Roleplaying the Undying

[atemu1234]

I'm making a character whose literal point is to be incapable of dying. He's existed for almost 5,000,000 years, and I'm curious how I should roleplay him. Any ideas?

[aleucard]

This immediately brings into question on how you're doing his immortality in a non-broken way, but to focus on the actual topic.....

A fanfiction by the name of Yet Again, With A Little Extra Help goes over one idea on how to do it. In short, live in the moment as much as possible, and learn to accept the existence of an infinite amount of horrific $#@# so you don't spend more time than necessary as a gibbering idiot or raving psychotic. Cracked is better than completely broken, in other words. Keeping a few specific things as tenets of your MO is recommended, especially if you don't want to play someone who's entirely a loon; something to keep you grounded, and more importantly, something to give meaningful purpose to living longer than some planets. Preferably, at least one of them's practically if not literally impossible, so you always have something to work for. If nothing else, looking for a way to commit suicide despite your immortality should burn at least some of the excess boredom off.

In short, if you aren't at least a little Chaotic, chances are the stress from being a tight-ass for so bloody long is going to make your brain resemble an egg in a microwave before too long, and you'll end up Chaotic by default anyway, just in an NPC way. Also, you REALLY need to try out that fanfic, it's bloody awesome.

[Inevitability]

An important question: can he still feel pain? Can he, while not dying, become comatose by a disease? Can he be grinded into fine dust, still alive but not able to communicate?

[Deadline]

Why play such a character? If he can't die (I'm assuming invulnerability here as well as immortality), then there can be no real challenges for the character, which means no real strife, and no catharsis. It's staggeringly boring from a story point, and the character will likely have become an emotionless lump. There's no sense in caring about others, because they will simply wither and die, nothing can offer him a threat, so nothing can provide much of interest to him.

That's ... a pretty awful existence. So play that up. Either go coldly logical and emotionless, treating others as naught but a blip in his consciousness, or go full-on crazy, driven mad by the horror of his own existence.

[atemu1234]

Why play such a character? If he can't die (I'm assuming invulnerability here as well as immortality), then there can be no real challenges for the character, which means no real strife, and no catharsis. It's staggeringly boring from a story point, and the character will likely have become an emotionless lump. There's no sense in caring about others, because they will simply wither and die, nothing can offer him a threat, so nothing can provide much of interest to him.

That's ... a pretty awful existence. So play that up. Either go coldly logical and emotionless, treating others as naught but a blip in his consciousness, or go full-on crazy, driven mad by the horror of his own existence.

He can be injured, but he's basically a humanoid tarrasque when it comes to perma-killability. Even he doesn't know why.

[Deadline]

He can be injured, but he's basically a humanoid tarrasque when it comes to perma-killability. Even he doesn't know why.

*shrug* It's functionally similar. After 5,000,000 years, pain (and everything else) is unlikely to mean much to him anymore. He's had the time to do it all, see it all, feel it all, and know it all a million times over. There can really be no terribly interesting character arc with such a character, because there can be no growth to such a character (unless it's painfully contrived). Sure, he can make interesting setting and background material, but at that point he's less a character and more of a backdrop.

[Red Fel]

I'm making a character whose literal point is to be incapable of dying. He's existed for almost 5,000,000 years, and I'm curious how I should roleplay him. Any ideas?

Well, let's look at several options.

