For those of you who watched the video already: Elly's doing great. The campaign is ongoing, and we just hit level 19 last night after slaying 2 blue adult dragons and a blue elder dragon. So what's your strategy with naming characters?

@ooccttoo

3 жыл бұрын

I honestly don't have a strategy... I usually just stick with the first name that sticks. My first character's name came from my phone auto-correcting "Queen" to "Quebec" and I thought it just fit the character for some reason. I have no idea why. Maybe he was actually Canadian? He did come from the far north... Later I slightly retconned the name to be a fake name, with his real name being the more standard tiefling (Infernal) name Makari Kazire. Since then I've always named my characters the exact same way. Just wait for a name that fits to pop into my head. It's probably not the best method but I think it works. I've run about 17 characters and I think I can remember most of their names more or less. And I don't think I've run into the issue of people forgetting my characters' names all that much, if at all.

@blfox729

3 жыл бұрын

My strategy is actually pretty in the middle of yours. I often do put a lot of thought into my character names, but leave them room to have an easy to remember nickname. Bruce Ruehester (Brooster Rooster) Zashchitnil Smith (Zash) Rem'kith of Sand's Run (Rem) Calta'Ven (Calta) -Literal robot who's name can't be pronounced- (Iron Giant)

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

@@blfox729 Bruce Ruehester is a legend.

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

@@ooccttoo Not a bad method, sometimes my best names have come from what pops into my head (like Jitterbug). But also because I'm a cheeky shit and sometimes the thing popping into my head is a shitty pun. So - my best names. Of course. Usually for one shots where I don't have time to blatantly overthink.

@Scrinoverlord

3 жыл бұрын

Generally I *try* to have them be a combination of memorable and mean something, but of course that's easier said than done. My character Psykhe, for example, is an aberrant mind sorcerer, an intellect devourer who became hardwired into her host body (neatly negating an ID's Body Thief ability: if her host body dies, she dies with it, just like any other character). Perfect name. Sounds like psyche, has PSY in it, referencing psionics. People misspell it all the time but that's the price I pay.

JUST NAME THEM AFTER A CRISP!! ✨Druid Quaver✨

Any character name that can be shortened to a nickname is great.

Nobody in my longest-running game ever had difficulty remembering "Frank Fletcher" the archer. :D

My favourite character I made started with the name: Mac Fearsome. A huge burly scotsman who did nothing but challenge people to wrestling contests. He was the best.

PLUM!! And Jitterbug so cute omg 💚 Best naming advice ever - I think this is also 100% relevant for video games, and any other tabletop RPG as well

2:46 I actually found it randomly not a day before you posted this, which I believe you saw. It seems I kept most of the sheets from those ancient, antediluvian days. On the subject of the video, I think the name is less how "good" it is to "others" and moreso how good it is to "you". If you have a name you ADORE you will fight tooth and nail to not become a mere footnote in the DM's notes.

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah I saw that! It was an awesome coincidence but I sadly already had the video put together by that time. I thought I had a copy or old version of the sheet too, but it might have gotten lost last time I moved. That fight to be immoralized definitely is a learned skill though. I struggled a long time to fight for my screentime because I always was waiting to have plot points included for me to star in, instead of just acting in the moment, or asking directly for what I wanted.

With my current group I called my first character "Jakk" He was a cranky, gnome artificer. For a while, my DM kept calling him "Jaques", and I didn't correct him because I thought he was just throwing an accent on it as a stylistic thing. Right up until I said my character's name for the hundredth time and he paused and said "Oh, it's pronounced Jack?" lol he actually thought, because I spelled it "Jakk" that there was an accent on it.

The thing with hard to remember names, the more you say them the more they will stick out. Instead of saying “I go up and attack the bandit” use your character name in place of first person. With short games or one shots you don’t exactly get this luxury but it’s still helpful when it’s somthing you like. For when I come up with names I often use meaning name surch with somthing related to the character. It’s simple but effective XD, but if no name fits I just look up other words the same way till I find somthing XD.

