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AtwasAwamps
2010-11-12, 10:56 AM
Party dynamics always amuse me in games, especially when in-character based friendships occur that you didn’t think could happen. I had one recently and it just amused me to no end. I’d like stories of “Odd Couple” friendships that develop between characters in games. I think its fun to see.

My Character: Paladin/Crusader of Heironeous
Friend’s Character: Church Inquisitor of Wee Jas (seeks out those who would misuse magical knowledge and punishes them)

We are currently in a party together seeking to stop the end of the world. So that’s kind of important. The player was actually dreading my arrival to the game...it was the first time I’d met the group and he tends to play dark, creepy folks…and I was like “I wanna be a paladin!” Groans from around the table.

But I play a rather fun paladin, really I do. He grew up on a farm, so he knows a lot about the realities of life…he wears his farm boy past on his sleeve with no shame about it, either, happily relating stories about when it was pig-birthing week or why he can dance so well to fiddle music. He cuts the others some slack when it comes to normal debauchery…he’s seen what backbreaking work in the field can do to someone, let alone what trying to save the world will do to a psyche.

His understanding nature came as a surprise and has been commented on by almost every party member. But what is more commented on? His friendship with the Inquisitor. They get along really…really well. It helps that most abuses of magic are outright evil abominations, so they’re on the same side there. The friendship actually started when, to find out what had destroyed a ship they were tracking, the cleric had to cast Speak With Dead in a potentially hostile area. The paladin stood watch over him…he was the only person willing to do it. Stuck on a potentially sinking ship with a cleric talking to a corpse was not his idea of a pleasant time, but he wouldn’t let an ally take a risk on their own. Mutual respect occurred, and has thus blossomed into the most hilarious friendship ever. Our characters have saved each others lives multiple times now without even thinking about it (if you read the Noble Death thread I made so long ago, he was the one who voluntarily threw himself through fiery dragon breath to drag my unconscious body out of the trap that I’d saved the rest of the party from…also the person who asked me if I hadn’t “had enough heroics for the day”).

It’s gotten to the point where most recently, he and I went around a town infected by dark, depressing magic. Originally, we were looking for the source of said magic while the rest of the party talked to the MacGuffin person. After we determined that said source was far away, I was determined to make the town feel better…to give them hope. Cleric of Wee Jas: “…If it’ll make you happy.” Which resulted in the two of us wandering around town and bringing hope and joy to people. Or well, I did, and he sullenly walked behind me, smiling and waving whenever I nudged him. During this time, we did such things as:

*Invent the fist bump (gauntlet bump!)

*Eat bacon sandwiches (talking about pigs made us want bacon)

*Named my new +2 holy long sword (“Lightbringer!” “No.” “Darkcrusher!” “No.” “Archpaladin’s Light!” “Look, your damn sword says Justice on the side of the sheathe, call it that.” “But that’s so predictable!”)

*Came up with catch phrases for when I draw and activate my new badass holy long sword (“By the name of Heironeous!” “Your god’s name is a mouthful.” “Yours is a slang word for urine.” “Good point. How about “By light be purged!”” “That sounds kind of like a bowel movement. How about ‘In the Archpaladin’s name’?” “Ooooh, that’s good. Gauntlet Bump! -clang-”)

*Played foursquare with children (“You jump over there.” “Are you sure?” “Yes. Didn’t you have a childhood?” “Wee Jas isn’t big on childhoods.” “Didn’t you have hoops and sticks, at least?” “Hoop OR stick. How am I supposed to jump in all this armor?” “Don’t be a wuss and hurry up, Sally goes next.”)

*Engage in serious discussions about the nature of our crisis (“We’re all going to die.” “You’re such a Debbie downer.” “My name isn’t Debbie.” "Then don't act like a whiny girly girl." "Aren't paladins supposed to be good?" "Good doesn't mean nice, Ms. Debbie.")

This was all going on while the other party members had serious discussions about the main plot…an entirely side RP vignette. At one point the party monk asked if he could come find us, because we seemed to be having so much fun.

valadil
2010-11-12, 11:33 AM
In my game we have an avenger of Torm (LG god of justice) and a doppelganger rogue/bard who was raised as a Sharran assassin. The dop no longer bows down to Shar, but secretly worships Hoar (god of revenge, exarch to Bane). Somehow they've become friends and refer to themselves as "Team Ninja."

tahu88810
2010-11-12, 11:48 AM
I once ran a game where a homebody, well-to-do, anti-adventuring wizard became the best friend and accountant of a thrill-seeking, completely-blind-to-humanity warforged.

In Forgotten Realms campaign I played a friendly and innocent farmboy-turned-ranger who had never left his farm until answering a call for soldiers to protect his homeland of Damara. He skipped right past training, and was placed on a suicide squad because he had already proved his abilities.
The night before his squad left to investigate a string of attacks on a border village, he outdrank a githzerai drunken master (CN) and a dutiful noble dwarven defender (LG). They became best friends.
Before that campaign even began, the ranger saved the dwarf from starvation, earning himself at a man-at-arms.
It was pretty common for a dwarf decked out in regal gold-gilded and ruby-encrusted armor to march into a tavern and order several rounds of ale in advance for "The Good Lord Talon and Company", only for said Lord to be an innocent looking farm-boy wearing dirty leather, and said company to be the aforementioned dwarf and a githzerai too drunk to remember his own name.

