How do you make the Fighters role more interesting?

[Ralif Redhammer]

I saw this essay by Matt Wallace, a former wrestler turned urban fantasy writer, on storytelling, and thought it germane to the discussion. It goes over how you can tell a story without even using words. While one couldn’t do that in gaming, you certainly can sell your character’s personality without them ever having to say a word.

http://www.tor.com/2017/07/07/the-language-of-storytelling-goes-beyond-words/

 

[schnee]

You're focusing far too much on the mechanics, old boy; and that's less than half of what makes a character memorable and entertaining.

Ignore the mechanics and focus on the character - the stage presence - the entertainment value you can provide your fellow players! Make them laugh! Make them mad! But above all, make them remember you!

Lan-"a Fighter that none who've met him will ever forget"-efan

Boy is this the truth.

Our table's best player is a Drow Cleric.
She's not optimized at all, her spell choices are bland, and she doesn't bring stellar tactics.

But...
She's a crazed religious fanatic.
She's incredibly racist.
She has an ego the size of the Terrasque.
She never misses an opportunity to sling and insult or brag.

... and it's absolutely hilarious.

She has the table laughing the whole game. And we really miss her when she's not there.

--

If you want to see a master class of this in action, watch this bit of Critical Role. The back story: the Barbarian with an INT of 6 goes shopping, and *completely* misunderstands what it means to bargain. The stuff he trades away is some of the coolest trophies they've grabbed yet.

The Ranger (named Vex) that gets frothingly angry at him is an incredibly tough bargainer that pushes deals to the point of insult and rolls a disconcerting number of 20+'s for her Persuasion checks to pull them off.

It's the totally wrong thing to do by every measure, but the party can only laugh. He 'wins' this game.

THAT is what I aspire to, and barely ever achieve.

 

[schnee]

In fact, I have a Druid that, I have to admit, is pretty boring.

I was going to bring in a total caricature of a character - a Half-Orc Druid that looked like a Norwegian Black Metal musician - caked with white and black mud, thorns and spines everywhere - and going 'against type' by being overly goofy and childlike and having his first feat be Magic Initiate so he can get a pretty little bluebird as a Familiar - but I lost my nerve and went the optimal choice. Wood Elf.

I'm still kicking myself.

Don't be me.

 

[Lanefan]

In fact, I have a Druid that, I have to admit, is pretty boring.

I was going to bring in a total caricature of a character - a Half-Orc Druid that looked like a Norwegian Black Metal musician - caked with white and black mud, thorns and spines everywhere - and going 'against type' by being overly goofy and childlike and having his first feat be Magic Initiate so he can get a pretty little bluebird as a Familiar - but I lost my nerve and went the optimal choice. Wood Elf.

Ah, but all is not lost.

Every Saturday I'm exposed to just how bat-guano crazy a decent-level Wood Elf Nature Cleric (a.k.a. Druid) can be, particularly when she's got a bunch of Thief levels to back it up. She went with a deity of trickery and chaos, and can't go a session without playing some practical joke or prank on someone. If you see her player passing a note to the DM it's time to run up the storm warning flags, 'cause you know it's coming.

This is an ancient character, dating back to the mid '80s, and it's long been practical wisdom around here that if you see this one coming run for the hills - particularly if it looks the least bit like she's interested in joining your party!

So, Wood Elf Druid? You've still got options...

Lan-"that thing's still going?"-efan

 

[LegionError121]

OP:
Have you talked over the time management issue (40 minutes to get through a round of combat) with your group and DM?
If you have enough time to leave the table, drive over to a pizza shop, order a pizza, wait for them to cook it, pay, and drive home - and your next turn hasn't come up yet ... something is wrong at the table.

I used to have a player who had a hard time making decisions. Rather than call him out and embarrass him, I began a habit of addressing the table, "Joe, you are at bat. Fred is on deck." Then "Fred, you are at bat. Mary is on deck." and so on around the table (plus myself as the monsters). This gave everybody warning: I'd better figure out what I want to do now. Combat moved faster, nobody had time to get bored, and my individual player wasn't being picked on or singled out - but his play style improved.
(And since I had a table that could be as large as 10, finding ways to get a move on was important.)

I also found it useful to turn the Initiative Counter around so the players, not just me, could see it. It was a visual reminder when the spotlight would be coming their way.

Tis an intersting way of dealing things but I feel that trying to "fix people" won't work for my group (Though I will admit that my main group try to help each other along as dynamically as they can)

For this group I play with, we go down to a shop at 6:30pm, pay £1 to enter, set up the tables and chairs, wait for anyone whoose late and then we begin

The thing is though, is that all of these peeps have long day jobs (in my case, I be a full time HND Games Design student who be on holiday), they rush out of work, grab something to eat and then play D&D for about 3 and half hours and for that reason, they cannot be desiplined because they are there to have some freedom (and that they do as they break lots of rules and one player in particular just causes lots of chaos with the "Suggestion" spell as they treat it like "Completly effective mind control" )

 

[schnee]

Ah, but all is not lost.


