Does no one make normal characters anymore? What's wrong

If you're not special in some way, what the fuck are you doing adventuring? Go home and raise some crops.

PC by nature are exceptional

>>55097343
Because been there done that.

Only first timers go for balanced builds.

>>55097355
That's not entirely what I mean. People are always born with specialities, no one seems to learn their powers.

I kind of blame this on all the stories where people are destined to fight.

I bet you think you're something special because your character is "normal"

Play Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2e

Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes a normal character. I don't even mean that in a snarky "What really is normal?" sort of way. I mean that we get slapfights here because no one can come to any real consensus. Humans only? Is magic ok? Are you only allowed to be a dirtfarmer? Who the fuck knows.

>>55097384
Sounds more like a system problem than anything else.

>>55097384
I mean nobody plays humans rising to the challenge. They are always, I'm half-dragon, I have the soul of a demon, I have werewolf blood.

Is it so wrong for a dude to have gone to magic college, or train in combat? Not being destined or granted powers with no effort.

>>55097343

Because dickbags started talkin about "destiny" and lazy writers just roll with it.

>>55097372

>I have never played a roleplaying game

>>55097452
>I have never played a roleplaying game, right.
Fify

>>55097425

Well we are now getting into setting specific stuff.

If a setting has half-dragons as fairly common, for example, it would make sense for the players to be able to start as one.

>>55097460

Your syntax makes no sense.

>>55097467
Even in d&d half-dragons and dragonborn are rare, just every party seems to have one.

It's like if every dark heresy party had a blank(I know some do, but the point still stands)

>>55097432
While lazy hipsters go "ugh destiny is so BORING i want to an everyman with nothing remarkable about him at all, it's so SUBVERSIVE and COOL"

>>55097487

Well that's because breathing fire is rad.

Also iirc dragonborne have slightly alternate stat bonuses from half-orcs, making them another route to go down if you want a Str-based slapper.

>>55097343
>What's wrong with making a dude that isn't special in some way.
Because in any sort of narrative, characters should have something special or the plot is not worth reading/watching/playing. You can be special in subtle yet powerful ways though, such as a human fighter who is the only one gifted with the ability to undo a spell that's dooming a nation, for example.

>>55097425
>I mean nobody plays humans rising to the challenge.
I do. That's not nobody.
>Is it so wrong for a dude to have gone to magic college, or train in combat?
Those are the default origins for two core classes in every edition of D&D so I can't tell what game you're talking about.

>>55097500

Nah, I just don't believe in destiny and overall feel the concept has done more harm than good to our society.

I prefer characters who do stuff because they want to do it, not because some spooky shit told them that they had to.

>>55097526

Or you can be special in that you are the only one who happened to find the trick to undo the spell. Everyone else got eaten by the troll.

>>55097559
>I prefer characters who do stuff because they want to do it
Then why don't YOU play characters like that? You claim "nobody" does, which includes yourself.

>>55097579
Of course, and maybe finding that secret is precisely what ties you into the plot.

Your character has to be special, or rather, plot essential in some way.

>>55097343
PCs are exceptional.
That being said however, people do frequently use that fact as a justification for deviating greatly from characters that fit the tone of the setting.

As much as I enjoy a good old "farmer, turned big damn hero" story from time to time, I don't want that to stop me from ever being allowed to play a Teifling-Dwarf Sorcerer, or a Psychic Rogue Trader, or whathaveyou.

>>55097619
> You claim "nobody" does

It's 2017 and you assume I'm OP?

>>55097621

I'd hope that OP is implying that "special" is separate from "plot essential"

>>55097355
Because you want to be somebody, be somebody soon?

>>55097621
What happens if he MAKES his plot importance?

Instead of having a destiny to kill the big bad, he really wants to rule something can't do that if someone else is.

He doesn't need some special spell quality, he went on the adventure to get rich and talk to hot women.

He learned magic because he wanted to, and couldn't get a job because of the economy so he decided to become a bounty hunter.

He doesn't sit back and let plot happen, he makes plot happen.

A high level character that comes off as "normal" is just a different kind of weird. If you're just talking about your "humble origin" types that don't have dragon or demon blood I don't think they've really gone anywhere
>>55097481
I think he's trying to say
>I have never played a roleplaying game correctly
but it's an incredibly open to interpretation type

>>55097526
Oh come on, that is total rubbish and you know it. For example you can write a perfectly exciting book about a company of soldiers in WWII even if none of them is destined to kill Hitler.

>>55097698

Okay so you are fundamentally misunderstanding what a plot is but I like where your head is at.

>>55097343
The last time I did that, I was a peasent just trying to make some cash with my trusty boomstick. After the end of our first quest, the BBEG started to make a speech. Me, being a man of action, not of words, rolled to blow his brains out. Naturally I rolled a twenty, ending the game then and there. The DM sighed, looked at me, and told me to leave immediately.

>>55097343
Well I was a level 1 Expert (Blacksmith), but then the Bandits killed my dad so I made myself some mail and a bident and multiclassed into fighter. Next level I'll train to use nets and a mancatcher and I'm gonna hunt me some bandits for the slave markets.

>>55097677
Both are intertwined in some way. But this also begs a question: what does OP mean with special? Because no plot stands a regular Joe as a character at all, but this shouldn't be an excuse to make Mary Sues/Gary Stus or characters that don't fit the plot or setting.

