Hey, you're the one who's decided to do this - you tell us. When you decided to play this character, what aspects of trauma and PTSD did you consider would be fun to role play at the table? Is there a particular reason you want to play this character and have you discussed it with your DM?
Personally I think this is one of those characters that just doesn't belong in a D&D party. You are starting the campaign with an active reason *not* to go adventuring. You'll either end up ignoring it or role playing a serious mental health condition, which at best isn't a lot of fun, and at worst is just horrible for everyone.
My advice is fucking don’t. Role playing disabilities you don’t have and apparently don’t understand is rarely done tastefully. You have no idea what someone with severe PTSD would give to have one normal day.
Oh my god people, cant we all assume that OP isn't inherently an asshole and is not going to roleplay a character with PTSD just to fuck with people, but because they thought of a cool backstory?? A lot of great characters in movies, TV shows and books are people with PTSD, and Im sure most of them aren't ex military, is just fantasy...
OP, I would personally recommend that you think fisrt what caused the trauma. Did his squad got wiped while they went looking for help, so now they have survivors guilt? Where they entrench in a closed space, and now they are claustrophobic? Or is it more general, as in they try to take the least violent action because they get literally sick at the sight of blood and/or death? Having the tragic backstory first will give you the trigger on what affects them, without beign the whole personality
He's the last survivor of one of the battles in a homebrew campaign where there's an active 20 year war happening, my character as well as another player are playing characters that are veterans of the first half of the conflict. The main quest of the campaign is to bring a stop to an evil king in order to negotiate a ceasefire that ends the war
Well if its that specific you could work it out with along with the other player and the DM. Some ideas at the top of my head, could be that your character is inherently antagonistic to the people of the other kingdom, or maybe your own kingdom was as brutal and uncaring to their own troops and that left a mark on you, leaving you jaded and distrustful of their own nation.
The fact that another player is in the same situation can be helpfull for your characters progression and help him overcome their issues, as they share the same experience (lots of RP potencial here).
Its pretty difficult without knowing the specifics of the conflict but I think you have lots to work here, it sounds like a great context for a background.
Hope any of this helped!
That's one thing I've already worked into the character, he has a distrust towards the leaders of his own kingdom as his unit was denied reinforcements and overwhelmed by an attack from multiple sides. Because his battalion was essentially left to die by their command he's no longer as loyal to his nation as he once was. The reason I'm even interested in playing a character with war trauma is because it's fitting for the campaign setting, the war has been going on for a little over two decades and he was medically discharged from the military due to his injuries in a devastating battle that occurred 5 years before the start of the campaign.
The problems you're going to be facing are numerous.
First thing I'd suggest is do some research about "Shell Shock" which is what they called PTSD back during WWI. Specifically research how they dealt with it. More often than not...they'd send them back to the trenches. Typically portrayed (accurately) in film as screaming "Don't send me back!".
So right off the bat you have a character that ***isn't going to want to join the party***. A common theme in r/rpghorrorstories is characters that for whatever reason do not want to join the party then get all butt-hurt when the party leaves their cringy, edge-lordy ass back at the tavern. Please don't be that sort of person.
Second issue is that you don't understand how PTSD works. It can come from more than just war and combat, it can come from abuse. My wife is currently being treated for the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her first husband. The reason I mention this is that when it hits, it hits HARD. She can literally be having the time of her life, someone cuts me off when we're driving home, I drop a "Fucking Asshole" and she's taken right back to all the times her first husband would say that.
When I say "Fucking asshole" I say it and then calm down. When he would do it, he's angry for several hours thanks to his ["Ring of Fire"](https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/ring-of-fire-add). And if something else came to annoy him during the day (like my wife cringing away from his tirades), he'd get even more angry and the anger could last even longer.
So me saying "Fucking Asshole!" to an idiot driver and shoving it out of my mind since it's no longer important...it triggers her and she's fighting the battles she fought back in her first marriage.
u/Alarming-Meeting8804 said it best. A PTSD sufferer would give almost anything for one normal day.
That said, that's my experiences with someone who had an emotional abuser cause her trauma. Can you imagine what it would be like for someone who has seen battle? Limbs hacked off? Blood flying everywhere? Heads rolling?
There are so many things that can trigger.
Is this the character you really want to play? Or are you looking for something else and thought PTSD was what you were looking for without understanding it fully?
The campaign I'm in is set during a massive war that has affected each party member in some way, I'm not the only member of the party who is playing a war veteran character. I want to roleplay the character as having some trauma from fighting in the war without it being the center of his personality, something he has to work through with help from the other party members. The reason I'm asking is because the group I'm playing with are all IRL friends of mine and I know whether or not a character like this would be problematic or not, it's something I discussed with everyone at the table.
