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@Williamkny

8 ай бұрын

One hundred and fifteenth view were

@scornlok9321

8 ай бұрын

Will do sounds awesome but In the first story wife seemed to miss that she said she killed innocent people. so that's kind of evil I don't agree with the dm about instant death but I'd have had stuff happen for killing civilians.

They stereotyped the rogue, then when he wouldn't capitulate they stereotyped the priest in their antics. Clearly these two can't handle a world that doesn't conform to their expectations and should not be playing with others.

@Glacial_floofs

7 ай бұрын

they probably think femboys and tomboys should transition too

@thegameuser2616

7 ай бұрын

​@@Glacial_floofs bro did you have some entirely different conversation somewhere that you really wanna continue somewhere else

@Glacial_floofs

7 ай бұрын

@@thegameuser2616 I was referring to how people don't like it when crossdressers don't conform to the norms and think they should be trans because "you wear the clothes. might as well go trans too"

@armysunicorn9630

7 ай бұрын

​@@Glacial_floofsNobody does that, the opposite actually. A trans person would tell you how often they're told to just be a masculine woman or feminine man.

@Glacial_floofs

7 ай бұрын

@@armysunicorn9630 it's close to nobody. but there was assholes that did harass them. this was kind of an issue on reddit, forget context. but I believe it was about a character from guilty gear. also some other things too like posting images of characters like astolfo (fate/grand order) in a trans subreddit. the femboy community took this the wrong way (in their defense, astolfo isn't trans). it's like a year or two old topic by now tho so hopefully it all got better

- You're a rogue, steal it. - You're a fighter, fight it, duh.

Man, the favorite character I ever wrote was a rogue who used the abilities he COULD use for thieving to instead be better at understanding, investigating, and preventing crime. Man was one of the most honest people in his world, and I’m not sorry. He even went his entire campaign without killing any people.

@bloodoblivion787

8 ай бұрын

So you played batman lol nice.

@ArariaKAgelessTraveller

8 ай бұрын

It's basically the Inquisitive subclass Literally

@Leith_Crowther

8 ай бұрын

@@bloodoblivion787Nah, no secret identity… or edginess. It was really quite wholesome. Just an earnest fellow who wanted to break the perceive cycle of evil in the world.

@Takisan111

8 ай бұрын

My current rogue is a freelance spy/investigator. He can and does do a lot of illegal stuff in his search for what he's hired to find but a lot of his paycheck goes towards giving back to the community so he feels it balances out a bit.

@thespanishinquisition4078

7 ай бұрын

In pathfinder 2e one of the recommended clases for detective/investigator is rogue. Players who assume its thief by default are just dumb.

For the smart barbarian idea. Take it as a dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde idea. at the start of the day with daily prep or nightly prep(what ever is preferable) the character concocts several potions of "rage" which is only useable to him(perhaps uses some of his blood in it) So when he uses the Barbarians "rage" ability he drinks one of the potions and then goes rage mode. When not under the effects of the draft he is a normal and pleasant individual

@pallydan893

8 ай бұрын

Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk

@aisnota5192

8 ай бұрын

So Path of the Beast Barbarian with either Artificer or Wizard Levels. When the Doctor runs out of spell slots.... RAGE.

@joshlewis8860

8 ай бұрын

Sounds like a subclass of Alchemist that the Dungeon Dudes made

@aisnota5192

8 ай бұрын

@@joshlewis8860 Or Tulocks Eda build.

@haybaleanimations2758

7 ай бұрын

How about Asterix/Obelix kind of strength boost? For those who don't know, "Asterix and Obelix" is a cartoon in which a small village defends itself from the Roman Empire's conquest with the help of their druid and their two brave warriors. The druid has created a potion which grants incredible strength temporarily to the one that drinks it. Obelix never gets any because he fell into the druid's cauldron as a baby and is blessed(cursed?) with inhuman strength. I am literally just promoting the cartoon. The really old one. It's a wonderful thing.

I think the thing that bothers me most with TTRPGs is that the class stereotypes aren't the only things that have turned into an extreme parody over time. The standards of good and evil (and how alignment changes) have also been flanderized to hell and back. Morality and alignment is a sliding scale, and someone doing something that could be seen as evil once is suddenly treated as though they switch from Lawful Good all the way to Chaotic Evil. That's not how it works. If people start doing evil stuff for no reason on a consistent basis, that's when you start shifting alignments in an extreme way. If there's a legitimate explanation or a pragmatic justification for doing something, I always suggest that DMs take note, then tell the player that the public sees them as evil (if civilians and NPCs hear about their actions) rather than saying that the player character's morality outright shifts. It's sort of a way to show that your alignment is changing over time, and mostly in the eyes of others. When combined with a "direct consequences for actions" system, it creates more natural character shifts that aren't vulnerable to sudden DM whims and personal moralizing.

about Duke's smart Barbarian; I always wanted to play a smart Barbarian myself, where basically Rage is reflavoured as getting into the flow of battle or some form of battle meditation. Like it's not some wild rage-fueled frenzy, it's cold and calculated and intimidating in its precision, this is a person who not only knows 12,000,000,000 ways to skin you, but also has the means.