>>55097698
>He doesn't sit back and let plot happen, he makes plot happen.
It would mean he's dramatic, which is good and every character should have this! But what is special about him? Why should we like him or empathize with him?

Think of Star Wars. Every character is special somehow, even the most seemingly mundane ones. One example? Finn wasn't a regular guy, he was a Stormtrooper, who unlike his kindred, he decided he didn't want to be there. That on itself makes him unique.

At the end of the day it's just preference and the explanation for why your character is a badass is inconsequential.

The better question is why do you think "dude I'm super strong because I worked hard lol" is somehow superior as a concept to "I was born with badass genes and also worked really hard"

You Rock Lee loving faggot

>>55097777

Rock Lee is best character.

>>55097720
Yes you're right, only if these characters are special somehow. Otherwise it wouldn't be too exciting to read about some everyday soldiers with nothing going about them.

>>55097771
Yea but i don't need to be unique to take place in the plot.

If I'm minding my own business then the villain attacks my village, I'm gonna put my years at wizard school to good use.

>>55097355
>being an adventurer requires being special
what a toxic idea.

>>55097824
>I'm gonna put my years at wizard school to good use.
Considering that wizards are scarce, that DOES make you unique.

>>55097425
>I mean nobody plays humans rising to the challenge
I smell bullshit. Anyone who actually knows how to build characters and knows how to play the game will go with vanilla humans, since the bonus feat, skill point and floating stat bonus are often better than most other racial traits

I'm you play with idiots and scrubs who can't build a character for shit, then again I doubt you actually play tabletop at all

>>55097843
>Anyone who actually knows how to build characters and knows how to play the game will go with vanilla humans, since the bonus feat, skill point and floating stat bonus are often better than most other racial traits
Let's not forget that in D&D regular npcs have stats at 10, and characters have much higher stats. Players should justify those numbers narratively.

>>55097343
WHFRP

>>55097817
Consider Band of Brothers: these characters feel special to you because you're following their story not because they're unique.

>>55097867
Statistically speaking, those NPCs should have at least one stat at 12, since if 10 is the baseline, then they still have to apply their racial bonus to one stat

Then again, in a world that is obviously more dangerous, lethal, and is chalked with more dangerous, powerful, and paranatural phenomenon, I would personally be surprised to see a peasant survive at all with only a baseline score, and I doubt most adults would still be only level 1 by age 30

>>55097771
I think Finn would actually be a good example of what OP is talking about. He's just a regular stormtrooper with no special power or ability - he's important because of his choices and actions, not his gifts.
Rey is more the "magically good at things just because" type.

>>55097843
People who don't play variant humans in 5e aren't automatically bad at building characters, dude. Some of us just don't care about picking the mechanically superior option every time.
(They're not even vanilla humans anyway, it's an assumed-available optional rule.)

>>55097840
Lets talk about this
Say I had two level 1 fighters, one special and one normal

Normal fighter lived his life in a normal job, and was drafted into the military. He then continued his life training until he retired from being a soldier to be an adventurer.

Special fighter was an orphaned princess who was raised by the head general. She was then given a family sword and told by the three witches to go fight the big bad.

They both have motives explainations for powers and tied to the plot.

However the normal one trained by himself, got his own motive, and was handed nothing by the world.

The special one was given special training, a reason for the plot, and was handed everything by the world.

One drives himself and doesn't rely on the world. The other has the plot forced upon them.

>>55097902
Not really. In such stories, each character generally needs some manner of characterization to set him apart as an individual amongst his peers, as well as at least a few having some manner of motivation/characterization that is able to bring the audience's interest into them and also be able to hold onto it. That in and of itself makes each member of the band unique in some way, as they are explicitly given traits that allow them to be separate from eachother

>>55097942
>he's important because of his choices and actions,
But that still makes him unique though, since he ends up being "that one guy who was DIFFERENT!" By virtue of his actions, as they deprecated him from the rest of the "normal" characters and making him unique

>>55097927
Well it's a good thing I wasn't talking about 5e then

>>55097945
Sure, but none of them is Special in the way >>55097526 meant, which is the point.

>>55097343
Basically a big shift in marketing in the 2nd edition D&D days. They realized nerdy losers wanted to be Dragonlance characters, so they shifted the game rules towards that and its been a feedback loops since. Power fantasy sells more. Probably also anime.

There are lots of people who don't play like that though. People who are interested in the struggle of man seen to end up in osr or story games. or both

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>ITT OP makes an argument starter thread based on vague and open-ended terms that have different meanings to different people, which they then argue about not realising they're all operating under different definitions

>>55098011

If you actually read the thread you'd see that people are specifically arguing about those definitions.

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I always play randos whenever I make characters.

>Cleric who became an adventurer so he can pay for medical school.
>A barbarian with an above average intelligence (score) who wants to become a novelist.
>Farmer (fighter) who's yearly crops were stolen, so he has to find some way of getting money so he doesn't starve during the winter.
>Ranger who makes and deals drugs.
>Druid who does drugs.

>>55097959
One makes himself unique, one is made unique.

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>>55097993
Except doesn't a lot of anime that isn't Bleachruto trash tend to be about the individual rising to greater and greater heights through sheer willpower and determination?

I mean the whole point of shows like TTGL and BnHA is supposed to be about digging deep inside oneself to overcome adversity through determination and guts

>>55098065
Then he's still unique because the narrative demands that they are made The Special, which then makes the whole point moot.

>>55098069
In the case of BnHA though, he had the willpower and the will, but not the actual power.

