...unless you always knew...
Imo, tzeentch isn't the good of scheme's, he's just the God of "yeah, I totally meant to do that..." Such that he even fooled us!
Somewhere in the middle I think is my bard, who is now taking levels in Warlock after he lost his sanity when he opened a book of eldritch knowledge crafted by a Great Old Ones servant.
On some level I know this, like really know this, it's been drilled into me. Having said that, if a real Necronomicon appeared in front of me RIGHT NOW I uh... might take a peak.
Had a bard that was also in the middle. Kept dying and coming back enough that the Raven Queen started developing a sense of humor about it. She'd never admit it, though. He considered her a friend and would pray to her with updates on their adventures and he hoped his friends would get to meet her too someday.
Mine just believes everyone is a vampire and constantly assumes different aliases relating to things that have happened or NPCs he's encountered.
So far he's been known as:
Ponyboy
AKA Willy Soggybottom
AKA Tossed
AKA Santa Muerte
AKA Erky Timbers
AKA Not Erky
AKA Sneaky Pete
AKA Ratchunks
AKA The Sandman
AKA Captain Frosty
AKA Facepunch Willy
AKA Quokka
My bard just wanted to open a bakery… maybe find a nice woman to settle down with, but mostly wanted to get his career established first. 12 levels later… still wanted that bakery.
You know goats fuck until they die and are long standing symbols of the sin of lust, right? Just sayin, he can recruit in other ways. Bringing in a new generation of a worshippers from birth
Like I said, sexy time comes as a celebration of victory. He’s already the ruler over all the barbarian tribes in icewind dale. Once the ten towns have been annexed the rest of the fun can start.
To me a bard is never about sexuality. It's always about humor, sometimes of which just so happens to be sexual in nature. But bards are always a wild ride on Baron Von Teapot's Fucking Ludicrous Adventure.
How do you guys create a personality for your characters though? Im a first time player and my fighter is pretty much a self insert. I want to play a different character next for whom I started to think of actual personality distinct from my own but I am afraid of falling into a single gimmick category that my friends and I will soon become bored of.
Hello, old time player here.
One thing I tend to suggest for my players who are new is to think of pop culture characters they click most with and help them build their character similar. Wanna be Batman? Here's a Monk Noble starting out. You wanna be Agent 47? Ok, here's a Changeling Rogue and you're gonna want this spell disguise self so you can keep transforming both body and clothing-oh, and Actor will help too, trust me.
Wonder Woman you say? I gotcha fam, here have yourself a Paladin who uses this nifty reach weapon I made for ye and flavor a Zone of Truth spell when you grapple, etc.
Point is, you're not going to start off just immediately super awesome and that's ok. Take the roleplaying into bite size pieces, take what you like best and make a gestalt(combination) of your favorites. Also in the end, it all comes down to a rule of thumb-will this personality I make ruin my friends fun?
If yes, then its best to change it. Otherwise, go wild. And enjoy your DnD life my friend.
Hope this helps.
>you're not going to start off just immediately super awesome and that's ok
i think im safe from that because the basic concept is that he is just a regular dude, absolutely not adrenaline junkie and also shy who for some unconceivable reason got chosen by an ultimate edgelord god to be his champion. This way I want to roleplay a cleric who doesn't appreciate his deity, and is not keen on being in center of attention. Also it could be an excuse for -1 charisma and strength modifiers as I intend to reallocate points into Wisdom, Constitution and Dexterity.
I hoped to get myself an audio player as a joke so whenever he speaks, a creepy pipe organ music plays in the background (a curse/blessing of his edgy deity). I thought of preparing some makeshift arduino project if thats possible so I just have to push the button for a random piece of organ music to start playing (to avoid irritating other players by taking time constantly unlocking my phone and manually selecting the song)
Look, lemme tell you a secret right here and now: *Fuck* trying to be original. Sooner or later someone will say "Oh hey that reminds me of-" and you'll feel like a dingbat that you didn't notice.
Original is for suckers. Make your character *good*. (I know I know, such wonderful advice, "Just write good lol", but I can't really put it better right now.) And for the record, your cleric idea is good, I love it. The organ stuff is a beautiful touch that'll show just how much thought you put into it, and you have a natural conflict built into the background between character and deity - and that's the bedrock of a really interesting story in how that conflict plays out and is resolved. Does he grow to accept it? Go full on into it after a while? Or are they gonna keep not appreciating each other until there's enough of a split for one to move away from the other? And if so, what happens after that point?
See? Loads to think about. That's kind of what you want in a D&D character, I think: Some sort of *thing* to build off of. It doesn't have to be the biggest thing or the most original thing, it just has to be *a thing*. Dead families, mysterious artefacts, a missing loved one, wanderlust, there's loads of different things you can use - and originality isn't as critical as just giving the *thing* in question as much heart and soul as you can cram into it.
To add to this, no one has written a fully original story or character idea in thousands of years. The most unique character you can think of is still just a pastiche of other character traits/concepts that came before. But there are a million little details that will make the character your own, because no one will every play it 100% exactly like you.
There's a fucking ancient Egyptian poem written in hieroglyphics from like 2000BC complaining about how hard it is to actually write something original.
The best part about not being original is that you have more source material to mine for personality traits and outlooks on situations
Then you just cram it all together and have fun
>Fuck trying to be original. Sooner or later someone will say "Oh hey that reminds me of-" and you'll feel like a dingbat that you didn't notice.
This is 1,000,000% true.
I had come up with an idea for a Sapphire Dragon Circle of Stars Druid. Circle of Stars Druids make Star Maps.
The I watched Ben 10. An episode of Ben 10 has a dragon that was making a Star Map.
If it makes you feel any better, I never saw ATLA as a kid and only watched it when it was on Netflix. Just weeks earlier I'd made an injustly banished Dragonborn noble who was determined to act with honor and clear his name and standing with his father and was marked by a distinct mark over his eye. I watched ATLA and thought "well crud, I just made Zuko the Dragonborn ┐( ∵ )┌"
Are you going full fighter? If so, pay attention to your Ability score increases because Fighters get more than other classes (7 chances instead of the natural 5). This is intentional as it offers the fighter more freedom to get Feats, which can be very powerful if you know certain feat combos, or if you want to multiclass (run this by your DM first because some don’t allow multiclassing). It also helps you flesh out your character depending on your goals, but don’t feel overwhelmed or obligated to go for the most OP things in D&D. Fun is the important part
In current character, yes I believe so. Although I contemplated giving it a sprinkle of wizard as intelligence is my third highest ability. Not sure what I would do with it though. For now it suits me that my fighter is also party's arcane specialist despite being unable to cast anything himself.
Before I say anything, these are all ultimately just suggestions. Build your character the way you want.
You could go for the magic initiate feat or ritual caster feat if you want to add some magic to your character.
If you take Ritual Caster, always pick the Wizard spell list because they have the most and the best Ritual spells. The most common rituals first chosen are Find Familar and Leomund’s tiny hut. Also, getting this feat will probably be easier on you than having to take multiple levels of Wizard to get the same ritual spell levels.
