So, I’ve been enjoying playing some one shots lately and there’s an opportunity for me to join a short campaign of 10 sessions that might expand into more if the DM has time.
I want to make a character that’s different to the kind I usually play.
I thought about choosing “Reborn” and making him into a reformed character. Like before he became Reborn, he was a sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction.
Essentially a cleric of some monstrously evil God. (Suggestions for which god would be welcome).
Until he died and found himself not in his “heaven”, but “Reborn” unto the world
Now abandoned by his God and no longer fully living or truly dead, he seeks to put right the wrongs he committed in life.
Taking the view:
“While I was alive, I was darkness … perhaps in this unlife, I can be the light!”
Altnough in the beginning, he takes the opposing side because he’s angry at his God for abandoning him, because he did everything he was ever asked, because he believed and because he was denied, but as time goes on, the good deeds he does and the relationships he forges eventually begin to change him.
With each evil that he undoes, his soul is cleansed of that sin.
So like he starts as the worst evil character one could imagine - literally the poster child for the very worst kind of chaotic evil, and slowly works his way up from there.
With all the usual caveats about it depending on campaign style, degree of explicitness at your table etc. I can see two ways, that are drastically different. I assume by your description that the character has retained all the memories of past deeds - and that in many ways proves a bit problematic since it might also suggest that deep down they are retaining their personality - e..g there has not been a wholesale shift in their personality.
But I think you could either go for
1) A redemption story. Somehow, the character has now become wracked with guilt, and seek to redeem themselves. Challenge with that both for yourself and the DM is that actions have consequences, and those may have rippled far beyond the original intent (the characters evil deeds destroyed a family and caused the destitution or a life of crime for the children in the family for example). Nonetheless, a character like that would be effectively tortured by their own memories. Realistically, they probably wouldn't devote time to adventuring with so many wrongs to right.
2) A clean slate approach. Previous events are less prevalent - perhaps even repressed to the point of there being no memory, but the character is driven to a deep motivation to avoid morally ambiguous scenarios, always choosing the righteous path. However, if confronted with effects of their evil from the past may trigger partial memories and abject horror in the character - feeling almost like they might be and have been possessed by a demon. This might then be a growing conviction that the character seeks to offset or purge.
Thanks for your excellent comment. Though I actually have now got a follow up question.
I have just realised that Reborn can be tacked onto a base race. This means that I could have an Half-Orc Reborn. Then their god in their past life could have been Gruumsh - who they were a death Cleric of.
In their life as a Reborn, they feel cheated by Gruumsh, because they didn’t receive their promised reward and now fight against the God and his minions as a way of getting their revenge. Although they only have snatches of memory from the time they worshiped him, they have a strong overbearing feeling that Gruumsh somehow wronged them, and a desire for revenge that starts them down the path of becoming an ally to those who fight against and resist the will Gruumsh.
Would this work for Reborn, or is it against the theme?
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I feel like the idea could work well but it's something you'll need to hash the specifics out with your DM, or see if the DM is up for this angle in the first place.
Reborn are purposefully vague in how they were reborn, so you can do pretty much whatever you want with them. Whether you play as a Frankenstein’s monster character, revenant spit out from the Hells, character who died but did not fully pass on, etc. is left up to you as a player, and the Reborn framework can be utilised for that character. As such, there really is not a “theme” you can go against - it truly is the most versatile race.
I know I personally would play where my character still worshiped the evil god, but had some kind of epiphany with their worship to reinterpret the god’s message in a “good” way (such as “good” Vecna worshipers that have been described in earlier editions). But that is only because I like to take certain parts of the game and look at them from another angle, and I only use this as an example of just how flexible the reborn race can be - your proposal of turning against your prior god is an equally valid story. So, go wild, don’t give much thought to staying “on theme” for reborn.
So, I’ve been enjoying playing some one shots lately and there’s an opportunity for me to join a short campaign of 10 sessions that might expand into more if the DM has time.
I want to make a character that’s different to the kind I usually play.
I thought about choosing “Reborn” and making him into a reformed character. Like before he became Reborn, he was a sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction.
