How much edge is too much edge?f

[Kane0]

Two parts horror to one part comedy.

[2D8HP]

Fair, but is this group set up really actually accurate to most campaigns?

With hundreds of thousands (more?) playing D&D again "most" is far too broad a category to guess, so the real answer to "Too much edge?" is individual table dependent, but that answer just isn't fun, where's the sport in that?

I suggest relying on these old posts the wisdom of the ancients to make a QUALITY player-character named:

Mournblade Stormwind
(or Darkfire Steelheart, or Dagger Coldedge, Grim McAngsty, Steeldark Darksteel, or whatever)

Name:

Edgy name generator! Roll 3d20!

d20	First name	Last name (1st half)	Last name (2nd half)
1	Agony	Beast	Arrow
2	Dagger	Black	Blade
3	Ghost	Blood	Blood
4	Ghoul	Cold	Bone
5	Gloom	Dark	Crow
6	Misery	Despair	Dark
7	Mist	Doom	Demon
8	Moon	Ever	Death
9	Pain	Fright	Eye
10	Raven	Fury	Flame
11	[Refuses to state first name]	Grim	Heart
12	Shadow	Hate	Ice
13	Shudder	Never	Mark
14	Spider	Pain	Martyr
15	Talon	Poison	Scar
16	Twilight	Razor	Shackle
17	Venom	Steel	Skin
18	Wander	Storm	Skull
19	Whisper	True	Snow
20	Wolf	Vengeance	Sword

A few try-outs:

Talon Despairmartyr
Dagger Razorflame
Twilight Poisonice
Venom Darkcrow
Misery Whisperdeath

Working as intended, it seems.

Class, Race, and Tragic Events:

Well, here is an edgy character generator I made for 5th edition D&D. Use with the name generator. Enjoy!

1d6	Race
1	Human
2	Half-orc
3	Drow
4	Half-drow
5	Tiefling
6	Ghostwise Halfling

1d10	Class
1	Fiend Warlock
2	Shadow Sorcerer
3	Assassin Rogue
4	Undying Warlock
5	Death Cleric
6	War Cleric
7	Berserker Barbarian
8	Hunter Ranger
9	Vengance Paladin
10	Shadow Monk

1d8	Backstory p1	1d8	Backstory p2
1	I was abused by	1	Family member(s).
2	I hate	2	Dragon(s).
3	My family was killed by	3	Orc(s).
4	I am a transformed	4	Demon(s).
5	I am in love with a	5	Devil(s).
6	I killed a	6	Drow
7	I have the soul of a	7	Ghost(s).
8	I work for	8	Assassin(s).

Alignment:

I'll add some stuff to the class table.

Alignments that are edgy? I would say CG, CN, TN, LN, LE, NE. Gives us a nice 6 alignments.

1d6	Alignment
1	Chaotic good, Probably racist.
2	Chaotic neutral, 'classic' edgy character.
3	True neutral. Pragmatic to the core.
4	Lawful neutral. Probably serves an evil higher power.
5	Lawful evil. Lives by her own code.
6	Neutral evil. Like chaotic good, but probably racist towards more people.

Edit: The characters that are being ended up with are awesome. My tables do have a lot of bugs (killing an orc isn't much), but with the working for your family, what if your family is evil?

Fashion accessories:
(Sadly requires some actual creativity, but fortunately not much)

Grimblade Mourncloud rued birth into this world of pain and especially wearing spiked bracelets and skull epaulets to the mall that matched those adorning Darkfire Stormwind who's tragic deal and awesomicity had no match. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
Verily if Darkfire Stormwind had any tears left to shed, surely they would turn to steam upon release due to the bitter fires that rage inside one such as Darkfire Stormwind! Just a gaze from Darkfire Stormwind steel colored eyes (which were set off well by the spiked bracelets, and skull epaulets) was enough to turn one such as Grimblade Mourncloud into a mere tepid stain at the mall!
Darkfire Stormwind tragic deal and awesomicity were such that Darkfire Stormwind only spoke of Darkfire Stormwind in the third person. Darkfire Stormwind just liked to say Darkfire Stormwind!

This personality is good for any campaign!

Well, hold on, I think we're missing one of the most important parts of the proper edgelord here.

He's got to be misunderstood! His misanthropic nature is simply the outward manifestation of a deep-seated insecurity, resulting from the internalization of the notion that he is apart from others and always will be, that he somehow stands alone, and that no one will ever truly understand the incredible, titanic struggle within himself, nor will he ever truly be able to relate this to another person, no matter how close they become.

