What type of D&D Player are you?

[Brovo]

Because jesus fuck the politics threads need to stahp because fun!

In all seriousness, I want to have a discussion about something related to Iwaku's interests. So, here's something ripped straight out of the D&D DM 5E manual.

What type of player are you? Which one did you pick, and why?

Acting: Players who enjoy acting like getting into character and speaking in their characters' voices. Roleplayers at heart, they enjoy social interactions with NPCs, monsters, and their fellow party members. These players are engaged by...

• Giving them opportunities to develop their characters' personalities and backgrounds.
• Allowing them to interact regularly with NPCs.
• Adding roleplaying elements to combat encounters.
• Incorporating elements from their characters' backgrounds into your adventures.

Exploring: Players who desire exploration want to experience the wonders that a fantasy world has to offer. They want to know what's around the next corner or hill. They also like to find hidden clues and treasure. These players are engaged by...

• Dropping clues that hint at things yet to come.
• Letting them find things when they take the time to explore.
• Providing rich descriptions of exciting environments, and using interesting maps and props.
• Giving monsters secrets to uncover or cultural details to learn.

Instigating: Players who like to instigate action are eager to make things happen, even if that means taking perilous risks. They would rather rush headlong into danger and face the consequences than face boredom.
These players are engaged by...

• Allowing them to affect their surroundings.
• Including things in your adventures to tempt them.
• Letting their actions put the characters in a tight spot.
• Including encounters with NPCs who are as feisty and unpredictable as they are.

Fighting: Players who enjoy fantasy combat like kicking the tar out of villains and monsters. They look for any excuse to start a fight, favoring bold action over careful deliberation.
These players are engaged by...

• Springing unexpected combat encounters on them.
• Vividly describing the havoc their characters wreak with their attacks and spells.
• Including combat encounters with large numbers of weak monsters.
• Interrupting social interaction and exploration with combat.

Optimizing: Players who enjoy optimizing their character's capabilities like to fine-tune their characters for peak combat performance by gaining levels, new features, and magic items. They welcome any opportunity to demonstrate their character's superiority.
These players are engaged by...

• Ensuring steady access to new abilities and spells.
• Using desired magic items as adventure hooks.
• Including encounters that let their characters shine.
• Providing quantifiable rewards, like experience points, for noncombat encounters.

Problem Solving: Players who want to solve problems like to scrutinize NPC motivations, untangle a villain's machinations, solve puzzles, and come up with plans.
These players are engaged by...

• Including encounters that emphasize problem-solving.
• Rewarding planning and tactics with in-game benefits.
• Occasionally allowing a smart plan to grant an easy win for the players.
• Creating NPCs with complex motives.

Storytelling: Players who love storytelling want to contribute to a narrative. They like it when their characters are heavily invested in an unfolding story, and they enjoy encounters that are tied to and expand an overarching plot.
These players are engaged by...

• Using their character's backgrounds to help shape the stories of the campaign.
• Making sure an encounter advances the story in some way.
• Making their character's actions help steer future events.
• Giving NPCs ideals, bonds, and flaws, that the adventurers can exploit.

 

[Greenie]

I was waiting for another one of your roleplaying threads. ^_^

Storytelling is what I ultimately picked, though it was a rather close tie with Acting.

I picked the former, however, because that has always been the crux of why I write. Roleplaying for me is a way to create stories with one or more persons, making it an easy way to tell tales of epic adventures! (Hopefully ^_^')

 

[Thornapple]

I have only played as a character once in DnD and our short campaign took us from level 1-3. Since then I have run 3-4 longstanding successful campaigns as the DM. I love love love world building and helping my players with backstories, especially when it comes to weaving it into the plot.

I suppose that would make me more of a Storytelling "player"? But I include a hearty amount of combat and explorative elements, and I always act out my NPCs, so I guess I'm just a mix of a lot of stuff haha

 

[LowDefinition]

I've been in some DnD campaigns, though mostly it's a multi-DM campaign. Met quite a lot of types of DMs. Those who makes their session short and just some sort of "simple bashing" with little to no story whatsoever, those who have heavy story but makes me pull an all-nighter, those who are in between of the former twos.

But to be honest, the thing that I enjoy in DnD is the interaction between player characters (and also NPCs) so I guess I'm the kind of player who loves acting. And I also enjoy smashing stuff and optimizing my character. But then again, I don't feel like optimizing my character if it doesn't go well with their character/backstory.