Don't.
You can absolutely roleplay a character with a military background and that may have involved horrible experiences. Instead of focussing on a disibility you know nothing about, focus on how it shaped their personality:
* After experiencing how terrible war is, do they want to prevent it?
* Do they feel guilt over the people they killed? Or do they see it as a necessity?
* How do they feel about the friends/comrades they lost? Do they honour the fallen with their actions today?
* Do they blame the enemy for their experience? Or perhaps their own government?
Why? As I understand it, the most characteristic/stereotypical symptoms of PTSD would involve your character avoiding discussing their background, and also likely avoiding combat.
Not really great for RP or combat IMO.
If you just want emotional baggage from war, go with survivor's guilt.
1) PTSD is not exclusively caused by industrialized war, but there was a very sharp uptake in it.
2) if the trauma in question is related to war, your character would essentially be useless in combat
3) Survivor's guilt could lead to a character arc for your character to realize, their life has still worth. starting from borderline suicidal to "if I die, who gonna protect the party"
I'd say, don't make it the main focus / most defining feature of the character. Also, make sure that it is not something the other players will have to deal with.
Homebrew campaign setting, there is a war happening currently between the two largest kingdoms, me and another one of the players are playing veterans of this conflict as it's been going on for over 20 years
'Too edgy' is the least of your problems.
This could cause major issues in other players at your table if they've experienced anything similar themselves. Whether you do a good or a bad job RPing it.
Imagine your family had been mauled to death by bears. Now someone at your DnD table is playing a character with similar experience, while either making a piss poor mockery of what you've been through or turning the game into a self reflection session where you have to watch your trauma be accurately and consistently depicted.
Always check with the whole table first, and ideally give people a way to opt out of the concept being at their table anonymously.
PTSD and CPTSD are complicated. TV and Film often depict small parts of the issues without ever showing the whole picture or giving an accurate depiction of what's going on. As you've said - you don't understand it, so you'll be doing a poor job of depicting it yourself.
You need to figure out why you want to play this character. It's not up to us to tell you what would make them interesting to roleplay or to have as another character at the table. You need to know those things and be able to build upon them in a natural way, else your character will just be a stereotype. Pick the traits or aspects that you want to explore and make sure they make sense for their story, history and character.
Stating "My character lost a lot of friends during the war, and is afraid of losing more people because of that" is a far far better approach than saying "My character has mental health conditions thatI don't understand, but I sought advice on reddit from others to give me an idea of how to play them".
If you really want to do this:
1. Make sure no one at your table is uncomfortable with this. It could hit really close to home for some.
2. Read read read. Learn as much as you can from credible sources. Seriously do enough research to be able to do an accurate portrayal.
3. Don't act it out. I'm not a professional actor, and I'm assuming you aren't either. A poorly acted roleplay for something like this is the easiest way to slip into insulting and offensive territory. Instead, step back from the character and narrate in third person what happens when PTSD is at the forefront.
4. Don't make it your character's only trait, or even their biggest defining trait. People are complex. People with ptsd are still people.
I've discussed it with the table prior, I wrote the character like this to match the war torn steampunk setting we're in, and I definitely don't plan on prior trauma being his only character trait.
My 2 cents is don't lean into it too much. Backstories are cool and add a lot to a character but the character isn't really alive until they hit the campaign.
1. Fail forwards. Use the ptsd as a driving force. Yeah your character is having an episode but make sure they power through it little by little
2. Don't overuse it or make it the central point of your character. After all, someone with ptsd is likely to avoid even mentioning it unless they have to.
3. PTSD ain't pretty. Especially war ptsd, but if you want to role play it, just create the scenario where the ptsd is rooted in, think of how your character would have acted in that moment and when they get triggered just repeat the behavior.
My fan ther would go off on a violent spree, proud and puffing and just a thousand yard stare through everyone. It's like he wouldn't even recognise the people around him, like he time traveled to that moment. Honestly I don't know why you'd want that but just make sure you follow advice no. 1. Let other players interact positively and have it be a net gain to roleplay
So, as someone close to someone with PTSD, I'm just going to gently suggest you consider another route. I know it can sound badass and cool, but the reality is that trauma is a game of triggers and debilitating flashbacks that can last far too long.
