List of Stereotypes we'd Rather Avoid

[JackMage666]

As a player, I want to know the stereotpes that people absolutely hate. Obviously, the first is the Drizzt clones, I know. We don't have to touch that here. But what about the other ones? Do people hate the gruff dwarven fighter? Or the elven archer? I want to know the details of why they're so annoying.

Another, completely and totally unrelated question is, hypothetically speaking, and by that I mean this has nothing to do with myself, if the NE character who is the son of Paladins stereotypical? Because my - I mean - the hypothetical character isn't doing it out of rebellion, but instead because he's slightly insane and believes the only way to destroy the evil his parents fought is to be more evil than it. Is that a stereotype, and if so, is it an annoying one?

[Fhaolan]

I wouldn't call that stereotypical. Mainly because I hadn't heard that one before.

I don't really mind stereotypes that much, I'm just bored by them. What irritates me is people who are so impressed by their stereotyped character concept, as if it's something incredibly creative, even though they *know* it is based on a character in a movie they've just seen or a book they've just read. There's nothing wrong with the stereotype as such, it's some of the people that play these stereotyped characters that bother me.

Okay, here's some stereotypes I run into on a regular basis. Again, nothing wrong with them as stereotypes, it's more the type of player who plays them that irritates me.

The big, dumb, violent barbarian. Afterall, if they weren't stupid, they wouldn't be barbarians, right?

The old, absentminded scholar-wizard. Being intelligent doesn't mean you can remember what spells you've got in your prepared list, of course. Randomly casting spells, in an effort to remember which one does what is just *so* much fun.

The overly enthusiastic priest of war. Because priests of war are always bloodthirsty maniacs.

The child pickpocket-thief. Nothing really wrong with this one, but why do they always talk like the Artful Dodger?

The scantily-clad female 'catburgler'
The scantily-clad female necromancer
The scantily-clad female... okay, theme here. The reason the scantily-clad female characters bother me is because it's either a 20-to-40-year-old male player who has never actually talked to a woman in a meaningful way, or it's the wife/girlfriend of one of the players desperately trying to find a way to get her husband/boyfriend to pay attention to her, even if it means debasing herself in front of the other players. I have dealt with many female players, including both my current D&D groups which are about 1/2 women. *NONE* of them have done the scantily-clad seductress character unless they fell into the girlfriend/wife scenario mentioned above.

There's probably more, but I'm drawing a blank on the rest.

[BCOVertigo]

How about the hilariously quirky comic relief gnome wizard?

I'm glaring so hard I think the hate is starting to condensate on my monitor.

My campaign setting has no gnomes anymore, they were all wiped out by a legion of Angels of Decay. No one misses them.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Hey, gnomes can be played to hilariously evil intent. Like a society where the only known gnomes are just lawn gnomes, until they one day find out that they're actually living gnomish operatives plotting the downfall of mankind. It's kind of creepy.

[Miles Invictus]

"No one avenges a gnome, just like no one avenges a squirrel." Vertigo, you need to peruse the Zogonia archives someday.

[averagejoe]

Dark heros. People who try to be moody by being silent are pretty hilarious, though, especially in large numbers, when the story never progresses because everyone is trying to be dark and silent.

Gnomes, however, are awsome, they just get a bad reputation becaue of novelists and people who read novels which involve gnomes. Hey, in either case, at least they're not kender.

[BCOVertigo]

"No one avenges a gnome, just like no one avenges a squirrel." Vertigo, you need to peruse the Zogonia archives someday.

I'll do that, and you should read lfgcomic.com. More amusing gnome-stomping.

Dark heros. People who try to be moody by being silent are pretty hilarious, though, especially in large numbers, when the story never progresses because everyone is trying to be dark and silent.

Gnomes, however, are awsome, they just get a bad reputation becaue of novelists and people who read novels which involve gnomes. Hey, in either case, at least they're not kender.

Whatever ill feelings you have about kender and their compulsive theft, amplify it by a factor of 5 and then pretend your first DM used them as a god-npc who railroaded you to no end. Then pretend you had to play with that SAME CHARACTER for the next year of sessions as he attempted to drunkenly seduce everything of the opposite sex. THEN go play wow for a month and get repeatedly ganked by the SAME FREAKING GNOME UNTIL IT STOPS BEING FUNNY.

I respect your opinion, but they are not awesome. I would drop my paladin abilities to kill a gnome and refuse to atone faster than you can say 'Powerattack for full'.

