I did see a player try and play a fighter that focused on the dagger and unarmed combat in 3.5
He tried but it was not working out really well and he was being overshadowed by mediocre characters.
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Dwarf clan trying to reclaim a dwarven hall that they had been driven out of several generations ago by drakes and kobolds. Old trope storyline, but this GM was like that. This GM would never tell us what we could or couldn't bring, but it was understood that the bad guys wouldn't do dumb stuff just because we were being stupid.
Was a very large group (I think we had at least 8 or 9 PC's). Everyone makes a dwarf or something that makes sense to be closely allied to dwarves and underground. One was a earth elemental blooded homebrew race cave druid. I think one was a deep gnome ranger.
One guy brings a gnoll pirate.
Absolutely!
Well, probably not the whole time. And they would make some big halls and such. But I think it will be fun trying to find ways to make use of his skill in another environment....
Is it bad that I really want to play this character now?
A gnoll pirate who is never seen near the sea. He's basically just a cliché evil pirate in every way except that he's always in caves or swamps or cities. When probed about his reasons, he comes up with implausible excuses like "ARRR me ship be run arrgrund right o'er tha there hill, BY ME HOOK!"
Anybody who bothers to check never sees anything resembling a ship. Just weird s**~ like a dead mule or sack full of baby rust monsters. If pressed further, he'll cite nonsense like "Them damn beavers!" and quickly move on.
The best part is this character (sans the gnoll-ness) works pretty much for any game. Pathfinder, 4E, Call of Cthulhu...
That isn't a bad character, that is awesome.
...
Is it bad that I really want to play this character now?
...
Yes. Yes it is. Very very bad!
In my current part is a hafling monk with 12 wisdom who uses a crossbow because he is convinced that he cant flurry every round
aasimar dragonrider, tried convincing people his dragon wasnt a dragon and it was a cat,semi intelligent people mind you . over the course of the short lived campaign he earned the nick name the assimar
aasimar dragonrider, tried convincing people his dragon wasnt a dragon and it was a cat,semi intelligent people mind you . over the course of the short lived campaign he earned the nick name the assimar
That does sound pretty irritating, but also reminds me of Dragoon from 8-Bit Theater, who lived in a flying castle with his "parrot", Muffin. He'd never actually seen a parrot, and just believed the giant dragon when she told him that's what she was. Gonna have to read that series again now...
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@tinkergoth You should tell the story about "Juicy McField" again!
Ah yes, Juicy McField the Fistomancer... Hadn't thought about him in a long while, and he didn't occur to me at first with this thread since I was only really thinking of D&D/Pathfinder charactes.
Well, here goes...
So I was running a short-run Hollowpoint game. For those who aren't familiar with it, Hollowpoint is a pretty rules light system designed to emulate stories like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, 100 Bullets and so on. Basically anything that involves characters who are, to put it mildly, not very nice people, doing not very nice things, in order to get the job done at any cost. There's a reason the tag line for the game is "Bad people killing bad people for bad reasons". The game is based on dice pools, and relies on players describing what they're doing in order to justify use of whichever skill they want (the six basic skills are Con, Kill, Take, Dig, Terror and Cool) for that scenario. Characters are built by answering a series of questions from the GM to come up with concept and backstory, then ranking their skills from 0 to 5 (higher is better) and coming up with a few aspects that can be used as one off modifiers. Because of this, the GM doesn't really know what characters he's dealing with until the story starts.
I'd already run two of the group through a one shot game, which had gone pretty well, and I thought they'd grasped the concept of the game, even if there had been a bit of joking in the first session (we had one guy playing Samuel L Jackson's character from Pulp Fiction taken to the ridiculous extreme, and the other characters were a bit quirky), they got the idea that overall it was a dark, gritty sort of game. So I threw together a two or three session game using a slightly modified setting, basically urban fantasy instead of straight forward action. The idea was based on the Alex Verus novels, where every magic user has one specialty, and that's the only kind of magic they can use. I'd explained that while it was an urban fantasy game, it was still meant to be dark and gritty, and to play fast and brutal. No silly magical shenanigans, they were a group of agents who just happened to be able to fight with magic instead of guns if they wanted... so cue my surprise when the character introductions began and one of the players who'd been in my previous one-shot introduced the group to Juicy McField the Fistomancer, a loud, obnoxious force mage who fought only by creating giant fists out of pure force and clobbered people with them while yelling things like "You've just been fisted". He was described as looking like a white version of Black Dynamite minus the 'fro hairstyle, and wore a massive golden fist on a necklace, which was always prominently displayed since his shirt was always open to the navel in order to show off his chest.