Essentially a cleric of some monstrously evil God. (Suggestions for which god would be welcome).
Until he died and found himself not in his “heaven”, but “Reborn” unto the world
Now abandoned by his God and no longer fully living or truly dead, he seeks to put right the wrongs he committed in life.
Taking the view:
“While I was alive, I was darkness … perhaps in this unlife, I can be the light!”
Altnough in the beginning, he takes the opposing side because he’s angry at his God for abandoning him, because he did everything he was ever asked, because he believed and because he was denied, but as time goes on, the good deeds he does and the relationships he forges eventually begin to change him.
With each evil that he undoes, his soul is cleansed of that sin.
So like he starts as the worst evil character one could imagine - literally the poster child for the very worst kind of chaotic evil, and slowly works his way up from there.
How could I roleplay a character like this?
Alright. Interesting concept.
Couple of immediate things that spring to mind. What made him changes his mind specifically. It sounds like he was in there for the fun of evil as much as anything. Was it the death? Was it seeing punishment after life? Was it something else? Because that could really shape how you play it.
did he have this evil god whispering in his ear all the time, suppressing his remorse and just feeding the flames? And looking back now he has to deal with what he did. Because that will need to be dealt with differently to the whole of I don’t repent enteral punishment.
How will he deal with it when someone says they don’t want his help to make it better? Will that hurt? Will he listen?
What is his end objective. What do you want him to do by the end? What growth? What changes? What do you see him being at the end?
What sparked the first good deed? What was the thing that opened the flood gates?
I would also consider playing him part way on that journey. Otherwise if people have to deal with a chaotic character it could be tough.
I would also let the crimes come through organically. If you just tell everyone I feel like you are giving something up. Perhaps have rumours of this tyrant and what he did be heard. Maybe the parties hear from the victims and don’t realise it’s you for a while. Have your character be seen as a good person and then have it revealed why after.
Why do you feel the need to play a "sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction"? Have you even talked to your GM and to your fellow players to see if you're OK with that? That should be the first step before forcing this kind of character on the gaming group.
As for how to roleplay it, if you don't even know how to roleplay such a character, maybe you shouldn't?
I would also add perhaps keep certain details to a minimum. Especially the sexual stuff. That can be a real thing for people so many check with them on that one.
Review the old video game Torment. I think the main protagonists concept is what you may be after with a few tweaks.
i do agree though about losing the aspects that may make other players unsettled especially if you are playing one shots with folk you don’t know well.
Why do you feel the need to play a "sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction"? Have you even talked to your GM and to your fellow players to see if you're OK with that? That should be the first step before forcing this kind of character on the gaming group.
As for how to roleplay it, if you don't even know how to roleplay such a character, maybe you shouldn't?
It isn’t what they are now - it’s what they were in the past. In their past life, they did things, terrible evil things. Things that might change how the world views them.
In their new life as a Reborn however, they’re trying to be different and to undo the evil they committed when they were alive.
My thoughts were that they were a fanatical believer in their God, but when they died, they found themselves denied their heaven - denied paradise, denied their reward, and “sent back” to reawaken into the life that they thought they had left behind. They were tricked by their God and blinded by their faith to the point that they could not see the truth, but now their eyes are opened, now they understand. They only have snatches or memory from their past life but it’s enough for them to get this overbearing feeling that they were tricked and used by their former God.
They now stand in direct opposition to that God. Not out of the goodness of their hearts - but in their determination to get their revenge by using the same powers they once used for evil purposes, for good.
Along the way, if they get the chance to put right or undo some of the evil they caused while they were alive, each evil they undo will cleanse their soul a little more, making it easier for them to move towards a good alignment.
Mostly, I was wanting to make a character who seeks redemption for the the terrible evil deeds they committed while they were alive. Deeds so evil, so monstrous that it’s going to take a lot more than saying “I’m sorry” or handing yourself in to the authorities.
Perhaps you are right though. If I don’t know how to play such a character, perhaps I shouldn’t.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Perhaps you are right though. If I don’t know how to play such a character, perhaps I shouldn’t.
