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Submit Your Questions for the October Q&A Livestream with Special Guest Brennan Lee Mulligan!! (Patreon)

Published:
2020-10-27 21:04:45
Edited:
2020-10-27 21:44:49
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Apologies for the last minute notice, but we have a very special announcement!

Our October 2020 Livestream will be a Character Roleplaying Workshop! Join us stream on Thursday, October 29th from 6 PM to 8 PM ET.

Kelly and Monty will be joined by none other than BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN of Dimension 20. Together, we'll be answering YOUR QUESTIONS!

Please submit any questions you may have about roleplaying characters (as either a DM or a player) for D&D 5e by replaying to this thread. Possible sub-topics might include:

Getting into character // getting more comfortable with roleplaying

Ideas for how to roleplay a specific character concept or NPC

Techniques for creating cool motivations, backstories, and flaws

Helping other players get into roleplaying

Making funny voices and other "acting" techniques

The difference between roleplaying and acting

What makes characters memorable

Developing roleplaying traits for NPCs

Please leave your questions in the comments below by Thursday October 29th at 1 PM. To begin, we’d ask that you submit no more than one question for consideration.

We hope we can answer most submissions, but we may need to narrow our selections occasionally depending on the quantity. We’ll curate the questions to avoid duplicates, and we encourage you to LIKE questions submitted by other patrons which are of interest to you so we can prioritize if necessary. We’ll read out your questions out during the stream, and hopefully take a few extra questions from the live chat as well.

If you miss the live stream, don’t worry — the full recording will be available on YouTube a few days later.

Cheers

Kelly & Monty

Comments

Joey Johnson

How can you RP information that you know from being a player that your character might know "partially"

Ragan curvin

What do you recommend to get into the head of your character to properly role play a type of personality or mannerisms that are not normally your own?

J.B. Wolfe

What are some tips for keeping NPC quirks and mannerisms straight, particularly on the fly? I make notes, but sometimes, in the moment or, I have a horrid habit of mixing things (speech patterns and accents in particular). Any tricks to help prevent this or help keep it separate?

Derunis Nil

Hey there - i got a player in my group for a year and longer... but he never... NEVER managed to get a real backstory for his char (for example - a 35y old eldritch knight - and all his backstory was he grew up as a orphan - someday went to a goblin cave killed some gobilns there and found a book about magic - thats it....) i tried to give him some better ideas and rules for charakter backgrounds like : hey give me at least 3 Npcs from your background... tell me about your time at the orphanage... give me at least 2 flaws of your charakter .... etc etc. etc.... but nothing worked... he left a few months ago for the better good .... but i rly had no idea how to give him a propper backstory.... do you guys use and "set rules" for your backstorys ... like a certain number of npcs, flaws or do you just work with whatever the players give you ?

Liteborn

+1 to this question.

SoraNC

Do you have any tips for roleplaying sentient magic items as a DM?

Colton Parker

One of the best tips I heard for voices was your accent doesn't have to be a real one. I find for myself it's easy to do a fun / unique voice in the moment and as long as i'm talking in that voice, i can be consistent with it, but I usually forget by the next week. As a DM, do you have sort of a rotation of voices you go back to? -Marowak

Daniel Gray Webb

If you can't do voices for your NPCS as a DM how do you, evoke personality and characteristics for them, and how do you set the scene to make memorable encounters?

Seth V

What is the most fun character that you've ever played? And what about them made it the most fun for you?

Tinytalkingtina

How do you take a silly character concept like "he's the orc version of ms frizzle" and turn it into a usable character that meshes at the table with other more archetypal PCs?

Sepiriel

Time Dilation, how time is perceived faster or slower by someone, how would you apply this in a long lived or short lived race? how would it affect how your character sees or interacts with others?

J-Bru

When something really somber happens in the story and everyone both player and character are kind of bummed do you have any roleplay tips I can use to help an npc lighten the mood and get the game going again? (Literally had one of the parties favorite NPCs die unexpectedly at the end of last session and everyone is feeling it)

Bradley Travis

How do you give the illusion of depth to characters?

Zack Wells

When a player roleplays something that's inappropriate for your table, how do you address it? Especially if it's something that happens during a livestream.

Zack Wells

How do you encourage your players to roleplay more often?

Zack Wells

What are good ways to balance roleplay in a group where not everyone is interested in being heavily in character?

Preston Walker

My first-time players are so close! Most talk in "first person" and act in their character's flawed best interests, but they don't use voices yet...I sense they are self conscious about being the first ones to start, but that they would otherwise be willing. Any suggestions to get them started with unique voices?

The Infinite Scroll

So great to see some of my favorite D&D creators getting together! How important is humor in the games you run, and do you think it adds anything besides a good laugh for the table? And does it play a more important role in games you run for an audience as opposed to home games?