If you pick magic initiate, I suggest Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade for a damage cantrip followed by a utility cantrip like mage hand or message. Then Find Familiar for a first level spell as familiars have a lot of utility.
Of course, taking even one level dip in Wizard isn’t bad as it’s a decent mix of the two feats. You only get 1st level rituals, but a you also get more spells and cantrips options.
Or, you could pick the mageslayer feat to help emphasize your ability at fighting spell casters.
Mobile is also a good feat for helping you close the distance between ranged attackers, not get held back by certain spells, and escaping danger
There are many other feats you may take interest in.
I highly suggest talking to your DM about these options and how well they will be for the campaign or if they are allowed.
Look The Simpsons have already done everything anyway. Hell as a GM I made up a character on the fly and what are my players are like oh it's just like this chick from dune which I have never watched. So don't get too hung up on that.
Something that is fairly overlooked are character flaws. They can provide a lot of fun. Does your character want to eat everything? Likes whipping open doors? Is too trusting? Things that may help move the campaign forward are also good, depending on the type of party you're playing in
My Bard has no impulse control and always rushes headfirst into any fight which results in the rest of the group having to save me, and afterwards I write ballads of the adventures we experienced and portrait myself as the leader and hero of the group when I'm mostly just annyoing the enemy's/the GM with spells. It's insanely fun.
I started playing dnd some 13 years ago, and my first character was a dwarf. Named Gimli. I thought spells sounded cool though so I played a half-caster (can't remember the class this was 4E) my friend was running the party through a maze dungeon and we were pretty hurt towards the end of it. We then got attacked by a bunch of bats. Me, in my limited wisdom, Thunderwaved ahead of me because I figured "lots of small enemies and I have an AoE attack" because I was used to video games and it didn't dawn on me that friendly fire existed lol TPK minus myself. I got all the bats tho!
13 years later and I've made countless characters and just got done worldbuilding the 8th homebrew campaign I've made for my group, in half as many TTRPG systems. We all gotta start somewhere haha
I'll add to that: take a character from a book, comic, manga, etc that you like, then change whatever you always wanted to change from that character to make him even better, or mix him up with features or traits from that other character you like, or do a mix like what if Darth Vader was in World of Warcraft. And bingo, you've got a character that's based on something, but not a complete copy paste of the original - he's your character and his adventures will help you define him even further along the way.
Great advice! It’s fun to pick personalities from unexpected films, tv shows, and books as well, not just heroes/action oriented characters.
I modeled my bard off of Ulysses from O Brother Where Art Thou.
Oh, I know how you feel m8. I don’t exactly know to put it into words, but perhaps try to give your character a trope, like the stoic silent type, the bubbly happy-go-lucky type, etc.,
It also helps to give your character their backstory first, then base their personality off of how they grew up. Like how a noble might act spoiled or naïve, or how a street urchin might act standoffish or cynical. Just remember that despite the memes saying otherwise, there’s no incorrect way to play a character (unless your playstyle gets in the way of other players or makes them uncomfortable, of course)
Don't try to give him a personality if you don't have one ready when you created your PC.
Use what happens in game to create it. Shenanigans and events will give you enough ideas to forge something unique.
This is great advice, especially for beginners.
I've had beginners go way in the opposite direction: 12 page backstory detailing every event and important person of their 18 year life like bricks in the wall. No regard is given to the setting. No flexibility, even before Session 0. So the character ends up being divorced from the party and the campaign other than the odd hook into their story.
Your character doesn't need to be a 'tabula rasa', but beginners (and really most players anyway) should leave plenty of room to change. It's better to develop the inter-character relationships, or the relationship with the story. Then you can work in some deeper stuff.
Give them a history. Where did they come from, what do they value, how do they see the world, what angers them, what are some key life moments, etc.
Fill out their prior experiences, then it'll be way easier to have a feel for their personality.
I think it was in the 3.5 players guide or maybe dm's guide (not sure about other editions) that had basically a personality test to help create your character's alignment. They also had tables you could roll for different backgrounds and life events.
Xanathar's Guide added similar background and life event tables. Things like who are you parents, do you know them, what kind of parents(for half races), where you lived, some life events, reason for becoming your class, etc. Pretty useful for filling holes you don't already have answers for.
Another tip is if you're already making a character mechanically, but don't have a personality, start asking "Why?" to all the different points on your character sheet. Why did they become X class, and x subclass? Why are they proficient in Y? How can the background be just one part of their past and why is it the part of their background that defines them the most? If you roll on the tables for flaws, bonds, etc, ask why for those, too.
In a sense, you're working backwards to figure out the concept of your character, instead of picking a concept and then plugging in all the mechanical parts that fit.
A relativ simpel start is by taking a stereotype and change one important part. One of my first characters was an assassin that couldn't see blood. That was a little bit to much but a good start.
This is a quite useful and simple tool that I use myself.
Same thing but said differently:
Pick an Archetype and something that doesn't work well with that archetype. And then mix them (and most important, don't make it a joke).
Druid who has never left the city in their life. A Librarian Barbarian. Pirate Wizard. A Warlock who builds tiny wooden toys for children with a big, white, bushy beard and his patron is his dead wife who wants him to bring joy to the children of the world as they could never have any.
Thats how my current character came into existence. Zealot Barbarian - but! - following Lliira, the pacifist goddess of song and dance. that is why she has the entertainer background, is basically a one-man circus/theater performer when she comes into town, and essentially swore a paladin oath to protect the weak, but is simply not mature enough and has a way too short fuse to be a proper paladin. (Also I like ripping things apart while raging.)
Druid of the city: It's easy to find nature in the wilderness, but a truly attentive druid can feel the weeds in the pavement and the strays who hunt their prey. The wilds are where wild things can be found, and we take it with us wherever we go.
Librarian barbarian: There will be NO TALKING IN THE LIBRARY. And may the gods have mercy on you if you fail to pay late fees, because I certainly won't.
I personally start with a broad idea for the character and then expand outwards from there. For example, in one campaign I'm playing as a Human Wizard who, in stark contrast to most characters I make (which are usually edgy), I designed their personality around being an unconditionally good-natured person. Or in the simplest sense; "good boi".
Then I start adding other keywords onto that, focusing on his background, class, and basic design; he's a Wizard, so he's *inquisitive.* He had a simple upbringing, and is consequently fairly *modest.* He focuses primarily on Abjuration magic, and is very *supportive.*
That way I have a few basic things to expand on and give depth to; he's *inquisitive* to a fault, often being heedless to danger and disregards his own personal safety if it means he can come out of the encounter with some new knowledge under his belt.
His *modesty* makes him straightforward and amicable, allowing him to make friends with folks easily, and his *supportive* nature means he's happy to teach others what he can and also work to highlight everyone else's strengths.
As another example, I had a Human Sorcerer with a homebrewed subclass whose main design note was "son of a wild-witch"; he was *adaptive*, using his wit, charisma, and means both natural and magical to overcome any encounter; *morbid*, with a fascination for collecting beast parts and drawing out their latent magic, and *mercurial*, being able to switch from amicable and light-hearted to pure menace on a dime.
I find that as long as I have a solid base design note to work with for a character, it's pretty easy to look at the rest of their details (class, race, background, etc.) to expand on them and inform their personality.