One of my big pet peeves about these forums are the sheer number of "Alignment Police" that seem to think saying "I would never do that alignment or backstory as a player/I would never allow it as a DM" is helpful advice. It is not helpful advice in the slightest and you should not let such naysayers dissuade you from playing the character you want. You want to play a good character who feels guilt over their past and wants to atone - that's an extremely common character archetype and I cannot imagine anyone but the most draconian or unimaginative of DMs would allow them to do that.
Additionally, you are playing as someone with little-to-no memory of their past; that's a HUGE tool for a DM to make interesting story prompts and moments as you rediscover who you were and try to make up for it.
So long as you know how to play a good character, you know how to roleplay this character. Just add in a layer of guilt and perhaps a bit of self-martyrdom and willingness to die to atone for one's sins and you have a character. Do not over think it, and certainly do not give credit to those who are underthinking it.
Why do you feel the need to play a "sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction"? Have you even talked to your GM and to your fellow players to see if you're OK with that? That should be the first step before forcing this kind of character on the gaming group.
As for how to roleplay it, if you don't even know how to roleplay such a character, maybe you shouldn't?
It isn’t what they are now - it’s what they were in the past.
Yeah, you're still bringing in sexual abuse into the game, though.
Perhaps you are right though. If I don’t know how to play such a character, perhaps I shouldn’t.
Honestly, it doesn't seem like a well thought.through idea, no. Mostly though I wonder why you'd even want to inflict such a character to your game and what, if anything, you think it might ass to your fellow gamers that would improve their experience.
Perhaps you are right though. If I don’t know how to play such a character, perhaps I shouldn’t.
One of my big pet peeves about these forums are the sheer number of "Alignment Police" that seem to think saying "I would never do that alignment or backstory as a player/I would never allow it as a DM" is helpful advice.
I don't think anyone has even mentioned alignment except for you...
I have finally figured out a pop-culture analog for what you are trying to do.
The main character of the anime Trigun, Vash the Stampede, seems to be similar to what you want.
To elaborate on my thoughts if I was the DM, I would probably leave what you did in the past as a nebulous "I did bad things". As that can touch on subjects that many might be uncomfortable with.
For roleplay notes, there may be things that your character refuses to do now, or always does given the opportunity, but I would try to make them more minor in nature.
But keep in mind that as part of a campaign with other players, your and the other characters need a reason to work together. One of my top rules as a DM is that the player characters need to trust each other / not be too antagonistic towards each other.
I would also work with the DM to go over how and when you expect your backstory to come up. Perhaps whenever you arrive at a new town there is a % chance someone is there that knows who you are and you wronged in the past. Or maybe there are bounty hunters after you that need dealt with every few sessions.
Why do you feel the need to play a "sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction"? Have you even talked to your GM and to your fellow players to see if you're OK with that? That should be the first step before forcing this kind of character on the gaming group.
As for how to roleplay it, if you don't even know how to roleplay such a character, maybe you shouldn't?
It isn’t what they are now - it’s what they were in the past. In their past life, they did things, terrible evil things. Things that might change how the world views them.
In their new life as a Reborn however, they’re trying to be different and to undo the evil they committed when they were alive.
My thoughts were that they were a fanatical believer in their God, but when they died, they found themselves denied their heaven - denied paradise, denied their reward, and “sent back” to reawaken into the life that they thought they had left behind. They were tricked by their God and blinded by their faith to the point that they could not see the truth, but now their eyes are opened, now they understand. They only have snatches or memory from their past life but it’s enough for them to get this overbearing feeling that they were tricked and used by their former God.
They now stand in direct opposition to that God. Not out of the goodness of their hearts - but in their determination to get their revenge by using the same powers they once used for evil purposes, for good.
Along the way, if they get the chance to put right or undo some of the evil they caused while they were alive, each evil they undo will cleanse their soul a little more, making it easier for them to move towards a good alignment.
Mostly, I was wanting to make a character who seeks redemption for the the terrible evil deeds they committed while they were alive. Deeds so evil, so monstrous that it’s going to take a lot more than saying “I’m sorry” or handing yourself in to the authorities.
