[Pasano]

Sure you can play a thief. But how can you differ your thief from every other one being played in the realm? I'm posting this because I'm always looking for ideas, even though presently, I'm not playing anywhere consistantly.

My favorite type of character, particularly for a thief or rogue type is a big time misdirection.

I play a thief who is haplessly stupid. Outwardly, publically, he is brutally unintelligent, speaks poorly, appears clumsy. I've taken it to the point of using a phony accent to further the appearance of illiteracy. Behind closed doors, away from public perception, he is calm and calculating. Sharp as the daggers he carries. Well versed and spoken. The kind of fast-talker who could have probably made a fortune as a salesman but chose this way of life instead.

The act serves to give the character some distinguishing traits that will separate him from others. It makes him funny and interesting, allows others to feel some comfort around him. As a thief, the closer you can get to people, the better. And anyway, he's harmless, right? He's the village idiot.

Tips for pulling this off better. Try to scam everyone. Shoot from the hip. Make up sob stories and beg for money. Dont just spam your steal command. Tell people that you're kids are sick. Tell them about the time they got really drunk and spilled wine on your carpet. Be a con artists.

Beyond that, be a lovable coward. Avoid fighting at all costs, be 'afraid'. Even in a fight you could win easily, the surest way to safety is to avoid it. Ultimately, you'll be perceived as a victim. Others will be seen as 'picking on you' rather than defending themselves. Sure you're a thief, but you dont hurt anybody.

Another thing, always deny what you are. If you're kender... and someone calls you a kender, deny it. Claim to be a short elf. If someone calls you a thief, deny it. Claim to be a skinny fighter. Or a monk. Or a wizard. Anything but what you are. Be funny about it. If you claim to be a monk, after saying it, make a few clumsy arm gestures and trip over your feet. Be hapless. You, and the people around you, will get a kick out of the character for a long time.

More ideas? Types? Throw them up here. Lets see! heh

[Enzo]

What I've found as a good idea from books I read, and MUDs I play is to play something else for awhile.

For example: Work your way up through the RP ranks. Try and earn a leadership position where everybody has some respect for you. Slowly steal what you want as you work up through it also. You want a thousand dollars? Take a hundred or two as you go on up. If you ever reach a really good spot in the game, slit a throat or two, and other will be blamed.

I've never acutally tried this myself in MUDs for I also play the good guy Try it out though. It could be put to some good use.

-Enzo

[Dionae]

I can't say I've ever played a thief like that... I supposed the concept just doesn't appeal to me. One of my favorite thief characters is much like the stereotypical one, except he (Yes, he *grin*) seems to have a lot more substance to him, instead of just "I can take anything and everything I want because I am a thief and I'm evil". He is purely self-motivated, rather calculating, and only pursues the things which interest him and will give him a thrill. Many things are simply not worth his time, yet he may go after something completely random if it catches his attention.

I think one of the most unorthodox characters I've had was a young necromancer. She was about thirteen years old, very quiet, very shy, and an absolutely sweet and innocent little girl. She would talk to ghosts and spirits as if they were her "imaginary friends", and would always try to do things to make people happy. I think I enjoyed playing her because she was completely the opposite of what one would expect when they think of a necromancer. Definitely not your typical deranged evil master of the dead...

[lavitz_lions]

Originally Posted by (Pasano @ July 01 2002,10:46 am) I play a thief who is haplessly stupid.  Outwardly, publically, he is brutally unintelligent, speaks poorly, appears clumsy.  I've taken it to the point of using a phony accent to further the appearance of illiteracy.  Behind closed doors, away from public perception, he is calm and calculating.  Sharp as the daggers he carries.  Well versed and spoken.  The kind of fast-talker who could have probably made a fortune as a salesman but chose this way of life instead. The act serves to give the character some distinguishing traits that will separate him from others.  It makes him funny and interesting, allows others to feel some comfort around him.  As a thief, the closer you can get to people, the better.  And anyway, he's harmless, right?  He's the village idiot.

Woah.  My thief is the exact same way ^_^  Funny accent, happy personality, acts rather stupid, and is kind of ugly.  One of the most interesting characters I've ever played, and I always have fun roleplaying with him.

And, of course, he is rather intelligent, but no one ever knows that, he's just some fool from the south.

[Boggis]

Heh...try playing a character who really *is* stupid whether they be a thief, warrior or whatever. It's one thing to act dumb but really be smart. Acting dumb all the time, letting people take advantage of you, mock you, etc. is very different and one of the hardest roles I've ever had to play. I found it very hard to let go of the 'I want to win' competitive feeling and just play a loser who always comes out second best. You'd know somebody was trying to manipulate you into doing something but you'd have to go along with it becuase your character was too thick to figure out he was being manipulated.

