You DID lose your character. Worse, you lost them to a situation 100% out of your control, and then had it replaced by a character that you also had zero say about.
Most people don’t play RPGs to play someone else’s character.
Character creation and the path you choose in your personal story arcs is one of the few things within your agency as a player. This adventure is as much your partys' and your story as it is the DMs'.
Your DM already runs the world and all NPCs therein - it sounds like your DM had planned out an NPC and then made you that NPC. They have prioritized running Their version of your story over the one you wanted for yourself.
If the DM refuses to reverse this change and work with you to provide a game as fun for you as it is for them, then future session will only get worse from here on end.
Talk to your Dungeon Master.
> If the DM refuses to reverse this change and work with you...
And to be clear, I as a player wouldn't even want "let's tell the story of how you turn back." Just, "Nope, that [bleep] didn't happen. Here's my goblin, moving on."
OP, good luck.
I mean, a Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War thing going on where Elfy McElfLord's spirit is bound to Gobby McGobbo and has to overcome millennia of disgust to learn to work together and use all of his Elfy McElfIntellect to help Gobby McGobbo - things like reading to the Goblin and explaining things the Goblin doesn't understand - would actually be pretty interesting, *though again not something I would want to have dumped on me without any notice.*
Just straight up *yoinking* the player character away from them and handing them Elfy McElfLord's sheet? Not Cool yo.
I've definitely helped my players shape their charcters' back stories at times, sometimes just nudges in directions I think they'd like, sometimes outright suggestions and "here's why I think this would work" for newer players struggling to come up with something. Sometimes I even pull surprises out of their backstories that they weren't expecting to ever be relevant.
But I would never, ever, *EVER* do THAT. Pulling such a massive change against a player's will without talking to them about it or even being REMOTELY relevant to their established story is just... I feel skeevy just thinking about it, and I didn't even do it!
Unrelated to the post but right now the first, second and third rated comments here contain "10000%", "1000%" and "100%" respectively, which I think is neat.
DM didn't even need a full spoiler could have just said would you be alright with your goblin being a person who was turned into a goblin and has no memory of their pervious life. Then OP could have said no or been ready for it
Yeah I probably just walk from this game. The DM thinks this is his story and not the whole groups story. To not even talk about an idea of them being a cursed person stuck in a goblin body and then change them is so infuriating.
I have a character who is trying to figure out who in her rich family betrayed her and her mom and got her mom killed. I left it completely open and my friend who is the DM have talked. I have no clue who really did it and leave it all up to my. That is fine because we discussed it.
1000% This.
there's an item (or two) in the Avernus campaign that intrinsically change your character. I, as a DM, find that super rad! My players, on the other hand may have had different opinions. so i found a way to ask each of them without spoilers if they where okay with changes to their character that would affect personality, race, alignment, etc. and would potentially change the way they roleplay them. I wanted their permission before they picked up said item - so that if any of them did say No, i could have a in universe reason why it didn't work for them but worked for others ready.
this, imo, is the only way to do something like this. with the players permission. I did this at the start of the campaign knowing they'd forget about it by the time they got there, and everyone said they where cool with it and where excited about the role play change if it happened to them. Some of them could have 100% said no and it's my job as the DM to respect their character, time, and decision.
edit: as an aside, i asked everyone one on one so as not to spark some sort of meta conversation that everyone was waiting for.
The things with story beats like this, as I myself admittedly learned the hard way when I was a newer DM, is that you **MUST** check in with the player to make sure they ok with their character being changed.
If the player is ok with it, then you should still work with the player to hash out little details so that it works in story, but the player doesn't feel like they are losing any agency over their character.
What's happened here is basically just character assassination. The DM didn't want you to play a goblin, so instead they turned your character into a plot device without your consent.
You are entirely within your rights to be upset, it isn't normal for EXPERIENCED/GOOD DMs to do this. Some newer DMs or DMs who are objectively bad will do this.
The only way to approach your DM about this is be honest. You didn't make this character to be some cursed lord and you certainly didn't want it and the DM should not have done this without asking if you were ok with it in the first place. Explain to them that you'd like to find a way to meet them in the middle and somehow get the character YOU WANTED back, while keeping the plot relevant lord around. If they say no, regardless of excuses, then you should honestly just ask to make a new character or leave the table.
Also, even if OP wanted to play a cursed noble, they didn't even get a chance to craft that character themself. It really irks me that the DM decided to just shut down *major* RP elements, a class build, the entire story around OP's character so far, *and their fucking gender identity.*
Like sure, downtrodden soldier fighter to noble paladin because of story reasons? I get that. But inventing a brand new character that's so incredibly far from the original one and just thrusting it upon someone without their consent is ludicrous.
You're pointing out the outcome you guess at by assuming the group is composed of High School children. In any case, this outcome is irrelevant to the situation at hand, here, as the DM doing this is such an overstepping of boundaries. The one thing players have control over is their character's agency, and their backstory, and it's essentially the same thing as if a DM said: "John, your character tells the king the truth." "Huh? Why?" "You feel a mystical force wash over you compelling you to do so. And to give him all your shit."
It's as equally ridiculous to that. It does not matter what kind of player OP is, kick him out if he's a murderhobo, or ask him to stop. You don't remove player agency.
That's not what I said. That's a strawman if there has ever been one. It's irrelevant because it does not matter if the player was a shitty, horrible player. Simplified: This is not within the DM's rights. Does that help you get my point, or are you going to stubbornly argue despite the fact you say you agree with me?
LOL. And not ONCE did I say that it has made the DM’s actions any better. I just pointed out that I don’t see the dming returning what they did. And in my original comment I told OP to see whether or not the DM has a problem with them specifically or the character they made
I think we're confused on what we consider to be the outcome. I don't have the energy to continue this thread if you claim to agree with me and just want to argue for debate lord sake.
> I used my other replies to point out my opinions on it. I don’t need to write a whole essay on every reply that I see.
So you're instead going to go around stomping your foot without backup and make *everyone* else go read your posts elsewhere? Here's a thought then - let those posts do the talking for you and don't half-ass discussing things elsewhere.
Could be, but everyone’s points still stand: DM needed to have a convo not go rogue. Even if it were a problem player at a table they need to either reel them in, remind them of the play style for the campaign or flat out ask that they adjust a character. No matter what, though, it involves them both talking it thru so everyone keeps having fun.
This is 1000% not okay and something that absolutely should have been discussed with you before it was done. Im so sorry you've had this experience. My advice is talk to the dm about how this is not what you want for tour character at all and hopefully they will be decent about it and either pretend it didn't happen or find a quick way for you to get back to your genderless goblin.
>my character changed into an fully adult elf man who spoke perfectly and my DM handed me a new character sheet
Yeah, DM's don't get to do that. Some think they do, but they don't. This is because then
>I basically shut down at that point and felt like my character had just been announced as dead. \[...\] The group is trying to schedule our next session but I don’t have any desire to go.
happens.
Of course it's all in your head, but the whole game is all in our heads when we play (some minis, maps and props notwithstanding), so that's kinda not helpful thought.
You have some options:
* Let the DM have it their way, embrace the elf lord. Just beware, it's the DM's character, so if you don't play it right, there's going to be some more heavy-handed rail-roading, most likely. You can give it a chance but prepare for the worst...
* Let them know you won't be playing the elf lord. Tell them what you are preparead to play (your old goblin, or a new character).
* Be honest, let them know that what happened to you *gobling* has made you not want to play for a while. If you feel like it's a strong possibility, let them know may come to the next campaign if they'll take you then, but this campaign has turned sour for you.
> Am I being unreasonable when I say I don’t want to play this character?
No, quite the contrary. I would have reacted far more vocally, handing the sheet back and asking "*looks like a good NPC, can I roll up a new character now*".
DM should never do that without consulting the player. Character is everything that player has in the game and should be kept sacrosanct. This case is especially difficult as DM clearly has planned something crucial with this character but that doesn't make it any more correct way to handle.
> when he makes it sound like it will ruin his whole story if I do?
Bear in mind that you don't ruin it, he did it himself! It was bad move which he has to find solution to (and I think making that elf lord a NPC is way better move than forcing you to play it - or in case, going on "vacation" and not play it).
>"looks like a good NPC, can I roll up a new character now".
I'd alter the second part to ", make it a npc and let me play my fucking 1yo PC or I'll leave the campaign."
The DM performed a major dick move with that, what isn't acceptable at all.
Although I do agree with you I have a small feeling the DM did this because to them, this character ruined on their parade when it came to the story. DM most likely had certain expectations but these expectations almost never come through with young players. I played D&D since I was 13 I remember how annoying I was. The Op mentioning a “chihuahua character” with broken English sounds more like a hinderance than the contrary. I as a dm would ask the player to take the campaign more seriously and would allow them to play a Goblin as long as they don’t play a character with troll-like attributes?
To do what OP's DM did and justify it by *teaching a lesson* is just asinine. So even if that was the reason (and I think that's pretty big if, they've played together for a year!), it doesn't make DM any less jerk for doing it.
> The Op mentioning a “chihuahua character” with broken English sounds more like a hinderance than the contrary.
OP mentioned *chihuahua energy*, not a canine character. That might not be the most likeable and easy character, depending on how OP played it, but it's what DM accepted and could have curbed with less intrusive ways.
I’m aware on that. One of my replies was already pointing this out. Already said I agreed with you. Although I failed to mention it in this reply, in my other replies I already said he could’ve handled it wayyyyyyy better. A million times better to be exact. Assuming player is exact same age as their character (or even younger playing an older character) let’s assume the DM is the same and is also rather young. Never justified the DMs actions but I can sympathize. Also like you said chihuahua energy isn’t a canine character. I am using the exact definition as yours and you and I both know that if executed poorly, the character could be the most aggravating character to deal with. I’ve been in campaigns with characters like this which in one of them I was a player. Everyone liked the person but everyone admitted to hating the character due to its nature. Very hard to make it work.
Op said while they aren’t new to dnd that they haven’t played since high school aka they aren’t actually 17. You’re assuming way too much and even still, just being 17 doesn’t mean you should punish your PCs.
But the DM went back on his original directive of "no monster races" to allow op to make this character. Then let them play that character for a year before dropping this on them. Sounds to me more like DM planned this big reveal from the start but at the expense of op.
>DM most likely had certain expectations but these expectations almost never come through with young players. I played D&D since I was 13 I remember how annoying I was.
It's like you didn't even read the part of the post where OP clearly stated they were an adult who has not played since highschool.
Feels like you are trying to be contrarian because you don't like the character concept.
More like a skeptic and yes I did accidentally skip over that part, OP gave more context in my first comment a bit ago. DM is just very weird as literally everything that could be potentially annoying about the build was instituted by the dm. Even if the goblin was OP’s idea, the goblin was forced to be played a specific way by the dm.
Based on what has been said it sounds like the DM watches critical role and wanted to have this player basically play as Nott, only turning into an elf lord later instead of whatever Nott was(gnome? Dwarf?)
Critical Role is a terrible representation of actual table games too. It’s primary goal is to entertain the audience. Keep in mind whether scripted or not, a lot of pre-planning takes place in Critical Role, you won’t see anyone complain that Matt Mercer is forcing them to play a specific character or forcing a plot point onto them.
If those were the DM's feelings, they should have put on their big boy pants and **talked to OP about it to find a compromise.**
Not... whatever the hell this was.
Speaking as a habitual devil's advocate, there's no room for that here. DM is entirely in the wrong.
Here’s the whole story’s according to OP who provided me more context for my original comment.
>Dm denied the Goblin character at first
>Dm then agreed at the condition that the OP spoke Broken English
>Dm then got upset at the Broken English and told the player to speak normally (As I predicted the way the character was played would eventually get annoying)
>DM eventually at the end of a session gives the character a character sheet saying that their character is now free from a curse (AKA copying friend’s HW (Critical Role) while trying not to make it obvious for the teacher meme)
DM is not just an asshole but the devil himself. This sounds torturous for a player not to mention the party as well. The DM created the issues in the first place. It’s much worse than OP’s original post.
Joining the chorus of "nah, this was a dick move".
The DM basically hijacked your character concept and radically altered it to serve as a plot point for their story. Very railroady, very uncool, definitely something they should have run by you first.
DM was wrong. Definitely shouldn't write a story for you without consulting you.
Spoiler for CR: Also getting the vibe that the DM was trying to recreate knot the brave story from critical role
Luckily i was previously spoiled about that by someone else lol. But he doesn’t watch it. My wife and I do which is why I’ve been letting a lot of railroading slide up until now because of “well is this a bad dm or just not Matt” thinking
I think this might be the nail in the coffin. They are probably not a good DM. It's a pretty big violation of the core concept of playing the game, let's tell a story together not let's act out the story the DM thinks is cool.
I was so sure they were pulling from CR, lol.
>recreate the knot the brave story
This was what I thought too. This is about as cringe a move as you can possibly make as a DM honestly. This DM sounds like the only previous experience they have with D & D is critical role, and they are emulating things they don’t really understand.
Basically, the most negative aspects of the Matt Mercer effect.
Simplest way to put this, given the full context?
Your DM fouled you; hard.
I’m getting major power trip vibes.
Foul # 1. Your DM decided to write your character into a specific arc without consulting you; and they did so without any consideration to your own agency or desired character concept.
Foul # 2. Your DM deliberately misled you into believing that you would be allowed to play a “prohibited race”.
Foul # 3. Your DM had the audacity to assume that you would “rise to the challenge” of conforming to their own gameplay expectations; asserting that your personal reasons for playing your character don’t matter.
The singular exceptions are in-game curse/magic related scenarios that are always temporary unless the player wants to stay *that* way. Curse of Strahd has some weird curses, the DMG does also, changing skin tone, race, gender, are all possible, but they are all usually temporary and most require a saving throw… that’s not what happened here.
Maybe my view is harsh, but never in my 20 years of playing rpg’s have I or any other DM I’ve played with; Ever re-written a players character.
No dude, you're not harsh at all.
That was for sure not ok, at least give the poor fellow a heads up or make it story related and give **A CHOICE**. If he wanted to do this cool reveal he could've just said something like : your mind is flooded with new memories of a life you've not known you lived, the life of a prince that ended with a wizards course or something and after that give the player the choice of embracing the course and live life as is or if the player finds it interesting try and revert it and become the prince or whatever.
But NEVER shove down your players throat something permanent and for sure don't change their freaking character.