>>55098091
No he grows because he pushes himself to grow.

One grows because a prophecy tells him to grow.

>>55098104
Or to put it, one starts off life normal then becomes special.

The other started off special, and will continue to be special.

Or as I like to call it, character development.

>>55098104
Is there any point in which you're going to make an argument, or are you just going to continue to deflect with psuedo-intellectual rambling that doesn't actually have any point? Because you've yet to make a single statement that supports or disproves the original statement of both being "special/unique" in effectively the same narrative way, and instead all you've been doing is just rambling the same phrase over and over again.

Do you not know how conversations are supposed to work? Or is English just not your most fluent language?

>>55098069
>>55098099
My. My Hero Academia.
Get the fucc out, boku boys. Only ore posters allowed on /tg/

>>55098178
I have no idea what your talking about, but assuming you're getting pissy over how to title/name a chinese cartoon, I'm.going to assume that this is something that happens on /a/
In which case, please fuck off back to your home board and leave your dumb meme name arguments out of this.

>>55097959
Everyone's unique, anon.
Finn is *special* because of his choices.
Rey is *special* because of her abilities and then her choices.
Both of them set themselves apart from the rest of the world, but one of them is also a magic space wizard.

>>55097343
A lot of new players who haven't gotten past the desire to constantly play something "out of the box" and find the joy in a simple, grounded, believable martial character.

>>55098228
So when the fuck are you going to actually correlate this to a point in regards to the original topic of discussion and contention and state which side of the argument you're trying to bat for?

>>55098242
>Martial character
>Being useful/successful
>Believable
Nah mate. Human Casters only

>>55097355
I would, but seeing as some fucking OVERLORD OF EVIL burned my goddamn families farm to the ground, I gotta join up with these fucking snowflakes to put a stop to that so I can get back to growing potatoes to trigger /tg/

>>55097343
I like playing normal, down homey types who turn out to be exceptional

>>55097362
That depends completely on the campaign you fuck.

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>>55097343
At this point, a "normal" character is special.

>>55097777
Jackpot quads confirm.

I've always loved low power level stuff myself.

Maybe it's just an extra challenge or something but I've always been drawn to playing sub-optimal or flat out weak/rubbish things in games.

From the rpg side I've mostly played WFRP 1st and 2nd editions so that's kinda built in, but even within that I've had no dream of clawing my way up to being some heroic champion, I like being a mud covered forester or farmer (or shit covered rat catcher).

Also from a story perspective, a "normal" person doing something extraordinary is way more interesting to me than an extraordinary character overcoming something even if that something is infinitely bigger than the challenge the regular guy had to face.

>>55098409

This.

OPs question is basically "how come so many people prefer to play Superman instead of Batman?"

The answer is Why Not? Batman's an obnoxious faggot.

>>55097425

Lots of people play humans rising to the challenge. And dudes who trained or went to college.

If your character is part of an adventure, they're exceptional.
Most people wouldn't take part at all.
Most of my characters have been commoner-tier folk, but the simple fact that they rose to the challenge of whatever the fuck was going on, whether they wanted to or not, made them one-in-a-million.

>>55097355
People only become adventurers because they don't know how to have a successful living doing Normal People Things.

It doesn't make them special, it makes them weird rejects whose existence is defined by brushing with death on a daily basis. In surviving they may find they're talented, but you don't risk getting raped to death by ogres if you got tenure at the Wizard Academy.

>>55097755

That's what I did too Anon. Took 4 levels in Commoner before the party fighter got fed up and began hitting me with a wooden sword until I fought back. I ended up going through the equivalent of an adventuring boot camp + hazing and got a free level in fighter out of it.

>>55097343
One of the most fun roleplaying experiences I ever had was playing a stick up his ass sheriff who left his town to personally track down and jail a smug elf con artist who'd escaped from him a dozen times before. The elf would pop up in the story from time to time and play anything from a mustache twirling villain to an anti hero aiding the party if the plot demanded it but always disappearing as soon as the party was safe and the chase began anew.

>>55097343
a shame you feel that way with your group(s), I would say that it's just their way of enjoying it, experimenting is fun.
In DH2 and DnD, I've usually made normal characters, not basic citizens but not holding much ranking if at all, with the exception of a Nobleman with a fever for explosions, too bad he was too weak to carry his rocket launcher along with his equipment (ha).

>>55098310
I don't think you're talking to who you think you're talking to.
Either way that's not how you get people to do what you want.

>>55097343
usually because when people do there's questions, even complaints about how a supposedly normal person does all that.

>>55097425
That's...Right if i think about it. In my party rn there are a half-dragon sorcerer, an urgali (i still don't know what those are, something like elf/orc) barbarian, a druid trained by a special dragon in a special forest and then me, human cleric trained in a church in the city

To be honest it's fucking lame, when people post shit like this. Seeing people who go out of their way to make what's interesting about their character their mundaneness, and act like they're hot shit. It's just as bad as trying to make your character as special as possible. Maybe worse cause at least they don't have their nose up at people.

>>55097929
You're saying it like Princess can't make her own choices. It's just a different character arc, exploring different motivations. Nothing in your post makes one background better than other.

Not playing purple-haired metrosexual semi-dragon demigod vampire fruitcake does not excuse you from having bland character without character.

Character should have a set of defining characteristics. Two ex-military fighters are different- they had previous commanders, have opinions about life, preffered styles of fight, moral codes, old scars, looks, maybe families.