Still, he was fun to play (once I got over my traditional 'win' mindset) and would get himself into some tricky RP situations thanks to his innate stupidity. Cost him his life one day but there you go

[Pasano]

Actually, I encountered a druid character a lot like that on an old game I played. His name was Boonom (and if he reads these boards, he'll love the mention). His player was quite the quality RPer in my opinion, because he was able to properly express a clueless titan druid. Kind to all, loving, friendly. He just wanted to be liked, and he was the most easily manipulated character I've ever encountered. Big and dumb, thumbs up.

Another interesting type, for any class, but especially combat oriented types like fighters, is the 'good-natured creature raised/mentored by evil'.

For the most basic of examples, an orphaned dwarf raised by a drow priestess. Sure it'd never happen, but lets play along. Make him a sundred dwar for added effect.

The Dwarf, a good creature by nature has his perceptions twisted and skewed by his upbringing. He is still good in nature, but his understanding of right vs. wrong and his will to do good are altered. The inner conflict makes for more than a few interesting storylines... such as 'What do you mean it's not nice to sacrafice small children to Lloth?'

[Alaire]

Probably the most fun I've had playing a character, was when I decided to play outside of my comfort zone.

Mesha Sole was a noble from a House that has a history of family members going mad in their old age.  The Scholars and Historians of the Empire, they know more than anyone the secrets that the leadership holds and they keep a record in the private family library, as well as running the large public library and the public school.

Anyway.. there's some background.  I'm used to playing a character that fits into society -somewhere-.  If it's a counter-culture character, they generally still fit in and have friends and are well received by the people my character wants to be well received by.

Mesha wasn't like that at all.  She was a complete nutjob.  She was cold and calculating, and I really don't think anyone at all liked her except for her family (and even they did so grudgingly).  After her two daughters and one son died she lost it completely and began to do things just to get under people's skin.  Paid people to... (hmm... better stop there, I think it's still happening ) do things, openly insulted everyone she saw, never listened to those in authority above her, physically attacked people (blaming it on her 'illness&#39, and was generally a real pain in the ass.
Eventually she tried to blackmail the Empire with the secrets she knew and ended up attacking the head of the militia in one of her rants and was killed (I knew she'd be killed, but it was such an IC thing for her to do that it had to be done. ).

She was seriously crazy.  Had wierd ticks, fits from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other, and was having a 'questionable' relationship with her son while he was still alive.  (He turned out to be a blood-sucking vampire that was sort of mind-controlling her, but that's another story. *snicker*)

Anyway... she was the most pure fun I've had playing a character.  I've had other characters that I felt were more rewarding, in a sense, but she was definately the most enjoyable in the moment.

[Alaire]

Sorry for the double, I thought I'd mention that I can't remember for the life of me what class Mesha was because I don't think in the five months that I played her, I ever used a single skill!
*chuckle*

[Ness]

Originally Posted by But how can you differ your thief from every other one being played in the realm?

Motivation!
*sits abck down*

[Pasano]

Another really fun prospect.

Take a Paladin. Devote him ICly to a non-existant god. One of his own creation. Make him a sun worshipper. Or better still, make him worship some unseen being that can be neither proven nor disproven from existance.

Create, with that devotion, a set of rules that you will abide by, and be a paladin of whatever that thing is. Abide by your rules, act as you should.

Why is this interesting?

Well, Paladins are a good-aligned class typically. But what is the true definition of good? If a characters perception of right/wrong is skewed enough, you can do some pretty interesting things in the name of your god. And it'll be good for more than laughs.

Perfect example. Do Drow think themselves evil for sacraficing a baby to Lloth? Nope.

Take a Paladin, make him worship Belveraus the Almighty. Belveraus came to you in a dream, he told you blah blah blah. So you do blah blah blah. I saw a character (he was quickly banned from the game he appeared on) who was devoted to the god of masterbation. So, well, basically, he walked about the town stroking it. It was a laugh riot for a good 15 minutes.

Is this a great example of the idea Im bringing up? Nah, not really. But it shows you how far out there you can go. Entertainment value is key to good roleplaying, and a Paladin who thinks he's properly serving his God by raping/plundering/smiting/baby-stealing/stroking it/stealing/etc might make for good cinema for at least a little while. heh

[Pasano]

Holy Bejesus, Im sorry. I cant spell.