Perhaps you are right though. If I don’t know how to play such a character, perhaps I shouldn’t.
Ohh let me be clear. Play the character. It is an interesting story. But you just might not need to make certain stuff…. Well high profile. Ohh sell the person was terrible. But judge by your table whether the sexual stuff will be too far for them. If it isn’t too far then go for it. If it is, just don’t mention that specific thing.
this isn’t a “don’t play this thing”. This is just a “check with the table and just see where lines are”. This is absolutely something you can play and can play well. Just maybe hint or leave quiet certain bits of needed.
do you know what character class you are thinking? Because this almost feels like a oathbreaker paladin, who has the potential to transition into a redemption paladin.
If it were me, I would probably play them as still being swooned by their previous ways but at over-the-top cartoonish levels.
"We have a problem? Let's just kill them. Wait. Hold on. Good guy now. We don't do that." "This guy is withholding information from us? Let's torture him physically before using enchantment magics to break his mind and get the information ourselves... Kidding! Only kidding! I'm not evil anymore!"
Stuff like that. Letting the character be simpler allows them the ability to be better understood and enjoyed by the other players (the audience as it were) and gives them the most room for forwarding growth because they are not inherently being weighed down by something that needs to be explored and dealt with before they can grow. Not that playing those characters is bad/impossible but it's more complicated and takes more time to get them established and to get people, including you, to care. Taliesin Jaffe said once "There is no character to be found in damage. Just recovery."
But if that style of character isn't what you are feeling, perhaps someone more akin to that of a martyr. Someone who's only way of atoning for their past is to suffer and probably wont actually do any good in the process because nothing actually gets solved. No changes actually happen. That could be interesting to explore how your character goes from just suffering for their sins to actually wanting to atone and fix what they may have caused.
I'm imagining a situation where your character enters a place and the people immediately hate your character (I'm going to refer to your character as Q for the moment). Q walks into this town and starts to get harassed for their past. A few people in the town take out their aggression on Q by beating them to near death, but because Q didn't fight back they lose interest and leave Q alone. However, there is a different wizard in the town who the town people believe is associated with Q from their past and begin to beat that other person to near death. Suddenly someone else is being hurt by Q's actions because the people want something more than just atonement. They want suffering and revenge. Q might think that they deserve what comes to them but how can they justify what happens to others? Do they accept that person's fate because they helped Evil Q? Does Q think they have the right to make that choice? Does Q step in because Q is the one who deserves to get punished? Does it hurt Q to see someone else be punished in their stead? Many interesting questions.
What I would probably say is that, unless you really know what you’re doing, it’s probably safer to give the character a handful of developed evil deeds than make one who treated the Book of Vile Darkness as a checklist. As always, bring it up with the people you play with.
Well, beyonders, I’d like to thank you for your excellent replies and wonderful advice.
I usually wouldn’t talk about my character with the other players, I’d ask the DM, and then if they said it was okay, I’d go with it. Still, this time, because of the type of character I wanted to play, I felt like I needed to share my concept with the other players and ask them if they would be okay with it. Upon seeing my idea for my character, one of the other players had a problem with it. They didn’t like that he had been chaotic and evil in a past life or the kind of things that I hinted he had done.
The idea seemed to upset that person, and I didn’t want to upset my fellow players, so even though the DM was okay with my character idea, I decided to change the character.
I want to keep the same idea, but I’ve decided to tone it down.
Instead of what I had, I will say that the character was a shady town guard who supplemented his income by taking bribes from the local crime syndicate to look the other way while committing their crimes. He had done that for years, and everything was fine until his son started getting sucked into the criminal underworld. When he found out, he tried to stop it, and the syndicate killed him and buried him in a shallow grave a few miles outside of town.
A few days later, he clawed out of his grave with no memory of his life before. He doesn't remember his wife or child or anything, although by the way he is dressed and the fact that he carries weapons, he deduces that he was a guard or a soldier. It's obvious that something terrible happened to him since he just clawed his way out of a hole - but he doesn't remember what.
He finds his name stitched into his clothes so he knows his name. He also has skills that support his theory that he was some guard or soldier but cannot remember where or from whom he learned them.
