How to Play a Coward WITHOUT Abandoning Your Party
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- Опубликовано: 2 мар 2023
- Playing a Coward in TTRPGs is difficult... but not impossible! You just have to keep a few things in mind
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Want more advice on playing different character archetypes? I've put all of my videos on the topic into the same playlist! ruclips.net/p/PLitb6J1ioR4fP8DJqyQZ0DHcyVe-BdAC0
Oh man but what about playing a Barbarian-type character whose rage stems from an extreme "panic mode" instead of anger? That could be fun for both roleplay and flavour!
And depending on the exact timing of the setting, the Barbarian "rage cooldown" could just be him hyperventilating after the panic attack and catching his breath.
I love this idea! Hope you don’t mind I’m totally stealing this lol! I think a barbarian who is driven by his past and goes into Fight or Flight mode every combat would be very interesting as a character growth setting. Maybe something bad happened more recently. Or maybe they lived on the streets their whole life so they feel like in order to protect themselves instead of morals they only fight as hard as possible (or run) because that is how you survive on the streets or you die. As you can see so many ideas could come from this!
@@CR1TIKAL_20 yeah, go right ahead! I'm fascinated by the idea of "rage" stemming from things other than anger, like fear or dissociation or even thrill seeking and I'm glad to hear other people might feel the same way!
Or a swashbuckler rogue whose fancy footwork was them panic-dodging through the combat. You could lean into the charisma later in the game as character growth.
That's awesome.
I've actually done this before. My cowardly character would keep developing a smidgen of confidence but then suddenly have something happen to him that brought his scared ass right back down to earth, so he was never quite too scared to quit, but also never too confident to lose his gimmick.
He was a halfling sorcerer who would be firebolting everything while being all like "nooooo stay awayyyyyy!" but then act like he was hot shit when he actually won. Something else would then attack and he'd be like "noooo I thought we were done!"
All his cantrips were ranged attacks, but all his spells were defensive, so the implication was that he put his real efforts into defending himself and avoiding harm.
You can see how much dread Luigi feels just opening a locked door, but he still opens the door. No matter how terrifying it is through it, it would be far worse for him facing himself if he couldn't save his brother. Very powerful.
OH THANK GOD, you have no idea how much time I’ve tried to find when it comes to writing heroic cowards and surprisingly not a lot that come to light, closest references I had were Shaggy from Scooby Doo, Luigi, and Cringer from He Man. In short THANK YOU for making this video 🙏
And thank you so much for watching!!!! Shaggy is honestly such a solid example, I might return to him at some point!
@@PlayYourRole I’ve always loved watching your videos for bringing out the most out of my characters, and I’m excited if you were to ever go more in depth in this concept due to it being not as famous as other concepts!
Nott the brave’s fear of water (and here use of alcohol in order to cope) is a perfect example of using fear without being useless AND HAVE narrative role-playing significance
How to play a coward
Step one: play a wizard.
Step two: check your hit points
Step 4: profit??...?
I've lived this, it's very true
A great example I've seen in a liveplay format is Brother Uriah, Mark Meer's character from the black dice society. He's deeply cowardly and near constantly scared, but he acts in spite of that fear and at times inspires others to do the same.
Sorry for litttle of topic but i love Mark Meer for his performance in LA by night. Great actor
@@towinandsave1520 Oh yeah Chaz was a great antagonist. He played it really well!
I should check this out!
Came here to say the same thing. Mark Meer/Brother Uriah was phenomenal. He grew so much over the short-lived series.
Besides playing with the rest of the Black Dice Society very well, Uriah was a great example of integrating a lore-savvy player into the game!
Most of the BDS’ default approach to confronting Ravenloft’s horrors was lashing out and/or suppressing their fear; Uriah was the one who, through worrying and freaking out, really sold the stakes.
The party all had interesting flaws, but Uriah’s cowardice is so interesting because it’s a part of Mark and BDW working together to build the game’s vibe :)
In Ironclaw, there's an ability called Coward that, when you have the Afraid status, dramatically increases your defenses (including your counterattack) as well as your movement speed. It's a really strong ability and can be used for some cool, viable builds.
