How to play a mute character

[mneme]

I think, frankly, that all of "I'm mute (for whatever reason; the player we had who played up the mute thing actually had taken a vow of silence in-game), and communicate only via gestures", "I'm mute and communicate via a slate (which can be epic if the player actually uses a slate and has to get people to pause if they want them to listen)", "I'm mute (or only speak a language nobody else speaks), but my hireling/familiar/animal companion can talk for me", and even "I'm mute, but communicate via telepathy" are interesting roleplaying challenges of varying levels.

The only one that's kinda a cheat is "I'm mute, but communicate all the time via telepathy" -- that's actually a fun roleplaying choice, but isn't really mute; it does mean you're limited to the frequency of telepathic messages and maybe the willingness of your allies to accept telepathic contact; if an ally refuses to let you into their head, it becomes more fun. And some telepathy is LOS -- this means that darkness and blindness might be a big issue for you.

Other than that, even if you're able to communicate via a slate, an NPC, or even a companion, the feel and the nature of communication changes. There's a big difference between you talking and an associated NPC talking, and situations will come up where the NPC talking instead of you is a real hindrance.

Telepathic options: (note that telepathy 5 is full telepathy within LOE (not LOS)) within Heroic:

Shardmind: telepathy 5
Kalishtar: telepathy 5
Ardent: At will telepathy ,but you have to attack the target (but not necessarily hit them).
Telepathic Psion: Per-encounter two-way telepathy within LOS with a 25 word limit (each way).
Far Thought feat: Daily telepathy 5 within LOS for 5 minutes.
Elan Heritage feat: (requires Humanoid, you become Immortal) telepathy 5
Linked Spirit feat: (requires Shardmind and shaman; your telepathy can use your spirit as an origin as well as you).
Command Circlet Item: (level 5 Head, Requires Living Construct--Shardmind or warforged): gain Telepathy 20 LOS.

 

[Ryujin]

I think, frankly, that all of "I'm mute (for whatever reason; the player we had who played up the mute thing actually had taken a vow of silence in-game), and communicate only via gestures", "I'm mute and communicate via a slate (which can be epic if the player actually uses a slate and has to get people to pause if they want them to listen)", "I'm mute (or only speak a language nobody else speaks), but my hireling/familiar/animal companion can talk for me", and even "I'm mute, but communicate via telepathy" are interesting roleplaying challenges of varying levels.

The only one that's kinda a cheat is "I'm mute, but communicate all the time via telepathy" -- that's actually a fun roleplaying choice, but isn't really mute; it does mean you're limited to the frequency of telepathic messages and maybe the willingness of your allies to accept telepathic contact; if an ally refuses to let you into their head, it becomes more fun.

Other than that, even if you're able to communicate via a slate, an NPC, or even a companion, the feel and the nature of communication changes. There's a big difference between you talking and an associated NPC talking, and situations will come up where the NPC talking instead of you is a real hindrance.

One thing about the "telepathy cheat", is that the easiest mechanical way to obtain it has a range of a mere 5 squares. That, alone, makes it a pretty limited form of communication.

 

[Unwise]

I play in a single player campaign and am looking at running two or maybe three characters at once. As such, having one who is mute can actually make the game flow more easily.

In my case, the guy in question 'knows too much' about something. He holds an epic secret. Vecna in his role as the 'keeper of secrets' has made sure that the guy will never communicate it properly. This could take the form of an oath made to save himself and his family, or a magical geas he is under and a physical incapacity to communicate that particular information.

I like the idea of the guy seemingly doing random and odd things, acting off information nobody else knows. For instance, they meet a local lord and this guy assassinates him when the others though the lord was good. He steals a seemingly worthless holy symbol from an obscure shrine, but won't tell anyone why etc.

Another mute character I have toyed with is a warforged who simply does not have a mouth, or has a beastial mouth incapable of making humanoid sounds. The character concept I am going for with this guy is that he is a 'Chinese' warforged, a terracotta warrior made by an ancient emperor. The emperor had no reason to make functional mouths on the terracotta warriors, they just have an unshifting mask of a face (I am leaning towards the cool samurai mask look). I just like the idea of a pottery golem as a warforged, seems to make more sense to me than the normal ones, I can never get my head around what they are made from.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Too bad this is 4Ed.

In 3.5Ed, I might make a mute Sorcerer using Black Bolt as my model- possibly as a full-on martial arcanist...

Take Infernal Heritage & Infernal Sorcerer Shout, possibly Silent Spell and Arcane Strike...and never speak, because to do so is to destroy.