Same for young and naive clerics or old mages. That you are a bit of everyman does not mean you should be mr. Nobody. It's like american war movies- even if it's a single quirk or being Italian, every soldier has something to be remembered by.

>>55097343
My current character is a just a regular dwarf fighter who had a feeling to go on an adventure

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>>55097559
>Nah, I just don't believe in destiny
Do you believe in magic?
Do you think dragons are real?

No? But you still use them in your campaigns, don't you? So why is it specifically the concept of fate that offends you when all these other unrealistic things get a pass?

If somebody wants to play the Great Chosen One, that's his call. You can play Urkel Urkelsonsonson, whose family has worked as dirt farmers in Urkelville unto the umpteenth generation and who have never even so much as laid eyes on anyone who ever achieved anything remarkable, and that's fine too. Maybe the two will party up and you'll get some keen stories out of it.

>>55097343
I mean, it really depends on the type of game you're playing. If it's starting at level 0 or whatever, then sure, random peasant brigade go. Though you're still not going to be 'normal' unless you're really going hardcore and getting a peasant statblock, which will either result in some very rapid character development into competence, or some very rapid loss of bodily fluids.

But at level 1, with PC classes, you are inherently not 'normal'. You're not exactly special, but by virtue of having a non-NPC class, you are cut out for adventuring. Might not be destined for anything, might not have some dark secret, but you must have got your skills from SOMEWHERE, right?

Doesn't need to be some super epic background. Sellsword. Village alchemist's apprentice. Catburgler who grew up on the street. These are interesting ideas, even if they're fairly generic. Point is, they're not 'normal' because

And here is the secret

Normal is boring.

>>55097384
Sounds more like your group is shit at backstory.

Jesus, people. Doesn't need to be a six volume epic. A couple of paragraphs explaining why your fighter can fight is fine.

>>55097742
>Naturally I rolled a twenty, ending the game then and there. The DM sighed, looked at me, and told me to leave immediately.
Either this is pure fiction, the OMH-style GM crafted and allowed a situation where a single gunshot would end the campaign but was upset enough over it to ask you to leave, or you left out the rest of the story where you were a terrible player.

>>55097742
I'll take things that never happened for 200, Alex

>>55097929
And then they fall in love, right?

If I wanted to be a fucking nobody I'd just play myself.

>>55097355
like people dont read tolkien anymore. the hobbits weren't special, that's what makes them heroic.

>>55097343
Because that's 'boring' and 'overdone'.

People these days need to be hipsters.

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>>55097355
You are a retard tho.

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>>55097355
>I cant make my characters interesting without them being Half-Dragon/Half-Fey/Half-Kitsune/Half-Drow with a tragic past

Sucks to be you.

>>55097355
The point he's making is everyone joins the campaign as an absurdly unique concept and/or a character who has a backstory of how much of a badass they already are. In doing so they set their character in stone leaving little room for character development over the course of the story, the grand adventure is no longer that just being another day at the office for joe bloodlord who slayed a demon at 8. Starting as billy bob the baker who got pulled into this mess leaves infinately more room to develop him over his experiences in the campaign and everyone grows far more attached to him as such.

>>55097343
Because normal people lead normal lives..

A normal person deals with problems in a fairly mundane way. They'll do their best to maintain the status quo of their life. This is what normality is - a stable status quo, a well maintained routine.

When you decide to set out on an adventure, when you decide to throw away your status quo and take up a quest for whatever motivates you, you've thrown away normality. You've become abnormal.

The only way you can play a normal character is by playing in a slice-of-life game. Which, come now, we both know that's not what you meant.

>>55097343
play DSA faggot

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>>55097425

>>55101006
Read some history books and you'll see you're full of shit . The great heroes of the real world weren't born special, they ended up in circumstances that required it and developped those skills but you only ever hear about thier late life achievements and assume they are born demigods. Alternatively many of the most exceptional people probably died in obscurity due to never meeting thier break.

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posting a counter-opinion

>>55097343
Because boring, unimaginative people think having special snowflake weird traits on their character sheets makes up for their lack of imagination and makes their characters "interesting" for them.

>>55101006
As a needed source of income. Do you think all the mercenaries and soldiers and such are all tragic background exceptional people? Are there adventures not adventury enough? Do you consider them to be not normal, in which case what is normal?

>>55097343
creating snowflake characters is better for attention whoring. same reason why you so all those crazyweirdcoolfun ideas for adventures/settings are floating around here.

kitchen sink/boilerplate is less suitable for attention whoring.

>>55097372
>Only first timers go for balanced builds.
mid-level skill roleplayer detected

>>55097343
Hold up: what is a "normal character" in your mind?

>>55101057
You lack reading comprehension. Because the third sentence spells out why
>but you only ever hear about thier late life achievements and assume they are born demigods.
is not a valid critique.

I'm not saying abnormality is something that is inherit to the person. I am saying that these traits require a certain degree of abnormality. A willingness to go against the natural tendencies to seek out safety and stability.

>>55101086
Your points are asinine.

> Do you think all the mercenaries and soldiers and such are all tragic background exceptional people?
Military work is not outside of the mundane. Hell, until relatively recent times, military service wasn't even a voluntary action.

As for mercenary work, historically speaking that kind of work tended to put you at odds with normal society. Mercenaries tended to exist outside of normality. Even if they are just in it for economic reasons, they've still taken actions that place them outside of society.

>Are there adventures not adventury enough?
I assume you mean their, otherwise this comment is coming out of nowhere.