Not only did this character completely destroy the mood, killing any interest I had in running the second half of the story (we'd ripped through the first half in the first session), but once I'd managed to kill him off (I wasn't actually aiming to, it happened naturally during a fight, Hollowpoint is pretty unforgiving), the player came back with a new character for the next scene who initially seemed more suitable... Carlos the Ice Mage... Now looking back, I should have seen where that was going straight away, but somehow I just thought he'd decided to make a story appropriate character. The barrage of ice puns disabused me of that notion pretty damn quickly. He started with "Ice to meet you", moved onto "You need to... chill out", and it went downhill from there. The final straw for me was during the climactic fight of the session, which he spent it arguing that the only skill he should need to use is Cool, because obviously that made the most sense for his ice powers. Like I said, he'd played the game before, and knew that the skills are abstract (so Kill is literally just how good you are at killing, no matter what method you decide to use; Con is how well you deceive, lie, bluff and so on; Dig is getting info, either through interviews and interrogations or by hacking and research; Take is pretty obviously theft and related activities; Terror is how intimidating you can be; and Cool is how good you are are pulling off things that shouldn't work, but are just so damn cool that all the pieces fall into place, like driving a car on two wheels down an alley or ricocheting a bullet around a corner, that sort of thing).
So there you have the tale of how I encountered what were quite possibly the two most infuriating characters I've ever seen in the space of one 4 hour session, played by one player. The weird thing was that he's normally a damn fine roleplayer. If you've ever read my blog, The Grassy Gnoll, he posts on there as Professor Jimbles. But for this one night, he managed to reduce me to speechlessness, and actually resulted in me rage-quitting that particular mini-campaign (okay, not quite rage quitting... frustration quitting? still not quite right, but the closest I can think of to describe it). Possibly the only characters I can imagine will be more frustrating to me are the concept he came up with for when I finally run Wrath of the Righteous, where he and another player are going to play Gnome Paladin brothers... the concept itself doesn't sound so bad, but the fact that the two players keep repeating the words "Gnome Bros" over and over again in increasingly silly voices every time the topic comes up doesn't really fill me with confidence.
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I am partially responsible for the worst PC duo.
My friend and I were playing in a Super Hero game. We created a wrestling tag-team duo who on a goodwill tour of Ukraine back in 1986 got irradiated with chemicals from the Chernobyl disaster and developed super powers.
They decided to "tag-team" up against crime.
The characters had tragically low IQs and drove a monster truck as their super car. The duo arrived on the scene of a crime by leaping the monster truck over (and crushing) a squad of cop cars. Walk-off music blared from the trucks speakers and fireworks shoot out the top of the truck. They brothers jumped out of the vehicle all baby oiled up. After flexing and taunting the enemy one of the brothers jumped into melee while the other went to the corner of the room and begged to be tapped in. "tag me brother!!"
Once tagged they had a few rounds in which they could act together, pummel foes and pulling off combo moves. If there were more than one foe it was considered a "royal rumble".
Like any classic hero they had weaknesses. They were both terrified by folding chairs as the chairs always did double damage when used against them.
We modeled the wrestlers after Randy the macho man Savage and Rick Flair. We each had developed signature moves and never turned down an opportunity to yell in front of a camera and tell kids not to do drugs.
I never laughed so much as a game. We never broke Kayfabe.
It was beyond stupid, but it was fun...
-MD
This is supposed to be the WORST characters ever, not the most awesome!
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Not only did this character completely destroy the mood, killing any interest I had in running the second half of the story (we'd ripped through the first half in the first session), but once I'd managed to kill him off, the player came back with a new character for the next scene who initially seemed more suitable...
Please send this player to me forthwith, if you are no longer interested in having him at your table. He would be most welcome here!