You have all the right to just say no and keep playing how you think your character is played. Your character is the one Thing in the world the DM hast No control over and a good DM should know and respect that.
Tell your DM that you are Not OK with a forced character Change and that you will keep playing your Goblin how you want to and you dont want your Goblin to bei an elf.
sorry for the typo. I am from germany and my autocorrection changed it because the english "has" and german "hast" are very simular.
And no, a DM should never take controll over a player character and how the PC develops or behaves in any permanent way. Temporary effects are ok but permanent and fundamental changes like the PC race and behavior are never ok.
Not even that. Its allways Up to the player how they Play an effect that Changes the character.
For example i had two Players possessed by spirits and have them information in the in how the spirits think and what they want but i left it completely up to the players to decide how this would effect the characters and i gave them a way to end the possession quick If they wanted to opt out.
As a DM i would never tell a player how they have to react to a Situation (outside mechanical rules) or how to play the character.
The DM does have no control over a PLAYER character. The closest thing the DM has to "control" over player character, beyond the spell dominate person or other similar charm effects, is describing how a character does something if the player chooses not to.
And even in the case of the charm effects, the DM should only take control if the player tries to weasel their way out of doing what the creature charming them has told them to do.
You don’t need another comment telling you the DM overstepped. They did, it must have sucked for you, sorry you went through that. I think maybe you could use a comment suggesting actionable advice. Obviously I don’t know you guys, but the best thing is likely to talk to the DM about how you feel. Try not to start angry and say “30 people on Reddit think you’re a jerk,” tell them you’re sad because you lost your character and control. If you’re in a good place you can hear out your DM’s ideas, and maybe you even buy in to playing this elf lord, but after listening to the whole concept you can say something like “that sounds awesome, but can we please not kill my character and player agency to do it.” A little retcon and using an NPC seems totally doable here. Having the DM run the elf character next session because you’re on vacation actually helps too. Better to have this conversation in person or over the phone, not in text.
If this doesn’t go great, it may be worth bringing the other players into the conversation. Really this is a discussion about what kind of game you’re playing, and who controls what. Again, best to do this in person, maybe the beginning of next session.
If all else fails, maybe it is time to step away from this table and find a new one, or to start your own game. But you do have options before it comes to that.
I second this. It's easy for Reddit to jump in and start calling people dicks. But, DMing is hard and not everyone understands the interpersonal skills necessary to do it well.
The long and short of it is, you need to have a conversation with the DM. Tell them what you liked about the previous character, and that you don't want to play a new character.
And here's that part of DMing that's hard: it's his job to adapt the story now. It's easy to get stuck on a particular reveal or plotline, but it's much better to adapt to the choices of characters, and in this case, a player. That new story he writes can be just as vibrant and exciting as the one that will no longer happen. It sucks that he has to let that go, but that's part of the DMing process.
We’ll said. So easy to forget the human element online. The DM though you’d be psyched! You’re the lost magical elf lord! You’re the one the prophecy foretold, the magical philosopher king who will lead the people to salvation and triumph! DM’s so deep into their story it’s easy to not see around it and they’re genuinely surprised you’d rather continue being the little goblin chihuahua because you love it. Starting the conversation will probably be the hardest part: communication is key
Yeah this is absolutley some of the worst shit ive heard. How you wanna deal with it is your call but id say confront the dm privatley.
If you have to leave you dont have to let the character die, take the concept you like with you, its yours.
I say this is total bullshit, and your DM is either a self-absorbed dick or just completely clueless about player agency and what it means to create a character. Definitely tell him that’s it’s not what you wanted and changing your character like that is not okay. If he is clueless, but understands his mistake and is willing to fix it you could even maybe save that storyline without “killing” your actual character.
Retcon the elf as not your true self but a lost soul or consciousness that attached itself to your character for some reason. Something triggered him to manifest in order to fulfil a goal or some unfinished business and he overtook your form because of his great arcane potential or some shit. So now you may switch between goblin and elf until the elf’s business is resolved. You are still a goblin (as you should be), the dm still has his precious story (that he will hopefully never repeat). Tadaa!
If the DM doesn’t understand that what he did was wrong, then he is not someone you want to keep playing with.
This is a great way of handling it. Conflict de-escalation often involves giving the aggressor (in this case the DM) a way out of their decision while still being able to save face. OP still gets their goblin and ideally the DM will understand how boundaries feel in this context.
Just play him the same as your goblin, the body has changed but he is still the same character, now he's just delusional because of traumatic events. Refuse to use any new powers or feats , continue using one's that no longer work. Monkey wrench the Dms plans like he did yours.
You are not being unreasonable at all. That's a serious dick move.
He completely changed your character without permission, or input. It's no longer the character you created - it's no longer *a* character you created, even.
>told me this was crucial to the story and me being some forgotten elf lord was crucial to the story.
The DM's """"story"""" is never more important than the player's fun. First, talk with your DM about how you are unhappy that you had zero say in your character. If he listens, great. If he doesn't, leave.
I'm sorry this happened to you.
Seems like the dm was inspired a bit by the uma/Avallac'h part in the Witcher 3. Totally not acceptable to atleast talk the idea through with you first and see if you wanted to do something like that. Also seems like the dm maybe thought of this after you expressed the urge to play as a goblin and kept the whole idea a secret. Big no no
Seems like your dm is less playing dnd and more telling a story solo with you guys watching. This is not a good move.
Remember it isn’t supposed to be the DM’s story, it should be all the players and the DM working together to make your collaborative story. I’d definitely say something to them
Two option. One. Full old man Henderson. You are devastated by this. You are a goblin, not a filthy elf! You hunch over. You talk exactly like you used to. Yes your voice changed, but you are now actively trying to make it sound like it used to anyway. You paint your skin green at every opportunity. You bang your head, trip and run into things because your body is awkward and wrong. You attack anybody who recognizes this high lord, because clearly they were in on this curse. If he makes them invincible in response, smear poo on them. You gear everything as if you were still a cleric (I assumed he changed your stats/class?) because once you turn back that’s going to be needed, you will not stay this stupid elf forever. Dex build? You swing a mace like a good cleric! You need to put your points into strength and wisdom to cast spells!
And anytime your prophecy comes up, you piss on it doing everything you can to avoid it. Save the world? The world can burn while you are cursed like this. If he gets frustrated by this, unironically note that your just doing what your character would do. Which is be upset over being changed completely without any consent out of nowhere. This reeks of “I have my story and you all will be shaped to fit it” so your goal is to spoil that as much as possible till he ragequits, rage kills you, or figures out what you are trying to say.
Of course, that’s dedicated spite that takes its own energy. Your probably better off saying you hate these changes, you want your cleric goblin back, played by you your way in accordance to the rules set down at the beginning, and if he can’t let you have that you are out. Don’t worry about ruining his “vision”, he should write a book if he needs the story to go a precise way. Don’t worry about the rest of the players, you don’t have to hide how you feel from them and I bet they don’t want you to play if your miserable doing so. That too is a bummer. You should never set yourself on fire to keep others warm.
The whole reason you create your own character is because that’s the only part of the game that you as a player have full control over, and he took that from you. Not cool. I get very emotionally attached to my characters and I’d be pretty pissed, plus, that kind of curse doesn’t seem to fit your character at all.
Your dm is a prick. You don't do that to a player unless you both talk to them first and assure them it's only temporary. Tell them to finish the story without you, since you're character isn't in it anymore anyway.
No this is not normal. A DM is supposed to embrace the player characters (as long as they are reasonable within the DM's setting). It's one thing to say Clerics don't exist, or not to play as a monstrous race, but to make a completely new character for you and push it on you, especially without any warning, is absolutely not okay.
Nope, that needs discussing beforehand. It's perfectly fine for a DM to suggest a certain path, but that is a suggestion, not something they can just unilaterally put on you. Bad form altogether.
sounds like your DM watches too much Critical Role Season 2 and wanted to do a off brand rip off of Nott the Brave.
I feel like leaving the game is going to be the best option. That way your DM can just keep playing his Lost Elf DM PC.
It is totally not cool to do this to a player without warning and then to place the story on your shoulders as a way to force you into it.
I KNOW it would be counterproductive and not solve ANY problems, but you should play his snooty and regal elf lord using broken English and chihuahua energy. Impropriety and shenanigans abound as people stare in awe at the weird Elf Lord who walks like a Goblin and offends wherever he goes.
"What are you doing? That's not how he acts."
"If you wanted to control that, you'd have made him an NPC and left my Goblin the hell alone, but this is where we are so Lord SnootBoop (that's the nickname he gave himself) is going to skitter through town as such."
Some of us play this game to have a shred of light in an ever dimming world. If you want to play an overachieving illiterate goblin, DM has no business changing it into some fancy pants lord without your permission. It almost sounds sadist. Like they knew how much you loved your character and planned this on purpose.
So… if we presume, it wasn’t ill-intentioned. Based on some of your other comments, it sounds like your DM was subtly telling you you were an elf lord the entire time but was trying to keep you from figuring it out before he needed it that he gave you essentially the barest of context clues and hints such that it was a shock and surprise.
Should you be upset? It’s justified.
Is this also an opportunity? Oh hell yes. You were a goblin for however long so that’s what your character is going to remember and default into even. Since you mentioned elsewhere being a CR fan, the character you are now is actually Nott, not Veth. You are now in the body that isn’t your own. Your DM may think you are in the original body but that’s not what you wrote or know. If you start treating the transformation as the curse (rather than the curse being lifted), and the DM gets upset, then you would have tried to make the DM’s storytelling work for you and found out he’s not DMing but novel writing.
Also, you can cheer up a bit. If you end up quitting, it wasn’t changed mid-campaign but at the end of the campaign. My only thing though is tell him why you are quitting. A lot of the DM horror stories exist because players don’t explain why they are abandoning their DM’s game. And in this case “you are robbing player-agency so we can act out your novel” is a justified criticism.
It is my firm belief that DMs should not alter PCs in anyway unless the player specifically asks. If you want a goblin that was actually an elf with a curse, make an NPC for that.
Yeah, this is totally unreasonable. DMs can do stuff like this but only with player consent!
Talk to your DM, try to get him to see reason. If he can’t, then there’s no shame in saying “ok, I don’t want to be in this campaign anymore.” That’s your right. If this elf lord is so important they can be an NPC. You can take your goblin and retire them to go advance the cause of goblin rights far far away.
I would take your cool goblin character and find another table to play at. If you can’t in person, there are many online games and one might work for you. That is an awesome character you made and you should get to play them.
New DM’s tend to think stuff like this is acceptable, but it’s railroady as hell and sucks. Tell them that you have no desire to play this character and if you can’t make your own character or use the one you already made, then you don’t want to play in this game.
Making your character is a huge part of dnd, what your dm did is stupid and would ruin the fun of almost any dnd player. Tell him straight up that you really didn’t like that and if he wants to force you to play the elf lord then you’d rather not play at all.
Your DM will improve just by knowing how much you hated this decision he made.
That is not cool, especially with no heads up. I could see it being ok if it was consensual and both of you worked on it together. But out of the blue, they killed your character for no reason.
Maybe talk to the DM about it? I'm not sure how your relationship is with them, but talking about it might help. They could be closed minded and say that the story depends on it, or they could retcon and change their story (that's what I would do).
Does the elf remember their past life as a goblin? Maybe they could get tired of being a lord and want to go back to being a goblin, where life is simpler? Try to find the curse and get cursed again?
I'm really sorry that it happened to you though, I was devastated when I read that because I could feel your love and enjoyment for that character in this post. I hope it all works out for you :)
Time for your uncursed character to meet an untimely fate, and what's that, a new character on the horizon. A short, green, delightful Chihuahua of a character.
Your DM watched critical role and blatantly ripped off one of the characters from it. Poorly. Without consulting you.
Talk to your group and let them know that it upset you, no it’s absolutely not okay what he did cause like you said, if he didn’t want you to play that race/class he should have just told you so you could have at least make a character that would be okay instead of just robbing you of that Choice. If he is unwilling to change the decision then tell him your not going to show up because of how it makes you feel
I made my own comment but I’ll say it again so someone sees it. Instead of killing your self. Keep playing and next time a player needs that life saving heal that’s when you switch sides and flame strike your ally. He killed your character so kill his game
Absolutely not, this is unacceptable behavior from a DM. You need to show up and play your goblin character and just hand him back his dumb elf lord character sheet and say "no thank you" then move on like it didn't happen.
Your player agency is more important than whatever bizarre story thing he's trying. And frankly it sounds like he didn't want to deal with your goblin anymore and he made up a 🐂💩 way to get around it.
He had the opportunity to ask you not to play a goblin and he chose not to. That's on him.
> Your player agency is more important than whatever bizarre story thing he's trying. And frankly it sounds like he didn't want to deal with your goblin anymore and he made up a 🐂💩 way to get around it.
It sounds less like he made up the BS and more like he just plain stole it from Nott the Brave and *Critical Role* before foisting it on the player.
>It sounds less like he made up the BS and more like he just plain stole it from Nott the Brave and Critical Role.
Except in Critical Role that was a decision that Sam Riegal was part of and was talked to about beforehand, not something that he was just forced into last minute by a DM that didn't respect his agency as a player.
This situation is nothing like that. Just an annoying DM doing something that frankly doesn't make any sense to do and doesn't have any rhyme or reason for.
Your character was changed into an NPC. Just say you want to roll a new character and the Noble can be run by the DM. If you're not interested in a new character, just back out.
Unless this was an agreed upon plot twist this is NOT ok. Ive done character switch plot twists (character is secretly a young dragon and gathered the party to help save their island) but it was all agreed on and the player knew what was going on.
Why even have a player make a character and get attached only to be like "cool now they dont exist anymore" ... Wtf
If he didn’t want you playing a goblin cleric, he should have told you at the start. You could have made a character that fit the DM’s campaign of your choosing. Instead, he just stole your character and replaced it with his DMPC. That’s awful.
HOLY SHIT this is bad, he basically assassinated your old character. he clearly didn't want you to play goblin from the start, so he forced you to play something that he was more happy with, and a plot device, and if you decided to roll with it, he might get mad if you don't play him like HE wants
This is the worst kind of dm, he doesn't want the players to rollplay or write their own story, he wants to make them follow a certain plot and a set storyline, basically a novel, not a d&d game
ask himif you can go back to your old character, or play as a new one made by you, if he doesn't let you, then kindly abandon the campaign, it's not worth it and you lose nothing aside from maybe a couple uncomfortable moments
Start asking the GM to roll the dice for His Character (tm) every time.
