Variety and the Quintessential Good Character...
Posted by Dante at 12:03 AM
First off, sorry for the missed post yesterday. Stupid Ranger is sick with the flu, and the prep time on Remove Disease is so much longer in reality so I had to help her get better in the old fashioned way of taking her to the doctor... needless to say she's doing much better and should be back in the saddle on Thursday.
Today I would like to continue my look at good aligned characters and how they manifest their goodness for the rest of the world to see.
You don't always have to be a one-trick pony
I discussed players that prefer to run their good characters in a single, heavy-handed fashion on Monday. In reality, most "good" characters show their goodness in a variety of ways. I would submit some great television shows such as "House" and "Heroes" as great examples of how good characters can not only have shades of grey to them, but also do their good things in some very unexpected ways.
What this means to your character... first, shy away from being good in an overt and grandiose way. I tend to punish hubris (shameful pride) when I can identify it emanating from the characters in my campaign because self-serving goodness is rarely (if ever) a good thing.
Secondly, pick several ways to show your goodness and progress those activities throughout the course of your character's life span. Treat it like fertilizer: you have to sprinkle it around and need it into the ground for it to work. Taking a single dump in one spot just gets you a smelly garden.
Finally, be surprising. One of my favorite D&D moments came from my first campaign. My character was trying to rescue his love interest who got trapped in a dire situation where most hope was lost. I had stumbled upon a Ring of Three Wishes slightly earlier in the campaign, and it had one left. When there was no other hope of rescue, my chaotic good barbarian decided to use the final wish to trade places with his love interest, knowing full well that this would likely seal his fate. My DM actually asked me three times whether or not I was sure I wanted to make a sacrifice like that and I said that I did.
After the session he told me it was one of the most excellent displays of what being a good aligned character meant. The rest of the party never did get the opportunity to rescue my character, but it still makes me happy to have done that.
It is moments like that that I live and die for when roleplaying. There are a few good examples from our more recent campaigns that indicate similarly excellent examples of being an evil character, but those are best left for another time and place.
Today I would like to continue my look at good aligned characters and how they manifest their goodness for the rest of the world to see.
You don't always have to be a one-trick pony
I discussed players that prefer to run their good characters in a single, heavy-handed fashion on Monday. In reality, most "good" characters show their goodness in a variety of ways. I would submit some great television shows such as "House" and "Heroes" as great examples of how good characters can not only have shades of grey to them, but also do their good things in some very unexpected ways.
What this means to your character... first, shy away from being good in an overt and grandiose way. I tend to punish hubris (shameful pride) when I can identify it emanating from the characters in my campaign because self-serving goodness is rarely (if ever) a good thing.
Secondly, pick several ways to show your goodness and progress those activities throughout the course of your character's life span. Treat it like fertilizer: you have to sprinkle it around and need it into the ground for it to work. Taking a single dump in one spot just gets you a smelly garden.
Finally, be surprising. One of my favorite D&D moments came from my first campaign. My character was trying to rescue his love interest who got trapped in a dire situation where most hope was lost. I had stumbled upon a Ring of Three Wishes slightly earlier in the campaign, and it had one left. When there was no other hope of rescue, my chaotic good barbarian decided to use the final wish to trade places with his love interest, knowing full well that this would likely seal his fate. My DM actually asked me three times whether or not I was sure I wanted to make a sacrifice like that and I said that I did.
After the session he told me it was one of the most excellent displays of what being a good aligned character meant. The rest of the party never did get the opportunity to rescue my character, but it still makes me happy to have done that.
It is moments like that that I live and die for when roleplaying. There are a few good examples from our more recent campaigns that indicate similarly excellent examples of being an evil character, but those are best left for another time and place.
Labels: being good, Better Characters, character-building tips, Dante, rpgbloggers
3 Comments:
"What this means to your character... first, shy away from being good in an overt and grandiose way. I tend to punish hubris (shameful pride) when I can identify it emanating from the characters in my campaign because self-serving goodness is rarely (if ever) a good thing."
To me, that sounds like playing a good character filled with hubris would mean a load of trouble and a pressure to change for the character. That sounds very good, from player point of view. A different style of play, or am I missing something?
I love the concept, and I will be employing it during the character creation session tomorrow.
I like that good progression can mirror level progression. The more I think about it the more it possibility's I see. I think I will now retire to plot out turning it up to 11!
Good series and not an easy subject to tackle Dante.
Were actually exploring an all-good group right now (except for one alignment-less character) and we all agreed to allow plenty of greyish goodness all around.
Plus the group is embroiled in Criminal Syndicate turf wars, lawful neutral jerkish lords and highly politicized good militant organization fighting for the spotlight...
This is a very rich environment to explore how my players will "play it good"
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