Totally Guy
2010-11-12, 01:01 PM
I'm running a game where there is a PC Wizard called Bob who has an NPC friend called Jiminy.

Jiminy is a really annoying street urchin with one schtick only; crazy coincidence. He always shows up wherever the wizard happens to be.

Bob made a flying machine to take him far away from the city. But Jiminy just happened to be sleeping under a in the basket.

And Bob ended up in a dungeon shackled to a wall. And Jiminy was tossed in too for completely unrelated reasons and chained next to Bob. Just to annoy him.

It's brilliant.

Otherworld Odd
2010-11-12, 01:05 PM
A goliath barbarian and a minotaur barbarian.

We invented "party smashing."

TaliaJacta
2010-11-12, 05:25 PM
One game I'm running has a half-ogre thug and a tibbet healer, sharing an apartment. It also has a former city guard teaming up with a free-spirited pickpocket.

Lyra Reynolds
2010-11-12, 07:28 PM
The party I DM has two unlikely friendships:

- the jaded ex-hireling and current zeppelin pilot (Steampunk campaign) whose idea of diplomacy is pretty much to use her fists (unsurprisingly, she has a lot of points in Intimidate) has befriended the kind and somewhat shy Cleric who most of the time only sees the good in people and hates hurting anybody. The Cleric is the Fighter's conscience, pretty much, while the Fighter speaks up for the Cleric when the Cleric doesn't dare to.
- the high-society, fast-talking, big-mouthed Rogue has befriended the unworldly, dreamy Druid who is more at home in the wild, where he grew up, than in civilisation. The Druid looks to the Rogue to guide him, and the Rogue isn't unscrupled enough to take advantage! (Besides the fact that the party's Paladin and Cleric will have her head if they find out.)

In the campaign I play in, my Rogue has befriended a half-orc wizard. They bake pancakes together. :)

Deme
2010-11-12, 07:28 PM
I have a swordmage in my 4E game -- an air/stormsoul genasi, a reckless, greedy, glory-hounding "speedster" sort of guy. He seems to be going towards one of these with the party's introverted, sheltered, low-con wizard -- a guy raised in a literal "ivory tower," who gets no respect from the party's tougher members. I have no idea if this will actually develop, but it's fun to see.

It started with him commenting that the wizard's chilling cloud spell looked cool, and that he'd like to learn the trick for that and the wizard being rather proud and embaressed at once... And then the next session, when my Lyn had gotten a "disciple" of sorts, somewhat involuntarily... He turns and flashes the Wizard a "Aren't I awesome, I got someone kissing my feet, and I didn't even ask!" thumbs-up... Which, to my surprise, he smiles, shakes his head, and returns. I felt pretty happy, there -- it'd be a fun thing to do, I think. Clearly Lyn needs to teach Kilin all the joys out non-academic life... Which could mainly involve antics.

lord pringle
2010-11-12, 07:43 PM
Heikus longarrow and Ilsun.
Heikus was a bard/barbarian CG
Ilsun was a monk/cleric LE
together we created G.O.B.L.I.N.O.I.D.

Gorilla2038
2010-11-12, 08:08 PM
One campaign I played in had a Half-giant(Later Half orc, post death) barb that married our Halfling warmage. Physics were ignored.

Shyftir
2010-11-12, 08:09 PM
It's pretty common in our groups to have things like a Hobgoblin Druid/Rogue running a traveling exotic animal show staffed by a Desmodu Bard, Feral Human Monk, and a golden-skinned rabbit-Hengokai OA Samurai. Oh and an Exiled Pixie Rogue. Did I mention our wagon was a wood-shaped treant Druid? Oh and the Hobgoblin and the Pixie were almost like Mom & Dad to the others.

onthetown
2010-11-12, 09:02 PM
A (very idiotic) Lawful Evil Blackguard and my Lawful Good Wizard are an item. The Blackguard is really just in it because what the hell, she's good-looking and he needs something to do when he's not trying to take over the world; the Wizard finds his stupidity endearing and she thinks it's a form of innocence. Not sure how well it will end, if it does. They're kind of cute together -- he's a total moron and she's completely naive.

In another campaign I'm in, my best friend's Tiefling Rogue and my Aasimar Bard are best friends who have been traveling together for years. They're funny to play together. Similarly, we once played a Cleric of a really promiscuous goddess and a very modest Ranger who were the best of friends, as well. It led to some interesting scenarios until the Ranger let loose a little. Generally, said friend and I get along best in-game when we're creating strange friendships.

Also, there was once a Hulking Hurler who picked up a habit of using my other Ranger as, well, a ranged weapon. Surprisingly, she enjoyed it -- especially when we had to get somebody on to an advancing ship, so he simply threw her over. Unfortunately, practising aiming took some time and many trips to the temple...