Every Saturday I'm exposed to just how bat-guano crazy a decent-level Wood Elf Nature Cleric (a.k.a. Druid) can be, particularly when she's got a bunch of Thief levels to back it up.

That sounds *amazing*.

Well, I'm trying - with a 'Stoner survivalist crust punk / spent 50 years partying with Satyrs / wants to be a Ranger' thing.

The DM let me reflavor crafting healing potions into rolling 'Blunts of Righteous Healing' - and getting the other players to smoke 'em with 'holding my breath' voice is pretty fun. *First one's free dude*

I started making up vocal components for my spells, so when I cast 'Guidance' I pull out Bill & Ted era Keanu and say 'Be Excellent!'. When I cast 'Thunderwave' I say the 'uh ah uh ah ha ah uh haaauh - THUNDER!' from the AC/DC song, stuff like that.

I describe how I smell at least once a session, and try to emphasize a new ingredient each time. Last week it was moldy earth and wet dog. (I maxed out my time in wild shape as a wolf.)

It's working; last game someone told me to hollow my Shillelagh out to become a bong. I think I'll do it.

I'm still a healthy optimizer in combat, I view it as 'well he is a combat-trained Druid from a sect that kills stuff to keep his forest safe' but I'll find other ways to be sub-optimal for fun that will build a character.

I'm also eventually going to MC into Ranger for two levels. There's something I love about giving up being an Archdruid to become more capable and connected in the environment. And I could become a pretty effective stealthy archer for the price of those two levels and a feat.

 

[LegionError121]

Also to whoever is reading this The Input be great

I've had suggestions to:
Describe my characters motions with some grandure

Look to certain books, articles and Critical Role (All pretty good but the book might take a while to arrive)

Express my character by getting her to act more like a commanding officer, a story telling veteran and crazy person who shouts at her enemies (I'll save the shouting for Orcs as I imagine Human would have a special opinion of them)

Challenge other characters by pointing out how reliant/fussy/annoyying they can be with their toys and not TRUE STRENTH

make my character perform as though she was part of a stage act (not a bad idea but Human still needs some time to climb out of her silent archetype which I will try very hard to do)

play my role more as though I was a soldier (which I do) but treat the other players more like weaklings who need to be protected (I'm all for that but I'm going to save that for when peeps step out of line, Human be more of a team player INFANTRY HO!!!! )

use more mechanics (I haven't found too much use for Shooves yet but Grappling has worked well for me ) (It's also tradition that people who fought with 2 handers tended to grapple people to set them up for killing blows at close range)

serve Gruumsh with COMBAT!!!! (Maybe?)

not be other people



And I've been made to look back on my character and think as to what and who she is That's really helped a lot

So What I'm going to do with "Human" (so far) is:

Make "Human" act more "Human", she's a really good fighter but without bonuses to her Charisma and having lived a fairly remote life until coming to the mainlands, I expect that she would react negativly to her teammates downfalls despite being really committed e.g. One of her party members made an inspiring speech and went into battle with her but the next day, this "inspiring person" decided to ask the leader if he could "go home", called him "daddy" and said that he was "scared" Wouldn't you look for a way to quell the nerves if you were stuck with this person, didn't have the nerve to talk them down and would be executed if you resigned?

Describe her violent and tactical/clever actions e.g. Half Swording

Reference ORC culture more

make her speak out more

make her leadership material (or at least second in command)

 

[MichaelSomething]

Didn't the OP ask this question last month?
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...e-a-Soldier-interesting&p=7137964#post7137964

 

[Tony Vargas]

For this group I play with, we go down to a shop at 6:30pm, pay £1 to enter, set up the tables and chairs, wait for anyone whoose late and then we begin

The thing is though, is that all of these peeps have long day jobs, they rush out of work, grab something to eat and then play D&D for about 3 and half hours and for that reason, they cannot be desiplined because they are there to have some freedom

Your group is what we hobbyists call 'casual,' so, RP for laughs, and have fun with the game is the order of the day. Your character concept seems fine for that context, as does the advice to just ratchet up the broad strokes of speaking in character...

(and that they do as they break lots of rules and one player in particular just causes lots of chaos with the "Suggestion" spell as they treat it like "Completly effective mind control" )

If that's a representative example of how they 'make the game their own,' your issue is just that much more understandable...
... and the solution remains to get on the right side of it. Find something for your Champ that works like Suggestion does for the player having fun with it. It might take any number of whimsical action declarations, but getting there could be half the fun...

 

[LegionError121]

Didn't the OP ask this question last month?
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...e-a-Soldier-interesting&p=7137964#post7137964

I believe I was asking more about my characters "identity" in the 5e thread and got lots of stuff about "identity" and stuff about "how she could act" but this thread was more along the lines of "what can I do to portray my character?" which got quite a bit "you can do" and "your character can be like" and "read/watch this" results So I guess I'm happy with what I've gotten from this thread and will check back on it when things be added/when my awful memory starts to let me down