@MyAramil

8 ай бұрын

Yep, the tunnel visioned focus,

@Gokkee

8 ай бұрын

Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes is an awesome calculated but also hard-hitting fighter when he goes full focus mode 😊

@wingidon

6 ай бұрын

​@@Gokkee In summary, discombobulate.

@magnusprime962

6 ай бұрын

So like the book version of Conan the Barbarian?

@JnEricsonx

4 ай бұрын

Also known as the Tranquil Fury trope, If I'd made a barb for my first session, that was my idea.

The rogue story actually kinda resonated with me. I'm in a campaign now (we're 40+ sessions in) where I play a rogue. I like going against stereotypes, so she's super friendly, kind to everyone and hates being alone. She's very good at sneaking, she's been known to pick locks when needed, but stealing or pick-pocketing? Nah, that has not yet happened in game, and it'd have to be under VERY particular circumstances she'd even consider doing something like that. Luckily, none of my other players have ever said anything about it, and they all seem fine with it. It seems that everyone would say "Lyra the sweetheart" before saying "Lyra the rogue", and... yeah, I do prefer that. Characters are a lot more than just their class =3

@thezeevy

8 ай бұрын

My last rogue was a Goblin Lawyer...

@GwenRiver

8 ай бұрын

I’m the same. I love playing against stereotype. I generally pick a race known for being outcast or not for the class I’m playing and go for it. It’s fun and I like playing against type.

@brandonchildress4031

7 ай бұрын

Thankfully the groups I've played in have always been good about counter-stereotypes and weird builds. Or going all-in and overhyping the stereotype. As long as we were all having fun, that's what mattered.

@mallarieluvsgirls

3 ай бұрын

yes i love this stuff! not a d and d player, just love this you tubers personality! i believe this stuff actually influences the real world too :). to fight real stereotypes. i’m always stereotyped as a native canadian individual and these characters have a very special place in my heart, and those who write them 🎉❤

@crypticcryptid4702

Күн бұрын

Oh hey! I'm playing an ace Bard called Lyra rn! She travels to collect and share stories of different cultures, as well as to share her love of music

Love the time a kid who inserted himself into our table cause we played in public at the time got mad at me for not sneaking around as the party Rogue when my character was distracted by the orphan in the room because he grew up as an orphan and that tied directly into his main motivation. Yes, he sneaks around a lot, but sometimes he needs to have a moment where he shows his caring side.

City of Mist Level 6 is permanently changed or destroyed. I played a character with a tag of "Rise from her Grave" and the GM took that to mean she literally couldn't die... like the team was haunted by an incarnation of death and everybody else saw personalized images of what death was to them. And my character saw a blank grey something following her in a train because the entity couldn't figure her out. It did mean my risk of terrible things went straight to "worse than death" categories such as the fact she let on my character's identity was being eroded.

I while I enjoy SOME stereotypes of DnD classes, I also know they aren’t set in stone and enjoy diverging from the stereotypes almost as much as I embrace them at times. One of my most recent characters was that I played a Rogue in Witchlight who had stolen from Titania for the fun of it and fled, accidentally ending up in the material plane where he spent a LONG time before he returned to the Feywild. Having been gone for many years and lost a lot in his absence, he became a much different person. I think he only stole on one occasion after that and became a much different person over the course of the campaign, becoming a much more good person and eventually returning what he stole from Titania before he ended up living a fairly happy life afterwards with the party sorceress. So while I enjoy making the occasional gruff Fighter or alcoholic Dwarf, I have a great deal of fun playing some characters different from the tropes they’re inspired by.

@hfar_in_the_sky

8 ай бұрын

Indeed. One of the ways I like to play rogues is like the “cheeky London tramp” where they smile and crack jokes with people while simultaneously picking their pocket. But one time I had a fellow player kind of grinch that I wasn’t playing my rogue “properly,” which to their mind was the stereotypical edge rogue

@ver87ona

8 ай бұрын

@@hfar_in_the_sky I don’t see rogues as stereotypically edgy. Hell, the inspiration behind the Thief was The Gray Mouser, a VERY charismatic rogue who was plenty social and charming. Not some loser skulking in a corner away from everyone.

My favorite moment was me as a wizard and getting caught out of position and completely surrounded by undead, I knew I only had one turn, so I casted fireball on the ground at my feet, that didn't down me, but it did make all the undead go to 1 hp, I fully expected to die, then our cleric/paladin had other plans, jumped right on top of me, and cast turn undead, was one of those moments where I was ready to die and a party member had other plans

@MyAramil

8 ай бұрын

its moments like that, that make TTRPG just the best form of story telling.

Yea, I can relate to the rouge story. I once had a Goliath Barbarain. Using rolling for stats I gave him a 14 in intelligence and had him being a successful blacksmith. Everyone just said I was doing a bad portrait of Grog. Left after session 1.

@matthewdarkhaven1078

8 ай бұрын

😔 that sucks. Your character sounds really neat!