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I had a player in one of my games play a 3.0 character with 8 classes- He was a cleric/wizard/sorcerer/bard/barbarian/lasher/exotic weapon master/loremaster. See, he was a cleric of the god of magic, so he wanted to be able to cast spells off of all 3 mental stats. Also, he decided to be good with a whip - so bard for proficiency, barbarian for BAB, then the lasher/ewm prestige classes. The whole PC was a mess. It was really funny at about 12th level when he ended up next to a foe and the rest of the party found out he didn't have any Concentration, which was a skill back then.
Oh and he was advancing in all those classes equally.
God of magic=boccob?
Not only did this character completely destroy the mood, killing any interest I had in running the second half of the story (we'd ripped through the first half in the first session), but once I'd managed to kill him off, the player came back with a new character for the next scene who initially seemed more suitable...Please send this player to me forthwith, if you are no longer interested in having him at your table. He would be most welcome here!
I'll hold onto him. Like I said, I normally have no problem with him, and I normally have no issue with silly characters in games... my only real request is that they be appropriate for the story, and preferably aren't designed to just derail things (which is my concern with the gnome brothers, I've seen how these guys play gnomes... picture spider monkeys on crack cocaine... any hope of story progression is lost). The problem here was that these characters just straight up didn't fit the game, and in the case of the second one, resulted in him wasting everyone's time by arguing an interpretation of the rules that he knew was wrong (it's not like Pathfinder or other complex games, where it's more than understandable that people interpret the rules differently, Hollowpoint has clear definitions of the purposes of the skills, and he'd already played through another scenario with no issues).
I don't have a problem with his current character in Shattered Star for example, an incredibly naive Cleric of Shei (spelling?) who goes around believing the best of everyone he meets and yelling "PRAISE SHEI!" whenever something even slightly beneficial happens.
EDIT: Also, please don't remove parts of my quoted text without making it clear you've snipped something. Removing the bit about my not actually intentionally trying to kill him makes me sound far more vindictive, as opposed to the reality of it just being what happened as a result of the dice.
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3.5 Ravenloft game, where generally Ravenloft is part of a demi-plane the DM popped it somewhere into his homebrew setting, great setting with no clerics. There were still paladins, druids, and favored souls, but no clerics. I'm playing a counterpunch wizard, party full of martials and and a favored soul they always turned to me whenever a caster popped up, that was my schtick that was my job. I was good at it, and I was good at tactics so I was the party leader. I made the hard decisions when we needed it.
Now for worst pc I've ever seen. Our archer/mounted combatant/scout/wannabe leader. Guy built a good archer and pleaded with the DM for the 3.0 prc windrider, and because it was out we used the pathfinder fighter so he was a fighter/windrider, all around it was a good build except for how he played it. He wanted to be the leader, said so in the beginning we gave him a shot, he screwed it up and I got the job. He was always scouting ahead or trying to fly 100ft above combat and still trying to be the leader. Trying to get an edge that he couldn't get before, trying to find a weird mechanic that he could abuse. He was a power gamer that felt out of place when the party got to rp. Needless to say that doesn't work very well. Here's how we fixed the problem, I was doing my job, observing combat, casting a buff here and there and after combat he tried to shoot me. He hits me for about a quarter of my hp with the quip "And I wasn't even trying, maybe such a weak person shouldn't be the leader." He was met with a dispel magic on his endless quiver, no more arrows for you, followed by a quickened wingbind to his flying mount and the words from the paladin "If you ever try something like that again I won't stop the wizard from disintegrating you. If you try something like that and I get to you first I will end your miserable life." He quickly stopped griping about how he wasn't the leader.
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A friend of mine had a commoner 1 in Rappan Athuk. We ran into a random-encounter in the woods. What he managed to do? Roll for iniative and die. A potato rolled out of his pocket while he fell to ground. It was hilarious though. I think the character was named The Farmer Who's In Way Over His Head.
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which is my concern with the gnome brothers, I've seen how these guys play gnomes... picture spider monkeys on crack cocaine... any hope of story progression is lost)
I kind of hate that people still do stuff like this with Gnomes, as Golarion's Gnomes are one of the coolest things Paizo has done ever and it's hard enough to get people to take them seriously as a race without people perpetuating this old stereotype. Of the seven Core Races, I don't think I've seen any banned from tables as much as Gnomes.
which is my concern with the gnome brothers, I've seen how these guys play gnomes... picture spider monkeys on crack cocaine... any hope of story progression is lost)I kind of hate that people still do stuff like this with Gnomes, as Golarion's Gnomes are one of the coolest things Paizo has done ever and it's hard enough to get people to take them seriously as a race without people perpetuating this old stereotype. Of the seven Core Races, I don't think I've seen any banned from tables as much as Gnomes.