Samuel Cavender

In the current campaign I'm playing in, I'm playing a Phoenix Soul Sorceress (Pyromancer) who was orphaned very young because she was told she burned her family alive (I know, shocking, very original). At the current arc of the campaign, she's starting to get more control over her power, and she's really coming into her own. A twist I want to work in with her is that not all her magic is blasty/burny (recently hit level 6 and picked up Fly). What are some tips you have for me trying to add some depth to my character as the campaign goes on? A challenge I've given myself is either Fire or Fire-Adjacent Spells, I'm not totally opposed to the Avatar approach of also utilizing Lightning

Samuel Cavender

P.S. chief character inspirations for her are Elizabeth Sherman from Hellboy, Anastasia, Chandra Nalaar from MTG, and accidentally Cinderella

Kate

As a person I am pretty quiet and tend to be a follower in groups, which doesn't serve my high charisma characters. Any tips for playing high charisma characters in a way that their skills shine when being the "voice of the party" doesn't come naturally to the player?

Dungeon Nutz Gaming

Can you explain bonus actions in 5e? My players and I find it difficult which is a bonus action, and which is an action. And do you get bonus actions at level 1?

Derunis Nil

Any Tipps to RP a Monster ? ;) - With Low Int.

Matt Martin

As a DM, I sometimes find it difficult to plan how I should RP any given NPC. I have taken to assigning each NPC the voice and mannerisms of a character from a show, book, or movie. Examples: Judge Daramid (Lady Violet from Downton Abbey but with book smarts), Sheriff Caeller (Cpt Sisko from DS9), Gibs Hephanus (Argus Filch from Hogwarts), etc. THis technique has saved me tons of headache and gives me confidence when I RP those characters. Can you share how you decide to RP your NPCs?

NightRaven

What is your advice when RPing a character with a tragic backstory or just a generally edgy character? How do I RP a fairly overused character trait and make it interesting and not an overlooked character. Finding new ideas in an old book so to speak.

Andrew Johnson

Where do you draw the line between "it's what my character would do" and "I don't think that should be shown"? I find in any roleplay style group, whether it be D&D, something similar, or something less regulated (more of a freeform story telling), it can be tricky to walk the line of portraying an interesting character that happens to be different from you and pushes your story telling boundaries, but without going to where the character is doing a bunch of uncool and unethical things that are beginning to make people uncomfortable. Basically I've seen lots of times that a character pulls a huge dick move, or does something rather dark, and the player's excuse is "it's in character". Sometimes this could make sense, and other times it probably shouldn't have been done. I guess I'm trying to ask what advice you'd offer to better navigate that, both in your own and other people's future characters.

Alexander Feoktistov

Three questions: 1) How do you remember what voice you gave to an NPC? 2) I know not to script dialogue, but is it desirable to script scene descriptions? 3) When RPing as either player or NPC, how do you silence that little voice of your own personality when what you as a person would do is vastly different from what your character would do?

Benjamin Burke

This question doesn't really fit in with the topic of the Q&A. I'm sure if you ask on helpful subreddits like r/DMAcademy they should be able to help you out. The short answer is that on your turn, you have ABC - action, bonus action, change position (movement). At low levels, the bonus action usually just goes unused, because the actions that require a bonus action will tell you so. A few examples of low-level bonus actions are two-weapon fighting, the Rogue's Cunning Action, spells like Hex, Healing Word, and Hunter's Mark. Some abilities, like the Berserker Barbarian's Frenzy or someone with the Polearm Master Feat can make 1 attack as a bonus action.

Benjamin Burke

Could you share some stories about fantastic moments of roleplay from your players that you've DMed for? If it's from a streamed game, that can be useful to reference, or if it's just from a home game, I'd be interested to hear it regardless.

David Morgan

"Mechanically optimised characters make for boring roleplay" - exactly how wrong is this statement, and why? ;)

B A C C

Fantasy high was epic. What inspired the villains? Especially the corn!

Dejicide

Brennan, Kelly, you're amazing DMs. This ones for Kelly, though, who I've noticed convincingly pulls this off really well. How do you maintain a core concept or ideal of a character who isn't comfortable with hijinks and/or murder as time goes on? It seems like everyone becomes okay or justified their actions pretty quickly and I find it convenient to do so myself. How do you stick to your characters ideal's when your party and the world is going off the rails? It shows them clinging to some vulnerability and innocence in a a maelstrom of corpses and doom and I always seem to give in.

KrushIt

The first thought that comes to mind is that most people RP the result of a tragic backstory as a isolated loner or a someone hellbent on protecting the people they care for. What about someone who is just relentlessly, irrationally and toxically positive? Like PollyannaXtreme?

KrushIt

I love this one and would love to hear their answer! Had to handle this situation as a player literally in our last session.

KrushIt

You've stated this in one of your bullet-points, but I'd love for you to talk about the role of the TBIFs in helping to role play a character, particularly how to go about encouraging TBIFs that are playable beyond the bland, kind of weird ones in the PHB. Are there other sources you'd recommend outside of WoTC publications?

Nik Amer

There is this player at my table, they have a hard time getting into character. Like for example, they are playing this rogue, that is like, supposed to be somewhat of a daredevil, but in times, they cant help but anytime they are presented in a situation that is dangerous, and and not part of their core strength, they chicken out, I will admit, it can be a reasonable decision, but again, daredevils arent meant to be reasonable. So how can I help them, without having to ask them themselves, "but is that what your character would do?"

