Is it considered in poor taste or disrupting to play a character with some sort of handicap...

Is it considered in poor taste or disrupting to play a character with some sort of handicap, especially if it affects it mechanically? I want to play as a paladin who has taken a vow of silence but I don't want to gimp the group by playing someone who can't communicate effectively.

Does a vow of silence also prevent you from writing or punching a villainous dickbag in the face as he monologues?

I play a life cleric who's sworn to never harm another soul after a patchy pirate related history drove him to the nautical god he now worships

thats a mechanical handicap, and I haven't had any complaints yet because my character is the only reason several party members are still alive.

so long as you play your character intelligently there is really no problem with a handycap

the only flaws that disrupt play is stiff
>"my character cant trust other people"
>kleptomania
>just being a team killing fuckwit for whatever reason.
Your dm would probably let you just talk and then say your character communicated what you said on a note or something

No, but I thought it'd prevent me from rolling social skills and somesuch.

Well you'd probably need someone to do the talking for you, yeah. I'd probably say you'd be able to intimidate or decieve, but only if you have someone to do the mouthwork for you

They say that most of communication is non-verbal. Just a look can communicate quite a bit, at least to people with empathy.

You'll just have to get inventive with HOW your character persuades, intimidates or decieves

Talk to your group and ask them if they are OK with it.

Who says a mute character can't have personality. Get good at non-verbal communication and you'll have no problems.

And there we go.

If you're having any reservations or are concerned about whether or not an idea will be accepted by the other players, just ask them.

If they say no, no biggie. If they say yes, have fun. If they're unsure, come up with an easy in-game way to make it work.

Depends on a bunch of things.
Your idea seems pretty interesting. As long as you take some measures to ensure that you have some method of communication both in and out of character it should be a good time. Sign languages exists after all. I would suggest that you work something out in concert with your fellow players/DM before you get into things unless you're playing with an experienced group that all knows each other and can engage with the extra layer of complication.

>be playing Eberron with my tabletop group, delightfully I'm not the one DMing this time
>on some wierd part of the map what doesn't exist, start questioning why the DM is using the setting if he's not actually going to use the setting.
>Group consists of Mage, Rogue, Druid, and Paladin.
>I'm the Paladin.
>Yes, I Fell, but more on that later
>Mage and Rogue have childhood friendship backstory and are sent on a delivery quest by Mage's guild.
>Druid PC got hired for a cut of the score, expecting wilderness encounters
>My char recently met Druid, trying to get to know her char and get away from the stuffy knight I recently met supposedly sent by the temple to be my backup since I'm not that powerful yet.
>NPC knight is a total jerk, cockblocks, and uses pessimism to disenfranchise my comrades from the idea that I am a heroic Paladin. Generally ruins my ability to make friends.
>Chivalry doesn't allow me to abandon them halfway however.
>Take the Lightening Rail to the town where we'll be getting off to go on foot.

>Get jumped by gang of thugs while leaving the station since were rich enough to be targets but not detecting magic enough to be real threats.

Talk to your group and GM. Run it past them.

>Discover Sir NPC is using a locked gauntlet with his sword arm, I consider its merits while we both sword and board for the supporting casters.
>Party takes a few bad hits before the surviving thugs run away, administer the Laying On of Hands, we continue
>enter wilderness areas, DM refuses to answer where on the map we are.
>get into a bunch of fights, one with a rival guild trying to take Mage's package.
>Sir NPC transitions into impossible-to-please higher level mentor, still a dick, valued by the party more than me.
>starting to hate this guy, all he does is point out my mistakes.
>notice he never takes his helmet off, and even sleeps with his locked gauntlet still holding his sword.

God she was so good. I briefly suspected she might end her fight with Wick by getting her hand(s) burnt / blown off, but she died with honor, and had a great last exchange.

>Bond with comrades over campfire meals.
>Surprisingly get saved by Sir NPC in a later encounter, as he tanks an ogre, we all mob it and then take it down. Didn't think he cared, genuinely surprised.
>things are looking up, traveling through windy canyon passes now en route to a teleporter marker that can take us the rest of the way.

>Suddenly a giant flash.
>DM describes some gigantic magic going nuclear.
>Finally get revealed why our location didn't match our metagame assumption of the map.

>Were in the mournlands, before it got named that; and the giant flash was the Mourning.

