D&D 5E Purposefully Hindering your Character at Creation

[EroGaki]

I played a wizard once who suffered a number flaws. He had a terrible stutter; it drove people at the table nuts (in a good way) to listen to my character talk, as I refused to not stutter whenever in character. In addition, he suffered from a serious of obsessive compulsive issues; he counted his steps while he walked, avoided stepping on cracks, had to open and shut a door four times before entering or exiting, and others.

The worst part for him was that he was a complete germaphobe; spells were often "wasted" casting unseen servants just so he would not have to touch stuff. One time, our party was sprayed with mud during a battle, and he literally spent the rest of that combat rocking back and forth in a ball, weeping and feebly trying to clean the mud off.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Many players, especially my dedicated CN gamers, use flaws and hindrances as an opportunity to be as disruptive as possible, with the presumption of license because it's all "in character."

In my experience it's not the CN that's the issue, it's the disruptive player who's the issue. They're going to be a poor player regardless of the alignment.

and character flaws inevitably end up playing differently than imagined-see here a number of funny what i saw/what my dm saw/what i played threads on various boards. i find it's best to come up with something vague and broad (arrogant/greedy) then let the specifics develop.

If I give my character a flaw I find it worthwhile to have a discussion with the GM (and sometimes the other players) about how I want the flaw to play out at the table. It shouldn't be a scripted flow chart but it should get everyone on the same page of what the boundaries are for the flaw.

I wouldn't call this a flaw but for example I thought it would be cool if my last character, a dwarf cleric of the earth and mining, was missing an eye and in its place he put a giant emerald. Before the game started I discussed with the GM that I liked the imagery of it and wanted it as a superficial element for the character. I was fine with it giving me some sort of narrative negatives but didn't want to deal with fiddly mechanics like penalties for perception or ranged attacks.

The discussion let the GM understand what I wanted and he was able to accommodate my vision for the character. Then he wonderfully used the eye-gem as the focus for the evil queen to scry on our group of rebels with me being none the wiser.

 

[Paraxis]

I played a wizard once who suffered a number flaws. He had a terrible stutter; it drove people at the table nuts (in a good way) to listen to my character talk, as I refused to not stutter whenever in character. In addition, he suffered from a serious of obsessive compulsive issues; he counted his steps while he walked, avoided stepping on cracks, had to open and shut a door four times before entering or exiting, and others.

Sounds wonderful, love this.

The worst part for him was that he was a complete germaphobe; spells were often "wasted" casting unseen servants just so he would not have to touch stuff. One time, our party was sprayed with mud during a battle, and he literally spent the rest of that combat rocking back and forth in a ball, weeping and feebly trying to clean the mud off.

If I was a player at that table I would have petitioned for the other adventurers to get you healed or replace you after that. If you are a liability then the team doesn't need you, if your mental disorder could cause the death of an another hero or deities forbid keep the adventurers from saving a large group of people there is no need for you.

In one of the games I run we have a similar type wizard doesn't stutter but is a super clean freak, he doesn't waste spell slots on it though just uses prestidigitation and mage hand outside and after combat situations to clean up. Others are searching the bodies or listening to the next door, he is cleaning himself and his companions.

 

[EroGaki]

If I was a player at that table I would have petitioned for the other adventurers to get you healed or replace you after that. If you are a liability then the team doesn't need you, if your mental disorder could cause the death of an another hero or deities forbid keep the adventurers from saving a large group of people there is no need for you.

He wasn't a liability most of the time; he was actually one of the most powerful characters at the table, and 9 times out of 10, saved the parties bacon. This just wasn't one of those times.

His insanity could not be cured; he was a member of the Alienist prestige class, and thus stuck with his condition. But the other players had a blast playing with this character, so it was all in good fun.

 

[Prism]

One of the guys in our group rolled a ranger a few years ago and put the 5 in CON. Played him as constantly sickly but a survivor. Died to mummy rot about 4th level - only character I ever saw go that way. Not quite as extreme I am currently playing an elf fighter with 9 CON, 7 WIS and 14 INT (not Eldritch Knight btw)

 

[halfling rogue]

Now, to make life interesting I like to build in plot hooks for the DM to build stories on. So things like compulsions to be clean, or horribly dirty, backstory of runaway slave or wanted criminal, huge families that always need help, deadbeat dad with a kid in every town, openly gay dwarf who was exiled from his clan, son of an infamous villain, cursed to always tell the truth, things like this make for good times. But don't mess with my numbers.

I wound up hindering my dwarf because my DM never really found a way to insert plot hooks I placed in my backstory. Every character I've ever created has had some kind of backstory where I'm offering plot hooks on a plate. I understand some of the reasons why the DM would have a hard time inserting it though. I'm just one of like 5 players and to have a story linked to me might not be so exciting for the others. Plus it's a lot of hard work to incorporate different backstories, etc.

Anyway, I think this was one of the reasons why I created my character as I did, a wooden leg was a part of my backstory: Former general led a charge against a dragon who invaded a dwarven stronghold, trapped with a dragon in a cave in, the dragon bit off his leg and burned the left side of his body, and he figured he was as good as dead. He fainted and upon waking, vaguely remembers seeing shadowy figures giving him something reviving drink. Upon fully waking, the dragon was dead and his axe was embedded deep in its side. The dwarven army finally breaks through the cave in to find this scene. They cheered him as the dragon slayer, but he knew he didn't do it.

