when your character is going to try and get the attention of the sleeping characters (good for roleplaying, but again might put them offside especially if the GM rules they don't get the effect of an nights rest if you do disturb them partway through). Then you have the curiousity bit and the potential for it to get you into trouble again really good for roleplaying and making situations more interesting, but if you get yourself into trouble you'll often get the other characters into trouble as well and for some people that can annoy them quite a lot, especially if they've been previously irritated by the points above.
And of course finally a child-like personality is normally not one that I would choose to adventure with, me personally I don't have a problem with such a personality but quite a few people find them grating on the nerves especially over the long term (not to mention any debates about taking what is effectively a child into combat).
As for what I would recommend, something with a religious bent (whether or not they are a divine character class) but not a zealot (unless the cleric and paladin already are), with a gregarious and generous personality, slow to anger but not a doormat (he can be pushed around a bit but only so far before he takes action), and obviously not a warforged.
His Alignment is Neutral good, and he has a Child's morality, rather black and white. He likes simple things, like building things or telling simple jokes. As above, he prefers nonviolence to fighting, and likes making friends. He is extremely curious, and might suffer for it if he isn't careful.
This is where I would be careful. If your group prefers the shoot first method of negotiation, or even if they just enjoy combat, the guy playing the nonviolent proponent might not fit in all that well.
The other thing I would be careful about is being curious to the point that it endangers the party. Wanting to see what the innkeeper has under the bar might be cause an amusing situation, seeing what's behind door number 2 in the dungeon before the party is prepared could cause some problems.
As for his morality, if it's a fairly straightforeward game of "we're the good guys and they're the bad guys" then you'll probably be fine. If the game is more focused on shades of grey, you might find a black and white mentality grates on people or is somewhat like trying to cram a square peg into a round hole.
Overall it sounds like an interesting background. I just worry a little about the idea of adventuring with a five year old.
Since I don't know anything about your previous PC, here are some character traits that might have my characters disliking someone:
Zerging - running off and either bringing in more bad guys than needed, or not being around when the rest of the party needed him.
Greedy - trying to keep more than his share of the treasure, not wanting the best item/PC match possible.
Uncooperative - wants to argue with the party over minor details and goes off on his own if he's outvoted.
Dangerous - gets the party in trouble by mouthing off to NPCs, or by poking at things that could set off traps, etc. (As mentioned, depending on how you RP the "curious" side of your nature, this might be a challenge.)
Betrayer - plans on killing off the rest of the party, thwarting their plans, etc.
If you can stay away from those, you'll most likely be okay. LOL I say "most likely," but you never know what mannerisms may drive your fellow players (and thus their characters) bonkers. I had a "druish princess" character once, a halfling druid with a Brooklyn Jewish accent. She was a blast to play, but her accent drove the rest of the group crazy.
He finds living creatures both strange and boring at the same time, since he has no concept of sleep or eating (he cannot do either). The idea of someone laying on the ground or on a table with pillows on it for 6-8 hours is very odd to him (his mother rarely slept or ate around him). He has an instinctive knowledge of building and inventing, like Mekboyz for Warhammer 40k Orks.
This is a red flag. In trying to roleplay this you may appear condescending and snobbish. Get rid of "boring". You can roleplay the first instance you see the rest of the party sleeping as a curious thing but then drop the issue. Instead, feel protective of your party. Since you don't need sleep, be proud of it being your duty to protect the party while they sleep. Have your character know your mother is gone. Be an "adult" and regard protecting your party as mother would protect you. You protect your party and mother would be proud of you. The party is your family now.
Okay, I read your sad little story and it got to me. So much so that it’s after midnight and I can’t sleep until I’ve had my say.
I don’t completely understand your group dynamic yet, that’s so much more important than coming up with a compatible character. Why is it important that the group like you? How are they getting rid of your character? Are you being voted off the mythical island? Are they just bitching during and after the game session? Are they ‘legitimately’ complaining to the DM by citing rping or tactical mishaps or because your rp style directly conflicts with the group? How is the DM reacting to their complaints? How are they going to get rid of you? Are you going to be deleted, left for dead or is someone actively trying to kill you? These are very important
If they are legitimately complaining then you’re a putz, I’m being honest so please hear me out. Learn the combat system, and at least follow the others’ lead. If it’s rping then hang in the shadows and just become good at combat until you can chime in with good lines. Everyone appreciates a hurt monkey/ meat shield and you’ll get more props than playing a healer. If you’re playing a weird character that constantly conflicts with the group then you need to play a group friendly character. If they have a thief and you’re are the paly then just look the other way. You don’t have to stop every crime.