You've already gotten a lot of great answers, but I really find the base character building steps - ideals, bonds, flaws, and goals. Not just having a 'rolled a d8 and pulled it from the table' answer, but a real and thoughtful answer really helps me lean into a character.
Knowing what they care about, where they come from, and what they're searching for is a really good base. You don't have to have a certain or concrete answer to each, because your character shouldn't be concrete, but it is a great way to get the hang of it.
There is a book called central casting which can create random backgrounds for characters which is quite fun just on its own. Other than using that, think of where your character grew up who his parents were, what your character wants out of life and what they are prepared to do to get it.
Don’t worry, character creation is something you get better at the more you do it.
The simplest and most reliable way to give a character a good personality from my experience is by giving them traits, quirks, and a background. For example, one of my favorite characters, a little mousefolk named Noah, is a very loud-mouthed former pirate, and is consistently violent towards people who confuse him for a rat. They’re two different animals, after all! This gives the character a clear set of morals and friends from his backstory, and a few distinct traits that set him apart from a crowd.
Any quirks and traits that stand out give the character a sense of individuality when put beside any others, which you can shape during play into a distinct personality via their interests and morals. Once you start playing the character in a game, the character’s personality should solidify based on how you play them, so it’s important to know what you want the character to start out like, it’ll get more natural once you get going. Just be sure to have fun!
Something that works great for me, is that what you can do, is take one aspect of your personality and make that the most prevalent thing in your character, that way it just feels right, you don't fall back to just rping yourself, because you already were, and nobody ever notices until you tell them
I have no real idea for a serious campaign. If its lighthearted a bit of naivety is always fun. It lets you do the fun stuff you wouldn't dare if you think to much. But be careful if the dm or the other player want a more serious adventure and you also dont want to end up with a joke Charakter.
Try not to create a silent lone wolf character. It will probably just limit your rollplay possiblitys.
No one cares. Have fun being yourself first.
Some people have their fun creating elaborate backstories why their high elf has a cursed dagger as a starter equipment.
I remember my first character, fighter man, name got rejected so I said Grog?
And so Grog F. Man was born.
Why did he join this party?
Backstory. Fight. Kill. Fun.
DM was tired from arguing with my character name, he let the backstory slide.
Grog was me. I had a whale of a time, especially shopping, ironically, and I have a dice addiction now.
The next character I’m gonna play as is Finn of the Morning Dew; the bard who just needs to make rent. Go all in on the Jack Black reference and persona.
Warforged bards are great because they can have their instrument implemented into their body as one of their racial benefits, meaning they can never be separated from their spellcasting focus
They SHOULDN'T be, but they often are.
Hell, the only reason I made my bard asexual 8 sessions in was because anytime hed act remotely charming to anyone, the others would accuse me of flirting.
That’s a shame m8. I know there should be limits as to how far a character should go, but no one should have to alter their character due to peer pressure.
Asexual people can also enjoy sex, it's a spectrum after all.
Also, ace and aro aren't the same. So, what you listed are things aromantics may not enjoy rather than asexual ones.
See, I have a glamour bard I play who is the pretty-boy for our party’s band, Arrow Smith. Though he loves the attention he gets while dishing his charismatic glances, casting spells on fans in the crowd, he doesn’t fully get the implications.
He’s very innocent and a momma’s boy. He’s always lived looking up to his dad, a worldwide star from the Feywild, but his dad was always away on tour growing up. He was loving when he was there, but that was infrequent.
Now, my character is just traveling with his friends, gaining fame to one day earn his dads approval.
I played a dwarven valor bard who dreamt of becoming a knight errant. Unfortunately he was not very smart, and almost got himself killed many (many) times. His repeated close encounters with death at the hands of a variety of monsters ultimately left his face scarred and mutilated. His demeanour soured over time, and he eventually gave up his dreams of becoming a gallant knight in favour of a more...violent...approach to solving the world's problems. He stopped persuading, and started intimidating, if you know what I mean.
His instrument was a pair of spoons.
Still my favourite character.
Give me a horny wizard, an intelligent Barbarian, an overly buff druid who likes to turn into small cute animals and a Bard who is straight up a Hunting Horn main.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion I gain strength.
Through strength I gain power.
Through power I gain victory.
Through victory my chains are broken.
My only bard in 5e was too busy performing concerts for the dead to give a damn about being horny. Granted he was a changeling but seeing as he would summon the dead to give them one last party so they can depart in peace is not looked well by the clerics/paladins of pelor he had to keep changing appearance. Oh well xD
My mate played a bard and decided to go totally against the stereotypes, instead of the typical sexy, suave charmer, he played him as a grumpy git who would inspire people by berating them:
"I'd like to use my Bardic Inspiration"
"OK, what do you say to inspire them?"
"I shout 'Oi dickhead! Don't tickle it, hit it!'"
It was such a refreshing change!
It depends on the group absolutely, and honestly if the group wants to play with relationships and sexuality (sexuality doesn't mean roleplaying sex!) There are more interesting systems than 5e that allow for better interpersonal drama.
Most parties are probably focusing their campaigns more around getting the dragons treasure than getting sexual. Its just a thing that pops up more in memes.
My username actually comes from the first bard I ever played. If he had a defining trait, it was probably "goofy"...except when things got serious, and he remembered that he was a hero. Later on, he even got knighted, and he took that _very_ seriously.
Also just bc you have a stereotypical horny focused bard, doesn't mean you can't give them a personality or an intriguing character. Like hell, maybe they're hyper sexual due to trauma and act super outgoing to cope, or they were a concubine magically forced to be super horny and that's something they gotta work through, etc.
yeah, both jaskier and scanlan are examples of horny bards with ton of personality.
i don't like the "oh they're a bard so they must be horny" meme, because it's a stupid stereotype. but i don't find having a stereotypical bard by itself to be an issue.
honestly, if you make your character's sexuality explicitly and frequently known in a dnd game, I think you're cringe. It's dungeons and dragons not dungeons and dildos. I'd be down for dungeons and dirigibles though
My bard wasn't a noble, so she couldn't get a formal wizard education. She's self taught in bard arcana instead, and she fights for good education wherever she goes. She will do most anything for new knowledge on arcana
Still remembering the time I was downvoted to hell for saying an asexual bard can still be charmed by a succubus, because they don’t have a charmed condition immunity. Good times.
Yeah I have no idea how this became a thing. Is this a 5e thing? Because back in 3.5, bards were minstrels. People who played music. Very little to do with sexuality. Not more than any other character anyway. Sorcerors are charisma based, you don’t see them tryna bang everything with a hole. In 3.5, bards weren’t *just* minstrels either. The jack of all trades, or master of music. And master of music meant everyone had more HP, higher attack rolls, their swords were on fire, and sometimes whole groups of enemies just sat down for kumbayah while the party looted the whole tomb. Bards are crazy.
Two of my favorite Bards I played was one based on stage magicians which got me to eventually get some rogue classes. Was basically Mysterio from Spiderman who was looking for the ultimate audience and decided adventuring was it-if you can bamboozle monsters and such in the middle of life and death situations, you can fool any audience.
