Greetings,l come here today to ask you you would allow the following character to be in your game. This is my PC idea,and l want feedback on if its ok where it is,or if it needs to be "toned down". ok with that out of the way,here is the pc as l have so far: (l would ask my dm, if l had one)

name: Cirflu Gale-Shawl

Alingment:N

Class:Barbarian

Race:"human" (half elf) (will explain soon)

Age:25-30 (closer to 30)

Backstory:As a child he lived with his human mother and elven father. However his father was abusive to both his mother and himself. His father would beat him and his mother for seemingly no reason. One day his father beat his mother too hard and caused her to die. At that moment he snapped,grabbed a near by sword and stabbed his father in the gut(this could be fatal depending on if the dm wants to make him a enemy later) and ran as far and as fast as he could. After that day he had a intense hatred for elves and himself for the elven blood in his veins. So he chopped off the tips of his pointy ears to make them look human like and shuns anything elven. He has also lived in the woods sense that day.(party could meet him in said woods,or maybe in town selling meat/pelts of some animals he killed? idk,would talk over with actual dm once l get one.)

The idea for this character is to start off kinda racist against elves,(l am not raciest irl,just to be clear) but over the course of the game become less of a jerk. He would be a jerk to elven party members/npcs at the start,(but not to the point he would kill them on sight) and over time become friends with the elven party members and maybe even become ok with his elven traits. (especially if he gets to confront his father *if he survived) (cough plot hook cough)

also to explain away the elven traits (ie dark vision) he would have fake magic items which he pretends are the source for his elven traits.

TL:DR would you allow this racist character with a chance of becoming not raciest? (why/why not?)

 EDIT 1: The "racism" would mostly be snide remarks,aloofness,ignoring elfs when they are speaking,and the use of the terms "pointy eared "bass-turns" " or "knife ears" and the expression of disdane for anything elven,ie weapons,food,people,clothing,music&language (which he can speak/write but chouses not to and does not reply if spoken to in elvish,though uses the above stated fake magic items to read elven if absolutely necessary) and gets super defensive/aggressive if someone askes if he is a half elf or calls him out on his "magic" items not being magic.

EDIT 2: Some of you have pointed out that l cant know in advance if things will play out to have my pc "reform" from his racisim,which is true. just because l have ideas for a character going in to the game does not mean those plans will come to pass (we all know that most plans in dnd dont work as planed) thats why l said "The idea" not "what will happen" or "l will". one of my other characters plans on becomeing a 10th level spell casting chosen of mystara,but that does not mean that will happen.

Also the hatred of elves is one of his "flaws" which are designed to "spice up" the character and potentially cause drama. He may call the party elf "knife ears" but he will still be a productive member of the party, and (reluctantly) help the elf if necessary. (l was thinking a early-mid DBZ vegata like character,helping the z fighters because of a common enemy, even though he does not like goku,but eventually warming up to them and becomeing "friends") 

I'd have to realllllllly trust the player and they'd have to talk it over with the players playing elves.  My presumption would be 'no' but that presumption could be overcome.  On top of all my other responsibilities as DM, I'm not sure I'd want to help guide a character along this journey, especially if it meant refereeing fights between players.

I encourage you to consider that he could be a closeted elf without being overtly elf-phobic.

Also, a half-elf who chopped part of his ears off wouldn't look like a human, he'd look like a maniac with f***ed-up ears.

Quote from TimCurtin >>

I'd have to realllllllly trust the player and they'd have to talk it over with the players playing elves.  My presumption would be 'no' but that presumption could be overcome.  On top of all my other responsibilities as DM, I'm not sure I'd want to help guide a character along this journey, especially if it meant refereeing fights between players.

I encourage you to consider that he could be a closeted elf without being overtly elf-phobic.

Also, a half-elf who chopped part of his ears off wouldn't look like a human, he'd look like ata maniac with f***ed-up ears.

 yeah l would talk with the other players first,and yeah the ears would look messed up,but the characters ears would have healed by the start of the game and if anyone asked,he would explain it as getting into a fight with a wolf or something. also l would try to keep any conflict in game,cause dnd is about haveing fun and after the work involved in finding a group the last thing l would want is for it to get broken up because of my character.

also,yeah "ADrunkenDwarf" my sheet says half elf,with all the bonus' that come with that.

The character idea seems fine. However, don't expect the DM to work in your backstory. Whether plot elements like that get included is entirely dependent on the DM, the game they are running and the characteristics of the world that it is being run in. Your ideas may or may not fit depending on what the DM has in mind so avoid trying to apply pressure to the DM to incorporate a character back story plot line just for you.

I'd worry about the "edginess" of the character, especially because you don't know what experience other players have had with real-life abuse, so I might make the backstory a lot more nebulous. The general concept, though, of a character taking refuge in the woods from an abusive home, is one I'd allow.

I think the idea of a character who has a 'racist' view towards elves is a good idea. It would make for some good roleplaying as long as the player get the racism suitable and appropriate to the DnD setting. I would absolutely allow that character. It fits into the Barbarian's personality.

no. just unless he had a reallllllly good reason. then maybe

Quote from BobTheAlmighty >>

no. just unless he had a reallllllly good reason. then maybe

 l gave the reason in  the back story. if thats not a good enough reason for a fictional person to hate a fictional group of people then l dont know what to tell you.

I think the tone of this character is extremely dark and I'm not sure I've ever made a campaign that would have suited such a character. 

But my larger concerns would be how is this character going to fit into a party? The thing that stuck out was this line here:

over the course of the game become less of a jerk.

