I really love this mannequin analogy! It's all the same skeleton in different clothes. Flavor is free and it opens up so much fresh potential for character creation and role-play! Great video, man!
The barbarian might be full of flavor.. OH! You meant how one describes actions or choice of words to shape thier character. There is art in Tasha's that has a gnome sorcerer whose magic missiles are chicken shaped because they were a farmer. Example. I played a warforged wild magic barbarian and his 'rages' were 'glitches'. Very much leaned into robotic terminology and tech
What I really like about this channel and the amazing person behind it, is that there's a passion for creativity and in expressing what you like, you motivate others to try and do the same. Keep doing a great job Riker
I had my Mountain Dwarf swarmkeeper be surrounded by mountain goat spirits. The party referred to them as "shenanigoats". Fell in love with that subclass, 10/10, would play again.
my goal with dnd is to see "mechanics" as nothing more than just the things that directly relate to numbers and targets with everything else just being flavor
I know a bunch of players who would benefit from this video. I have a tendency, when I do get to play (curse of the forever DM), to play Fighters. Almost every group that I've played with has looked at my Human Fighters as "boring," "lacking," and that they should all just be "big and dumb." But, then i add the flavor. These other players believed their character was "flavorful" just because they were a Tiefling Warlock, Halfling Rogue, or High Elf Wizard
I will say before looking at your channel, I was looking more at how to get the skeleton to fit then how to change the clothes. Don’t get me wrong, it still works and you can make some great characters out of it, but learning and getting an idea of flavoring brings a whole nother tool to the table that is just as important.
I feel like I got got by my English teacher on the particulars of creative writing on this one. Still, I pick up what you're putting down. Flavor is a great way to spice up your games/ characters and is often overlooked especially by new players who might be nervous going in. 5e is decidedly lacking in flavor descriptions when compared to 3.5 and pathfinder, but a lot of it is still interwoven in the description of class mechanics, and the trade off is we got stuff like backgrounds which are mechanical applications of what used to be purely flavor text. I think that's good compromise, and most people are plenty capable of coming up with their own flavor for things with a little practice.
I personally love flavouring and describing each meaningful moment, it gives it depth and unifies the picture with everyone at the table so when I GM with my friends that's the way we do it. Online on the other hand, where I am player, people don't describe anything in the game and leave the image for everyone to picture as they like as descriptions also take time, but then do all the flavourful stuff after the game where they write, what happened in the game, usually from the point of their characters, chat as a party members and discuss things with the DM, from mechanics and homebrew to party goals and so on with other NPCs. Just my view on practicality of flavour. If you have time and are good friends with each one at the table, do it do it do it, believe me it makes everything oh so much richer. If you don't have much time to play or the games are shorter and you want them to be action packed, consider flavouring it, try it and see how is it, afterwards if it's success great if not, you can do it outside of straight playtime or at least in your personal theatre of the mind. Thank you for bringing light to this topic dear Cleric Corner. Much love to all, take care and bye ❤️
Okay so I had this idea that's kinds based off of something you said. So my character will on paper and through the campaign if I get to use him look like a human shadow sorcerer but he will be acting differently than he normally does and no one really remembers him having magic before. Now here's where the interesting part comes in. In a parallel reality he is an eldritch God of shadows that is so powerful he gently influenced all other versions of himself giving them small seeds or fractions of his power. And one day an ancient artifact from his realm was stolen and sent to another universe so he used his power to possess his other self and in doing so unlocked their power. And is now using them to search for the artifact
@@TheClericCorner thank u I'm still deciding on either aberrant mind sorcerer or shadow sorcerer. I like both classes and both have really cool flavour opportunities. Which one do u think?
