DM gives you a pet companion

>DM gives you a pet companion
>villain brutally kills it several sessions later

when you make your character an orphan, you deny your DM the option of killing your family. Pet has to suffer instead.

You've taken your first step down the path of the Murderhobo.

Why If I have too many pets, too many family members to kill them all? HE WILL NEVER GET THEM ALL!

don't you want your GM to elicit emotion from you?

killing companions is the best way to get big reactions without having to kill an actual PC. and it makes the PCs want to do stuff in game. best of both worlds.

>best
>not most-hamfisted
It's actually both

Fuck off. Just because my character has a wife back home does not give the GM permission to fuck with that.

>does not give the GM permission to fuck with that.

While I hate brute-force "lol everyone you love is dead" GMing this is patently wrong. When you provide backstory, you are implicitly agreeing to letting the GM use that going forward. I feel the number one rule of Player Characters is you should never be overprotective of them. If you refuse to cede any kind of creative control to the GM then you should just write a story about your character instead of using them a collaborative game.

When the GM is a hack who mangles your backstory, I can understand disappointment. But saying "This is my character, only what I say goes, and you cannot change or affect him in any way unless I approve of it" is That Guy behavior.

>be dm
>have one-eyed rogue in party
>introduced friendly (befriended via circumstances) one-eyed wolf.
>Using magic to speak with animals, the rogue asks for it to guide them out of the woods... and leaves it.
>Doesn't even consider that it might be thrown in to be THEIR animal companion
>Everyone in group chastises them over this later.

This. Having a small supporting cast guarantees they'll be killed. Having none makes you a lame dimensionless loner approached out of pity by NPCs who then die. The obvious adaptation is larger litters. Seven siblings, for both parents, too, and they all have their own broods. DM won't kill your family if the villain would have to charter a bus.

> DM won't kill your family if the villain would have to charter a bus.

I dunno, I've seen some pretty ham-fisted ways of killing scores of friends and loved ones.

Now I do think a good GM should mess with the PC's social circles. But I also like to think I'm a lot more elegant about it than the scenarios Veeky Forums comes up with.

> having a wife
> ever
My DM made the villain of the story seduce and then impregnate her. He then made me watch as he did it through some kind of spell.
He then turned her into a complete slut, I won't go into details but you can imagine. She would play in orgies for the evil god of the villain. Finally when I confronted her she admitted the villain had just used her to get to me, and then she asked for forgiveness, saying that as a good guy I couldn't refuse it and that she couldn't raise the child alone (which was recently born).

The only good thing is that I kinda surprised the DM when I said 'okay', picked the baby and told her that even through I forgave her for the adultery, it was clear she wasn't fit to raise it so I wouldn't allow it. I then gave her some gold and told her to disappear forever, before people found out she colluded with him in serving an evil god.

The baby I gave to the saintly church to take care of it. The party then murdered the villain and it was all dandy. But boy did this cause some strife.

>Getting cucked by your DM
>Ever

Fucking this

I had a character who would periodically write and send gold back home to his wife and kids, so my DM had the bbeg kill them both.

I left that group

>DM gives you a pet companion
>it turns out to be the villain in disguise

how about the death of an NPC that is connected to all the PCs? for example their favorite employer or tavern keeper. a friend of all the PCs is better to kill than just a single PCs family.

Not like I can be uncucked. But I can work within framework to handle it the best possible.

He made that to force me fall from good. He tried, I prevailed.

>You are the Ranger
>You change into an animal
>You take yourself as your own animal companion

your move GM

That's fine, as long as it makes sense and isn't just for shock value

Killing friendly NPCs is a great way to add in drama and force some change in a character's personality. Plus then you have more options down the line, like bringing them back and making the player's regret their return

But you should make sure you do it well. The first trick is making sure it's someone the party actually likes. Icing your pet NPC who you're convinced the players all love (but really they don't) will mean jack diddly to them. Same with murdering a player's wife/girlfriend/mom/sister/daughter in Session Zero. You need to make sure there's actual attachment. Then you need to do it in a way which makes the death truly personal. The BBEG dropping a meteor on their heads doesn't cut it.

>you are the ranger
>you change yourself into an animal
>you realize being an animal is more fun than being a human
>you become the party pet
E-everybody does that, right?

Any dead family scenario I just act with disbelief while providing ridiculous circumstances of mortal danger they survived before.

>yeah, they got hit by those couple times before. That's how she lost her tooth.
> was he screaming? If he was, he's fine and kicking. If he's not, he just had too much to drink and likely passed out or carbon monoxide poisoning. It keeps happening

>Killing friendly NPCs is a great way to add in drama and force some change in a character's personality.
Only the weak willed would turn evil because a loved one died. A true good hero would go, defeat the villain and then give him to justice.