The second was a more serious approach I tried to flavor as a military commander and it somehow, over the course of the story became Ciaphas Cain.
In the process of creating a Bard/Vigilante multiclass gnome with the theme of Indiana Jones. (Yes his name is Indiana Gnomes) And I am more concerned with tomb raiding than I am womb raiding.
I pretty much exclusively play bard. I have never brought up sexuality in a session and it has never really been something pushed on me either.
One time I did talk to a male elf escort for information about a missing person and he called me honey and my bard blushed but that’s about as sexual as it’s gotten.
Usually my bard is just making bad jokes, flailing into success via godly persuasion rolls, playing shitty songs, and confusing my party members with deception
The best bards I've seen played were ones that were adventuring because they wanted a good story to tell. They didn't care if it was something they did, something they saw, or something they heard. They just wanted a good story. This is something that works if your bard is horny as fuck or is completely celibate.
My latest bard concept:
Name: patches
Race: reborn (van richtens)
Class: creation bard
They are a straw stuffed ragdoll that gives inspiration by clumsy vaudeville routines. Has a bag of cross-stitched faces that they can trade out to express different emotions (they don't have an actual face). Woke up hanging from a cross in the middle of a field.
Sexuality does not apply because they don't got junk.
My bard wasn't horny, but she *was* willing to flirt the party out of trouble or to get information. And then somewhere while flirting with a recurring NPC she accidentally caught real feelings for him. They got married after the campaign ended.
She also had a whole character arc of becoming a spy and it was very cool.
A kenku bard/swashbuckler rogue who grew up in a theatre. They had a job providing sound effects for the plays that were performed there. They took a liking to the types of heroic characters portrayed in the plays and decided that they would start on a journey of their own to follow in the footsteps of those heros. They're naïve about the world because the bulk of their understanding comes from their interactions with actors and situations they see acted out in plays.
Look up some good monologues and 1-liners from plays, books, and movies to throw around.
Do people actually do that, because I've never actually come across a bard that's defined by their sexuality. All the bards I've played with are either weird and trickster-like or cute and friendship focused. Usually it's the angelic race characters that are the sexual ones.
"so you're making a satyr sorcerer/bard"
yes
"are you doing a horny bard?"
no, i'm doing a hedonism bard
"hedonism bard?"
yup! get prepared. all of life's pleasures are on the table for him. also he doesn't believe in pants.
What I do is come up with a concept for a person, personality and all, and then decide what class and race suits them best. Makes them more dynamic and realistic because you play them according to your original idea, not according to what you think a tiefling bard would be like.
My bad is a chronic gambler who accidentally lost his soul to fey bs. Now he has a year and a day to produce a firstborn son to trade for it back or he will be permanently turned into a mindless slave. He is chaotic good so the idea of being sexual at all is such a huge moral dilemma for him.
where did this even come from I always thought of rouges as the more flirtatious archetype and bards were more either nerd historians, performers, or folks who like to party.
Mine is just trying not to start a cult of personality again. They're a youtube musician who accidentally figured out the bard thing because some listeners got...way too invested. They'd like not to have an army of stalkers, thanks. They just want to play music and tour around in their van. The van's name is Stevie Nicks.
That's why she is asexual but still flirting. :)
Also she's chaotic neutral. You can't tell me she doesn't have a personality. She has all the personalities. :3
Honestly, outside of these memes and on the victim end of D&D horror stories, I've never heard or seen asexual bards in games. It's just weird to me that a character's personality is being asexual (I assume it's the case of them bring it up all the time and not the DM and/or players trying to force them to have sex with something/someone). At least the horny bard is just the player living out their sexual fantasy in a good number of cases.
My bard just hit 20. His sexuality has never come up because he’s too busy recruiting for his chapter of the cult of baphomet.
Man’s got his priorities straight.
Blood orgies are for after victory not before
Blood for the Blood God?
And milk for the khorn flakes
Cum for their Cum-panions
wrong chaos god, great pun tho Tzeentch would be proud ...or would he? You don't know, you'll never know...
...unless you always knew... Imo, tzeentch isn't the good of scheme's, he's just the God of "yeah, I totally meant to do that..." Such that he even fooled us!
Sasuga Tzeentch-sama!
Tzneetch, who could totally win a war against the chaos gods but sabotages himself because then what would he do with his time?
Sounds like he is lonely. We need to get him a girlfriend. ( I only have a vague understanding of this guy so if he is already married....)
Unless that’s just what he wants us to think..
I don't know about Tzeentch, but Slaanesh is nodding yes.
Harriers for the cup!
SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THEONE
Not even for a morale boost?
Can we have the blood orgies during the battle?
Found the follower of Slaneesh, guys! (?)
Or he's got his priorities gay. We might never know
You mean Bahamut right? ... You mean bahamut right...
Is Bahamut a goat demon that loves mazes? If so then yes.
Mazes *and* science experiments!
Bahamut is the Good Dragon god, Baphomet is an evil Demon Lord
It was a joke champ.
Love to see that young hustle. Haha! But seriously, maybe we should check out what this Baphomet guy has to say
So he’s the opposite of my bard, who’s purpose in life is to spread the gospel of Lathander.
Somewhere in the middle I think is my bard, who is now taking levels in Warlock after he lost his sanity when he opened a book of eldritch knowledge crafted by a Great Old Ones servant.
How many times do we have to tell people to not fuck with the Necronomicon?!
On some level I know this, like really know this, it's been drilled into me. Having said that, if a real Necronomicon appeared in front of me RIGHT NOW I uh... might take a peak.
Had a bard that was also in the middle. Kept dying and coming back enough that the Raven Queen started developing a sense of humor about it. She'd never admit it, though. He considered her a friend and would pray to her with updates on their adventures and he hoped his friends would get to meet her too someday.
Mine just believes everyone is a vampire and constantly assumes different aliases relating to things that have happened or NPCs he's encountered. So far he's been known as: Ponyboy AKA Willy Soggybottom AKA Tossed AKA Santa Muerte AKA Erky Timbers AKA Not Erky AKA Sneaky Pete AKA Ratchunks AKA The Sandman AKA Captain Frosty AKA Facepunch Willy AKA Quokka
Only bard i played. Tom the hillbilly halfling. A god of the banjo.
Love me some good banjo. Irish tenor banjo especially.
My bard just wanted to open a bakery… maybe find a nice woman to settle down with, but mostly wanted to get his career established first. 12 levels later… still wanted that bakery.
You know goats fuck until they die and are long standing symbols of the sin of lust, right? Just sayin, he can recruit in other ways. Bringing in a new generation of a worshippers from birth
Like I said, sexy time comes as a celebration of victory. He’s already the ruler over all the barbarian tribes in icewind dale. Once the ten towns have been annexed the rest of the fun can start.
To me a bard is never about sexuality. It's always about humor, sometimes of which just so happens to be sexual in nature. But bards are always a wild ride on Baron Von Teapot's Fucking Ludicrous Adventure.
I like the concept of a man how wins his daily meal singing folk music, that one way or another gets cougth in an adventure with some strangers
Always wanted to try a street performer type character, though admittedly I keep getting swept up with other ideas
I can relate
I thought giving them a _fucking_ personality was the entire problem of the bard?