Darkedge Shadowblade's behavior and affectations are, in large part, due to this deep-seated need for understanding and acceptance. And yet, as a half-tiefling, half-aasimar assassin, given incredible gifts in the art of death that, in truth, are more of a burden than a boon, who can truly claim to understand or know him? Of course, he does what he must do to survive, and so he will tell himself, as his black-edged knife cuts the throat of one more unsuspecting nobleman, fatted on the wealth of the nation that he's enslaved with his unjust regime; but there will always be that shadow of self-doubt.* The kind that can usually only be expressed during brooding internal monologues while Darkedge Shadowblade crouches, hunched and ready to leap at a moment's notice, on the silent gargoyles of the largest church in the city -- itself an impossibly large symbol of greed and lust for power given form in unfeeling stone -- as the rain pours down his hooded and implacable face.

You gotta' have the rain. That makes the whole scene.

Heed the wisdom!

Wander Vengeancearrow, a Tiefling Assassin Rogue is a transformed family member. Ehrm....okay?

Don't forget the gloomy motif tables:

Color:

1. Dark Red
2. Black
3. White
4. Dark gray
5. Deep Purple
6. Roll twice and combine

Motif/design:

1. Wolf
2. Bear
3. Eagle
4. Dragon
5. Demon
6. Leaves
7. Stripes
8. Random gashes
9. Reroll, if 1-5 make it crying
10. Reroll, if 1-5 make snarling
11. Reroll, if wearing armor add spikes, if wearing a cloak or robe add frayed ribbony tassels to ends (like a Mistcloak)
12. Roll twice and combine

EDIT: leaf includes any plant motif, and the reason design 11 only includes armor and cloaks is because if you are wearing anything else you aren't edgy enough

Yea, but try it with the dead family member, eyes, and motif/color, then you get:

Pain Painskin the True Neutral Human Outlander Hunter Ranger who works for his family, had an identical twin brother who died, has deep violet eyes, and wears deep purple armor/a deep purple cloak with the helmet/hood (which he always wears up) fashioned like the head of a snarling bear. Plus, all of this introduction is happening while he is standing on a precarious rocky ledge during a thunderstorm, so you can only see him when lightning flashes. When you do see him, it is difficult to tell if the water on his face is just rain, or the brave tears of a tragic hero, and if the latter, is he truly a hero, or just a monster, lying to himself about his evil ways...

See, edgy

Don't forget "mismatched: roll once per eye"!

Why isn't there an option for Half-Aasimar Half-Tiefling? One wing black as the night that I realized my uniqueness was suffering, and the other as white as the innocence that was stolen from me by this uncaring world? Forever tormented by my own superior specialness -- about which I'm totally humble because to me it's just another source of pain -- and outcast from three worlds, or maybe more if the cosmology can be expanded to include more background reasons to support why I'm unique and special.

That so reminds me of that one PBP I once ran where a player submitted a half-fey half-fiend vampire half-something else I forgot. I mean, I said multiple templates was okay, but i had assumed that that would be fluffed as "I'm a dark spirit of nature" or something like that, not "I had a parent who was a demon and a parent who was a fairy and then I was bitten by a vampire."

If you roll two 8s, you have horizontal slit pupils like a goat.

If you roll three 8s, you have one horizontal pupil and one vertical pupil, and also people refuse to make eye contact with you because it makes them sorta dizzy.

If you roll four 8s, you're from a bizarre cave-dwelling subspecies that doesn't have functioning eyes, but you can see through the pain you feel when the light hits your highly attractive hideous mutant face. No one will ever understand what it means to see the world as shades of pain.

If you roll five 8s, your must stay blindfolded at all times because your eyes are Dark Portals Into The Hideous Terror Dimension, and they will spew forth blood demons to feast upon the world if they are ever freed from their angelic prison (did I mention the blindfold is made from angel-skin leather?). Death, too, will release the evils locked within you, but only you know this, so in order to protect the world you must constantly kill the righteous men and women who hunt you for being the abomination you know you are. Also you cry blood.

If you roll six 8s, instead of eyes you just have knives jutting out of your face. At your option, the hilt or the blade may be protruding.

If you roll seven 8s, you are a construct made out of an animate Robe of Eyes and the soul of a forsaken child, and to conceal your hideous eye-covered (but totally ripped and vaguely sexy) form you have to wrap your entire body in bandages like a mummy. This hurts a ton because you have no eyelids. Also, because you're an artificial human, you're only ever capable of the shadow of real emotion, and this makes you extremely angsty but in like a totally unemotional way. To control the homicidal rages your stolen soul drives you to, you must hunt down and kill serial killers who only kill other serial killers and eat their eyes, which makes you cry viscuous black slime that seeps out from your bandages.

If you roll eight or more 8s, all of the above.

Referring back to 2D8's other thread on how to tell if evil:* these angsty characters may or many not be. But the players who made them sure are.

Also if you roll eight 8s, you get mind-control spider eyes and the undying love of the Game Master.

