Are you the hero?

[Jacob Saltband]

chaoseffect wrote:

I like playing a variety of character types, but no matter how nice, pleasant, and caring I want my guy to be it is always in the back of my mind that no matter the circumstance, he still brutally murders people for profit and then sleeps like a baby after.

If your character is murdering people obviously he's not a hero and probably not nice, pleasant or caring.

[thejeff]

Jacob Saltband wrote:

chaoseffect wrote:

I like playing a variety of character types, but no matter how nice, pleasant, and caring I want my guy to be it is always in the back of my mind that no matter the circumstance, he still brutally murders people for profit and then sleeps like a baby after.

If your character is murdering people obviously he's not a hero and probably not nice, pleasant or caring.

I assume it's a reference to the murder-hobo thing. Where the PCs just attack random monsters or humanoid types to take their stuff.

Which has never been at all common in games I've played or ran. Or in most APs or modules I've seen.

[Ellis Mirari]

I like to mix it up. Generally, yeah, I play the good guy devoted to helping people because it comes more naturally to me as a person, but I liek to mix it up. The one time I played an evil PC, it was a LE witch you was relentless in her pursuit of power, but always repaid her debt and protected the people who were useful to her (she referred to friendships with her party members as "investments" in her journal).

Wantonly killing/looting bad guys are just not interesting, reserved for NPCs that I GM.

[Lord Snow]

I will always play a hero, even if the characters might not agree to be described with the titles sometime.

If I'm creating a persona of an adventurer, I want it to be an exceptional one. And to me, exceptional is about being a hero.

[Haladir]

I prefer to play the hero, but I try to make sure that my PC has a personality flaw or two. It just makes a more interesting character.

I've been GMing almost exclusively for the past two years, but my last PCs were:

(PFRPG)CG Female human cleric of Desna (hidden priest archetype). Her flaw is that she's a rabble-rouser and has major issues with authority.

(3.5) LG Male human fighter. (1 level of aristocrat NPC class). He was a by-the-book warrior working to restore the good name if his family, after his father bankrupted the barony. He bore his grandfather's magic sword: a originally a weapon of evil forged in the Abyss.

(3.5) CG Female human rogue. On the run from the thieves guild of the capital city, and in self-imposed exile in the wilderness, a city-born "Robin Hood" type.

(3.5) LG Male human fighter/wizard/eldritch knight. Disciplined and highly principled, he was rather disdainful of people who didn't want to understand magic.

(3.0) NG Male human druid/sorcerer/mystic theurge. He liked animals better than he liked people.

(GURPS: Sci-Fi) Human female sort-of Jedi knight ("Mystic of the Grymoderich") in a homebrew world that combined elements of Traveler, Star Wars, and Babylon 5. Her loyalty was split between her Order and her home world.

(GURPS: Modern Conspiracy) Male psi-endowed CIA agent, assigned to project Splendid Condor, which protects the US from paranormal threats. Extremely loyal to the United States, almost to a fault. (He ended up brokering an alliance with a coven of vampires to stop the Bavarian Illuminati from making first contact with extraterrestrials who wanted to use the Earth to summon Hastur the Unspeakable. Big fight in Central Park. It was awesome.)

(Champions 4th ed.) Catman. Millionaire inventor Felix Murphy used his
fortune and scientific knowledge to perfect a serum that grants the extraordinary abilities of a cat. He used his new-found powers to stalk the night, preying on wrong-doers and bringing them to justice. He also had a cool car and gadgets.

(AD&D 2nd ed) LE female human enchanter. The only evil character I've ever run in regular campaign play, but still a hero. She worked to save the world from the prophesized Return of the Elves-- which would unleash the Age of Chaos and end human dominance of the world. (And, yes, the elves were evil.)

[necromental]

Mostly heroes.

PC breakdown:

First character ever N elf wizard, but played as mostly NG. Definitely hero.

Couple of dwarf fighters and an elf wizard CG/CN - adventurers, there for fun and loot from the baddies. Mostly heroes (when not drunk, or making pranks on other (N)PCs).

One dwarf fighter LN, leaning towards NE, definitely not a hero, greedy coward in a criminal world.

Antiheroes were only two but neither played to their potential. First was a LN (actually i described it to the DM not really neutral but constantly gliding between good and evil; I was mostly good but intended to use Book of Vile Darkness spells and some torture on enemies)human ftr/clr, bent on revenge. He played for two sessions, then the DM had to drop the campaign.