Probably my latest, and most favorite, is my latest flavor of making a wizard into a witch. Sure, treat her like one, but I also made her "spellbook" just voodoo dolls. So she uses components, but these are woven into the various voodoo dolls that are now my character's representation of her spells. IE: her Find Familiar spell is just a brass colored doll that is slightly darkened by soot and is equipped with a tinderbox that whenever I cast this spell, she has a little brazier that she uses the doll's tinderbox to light and voila, her crow is back! Mechanics of the spell are all there, but its how I represent it to everyone else that is flavor. =3 I'm just happy that my GM allowed this to be a thing. x3
This is a well-crafted and explained video. I will disagree on your fireball geyser flavoring though, as even if it's the same aoe and still does fire damage, with it being water, it can no longer light things around it. So clothes won't burn, wood can't catch on fire, ect. I think fireball's reflavoring would be the color of fire. Blue or white for very hot fire, or purple or black for magic fire. Or even the fireball being like a fire construct shaped like an eastern dragon swirling in fireball's given area. Still does fire damage, but also keeps the effects that fire presents.
its really weird that this video has inspired me more for writing as i suddenly realized what my problem is; mannequins are there to hold up clothes so they don't fall. im so worried about the clothes falling no matter what i do, that i focus entirely on the mannequin and forget the clothing. to take it away from the metaphor -- i am so obsessed with the structure of my writing, that i leave behind aspects that make it fun. as a result i dont get anything done bc im so obsessed with making it perfect. i think a lot of writers (and dms) can agree with that lmao
The Dancing Barbarian: This Barbarian is a fighter who gets super excited whenever music is played. If there is a Bard in the party, talk to the player. The Rage could be flavored as the Bard playing music to give you a magical power-up. The Really, Really Old Adventurer: This is your last adventure. You are an old person who tells inspiring stories. Yes. This is a Lore Bard. Cap your Charisma and keep your Intelligence and Wisdom high. Grab skilled feat for even more skills. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution will be low. You're supposed to be old. Your performance isn't music, you just tell stories. So look up stories of inspiring tales in the setting or make some up. Talk to other player characters and figure out what will inspire them. With lots of active listening, you will have a bunch of heroic tales tailored to each of the party members. Also, grab Inspiring Leader. Mostly for the classic "In My Day". You'll be that old that people turn to for lots of exciting stories. Headless Chicken: Yep. Custom Lineage for this one. You are a Headless Chicken kept alive by magic. Grab Drunken Master Monk, dip into Fighter for Blind Fighting fighting style. Now flail on your enemies. The Pebble Wizard: This person isn't a spell caster. They inscribe pebbles with runes. They then use their Sling to fire pebbles at targets. This practice is an ancient tribal practice going back centuries. Each spell inscribed into the pebble is done with an incantation with a story about an important person in the tribe. The class? Not a Wizard but actually a Lore Bard. The Sick Burns Sorcerer: Grab Elemental Adept Fire and chose mostly fire-based spells with your sorcerer. This Sorcerer insults people so badly that they actually set their targets ablaze. Yes. Their insults don't deal psychic damage, they deal fire damage. Their incendiary insults sometimes deal with lightning damage, because it's SHOCKING, that's why. Yes, this is Sorcerer is full of Dad jokes, lame puns, and terrible quips. Defend The Child: Your Patron is actually a magical child that you're looking after. This Child is being chased by various interested parties. You are the meat shield for the child. Your Charisma represents your connection with the child, meanwhile, they cast all of the spells. You are the surrogate parent with an unusual relationship. You are the reluctant protector who is definitely not well suited to the task. What follows is you fumbling about in your role as a parental/bodyguard figure meanwhile your child is confused and is trying to make sense of the world. Think of Hopper and Eleven in Stranger Things during Season 1. The Hydromancer: Fire spells: Steam Ice spells: Just water in solid form Shape Water is a must. Mage Hand: Water manipulation to move objects Mold Earth: Use powerful jets of water to move the earth. Earth Tremor: LET'S FLOOD THE BATTLEFIELD Smoke Screen: Steam Hold Person: Freeze the target solid. Hypnotic Pattern: I'm just blasting multiple targets with water and keeping them distracted. Quarterstaff Master: This wizard is terrible at spell casting but amazing with a quarterstaff. Grab great weapon fighting along with great weapon master and crusher feat. Cap your strength and have an okay Intelligence. You are an Eldritch Knight. I just love the idea of someone bonking foes with a quarterstaff. No flavoring is required. "I've Got A Feeling" Rogue: Finally a Rogue with no tragic backstory. In fact, your life has been quite the opposite. Things kept going your way. All the time. You just put your mind to something and you succeed. You have no idea how, you just have a vague sense of the right way to do things. I guess you're lucky. You rely on gut feelings. Your skill proficiencies are more flavored as you give stuff a go. Your expertise is you just getting lucky. Speaking of which, if the Game Master allows it, grab the Lucky Feat. Any non-magical subclass will do. Also, get a dip into Cleric for Guidance spell. This is just you having a feeling about stuff. Also, your Sneak Attack is you being certain this is where you point the dagger.
