As the title states! What do you think of them? Is comedy prevalent throughout your campaign with all characters? Do you prefer 'serious' characters that are 'typical' of their race/class and tackle the task at hand? Do you DM's enjoy where a serious or intimidating encounter or scenario is made lighthearted or turned comedic due to a character's reaction or influence? :)
My character in my most active campaign is a human fighter named Rim Tyentude. His personality is very flamboyant, self-obsessed, flirty and vain, and even the way he speaks (in an over-dramatic way) is cause for laughter, despite his hulking figure and tankiness! It's ironic as although he's very conscious about conditioning his long hair and following a strict ancient skincare routine every night, he thoroughly enjoys bloody encounters and causing some serious damage with his giant great axe! In stressful scenarios when things aren't going too well, a bonus action of a dramatic flourish or groan of a chipped nail is always appreciated by the party. :)
There are always the little quips that folks throw out in the moment that are great. Our rogue bit off more than he could chew after realizing that he melee attacked a hydra beyond the immediate range of the party and was all along. He paused to breath and began to say, "... and for my bonus action, I ..." and I said, "... Pull out a roll of toilet paper."
But then there are the players that have to always throw something in to disrupt everything, always trying to be funny.
Like everything there is a balance.
Having a PC that has some quirks sounds fine as long as he doesn't try to dominate the spotlight.
Good luck. Have fun. Stay healthy.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I enjoy a little comic relief during a D&D session, but I prefer my D&D games to be overall serious rather than humorous. Comedy is great during down time but if the character is constantly injecting humor into every serious situation, turning villain monologues into jokes and the like, I would find that annoying.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
D&D allows all kinds of tenors to the roleplay - even down to excluding the character roleplay completely and making it a game of numbers and chance only.
If you read the PHB, DMG, MM, and XGtE (especially the latter) from cover to cover, levity is marbled throughout but not to any extent as to make anything all that absurd.
The trick is knowing your group. I've seen groups that weave tragic and dramatic stories while others stumble through comedies of errors and mostly everything in between. I saw a dice-focused game, and even without playing such, I am certain that it's not for me without a motivating story. (The saying goes "Don't knock it until you try it." I've played dice and strategy games based only on chance - little more than bland gambling. It's not for me.)
I prefer to watch comedy but play drama. Weird. No?
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
As a DM, I believe that there should be a balance, lighthearted characters and easter eggs, with dark brooding all business characters, and heavy-story based campigns with alot of imporvization and homebrew.
As a bigger player like a human, I like Dark charcters for myself, but i do have some lighthearted moments on ocasion, even thievery sometimes.
As a lighter character, dwarf, elf or halfling, I especially like casting a sleep spell on my teammates and looting them, and messing around.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cult of Sedge
Rangers are the best, and have always been the best
IMO, comic relief characters don't work as well in D&D because the natural comic relief is around the table. Deliberately inserting it into the narrative almost guarantees it will not be at the times when comic relief is needed.
my characters are serious but if the opportunity to do something funny presents itself I’ll probably go for it.
as a DM I’m writing an adventure right now and some of the comedic relief will come through in my NPCs by making them similar to movie or tv show characters. Now this may not work for all tables and I’d respect that but it works for us and I believe I can do it in a way that doesn’t detract from the overall experience.
Characters that are comic relief never know that's what they are. Reminds me of a story of an actor trying to do absurd comedy for the first time and thought it was all about being silly (a la Dumb and Dumber or The Nutty Professor (1963)) and learned that it's mostly all about being serious in a ridiculous situation (a la Scary Movie, Naked Gun, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Nutty Professor (1996), Caddyshack, everything Mel Brooks, almost everything Monty Python, and oodles more than the other kind of absurdity).
My advice, don't try to be silly. Be serious in the wrong way or a foil against something ridiculous.
With that, the opportunity to be comical might never arise, but at the least, it likely won't happen when it shouldn't.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Would it be funny if I had a chest at the end of a level 4 party encounter that contained coins, gems and a large orb wrapped in maroon velvet; and as soon as someone grabbed the orb a loud voice rang out, "Another hand touches the beacon."
