So we all have seen many animes where the protagonist is very young like 18 and bellow heck even 10 years old! So i was wondering if any of you have encountered this, as a player or as DM, you played that archetype yourself or your someone else..
I personally don't think it make sense but i want to see different opinions to see if i was looking at it the wrong way.
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
I played a 17 year old fire genasi artificer who I played as basically a prodigy who was incredibly talented with all things alchemical, but also not that world-wise, brash, wanted to be famous and rich, and was easily impressionable, so I let the behavior of the group influence how he acted around them.
The fun part about playing a younger adventurer is you get to play around with characters that are much more subject to change, and the experiences you put them through are much more formative than they would be for like, a 30 y/o adventurer.
As far as justifying how someone so young is so skilled; young adventurers are people who are very naturally talented to the point where their raw natural talent, say as a swordsman, is a match even for an older swordsman's experience. So not only do you get to play someone who's changeable and quirky, but also someone who's exceptional in some ways but perhaps almost ignorant in others, which is always a fun dynamic.
Truth be told, I've never seen a player character younger than 18 work well in any group. The other players have to constantly come up with excuses for why their responsible adult characters are letting a teen or child go on the adventure with them. A Luke Skywalker character, who's fresh off the farm and just wants to be a hero, works really well, but if he's not old enough to go into the Army, both the DM and the other players have to jump through hoops to accommodate him. At this point, I'll just ask my players not to create "prodigy" characters younger than 18. The character isn't bad in a vacuum, but they tend to make everyone else orbit around them, which is never a good thing in RPGs. Harry Potter and Arya Stark are both great book/screen characters, but they're not great D&D characters.
I have a player that plays a little Tiefling girl. She was a survivor of a mysterious hospital fire and my other two players, a Tiefling Bloodhunter (most definitely not based on any well-known fictional character that hunts demons and communicates most of the time by saying "Hmm...") and a Kalashtar Bard, found her in the woods, as they were patroling for demon infestations that tended to occur in the region. It has put an interesting spin on the campaign and isn't that detrimental, save for some struggles to explain why a kid would be allowed into a certain place (such as a morgue full of torn up corpses). Having to care for a child has also helped to establish a group dynamic and a sense of being an actual party (both the Bloodhunter and the Bard were contractors hired by the Demonwatch and they had no real connection until they started caring for the little kid).
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You get a wonderfull view from the point of no return.
It's probably easier to play a young member of one of the monstrous races as it might be harder for the more humanoid races to discern their age. That plus many of them grow to adulthood faster then a more traditional humanoid like Aarakocra, Kenku, Kobolds, Grungs, and Dragonborns. On the other end, you can play a Firbolg or a Loxodon who reach adulthood much later then most other races, at 30 years and 60 years respectively. So they are still considered young while also being of an age a typical adventure or veteran would be.
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"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
We have a Wizard or Sorcerer that is a 12 year old boy (played by a 50-ish man) that is very mischievous, curious and irresponsible with a Street Urchin background. He generally runs into combat, cries or fails to remain quiet when things start to go to hell, and throws in his own comments when we are role playing. It is an interesting dynamic that we have to consider often as the situation changes from the way we were trying to deal with it to something else.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
In the game my husband runs for what we call 'the kids group', I play a pseudodragon hatchling [homebrew race]. She is two years old and hatched in a cabinet belonging to an elderly sage who had been given her egg. She generally rides on someone's shoulder as she gets too tired if she flies far. In role play she tends to ask a lot of questions of the party: "What are you going to do?// "How come?" // "Should we fight them?" and she collects shiny trinkets and small gems.
This has been a fun way to get the younger players to think about their characters actions and motives. It's a bit whimsical, so I wouldn't recommend it for a group bent on serious role play, but the kids really seem to enjoy having her in the group -- They even wanted to name her party leader at one point. She reacted by acting impulsively and telling everyone what to do, until they decided the cleric was a better overall choice.
In the game my husband runs for what we call 'the kids group', I play a pseudodragon hatchling [homebrew race]. She is two years old and hatched in a cabinet belonging to an elderly sage who had been given her egg. She generally rides on someone's shoulder as she gets too tired if she flies far. In role play she tends to ask a lot of questions of the party: "What are you going to do?// "How come?" // "Should we fight them?" and she collects shiny trinkets and small gems.