There was a bit more, but the point is, I couldn't really carry any of the unfolding story into the game with me unless the DM did something with it. Who killed the dragon, not wanting to go back to my hometown until I could live up to my new status, the shadowy figures, etc, all of this stuff is just air. But the wooden leg and blind eye I could bring along with me.

Now not only did I have a quirky character to share, but a reason for the party to be interested in why I had a wooden leg or why my face was so scarred up. In that campaign the DM eventually wanted to use the home from my backstory for his campaign to play out, in part because I think because the rest of the party now felt like they knew a bit about it and it added an extra dimension to what he already had planned. Kill two birds with one stone kind of thing.

I kind of have the feeling that if he didn't have a wooden leg, none of the backstory really would have mattered to anyone. Not that it has to matter to anyone, and not that I just did it because I wanted any limelight, but that it gave our gameplay another level, one that all of us were okay with. Personally it was my favorite character to play because it was so fun. Plus it provided lots of laughs.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I'm normally a DM so I don't get to play much. However, when I do, I actually like my character having a stat below 10. Having something he is bad at and fails at just makes him feel more real. It also makes the successes in his area of weakness mean so much more.

My current character is a 3.5E Wizard. He has a Wisdom of 8 and a Strength of 9 (it was 8 at the start of the campaign, but he gained +1 Str as a gift from a God). Since he is a book worm I also gave him the Absent Minded trait, purely because it fit the character. Combined with an 8 Wisdom though it definitely means my PC won't hear or see anyone until he damn near runs into them!

In line with his low Wisdom, I play him as a very curious individual, touching and investigating things that I as a player know could likely end badly for him, but is in-line with what he would do as a character. The DM has definitely appreciated it as it's been a good way to keep things moving (the group often gets tied down in analysis paralysis).

 

[Unwise]

Personally all of my characters have major character flaws, generally behavioral disorders.

Eladrin rogue - is deeply racist and values fey lives above everything else, even if they are in the wrong. She assigns them a value of 50 humans lives, so will allow a village to burn to save a few fey.

"Arabian" Prince - Drug addict and womanizer, being hunted by his brother, the Sultan. He is a playboy and has no interest in ruling anything. Just wants to get rich enough to live in the way he did before his trust fund was cut off.

Smuggler captain - Shockingly irresponsible, does the opposite of everything PCs do. Never sets watch, gets drunk in dive bars while holding on to their treasure. Puts the party's treasure on the roulette wheel. Spends 20% of all treasure on the post-adventure-party. Regularly loses key assets without remembering where she has put them.

Assassin - Has 8 charisma but acts as if she has about 6. Insults everybody she meets, plays cruel tricks on people for no reason, intimidates people for no reason. Utterly disconnected in relationships, everybody exists for her perverse enjoyment, nothing more. Never occurs to her that it could be any other way, or that anybody could like her. The closest thing she has to a friend is a professional rival who wants to kill her and everybody she defends, she cannot see why that should prevent them hanging out and talking shop.

 

[was]

Phobias are always good. I once ran a dwarf who was afraid of the water. The other players tried to knock me out and drag me onboard a ship once. It wasn't pretty.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Phobias are always good. I once ran a dwarf who was afraid of the water. The other players tried to knock me out and drag me onboard a ship once. It wasn't pretty.

I have an awesome example of phobias in play. The last campaign I ran was the Age of Worms AP. One of the players had a Rogue PC with a fear of water. I ran Mad God’s Key as a prelude adventure (it fits really well). That adventure starts with a chase over various boats and barges at a dock. This gave the Rogue’s player many opportunities to play up his fear of water as the other PCs tried to help him overcome his fear. Later in the adventure his PC had to be coaxed to wade through some water to reach another section of the dungeon. I’m sure his phobia was further entrenched when zombies rose up and attacked the party!

That wasn’t the best bit about the phobia though. That adventure, plus a couple of other situations where the PC’s fear of water came up just set things up for something that happened a little later in the campaign.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE AGE OF WORMS AP

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Several adventures later doppelgangers infiltrate the group, kidnapping one of the PCs and replacing him in the party with a doppelganger. The Rogue turned out to be the best choice, mainly because everyone else had some sort of spellcasting ability, and was therefore harder for a doppelganger to mimic. The party, with the infiltrated doppelganger break into a warehouse in search of the Maguffin. In order to reach the next section of the lair they need someone to jump into a well of water, swim down and release a lever to lower the water.

The rogue, who had a water-phobia all campaign, volunteers to be the one to release the lever. Not one player bats an eyelid as myself and the player of the Rogue exchanged knowing glances. A massive red flag waved in front of their faces and they miss it! :-D

Not long after that the players discover they have a traitor in their midst when he switches sides mid-combat, although the PCs still won the day. Talking about it afterwards all the players said they simply thought the player of the Rogue had forgotten about the phobia, even though in hindsight it was a massive clue that something was amiss.