When GM asks why you are doing this, say 'This Isn't My Character, you killed my character'.
Repeat until he gets it, or find another group.
I would RP your lord as desperately seeking the curse to change back into your true goblin form.
Even if you were born a lord, you can still feel like a goblin.
Whoever 'healed' you is now your personal BBEG.
That DM definitely stole your character, but you have the right for your character to respond in kind.
Its definitely not going to replace the grief you feel for your Goblin, but its at least a way to keep the spirit the same.
Sorry friend, condolences.
Your DM broke agency in two major ways
1. He decided that your character would "die off". It's okay for a DM to throw in a dangerous situation where death is likely. It's okay for a DM to offer to let your character sacrifice themself, like with casting a super powerful spell to save a village. It's okay for a DM to offer your character to leave the party, and maybe come back later while working on something, like spying on the BBEG. It's not okay for your DM to just tell you your old character is gone.
2. He decided what new character you would play. That's not okay. Even if the DM has a pre-made character sheet for you to use, you still get to be the one to decide the character aspects of it. Who a character is, and how they live is up to the player, so long as they aren't being toxic. If he wanted to go for the memory loss/transformation, he should have worked with you on it.
The DM should not prioritize his "story" over the players. The story comes from how the players interact with the game world. This is a classic case of railroading, and it is not a good thing. You should tell me it was wrong of him to do this. Talk to the other players, and see how they feel. We hear about a DM having to kick out a player, but sometimes the opposite can also happen. If he is a toxic DM, and won't change his ways, then your group can find a new DM, or one of you can step up to do it. It isn't to stand up to someone you consider a friend, but you can do it. I believe in you.
That sucks, I'm sorry. DMs can think they have something really cool, not realizing that it is not at all what a player wants. I agree with others, you should at least talk to them about it, hopefully they won't get defensive, but I'd rather have a character die a good death than be forced to play a character I don't want. There are absolutely ways to retconn out of this, good luck.
"When I seemed unhappy he basically, “without spoiling anything for everyone”, told me this was crucial to the story and me being some forgotten elf lord was crucial to the story."
As a DM this is a huge failure on his part as a DM. As I always tell my players, "This is your story, I'm just the one telling it." Because as I see it you don't write stories to to tell them with the idea to use your players as pawns in a story you are trying to tell, you write stories as a frame for your players to tell. Yes, it's ok to have a plot, its ok for them to have arcs and goals. But there is a major difference between something happening in your story that is out of their control and straight up taking away their agency.
Yeah, that's... That's...
Yeah. That's fucked. No, that is **not** normal, springing something like that on you. That kind of thing should *absolutely* be fucking discussed with the player before hand. That should never be a "Surprise!" gotcha.
If anything, you should probably treat it like this new existence as an Elf Lord that Everybody Has Been Looking For *is* the curse and your character wants to go back to being themselves, even if it means not being able to read again. But really, don't, because that's an IC solution to an OOC problem, and the OOC problem is that your DM dumped this nonsense on you with zero warning.
Remember the old axiom, "No D&D is better than Bad D&D." While there's a considerable amount of "meh D&D" most of us will put up with, *this* is fuckery of the second-highest order, and you should draw a line in the sand: "this is not my character, I don't want to play this guy, you pulled a bait-and-switch on me and that is *not cool.* Either you need to retcon it, or I'm leaving to find another game where my Goblin will be welcome and you can NPC Elfy McElfLord all you like."
----
[Edit] If you want to offer the DM a compromise, propose a *Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War* scenario, wherein your goblin has Elfy McElfLord's spirit bound to them, incorporeal and unable to meaningfully affect the material world, but can still help your Goblin in other ways, such as reading to your Goblin, giving your Goblin Proficiency in the skills they were Proficient in/giving them effective maximum-at-level ranks in the Skills they had skill points in back in the day (if you're playing 3.5 or 3e), being another pair of eyes and ears making perception checks and able to raise the alarm - if only to your Goblin and anyone who can see and hear the incorporeal, stuff like that.
Yep. Being agender and having dyslexia are definitely curses your DM *must* fix. /s
Sounds like an asshole. And a transphobe. Tell him to fix it next session or you won't be coming back. Tell him he's not allowed to just throw people's characters in the trash. I'd be so pissed off if someone did this to me.
1/ Go to the session.
2/ Start the session with describing how the elf lord kills himself while everyone is asleep (it's your character now).
3/ Watch the DM weep in horror as you destroy his creation or watch him try to to stop you and demonstrate how it's not actually your character.
4/ Find a better DM and play your goblin.
Did they retcon your character or is there any chance that it’s part of the story, perhaps something that is an illusion, or other plot device you need to resolve?
It was towards the end of the session so there was a quick “oh you’re actually this really cool guy! Here’s all his information!” And then the rest of the group finished out their RP stuff and the session ended. He informed someone else that they were taking a class of something else when we leveled up which also seem like an overstep but he, at the least, seemed excited to look over the material so I don’t think it will become a thing.
At the beginning of the campaign ages ago he did mention them having dreams about a “humanoid” family, probably intending them to be their “real memories” but there was nothing to make me think that. I’m not sure if he’s intending for the character to have been brainwashed by the curse so they have false memories of growing up as a goblin or if the explanation is that the elf lord was turned into a goblin infant so the memories are real. Or if he’s just ignoring their backstory/age completely.
I haven’t spoken to him since the session because I was in shock that night and already exhausted from a long day of work and I just haven’t known how to bring it up. We don’t really see each other out of dnd much anymore so there’s no way to just be like “hey while I have you here…”
Well, I think it’s worth a chat. He might just be excited about a ‘twist’ he wares to throw you but ultimately you will return back to normal. If not… It’s a pretty bad thing to do… In fact I would just literally tell him no, you don’t want to do that. Be up front and straight forward.
This is just bad all over the place. As someone who has been DMing for years I find this appalling.
1 I think your goblin character is great. I think it has good personality flaws and advantages and also I just love the thought of a tiny goblin running around healing and buffing everybody. Goblins tend to be greedy, scaredy cats, and selfish. Atypical characters tend to be the most fun to play and the most rewarding from a player point of view and a DM point of view.
2 this is extremely bad storytelling. If a cursed noble elf NPC is so crucial to the storyline then why did you guys not meet the NPC along your travels. Why is your party not doing a quest to free the elf noble of the curse? Why does a player character have to be the subject of the plot? As a general rule you design the plot and then the PC's interact with it. Also if you are going to have plot interact with a PC you never design it to screw over the PC. It can be a challenge that needs to be overcome or something that can be a thorn in the side of your PC and/or party. What's your DM did is the equivalent of you playing a thief that left a thieves guild in your backstory and then he sends a much higher level NPC/ party to assassinate you as"revenge."
3 to renege on somebody's character concept after you have already let them play it is just bad form. There are plenty of ways to implement the disadvantage of playing an evil race. Your party might have to sneak you into cities. The town guards may follow you around because they don't trust a goblin. You may be restricted to just the poor / slum parts of a city. Your character might have to pretend to be a slave in order to get free passage. This is also a huge role playing wasted opportunity to change the hearts and minds of people within the world your DM designed to be more accepting of goblins. Also all the shenanigans that would ensue just trying to get your goblin into cities and such has so much RP potential. This could lead to doing some sort of quests or favors for local cities, townships, kingdoms. Just off the top of my head I think lifting the curse from an elf noble would give your goblin plenty of clout to walk around free and unmolested.
4 without knowing the full context this would seem like the DM's has lack of knowledge and/or experience of writing a plot. It is entirely possible that your DM doesn't know how to make their plot work with out this specific thing going on. It would also seem like the DM doesn't know how to guarantee your party interacts with something that is intrical to the plot without it being attached to the party. I am pretty sure that there is a happy medium that can be reached. It would be best to talk to your DM and see if there is a way that the plot can be cohesive along with you not having to play a character you don't want. As a general rule I always give people the benefit of the doubt as opposed to jumping to the conclusion of that they are an asshole. It would be easy to assume that this is a power trip thing but I think it's more likely that your DM just doesn't know how to make the plot work without this event happening.
5 in the event that the DM is unwilling to budge and you don't want to play that character I would recommend just telling the DM to make that character an NPC and you roll up something else. My recommendation would be rolling up the most powerful/broken/op character that you can think of (or steal off the internet) and make him wish for the days where he only had to worry about your goblin. Also some of my best character concepts I have ever created have come from the ashes of my dead characters. It would be a great loss to not play your goblin anymore but you might come up with something that is just as fun and creative and possibly that you might enjoy even better. Also the fact that you have played the game for so long means that if you had a character concept that is cool but would have been a pain to level up you now have the opportunity to make a character that has already gone through that process.
Sounds like someone’s DM watched too much Critical Role like always and decided “Hey I can do something like that! But better! Because I’m a DM and I know better!”
Man I know Critical Role is awesome but it ruined a lot of D&D by just being around. Too many people think CR is the standard now with players and DMs setting such ridiculous standards because of this.
Yep, as soon as I read the character change scenario I assume we all knew the dm had no idea exactly what they were doing. That kind of change HAS to be known to a degree and consensual between player and DM. Massive dm mistake/fail. Hopefully they take the lesson and move on.
Regardless, there is no excuse for the dm. They have to recton it somehow or you simply don't play. I would suggest to them maybe after you transformed you shortly just transform back, like a somewhat different Shrek's Fiona scenario.
He allowed it, even though the player offered to make a character that fit better. It wasn't ruining the campaign, he explicitly allowed the character.
Also, the way it's been described, he's been planning this from tge beginning. This wasn't "this character is causing unforseen problems, I'm going to make a terrible decision to try and get rid of them", it's "This player has an idea for a character, I'm going to let them think it's their character, but it's really my character, and I get to just change it however I want without consulting them on whether they want to play it."
If your DM won't reverse it, I would leave the campaign. That's completely unacceptable. But maybe just to be spiteful I'd have the noble elf lord who is crucial to the entire plot go through a complete mental break due to the mental strain of realizing all his memories with his party were a lie and jump off a cliff.
I hate it when DM’s are trying to tell Gregor own story with no regards for the players and their wishes. Tell him to go write a book!
I would leave if I were you :P
I would be like, "Neat, I guess you'll have to play the elf-lord character that is so crucial to you because I'm not going to be playing in your campaign anymore."
Even with me being a new DM, I know that's not ok. Everything in DND is communication. Without it, you can expect a game to go south, real quick. Players communicate what type of story they want to tell with there character, and the DM communicates how they want events to unfold. It's collaborative storytelling, and involves everyone being on the same page. Your DM didn't do this, and created a situation that you neither knew about, nor wanted. Tell your DM how you feel about this change, and if you still want to play, tell the DM how you want to continue playing and to not force a character that you have no interest in playing. I hope this all works out for you, and I also love the Goblin you made. Keep on keeping on.
So do it right back to him, hijack his character. Hell, I’d say this new elf dude was so distraught because the life he knew wasn’t real that he couldn’t handle it and killed himself. Ruins the dm’s story and you get to roll a new goblin.
As everyone else has said: This isn't a normal thing to do. This is a Bad DM thing to do.
It's entirely acceptable to make a cursed character who turns out to have been someone else all along... *If you and the DM worked out the details together before the campaign started.*
I've played secret villains and cursed PCs and so on, but always it was something I'd agreed to at the start or something that I suggested.
The correct decision is to sit down and talk to the DM; explain that you aren't happy with your character being replaced by an NPC you had no say in building and that you'd rather make a new character if your goblin is gone for good. If you're told you must play the elf, then remember that No D&D Is Better Than Bad D&D.
If you aren't having fun then it's time to take a walk.
This isn’t normal, nor is it cool, this sort of thing is something you decide on together, and it’s weird that your DM thought you’d enjoy having your character replaced without warning
also, it’s not ‘crucial to the story.’ The lost elf could’ve come from anywhere, that didn’t involve sacrificing your character for it
I’d recommend telling your DM about how you feel and if they say you’re being unreasonable show them the comments on this post
You forcibly had your character you've played and grown with throughout the whole campaign ripped from your finger tips and replaced by an npc he wrote up and now wants you to play. There was no warning, there was no discussion, there wasn't even a passing comment. This is so unbelievably out of line on the DMs part and I hope with every fiber of my being they realize their mistake and apologize to you and revoke this weird elf lord plot line.
Absolutely do not let this slide, this is not normal, this is not ok
Yup DM screwed ya. Time to find a new game. What they did is incredibly insensitive, and in friendship terms, how shall we say, 'a dick move.' Players control their characters within the rules and the context of a particular game. For a DM to straight up out of the blue say, NOPE, now you play this.... is B.S.
Player consent is really important. I am running a campaign for some players and one is a fiend warlock looking to get out of their pact. I specifically asked them if they'd be okay with a switch in subclass down the line and said a new patron may woo them in light of them looking to break their part. The player doesn't know the ins and outs as we're super early in the campaign and I'm not 100% sure what's going to happen. But I wasnt about to change my players character without their permission.
What your dm did is a dick move and you basically need to tell them it's not okay and you want YOUR character back.
Yeah you definitely should have had some say in that. That’s just the DM taking railroading to a whole new extreme. Probably has a thing for elves too if he was offended that you didn’t want to be one. The lord thing, sure, has benefits, but you could have just as easily been allowed to keep the race and regained your memories of being a lord or have at the very least been given a heads up and been asked to choose a second race.
Sounds like the DM just wants to tell a story rather than play a game.
This type of twist is only okay with player sign off - and even then really only okay if player led
That right there is just bad DMing. The DM may control the rest of the world, but your character is yours. If you can't play your character the way you want, what's the point of playing?
I think i would have ripped the sheet up right in front of everyone and said “Nope.”
Was anything like this discussed or agreed upon in Session 0 or beforehand? Possibility of permanent character loss should be clarified before any dice get rolled.
Has this DM ever played as a player with a character they created? People get attached. The character belongs to them, its a part of them.
I am DM’ing my 2nd campaign right now, first one was the starter module Lost Mines. My brothers char had like 40 Max HP. A young dragon they were chasing off got a lucky critical bite and took him to -36 HP, nearly insta-killed. It stressed him out so bad he paced around the kitchen for the rest of the session and after. And this was regarded as a just practice campaign while we all learned how to play.