>begin running our asses off and trying to calculate how close we are to the teleporter and how much time we have, if we can make it.
>We are quite lucky to be close
>notice ambient light getting brighter, anything in the light starts burning, try to stick to the shadows, but end up having to cross an exposed bridge to the teleporter.
>everyone's smoking by the time we get there
>Ladies first, portal takes a round to recharge in between transits, one person at a time.

>The Mourning flares with a shockwave preceeding it, almost dispels the portal, which is now flickering in and out.

>tfw no qt3.14 mute assassin gf
why even live?

Being a character that's literally useless is bad, but just having specific drawbacks (even severe ones) should be fine. Hell, I'd say it's good for group cohesion, since it makes it more likely that the group will rely on each other to cover their weaknesses.

Of course, that's assuming you're not playing with dickbags who end up taking advantage of your shortcomings, but that's a different set of problems.

>Its down to me and the knight, tell him he should go next because he's stronger, noting that the portal might not open again after this time.
>Knight insists he can't, says something wierd about how he already tried, how there wasn't any time left, and how this was going to be the last time.

>The ground quakes, another shockwave bursts over us, preceeding the sudden blinding intensity of the Mourning overtaking us.
>Knight shoves me into the portal
>I reach out to grab him, while trying to persuade the DM to let the portal take both of us if I can turn him and all his gear into my carry weight.

>DM describes how that not only doesnt work, but because I reached my hand out, the magical force impacting us tears my right lower arm off and incinerates it, the rest of me is safe inside the Portal.

>pop out on top of a slanted roof and crash down, starting to slide off. Its wet from rain, and I'm confused and bleeding.

..... What happened next????

>Paladin falls
>try to grab the roof but remember my hand is missing, scramble to grab with the other.
>slide past Rogue, Mage, and Druid, who were in that order holding on to a grapple and rope
>Druid grabs me, thank her for saving my life, as my legs hang over the edge of the roof.
>Realize were on top of tower, its really high up.
>See some necromancer or lich looking guy standing at the top of the roof, laughing about how finally it was all over, and there was no way we could stop him now.
>still confused
>Notice the horizon moving. Oh, those aren't mountains, thats a Dragon. Get shown a picture of Kyber.

>Bracing for TPK

>Flickering pop of magic next to Big Bad, Sir Knight falls out of the portal, smoking, groaning, and not moving as he also slams into the roof.
>Rogue holds on, casters blast the Big Bad but magical sparks of invulnerability shunt the spells away from him
>After laughing some more, Big Bad kicks Knight in the head, who is tilted on the slanted roof like us.
>His helmet comes off, and bounces away over the edge.
>Everyone gasps.
>He's scarred, bloodied, and he looked exactly like me.

>Comrades look at me, its hard to tell who is more surprised. Suddenly not sure about how jealous I was or how they liked him (me?) better, consider how we had just started to consider each other friends.
>get over being shocked at looking at myself, and demand that Big Bad lets him go!
>Big Bad complies, by kicking him again, watch a dazed Sir Knight slide away and pick up speed down the side of the tower's roof.
>try to flail or reach for him but its not possible, he was too far to the side, and I was reaching with a torn stump.
>watch him slide off the edge, and plummet down.

>My other self hit the ground pretty hard, so many stories down
>he's not moving, and doesn't get back up
>Wonder what we're supposed to do about the mountain sized Dragon coming up out of the earth in the far distance.
>Look back at Big Bad with hate in my eyes.
>Druid squeezes my hand.
>Mage promises whatever happens we go together.
>Rogue threatens that Big Bad picked the wrong portal to ambush.
>Most of us realizing by now none of this had happened by chance, however.
>Climb check, battle cry, start to charge!

>Big Bad yells "I can't believe it! Theres no way!"

>Future Druid rides a pheonix overhead and slams into Big Bad with an explosion. Future Rogue dismounts with a tackle into stabs.
>Future Mage teleports in front of us and grabs my current companion's shoulders.

"I'm sending you where we came from! You have to find a way to stop this from happening, go to the Silver Flame, they will tell you what to do!"

>And so a mysterious spell was cast, and thus our adventure began as the DM concluded the second part of what was evidently the Intro session.
>As we fought through the future, to save our past.

>When we woke up in the next town, I bought a locked gauntlet.

>End.

Thank you that was a lovely story

The only real gimp is you won't be able to use verbal component spells.
Which is...you know...most of them.

Great story, but confused how trying to save the knight caused you to fall. Please explain to an idiot like me

He physically fell.