How to Play a Loose Cannon WITHOUT Getting Your Party Killed
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- Playing a loose cannon in Dungeons and Dragons can be difficult... but it's not impossible! You just have to work to make sure your characters learns how to control their urges, until the right moment!
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Hey everyone! I know there were some glitches there at 7:20 and honestly, I've no idea where they came from. They don't show up on the original file so it must be a glitch that happened in upload? It's... Really weird. I'm really not sure, but I apologize for that. Thanks for watching!
You're forgiven... this time.
Jinx's title in League of Legends is literally "the loose cannon"
My last loose cannon character was once a real stand-up guy as well as a doctor.
And what drove them to their chaotic tendencies was when a plague struck the city he lived in. He would tirelessly toil away at trying to find a cure, constantly getting roadblocked by the city council (none of them were scientists, so they were usually very skeptical of his sciences). As the mass graves filled, only around 15% of the city's population ended survived, eventually abandoning the city. The council were among the last to get infected, begging their physician to save them. Rumors say the physician hurled themself out a window, that there was no reason to suspect them of any malpractice, only shame in their failure. Others believe the physician had a hand in their exposures.
So up-front he would be a generally really helpful dude who wanted to help people. But there were some phrases the party learned to avoid saying:
"We need more time before we decide on anything"
"I'll come up with a better plan"
And
"This is a very complicated situation"
Were some of the trigger words that would really cause them to go full loose cannon mode (since they would hear it a lot from the old council)
Faust from guilty gear? I fuck with it
That is very well written!
Nice concept.
I have a character who's a lot like this. They're usually really nice, almost like the mom friend of the group, but there's one button you should NEVER push: choice. The biggest part of their moral compass is the idea that, if someone wants to do something, then as long as that doesn't prevent the free choice of others, it should be allowed. It doesn't matter how good or bad for that person it is, if it's their choice, it's their choice. Basically, it may be a terrible decision, but it's my decision to make. No one gets to override someone else's choice unless it will infringe on the choices of others, and they're insistent on this to the point of pvp if it comes to that.
I agree with this what you are saying, I would say a loose cannon character is very useful when the party gets caught planning for too long or being too cautious to do anything, it does help push the story forward and show that some chaos can help push things forward more than going too gently and makes it so the DM doesn't have to cut off scenes for characters to progress.
It's important to remember in most good stories, everything doesn't go perfectly. It's nice to have some chaos to force action, BUT it has to be done tactfully!
@@PlayYourRole LEEROY JENKINS
It's definitely frustrating to play with someone who is just constantly doing that though - every single encounter and obstacle getting derailed because they just charge in and cause violence.
I was playing a loose cannon, he was a brainwashed super soldier heavily based off dogs. He was calm and relaxed pretty much all the time except for any situation that would boost adrenaline. So his triggers were loud music, shouting, and people brandishing weapons. Anything short of that, and he's more likely to take a nap than cause problems. The other players would find themselves sometimes triggering him on purpose when they had to, otherwise they really just wanted to cure him.
Rule number one: your character should have reason to stay with the party and the party should have at least a reason to keep them around.
As long as this true - your character can be literally anything. Psycho, dog, PTSDd soldier, clown, eldritch horror - anything can work, but the first step you should make - is listed above. If your party have a lot of problems, because you are chaotic - they should have something to think you are useful enough, to balance this out.
I played a character like this one time, he was a wizard that only just recently entered society after pure isolation for however many years and because of this, I caused problems on purpose.
I call the archetype The Wrench, because I tended to be the wrench in the plan, but not in frustrating or destructive ways. I would purposely wander into places I probably shouldn't have been, talk to people I should have avoided, one time I accidentally gained our party favor with a crime syndicate through some simple conversation and negotiation, but that was not at all part of the plan. It's really fun, and definitely my favorite character to play.
My table had a one shot session yesterday. I played a calm, cool, collected rogue who likes thinking things through. My friend played a barbarian who was the loose cannon. It was so much fun to be foils of each other. So it's really funny that this video came out after we got done with the one shot
Damn, so close to coming out on time
Whenever our session has a certain thing with a character You ALWAYS released a video about the character archetype like a day after.
Jinx is not helping the number of "chaotic nuetral" PC's in parties right now 😂
For sure, hopefully this video can help!
Ironically this archetype reminds me of Monterey Jack from Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers. A highly competent and serious character, but whenever he smelled cheese he’d immediately become hypnotized and go after the cheese. He frequently caused problems for his team, yet they were able to work around it.
I mean, tbh thats how I am around cheese so I totally relate
Cheese is quite delicious!
Hot dang, you're right! He was highly competent and mostly ethical and very heroic, and yet had a character flaw that wrecked many plans.
@@LegendStormcrow It's also a great example of a well-written loose cannon. His trigger was very specific and could be worked around.
Dale is kind of the opposite of that.
A goofball most of the time, with occasional strokes of brilliance.
I always recommend teaming up with another player with these characters by having their character have a history with yours. Whether it's in intertwined backstory, or they just met a month ago, the character having someone who at least vaguely understands them and can introduce them to the rest of the party can be a huge help, especially if they know how to keep said character in check, if even a little.