[JackMage666]

The first gnome I ever really dealt with was in a campaign I was DMing, because noone ever wanted to play one. I made him an Evil Bard/Wilder Gnome, who was basically a Messanger for the BBEG. He never really fought anyone, he just insulted the characters alot. They wanted to kill him, badly, but I always had an escape route planned. He was high enough level to kill him, as he was a flavour NPC they were going to fight later, when they leveled up, just like the BBEG. However, the campaign was ended before they did, so I never got to test him in combat.

[Bears With Lasers]

The scantily-clad female 'catburgler'
The scantily-clad female necromancer
The scantily-clad female... okay, theme here.

I present to you, Mara Too-Tall. The character I made specifically to oppose that stereotype.

[Seatbelt]

The scantily-clad female 'catburgler'
The scantily-clad female necromancer
The scantily-clad female... okay, theme here. it's the wife/girlfriend of one of the players desperately trying to find a way to get her husband/boyfriend to pay attention to her, even if it means debasing herself in front of the other players. I have dealt with many female players, including both my current D&D groups which are about 1/2 women. *NONE* of them have done the scantily-clad seductress character unless they fell into the girlfriend/wife scenario mentioned above.

It might not be that "desperate cry for attention" scenario. It might be just a fun kind of roleplay for the couple. At least if the husband/boyfriend is persuing his significant other in-game. They probably have a little fun with it behind closed doors. On the other hand, some of it probably is the cry for attention.

[axraelshelm]

The were-something grabbed for combat and nothing else and the character has the personality of a cardboard cut out.

[JackMage666]

I've not dealt with too many stereotypes. I have a friend who constntly wan'ts to play an Elven Duskblade, so that one gets annoying, but I've not heard of that overwhelmingly.

I do have the weapon specialist, though. I had a player who literally packed as a 1-man army. He had a Glaive, a few Javelins, a few Daggers, a Crossbow, and Longbow, a Battleaxe, a Handaxe, a Sap, a Hand Crossbow, a Rapier, a Greatsword, a Club, and a Quarterstaff, all in a bag of holding.

Now, this wouldn't be so bad, but the player was playing a Monk. A Monk doesn't need alot of weapons. A monk is a weapon. He'd snagged a few levels of Warrior (we played with 3 levels of NPC class for character background), so he was proficienct, but still!

[Green Bean]

I admit, I thought I had alot of great ideas for new character concepts that didn't end up working out. Like that LG vampire idea I had

[The_Snark]

I've not dealt with too many stereotypes. I have a friend who constntly wan'ts to play an Elven Duskblade, so that one gets annoying, but I've not heard of that overwhelmingly.

I do have the weapon specialist, though. I had a player who literally packed as a 1-man army. He had a Glaive, a few Javelins, a few Daggers, a Crossbow, and Longbow, a Battleaxe, a Handaxe, a Sap, a Hand Crossbow, a Rapier, a Greatsword, a Club, and a Quarterstaff, all in a bag of holding.

Now, this wouldn't be so bad, but the player was playing a Monk. A Monk doesn't need alot of weapons. A monk is a weapon. He'd snagged a few levels of Warrior (we played with 3 levels of NPC class for character background), so he was proficienct, but still!

I dunno, I like it, actually. Strikes me as a paranoid type. And monk levels just mean you're paranoid enough that you've learned to fight with the one weapon that you can't lose.

The bag of holding ruins it, though. Better if the weapons are kept sheathed or slung all over the character.

scantily-clad female...

Yeah. Had this.

The ranger whose family or possibly entire village was killed by (insert monster) and now seeks to hunt (insert monster)s to avenge the loss of his parents. I blame the favored enemy class feature for this one. It's not always a bad thing, but it so easily leads to one-dimensional characters and/or brooding, dark heroes.

[Tor the Fallen]

I present to you, Mara Too-Tall. The character I made specifically to oppose that stereotype.

Bears, I think your characters backstory would go better as: huge tits. Or just: "36C-24-36"

[Bears With Lasers]

I cut you, muddafugga. I cut you so bad, you... you wish I no cut you so bad!

[averagejoe]

I cut you, muddafugga. I cut you so bad, you... you wish I no cut you so bad!

Wow. Those are some bad Bears With Lasers. I blame the schools.

Actually, come to think of it, the whole character background process has become a bit cleche. The whole batman, "this one event from my childhood that defines my entire life," thing is featured in most characters I've encountered. I personally try to make characters with interesting quirks/personality (with varying degrees of sucess), and typically leave the background to general details and not this, "his parents got killed by kobolds/he once befriended a kobold/a kobold once pushed him down and ruined his ice cream cone, so now he has a phobia/hatred/like for kobolds, and this defines his entire existance." Don't get me wrong, characters like this aren't all bad, and I may (although I won't admit to it ) or may not have been guilty of this on more than one occasion, but even so, I find it to be an unfortunate trend.