Ever since i got into dnd like 2-3 years ago i always associated flavor as in altering the content for campaigns without changing the mechanics. For example i have a level 1 bard ready for campaign 3 and in that setting magic is more difficult to accomplish. Not only that he is a failed merchant due to some backstory stuff but his family are the number 1 in jewelry and gemstone mining. Given how my group jokes he is just a corpo from cyberpunk i took it a step further and have where all healing spells are just detox kits. If he was a corpo of course he would have the supplies to stop clients from overdosing(my group doesnt know this but the dm so it will be a big surprise when the first cure wounds given will be a syringe stabbed at their chest)
I'm thinking of flavoring my next undead warlock mage armor (armor of shadows) will give the look the appearance of a skeleton (possibly glowing like radiation).
@@KnicKnac I was thinking more like an illusion of the character's skin melting away and leaving behind his skeleton (or his skin who turn to dust and flutter off) only to re-materialize when the spell expires.
Redefining fireball as a geyser eruption isn't flavor. It isn't DnD. It's homebrew, by definition. You have decided the fireball spell follows different rules. A magic missile could look different for flavor yet have the same essential effect. It could look like a crossbow bolt, a bird, a shaft of ice or rock, etc. Provided it has the same mechanics it can be the same spell. Change the mechanics, it isn't the same spell. A geyser eruption isn't a fireball. It doesn't have the same shape. It doesn't have the same properties. It can't light things on fire. It wouldn't have the same vulnerabilities or resistances. How would it work in flying combat hundreds of feet in the air? Geyser blast would be a different spell.
@@TheClericCorner That’s wild. Although to be fair, in my first long run campaign I described casting a quickened magic missile, along with a normal one in 3.5 as flying out my ass like angels wings. Since I was shooting ten missiles lol. So I dunno if I can really comment on flavor XD
I really love this mannequin analogy! It's all the same skeleton in different clothes. Flavor is free and it opens up so much fresh potential for character creation and role-play! Great video, man!
Thank you so much! All I'm getting is flack for not making it a cooking analogy because 'flavor' 😂 but hope it shines through!
@@TheClericCorner PSSHHH cooking isn’t quite right. You can’t separate the spices from the broth once you put it together! 😜
Lol you said it!!
The barbarian might be full of flavor.. OH! You meant how one describes actions or choice of words to shape thier character. There is art in Tasha's that has a gnome sorcerer whose magic missiles are chicken shaped because they were a farmer.
Example. I played a warforged wild magic barbarian and his 'rages' were 'glitches'. Very much leaned into robotic terminology and tech
YES! That's literally my favorite example from tashas lol
Glitching Barbarian for the win!
What I really like about this channel and the amazing person behind it, is that there's a passion for creativity and in expressing what you like, you motivate others to try and do the same.
Keep doing a great job Riker
🥺 your incredible. Always so impressed with so many that share my thoughts. Thank you!!
I had my Mountain Dwarf swarmkeeper be surrounded by mountain goat spirits. The party referred to them as "shenanigoats".
Fell in love with that subclass, 10/10, would play again.
It is a fun class. I played a deep gnome that had fireflies as my swarm.
my goal with dnd is to see "mechanics" as nothing more than just the things that directly relate to numbers and targets with everything else just being flavor
Lol you might like this video then!