No, they're sufficiently adventury. Even if they fall into a new status quo, a new normal, this normal is offset from the general normal.

>Do you consider them to be not normal, in which case what is normal?
Normal is normal. Normal is carrying on the path of least resistance in your life.

>>55097487
Something being rare in the general population doesn't mean it's going to be rare among the incredibly elite minority that makes up adventurers. Adventuring parties are not vertical slices of population. By default, they're weirdos who purposefully risk their lives and sometimes souls for causes and/or personal gain rather than just stay home and farm dirt.

>>55101201
"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star", that what you be sayin'?

>>55100988
>Starting as billy bob the baker who got pulled into this mess
...is still making a character who is special in some way, even if it's just being at the right place at the right time to get involved in the plot, or having a crisis befall you that makes your normal life as a baker impossible, because the vast majority of bakers never get into circumstances where dungeon crawling seems like a better career choice.

>>55097487

>Even in d&d half-dragons and dragonborn are rare, just every party seems to have one.

Dragonborn had an entire civilisation that ruled a huge part of the known world until the war that destroyed them. They are not that uncommon in the setting they are actually designed for. It's like having a roman in a game set in Britain not long after the fall of the roman empire.

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>>55100928

>>55097362

I agree but it should occur through emergent gameplay of 0-level peons. Ala Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.

Current character is a backwoods hick the party rogue had hired as extra muscle for a few weeks. Turns out her knowledge of the local area combined with her survival and tracking abilities were pretty damned useful, so they offered her a place among the party. Not bad considering she was a hunter/trapper practicing a little murder of the side. She was illiterate too and couldn't read the contract they asked her to sign.

>>55097343
Does no one make normal campaigns anymore?

What's wrong with tackling some local problem instead of saving the whole world?

>>55098055
Why don't any of these characters just walk away from the campaign the moment they cash in their first cache of loot and have more than enough money to accomplish their goals in relative security?

>>55101918
The thrill?

They wanna be richer then one loot can provide?

They signed a contract?

>>55101965
>The thrill?
Then they aren't as normal as they were implied to be.
>They wanna be richer then one loot can provide?
Then their motivations were nothing but window dressing. Hiding boring old greed.
>They signed a contract?
Then why don't the leave the second the contract is fulfilled. How is this even a response? You're just moving the goalposts back like half an inch. The ball is still going in.

>>55102010
Maybe the big bad is attacking villages, they want to stop him from doing that before they retire.

The big deal about normal characters is that they slowly have to become more unique. But they have to start out normal then become special.

It's like how Steve jobs was a nobody until he made himself into a somebody

>>55097929
That's some stupid ass shit.

>>55097343
I try to make a normal character whenever I play CoC, but they can't just be an average citizen or why would they be investigating the supernatural?

>>55102082
It's ok to have hobbies anon, I'm a pretty average dude and I like some of the occult stuff.

>>55102039
The big bad is thrust upon the party that early yet is actually the big campaign ending threat. Poor show, haven't built up the player's connection to the world, just set up video game road blocks. Loot the dungeon, now go save the kingdom. Shallow and tripe.

There are ways to do what you're describing,but it takes build up. In the given circumstances you're trying to race that build up against player goals that are so quickly obtained, and its just going to come off as a tv series that got cut down to a single movie because of budget constraints. Poorly paced and forced.

>>55097826
>Any dirt poor crop-growing peasant can drop everything for a life of adventure
Then why the fuck don't they? Why shouldn't being an adventurer require being a little special? Conan wasn't an everyman average Joe. Elric sure wasn't. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser aren't normal ordinary guys.
Adventure calls to exceptional, extraordinary people. That doesn't mean half-demon with cursed sword and vampire blood levels of snowflake shit, but it means more than "Bob the peasant wants more gold than he gets from being a dung peddler, so he's decided to raid a crypt."

>>55101860
this.
>>55097929
This, special sucks

>>55101264
I really dislike the concept of adventuring party, especially as something completely separate from the society in general. Much better stories are about common people put to an unusual situation and then having to cope and rising to occasion. None of the hobbits in LotR was particularly fit for adventuring life but went with it when they felt obligated, after all.

>>55101075
>roleplaying as another person isn't real roleplaying
Whoever wrote this is a moron

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>>55097343

>>55102082
In CoC your character shouldn't be primarily an investigator, but a victim. It's supposed to be a horror game after all. You wouldn't ask why don't characters in a slasher flick just run away from the killer, would you?

>>55102363
I always make sure to include in their back story the negative things that have happened in their life (semi mythos or occult or sometimes just bad fortune related) that would provide additional motivation for them to draw upon.

>>55101075
The amount of baseless assumptions in this picture is stunning.

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>>55101163
Bob Bobson of Bobsborough, exactly average peasant with no skills or quirks whatsoever, who just decided one day "I'm going to go pick a fight with some goblins" for no reason at all but somehow isn't the slightest bit eccentric for making that decision.
He can't have some personal grievance with goblins, or otherwise a motivation to be the protagonist of the story instead of the identical peasants to the left and right of him, because that would be special and that's bad.

>>55102528
>with no skills or quirks whatsoever
Wait a moment, why are you conflating normal with bland and boring?

>>55102528
Hahaha

Wow you angry.

No a normal character would be a character that starts out normal.

Born to a normal family, to a normal race. Had a childhood learning a trade. Did some training related to adventuring(militia member, wizard school, seminary. etc).