>implying change means turning Evil

A good character (as in interesting, not necessarily Good) changes and grows as a story progresses. Losing loved ones is a catalyst for that. Some of the best stories are ones where the protagonists are different people by the end.

Ah right, in this case it's okay. Like changing from carefree into serious and mature hero.

>be druid
>shapeshift into human child
>go on adventure jumping over monsters and grabbing cool powerups to help me swing my sword and shit along the way
>get to a tall boss
>throw my sword into the air and shapeshift back into a tall strong muscular guy
>go street fighter on his ass
>have dramatic dialog, then shapeshift back into a kid and repeat

No, fuck you.

If the GM doesn't make it clear that NPCs important to the character are open season or doesn't ask if the player if they'd be okay with it before hand then that GM can fuck off.

It's just like you said it's a "collaborative game", which means that the players need to have just as much input as the GM does. If I wanted to be railroaded by a cuck who likes to fridge NPCs for cheap drama, then I'd play a video game.

>my character's most treasured companion is his dakimakura
Your move, GM.

>PCs want to adopt a random village dog.
>Tell them they can either have a statless cowardly pet that always dodge combats or a useful dog with his own char sheet and all that entails.
>Everyone wants the useful dog.
>One guy ragequits when the dog gets hurt because of an enemy AoE spell.

Apocalypse Stone

You didn't smite the slut.

>character's only friend growing up was her pet raven
>it only has 1 hp but comes back after resting

Raven Queen once again proving to be the best choice.

>players have just as much input as the GM
...no

>be player
>give my character one eye for a sweet bonus from a flaw
>DM introduces some wolf creature to me
>Ask it for directions and then leave it behind
>DM gets mad
>Think he wanted me to fuck the wolf for whatever reason but I'm knot into that shit.

Fuck off.

If the GM didn't want the players to influence his setting and the game, he should have written a book instead.

>DM keeps killing off animal companions
>Keeps saying he doesn't mean to
>Always has a smug as shit look when he manages to
I don't care if it's what the villains would do, THAT WAS THE FIFTH FUCKING DOG I'VE SUMMONED

How to know if a DM is shit:

>Requires an extensive backstory for your character.

I actually had a player try to pull the "I am a orphan with no friends ever" thing on me once. About fifty sessions later it was revealed that she was actually the sister of the reigning empress of the land they were registered as adventurers in. Basically the player had been handed off to trusted retainers to keep her safe when the assassin guild started getting a bit uppity, but a raid by bandits killed both foster parents. The Empress had been hiring the party as personal troubleshooters for a bit while she had her secret police checking into the player's background.

That's actually impressive I think, this is how you paladin.

>but I'm knot into that shit.

Your Freudian slip suggests otherwise, user.

This! Anything more than three sentences is just masturbation.

Actually, that was meant to be a pun.

>DMing a campaign
>try to add a dog for the party as a plot hook, they find it with no owner, make it be a good boy and shit
>im a loner xd character immediately kills it and disembowels it
>entire party is visibly disgusted over skype and ingame
>don't know how to unfuck it

...

Eh, not your problem. Just wait for a player to mention something, agree with him and kick the edgelord out.

1 much stronger dog, and 1 less player character.

>three sentences
Jesus fuck, have you played anything not a homeless orphan?
Nobody needs to have pages upon pages but you should be able to explain some basic things that'll at least take a paragraph.
>where do you come from
>where do you get your abilities from
>what made you become an adventurer
>what makes you able to work with other adventurers
>what are your goals? short-, long-, and 'do the impossible' term

Only one possible answer here, OP.
Pic related.

Was your name Ralph by any chance?

>GMin'g Carrion's Crown adventure path.

>Group meets Old River (village's stray dog), befriends it.

>Have yet to catch on to a certain person killing small animals to commit a particularly dangerous act of vandalism.

>Old River is now missing

>Group is clearly more invested in finding him than investigating a haunted prison.

How should I play it?

> Have yet to really decide Old River's fate.

I'm Bob and I hail from the village of Nob. I trained to become a knight under the most prestigious heroes of the land. I'm traveling with the party to hone my skills in the field and to fund my exploits as I set my own path towards becoming a knight of legend.

Bam, three sentences, no masturbation here.

Have the fate of Old River lead them to the prison, obviously.

Then reveal that Old River is the ghost of the prison guard dog

Dog ghost comes back as a black hound hungry for vengeance. Other party members cannot see it.
So you have no friends or familial relations back home in Nob? Any good reason for why you have that PC level while countless other guards and squires don't? Literally anything that I, as a DM, can work with to include your character in the story somewhat naturally?

What's the appeal of having a pet? You basically share your stats between two beings

Why does any of that matter? I answered all your questions, that should be enough for me to start playing in the campaign.

You missed
>what makes you able to work with other adventurers.

