I play a gray elf eldritch scoundrel rogue named Xieven Halendur. Coincidentally he too has a German accent, inspired by kissenger with a hint of Schwarzenegger.
I try to stay in character but it's extremely discouraging to see that others don't. It's like I'm awkwardly playing pretend all by myself while other people down beers and chill out.
I wonder if my voice is annoying, or if it's just not that kind of group.
I tend not to bother. I'm rubbish with accents and it's hard to keep consistent. I've had players use accents talking as their characters with great effect, but those players and moments are far and few between. A common problem is that it's hard to jump in and out of an accent. Once you've managed it, you forget to cut it off when you need to talk out of character. And that muddles the immersion the accent was there to strengthen in the first place.
However, just using a slightly different voice is something I try to do both as a player and a gamemaster. Slightly lower, more bass, or the opposite with a higher pitch isn't that hard to achieve for me. Talking fast or slow is also manageable.
I've played a croaking crow once. That was fun. Worked really well. The players, I think, loved it. But that was a short encounter a and non-recurring NPC. Man, that strained my voice. Was in a session of Mouse Guard, I think.
Accents can make things more fun if you're into that kind of thing. Not required by any means, but they can be a good way to differentiate characters or show a hint of someone's origins.
I recently played an elf kineticist from Brevoy who had this sort of Northern Irish/Scots mixture accent. Not an accurate real-world accent by any means, but it was fun.
I prefer to distinguish characters by speaking styles (word choices, slang terms, etc) because I am an expert on silly accents and can shut play down by making everyone laugh.
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Absolutely! And yes, sometimes very very badly. If it's going to be a recurring or frequent NPC, I try not to use an accent that I can't pull off with frequency. Anything that adds immersion is good - even if it's so silly that the players have to spend 15 minutes getting over how bad my 'Elf on the town' accent was. I like props, music and sound, lighting, sometimes even scented candles/incense if it's not too intense (or unpleasant - I probably wouldn't by a Lich-scented candle).
But accents cost no money, and generally don't take a long time to prep! :) Sometimes, a little goes a long way, too. You can introduce the character with a bit o'he accent, and then let it fade away as the players interact. They'll get the flavor, and you won't lose your voice imitating a crow or a goblin-swashbuckler/bard with an ant-head hand puppet.
In my experience, unless you are really good at it, trying to do accents often makes a character into a caricature.
Also, if the accent is difficult for people to understand, humorous, or any of a bunch of other things, it can actually cause less immersion rather than more for everyone else.
So use with care, and keep an eye out for if it is adding to the game or taking away from it. If done well it can be amazing though.
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For important NPCs I think it's absolutely worthwhile as it really helps to distinguish them from the crowd of people the players interact with, make sure not to go overboard, you're not trying to create a caricature just another hook to ensure that someone is memorable. You want them to remember the character who has an accent, not the accent first.
Though do make sure and keep a note of *which* accent you're using for which NPC... otherwise things can get very confusing, very quickly ;)