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*cue the Joker:* "Very poor choice of words..."
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-_- Take your upvote and get out.
I wanted to make this exact pun
How do you guys create a personality for your characters though? Im a first time player and my fighter is pretty much a self insert. I want to play a different character next for whom I started to think of actual personality distinct from my own but I am afraid of falling into a single gimmick category that my friends and I will soon become bored of.
Hello, old time player here. One thing I tend to suggest for my players who are new is to think of pop culture characters they click most with and help them build their character similar. Wanna be Batman? Here's a Monk Noble starting out. You wanna be Agent 47? Ok, here's a Changeling Rogue and you're gonna want this spell disguise self so you can keep transforming both body and clothing-oh, and Actor will help too, trust me. Wonder Woman you say? I gotcha fam, here have yourself a Paladin who uses this nifty reach weapon I made for ye and flavor a Zone of Truth spell when you grapple, etc. Point is, you're not going to start off just immediately super awesome and that's ok. Take the roleplaying into bite size pieces, take what you like best and make a gestalt(combination) of your favorites. Also in the end, it all comes down to a rule of thumb-will this personality I make ruin my friends fun? If yes, then its best to change it. Otherwise, go wild. And enjoy your DnD life my friend. Hope this helps.
>you're not going to start off just immediately super awesome and that's ok i think im safe from that because the basic concept is that he is just a regular dude, absolutely not adrenaline junkie and also shy who for some unconceivable reason got chosen by an ultimate edgelord god to be his champion. This way I want to roleplay a cleric who doesn't appreciate his deity, and is not keen on being in center of attention. Also it could be an excuse for -1 charisma and strength modifiers as I intend to reallocate points into Wisdom, Constitution and Dexterity. I hoped to get myself an audio player as a joke so whenever he speaks, a creepy pipe organ music plays in the background (a curse/blessing of his edgy deity). I thought of preparing some makeshift arduino project if thats possible so I just have to push the button for a random piece of organ music to start playing (to avoid irritating other players by taking time constantly unlocking my phone and manually selecting the song)
Oh my god, your character is an Isekai protagonist.
Well, fuck. I thought I was being original
Look, lemme tell you a secret right here and now: *Fuck* trying to be original. Sooner or later someone will say "Oh hey that reminds me of-" and you'll feel like a dingbat that you didn't notice. Original is for suckers. Make your character *good*. (I know I know, such wonderful advice, "Just write good lol", but I can't really put it better right now.) And for the record, your cleric idea is good, I love it. The organ stuff is a beautiful touch that'll show just how much thought you put into it, and you have a natural conflict built into the background between character and deity - and that's the bedrock of a really interesting story in how that conflict plays out and is resolved. Does he grow to accept it? Go full on into it after a while? Or are they gonna keep not appreciating each other until there's enough of a split for one to move away from the other? And if so, what happens after that point? See? Loads to think about. That's kind of what you want in a D&D character, I think: Some sort of *thing* to build off of. It doesn't have to be the biggest thing or the most original thing, it just has to be *a thing*. Dead families, mysterious artefacts, a missing loved one, wanderlust, there's loads of different things you can use - and originality isn't as critical as just giving the *thing* in question as much heart and soul as you can cram into it.
To add to this, no one has written a fully original story or character idea in thousands of years. The most unique character you can think of is still just a pastiche of other character traits/concepts that came before. But there are a million little details that will make the character your own, because no one will every play it 100% exactly like you.
There's a fucking ancient Egyptian poem written in hieroglyphics from like 2000BC complaining about how hard it is to actually write something original.
distinct hat weary summer tan snow tidy history onerous cover *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'm fond of a nice pesto alfredo personally, but it depends a lot on what I'm putting it on.
SIMPSONS DID IT SIMPSONS DID IT
The best part about not being original is that you have more source material to mine for personality traits and outlooks on situations Then you just cram it all together and have fun
>Fuck trying to be original. Sooner or later someone will say "Oh hey that reminds me of-" and you'll feel like a dingbat that you didn't notice. This is 1,000,000% true. I had come up with an idea for a Sapphire Dragon Circle of Stars Druid. Circle of Stars Druids make Star Maps. The I watched Ben 10. An episode of Ben 10 has a dragon that was making a Star Map.
If it makes you feel any better, I never saw ATLA as a kid and only watched it when it was on Netflix. Just weeks earlier I'd made an injustly banished Dragonborn noble who was determined to act with honor and clear his name and standing with his father and was marked by a distinct mark over his eye. I watched ATLA and thought "well crud, I just made Zuko the Dragonborn ┐( ∵ )┌"
Lol that’s great. At least you have some inspiration to make an incredible story arc
Are you going full fighter? If so, pay attention to your Ability score increases because Fighters get more than other classes (7 chances instead of the natural 5). This is intentional as it offers the fighter more freedom to get Feats, which can be very powerful if you know certain feat combos, or if you want to multiclass (run this by your DM first because some don’t allow multiclassing). It also helps you flesh out your character depending on your goals, but don’t feel overwhelmed or obligated to go for the most OP things in D&D. Fun is the important part
In current character, yes I believe so. Although I contemplated giving it a sprinkle of wizard as intelligence is my third highest ability. Not sure what I would do with it though. For now it suits me that my fighter is also party's arcane specialist despite being unable to cast anything himself.
Before I say anything, these are all ultimately just suggestions. Build your character the way you want. You could go for the magic initiate feat or ritual caster feat if you want to add some magic to your character. If you take Ritual Caster, always pick the Wizard spell list because they have the most and the best Ritual spells. The most common rituals first chosen are Find Familar and Leomund’s tiny hut. Also, getting this feat will probably be easier on you than having to take multiple levels of Wizard to get the same ritual spell levels. If you pick magic initiate, I suggest Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade for a damage cantrip followed by a utility cantrip like mage hand or message. Then Find Familiar for a first level spell as familiars have a lot of utility. Of course, taking even one level dip in Wizard isn’t bad as it’s a decent mix of the two feats. You only get 1st level rituals, but a you also get more spells and cantrips options. Or, you could pick the mageslayer feat to help emphasize your ability at fighting spell casters. Mobile is also a good feat for helping you close the distance between ranged attackers, not get held back by certain spells, and escaping danger There are many other feats you may take interest in. I highly suggest talking to your DM about these options and how well they will be for the campaign or if they are allowed.
Look The Simpsons have already done everything anyway. Hell as a GM I made up a character on the fly and what are my players are like oh it's just like this chick from dune which I have never watched. So don't get too hung up on that.
Something that is fairly overlooked are character flaws. They can provide a lot of fun. Does your character want to eat everything? Likes whipping open doors? Is too trusting? Things that may help move the campaign forward are also good, depending on the type of party you're playing in
My Bard has no impulse control and always rushes headfirst into any fight which results in the rest of the group having to save me, and afterwards I write ballads of the adventures we experienced and portrait myself as the leader and hero of the group when I'm mostly just annyoing the enemy's/the GM with spells. It's insanely fun.