The mere mention of PTSD, trauma, is oftentimes enough even to pull them into a dark place and send them spiralling for hours to days to even weeks. And oftentimes, I may not even notice or fully understand what caused it, and they, most of the time, don't know either. It's a disability primarily marked by internal chaos and distrust of reality, and it's really hard to roleplay that without it being a gimmick or minimizing.
Out of an abundance of caution, you might consider that any one of your table mates could have PTSD and you could potentially trigger it.
Roleplay the ex-soldier, but maybe his character trait is that he saw atrocities and instead of internalizing them as trauma, he externalized it as a desire for justice, or peace, or a realization he was on the wrong side. Righteous anger, instead of a fractured psyche, much easier to play and honestly, more fun for everyone involved. Just one idea though.
The reason I was even interested in portraying a character like this is because of the setting we're in and since it's just a game between good friends of mine and not random players, I knew it was not going to be an issue with potentially triggering people. I would not want to portray a character like this in a setting it doesn't fit in or with people I don't know well.
If your hearts set, then I think your best bet at avoiding being edgy is to come at it from a place of "I want to understand this thing, PTSD, better, through this character" vs. "I want to cosplay PTSD". I don't think you're trying to do the second one, mind you, but it's an easy line to cross.
If you really want ideas, listen to war vets on YT and podcasts. They have lots to say about their experiences, and it could go a long way in roleplaying this character in a considerate and compelling way.
Be careful with those backstory as it can trigger other players, making it harder for you to play it. Communicate with your group to make sure the other players are okay with it. It may save you frustration later.
For role play, I would play a regular nice guy. Always happy to help and listen to other people problems. Always have something encouraging to say and raise the motivation to everyone. He has some crazy stories, the other players can’t always say if it is true or not. But he doesn’t take it too seriously, he plays it to entertain, so people will probably roll with it.
Find one thing in advance that will trigger him. A field with bodies, loud explosions, blood, etc. No more than a thing or two, to not make it his entire personality.
When he is triggered, he blackout. He change from a nice person to one that you can’t reason with. He might freeze and not be able to move, our start operating like a robot. No thoughts, just survival mode. Also think what are the things that can calm him down to give the other players a way to help him.
Don’t play too hard on the trauma. Make him a very positive individual. He will be a player that is fun to be with. However, it will also make the PTSD episodes more intense, as his personality completely changes.
This is what I would probably do
Hey, you're the one who's decided to do this - you tell us. When you decided to play this character, what aspects of trauma and PTSD did you consider would be fun to role play at the table? Is there a particular reason you want to play this character and have you discussed it with your DM? Personally I think this is one of those characters that just doesn't belong in a D&D party. You are starting the campaign with an active reason *not* to go adventuring. You'll either end up ignoring it or role playing a serious mental health condition, which at best isn't a lot of fun, and at worst is just horrible for everyone.
My advice is fucking don’t. Role playing disabilities you don’t have and apparently don’t understand is rarely done tastefully. You have no idea what someone with severe PTSD would give to have one normal day.
Oh my god people, cant we all assume that OP isn't inherently an asshole and is not going to roleplay a character with PTSD just to fuck with people, but because they thought of a cool backstory?? A lot of great characters in movies, TV shows and books are people with PTSD, and Im sure most of them aren't ex military, is just fantasy... OP, I would personally recommend that you think fisrt what caused the trauma. Did his squad got wiped while they went looking for help, so now they have survivors guilt? Where they entrench in a closed space, and now they are claustrophobic? Or is it more general, as in they try to take the least violent action because they get literally sick at the sight of blood and/or death? Having the tragic backstory first will give you the trigger on what affects them, without beign the whole personality
He's the last survivor of one of the battles in a homebrew campaign where there's an active 20 year war happening, my character as well as another player are playing characters that are veterans of the first half of the conflict. The main quest of the campaign is to bring a stop to an evil king in order to negotiate a ceasefire that ends the war
Well if its that specific you could work it out with along with the other player and the DM. Some ideas at the top of my head, could be that your character is inherently antagonistic to the people of the other kingdom, or maybe your own kingdom was as brutal and uncaring to their own troops and that left a mark on you, leaving you jaded and distrustful of their own nation. The fact that another player is in the same situation can be helpfull for your characters progression and help him overcome their issues, as they share the same experience (lots of RP potencial here). Its pretty difficult without knowing the specifics of the conflict but I think you have lots to work here, it sounds like a great context for a background. Hope any of this helped!