Gained a reason to go adventuring(get rich, get strong, spend time with hot people, become a knight/arch-mage/pope, etc)

Slowly grows in power over an adventure, adventually becoming a powerful and unique person.

ITT: there is no middle ground between Bland McNormal the non-descript human fighter and A'lethial Lightspire, half-dragon, half-elf, half-vampire, half-angel, half-fiend.

protip: you can make interesting characters without resorting to tired gimmicks.

>>55102597
Otherwise agree, but adventuring shouldn't necessarily make you more powerful, it should have ups and downs instead. Ending up as a broken husk on a throne is bittersweet reward, which makes it good.

>>55100378
Different poster here. My biggest issue with destiny/fate is that it doesnt really fit the narritive of a dice based game. I run dangerous games, where the risk of death is quite real, so i dont want to put effort into a bunch of destined hero stuff, only for the destined hero to die and the prophecy to be a load of shit.
Maybe i just have too narrow a view of what prophecy is supposed to be

>>55097619
That's not the intent of that phrase and you know it

For shame

>>55097343
Here's my last group
>Human Fighter was a normal dude until his family got slaughtered by monsters, he then went on to learn how to fight and seeks vengeance
>Dwarf Cleric was just that, a clergyman on pilgrimage, and she would've gone on to live a life as a priest in Eartheart if it hadn't been for the group meeting her
>halfling bard and elf ranger were part of an adventuring guild for the money
>human wizard was the only one kinda sepcial, as he *the mysterious red mage*

>>55104194
as he was*

Also forgot to mention that it seems to be the people you play with OP.

>>55102528
Jesus that image is uncanny, he looks almost exactly like my brother.

>>55097343
What if I don't like to play the kind of character you like?

>>55102597
>Born to a normal family, to a normal race. Had a childhood learning a trade. Did some training related to adventuring(militia member, wizard school, seminary. etc).
>Gained a reason to go adventuring(get rich, get strong, spend time with hot people, become a knight/arch-mage/pope, etc)
I play characters like that. I've met several people who play characters like that. OP seems to think "no one" plays characters like that.
OP is either clearly wrong on that point, or using an alternative definition of "normal characters" that LITERALLY NO ONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD EVER plays in tabletop games.

>>55100378
Chosen Ones are fucking stupid.

Oh, John McHero is "destined" to overthrow Bad Guy Von Evil? Then I guess there's no fucking stakes, are there? No chance of John fucking up and failing along the way. No chance of John dying, and being avenged by someone else. No chance of anything actually interesting happening. Why even follow John's adventure, at that point? He's just going through the motions, marching down a path conveniently laid out for him like a fucking automaton.

Destiny is a crutch used by hack writers, who can't come up with a compelling reason for their protagonist to do anything off their own back, or a compelling reason why the world is worth saving in the first place.

>>55104451
Or he hasn't played with anyone who makes characters like that

>>55104475
So? That doesn't make his absolute blanket statement any truer.

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Post "Joe Average" adventurer art. Guys that don't look like lvl 100 godslaying uberheros.

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>>55104763

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>>55104784

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>>55104805

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I just RP as barmaid who decides to become an adventurer.

My first campaign I started out with no armor except a buff coat borrowed from an old patron, himself a retired adventurer, a pitchfork I "found", and a knife from the tavern.

It's fun stuff.

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>>55104763
Beginning Runequest (non-Glorantha) fighter. Shield, javelins, spear, sword, no armour because of ENC. Put your % into Shield/Parry like a proper fighter.

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I really should try and get a RQ/Mythras game going someday.

>>55097372
>muh build
3.PF is cancer

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Lvl 1 male human fighter, WP: long sword (spec), mace, lance. Rolled fairly well on the 5d4x10, thus mail armour, shield, long sword and helmet.

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>>55104965

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>>55105065

>>55102498
Indeed.

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>>55105081

Guys, guys, stop making "normal" characters, you're doing something outside the norm, that means you're snowflakes too, stop making me feel like my half-angel half-demon half-dragon half-halfling Chaotic Lawlful grey-paladin is only a miserable attempt to fill the pathetic void in my life!

Seriously guys, stahp.

>>55097343
Normal people live normal lives. The only reason somebody should adventure is if they have no other practical or pleasing choice.

Ive got a few examples of "normal characters" that Ive played.

>Farmer who's son brought a cursed sword back after his compulsory military service. It tricked them into fighting, and he killed his son. He's out in the world to try to destroy it.

>A middle aged scribe who has a horrible affliction that will drive him mad in time and make all his passions pointless.

>Slave girl escapes and has to evade capture. Pretends to be about six different people.

>>55105065
That ass

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>>55105173

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>>55105308

>>55105282
I like the "couldn't get a job because of the economy excuse"

>>55105369
Thats a perfectly good reason to start.

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>>55105325

>John the radish farmer somehow tilled and pulled radishes until he was as strong as an Orc but the rest of his family has normal strength and constitution
>Not a special snowflake

>Stan the guard is somehow an infinitely better fighter than 90% of the other guards around them despite having the same training
>Not a special snowflake

>>55097487
Well, jews are incredibly rare among the normal population, but you'll still find them in every law firm and bank in existance.
It's almost like being part of a certain race/ethnicity predisposes you to certain career paths.