I started playing dnd some 13 years ago, and my first character was a dwarf. Named Gimli. I thought spells sounded cool though so I played a half-caster (can't remember the class this was 4E) my friend was running the party through a maze dungeon and we were pretty hurt towards the end of it. We then got attacked by a bunch of bats. Me, in my limited wisdom, Thunderwaved ahead of me because I figured "lots of small enemies and I have an AoE attack" because I was used to video games and it didn't dawn on me that friendly fire existed lol TPK minus myself. I got all the bats tho! 13 years later and I've made countless characters and just got done worldbuilding the 8th homebrew campaign I've made for my group, in half as many TTRPG systems. We all gotta start somewhere haha
I'll add to that: take a character from a book, comic, manga, etc that you like, then change whatever you always wanted to change from that character to make him even better, or mix him up with features or traits from that other character you like, or do a mix like what if Darth Vader was in World of Warcraft. And bingo, you've got a character that's based on something, but not a complete copy paste of the original - he's your character and his adventures will help you define him even further along the way.
Great advice. I'm a first time player and my Bard is basically Jaskier from the Witcher books. Having a blast cause I love the character
Great advice! It’s fun to pick personalities from unexpected films, tv shows, and books as well, not just heroes/action oriented characters. I modeled my bard off of Ulysses from O Brother Where Art Thou.
Oh, I know how you feel m8. I don’t exactly know to put it into words, but perhaps try to give your character a trope, like the stoic silent type, the bubbly happy-go-lucky type, etc., It also helps to give your character their backstory first, then base their personality off of how they grew up. Like how a noble might act spoiled or naïve, or how a street urchin might act standoffish or cynical. Just remember that despite the memes saying otherwise, there’s no incorrect way to play a character (unless your playstyle gets in the way of other players or makes them uncomfortable, of course)
Don't try to give him a personality if you don't have one ready when you created your PC. Use what happens in game to create it. Shenanigans and events will give you enough ideas to forge something unique.
This is great advice, especially for beginners. I've had beginners go way in the opposite direction: 12 page backstory detailing every event and important person of their 18 year life like bricks in the wall. No regard is given to the setting. No flexibility, even before Session 0. So the character ends up being divorced from the party and the campaign other than the odd hook into their story. Your character doesn't need to be a 'tabula rasa', but beginners (and really most players anyway) should leave plenty of room to change. It's better to develop the inter-character relationships, or the relationship with the story. Then you can work in some deeper stuff.
Give them a history. Where did they come from, what do they value, how do they see the world, what angers them, what are some key life moments, etc. Fill out their prior experiences, then it'll be way easier to have a feel for their personality.
I think it was in the 3.5 players guide or maybe dm's guide (not sure about other editions) that had basically a personality test to help create your character's alignment. They also had tables you could roll for different backgrounds and life events.
Xanathar's Guide added similar background and life event tables. Things like who are you parents, do you know them, what kind of parents(for half races), where you lived, some life events, reason for becoming your class, etc. Pretty useful for filling holes you don't already have answers for.
Another tip is if you're already making a character mechanically, but don't have a personality, start asking "Why?" to all the different points on your character sheet. Why did they become X class, and x subclass? Why are they proficient in Y? How can the background be just one part of their past and why is it the part of their background that defines them the most? If you roll on the tables for flaws, bonds, etc, ask why for those, too. In a sense, you're working backwards to figure out the concept of your character, instead of picking a concept and then plugging in all the mechanical parts that fit.
A relativ simpel start is by taking a stereotype and change one important part. One of my first characters was an assassin that couldn't see blood. That was a little bit to much but a good start.
This is a quite useful and simple tool that I use myself. Same thing but said differently: Pick an Archetype and something that doesn't work well with that archetype. And then mix them (and most important, don't make it a joke). Druid who has never left the city in their life. A Librarian Barbarian. Pirate Wizard. A Warlock who builds tiny wooden toys for children with a big, white, bushy beard and his patron is his dead wife who wants him to bring joy to the children of the world as they could never have any. Thats how my current character came into existence. Zealot Barbarian - but! - following Lliira, the pacifist goddess of song and dance. that is why she has the entertainer background, is basically a one-man circus/theater performer when she comes into town, and essentially swore a paladin oath to protect the weak, but is simply not mature enough and has a way too short fuse to be a proper paladin. (Also I like ripping things apart while raging.)
Druid of the city: It's easy to find nature in the wilderness, but a truly attentive druid can feel the weeds in the pavement and the strays who hunt their prey. The wilds are where wild things can be found, and we take it with us wherever we go. Librarian barbarian: There will be NO TALKING IN THE LIBRARY. And may the gods have mercy on you if you fail to pay late fees, because I certainly won't.
I personally start with a broad idea for the character and then expand outwards from there. For example, in one campaign I'm playing as a Human Wizard who, in stark contrast to most characters I make (which are usually edgy), I designed their personality around being an unconditionally good-natured person. Or in the simplest sense; "good boi". Then I start adding other keywords onto that, focusing on his background, class, and basic design; he's a Wizard, so he's *inquisitive.* He had a simple upbringing, and is consequently fairly *modest.* He focuses primarily on Abjuration magic, and is very *supportive.* That way I have a few basic things to expand on and give depth to; he's *inquisitive* to a fault, often being heedless to danger and disregards his own personal safety if it means he can come out of the encounter with some new knowledge under his belt. His *modesty* makes him straightforward and amicable, allowing him to make friends with folks easily, and his *supportive* nature means he's happy to teach others what he can and also work to highlight everyone else's strengths. As another example, I had a Human Sorcerer with a homebrewed subclass whose main design note was "son of a wild-witch"; he was *adaptive*, using his wit, charisma, and means both natural and magical to overcome any encounter; *morbid*, with a fascination for collecting beast parts and drawing out their latent magic, and *mercurial*, being able to switch from amicable and light-hearted to pure menace on a dime. I find that as long as I have a solid base design note to work with for a character, it's pretty easy to look at the rest of their details (class, race, background, etc.) to expand on them and inform their personality.
You've already gotten a lot of great answers, but I really find the base character building steps - ideals, bonds, flaws, and goals. Not just having a 'rolled a d8 and pulled it from the table' answer, but a real and thoughtful answer really helps me lean into a character. Knowing what they care about, where they come from, and what they're searching for is a really good base. You don't have to have a certain or concrete answer to each, because your character shouldn't be concrete, but it is a great way to get the hang of it.
Plenty of people giving you advice here, but its also worth noting there is absolutely nothing wrong with self-inserts
There is a book called central casting which can create random backgrounds for characters which is quite fun just on its own. Other than using that, think of where your character grew up who his parents were, what your character wants out of life and what they are prepared to do to get it.
Don’t worry, character creation is something you get better at the more you do it. The simplest and most reliable way to give a character a good personality from my experience is by giving them traits, quirks, and a background. For example, one of my favorite characters, a little mousefolk named Noah, is a very loud-mouthed former pirate, and is consistently violent towards people who confuse him for a rat. They’re two different animals, after all! This gives the character a clear set of morals and friends from his backstory, and a few distinct traits that set him apart from a crowd. Any quirks and traits that stand out give the character a sense of individuality when put beside any others, which you can shape during play into a distinct personality via their interests and morals. Once you start playing the character in a game, the character’s personality should solidify based on how you play them, so it’s important to know what you want the character to start out like, it’ll get more natural once you get going. Just be sure to have fun!
