A bogart appears! (Your greatest fear)

[Sindal]

Hi y'all.

Here's a simple but possibly hard to answer question:

"A boggart (from Harry Potter universe) appears before your character. What does it turn into to reflect your greatest fear?"

Or "What is your character's greatest fear"

I thought of the idea. But then i realized he adventures are rather brave people that have to deal with a lot.

The only thing I can think of, for my halforc ranger, is the fear of losing people that are important to him. So the boggart would probably turn into recognizable zombie versions of people he likes.

[Aprender]

There was a movie called "Warning Signs" when I was a kid in the 80's that was about a small farming town with a secret government bio weapons research facility. There weapon that turned people into enemies against their will got out inside thebfacility and the local sheriff had to save the day. (Yeah, it definitely influenced Stranger Things).

Anyway, I've always hated "turn you against your friends" effects. I hate the Borg from Star Trek and things like that.

Short term charm effects with repeating saves are fine, but an effect where you are irrevocably turned just gives me the willies.

[Maelynn]

The only thing I can think of, for my halforc ranger, is the fear of losing people that are important to him. So the boggart would probably turn into recognizable zombie versions of people he likes.

I'd go with Molly Weasley's Boggart: just the dead bodies of her children. You could perhaps give it a bit more impact by making their bodies mangled or something, but I don't think zombie versions would even be necessary unless your character has a fear for undead.

I think my character would suffer from the same, since one of her Personality Traits is "I watch over my friends as if they were a litter of newborns". The other possibility would be the image of her dead sister expressing disappointment or contempt, since my character has sworn her vengeance oath against devils over her sister's lynched body. Her Ideal and Bond heavily rely on her sister's death and the relationship they had.

[1Pirate]

A sign saying “NO ALCOHOL ALLOWED ON PREMISES”.

[xroads]

I've never read the books. How does the bogart handle fears that can't be conveniently summarized by an object or a person that can fit in a room. For example, what if the character is afraid of heights? Or has a fear of drowning?

[Grimmnist]

I've never read the books. How does the bogart handle fears that can't be conveniently summarized by an object or a person that can fit in a room. For example, what if the character is afraid of heights? Or has a fear of drowning?

Though I really enjoy the Harry Potter books, the rules for the magic system aren't very strongly defined. Boggarts are only encountered three times in the entire series so the number of example transformations are pretty limited. The most abstract one is:

Spoiler

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a werewolf in hiding seeing the boggart transform into a full moon, which is shrunken down to fit in the room

My bard would definitely see his mother.

[BarneyBent]

My character has specific views on evil - that it is subjective, culturally contextualised, and in many cases influenced the the magical link between race and creator (Orcs and Grimshaw). His goal is to a) break those links and allow traditionally evil races to be more good, and b) open traditionally (read, lawful) good society to the idea that good takes many forms.

He’s probably most confronted by and scared of true evil - devils, demons and other fiends. Beings who are defined as evil and as such whose evil is immutable. Devils are probably worse given they are so self-aware - it’s easy to think of demons as having simply fallen into bloodlust, but devils... devils are just jerks writ terrifyingly evil.

[Fable Wright]

Probably a very powerful ghost.

One bad saving throw, and he's gone. Trapped in his own body, forced to watch as someone else lives his life, powerless to impact anything but silently pray that someone stabs him to the point of bleeding out because at least he'd be FREE, then.

Being confronted with a reminder of the sheer horrors that result from a moment of powerlessness is probably the best way to represent his true deepest fear: out of mana.

[Sindal]

I've never read the books. How does the bogart handle fears that can't be conveniently summarized by an object or a person that can fit in a room. For example, what if the character is afraid of heights? Or has a fear of drowning?

Abstract fears are harder to pin down yeah.

Though, for drowning I imagine it might turn into a big spooky water elemental with drowned people already in it?

Heights...I dunno. A hot air balloon?

[JackPhoenix]

I'd go with Molly Weasley's Boggart: just the dead bodies of her children. You could perhaps give it a bit more impact by making their bodies mangled or something, but I don't think zombie versions would even be necessary unless your character has a fear for undead.

It's D&D we're talking about. Normal corpses are easily enough to resurrect. Zombies, on the other hand, require 9th level spell.

[ImproperJustice]

It’s unfortunately pretty cliche, but my Cleric lost her parents as a teen.
Them appearing and telling her she is a disappointment is probably pretty high up there.

Another of my PCs has parents that are alive and well. So losing them would be high up there.
He is also a Sorcerer and feels like a super hero. So some kind of enemy that ignores his magic, and tells him he is normal would probably freak him out.

[Nagog]

My favorite character, a Tiefling Monk named Baze, was birthed from the Demon Moloch as a new vessel for his soul, allowing him to be reborn and giving him the vitality required to reclaim Godhood. After Baze escapes, his greatest fear would probably manifest as himself, possessed by the spirit of his father.

[Derpldorf]

My current Bards- A crowd of turned backs. The weight of loneliness, the knowledge that nobody cares.

My current Ranger- An open grave in an empty field. An unremarkable life, a meaningless death.

My current Fighter - A crumbling statue. All accomplishment is temporary, you will be forgotten.

[Laserlight]

Ledaal Yuyeh: a death knight slew her tutor/guardian and put the women's howling face onto his armor, and nearly killed Yuyeh as well. So The Lord Whose Armor Weeps would be it.

Kindle, tiefling warlock: well...anything, really. He was afraid of pretty much everything, and only left his library because his Patron forced him to.

[Misterwhisper]

For my rogue: his sister being tortured in the afterlife by thre great old ones.

Long backstory.

[Phhase]

Hmm, my Rouge-fighter boy...

Either his friend Tav dead, or, on a deeper level, himself, alone and dead of age. He suspects dragonborn might not be his true shape, as he has no memories beyond a certain point, and when he awoke, he almost died due to not knowing the basic things biologicals do like breathing and eating. He fears never finding his home or true shape and blowing away with the wind.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Well, my Paladin is immune to fear so the Bogart doesn't really have anything to work with.

His greatest fear is failing to save his allies. He's died once already in a TPK situation, watching a battle unfold with his allies falling left and right while he can do nothing but watch would be the worst possible experience for him.

For my Bloodhunter, the Ships of Luskan. His entire order was burned to the ground after they got tired of using them for monster killing. He hasn't gone within 100 miles of Luskan since he just barely managed to escape with his life.

For my Rogue, losing his position as a City Watch captain. The Bregan D’aerthe tried to blackmail him once with information that could jeopardize his position so he killed them and framed it as self defense. He's Lawful but the methods he'd use to maintain his career are pretty near the lower border of Neutral.

[Edwin Briar]

He isn't from DnD, but my dearest character to date: A Half-Elf with a real talent for negotiations (and strangely enough fist fighting despite having the lowest strength stat of the party) and a rather pessimistic view on the world around him.

His biggest fear is probably to end up like his mother, an elven prostitute with multiple substance addictions, caring about nothing but herself (at least that is his view on her as well as the source of his disdain for all addicts).

[Lord Vukodlak]

My old rogue whisper from the princes of the
Apocalyps campaign would see the dead party members. Of the original group that started the module. He was the only one left at the end. Every other player had a character die at one point before we had the money to raise someone.

I've never read the books. How does the bogart handle fears that can't be conveniently summarized by an object or a person that can fit in a room. For example, what if the character is afraid of heights? Or has a fear of drowning?

A giant rift in the earth and a huge body of water. One guys boggart appeared as a desk because what they feared most was a desk job. The boggart seemed to be able to simulate the effects of a dementor to some degree so in D&D terms there’s a will save where it makes you think it’s real.