This has been a fun way to get the younger players to think about their characters actions and motives. It's a bit whimsical, so I wouldn't recommend it for a group bent on serious role play, but the kids really seem to enjoy having her in the group -- They even wanted to name her party leader at one point. She reacted by acting impulsively and telling everyone what to do, until they decided the cleric was a better overall choice.
My god, that's adorable
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So we all have seen many animes where the protagonist is very young like 18 and bellow heck even 10 years old! So i was wondering if any of you have encountered this, as a player or as DM, you played that archetype yourself or your someone else..
I personally don't think it make sense but i want to see different opinions to see if i was looking at it the wrong way.
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
I played a 17 year old fire genasi artificer who I played as basically a prodigy who was incredibly talented with all things alchemical, but also not that world-wise, brash, wanted to be famous and rich, and was easily impressionable, so I let the behavior of the group influence how he acted around them.
The fun part about playing a younger adventurer is you get to play around with characters that are much more subject to change, and the experiences you put them through are much more formative than they would be for like, a 30 y/o adventurer.
As far as justifying how someone so young is so skilled; young adventurers are people who are very naturally talented to the point where their raw natural talent, say as a swordsman, is a match even for an older swordsman's experience. So not only do you get to play someone who's changeable and quirky, but also someone who's exceptional in some ways but perhaps almost ignorant in others, which is always a fun dynamic.
Truth be told, I've never seen a player character younger than 18 work well in any group. The other players have to constantly come up with excuses for why their responsible adult characters are letting a teen or child go on the adventure with them. A Luke Skywalker character, who's fresh off the farm and just wants to be a hero, works really well, but if he's not old enough to go into the Army, both the DM and the other players have to jump through hoops to accommodate him. At this point, I'll just ask my players not to create "prodigy" characters younger than 18. The character isn't bad in a vacuum, but they tend to make everyone else orbit around them, which is never a good thing in RPGs. Harry Potter and Arya Stark are both great book/screen characters, but they're not great D&D characters.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I have a player that plays a little Tiefling girl. She was a survivor of a mysterious hospital fire and my other two players, a Tiefling Bloodhunter (most definitely not based on any well-known fictional character that hunts demons and communicates most of the time by saying "Hmm...") and a Kalashtar Bard, found her in the woods, as they were patroling for demon infestations that tended to occur in the region. It has put an interesting spin on the campaign and isn't that detrimental, save for some struggles to explain why a kid would be allowed into a certain place (such as a morgue full of torn up corpses). Having to care for a child has also helped to establish a group dynamic and a sense of being an actual party (both the Bloodhunter and the Bard were contractors hired by the Demonwatch and they had no real connection until they started caring for the little kid).
You get a wonderfull view from the point of no return.
-Terry Pratchett
It's probably easier to play a young member of one of the monstrous races as it might be harder for the more humanoid races to discern their age. That plus many of them grow to adulthood faster then a more traditional humanoid like Aarakocra, Kenku, Kobolds, Grungs, and Dragonborns. On the other end, you can play a Firbolg or a Loxodon who reach adulthood much later then most other races, at 30 years and 60 years respectively. So they are still considered young while also being of an age a typical adventure or veteran would be.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
We have a Wizard or Sorcerer that is a 12 year old boy (played by a 50-ish man) that is very mischievous, curious and irresponsible with a Street Urchin background. He generally runs into combat, cries or fails to remain quiet when things start to go to hell, and throws in his own comments when we are role playing. It is an interesting dynamic that we have to consider often as the situation changes from the way we were trying to deal with it to something else.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
In the game my husband runs for what we call 'the kids group', I play a pseudodragon hatchling [homebrew race]. She is two years old and hatched in a cabinet belonging to an elderly sage who had been given her egg. She generally rides on someone's shoulder as she gets too tired if she flies far.
In role play she tends to ask a lot of questions of the party: "What are you going to do?// "How come?" // "Should we fight them?" and she collects shiny trinkets and small gems.
This has been a fun way to get the younger players to think about their characters actions and motives. It's a bit whimsical, so I wouldn't recommend it for a group bent on serious role play, but the kids really seem to enjoy having her in the group -- They even wanted to name her party leader at one point. She reacted by acting impulsively and telling everyone what to do, until they decided the cleric was a better overall choice.
My god, that's adorable