[Inty]

One of my favorite chars to rp is nuts

I've played him as varoius races and classes but the basic rp was always the same, he thaught he owned a talking bear

He was a genrally nice guy but the bear was mean and surly
I've had conversations with people that amounted to my apologizing every few minutes for something the bear said which no one else can hear

I thought it was fun

Inty

Play Daedal Macabre: http://www.daedalmacabre.org/

[Mnemosyne]

One of the most interesting characters I've ever played was a pacifist.

Yeah, I had to level like hell when I wasn't RPing, but it was worth it. To build up her personality as someone very gruff, apparently rather cold and grumpy on the outside, but really trying to help, to heal as many as possible... trying to make her seem BADASS without resorting to threats, fighting or violence... THAT was a challenge. But it was worth it. It's very worth it.

Think about it... how many healers are there out there? Would it make SENSE for them to go traipsing off into the unknown to kill things with a party? A character who should be instead devoted to health and healing? She can hold her own, of course, she can defend herself... but for her, violence is the last option and should be avoided at all costs.

Another fun one was an elderly oracle. Around 85 years old, old, wrinkly, bent over and not in too good physical shape, but still tough as shoe leather and still knows a trick or two with magic. Also prone to fits of clairvoyance. THOSE were fun to act out.

[Burr]

Oh good, I needed something to do...

An anorexic giant with a fear of heights. (Hush, I'm getting warmed up.)

A bard whose ambition is to REwrite history, thus requiring a lot of book stealing and burning.

A human who is tired of belonging to an "average" race. Give him an interesting (though incorrect) view on how genetics works.

A thief-class character (OOC) who is instead (IC) a greedy tax collector. Roleplay with some city officials first to get their players in on your act.

A magic-class character OOC who is, in truth, a fraud.

A warrior who believes his magic-using Lady and Lord have accidently turned themselves into deer. (And maybe they have; or maybe he's just crazy.)

A non-magic user who wants to write a textbook on magic.

A thief who steals because he WANTS to be thrown in prison, to keep him safe from certain other people.

A priest that believes that the more sinful the world is, the better his god is by comparison...and therefore that pulling the extreme characters closer to sin is the best way to pull the moderate characters closer to his god.

For muds that allow more than one character on per player at one time, leave a character at some street fountain while you are playing your other character(s). The character is an invalid and a beggar who stares in to space most of the time. Have him be there all the time, whenever you are playing. Finally, when he's been there long enough for people to figure out that he's more than just a fountain-sitting newbie, have him sit quietly a bit longer. (If you are in a mud where it's possible, make him indistinguishable from an NPC in every way you can.) Then, when you aren't busy with something else, and when there is a competent roleplayer around to observe, have your invalid beggar suddenly spout off a "prophecy" before going back to staring into space. Hopefully they will think it is an IMM manipulating an NPC; but even if they don't, they tell someone about it if they are truly a competent roleplayer. Carefully develop a reputation this way, without ever leaving the fountain area. Eventually, give a prophecy to end all prophecies...except for the fact that it is not possibly correct and absolutely looney...and die of exhaustion at the end.

[Vesper]

I play a thief myself. When I first started playing thieves, I was like, "Eeeeew, no spells."

But than I really got into it. Now while the stereotypical thief was quite intriguing, I spun off slightly from it.

The thief I play is more like the guy who bascially, hits on all the women and has the money and looks to back it up. He isn't so much a thief that he will go around, wielding weapons and backstabbing things...

But he is more a con artist. He would prefer to use words over stilettos as his weapon of choice. A little charm, a wink, and a smile...that gets him where he wants to be. He could get dirty if he wanted to, but why bother?

I see MANY thieves...I never really see any con artists.

[Curuthol_Lasgalen]

An interesting RP situation would be a Paladin, so devoted to his/her god, that, though they start out perfectly law abiding, and may even go to a position of power within the game world, they could do several things:

a) be seduced by an evil character (like a sorcerer) into following another god, although you couldn't change the paladin's alignment, you could kill people in the name of your false god. Which is a perfect segue into...

b) Kill or refuse the duties of your station in the name of your god. Perhaps a paladin who is hired by a noble to be a guard refuses because the noble's secular views don't add up with the paladin's religious views.

c) Become a pasifist prophet, have a "vision" then through down your weapons and start making weird prophecies, kind of like the "Invalid at the fountain" idea.

There are so many roleplay possibilities, ahhhh, RP, fruit of Eru
Curuthol Lasgalen, Aran Arda