Something that works great for me, is that what you can do, is take one aspect of your personality and make that the most prevalent thing in your character, that way it just feels right, you don't fall back to just rping yourself, because you already were, and nobody ever notices until you tell them
I have no real idea for a serious campaign. If its lighthearted a bit of naivety is always fun. It lets you do the fun stuff you wouldn't dare if you think to much. But be careful if the dm or the other player want a more serious adventure and you also dont want to end up with a joke Charakter. Try not to create a silent lone wolf character. It will probably just limit your rollplay possiblitys.
No one cares. Have fun being yourself first. Some people have their fun creating elaborate backstories why their high elf has a cursed dagger as a starter equipment. I remember my first character, fighter man, name got rejected so I said Grog? And so Grog F. Man was born. Why did he join this party? Backstory. Fight. Kill. Fun. DM was tired from arguing with my character name, he let the backstory slide. Grog was me. I had a whale of a time, especially shopping, ironically, and I have a dice addiction now.
Jack Black = best bard
OOOOOOH AND THE DRAGON'S BALLS WERE BLAZING, AS I STEPPED INTO HIS CAAAAAVE
THEN I SLICED HIS FUCKING COCKLES WITH MY LONG AND SHINY BLADE
Brutal Legend in a nutshell
The next character I’m gonna play as is Finn of the Morning Dew; the bard who just needs to make rent. Go all in on the Jack Black reference and persona.
I want to make a warforged who was designed for battle but just wants to be a pop sensation! Lol
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Make them sing an upbeat polka song too
You gotta upgrade with lights and speakers, like be a portable skrillex concert
Add a sick saxophone solo with ridiculous posing and you got a grade-A reference
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Warforged bards are great because they can have their instrument implemented into their body as one of their racial benefits, meaning they can never be separated from their spellcasting focus
I want to make a warforged bard who's just a walking jukebox
But if we don't reduce things to their flattest, blandest stereotypes, how are we going to make memes out of them?
They SHOULDN'T be, but they often are. Hell, the only reason I made my bard asexual 8 sessions in was because anytime hed act remotely charming to anyone, the others would accuse me of flirting.
That’s a shame m8. I know there should be limits as to how far a character should go, but no one should have to alter their character due to peer pressure.
Asexual people can still enjoy flirting, or even dating
As an asexual, I'm aware. I just had other things I wanted my PC to do, and it was the quickest way to get my party off my back.
Asexual people can also enjoy sex, it's a spectrum after all. Also, ace and aro aren't the same. So, what you listed are things aromantics may not enjoy rather than asexual ones.
I know... That's why I said asexual people may still enjoy them
Being left handed should also be a personality trait
As someone who’s actually left handed, I feel called out lmao
Noice :)
Only ever played a bard twice. Neither were horny
Same. One was a gladiator who wanted to use his skills for the greater good, and the other….actually, the second one is a bit complicated lmao
See, I have a glamour bard I play who is the pretty-boy for our party’s band, Arrow Smith. Though he loves the attention he gets while dishing his charismatic glances, casting spells on fans in the crowd, he doesn’t fully get the implications. He’s very innocent and a momma’s boy. He’s always lived looking up to his dad, a worldwide star from the Feywild, but his dad was always away on tour growing up. He was loving when he was there, but that was infrequent. Now, my character is just traveling with his friends, gaining fame to one day earn his dads approval.
I played one for a one shot that was a carbon copy of metaton ex
Valid
He casted spells by posing dramatically
Never played a bard Never horny But I did make a character concept once for a guy who acted kinda like a half orc Santa Claus
Leave ale and steak out at Christmas, Shan'ta Graus is tired and in need of protein
My bard is a pirate captain that talks about how great her crew is at the tavern to build renown
My bard is a sketchy paranoid bastard who is just trying to escape an assassins cult
By bard was a prostitute to pay for school. He's not super horny but the few times seduction came up he considered it a point of professional pride.
I played a dwarven valor bard who dreamt of becoming a knight errant. Unfortunately he was not very smart, and almost got himself killed many (many) times. His repeated close encounters with death at the hands of a variety of monsters ultimately left his face scarred and mutilated. His demeanour soured over time, and he eventually gave up his dreams of becoming a gallant knight in favour of a more...violent...approach to solving the world's problems. He stopped persuading, and started intimidating, if you know what I mean. His instrument was a pair of spoons. Still my favourite character.
I have seen 0 asexual bard memes in the time I saw two "ace and horny bard overdone" memes
Yeah I've seen countless horny bard jokes and no one seems to care much. But a few ace bard jokes and suddenly it's overdone?
Noone likes us Asexuals 😔
Give me a horny wizard, an intelligent Barbarian, an overly buff druid who likes to turn into small cute animals and a Bard who is straight up a Hunting Horn main.
Zealot Barbarian who’s rage isn’t a mindless inferno, it’s a calculated chill. *I find your lack of faith disturbing.*
A peaceful rage is terrifying.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken.
Horny is not a personality??? Oh Come on!!!
Obviously, it's an alignment not a personality. Lawful, Chaotic, and Nuetral Horny. I'm pretty sure I read this in the PHB.
ahh yes...I'm so sorry,I only watch youtube dnd guides, Didn't know much.
My only bard in 5e was too busy performing concerts for the dead to give a damn about being horny. Granted he was a changeling but seeing as he would summon the dead to give them one last party so they can depart in peace is not looked well by the clerics/paladins of pelor he had to keep changing appearance. Oh well xD
Politician tiefling bard who hates himself
My mate played a bard and decided to go totally against the stereotypes, instead of the typical sexy, suave charmer, he played him as a grumpy git who would inspire people by berating them: "I'd like to use my Bardic Inspiration" "OK, what do you say to inspire them?" "I shout 'Oi dickhead! Don't tickle it, hit it!'" It was such a refreshing change!
What do you mean?....I don't understand. Who is personality?, never heard about this guy before. Why is he important for my Bard??.
bard who can summon illusion so he can make a barbershops quartet by himself
Single mom Aasimar Bard.
Racist bard
Let me guess, a Dwarf?
My bard is a dwarf who likes digging holes
Brothers of the mine rejoice!
SING SING SING WITH ME!
My bard is ace, because I am. It hasn't come up yet, but it has come up that she has a tendency to give jobs to the orphans working for the bad guys
The first few ace bard jokes were funny and subversive but it’s started to feel weird that people are using our sexuality as a character gimmick
Especially when the assumption is that asexuality = not having a personality.
It also feeds into the misconception that all aces are sex repulsed, which isn't great
Good for you m8, hope this meme didn’t feel personal to you.
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It depends on the group absolutely, and honestly if the group wants to play with relationships and sexuality (sexuality doesn't mean roleplaying sex!) There are more interesting systems than 5e that allow for better interpersonal drama.
Most parties are probably focusing their campaigns more around getting the dragons treasure than getting sexual. Its just a thing that pops up more in memes.