@jakisz

8 ай бұрын

@@matthewdarkhaven1078 Yea, I kept telling them that it made no sense that a blacksmith wouldn't be able to do business without understanding accounting and read orders for people.

@GwenRiver

8 ай бұрын

How is that a bad portrait of Grog?? Grog had an 8 intelligence, and wouldn’t know what to do with a hammer, except throw it at someone. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing…but it was his thing. That sounds NOTHING like your character. I’m glad you left.

@LunarOverdrive

7 ай бұрын

@@GwenRiver a lot of people see "goliath barbarian" and immediately assume it's grog

@JnEricsonx

4 ай бұрын

@@GwenRiver"I have a intelligence of 6, I know what Im doing." Actual quote from Travis-happy I met him. :)

Yeah I played an inquisitive rogue/horizon walker ranger who was basically an inter-planar detective. Some of the most fun I've ever had with a character and everyone else at the was dumbfounded that I didn't pick one lock for over 3 sessions. Just talked noted and used abilities to track and investigate a group of quasits and told the city guard where they were hiding. Fortunately my group is dope and really liked the idea of a rogue face that was stronger in role-playing than actual combat or infiltration.

Playing against Stereotypes is honestly some of the most fun in ttrpgs! I once played a high intelligence half-elf Barbarian and had a blast! I made charisma my dump stat, so he turned out to be this socially akward, absolutely JACKED bookworm! So during down time he'd do push-ups while reading books or playing other party members in chess. Freaking loved him!

I had a shifter barbarian based on Lizzie Borden in a steampunk 5E homebrew. (We had to build our characters from American folklore and worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.) She was a prim and proper lady until she lost her temper and her dark side emerged, beating foes with her umbrella until they stopped moving. I added a bit of a Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde where she would black out during her rages, then have to come to terms with her brutality once she calmed down. I loved playing this character :)

I think it's a lot of fun having races & classes not act how they are stereotypically portrayed. I had a halfling barbarian years ago who was raised by wolves & took trophies from her kills (usually teeth). I had a chaotic good drow rogue who's backstory was that they worked for a recovery agency that found & stole back items taken from whoever hired them. I prefer the storybuilding & roleplaying aspect of the game & try to make characters who are fun to play. Intelligent fighters/barbarians, celibate bards, promiscuous paladins, all of these are valid characters to create.

My current character is a rogue. I'm playing her as a private investigator though, so she doesn't typically try to steal things. It's actually really interesting to play her and try to solve all the little mysteries and plot hooks!

Regarding the first story, the DM is also the person who even gave his player the chance to do what they cobsider evil. If you don't allow evil characters, then don't ask your players if they do something explicitly evil

The game mechanics sometimes force stereotypes, but if you have a DM who is open to home brewing, you can get around most of that. In my 40 years of playing however, I’ve found very few DMs willing to change core rules or home brew so that I can play non stereotyped characters. They think I’m trying to get one over on them. And I understand it. Most of the “creative” players I’ve played with just want to circumvent RAW to make their characters OP.

@MyAramil

8 ай бұрын

I always say " present it to me, and at best ill allow it if its is not to bad, or can suggest ways to make it work, otherwise after hearing it, can say no" Because lets face it. Sometimes you just have to say no. Like I don't care how strong or dexterous the dwarf fighter is, if they intentionally leap off of the ledge, no amount of flapping their arms will get them to the top

Smart Barbarian: a librarian that gets really mad when people disrespect books

I can see a a lawful good rogue, but that backstory is everything in making them believable. ~_~

@thomasquesada7248

3 ай бұрын

Just have a redemption at some point in their backstory

Honestly the main force driving me wanting to start DM'ing without ever having played a game of DnD before is pretty much just me wanting to make sure that I'm the one in control of creating an open and accepting environment for any players I might DM for. So hearing these stories and hearing your takes on it significantly helps me make sure that I'm considering a whole lot of different angles and views that I otherwise maybe would be ill-prepared for (if at all) and allows me to check myself before making any judgements. So far I'm glad that my gut reactions seem to be "right", according to you guys' reactions, as well as the comments and the general opinions of the community, which does calm me down a bit if I were to ever have to make any decision about a problem player or if I were to ever do something wrong as a DM, I'm hoping I'll correct those mistakes swiftly. I love these videos, they're fun and entertaining to watch while they also feel like a casual, friendly learning experience. They are my favourite short(-er)form of DnD content lately. Love the chill and supportive vibes. Love you guys, hope you're well!

Yes Pikachu is very Cute! The 1st Story: The GM was a j**k, also it's reasonable to punish/eliminate Cheaters & Murder Hobos. But not in that situation. The 2nd Story: That was kinda funny. The 3rd Story: THERE IS NO NEED TO PLAY STEREOTYPES!!! The 4th Story: That was awesome! Finally, I unfortunately don't have a group to play with:( But I have created 6 different lvl 1 characters in case I found a group. NONE OF WHICH ARE STEREOTYPES!!! NONE OF THEM HAVE TRAGIC BACKSTORIES!!! MY BARBARIAN ISN'T COMPLETELY DUM!!! MY DROW CLERIC ISN'T VICIOUS OR CRUEL!!! MY WIZARD IS A MOUNTAIN DWARF WITH DECENT CONSTITUTION & AC!!! MY RANGER IS A NERD!!! MY DRUID ISN'T A HIPPIE!!! MY ASTRAL ELF PALADIN ISN'T LAWFUL GOOD AND IS HARSHER THEN ALL MY OTHER CHARACTERS!!!

