A question of personal style

[Greenfield]

I'm a bit unhappy with the character I'm playing in our current game. Unhappy that he doesn't seem to have any character.

Normally, when I create a character, I try to get a feel for who they are, then pick stats, class and class options, feats and skills to match.

This character was written up as a dark and slightly angry character, an ex-military scout on the outs with his King and his old commander. He's LG, and they wanted him to use his skills to become an assassin. He refused.

Seemed like a workable basis for a personality: Loner with a past, old grudges left unsettled. Classic "Gunfighter" in many ways.

But as he's advanced, his personality hasn't. He's become a blob of power, and not much more.

In person I'm a bit of a forceful personality. I have to make an effort to tone it back. My character last campaign was a Bard with Diplomacy coming out the wazoo, so loud and colorful fit well.

This campaign we have someone else playing the Bard, trying to fill the role of the party "Face". He, however, joins us via Skype, which is a role-playing handicap, to say the least, and meaning no offense or criticism to the player but he is neither glib nor quick/clever, and seldom steps up when we need someone to speak for the group. Not his fault, he's just chosen a character role that isn't a good fit for him under the circumstances.

I often end up filling that void, simply because someone has to.

my poor planning was to create a character at a story-driven game who is at his most expressive when he's busy killing things. Makes for short, terse conversations, if you know what I mean.

I'm thinking of retiring him and trying again with some other class.

The problem is that my Scout/Ranger is the closest thing we have to a real combat character. We had a Paladin, but the player retired him to go with a Favored Soul. We have a Dragon Shaman, but he died and came back as a Gnome. Funny to have the Gnome as the terrifying melee artist, but the joke is getting kind of old.

If I do change characters I don't want to fill the same round hole with a new square peg.

Not sure what to do.

 

[Dandu]

You must let the dice decide.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Your options appear to be:

1) Hope the bard steps up his game. Doesn't sound like this may happen, though.

2) Retire the scout and come back as something else. A social rogue could work. Or something like an enchantment focused sorcerer. (Diplomacy? You mean Dominate Person, right?)

3) Just roll with it. (har har!) Sometimes the best stories come from a social inept PC trying to convince the guard that, no, it really wasn't us! Do your best to roleplay it and just let the dice decide.

I, personally, am a fan of option #3. I loved it when my 5 charisma barbarian was the face of the party.

 

[Greenfield]

Let me rephrase my discomfort: I'm currently running a longbow with legs. He had a backstory that has been ignored by every DM but me, and if I asked anyone in my group to describe his personality, I doubt that they could. He's simply "Wandering Damage".

 

[ccs]

So.... Your character needs a personality transplant.

This should be easy enough to achieve.
Just get killed. When you recover from that? Have him come back a changed man. Even better, what if the spirit now in his body ISN'T HIM?
Keep the physical stats, re-do the int/wis/cha, & tinker with the skills.
Maybe even alter his class.
Pick & choose wich old memories you have access to.
Of course the spirit now in the scouts body doesn't want to leave the world of the living again - so it'll try & play the part of its "host". How effective though???
Oh, and randomly forget to answer to your own name.

And don't tell any of the other players what your doing! Let them figure it out on their own.

Another thing: Don't try & suplant the Bard. No matter how poor you think the players managing it.

 

[Random Bystander]

Ok, what I'm getting from this is that you normally play social, "talky" characters, and you're now playing a "loner" who's good at killing. Of course, if I'm wrong, feel free to disregard this entire post.

I think it may be the extrovert to introvert switch that's throwing you off. You may be used to showing intensity through voice, facial expression, and gestures. Your current character mostly just acts. And you're not sure how or why. For an introvert, it's the inner dialogue that shows a "richness". Ask yourself what your PC thinks of other characters? NPCs? Enemies? Allies? These are all things you may be used to answering "on the fly" as your character interacts with other characters. In this case, these are questions you could maybe ask yourself when other characters take actions, particularly significant, important ones.

In addition, ask yourself how your character feels about themselves and their skills. You've said they're good at killing (in essence), but don't want to be an assassin. Your character may not show it, but being a LG with a "soldier" mentality, yet being good at being the "sniper" (you've said he uses a longbow) is probably a significant source of inner conflict.

And even if your character is an introvert, does not mean they will not talk. Often, quite a bit. Introverts are (generally, of course; all this is generally) not good at "idle chit-chat", and lose energy through social interaction (that's the key difference between an introvert and an extrovert; an extrovert gains energy through social interaction). AFAIK, that is. I imagine your character may have quite a bit to say about their real feelings with their ability to kill from afar, and potentially with no opportunity for the target, or enemy to fight back...

Of course, it's also entirely possibly I am barking up the wrong tree. In that case, hopefully someone will find this helpful.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

In my experience, once a degree of dissatisfaction with a character appears, it can be really hard to recover that spark that made the character fun and cool to play in the first place. I’ve seen people try personality and class changes (and certainly done so myself), but it rarely seems to solve the problem.

I also think that while it can be good to step outside your comfort zone, it’s also important to be aware of what gives you the most fun in the game.

As far as worrying about the party makeup, I always say that a good DM makes whatever they get work. If it’s a group of wizards with not a single fighter, so be it. Maybe talk to your DM about those concerns, if that might help?

 

[Greenfield]

It turns out I'm not the only one at the table considering a change.

Our Spirit Shaman player is thinking something Incan/Aztec.
Our Bard may be replaced by... I don't know what.
Our Paladin ws just replaced by a favored Soul.
Our Warlock has been in flux for a bit, but is in the process of bringing in a new character.
My Scout is going nowhere, in terms of character development.

That leaves the Warmage, whose player hasn't declared, and the Dragon Shaman.

Maybe it's the campaign. It's just not inspiring us much.

Our own fault, of course, since we, as a group, are the DMs.

We were considering giving 5e a test run. I'll let you know if anything happens.