In-Character Response
We’ve all been there. You’re buddy’s been possessed. Or dominated. Or impersonated by a doppelganger. Rather than running them through just to be sure, you’ve hit upon a brilliant plan.
“Alright bucko. If you’re really Sir Smitesby, then tell me something that only Smitesby would know.”
Meanwhile poor Smitesby is sitting there racking his brains. With the spotlight glaring and a room full of “allies” ready to jump down his shit at the first sign of treachery, he’s got to be himself as hard as possible.
In Magus’s case, that’s not so hard. Girl is thick as a brick, and playing dumb comes natural. For characters like Wizard, a bit of sesquipedalian loquaciousness will get the job done. If I were playing Thief, I’d probably roll a die as proof of my authentically horrible luck. The cast of The Handbook of Heroes have a handful of very-obvious character traits. (They’re named after their classes after all.) But for the rest of us I think it’s not so easy.
As longtime gamers, we tend to like subtlety and nuance in our characterization. We’ve got complex backstories, arcs filled with drama trauma, and more personality quirks than a White Wolf list of merits and flaws. But if you had to reduce your favorite PC down to their core trait, what would that look like?
I suggest we answer that question for today’s discussion. If your favorite character found herself in Magus’s position, having to convince allies of her identity, what would make them go, “Yup, that’s her?” Sound off down in the comments!
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Shoot the captain in the face, then check to see if the phaser was set to stun or not.
Tbf, he only did it like 3 times, but the 3rd time involved a tacnuke. But we were completely, immediately doomed anyway so it all evened out in the end.
ATTACK IMMEDIATELY COUNT: 1
I tried Star Trek RP exactly once back in high school. I’d never seen the show, show I just played Data as a regular dude, lol.
HOW DO YOU SET A TACNUKE TO STUN?!?
“…that sounds like something dream- would say. Are you sure *you’re* real?”
I’m guessing Sandman, but I can’t place the scene.
I don’t think it’s a reference. If I’m reading it right, HadACookie was invoking a scenario like (using an arbitrary name):
“So, Emily, you want me to prove I’m really me? That sounds like something dream-Emily would say. Are you sure *you’re* real?”
Now I am in the way of understanding.
I think the comedic thing that would happen would be that a character would demand she prove her fucking identity, and she would say, “LANGUAGE!”
The tragedy of her, though, is that she keeps so many secrets that in a lot of ways it might actually be hard for her to prove her identity in a serious way because there’s so little that she’s ever honest about. Okay now you’re making me wish that we could do an imposter plot with her because wow would that be fertile ground.
Who doesn’t love a proper etiquette PC?
Why not pitch the concept to your GM? I always like it when my players come to me with suggestions like that.
*dream-(insert name)
That’s an unorthodox way of sanitizing user input, btw – just removing everything in between “less than” and “greater than” signs.
Wat
In my original comment I tried to write “dream-(insert name)” using the “less than” and “greater than” signs instead of the parenthesis. This part of the comment got removed, however. Generally you don’t want to let random users to insert any html code they want into the comment, because that could be used to place malicious scripts in your site. That’s what “sanitizing user input” refers to – making sure that the input is safe. I would argue however that there are better ways top do it than how this issue has been resolved here.
Just do the old Red Dwarf method: get them to do something they THINK they’re good at.
I like it! ^_^
“Gentlemen, play the guitar!”
I question my own taste. I wasn’t able to get into Red Dwarf, and I assume that makes me a bad person.
Poor Magus, the artistic punching bag of the comic. Those pillow fights are only gonna get more brutal now that she has to relearn them.
But wait, where’s Succubus? And why isn’t Woolantula in his marketable glory on the other side?
Yeah, we need answers!
Also, what happened with BBEG and DQ?
> But wait, where’s Succubus? And why isn’t Woolantula in his marketable glory on the other side?
Such are the perils of a single-panel comic. We must wait for Monday to make the reveal. (Or Sunday if you’re subscribed on Patreon. The $1 tier gets you the day-early previews.)
> But wait, where’s Succubus?
Well, with Antipaladin going full Ghost Rider, he’s gonna need something to ride.
Bow chicka bow wow.
He’s a ghost. And he writes to us. Ghost writer.
He’s a ghost. And he is on fire. Ghost lighter.
He’s a ghost. And he’s a murder hobo. Ghost Fighter.
He’s a ghost. And he fights evil. Ghost smiter.
Anklebiter the Insane, Goblin Abjurer: “… You guys want me to cook you some snake in green sauce? I’mma need a bag of salt. For each of you.”
Liability Mourneswaithe, Caliban Wizard: “Greater invisibility! Fly! Protection from arrows! Alright, NOW let’s discuss this as sane adults…”
Everline Vaughn, human Spellthief: “Remember when I lifted that spiritual weapon-spell from you and you freaked out becaise it was a morningstar of darkness for me, Sun Cleric…?”
