Character Weaknesses
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@O'louth:
@AWESOMEMAN:
Crey was a die hard coward. He refused under all circumstances to enter any fair duel or fight. Even at the cost of his reputation. Additionally, any PC with at least a rank of intimidate, or the willingness to show aggression toward Crey would very easily scare him off. Luckily for me, the only one that ever really bothered was Mangus Gunnar.
Gwarn drew a sword on him, that's 'aggression', it didn't scare him off.
Actually, he ran, hid, buffed up, and came back at you, while you were standing around doing nothing.
A coward will always run when he can. A coward with a lust for blood, will run, and attack when the odds are in his favor.
I was there, and you didnt exactly give off a " get scared bitch".
Being a coward and running away, only to prepare and then kill the person who scared you is not a weakness.
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I didn't claim that your skewed view of a situation you weren't involved in was, noob.
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I beg your pardon? We were discussing weaknesses. I explained why I thought something was not a weakness, which was the main point of this thread. I don't think we need to get into personal attacks here, do we?
Being a "coward" is a commonly claimed weakness, but it seems often that people who have this "flaw" will run away, then prepare and go right back after the thing which scared them. How scared could they be in the first place?
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Please stay on topic without sniping at each other.
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Being a "coward" is a commonly claimed weakness, but it seems often that people who have this "flaw" will run away, then prepare and go right back after the thing which scared them. How scared could they be in the first place?
In middle school I knew this kid who bullied other kids that were bigger than him, because they were larger and more scarey. Running away, getting ready for a battle, and surpassing someone is a very clever way to ensure victory. It's also the only viable option for someone who is defeated by the mere thought of a "fair fight."
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I've seen it done and I've done it.
Now, interesting weakness, that's something you don't see that often- and that is also difficult to do.
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@O'louth:
Weaknesses like what I describe could be:
For heroes:Honor: He will not strike down unarmed people, and through his code of conduct is extremely predictable.
Mercy: If a life can be saved, it should be.
Naivity: Will let you "trust" others and through such, be able to set up for a backstabbing, or simply spill plot secrets.
Terrible secret: If someone finds out, it would be much like knowing a demons true name. Would allow clever villians to use the hero on occasion, for minor slip ups, so that William the Valiant does not lose face in the eyes of the populace.
(Good example of this was Osynthir played by Thorkm, who eventually turned agains his friends, because Banda had his wife. )
For villians:
Overconfidence: Cliche, but when the other is about to die at your unholy altar, you spill your master plan, and then make a "mistake" that might allow him or her to run away.Powerhungry: Seeking power to the extend that you will betray just about anyone to optain it, meaning you will sell out your fellow evil guys when it suits your aims.
Empathy, and belief in friendship: Robert the asassin, remembered that Laura the priestess of Lurue was nothing but kind to him. So when he hears Bob The Banite has captured her to sacrifice, he will, despite being an evil son of bitch, attack the banite stronghold, sneak in and rescue her, only to go back to his own evil business once again afterwards.
More of this please. Some ideas of not only what weaknesses can be, but how they can be used by others will help noobs like me not only pick a weakness, but react appropriately to it being exploited by others IC.
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Here are a few weaknesses that I've been working on for a future PC. Feel free to take from it what you like.
Flighty:
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So basically your concept is a Teenager? Throw in some facial spots and a Suburban Mall and i'm there. :P
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My Multitude character was scared to no end of being caged. She'd fight or flee to avoid being sent to jail or captured in any way. She was once arested and sent to the militia jail where she had a meltdown. She'd scream a lot of nonesense and beged to be freed, being no help at all to the militiaman who was trying to figured out what had landed her there.
Fears make for good weaknesses. But there are other types. A man having a weakness for the opposite sex who's unable to harm a woman or always get charmed by them. Greed can be a weakness if the character will do anything to gain money or some material good, even sell their own mother. That can land them in a wee bit of trouble.