AFAIK, nothing like that exists in 4Ed...though I don't know that the mechanics of 4Ed require things like verbal components.

 

[pathfinderq1]

I've played a mute character for a live-combat LARP (a fighter bodyguard to a friend's cleric), and had a lot of fun with it. Many of the tricks could be used for tabletop as well: first of all, you can 'talk' around the table to tell people or the GM what you are physically doing- that helps a lot with keeping things clear. I used a bunch of pre-printed cards for things I needed to express often (my name, where I was from, and common words: thank you, (get a) healer, I challenge you, that sort of thing), as well as writing implements for anything I didn't have pre-written. Some epic fun was involved in situations where I had to interact with (in-game) illiterate or very talkative people, or where I figured out a puzzle before otehrs and had to get theri attention and write out the answers under time pressure. I also carried a small whistle to get people's attention in chaotic situations, and used a lot of simple hand signals. It was a blast most of the time...

 

[Hyatt]

True story: Some years ago, I had a player in my game who was a dwarven mute. Whenever he wanted to communicate, he would write what he wanted to say in Dwarven, and another party member (also a dwarf) would translate it into Common for the rest of the party.

Hilarity eventually ensued when the 2nd player decided to start mistranslating everything the mute was writing down. Imagine the most juvenile self-deprecating things one could say, and, ummm, yeah, you get the idea. My players still chuckle over it years later.

 

[occam]

Another option: a mute wizard with ghost sound. I think it's a little unclear if you can produce words without speaking them yourself, but at the very least you can use it for entertaining accompaniment to your pantomime.

 

[Evilhalfling]

wow no one said : this is a bad idea?

I will be the first: This is a bad idea.

As either a player or DM I would find this annoying, and a hindrance to RP and party unity. Few characters I have played would be friends with someone who would not talk to them. And as others have mentioned it will distance you from a big part of the game.

The telepathy/talking beast/NPC servant idea would fix most of the problems, but would inevitably get killed. A familiar might work better as you expect them to die, and bringing them back is only a short rest away.

If you must play this special snowflake, try it as a guest appearance for 2-3 sessions, and have a second, more party friendly character ready to go.

 

[wlmartin]

wow no one said : this is a bad idea?

I will be the first: This is a bad idea.

As either a player or DM I would find this annoying, and a hindrance to RP and party unity. Few characters I have played would be friends with someone who would not talk to them. And as others have mentioned it will distance you from a big part of the game.

The telepathy/talking beast/NPC servant idea would fix most of the problems, but would inevitably get killed. A familiar might work better as you expect them to die, and bringing them back is only a short rest away.

If you must play this special snowflake, try it as a guest appearance for 2-3 sessions, and have a second, more party friendly character ready to go.

Boooooooo!!! j/k

It is hard to get some originality into a D&D game.
If you have fleshed out every build and there are things you just need to do to make the game feel more vital, this is up there!

I suppose if my own DM in my weekly game had the same opinion as you, I would find massive rocks and boulders hurtling at me (and avoiding others) in the aim to kill me (yay! I have great Athletics + Acrobatics) and should he eventually snuff me out, what would you know, not a single piece of my body is left to be raised! muahahaaaa

IMO, most issues with the speed and immersion of D&D gameplay comes from less IC and more OOC play. Our own DM has recently put a mail out to the group asking us to cut down on the table talk as it is cutting into the flow of the game. We are talking during other peoples turns and I can count on one hand how many times someone as actually said something OOC in a session (it is usually "I tell Jeff the Dwarf that I am going to run over here" and not "Jeff, Im running over here")

I can see your point and perhaps it isnt something that I will end up doing... I do however think that something like this is a fun idea, perhaps something worth trying for a temporary character or for a fixed amount of time (ie muted by a spell for a session etc)

 

[Wednesday Boy]

wow no one said : this is a bad idea?

I will be the first: This is a bad idea.

As either a player or DM I would find this annoying, and a hindrance to RP and party unity. Few characters I have played would be friends with someone who would not talk to them.

I'd agree if the character was mute because of snobbery, like was mentioned above. But a PC being mute for other reasons in no way should hinder party unity or mean they're not party friendly. A mute character can be just as valuable and loyal a party member as any other party member. Did Snake-Eyes hinder G.I.Joe's unity? Of course not. He just wasn't as loquacious as Roadblock or Shipwreck.

In my experience as long as the GM and other players keep an open mind about a mute character and actively engage the character, it will be a perfectly harmonious game.