You have a character called Liability?
Yup. One of my favourites.
She goes by Lia, of course.
You don’t?
I have a few characters whom *other people* might describe as a liability… but that’s not normally something you advertise… 😉
Well, Lia’s father was a jerk with a heart of charcoal, so…
“Morning Star of Darkness” is OK, but we really ought to workshop this doom metal band name a bit.
With Minoto, if you mention seeing a Necromancer and she doesn’t go for her sword, then it’s not her. Same with the undead.
Looks, Minoto! There’s an evil-doer outside!
https://giphy.com/gifs/zoefannet-zombieorpheus-thegamers-onwaaard-Js1hyoJUFJVYbclRFv
For my current character, that’s a tough one, because she’s a talker… I doubt there’s anything about her that the party knows and the rest of the world doesn’t. But fortunately, that ability to ramble about anything and everything for hours on end is probably proof enough that it’s her.
Sounds like the real opportunity for comedy is getting a dour partymate to impersonate a her. Imagining a surly dwarf having to be all bubbly-chatty in a monotone fills me with great glee.
“I could fill an encyclopedia with what only I know. I’m the most brilliant man in all of creation.” -The world’s most arrogant Druid.
Strong shtick. I always enjoy the “Brainy Smurf” version of the smart character.
I’d like to try out a martial braggart one day though. “Why, I slew thirty goblins singlehandedly this morning!”
“Bro… There were two goblins and they beat you in initiative.”
Nothing more fun than good strong shtick.
Would be easy. My ranger literally has almost always hit her target. I’ve played with critical and fumble charts my whole D&D career and even at first level she was murder with a bow. So she’d simple shoot something. Probably the person questioning her. She also tends to be grumpy.
ATTACK IMMEDIATELY COUNT: 2
I imagine the the person being attacked will also become grumpy.
Angrod, Dwarf Cleric – either “Ah, clever. Is it not written in the Book of Trudd, that…” and find some quote that is certainly written in the book, suggest we do exercises for the Glory of Trudd (he is a Strength God) or talk, at length, about the joys of dwarven ale vs the (terrible) human version.
If they forced him to get personal, he’d talk about how the fact he’s channeling so much power now is a sign that Trudd seems to be supporting his actions, but Angrod is certain this is only because of the necessity of saving the world. How could Angrod be worthy of such power? He relies so much on his God that he feels that he is the weak link. Trudd is a God of Good, Nobility, Protection and Strength and Angrod’s domains are Protection and Strength. Yet people still getting hurt on his watch and he relies on magic to boost his strength.
Mendax, Shadow Fey Adept Kitsune pretending to be human – would be screwed. If they ever managed to actually get a rope on him, it clearly meant he was an imposter. He spent the majority of his time acting like a displacer beast; invisible with an illusion of himself acting out his actions.
In the situation that actually happened at the table though, the enemy used illusions to look like me, made me look like them and was strangling me so I couldn’t talk or cast. The BBEG told the group they had this which immediately caused the party to attack the fake as Mendax would 100% have run from any sort of grapple and damn the consequences.
Raz, Dresden Files True Believer – … We actually have code words ready for this.
And finally, in a game I ran, the PCs botched the first roll to check for possession, so they tied up the PC that had interacted with the haunted house for quite a bit and carried the “possession kit” all the way to the end.
How is Dresden Files? That’s a Fate system, right?
Bobbitt Pogue the Hobbit Rogue: (censored profanity) pulls bottomless tankard from hammerspace and takes a drink, or pulls a cheeseburger from his neverending ration pouch.
Alkaeus the Mighty: “It would be taboo to speak of the Eleusinian or Orphic mysteries to the uninitiated. Let it suffice to say that the gods have answered all my questions, and the Three Who Sit Below in Judgement are actually quite lenient, all things considered.”
Well that isn’t very realistic. How do you expect pseudo-medieval folk to invent cheeseburger technology? 😛
Yay! Magus is back. Glad to see she is alive again. So is she down to 7 lives now?
Girl’s burning through ’em.
Wait, but if Thief is rolling a die to prove her horrible luck, wouldn’t it come up a Natural 20, since that would actually be the unluckiest result?
Let us ponder the mysteries.
“This line of questioning is damnably inefficient, and I have work to do. Surely at some point, it will become evident that the work is my own; if others were capable of it, our circumstances would not be a tenth so desperate.”
– Doktor Ludwig Krauss
“Ha! Is excellent question! How I even know in myself that I am not imposter? But wait, am having plan. Hand me pair of rocket skates; I improve them to increase top speed. Always at some point, other people say ‘Is too fast!’ So if ever I stop wanting them faster, I know I am not me, and right away probably I tell you.”