Beyond that, he is a blank slate with no other memories, and so he builds an identity for himself based on what little information is available to him and the kind of person he believes he is, based on that information.
As you can see, I have considerably toned down my original idea.
Hopefully, the character will still work.
One benefit of this revised idea is that his backstory is, for the most part, open for the DM to make up as the story progresses and for the character to discover in real time.
I am still sad that I won't get to play my original idea of having a monster seeking redemption, but maybe I might get to play that some other time.
What do you guys and gals think of the revised idea?
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I usually wouldn’t talk about my character with the other players,
Why do you think it's OK to inflict this kind of problematic character on your fellow players without even asking them?
I am still sad that I won't get to play my original idea of having a monster seeking redemption, but maybe I might get to play that some other time.
There are plenty of ways to play a monster seeking redemption, you just need to do it in a way that is respectful and mindful to your fellow players. There have been quite a few suggestions on how to do that in this thread. But just forcing a problematic character concept onto the group without any concern for the rest of the group is never a good idea and can also be seen as main character syndrome.
I usually wouldn’t talk about my character with the other players,
Why do you think it's OK to inflict this kind of problematic character on your fellow players without even asking them?
I am still sad that I won't get to play my original idea of having a monster seeking redemption, but maybe I might get to play that some other time.
There are plenty of ways to play a monster seeking redemption, you just need to do it in a way that is respectful and mindful to your fellow players. There have been quite a few suggestions on how to do that in this thread. But just forcing a problematic character concept onto the group without any concern for the rest of the group is never a good idea and can also be seen as main character syndrome.
That was not at all what I did.
Usually, if the character fits into the world, it’s safe to assume that the other players have also accepted the type of world they will be playing in - as made aware by the DM, and so will be okay with a specific character type.
That has always worked before.
This time, however, because of the kind of character - because of what he did in the past and what might come up during the game, I asked the other players how they felt about it. When one of them wasn't happy with that thing, I changed the character and toned them down.
I tried to keep the basic theme - the guy did terrible things in a past life but made it much more family-friendly than it was initially.
Hi,
So, I’ve been enjoying playing some one shots lately and there’s an opportunity for me to join a short campaign of 10 sessions that might expand into more if the DM has time.
I want to make a character that’s different to the kind I usually play.
I thought about choosing “Reborn” and making him into a reformed character. Like before he became Reborn, he was a sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction.
Essentially a cleric of some monstrously evil God. (Suggestions for which god would be welcome).
Until he died and found himself not in his “heaven”, but “Reborn” unto the world
Now abandoned by his God and no longer fully living or truly dead, he seeks to put right the wrongs he committed in life.
Taking the view:
“While I was alive, I was darkness … perhaps in this unlife, I can be the light!”
Altnough in the beginning, he takes the opposing side because he’s angry at his God for abandoning him, because he did everything he was ever asked, because he believed and because he was denied, but as time goes on, the good deeds he does and the relationships he forges eventually begin to change him.
With each evil that he undoes, his soul is cleansed of that sin.
So like he starts as the worst evil character one could imagine - literally the poster child for the very worst kind of chaotic evil, and slowly works his way up from there.
How could I roleplay a character like this?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
With all the usual caveats about it depending on campaign style, degree of explicitness at your table etc. I can see two ways, that are drastically different. I assume by your description that the character has retained all the memories of past deeds - and that in many ways proves a bit problematic since it might also suggest that deep down they are retaining their personality - e..g there has not been a wholesale shift in their personality.
But I think you could either go for
1) A redemption story. Somehow, the character has now become wracked with guilt, and seek to redeem themselves. Challenge with that both for yourself and the DM is that actions have consequences, and those may have rippled far beyond the original intent (the characters evil deeds destroyed a family and caused the destitution or a life of crime for the children in the family for example). Nonetheless, a character like that would be effectively tortured by their own memories. Realistically, they probably wouldn't devote time to adventuring with so many wrongs to right.