I pick my character names the way I picked mine. Start with a M and go for a cool meaning.

Wonderful video, Plum is great!

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks friend! I hope I get to play her more in the future.

Ah yes. I stan for my cleric Stanley.

loving the content bro love the art style and this video has helped me as i suck at naming my characters so far i have played: thorin monkey jaw VanKleiss de LLewop and Rex Drakar as you can tell i am not good with names

the real thing you need to keep in mind is that it needs to be phonetically consistent with the language you are playing the game in. The soft "ah" (alana, heatha) sound that's popular in fantasy names is popular in fantasy names because it sounds exotic, like something you wouldn't hear in modern English. But this also makes it harder to commit to memory because its not a sound people will default to. You need a name to be predictable, so that if only a very small part of it gets remembered then the rest of the name can be guessed pretty easily from the part that was remembered You don't have to use direct english words, but generally speaking things are easiest to remember if they are consistent with what has been learned in the past. A name containing "plum" was memorable because it causes people to immediately think something. it draws a picture, or at least gives a color palette. A player that forgets the name will remember "well she was purple- oh yeah i remember now" same thing happens whenever someone not into anime watches one. all the names get constantly confused because they have no meaning from their perspective and use a similar but unfamiliar speech pattern

My usual crutch for naming characters is to look up real-life but perhaps lesser known ancient deities or mythical figures and base my names off those. I wouldn't go as far as naming a character Odin or Poseidon, but for instance my current character is an exceptionally lucky little halfling fellow so I named him Tycho as the masculine form of Tyche, the Greek goddess of luck (Fortuna to the Romans).

My favourite character names I’ve made are Pipkin (Pip) Hallows and Obsidian (Oby) Eclipse!

Glad I was able to find this from the Reddit post!

OH-mer-gerd!! I randomly stumbled across this video and immediately recognized Jitterbug from our campaign! (Thanks again for putting up with all of us newer players that couldn't roleplay for our lives X'D) Congratz on over a thousand views!! 🎉🎉

@owlybearart2908

Жыл бұрын

Oh man! Hi!! It was for sure a chaotic group for, but I had lot of fun lol! Playing with new players has all its own charms - People are still testing things, not always optimizing, and it's all got an extra layer of magic still. That's pretty wild and cool you found this video! 😊

the fact that when i remember this video, the first thing that comes to mind is their funny little names like "mm.. elephantasia.. plum.." goes to show how memorable they really are, and i didn't even go through a campaign with them

Can... can we get a webcomic or something all about Plum and her adventures she didn't get to have? I would love that.

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

Lately I’ve been doing comics instead of videos so... maybe yes actually! At least some of the time :)

This was such a fun, entertaining, and well-made video!! Jitterbug is honestly the MOST adorable name. Honestly, I've always somewhat embraced that "silly dnd name" trope, though my naming conventions were definitely influenced by the actual play shows I watched before every actually playing myself. Names like Caleb Widogast, Jet Rocks, Magnus Burnsides, ect that managed to be incredibly memorable. In my opinion, pronounce-ability is what reigns supreme when naming things. If no one can pronounce it then it becomes very hard to remember xD Last names are always where I struggle, honestly, first names are something I find very easy. Next campaign for me though is with a gnome, and I look forward to fully embracing the "gnomes have Too Many Names and Keep Adding More" naming convention that dnd's world holds canon. We'll see how miss Hilda Rose Rock-hopper Huddledrum manages things :P and how many names she's gotten by the end of it all lol

my campaign world is a bit odd for names, but i do suggest certain conventions based on the native languages. Dwarven language being very direct and to the point has short Nordic-sounding names and frequently followed by the "daughter of" and "of the line of" following that for differentiation purposes. Elf language being long and flowing and honestly sounding a bit Hawaiian with all the vowels - they normally have a "calling name" like Moonflower for those races who just don't have the time for a "proper" greeting. Human names are derivative of ancient sources and sound a bit like those from the Safehold series and so on.