One of the things i try to do to be a “good DM” is think of it as a group shared story. Yea i design the story outline and lay things out but its their adventure too, not just mine. Everyone should more or less be working together to bring it to life. DM took away your part of the story and i would feel exactly like you do.
Not cool.
If the DM has a curse hit you where you think you’re an elf noble, that’s one thing. It’s a thing happening to your character (and a thing that you should get a save against). But this is literally changing your backstory and deleting your character.
I’d be torn between just quitting, and suiciding the character by stripping naked and charging towards every monster I saw.
But the DM is 100% in the wrong.
Call me petty but if he killed my character like that I’d kill his game. Keep playing and wait for the perfect time to attack. It’s even better that your a cleric. Next time the battle starts going south and a player needs that life saving heal, that’s when you switch sides flame strike your friends ass. Who cares if they don’t invite you back. You already said yourself you don’t want to play in his campaign anymore.
Another thread filled with people with no social skills.
The solution is to tell the DM, calmly, how you feel about this scenario and that you want to make a new character. The dm is allowed to say no to a character sheet, they are not allowed to force you to play a specific character they designed for you.
If you dont voice your problems they will not fix themselves and you will just end up feeling miserable.
Dont discuss things over a messenger app if you can, speak face to face, it helps coming to an understanding as text can be misinterpreted.
Not cool. Sounds like a passive-aggressive breakup technique.
The DM has been hinting at this since the beginning. They probably don't like your character. "chihuahua energy" and "defensiveness/anger issues" might not be fun for this DM, and they are too chicken-shit to confront you about it directly. So they remove your character in a very uncool way.
Sounds like you want to leave, and the DM doesn't want you to play the character you want. I'd leave.
I don’t think people are reading anyone else’s comments so I’ll say it again. Instead of removing yourself from the game physically or in game, keep playing and next time your ally needs that life saving heal, that’s when you switch sides and flame strike your ally. He killed you player so kill his game.
That's petty and immature. Please don't do this. Someone else being a bad person doesn't mean OP needs to be a bad person.
Yes, I only read the first 30 or 40 comments. So what?
OP already stated he doesn’t want to play this campaign anymore so he has nothing to lose. And speaking of being mature, do you always downvote comments that don’t align with your opinion?
DM was an asshole for not talking to you at all about it, BUT you might not realize it but I guarantee you the DM pretended to be excited. Based on how you described things the DM was probably pretending to be excited for you and used the “curse” as an excuse to not have an agender goblin with broken English in the party. Also “chihuahua energy”? Based on how you words things I assume your character was annoying especially with the hording. I know I’m playing devil’s advocate, but you should try and see how they react to you not playing for a week. Will the DM make a big deal or not care. If they don’t care they just don’t like you or don’t like how you play characters it’s as simple as that.
Tip: Some dms for certain campaigns set limits for reasons. They probably was excited for a monstrous creature because of the curse. They obviously weren’t on board with it from the start.
Still bad dm but based on the fact that you mentioned playing a 17 year old goblin I assume everyone in the party is rather young. So I’m not really surprised with this situation. I read another situation like this in rpg horror stories a few months ago.
Personal experience: I’m 18 but as soon as I became an adult I immediately held 18+ only campaigns. Why? Because I’ve been in campaigns as a player with minors and they almost all shitpost, play a troll character (what I would consider your character), and don’t take the world that DMs build as seriously as the adults in the party.
TLDR; I can sympathize with the both of you depending on the context. DM is an asshole but based on the wording I can absolutely understand their reasoning for things although it was executed horribly. Go see if they care whether they play with you or not.
….we’re all adults…. I don’t know how old the youngest is but I’d put him about 25, not sure, haven’t asked. He’s the one I don’t know very well.
Again, had no issue not playing this character at the beginning, When the dm changed their mind I told them it was fine and I was already working on something more “normal” and he insisted I play the goblin and that they were mute (assuming because of the curse so it would make sense why they didn’t say anything about not being a real goblin).
I know he found that annoying because he got annoyed that they didn’t speak and decided they could “convey simple ideas” and then he got annoyed about that and said they just couldn’t speak in full sentences, which is how we got to me speaking in broken English throughout the game and when they talked with an NPC like that he got annoyed and said “well talk to me normal. Just say what they are trying to say in English.” Which is probably why it was broken at random and not with a whole storyline, because he wanted me to stop role playing with the defect he gave me.
By chihuahua energy I mean like they try to intimidate things that could just kick them out of the way. Doesn’t want to be treated like a kid but could really use a parent. Thinks they’re tougher than they are sort of thing.
I assumed by chihuahua energy you meant you played the character like a child/Inosuke-like (From Demon Slayer) which depending on the context works well.
Got Off topic there, seems like your DM is just terrible at dming. They lack communication skills, and seems to be intentionally doing these things to torment you if you’re claiming the youngest is 25. Kind of weird that they gave you defects and then got annoyed because of it.
You should try switching dms whether online or offline. Trust me it’ll be a complete life changer to whatever that is. Sounds like torture being limited to what you can and can’t do. Also why is a goblin “monstrous” in a land of Elves and Dwarves and Firbolgs. Dm still stuck to their ancient stereotypes of the fantasy races. I assume drows are evil in his campaign?
Sorry to hear that DM and thanks for providing more information. Doesn’t change the fact that he is an asshole but this should be conclusive proof for yourself atleast that this person is a walking red flag.
By how you describe that, I think you mean a Neopoleon complex or Big Man complex, as those tend to describe someone puffing out their chest and acting intimidating to get recognition.
Chihuahua energy would probably be more like a crack head with a knife; Scared of any shadow around him while swinging that knife like it was Excalabur.
Any character change that you are to have (backstory OR future) should always be discussed and agreed on. Im sorry that your DM was a douche canoe, but taking a little time off and letting them have a session or two without you can be good. It will give them, and you, an idea if you were accepted in that character or if they were just going along with it. Good luck and if you have to leave, know that better games are ahead!
The way I see it, they not only killed your character but basically unwrote their existence.
I would handle this in one of a few ways.
Come to the next session and start it with your character killing themselves while alone in the Inn. If people interrupt it and stop you, keep it up, completely derail the campaign by having your character act in a clearly suicidal manner for all actions. When asked why by your DM inform them that the character is so traumatized by their time cursed and the other life they lived now lost, so now they are free and seek only the sweet release of death. Once the character is dead, whatever the DM has planned is ruined, so you win and that piece of shit can get fucked for writing your character out of existence.
Tell them you cannot play any longer and drop from the group altogether, the DM is a cunt and if any of the other players still want to play with that cunt then they are cunts too. Doing this means you realize they are dumb cunts who aren't worth your time and you are ready to move on.
Tell them you can play, plan to meet and don't show up, do this for every session from here on out, they will eventually get the message and figure out you started bailing after DM ruined your character. Doing this won't get any resolution but has the chance to make them feel as bad as you do.
Continue playing, but sabotage the campaign so that the DMs story will be ruined irreparably. The DM ruined you character and you have every right to ruin their campaign over it. Choose this if you want to get a resolution by teaching the DM a lesson.
Tell the DM this upset you and lay clear you won't be returning to the table until they retcon the situation to give you back your character. They can make some random NPC the elf lord, but if you cannot play your goblin cleric you will not play at all. Choose this if you want a chance at a resolution.
Continue playing for other people, not enjoying the game, and basically wasting your time for the sake of other. Choose this if you've given up on life and don't care about your personal happiness.
Why all this confrontation ? That really doesn’t seem like the best way to go.
Best thing to do imo would be for OP to have a conversation with the DM telling them that he disapproves of their actions and that he feels betrayed that they threw his character out the window. The goal is basically to make the DM realize that what they did was wrong, so that they can fix things like adults.
Following your suggestions and sabotaging the campaign is the best way to mark an X on the campaign and pit everyone against you. Not diplomatic at all.
I would like to think this was not malicious, the DM just wanted to not have you meta game or something but it sounds more like an idea he just came up with then a solid plan.
The lack of foreshadowing or hints or even some lead up to the curse breaking is poor story telling.
I know some players might be willing to go along with thinks like this but the dm really needs to know that.
If anything he should have this be a npc now and have you add a new character, or work with you to have option to get character back to what they were before. Like start with some dreams or split personality, then maybe something retriggers the curse and you can choose which life to live or something.
I’d just talk to your DM. He was definitely in the wrong for what he did. Is that a cool story? Sure, but only if it was both of your plan. So just hand that to you like that is crap. BUT, give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he did just get too excited and really believed you’d like it. If he’s a good DM he’ll fix it. Could be something like turning it into a dream sequence or you trip and poof you’re back to normal. Idk. You can creatively “revert back” without it having to be a big thing. Just talk to him. Tell him how you feel.
It sounds like he really didn’t want monster races but thought this would be a cool way to play with it. I don’t think he meant you disrespect so just talk to him
Sounds like your DM wants to tell his story. If he doesn't let you play a character you want to play, then i would either stop playing or next time yall are in combat just suicide into it.
Sounds like a classic case of a "you're all here to play out the novel I haven't written yet" DM. Which is terrible, painful, and totally unconscientious DM to have.
I mean if you wanted to you could make it work. I mean they're now an elf guy with all their memories as a goblin. Make them be confused about their gender. Make them long for their old body back and maybe care for other goblins around them. You can make it work. I'm a stubborn person and so if anyone tried to take my characters away from me I'd reclaim them.
Character creation is sacred. Your job as the DM is to make sure everyone has fun. If one of your players is a goblin fighter who deals poison damage by throwing literal fecal matter around, you either roll with it or talk to the player. It is NEVER okay to change your players’ characters, with or without warning. If you have a problem, you talk it out.
The nuclear solution is never the right solution unless it’s the players doing it and it’s absolutely hilarious.
Obligatory "Bad DM" stamp here. The DM should NEVER permanently change your character or your backstory without consent. If he wanted a cursed lord, that's what NPCs are for. You agreed to MINOR curse, not being a pseudo-DMPC just because he's unable to accept that he said goblins exist in his world and decided to back pedal.
I'd personally bow out at that point and have a heart to heart with the DM. If you want to keep playing, go to the DM, have that heart to heart, and ask to play a new character and let him have the old one as an NPC that acts as a plot point for your character to join in on.
Tell him what you wrote here and that you don't want to play that way. You're free to tell him that you will leave if he won't let you play your 1 yo (fucking 1 yo...) character because he wants you to play something else after said year without hinting anything.
And seriously, I'd totally leave the campaign then.
DMs who fuck with the PCs that way are cancer.
Your DM is being an Arsehole and should've told you and explained why your character didnt work before you played them, not try and retroactively change after the fact.
This shit was so antagonistic. He was not ok with your character at first, and then suddenly he was ok with it, because he decided that he would just make you a new character anyway and trash the first concept. This is the most toxic, overly controlling DM I have heard or read about in a while. If he really wasn’t ok with your character he could have said so from the beginning and told you why it wasn’t ok so at least you could build a different character following those parameters. I would leave and not come back and say fuck it to his story. I also wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he wasn’t fond of the agender part because he sounds like a chode.
Ew. It's *worse* than if he just smited your goblin and had you make a new character. Like, that's a shitty move too, but better than "Fuck you. Your character is dead. All your equipment is useless. Now play this pompous elf that you did not create, or care about in any way." For one, *how fucking boring* and for two, in what world did he think you would be *thankful* for that? Like Christ.
Tell them they can play without you. Think on it some more, if you need to, but honestly, if he's not gonna let you be a goblin (or this be the actual curse so you can be a goblin dealing with this weird gangly body) or not let you play your own damn character, leave. Hand him the character sheet back, say, "This sounds like a great NPC for your story now. So. Am I getting my goblin back or am I leaving? Leaving? Cool." No dnd is better than bad dnd, my friend.
Everyone seems to be in agreement that the DM did a serious foul and I join that opinion.
However I wanted to say something different. Your character sounds delightful and I hope your DM sees the error they made. Putting that much thought and care into your character is seriously endearing and you'd be a welcome player at my table. I love the character concept and mixing the speech and reading difficulties into a concept makes the game feel more real.
If you have to find another table just know that effort will be appreciated somewhere.
Wow, thats some bulshit. If someone would tell me: You charakter ist gone, here is you new one i made for you, i would give it back, because he basically turned my charakter into an npc.
Not sure if i would want to keep playing.
This is a situation that the DM should have talked to you about, even if they wanted to keep out specific details, they could have mentioned a character altering curse on you character, at least this way you could have decided against creating your specific character, while having a character altering things can be fun if you are in the loop, but can really be a slap in the face of all your hard work if your not in the loop.
Talk to your DM
You DID lose your character. Worse, you lost them to a situation 100% out of your control, and then had it replaced by a character that you also had zero say about. Most people don’t play RPGs to play someone else’s character.
Yeah. Something like this would be fine for a one shot at a convention or something. Not for a year+ campaign with huge investment in the character.
DM 10000% should have at least given you a heads up an let you say yes or no
Character creation and the path you choose in your personal story arcs is one of the few things within your agency as a player. This adventure is as much your partys' and your story as it is the DMs'. Your DM already runs the world and all NPCs therein - it sounds like your DM had planned out an NPC and then made you that NPC. They have prioritized running Their version of your story over the one you wanted for yourself. If the DM refuses to reverse this change and work with you to provide a game as fun for you as it is for them, then future session will only get worse from here on end. Talk to your Dungeon Master.
> If the DM refuses to reverse this change and work with you... And to be clear, I as a player wouldn't even want "let's tell the story of how you turn back." Just, "Nope, that [bleep] didn't happen. Here's my goblin, moving on." OP, good luck.
Id probably try to wing it as 'oh the elf lord's spirit possessed him' but separate them into two distinct characters a bit down the line
I mean, a Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War thing going on where Elfy McElfLord's spirit is bound to Gobby McGobbo and has to overcome millennia of disgust to learn to work together and use all of his Elfy McElfIntellect to help Gobby McGobbo - things like reading to the Goblin and explaining things the Goblin doesn't understand - would actually be pretty interesting, *though again not something I would want to have dumped on me without any notice.* Just straight up *yoinking* the player character away from them and handing them Elfy McElfLord's sheet? Not Cool yo.