[Khantalas]

First and most important thing: gnomes rock. They are the r0XX0r. Especially in my campaign setting, where they have fire resistance 5, tremorsense out to 30 ft, an Intelligence bonus and a charisma penalty.

Second thing, I got a group where one of the guys was forced to play a female. And there was this romance stuff with another player (who was always a guy). And the female character had a large tattoo on her chest.
She wasn't very scantily-clad.

[Darrin]

Actually, come to think of it, the whole character background process has become a bit cleche. The whole batman, "this one event from my childhood that defines my entire life," thing is featured in most characters I've encountered.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss easy cliches... the reason something becomes a cliche is because it works, over and over again. They are dependable workhorses that deliver a functional personality archetypes, they can be easy to roleplay, work in a variety of mediums/genres, and are easily recognizable to other players.

Stereotypes get more interesting when you subvert them. Drizzt is a good example, because initially a "good drow" subverts the stereotype of drow as thoroughly evil. Gives you great fistfuls of internal conflict, angst, yearning for acceptance/understanding... get enough of clones, though, and you've got a new stereotype.

The real problem with cliched characters is not with the cliche, but how they're played... generally, a player makes two mistakes when he inflicts a poor cliche on the rest of the group:

1) Wish-fulfillment: The player denies or ignores any of the drawbacks or tradeoffs of the stereotype, refusing to roleplay or acknowledge them. He's essentially playing a "Mary Sue" type fantasy where everything he attempts should automatically succeed, that the character is too cool to fail or be penalized. They don't realize or accept that most iconic characters have to suffer to earn their coolness or badass-edness.

2) Self-absorbed: They're so enamored with their own character that they ignore or refuse to interact with the other characters in the party. A good roleplayer will involve the other players in advancing their own character development. A bad one either demands all of the spotlight all of the time, or is so cut-off from what's going on around him that no one even bothers to interact with him.

Pulling familiar stereotypes or cliches from popular media isn't really a bad thing if done right. Most players pull their ideas from popular media like pulp comics, action movies, or fantasy novels because RPGs spend a lot of time in the same neighborhoods. You can keep those tired old over-used cliches fresh and interesting by making better use of stereotypes:

1) Play up your weaknesses. We sympathize with characters who make bad decisions and suffer for it. The victory toast tastes a lot better after you've had your share of sour grapes.

2) Don't play in a vacuum. Share the spotlight, and get involved with the other characters. Good stereotypes should feed off one another, so that you're giving opportunities for your fellow players to shine and they're doing the same for you.

[Tormsskull]

1) Wish-fulfillment

2) Self-absorbed:

1) Play up your weaknesses.

2) Don't play in a vacuum.

I 100% agree with you. I often see this when players model their character off a character from an RPG or MMORPG. When something happens that they don't agree with they say things like "That would never happen. My character would have totally seen that coming" or something alike to that.

I always tell my players to make believable characters. If your character isn't afraid of anything and/or isn't effected by pain and he's a race that normally has those qualities, he isn't believable.

[rollfrenzy]

I just have a couple stereotypes that we hit with my group.

One player plays an elf caster/fighter (like a warlock, or bladesinger) with always one level of rogue who's village was destroyed by (insert name of BBEG).

Another Player always tries to make his character as wierd as possible. So much so that the weirdness has become cliche. He had one character in PS who was blue. Spring came along and he shaved his head. (the Blue-man group jokes flowed...another pc did the intel sound everytime he drew his sword).

The last isn't really cliche, but has been tried in my group a few times by the same character and is annoying enough to list.

A mute character. Really extra obnoxious because the player refused to speak too. except for absolutely neccessary.

[Scorpina]

I've never been all that bothered by stereotypes, to be honest. Gruff dwarven fighters can be fun and, after all, if they weren't around perpetuating the notion that all dwarves look like shorter versions of Brian Blessed and have impenetrable Scotish accents, then what would make my cliché-defying Dwarven Sorceress all that remarkable?

On the other hand, I do find 'Half-[Anything but Elf or Orc]" to be quite irritating, character wise, since (in the groups I've played with, at least), since (even more than half-elves and half-orcs) they seem to go down to route of hating either their humanoid side or their other side intensely and (quite often) that being their one and only personality trait. That and it bugs me how (in some games) half-dragons and half-fiends can just waltz into the tavern and nobody will bat an eyelid.