My thoughts of a cowardly character go to Usopp from One Piece, very specifically in the Arlong Park Arc where he was going to fake that he had fought this strong opponent because he was too scared to actually fight him. And as he's preparing this speech about how he "fought his best" he thinks about his friends that actually are and feels terrible about how he's acting. So he steps up, he's still scared, but he fights. And even though no one was around to see him face his fears it was still encouraging to himself.
I feel like cowardice as a flavor of rogue could work really well. Disengage+hide for advantage but instead of "sneaky sneaky I'm a ghost" more "OH ****! A GHOST! HIDE!"
My ideas for coward characters:
Be a healer and the thing you fear most is people you care about being hurt or killed so you can stand up against threats when needed.
Being afraid of fair fights so hiding a lot and using hidden attacker (good for rogues and goblins)
Only being afraid when the party isn’t back I be you up.
This is perfectly timed. I was trying to figure out how to play a character that is a coward, but not be detriment to the party. Using Luigi's Mansion is perfect, I also love those games and it illustrates your point very well.
I'm so glad it can help! I love characters with a huge struggle to overcome
Cowherd + loyal = works. They want to flee but not abandoning those they care about and explains why they end up in the situation they are afraid of. Luigi is scared but loyal/cares about his brother which is why he is in the situation he is in in the games.
Another thing that can work is coward + in need. Your character might not want to go to the dungeon, but your character needs the money to pay off debts
@@D_A_D_ it fundamentally boils down to scared and runs but has a greater force forcing them to come back or aid from a safe distance. you could say it is the easier cousin to the loner type in that they both abandon the party but one is fear and the other no one can give a good reason for other than the edge, not to dis the loner type but just saying.
I think it's really important to know what it excactly is what is scaring you. Is it death, pain, or monster saliva. Knowing this, and communicating this to your group helps RP this and helps overcomming this specific fear.
WOOOOOOO love this! Especially love the discussion of both mechanics and role play.
I do wish I hadn't played my ratfolk archaeologists until after this came out tho. He was quite cowardly and pathetic, the way I kinda got through that was to have him also be really curious. Yes he was scared, but he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if he didn't figure out why monsters were suddenly emerging from this crypt. In combat he would have run away given the chance but he was even more scared of the angry ghost tied to his soul that gave him powers, he didn't dare run while his patron was watching.
My solution basically meant that he was a coward who was forced not to run. The advice in this video is a way better way to play a coward, they have to make the CHOICE not to run.
I had a Conquest Paladin of Zariel named Riot whose entire thing was that he was a complete coward. He would express this by being extra careful about everything, like peaking around corners with a mirror, poking ahead of himself with a polearm to try to avoid traps, and he exclusively used reach weapons to keep himself as away from the fight as he could. Whenever he would use any of his fear-based CC attacks, which Conquest Paladins have tons of, it would be expressed as him projecting his own anxieties and fear on his enemies. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of his overly anxious habits ended up helping with the traps and puzzles.
I've played a coward before. Mostly because it was a good contrast to my usual characters. (which is stereotypical paladin, there's a few differences but shorthand this is the best explanation)
i made sure i was a help to the team by a few ways.
mainly the whole idea of the character was that over time he would become braver due to what he experienced and survived.
but also at early levels i would play a backline character. healing and dealing damage with long range spells. but as soon as i was closed in on i would panic and run away to a friend for help. (which was a great way to bait enemies into melee with our barbarian)
the character was also quite meek and would easily give into peer pressure from the group. especially the scary frontline classes. never really slowed own interactions as i would simply voice concern but go along anyway. ("im safer with you guys anyway" was said alot)
had a neat roleplay moment where a friend had gone down behind enemy lines and i had to run screaming through them taking attacks of opportunity to save them. it was the big crux of his development to sacrifice for the team, to run into danger and face his fear.
I expected you to bring up how Sam played Nott in early campaign 2. Perfect of how to play a coward with agency that doesn't hold back the party.