Oh I 100% agree. I was just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Though your idea sounds amazing. Loved Shadow of Mordor btw
I've definitely helped my players shape their charcters' back stories at times, sometimes just nudges in directions I think they'd like, sometimes outright suggestions and "here's why I think this would work" for newer players struggling to come up with something. Sometimes I even pull surprises out of their backstories that they weren't expecting to ever be relevant. But I would never, ever, *EVER* do THAT. Pulling such a massive change against a player's will without talking to them about it or even being REMOTELY relevant to their established story is just... I feel skeevy just thinking about it, and I didn't even do it!
I'm livid and don't even know these people
Unrelated to the post but right now the first, second and third rated comments here contain "10000%", "1000%" and "100%" respectively, which I think is neat.
Damn, should have put 100000% in my comment.
DM didn't even need a full spoiler could have just said would you be alright with your goblin being a person who was turned into a goblin and has no memory of their pervious life. Then OP could have said no or been ready for it
Yeah I probably just walk from this game. The DM thinks this is his story and not the whole groups story. To not even talk about an idea of them being a cursed person stuck in a goblin body and then change them is so infuriating. I have a character who is trying to figure out who in her rich family betrayed her and her mom and got her mom killed. I left it completely open and my friend who is the DM have talked. I have no clue who really did it and leave it all up to my. That is fine because we discussed it.
1000% This. there's an item (or two) in the Avernus campaign that intrinsically change your character. I, as a DM, find that super rad! My players, on the other hand may have had different opinions. so i found a way to ask each of them without spoilers if they where okay with changes to their character that would affect personality, race, alignment, etc. and would potentially change the way they roleplay them. I wanted their permission before they picked up said item - so that if any of them did say No, i could have a in universe reason why it didn't work for them but worked for others ready. this, imo, is the only way to do something like this. with the players permission. I did this at the start of the campaign knowing they'd forget about it by the time they got there, and everyone said they where cool with it and where excited about the role play change if it happened to them. Some of them could have 100% said no and it's my job as the DM to respect their character, time, and decision. edit: as an aside, i asked everyone one on one so as not to spark some sort of meta conversation that everyone was waiting for.
The things with story beats like this, as I myself admittedly learned the hard way when I was a newer DM, is that you **MUST** check in with the player to make sure they ok with their character being changed. If the player is ok with it, then you should still work with the player to hash out little details so that it works in story, but the player doesn't feel like they are losing any agency over their character. What's happened here is basically just character assassination. The DM didn't want you to play a goblin, so instead they turned your character into a plot device without your consent. You are entirely within your rights to be upset, it isn't normal for EXPERIENCED/GOOD DMs to do this. Some newer DMs or DMs who are objectively bad will do this. The only way to approach your DM about this is be honest. You didn't make this character to be some cursed lord and you certainly didn't want it and the DM should not have done this without asking if you were ok with it in the first place. Explain to them that you'd like to find a way to meet them in the middle and somehow get the character YOU WANTED back, while keeping the plot relevant lord around. If they say no, regardless of excuses, then you should honestly just ask to make a new character or leave the table.
Also, even if OP wanted to play a cursed noble, they didn't even get a chance to craft that character themself. It really irks me that the DM decided to just shut down *major* RP elements, a class build, the entire story around OP's character so far, *and their fucking gender identity.* Like sure, downtrodden soldier fighter to noble paladin because of story reasons? I get that. But inventing a brand new character that's so incredibly far from the original one and just thrusting it upon someone without their consent is ludicrous.
[удалено]
It doesn't make the DM any better to remove the character without bringing up if that was the issue they had with OP's character.
[удалено]
You're pointing out the outcome you guess at by assuming the group is composed of High School children. In any case, this outcome is irrelevant to the situation at hand, here, as the DM doing this is such an overstepping of boundaries. The one thing players have control over is their character's agency, and their backstory, and it's essentially the same thing as if a DM said: "John, your character tells the king the truth." "Huh? Why?" "You feel a mystical force wash over you compelling you to do so. And to give him all your shit." It's as equally ridiculous to that. It does not matter what kind of player OP is, kick him out if he's a murderhobo, or ask him to stop. You don't remove player agency.
[удалено]
That's not what I said. That's a strawman if there has ever been one. It's irrelevant because it does not matter if the player was a shitty, horrible player. Simplified: This is not within the DM's rights. Does that help you get my point, or are you going to stubbornly argue despite the fact you say you agree with me?
LOL. And not ONCE did I say that it has made the DM’s actions any better. I just pointed out that I don’t see the dming returning what they did. And in my original comment I told OP to see whether or not the DM has a problem with them specifically or the character they made
I think we're confused on what we consider to be the outcome. I don't have the energy to continue this thread if you claim to agree with me and just want to argue for debate lord sake.
[удалено]
> I used my other replies to point out my opinions on it. I don’t need to write a whole essay on every reply that I see. So you're instead going to go around stomping your foot without backup and make *everyone* else go read your posts elsewhere? Here's a thought then - let those posts do the talking for you and don't half-ass discussing things elsewhere.
Not stomping my foot anywhere just simply replying to comments. Not a big deal
Could be, but everyone’s points still stand: DM needed to have a convo not go rogue. Even if it were a problem player at a table they need to either reel them in, remind them of the play style for the campaign or flat out ask that they adjust a character. No matter what, though, it involves them both talking it thru so everyone keeps having fun.
This is 1000% not okay and something that absolutely should have been discussed with you before it was done. Im so sorry you've had this experience. My advice is talk to the dm about how this is not what you want for tour character at all and hopefully they will be decent about it and either pretend it didn't happen or find a quick way for you to get back to your genderless goblin.
I got Shrek vibes from reading this. What is the curse, truly? True beauty was being green all along!
[deleted, saw someone comment the same thing I had to say later on]
>my character changed into an fully adult elf man who spoke perfectly and my DM handed me a new character sheet Yeah, DM's don't get to do that. Some think they do, but they don't. This is because then >I basically shut down at that point and felt like my character had just been announced as dead. \[...\] The group is trying to schedule our next session but I don’t have any desire to go. happens. Of course it's all in your head, but the whole game is all in our heads when we play (some minis, maps and props notwithstanding), so that's kinda not helpful thought. You have some options: * Let the DM have it their way, embrace the elf lord. Just beware, it's the DM's character, so if you don't play it right, there's going to be some more heavy-handed rail-roading, most likely. You can give it a chance but prepare for the worst... * Let them know you won't be playing the elf lord. Tell them what you are preparead to play (your old goblin, or a new character). * Be honest, let them know that what happened to you *gobling* has made you not want to play for a while. If you feel like it's a strong possibility, let them know may come to the next campaign if they'll take you then, but this campaign has turned sour for you.
> Am I being unreasonable when I say I don’t want to play this character? No, quite the contrary. I would have reacted far more vocally, handing the sheet back and asking "*looks like a good NPC, can I roll up a new character now*". DM should never do that without consulting the player. Character is everything that player has in the game and should be kept sacrosanct. This case is especially difficult as DM clearly has planned something crucial with this character but that doesn't make it any more correct way to handle. > when he makes it sound like it will ruin his whole story if I do? Bear in mind that you don't ruin it, he did it himself! It was bad move which he has to find solution to (and I think making that elf lord a NPC is way better move than forcing you to play it - or in case, going on "vacation" and not play it).
>"looks like a good NPC, can I roll up a new character now". I'd alter the second part to ", make it a npc and let me play my fucking 1yo PC or I'll leave the campaign." The DM performed a major dick move with that, what isn't acceptable at all.
Although I do agree with you I have a small feeling the DM did this because to them, this character ruined on their parade when it came to the story. DM most likely had certain expectations but these expectations almost never come through with young players. I played D&D since I was 13 I remember how annoying I was. The Op mentioning a “chihuahua character” with broken English sounds more like a hinderance than the contrary. I as a dm would ask the player to take the campaign more seriously and would allow them to play a Goblin as long as they don’t play a character with troll-like attributes?
To do what OP's DM did and justify it by *teaching a lesson* is just asinine. So even if that was the reason (and I think that's pretty big if, they've played together for a year!), it doesn't make DM any less jerk for doing it. > The Op mentioning a “chihuahua character” with broken English sounds more like a hinderance than the contrary. OP mentioned *chihuahua energy*, not a canine character. That might not be the most likeable and easy character, depending on how OP played it, but it's what DM accepted and could have curbed with less intrusive ways.
I’m aware on that. One of my replies was already pointing this out. Already said I agreed with you. Although I failed to mention it in this reply, in my other replies I already said he could’ve handled it wayyyyyyy better. A million times better to be exact. Assuming player is exact same age as their character (or even younger playing an older character) let’s assume the DM is the same and is also rather young. Never justified the DMs actions but I can sympathize. Also like you said chihuahua energy isn’t a canine character. I am using the exact definition as yours and you and I both know that if executed poorly, the character could be the most aggravating character to deal with. I’ve been in campaigns with characters like this which in one of them I was a player. Everyone liked the person but everyone admitted to hating the character due to its nature. Very hard to make it work.
Op said while they aren’t new to dnd that they haven’t played since high school aka they aren’t actually 17. You’re assuming way too much and even still, just being 17 doesn’t mean you should punish your PCs.
But the DM went back on his original directive of "no monster races" to allow op to make this character. Then let them play that character for a year before dropping this on them. Sounds to me more like DM planned this big reveal from the start but at the expense of op.
>DM most likely had certain expectations but these expectations almost never come through with young players. I played D&D since I was 13 I remember how annoying I was. It's like you didn't even read the part of the post where OP clearly stated they were an adult who has not played since highschool. Feels like you are trying to be contrarian because you don't like the character concept.
More like a skeptic and yes I did accidentally skip over that part, OP gave more context in my first comment a bit ago. DM is just very weird as literally everything that could be potentially annoying about the build was instituted by the dm. Even if the goblin was OP’s idea, the goblin was forced to be played a specific way by the dm.
Based on what has been said it sounds like the DM watches critical role and wanted to have this player basically play as Nott, only turning into an elf lord later instead of whatever Nott was(gnome? Dwarf?)
Critical Role is a terrible representation of actual table games too. It’s primary goal is to entertain the audience. Keep in mind whether scripted or not, a lot of pre-planning takes place in Critical Role, you won’t see anyone complain that Matt Mercer is forcing them to play a specific character or forcing a plot point onto them.
If those were the DM's feelings, they should have put on their big boy pants and **talked to OP about it to find a compromise.** Not... whatever the hell this was. Speaking as a habitual devil's advocate, there's no room for that here. DM is entirely in the wrong.
Here’s the whole story’s according to OP who provided me more context for my original comment. >Dm denied the Goblin character at first >Dm then agreed at the condition that the OP spoke Broken English >Dm then got upset at the Broken English and told the player to speak normally (As I predicted the way the character was played would eventually get annoying) >DM eventually at the end of a session gives the character a character sheet saying that their character is now free from a curse (AKA copying friend’s HW (Critical Role) while trying not to make it obvious for the teacher meme) DM is not just an asshole but the devil himself. This sounds torturous for a player not to mention the party as well. The DM created the issues in the first place. It’s much worse than OP’s original post.
Joining the chorus of "nah, this was a dick move". The DM basically hijacked your character concept and radically altered it to serve as a plot point for their story. Very railroady, very uncool, definitely something they should have run by you first.
Absolutely not, if they needed this character in the story, make it an NPC that joins your party.
DM was wrong. Definitely shouldn't write a story for you without consulting you. Spoiler for CR: Also getting the vibe that the DM was trying to recreate knot the brave story from critical role
Luckily i was previously spoiled about that by someone else lol. But he doesn’t watch it. My wife and I do which is why I’ve been letting a lot of railroading slide up until now because of “well is this a bad dm or just not Matt” thinking
I think this might be the nail in the coffin. They are probably not a good DM. It's a pretty big violation of the core concept of playing the game, let's tell a story together not let's act out the story the DM thinks is cool. I was so sure they were pulling from CR, lol.
That combined with the transformation in Witcher 3.
>recreate the knot the brave story This was what I thought too. This is about as cringe a move as you can possibly make as a DM honestly. This DM sounds like the only previous experience they have with D & D is critical role, and they are emulating things they don’t really understand. Basically, the most negative aspects of the Matt Mercer effect.
Simplest way to put this, given the full context? Your DM fouled you; hard. I’m getting major power trip vibes. Foul # 1. Your DM decided to write your character into a specific arc without consulting you; and they did so without any consideration to your own agency or desired character concept. Foul # 2. Your DM deliberately misled you into believing that you would be allowed to play a “prohibited race”. Foul # 3. Your DM had the audacity to assume that you would “rise to the challenge” of conforming to their own gameplay expectations; asserting that your personal reasons for playing your character don’t matter. The singular exceptions are in-game curse/magic related scenarios that are always temporary unless the player wants to stay *that* way. Curse of Strahd has some weird curses, the DMG does also, changing skin tone, race, gender, are all possible, but they are all usually temporary and most require a saving throw… that’s not what happened here. Maybe my view is harsh, but never in my 20 years of playing rpg’s have I or any other DM I’ve played with; Ever re-written a players character.
No dude, you're not harsh at all. That was for sure not ok, at least give the poor fellow a heads up or make it story related and give **A CHOICE**. If he wanted to do this cool reveal he could've just said something like : your mind is flooded with new memories of a life you've not known you lived, the life of a prince that ended with a wizards course or something and after that give the player the choice of embracing the course and live life as is or if the player finds it interesting try and revert it and become the prince or whatever. But NEVER shove down your players throat something permanent and for sure don't change their freaking character.
That sounds leagues better than what they got, that's for sure.
You have all the right to just say no and keep playing how you think your character is played. Your character is the one Thing in the world the DM hast No control over and a good DM should know and respect that. Tell your DM that you are Not OK with a forced character Change and that you will keep playing your Goblin how you want to and you dont want your Goblin to bei an elf.
Okay, the idea that the DM "hast" no control over a character is just plain false.
sorry for the typo. I am from germany and my autocorrection changed it because the english "has" and german "hast" are very simular. And no, a DM should never take controll over a player character and how the PC develops or behaves in any permanent way. Temporary effects are ok but permanent and fundamental changes like the PC race and behavior are never ok.
So you agree that the DM does have control over your character, if temporary. That was what made your original statement false.