Hero Sightings Anonymous

As a DM, what tips do you have for Warlock Patrons, and how they should be roleplayed? Depending on the patron, How integrated into the story should they be? How would one handle an evil patron among a party of good players, or a good patron among a party of evil players?

Taylor Davy

I want to hear some tips and tricks on how to play an evil character, while not stepping on anyone's toes or ruining anyone's experience. As far as what I think about the key is for playing an Evil character is that less is more. Too much evil-ness and you will definitely become lawful/neutral/chaotic stupid, which no-one wants. I also worry that many people think having an evil alignment equates to murdering good NPCs, but that is definitely not true in all situations; especially as a player character.

Lukie

What are some good motivations for adventuring that your PC can have that will keep them adventuring regardless of what happens in the campaign? (PC's who set off on a quest to find their lost spouse might find it hard to keep adventuring after finding them)

Alex Lang

I want to design a hostile NPC that the party will want to try to convert to their ally. Do you have any ideas or techniques to set up a scenario for that? I'm assuming there are some important contextual clues to give to the party. For clarification, I'm not trying to force my party to do anything. I just want to imply that it might be a good idea without having to tell them.

Danny Boyyy

With the advent of Covid this past year our party has expanded to 6 PCs plus and have found this to be a cumbersome group to manage and ensure all PCs participate. I have several PCs that tend to be very passive and want to ensure everyone gets equal mic time and enjoys themselves. Any tips or advice you can share for ways to manage large parties of 6 or more?

Ariel Levi

hey, thanks for the awesome content guys keep up the great work. I'm having a hard time developing realistic motivations for my characters, do you have any advice to help with this? I'm also trying to get down voices for my characters and would like tips on how to give a character a voice that fits them. thank you!

The Infinite Scroll

Thinking back over your careers as DMs, what do you think your biggest mistakes were, and what did you learn from them?

Michael Epp

What are the opportunities and pitfalls of creating a flaw for a character? Does it end inevitably in too much comedy or tragedy? Flaws are a necessary ingredient for characters in good stories, but in combat and puzzle solving they can get in the way. If I play a stupid character, they can't solve puzzles, and if I play a reckless character, they'll rush into combat and die at level 1. I can play a character who is braver than me, but how do I play one who is smarter? To sum it up: what are some types of flaws you have seen work out great in campaigns, and what are some types of flaws that don't work at all?

McSquishy

Haiio, thanks for making great content. My question is "If I'm playing or DMing at a table that doesn't value roleplay and I'm the only one going for it, should I just drop it for the sake of not being the oddball out at that table, or should I keep roleplaying because that's what I like to do?"

Walt Flood

I love Brennan's modern take on the 5e rules and using them in a modern setting - like New York. Do you have any tips for implementing changes like that for a small campaign? How hard to you try to bend things to fit and how much to you leave to a hand-wave and a bit of "it's still fiction"? I mean, the recently divorced drunken monk hairdresser... too perfect.

Eric Arndt

Since you guys love bullet lists :-) what is the bullet list you would create to help define how you want to role play an NPC? I'm thinking this is slightly different than NPC traits/flaws/motivations etc. and more about mannerisms, accents, physical ticks, etc.

Eric Arndt

Food for thought on 1) since I know Monty has suggested OneNote before. I include in my NPC note page a reading of a paragraph in voice where the NPC introduces themselves. And in-game I will try to remember to hit the record button on Notes when a new NPC appears for the first time or is created on the fly. I then have something to listen to weeks later when the players run into that NPC again.

Sepiriel

Mooching off another question: "Its what my character would do" is commonly seen as a cheap excuse by players to become "that guy" yet there is an element of truth to keeping meta knowledge separate from character knowledge in play and taking actions that may seem contrary to the benefits of the party, so how do you balance this? what can you think are guidelines to follow and/or moments to even encourage and reward this?

ttyybb

How do I make an interesting backstory that helps define my character

David Morgan

How important is mechanical support for unhelpful PC characteristics, eg phobias or compulsions? Would you have these manifest based on saving throws, dice rolls, use of conditions, or just roleplayed by the player at their discretion?

Taylor Davy

I wanted to help with what I found helps, fear is the greatest motivator; so think about your characters greatest fear and how to avoid it. "My greatest fear is never being able to redeem what my family thinks about me".

Taylor Davy

With Edge lords less is more.

leaper182

A number of campaigns I've joined over the years tend to start at level 1 for various reasons. The trouble is, I frequently fall into the Backstory Novel trap. Do any of you have general rules of thumb that have worked in terms of creating a backstory for a new PC that is level-appropriate? What have been your most successful concepts that you've gotten to play?

xSilentStrangerx

This is probably too late, but how would you roleplay the alien morality/whimsical nature of someone that was raised in the Feywilds?

Joshua Gibson

What are your suggestions for a new players that are in their first campaigns?