 

[Shiri]

I enjoy watching the Acting types, but I'm not good at improve so all my characters come off flat when I try. I think out of my group I tend to be the Instigator. Not so much out of boredom as much as trying to keep us on track. The DM likes to do one-night homebrews, but if no one takes the initiative we don't finish. So my characters tend to grab the plot related items and hopefully doesn't explode.

I almost died last time. I was a very singed Vanara.

 

[Vars]

I always have an absolute terrible time creating characters with backstories and such in D&D campaigns. I'm not sure why, and as a result I can't actually roleplay most of the time. So instead I like to push through it like a videogame to see what's at the other end. I've come to realize that DMs don't particularly like that (or at least, not the ones I've played with) so since I wasn't having fun and they didn't seem to be having fun either, I just stopped playing.

It became particularly awful when I was paired with a guy who loved politics. Seriously we had a 6 hour day where this paladin worked out trade agreements with a city. I get that that's his idea of fun (and apparently that DM enjoyed it too) but there was no reason at all for me or my character to be there, so I just left and watched TV.

I guess I'm wrong, at least in my particular circle of friends, that I consider D&D more of a social game and less of a storytelling experience.

I stick to board & card games now.

 

[junebug]

I'm an awkward D&D player.

 

[lostfaith]

I really enjoy RPing and fighting, but my greatest joy is optimizing. I adore running the numbers and outclassing all of the enemies. I have a fighter 3/sorcerer 8 character in one 5E FR campaign who, with Haste up and using Quicken Spell and Action Surge, can make three Booming Blade attacks and one regular attack, on top of 60 ft flying speed (30 foot winged boots doubled by haste). A Booming Blade is 2d8 Thunder and 2d8+9 slashing (with a battlemaster maneuver), and the normal hit is just 2d8+9 slashing. One encounter, a wraith floated through the wall of the building we were in. I was on the roof, and hearing combat, I jumped off, cast Haste, dashed with my Haste action, ran 120 feet into the room and then Action Surged, cast Booming Blade, Quicken Spell, Booming Blade, and killed it in one round.

Our last major fight was a 15th level wizard, and an adult blue dracolich (and this was on the same long rest as fighting a young shadow dragon and a death tyrant earlier in the dungeon). I just about gutted the wizard before he teleported away, and the dracolich tried to flee (90 ft flying speed, dash to 180). I proceeded to fly after it, dashing with my action, Haste action, and Action Surge, overtook it, then cut it out of the air. Earlier in that campaign I frightened a black dragon we were fighting with a Menacing Attack maneuver then went toe to toe with it in mid-air and almost completely solo'd it.

I'm currently playing a Storm King's Thunder campaign and I have a 3rd level Death Domain winged tiefling Cleric. Not that special at the moment, but in three more levels (which will be rogue), I'll have Booming Blade from the Magic Initiate feat along with 2d6 Sneak Attack and the bonus action dash/disengage from Rogue. In addition to Touch of Death from Cleric for a once per short rest damage boost (2x level+5 Necrotic). At 8th level cleric I'll get an automatic 1d8 necrotic damage to my melee attack.

I haven't created yet, but have thought of the concept of an 11th evocation wizard/9 Tempest domain cleric. Tempest CD lets you max lightning damage, so you can toss around automatic 80 damage chain lightning. Evocation wizard lets you add Int modifier to booming blade, on top of another 1d8 thunder from Tempest divine strike. Along with healing spells up to Mass Cure Wounds. The only problem is the int/wis split, but that can be solved over time.

Yes, I really love the Sword Coast blade cantrips. They're amazing.

 

[Jorick]

I was torn between acting and storytelling, but I guess I have to go with storytelling because I'm into the overall story and the cool moments of that moreso than the moment to moment roleplaying of mundane stuff.

 

[Dervish]

Only had a chance to play once, but I can safely say my main concern past having fun was totally getting into character to help ease the other players into it, mostly because my character was more or less Half-Elf Gaston.

 

[Hellis]

Storytelling/Acting really. It is why I kinda lost interest in DnD as system as it doesn't allow for much in the way of tailoring your charachter to tie Mechanics/charachter sheet to a storyline, background. That and the stupid alignment system. I ended up playing stuff like gurps and such instead.