@wingidon

6 ай бұрын

I never really understood tragic backstories. Like, your character's an orphan, big deal, join the club. That's not going to be relevant throughout the plot or anything. I prefer simplistic, not-so-tragic backstories. Like, I don't have a party to play with either, but I've got a Ranger, black Dragonborn, who... the basic gist of their story is, they grew up on the countryside and gained knowledge of various parts of nature due to this; how creatures tend to act and how to track them down and kill them, good methods of going through certain terrain quickly, etc. When they grew up, they decided they had the skills and that they wanted to make a difference in the world, so they picked up their equipment and set off. No dead family members, no tragic haunting ancestors, just a semi-realistic backstory.

@morrigankasa570

6 ай бұрын

@@wingidon That's fair, my backstories aren't tragic but are a bit more in-depth then yours. But each their own as long as they aren't Tragic/Dark/Edgelord! I also created 6 more characters recently but still not Tragic or Dark. Still no group either:(

I tend to be one of those players who tends to play sort of against stereotype. I had a rogue character who was lawful good, but he was a treasure hunter, he would sneak into tombs, crypts, etc to look for artifacts. One integration of him, he was an assimar who would hunt down dangerous artifacts for serephine the angel in contact with him. I also play a Bard who's not seeking action from everything that moves. He's a cargo ship captain, his Bard abilities come from his ability to encourage his crew. It bothered me a few time when in sessions the "horny Bard" stereotype got showhorned in. There was a moment where the inn's desk clerk looked sad so to cheer her up my Bard regaled her with songs and stories. No interest to "hook up" but everyone tried to imply it.

I worked with my dm to make a dex based barbarian subclass which was so much fun to play until I died in an explosion

Got a minor fun story: My friends and I were playing Wild Beyond the Witchlight, and we were fighting Skabatha Nighshade after having previously escaped from the party. In what would normally be an epic showdown one of my friend's characters called for us to valiantly strike at her together to take her down, only problem was my peace cleric rolled a nat 1 and whiffed. But even worse on my next turn wouldn't you know it? I roll another Nat 1 and my character pulls his back muscle. Already pretty incredible but by the third roll? Another Nat 1. My cleric's weapon broke in half and he took it as a sign to give up on weapons entirely (being a cleric of peace and all it fit kinda well I think).

A det based wizard in constant melee having access to their own armor and weapons conjured out of nowhere is really fun

My party accidentally created our own stereotype: most druids are very low INT, chaotic, and super immature, but easy to domesticate and manipulate into doing good (or evil), so they're also sort of pushovers. And somehow they end up super likable.

So about the whole "Intelligence based fighter and Strength based wizard" thing. I have not encountered this as an issue, but maybe that's just my group being super cool. A lot of times I'll just ask my DM "Hey, can I make this change to this class because I want to do this thing." I almost always get a yes and when it's not it's the DM saying "Cool idea, let's work together to balance it and make it work." The most recent example of this I can think of, is a character I'm currently playing. He's an intelligence based "Monk," but I've yet to throw a punch. I play him like an artificer, using Ki to manipulate magical energy to power my inventions (since I don't have magic myself). TLDR: A good group knows that D&D is just about having fun and a good DM will make that the priority. Anything is possible.

“shoots a fireball with his fist” strength based zuko wizard I love it

not 2 minutes and i can watch more d&d stories? awesome!

Wait strength wizard that doesnt realize he knows magic (high int low wis?) Sounds really entertaining. I can imagine him punching the air and explaining how (he thinks) his punch is so fast that the friction of the air molecules against his fist is such that it causes a localized combustion of the oxygen in the air. Maybe he thinks haste spell is actually just that his cardio regiment is so great that he can temporarily shift into maximum overdrive, but he gets tired at the end. Hold person/monster is just him thinking he's really intimidating when he glares at someone and they freeze in place

I am THE player oh and everyone else is. We are all cool like that.

"Strength-based wizard"...that's anime as hell. 😂

Forever DM here😢. I've actually tried making DND 5e antihesis subclasses that break "unspoken rules" of classes. None of them are playtested mind, but I've tried making things like Path of the Strategist barbarian. It honestly really fun. Also, city of mist is an absolutely great system. It is one of my favorites.

@SAFBLight

8 ай бұрын

bro i need that path of the strategist barb. Sounds fun

Appreciate the shout out to DC20. Love ya Duke!

I hate the Rogue = Thief thing people go. You can be roguish in so many ways, that's why we have subclasses like Scout, Inquisitive and Mastermind, none of them focused on being burglars, the Inquisitive is totally planned to be Sherlock Holmes kind detective. My actual Rogue had gained his abilities from busting criminal gangs and outing them to the local guards. He has learned to blend inside their groups and cheat at different types of games, but in general, is a charismatic dude whose main job is to perform in front of people and see them smile.