Could be something like cat and catnip. Drive you nuts and you'd do anything to get a bit of it. Could turn into an addiction of some kind. Nothing related to drug since it is not allowed on CoA but in a similar manner. Bloodstone addiction? Can help but use its power even if you know its evil? Could also be someone with an irrational need to collect something specific and at any cost.
A loud mouth can be a weakness in some situation. You know, talking when you really really should've shut up. Can go from someone who cant help but tell the truth to someone who keeps taunting others even if it'll land him in a whole lot of trouble.
Going back on fears, you could develop any sort of phobia. Do a google search on phobias and look up the various one. There are a few funny ones that could land you in interesting RP sessions. Could also start fearing something you encountered ICly. I remember a character that became fearful of chickens after encountering fiendish chickens and getting a nasty beating from them. Knew another one, not sure if it something he developed IC or was from creation but, he was afraid of bears. He'd run, hide like a coward, scream to the top of his lungs and never enganged one since his character was simply too afraid.
Short term memory lost was mentioned earlier and i've seen a character recently with that weakness and it was RPed amazingly. It was always entertaining to meet that character.
Inability to speak in front of a certain number of people can be a weakness. You end up embarrasing yourself because there are too many people and you keep stammering, saying the wrong things, messing up what you're trying to say and being unable to get the message though.
Could be overconfidence or that you must always be right and no other answers then your own is the correct one. You're always right and you dont see that you might be wrong or that your answer will just lead you to trouble.
Being naive can turn into a weakness when you believe everything others tell you and you dont question their judgement or statement. you get lied to and dont realize it, ending you in trouble or eventually betrayed more then once.
You just need to think about it a bit and you'll find an interesting weakness for your character. Could be a fear, an attitude, an addiction, etc. I once had a character on another server that was afraid of lightning. The thing is, in certain region of the server, where we ended up oftenly, there was lightning. Other characters hand to guide her pass, drag her even. Was always fun to RP.
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My character Tom Thorn had post traumatic stress disorder from fightiing the Duergar in the civil war. He would have flashbacks sometimes while drinking during social occasions. Once in a while in combat he would have an episode and freak out also. It was kind of fun actually. I imagined people hoping that Tom wouldn't freak out in the middle of an adventure. He was like a vietnam vet with a drinking problem and psychological issues. When not having an episode he was not too bad of an adventurer.
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For styxxBone1!
Acne scars:
Shopaholic:
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I always liked fears, but not fears of "encounters" or enemies. I have seen plenty of people to try and play out a fear of spiders, or bats, or bears, but very rarely see it bear fruit, since, "when you are lvl 11, off to fight your nemesis, and he brought a small black bear with him… Are you really going to run away, or beg for your life, when the WIN is within your grasp?
I have a friend, from school. The bloke is lovable. My girlfriend adores him. Yet, he never THINKS before he speaks, especially in the company of women. He is a smart and clever guy, can easily handle large groups, no social phobias or anything. But when he accidently calls a girl a bitch, and becomes extremely embarassed, or blurts out whatever he is thinking... Well, its a definate weakness.
In CoA terms, it could simply be used when near your enemies, that you cannot keep your mouth shut, but always somehow tells them what you know of what they are doing.
My own greatest weakness, is my inability to keep secrets. I suck at it. Mostly because I find most secret keeping to be unconstructive, but mostly I love to gossip, and since I am a bit of an attention hore at times, I for some odd reason love dishing out the latest gossip.
While I never tell any of the actual, "will hurt others if I tell" secrets, it can make me seem untrustworthy, even if it isnt true.My girlfriend, who is sleeping right next to me atm while I am suppose to be preparing for my exam in the morning, while coming off as very independent, secretly craves comfort and the feeling of safety. This could be used in CoA terms, as someone who prides themselves with loving to be lone rangers, but will suck up to any group, good or bad, in their need to belong to something, making them on occasion break their own codes and moral, simply for the need to belong.
Pride, can become a weakness, when used in the sense, that they care way too much about what others thing of them, making them go way beyond the norm to impress, brag, but also suck up.