Hironomus
2010-11-12, 09:14 PM
As soon as I read this, I recalled the tale of Chul the tortle cleric of mother sea. Our time with Chul was breif but the entire party had a bizzare level of trust and respect for the slow talking, reptilian healer. from Conroy the Dashing swashbuckler, to Hitomi the tiefling ninja and even Volgier the devil worshipping mercenary, we all fiercly loved him. Oh how we mourned when he died! Oh how we cursed that ogre mage and his damnable Cone of cold! How we wished that Tortles were just alittle bit better at reflex saves. To this day mentioning our old friend is taboo and is enough to send us into a state of extreme melancholy (and denial).

Halae
2010-11-13, 03:06 AM
I had a character named Tarrick Harth. He was a Half-Ogre Dungeon Crasher who took knockback, to wondrous effect. His best buddy was the party sorcerer, a little guy who generally did his best to hide and only really came to his own when the lives of the party were threatened. once the little gnome saved Tarrick's life, he invited him for a pint and they got to talking. once Tarrick had developed his own kindgom during the epilogue of the campaign, Giblets the gnome sorcerer became his badass court magician

Gensh
2010-11-13, 03:38 AM
In the last campaign that I ran for my high school group, the party was really struggling to figure out what to do for the plot (mainly because they set the location for the quest start on fire before I'd finished the introduction), so I had a plot-centric NPC wizard lend them his black cat familiar for guidance. Now the bard, he loved that cat. He immediately put it on top of his hat just like the wizard did and tried to use it in any situation where it might have been relevant:

"Hey, that guy bumped into me! Kitty, hurry, cross his path to give him bad luck! What do you mean 'no'?"

"Wait! Guys, I think the cat can read abyssal! Go on kittykitty! Yeah! Way to go! ...okay, I totally can't speak cat... Quick! Get some ink so she can write with her paws!"

It's a shame they didn't get the ink, because the cat really did know how to read it :smalltongue:.

CodeRed
2010-11-16, 11:38 PM
In my old group's awesome summer game three years ago we had this little goblin buddy named Tim. Tim was an ex-baddy who my character, a LN Warblade and self-professed king of the country, let go after we beat up the Bugbears using him as slave labor.

Tim became my squire and blade bearer for official ceremonies. (I got the king of the land to make me his legal heir in exchange for ridding his nation of the invading gob/hob/orc army coming to conquer it.) Tim really had a change of heart coming to our side and even picked up a level in Wizard so he could chuck little balls of fire like his Pythonesque namesake. Sadly, when the assassins came for me, Tim was killed and I barely survived, outnumbered 3-to-1 but his Grease spell ended up allowing me to kill the last assassin.

Needless to say, when the campaign ended with me as king, I gave Tim a manly and expensive mausoleum.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-11-17, 12:06 AM
This is more an odd party friendship, but the last campaign I was part of had one of the most eclectic parties I'd ever seen. The setting was Europe following a technopocalypse and a second Ice Age, reduced to a medieval level of technology, the various fantasy races having been created through genetic engineering and magic being nanotech that everyone forgot how it worked. It consisted of:

Georg Redcrosse (me), a human paladin of Heironeous. A well-chiseled goody-goody who talked like Schwartzenegger.

Taliesin, a kobold sorcerer who deliberately got infected with lycanthropy to become a werewolf, collected the ears of fallen enemies to make a necklace and generally walked the very fine line between Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Evil.

Rushalia, or Rush for short, a halfling treehugger (homebrew class) with an insatiable curiosity and a knack for getting into the most improbable and life-threatening situations, ranging from causing the second Chernobyl meltdown to nearly getting Taliesin and myself killed by a pack of wild elephants.

Aramil of Gilderland, a half-elf druid with an odd penchant for business and finances. He was the diplomat for his country and never wasted an opportunity to draw up a contract with someone or haggle trading terms with neighboring kings. He was our party's face.

The bard (I can't remember her name), an elf from the past who'd been somehow sent to the future and recieved amnesia. She was an incorrigable gold-digger who'd flirt with any nobles we met (and we met a lot of 'em). She also teased my paladin by calling him "Brave Sir Robin," after he once recommended a tactical retreat.

Amara Silvertree, an incredibly shy elf ranger who may have had a crush on my paladin (her player had a crush on me IRL).

Despite us being complete mismatches, we grew to respect one-another and by the time Georg had to leave the party because I was going on summer vacation, the group gave him a respectful send-off. Aramil commissioned a plaque for him, while Taliesin gave him the ear of his night hag nemesis. Rush was dead by that point (his luck finally ran out when he tried to singlehandedly fight the army of robots lurking in the Underdark who were going to invade the surface a few sessions later), but the bard and Amara both said they'd miss me. We'd been chased by the Tarrasque while riding a bunch of stolen segways, we'd survived a nuclear meltdown and inadvertently destroyed the raging barbarian horde that was coming to destroy our kingdoms, we'd even become kings, princesses and popes in our own right. Though I wasn't there to join them in taking down the insane artificial intelligence that had unleashed the apocalypse and was trying to conquer Europe so it could place all humans, elves, merfolk, orcs, etc. into cryogenic stasis to preserve them, it was clear that our group would remain fast friends to the end.