Man, my edgy character, Levi, just has a regular name.* Still, with his tragic past (Orphan adopted by evil wizard to go and do evil deed in his name!), class (Hexblade warlock), and character design (ordinary human but with dark clothes, white hair, and a curved black sword), I think he qualifies for edgelord.

(I miss when those threads were ongoing)

[Zhorn]

...I suggest relying on these old posts the wisdom of the ancients to make a QUALITY player-character named:

*rolls 3d20*: 8, 3, 3

dang it! Who invited Moon Blood-Blood!

[Willie the Duck]

Fair, but is this group set up really actually accurate to most campaigns?

???
No... it was an extreme example to highlight the issue.
I'm sorry, I'm not understanding your point.

[darknite]

Playing with an edge is cool until it starts to cramp the other players' style too often. If your group constantly has to deal with your edgy issues game in and game out, then it's too darn much. Follow Wheaton's Law.

[KorvinStarmast]

Play a drow gloom stalker with the noble background. Your family guards an enormous crevasse in the Underdark, and are consequently known as "the Masters of the Precipice." But to the common people, they are simply called "the Edgelords."

*applause*

Any "edge" is too much. Because "edgy" characters are not at all edgy.

Indeed. If you have to ask how much the gas costs for the car, you can't afford it.

Mind you, it has to match the rest of the group and game's feel, or else you have a group that includes Bob #3, Tom Smith, Thok the orc, and Blackthorne Wistrand Wrathholme III all in one party.

You forgot the Pirate, Blowmi Downz.

If you, as player, can't function as part of a group (hogging too much spotlight, annoying other players or the DM, ... ), it's too edgy

Or, this is a person with abominable social skills aka a toxic player.

Grim McAngsty

... of Clan McAngsty.

The name of my next annoying NPC. That you, old friend. :)

[Zuras]

It can be hard to play an edgy character without becoming a parody of an edgy character.

If you don’t mind taking the risk, as has been said, the limit is don’t let your “edge” spoil the party’s fun by randomly killing or torturing people, and that sort of thing.

I have a player with an edgy warlock at one of my tables, but nobody takes it too seriously. Sometimes the other players sing the Batman song from the LEGO movie about him.

“DARKNESS! No parents! Continued DARKNESS! The opposite of light!”

It’s fun, but not actually edgy...

[Marywn]

I was trying to joke, but that phrasing wasn't really good.. though these tips are really helpful.

[GlenSmash!]

At my table you can show up with a half Aasimar, half Tiefling, orphan, child of divine/infernal prophecy who is a self professed loner and hates their destiny as long as you understand it's a team game and everyone gets equal spotlight. Everyone would make fun of you but we'd play with you.

Hell I read all the Elric of Melnibone stories, I can work with edge.

I can't work with somebody who doesn't understand that D&D is collaborative though.

[Witty Username]

1. No half-elf edge on the race table?
2. Dagger Razorflame is a great name.

When your voice goes out trying to act out the character, I would say that is too much.

[djreynolds]

I should clarify, THe character is a woman who was a desert scavenger, and by temporal and magical incidents, had gained some connection to the flow of time. All traces of her physical past disappeared in a sandy remenscience and only she remembers it.

She will do anything to survive, that was taught to her by her father, but she developed limits after venturing out for so long. Does that sound decent?

Well, think of Rey from Star Wars, she's not edgy.

IMO to truly play a character.... they must grow or de-evolve. Your choice

After the party fighter takes a couple whacks in the face for you.... you may warm up to them.

You can't forever remain edgy. Something must change or your party members are just underlings to you.

Allow something in game, to perhaps change you. It could be something you question, or a young child of any race in a similar dilemma you had in the past.

Not to steal something from Star Wars, but Rey is taken aback when she sees the surface of a green planet. This could open you up or harden you.

Not to bring up a "Mary Sue", but Drizzt has a moment in a short story where a kindly goblin is killed by a community and it angers him.

An act of bravery or an act of injustice or an act of sacrifice... allow it to affect your PC

[noob]

Well, think of Rey from Star Wars, she's not edgy.

IMO to truly play a character.... they must grow or de-evolve. Your choice

After the party fighter takes a couple whacks in the face for you.... you may warm up to them.

You can't forever remain edgy. Something must change or your party members are just underlings to you.

Allow something in game, to perhaps change you. It could be something you question, or a young child of any race in a similar dilemma you had in the past.

Not to steal something from Star Wars, but Rey is taken aback when she sees the surface of a green planet. This could open you up or harden you.

Not to bring up a "Mary Sue", but Drizzt has a moment in a short story where a kindly goblin is killed by a community and it angers him.