2) A clean slate approach. Previous events are less prevalent - perhaps even repressed to the point of there being no memory, but the character is driven to a deep motivation to avoid morally ambiguous scenarios, always choosing the righteous path. However, if confronted with effects of their evil from the past may trigger partial memories and abject horror in the character - feeling almost like they might be and have been possessed by a demon. This might then be a growing conviction that the character seeks to offset or purge.
Thanks for your excellent comment. Though I actually have now got a follow up question.
I have just realised that Reborn can be tacked onto a base race. This means that I could have an Half-Orc Reborn. Then their god in their past life could have been Gruumsh - who they were a death Cleric of.
In their life as a Reborn, they feel cheated by Gruumsh, because they didn’t receive their promised reward and now fight against the God and his minions as a way of getting their revenge. Although they only have snatches of memory from the time they worshiped him, they have a strong overbearing feeling that Gruumsh somehow wronged them, and a desire for revenge that starts them down the path of becoming an ally to those who fight against and resist the will Gruumsh.
Would this work for Reborn, or is it against the theme?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I feel like the idea could work well but it's something you'll need to hash the specifics out with your DM, or see if the DM is up for this angle in the first place.
Reborn are purposefully vague in how they were reborn, so you can do pretty much whatever you want with them. Whether you play as a Frankenstein’s monster character, revenant spit out from the Hells, character who died but did not fully pass on, etc. is left up to you as a player, and the Reborn framework can be utilised for that character. As such, there really is not a “theme” you can go against - it truly is the most versatile race.
I know I personally would play where my character still worshiped the evil god, but had some kind of epiphany with their worship to reinterpret the god’s message in a “good” way (such as “good” Vecna worshipers that have been described in earlier editions). But that is only because I like to take certain parts of the game and look at them from another angle, and I only use this as an example of just how flexible the reborn race can be - your proposal of turning against your prior god is an equally valid story. So, go wild, don’t give much thought to staying “on theme” for reborn.
Alright. Interesting concept.
Couple of immediate things that spring to mind. What made him changes his mind specifically. It sounds like he was in there for the fun of evil as much as anything. Was it the death? Was it seeing punishment after life? Was it something else? Because that could really shape how you play it.
did he have this evil god whispering in his ear all the time, suppressing his remorse and just feeding the flames? And looking back now he has to deal with what he did. Because that will need to be dealt with differently to the whole of I don’t repent enteral punishment.
How will he deal with it when someone says they don’t want his help to make it better? Will that hurt? Will he listen?
What is his end objective. What do you want him to do by the end? What growth? What changes? What do you see him being at the end?
What sparked the first good deed? What was the thing that opened the flood gates?
I would also consider playing him part way on that journey. Otherwise if people have to deal with a chaotic character it could be tough.
I would also let the crimes come through organically. If you just tell everyone I feel like you are giving something up. Perhaps have rumours of this tyrant and what he did be heard. Maybe the parties hear from the victims and don’t realise it’s you for a while. Have your character be seen as a good person and then have it revealed why after.
Why do you feel the need to play a "sadistic sexual deviant, mass murderer and torturer who revelled in death, pain and destruction"? Have you even talked to your GM and to your fellow players to see if you're OK with that? That should be the first step before forcing this kind of character on the gaming group.
As for how to roleplay it, if you don't even know how to roleplay such a character, maybe you shouldn't?
Talk to your DM.
If I was the DM, I would say try to find a different concept.
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I would also add perhaps keep certain details to a minimum. Especially the sexual stuff. That can be a real thing for people so many check with them on that one.
Review the old video game Torment. I think the main protagonists concept is what you may be after with a few tweaks.
i do agree though about losing the aspects that may make other players unsettled especially if you are playing one shots with folk you don’t know well.
It's not Magic its Science
It isn’t what they are now - it’s what they were in the past. In their past life, they did things, terrible evil things. Things that might change how the world views them.
In their new life as a Reborn however, they’re trying to be different and to undo the evil they committed when they were alive.
My thoughts were that they were a fanatical believer in their God, but when they died, they found themselves denied their heaven - denied paradise, denied their reward, and “sent back” to reawaken into the life that they thought they had left behind. They were tricked by their God and blinded by their faith to the point that they could not see the truth, but now their eyes are opened, now they understand. They only have snatches or memory from their past life but it’s enough for them to get this overbearing feeling that they were tricked and used by their former God.