Great video. Soon flavour min maxing videos will be as popular as build min maxing videos.
OH MY GOD I HOPE SO!!
I know a bunch of players who would benefit from this video. I have a tendency, when I do get to play (curse of the forever DM), to play Fighters. Almost every group that I've played with has looked at my Human Fighters as "boring," "lacking," and that they should all just be "big and dumb." But, then i add the flavor. These other players believed their character was "flavorful" just because they were a Tiefling Warlock, Halfling Rogue, or High Elf Wizard
AMEN AMEN AMEN! Say It louder in the back 😂
Humans can be interesting and tieflings can be boring. Great add 👍
Without seeing the video, I imagine spices will be mentioned
Lol have you seen my skin? The spiciest I go is peanut butter
I am actually a bit salty that the analogy used was about clothing and not seasoning or ingredients.
@@mchadwilson 😂
I will say before looking at your channel, I was looking more at how to get the skeleton to fit then how to change the clothes. Don’t get me wrong, it still works and you can make some great characters out of it, but learning and getting an idea of flavoring brings a whole nother tool to the table that is just as important.
Amen!
I feel like I got got by my English teacher on the particulars of creative writing on this one.
Still, I pick up what you're putting down. Flavor is a great way to spice up your games/ characters and is often overlooked especially by new players who might be nervous going in.
5e is decidedly lacking in flavor descriptions when compared to 3.5 and pathfinder, but a lot of it is still interwoven in the description of class mechanics, and the trade off is we got stuff like backgrounds which are mechanical applications of what used to be purely flavor text. I think that's good compromise, and most people are plenty capable of coming up with their own flavor for things with a little practice.
I personally love flavouring and describing each meaningful moment, it gives it depth and unifies the picture with everyone at the table so when I GM with my friends that's the way we do it.
Online on the other hand, where I am player, people don't describe anything in the game and leave the image for everyone to picture as they like as descriptions also take time, but then do all the flavourful stuff after the game where they write, what happened in the game, usually from the point of their characters, chat as a party members and discuss things with the DM, from mechanics and homebrew to party goals and so on with other NPCs.
Just my view on practicality of flavour.
If you have time and are good friends with each one at the table, do it do it do it, believe me it makes everything oh so much richer. If you don't have much time to play or the games are shorter and you want them to be action packed, consider flavouring it, try it and see how is it, afterwards if it's success great if not, you can do it outside of straight playtime or at least in your personal theatre of the mind.
Thank you for bringing light to this topic dear Cleric Corner.
Much love to all, take care and bye ❤️
And thank YOU! For being a great DM and player for fostering creativity! Keep it up!!
Okay so I had this idea that's kinds based off of something you said. So my character will on paper and through the campaign if I get to use him look like a human shadow sorcerer but he will be acting differently than he normally does and no one really remembers him having magic before. Now here's where the interesting part comes in. In a parallel reality he is an eldritch God of shadows that is so powerful he gently influenced all other versions of himself giving them small seeds or fractions of his power. And one day an ancient artifact from his realm was stolen and sent to another universe so he used his power to possess his other self and in doing so unlocked their power. And is now using them to search for the artifact
Now I am a HUGE fan of this!!!
@@TheClericCorner thank u I'm still deciding on either aberrant mind sorcerer or shadow sorcerer. I like both classes and both have really cool flavour opportunities. Which one do u think?
@@jamesfloyd7552 I'd say depends on what kind of god they are, but I've always liked the aberrant!
Thank you Riker (sorry if I missspelled) you are a D&D RUclips godsend. I’m showing his to every player I DM.
Ryker! But all good, thank you!!
I feel honored! Hope it helps!
You’re name is so sick man
Probably my latest, and most favorite, is my latest flavor of making a wizard into a witch. Sure, treat her like one, but I also made her "spellbook" just voodoo dolls. So she uses components, but these are woven into the various voodoo dolls that are now my character's representation of her spells. IE: her Find Familiar spell is just a brass colored doll that is slightly darkened by soot and is equipped with a tinderbox that whenever I cast this spell, she has a little brazier that she uses the doll's tinderbox to light and voila, her crow is back! Mechanics of the spell are all there, but its how I represent it to everyone else that is flavor. =3 I'm just happy that my GM allowed this to be a thing. x3
Sounds like a great gm to me!