It used to be Halflings banned because of Kender. Now enough time has passed that most/many of the players have never read the old Dragon Lance books.
which is my concern with the gnome brothers, I've seen how these guys play gnomes... picture spider monkeys on crack cocaine... any hope of story progression is lost)I kind of hate that people still do stuff like this with Gnomes, as Golarion's Gnomes are one of the coolest things Paizo has done ever and it's hard enough to get people to take them seriously as a race without people perpetuating this old stereotype. Of the seven Core Races, I don't think I've seen any banned from tables as much as Gnomes.
These guys play gnomes that way because of how Pathfinder portrays them. They heard about the bleaching and assumed that avoiding it means being random and insane 24/7
These guys play gnomes that way because of how Pathfinder portrays them. They heard about the bleaching and assumed that avoiding it means being random and insane 24/7which is my concern with the gnome brothers, I've seen how these guys play gnomes... picture spider monkeys on crack cocaine... any hope of story progression is lost)I kind of hate that people still do stuff like this with Gnomes, as Golarion's Gnomes are one of the coolest things Paizo has done ever and it's hard enough to get people to take them seriously as a race without people perpetuating this old stereotype. Of the seven Core Races, I don't think I've seen any banned from tables as much as Gnomes.
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When I was an immature teenager just starting out, I played a Barbarian who fought by attempting to gore people with the horns on his helmet. His backstory was simply "Dwarven Viking", and he couldn't speak Common, only Dwarven, which I approximated with random aggressive grunting and gesturing. Later on, I played a weretiger Ranger who was such a horndog he had a permanent Will penalty against women, and played him as the glorious and all capable Marty Stu whom all the women love because he is gorgeous and never wears shirt. There is more, but I don't remember it.
I had a lot of gender identity and sexuality issues as a kid, combined with little social skills or self confidence. I had a lot of odd things as a result.
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Oh, how could I forget this one...
Back in the early 1990s, I was GMing an AD&D 2nd Ed. tournament adventure at a small gaming con in my home town. These were the days before organized play, so tourneys were either run with pregens or were bring-your-own-character.
This was an individual-advancement, bring-your-own-character event.
One thing about that type of tournament is that many players built thier characters around a memorable schtick-- something that would impress the GM, or at least make the character particularly interesting.
In this case, the schitck backfired, big-time: the character stuck in my mind all right, but as a character that was obnoxious and difficult to work with.
The character was a mime called "The Silent Bard." He built his character around the concept that he never spoke. (In 2nd ed. bards cast their spells by playing music-- he did this by playing panpipes.)
The player decidided to really play this up, and after play began, ne never once spoke. He wouldn't even speak to describe what his character was doing-- he frantically scribbled notes and handed them to me. This really, really bogged down the flow of the game. I did give him some kudos for going all-in, though: the player really played the panpipes at the table, and really did try to do some mime. Unfortunately, he was terrible at both: his "miming" was more like playing charades, and his mastery of the panpipes was... limited, shall we say.
(As an added bonus, everyone called him "Zamfir." If you get the reference, you're old.)
He didn't win the round.
I get the reference... lol.. Still you have to give the guy credit for trying!
One time I actually ran a humorous game with a party of drizzt's. It was freakin' hilarious.
Mechanically the worst
The guy who wanted to be "Useful" The player thought he should be able to pitch in anywhere at anytime and he thought the best way to do that was multiclass a little into everything. Yet the player couldn't understand why it wasn't working, like maybe the 5th class would add that missing piece of the puzzle.
RP the Worst
The Invisible Coward. Spellcaster (I don't remember which class) who wanted to make certain he wasn't noticed so that he wouldn't draw enemy fire. Once he was invisible he wouldn't do anything that might break invisibility.
While an alterationist could buff the main fighter without breaking invisibility, I will assume this never dawned on them.
Still, not as bad as a Kender who tried to steal from the party and kept trying to steal an artifact sword from a party sponsor. Behavior based on die rolls is madness and a curse. It should be removed at the first opportunity.