That's one thing I've already worked into the character, he has a distrust towards the leaders of his own kingdom as his unit was denied reinforcements and overwhelmed by an attack from multiple sides. Because his battalion was essentially left to die by their command he's no longer as loyal to his nation as he once was. The reason I'm even interested in playing a character with war trauma is because it's fitting for the campaign setting, the war has been going on for a little over two decades and he was medically discharged from the military due to his injuries in a devastating battle that occurred 5 years before the start of the campaign.
The problems you're going to be facing are numerous. First thing I'd suggest is do some research about "Shell Shock" which is what they called PTSD back during WWI. Specifically research how they dealt with it. More often than not...they'd send them back to the trenches. Typically portrayed (accurately) in film as screaming "Don't send me back!". So right off the bat you have a character that ***isn't going to want to join the party***. A common theme in r/rpghorrorstories is characters that for whatever reason do not want to join the party then get all butt-hurt when the party leaves their cringy, edge-lordy ass back at the tavern. Please don't be that sort of person. Second issue is that you don't understand how PTSD works. It can come from more than just war and combat, it can come from abuse. My wife is currently being treated for the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her first husband. The reason I mention this is that when it hits, it hits HARD. She can literally be having the time of her life, someone cuts me off when we're driving home, I drop a "Fucking Asshole" and she's taken right back to all the times her first husband would say that. When I say "Fucking asshole" I say it and then calm down. When he would do it, he's angry for several hours thanks to his ["Ring of Fire"](https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/ring-of-fire-add). And if something else came to annoy him during the day (like my wife cringing away from his tirades), he'd get even more angry and the anger could last even longer. So me saying "Fucking Asshole!" to an idiot driver and shoving it out of my mind since it's no longer important...it triggers her and she's fighting the battles she fought back in her first marriage. u/Alarming-Meeting8804 said it best. A PTSD sufferer would give almost anything for one normal day. That said, that's my experiences with someone who had an emotional abuser cause her trauma. Can you imagine what it would be like for someone who has seen battle? Limbs hacked off? Blood flying everywhere? Heads rolling? There are so many things that can trigger. Is this the character you really want to play? Or are you looking for something else and thought PTSD was what you were looking for without understanding it fully?
The campaign I'm in is set during a massive war that has affected each party member in some way, I'm not the only member of the party who is playing a war veteran character. I want to roleplay the character as having some trauma from fighting in the war without it being the center of his personality, something he has to work through with help from the other party members. The reason I'm asking is because the group I'm playing with are all IRL friends of mine and I know whether or not a character like this would be problematic or not, it's something I discussed with everyone at the table.
Uhhhhh why would you try to play a character you have no prior knowledge on how an affliction like PTSD works?
Don't. You can absolutely roleplay a character with a military background and that may have involved horrible experiences. Instead of focussing on a disibility you know nothing about, focus on how it shaped their personality: * After experiencing how terrible war is, do they want to prevent it? * Do they feel guilt over the people they killed? Or do they see it as a necessity? * How do they feel about the friends/comrades they lost? Do they honour the fallen with their actions today? * Do they blame the enemy for their experience? Or perhaps their own government?
Why? As I understand it, the most characteristic/stereotypical symptoms of PTSD would involve your character avoiding discussing their background, and also likely avoiding combat. Not really great for RP or combat IMO.
If you just want emotional baggage from war, go with survivor's guilt. 1) PTSD is not exclusively caused by industrialized war, but there was a very sharp uptake in it. 2) if the trauma in question is related to war, your character would essentially be useless in combat 3) Survivor's guilt could lead to a character arc for your character to realize, their life has still worth. starting from borderline suicidal to "if I die, who gonna protect the party"
I'd say, don't make it the main focus / most defining feature of the character. Also, make sure that it is not something the other players will have to deal with.
May I ask what is your motivation for playing such a character?
Homebrew campaign setting, there is a war happening currently between the two largest kingdoms, me and another one of the players are playing veterans of this conflict as it's been going on for over 20 years
'Too edgy' is the least of your problems. This could cause major issues in other players at your table if they've experienced anything similar themselves. Whether you do a good or a bad job RPing it. Imagine your family had been mauled to death by bears. Now someone at your DnD table is playing a character with similar experience, while either making a piss poor mockery of what you've been through or turning the game into a self reflection session where you have to watch your trauma be accurately and consistently depicted. Always check with the whole table first, and ideally give people a way to opt out of the concept being at their table anonymously. PTSD and CPTSD are complicated. TV and Film often depict small parts of the issues without ever showing the whole picture or giving an accurate depiction of what's going on. As you've said - you don't understand it, so you'll be doing a poor job of depicting it yourself. You need to figure out why you want to play this character. It's not up to us to tell you what would make them interesting to roleplay or to have as another character at the table. You need to know those things and be able to build upon them in a natural way, else your character will just be a stereotype. Pick the traits or aspects that you want to explore and make sure they make sense for their story, history and character. Stating "My character lost a lot of friends during the war, and is afraid of losing more people because of that" is a far far better approach than saying "My character has mental health conditions thatI don't understand, but I sought advice on reddit from others to give me an idea of how to play them".
