D&D 5E (2014) How do you make a 'Soldier' interesting?

[LegionError121]

You don't need drums to be a percussionist.
[video=youtube;FqJdzYY_Fas]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqJdzYY_Fas&sns=em[/video]

[video=youtube;JK6d8wKfKGA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK6d8wKfKGA&sns=em[/video]

My DM's would beg to differ Their aspect is "if you aren't going to buy it, you aren't going to play it" So Singing or using makeshift objects for purcussion is unlikey They even make our Bard buy sheet music with gold and is thus restricted to what she buys She even has to start from begginers music and work up xD

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I understand, but the thing is, you still don't need "drums". Percussion instruments are often improvised.

Years ago, I did a martial artist PC who was a percussionist. He had 2 escrima clubs that he dual-wielded. The clubs were essentially 2-3' long like the normal ones, but instead of being smooth, they were textured with ridges.


Struck together, you get a sharp percussion sound like when you do likewise with drumsticks. Rubbed together, you get a sound like a guiro.

I've seen Joe Bonamassa's percussionist use a rattle made from a 2-liter soda bottle with pebbles in it. There's no reason why you couldn't do likewise with a canteen.

 

[LegionError121]

I understand, but the thing is, you still don't need "drums". Percussion instruments are often improvised.

Years ago, I did a martial artist PC who was a percussionist. He had 2 escrima clubs that he dual-wielded. The clubs were essentially 2-3' long like the normal ones, but instead of being smooth, they were textured with ridges.
View attachment 85037

Struck together, you get a sharp percussion sound like when you do likewise with drumsticks. Rubbed together, you get a sound like a guiro.

I've seen Joe Bonamassa's percussionist use a rattle made from a 2-liter soda bottle with pebbles in it. There's no reason why you couldn't do likewise with a canteen.

My DM's are too Meta :/ They try to keep things simple by . . . keeping things simple :/
e.g.
Them: "For saving a City, you can recieve training from any warrior in the land and adopt their archetype"
Me: "Could I learn to be Purple Knight? Human is already a capable fighter so it would make sense to help her rise above her common role and become something inspirational."
Them: "No."

Another e.g.
Them: "What do you want to do? Your character has a week to do whatever before her next mission."
Me: "I want to buy a Tent."
Them: "why?"
Me: "So that I can sleep outside. Shouldn't a Soldier always be prepared?".
Them: "ok".
2 minutes later.
Them: "You are going to a tropical island where there isn't as much to do and there's also free housing so you won't need to camp anywhere."
Me: (Didn't they tell me to prepare for a Jungle Adventure last session? Why are they making things so conveniant?)
Me: "how big is the island? Is there any chance we can get lost?"
Them: "nope. It's a small island. You'll also be stuck on it for 4 weeks.)
Me: (Urggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

 

[LegionError121]

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It's not all that bad Good things happen If they were, I wouldn't be trynig to make Human into more of an interesting character

 

[SmokeyCriminal]

Something you can do to make Humans much more interesting and is super simple to implement is have her fall in love with another character. Preferably another PC, and to make it extra fun, choose at random. Then if its someone like her, shes in love because they "understand you in a way that no one else can." If they're completely different then her and it makes no logical sense, then "opposites attract, they're your other half, they complete you." Or most likely it'll be a mix.

Just make sure you ask the other Player if its cool. Then Human can start acting like an angsty teenager all shy and nervous around that person, and look at her current state and see what a weirdo mess she is and be like "Why would he love me?" And it will incentivize her to buy clothes and open up and be more outgoing. It will give you an excuse to put her in situations that she would naturally avoid, and give you the fun challenge of justifying it.

Plus it will lead to interesting decisions that you will have to make, and none of those decisions have to rely on past habits because 'love makes you do stupid things, it changes you, makes you go crazy" so you can decide that when she realizes that shes in love with the PC, shes aggressive and cocky, shy and timid, cool and classy. Or when the PC rejects her love, shes vengeful and spiteful, shes self destructive, shes cold and distant, she doesn't accept it. Or when the PC accepts her love, shes a romantic, shes cold, shes scared and distant, she freaks out and rejects him.

It can go on for as long as its fun and interesting to you. She can have a secret crush on them for the whole campaign and she never says anything, or you can have her confess her love in the next session. Or you can have her fall out of love with them at any point and justify it with a simple "shes over it."

Also it will make the actions of the PC shes in love with more interesting for her. If they starts doing Evil things, then she has to struggle with and justify being in love with a person that does evil things, or is an idiot, or a womanizer, or a coward. "what does it say about me that i love a person that does that?"

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

In Eberron, the major nation of orcs have a very druidic bent, with emphasis on protecting the seals that prevent abberations from entering the world, and destroying any that do.
Likewise, another major group of orcs are a tribe that guard the way to the Demon Wastes, preventing fiends or the Carrion tribes from escaping. (And follow the Silver Flame by another name.)

Either or both of these traditions could inspire a soldier who has been trained to stand fast against anything, from fiends and mad cultists to horrible things with tentacles.
Perhaps Human has intricate silver tattoos that are usually hidden under her clothes that represent initiation in some sort of group? Maybe what they actually represent was never actually explained to her.

Generally people divide themselves along national, rather than racial lines in Eberron. Having someone with issues with dwarves in general is unusual, so you could play that up a bit. Given pretty much all the banking and similar money and storage business is run by dwarves, maybe Human refuses to use the banks and spends whatever money she has on items that she can carry with her? She might own a lot of fine jewelry and impressive clothes what she never has any intention of wearing for example.

 

[CydKnight]

I started with a mercenary who swore 5 years of service to a mercenary group in return for the payment of back taxes owed by his family to a local feudal lord. After his 5 years were up, he grew so accustomed to life as a mercenary, he didn't return home as he promised his parents. He stayed on with the group for 6 years until he found himself on assignment to a feudal lord who wanted extra security since the peasants had lately become more vocal and demonstrative in their protest of recent land seizures. Being a situation that hit close to home, he refused an order from the lord to seize a few of the more vocal offenders as an example and punched him square in the nose breaking it. He then left the mercenary life to become an adventurer, helping those in need whenever he could.

 

[BoldItalic]

How about, introducing a minor flaw and involving the other PC's in helping you to overcome it on a day-to-day basis? Then you return the favour by helping them out in someway. It helps with bonding.

For example: she has never learnt to read. So if faced with a written notice, she asks another PC what it says. Not too often, because that would get tiresome, but just sometimes. Mostly, she copes by ignoring notices or guessing what they say. From time to time she gets a letter from an old army pal, which she asks one of the other PCs to read for her during a short rest. You can spin all kinds of yarns that way and liven up short rests so that they aren't just "We take a short rest", "Okay, you have taken a short rest". You can write your own ongoing narrative, independent of the DM's narrative but maybe cross-linking with it. Or the other player can make it up ...

 

[77IM]

What your character needs is a catch phrase. All the cool people have catch phrases.

This is actually excellent advice. A catch-phrase is an easy way to make a character memorable, and a good catch-phrase shows off their personality. A REALLY good catch-phrase means different things in different situations (but it's hard to come up with one that good).

For example,
On the front-line of combat: "Come at me, bro!"
Later, at a bar, to an attractive man: "Come at me, bro..."
Later, when trying to catch someone who is falling: "Come at me, br--UMPH."