AHHH I love the intro!!

One of the best names I've ever come up with was for a sit-down game at a con. I was a wizard lady who was a trashy washed-up celebrity, so I gave her a silly stage name. Nancy Mancer. Even though I played this character for all of an hour at a con, I remembered her and remade her for a full campaign years later. Never be afraid to give your charter a goofy name.

Why the hell is yt only recommending this to me NOW. Why didnt this channel get big. The few videos it has are great and I asume it just died cause of lack of audience (?) kinda sad. I liked this video a lot and wanted to see more...

Love this content, hoping for more

These videos are so cute I love them

I've had the most success with like, normal names. Simon is a normal person's name that I attached to one of my most insane characters and I have such fond memories of him.

My favorite character name is still my most complicated one. My Evlen Paladin of Hanali Celanil: D'orame Laeramar. He was an Oath of the Ancients that fought for the happiness of all around him, was an entertainer who's family ran an inn, and spoke with a heavy "elvish" accent. And by elvish, I mean French. D'orame, is just the two French words "D'or" and "Ame". Translating to "Golden" and "Soul" respectively. It works to reflect his good nature, and a Golden Heart is the symbol of his Goddess. Laeramar, is Elvish of some kind. If I remember correctly "Laer" and "Ramar/Amar" translate to "Sun" and "Home". Hearkening back to his family's inn he was raised in. But I also distinctly remember my Tiefling Celestial Warlock: Karma. Raised in an orphanage, had terrible table manners, and his speech patterns sounded like Brad Pitt from the movie "Snatch". But he believed in the Karmic force of the universe. As the campaign went on though, he realized that he couldn't rely on karma to do all the work. If he wanted that name, he was gonna have to let that force flow through him, and punish those who deserve it.

Just stumbled upon ya and amazed to see that you have not only got to experience one character become level 20 but about to see another @.@ the highest my players have gotten to has been ~11

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

Tbf that DM uses a faster pace than most! His way takes just about a year of weekly play to reach level 20. The style has its ups and downs, but one big plus is that we get to see many of our characters reach their full potential.

I named my first d&d character Ilixian Darkforge. Lixi for short. They were non-binary though (like me, though I wasn’t sure of that at the time) and everyone kept misgendering them as male so I didn’t really correct them. I only played them about 3 sessions but dang it! The whole reason Lixi became a rogue was because they were shunned for their identity. I will be more assertive next time I play! 😤 Great video btw ;p just wanted to rant

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

Oooh I'm sorry that happened to you! I've played male and nb and there's nothing more frustrating than still hearing "she" for my character. I'm sure especially so when it reflects back on your own real life. More to your point, I actually would like to make a video on D&D as a vehicle for identity exploration, and another on how to be welcoming. It's a tough topic to write about though, so it may be a while. We'll see~!

I had a fire genasi Bard-wizard called Roast Th'Barrd at least that's what she called herself because she was sick of being "Seraphina Calida Copperspark" in fact her birth name wasn't ever actually revealed in campaign she was just Roast (or scorch depending on who was talking about her) then there was also a water genasi druid in the party called Clam, a mimic fighter-rogue called Zazden and a reskinned half orc to chimp/ape person bard named Doctor Bonobo Proboscis or something if I remember correctly and we usually referred to him at player name's character, the monkey, hey you, whatshisface, etc. I also have a fairy Druid named Camara which has a little more subtlety to the name (I was looking at flowers and decided I loved the Lantana Camara and designed the character partly based on the flower)

Never been good with names….bobert McBoberson Kare Iktur Proh Tagg Enist (and his evil sister) Anne Tagg Delgato (she got married) Arachnia (obviously a snake theme character) Hiro Gudguy Saveington Drof Gnatsum Atoyot Yrmac 2013 Nissan Altima

I pretty sure I named my plasmoid monk Bowulf which just means bee wolf witch means bee hunter which just means bear

there is so much fucking effort in this video, i cant believe its not more popular