Taking Jinx as a reference, I think that a very interesting way to play this kind of insane/mentally unstable character would be to have the player role a wisdom saving throw every time the character is in a situation that triggers their trauma (like Caleb in campaign 2 of Critical Role) and if they fail the saving throw, the character would lose control and act in a completely reckless and chaotic way, potentially causing trouble to the party; this way it wouldn't really be the player's fault so the other players would be less likely to get mad at you because of that, it could even be something everyone is invested on bc there's a reason behind that behavior that people could really empathize with, it would make sense for the character and add a lot of depth to them, and in a long-term campaign it could even go into a recovery storyline, which I believe would be pretty interesting to explore.
(I'd also like to say though, I'm aware that mental illness is a pretty delicate topic, and it's not something I have personal experience with, so if this idea is insensitive or harmful in any way, I would appreciate it if someone called me out on that.)
As someone experienced on mental health issues, I like your idea a lot. Yes, to have your character be just vulnerable to certain triggers may be more realistic in a way, but it can also be more harmful to be perceived as someone who is always gonna be affected. Sometimes we can handle things just fine, for which a saving throw can perfectly depict that experience.
On the other side it´s not fun to have to be constantly careful around your chaotic companion or to be that constantly potential dissaster. For which this is good for handling group cohesion because the character it´s not always gonna be unreliable.
In any case, how delicately any topic is handled relies mostly on the narrative aspect and not the mechanics. This particular case can help avoid stereotyping mental illness, but only as far as both the players and dm are willing to take it.
I have autism and adhd and I'm playing a character currently who's definitely a bit of the 'idiot savant' type of autistic and also has very specific trauma that I've used real interactions with friends and family who have severe traumas as a basis for so that it seems more realistic and doesn't misrepresent things... But he's also got a great old one influencing him toward total madness
He spaces out, blabbers to himself, gets hyper focused, forgets what he's talking about and switches topics mid sentence, basically I took the real traits and amplified them bc of the old ones influence, and his specific trauma is uncontrolled magic and fire. He loves magic and he loves fire, but the second either gets out of hand he panics. How severe that panic is and wether or not the actions taken as a result are reasonable ways to solve the out of control magic/fire is usually a private personal roll I make myself like your wisdom save example. I also have him on a course for 2 different character arcs based on further compounding life factors that add onto his trauma or bring stability to his life, where if either counter of 'points of trauma/stability' exceeds the other by a certain amount he will have a major development moment, going from chaotic neutral to true neutral as he stabilizes and learns to deal with his trauma healthily or to chaotic evil as he descends into madness fully and sets out for revenge against those he sees as associated with his trauma.
This whole thing has been talked out with the DM, to the point where his actual innate magic will shift with his alignment, replacing all his levels in wild magic sorcerer with clockwork soul if he finds stability and order or with abberant mind if the old ones influence compounding his trauma sends him deeper into madness. It's a lot of fun playing a character that's sitting in such a delicate balance :)
At the end of the day literally everything is the player's fault, they are singularly in charge of their character. If this triggering becomes an issue for the other players because it happens so frequently that it's becoming annoying or a huge issue, then stop or tone it down.
One downside to using a saving throw for this type of thing is that you don't get nearly as much control over the timing of "loose canon" incidents. I've tried that before with a character with deep-seated trauma and it actually straight up ended a campaign and made everyone at the table frustrated. Granted, it was with newish players and a new DM and we handled it poorly...but still. As the video mentioned, knowing when acting out of turn can move the story forward or make it more exciting by upping the stakes can be fun and interesting. Having a breakdown and attacking the party in a situation where it only delays the inevitable and grinds the story to a halt is just bad and fun for nobody. It might be fun for the loose canon, and maybe the DM, but that wore off for me pretty quick when I realized how miserable it made everyone. I think for a saving throw for emotional triggers to work, it has be consistent and clear to everyone at the table. They need to know that the issue is a trigger beforehand so they can be ready for it, then need to see the Saving throw happen publicly and know the outcome. And even then I think the player and DM should both have the power to say "It definitely Does/doesnt happen here, no save necessary." Some moments are so dramatically appropriate that it would be a letdown if the loose canon DIDN'T fly off the handle. Sometimes it will literally only derail the campaign. I would only trust the dice with the moments in between. I'm also fortunate that I can trust the players at my current tables with this stuff though.
"How not to ruin everything"
*Shows character who consistently ruins everything*
If I were to play a loose cannon, I would actively try to create a connection between them and one other character during Session 0 as it will create a dynamic and serve as a reason in character to rein it in.
I'm palaying homebrew campain in Wild West setting, and just today I've completed writing my character backstory [aroud 36k letters], tomorrow we'll have our forst session and I'm playing moth-girl nihilist psychopath, you came to me like some kind of blessing to help me figure you how do I want to play her.
So glad I could help! It amazes me how many times my videos seem to release at the right time to help someone out, I think the algorithm gods are watching over me
Just want to say this is a very good character and I hope your campaign goes well.