>where do you come from
May or may not be relevant, I could give you this depending on the scope/setting of the game the GM may have in mind.

>where do you get your abilities from
Generally self-explanatory, the same way other people with your class levels get those abilities.
Sounds like snowflake bait.

>what made you become an adventurer
Actually vital info, agree on this.

>what makes you able to work with other adventurers
Circumstance or genuine comradery (and both), doesn't seem like necessary need to know info. It should be trusted that player characters will work with one another but to they should be free to disagree of even go their separate ways if need be. You can't force this kind of thing, some people click and some don't.

>what are your goals? short-, long-, and 'do the impossible' term
Snowflake version of 'why are you adventuring'.

You missed
>I'm traveling with the party to hone my skills in the field and to fund my exploits as I set my own path towards becoming a knight of legend.

That's "what made you become the adventure" and "what are your goals?" You haven't explained how you fit into the party dynamic or even how your even able to work side by side with the current group.

Your first mistake was getting attached and letting the DM know it.

Surround yourself with summoned or bound entities that are easily replaced, and if you do become fond of one don't let on that fact if your DM is a lazy fuck going for shock and awe.

Stuff like this is also why I never play Favored Soul or Warlock even though I love the class concepts and the idea of interacting with a powerful patron. In reality the DM will most likely just use it as a way to fuck you over and present ultimatums. If there was a way for the player to have more of a say in what their patron was like and how they acted rather than it just being a particularly powerful DMPC you're forced to interact with frequently I'd be more favorable to it in practice.

I think the Binder is a happy alternative, since Vestiges are unable to interact with the Prime themselves (no "kill the baby or i send demons to take away your warlock powers" bullshit), and the side effects of binding a vestige are roleplayed by the player, with mechanical downsides for ignoring their personal compulsions

>What's the appeal of having a pet?
She/He loves you.

I had Sapphire, a female brown horse that was very fast. When she got hurt I would always heal her before me. She would smile when I hugged her and when she did exceptionally well I would kiss her head.

She was the best pet I had. And amazingly she ended the campaign alive.

>early campaign
>recruit chumps to help in battle
>most of them die
>survivors manage to turn the tide in one battle with a nicely done spear chuck
>kind of save the realm
>chumps get more powerful, retire with hydra hide cloak and some gold

>later campaign
>recruit chumps, same idea
>free some prisoners
>only 2 of them are actually above level 1
>eat shit with an AoE spells, most die instantly

>YouAppearToBeUpset.jpg
You're still butthurt your waifu got killed in a fucking rpg? Grow up

> So you have no friends or familial relations back home in Nob?

So you can use them for cheap plot hooks? Why does it really matter otherwise?

>Any good reason for why you have that PC level while countless other guards and squires don't?

Does every guard and squire ever have his ambitions? Maybe it's just a job to them and they see no merit in becoming the best sword in the land over living a simple life. This is pretty nit-picky.

>Literally anything that I, as a DM, can work with to include your character in the story somewhat naturally?

You should know the answer to that? Can you work with a character like this or not?

Isn't that question heavily dependent on the party group? Anyways, a village kid that became a knight seems pretty flexible. Anyone who can swing a sword around could probably join any group easily.

Have them save the dog last second if they pass some checks. Otherwise that old river is ol' yeller.

>GM needs every single important thing vetted by his players before it can ever happen

Then all he's doing is facilitating your own masturbation, user. Bad GMs suck, and no one likes dealing with a guy who sucks at storytelling. But you don't come into a game someone else is running and then demand veto power on anything you don't like.

>the players need to have just as much input as the GM does
Your input as a player comes from the fact you have direct control over your character's immediate actions. The fact you can do basically anything without the GM saying "No, you're not allowed to do that" (within the context of mechanical rules) is all the input you need as a player.

It's pretty blunt man, a little vain but still.

He can fit the party's dynamic and/or work side by side with the group if they help him hone his skills and fund his exploits. How do you not get that?

>She would smile when I hugged h
>Horse
>Smile
user, was this horse a woman with a tail plug shoved in her butt?

My best idea so far is to trick them into thinking it's a ghost when he's actually a blink dog. I'm not sure if he should be leading them to the prison or leading them to the vandal.

>Isn't that question heavily dependent on the party group?
There are still some general traits that can be applied to work into any group.

Maybe it's a good thing I only wrote three sentences since your reading comprehension is this poor.

>implying horses cannot smile
Regardless, she got very happy when I gave her attention. Or I fed her a carrot.

Putting family or companions in danger is great motivation as long as your character has a chance to save them. Breaking your character's ties to the world off-screen doesn't motivate shit.

That's show, not tell, you fucking twat.

You can't run one fucking session and deduce party dynamics?