@owlybearart2908

Жыл бұрын

Hey thanks, I really appreciate it!! 💜 I wanted to ask how you found this video? (Noticed I was getting now comments again and was wondering where people were finding it)

@turtley8581

Жыл бұрын

@@owlybearart2908 I just started a DND campaign and was struggling a lot to find a character name, and when looking up some advice this video stuck out a lot

I came to this video because i was struggling to name my loxodon druid and prior to this video i didnt think loxodons were often played have a nice day

So I have my own story about this. I have been DMing a campaign since July 2019. We had three people at the start and at the 4th session or so we had another person come into the game because she couldn’t join us for the first few weeks. She sent me her backstory and her character sheet and I looked it over and approved it. However, she never told me her name. Either I didn’t see it on the pictures she sent or she hadn’t written it in yet. So the session comes, and about a third of the way through I give a lore drop about someone who was the general of warmonger, and the general was named “Narra”. My friend looks at me and points to her character sheet, and I see now the name is filled in a “Nara”. So even since then we have had to specify “Narra the Triton Rouge” when talking about the villain. That has lead to some pretty amazing jokes in the group luckily, but in the moment I was so shocked. I didn’t expect something like that to happen at all.

Plum is now permanently residing in my braincells now too so plz post more Plum.

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

Plum is baby 😌

I'm going to have to keep this in mind for major NPC names; I haven't DM'ed my campaign in a few months but I should at least remember the party's patron's name, right? I'm going to give that some more thought. I think my PC names do alright though. Best is Bannock Tooheck; a grumpy dwarven baker/stonesmith and barbarian; who fought with a stone baguette.

my favorite name I ever made in d&d was for a campaign that never actually went anywhere I created a halfling rogue named Alphonso Honeywobble, youngest in a family of 12, off to make my fortune and a name for myself.

I made a tiefling sorcerer named Skippy Dinglechalk

I'm About to start my first session (well technically second but we don't talk about that) next week and I've been stuck on the name minx like forever as it's short, easy to say and is usually described as a playful mischievous person which he is, I'm thinking this will be his nick name that he uses through the camping but he will eventually reveal his real or full name, not sure if this is a good nick name or what his full name should be yet buy any advice would be much appreciated.

i named my warforged "grass" because they like touching grass we are not the same /j /lh

My conquest paladin is literally names Spy Priest in french.

this is interesting because at my table we don't have problems with forgetting names like this or anything, and personally i would disagree with the advice you gave your friend and i think Vinayaki is cooler in general than "Ellaphantasia" which sounds more like a gimmick magician name. idk this is no shade to you of course, but interesting how different tables can handle different things.

Some names of mine: Had an edgelord who I didn't think of a name until sessions later. He went by "Grrr" because of this. In universe its because he didn't trust anyone with his name. Wow so edgy. Named my cleric last minute Ronald... Ronaldsworth. I named my crazy Ice Warlock Gladious Glacier (very proud of that one)

owlybear, where are my doodles at? :(

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry I know. : I do still plan to make it but it's just been hard to focus on lately! I've been posting regular comics on my Instagram and Twitter though! @OwlybearArt

@emilcapilongoanthony9430

3 жыл бұрын

​@@owlybearart2908 I get that, the internet can be annoying. Your videos are amazing though and you should keep trying to make them.

How do you have so little subscribers!?

Lol evanth smith is a perfect name

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

He's my trash child and I love him so much. I wrote an entire script on him but idk how self-indulgent I want to be with these to make an entire video that's just "hey let me talk about my OC donut steel!" for 10 minutes. Bahaha

It would be a tragedy if you don't make a series called Dungeons & Doodles. Don't pass up the opportunity!

@owlybearart2908

3 жыл бұрын

It was the original name I wanted, but when I looked it up it was apparently already a series on the official Dungeons and Dragons channel! 😭 I've been trying to figure out how to title this series since!