They now stand in direct opposition to that God. Not out of the goodness of their hearts - but in their determination to get their revenge by using the same powers they once used for evil purposes, for good.
Along the way, if they get the chance to put right or undo some of the evil they caused while they were alive, each evil they undo will cleanse their soul a little more, making it easier for them to move towards a good alignment.
Mostly, I was wanting to make a character who seeks redemption for the the terrible evil deeds they committed while they were alive. Deeds so evil, so monstrous that it’s going to take a lot more than saying “I’m sorry” or handing yourself in to the authorities.
Perhaps you are right though. If I don’t know how to play such a character, perhaps I shouldn’t.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
One of my big pet peeves about these forums are the sheer number of "Alignment Police" that seem to think saying "I would never do that alignment or backstory as a player/I would never allow it as a DM" is helpful advice. It is not helpful advice in the slightest and you should not let such naysayers dissuade you from playing the character you want. You want to play a good character who feels guilt over their past and wants to atone - that's an extremely common character archetype and I cannot imagine anyone but the most draconian or unimaginative of DMs would allow them to do that.
Additionally, you are playing as someone with little-to-no memory of their past; that's a HUGE tool for a DM to make interesting story prompts and moments as you rediscover who you were and try to make up for it.
So long as you know how to play a good character, you know how to roleplay this character. Just add in a layer of guilt and perhaps a bit of self-martyrdom and willingness to die to atone for one's sins and you have a character. Do not over think it, and certainly do not give credit to those who are underthinking it.
Yeah, you're still bringing in sexual abuse into the game, though.
Honestly, it doesn't seem like a well thought.through idea, no. Mostly though I wonder why you'd even want to inflict such a character to your game and what, if anything, you think it might ass to your fellow gamers that would improve their experience.
I don't think anyone has even mentioned alignment except for you...
I have finally figured out a pop-culture analog for what you are trying to do.
The main character of the anime Trigun, Vash the Stampede, seems to be similar to what you want.
To elaborate on my thoughts if I was the DM, I would probably leave what you did in the past as a nebulous "I did bad things". As that can touch on subjects that many might be uncomfortable with.
For roleplay notes, there may be things that your character refuses to do now, or always does given the opportunity, but I would try to make them more minor in nature.
But keep in mind that as part of a campaign with other players, your and the other characters need a reason to work together. One of my top rules as a DM is that the player characters need to trust each other / not be too antagonistic towards each other.
I would also work with the DM to go over how and when you expect your backstory to come up. Perhaps whenever you arrive at a new town there is a % chance someone is there that knows who you are and you wronged in the past. Or maybe there are bounty hunters after you that need dealt with every few sessions.
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Ohh let me be clear. Play the character. It is an interesting story. But you just might not need to make certain stuff…. Well high profile. Ohh sell the person was terrible. But judge by your table whether the sexual stuff will be too far for them. If it isn’t too far then go for it. If it is, just don’t mention that specific thing.
this isn’t a “don’t play this thing”. This is just a “check with the table and just see where lines are”. This is absolutely something you can play and can play well. Just maybe hint or leave quiet certain bits of needed.
do you know what character class you are thinking? Because this almost feels like a oathbreaker paladin, who has the potential to transition into a redemption paladin.
If it were me, I would probably play them as still being swooned by their previous ways but at over-the-top cartoonish levels.
"We have a problem? Let's just kill them. Wait. Hold on. Good guy now. We don't do that." "This guy is withholding information from us? Let's torture him physically before using enchantment magics to break his mind and get the information ourselves... Kidding! Only kidding! I'm not evil anymore!"
Stuff like that. Letting the character be simpler allows them the ability to be better understood and enjoyed by the other players (the audience as it were) and gives them the most room for forwarding growth because they are not inherently being weighed down by something that needs to be explored and dealt with before they can grow. Not that playing those characters is bad/impossible but it's more complicated and takes more time to get them established and to get people, including you, to care. Taliesin Jaffe said once "There is no character to be found in damage. Just recovery."
