Guys, i had this question from a long time, where do you draw the line in what is an original character and what is just an special snowflake or just what would be the limit before becoming one ?
>Zero Nighthunter, 15 y/o vampire exorcist, hetero chromatic eyes, pale skin, with a thirst of revenge against his father who made him the "monster" he is now
>grog, the orc mercenary fighter that loves ale and wenches
Why did you greentext two entirely unoriginal characters after asking a question about original characters?
Jesus Veeky Forums where are you guys playing that you find people that do this
Ive been playing for 7 years now, dming for 5 of those, and for most of them played in a public library every saturday where literally anyone could walk up and join us and not a SINGLE time have i had someone who did something like this, I swear that the people who bitch about this either only play online or dont play at all and just make shit up
>Zero Nightgrog, the orc mercenary vampire exorcist that loves ale and his father who made him the "monster" he is now
Also why tf are you asking about grog, it was his first ever PnP experience but besides that his backstory is really well fleshed out, thats like describing ghandi as the tiny indian lawyer who doesnt eat sometimes or winston churchill as the drunkard general who is actually a stategic genuis
well fuck, that actually sounds interesting lol
its was just two examples of what we couald all consider and special snowflake, and the other side of the spectrum, a character as original as a 3$ bill
what? im just asking for some limits of the special snowflake pc
>Zero Nighthunter, 15 y/o vampire exorcist, hetero chromatic eyes, pale skin, with a thirst of revenge against his father who made him the "monster" he is now
No, I will not let anyone in my group play this
>Zero Nightgrog, the orc mercenary vampire exorcist that loves ale and his father who made him the "monster" he is now
But, if you make it this absurd, I cant say no
Basically if isn't original, it's special snowflake.
If it's cliche then it's terrible and unoriginal.
>what? im just asking for some limits of the special snowflake pc
Is everyone having fun?
If 'no than:
Is the guy not having fun you?
If 'no' than there is no problem.
If you answer yes to the first questin, there also is no problem.
If you're not having fun, than identify why that is and fix it. By talking to people.
>the image
REEEEEEEEEEEEEE TRIGGER DISCIPLINE
>the subject
Subjective, really. The point at which it's obvious that the player is just making shit up to be edgy/weird/coolguy rather than trying to come up with a good concept (which may include being edgy/weird/coolguy) is the event horizon for me.
It's a spectrum, not two discrete camps. Every character should fit into the setting and gaming group, and be a believable part of them. Every major character, every player character, should also be distinctive and special and be interesting.
You can serve both purposes at once by not going overboard in either one. The boring healbot who's a walking Cure Serious Wounds machine and is a loyal member of the Temple of Stereotypical Healers in your setting without any other backstory, character description, or personality is a formula for crap gaming, especially if everyone is so bland. The Were-kin Abomination Vampire mystic who's heir to the throne and the Chosen One of Destiny and also haunted by twelve pages of single-spaced backstory is just too much and tears the game apart, especially if everyone else is so ham-handedly grabbing the spotlight.
Within that spectrum, some characters will be better fits than others, and some will be more interesting and unique than others. All kinds of things can be fun.
Are the character's unusual traits all they have ("I'm a half-demon drow spellblade with no personality beyond 'has a weird background!'"), or are the characters unusual simply for the sake of being unusual ("GM said dwarven adventurers are near nonexistent? Time to roll up a dwarf!")? That's my litmus test for speshul snowflakes.
Player characters are more than welcome to have unusual traits if the result is an interesting character, but a walking grab-bag of weirdness is flat and therefore boring, not interesting. Making an interesting character requires more than grabbing three to five unrelated traits out of a hat.
>Zero Nighthunter, 15 y/o vampire exorcist, hetero chromatic eyes, pale skin, with a thirst of revenge against his father who made him the "monster" he is now
Depending on what game you're playing, this could be a pretty normal character.
Classic medieval fantasy, forgotten realms
I had a evil cleric un a party of goods that threw a fit because a plan lift him yo, we spended like 15 min irl waiting for him to kill. In lvl 1
Special Snowflake happens when its clear that the player expects to monopolize the plot because of what they've put into their backstory or character description.
"Special snowflakes" come about when someone is obsessed with being unique in every way possible, compared to the rest of the setting. They, by definition, don't mesh with everything else and stick out like a sore thumb.
If your whole party is full of wacky combinations of shit like half-angel half-demon katana-wielding lolis, then nobody is really trying to be "special."
I imagine they're mostly made by people that don't think they're going to get enough attention, or want more attention than the other players.
Like nearly every one of Veeky Forums's "problems," you can solve this by communication with the player. If they fail to understand what exactly the problems you have with the character are after you do your best to communicate with them, you let the player go.
You have to outdo the players tenfold. I've given up on trying to make a world where it's "muh realism" w/ added dragons and magic. They wanna play Zero Nighthunter? Fuckin sure. Play him. I'll make a werewolf skeleton druid that plays the fucking bagpipes and rides a direbat as a boss to fight. The bartender's a fucking moss man, and every drink you get has some gross pond scum in it it.
If everyone is special snowflake, then nobody is.
>Grog the Hunter, the orc witch hunter with gray skin who's an ale connoisseur and seeks the man that scarred his face as a child
Somewhere there, in between boring and outrageous.
>grog the Nighthunter, the orc mercenary fighter that loves ale and with thirst of revenge against his father who made him the "monster" he is now
this is my line
See? Now we are making a somewhat decente character, but still, i dont have the answer i would like.
Could you give antes example to what can be considered the "limit" before beceame a snowflak3?
I fucking die. RIP my sides
lil nigga looks fly as fuck
Perfect
I believe that the limit before you start treading on "muh snowflame" territory is right at the point where the character stops being mundane and he starts being the PC.
If he's incredibly skilled at one area, that's okay. If he's being incredibly skilled, despite physical and/or mental drawbacks, you're kinda pushing it. Once atop of all that you give him things that do not mesh well and top it with a multi-color nightmare appearance, then you went way too far.
But the most important part is giving him an actual personality. A brooding faggot isn't interesting, unless he does it only in certain points in time. Also a deranged jokester should also know when to tone it down.
Personally I don't mind what they pick as long as they have a weakness and everybody playing knows what type of game they want and are getting into.
I occasionally allow younger players to play with my group. When they do they follow that sort of trope a lot and if that's what they want to play then fine. They can play that way. But as a GM I always make sure it will be able to fit in to the game experience that others want to have.
I think one of my best games had a 13-14 year old in may have been younger. He looked a lot younger than he was though thought he was 9 at first. He was obviously new very nervous but we are regulars at the shop and let him play. (we've all got to start somewhere). His backstore was basically a fallen space god/ angle. Very powerful and only wanted to prove himself to his God parents.
That game became interesting when the more he did with his power the more the parents would strip him of his power and magical abilities. The GM made it a very hard game where he carried us at first and eventually when he got more confident wit the group had to work with us using mortal powers.
>Night Groghunter, the orc mercenary that loves his father and has a thirst of revenge for the vampire exorcist who made him the "alcoholic" he is now
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEE TRIGGER DISCIPLINE
He's obviously about to shoot over his shoulder, killing the rooftop sniper who is just out of frame. Who do you think you're dealing with here?
Not before striking a sideways glance to the audience as if to mock his would-be killer.
Grog is a fun character basis and probably an all around fun dood but a bit bland. Zero is way to fuckin special snowflakey.