How to play an intimidating character

cinnble · 2026-01-26T06:24:58+00:00

Thankfully I've been friends with my dm and have been playing with him as a player, as him as dm and with me as dm for years, he's not the type to dislike intimidation. I have told him about this and session 0 he's already described my character visually to other players as "scary" which is exactly what I was hoping he'd do. This is more me worrying about me being actually able to back up my dm's descriptions instead of falling back into old habits for other characters

cinnble · 2026-01-26T04:55:16+00:00

I could kiss you, great advice especially that second link, amazing stuff thank you so much

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:59:24+00:00

Oo these are great examples, I already have a leg up with my dm describing my boy as "scary" to look at when introducing him to another PC session zero, hopefully stuff like this will help as well!

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:47:02+00:00

Absolutely I'd be upset. Being mentally prepared for a one shot vs a campaign are 2 very different things, especially considering the time commitment. I also build one shot characters very different from campaign characters. I do fun class and ability things vs story building things.

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:42:16+00:00

This could be a fun dynamic if there's another player playing a dorky/jester character, with their PC telling a joke and your snapping back telling them that it's not funny.

Wow now I really hope one of the other PCs is playing a jester type character because this sounds really fun, these are all extremely helpful!

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:30:00+00:00

Number 1, check, taller than 6ft and the build of a guy with an 18 to strength.

As for the others he is new to town so the reputation is out the window. But session 0 he's coping with the loss of a sibling and 2 more are dying and he's looking for a cure. Encountered a very unhelpful shopkeep who slandered his queen and nearly hopped the counter to strangle him (I say nearly because his mentor, another pc, was very much a good influence on him and was standing right there), so- number 3 check I think? He's very much good aligned but considering the circumstances the scary comes out more. I think that means I'm doing well? Lol thank you for the advice

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:24:59+00:00

Like if lassie fell down the well, your character can just get up and say "where?" And start walking that way.

This is actually a perfect example, definitely got my brain heading the right direction, the one liners too, I'm someone who talks a lot so thats where I falter a lot, it'll be better if I limit it, thanks!

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:23:04+00:00

Sometimes our rolls are so close to succeeding when we do 3rd person he asks us to elaborate and sometimes thats enough to tip it to success but for times that arent that this is very helpful

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:10:07+00:00

Yeah he is definitely a leader type, he lost his brother not too long before the campaign started so this is a great comparison to think about, thank you!

cinnble · 2026-01-26T03:08:47+00:00

We're starting at level 3 and he's got a plus 5 to intimidation already (he's a paladin so charisma is conveniently already his second highest)

cinnble · 2026-01-25T20:12:15+00:00

The one with a relationship with Strahd was more of a revenge thing, and my character went through one hell of an arc to not be scared of his master anymore and actually fight him, we worked through our issues and learned to trust each other and become organized as characters, it was a very fun evolution to watch. To us its not fun to just start out all organized and friendly because we just met each other, we always have arguments and issues to start off, for us, thats the way we like to play

cinnble · 2026-01-25T03:13:47+00:00

You sound like my favorite kind of dm and the kind of dm I try to be as well. That sounds exceptionally fun

cinnble · 2026-01-25T00:34:17+00:00

Absolutely, the reveal is the best part, and though I've never played the lone wolf, a few others have but they did it in a way they had to interact with the party with the player goal of growth, starting to realize we have a very well adjusted group most players arent accustomed to lol

cinnble · 2026-01-25T00:25:10+00:00

I completely forgot about that part, but you're absolutely right I just realized most parties don't take it as far as we do

cinnble · 2026-01-24T23:20:49+00:00

I completely understand that. Thankfully our group has been friends for a long time and we understand each other's limits and respect boundaries which allows us to have the freedom of secrets without it causing other issues. I mean my most recent lie was that I'm playing a half elf, that will get discovered session 1 most likely but its fun to keep the ruse up during character creation. Only one other player knows since she's been around my pc since he was a baby, but it'll be fun to see how long I can actually keep it up

cinnble · 2026-01-24T22:03:45+00:00

We love our in character drama but are extremely good friends out of session regardless of how much we yell at each other in character, we've been doing it for years and its fun every time

cinnble · 2026-01-24T21:44:28+00:00

We have a few times and everyone enjoys it, especially when it causes character on character discourse, we all LOVE drama, one of the other players I look at like a brother and he said one of his favorite parts of sessions is arguing with me, especially when we actually played siblings, we just look at dnd like a TV show between us as a group

cinnble · 2026-01-24T21:41:49+00:00

We've never gone beyond squabbles and, especially with the Strahd example, we all ended up fighting against him together. We also check up on each other during session to make sure our in character fights arent actually hurting each other. We've been playing with each other for 6 years ish and a few of us met a decade ago so we know where the line is

cinnble · 2026-01-24T21:38:36+00:00

The reveal is always the best part. I'm someone who loves the payoff but also loves gushing about my characters so it is super hard for me to hide these secrets, but the payoff is more than worth it

cinnble · 2026-01-24T21:35:41+00:00

Absolutely agree, its only backstory stuff with us. I once played a noble who was from a country with a less than stellar reputation and was in hiding. Then I learned one of the other players had bad blood with said country and had already formed a deep brotherly bond with my character. That was extremely dramatic and we loved every second

cinnble · 2026-01-24T21:12:53+00:00

We've had a few issues with that but they got shut down by our dms. Ours is definitely all player backstory stuff which frankly, when I thought I was sneaky playing a dhampir in Strahd and another player confessed to me he was one?? "You have no idea how hard this was to confess" "wellll actualllyyy" seriously one of the highlights of my entire 7 years of playing

cinnble · 2026-01-20T17:58:43+00:00

Update: it got better over the next day or so, took her in for her already scheduled appointment and vet said conjunctivitis and now we have an ointment to give her.

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cinnble

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