And this is why every single player's backstory is "...and then he was abandoned as an orphan"

I usually write long-ish backstories so i can get in character more easily, which I don't see as masturbation. Most GMs I've played with would have ignored an application that short, too. On my current one we're looking for an extra player and the GM gets annoyed when people send stuff like

Unless it's court intrigue plot at established setting, the GM is shit if he can't work off the Bob of Nob

Hell, our cleric has refused to cast magic for months because the party problem child put his goddess in a coma, allowing him to be snatched up by an evil deity.

Said problem-child worships an evil tree that I am going to burn down the second we're face to face with it again. He's been sacrificing the souls of everything we've fought to it, and by now it can be seen from space.

He could, but why would he have to? Trying just one tiny bit harder than "He's called bob and he's a knight, he's with the party for money and to get stronger" doesn't instantly make you a masturbatory jackass. Making something two or 3 times longer than that in order to make your concept look slightly interesting doesn't take more than maybe 5 minutes.

Why not just get rid of this problem child?

>hurr hurr that would be disruptive and the DM doesn't allow PVP
Yeah, I'm sure the evil fucker is the victim here.

>He could, but why would he have to?
Because he's the fucking GM. If you want your character players to do everything for you, why are you even fucking here? Just tell everyone on the table to write their own story and publish it.

>Be GM
>Run a horror two shot.
>Player gets a dog as an animal companion.
>Party ends-up in a creepy mansion.
>Party goes to library.
>Party sucks with old creepy looking book on lectern.
>Book comes alive and starts flying about and trying to bite a chunk out of the characters.
>Party runs out of library but forgot that they left the door they entered through open.
>Book flies out and attacks the closest living thing.
>Closest living thing was PC's dog.
>Dog failed to survive critical hit.

That player is to this very day paranoid I will kill any animal companion.

That's why I spend any if my leftover of my starting gold on animals. Do you know how many goats and chickens you can buy for 40gp? Because it's a lot.

Okay, so the GM should take your not only low effort, but lowest-effort-possible-on-purpose application and let you into the game, taking all the load of actually building your character beyond his name, occupation and sheet because he's the GM and that is apparently one of his duties.

Isn't this from some porn text game?

I'm waiting for an opportunity. The problem is that the GM's running a campaign that's supposed to test the morality of the group (giving bonuses for evil actions, such as putting the Cleric between being able to use magic if said magic came from an evil god)

Said problem child diving head first into the evil choices means that his character has been horribly mutated, but in a way that makes him dangerous in combat.

My rogue swashbuckler simply doesn't have the DPS to take him out until an opportunity arrives, and I'm dodging around GM's morality stuff just as much as everyone else.

>end up not being able to kill him because he was a good boy

>He could, but why would he have to?

Because this is what a competent GM is capable of, playing with a GM who can't even work with the player to expand upon a character as simple as Bob is like playing with a GM who doesn't know the rules to the game he's running in the first place. Pointless.

>It's the player's responsibility to do the GM's job.

The character's built already, what the fuck are you on about? Seriously, just fucking have the relevant shit show instead of the player telling you what they would do.

You want to know which buttcheek he scratches first? send mosquitos.
You want to know if he has any ambitions of joining any knight orders? Send out a call to arms. The GM has more than enough info from Bob to get an arc going.

The GM is shit if he can't do at least that much to initiate a story.

I see. Well, I guess it changes things if acting like that is part of the game you're in. It kind of sounded like the player was being a dick just because, and I assumed you could stop him if the rest of the party banded together. But I suppose at least the cleric is completely useless if he can't use any of his powers.

I don't know man I don't usually see the GM as my bitch. If he asks for something to make running the game easier I see no point in refusing on the grounds it isn't strictly necessary.

nice strawmanning faggot. I bet you are the same reading comprehensionless faggot from above. Actually reply to the post after reading or shut the fuck up.

How this is mutually exclusive with not making a 3 sentence backstory that can be summed in one?
There was no real argument made on that post.

I don't see holding a GM to know how to GM as making him subservient to you. If I need help 'running the game easier' then I start with a module or an adventure path or something.

Personally I'm cool with writing however much a DM likes when making a character. Then again, I enjoy writing and I'm not an asshole who believes it's all just a ploy to fuck with me.

Now the best thing to do is to collaborate with your DM when making a character. Bypasses the need for a written backstory if you just explain it and they make it with you. You could even get their opinion on whether or not it matches the tone of the game, and helps them get an idea of what they're working with.

Haven't you heard? Players are there to kick their feet back and watch the funny Gee Ehm monkey dance

I'm not in my group to test my GM's skills. I'm there because I want to play the game. I don't give even the tiniest shit about what a GM "should" be like or what he "should" know as long as he ends up running an entertaining game for everyone on the table, and would rather not have his GMing turn into a chore.