This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by how easy it is to fall into a particular pattern. From game to game, I often find myself playing a Healer-based role because it’s what I know and love. This time, we’re going to explore the consequences of sticking to what you know, and the benefits of spreading your wings from time to time.
You Free Yourself
If you’ve never heard of typecasting, it’s a phenomenon in acting where an actor/actress becomes so “known” for playing a particular type of character (the femme fatale, the scary jock, the overprotective parent) that they only receive offers to play that role. You may think, “why’s that so bad? They’re getting paid to do what they do best.”
In one sense, you’re right; it’s good to get paid for what you do (so long as you enjoy what you do as well). In a creative space, however, you can only tap a vein so long before there’s nothing left to give. You run the same archetype through enough lenses and eventually you’ll see double. In a medium like roleplaying games, where you keep coming back time and time again for the new and thrilling experiences, this becomes anathema.
This isn’t to say you’ve got only “X” amount of times you can play a particular role in your lifetime. I’ll always go back to the Healer at various points in my life, but I can do so happily because I’m spacing out those times with new and challenging experiences.
This doesn’t only apply to a class schema either; it also works with a character’s personality type. If you’re always playing a goody two-shoes who follows the letter of the law, branch out! Try your hand at a scoundrel with questionable motives, or a Mother/Father who will protect his/her family by any means necessary. You never know how those experiences will empower you the next time you fill your favorite shoes.
You Never Know What You’ll Find
For the first time in my 10+ years of playing roleplaying games, I’m currently playing the devil-may-care melee attacker; a “Bull in a China Shop.” In the first few sessions, I’ve had to embrace the “smash first” mentality and become the ire of my favorite role. I can’t believe I waited this long!
My point is, trying new experiences provides infinite payoff when it comes to exploring your creative side. In a recent interview with Dungeon Life, Taliesin Jaffe said he creates characters to solve an unknown personal question, and I think he captures my sentiment perfectly. When you explore the same character type ad nauseam, you’re asking the same question and hoping to get different answers. Per Albert Einstein’s eternal wisdom, we call that insanity.
This isn’t to say you’ll enjoy every new venture you undertake. I played a Medium in a recent Pathfinder campaign and found this Jack-of-All-Trades role to be too aimless for my taste. My character’s “question” was ambiguous and left me uninspired. But, I appreciated the lessons I learned as I sent the character off into the sunset and pondered a new question. Not every design can (or will) pan out.
You Learn the Game Better
The style and nature of the game’s many intricate mechanics become second-nature when you apply them to yourself. I’ve known for years how to effectively use spells, including their distances and areas of effect, due to my many sorcerer and wizard characters over the years. Playing a Barbarian, however, forced me to shift my attention to rules like knowing an enemy’s reach, damage resistances, grappling rules, or stacking various bonuses to deal maximum damage. Rather than simply casting a spell, moving, and then ending my turn, I need to plan every action to make the most of my limited abilities.
By knowing the game, you know your enemies. Adding this new frame of reference, I find myself learning my enemies’ tactics, and their appropriate countermeasures, faster than before. The same can be said by trying new alignments/moralities. By trying your hand at a tyrant bent on ruling the world, you’ll get a better sense of what your next story’s villain may be up to (without breaking your DM’s game of course).
In Summary
With enough time and space, I could list many more reasons why you shouldn’t limit yourself to one particular character archetype. In the end, it comes down to what’s the most fun for you. Roleplaying games are beautiful in their ability to be limited only by the imaginations of the players. By trying new things, you broaden your imagination’s horizon. This, in turn, builds upon your experiences within roleplaying games. They feed into each other, becoming an Ouroboros of joy and excitement. All it takes is your willingness to reach out and try new things.
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