Hiding your own insecurity... Be braggingly brave, yet be scared shitless, making you be the first to run into the battlefield, and the first to leave it.
In short, find weaknesses that allows your character to appear human. My own character has a code of conduct, and honor which an enemy could easily use to their advantage. She is one of the people who WOULD surrender, if the enemy had a hostage, and threatened to kill said hostage.
I find human weaknesses as I have described above, and previously, to be far easier to keep consistant.
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One of my favorite side characters in the Forgotten Realms novels I read, was one of the Knights of Myth Drannor, a tymoran priest. His devotion to his god made him always take chances, and act reckless with his own life. Yet he had fluffy nerves, making him drink alot, giving him an achohol problem. He had to drink to calm his nerves, as the constant horrors he had seen was threatening to claim his sanity.
For some reason, this struck me as emensely human. I had until then always thought of adventurers, and especially Tymoran ones, to love the thrill of danger, and having a lust of taking chances. Yet, when I read about this bloke, I could suddenly see the man come alive, become something more than just a fictional side character, but a living adventurer, one whom had been affected by the many horrors, the death, and the nerve wracking occupation adventurers have.
How to portray such besides simply roleplaying it late at night when you have done all the quests, and sit and wait until you can rest again? Dump that Dex to 8, make your human a fat man, and then show it, by always having to take the greater risk whenever you get the choice. Risk everything, and see where it takes you.
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Back when we made a bunch of bandits (Knights of the Road) we made a decision to hand out little calling cards (PC written scrolls) whenever we beat someone down.
Not a weakness per se, but just a thought we should give people a bit of "evidence", so we weren't just beating people down and running away with some coin.
Justified as arrogance/spreading fear.
Edit: And I think having a bunch of these notes lead to the arrest of the PC at the time when he was searched, so yeah, people do do these kind of things.
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Kato was claustrophobic and had to cast Remove Fear on herself (prayed for Shaundakul to make her brave) whenever her ventures took her below ground or into any cave. When the spell ran out though she wasnt of much use.
After being set on fire more than once by CoG gnomes, she developed a fear of gnomes as well - one in particular - and would panic whenever one was near, and reaching for a wand of endure elements.
Not sure if this is the kind of stuff the DMs are looking for, but it's what worked for that particular character.
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On a related note, I think sins and virtues are fertile ground for sorting out your character strengths and weaknesses, as well as fleshing out your character in general, especialy if they link in with each other well.
For example Q was both greedy and violent with a taste for setting things on fire, however however this sort of mindset in a halfing community led to tension between her and the local clergy, who basicly told her she wasn't worthy of getting in the halfling afterlife, which of course led to her being fearfull of the wall.
This led her going down the path to becoming a druidess of Shelia and trying to earn her ticket to the Green Fields by service and taking on reponsablity. Specificly she took on oaths primery concerned with purging the foes of the balance, this gave her a excuse to act on her base desires while seeing to her reponcablities.
This all resulted IG with Q never running from her reponcablities, even in the face of death (Like the Glade) and being quiet willing to use any method she could to get people helping her. It also ment she took supernatrual interference very serously, with the whole fire elemental telling her off for burning Talon really screwing her up.
Link the traits up, make your weakness flow into your strengths, sins and virtues!
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Some great ideas there guys.
What about superstitions? I know a whole bunch of them, but which ones do you think might be appropriate to CoA?
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Black cat sucks.
Id say, forgotten Realms would be:
Never walk through a stream. Its bad luck.
Hurt a cat will mean you will burn in hell (Cormyr specific)
Respect the gods. You can spit at a priest, but never EVER insult his god.
Never say the name of Cyric.
Fear the afterlife. Good for religious discussions.
Never enter a domain without paying respect to the god in question.
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@False:
Some great ideas there guys.
What about superstitions? I know a whole bunch of them, but which ones do you think might be appropriate to CoA?
Ones based on the actions of the veroius gods are good, regardless of alignment.
I.E your ce half orc refusing to attack a crying man, becuse he think it make ilmatar stop his healing from working