I’m far more confident that they are just bullying you around and they have no respect for you, at least as a player. Now I could go into psycho detail as to why, but fixing it is far more important. Your misconception is that you need to be liked when in fact you need to be respected and fear with a double dose of paranoia is a good way to start
Ok this largely depends on your DM, and how the game is ran. If the DM is allowing them to kill you then they are open season as well. If he is letting you be left to the wolves then you can get nasty with them, it just takes a bit more finesse because you aren’t going to be able to confront them directly. Also, I’m not necessarily advocating that you kill the group, or even just one person. Any crunch monkey can kill you on any given game day. It’s far more satisfying to break their spirits and have them left with no recourse, or even a valid reason for coming after you.
In a 2nd ed game the group was fighting a powerful warlock with awesome henchies. I was separated from the group bidding my time; they lost tabs on me. Well all the henchmen fell but the players were stone, paralyzed and badly injured respectively. As the one PC was making the mad dash out with the stone of power (leaving the others to their fate, that’s how we roll) I casually stuck him, dropping him to –something (dead but res-able) and took the stone of power. I reverently offered it to the bad guy who gladly took it, and who subsequently fell over dead. I slight of handed the power stone with a soul trap with his name on it which he freely accepted; no save in 2nd. I proceeded to dispel the hold person and teleported away with a verbose magical component. Now they can’t come after me because I killed the bad guy and essentially saved the group by freeing the survivor who dragged everyone else to base camp.
Another example is very long but I’ll cut to the chase. One group member became a god and then made us his lacky avatars to both gloat and have us serve him. I used the power he gave me to obtain even more power, but brought in a doppelganger to pretend to be me whilst I was away. In the end we fought but because I had the whole party on my side (and the DM) he couldn’t win. He didn’t know it was me he was fighting because I was playing the doppelganger and let the DM control my character so He asked the king of the gods to strip everyone’s power and he would give up his own. As he did I lost my godhood but rose in rank and became a true avatar while the other guy was now a peon. That was a double burn. Not only did he lose everything but he was also denied the right to a fair fight. Again I was untouchable.
I’m about to put up a blog on this (because I work offshore it will be in like a month) but I’m going to give you a quick course on surviving while going against everyone else. Rule 1: don’t be a hero. Let the other fools get hurted up while you pick away from afar. When they are reeling kick them over or at least don’t help them up. Rule 2: have some friends, oodles of them. PC’s are fickle, because they are real people. You aren’t sure what they are going to do or why. DM’s, on the other hand, run NPC’s quite logically. If you are nice they are nice. If you save them they will save you, etc… My group was always harsh on NPC’s but I always cultivate relationships with the most useful of them (giving gifts, doing favors and just being plain nice will do the trick nicely!). I even had an NPC army slay the rest of the group to save me! Rule 3: always have a way out. You can die at any moment at any time. It just takes a bad couple of rolls. Well if you could’ve won normally but some exigent circumstances screwed you over then run. Yep, be light on those feet. Run away and come again another day. Just surviving and having them blow their rare equipment on you just to try to kill you is victory enough; they won’t have that next time. Your best bet is to have a well worded contingency teleport spell to get you out of Dodge ASAP. Rule 4: why put off tomorrow what you can have someone else do today? As I said I had a doppelganger do my dirty work for me. Once I had a demon look like me and attack the group. It really threw them for a loop and they prepared for the wrong kind of fight the next time around. Con NPC’s into doing stuff for you in either a way they (even the DM) doesn’t know is harmful, or full on have a hit put on them. Either, or, as long as they don’t know you were involved there can be no backlash. Rule 5: never blow your cover while you can help it. As long as you are with the group they have no idea you are a ticking time bomb. If you must fight them then play an aloof character that is always running head long into the dungeon and disappearing, or a guy who does his own thing. Then you can put on a disguise and come back in the room and knock the stuffing out of them. Remember, if you are going to adventure with them some more then you have to not only disguise your looks, but also use different equipment and attack styles. Depending on if the group is bad about using OOCI then you may have to let the DM play your guy to alleviate suspicion that you are involved. The best part is if you get gatted up then you can run into the next room and say that you were dealt with first or you would have helped. Not only will they feel bad for you, but they may pay to heal you of the damage they inflicted themselves!