Time loop one feels like DM just don't want the "cool yakusa gang" to stay in the story

First dm sounds like a newer dm. One who has recently had his first traumatizing experience and was now turbo strict. I've been there. Hope he works to improve

I have genuinely been looking for a good standing desk like this for so long thank you so much

i think the first character in the time loop was an anti hero which is - someone who has good intentions but completes them no matter the cost, like example, killing civilians if they are defending their opponent might be wrong

@testerwulf3357

5 ай бұрын

You’re correct.

"I can’t think of a smart barbarian." For a start, there’s Hulk. Bruce unless he has shifted into Hulk mode, he is pretty smart, and around endgame and stuff when is alter ego Hulk is gone for a while he is basically just that; a smart barbarian. Imo, as much as stereotyped class can be fun, its even more fun to be creative and thinking how can we break from a stereotype or challenging ourselves thinking how X class could just behave differently?

"I'm not stealing anything from people who don't deserve it" Umm ackchually, that's more chaotic good than lawful good.

@emperortime4380

8 ай бұрын

You could argue Indiana Jones is a Lawful Good rogue, since he steals from evil organizations and says things like “It belongs in a museum!”

People incapable of accepting anything but stereotypes is why I've never gotten to play a Paladin. 😞 On a similar note; my group was playing Mad Mage; I made a bard/rogue. It's a running joke that whenever conversation happens, the party says, "Seduce them!" and my bard retorts, "I'm not that kind of bard!"

For a intelligent barbarian, perhaps a strategist or commander who leads from the front and when in the middle of battle enters a sorta battle trance that makes them better in combat(the rage mechanic). Not that hard to picture, harder is a barbarian with low strength or con

The very first character I ever played was an inquisitive rogue. I didn't know how to play but I told the dm I want to play a detective-like character so he helped me build the character and made seversl points on the campaign where investigating for clues and interrogating suspects was very useful to solve the adventure. I was lacking in combat, mostly cause I didn't know how to play, but had so much fun solving mysteries and figuring out enemy weaknesses. Big ups to my dm for adapting their story to what I wanted to do

@JnEricsonx

3 ай бұрын

You too? Mine just hit level 3!

I've enjoyed Dukes shorts in the past but today have discovered these TTRPG horror stories with him and Amy and have binged the lot , ... You two are cute, funny and great to watch, thanks for the content.😊❤

Strength Based Wizard is just either Asta from Black Clover or Mash from Mashle.

A Lawful Good Rogue could work very well... like a Bodyguard of a hidden-protector variety. Or using the skills Robin Hood Style, just less Chaotic and more Lawful.

Smart Barbarian over here calculating the angle and velocity before throwing their axe at the enemy.

I love to break the stereotypes. I have a warlock, that didn't made the pact with some evil being and also not to become mighty to protect something. She failed as a merchant and got herself drunk, just to vomit on a ring that inhabited a part of a noble djinni. She got her first magic, befriended the djinni and wanted to help her. So while she was hunting the parts of her patron, her djinni friend also gave her more and more control over the weave. They worked together as team and also fell in love. My warlock was able to put all the parts of the Djinni back together and as thank and because of the relationship they formed over time, her patron or now love stays with her.

When I think of a smart barbarian I think of the hulk. Smart as Bruce , but when you rage watch out

I'm sure this exists in some form in some ttrpgs, but your discussion on non-stereotyped builds reminded me of how in KOTOR 1 you could have your hit modifier with a lightsaber be driven with either your strength or dexterity modifier. I would imagine that a simple level 1 feat (could even make it a free feat at character creation, but requires investment after character creation) that changes the effect of your attribute modifiers on skills and saves would make the mechanics fairly easy to manage. All that would be needed would be a narrative explanation for the feats.

That rogue should have immediately started robbing the Fighter and the Barbarian. If they complained he just goes "I'm a rogue. I steal stuff. Besides, you're a fighter and a barbarian. You're too dumb to count all the gold pieces you have, so you shouldn't even know any are missing."

I think that for the first one, it could have been quite cool to have pre-planned this murder of the character to begin a cool character arc. My idea is something with a glitch with her powers that she has to go through a whole character arc to figure out.

My Fave build was Wild Magic Barbarian/ Wild Magic Sorcerer, I had so much fun with it, and my teammates were always scared i screw things up XD

I'm currently working on a half-orc cleric that fights with a frying pan.

a good rouge would be robin hood. he literally only stole from the evil. if you aint evil he will never steal from you. and the stereotypes are kinda fake for most of them because a barbarian can absolutely be intelligent. there is a reason their skill is called RAGE. it is a mental state that overrides some more intelligent things and makes you more violent. and bards dont have to be horn dogs either. hell to be honest most bards arent horn dogs as they are an actual historical identity and their only job was to ensure the past is not forgotten. they are literally historians

2:39 One Shot Quack Pains sounds like an awesome channel!