That would be an example of my variety of "In-Game" humor.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
As the title states! What do you think of them? Is comedy prevalent throughout your campaign with all characters? Do you prefer 'serious' characters that are 'typical' of their race/class and tackle the task at hand? Do you DM's enjoy where a serious or intimidating encounter or scenario is made lighthearted or turned comedic due to a character's reaction or influence? :)
My character in my most active campaign is a human fighter named Rim Tyentude. His personality is very flamboyant, self-obsessed, flirty and vain, and even the way he speaks (in an over-dramatic way) is cause for laughter, despite his hulking figure and tankiness! It's ironic as although he's very conscious about conditioning his long hair and following a strict ancient skincare routine every night, he thoroughly enjoys bloody encounters and causing some serious damage with his giant great axe! In stressful scenarios when things aren't going too well, a bonus action of a dramatic flourish or groan of a chipped nail is always appreciated by the party. :)
Depends.
If they're genuinely funny, yeah! If they're simply annoying, boo!
There are always the little quips that folks throw out in the moment that are great. Our rogue bit off more than he could chew after realizing that he melee attacked a hydra beyond the immediate range of the party and was all along. He paused to breath and began to say, "... and for my bonus action, I ..." and I said, "... Pull out a roll of toilet paper."
But then there are the players that have to always throw something in to disrupt everything, always trying to be funny.
Like everything there is a balance.
Having a PC that has some quirks sounds fine as long as he doesn't try to dominate the spotlight.
Good luck. Have fun. Stay healthy.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I enjoy a little comic relief during a D&D session, but I prefer my D&D games to be overall serious rather than humorous. Comedy is great during down time but if the character is constantly injecting humor into every serious situation, turning villain monologues into jokes and the like, I would find that annoying.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
D&D allows all kinds of tenors to the roleplay - even down to excluding the character roleplay completely and making it a game of numbers and chance only.
If you read the PHB, DMG, MM, and XGtE (especially the latter) from cover to cover, levity is marbled throughout but not to any extent as to make anything all that absurd.
The trick is knowing your group. I've seen groups that weave tragic and dramatic stories while others stumble through comedies of errors and mostly everything in between. I saw a dice-focused game, and even without playing such, I am certain that it's not for me without a motivating story. (The saying goes "Don't knock it until you try it." I've played dice and strategy games based only on chance - little more than bland gambling. It's not for me.)
I prefer to watch comedy but play drama. Weird. No?
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
As a DM, I believe that there should be a balance, lighthearted characters and easter eggs, with dark brooding all business characters, and heavy-story based campigns with alot of imporvization and homebrew.
As a bigger player like a human, I like Dark charcters for myself, but i do have some lighthearted moments on ocasion, even thievery sometimes.
As a lighter character, dwarf, elf or halfling, I especially like casting a sleep spell on my teammates and looting them, and messing around.
Cult of Sedge
Rangers are the best, and have always been the best
I love Homebrew
I hate paladins
Warrior Bovine
It's gotta fit the campaign and the group. You have to have that quick wit and love of life to be a source of life and humor for everyone.
If you're just trying to be something because you think it's funny, you're probably trolling the heck out of your party
IMO, comic relief characters don't work as well in D&D because the natural comic relief is around the table. Deliberately inserting it into the narrative almost guarantees it will not be at the times when comic relief is needed.
I like laughing.
my characters are serious but if the opportunity to do something funny presents itself I’ll probably go for it.
as a DM I’m writing an adventure right now and some of the comedic relief will come through in my NPCs by making them similar to movie or tv show characters. Now this may not work for all tables and I’d respect that but it works for us and I believe I can do it in a way that doesn’t detract from the overall experience.
I have to agree with Lunali 100%.
Characters that are comic relief never know that's what they are. Reminds me of a story of an actor trying to do absurd comedy for the first time and thought it was all about being silly (a la Dumb and Dumber or The Nutty Professor (1963)) and learned that it's mostly all about being serious in a ridiculous situation (a la Scary Movie, Naked Gun, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Nutty Professor (1996), Caddyshack, everything Mel Brooks, almost everything Monty Python, and oodles more than the other kind of absurdity).
My advice, don't try to be silly. Be serious in the wrong way or a foil against something ridiculous.
With that, the opportunity to be comical might never arise, but at the least, it likely won't happen when it shouldn't.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Would it be funny if I had a chest at the end of a level 4 party encounter that contained coins, gems and a large orb wrapped in maroon velvet; and as soon as someone grabbed the orb a loud voice rang out, "Another hand touches the beacon."
That would be an example of my variety of "In-Game" humor.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt