What's A Murderhobo?

[Cluedrew]

Personally I always thought of murderhobo as what happens if you seriously consider the in-world-view of a character who is being run by a player who only considers the mechanics of the game. They never do anything with their free time, they just wait until the next event. They are orphans with no attachments because that is quick to describe. The buy from the equipment list instead of a store.

They may handle quests effectively, but that isn't socially adjusted by any means.

[No brains]

'half-derro Barbarian/Paladin' as a backstory

If the player had an idea what percentage of human, dwarf, and whatever else they were as a 'half-derro' that would be entirely enough backstory already.

[Max_Killjoy]

If the player had an idea what percentage of human, dwarf, and whatever else they were as a 'half-derro' that would be entirely enough backstory already.

I wonder if there's ever been a setting where at least one location where all the interfertile "races" have been living together there for so long that almost everyone has very blended ancestry.

[LibraryOgre]

I wonder if there's ever been a setting where at least one location where all the interfertile "races" have been living together there for so long that almost everyone has very blended ancestry.

Mongrelmen?

[Max_Killjoy]

Mongrelmen?

Maybe the Races of Destiny version?

I really wasn't conceptualizing the idea as people with crab claws and randomly sized eyes and such.

[Cluedrew]

The Edge Chronicles called anyone who couldn't explain their ancestry simply as a Fourthling. Your blood comes from all four corners of the map.

Its a really weird setting for that term to come from because the setting is obviously triangular.

[Mechalich]

The overwhelming majority of inter-fertile 'races' in D&D are human variants of some kind. Additionally, in pretty much all D&D settings humans massively outnumber all the other 'races' and breed considerably faster than most of them; the big exception is the 'goblinoids.' Our real world understanding of hybridization in cases like this suggests that, over enough time, the numerically dominant and faster breeding species will simply hybridize the other species into extinction with the result of a modest increase in genetic variance of its own.

So what you'd probably get is a human group and a goblin group that both incorporated some non-traditional features. For instance, these new humans would probably have potentially longer lifespans, a possibility of pointed ears, the potential for unusual shades of hair like green and blue, and so forth. The goblin group would express considerable variance in size, skin tone, and probably dental structure. All the other 'races' would disappear unless they were able to sustain reproductively isolated populations somewhere.

Of course, in general, most of the D&D races have natural reproductive isolation in that standards of attractiveness differ massively across 'racial' boundaries and keep the amount of mating between the groups quite low (there are cases of inter-racial attraction, but they tend to be asymmetrical in frequency, ie. humans find elves far more attractive than elves generally find humans).

[Pleh]

The Edge Chronicles called anyone who couldn't explain their ancestry simply as a Fourthling. Your blood comes from all four corners of the map.

Its a really weird setting for that term to come from because the setting is obviously triangular.

Gives a whole new meaning to Triangulating.

[LibraryOgre]

The Edge Chronicles called anyone who couldn't explain their ancestry simply as a Fourthling. Your blood comes from all four corners of the map.

Its a really weird setting for that term to come from because the setting is obviously triangular.

Gives a whole new meaning to Triangulating.

Or the "Three Body Problem". ;-)

[LordCdrMilitant]

I have heard the term murderhobo million times and I have no idea what it is? Does it have anything to do by murdering a hobo or bums or something? Somebody, please tell me, the suspense is killing me?

Murderhobo is a derogatory nickname for the profession which most D&D characters practice, referring to their tendency to solve problems via violence as a first resort and their itinerant nature wandering between towns leaving a trail of carnage behind them, killing people and taking their stuff.

[Felhammer]

I have heard the term murderhobo million times and I have no idea what it is? Does it have anything to do by murdering a hobo or bums or something? Somebody, please tell me, the suspense is killing me?

An itinerant work-for-hire day laborer who is often (but not always) paid by the wealthy elite of cities, towns and castles to invade rural people's homes, to murder the occupants and steal the recently deceased's possessions.

[Max_Killjoy]

The overwhelming majority of inter-fertile 'races' in D&D are human variants of some kind. Additionally, in pretty much all D&D settings humans massively outnumber all the other 'races' and breed considerably faster than most of them; the big exception is the 'goblinoids.' Our real world understanding of hybridization in cases like this suggests that, over enough time, the numerically dominant and faster breeding species will simply hybridize the other species into extinction with the result of a modest increase in genetic variance of its own.

So what you'd probably get is a human group and a goblin group that both incorporated some non-traditional features. For instance, these new humans would probably have potentially longer lifespans, a possibility of pointed ears, the potential for unusual shades of hair like green and blue, and so forth. The goblin group would express considerable variance in size, skin tone, and probably dental structure. All the other 'races' would disappear unless they were able to sustain reproductively isolated populations somewhere.

Of course, in general, most of the D&D races have natural reproductive isolation in that standards of attractiveness differ massively across 'racial' boundaries and keep the amount of mating between the groups quite low (there are cases of inter-racial attraction, but they tend to be asymmetrical in frequency, ie. humans find elves far more attractive than elves generally find humans).

Given which "races" can interbreed in many fantasy (or even "science" fiction) settings, there's probably a bit of "fantasy genetics" going on anyway, so while you're right, I think we could leave room for other outcomes in a game setting.

...

Does this need its own thread at this point?

[Tvtyrant]

Harry Potter and the Natural D20 did a great job of this, I think. The main character is an optimizer/murder hobo who sees a vision of his future where he succeeds at his goal of climbing the level ladder, but then has nothing to do so he brands every object in the multiverse with his name. Power for its own sake is a trap.

I tend to play muderhobos, being a bit of an edgelord and enjoying accumulating power. I had a Rogue who used all of his wealth on magic items and a menagerie of poisonous monsters that he could collect weapon poisons from, he was paranoid to the edge of insanity. Fun to play but would be terrible to live as.

[darkrose50]

Traditionally a hobo is a migratory worker. Today it gets blended in with homeless and vagrant. The word has a lower-class connotation associated with it.

During the great depression hobo's would travel the US by hopping train freight cars. These were overwhelmingly jobless men looking for work.

PC's are usually migratory workers. However PC's usually eventually have considerable treasures. PC's tend to be highly skilled. Slaying monsters is not seasonally picking apples.

It is a tongue-in-cheek reference to how PC's wander around taking random jobs, and kill things.

[wingnut2292]

Murderhobo I thought was an Exalted playstyle.
Players spent all their bacground dots on charms, willpower and a 5 dot artifact.
The thing they didn't buy? Any dots in resources what so ever.