Today was our first session and everyone fears my moth-girl which was the plan, and noone complains so so far so good. Moment when the party saw her cutting tongues off dead bodies to collect the proof of killing bandits was today's gold moment. The biggest guy in party even don't want to get close to her, but what can you do if she is the only healer.
The thing I really appreciate about your videos is the consistent attention to the 'Above Table'. Hey, it's a collaborative game, so not only do your characters have to work together but also you as players can and should! I think so often fear of metagaming or 'breaking the fourth wall' can actually get us all holed up in the silos of our characters and lose sight that we actually all together have to take care of whether the story is satisfying and where it's going. I love this example of firstly letting everyone at the table know 'hey, I'm wanting to play this archetype', trying to get them on board and involved, and then flagging that you actually don't want the character to derail the story, but work out together how to weave them in constructively. Good stuff. 👍
TL;DR: talk to your fellow players, make the antics reasonable, and shake things up... responsibly!
This should help with a character I had in mind for Shadowrun, thanks!
My husband played a loose cannon character in one of this old games. They way he kept himself in control was having another player be his characters handler, normally the face. So it was a fine line of, "What should we do?" "I can burn the place down!" "No. Any other plans?" "I could kidnap him to then burn him to the ground." "Let's work on the first part leave out the 2nd."
Great video for the experienced player who wants to try out this personality archetype, but there are a few big things I feel you missed here-
1) Some people who tend to want to play this character tend to not care what the other players think/feel and use "It's what my character would do" as an excuse to be disruptive.
3) This is often played for laughs, without any proper consideration of the mental health of the character or RL people like them, and comes off as insensitive at best, offensive at worst.
Props to your wife for playing it well, but I do think this is a really big minefield unless you are playing a character like this in a group where everyone is already comfortable with each other.
I love these character archetype videos from you - and this one was fantastic, spot on,
My next character has elements from several of your recent videos, but this was the thing I was most concerned about. Huge help. Thank you!
Perfect upload. I’ve been playing as of late one of my favorites, and he’s definitely a “loose canon.” Not insane, per se, but definitely out there. It’s become a running joke how much he loses consciousness, whether it be because of a plot point, dropping to zero, or getting himself in over his head and the stress causes his body to just quit on him. He’s too old for this lol.
Seriously though, this is very helpful. There’s lots I can work with this in terms of the character. I’d go on and on, rambling about the character bc I’m so proud of him, but I’ll just say this is a great video.
The fact that you mention that this is specificly for your wife makes this whole thing more wholesome! I love watching your content and learning from it, but it seems you already have a nr. 1 fan 😜😌 (which I can only applaud for)
Thank you for making this video, this was a big help. In one of the campaigns I am in I am playing a character who has two personalities.
One personality is Ovak Evenswood, the artificer. She is the main personality. She is cool, calm and collected. She helps in combat but in more a support role. I would describe her as Lawful Neutral.
The other personality is Evok Evanswood. She loves the fight. She will intentionally take up a tank role in combat. Now the other players know if it's a situation where she can come out to keep her away from it, they do. They also know she can do some major damage, so depending on the situation, having that side of her come out can actually be helpful. I have also talked to my DM about this and not sure he will use it or not, but this personality came about from a childhood trauma.
She is half-orc. Half races seem to get treated not as good as full races. Which could be a source of the trauma.
Any way, found this video very informative. Everyone at the table knows what I am going for and are okay with it.
My loose cannon character has access to exploding things with warlock shooty eldritch gun cantrips, and always offers to blow up a problem even when it's mundane. He backs down when someone has a more subtle idea. His excuse is that the place he's from was a nondescript chaos dimension (high fantasy campaign with a bit of comedic homebrew) he's kinda nuts.
One thing I did once to play a Loose Cannon character without disrupting everything was to make a character with double personality caused by his powers. He was usually a very refined diplomat, but whenever he abused his powers or got a little bit nervous he would basically become a Joker of sorts. When the story needed more conflict, he would switch to "freaking insanity mode," but whenever things needed to run smoothly, so long as we hadn't just finished a fight a minute ago, he was genuinely the face of the party and would apologize for any trouble he may have caused.
In any case, he blew himself up with a nuke at the end of the game to save the whole group from an unbeatable final boss, so that was cool.
Like you said, first thing is to remember you're playing a cooperative game TOGETHER with other people.
Your situation at 6:23 got me thinking how you can do both...
Say the peace you're fostering is fickle at best, but both sides don't really want to go to war. A loose cannon can actually throw a wrench in the negotiation by airing our everyone's dirty laundry, thus making the quest go a bit longer, but become a lot stronger.
Great video! Love these types of pcs analysis series you have going on!
This was a good video to come out. I thought about wanting to play a loose cannon character for awhile, but I was never sure how to think about playing them. Issues with alignment besides the point, thanks for the feedback.
So the purpose of the video shifted a liiitle bit, but I still think everything outlined is a fantastic guide to playing a Malkavian in Vampire: The Masquerade. A lot of people have issue playing them because they are the “lol so random” clan if played incorrectly due to their highly chaotic tendencies. This is some fantastic advice for all characters though, and I fully agree with the points brought up in the video
@Paul Gauthier They’re constantly cited as an exception, though. Even Therese is so orderly that even the thoughts in her own head are ordered in specific locations OCD style. Plus lower generations will have lesser versions of mental instability, so I’ll relent that. Still, with the majority of Malks like this, it’s a great guide on how not to play a fishmalk.