Another powerful Luigi Moment to add to the list is when in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team they undergo the Giant Battles. In the first few, Luigi is terrified, but still does it. For the final Giant Battle against Bowser, he is super confident and sort off "suggests" it to Mario to fight Bowser. Such an amazing development.
This video couldn't have come at a better time as I am currently playing as an Oath of Glory Paladin who is based off of Gildroy Lockhart/Captain Qwark, so in other words all of his tales of "glory" are lies he made up and is actually a coward but wants to live up to his tall tales. So this video will definitely help give me ideas of how to have him (slowly) come out of his shell! :)
I think for GMs also reward your players for playing the character they see fit. If the coward runs away or hides away, give them a kudos or compliment out of game. And maybe give them an advantage/bonus/boon for their decision that will help them doing what they do best: being cowardly.
Another great example of making a coward work, also from Critical Role C2, is Nott.
She is a skittish rogue, but she not only hides to sneak up, but aldo because she is scared.
She also hides her fear an alcohol. A lot.
Sam even said in one of the first few Talks Machina's of C2 (and in the campaing itself as her) basically "how could anyone be sane in that kind of adventure if not totally drunk?"
I made a wizard character who's choice of spells was based on fear and survival. I think the only aggressive spells he has (haven't started the campaign yet so haven't used him) are the ones at level 0 you start with. But he's kind of outwardly arrogant, so he'll over compensate with baravado and hope his deception and sleep spell, or hypnosis works while trying not to wet his robes
Currently playing two different games where I’m playing “Cowardly” characters and they have vastly become some of my favorite characters. One is a scrawny Dragonborn bard who plays the trumpet to inspire those around him. He goes on adventures to gain more confidence in himself and put himself out there. My other character is a warforged who has already left to party to their death in his backstory. With that trauma still in him, he doesn’t want to ever have that again and despite being terrified knowing the real consequences of death, he tries to stand and help against it. He’s not perfect, he still runs away sometimes, but he is trying his best.
I've played two cowardly characters now and I love it. The character growth can be amazing if you balance the honesty of your character's actions with making sure you don't mess up the gameplay for other people. As you illustrate, it's a lot about flavouring mechanics to match their fear and talking above table with the other players
One could almost say Bilbo was a coward for many parts of the story, but his decisions actually saved the day on many of those occasions.
Someone alread mentioned it but Usopp, especially as he was introduced was a stellar example of a coward done right.
Maybe Zenitsu from Demon Slayer?
Courage the Cowardly Dog?
I have already been convinced that there are more characters I gotta touch on for this topic
Ussop!
Don't hate me but I haven't watched Onepiece
@@PlayYourRole Ussop is a liar and a cowardly character, but he knows this and pushes past his tremendous fear to become a "brave warrior of the sea". One Piece has some of the best characters I have ever seen, and the world build is stunning. It is a constant source of inspiration and awe. If you're low on time, the manga is technically better. But I watch the show because the voice acting and music is great.
I always remember Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation, when Wesley asks him how he can be brave when he's scared. Worf responds, "that's the only time we CAN be brave."
My current character is a goblin barbarian who is incredibly socially anxious and terrified for his friends' safety in battle. I represent these moments of overcoming fears through the use of Rage, as that inner fortitude bursts through any hesitation. I've even used it in social encounters, burning a Rage in order to be assertive in a negotiation or to block out a crowd of people watching him in order to focus on a task or game. Just like you said, it uses the game mechanics to turn the character's weakness into something that can still help the party. I leaned into the second half of these fears (for his friends' safety) by taking the Ancestral Guardian path at level 3. Now that concern he has for his allies (all of whom are squishy mages of some variety) manifests as a protective aura in combat.