Also:

The reason the scantily-clad female characters bother me is because it's either a 20-to-40-year-old male player who has never actually talked to a woman in a meaningful way, or it's the wife/girlfriend of one of the players desperately trying to find a way to get her husband/boyfriend to pay attention to her, even if it means debasing herself in front of the other players. I have dealt with many female players, including both my current D&D groups which are about 1/2 women. *NONE* of them have done the scantily-clad seductress character unless they fell into the girlfriend/wife scenario mentioned above.

I've played scantily clad seductress types. Also, women who don't wear armour and dress in skimpy clothes simply because it makes men do what you want (although not all the men all of the time, of course). I've also played the aforementioned 'gruff dwarven fighter', of course, and I'm currently playing a Gnome Ranger who doesn't bathe... I like to think I have a good range.

[Woot Spitum]

The halfling/kender/gnome rogue that has to steal everything that isn't nailed down. I understand wanting to build your characters personality. I understand wanting to put those max skill ranks in sleight of hand to use. But can we encounter any sentient creature without the rogue trying to steal from it? Why can't anyone play the more intelligent rogue, the one who realizes that pickpocketing random people isn't going to make you rich? Why can't there be the halfling rogue who has been waiting and planning his whole life to make that one big heist? Why can't we have the thief that refuses to steal gems that aren't bigger than his fist? (The smaller ones aren't worth his time). Why do we have to live with the petty kleptomaniac that spends all his time grabbing a handful of coppers?

[Foxer]

I'm not too bothered by most stock-fantasy stereotypes, myself. Except for Emo-Drow, obviously.

What gets me is when the players keep cloning their characters in new campaigns. You know the sort of thing - the guy who always wants to play an elf (we've got one of those). Or the one who always wants to play the samurai/ninja type.

[GolemsVoice]

Hmm, I think there are some stereotypes that do not focus on the class, but rather on the place from where the characters is.
Everyone knows that the whole frozen north is packed tight with blond haired barbarians, 2 meter tall and build like a lighthouse.
Everyone knows that the arabian places are full of sons of the dessert, with long, bended daggers and black beards.
Everyone knows that in Waterdeep or Luskan, every man is a scoundrel, and you can't trust anyone. Not only the regular tavern folk, but everyone from the poorest beggar to the richest nobleman.

[Darrin]

Or the one who always wants to play the samurai/ninja type.

With the motorcycle, of course. Standard ninja equipment, can't play without it.

[The_Werebear]

The oddity factor bugs me a lot, and can really destroy the feeling of the game if the don't do it right.

For example, in my current RL game.

We have
A dwarf Wizard
A dwarf Barbarian (Brother and sister team, by the way
A human Cleric
A Human Beguiler
A Halfling Bard

And then, a Feral templated-Duskling Totemist. A freaky blue skined wild fae along with the rest of the party. It would be horribly distracting if he wasn't such a good roleplayer.

[Fhaolan]

It might not be that "desperate cry for attention" scenario. It might be just a fun kind of roleplay for the couple. At least if the husband/boyfriend is persuing his significant other in-game. They probably have a little fun with it behind closed doors. On the other hand, some of it probably is the cry for attention.

Unfortunately, I've never seen a situation where it's just cute roleplaying on behalf of the couple. In one case, the boyfriend was completely oblivious to the point of being irritated at the girlfriend for not optimizing her character more. In another, the husband was the DM, and was forcing his wife to play this character because he thought it would be 'seductive' to the other players to the point that the game would devolve into a RL orgy that he could watch.

Yes, I've ended up in games with some seriously mental people. It's an unfortunate side-effect of moving every two years to follow the job market (originally for my father, and now for me), and trying to find new gaming groups in each town. Originally, I thought going to local conventions would be a good way to meet fellow gamers in the new communities. I have stories from those 'encounters' that would get me kicked off this forum if I told them.

[averagejoe]

What gets me is when the players keep cloning their characters in new campaigns. You know the sort of thing - the guy who always wants to play an elf (we've got one of those). Or the one who always wants to play the samurai/ninja type.

See, that's never really bothered me. I mean, if they found something they like doing, let them do it. A lot of the other things listed above (especially the kleptomaniac thing) are annoying because they're bad on a group level. You know, like how everyone throws heavy objects at the kleptomaniac, or how a group full of dark brooding personalities brings the game to a halt when all of them refuse to do anything but brood silently (has this happened to anyone else, by the way? Just curious.) I don't really see the problem of a player playing essentially the same character over and over, though, unless the character was problematic to begin with.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Really? I play with a duo that's boyfriend/girlfriend, and both really look forward to our weekly sessions. The girlfriend plays a catgirl prostitute (no, seriously). She loves it. She's even drawn her character, her familiar, and all her gear several times over in the interims between games. She's not much of one for optimization, but she thoroughly enjoys roleplaying like that without flirting with her own boyfriend.