For playing against stereotype, I like to take a class, and play it as another class. I had a barbarian and played it as a monk. She was zen, meditated, and had accepted her anger and knew when to "let it out". Another character was a rogue that I played as a bard, she was like a peppy cheerleader with high CHA. She used her social skills to distract from her rogue skills.

In our current campaign I found a rogue Subclass that allows me to use two-handed heavy weapons. So I am currently playing a 6'8 Half-Dragon Rogue 4 Paladin 2, with a magical 9'1" glaive. It is +1 2d6 slashing + 1d4 fire. My rogue has the ability to sneak attack with his weapon. He also just got a belt of cloud giant strength.

Remember getting end of one shot praise for being a rogue that wasn't a steal everything murderhobo. Like i was a flying pig or something. They were pointing out a point in game where i had a plan to use my abilities and asked to borrow a portable hole instead of just stealing it. I was like lawful neutral. I was playing a Topaz dragonborn. A menacing death like character who wasn't malicious but respectful and liked to vibe.

I'm surprised a written/text banner hasn't been made yet for the disclaimer

My current character is a warlock who honestly should be a rogue. He is obsessed with money because they don’t get paid much working at the Great Library of Candlekeep. Last session our changeling (who is not good at hiding the fact that he is a changeling, and it’s kind of a joke that since my character has bad eyesight, he doesn’t know that they are a changeling) found some loot and there were about 15 gold coins. My character basically appeared behind them and said “is that the delectable jingling of sweet sweet coins I hear?” He still has morals regarding stealing, and won’t steal from some poor person, he only steals if there’s a good reason.

@JnEricsonx

3 ай бұрын

So sayeth Sharpe: Steal nothing except from the enemy, or when starving.

My first character was a smart but simple and friendly Goliath rogue. He kept sandwiches around and pet people. I currently am using a sentient raccoon trapper whos melded with a mimic. His signature trap is a bear trap thats a hole with a bear in it.

My younger brother has a goliath cleric that speaks in third person on occasion and just does shit that many people would facepalm and its funny as hell.

Playing a character class against, or just playing with its stereotype can be so much fun, and opens up all sorts of interesting ideas. One of my favorite characters that I've made is a level 7 Hill Dwarf Barbarian(lvl-3, Primal Path of the Sea) Artificer (lvl-4, Artillerist). His weapons are a blacksmithing hammer (stat=warhammer), a Rock Pick (stat= warpick) and a Splitting Maul (stat= modified Maul, call out bludgeoning or slashing depending on which side of the head he's hitting with), and a Sawed-off Double Barreled Shotgun. He's ornery, strong, tough and frighteningly smart (int of 19/+4) with a somewhat... explosive sense of humor. He is so much fun to play, sadly, the game his in has been on hiatus for quite some time now.

i will never forget the friend i had who whenever he decided he didn't like his character anymore would pull some stupid shit to get us all tpked so he could make a new character.

@testerwulf3357

5 ай бұрын

You can kill off or send away your character to make another without a tpk 😭

Side Note from 6 months later: You can ALSO play a MIGHT based barb in DC20. . .just saying. Having options doesn't mean NOT following the stereotypes. Sometimes cliches are fun. An open system allows you to play in or out of stereotypes. A closed system does not.

Currently playing a Soulknife Rogue in a campaign and while I wouldn't say they're lawful good, they definitely lean that way. I made them an investigator and with Changeling's shapechanging abilities, it works well. I also had a friend who happened to play a strength-based Soulknife in a different campaign. Stealth was mediocre, sleight of hand was horrible, and prioritised athletics & intimidation over the standard acrobatics & deception. Was fun to watch him play that.

That first DM really should have just had a conversation with the player after the session (after not killing them) to just make sure they aren't becoming evil and explain their boundary then and what that means - but just killing the character like that was unkind, bad communication skills, a problematic power move, and bad DMing.

Man I saw that DC20 shoutout coming a while away.

I've got a shy bard with crippling stage fright. Also most of my characters are bards and even the most bombastic outgoing one isn't even slightly flirty. She's probably ace. (Especially because she's a pirate, and there are a lot of problematic tropes around female pirates that I would like to side step. Most of my characters aren't ace even though I am because my characters aren't me but with magic powers, but for the pirate I just wanted to dodge all the tropes and connotations. They're probably still there because she's charismatic and charming and she manipulates people all the time, heck, her name is Siren, but she isn't seducing everyone, just tricking and misleading them until they don't realize they've walked the plank and are now drowning.)

My issue with DC20 isn't that you can be an intelligent barbarian, but rather that there isn't really anything that encourages you to be a strength barbarian instead of an intelligence barbarian. Since all the important things currently just key off your highest stat, it, to me, makes everything feel vary samey and I personally think there needs to be more stat differentiation.

@emperortime4380

8 ай бұрын

I think your highest stat also has a big impact on the types of things you’re good at. The liveplay Duke was in was my first time watching the system in action. My assumption is that if a smart-barian dumped strength, they’d be bad at athletics and moreso good at intelligence checks. So, while in combat, it might feel samey it probably affects the other pillars of play a lot. In 5e, I often felt like playing a barbarian made me bad at the social pillar of the game. I had a good wisdom so I was fairly good at exploration. Strength itself doesn’t do much outside of athletics in 5e.