The other one is my favorite character ever played. He is LE human holy warrior of an evil fire god (ftr/pious templar mostly). Had background potential to be anti-hero, but since it relied on several NPCs, and the campaign was save-the-world type on another continent, I ended up playing the hero. Constantly b@!+$ing about not being able to fulfill my holy quest, and torturing and setting people and stuff on fire, when it was necessary. He was more lawful than evil, and a self sufficient bad-ass, and it was fun all-around.

Last guy was LN (used to be CG, till the tragedies in backstory), but a clear hero, although condescending and bossy.

[Aranna]

I am a true hero! I have great difficulties playing evil... even my most evil characters worked toward the greater good. I play the game to have fun with friends I don't want to engage in activities that should turn most peoples stomachs even in make believe. Not me! Give me a sword and a spell and let me slay such evildoers.

[ciretose]

I like a good, interesting, immersive story in a world that feels real and interesting.

Everyone thinks they are the hero in their own narrative, so I don't worry about being or not being a hero. I worry about having a motivation that won't make me have to fake caring.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Now that I think about it, all my characters are at least well-intentioned. Well, except for the occasional hobgoblin, but nobody likes hobgoblins.

[LazarX]

Jacob Saltband wrote:

Do you like to play in games where you and your group are the good guys/heroes of the story?

Or do you like to play in games where your character is just out to gain what he can from the situations you and your group get into?

I prefer the term "protagonist" to hero myself. Hero and Villain tends to be a rather cardboard limiting description. Some of my protagonists are good natured, others less so. I do try to give depth to all of them though.

[Lincoln Hills]

Sam Gamgee: "Why, even Gollum might be good in a tale - better than he is to have by you, anyway. I wonder if he thinks he's the hero or the villain? Gollum! Do you think you're the hero or the... Now where's he got off to?"

[Insufferable Smartypants]

One of my favorite old characters was a "misunderstood hero" - basically a villain that kept performing good acts.

The whole campaign my guy was metaphorically placing his chess pieces for a future takeover of the kingdom. Everybody knew he was a bad guy, and that his motivations were completely selfish, but that was part of the fun.

The fun thing with alignments in this game is that motivations don't account for much. Like Rachel said in Batman Begins: "It's what you do that defines you." Over the course of the game we played, my character was always thinking and saying evil, but only very rarely could his *actions* be considered evil - and the DM kept him firmly placed in the realm of Lawful Good. Now... eventually that would have changed, but we never got to that part of the story.

Ogres have raided a village and taken the townsfolk as slaves? Those are *his* future slaves! He can't have them stolen by ogres... so he slaughters the ogres and tells the villagers to go home.

He wants this kingdom to be very rich when he rules, so he cleans out the bandits that are hitting the trade routes.

He'll need plenty of reliable, loyal talent after he secures his rulership, so he funds an orphanage and visits the children regularly, hoping to find a few future followers that can help him maintain his power one day.

Good times.

[lucky7]

My favorite character I've ever played was a LN Kill Happy monk of Ragathiel. He had a code of honor, but that was just to stop him from going overboard, despite his good intentions.

The code is:

1. If I see a crime being comitted, I will do everything in my power to stop it.

2. If the paladin says it's evil, kill it without mercy.

3. Fists are for kids.

4. Let it be reasoned with first. Then kill it.

[Lord Mhoram]

I play heroes, or perhaps I should say Heroes!.

My other genre of choice is Superheroes, and I play Superman, Captain America types for personality.

I do the same with fantasy. I just cannot play an evil character. I played a superhero who was a petty thief while on the run, and a rebellious teen - he smoked, which was the first smoking character the group had played in over 2 decades- and after 3 months I talked with the GM and we made that personality an overlay that a big mentalist had switched him, because I couldn't empathize with the character.

All my pathfinder Characters as Good. More Lawful Good than either of the other stripes (but I like monks and paladins so that tilts the balance).

When I take the various "what alignment are you" tests, I invariable end up Lawful Good, and class wise it's split between Cleric or Wizard. One that had prestige classes put me as a mystic theurge. Those results are pretty accurate.

[Lord Mhoram]

lucky7 wrote:

My favorite character I've ever played was a LN Kill Happy monk of Ragathiel. He had a code of honor, but that was just to stop him from going overboard, despite his good intentions.

The code is:

1. If I see a crime being comitted, I will do everything in my power to stop it.

2. If the paladin says it's evil, kill it without mercy.

3. Fists are for kids.

4. Let it be reasoned with first. Then kill it.

I really like this one. Especially the self awareness of his own code that led to #2.

[lucky7]

thank you.