Bev (NSFW)

I came up with the idea of Bev in parts. I wanted to make a Barbarian, but I didn’t want to make a traditional, violence solves all, burly rage machine. I think I thought up the idea of a “pacifist barbarian” before Bev’s face, but once I did sketch her face, the rest came easy. And she’s bare chested since that’s actually a boon for barbs (and monks I think? which I took a level in?), so that’s neat. And it’s not even a sexual thing either. She just works in a mine where it gets all hot and she lives alone so no need for typical social cues.

Since she’s a pacifist I figured a grappler setup could help her assist in combat without being all… smashing heads and all that. She wouldn’t rage (intentionally) thus hindering her own combat, and would try to push for more peaceful options. And that’s how things started.

(I’m sorry, but past this point, this post is mostly venting)

Then I join a new campaign where we’re told it would be more puzzle based, and that combat wouldn’t be as much as a focus, and the DM was new to DMing. This seemed like a decent fit for Bev, so I came up with a backstory I figured the DM could maybe work with. And the DM seemed to like the concept. I was ready to get started.

Things didn’t work out. The others (mostly this one veteran) seemed antagonistic over the idea of my character not divulging her past (apparently this is frowned on in D&D. not entirely sure why) but whole point was that she can’t accept her own past, and thus denies its existence. It should’ve been a simple concept to nail, but I dunno…

The veteran took many shots to try and force it out, but at no point would there have been no reason for Bev to have told them. I often hoped the DM would bail me out, just drop a nugget here or there to keep the others guessing, but no. I guess with nothing to go off, the others turned their attention to me. (I don’t know, if they knew I told the DM everything, but it really felt like they thought I was just withholding info to be a dick, which I really wasn’t)

Eventually out of nowhere the veteran uses some spell on me that prevents lying or something, and starts some kind of interrogation and it’s like, seriously? We’re doing this? It doesn’t make a lick of sense in context, and even if it did come out, there was no chemistry here before. Why would my past affect our connection when no one seems to care about anyone else? (I mean that literally. It was like 4 separate solo campaigns with all the “while he does that, I do this” with people waiting for their turn to act)

So that sucked, but also, throughout the whole thing, the party members kept doing things that I just didn’t think my character would go along with. I kept having to justify things to myself like “we’re a party, we stick together” but there wasn’t any world ending calamity. We weren’t saving anyone. It mostly felt like the party was stirring shit up.

That’d be fine if I was say… Kefa or something, but it didn’t fit Bev, a laid back drifter. Felt like a mismatch of character… for every single session. That didn’t help my enjoyment. If they enjoyed themselves, good for them, but I couldn’t get into things.

I think this was the campaign that made me actually dislike coming up with backstories for D&D. Like… why even bother? Could’ve been a mismatch of character to campaign or group, but it was just not a great time.

I still really like Bev and may give her a proper party to team up with eventually. Maybe a comic? Story? Who knows.

So that was a downer, and understand I’m probably going into this with a negative bias, but considering how many times I’ve been let down, randomness can only account for so much.