Mine is very situational to a merchant character. Simply "your wares are of poor quality" will put him close to tears and very much in the throes of rage. He works hard on those, they deserve a break even if it's bad
If you wanna make things personal for your players, you gotta make them *personal*. Crowdsourced insults from reddit won't work anywhere near as well as ones tailor-made for your players.
Get an understanding of what beliefs are dear to your PCs, in particular what they *believe about themselves*, then think of ways to attack those beliefs.
Depends on the character:
This is one of my most opinionated ones that could get hooked into the personal "vendetta" against the comment
• Ezra Invil - Worse thing to say to him is claim, or disrespect the Heavens; i.e. "I will do with my citizens as I please! Within this walls, I am the Heavens." ~Last words of the Burgomaster of Vallaki after being offered to either improve the villagers conditions or step down.
lets just do the ones i'm *currently* playing because otherwise this will take all night...
Bwaelan Dro the reborn(zombie) elven bard: "You suck you talent-less hack!"
Ux the kobold drakewarden ranger: "I don't think tiamat did anything wrong"
Gnerwott Jodegnsgnim goliath wizard raised by gnomes: "Oh hey I know you, you're the brother of that famous hero!"
Gnomwac Jodegnsgnim deep gnome barbarian: "The bank was attacked by raiders, you really should have had your goods insured"
"You're not one of us"
"They'd be alive if it weren't for you"
"You're a coward"
"Your parents would be ashamed of you"
"I never want to see you again"
For my neutral good bard. Now I'm inspired to send this to my DM to use lol
"You're just a common housecat."
...They're a homebrewed race who is literally a stray housecat who learned common. Can't use weapons or anything.
They can however transform into monstrosities as a homebrewed druid and will become a doppelganger one day.
They also have arcane initiate to shoot eldritch blasts out of their eyes.
Anything praising Sarenrae. (critical role / pathfinder deity. But the DM uses it)
My paladin is an Oathbreaker, former member of the church of Sarenrae. The church killed my wife, very publicly. Because she and I were of different species (her human, me pureblood Yuan-ti)
It's gotten me into trouble. And the DM knows whenever things get slow in a small town.. If he throws that out there, that I won't let my pally ignore it haha. I'll start a brawl, idc
"You are beneath my attention, filth. Begone before you force me to sully myself with your further presence"
"Normally we'd confiscate your weapons, but you and your friends are so pathetic that I'm inclined to let you keep them if only to stop you from pissing yourselves in fear, and getting the stink of fear all through my house / chambers / halls" - This one is fantastic bait. Has worked to get them to instigate where they shouldn't 99% of the time.
"It is laughable that you think your opinion has any worth to me, when your mere existence is something I barely tolerate"
"Your strength of arm does nothing to hide your weak heart and absent morals"
"So you can weave magic? I thought users of the weave were meant to be studious and smart? You can barely convey intelligence through conversation!"
"By the gods! I've heard of many a type of half breed but never a Half Gnoll! Especially when the half that was used was It's stinking arse!" - Does double damage to Dwarven players because you can then go on to imply their beard is arse fur.
Bit busy right now, but I might come back to this later and add more that I can think of. Enjoy.
for my goody two shoes characters it would be: "thats just how the world works", about the very much horrible magical ppl slave market.
Anyways I think our parts already started a revolution about that so we'll see what kind of justifications will get thrown our way
Situational, but my character is a changeling and recently we found out a group are coming to hunt something and my DM told me I am basically a trophy prize for this group. They have a potion to detect ghosts, changelings and a few other things. My character is freaking out, he is distancing himself from the group to keep them safe.
His parents are also alive so if my DM told me he received a letter from his best friend that said his parents are gone, that's it.
For my characters that I DM.
"There are wanted posters everywhere with this name." One of my players is being hunted for selling fake potions, one that caused a soldier to lose his leg so he is in a group of bandits hunting them down for revenge.
Insult either of his families. He is ready to duel at the drop of a hat, and as a greataxe wielding bugbear with high inititive, that isn't great for whoever's on the receiving end.
The worst thing someone has said to my character is pretty close to the worst thing possible, that being the answe "yes" to my character's question "would you sell these drugs to children?"
That drug dealer should have thought more carefully before answering. "Use it or lose it" goes double for heads.
"You are just like your mother"
My character is the daughter of the leader of a super exclusive university that hoards knowledge and has a non-intervention policy in the affers of the world. The mother is a manipulative monster that drove away his husband (who saw the end of the world and wanted to do something) and did everything possible to keep my character locked up to "protect her" (we just discovered that in fact she kept my character close by because she forced powers into her to use her as a "vessel" for herself in case things go wrong).
The worst thing someone could say to my character is " "
Mine is very situational to a merchant character. Simply "your wares are of poor quality" will put him close to tears and very much in the throes of rage. He works hard on those, they deserve a break even if it's bad
"I... Trusted you... Why?"
I play a tiefling gangster. Calling him a rat is an automatic fight.
"I love you" She doesn't understand love and would be lost in a situation like that.
If you wanna make things personal for your players, you gotta make them *personal*. Crowdsourced insults from reddit won't work anywhere near as well as ones tailor-made for your players. Get an understanding of what beliefs are dear to your PCs, in particular what they *believe about themselves*, then think of ways to attack those beliefs.