It's also worth remembering that loose cannon not neccessarily means violent asshole every time. In the negotiations example the loose cannon could also loudly interrupt a standstill or too slow progress with the forceful suggestion to take a breather, have a beer or two together and return to the table the next day.
Every society is different with various different societal norms, to be fair. Anyway, I always play Chaotic Neutral with occasional dips into Chaotic Evil and/or Chaotic Good. I can also enjoy being whimsical at times and even acting on Silly Whims. Though no matter what I don't harm the party too much.
My "triggers" are basically: too much stealthy/sneaky/thievery crap, too much selling out to others, too much combat only, and if people expect my Characters to fit the stereotypes of them (like a Cleric having to be a more support role/healer type.)
How about a video on mute characters? I know that "mute" isn't a personality, but I think it could make for some fun scenarios. Some tips on making it a fun problem rather than just a problem would be cool.
Unrelated, what's the outro music called?
I know this might be contradictory as to the purpose of being mute, but if you make a warlock or take one of tashas feats you could be a telepath, so you could maintain comunication with the party just with member at a time, but still be unable to speak, but I guess it defeats the purpose?
One of my players in an upcoming game is playing a mute character. 1. He’s using the spell caster sidekick stats bc he wants to be more support to other players than anything, so his character would have less reason to speak up anyways.
2. As a spell caster, I’ve worked on an arcane sign language that essentially allows any verbal spell components to be treated as somatic.
@@ChestersonJack I really like the arcane sigh language. As anyone who has ever seen a speical forces movie knows, there are also martial sign languages that allow a prty to move in silently. Not being able to hear is a liability - being able to act as a group silently is an adtantage. Does the arcane sign language include a faint glow of the casting hands? That at least partially offsets the advantage of casting verbal spells silently from the dark to achieve suprise.
@@shishkabobby TBD, but that’s a good suggestion! Honestly I got the idea less from martial sign languages and more from casual settings, as I am autistic and many nonspeaking and selectively mute people in the community use sign language at times, so it sort of seemed like a natural thing to me. Treating verbal as somatic (as opposed to it just dropping the verbal requirement) was in part to balance, but i realize more in-depth work needs to be done on the language to flesh it out.
I played a mute character before- an insectman swordsman named Kanden. He was good in a fight and the party generally liked him, even if he was unsettling, but OoC some of them expressed annoyance at his muteness. It's a bit past the time for such a video to be useful, but I'd still like to watch it irregardless.
I played a Paladin who had been struck by lightning and was really out to lunch in a sort of Don Quixote way, but he still had a good heart and didn’t attack randomly and really the worst problems I caused for the party was in social encounters I would be a combination of extremely naive and outright strange. I thought it worked well.
I think Rick and Morty has a fun motivation for being a "Loose cannon". The time crystal that shows Morty's future, your character could act "randomly", being a Time Wizard who is trying to follow the path towards something (eg: Resurrecting a loved one) So them constantly fidgeting is them checking the "area" for better paths (time wise). Naturally they are chaotic in nature as they've dedicated their life to going againsy social expectatiom to reach their goal. Some RP opportunities could be the player ignoring the future to help a party member in trouble instead etc.
If that makes sense? XD
I've had a few loose cannons in games, mostly World of Darkness. I made a guy with shellshock as a playable character for randoms who wanted to join for one session, he was really good at combat but he'd get triggered occasionally by something and if he failed a willpower save he'd be unable to differentiate the enemies from his party. Luckily no one ever failed the roll but it added a kind of fun dynamic to the game having him around. There was another time when it was literally the situation you described, two npc factions were negotiating a truce and a player character who was definitely a chaotic loose cannon threw a grenade in the middle of the talks. Luckily, I kind of planned for it and had the hostile faction retaliate when the players came back from an unrelated questline. They can be detrimental to the story in some ways but I'd add that identifying loose cannon characters and how they're being played as the DM can turn a potential setback into a driving force or sideplot even when they're trying to intentionally derail the story. I say they blow up the negotiations send a sniper and hit them back with the npc's, can lead to a nice action sequence, maybe even some character development if they start to get invested as a player.
Amazing as always.
Played a Ranger/Monk like this who did very convoluted or otherwise seen as silly plans. His philosophy was " It takes a real man to do what others view as silly. "
Im so glad I encounter this video, since Im preparing to play a campaign when my character is an insane cultist of 2 eldritch beings, so imagine that XD
Great video!
I actually have a way of deciding when my chaotic character acts chaotic. I used to play a kleptomaniac rogue where I would make a DC 12 wisdom check whenever I came across something I found interesting and whenever I would succeed on the check it would go up by 2 until it became DC 20 at that point it would become a DC 20 saving throw to not steal.
This is perfect timing. I just started playing a CN trickery domain cleric.