– Xaari, head of Inadvisably Applied Science for Arclight Industries
“I…I’m not sure. Did anyone make coffee? I could figure something out if I had coffee.”
– Churrik, ratfolk merchant
Love me some good old-fashioned AM BARBARIAN.
To Xaari, syntax is something that happens to other people.
Magus: Ummm… I hate Mondays?
But we’ve never even seen her with lasagna!
(Clicks on the “sesquipedalian loquaciousness” link)
…(three hours later)…
…Why, how is TV Tropes like this. What temporal void did it swallow.
I really must remember to add “TV Tropes Warning” tags.
For Vessyra, a drow cleric, her core trait is her lack of knowledge on how to do something not being a barrier to trying. So, she could probably be identified by giving her a very difficult/impossible task and seeing when/whether she gives up, such as, “Break innocents out of this prison”, or “Determine the most morally correct solution to the trolley problem”, or “Talk to your crush without stuttering or repeating words”.
For Hartusk, a golaith artificer, there would be three methods. The boring method would be to get her to build something, because tool expertise and high levels is no joke. The comedic method would be to put her in a social situation and see how long it takes her to put her foot in her mouth/flee. The effective method would be to say a metaphor or make a sexual innuendo and see if she understands (hint: she won’t).
The last of my favourite characters list (because how am I suppose to pick just one) would be the hardest, as they went through plenty of character development.
Early-campaign: “How dare you? I am Sasha-Ruhvallion Da’ssnotton. If I had in fact been replaced by some doppelgänger or lowly swindler, you would no doubt know, for there would be no way for them to live up to my grace in swordplay, nor my skill in magic, nor my peerless mix of intelligence. Would you like a demonstration in any of these things? I have no doubt I can prove your foolish suspicions as little more than falsehoods”.
Late-campaign: “Who knows what is the truth and what is a lie? We can know nothing but our own existence; in all else, we have no choice but to take a leap of faith, and trust. I’m not saying that you should not question; curiosity is what drives innovation, and fear keeps us safe from threats. If there is way to prove my truth to you, I would be happy to help you find it; if you’d like, I can journal all experiences I’ve had with you, and perform physical exercises with nuance a fake could not easily replicate. But at the end of the day, some things cannot be known. Some things simply are, and must be accepted as such, if we are to move forward and continue our quest to bring joy to the lives of ourselves and those around us”.
> if we are to move forward and continue our quest to bring joy to the lives of ourselves and those around us
Sounds like a very self-actualized character by the end.
My char: I will f@*#ing kill you all!!!
The rest of the party: Yeah that is him 😛
ATTACK IMMEDIATELY COUNT: 3
Rayna, triton barbarian princess: “Am know we am have met 4 Nokos so far and that Zuri ((party cleric)) am only have part of idea what would do if Am had to serve up Peanut ((Zuri’s axebeak)) with 7 secret herbs and spices.”
I remain impressed by the number of PCs that go adventuring in order to discover strange new ingredients.
The Sea Monster: she’s mute, so would probably glare at being instructed to “tell them” something only she would know. She’s also a Revenant, though, and would be able to unerringly point in the direction of her girlfriend Andromeda.
Revenant: His abilities are varied enough it’s extremely unlikely an imposter could match them all. Increasing size, growing arbitrary new limbs, extendable tongue, short-range danger sense, chameleon skin, invisibility mist, regeneration… and after demonstrating all of those, he’d have to eat *so much* to recuperate, a final test for any imposter.
Ruin: Simply calling up and manipulating the Black Mist should be enough; the ability is *extremely* rare in-universe, and the only other person known to be able to do it as well is locked in permanent cryosleep (and if he’s out the party has much bigger problems). Now that I think about it, this one is fairly likely to come up the first time Ruin’s body is destroyed, and they have to convince the party that their incorporeal form is the same person.
Pride: As the emotional core of his group, could easily run through secrets, conversations, and emotional states known only to specific group members and himself. Also, an imposter would have to find a way to imitate his unique defensive power.
Lapis: “Ooh! Let me check my notes, they’ll have something for sure!” The real tell here, though, is that she’s completely oblivious to the idea that any imposter could just have read her notes.
What is this Black Mist you speak of? Is it like Dark Water?
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DelightfulObedientBoto-size_restricted.gif
Rhodon would pick apart the seams of the argument ‘I can tell if it’s a doppelganger based on behavior’ until it lay in tatters and his companions didn’t want him to talk anymore.
Caleb would square himself up proudly, lift his chin, and state “Keep your blades pointed towards me if you must, but you will know me by my actions over any words I could tell you. I ask for your trust in the meantime.”
Shasallah would smile, do a little twirl, and sing her heart out with a song that overflows with joy.