One of my favorite characters to play was a wild magic Barbarian that thought he was a wizard since he could use magic. Was as close to playing a stupid wizard I could make and it was a blast. Even the other players thought I was just a bad wizard and didn't know I was a Barbarian at all.

@Leith_Crowther

8 ай бұрын

How did you explain away when you said, “I rage?”

@ShinieZekrom

8 ай бұрын

@@Leith_Crowther I just rolled for the wild magic table and explained the magic effect that started to happen, DM knew I was using rage without having to say it.

14:59 I know you may not believe me, but I am very smart. And trust me when I say I know you won't like me when I'm angry. 😂

I can definitely see where op made a minor mistake in the first story with not being clear enough but definitely 90% of the fault is with dm. Op could and should have been far more clear on what her character was doing. Example, when dm asked if she was taking car to avoid civilians, instead of saying "No, if they're in the way she'd kill them", she should have said "Yes, she would only kill them if they try to protect the Mafia". What she said sounded far less like how she described her character at the end and far more like "Anyone who stands too close will be cut down!" That said the dm was also not clear at all, didn't talk things out, labeled neutral actions as evil actions because he didn't like them, relied on instadeath in game punishment, didn't even make it clear he doesn't like evil characters to begin with (even though again, this isn't evil but a pretty typical amoral anti-hero). The only way the blame is not on the dm is if op is an unreliable narrator and was actually a murder hobo problem player and bsing things to make dm look bad.

Imagine if somebody got bullied for not playing a stereotypical bard. “Look, there’s a perfectly good dragon right there. You picked bard. You gotta follow through.”

@MyAramil

8 ай бұрын

Dude you know Im a slam poet Asexual bard, and the slam poet part is literal (goes off to use the couple levels of monk to unarmed strike while just laying down the lines on the dragon)

@emperortime4380

8 ай бұрын

⁠That’s immensely preferable to people playing “lol I seduce” bards. There’s a great video on xptolevel3 about going against character stereotypes/meme bards.

If someone forces your character to do something throughout the entire campaign then leave. Do NOT waste your time & energy with toxic people if you can help it--D&D or not. I built an Inquisitive rogue who was a Private Investigator in Ravnica & an Arcane Trickster who was a servant/scout for an arch wizard that taught the rogue his magical spells & tricks as thanks beyond just payment. Both of these characters were very serious but also very happy & well mannered people.

I'm currently playing in a party of 4 rogues and, despite all being part of the criminal underworld, we don't do much stealing. The few notable exceptions were our assassin stealing a jar of spiders (she eventually gave them back), our scout constantly hoarding apples that he "finds", and my character stealing a roll of blue spider silk cloth because just because the maker was a reckless b!+(# doesn't mean I can't appreciate nice quality silk when I see it.

I actually play a Full Orc Fighter who Multiclassed (so far a single level, maybe more in the future if appropriate) into Rogue. Hilariously, ALSO a Noble, but Chaotic Good instead of Lawful Good. While we have “stolen” things, it was to get access to information we believed my character’s adoptive parents (members of the Rosznar family of Waterdeep) had on a certain bbeg wizard. Besides that, my character is USUALLY a very good person, only picking locks if he has to, acting as a Scout and the party chef (and a Party Tank cuz insane AC). The only time he’s done anything REMOTELY like a Stereotypical Rogue was twice. The first was he tested his new “Boots of Elvenkind” to silently walk behind someone so that they would jump when he either coughed for their attention or they turned around. The second was more, malicious, using his knowledge of poison and letting out some deep hatred for previously mentioned bbeg by torturing a member of the Zhentarim for information. It was BY FAR his darkest moment as a character (and I think the darkest act of the entire campaign, even considering our Barbarian beheaded a man who was butchering homeless folks and selling their meat).

I play a Half Orc barbarian. The only stereotype my character follows is that they can’t read but they are still competent in the thinking department. Edit because I forgot to add: I love the smart barbarians but I love playing dumb characters so much

I had a DM kill off my character. We were playing Curse of Strahd. My character was a tiefling assassin. He was sassy and sarcastic, flamboyant and suave. A seducer, that was his whole thing. I loved that character so much. We were like, I wanna say half way through the campaign? I have no idea. Anyway. Pretty much we killed a group of enemies, and we're basking in our win. I explained how my character was bragging lavishly, pouring himself a goblet of wine and taking a sip. DM cuts me off mid sentence and says "you start to feel a sudden, sharp pain pulsating in your stomach. It's burning its way upward, through your throat." I'm like "what?" He keeps going, just explaining my character suffering agonising pain and foaming at the mouth from poison. And I kept demanding a constitution saving throw or something, and he just ignored me. Other people in the party are freaking out. And then my character dies, AND HE REFUSES TO LET ME BE HEALED. He finally tells me it's because he just, hated my character? Like, he found the character annoying and didn't like him. So...he killed him without speaking to me. Our party literally split up over this.