Thank you so much! I'm going to play my first CE character ever, who used to be a paladin in our previous game, and is going to be anti-paladin in our new game. She is full on corrupt by the demons and does not trust gods, hierarchy and society one bit anymore. Paladins had killed her family (for being friends with demons) when she was a baby and raised her as a paladin without letting her know her legacy, and when demons started calling out to her, she got extremely confused and got on the bad side of her goddess, which triggered her excommunication.
Thing is, I kinda see her being a lot similar to Jinx in many ways and I'm working on trying to make her personality believable to the group (her biography was a secret to everybody except the DM), and most of her corruption happened between games, so my friends are going to be surprised greatly on our first game of the new campaign.
I can't wait to try this all out, and am extremely grateful for your advice!
Im playing a very interesting charecter thats not necessarily a loose cannon but they follow the same principles of time and place, my charecter is an evil character in a party of good guys and its interesting doing evil things without disrupting the campaign. I love the excersize of balancing "im goong to kill this enemy" vs "ill intimidate/ incapacitate so my party can get information".
Well thought!
I really had to do a second take as I thought you named your wife as an example of an unhinged character!
Jokes aside, great video and I always find these types of characters great to have at my table as they usually get themselves in the craziest situations.
The moment when you are the loose canon but also the negotiatior
My advice would be to set clear goals and desires for that character and make sure even if they are doing chaotic things it is always because that character thinks it will accomplish that goal. (even if it might not)
Like jinx in first 3 episodes of arcane, her goal was to help her family and even though it didn't work out. She still acted for that goal.
brutal thumbnail, solid video
Listen if Powder had this advice maybe it would have gone differently? (Wow I feel terrible even saying that)
Ok the butterfly chase idea is kind of perfectly amazing
I have a loose cannon character who’s crazy, but not in the way you said, but the exact opposite, he calculates everything as soon as he walks in, and acts with little to no warning to the rest of the party. Of course this sounds bad, but it works out better, like we walk into a room with one of the bad guys to talk things out, he gives his party 3 minutes without further context, after the time is up, he attacks before the bg could’ve set up his ambush
Playing a character currently who is based off a loxodon (bite attack instead of a trunk, so effectively a shark man). He's also a redcap chef. He will go into physical withdrawals if he doesn't kill things to wet his cap. He will absolutely hold off, but he just continues to get more physically ill the longer he waits and he will start to talk a little crazy, spoiling for a fight. The chaotic part is that he's been trying to learn how to cook with magic (magic food) and it can have wild (and sometimes explosive) results as he's not actually smart enough to fully understand what he's doing. He's just determined to do so by trial and error. Group is a bit leery of when he starts to get "creative", as his failures are never standard. It either works, works too well, or fails spectacularly. There is no in between :P
I'm currently playing an 18 year old orcish mage/sorcerer in the SOTDL system, so he's basically an angry magical battery that explodes randomly. He's very much a loose cannon in combat, but very predictable in social situations because all he's known his entire life so far as an ex whaler and pirate is that force is what gets you what you want. He rarely speaks unless it's to ask clarifying questions or to press anyone outside of the group to do what he wants. This goes as far as him focusing on his goals so much to pierce all pretenses of pleasant conversation, even pressing freshly traumatized people to tell him things that he believes to be related to whatever they're doing at the time even if there's absolutely no connection.
He's a loose cannon but he's loyal to his mercenary clan and loyal to the dark faith's unbending nature to push oneself to one's Wyrd, their destiny where they earn their place in the halls of the dead to eventually be called upon to lay siege to the forces of Hell, protecting the world through power and force rather than diplomacy.
Of course though, he does have a soft spot for animals, and lacks any understanding of how different fae creatures are different and whenever the fae are brought up, he spends more time being called a bigot for not understanding how a changeling, an elf, and a goblin are very much different and why. He's not very smart, but if you try to press him on his knowledge of what he actually knows, it'll be difficult to beat him in a battle of wits related to it. He knows the history of the orcs and dwarves being pitted in a war because of the empire, but if you ask him about say, the Old Faith, he will have very sparse knowledge even though most people know a good amount about the Old Faith seeing as how it's one of the 3 dominant religions in the world.
I'm actually going to be playing a chaotic type character later today, entertainingly enough.
There is almost never only one way a character can react to a given situation. Pick a way that doesn’t derail everything to the detriment of the game.
something i learned in my months playing a rakdos cultist in a ravnica campaign: if your character doesn't like or need the party enough to want to *not* get the party killed, you're doing it wrong. the way i roleplayed her is that she was basically the party's little rabid dog, and they let her off the leash whenever they wanted shit to be fucked up. other than that, she was mostly just intimidating and a little off-putting.
in the end, it worked because there's a lot of mutual trust in our group, since we're all close friends. also, there was a nice balance of chaotic and non-chaotic characters that kept each other in check.
Grog from Vox Machina was a great example of a loose cannon character that worked.
I am currently playing a drow warlock who has a tendency to agree with plans and then forget about them halfway through and goes her own way. But will always be there for the group when shit hits the fan. She has gotten into a few situations by splitting up from the party to take a look in certain places which has caused her to be at one time eaten by Behir. She also tends to not know about the surface world as much as the other characters and can create some socially awkward situations.
.
