#dnd thoughts

I mean, it’s not like people never make their Player Characters a thinly-veiled version of themselves, but the Player who plays Basically Themself is a very specific Player Archetype and not a universal experience. Seeing these kinds of arts always makes me wonder about what kinds of PCs these Blorbos would actually make, because that’s an element of characterization in it and of itself.

Like, if we take the Crystal Gems… Garnet is absolutely the kind of person who would just play As Herself, 100%. 

Any attempt to entertain the idea that she’s roleplaying a different character with a different personality will be bluntly dismissed, Garnet is playing Garnet and there’s no pretense about it.

But for the other Crystal Gems… I mean, I don’t know if Amethyst would really be into serious roleplaying or character building…

But I think she’d be kinda interested in making a character that’s very different from her real self. She’s a lot less self-loathing than she used to be, but I think she’d understand the appeal of pretending to be someone different. So she’ll try and make her PC as distinctive from her usual self as much as possible…. But...

I think Amethyst’s PC will be her total opposite… on the surface. Her Baggage will leak subconsciously into the character despite her best efforts, when she has to actually Roleplay her character. She’ll create some sort of nerdy meek Wizard from a large high-class family or something with a one-sentence backstory and then like fifty sessions later she’ll be dealing with the angst of feeling purposeless in the world cause she flanked a Magic test and suddenly she’ll be, like “oh FUCK this is actually about that time Steven and Connie kicked Jasper’s butt without me, isn’t it??”

Steven would totally be into roleplaying his character from the get-go, and I think he would enjoy making some sort of Total Edgelord Character. Both in the sense of “this kid needs some healthy outlets to All of His Trauma and darker impulses, and making some sort of Super Dark Asshole for a silly pretend game is a fine low-stakes solution” and “Steven actually always kinda liked an excuse to play the ‘villain’ as long as it was clearly just Play”.

(Steven’s PC’s Dark and Edgy Past wouldn’t directly mirror Steven’s trauma, maybe outside of just ‘hey both Steven and his Made-Up Guy have experienced So Much Trauma that there’s bound to be some overlap’ but… the Shape of the Emotions would be the same.)

Pearly would be another serious 100% into it Roleplayer who will hand over a 10-page-long backstory, carefully researched to make sure it all complies with the setting as well as it's historical inspiration, and will hardly ever break character as long as the game is in session. And her character would be just a thinly-veiled version of Rose Quartz. 

Teor’s death also illustrates the risk of using your turns to heal instead of attack. If Cyd and Teor had both taken their attacks against Raimond in round 2, there’s a good chance they’d have brought him down, since Teor would have gotten an extra attack plus smite. Very well could have saved them, but then again if they’d taken their attacks and missed, it probably wouldn’t have changed the eventual result at all.

Neither choice is right or wrong, they both have pros and cons, and it ultimately comes down to luck. They only wound up there in the first place because Travis didn’t roll a 15 on investigation, and then rolled a 4 when he needed 8+.

In the end, it’s all just the way the dice roll, and some of the worst rolls tell the best and most interesting stories. I’m excited to see where the story goes and what Travis gives us next.

1. What is their morning hair/makeup routine?

2. What do they order at the tavern for dinner?

3. What would they be doing during the Cardassian occupation of Deep Space Nine in the Fenderation-Dominion war?

4. What is their favorite color?

You guys ever think about how the "Repair" skill in games has the potential to be so overpowered that it can be used for an isakai anime? Like...hear me out

"Repair" on its own is an extremely flexible term, isn't it? It means to fix something that's damaged or not working correctly. The latter of which can be up to a person's own tastes.

"Repair" as a power word could be used to:

turn a rusted and/or broken weapon to brand new

restore shattered artifacts or ruins

fix up a run down shelter to something even kings could stay in

take spoiled or poisoned food and make it edible again

clean water systems of all pollutants or toxins

heal wounds from small cuts to broken bones or even damaged organs

take a broken egg and restore it entirely (I'm sure there's a dragon mother out there that would be VERY grateful if you saved her unborn babies)

If your DM allows it...you could even "Repair" undead back to life. Making for a VERY confused new NPC or party member.

Take a cursed weapon and make it safe without losing the benefits if you roll high enough.

Alejandro - Rogue, Soulknife (he guards what is HIS with a drive I dont see in any other class.) Rudy - Fighter, Banneret (he is the backbone, a rally point, Alejandros rock to lean on, always there)

Take the magic school setting, as seen in 2021's Strixhaven expansion. The idea had already been done, and better, in the original TAZ campaign (2014), Campaign 2 of C.R. (2018, which was so good that WotC published it as its own setting), D20: Fantasy High (2018) and the Mage Madness Arc of NADDPOD (2019).

The big names also consistently do things with 5e it was never meant to do, especially D20, which pushed the system to its limits with Tiny Heist and Starstruck Odyssey.

The smaller indy creators are also doing things the system hadn't before, whether that's the afro-centric content of shows like Three Black Halflings, Jocat's wildly successful Crap Guide, the Arcane Arcade, Tulok the Barbarian's How to Play or any number of other series I doubt this site's character limit would let me heap praise upon.