Shout it from the mountaintop!! Thank you for heralding the good word on flavor!
HALLELUJAH!! Lol
This is a well-crafted and explained video. I will disagree on your fireball geyser flavoring though, as even if it's the same aoe and still does fire damage, with it being water, it can no longer light things around it. So clothes won't burn, wood can't catch on fire, ect. I think fireball's reflavoring would be the color of fire. Blue or white for very hot fire, or purple or black for magic fire. Or even the fireball being like a fire construct shaped like an eastern dragon swirling in fireball's given area.
Still does fire damage, but also keeps the effects that fire presents.
its really weird that this video has inspired me more for writing as i suddenly realized what my problem is;
mannequins are there to hold up clothes so they don't fall. im so worried about the clothes falling no matter what i do, that i focus entirely on the mannequin and forget the clothing. to take it away from the metaphor -- i am so obsessed with the structure of my writing, that i leave behind aspects that make it fun. as a result i dont get anything done bc im so obsessed with making it perfect. i think a lot of writers (and dms) can agree with that lmao
Absolutely! SUCH a great takeaway! I'm sure your writing is fantastic, just because you care so much!
The Dancing Barbarian:
This Barbarian is a fighter who gets super excited whenever music is played. If there is a Bard in the party, talk to the player. The Rage could be flavored as the Bard playing music to give you a magical power-up.
The Really, Really Old Adventurer:
This is your last adventure. You are an old person who tells inspiring stories. Yes. This is a Lore Bard. Cap your Charisma and keep your Intelligence and Wisdom high. Grab skilled feat for even more skills. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution will be low. You're supposed to be old. Your performance isn't music, you just tell stories. So look up stories of inspiring tales in the setting or make some up. Talk to other player characters and figure out what will inspire them. With lots of active listening, you will have a bunch of heroic tales tailored to each of the party members. Also, grab Inspiring Leader. Mostly for the classic "In My Day". You'll be that old that people turn to for lots of exciting stories.
Headless Chicken:
Yep. Custom Lineage for this one. You are a Headless Chicken kept alive by magic. Grab Drunken Master Monk, dip into Fighter for Blind Fighting fighting style. Now flail on your enemies.
The Pebble Wizard:
This person isn't a spell caster. They inscribe pebbles with runes. They then use their Sling to fire pebbles at targets. This practice is an ancient tribal practice going back centuries. Each spell inscribed into the pebble is done with an incantation with a story about an important person in the tribe. The class? Not a Wizard but actually a Lore Bard.
The Sick Burns Sorcerer:
Grab Elemental Adept Fire and chose mostly fire-based spells with your sorcerer. This Sorcerer insults people so badly that they actually set their targets ablaze. Yes. Their insults don't deal psychic damage, they deal fire damage. Their incendiary insults sometimes deal with lightning damage, because it's SHOCKING, that's why. Yes, this is Sorcerer is full of Dad jokes, lame puns, and terrible quips.
Defend The Child:
Your Patron is actually a magical child that you're looking after. This Child is being chased by various interested parties. You are the meat shield for the child. Your Charisma represents your connection with the child, meanwhile, they cast all of the spells.
You are the surrogate parent with an unusual relationship. You are the reluctant protector who is definitely not well suited to the task. What follows is you fumbling about in your role as a parental/bodyguard figure meanwhile your child is confused and is trying to make sense of the world. Think of Hopper and Eleven in Stranger Things during Season 1.
The Hydromancer:
Fire spells: Steam
Ice spells: Just water in solid form
Shape Water is a must.
Mage Hand: Water manipulation to move objects
Mold Earth: Use powerful jets of water to move the earth.
Earth Tremor: LET'S FLOOD THE BATTLEFIELD
Smoke Screen: Steam
Hold Person: Freeze the target solid.