• The Emo-rtal: Don't play this guy. Just don't. Seriously? Okay. It's always wah, wah, angst angst angst. His immortality is a curse, he watches everyone around him die while listening to Queen and Kansas, and anybody who tries to do something to prolong their lives gets a stern lecture about how death gives life meaning. He sits in bars nursing a girly drink while appearing distant and unapproachable to impressionable teeny-boppers. Perhaps he sparkles. This is boring and overplayed.
• The Doctor: A madman in a box. Imagine traveling for centuries, millennia, constantly seeing new things and new people, getting excited about the slightest novelty. That makes sense - you've seen it all, so anything new instantly fills your life with glee. You've also done it all, which means you've probably done some regrettable things, which means you're just a few steps away from the Emo-rtal. Watch it.
• The Scholar: Like the Doctor without the amphetamines. You simply want to learn everything. Languages. Sciences. Martial arts. Painting. How they built the pyramids. You're fairly laid-back, pleasant, but constantly looking for new things to master. You're the ultimate skill-monkey.
• Wanderer: You're not emo, you're not insane, you're not inquisitive; you simply are. You go from place to place, you do what you want to do. Maybe you help out, maybe you just have a few drinks and leave. You're adept at blending into the background, and you don't let things like curiosity or a conscience get in the way of the relative tranquility of your eternal existence.
• The Mastermind: Immortality is such an opportunity, why waste it? The first thing you did when you became immortal was to invest some funds. Centuries later, you owned a planet. Your influence is pervasive. You are the root user of every system, the man behind every man, the ear on every wall. Your network and your reach are so vast nobody can comprehend them. You can walk into any room, a complete unknown, and perform a single act that brings down corporations, topples empires, or simply shakes giants to the core. You can do anything, and best of all, nobody knows it until it's too late. You are a walking pestilence, living for the sole purpose of expanding your influence to the far reaches of the cosmos. What you do with it is less important than simply owning everything.

So what strikes your fancy?

[lytokk]

I would think this guy should rarely be in a rush to do much of anything, and if you see him running, you should probably run too. Fits really well with that wanderer type. You're not opposed to using teleportation magic, but there has to be something really important to get you to do it. As you'd still feel pain, it may end up just being a situation you'd like to avoid, but you know that wounds heal. You know that life for everyone else is fleeting, and may pity them for having to rush through things just to experience even a small percentage of what you have.

[Honest Tiefling]

He could be very suspicious of others. If he's an undying champion, certain cults have arose to either worship, convert or destroy him. And given that he cannot die and would appeal to death cults, conversion likely wouldn't be pleasant. Powerful wizards (Especially if there is a ancient advanced civilization) would have loved to get their hands on him for experiments.

He could have extreme memory problems. His mind might not be able to deal with all of the information stored within it. He has troubles remembering what's happening NOW. He just wants the rush of memories to stop and to clear his mind somehow, any way he can. He doesn't want to look upon a face and remember a hundred others, just like them. He doesn't want to visit a place for the thousandth time and yet still not be able to know what state it is in as his mind cannot separate the past, present or future.

Dying might be a *****. He has been through a thousand deaths, and not all of them were quick. He has hideous gaps in his knowledge from being underground, buried in dirt and dust with his mouth dry and nothing but his own thoughts for a century. This would explain gaps in history to give the DM breathing space.

He could be desperate to find a kindred spirit and to give them the gift. A twist on the emo-rtal, that instead of pushing humanity away, he embraces it. The other players might be the first to not fear him or try to hurt him. He will do whatever it takes to either ensure they live alongside him, or to join them in death for when it eventually comes for them.

Maybe, after centuries of enjoying the benefits of such, he grows increasingly worried about what this blessing means. He has become a king, only to see his kingdom fall into the depths of hell. He has become a general, only to see his entire army defeated and executed. He has fathered many children, only to see each and every bloodline extinguished before its time. Every thing he has touched has died. It has happened too much to be a coincidence, and he is determined to both figure out why, and get vengeance for the thousands of people killed by it.

He could seek to replace the gods. Is he not as eternal as they, but has lived amongst the mortals, laughed, loved and died with them? Every person he has met he remembers their loves, their fears, their thoughts, their story. Despite seeing thousands perish, he continues to learn about humanity and is constantly awed as to what progress they have achieved. What god has such patience, such care for the mortals they supposedly protect? They are above them, and do not know them. He, and he alone, deserves the mantle of godhood for his love of each and every human.