Roleplaying Tips For Every Kind of Player: Part One — The What & The Why

It’s time to answer that age old question of questions; is there a right or wrong way to roleplay? Should I be speaking in first-person or third-person at the table? Is it a cardinal sin to not announce “out of game” before I break character, even for just a moment? And if my Yorkshire accent is just plain bad, should I give it up? Read on to answer these questions and more in my roleplaying tips for every player!

WHOSE ROLE IS IT ANYWAY?

So, what even is roleplaying anyway? How does someone actually embody a character and step into their shoes? The 2024 Player’s Handbook defines roleplaying as “literally, the act of playing out a role. In this case, it’s you as a player determining how your character thinks, acts, and talks. Roleplaying is part of every aspect of the game, and it comes to the fore during social interactions.”

Okay, got it. It’s literally everything you do a.k.a. the choices you make for your character. In that regard, it’s impossible to play Dungeons & Dragons and not roleplay, for as soon as you decide on a course of action, you’ve made a roleplaying choice for your character. That’s pretty cool!

But Why Good, Sir?

The how of roleplaying is a larger question that comes down to two primary approaches: active and passive. But before we define those concepts, let’s looks at some of key factors that shape the why of roleplaying, the details that makes one choice over another more appealing to your specific character.

Ability Scores

As touched on in a previous post, your character’s Ability Scores can a major influence over the flavor of your roleplaying. And that makes a lot of sense because they are the primary tool for determining the strengths and weaknesses of every creature in the game. A higher or lower score in one or more Abilities could inform the physical or mental clues of your character's action. For example, that really low DEX score your Wizard has? That could translate into a shuffling or ambling physicality when you describe how they move around in the world. Meanwhile, their high INT score may justify the polysyllabic words or philosophical musings that you sprinkle throughout their social interactions.

The possibilities are endless as character traits like these can be nuanced and fall under one or more Abilities. A character who speaks slowly and plainly could be a result of low INT, low CHA, or even high WIS!

Personal Characteristics

Your character’s Personality Traits, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw are more than just boxes to check off during the creation phase. They are concentrated examples and quick reference tools you can use to jump into your character’s shoes, augmenting your roleplaying experience. For whatever reason, the 2024 PHB scrubs almost all mention of these critical characteristics so I would recommend flipping through the 2014 Player’s Handbook for inspiration. Under each Background they list multiple examples for all of these categories that you can pull directly or edit to suit the exact character you’re trying to build.

The Personality Traits can be anything from a visual flavoring (“I’m missing my left pinky finger”) to a verbal mannerism that comes up often at the table (“I stutter in the presence of danger”). It’s helpful to think of your Personality Traits as the most obvious quirks or differences that strangers would notice when first encountering your character.

The Ideal is closely tied to your character’s Alignment, so we’ll address that in a moment. Same with your Bond, which is typically connected to your Background or Backstory.

Rumor has it that Jeremy Crawford, once the lead game designer for Dungeons & Dragons, touted the Flaw as the most important part of creating a character. Thus, it’s inclusion—nay, necessity!—cannot be overstated when influencing how you roleplay your character. It’s more than just a “weakness,” it’s a recurring and obsessive trait your character cannot escape. Another way to think about the flaw is this: what is the one thing, no matter what, your enemies can use to get you to act against your best interest? Again, refer to the 2014 PHB for some prime examples of Flaws. IMO, it was a tragic mistake to exclude these kind of examples in the 2024 PHB.

Background & Backstory

Dungeons & Dragons characters are often assumed to be up-and-coming heroes, just beginning their adventuring journey across the Forgotten Realms, or other worlds. Your Background is then the profession or early life circumstances your character once held or were raised in; Soldier in a standing army or mercenary company, Acolyte in a church or cult, etc.  Other than the Ability Score buffs, Skill Proficiencies, and Origin Feat it bestows on your character (all super cool!), it’s helpful for establishing a jumping off point for your Backstory, which is perhaps the most crucial element for creating and informing the character you’ll play. The more details and goals you create in your Backstory, the more depth your character will have and thus the more you can draw on for roleplaying.

Keeping The Bond Alive

This is also where your character’s Bond comes in. A Bond is an important detail in their past that connects them to the world or story of your campaign, literally bonding them to your setting. Common examples are a family heirloom, a stolen trinket, a beloved mentor, or the forests near where you grew up. Because the Bond is tied to your past, I typically recommend waiting to create one until you’ve chosen a Background and began developing your Backstory.

A common mistake amateur and veteran players alike make is not including enough motivation for their character. Why are they out adventuring, after living a life as something else? What has driven them from their home or family? Are they seeking something? Running away from something? Maybe both? If your character isn’t working towards something then play sessions can devolve into a slog of combat and empty social interactions. Player Agency and character motivation are the driving forces behind a compelling, memorable story and can keep a campaign running for years.

As promised, we’ll address Alignment in Part Two, as well as diving into my top tips for how to roleplay your character!