In my experience, it is very hard to make a character who is a jerk work out in game-play (especially, and you said you planned to do this, being a jerk to other player characters in the party). Why would an elven character even agree to work with your PC at the start of the game? Why would a party to whom you are being jerks keep you around? This is not a novel you are writing; it's a game played with other people around the table (whether real or virtual, these days). Unless the other players are told ahead of time about this and unanimously agree to put up with it, I would probably not allow it.

And no, I am not saying that ordinarily, other players have to approve each other's characters. But, you're going to have to get them to participate in not booting you immediately from the party the first time you make some snarky "Pointy ears" comment. You're going to have to get the other players to come up with characters who would for some reason allow you to adventure with them while being, in your words, a "jerk." Otherwise, when acted out in character, the rest of the party would probably (a) never let you join in the first place, and/or (b) kick you out upon finding out what a jerk you are. You have to get the players to play out their characters in such a way that they give your character time to become less of a jerk. Perhaps the self-sacrificing elf risks his life to save you and you change your mind about elves or something. But these are not NPCs with a DM tailoring the adventure to your tastes... these are other players with characters just as realistically defined as yours, and there are very few character concepts which would end up with a group of adventurers who, in character, would keep a jerk around with them in life-or-death situations.

Again, it can be done -- but you are going to need the out-of-character cooperation of every player at the table. Otherwise, the first time your character made a racist comment, you're going to hear the rasp of steel as the elf's friends all draw weapons and point them at you. That's what would happen, realistically, if you said nasty things about their friend.

I could have allowed that character depending on what kind of campaign I was planning. The line "over the course of the game become less of a jerk" stuck out for me as well, but for a completely other reason than BioWizard's.

It sounds like you are planning the plot of a novel or the script of a film. You are not. You are planning a character. You can essentially only plan for what will happen up until the start of session 1. After that you have no idea what will happen. What if the guy who plays the elf (if there will even be one) has decided to play a hardcore race separist, who believes each race should stay "pure" and that half elves is the worst scum on earth. What if he treats you like that and give you no reasons at all to start to "liking" elves? If I would allow your character, I would probably allow the other one as well. The campaign would probably need some "external" reason for the party to stay together, but could be really interesting. However it would only be really interesting if both of you actually decided to play your characters to the full, and see what happens in game. Will there because of circumstances start tto grow a friendship, or will you just push each other further apart? If the outcome of that is prewritten, I find it boring to play. Then I can rather watch a film or read a book. The best thing with RPG is that you DON'T know the outcome to this.

I agree with Godrick. You can't know your character's interactions with a party controlled by other players will allow him to grow into a more pleasant person. As Godrick points out, the exact opposite could happen. And this is my point. You can't control what the other players do with their characters, and thus you can't control whether they will have their characters act tolerant or understanding of your "jerk" ways. Other players have as much right as you do to make up a jerk character -- if you can do it, they can do it. As Godrick said, maybe not just the elves but the humans in the party decide to hate half-elves and be just as much of a jerk back to you. How would your character evolve in your planned trajectory given that? It is highly unlikely that he would.

This is what I mean -- you would need out of character buy-in from the whole group -- the other players would need to agree to not only have their characters tolerate your jerk-boy but also help him grow into less of a jerk. That would require them to make up characters who would do that. You need the other players' participation for this to happen.

I would say this is not racism so much as "daddy issues". which is not uncommon in backstories. the question is:

a) is this character interesting?

b) is it disruptive to the other players at the table?

but you asked the question so I am inclined to believe you already consider this character to be quite disruptive.

Seems like we are on the same page @BioWizard.

But that said, the concept in itself isn't "bad. I found the character interesting. In the right campaign, with the right DM and players, that could be a real thrill to play (or play against), but you need to embrace the idea that you don't know the outcome and accept that in a lot (probably most?) of campaigns this idea will probably don't fit.

And something completely else. I would have considered to turn the idea upside down and have him loath his human heritage and rather try to live as a full fledged elf. First it will often be more humans in the party, this makes it easier for the other players to confront you, giving you more PC's to play against. And since we after all are humans, I somehow find the thought of playing someone that is denying that more interesting than vice versa. But that's only me :-)

I do appreciate and understand the thought and creativity you have put into your PCs backstory. But with this much detail and pre established idea of how you will roleplay your PC and the preconceived conflict you are basing your story on you are basically putting your future DM into a position that will require the campaign to be somewhat centered on the goals you have already set out for your PC.

 As a DM I would suggest you tone down the "racism" a bit and perhaps roleplay it as more of a self-centered hatred than directing your prejudice outward.

Some suggestions, Being distrustful of elves, Not speaking to elves or avoiding any contact with elves.

EDIT: I think the idea of having fake magic items that grant your darkvision is an excellent idea.

Quote from Nakadnu >>

 Some suggestions, Being distrustful of elves, Not speaking to elves or avoiding any contact with elves.

 Also stuff he would do.  Thanks for the subjection.

Well, it shouldn't be a problem with another PC being an elf, since this character sounds like he would never team up with an elf in the first place. So if an elf turns up, this PC wouldn't join the group or would ensure that the rest of the group didn't accept the elf. At the start of the campaign, with his current way of thinking, I can't see this happening any other way.

Your future "plans" also depend on meeting lots of elves during the campaign, which your GM might not have in his story arc.

Other factors might be where he grew up. If it was in a society with no other elves, his father might have had his own reason for being away from elven society. How would this have also impacted the PCs upbringing?

Which type of elf was the father? Each type of elf has a very different view of mixed society?

I say no I’ve had a player that wanted to do this but my other players weren’t into it it made for a lot tension between them and eventually led to TPK