>>55104910
I always liked the though of having an entire group of basic workers and craftsmen from a village having to take up arms one day and going questing for something. Not from a 'you gotta be as mundane as possible' standpoint, but more from the idea that a Rogue who wasn't a thief at all beforehand, and was instead a dexteous spearfisher who got forced into the role seems neat. Or a Blacksmith who doesn't have as much combat skill as a Fighter, but is still hammering out better quality weapons and armor than any random goblin, and is certainly strong and tough.

It seems like it could be a fun setup, especially having to gather the thinga that normal people wouldn't have on them but adventurers carry everywhere like torches or rope.

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>inb4 "raggi"

>>55097425
i had a doctor character who learned to build bionic prosthetics in a slag-heap wasteland, and planted the seeds for transhumanism in a still-undeveloped tribal society he'd been stranded with by extension
the kicker is it took 40 years to learn what he knew from literally nothing, and 20 more to build the prototype. he was 80 by the time he could consistently make other high-grade products with such poor tools
generally he was well received by the table because he was hyper-specialized in what he could do and was pretty book-ignorant in everything else. if your character had to dedicate a lot to get where they are, the better it pays off

>>55097826

It is by definition, if adventurers are abnormal. It already takes a special sort of person to leave a stable life in a standard profession to do something high-risk. And if adventurers aren't abnormal, then you've got a pretty fucked up world.

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>>55105569
That's pretty much just a Dungeon Crawl Classics 0-lvl player funnel. They're oodles of fun.

>>55105607
I had a setting where adventurers converged on a single settlement en masse because it was located between so much shit.
>everything is great starting out
>ancient evils dying every day, treasures being brought to town at an incredible speed
>everything goes to shit when the adventurers retire and start up some heavy fucking rivalries and grudges enforced by doomsday artifacts, legendary weapons, and terrifyingly well-learned mages
>when it all blows up, adventure is banned forever and guards are sent to guard checkpoint graves, caves, and ruins

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>>55104763

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>>55105860

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>>55105633

>>55104474
If you assume that there's only one supernatural force handing out destinies, or that prophecies and destiny can't be broken. In many (most, even) settings that have such things, all they actually mean is that the person is destined to make the attempt. Success or failure is usually up in the air.

>>55097343
Tolkien apologists and hobbit fetishists in this thread pretending that Legolas, Gandalf, Aragorn, and Gimli aren't super fucking special in their backgrounds is straight up delusional.

You have to be legitimately autistic to not understand why someone would rather play as conan or elric than bilbo

>>55105472
This. If your stats and abilities are extrodinarily above the average, you aren't average.

>>55102212
Well , an exceptional will power is technically all it takes to be an adventurer.
Determination to reach a goal. And all that.

The thing is you have to put up roadblocks.

Let's say your character wants to find his own kingdom. But the problem is he's a dirt poor farmer. Well first thing is , he needs money, how can you keep him in the adbenturing life? You do everything you can to take chunks of his money away, let him get close but just barely keep that wealth out of his reach.

And when he finally does find a fiefdom? Well now he has to protect it, which in and of itself can lead to a shitton of adventures.

>>55097343
I'd settle for a party of characters and not just builds desu

>>55097343
>Does no one make normal characters anymore?
>What's wrong with making a dude that isn't special in some way.
Doesn't the fact that you're asking this question mean that you're trying to be special in some way? If you're in a party with an Elven Gunner, a Demon Samurai, a Gnomish Chronomancer, and you're playing Jake the human Turnip-Farmer-Turned-Warrior, then I hate to break it to you but you're the special one here.

But for the sake of not being entirely pedantic, I'll play along too. The reason people don't play your normal everyman in fantasy RPGs is because the normal everyman cannot function in a fantasy RPG without being the most boring, mundane adventure ever. John the Turnip farmer can't push a boulder because he has normal human strength, he cannot sneak past the guards because he doesn't really have training in stealth and espionage, he doesn't know enough about other languages to decipher texts, and his knowledge of magic is rudimentary at best so he's probably going to fuck up that pretty scroll you just found.

Anything that doesn't follow the above is special, because normal people don't have what it takes to be an adventurer.

>>55097343
its cause now DMs are fags which think "HA you cant be almost a demigod in the end of a very long campaign"
thus we need to be born demigods do you get it champs?

>>55097343
Because they have a bunch of options available so they figure they might as well give them a try.

Or the plague of snowflakes is mostly a meme and you just need to get out more.
Most of the parties I've played with have been half humans or common races and in some caseses entirely mundane or half-mundane classes or archetypes.

Either way they don't play themselves in a particularly special way. I can't remember the last time I had a 'chosen one' player.
Mostly it's orphans, ex-cons, runaways, fanatics, dropouts and wildmen. The closest I get characters with ridiculously high ambitions.

>>55104474
>Destiny is a crutch used by hack writers
If you don't understand a concept, don't pretend you do in order to comment on it. It's just embarrassing for all involved.

>>55101860
lack of originality

>>55097343
People want to be special.
And thus they ignore a lot of the ordinary RP.

Here's an example how i do the various classes+ backgrounds.

>Fighter
>Son of a blacksmith who enlisted as a soldier or militia-man.

>Sorcerrer
>Taveling Merchant who touched the right/wrong magic item to unlock his potential.

>Wizard
>Middle-aged noble second son who focused on his studies since young.

>Rogue
>Orphan who spent his youth enslaved by a bunch of bandits and had to adapt to survive.

>Ranger
>An old Wood-Elf who had enough of the bustle of human settlements and decided to live like a hermit and hunt for what he needs.

