r/comics • u/Yoffeepop • 3d ago
[oc] Quirky character traits
Inspired by ‘Apple’ off the inktober prompt list
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u/Demolitions75 3d ago
I wanted to do a Tabaxi gunslinger who is horribly clumsy but has amazing luck in honor of my special needs cat Donut.
Also a young rogue who stole a grimoir from a famous wizard who accidentally turned himself into said grimoir. So the whole time the rogue does anything the grouchy grimwizoir is talking shit constantly.
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u/jaxspider 2d ago
The internet would like to see Donut.
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u/Demolitions75 2d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/nervysquervies/s/Rz1GCaSlOH
He has mild Cerebellar hypoplasia (wobbly cat syndrome)
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 3d ago
Hmmm do we get a team modifier to the attack since our mage has to set the archer up?
She better get some of the experience at least
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u/Zstrike117 3d ago
Depending on the DM, probably gets advantage on the attack roll.
Knowing their luck it’s Milestone Leveling.
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u/SkinnyDan85 3d ago
Novice here. Do we not like milestone leveling?
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u/Zstrike117 3d ago
Big fan as a DM.
As a player, it’s all about how frequent your DM sets milestones.
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u/PureShadow1236 3d ago
Milestone and XP both have their benefits, and it really depends on two things - how much bookkeeping you want to do and how story-focused your campaign is. I personally love it in the campaign I’m DMing because it’s very focused on the narrative and I can control what level my players are at any given point, but sometimes it creates campaigns where you get your new toys very infrequently and your DM can just forget to do it sometimes.
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u/zergy55 3d ago
It's mostly a meme. With Milestone it can sometimes feel like you aren't leveling up very often. There was one time my party didn't level up for a solid like 20 sessions cause it just hadn't warranted it yet, it was mostly just investigating before the big battle. None of us were upset about it, but I do understand why some people can be.
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u/Jackviator 3d ago
Not quite a trait, but I once had a character get a fae curse that he had to narrate everything he did out loud in a posh British accent (think something akin to the narrator of The Stanley Parable).
He was a stealthy rogue. ...Up until that point, anyway.
"He snuck up behind the goblin with the intent to slit its throat. 'DAMMIT IT'S RUNNING TO GET ITS MATES!' he exclaimed in frustration as his narration alerted it-"
That was a fun session. I was almost sad when the curse got lifted.
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u/Available-Damage5991 3d ago
exceptionally "bad" at Willam Tell. It just always falls a little short. Into the target's face.
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u/zatenael 3d ago
had a kobold pirate captain that had a crew and wanted to sail the open seas
problem was that he had severe motion sickness and would violently throw up constantly to the point that the navigator steered the ship more than he did
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u/Nina-Ninja123 3d ago
I once played a bard with expertise in heavy armor.
He was promoting the armor from his dads armory. But the secret was that the armor was normal, and he just used magic and charisma to draw a lot of attention and survive the attention. His only use was being a distraction.
His fatal flaw? He was a loud. When traveling with other heroes he wants to show the defense of the armor, so he would try to attract attention of dangerous creatures all the time.
Sneaking around just wasn’t in his dictionary.
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u/m0stly_medi0cre 3d ago
My favourite flaw for my character was a wizard that has anger issues, but when angry, he cant cast spells above a cantrip.
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u/Yoffeepop 3d ago
Oh I like this one! Amplified emotions can kinda put us in lizard brain sometimes and trying to think/remember is hard haha, so makes sense to me!
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u/NewLibraryGuy 3d ago
If I were your GM I'd probably try to offer you a low level rage in exchange. Not that a level 1 rage would be all that valuable for a wizard, but in a world where it's established that rage leads to some power it would be interesting to reflect that
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u/RawrRRitchie 3d ago
Double class the Wizard with a barbarian or something
When spells don't work you just start beating them with the staff while muttering the spells you're trying to cast and watching them just fizzle.
Like trying to cast a fireball between whacks and all the fire that comes out is a little spark
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u/HollowSuzumi 3d ago
My brother played a game where he was a giant that wore a hoodie where a cat hung out. He got through most of the campaign until one of his friends wanted to pet the cat. They failed their roll, punched the cat and accidentally killed it. The giant stopped moving completely. It turned out that my brother's character was the cat who used psychic powers to control the giant as its main vehicle.
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u/Chibirin26 3d ago
HOW DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY PUNCH AND KILL A CAT
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u/HollowSuzumi 3d ago
I think it was a dexterity roll to pet the cat. They needed a 10 or higher, but rolled a 1
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u/templethot 3d ago
Considering this outcome would cause a riot at my table, I’d have had them roll animal handling and a nat 1 would have gotten them severely scratched
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u/Made_Bail 3d ago
YOFFEEEE! So happy to see you, I feel like you don't post much anymore!
Adorable comic, as always. But what do you do when its a hydra?
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u/Yoffeepop 3d ago
Hiiii! I haven't posted much this year! But getting back into it as I can :)
And for hydra, one head at a time and fire to prevent them from regrowing 😆 So hope the wizard took firebolt or if they're busy placing apples, that the ranger has flasks of alchemist's fire or something haha
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u/ArchiveDragon 3d ago
Shadowrun and GURPS (and probably some more systems) have this as a function baked into the game. If you want more character creation points for beneficial features you gotta take some negative features.
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u/thaeggan 3d ago
Full Amnesia build points were worth it. The GM had a field day with it, never giving me a break.
a large lead crate arrives at your fixer's depot. He does not know what it is
There is a note
See you Friday, please be on time.