So, two things about city of mist. One, the levels of success go from 1-6 fail, 7-9 mixed success, 10+ full success, and conditionally (usually by theme improvements or moments of evolution) 12+ dynamite (crit success). Secondly, you *can* be faced with instant lvl 5 or 6 status (the former is unconscious or unable to do stuff related to the status, the latter is death or permanent transformation). *BUT* such cases are rare and for the biggest of dangers, and even then you can almost always try to Face Danger to try and reduce the incoming status. I'd have to double check but I don't think there's any case you can prevent a player from facing danger. And even if there was, that is still a dick gm move

Been a player for a couple decades now. 2nd edition

I made a phantom rogue who is terrified of getting anyone hurt, they mostly aim for non-lethal attacking , and still struggles with the grief of it. They blatantly refuse to kill anyone who isn’t a danger, only issue is he’s a wanted criminal for something he never did… they often are trying to get him, dead or alive.

Elfbarbarian that is fast and nimble, replace STR with DEX as you jump around throwing javelins

16:18 how about professor hulk? The intelligence of Bruce banner and all of the strength of the hulk.

I played a halfling barbarian witn an intelligence of 14 (I rolled everything pretty high). She was raised by halflings and married into a dwarf barbarian tribe. I never saw ANY reason a barbarian has to be dumb. She was an angry little fire cracker, but that doesn't make her stupid.

Lawful rogue is basically robin hood but with knives

I'm a player!!!! 😂 But I do listen to your podcast. At home and at work. It is funny and awesome. The City Of Mist series is amazing so far. Good character development, good mythology, good everything. I am not done with the series, yet. I'm gonna be listening to it after break.

Rogue and lawful are contradictory its like having a chaotic evil paladin

@testerwulf3357

5 ай бұрын

They aren’t contradictory. The rogue one at least..they don’t have to steal everything they see. You can easily make a detective character or cop with the rogue class instead 🤷

Me: Thinks about making a stealth+distraction based bard Everyone Else: nO yOU cANt dO tHaT!1! yyOu hAve tO mAKE thE bARD hORNy!!11!

That story about the lawful good rogue. (shameless plug about one of my OC's) THat Barb and fighter woulda HATED Faith then. Faith is my 3ft blue female Tabaxi. That plays like an AC Cleric tank, (some minor homebrew) But is infact a Celestial warlock/Devine soul Sorc. Fun backstory, ad many hooks for my DM to use (and they are using all of them...he's had me in tears 4 times now) She has a -2 strength modifyer, can't wear armour, but has really high Dex and Con, is stubborn and fearless...accept against one person. Oh and she was given the option by her Deity to take up the mantle of a now exstinct order, and had that choice removed by an opposing faction before she even knew she had the choice. She is, so far, the only person in the group to go down, (minus the last fight...that a WHOLE other story) Litterally the extact opposite of what her class 'should' be. Break the mould, and have fun XD

Omg I have the same Pikachu that Amy has

The girl in one of my games plays an intelligent barbarian. She's smart, loves to read, and is usually the one we go to for history checks (+4 INT and proficiency in history), though we use the excuse that she lived in that area, meanwhile we're from about 3,000 miles away. It's fun, I play a CHA/DEX based pacifistic Paladin who is more likely to try to convert his enemies (who aren't fiends, evil undead, or especially mimics) to his religion than kill them. Hell, one time, I was in a fight and my bear (bag of tricks) was mind controlled, so I spent 6 rounds casting Command on my bear, with the one word command of relax. He spent the entire time playing in the water (we were next to a river) instead of attacking us.

If you’re struggling to diverge from stereotypes for your characters sometimes it can also be good to experiment with different subclasses, races or multiclasses and do a bit of reflavoring to make that character less generic and more unique. For example my favorite character I ever made was a Rogue and Echo Knight Fighter multiclass. I was using a homebrew subclass for Rogue called Shinobi that basically allowed you to be a Naruto ninja. So I flavored her Echo Knight abilities as a sort of Shadow Clone-Jutsu. She also possessed a magic katana which only she could use (basically it served as both a weapon and a sort of plot-driving force for her arc). And it had this “ramp-up” signature ability where the more time that passed, the stronger it became to the point where it could max out at a +4 magic weapon after 7 rounds of combat had passed. So while that character was ultimately VERY weeby and basically a stereotypical Shonen protagonist, she’s still my favorite character that i’ve made to date. Sometimes stereotypes can be fun, but if you dont want to lean into them I recommend trying different things and experimenting.

@MyAramil

8 ай бұрын

I played as a gnome barbarian recently and it was fun. He had a very much "live and let live" mentality. Didn't start fights because life was to short( as told by the 180 year old gnome, looking forward to another 180 years) as well enjoyed just seeing the world.

When it comes to actively considering the stereotypes, my general rule of thumb is to either try to go as far away from it as I can think up - OR - Fully commit to the furthest logical extreme of the stereotype and work from there.

I've actually been more of a kleptomaniac while playing a warlock/bard than I've ever been as a rogue, the spells just make it so easy to get away with.