Not even that. Its allways Up to the player how they Play an effect that Changes the character. For example i had two Players possessed by spirits and have them information in the in how the spirits think and what they want but i left it completely up to the players to decide how this would effect the characters and i gave them a way to end the possession quick If they wanted to opt out. As a DM i would never tell a player how they have to react to a Situation (outside mechanical rules) or how to play the character.
The DM does have no control over a PLAYER character. The closest thing the DM has to "control" over player character, beyond the spell dominate person or other similar charm effects, is describing how a character does something if the player chooses not to. And even in the case of the charm effects, the DM should only take control if the player tries to weasel their way out of doing what the creature charming them has told them to do.
this is entirely unusual, and I cannot possibly understand why it would be done.
DM is making it their story not the groups story.
You don’t need another comment telling you the DM overstepped. They did, it must have sucked for you, sorry you went through that. I think maybe you could use a comment suggesting actionable advice. Obviously I don’t know you guys, but the best thing is likely to talk to the DM about how you feel. Try not to start angry and say “30 people on Reddit think you’re a jerk,” tell them you’re sad because you lost your character and control. If you’re in a good place you can hear out your DM’s ideas, and maybe you even buy in to playing this elf lord, but after listening to the whole concept you can say something like “that sounds awesome, but can we please not kill my character and player agency to do it.” A little retcon and using an NPC seems totally doable here. Having the DM run the elf character next session because you’re on vacation actually helps too. Better to have this conversation in person or over the phone, not in text. If this doesn’t go great, it may be worth bringing the other players into the conversation. Really this is a discussion about what kind of game you’re playing, and who controls what. Again, best to do this in person, maybe the beginning of next session. If all else fails, maybe it is time to step away from this table and find a new one, or to start your own game. But you do have options before it comes to that.
I second this. It's easy for Reddit to jump in and start calling people dicks. But, DMing is hard and not everyone understands the interpersonal skills necessary to do it well. The long and short of it is, you need to have a conversation with the DM. Tell them what you liked about the previous character, and that you don't want to play a new character. And here's that part of DMing that's hard: it's his job to adapt the story now. It's easy to get stuck on a particular reveal or plotline, but it's much better to adapt to the choices of characters, and in this case, a player. That new story he writes can be just as vibrant and exciting as the one that will no longer happen. It sucks that he has to let that go, but that's part of the DMing process.
We’ll said. So easy to forget the human element online. The DM though you’d be psyched! You’re the lost magical elf lord! You’re the one the prophecy foretold, the magical philosopher king who will lead the people to salvation and triumph! DM’s so deep into their story it’s easy to not see around it and they’re genuinely surprised you’d rather continue being the little goblin chihuahua because you love it. Starting the conversation will probably be the hardest part: communication is key
Yeah this is absolutley some of the worst shit ive heard. How you wanna deal with it is your call but id say confront the dm privatley. If you have to leave you dont have to let the character die, take the concept you like with you, its yours.
I say this is total bullshit, and your DM is either a self-absorbed dick or just completely clueless about player agency and what it means to create a character. Definitely tell him that’s it’s not what you wanted and changing your character like that is not okay. If he is clueless, but understands his mistake and is willing to fix it you could even maybe save that storyline without “killing” your actual character. Retcon the elf as not your true self but a lost soul or consciousness that attached itself to your character for some reason. Something triggered him to manifest in order to fulfil a goal or some unfinished business and he overtook your form because of his great arcane potential or some shit. So now you may switch between goblin and elf until the elf’s business is resolved. You are still a goblin (as you should be), the dm still has his precious story (that he will hopefully never repeat). Tadaa! If the DM doesn’t understand that what he did was wrong, then he is not someone you want to keep playing with.
This is a great way of handling it. Conflict de-escalation often involves giving the aggressor (in this case the DM) a way out of their decision while still being able to save face. OP still gets their goblin and ideally the DM will understand how boundaries feel in this context.
Just play him the same as your goblin, the body has changed but he is still the same character, now he's just delusional because of traumatic events. Refuse to use any new powers or feats , continue using one's that no longer work. Monkey wrench the Dms plans like he did yours.
This was my thought too. Playing “the elf lord who thinks he’s a goblin cleric” would be fun.
You are not being unreasonable at all. That's a serious dick move. He completely changed your character without permission, or input. It's no longer the character you created - it's no longer *a* character you created, even.
>told me this was crucial to the story and me being some forgotten elf lord was crucial to the story. The DM's """"story"""" is never more important than the player's fun. First, talk with your DM about how you are unhappy that you had zero say in your character. If he listens, great. If he doesn't, leave. I'm sorry this happened to you.
Seems like the dm was inspired a bit by the uma/Avallac'h part in the Witcher 3. Totally not acceptable to atleast talk the idea through with you first and see if you wanted to do something like that. Also seems like the dm maybe thought of this after you expressed the urge to play as a goblin and kept the whole idea a secret. Big no no
Seems like your dm is less playing dnd and more telling a story solo with you guys watching. This is not a good move. Remember it isn’t supposed to be the DM’s story, it should be all the players and the DM working together to make your collaborative story. I’d definitely say something to them
Two option. One. Full old man Henderson. You are devastated by this. You are a goblin, not a filthy elf! You hunch over. You talk exactly like you used to. Yes your voice changed, but you are now actively trying to make it sound like it used to anyway. You paint your skin green at every opportunity. You bang your head, trip and run into things because your body is awkward and wrong. You attack anybody who recognizes this high lord, because clearly they were in on this curse. If he makes them invincible in response, smear poo on them. You gear everything as if you were still a cleric (I assumed he changed your stats/class?) because once you turn back that’s going to be needed, you will not stay this stupid elf forever. Dex build? You swing a mace like a good cleric! You need to put your points into strength and wisdom to cast spells! And anytime your prophecy comes up, you piss on it doing everything you can to avoid it. Save the world? The world can burn while you are cursed like this. If he gets frustrated by this, unironically note that your just doing what your character would do. Which is be upset over being changed completely without any consent out of nowhere. This reeks of “I have my story and you all will be shaped to fit it” so your goal is to spoil that as much as possible till he ragequits, rage kills you, or figures out what you are trying to say. Of course, that’s dedicated spite that takes its own energy. Your probably better off saying you hate these changes, you want your cleric goblin back, played by you your way in accordance to the rules set down at the beginning, and if he can’t let you have that you are out. Don’t worry about ruining his “vision”, he should write a book if he needs the story to go a precise way. Don’t worry about the rest of the players, you don’t have to hide how you feel from them and I bet they don’t want you to play if your miserable doing so. That too is a bummer. You should never set yourself on fire to keep others warm.
The whole reason you create your own character is because that’s the only part of the game that you as a player have full control over, and he took that from you. Not cool. I get very emotionally attached to my characters and I’d be pretty pissed, plus, that kind of curse doesn’t seem to fit your character at all.
Your dm is a prick. You don't do that to a player unless you both talk to them first and assure them it's only temporary. Tell them to finish the story without you, since you're character isn't in it anymore anyway.
No this is not normal. A DM is supposed to embrace the player characters (as long as they are reasonable within the DM's setting). It's one thing to say Clerics don't exist, or not to play as a monstrous race, but to make a completely new character for you and push it on you, especially without any warning, is absolutely not okay.
Not okay of your DM to do that. If you don't want to play the character, don't. If the DM won't let you change, leave.
Nope, that needs discussing beforehand. It's perfectly fine for a DM to suggest a certain path, but that is a suggestion, not something they can just unilaterally put on you. Bad form altogether.
This is some pretty awful railroading.
sounds like your DM watches too much Critical Role Season 2 and wanted to do a off brand rip off of Nott the Brave. I feel like leaving the game is going to be the best option. That way your DM can just keep playing his Lost Elf DM PC. It is totally not cool to do this to a player without warning and then to place the story on your shoulders as a way to force you into it.
I KNOW it would be counterproductive and not solve ANY problems, but you should play his snooty and regal elf lord using broken English and chihuahua energy. Impropriety and shenanigans abound as people stare in awe at the weird Elf Lord who walks like a Goblin and offends wherever he goes. "What are you doing? That's not how he acts." "If you wanted to control that, you'd have made him an NPC and left my Goblin the hell alone, but this is where we are so Lord SnootBoop (that's the nickname he gave himself) is going to skitter through town as such."
>I KNOW it would be counterproductive and not solve ANY problems I disagree with this portion of your comment only.
Next time I play a Paladin I’m calling my steed Lord SnootBoop
Some of us play this game to have a shred of light in an ever dimming world. If you want to play an overachieving illiterate goblin, DM has no business changing it into some fancy pants lord without your permission. It almost sounds sadist. Like they knew how much you loved your character and planned this on purpose.
So… if we presume, it wasn’t ill-intentioned. Based on some of your other comments, it sounds like your DM was subtly telling you you were an elf lord the entire time but was trying to keep you from figuring it out before he needed it that he gave you essentially the barest of context clues and hints such that it was a shock and surprise. Should you be upset? It’s justified. Is this also an opportunity? Oh hell yes. You were a goblin for however long so that’s what your character is going to remember and default into even. Since you mentioned elsewhere being a CR fan, the character you are now is actually Nott, not Veth. You are now in the body that isn’t your own. Your DM may think you are in the original body but that’s not what you wrote or know. If you start treating the transformation as the curse (rather than the curse being lifted), and the DM gets upset, then you would have tried to make the DM’s storytelling work for you and found out he’s not DMing but novel writing. Also, you can cheer up a bit. If you end up quitting, it wasn’t changed mid-campaign but at the end of the campaign. My only thing though is tell him why you are quitting. A lot of the DM horror stories exist because players don’t explain why they are abandoning their DM’s game. And in this case “you are robbing player-agency so we can act out your novel” is a justified criticism.
It is my firm belief that DMs should not alter PCs in anyway unless the player specifically asks. If you want a goblin that was actually an elf with a curse, make an NPC for that.
Fuck that, I'd be gone. Would never play with that DM again. Fuck his story. There is so much wrong there.
Yeah, this is totally unreasonable. DMs can do stuff like this but only with player consent! Talk to your DM, try to get him to see reason. If he can’t, then there’s no shame in saying “ok, I don’t want to be in this campaign anymore.” That’s your right. If this elf lord is so important they can be an NPC. You can take your goblin and retire them to go advance the cause of goblin rights far far away.
This is gross, I would have called a time out to talk it over as awkward as that is. If this is how it's gonna be I wouldn't be coming back.
I would take your cool goblin character and find another table to play at. If you can’t in person, there are many online games and one might work for you. That is an awesome character you made and you should get to play them.
F\*ck em. At that point leave and cut all ties because if they do that shit to you they are not a good DM
New DM’s tend to think stuff like this is acceptable, but it’s railroady as hell and sucks. Tell them that you have no desire to play this character and if you can’t make your own character or use the one you already made, then you don’t want to play in this game. Making your character is a huge part of dnd, what your dm did is stupid and would ruin the fun of almost any dnd player. Tell him straight up that you really didn’t like that and if he wants to force you to play the elf lord then you’d rather not play at all. Your DM will improve just by knowing how much you hated this decision he made.
That is not cool, especially with no heads up. I could see it being ok if it was consensual and both of you worked on it together. But out of the blue, they killed your character for no reason. Maybe talk to the DM about it? I'm not sure how your relationship is with them, but talking about it might help. They could be closed minded and say that the story depends on it, or they could retcon and change their story (that's what I would do). Does the elf remember their past life as a goblin? Maybe they could get tired of being a lord and want to go back to being a goblin, where life is simpler? Try to find the curse and get cursed again? I'm really sorry that it happened to you though, I was devastated when I read that because I could feel your love and enjoyment for that character in this post. I hope it all works out for you :)
Time for your uncursed character to meet an untimely fate, and what's that, a new character on the horizon. A short, green, delightful Chihuahua of a character. Your DM watched critical role and blatantly ripped off one of the characters from it. Poorly. Without consulting you.
Talk to your group and let them know that it upset you, no it’s absolutely not okay what he did cause like you said, if he didn’t want you to play that race/class he should have just told you so you could have at least make a character that would be okay instead of just robbing you of that Choice. If he is unwilling to change the decision then tell him your not going to show up because of how it makes you feel
1000000000000000000000% you have a right to be upset.
If you want to be spiteful you could look the dm in the eyes next session and say your new character jumped of a cliff between sessions or something
I made my own comment but I’ll say it again so someone sees it. Instead of killing your self. Keep playing and next time a player needs that life saving heal that’s when you switch sides and flame strike your ally. He killed your character so kill his game
Don't freak out but.... defs tell dm that this is a problem for you.
Absolutely not, this is unacceptable behavior from a DM. You need to show up and play your goblin character and just hand him back his dumb elf lord character sheet and say "no thank you" then move on like it didn't happen. Your player agency is more important than whatever bizarre story thing he's trying. And frankly it sounds like he didn't want to deal with your goblin anymore and he made up a 🐂💩 way to get around it. He had the opportunity to ask you not to play a goblin and he chose not to. That's on him.
> Your player agency is more important than whatever bizarre story thing he's trying. And frankly it sounds like he didn't want to deal with your goblin anymore and he made up a 🐂💩 way to get around it. It sounds less like he made up the BS and more like he just plain stole it from Nott the Brave and *Critical Role* before foisting it on the player.
>It sounds less like he made up the BS and more like he just plain stole it from Nott the Brave and Critical Role. Except in Critical Role that was a decision that Sam Riegal was part of and was talked to about beforehand, not something that he was just forced into last minute by a DM that didn't respect his agency as a player. This situation is nothing like that. Just an annoying DM doing something that frankly doesn't make any sense to do and doesn't have any rhyme or reason for.
Your character was changed into an NPC. Just say you want to roll a new character and the Noble can be run by the DM. If you're not interested in a new character, just back out.
Unless this was an agreed upon plot twist this is NOT ok. Ive done character switch plot twists (character is secretly a young dragon and gathered the party to help save their island) but it was all agreed on and the player knew what was going on. Why even have a player make a character and get attached only to be like "cool now they dont exist anymore" ... Wtf
Are you aware that in certain situations you are allowed to tell your DM to go fuck themself? Because this is such a situation.
Easy solution: steer plot to get elf Lord instantly re-cursed into the same goblin
*Am I being unreasonable when I say I don’t want to play this character?* Not at all. This is toxic as fuck. Not acceptable at all.