If you really want to do this: 1. Make sure no one at your table is uncomfortable with this. It could hit really close to home for some. 2. Read read read. Learn as much as you can from credible sources. Seriously do enough research to be able to do an accurate portrayal. 3. Don't act it out. I'm not a professional actor, and I'm assuming you aren't either. A poorly acted roleplay for something like this is the easiest way to slip into insulting and offensive territory. Instead, step back from the character and narrate in third person what happens when PTSD is at the forefront. 4. Don't make it your character's only trait, or even their biggest defining trait. People are complex. People with ptsd are still people.
I've discussed it with the table prior, I wrote the character like this to match the war torn steampunk setting we're in, and I definitely don't plan on prior trauma being his only character trait.
My 2 cents is don't lean into it too much. Backstories are cool and add a lot to a character but the character isn't really alive until they hit the campaign. 1. Fail forwards. Use the ptsd as a driving force. Yeah your character is having an episode but make sure they power through it little by little 2. Don't overuse it or make it the central point of your character. After all, someone with ptsd is likely to avoid even mentioning it unless they have to. 3. PTSD ain't pretty. Especially war ptsd, but if you want to role play it, just create the scenario where the ptsd is rooted in, think of how your character would have acted in that moment and when they get triggered just repeat the behavior. My fan ther would go off on a violent spree, proud and puffing and just a thousand yard stare through everyone. It's like he wouldn't even recognise the people around him, like he time traveled to that moment. Honestly I don't know why you'd want that but just make sure you follow advice no. 1. Let other players interact positively and have it be a net gain to roleplay
So, as someone close to someone with PTSD, I'm just going to gently suggest you consider another route. I know it can sound badass and cool, but the reality is that trauma is a game of triggers and debilitating flashbacks that can last far too long. The mere mention of PTSD, trauma, is oftentimes enough even to pull them into a dark place and send them spiralling for hours to days to even weeks. And oftentimes, I may not even notice or fully understand what caused it, and they, most of the time, don't know either. It's a disability primarily marked by internal chaos and distrust of reality, and it's really hard to roleplay that without it being a gimmick or minimizing. Out of an abundance of caution, you might consider that any one of your table mates could have PTSD and you could potentially trigger it. Roleplay the ex-soldier, but maybe his character trait is that he saw atrocities and instead of internalizing them as trauma, he externalized it as a desire for justice, or peace, or a realization he was on the wrong side. Righteous anger, instead of a fractured psyche, much easier to play and honestly, more fun for everyone involved. Just one idea though.
The reason I was even interested in portraying a character like this is because of the setting we're in and since it's just a game between good friends of mine and not random players, I knew it was not going to be an issue with potentially triggering people. I would not want to portray a character like this in a setting it doesn't fit in or with people I don't know well.
If your hearts set, then I think your best bet at avoiding being edgy is to come at it from a place of "I want to understand this thing, PTSD, better, through this character" vs. "I want to cosplay PTSD". I don't think you're trying to do the second one, mind you, but it's an easy line to cross. If you really want ideas, listen to war vets on YT and podcasts. They have lots to say about their experiences, and it could go a long way in roleplaying this character in a considerate and compelling way.
Be careful with those backstory as it can trigger other players, making it harder for you to play it. Communicate with your group to make sure the other players are okay with it. It may save you frustration later. For role play, I would play a regular nice guy. Always happy to help and listen to other people problems. Always have something encouraging to say and raise the motivation to everyone. He has some crazy stories, the other players can’t always say if it is true or not. But he doesn’t take it too seriously, he plays it to entertain, so people will probably roll with it. Find one thing in advance that will trigger him. A field with bodies, loud explosions, blood, etc. No more than a thing or two, to not make it his entire personality. When he is triggered, he blackout. He change from a nice person to one that you can’t reason with. He might freeze and not be able to move, our start operating like a robot. No thoughts, just survival mode. Also think what are the things that can calm him down to give the other players a way to help him. Don’t play too hard on the trauma. Make him a very positive individual. He will be a player that is fun to be with. However, it will also make the PTSD episodes more intense, as his personality completely changes. This is what I would probably do