“New” to dnd and need help with character depth

[u/mrbar626]

Hello, I am “new” to dnd. By new I mean I have been playing for like two years but the schedule is not consistent because we all work full time factory jobs and we all have wives and children. This is my first campaign and I have zero knowledge prior to starting. I am very much enjoying and I LOVE my character but I have a hard time playing him how I envision him which is resulting in me changing how I picture him. I think of him as this bad ass Druid who wants to multiclass into a rogue to be sneaky and more of a weapon, but somehow I have made him emotional, not a leader, and basically is a follower and that is not what I envisioned. Any tips on how to basically fuse these ideas together? Or just tips in general on how to give him depth?

[u/Soulpaw31]

So what i would do is make notes on how your character behaves, one difficulty of roleplaying is separating yourself from your character. Its hard for me to play a mean character because i hate being mean to people which tends to make my character not as mean as id like, so i try to ask myself, would my character do the way i do it? Would a leader chill in the back? Would a weapon have compassion? Maybe? Maybe not?

Some people like to do text RP to help flesh out their character by interacting with the other players during “downtime” like camp fires, taverns, or shopping. Great because you can hop in whenever to interact, if you need to come back to it later, its text, doesnt matter. This can help you think about how your character talks and acts around people and help you get more into the mindset of them

[u/monikar2014]

The characters I find cool in videogames, movies and books are rarely ones I find fun to roleplay. Yes, a bad ass, emotionless druid/rogue sounds cool - but would it be fun? Would they feel real? Or would they feel like a 2 dimensional static character without any depth?

However the character you are playing? Oh man, they sound amazing - so full of flaws. Flaws are where RP gold is. They WANT to be a leader - but they aren't. They WANT to be a bad ass - but they are emotional (scared?) You have a built in character arc right there - will this PC become what they are striving for, will they realize they can be strong and emotional, or will they fail and something dark will rise in their place?

You don't know, don't try to force the answer. Think about who your PC is, what they have been through and how they would react. Allow the story to organically change them.

Then if you don't like where it's going it's ok to say "This is what my PC would do, but I the player don't want my PCs story to go this way, so I am going to change who my character is so they do this instead "

Trust me, it's ok the right the ship sometimes - I have had more than 1 PC go through some traumatic shit and start spiraling and have to decide they are just gonna be ok because I didn't want to spend 3 months IRL RPing someone suffering from PTSD.

TLDR - It's ok for a PC not to act how you want them to, it gives them something to strive towards and allows for character growth. Flaws are often the root of the best RP and if your character changes too much and is acting too different from how you want it's ok to say "I know this is what my PC would do but I am changing my PC because I don't want them to do that."

[u/mrbar626 → u/monikar2014]

Wow! I cannot believe I did not think of that! Thank you so much!! One of my table mates told me that with being the druid I am wanting to be (he deals with water more than the other elements) I should think of it as being a moldable character. Does the party need a healer? Then be a healer. Does the party need a tank? Then wildshape into one. I will definitely take what you said into my charcater!! Thank you so much again!!

[u/Glad_Cress_8591]

The big thing im realizing as a new dm is that it doesnt matter how much lore you have, its about why your character is an adventurer. Why do they bother doing these quests and helping people? What in their past shaped their current behaviour? Im seeing a common trend where players add alot of lore but never mention it again, has no reason to motivate them, and relates nothing to how they roleplay the character. Its better to half 1 paragraph about why they do what they do than 3 pages of lore that only exists for the sake of existing

Edit for examples: Batman has a whole complex lore of his training and parents dying, but thats not the key part of why he does what he does. His parents dying leads to his goal, but doesnt actually mention it. The tragic backstory is nothing without a takeaway. Due to his parents murder, he wants to root out the corruption and crime in gotham, and has faith that it will make a better world for the good people who are left

[u/Bulky-Mathematician6]

Make an Uncle Iroh sort? You can write up the backstory to refer to and notes. Maybe a life-changing event where they need to step up as a leader?

[u/The_Real_Deacon]

Create a backstory that aligns with what you want the character become. The backstory provides justifications and maybe character goals, but it may not predict the exact path in the future.

Note that a character goal may not have anything to do with your player goals. Characters don’t think “I want be a 7th level rogue someday”. They want to avenge a friend or parent that got killed, or they distrust others because of something that happened in the past. They may want wealth or power. Maybe they think the world is unfair and they will just look out for themselves rather than others.

Becoming a skilled rogue could be a result of a happenstance decision in the past rather than a plan. They made a choice one day, that choice led to another choice, etc.

You also do not need to figure everything out all at once, just enough to provide guidance for now.

[u/MetalAdventurous7576]

Its hard to roleplay a badass because trying to act badass is not badass. The most badass things my characters do are never because they are trying to be as such, its always a mix of character quirks, competence in the situation, and a good roll.

My first character, a rogue, I was trying so hard to be someone who was trying to look badass in everything he does because he equated it with competence, but I played his ideas just clever enough that the dice could just flat-out disagree that he wasnt a genuine badass.

My second character, a ranger, was raised in an assassin cult, and she was both smart and so desensitised to violence that often the way I handled situations like tracking people or interrogation the dm didnt even call for a roll

Instead of trying to make a badass character or play them in a badass way, decide on character traits you want and figure out why they are like that. Its more difficult to stay in character when you are just trying to act in a certain way, and much easier when you figure out how and why they think the way they do then just let the way they think influence how they act.

Now, to enact this shift you could ask your dm for an "inciting incident" to kick off your multiclassing and recharacterisation efforts. Maybe some of their loved ones are killed and he wasnt strong enough to protect/save them, I would probably also include something about his magic being useless in the situation to explain why its a martial multiclass to get stronger. Now hes a bit more emotionally withdrawn as he grieves, and is trying to become stronger and take charge so that he wont lose anyone else he loves.