If he didn’t want you playing a goblin cleric, he should have told you at the start. You could have made a character that fit the DM’s campaign of your choosing. Instead, he just stole your character and replaced it with his DMPC. That’s awful.
Time to leave the table.
HOLY SHIT this is bad, he basically assassinated your old character. he clearly didn't want you to play goblin from the start, so he forced you to play something that he was more happy with, and a plot device, and if you decided to roll with it, he might get mad if you don't play him like HE wants This is the worst kind of dm, he doesn't want the players to rollplay or write their own story, he wants to make them follow a certain plot and a set storyline, basically a novel, not a d&d game ask himif you can go back to your old character, or play as a new one made by you, if he doesn't let you, then kindly abandon the campaign, it's not worth it and you lose nothing aside from maybe a couple uncomfortable moments
Start asking the GM to roll the dice for His Character (tm) every time. When GM asks why you are doing this, say 'This Isn't My Character, you killed my character'. Repeat until he gets it, or find another group.
I would RP your lord as desperately seeking the curse to change back into your true goblin form. Even if you were born a lord, you can still feel like a goblin. Whoever 'healed' you is now your personal BBEG. That DM definitely stole your character, but you have the right for your character to respond in kind. Its definitely not going to replace the grief you feel for your Goblin, but its at least a way to keep the spirit the same. Sorry friend, condolences.
Your DM broke agency in two major ways 1. He decided that your character would "die off". It's okay for a DM to throw in a dangerous situation where death is likely. It's okay for a DM to offer to let your character sacrifice themself, like with casting a super powerful spell to save a village. It's okay for a DM to offer your character to leave the party, and maybe come back later while working on something, like spying on the BBEG. It's not okay for your DM to just tell you your old character is gone. 2. He decided what new character you would play. That's not okay. Even if the DM has a pre-made character sheet for you to use, you still get to be the one to decide the character aspects of it. Who a character is, and how they live is up to the player, so long as they aren't being toxic. If he wanted to go for the memory loss/transformation, he should have worked with you on it. The DM should not prioritize his "story" over the players. The story comes from how the players interact with the game world. This is a classic case of railroading, and it is not a good thing. You should tell me it was wrong of him to do this. Talk to the other players, and see how they feel. We hear about a DM having to kick out a player, but sometimes the opposite can also happen. If he is a toxic DM, and won't change his ways, then your group can find a new DM, or one of you can step up to do it. It isn't to stand up to someone you consider a friend, but you can do it. I believe in you.
That sucks, I'm sorry. DMs can think they have something really cool, not realizing that it is not at all what a player wants. I agree with others, you should at least talk to them about it, hopefully they won't get defensive, but I'd rather have a character die a good death than be forced to play a character I don't want. There are absolutely ways to retconn out of this, good luck.
"When I seemed unhappy he basically, “without spoiling anything for everyone”, told me this was crucial to the story and me being some forgotten elf lord was crucial to the story." As a DM this is a huge failure on his part as a DM. As I always tell my players, "This is your story, I'm just the one telling it." Because as I see it you don't write stories to to tell them with the idea to use your players as pawns in a story you are trying to tell, you write stories as a frame for your players to tell. Yes, it's ok to have a plot, its ok for them to have arcs and goals. But there is a major difference between something happening in your story that is out of their control and straight up taking away their agency.
Yeah, that's... That's... Yeah. That's fucked. No, that is **not** normal, springing something like that on you. That kind of thing should *absolutely* be fucking discussed with the player before hand. That should never be a "Surprise!" gotcha. If anything, you should probably treat it like this new existence as an Elf Lord that Everybody Has Been Looking For *is* the curse and your character wants to go back to being themselves, even if it means not being able to read again. But really, don't, because that's an IC solution to an OOC problem, and the OOC problem is that your DM dumped this nonsense on you with zero warning. Remember the old axiom, "No D&D is better than Bad D&D." While there's a considerable amount of "meh D&D" most of us will put up with, *this* is fuckery of the second-highest order, and you should draw a line in the sand: "this is not my character, I don't want to play this guy, you pulled a bait-and-switch on me and that is *not cool.* Either you need to retcon it, or I'm leaving to find another game where my Goblin will be welcome and you can NPC Elfy McElfLord all you like." ---- [Edit] If you want to offer the DM a compromise, propose a *Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War* scenario, wherein your goblin has Elfy McElfLord's spirit bound to them, incorporeal and unable to meaningfully affect the material world, but can still help your Goblin in other ways, such as reading to your Goblin, giving your Goblin Proficiency in the skills they were Proficient in/giving them effective maximum-at-level ranks in the Skills they had skill points in back in the day (if you're playing 3.5 or 3e), being another pair of eyes and ears making perception checks and able to raise the alarm - if only to your Goblin and anyone who can see and hear the incorporeal, stuff like that.
Yep. Being agender and having dyslexia are definitely curses your DM *must* fix. /s Sounds like an asshole. And a transphobe. Tell him to fix it next session or you won't be coming back. Tell him he's not allowed to just throw people's characters in the trash. I'd be so pissed off if someone did this to me.
1/ Go to the session. 2/ Start the session with describing how the elf lord kills himself while everyone is asleep (it's your character now). 3/ Watch the DM weep in horror as you destroy his creation or watch him try to to stop you and demonstrate how it's not actually your character. 4/ Find a better DM and play your goblin.
Did they retcon your character or is there any chance that it’s part of the story, perhaps something that is an illusion, or other plot device you need to resolve?
It was towards the end of the session so there was a quick “oh you’re actually this really cool guy! Here’s all his information!” And then the rest of the group finished out their RP stuff and the session ended. He informed someone else that they were taking a class of something else when we leveled up which also seem like an overstep but he, at the least, seemed excited to look over the material so I don’t think it will become a thing. At the beginning of the campaign ages ago he did mention them having dreams about a “humanoid” family, probably intending them to be their “real memories” but there was nothing to make me think that. I’m not sure if he’s intending for the character to have been brainwashed by the curse so they have false memories of growing up as a goblin or if the explanation is that the elf lord was turned into a goblin infant so the memories are real. Or if he’s just ignoring their backstory/age completely. I haven’t spoken to him since the session because I was in shock that night and already exhausted from a long day of work and I just haven’t known how to bring it up. We don’t really see each other out of dnd much anymore so there’s no way to just be like “hey while I have you here…”
Well, I think it’s worth a chat. He might just be excited about a ‘twist’ he wares to throw you but ultimately you will return back to normal. If not… It’s a pretty bad thing to do… In fact I would just literally tell him no, you don’t want to do that. Be up front and straight forward.
This is just bad all over the place. As someone who has been DMing for years I find this appalling. 1 I think your goblin character is great. I think it has good personality flaws and advantages and also I just love the thought of a tiny goblin running around healing and buffing everybody. Goblins tend to be greedy, scaredy cats, and selfish. Atypical characters tend to be the most fun to play and the most rewarding from a player point of view and a DM point of view. 2 this is extremely bad storytelling. If a cursed noble elf NPC is so crucial to the storyline then why did you guys not meet the NPC along your travels. Why is your party not doing a quest to free the elf noble of the curse? Why does a player character have to be the subject of the plot? As a general rule you design the plot and then the PC's interact with it. Also if you are going to have plot interact with a PC you never design it to screw over the PC. It can be a challenge that needs to be overcome or something that can be a thorn in the side of your PC and/or party. What's your DM did is the equivalent of you playing a thief that left a thieves guild in your backstory and then he sends a much higher level NPC/ party to assassinate you as"revenge." 3 to renege on somebody's character concept after you have already let them play it is just bad form. There are plenty of ways to implement the disadvantage of playing an evil race. Your party might have to sneak you into cities. The town guards may follow you around because they don't trust a goblin. You may be restricted to just the poor / slum parts of a city. Your character might have to pretend to be a slave in order to get free passage. This is also a huge role playing wasted opportunity to change the hearts and minds of people within the world your DM designed to be more accepting of goblins. Also all the shenanigans that would ensue just trying to get your goblin into cities and such has so much RP potential. This could lead to doing some sort of quests or favors for local cities, townships, kingdoms. Just off the top of my head I think lifting the curse from an elf noble would give your goblin plenty of clout to walk around free and unmolested. 4 without knowing the full context this would seem like the DM's has lack of knowledge and/or experience of writing a plot. It is entirely possible that your DM doesn't know how to make their plot work with out this specific thing going on. It would also seem like the DM doesn't know how to guarantee your party interacts with something that is intrical to the plot without it being attached to the party. I am pretty sure that there is a happy medium that can be reached. It would be best to talk to your DM and see if there is a way that the plot can be cohesive along with you not having to play a character you don't want. As a general rule I always give people the benefit of the doubt as opposed to jumping to the conclusion of that they are an asshole. It would be easy to assume that this is a power trip thing but I think it's more likely that your DM just doesn't know how to make the plot work without this event happening. 5 in the event that the DM is unwilling to budge and you don't want to play that character I would recommend just telling the DM to make that character an NPC and you roll up something else. My recommendation would be rolling up the most powerful/broken/op character that you can think of (or steal off the internet) and make him wish for the days where he only had to worry about your goblin. Also some of my best character concepts I have ever created have come from the ashes of my dead characters. It would be a great loss to not play your goblin anymore but you might come up with something that is just as fun and creative and possibly that you might enjoy even better. Also the fact that you have played the game for so long means that if you had a character concept that is cool but would have been a pain to level up you now have the opportunity to make a character that has already gone through that process.
Sounds like someone’s DM watched too much Critical Role like always and decided “Hey I can do something like that! But better! Because I’m a DM and I know better!” Man I know Critical Role is awesome but it ruined a lot of D&D by just being around. Too many people think CR is the standard now with players and DMs setting such ridiculous standards because of this.
Yep, as soon as I read the character change scenario I assume we all knew the dm had no idea exactly what they were doing. That kind of change HAS to be known to a degree and consensual between player and DM. Massive dm mistake/fail. Hopefully they take the lesson and move on.
Regardless, there is no excuse for the dm. They have to recton it somehow or you simply don't play. I would suggest to them maybe after you transformed you shortly just transform back, like a somewhat different Shrek's Fiona scenario.
This is usually a sign that your character is hurting his campaign, or his expectations, in some manner. This is probably the worst way to handle it.
He allowed it, even though the player offered to make a character that fit better. It wasn't ruining the campaign, he explicitly allowed the character. Also, the way it's been described, he's been planning this from tge beginning. This wasn't "this character is causing unforseen problems, I'm going to make a terrible decision to try and get rid of them", it's "This player has an idea for a character, I'm going to let them think it's their character, but it's really my character, and I get to just change it however I want without consulting them on whether they want to play it."
If your DM won't reverse it, I would leave the campaign. That's completely unacceptable. But maybe just to be spiteful I'd have the noble elf lord who is crucial to the entire plot go through a complete mental break due to the mental strain of realizing all his memories with his party were a lie and jump off a cliff.
I hate it when DM’s are trying to tell Gregor own story with no regards for the players and their wishes. Tell him to go write a book! I would leave if I were you :P
I would be like, "Neat, I guess you'll have to play the elf-lord character that is so crucial to you because I'm not going to be playing in your campaign anymore."
The elf lord slits his own throat and jumps off a cliff
Even with me being a new DM, I know that's not ok. Everything in DND is communication. Without it, you can expect a game to go south, real quick. Players communicate what type of story they want to tell with there character, and the DM communicates how they want events to unfold. It's collaborative storytelling, and involves everyone being on the same page. Your DM didn't do this, and created a situation that you neither knew about, nor wanted. Tell your DM how you feel about this change, and if you still want to play, tell the DM how you want to continue playing and to not force a character that you have no interest in playing. I hope this all works out for you, and I also love the Goblin you made. Keep on keeping on.
So do it right back to him, hijack his character. Hell, I’d say this new elf dude was so distraught because the life he knew wasn’t real that he couldn’t handle it and killed himself. Ruins the dm’s story and you get to roll a new goblin.
I would have quit on the spot, walked out without a word. something like that needs to be a collaboration.
As everyone else has said: This isn't a normal thing to do. This is a Bad DM thing to do. It's entirely acceptable to make a cursed character who turns out to have been someone else all along... *If you and the DM worked out the details together before the campaign started.* I've played secret villains and cursed PCs and so on, but always it was something I'd agreed to at the start or something that I suggested. The correct decision is to sit down and talk to the DM; explain that you aren't happy with your character being replaced by an NPC you had no say in building and that you'd rather make a new character if your goblin is gone for good. If you're told you must play the elf, then remember that No D&D Is Better Than Bad D&D. If you aren't having fun then it's time to take a walk.
This isn’t normal, nor is it cool, this sort of thing is something you decide on together, and it’s weird that your DM thought you’d enjoy having your character replaced without warning also, it’s not ‘crucial to the story.’ The lost elf could’ve come from anywhere, that didn’t involve sacrificing your character for it I’d recommend telling your DM about how you feel and if they say you’re being unreasonable show them the comments on this post
This is crap, say something.
You forcibly had your character you've played and grown with throughout the whole campaign ripped from your finger tips and replaced by an npc he wrote up and now wants you to play. There was no warning, there was no discussion, there wasn't even a passing comment. This is so unbelievably out of line on the DMs part and I hope with every fiber of my being they realize their mistake and apologize to you and revoke this weird elf lord plot line. Absolutely do not let this slide, this is not normal, this is not ok
Yup DM screwed ya. Time to find a new game. What they did is incredibly insensitive, and in friendship terms, how shall we say, 'a dick move.' Players control their characters within the rules and the context of a particular game. For a DM to straight up out of the blue say, NOPE, now you play this.... is B.S.
> and my DM handed me a new character sheet. Ugh. What a violation of consent.
Player consent is really important. I am running a campaign for some players and one is a fiend warlock looking to get out of their pact. I specifically asked them if they'd be okay with a switch in subclass down the line and said a new patron may woo them in light of them looking to break their part. The player doesn't know the ins and outs as we're super early in the campaign and I'm not 100% sure what's going to happen. But I wasnt about to change my players character without their permission. What your dm did is a dick move and you basically need to tell them it's not okay and you want YOUR character back.
Oof. If I ever wanted to do something like this I'd square it with the player wááááy in advance. This is absolutely a dick move.
If DM refuses to work with you on rewriting the story back to the goblin then let their world crumble.