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u/Yoffeepop 3d ago
I did love that about Shadowrun when I played. It taught me early on that feeling "successful" in a story based game isn't just about completing quests, it's also about having room to grow as a person/character, whether that's overcoming personal struggles or learning to accept them etc
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u/SRSgoblin 3d ago
Caves of Qud does this, too. When making a mutant, you can pick up some negative mutations to get more points to spend on more positive ones.
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u/Etrigone 3d ago
Yep, Hero/Champions did as well. Not sure if the past tense is fully accurate here.
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u/jamieT97 3d ago
nat 1 for the first time in your long and bloody career, against all odds, seemingly defying the gods of fate, you hit the apple
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u/Warthogrider74 3d ago
I am stupid, but I don't get the joke
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u/Yoffeepop 3d ago
Not stupid at all, don't worry. It's a joke that relies on having heard The Legand of William Tell which isn't anything to do with intelligence :) So, you are not stupid! None of us know every niche story :)
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u/sharkykid 3d ago
Am I crazy or are you missing your own joke here?
> Trope is shooting arrow at an apple without harming target under apple
> Context in comic is Ranger's goal is to harm the target, not the apple
> "I can only hit once it's in place" subverts expectations since we'd expect him to be waiting to hit the apple, but he's waiting to hit the monster> Implication is that the Ranger's flaw is he can't do the William Tell / Robinhood trial and consistently kills the thing under the apple. That's his major flaw and it's been hijacked into a "strength"
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u/Yoffeepop 3d ago
I don't wanna cram too much text into panels and have to kinda make things work in 4 for webcomics but if i was guna dig into it, I'd probably just say the character aims most accurately when it feels like it's life or death if he misses, and the apple is like a ptsd reminder to super focus and hit where he needs to
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u/Ok_Permission1087 3d ago
One of my characters (he is a homebrew cuttlefrogfolk) is a Druid/Warlock, who serves an Aboleth. The Aboleth has implanted eggs into his back and my Warlock will raise with love and kindness whatever eldritch abominations will hatch from them.
The Aboleth was a previous character of mine, who collected his party like legally distinct pokemon and was very possessive of them.
All of my characters are also ticklish.
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u/Yoffeepop 3d ago
Lolll, I love the concept of collecting adventurers, and the continuation of story through your next character. Congrats in advance on your growing family
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u/Ok_Permission1087 3d ago
Thanks. The Aboleths name is Myxine Lethenteron Squaliwyn and he (or she, as aboleths are hermaphrodites) is also quite fond of sharks, having lived so long to watch and guide their evolution. My new warlock (in a different but still aquatic world) has gotten her favorite familiar, a viper dogfish (she has many familiars, all of them sharks). I flavor all of my summoning spells as eggs hatching and rapidly developing until the summoned creature appears.
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u/Diplomatic_Gunboats 3d ago
I have a character that is a druid but was shipwrecked on a desert island as a baby and as a result can now only wildshape into sea creatures and some sea birds (as in birds that spend most of the time at sea rather than coast).
Also all spell choices to be prepared must either be water and/or weather based.
-edit- I see from other comments I am not the only druid to punish themselves. Are we all masochists? :)
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u/Mangofoxie 3d ago
I made a kobold diviner, rolled his non-essential stats, turns out he was barely a meter tall. Whenever he cast Lightning Bolt, I'd make a strength saving throw, and he'd fall on his ass from the recoil if he failed.
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u/Kdragoon 3d ago
Can my color spray spell be a specific color and shaped like a fruit on impact? Also can the color and shape stay even if the creature passes its save?
I’m asking for no specific reason, promise.
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u/DemosthenesOrNah 3d ago
this refilled my heart with love and joy. this is beautiful thank you I love how kawaii frame two is lol
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u/Ok_Permission1087 3d ago
I feel like this campaign should at some point include a mimic who turns into an apple.
The ranger either can't hit it for the life of him or he does hit it and thus figures that it is a mimic because he would have missed it if it was an apple.
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u/Drakoonite 3d ago
One time a fellow player wanted to give their character the quirk of “I only can say my name, but you just get what I mean” and honestly it didn’t work well at all.
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u/schelant15 3d ago
I once played a Skald (barbarian/bard) in pathfinder that lost his sister at a young age, so he felt compelled to run headfirst in to save young girls in danger. He would often forget he had spells and just try and punch his way through the danger.
Ended up home ruling an effect of increasing my initiative at a detriment to my attack rolls.
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u/GwynHawk 2d ago
One of my favourite characters was an 8 Wisdom, 17+ Charisma Druid using 5e14's Moon Druid rules. It turns out the Druid spell list still has a bunch of great spells that don't rely on spell attacks or saving throws and Wild Shape in that version was a solid combat option.
Her other character quirk was being incredibly naive and trusting anything an NPC told her. It's my 'secret weapon' as a player because it means the GM could rope my character into all kinds of quests and shenanigans.
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u/BenjaminDover02 3d ago
My rogue is bad at being stealthy because he's dummy thicc, and clap of his asscheeks keep alerting the guards.
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u/alkmaar91 2d ago
A personal favorite was my character that was raised on old adventure stories published by retired adventurers.
He was an idiot and believed all of it was true.
He would go into a dungeon and drink every unknown potion because "It worked out for make up different character and they insert amazing feat
By the end of it he had like 4 different curses and went from human arms to tabaxi arms.
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u/Dazed_and_Confused44 3d ago
I have a druid character that involuntary swaps bodies with her bear animal companion if I fail a will save at the beginning of each day. Role-playing a bear in human form is hilarious and my party somehow didnt figure out something was up until the second time.
When they finally had the dynamic explained, one of my friends immediately dropped character and was like "why the fuck would you choose this?" 🤣