Cripes! I wish I had these tips about a year ago! ^^;;
Played a -very- intelligent Artificer-type with intense familial issues. Due to her high IQ, she was frequently able to exploit players and NPCs in such a way as to serve her spoiled, rich-kid origins. Although I crafted her backstory to be interesting, a fluke encounter caused it to spring up pretty early on in the campaign and make her Chaotic Neutral tendencies to just get worse. Only one character in the party knew how to handle her, while the 'face' enjoyed antagonizing her.
We wound up completing a mission wherein she made a ploy to stow the loot in her private vault and hold the whole party hostage, resulting in a John Wick scenario of several 'friendly' guns pointed at her head while she calmly drank a cup of tea. Still don't know how we lived through that. X3
Can you do a video on playing an evil mastermind type character?
I am this stereotype unintentionally. I have blown up my party 4 separate times, almost killed our wizard, and much, much more
My fire genasi charlatan bard/wizard, Roast, was a bit of a loose cannon in some ways or at least that's how she's perceived, she's the first to open the chest, she'd steal things to sell them later, she was definitely very greed motivated and was impulsive and quick to attack things. She was chaotic but she wasn't really, she was analytical, she assessed risks and made decisions quickly based on that which some would see as "lol so random" but no she was just conscious of risk and only did what she thought she could get away with though I must say it took her a little while to learn to viscously mock the chests from a distance before opening them (the Dm was a big fan of mimics) I describe her as analytically impulsive
The same campaign had another player who played two loose cannon characters first being an aracockra ranger who while Roast was selling some wares decided to set the hospital on fire for no reason other than because he could, he ended up wanted with a large bounty so Roast (after an intelligence check to estimate the bail cost) turned him in and collected the money she then sent Clam (our water genasi druid/moral compass) to pay the bail fee and Roast then split the profit (not quite evenly) between the three of us, Clam got 1/3 which was 890gp, The ranger got 700gp and Roast got 1180gp the ranger failed the insight vs deception check to realise they got scammed, the player got overly huffy considering 700gp was more gold than we'd seen at once all campaign and the next session he came in with a new bard character who turned out to be even worse just trying to shoot everyone and everything and acting like he was the coolest person in the world and still played the character the same way he did the ranger which was what made it worse because the character was just unlikeable and the fighter we gained the same session had to stop him trying to kill npcs multiple times the character also tried to steal the probably cursed/evil sword that had just bonded to Roast at the end of the campaign so she stabbed him with it (I did state very clearly out of character that Roast wouldn't hesitate to stab him if he tried to take the sword to which he replied "wanna bet" and did it anyway. Needless to say the DM let me make the attack roll which crit my dice clearly enjoy being spiteful)
My favorite loose Cannon character is the Demoman from TF2. If in peace talks, simply be too drunk to care about the peace talks
I'm happy you mentioned the cases of trying to avoid insensitivity as I've seen a lot of guys I played with be kinda really gross for misrepresenting mental illness or falling into gross tropes involved.
I think for the idea of a "deviant" character, having all of the characters be deviant or rejected in some way or still embracing what makes them different is very enjoyable. Being socially transgressive, heroic, or queer are all things that can be considered chaotic and against the norms if played well.
For larger traditions of a "loose cannon", I think finding ways to dive in with the support or permission of someone big in the party they respect, that adds complexity and a potential meaningful relationship. Or, letting a character be regretful and wanting to change but having trouble with it.
Having a character have real talk can also be great, showing how if they don't seize the moment and act now, or if they spend too much time delaying things, others can miss out or regret it.
Lastly, I love how you mentioned asking your party when it can be appropriate or when something can get in your way. I think that level of restraint and communication is so essential.
This is honestly how I play barbarians, I like having them get triggered into the rage and it will 100 cause him to act without caution when he goes into a rage
Some good tips overall! Only one I didn't love was the out of character communication about "keeping my character from screwing it up". To me, that can be immersion-breaking and should be a last resort. Otherwise spot-on.
My favorite hack for what I call "non conforming characters" such as loose cannons, or maybe an evil character in a good party - is the use of another party bond. Evil character in a good party? Well maybe that neutral good cleric is their sister. And while HE is an evil rogue, he does care about her, and therefore find himself moving towards her goals that way. Playing off the party - like you said, it essential.
I'm currently playing a non-conforming character myself. My character is an extremely lazy dead-beat Druid with a drug problem and a gambling addiction. How the heck do I make this work? Well his older brother Sorcerer is the exact opposite of all of those things and also in the party. My character loves his brother, and his mother's dying wish was for them to look after each other. So while my character wouldn't be moved in a vacuum to do all the heroics that he finds himself doing, he sticks by his over-achiever brother and it keeps him moving.
Even erratic characters can (and should) have bonds, goals, and values. Smartly leveraging those things - and especially tying those things to the rest of the party - is definitely the secret sauce. That all said "non-conforming characters" definitely require an advanced touch and aren't always best for beginners. But skilled roleplayers should always be able to navigate these character archetypes without ruining the fun and enjoyment at the table.
