Guaranteed Fun Anti-Tropes: Play 77 Exciting Role-Play Variants

December 3, 2021

Why play the boring usual? Playing against expectation can re-frame your game.

Players tend to get stuck in a rut whilst playing a game that is half a century old. Can you imagine anything other than the fighter that always fights, the raging barbarian, the booky wizard, the nature druid or bard, the singing happy-go-lucky bard, the seriously religious paladin or cleric, the 'no-honour-amid' thieves and (lastly) the shadowy-sinister warlock? Let us rework all of these classes to make them fun and playable.

Cleric: Breaking That 'Healer / Backup Tank'

  • Fights Front-line: adding two levels of paladin makes all the cleric spells standard supply for smite-strike.
  • Disagrees with faith / atheist: finding religion to be an 'opiate of the masses' is hardly a new trope, but the new rules allow clerics to be godless.
  • Dislikes healing: more barbaric groups and races (i.e. 'orcs and their friends') will see scars as rewards, suffering as virtue and sacrifice as bloody.
  • Public Relations Nightmare / Heretic: A cleric that warns everyone against the god they worship. 'Do not worship my god, (s)he will abandon you when you need them most!' This can work if the cleric secretly worships another god.

Note: the cultist and shaman backgrounds are rarely offered to players. Representing divine concepts by example, with irony or by proxy can be a very rewarding role-play motif. Gods that don't mind mischief-shenanigans (Fraz-Urb'Luu, demon lord of illusion is a good example) will not mind a seemingly traitorous cleric-representative.

Fighter: Something Other Than 'The Guy Who Fights'

  • Refuses armour: The dexterity-based swashbuckler has lots of articles already. 'Nuff said.
  • Pacifist: Use of nets, catch-hooks, disarm techniques and sleep poisons.
  • Distracter: Gain focus of enemy and then run - get them to chase you. Allows allies to attack with advantage / opportunity.
  • Coward: Uses ranged weapons only - find a feat / mechanic to remove range issues - attack with a bow at 600'!
  • Intimidator: Special ability or skill to use strength score for intimidation rolls. Avoids combat, more likes the image of being That Tough Guy. Loves to show off, impress kids, ladies, weak men or even passing animals.

Note: fighters should be able to fight on many levels, not just bonking with metallic sticks. Giving more choices and role-play possibilities to this class should be a high priority, otherwise they are one-trick ponies.

Bard: Enough song and dance, put in a day's honest work for a change.

  • Talking Bard: Uses rap instead, negotiates, uses praise, quotes famous people.
  • Working hard: Leads a team doing a trade / earns money via blood, sweat & tears.
  • Minstrel: works well with two levels of paladin - the singing holy man.
  • Mute: Possibly a mime, passes spell-vocals through prepared Magic Mouth or a familiar. Possibly uses the 'voice' of any musical instrument as well, DM permitting.
  • Subtle: Has stage fright &/or introverted - prefers to write-publish dramatic artwork & music instead.
  • Drill Sergeant: Front line warrior, 'inspires' by battle commands.
  • Jester: No intention of serious fighting / silly all the way (may not work with some groups)
  • Hates Art: Refuses to sing, dance or even paint. Became a bard for skills, knowledge, magic opportunities (especially Magic Secrets) and so forth. Verbal components for spells are resounding / echoing whispers.
  • Lawyers: knowledge bards that enforce the writ of law - spell-verbals are quotes from legal texts.

Note: Bards get a fairly annoying trope to work with, so lots of opportunities exist here as counter-types.

Wizard: Enough of the booky nerd because nobody likes a wise-guy.