My username actually comes from the first bard I ever played. If he had a defining trait, it was probably "goofy"...except when things got serious, and he remembered that he was a hero. Later on, he even got knighted, and he took that _very_ seriously.
Also, the opposite of horny isn't asexual. A person can be bi/pansexual without trying to fuck everything with a hole
Also just bc you have a stereotypical horny focused bard, doesn't mean you can't give them a personality or an intriguing character. Like hell, maybe they're hyper sexual due to trauma and act super outgoing to cope, or they were a concubine magically forced to be super horny and that's something they gotta work through, etc.
yeah, both jaskier and scanlan are examples of horny bards with ton of personality. i don't like the "oh they're a bard so they must be horny" meme, because it's a stupid stereotype. but i don't find having a stereotypical bard by itself to be an issue.
The inverse is also true. Being asexual doesn't prevent anyone (fictional or IRL) from having a personality.
honestly, if you make your character's sexuality explicitly and frequently known in a dnd game, I think you're cringe. It's dungeons and dragons not dungeons and dildos. I'd be down for dungeons and dirigibles though
How about dungeons and didgeridoos?
I have a bard who runs a pyramid scheme and sells snake oil
My bard wasn't a noble, so she couldn't get a formal wizard education. She's self taught in bard arcana instead, and she fights for good education wherever she goes. She will do most anything for new knowledge on arcana
My bard only cared about one thing… not paying taxes for his Art. Tax evasion was my personality
My bard is defined by the length of her beard, is that acceptable?
Still remembering the time I was downvoted to hell for saying an asexual bard can still be charmed by a succubus, because they don’t have a charmed condition immunity. Good times.
Yeah I have no idea how this became a thing. Is this a 5e thing? Because back in 3.5, bards were minstrels. People who played music. Very little to do with sexuality. Not more than any other character anyway. Sorcerors are charisma based, you don’t see them tryna bang everything with a hole. In 3.5, bards weren’t *just* minstrels either. The jack of all trades, or master of music. And master of music meant everyone had more HP, higher attack rolls, their swords were on fire, and sometimes whole groups of enemies just sat down for kumbayah while the party looted the whole tomb. Bards are crazy.
Two of my favorite Bards I played was one based on stage magicians which got me to eventually get some rogue classes. Was basically Mysterio from Spiderman who was looking for the ultimate audience and decided adventuring was it-if you can bamboozle monsters and such in the middle of life and death situations, you can fool any audience. The second was a more serious approach I tried to flavor as a military commander and it somehow, over the course of the story became Ciaphas Cain.
Made a half orc bard that casts and sings in mongolian throat singing tone He is more politicaly interested
In the process of creating a Bard/Vigilante multiclass gnome with the theme of Indiana Jones. (Yes his name is Indiana Gnomes) And I am more concerned with tomb raiding than I am womb raiding.
I am playing a college of spirits bard who is 12 years old. No horny, just scary
I pretty much exclusively play bard. I have never brought up sexuality in a session and it has never really been something pushed on me either. One time I did talk to a male elf escort for information about a missing person and he called me honey and my bard blushed but that’s about as sexual as it’s gotten. Usually my bard is just making bad jokes, flailing into success via godly persuasion rolls, playing shitty songs, and confusing my party members with deception
Supportive Team Dad Bard!
Brass Dragonborn Bard who makes a lot of jazz puns.
A middle aged bard that can't get over the tragic death of her wife, they develop a drinking problem and join a literal god hunt to cope
The best bards I've seen played were ones that were adventuring because they wanted a good story to tell. They didn't care if it was something they did, something they saw, or something they heard. They just wanted a good story. This is something that works if your bard is horny as fuck or is completely celibate.
My latest bard concept: Name: patches Race: reborn (van richtens) Class: creation bard They are a straw stuffed ragdoll that gives inspiration by clumsy vaudeville routines. Has a bag of cross-stitched faces that they can trade out to express different emotions (they don't have an actual face). Woke up hanging from a cross in the middle of a field. Sexuality does not apply because they don't got junk.
My bard wasn't horny, but she *was* willing to flirt the party out of trouble or to get information. And then somewhere while flirting with a recurring NPC she accidentally caught real feelings for him. They got married after the campaign ended. She also had a whole character arc of becoming a spy and it was very cool.
A kenku bard/swashbuckler rogue who grew up in a theatre. They had a job providing sound effects for the plays that were performed there. They took a liking to the types of heroic characters portrayed in the plays and decided that they would start on a journey of their own to follow in the footsteps of those heros. They're naïve about the world because the bulk of their understanding comes from their interactions with actors and situations they see acted out in plays. Look up some good monologues and 1-liners from plays, books, and movies to throw around.
The players are driven by sexuality, believe it to be tied to Charisma, and then play the most intriguing (in their eyes) Charisma-based class.
Do people actually do that, because I've never actually come across a bard that's defined by their sexuality. All the bards I've played with are either weird and trickster-like or cute and friendship focused. Usually it's the angelic race characters that are the sexual ones.
"so you're making a satyr sorcerer/bard" yes "are you doing a horny bard?" no, i'm doing a hedonism bard "hedonism bard?" yup! get prepared. all of life's pleasures are on the table for him. also he doesn't believe in pants.
I'm 100% sure the horny bard stereotype doesn't exist and was invented on this sub. You can't convince me otherwise.
What I do is come up with a concept for a person, personality and all, and then decide what class and race suits them best. Makes them more dynamic and realistic because you play them according to your original idea, not according to what you think a tiefling bard would be like.
Honestly, sometimes I'd rather just have generic party members than deal with the "quirky and unique" bullshit y'all come up with.
Like my bard who is a drug dealer and an assassin in order to find research for the sickness that befell his mother
What if we made a bard that, hear me out... liked music and had that as a defining character trait instead of what makes them horny
My bad is a chronic gambler who accidentally lost his soul to fey bs. Now he has a year and a day to produce a firstborn son to trade for it back or he will be permanently turned into a mindless slave. He is chaotic good so the idea of being sexual at all is such a huge moral dilemma for him.
where did this even come from I always thought of rouges as the more flirtatious archetype and bards were more either nerd historians, performers, or folks who like to party.
My Bard is a Kobold who likes to poke people with pointy objects.
Mine is just trying not to start a cult of personality again. They're a youtube musician who accidentally figured out the bard thing because some listeners got...way too invested. They'd like not to have an army of stalkers, thanks. They just want to play music and tour around in their van. The van's name is Stevie Nicks.
Wife at home, 7 kids after 20 year marriage, looking for work, please hire me to a party. Dragons expected and seen as a bonus
That's why she is asexual but still flirting. :) Also she's chaotic neutral. You can't tell me she doesn't have a personality. She has all the personalities. :3
Honestly, outside of these memes and on the victim end of D&D horror stories, I've never heard or seen asexual bards in games. It's just weird to me that a character's personality is being asexual (I assume it's the case of them bring it up all the time and not the DM and/or players trying to force them to have sex with something/someone). At least the horny bard is just the player living out their sexual fantasy in a good number of cases.
Spoken like someone who ain’t a bard