You don't have to be a Loose Cannon to be a Loose Cannon. Jynx and Tokyo aren't really great, but a swashbuckler doing something really inconsequential to set thing in motion, the barbarian doing something dumb, the greed from the wizard or the misguided Cleric are events that great players embrace to get the party out of some bad situations, its always a good idea to break character and ask the table if they want to solve that situation or it they are okay with a really bad decision to see where it leads. You don't have to discuss everything and say out loud what are you planning, but its good to give a heads-up before tossing pasta into the wall. Sometimes it is something you'd do in the heat of the moment and usually is just an annoyance for the party and some people wouldn't be happy with how the situation was handled, but its good to keep people more invested and be more active to get their voices heard the next time they want thigs to go their way.
But the best moments are planned and have their foundations laid in anticipation, you can be the a-hole that steals the hand of Vecna and become a legend, you can read your DM's plan to how he is planning to end your campaign with a TPK and betrayals and search for certain items and individuals without anyone knowing what are doing but unraveling everything in the final cinematic to save the party connecting the dots of every scroll, item and pact you made and see if the DM is willing to ignore months of prep to end it in the intended way or aknowloge that he didn't saw it and it wouldn't matter for the grand scheme of things and could be great to embrace it.
Loosen Cannons aren't just to bring chaos against your party, but it might be used as a counter spell; You may use it to burn spell slots to save some health, and you may save spell slots for spells that you know are comming, you don't know when or even if it will happen, but you know that you'll need to save that slot just for the counter spell.... Or for a wish, but have to walk the bitter path anyway.
That's why its important to have flaws and to know when to use them. That greed might make you full psycho and Lerroy Jenkins your way, but could just be enough motivation for you to persuade your party to work with you towards that goal, being transparent or deceiving, a gentle push could be all you need to get things spicier.
the one time I played an insane character, it didn't cause much problems in the party cause the party consisted of a Kenku Artificer (who blew up an entire city while we were still level 3), a bardlock with something like +20 intimidation and a demon lord trapped in a soul gem (plus a contract with Loki), a Karen (not the player, their character was a karen as a joke), and our most sane character, a russian goliath barbarian with a drinking problem.
my character was just a black dragonborn ranger who had lived in the desert for something like 20 years and only saw other people once every two years. his goal was just to become a true dragon, and he succeeded by making a deal with Tiamat, and then subsequently helping the party kill Tiamat.
Currently playing a Goblin Wildfire Druid, so yeah, I am gonna to have moments to wanting to set stuff on fire, but I have reasons to do so, such as flushing out enemies from hiding or burning a corpse to ashes to carry in vials so that I can throw it in someone's eyes later a la pocket sand. My party are currently in a haunted circus that caused so much mental trauma for several party members, (myself included) I wanted to burn the place to the ground. The party stopped me because there were still some children trapped there that we still had to rescue. but they told me that when we are done, I am free to reduce the place to ashes and cinders, which I will do with great pleasure
Wanna know what would be fun, a loose cannon leader who’s smart enough to make it work.
I love having a loose cannon at the table because they allow a party to push forward if the party might be in paralysis analysis. The loose cannon loves hitting the big red button
I will admit... I clicked this video because it had an Arcane themed thumbnail. Glad I found your channel since I like RPG content and create some myself. Looking forward to more of your content.
The thumbnail hit so different “you don’t have to ruin everything”
In one of our tables my brother played an important thieves guild leader and he stole some of our equipments (mine included), which helped moving forward the plot. It was in character and made us try to meet him, which was important to the story to go on. He would always try to steal stuff whenever he felt it was possible. He wasn't an exactly loose cannon, but a... loose hand? Haha
He got us in trouble now and then, but it worked for the adventure
Be like reformed Discord. Cause chaos and be friends with the others, but ultimately your shenanigans should help the party at the end.
I have a question for you, If your character is doing something they think is right and has been doing it since session 1 and then later gets the party upset at them for it only because of who the enemy is now how should you handle it? To give more context my character usually "befriends the enemy" to have them fight on the parties side until the end then he kills them. The party had no problem with this until the enemies became human/humaniod. They didn't care when it was Kolbolds or goblins tho
Currently running a loose cannon. Smartest character in the party (only INT caster) but they are mad as a hatter and run headfirst into fights, while being overly protective of the party and likely starting a fights due to being twitchy. The party is learning to work with that and it is going really well.
The best examples of loose cannons that I feel have not been talked about are Scanlen and Grog. Both characters live and die by the chaos that they created but it was never to the detriment of the story
I was thinking for my next character that I would make him a veteran from a war before the campaign started where he barely survived a fireball to his right side of his body as a ground trooper. He was forced to amputate his right arm after he was escorted off of the battlefield. He has since turned to drinking to counteract the ptsd of war and especially fire of any kind, like torch fire, campfires, etc. He doesn’t quit mercenary work because it is all he’s ever known. When the party picks him up at the tavern or something like that, he acts reserved and collected, but at the sight of fire he goes crazy. What do you guys think? Is there anything I could tweak about this character?
Title on thumbnail: You don't have to ruin everything!
Also on thumbnail: Jinx, the character who goes out of her way to always ruin everything...
(No, not Powder, I said Jinx.)