I think there's plenty of opportunity to take the same approach with Paladin or Cleric abilities, it would make a great dynamic for a Warlock who has more of a symbiotic relationship with their patron (a la Venom), but perhaps the class that's best suited for a scaredy cat is a Bard. Illusion spells, inspiring your comrades to do the fighting you're too afraid to do, buffs & utility spells that can be done while cowering in a hiding place, with a delicious counterspell, cutting words, or vicious mockery that can be pulled out in a moment of heroism. I only realized towards the end of that sentence that I just described the Legend of Vox Machina version of Scanlan to a tee.
Real bravery is being scared and still doing what needs to be done.
I see your points...
but I raise permanent fright effect (against a certain race, or other things) with the option to break the fright by mid-late game as your party is on their last stand and you don't take much damage
rogue could be an interesting class for this becuz they can dodge, dash, and hide easily
maybe the urchin background or criminal if you fear getting caught (or y'know whatever background floats your boat); grab the alert feat because you're always alert to possible danger becuz you're scared
Reminds me of the quote from the movie tale of the brave, "Bravery is not about the lack of fear, but what you do dispite it."
Coraline has a real good one similar to that: "Being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t scared. Being brave means you are scared, really scared, badly scared, and you do the right thing anyway."
I played a Barbarian whose Rage was fear induced. She would become so terrified that she would recklessly attack her foes. In the penultimate fight she was mauled by a group of enemies because of her recklessly attacking them. As such she learned the hard way that she doesn't always have to recklessly attack. Her rage became more focused and her technique improved just on time to face the big bad evil guy.
Her fears didn't lead her to run away from danger. They led to her running towards danger.
LOVING seeing this series again
This is a great video, exactly what I love about your channel! 💕💕
I would love a video that covers how to handle guilt in DND! I find it comes up frequently in nearly every game I've played but it can be tricky to balance. Thoughts?
Of note:
Characters can be scared of different things. Mine is scared of growing old, and thus is always inserting himself into dangerous situations. His role is the 'power house' archetype, but he's less comfortable in social situations or retiring.
I suppose I played a "cowardly" character at one point. She was a 5e Tiefling Light Cleric who got "voluntold" to go on a mission to gather supplies during an apocalypse caused by her worst fear- Vampires. The first combat action I took was Radiance of The Dawn, flavored as a panic reaction to Darkness being cast on a sleeping party while she was on watch. She got a little braver as she got more vampire kills under her belt, but I still played her as super anxious, with the first thought to "destroy it before it destroys me!"
I ended up nicknaming her "Horse-Sense Solene" because she'd always want to take additional perception checks in dangerous situations (that usually ended up pretty useful and/or lore revealing)
I like the idea of working the character's cowardice into their chosen spells or abilities. Spells that push foes, or ones that reduce or hinder movement, can be both tactically valuable and make sense in character. Thunderwave, Rime's Binding Ice, Wall of Force, Spike Growth. Escape options like Shocking Grasp, Misty Step, or Dimension Door can also be useful. For martials, maybe focus on ranged weapons, use the Polearm Master feat for its special opportunity attack, or use hit-and-run tactics like Cunning Action or the Mobile feat.
You don't have to have cowardice to be brave, only fear. Bravery and cowardice are responses to fear.
Thank you for this video :) I'm a new player and this is so helpful especially the Luigi example
I once played a cowardly character (system : Open Legend). And while the character was cowardly, the abilities I gave her were mostly flavoured around a ghost that possessed her doing all the work. While the character was only doing the occasional helpful thing herself, most of the time was spent running into cover and hiding while hoping things would go her way. The ghost would then try to make those things happen.
What made this even more funny is that she, being a coward, denies the whole existence of ghosts, and would go to ridiculous lengths to rationalize the things that are happening around her and her allies.
I do think this video touches on a larger subject. One that I generally loathe. The idea that some people have, where a narratively flawed character immediately means that the character also has to be a hindrance in combat. Or worse, that being a hindrance in combat immediately means it's narratively interesting or that you being a good roleplayer. Playing mechanically optimal and roleplaying are not mutually exclusive.