  • Bookless: Keen Mind feat means one can memorize most of what you need.
  • Book-odd &/or book-reduced: Notes exist in 5e for alternative locations. Try other varieties: marbles with the information inside them, written down on mountains ('very large'), shapes of light & shadows that peers through cracks at a certain time of day or moon-phase, books curated & kept by a ghost-butler,
  • Ashamed of magic: many cultures hate wizards. They may agree - but use magic to solve problems larger than their culture.
  • Warrior: One level of any fighter-ish or cleric-druidy stuff and your wizard can do front-line stuff easily.
  • Agressive Loudmouth youngster: This works even better with a low charisma 'dump-stat'. Why must wizards be old, shy, soft-spoken folks with great wisdom? A supra-genius wizard with wisdom of 3 is still an amazing wizard.
  • Some assembly required / Tin Man: lost lots of limbs & organs for backstory reasons, violent or not. Used borrowed parts now enchants their own 'common' magical prosthetics.
  • Blind &/or Mute: Would need DM permission to cast via familiar lest all targeting 'line of sight' spells are useless. May need an Ersatz Eye (common magic item)
  • Unconscious-possessed: a ghost or magic-jar type force casts spells through their host.
  • Loves nature: Disney princess style connection, animals and plants can remind this wizard what spells they have 'written down' in the wilds.
  • Enjoyable books: Spell books are interesting, enjoyable &/or fun, only the wizard gets the actual 'spells'. Could be cartoons, with the spells in the art-style. Could be adventure-romance, with the spells hidden in patterns of word placement. Such books can hide in plain sight.
  • Body Book: Especially good for tribal wizards of low level, have them tattoo their 1st level spells on their body and put their ritual spells on their back (they have ten minutes to cast it / they can get comfortable and use mirrors).

Note: Wizard trope is surprisingly simple. Do anything OTHER than a quiet book-nerd and you are golden. One level of cleric or druid means a total reworking of the archetype without loss of spell levels.

Rogue: Sneaky backstabbers that have no honour simply do not work in a group.

  • Charitable: Robbing Hood archetype aside, a rogue only need do some volunteer work as Flynn Rider did in Tangled.
  • Scout archer: Reliable messenger, excellent reconnaissance - trusted by the king himself.
  • Too Obvious: No sneaking, too large. Works with smaller friends to cause a distraction / no one suspects or sees it coming.
  • Master Trade: Rogues get amazing skill sets. Why not earn an honest living?

Note: this trope is hard to break because the rogue survives off of stealth & shadow. They do not have many options available to them as casters do nor complex combat options as front-line fighters can access.

Barbarian: Rage against the machine means the machine will tend to win.

  • Well dressed: a barbarian can wear ANY cloth (AC 10). That is a lot of options, especially if they are ashamed of their messy, gauche heritage.
  • Well mannered and reasonable: Prefers to discuss and negotiate. Flies into their 'rage' is when someone is spiteful, nasty, uncouth or otherwise unreasonable.
  • Rage is atypical: Exuberantly joyful ('loves hitting things'), Utterly terrified ('flails about when scared / forgets to run'), mechanically precise ('rage' is a move set or pattern-process taught by a monk or golem), Cold-calculation ('rage' is still there only barbarian does not scream or yell).
  • Throwing shield: Though they cannot use it, they can have one to throw as a Captain America style weapon.
  • Illusion Armour: Appears fully armoured.
  • In Pain: Old war injuries act up in combat - can sacrifice 1 hit point per round and stay enraged / do it all day.
  • Extremely socially intelligent: This kind of rage presents as etiquette tips - the corrections can be sarcastic, ironic and otherwise upsetting. This is more the bard-barbarian (bardarian?), similar to Cutting Words but heavier and more real.
  • Works in a library: Conan the Librarian.
  • The Wizard: Casts 'spells' that do every-day normal things. Not clever enough to fathom they are non-magical. Loves wizardly robes and has 'spell' books filled with cartoons.

Notes: Barbarians have that angry, loud, stupid, brute-beast (wearing one fur over the loins) archetype. It is like bowling - knock over as many as you can.

Warlock: Not everyone wants to be locked into their deal for life.