An act of bravery or an act of injustice or an act of sacrifice... allow it to affect your PC

Rey is maximally marie sue: each time rey is at a place rey solves the problem in front of here no matter what happens(which can involve rey throwing force miracles as fast as a level 21 cleric with multisquickenedpell 10 times).
the only flaw rey have is to not be everywhere at once and it is hardly a flaw.
(maries sues are not a bad thing in itself however)

[dragoeniex]

The important thing, to me, is just coming in making sure you've got reasons for your character to care about and be interested in the others. Find reasons to not be completely absorbed in your own story. I love me some edge, but it has to be framed within other character traits and dynamics.

A lot of "edgy" premises really aren't if you ground them a bit. Though I'd also make sure to touch base with the DM to verify the fantastical elements fit with the world.



In response to the name generator: got a good laugh out of 11 - [refuses to state name]. That said, Talon Truemark just sounds like an amiable sniper fellow, and Twilight Neverdark sounds like a cheerful hippie sort who renamed herself to reflect her own optimism.

[Tvtyrant]

It depends on the group. I'm a fan of Batman, 40K and sundry other edgy settings so as long as the character is campy I would be cool with it. Silly randumb characters who do stuff just for chaos I am not okay with.

Other people cringe at edgy characters and it takes them out of the game, so talking to your group is as always the best advice.

[Corran]

If your character's background is more than 3 lines long, then that's too much edge.

I think it all comes down to how well the interactions with the other characters go. If you cannot find an entertaining (and I don't mean entertaining just to you) way for these interactions to play out, but instead you are boring or annoying the other players, then you'll know that your character is too edgy.

[Lord Raziere]

So someone who lost his family and then is depressed and then decides to go fight the people responsible for the death of his family is not edgy?

and that is by the book, humdrum every day edge!

as an anime and fantasy fan, I am a connoisseur of functional edginess. As long as they can smile even slightly and help out their friends, they can be the edgiest most broken person in existence clinging only slightly to sanity every day of their lives and still be a viable PC. even if they think that smile is just some fake broken mask they put on to hide their inner agony and help out not out of any hope of success, but out of the belief that they should savor every happy moment they still can before everything is doomed and dies forever, they can still work as long they do those things.

@ Corran: wow, every character I've ever palyed is too edgy then.

[Kane0]

Play a drow gloom stalker with the noble background. Your family guards an enormous crevasse in the Underdark, and are consequently known as "the Masters of the Precipice." But to the common people, they are simply called "the Edgelords."

Oh, that's gold. So stolen.

[The Jack]

Can you make a grounded character that will act realistically? If not, can you make everyone laugh?

If neither of these things works, don't do it.


Also, The Room is an excellent movie on the grounds that everyone who watches it enjoys it. It's not 'ironically good', it's just good, because you're enjoying yourself watching it. You don't need to shy away from the truth and you can't make yourself seem any greater by belittling such a master-work: If you can be The Room, you are greatness.

[Tiadoppler]

The only way I define "too much edge" is "when it starts negatively affecting your real life relationships with the other people at the table."


If your table's doing gritty realism, play a realistic character. Past trauma should be paired with reasonable reactions to that event. Go ahead and get into the psychology of your character, but don't be melodramatic.

If your table's doing over-the-top grimdark comedy, go all out. Everybody can have fun showing up with their most amusingly dark character and trying to out-'serious' each other.

But if your table's running a casual, funny, heroic campaign with some new players, and everybody showed up with different flavors of Good and Idealistic, don't show up with the Evil stoic loner who doesn't have a reason to go on the adventure, doesn't try get along with the party and likes to attack innocents when unsupervised.


It's all about knowing the people you're playing with and their expectations for the campaign. The social aspect of D&D is the important part. If you don't pay attention to that stuff, don't be surprised when you're asked to leave the group, and your Dark and Powerful Self-Insert Character gets unceremoniously written out of the campaign.

[Lord Raziere]

Also, The Room is an excellent movie on the grounds that everyone who watches it enjoys it. It's not 'ironically good', it's just good, because you're enjoying yourself watching it. You don't need to shy away from the truth and you can't make yourself seem any greater by belittling such a master-work: If you can be The Room, you are greatness.

In that case, your post is masterpiece in farce, for I laugh every time I read it at the ridiculous sentiment it espouses!

[2D8HP]

....You forgot the Pirate, Blowmi Downz..

Wasn't the original Elvish spelling Bl'wmi D'wnz?
.

... of Clan McAngsty

There can be only one!

The name of my next annoying NPC. That you, old friend. :)

You're very welcome, and that pirate belongs in Saltmarsh for sure!

[Angelalex242]

Right amount of edge: Other Players are laughing at the character
Too much edge: Other Players are annoyed by the character.

One of these things increases fun for other players, one does not.