Hypnotic Pattern: I'm just blasting multiple targets with water and keeping them distracted.
Quarterstaff Master:
This wizard is terrible at spell casting but amazing with a quarterstaff. Grab great weapon fighting along with great weapon master and crusher feat. Cap your strength and have an okay Intelligence. You are an Eldritch Knight. I just love the idea of someone bonking foes with a quarterstaff. No flavoring is required.
"I've Got A Feeling" Rogue:
Finally a Rogue with no tragic backstory. In fact, your life has been quite the opposite. Things kept going your way. All the time. You just put your mind to something and you succeed. You have no idea how, you just have a vague sense of the right way to do things. I guess you're lucky. You rely on gut feelings. Your skill proficiencies are more flavored as you give stuff a go. Your expertise is you just getting lucky. Speaking of which, if the Game Master allows it, grab the Lucky Feat. Any non-magical subclass will do. Also, get a dip into Cleric for Guidance spell. This is just you having a feeling about stuff. Also, your Sneak Attack is you being certain this is where you point the dagger.
You gotta have that spice
🌶️🥵
The spice must flow
Ever since i got into dnd like 2-3 years ago i always associated flavor as in altering the content for campaigns without changing the mechanics. For example i have a level 1 bard ready for campaign 3 and in that setting magic is more difficult to accomplish. Not only that he is a failed merchant due to some backstory stuff but his family are the number 1 in jewelry and gemstone mining. Given how my group jokes he is just a corpo from cyberpunk i took it a step further and have where all healing spells are just detox kits. If he was a corpo of course he would have the supplies to stop clients from overdosing(my group doesnt know this but the dm so it will be a big surprise when the first cure wounds given will be a syringe stabbed at their chest)
What if you want to reflavor the spores druid to have all that extra damage be floating rocks like they're an earth bending geomancer?
I'd say that works great!
Wouldn't it be homebrew to change the damage type, even if it's to bludgeoning?
@@kylethomas9130 it would at that point, yes
I'm thinking of flavoring my next undead warlock mage armor (armor of shadows) will give the look the appearance of a skeleton (possibly glowing like radiation).
Could borrow images from necromancer from Diablo series when you describe the armor. Just a visual reference.
@@KnicKnac I was thinking more like an illusion of the character's skin melting away and leaving behind his skeleton (or his skin who turn to dust and flutter off) only to re-materialize when the spell expires.
Redefining fireball as a geyser eruption isn't flavor. It isn't DnD. It's homebrew, by definition. You have decided the fireball spell follows different rules.
A magic missile could look different for flavor yet have the same essential effect. It could look like a crossbow bolt, a bird, a shaft of ice or rock, etc. Provided it has the same mechanics it can be the same spell. Change the mechanics, it isn't the same spell.
A geyser eruption isn't a fireball. It doesn't have the same shape. It doesn't have the same properties. It can't light things on fire. It wouldn't have the same vulnerabilities or resistances. How would it work in flying combat hundreds of feet in the air? Geyser blast would be a different spell.
I'm sure you'll figure it out :)
Thanks for the comment!
Thanks.
This is the most obvious answer, meaning of course dnd players didn't think of it. Lol
Haha you saying the common sense isn't common?
My personal hell would be playing D&D without any flavor. Blech
Grape. D&D is grape flavored.
But aged like fine wine 👌
People really be saying flavor breaks the game?
Lol you'd be surprised. Lots on my better class series
@@TheClericCorner That’s wild. Although to be fair, in my first long run campaign I described casting a quickened magic missile, along with a normal one in 3.5 as flying out my ass like angels wings. Since I was shooting ten missiles lol. So I dunno if I can really comment on flavor XD
cute
I feel like giving a downvote for that dumb gotcha question. I GAVE YALL MULTIPLE OPTIONS AND GUESS WHAT, ITS NONE OF THEM…
But I wont be a douchebag
What kind of reaction are you hoping for for this comment? 😂
@@TheClericCorner Nothimg, I just wanted to point out how lame that was ^^ But hey it's all good.