Hey, to be fair, it got the point across so.....
@@PlayYourRole It did! I just find the juxtaposition to be amusing.
For a one shot I rolled pretty poorly on stats, so the DMPC I made was a Gnoll Barbarian with 4 Intelligence and 7 Charisma. His backstory was that he got bonked on the head and wasn’t all there. But he still had a sense of survival instincts, so when the battle started he always knew it was time to fight.
My players loved him and want him to make an appearance in our current campaign 😂
I now know, why I don't like Hellsing Abbridged - The "LOL so random" humor
The entire plot of Seven Samurai was to stop thieves, often with deadly force. This is one of the greatest martial films in history, and I am certain that it is similar in plot to many D&D adventures. The law enforced by the samurai was brutal but effective. As part of role play, I want to have the right to kill, injure or kick out someone who is insane in my party in a way that obviously harms the party or its mission. There is a reason that military officers in the First World War carried sidearms and used them to execute field courts-martial. There is a reason that thieves had their hands cut off. Speaking from experience, having a party member that steals from the rest of the team during their night watch is really disruptive to the table, even if is 'in character'. if it is OK to be chaotic, it is also OK to be lawful. The DM may need to establish what the law says - when does the law have a modern sensibility and when does the law have a medieval sensibility? Is capital punishment acceptable? We have parties that exist largely as kill teams - basically elite military units. Murder Hobos should be driven out of town. Party disrupters should be kicked out - with the players understanding what the line is that can get a character kicked out of the party. The limits of chaos within the party need to be part of cession zero - and they need to be enforced by the party.
Hey, what's the soundtrack for this? It sounds super familiar but I can't place it.
Another one might be Howling Mad Murdock from A-Team
Just looking at that thumbnail hurts me to my very core. THE ARCANE FEELS
By the way: Jinx is literally known as "the Loose Cannon" in League of Legends
My rogue is the "Loose cannon" but she is also the only one with any kind of formal education (Arcane Trickster, just took her first level in Wizard) so she also is the one that had to explain prion disease to our cannibal Monk and Wizard, if that dynamic tells you anything...
My loose cannon was just a very dumb orc (im talking 5 for Int) so any action he chose was spur of the moment and not well thought out, but he had like 17 wisdom so he knew when to do certain actions. So I as a player would just Immediately gravitate to the first or second thing the DM stated and Generally throw caution to the wind because of two things, Why would my character think about what he was doing, and He was beefy enough to tank most hits he got and just heal up later. It essentially eliminated the party's "what if door trap" issue entirely
Loose cannon's my favorite, I like the extra damage if you hit someone twice with the same shot.
“The Loose Cannon” is literally Jinx’s title in LoL… was that on purpose? The video makes it look like yours was a really serendipitous coincidence
I knew in my head that was her title, which came out as I was talking in the video. But THEN I realized, Loose Cannon was exactly what this video was about and it just... Stuck haha. Just my brain being a little slow on putting the puzzle pieces together
"Loose Cannon" is also a well known and used phrase referring to someone that is reckless or never thinks of the consequences of their actions. League didn't invent the term
@@PlayYourRole love it when all the puzzle pieces just fit so perfectly!
@@2g33ksgamingttv3 I know that… I was just saying using Jinx as the prime example for “The loose cannon” was a great happenstance because her title in league is literally “ The Loose Cannon”. Like sure, Harley Quinn is A loose cannon but she’s not known as “The Loose Cannon”. You didn’t have to be rude.
Ok Goblin Evocation wizard here I come
Be chaotic as to means not ends.
ohh those 2 white pixels really tricked me.. I kept wiping the screen for the first third of the video xD
Good example of insanity I guess ;)
My friend needs this to not get killed *by the party*
Play the Loose Cannon character, but don't BE the Loose Cannon yourself, basically. Provide reason by discussing with the party beforehand, and give a connection as to why your character is loose.
As for me i laugh at everything so i just kinda lean into it by being a bard that acts like a less violent joker.
how to play self-Loathing plz
Oh I've got tons of advice on that I live it every day. Hahaha jk jk... unless? But seriously, I think that's one I can do!
@@PlayYourRole thank you man
It's also interesting to think about the different types of players and which ones are likely to play a loose cannon
Personally, I'm the Instigator type as both player and DM (my knowledge of the rules also makes me a Strategist as I love to multiclass, and just think about what's gonna happen)
An Instigator wants things to happen
If nothing is happening, they'll MAKE something happen
This doesn't always mean punching the nearest guard, it could also be climbing a building unprompted or setting up a soapbox in the street and orating about the cost of cheese
Work with these players, they're the ones making the wrinkles for the DM and the rest of the party to work with
There's also the archetype of "controlled chaos" and both the strategist and the instagator can help "plan" the best moments for giving the loose canon free reign.
@@woutvanostaden1299 I'm playing a death cleric and we need to sneak into the mayor's house, but I've run out of 3rd level slots
So we're gonna wait the 24 hours for my zombie gator to fall under the DM's control as a distraction
I'd consider that controlled chaos
My solution was to give my loose cannon character a relationship with another that helps him stay grounded and can rain him in