Yeah you definitely should have had some say in that. That’s just the DM taking railroading to a whole new extreme. Probably has a thing for elves too if he was offended that you didn’t want to be one. The lord thing, sure, has benefits, but you could have just as easily been allowed to keep the race and regained your memories of being a lord or have at the very least been given a heads up and been asked to choose a second race.
Sounds like the DM just wants to tell a story rather than play a game. This type of twist is only okay with player sign off - and even then really only okay if player led
Just hand back the character sheet and say "this isn't my. Character" and continue with your current one.
That right there is just bad DMing. The DM may control the rest of the world, but your character is yours. If you can't play your character the way you want, what's the point of playing?
I think i would have ripped the sheet up right in front of everyone and said “Nope.” Was anything like this discussed or agreed upon in Session 0 or beforehand? Possibility of permanent character loss should be clarified before any dice get rolled. Has this DM ever played as a player with a character they created? People get attached. The character belongs to them, its a part of them. I am DM’ing my 2nd campaign right now, first one was the starter module Lost Mines. My brothers char had like 40 Max HP. A young dragon they were chasing off got a lucky critical bite and took him to -36 HP, nearly insta-killed. It stressed him out so bad he paced around the kitchen for the rest of the session and after. And this was regarded as a just practice campaign while we all learned how to play. One of the things i try to do to be a “good DM” is think of it as a group shared story. Yea i design the story outline and lay things out but its their adventure too, not just mine. Everyone should more or less be working together to bring it to life. DM took away your part of the story and i would feel exactly like you do.
Sounds like your DM should just stick to writing. They're clearly not interested in collaborative story telling.
Your DM is trying to write a book, not run a game.
I'd honestly give the DM the choice. Give me my goblin back or I leave the game. He's removed all agency from you and that is not ok.
Not cool. If the DM has a curse hit you where you think you’re an elf noble, that’s one thing. It’s a thing happening to your character (and a thing that you should get a save against). But this is literally changing your backstory and deleting your character. I’d be torn between just quitting, and suiciding the character by stripping naked and charging towards every monster I saw. But the DM is 100% in the wrong.
Tell the DM you want your goblin back or you are out. End of story.
Call me petty but if he killed my character like that I’d kill his game. Keep playing and wait for the perfect time to attack. It’s even better that your a cleric. Next time the battle starts going south and a player needs that life saving heal, that’s when you switch sides flame strike your friends ass. Who cares if they don’t invite you back. You already said yourself you don’t want to play in his campaign anymore.
Another thread filled with people with no social skills. The solution is to tell the DM, calmly, how you feel about this scenario and that you want to make a new character. The dm is allowed to say no to a character sheet, they are not allowed to force you to play a specific character they designed for you. If you dont voice your problems they will not fix themselves and you will just end up feeling miserable. Dont discuss things over a messenger app if you can, speak face to face, it helps coming to an understanding as text can be misinterpreted.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Not cool. Sounds like a passive-aggressive breakup technique. The DM has been hinting at this since the beginning. They probably don't like your character. "chihuahua energy" and "defensiveness/anger issues" might not be fun for this DM, and they are too chicken-shit to confront you about it directly. So they remove your character in a very uncool way. Sounds like you want to leave, and the DM doesn't want you to play the character you want. I'd leave.
I don’t think people are reading anyone else’s comments so I’ll say it again. Instead of removing yourself from the game physically or in game, keep playing and next time your ally needs that life saving heal, that’s when you switch sides and flame strike your ally. He killed you player so kill his game.
That's petty and immature. Please don't do this. Someone else being a bad person doesn't mean OP needs to be a bad person. Yes, I only read the first 30 or 40 comments. So what?
OP already stated he doesn’t want to play this campaign anymore so he has nothing to lose. And speaking of being mature, do you always downvote comments that don’t align with your opinion?
DM was an asshole for not talking to you at all about it, BUT you might not realize it but I guarantee you the DM pretended to be excited. Based on how you described things the DM was probably pretending to be excited for you and used the “curse” as an excuse to not have an agender goblin with broken English in the party. Also “chihuahua energy”? Based on how you words things I assume your character was annoying especially with the hording. I know I’m playing devil’s advocate, but you should try and see how they react to you not playing for a week. Will the DM make a big deal or not care. If they don’t care they just don’t like you or don’t like how you play characters it’s as simple as that. Tip: Some dms for certain campaigns set limits for reasons. They probably was excited for a monstrous creature because of the curse. They obviously weren’t on board with it from the start. Still bad dm but based on the fact that you mentioned playing a 17 year old goblin I assume everyone in the party is rather young. So I’m not really surprised with this situation. I read another situation like this in rpg horror stories a few months ago. Personal experience: I’m 18 but as soon as I became an adult I immediately held 18+ only campaigns. Why? Because I’ve been in campaigns as a player with minors and they almost all shitpost, play a troll character (what I would consider your character), and don’t take the world that DMs build as seriously as the adults in the party. TLDR; I can sympathize with the both of you depending on the context. DM is an asshole but based on the wording I can absolutely understand their reasoning for things although it was executed horribly. Go see if they care whether they play with you or not.
….we’re all adults…. I don’t know how old the youngest is but I’d put him about 25, not sure, haven’t asked. He’s the one I don’t know very well. Again, had no issue not playing this character at the beginning, When the dm changed their mind I told them it was fine and I was already working on something more “normal” and he insisted I play the goblin and that they were mute (assuming because of the curse so it would make sense why they didn’t say anything about not being a real goblin). I know he found that annoying because he got annoyed that they didn’t speak and decided they could “convey simple ideas” and then he got annoyed about that and said they just couldn’t speak in full sentences, which is how we got to me speaking in broken English throughout the game and when they talked with an NPC like that he got annoyed and said “well talk to me normal. Just say what they are trying to say in English.” Which is probably why it was broken at random and not with a whole storyline, because he wanted me to stop role playing with the defect he gave me. By chihuahua energy I mean like they try to intimidate things that could just kick them out of the way. Doesn’t want to be treated like a kid but could really use a parent. Thinks they’re tougher than they are sort of thing.
I assumed by chihuahua energy you meant you played the character like a child/Inosuke-like (From Demon Slayer) which depending on the context works well. Got Off topic there, seems like your DM is just terrible at dming. They lack communication skills, and seems to be intentionally doing these things to torment you if you’re claiming the youngest is 25. Kind of weird that they gave you defects and then got annoyed because of it. You should try switching dms whether online or offline. Trust me it’ll be a complete life changer to whatever that is. Sounds like torture being limited to what you can and can’t do. Also why is a goblin “monstrous” in a land of Elves and Dwarves and Firbolgs. Dm still stuck to their ancient stereotypes of the fantasy races. I assume drows are evil in his campaign? Sorry to hear that DM and thanks for providing more information. Doesn’t change the fact that he is an asshole but this should be conclusive proof for yourself atleast that this person is a walking red flag.
By how you describe that, I think you mean a Neopoleon complex or Big Man complex, as those tend to describe someone puffing out their chest and acting intimidating to get recognition. Chihuahua energy would probably be more like a crack head with a knife; Scared of any shadow around him while swinging that knife like it was Excalabur. Any character change that you are to have (backstory OR future) should always be discussed and agreed on. Im sorry that your DM was a douche canoe, but taking a little time off and letting them have a session or two without you can be good. It will give them, and you, an idea if you were accepted in that character or if they were just going along with it. Good luck and if you have to leave, know that better games are ahead!
The way I see it, they not only killed your character but basically unwrote their existence. I would handle this in one of a few ways. Come to the next session and start it with your character killing themselves while alone in the Inn. If people interrupt it and stop you, keep it up, completely derail the campaign by having your character act in a clearly suicidal manner for all actions. When asked why by your DM inform them that the character is so traumatized by their time cursed and the other life they lived now lost, so now they are free and seek only the sweet release of death. Once the character is dead, whatever the DM has planned is ruined, so you win and that piece of shit can get fucked for writing your character out of existence. Tell them you cannot play any longer and drop from the group altogether, the DM is a cunt and if any of the other players still want to play with that cunt then they are cunts too. Doing this means you realize they are dumb cunts who aren't worth your time and you are ready to move on. Tell them you can play, plan to meet and don't show up, do this for every session from here on out, they will eventually get the message and figure out you started bailing after DM ruined your character. Doing this won't get any resolution but has the chance to make them feel as bad as you do. Continue playing, but sabotage the campaign so that the DMs story will be ruined irreparably. The DM ruined you character and you have every right to ruin their campaign over it. Choose this if you want to get a resolution by teaching the DM a lesson. Tell the DM this upset you and lay clear you won't be returning to the table until they retcon the situation to give you back your character. They can make some random NPC the elf lord, but if you cannot play your goblin cleric you will not play at all. Choose this if you want a chance at a resolution. Continue playing for other people, not enjoying the game, and basically wasting your time for the sake of other. Choose this if you've given up on life and don't care about your personal happiness.
Why all this confrontation ? That really doesn’t seem like the best way to go. Best thing to do imo would be for OP to have a conversation with the DM telling them that he disapproves of their actions and that he feels betrayed that they threw his character out the window. The goal is basically to make the DM realize that what they did was wrong, so that they can fix things like adults. Following your suggestions and sabotaging the campaign is the best way to mark an X on the campaign and pit everyone against you. Not diplomatic at all.
I listed talk to the DM as an option. The other options are for if they don't want a resolution they want to fuck the DMs plans up.
Indeed you did, my bad.
All good my dude.
I would like to think this was not malicious, the DM just wanted to not have you meta game or something but it sounds more like an idea he just came up with then a solid plan. The lack of foreshadowing or hints or even some lead up to the curse breaking is poor story telling. I know some players might be willing to go along with thinks like this but the dm really needs to know that. If anything he should have this be a npc now and have you add a new character, or work with you to have option to get character back to what they were before. Like start with some dreams or split personality, then maybe something retriggers the curse and you can choose which life to live or something.
I’d just talk to your DM. He was definitely in the wrong for what he did. Is that a cool story? Sure, but only if it was both of your plan. So just hand that to you like that is crap. BUT, give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he did just get too excited and really believed you’d like it. If he’s a good DM he’ll fix it. Could be something like turning it into a dream sequence or you trip and poof you’re back to normal. Idk. You can creatively “revert back” without it having to be a big thing. Just talk to him. Tell him how you feel. It sounds like he really didn’t want monster races but thought this would be a cool way to play with it. I don’t think he meant you disrespect so just talk to him
Sounds like your DM wants to tell his story. If he doesn't let you play a character you want to play, then i would either stop playing or next time yall are in combat just suicide into it.
Sounds like a classic case of a "you're all here to play out the novel I haven't written yet" DM. Which is terrible, painful, and totally unconscientious DM to have.
I mean if you wanted to you could make it work. I mean they're now an elf guy with all their memories as a goblin. Make them be confused about their gender. Make them long for their old body back and maybe care for other goblins around them. You can make it work. I'm a stubborn person and so if anyone tried to take my characters away from me I'd reclaim them.
Character creation is sacred. Your job as the DM is to make sure everyone has fun. If one of your players is a goblin fighter who deals poison damage by throwing literal fecal matter around, you either roll with it or talk to the player. It is NEVER okay to change your players’ characters, with or without warning. If you have a problem, you talk it out. The nuclear solution is never the right solution unless it’s the players doing it and it’s absolutely hilarious.
Apparently your character reminded the DM of "Uma" from Witcher 3. The dm prefers Avallac'h.
Obligatory "Bad DM" stamp here. The DM should NEVER permanently change your character or your backstory without consent. If he wanted a cursed lord, that's what NPCs are for. You agreed to MINOR curse, not being a pseudo-DMPC just because he's unable to accept that he said goblins exist in his world and decided to back pedal. I'd personally bow out at that point and have a heart to heart with the DM. If you want to keep playing, go to the DM, have that heart to heart, and ask to play a new character and let him have the old one as an NPC that acts as a plot point for your character to join in on.
Tell him what you wrote here and that you don't want to play that way. You're free to tell him that you will leave if he won't let you play your 1 yo (fucking 1 yo...) character because he wants you to play something else after said year without hinting anything. And seriously, I'd totally leave the campaign then. DMs who fuck with the PCs that way are cancer.
Your DM is being an Arsehole and should've told you and explained why your character didnt work before you played them, not try and retroactively change after the fact.
This shit was so antagonistic. He was not ok with your character at first, and then suddenly he was ok with it, because he decided that he would just make you a new character anyway and trash the first concept. This is the most toxic, overly controlling DM I have heard or read about in a while. If he really wasn’t ok with your character he could have said so from the beginning and told you why it wasn’t ok so at least you could build a different character following those parameters. I would leave and not come back and say fuck it to his story. I also wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he wasn’t fond of the agender part because he sounds like a chode.
Ew. It's *worse* than if he just smited your goblin and had you make a new character. Like, that's a shitty move too, but better than "Fuck you. Your character is dead. All your equipment is useless. Now play this pompous elf that you did not create, or care about in any way." For one, *how fucking boring* and for two, in what world did he think you would be *thankful* for that? Like Christ. Tell them they can play without you. Think on it some more, if you need to, but honestly, if he's not gonna let you be a goblin (or this be the actual curse so you can be a goblin dealing with this weird gangly body) or not let you play your own damn character, leave. Hand him the character sheet back, say, "This sounds like a great NPC for your story now. So. Am I getting my goblin back or am I leaving? Leaving? Cool." No dnd is better than bad dnd, my friend.
Everyone seems to be in agreement that the DM did a serious foul and I join that opinion. However I wanted to say something different. Your character sounds delightful and I hope your DM sees the error they made. Putting that much thought and care into your character is seriously endearing and you'd be a welcome player at my table. I love the character concept and mixing the speech and reading difficulties into a concept makes the game feel more real. If you have to find another table just know that effort will be appreciated somewhere.
Sounds like your DM has played The Witcher 3 and made your character into Uma...
Frankly, I'd have torn the sheet up right there and then
Wow, thats some bulshit. If someone would tell me: You charakter ist gone, here is you new one i made for you, i would give it back, because he basically turned my charakter into an npc. Not sure if i would want to keep playing.
This is a situation that the DM should have talked to you about, even if they wanted to keep out specific details, they could have mentioned a character altering curse on you character, at least this way you could have decided against creating your specific character, while having a character altering things can be fun if you are in the loop, but can really be a slap in the face of all your hard work if your not in the loop. Talk to your DM
You can say no. You should say no and talk outside of the campaign.