  • Level up warlock = level up patron: As the warlock gets more powerful their patron also changes, handing them over to their next in command with a more powerful support group.
  • Totally hidden: Not every warlock is proud to have sold their soul. They can appear to be any class (and do a good job of it).
  • Dead patron: getting new powers won't be possible, but anything gained before that point is theirs to keep. Ideal for multi-classed warlocks.
  • At war: have multiple contracts outstanding. Ideal for an honourable warlock serving a desperate-needy-loser demon.
  • She's a witch: to be clear, 'warlock' is a traditional title for the wannabe witches. Let witches be witches.
  • Trading cards: patrons can trade out their subjects to a highest bidder, disappointment, confusion, mistaken identity, bad digestion &/or whim. How about a new patron daily or even hourly?
  • New Powers: why do players get to choose what they get in terms of powers & abilities? Who's warlock is it anyway?
  • unFamiliar Friends: Familiars do not die when their owner dies - your familiar invites over their ex-familiar friends.
  • Patronize your local warlock: patron gives both tips and gifts that appear brilliant, valuable &/or useful. Experience dictates otherwise - the items or info in question can cause embarrassment, revelation of secrets or just wrong-place / wrong-time situations. Is the patron on your side? Are they playing a game? Did they change their mind?
  • Incompetent / desperate patron: Though able to give warlock powers, they are in desperate need of help all the time. The warlock is the real patron and the patron tends to function a bit like a nervous-needy servant.
  • Accidental warlock: contract not legal but warlock &/or patron may not know this. One or both play along. May eventually result in both pretending they have a contract just to keep their various games going.
  • Coven: technically witches (especially hags) belong to a small cell-group and gain power by working together. Where is this motif mentioned in 5e?
  • Converts & Multi-Level Marketing: these warlocks can negotiate on behalf of their patron for souls and deals. Smart patrons will give a cut of the profits. DMs will often give experience points & weird magic items.

Notes: The shifty-dynamic relationship for the warlock to their patron, the patron's allies (like their somewhat... unfamiliar familiar), the patron's enemies that are also patrons - and all the social circles in-between. In 5e this is not clarified, but it is an entire game in-and-of itself.

Ranger: what do they do now?

  • Just don't suck. In 5e, that can be difficult.
  • Mercenary / Hate your title: Go around using your favoured terrain to make anyone and anything there suffer deeply.
  • Taxidermist: Similar to above, love the wanton slaughter of all things fuzzy
  • 'Will You Be My Enemy?': have a deep yet secret passion and love of your chosen enemy.
  • Non-ambulatory: Rangers range on the range. Paraplegics, couch potatoes, drivers of noble chariots and homebodies might have taken this job for the great looking bow or bloodline-family pressures.
  • Lost & forgotten: Especially with 'gloom rangers' - you lose your clan, your homeland and your way back. Your favoured terrain, chosen enemy and all your skills don't work so well here on the Prime Material.

Rangers have a very one-dimensional persona that doesn't even make sense. Tolkien made his one ranger into one of the greatest kings, someone who loved The Great Indoors and became high society. The ultimate trope-breaker is the founding trope itself.

Druid: naturally supernatural

  • Allergies: You can be allergic to the terrain, spell components, certain seasons ('they act up!'), or even to fur / some of one's shape changing options.
  • Not an animal &/or plant person: Some husbandry experts may be horse whisperers. Some gardeners may be green thumbs. One does NOT mean the other. Animals also make their discomfort well-known.
  • Traitor trader: Working with the above, selling natural or supernatural components, parts and goods can be incredibly lucrative. Speaking of which, do you have any unicorn horn powder left?
  • So metal: an underdark druid (dwarf, goblin, orc, drow) can see the value of their skills, spells and connection yet still love metal, indoors, society and urban living. Touchy relationship with their god(s) perhaps.

Note: most of the anti-druid archetype is going to be their conflict with their weirdly strict codes or their natural connection to nature. Socially there isn't much to struggle with: everyone tends to love the nature-healer, especially when they take the form of a cat or dog. They are sort of your Friendly Neighbourhood Were-Critter.

Assassin: not making an ass of their asses.

Trope Broken: Assassins blend in even better than a rogue - their trade and their lives depend on it. As such, they don't really have a trope so the ideas below are desperate grasps at straws.

  • Blades of Return: having magical weapons that cause Reincarnation once a day would be amazing. It might have a time-delay ('does not activate until the original body is buried or burned') or even odd placement ('10-100 miles away from death-point') and even include memory-loss as being reborn often does. Possibly the victim loses track of their specifics ('i was a noble of some kind... not sure which race i served' or 'i remember everything but the last few days so i have no idea of the person who killed me' or 'i have my name and my class abilities... and nothing else.'). You could even have this assassin become aware of their powers and give those unjustly targeted another chance as some other race. Reincarnation also provides youth, so they would be given plenty of 'assassination contracts' to lots of older people that become aware of this killer-power.

