What is the best Schtick you've ever...

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Not sure if this has ever been a topic here or not, but I was wondering what the best schtick everyone has ever seen (as a DM) or done (as a player) for their PCs.

If you don't know what a schtick is, here is the definition: Shtick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've done a few with my PCs over the years, I had a wizard that would collect a finger from every enemy he killed, then he'd put them on a necklace and wear them around his neck (something similar was done in "Your Highness," but not with fingers...and was very funny in a crude sense).

I currently have a Dwarf Cleric that will eat anything, he tries to cook up every enemy creature that he runs across after killing it and then purifying it with a cleanse spell.

What are your best or favorites that you've seen?

 

[Lord Crimson]

My brother was playing the "token Evil guy" in a party of mostly Good PCs. As many threads attest, this can often go very wrong.

Instead, he made him "functionally" Evil.

He rolled a 3 for Charisma and it was 3.5 FR so he had regional feats to choose from. So he built a Lawful Evil Human Monk, scarred at birth by goblinoids that had tried to burn his home down with him in it after they murdered his family.

He explained his 3 Cha as a result of the scars, his resulting gruff/cold demeanor, and the fact that he kept his body wrapped and concealed (again, due to the burn scars). He picked the regional feat that gave him a bonus to killing goblinoids. And his primary purpose in life was to protect other races against "the goblinoid threat".

So he would viciously murder any goblins, hobs, or bugbears he could get his hands on and was generally a one-word-answer kind of guy when people talked to him. But he had no animosity at all towards other races or his fellow PCs. He would offer his opinion on the best (usually the most effective and brutally efficient) way to do something, but was content to respect the party's wishes when it came to getting things done.

Fortunately, he had lots of opportunities to kill goblinoids while still working towards the "greater good" that the party was largely pursuing.

The only Evil PC in a party of Good Guys that really worked in any game I ran.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Got lots as a player:

I did a GURPS: V:tM Brujah who was based on The Tick. Utterly hilarious...until he entered combat.

In a cyberpunk game (GURPS or Shadowrun, I don't recall) ran a "Street Samurai" who was a cross between Elric and a slutty biker chick: albino, red cybereyes, big bike with dragonscale paint job, black vibrasword. Frequently got useful info by having sex (sometimes intentionally!).

Got a Cleric/Sorcerer/Geomancer/M-T who is going down the Swamp Thing road. It will be most amusing when he starts giving out potions that he grew on himself.

 

[Quickleaf]

As DM:

Quirky and complex ensemble casts of NPCs. After my group had fun shaking down a dodgy halfling informant (who they had blackmail info on), I made him a recurring NPC as the party traveled about. Every time the were near a river or at a port town they could count on Fesk being in the area. And they always paid Fesk a visit, mostly just to rub salt in old wounds and watch him nervously try to appease them as they tossed out euphemisms and hints about his illicit trades.

As Player:

I played a low intelligence wild elf as superstitious and prejudiced, and just all around quirky (not to mention smarmy accent). Every opportunity I had I would make some offbeat quip, like when we discovered a really bad plan hatched by a local mayor to feed people to trolls: "The plan is astoundingly short-sighted...clearly dwarves are behind this!"

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

"The plan is astoundingly short-sighted...clearly dwarves are behind this!"

This one made me laugh

 

[Stumblewyk]

I had an old 2e swashbuckler fighter who was very much in the "Three Musketeers" mold - leaping off of anything he could find, swinging on whatever was available. To the point that he would shout things like "Another amazing feat of daring-do by Martin Tremblay!" as he performed said actions.

He also continually stocked up on pickled and/or salted sardines while in town and would snack on them while the party camped or rested. I made a point of offering them to other PCs. Martin also -only- drank mead and spiced mulled wines. The party would enter a tavern, everyone would drink their ale, while Martin flamboyantly downed some mulled wine.

I basically wanted an outlandish character. I played up his bravado and braggadocio, and sought out every opportunity to do something far more over-exaggerated than the situation required.

That was his schtick. Be bigger than the situation called for.

 

[malcolypse]

I played a neutral evil half-orc in a game that collected trophies, mostly ears and noses, dried them and wore them as a necklace. He would also cut off the thumbs of enemies that he had killed so they couldn't raise arms against him in the afterlife.

He was brutal, lazy, and uncomfortable with his profession of hero. The only things he cared about were himself and his adopted family of adventurers, and they told him that he had to behave.

When they let him loose, though, he shined in any kind of violence or intimidation.

I accidentally cost one of the other pcs their alignment when I was torturing a goblin for information and couldn't understand him. After my problem became clear, the character came to the room I had commandeered and told me that the goblin kept screaming "I don't speak common! Please, I'll tell you everything!" I made the character translate for me and apparently condoning my methods was the straw between good and neutral for him.

When the law finally caught up with him for a horrible deed that he committed, the party ended up busting him out of the gladiatorial arena he had been sent to. He spent the remaining two sessions that the game ran complaining about the rescue, because inside, he was a god amongst the pink-skins and all he had to do to earn their admiration was what the party got onto him for.

 

[Oryan77]

I always try to have some kind of schtick or quirk for my PCs or every NPC.

Some of my characters:

Thestu - Human Paladin NPC that frequently talks to himself. This NPC traveled with the party for a long time and was always talking to himself. He became an ex-Paladin for fleeing a major combat that caused the party Cleric to die. The Cleric was resurrected and Thestu retired in shame and gave the PC his magic morningstar as a gift. When the Cleric held it for the first time, the morningstar telepathically introduced himself as Dakhut. It was the first time the party realized that Thestu was talking to a sentient weapon the entire time.

Rhett Kin'kade - Halfling Sorcerer, gypsy entertainer (magician) that constantly lies and tells fake stories even when there is no reason to. He was inspired by my wife's Afghan ethnicity. Afghans tend to exaggerate a lot and tell big tales. Like her grandmother in Pakistan who is over 120 years old. Or the day her dad met all 4 of the Beatles at a gas station in Foster City California (in the late 80's). He's a new PC so I'm still figuring him out.

Ash - 2e Darksun Human Fighter/Thief that kept track of everything he killed. He also would always shave his head completely bald each morning.

 

[Gronin]

My current character is a big heads on spikes kinda guy. If an enemy (and it has to be an enemy not just an opponent) is defeated I leave a message for anyone who comes by. In our current campiagn there is (in my characters mind) a huge problem with slavers and that is not to be tolerated. He finds slavers or their ilk and it is no quarter given or asked for and heads will be put on stakes with "SLAVER" written on the forehead. He also makes sure to leave his name somewhere. Unbelievably I have made it to 14th level so far (despite their protests the rest of the party has his back).

I once played a fighter (in 3.5E) who did not believe in armour. He also checked fortraps by kicking things and in general never showed any fear of anything. He far outlived any expectations I had of him and made it to 9th level.

My favourite schtick comes from a campaign I DMed for. My brother-in-law played a rogue who had a habit of leaving his name carved into statues and walls and one day discovered this enormous statue of a dragon and carved "Blah-Blah was here" (can't remember the characters name) It turned out that the statue was actually a dragon that had been turned to stone and when (some time in the future) the dragon was able to be transformed back into flesh he didn't have to work too hard to figure out who had disfigured his backside. Seeing the players face when the dragon showed up for some payback was more fun than a fella should be allowed to have.

 

[the Jester]

The lisping alcoholic latent homosexual knight who was the heir of the current leader of the area, and who was under pressure to find a wife and produce an heir.