Do you have a Top 20 Playlist on standby for Shasallah?
The old classic ‘cast fireball centred 240.25 inches away from the tip of the barbarian’s nose’ would probably do, especially if she’s within the area of effect herself
This one sort-of counts. Therefore:
ATTACK IMMEDIATELY COUNT: 3.5
Is magus a non-int based Magus archetype?
Yes, when talking to BBEG, she complained about being Cha based, so she’s probably an Eldritch Scion.
Talked about it in the comments way back here:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/behaving-intelligently
“I, waaah? Why would you even ask that I… oh no, was it the fires again? I swear I didn’t know Wattyl had the infectious kind of crazy but Smokey the Bear is real alright? I hugged that muthaf*cka. I hugged the SHIT out of him. Um… or you could get Sandal, she’ll know I’m really me… Please tell me you know where she is. I’ve only had Sandal for a week and a half, but if anything were to happen to her I would kill everyone in this room and then GOD.” -Selindra, Elf Wrestler
All of this would be rather complicated by the presence of anyone outside the party, because apparently we were pretty much the only ones that could see “Sandal” and “Smokey” (not an actual name). She… may have been dubbed insane by a village for going around asking if anyone had seen her tiny, talking, celestial bear companion. We were basically chased out of every place we ever staying in that campaign for one reason or another.
Love the “only we can see ’em” trope. I’ve got a bladebound magus in the megadungeon game, and the intelligent sword only communicates telepathically with its wielder. We got a lot of mileage out of the old, “The magus is insane and talking to himself again.”
A, my Cleric/barbarian for extinction curse) Due to her oaths, incapable of lying. As such, she could either invoke her deity’s name while speaking the truth about her identity, which would create a burning holy symbol above her, or, in the funnier option: “Remember that time I almost exploded the bard by using a cursed item to reverse a heal? Yeah I knew he wasn’t hurt, and I knew it was cursed, but he lied to me and I needed to teach him that wasn’t allowed.”
B, my Agents of Edgewatch wizard) “Look, if you can’t tell the difference between me and a fake, that’s not my problem. If you want to be up to your ass in whatever bullshit we’re about to go into without my magic, go right ahead. I’ll be back here with my full day’s worth of prepared spells, some popcorn, and some ressurection scrolls.”
Sidenote- at one point, my sunday GM had a thing happen where due to illusions, everyone saw EVERYONE else in the fight as the same monster, which at the same time, randomly swapped everyone’s positions and casting a silence aoe to prevent speech. So we had to figure out who had ended up where through context clues alone. Honestly super fun boss fight.
My berserker barbarian would probably try reason.
“If I was possessed do you really think you’d be able to hold me here without magic? You’ve seen me compact a man’s helmet like a vice with my bare hands, so get off before I stop requesting politely.”
Sam would say “I learned Draconic on the off chance I might get to bang a dragon lady.” No he’s not a bard.
Hmm… not sure if any of my characters would say this, but the type of response I’d _love_ to give is something like, “But wouldn’t that mean you don’t know it?” Just the right mix of philosophical (or fey mindset) and a hint of literal-minded to miss the implicit “that I know, too.” ;3
Apart from that, my Lancer character, Samantha, would probably just check the asker’s browser history or something, and tell them that. One of my 5e characters, Nadia, would probably reveal one of the asker’s bedroom details, most likely the sort they’d find embarrassing. My girl from a feudal-Japan-inspired PF1 game, Momoko, would probably either just naively spout off things that the other party members would want kept secret, motormouth style, or say something introspective, either a nugget of wisdom or “simple wisdom”. Not sure about any of my other characters, off the top of my head.
I feel like this is a “performative speech act.” It’s less about what you’re saying than, “Yup. Invading my privacy through hacking is totally in character.”
Something like that, yeah. And looking for the, ahem, more risqué things they’ve been up to would be pretty in character for her, too. (And would fit the tone of the game, too, so no risk of being uncomfortable. xD) Sometimes, it’s not always what the character says that proves they’re them again, but the actions they take.
Playing a Reflection (PF2e versatile heritage) makes this question extra fun. https://2e.aonprd.com/Ancestries.aspx?ID=51
“…wait, are we talking ‘how do you know I’m not my evil wizard progenitor pretending to be me?’ or ‘how do you know I’m not possessed/an ice clone of an ice clone?’ Former is ‘just check my body temperature,’ latter one I ask myself every so often but can hopefully be answered with ‘remember the shrimp people demiplane with the weird castle and the burning skeleton haunt?'”
Of course, at *present*, since we’re still in the “it’s a metagame-open, in-character-closed secret” phase of the “secretly a runaway Simulacrum” storyline, the actual answer is probably just “abyssal bedbugs are awful”/other campaign-specific adventuring memories and leaving it at that.