Notes: One can also do some quasi-anti-trope stuff with an assassin's personality and demeanour. That said (as mentioned above), a properly role-played assassin is everyone's friend, ally and lover. If their target suspects something is wrong and has a dying breath, they are terrible assassins indeed. That said, if their target somehow suspected who their killers real motives were, such a person is NOT doing their job. These class-professions exist in a world where resurrections are common - they would know the importance of killing powerful and well-connected persons of influence without anyone knowing. They would not be known for doing great amounts of damage in a surprise round in a dungeon - that just isn't their bag.

Sorcerer: Dudes and dudettes infected with magic.

  • Allergic to magic: their sneezes and coughs blow out their magic spells.
  • Chaos magic that is chaotic: rather than the magic only doing odd stuff when casting a spell, have weird curses coming and going, odd cantrip level magic manifesting (similar to a ghostly influence) and have a spell go off just as this sorceress wakes up (summoning creatures is especially interesting)
  • Have their 'type' of sorcery bleed through: A chaos wizard will have nothing that matches on either side of their face or body. They may even gain mutations, aberrations, manifestations and eerie biological deformities based on their magic-infection type.
  • Magic finds a way: Sorcery can be a bit warlocky in that the magic can have a mind of its own. Possibly link the magical 'will' to be a sorcerer's unconscious, their trauma manifestation or even the will of those they love mapping itself out on their own plans. Accidentally misfiring Magic Missile at the magistrate might be menacing, but it could also make for an interesting and involved campaign.

Note: Sorcerers are the most common multi class: it just adds rapid amounts of spell-levels to one's paladin or warlock base. It also allows one to manipulate any spell at low levels. This means there are lots of trope-breakers out there, but the magic itself could use some love. Sorcerer's magic is not very mysterious - but a good DM can change this in a way that does not force the player to lose control of their character's abilities.

Paladin: Goody Two Shoes.

  • Bad habit: This one gets a lot of role-play, but worthy of mention. Paladin is extremely good &/or likeable but does something 'bad'. Smokes various leaf-sorts, drinks alcohol, gambles, enjoys sexual activity or reads sports magazines. Seriously, this anti-trope is a bit obvious.
  • Dexterity based paladin: This one is often done as well, the swashbuckler pally.
  • Deep Dark Secret: Especially for a good paladin with a fiend warlock level or two.
  • Psychological deviance: Covered in 'bad habit', but giving a paladin bipolar, borderline, schizophrenia or other kinds of genetic complications can add to both interest and challenge of a role play. Hard to pull off but worth the effort.
  • Legal defiance: Also a common theme that is not that anti-tropy. One can not agree with one or more allies, leaders or advisors.
  • Tempted: This one Darth Vaders itself, really.
  • Redemption: This one also Darth Vaders itself to Anakin itself all over again.
  • Secret: paladins are often supposed to be open and good with communication.

Notes: As much as assassins are trope-chameleons, paladins are trope-buster magnets. They are just so stiff and rigid (and fairly boring) that they MUST BE BUSTED in order to be role-playable. If you want to enjoy this role and the heroic struggle, list down all their class vows and see how that can both be an advantage and a disadvantage in various social, psychological and situational problems.

Go Forth And Bend That Class!

There you have it. You will find that whenever you multi-class the trope is broken - many multi-class guides give the various class-mixes separate names or titles of their own (such as a paladin-bard being a 'minstrel' or a fighter-rogue being a 'commando'). This is the fastest way to break your tropes down, often simple and easy as well.

What is not covered here is how to break down class archetypes with various race combinations. Obviously mismatches (gnome barbarians, orc wizards, ogre rogues) tend to be seen as fun, albeit a bit unplayable. Nor does this writeup consider the very best way to stretch and reshape a class-cliché: do some good role-playing. You don't have to make deep accents or mimic a dark & brooding lone wolf or such. All you have to do is ask 'what does my player want?' and answer it three times - even better if two of these motives conflict. An orphan that wants to be rich or help his hundreds of (ex) housemates? A drow that is ashamed of their heritage yet seeks to enslave their worst enemy. An assassin that falls in love with her quarry. Fiendish blood that gives a desperate addiction to heavenly virtues. This is the contradiction and resolution that can break any mold if done with sincerity and interest.


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