Hello, all! I would like some help with one of my PC's character development (I love what Mercer does in CR so I started doing it).
This PC is a wizard who is a dedicated worshiper of a goddess (she made it up before I had a chance to create my pantheon)(also, shoulda been a cleric, but hindsight is 20/20). I've decided to make her a champion of her goddess. I've got 4 challenges set up for her to go through.
The first (Strength) is during a long rest when she awakens in front of the pantheon and must fight a few easy creatures (while to the other players, she's just single handedly annihilating a group of people).
The second (Loyalty) happens when a Deva (wayyyyy deadly encounter) shows up, seemingly on behalf of the rival God, and fights the group. He gets one of the PCs to 2 failed death throws and tells her "goddess or your friend." (goddess, he kills the friend, but the friend is actually fine. Friend, and she fails the whole thing and this whole thread is useless.)
The third (Bravery) will be something along the lines that she had to be the one to enter a seemingly suicidal area in honor of her goddess, but it's actually all totally fine.
The fourth is the one I need help with. It's focused on kindness, but I can't think of anything that would really trick her. She's a super nice person in real life, so I need something that would overpower her legit kindness and make her second guess it. Something that she thinks that if she IS kind, she loses something. Along the lines of the way the other trials are structured.
We don't have much in the way of the character's personality and background story, so it's hard to give specifics, but for Kindness, you could present her with someone in genuine need, where helping this person will cost her something.
You don't need to make it trickier than that. She's allowed some of the trials to be easy because of her nature. It's her nature they're testing for.
However, a comment about how you're approaching this.
It's laudable that you want to facilitate your characters' development, but it looks like you're trying too hard with this "champion of her goddess" approach.
It's up to her to decide when and how her character will develop. You get to run the entire universe - but the players have complete control of their characters, what they do, and how they change. The best you can do is give her opportunities to develop her character, when introducing those opportunities doesn't strain the credibility of the story-line.
Does she have a long term character goal, or drive? Dole out the occasional clue or adventure hook that can allow her to pursue that drive, or move her closer to her goal. Does she have a flaw? Put her in a situation where that flaw gets expressed, or where she has to choose between overcoming that flaw, or accepting a negative consequence. Does she have unresolved issues with someone in her backstory? Introduce them into the story-line at some point where it is plausible.
And do all this sparingly. Overdoing this just dilutes the impact of these quiet meaningful character moments. Just toss out the occasional character bait, and let her decide if and how she'll bite. Nothing has to be as dramatic as being a "chosen one" - look how many really pivotal character moments in Critical Role are the player-characters making choices on their own, or quiet character-on-character moments where they resolve long term conflicts, or emotional tensions.
You really should be doing this for all your player-characters, and if they go chasing off after these hints and personal quests, they'll write large parts of your campaign for you.
Which leads me to another point: treat all your player characters equally and fairly. It seems like you're willing to put one of your players under stress of thinking their character is going to die ( 2 death saving throws ), in order to help move along the character development of another player's character. If someone did that to me as a player, I'd be pissed.
Give all your players opportunities, sparingly and organically where it fits the story, from their background stories and past adventure choices, to chose when and how they want to develop their characters' personalities. They'll take care of the rest.
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Hello, all! I would like some help with one of my PC's character development (I love what Mercer does in CR so I started doing it).
This PC is a wizard who is a dedicated worshiper of a goddess (she made it up before I had a chance to create my pantheon)(also, shoulda been a cleric, but hindsight is 20/20). I've decided to make her a champion of her goddess. I've got 4 challenges set up for her to go through.
The first (Strength) is during a long rest when she awakens in front of the pantheon and must fight a few easy creatures (while to the other players, she's just single handedly annihilating a group of people).
The second (Loyalty) happens when a Deva (wayyyyy deadly encounter) shows up, seemingly on behalf of the rival God, and fights the group. He gets one of the PCs to 2 failed death throws and tells her "goddess or your friend." (goddess, he kills the friend, but the friend is actually fine. Friend, and she fails the whole thing and this whole thread is useless.)
The third (Bravery) will be something along the lines that she had to be the one to enter a seemingly suicidal area in honor of her goddess, but it's actually all totally fine.
The fourth is the one I need help with. It's focused on kindness, but I can't think of anything that would really trick her. She's a super nice person in real life, so I need something that would overpower her legit kindness and make her second guess it. Something that she thinks that if she IS kind, she loses something. Along the lines of the way the other trials are structured.
Thanks for your help and creativity!
We don't have much in the way of the character's personality and background story, so it's hard to give specifics, but for Kindness, you could present her with someone in genuine need, where helping this person will cost her something.
You don't need to make it trickier than that. She's allowed some of the trials to be easy because of her nature. It's her nature they're testing for.
However, a comment about how you're approaching this.
It's laudable that you want to facilitate your characters' development, but it looks like you're trying too hard with this "champion of her goddess" approach.
It's up to her to decide when and how her character will develop. You get to run the entire universe - but the players have complete control of their characters, what they do, and how they change. The best you can do is give her opportunities to develop her character, when introducing those opportunities doesn't strain the credibility of the story-line.
Does she have a long term character goal, or drive? Dole out the occasional clue or adventure hook that can allow her to pursue that drive, or move her closer to her goal. Does she have a flaw? Put her in a situation where that flaw gets expressed, or where she has to choose between overcoming that flaw, or accepting a negative consequence. Does she have unresolved issues with someone in her backstory? Introduce them into the story-line at some point where it is plausible.
And do all this sparingly. Overdoing this just dilutes the impact of these quiet meaningful character moments. Just toss out the occasional character bait, and let her decide if and how she'll bite. Nothing has to be as dramatic as being a "chosen one" - look how many really pivotal character moments in Critical Role are the player-characters making choices on their own, or quiet character-on-character moments where they resolve long term conflicts, or emotional tensions.
You really should be doing this for all your player-characters, and if they go chasing off after these hints and personal quests, they'll write large parts of your campaign for you.
Which leads me to another point: treat all your player characters equally and fairly. It seems like you're willing to put one of your players under stress of thinking their character is going to die ( 2 death saving throws ), in order to help move along the character development of another player's character. If someone did that to me as a player, I'd be pissed.
Give all your players opportunities, sparingly and organically where it fits the story, from their background stories and past adventure choices, to chose when and how they want to develop their characters' personalities. They'll take care of the rest.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.