We recently started a new campaign, and I decided to play a Harengon wizard. The general concept of his backstory is that he was raised by a demon-obsessed cult but was rescued by a group of well-meaning paladins and finally introduced into the real world. I figured he could be a young, impressionable, fairly innocent character who had a strange way of looking at the world due to his morally questionable upbringing. My DM really liked the idea, and wrote a bunch of lore for the cultists and reworked a dungeon he had previously shelved to accommodate my backstory. We have since started the campaign, and the more we play the more I am realizing that I don't like the character I am playing. I don't want to suddenly change characters, because our group was finalized a while ago and my DM has built a lot of his campaign around my character. The issue I am having is that I dislike roleplaying with the personality and archetype I have set for myself. I thought about it and would much rather play a Gentleman Bastard style character (charismatic and chivalrous, while confidently on the wrong side of the law). Talking with some friends, they suggested slowly adjusting my character's personality to fit this new idea. That seems like the best course of action, I am just stumped on how to get from point A to point B. How do I shift an innocent and slightly deranged wizard into a charismatic swindler? Any ideas and suggestions are much appreciated.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Look for a moment you can turn into an epiphany. Find an NPC who acts like what you’re going for and decide to be more like them. Or take some moment of failure, and have your character decide they need to change their ways if they want to succeed. Then you get to turn on a dime into the character you want instead of suffering through with something you don’t like.
Or decide it’s just a game, not the next great fantasy novel, and just do it without over thinking it. People might think it’s weird for a session, but they’ll adjust quickly.
The best thing you can do is work with your DM on this and see if they will create a situation that both advances the main story and your character at the same time (that way others at the table are not being bored/not getting anything). Fortunately, a stop a cult side quest is pretty easy to work into any campaign - they can have some piece of knowledge that you need for your main quest or be holding some NPC for sacrifice that you need to rescue.
Your character grew up thinking cults are A-okay, and, as you noted, that coloured their views on morality. But it’s more accurate to say the memory of your character’s childhood in a cult is what colours your morality - children are really susceptible to Stockholm syndrome which can last well into their adulthood.
A side quest where you see a really evil cult through fresh, adult, post-Paladin upbringing eyes can be exactly what your character might need to decide “hey, maybe this was wrong the whole time.” That would allow your other traits, learned from the Paladins (the gentlemen side, and possibly an “ends justify the means” side, depending on the paladin group) to start shining through. “I now see this is evil, but I already have the tools they trained me in (all that sneaky thievery), so I might as well use their own tools against them to do some good” is a fairly believable trope and a reasonable way to react to an epiphany directed specifically at the flaws in your character’s upbringing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
We recently started a new campaign, and I decided to play a Harengon wizard. The general concept of his backstory is that he was raised by a demon-obsessed cult but was rescued by a group of well-meaning paladins and finally introduced into the real world. I figured he could be a young, impressionable, fairly innocent character who had a strange way of looking at the world due to his morally questionable upbringing. My DM really liked the idea, and wrote a bunch of lore for the cultists and reworked a dungeon he had previously shelved to accommodate my backstory. We have since started the campaign, and the more we play the more I am realizing that I don't like the character I am playing. I don't want to suddenly change characters, because our group was finalized a while ago and my DM has built a lot of his campaign around my character. The issue I am having is that I dislike roleplaying with the personality and archetype I have set for myself. I thought about it and would much rather play a Gentleman Bastard style character (charismatic and chivalrous, while confidently on the wrong side of the law). Talking with some friends, they suggested slowly adjusting my character's personality to fit this new idea. That seems like the best course of action, I am just stumped on how to get from point A to point B. How do I shift an innocent and slightly deranged wizard into a charismatic swindler? Any ideas and suggestions are much appreciated.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
Look for a moment you can turn into an epiphany. Find an NPC who acts like what you’re going for and decide to be more like them. Or take some moment of failure, and have your character decide they need to change their ways if they want to succeed. Then you get to turn on a dime into the character you want instead of suffering through with something you don’t like.
Or decide it’s just a game, not the next great fantasy novel, and just do it without over thinking it. People might think it’s weird for a session, but they’ll adjust quickly.
The best thing you can do is work with your DM on this and see if they will create a situation that both advances the main story and your character at the same time (that way others at the table are not being bored/not getting anything). Fortunately, a stop a cult side quest is pretty easy to work into any campaign - they can have some piece of knowledge that you need for your main quest or be holding some NPC for sacrifice that you need to rescue.
Your character grew up thinking cults are A-okay, and, as you noted, that coloured their views on morality. But it’s more accurate to say the memory of your character’s childhood in a cult is what colours your morality - children are really susceptible to Stockholm syndrome which can last well into their adulthood.
A side quest where you see a really evil cult through fresh, adult, post-Paladin upbringing eyes can be exactly what your character might need to decide “hey, maybe this was wrong the whole time.” That would allow your other traits, learned from the Paladins (the gentlemen side, and possibly an “ends justify the means” side, depending on the paladin group) to start shining through. “I now see this is evil, but I already have the tools they trained me in (all that sneaky thievery), so I might as well use their own tools against them to do some good” is a fairly believable trope and a reasonable way to react to an epiphany directed specifically at the flaws in your character’s upbringing.