But if that style of character isn't what you are feeling, perhaps someone more akin to that of a martyr. Someone who's only way of atoning for their past is to suffer and probably wont actually do any good in the process because nothing actually gets solved. No changes actually happen. That could be interesting to explore how your character goes from just suffering for their sins to actually wanting to atone and fix what they may have caused.
I'm imagining a situation where your character enters a place and the people immediately hate your character (I'm going to refer to your character as Q for the moment). Q walks into this town and starts to get harassed for their past. A few people in the town take out their aggression on Q by beating them to near death, but because Q didn't fight back they lose interest and leave Q alone. However, there is a different wizard in the town who the town people believe is associated with Q from their past and begin to beat that other person to near death. Suddenly someone else is being hurt by Q's actions because the people want something more than just atonement. They want suffering and revenge. Q might think that they deserve what comes to them but how can they justify what happens to others? Do they accept that person's fate because they helped Evil Q? Does Q think they have the right to make that choice? Does Q step in because Q is the one who deserves to get punished? Does it hurt Q to see someone else be punished in their stead? Many interesting questions.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
What I would probably say is that, unless you really know what you’re doing, it’s probably safer to give the character a handful of developed evil deeds than make one who treated the Book of Vile Darkness as a checklist. As always, bring it up with the people you play with.
Well, beyonders, I’d like to thank you for your excellent replies and wonderful advice.
I usually wouldn’t talk about my character with the other players, I’d ask the DM, and then if they said it was okay, I’d go with it. Still, this time, because of the type of character I wanted to play, I felt like I needed to share my concept with the other players and ask them if they would be okay with it. Upon seeing my idea for my character, one of the other players had a problem with it. They didn’t like that he had been chaotic and evil in a past life or the kind of things that I hinted he had done.
The idea seemed to upset that person, and I didn’t want to upset my fellow players, so even though the DM was okay with my character idea, I decided to change the character.
I want to keep the same idea, but I’ve decided to tone it down.
Instead of what I had, I will say that the character was a shady town guard who supplemented his income by taking bribes from the local crime syndicate to look the other way while committing their crimes. He had done that for years, and everything was fine until his son started getting sucked into the criminal underworld. When he found out, he tried to stop it, and the syndicate killed him and buried him in a shallow grave a few miles outside of town.
A few days later, he clawed out of his grave with no memory of his life before. He doesn't remember his wife or child or anything, although by the way he is dressed and the fact that he carries weapons, he deduces that he was a guard or a soldier. It's obvious that something terrible happened to him since he just clawed his way out of a hole - but he doesn't remember what.
He finds his name stitched into his clothes so he knows his name. He also has skills that support his theory that he was some guard or soldier but cannot remember where or from whom he learned them.
Beyond that, he is a blank slate with no other memories, and so he builds an identity for himself based on what little information is available to him and the kind of person he believes he is, based on that information.
As you can see, I have considerably toned down my original idea.
Hopefully, the character will still work.
One benefit of this revised idea is that his backstory is, for the most part, open for the DM to make up as the story progresses and for the character to discover in real time.
I am still sad that I won't get to play my original idea of having a monster seeking redemption, but maybe I might get to play that some other time.
What do you guys and gals think of the revised idea?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Why do you think it's OK to inflict this kind of problematic character on your fellow players without even asking them?
There are plenty of ways to play a monster seeking redemption, you just need to do it in a way that is respectful and mindful to your fellow players. There have been quite a few suggestions on how to do that in this thread. But just forcing a problematic character concept onto the group without any concern for the rest of the group is never a good idea and can also be seen as main character syndrome.
That was not at all what I did.
Usually, if the character fits into the world, it’s safe to assume that the other players have also accepted the type of world they will be playing in - as made aware by the DM, and so will be okay with a specific character type.
That has always worked before.
This time, however, because of the kind of character - because of what he did in the past and what might come up during the game, I asked the other players how they felt about it. When one of them wasn't happy with that thing, I changed the character and toned them down.
I tried to keep the basic theme - the guy did terrible things in a past life but made it much more family-friendly than it was initially.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.