So this is the point where I’m offering to take you to the dark side. Are going to save Mace Windu or are you joining me?
As you don’t need sleep you have so many options. You could easily poison them. You could trade out good climbing equipment for inferior stuff for a nasty surprise when they aren’t expecting it. With a wizard you can grab the spell book and take one of his back up spells (one he mems, but saves for just in case) for one ‘similar’ looking with the title saying it’s the other (your DM will have to judge). He’ll be surprised when he thinks he’s casting a target self teleport but really he just targeted himself with a fireball. Since 8 hours of sleep is a long time you could take his spell book and have wards of contingency placed on them that say if he casts this spell at X then Y happens. That will be very devastating. Now if they start whining about the new ruthless you has no reason to do this then you can say that you thought you were deactivated and safe when you were with the bad guys but apparently they screwed you up somehow. Now they will be concerned with fixing you instead of killing you which will make you the center of a campaign, and thus respected. Since they sleep you could also walk about and attract all kinds of baddies towards them and they would be none the wiser. Especially if it was something that was deadly to organics but not you, like snakes because then you could claim ignorance and why would they hold a grudge on that?
My one bit of all around good advice? Always play some sort of spell caster (clerics hurt and can heal themselves) that can cast up to 9th level spells. Stay away from half casters like rangers and palys. A good trick would be to set it up with the DM and play a black guard. They require some levels of paly and don’t have to convert them all. You can leave just enough paly to look good, but still be bad to the bone. If you find this path of darkness, corruption and revenge to your liking I’ll instruct you more. Just take good game notes and I’ll tell you what to do next. Remember, on the offensive it’s best to hold the attack until you know it will work. Going to soon blows your cover and puts you on the defensive!
subject: wow....just...wow.
Dear unknown,
Maybe you should have slept before posting. You didn't touch on one single thing the OP asked for. How you got this far into left-field is beyond my understanding.
At no point did the OP imply that he (the player) was being bullied or picked on (are you projecting?). Nor did he ask for ways to make the other players or their characters fear him. At no point did he imply that he wanted an evil character.
When someone asks "how do I get people to like me" the answer is never "kill them in their sleep". If you think it is, you need help.
Get well soon,
Jet
And I did touch on his initial request. I said I needed to understand the group dynamic more, but this was my off the hip response from what I could see. I told him that the main reasons people don't like you is because you fight like dead weight, or your just annoying when you 'rp.' I told him how to initially fix both of those.
If he has need of my services then he contact me further. Otherwise I feel my way will work better. When they consider him an equal or at least a wild card then they complain less when he's just rping.
I am quite well thanks
I remember a 3.5 game I did a while back where we had a player who decided to try a child char. We eventually got fed up and ditched them at a temple/orphanage.
In your situation it may be different as you are just alien to your surroundings due to your race, making you "simple" rather than "childish."
You can be "child like" but not an actual child. What I mean by this is you can roleplay the curiosity, the naiveness, the innocence etc. of a child but still possess the intelligence to function as an adult member of the group. Some examples of this would be Data from Star Trek the next generation. He was highly intelligent but didn't understand a lot of human qualities. Another example would be the sitcom third rock from the sun. The family were aliens and while they were smart, they understood none of the nuances of human culture. Also, although I'm not familiar with the mekboyz from warhammer, it would seem more feasible for him to invent and build things if he had some adult intelligence. This may also smooth over some of the rough edges of interacting with your other players. A warforged with a gentle nature and child like curiosity but an adult maturity would be easier to exsist with than a 5 year old warforged child.
