DM : What's your character's ultimate goal ?

One of my character's motivation was "I want to battle strong opponents", and it was a nice change of pace, since I'm naturally disinclined to play happy, upbeat people that aren't so complicated I crumble under all the things I have to mentally juggle.

But then I had to ditch him after a couple sessions or so because my GM was visibly in pain the moment I first used him in combat, because Warblades are simply unfair. Heaven forbid my shitty DW build could attack with BOTH weapons after moving, dealing AS MUCH damage as the party Barbarian's two-hander. Simply preposterous.

I don't really see the problem with said motivation, it's simple and encourages adventuring. You can add nuance to the character beside it.

I feel your ache.

Generally I find the motivation of a fictional character from another medium and build up from there.

>Mercenary has wife and kids he sends the cash home to.

>Priestly scholar going along with the party to aid his missionary work.

>Deposed minor noble of bumfuck nowhere trying to scrape enough cash, contacts and favours together to get his place in society back or at least get even with the people who cause him to loose everything.

>Dude sick of his place in life thinks he can make it big in transporting small items of value across borders, tags on with party to ensure he always has someone to travel with.

>He's an unlanded knight. The king ordered him to assist these dipshits and keep an eye on them.

Most of mine have very small goals.
Such like opening a bookstore or a tavern. Or something like becoming a valuable cog in the city guard of a larger city or protector of royalty.

My wizard coming up in the next campaign we're gonna run is going to be a bit more ambitious, with starting a arcane university to train wizards specializing in manhunting and divination and eventually take over the kingdom he grew up in because he believes the king himself is a glorified wankstain and turn that kingdom into an arcane powerhouse.

Mostly he's just terribly afraid of being alone so he wants to globalize the one thing he can use to easily connect to other people, which is magic and arcane knowledge.

One Idea I had was just finding the perfect sword for my swordsmith character. TL:DR of his story was he lost his inheritance (his fathers forge) and ventured out to find work in other forges, on the way he heard of [Legendary Sword] in a murky tavern.

Desire to CEplay

>Okay, here's a glabrezu. Hope your level 1 fighter will find it a worthy opponent.

>says goals are overrated
>proceeds to state a goal

>literaly being that DM
The funniest part is that the player will still find a way to kill it

Umbrella goals/motivations that are then refined work out.

Something was lost and the character wants to reclaim it.
>Minor noble who had homestead overrun by some kind of monster, needs to get stronger so he can return to free his homeland. Works best for Sorcs and Warlocks
>Amnesia. Tell the DM a full backstory and make it not the life of an adventurer, bonus points if it's a different alignment than your played one. Have shit come up from your past life.
>Previous party is all in jail from your screw up, make enough gold for their bail before they're executed.

Revenge.
>Used to be an ally of the BBEG until he went all evil overlord and betrayed you

Assignment
>Your god said they would be important, who are you to argue?
>You're stuck together on order of the leader of your adventurers guild

I play furry: the yiffening (werewolf) atm so my characters goal is basically to not die. And also fuck up leeches because they are all scum, no exceptions.

These are fine unless you are playing a non-combat game. Whats wrong with picking something cliche?

r8 my character's goals
>build and run orphanage
>keep kids off the streets
>stay out of trouble
>(optional): reduce gang activity

Is it wrong to play a character who doesn't have a deep overarching goal or elaborate backstory? Like, just a thief who steals because it's what gives him a rush and he's good at it, an adventurer who loves exploring and fighting, or a paladin who just genuinely wants to go out and make a difference in the world?

I just feels like everything from campaign plots to characters is obligated to be subversive and self-aware or have a bunch of extra BUT WAIT THERE'S A TWEEEEST added on that doesn't add to the character's flavor or the story.

I like it.

Worthy =/= powerful
Say one wants to find someone respectable, honourable and virtuous enough to be a rival to. A person with a strong sense of responsability or strong goals, who doesn't back down.

What if the character searching for worthy opponents is a real piece of shit, is he searching for someone who is an equal scumbag?

What is your ultimate goal, OP?

What the fuck kind of question is this? Try asking someone what their ultimate goal is and they'll look at you like you're retarded.

>What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goal?
>The party! XD

>DM : What's your character's ultimate goal ?
>Player : My Character's goal is to find a worthy opponent

>DM: Here's an enemy with infinite AC and -20 attack bonus, and is both immune and cannot do critical hits.

Why would you post Grumpy Cat? Will you please leave forever?

> My Character's goal is to find a worthy opponent
> On level 1
A focking kobold is a worthy opponent to you, mate.

A perfectly reasonable response to a shitty mom tier question

If you can't build a level 1 character that can stomp encounters at least 3 CR above his level you might need to get good, m8

>stay out of trouble
Jackie Chan pls go

JUST LET ME PLAY YOU FUCK I'M NOT CREATIVE

>DM : What's your character's ultimate goal ?
>Player : My Character's goal is to free his homeland from the lich that killed his family and conquered the nation
>DM proceeds to never incorporate any of that into the game, just saying you succeed off camera after you finish the campaign

Did you at least get bonus XP for said feats?
It had better have been a lot.