First I would like to say that I MISSED THESE ARCHETYPE VIDEOS SOO MUCH! Now that I've gotten that out of the way, everything you mention here is spot on. I think playing a cowardly character is fine as long as the character has an arch of growing away from that cowardice and doing their best to overcome those fears. Cowardice can and often does help people stay alive. Also Luigi is one of my absolute favorite video game characters! Keep up the amazing work Jay! It's these archetype videos that got me wanting that John Cena video to begin with so... This is your fault! Love ya Jay :)
Corey, I am a fool.
These archetype videos are, in fact, perfectly suited for John Cena.
What have I done.
When I played a coward sorcerer, it manifested in two prime ways: doing everything in his power to de-escalate situations before they turned into violent confrontations, and when those confrontations inevitably turned violent, prioritizing "survival" by sticking to the back lines and trying to seem like the least threatening person on the battlefield by hiding behind cover and popping out to buff allies/debuff enemies (after all, why would they care about trying to stab *you* if there's a raging bugbear barbarian in the way who just got enlarged and hastened?).
In spite of both his cowardice and selfishness, he never ran away from a fight because he was a pampered noble prettyboy who was savvy enough to know that his best odds of surviving out in the wild during a bloody war would be to hang around and cooperate with a group of competent warriors and travelers.... who he recognized were also savvy enough to run off anybody they saw as dead weight.
Honestly I've always felt I'd rather have a character who struggles with combat than half the party refusing to participate in any social interaction simply because someone else has higher charisma
I think Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are better examples than Luigi. He typically is acting on his own behalf and is only punished if he gives in, no one else is. Both Shaggy and Scoob are in a party, if they give in to their fear, everyone pays for it. In the end, their loyalty and susceptibility to bribery overcomes their fear and they're usually vital to catching the bad guy.
This would have been useful for my first D&D campaign. I played a necromancer extremely scared of death. It caused problems.
I have an Earth Genasi Oath of Glory paladin called Hiddenite who's an absolute coward, she cannot battle until she channels her divinity and gets UBER confident through her god Horus Re. It's SO fun having her grow and figure out how to be brave herself without having to rely on an outside, false sense of bravery~
It wasnt exactly cowardice, but the "panic attack" mechanic in Fantasy High was pretty close to what you said about rolling to run away
Coincidently, I'm playing a vampire Bloodhunter in one of the campaigns my friends DM and I had that same idea. I got the alert feat because he is always looking over his shoulder, wondering when his vampire Lord will show up and take him back to servitude.
I've got a "cowardly" wizard I want to play. An Abjurer who got through childhood as a thief and translates needing to enter/exit places he shouldn't be as quickly & safely as possible (I know other subclasses are better for that kind of thing but I really want to play an abjurer). He won't want to get into straight fights due to a life on the streets with a wizard's stats hasn't seen that end well, so he'll end up learning spells like Fog Cloud, Haste, Dimension Door, and Passwall that make thievery easier, but are also very convenient for leaving dangerous situations in a hurry. I figure courage for him will be filling more of a support/buff role in combat while focusing on dealing with any traps or obstacles that also need to be taken care of. Still not fighting directly, but not running from it either.
One thing you can do with a coward character is that perhaps the character adopts an alter-ego to help cope with the stress of the journey. This alter-ego can be as simple as putting on a mask, but when the character puts on that mask, they become brave. Usopp from One Piece does this with his Sogeking persona. Usopp isn’t a weak character, he’s probably the best at what he does, but his cowardice gets in the way, until he puts on the mask
Interesting concept. It is hard, as you say, having a character within a 'balanced' party that is a coward as the party may end up being consistently shorthanded. If the character's cowardice is too much, that character ends up being carried by the party which can cause resentment with the rest of the party.
The alternative is where the PC's cowardice is in name only - that is they always overcome their fear when push comes to shove.- then there isn't much 'real' character growth.
This kind of character needs an amazing amount of buy in from both the DM & the rest of the party. The other players have to be OK with the coward being unreliable and the DM needs to be ready to balance combat with this potential of a character fleeing when the chips are down - ala Count Rugen in The Princess Bride.
Molly's death wasn't due solely to the other PC freezing up at the wrong moment - bad tactics & poor rolls helpful as much, if not more so, with that ending.