I Agree that a child character isn't good for fighting, but I felt that he would have more naievete than true childness. He has no idea what sleep is, or what the point of eating or breathing is. I really like the idea of bringing small gifts to the party (especiallly the family picture, thats especially fun) and I'm definately adding that in.
The level of curiosity will vary depending on the location and on Citadel's mood. For example, Citadel is less likely to be curious when wandering down a dusty country road, but gods help him if he wanders into a wizard's shop or in a castle. The dangerous aspects of this curiosity will not be a problem, hell its probably a good thing, considering our group "Leader" is a Paladin who occasionally rolls will saves to see if he charges into things he doesn't know what they do. The party is rediculously resilient so nearly anything won't kill them. Something fast-paced and quirky fits right in.
The reason we are killing off my old character (and bringing in a new one) is because he literally was a square peg in a round hole. A Binder, he was a Heretic (in a party with a lawful stupid paladin and cleric), and paranoid and cautious to boot. Thus, if the campaign had slower-paced, more thoughtful players, then he would fit right in. Also, the DM gave him absolutely no items or gear, so he was miles behind the player curve (The party wiped a 14th level gargantuan white dragon at 10th level in two rounds) so He wasn't fun to play, either. Binders were my favorite class (and my first character) but I'm really hoping that this Artificer will take his place.
So far, the Morality is Black-and-white, but in later levels it will be black-and-grey (Since the paladin is turning evil), where I'm hoping the more childlike idea of morality will come into play. I want him to raise some slightly philosophical questions about Morality in the party.
I appreciate the posts, Any new Ideas for personality quirks are welcomed.
P.S. Theunknownreturns, I already had a post about this a couple months back, talking about assassinating the party. I eventually decided, "To hell with it" and stopped trying with my original character, getting him killed, and then bringing in Citadel as a much better fit with the party.
1.) If it's just the "childlike curiosity" you want you can capture that with a sixteen-eighteen year old warforge that's never left the tower. Imagine how weird it would be to see the sky for the first time after eighteen years old? Literally an entire new world would open up to you.
2.) Children and Child-Like characters require special care. If your party is built from caretaker personalities (i.e. your Cleric/Paladin serve a good god and help the needy) this can work. Otherwise axe it post-haste. Anytime I'm bringing in a PC that has special RP needs I'd clear it with the party first.
3.) You could totally build him off a non-violent combat benefit. He's spent his whole life with an intelligent mother and (presumambly) a lot of books, a lot of time (not needing to be human) to read. He'd probably be well versed in tactics and logic. So you could find a class that features shifts, extra attacks, etc. I'd say warlord rather than artificer.
as an RP note when you mentioned his character I so thought XT from world of warcraft :P
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x56ZWfZNi4Q
This is a red flag. In trying to roleplay this you may appear condescending and snobbish. Get rid of "boring". You can roleplay the first instance you see the rest of the party sleeping as a curious thing but then drop the issue. Instead, feel protective of your party. Since you don't need sleep, be proud of it being your duty to protect the party while they sleep. Have your character know your mother is gone. Be an "adult" and regard protecting your party as mother would protect you. You protect your party and mother would be proud of you. The party is your family now.
I wanted to quote and emphasis this and I thought it was a really good suggestion and I didn't want it to be overlooked amid all the replies (and there's a wall of text up there that scares me).
You don't necessarily need to have your character know your mother is dead though - your character could try looking for their mother in every town the party travels to, talk about introducing the party to his mother. Citadel could brag about how awesome mom is and maybe even get the party interesting in finding her.
(BTW, does she really have to be dead? If I was a DM this would be an irresistable plot hook)
3.) I'd say warlord rather than artificer.
Except, he's not playing 4th Edition.
He finds living creatures both strange and boring at the same time...
Except for the bolded part, this character sounds an awful lot like Data from Star Trek, which I refer you to for inspiration. While Data is no longer "naive", he still has much to learn regarding humanity. While he finds the human "dynamic" peculiar and perplexing, he is still very much interested in learning all its nuances. He claims to have no "emotional response" to certain things, he is still able to express them in his own unique way (for instance his view on friendship.) While he does not shun combat, he is more inclined to use a logical, peaceful approach to a situation. In my opinion, this is who you should model the character from.
I also recommend hitting the character development boards, though they're 4e oriented.