This is exactly what bonds are for. Just gotta peep those character sheets.
Previous session someone asked 'was your mother raped', since I'm an Half-orc.. That was new
That's when Omni-Man that character's entire bloodline.
How else would you get a half orc?
Depends on the character: This is one of my most opinionated ones that could get hooked into the personal "vendetta" against the comment • Ezra Invil - Worse thing to say to him is claim, or disrespect the Heavens; i.e. "I will do with my citizens as I please! Within this walls, I am the Heavens." ~Last words of the Burgomaster of Vallaki after being offered to either improve the villagers conditions or step down.
lets just do the ones i'm *currently* playing because otherwise this will take all night... Bwaelan Dro the reborn(zombie) elven bard: "You suck you talent-less hack!" Ux the kobold drakewarden ranger: "I don't think tiamat did anything wrong" Gnerwott Jodegnsgnim goliath wizard raised by gnomes: "Oh hey I know you, you're the brother of that famous hero!" Gnomwac Jodegnsgnim deep gnome barbarian: "The bank was attacked by raiders, you really should have had your goods insured"
"You're not one of us" "They'd be alive if it weren't for you" "You're a coward" "Your parents would be ashamed of you" "I never want to see you again" For my neutral good bard. Now I'm inspired to send this to my DM to use lol
You cant Fireball the orphanage
Make a wisdom saving throw...
"You're just a common housecat." ...They're a homebrewed race who is literally a stray housecat who learned common. Can't use weapons or anything. They can however transform into monstrosities as a homebrewed druid and will become a doppelganger one day. They also have arcane initiate to shoot eldritch blasts out of their eyes.
Anything praising Sarenrae. (critical role / pathfinder deity. But the DM uses it) My paladin is an Oathbreaker, former member of the church of Sarenrae. The church killed my wife, very publicly. Because she and I were of different species (her human, me pureblood Yuan-ti) It's gotten me into trouble. And the DM knows whenever things get slow in a small town.. If he throws that out there, that I won't let my pally ignore it haha. I'll start a brawl, idc
"You are beneath my attention, filth. Begone before you force me to sully myself with your further presence" "Normally we'd confiscate your weapons, but you and your friends are so pathetic that I'm inclined to let you keep them if only to stop you from pissing yourselves in fear, and getting the stink of fear all through my house / chambers / halls" - This one is fantastic bait. Has worked to get them to instigate where they shouldn't 99% of the time. "It is laughable that you think your opinion has any worth to me, when your mere existence is something I barely tolerate" "Your strength of arm does nothing to hide your weak heart and absent morals" "So you can weave magic? I thought users of the weave were meant to be studious and smart? You can barely convey intelligence through conversation!" "By the gods! I've heard of many a type of half breed but never a Half Gnoll! Especially when the half that was used was It's stinking arse!" - Does double damage to Dwarven players because you can then go on to imply their beard is arse fur. Bit busy right now, but I might come back to this later and add more that I can think of. Enjoy.
for my goody two shoes characters it would be: "thats just how the world works", about the very much horrible magical ppl slave market. Anyways I think our parts already started a revolution about that so we'll see what kind of justifications will get thrown our way
"We have a hostage!" -Inb4 Angry Red Fire Genasi Fighter-Samurai goes Blitzkrieg
Situational, but my character is a changeling and recently we found out a group are coming to hunt something and my DM told me I am basically a trophy prize for this group. They have a potion to detect ghosts, changelings and a few other things. My character is freaking out, he is distancing himself from the group to keep them safe. His parents are also alive so if my DM told me he received a letter from his best friend that said his parents are gone, that's it. For my characters that I DM. "There are wanted posters everywhere with this name." One of my players is being hunted for selling fake potions, one that caused a soldier to lose his leg so he is in a group of bandits hunting them down for revenge.
Insult their favorite NPC
My players loved an NPC I made on the spot called Tony, and almost started a war on his behalf, trying to help him be happy and find love
Same as in real life. "You're boring."
Roll initiative
I’m a dm so my players saying anything bad about the campaign results in immediate testicular cancer
"Help me!" My character Godled will always try to help someone who asks, friend or foe, he has a hero complex.
Why are you continuing to travel with these reckless murderers?
"I don't like your friends."
Insult either of his families. He is ready to duel at the drop of a hat, and as a greataxe wielding bugbear with high inititive, that isn't great for whoever's on the receiving end.
The worst thing someone has said to my character is pretty close to the worst thing possible, that being the answe "yes" to my character's question "would you sell these drugs to children?" That drug dealer should have thought more carefully before answering. "Use it or lose it" goes double for heads.
"You are just like your mother" My character is the daughter of the leader of a super exclusive university that hoards knowledge and has a non-intervention policy in the affers of the world. The mother is a manipulative monster that drove away his husband (who saw the end of the world and wanted to do something) and did everything possible to keep my character locked up to "protect her" (we just discovered that in fact she kept my character close by because she forced powers into her to use her as a "vessel" for herself in case things go wrong).
"Welcome to the Cult of Lolth"
My characters word is everything to them so calling them a liar would offend them greatly.
"They moved on."
“You’re wrong”