>Monk
>Son of a merchant/craftsman who got his hands on some martial arts manuals and practiced out of boredom.

>Cleric
>Regular old villager who entered a cloister out of his faith.

>Paladin
>Jacked up son of a local Baron with too much bravado.

>Barbarian
>Regular ass nomad who got arrested and sold into slavery for his shit behaviour.

>Warlock
>The local towns scribe who just wants to see the world burn.

>Bard
>Runaway kid who joined a circus troupe and got enough money to visit a Bard college afterwards.

>>55098168
>Talks shit without exposing one argument

Now I see why favor special PCs, you are "special" too.

>>55097355
If I had a farm do you think I'd be in a damp cave waiting for the monster that camouflages itself as the ceiling to fall on me?

>>55098748
>>55101057
>>55102300
>boring people can't fathom that people inherently inclined to have an exciting life go out of their way to do exciting things
lol

>>55105965
>an exceptional will power
Which makes the character special.

>>55108288
Normal people can have good willpower Anon.

Special people are like half-demons or born with the soul of a demon or have a special destiny, or something.

Being smart is nothing special, being strong is nothing special. Most people have one stand out stat(or a non-elite array such as 13 12 11 10 9 8)

>>55108362
This is where the disconect is in this thread. Some people are defining special as anything with an unorthodox race, and some people are defining normal as having no above average qualities whatsoever,

Arguing towards extremes isnt helping either side, but the extremes of both are equally bad. The person who insists on playing a hyper-special snowflake is going to be annoying, just like the guy who insists on playing a Halfling commoner with 8 in each stat will get grating as he continues to take shares of experience and gold while contributing far less.

It seems that you agree that a character needs to have -something- special about them though, even if all it is is a particularly high stat and a propensity towards dangerous situations. A character that was as non-special as possible would not be an adventurer. Full stop. Even if you want a more average person, it's still going to be the most special of those average people.

And sometines, there's nothing wrong with playing a party of more average people. He'll, you could probably have a great time with the players each using the elite array to make a level 0 warrior and playing as the town guard. Even then theyre going to seek to be special though, because nobody wants to play the same character 5 times. Somebody will try and be the leader, or the strongman, or give themselves any number of quirks. That game could be a ton of fun, and there are other games that deliver on that exact premise exclusively. But at the end of the day, the character will be special for the sole reason that it's a PC, and if they aren't interesting and they don't come across anything interesting, you're going to have a boring ass game.

My current party's backgrounds are
>tiefling orphan who's human mother was killed in a house fire
>a ranger who's village fell to the undead
>half orc from a freak village of outcast hybrid beasts and magical mishaps
>half elf rogue exiled

So I went a completely well adjusted gnomish bard from a relatively well off family who regularly writes letters to his family and has only gone adventuring in order to write a the best book ever written. (And collect every story, poem and song along the way) My buddy goes a merchant having a midlife crisis which was still one of our best characters who got to retire in peace with his treasure after almost dying in the fifth BBEG fight of our campaign.

>>55097343
I'm a dude that isn't special in some way in real life, it's not really roleplaying if I'm just playing myself.

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>>55097343
>MFW I'm the guy in the party that loves making average Joe backstoried characters in a party of snowflakes.
>MFW the normal guy/gal that got caught up in the adventure ends up driving the plot
>MFW the other characters have nowhere to go or grow with their personalities due to already being so special/traumatized

>>55097343
First world of darkness campaign went thusly
>Immortal martial arts master with spirit powers
>Druid werewolf
>Promethean dual katana wielding blademaster ninja
>Half fae panther
>Random mechanic with a shotgun (My character)
Fun campaign, playing a character with no preset stake in the story means you get to really flesh them out as to why they are there personally.

Last time I made a "normal" guy with no special powers, lineage, or status, he ended up a famous as fuck hero who was given holy powers by an angel.

All his advantages (being witty, handsome, and a decent fighter) were mundane and normal compared to about near everyone else in the party and everything we fought.

Honestly I didn't expect or ask for being the one to carry the day but it just sorta happened.

I kinda like the "mundane" human that can still keep up with the most dangerous things. I only took the holy powers because my character would not reject them, even if I the player preferred him as just a dude.

>>55111315
>Immortal martial arts master with spirit powers
People actually play as the Purified?

>>55111486
Rarely
He and my mechanic character became bros after mechanic died a few times

>Make 'normal' person like a high school student, a scientist, or otherwise mundane profession
>Give them superpowers to them "Normal until" or "Normal but"

I have a surprising number of characters with this as their backstory.

>Elementary school student becomes magical girl
>Scientist with very mundane physical attributes but can create impossible mad science
>High school girl gets hit by a taxi and becomes a ghost
>Other high school student who basically becomes Kira in space
>Victorian lady who obtains a powerful holy sword that represents her family lineage and chooses its wielder every few generations. She grabbed it off the mantle without thinking when her house is robbed [it acts like Mjolnir in terms of weight to the unworthy] and uses it to kill one of the thugs and drive off the other. Has to become a knight purely because the sword chose her.

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>>55101075
>projection the blog

>>55111621
>responding to a 13 hour old post
so are you triggered or what?

>>55097343
Most systems discourage it because "normal" characters don't have many plot hooks built in.

>>55097343
If Everyone's Special, Doesn't that mean Everyone's normal?

>>55097425
My latest character is a human that trained really hard with a small sword to come back after a horrific injury since he used be a human that trained really hard with a big sword.

>>55113581
No.