If you don't like writing back stories, fine. Don't insult it though based on your hyperbolic description of others.

>Tell me your character's motivation!
>Oh, one thing: this is a Good aligned party, so he can't be motivated by gold.

Do you agree with my DM? I sure don't. "Profit" is too general a motivation to utterly condemn. As mentioned earlier ITT, my character could be using that money to support his family, or pay off his son's debt, or help finance the rebuilding of his village. Adventuring as a profession is generally high risk for high reward; by saying that reward cannot factor into his motivation for the high risk, most natural reasons for adventuring are taken out of the picture. I feel it's needlessly restricting.

>he just happens to be wherever the adventure is taking place

But my character is a Khorne worshiper, DM.

Your GM is Titanic faggot and I hope he gets hit by an iceberg filled with gold.

Your DM is a fucking idiot.
Profit motivated can mean all sorts of things, not just greed.
I hope your character does make enough gold to do what he needs to with it, despite your idiot DM.
I'm guessing he's got some stupid commie political ideas.

Regardless, if you haven't already, explain your reasoning to him.
If he can't understand that, then either don't play or re-roll for a new character.

Sounds familiar.

NOTHING
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>1st level
>DM asks my goal
>Character concept is just "trying to be a necromancer"
>Develop a personality and values naturally by playing, making decisions, and trying to raise some skeletons
>Everyone else has a clear end goal they thought of 6 months ago

>6th level
>DM pesters me for some backstory
>Remember I'm Illuskan
>Google city of Illusk
>History is literally just 1000 years of getting ransacked/destroyed by orcs
>Remember I torched some orcs woman and children during a major moral decision because my character is already an amoral bastard
>I'm a necromamcer at this point with four skeletons, who now wield magic weapons
>I have now discovered that my character has been trying to gain Lichdom to finally outnumber and put down the orcs
>Tell DM I want to get killed and come back as a skeleton at some point
>Start using very powerful magics and putting myself in harm's way for the good of the team, gaining their trust and respect despite my evil magics and creepy personality

I really like starting with a concept or a quirk and then discovering who that character is by playing. I'm an actor though, so that's where my fun is.

Some of my friends have their whole arc and build planned from levels 1-15 though, and I respect that.

> DM: What's your character's ultimate goal?
> Player: A warm whore, a nice bed, and a belly full of ale.

I suppose, though being a scumfuck and fighting someone who isn't but can still survive your nonstop cheating has a certain appeal.

>My character accidentaly killed a noble's son in a barfight and has to be constantly on the run. Stops being relevant after the party hits higher levels.

I agree with you but it is a better starting point as it better ties a character to the world. Hell the above could easily go from having to be on the run to needing to resolve it once the character becomes well enough known and the only jobs worth taking anymore necessitate working closely with nobility.

A good character's goal is one that the DM doesn't have to bend over backwards to fulfill or some contrived backstory that the player tries to force the spotlight onto.

DM: You're being chased by a group of thieves.

MS: CLEARLY ITS THE GUYS FROM MY BACKSTORY WHO ARE HERE TO TAKE THEIR REVNENGE ON MY CHARACTER FOR-

GM: The Thieves call out to you "Surrender your gold, or your lives!"

Good stuff though "stay out of trouble" is by far the weakest.

Can I get a rating of my character's goals Veeky Forums?
>Start tailor shop (despite knowing nothing about clothing)
>Bring some level of respect to his garbage noble family's name.
>Figure out what nefarious plot is (probably not) being hatched by our first quest giver/seemingly (definitely) innocent shopkeeper enchantress.

I only play a handful of characters, ones ive been playing for years who are vague enough that they can take various iterations and still be mostly the same character. Sometimes he's a thief, other times he's a fighter or maybe even a wizard.Ultimately they all just boil down to a personality and a piece of art on the character sheet that remains consistent.

So since I've been playing the same characters for over 15 years, their initial goal has been fulfilled long ago.

I much prefer the DM to give me a reason, that for me to make my own.

I've got a detailed character history already drawn up. I've got an encyclopedia of past allies, friends and enemies. I've got plots i've become involved in unresolved.
Just give us a map, start us in a bar and let the adventure start from there.

My character is an old one I started over. A friend of my character died, according to the DM. I've been willed a map to a cave and a journal claiming that he buried a relic there.

The rest of the party wants in on the money and joined me to locate the relic.

1. meme
2. pretty ok
3. also pretty ok

1. Dumb gimmick bullshit
2. ok
3. I hate this. I fucking hate players who think that "lol, my character is paranoid" is an endearing trait.

> DM: What's your character's ultimate goal?
> Player: A warm bed, a nice ale, and a belly full of whore.
>mfw the player is into vore

"lol, my character is paranoid" is nowhere near as bad as the player being paranoid.
I've run a game where the party leader (by dint of being the loudest of them) thought anything I presented was a trap. But if I asked them for any goals/wants or told them to improvise for a session they did nothing, and he shut up because I was obviously just trying to ensure failure.
It led to some . . . interesting catastrophes before it imploded, though, I guess.