As a fellow PC, I would be pissed if that happened to my character and there has been no heads up from the other player as to what their character was like. Nothing too meta obviously but having some kind of warning such as "your character notices that the thief is always looking for the exit..." That way you can be ready for things if they go south fast.
The coward who simply nopes out of there constantly is not going to be one that can be depended on and will probably not be brought on the next mission to clear out a thieve's den in the woods.
I think another good character to show how this type of character could go is Usopp(One Piece) since he is also a very cowardly character that is actively working on getting braver, his dream is to become a "Brave Warrior of the Sea"
My current character is a coward, but his cowardice doesn't come out during combat: it comes out before and after, and during negotiations/role play. He wants to mitigate risk, and will avoid dangerous situations. But once combat starts, he's aggressive and protective.
It helps that he's a Norse warrior who fully believes he will go to Valhalla after he dies.
EDIT: He won't slow down play, but I'll say something like "So and so is visibly shaking as we enter"
🎉❤ great video
Hey i know you
Would there be a possibility on how to play a shy uncharismatic character without never talking?
What I am doing with my current character she is easily frightened so I roll wis saves to see if she is under the frightened condition
Not sure if it's your cup of tea but could you make a video on playing a snobby/spoiled character without being annoying? Like a noble with high standards going adventuring etc. :)
I find it interesting that people blame Keg for Molly's death when a mechanic that did damage and Talisen using it when he was so low on health calling him to find out. No I'm not blaming Tal here as there was a chance Molly would be fine but still it's not Keg's fault.
Usopp.
What do you do with the character after they face their fears? Do they stay brave and then no longer have that interesting character trait? Or do they fall back into cowardice? How can you transition, if at all?
These are amazing questions, absolutely love them... so much so I'm going to save the answers for when I revisit this topic soon I'm so sorry
i would say it’s up to you! take your favorite example of a cowardly character and run with it. it might also be helpful to remember that a lot of stories end once a character reaches their apotheosis and completes their arc, work out when you want yours to happen and whether it’s the right pacing for the game you’re going to be in. as with any motivation, it’s going to have to be tailored to the game and you should ideally have several things to fall back on once one is done
like imagine a character’s goal is to find their father. great! good motivation for a game where the villain has captured your father, but if it’s not woven into The Plot then you’re stuck in a situation where you found your father at 3rd level and now there’s no reason to stick around.
make sure your character is more than one trait, goal, or flaw, and you’ll be far more ready to handle whatever the game will be like.
If the only thing making your character interesting is that they were a coward then that's part of the problem. They should be multifaceted so that when one aspect changes there's still more to them.
How I would play it is a few ways depending on the fear. Maybe the first would be a very slow confidence boost. Ie, their greatest fear was fighting enemies stronger then themselves and for the first time they killed one (maybe even by accident or instinct) while saving a comrade. They probably wouldn’t be immediately fearless, so I would play it as the character (even if they are hiding the emotion) knew (or thinks) that it was purely reflex or luck. Maybe they feel that as in a serious life or death situation they now possibly know a little what to do (or maybe not even if it was luck) but in any other situation they are still fearful and prefer to never do that again.
The second thing I might do would be also to make them think about it for a while. Remember, when we sit on problems, our brains can twist the actual event. Maybe they grew confident for a few seconds, but that night they had a vivid nightmare and regrew some (or all) of the fear.
Hopefully this helps. You could even mix these two things together, but the biggest thing I would do is to slowly increase confidence over time. Don’t be afraid to stretch the fear out for a long period of time as long as it isn’t annoying to the party (ie, nightmares continue, character refuses to believe it wasn’t just luck until they really try for the first time to be brave and succeed)
Edit! At the end of the campaign (or a big plot point) it is perfectly ok to end a fear (like “I won’t let you control me anymore” type of speech). Which would be super cool! Then your character finally found value in themselves! And that is always a really cool story if done right!
Usopp from One Piece
Um... Isn't anyone going to mention Usopp from One Piece?