Be me

>be me
>hosting 5e for the few people I know are into the game in my area
>decent party, kind of chaotic/criminal-y group. Might end up murder hobo-y, that's fine.
>Contact fourth player today to help lay out the groundwork for his character, it's his first time
>ask what he has in mind, tell him the party
>He texts, and I quote, "I'll just be me in a fantasy game ha. I'll have a different name in all but I can be me when it comes to all that"
>Uncreativebutwhatever.jpg
>He decides he's a paladin.
>Ask him for his backstory, plan to match a background to it. Also tell him I can give him a list of races.
>"Human paladin that's a wandering adventurer. Don't care about buffs and stuff I just want to be human. Don't need a back story either"

Doesn't seem like he's going to be a role player or a roll player. He clearly is interested, and I want to give him a chance, but knowing him from past experience, he's not very creative and his character is likely to be without character.

>Wut do Veeky Forums

Calmly explain to him what roleplaying is, and that lolsorandumb behavior will not be tolerated?

It's not so much lolsorandom as it is uncreative behavior and character. His conversation will lack any character and lack any investment in the world. I think he's expecting standard RPG tier interaction at a level where he talks to NPC X and expects a pre written speal with no need for interaction whatsoever beyond that. He expects to hit in combat and do nothing but combat it seems like.

If it's his first game then give him the benefit of the doubt. He probably doesn't understand how everything works.

At his third game or so start throwing him some bones. Have him go to a super Lawful Good city that demands papers and identification and such. Require that he disclose his place of birth, his parents names and occupation, etc. as well as what order his Paladin worships. Things like that.

Going by what OP said I expect that most that would get out of him is "I tell them what they want to know."

>this
That's what I expect, or he'll pause for several minutes trying to decide what to say. Odds are he's going to start with 16 charisma and try to "just be a nice guy"/the face of the party. I can tell dialogue is going to be a pain. We played some d6 game par his request one time, I hosted then too. He did that same thing.

No. Just no.

The sad thing is that this isn't copypasta. This is a person I genuinely want to give a chance, and want to know how to keep it from ruining the session without shutting him down. I have to cater to a true normie.

Tell him he has to step up his game a bit then. I don't see what's so hard to figure out here.

>Doesn't seem like he's going to be a role player or a roll player. He clearly is interested, and I want to give him a chance, but knowing him from past experience, he's not very creative and his character is likely to be without character.

What is the problem, user? I see some problems that might come up, but I don't know what seems to worry you?

If I were you I would talk to the player and first of all tell him that a Paladin might not fit the party. He might enjoy a Fighter. Other than that, just him going along and killing stuff and experiencing the whole thing as some sort of walking potato might make HIM happy. Understanding that he will be a walking potato is the first thing to make yourself happy.

Well this is 5e, where a paladin can be of any alignment.
Proper paladins are still LG but that's a different discussion.

He may not have much experience creating characters or playing these games. He'll flesh it out as he goes along, his character will have the campaign as his backstory when it's all over.

Some players are just wallflowers. They like to make simple characters, do very little in game, and watch things unfold. You don't need to plan anything around them, you don't need to try to 'draw them out' or anything like that. Just let them be. It's fine. Sometimes they're cool guys who buy beers and pitch in on food as well.

Just encourage him to massively play up the paladin part, and be all about justice n shit. It doesn't need to be a particularly deep character to be fun to play with.

I don't see what the issue is, OP. I was pretty similar when I first started out, and still am. I'm rarely the party face but that's about it.
If there's a problem with it, have them face some minor temporary demon possession and tell him "your character now feels compelled to act like the leader of the party at all times and gets mad at anyone who doesn't listen to him/is very bolsterous and always wants to show off/has a drinking problem"
if he gets more involved during the time he's possessed, then when they manage to end the possession, tell him that maybe his character enjoyed acting that way and can still continue to do so. bam, personality

He rolled a human so he's already better at roleplaying than the rest of your group.

This. At first it is hard for people to create things like "background", just like most people give little fucks about the first car they have as long as it can be drived. A fresh level 1 Paladin out of the academy won't have many room to make a character beyond "joined because orphan" or somethinf like that.

...

He WANTS to be the party face though. He wants to be generic fantasy hero on a legendary quest. The potato wants to be the face.

Maybe he wants to develop his character as he goes along? I usually start with something barebones, do what feels natural and end up with something fun.

He can't just not have a background though, even the most mundane of backgrounds is still a background.

Nah, look at OP post again. His character is "fantasy him with a different name"

>OP post
That redundancy

Well what are you gonna do?
Call the Department of Redundancy Department?

I'm just gonna call your mom. It's a booty call.