The BEST (and WORST) D&D Cliches!

Seriously, what's wrong with starting your D&D game in a tavern?!?!

Grab a FREE homebrew tavern menu in the TPT Discord! ↴

Welcome to the Twisted Pint Tavern! Come on in, hang your cloak up by the fire, and grab a pint as you listen to today's tale! If you have a similar D&D or RPG story, feel free to share it in the comments, and we might feature it in a future video! Today we're diving into Reddit to see what people's favorite (and least favorite) D&D clichés are! These best (and worst) cliches can be a lot of fun and lead to a classic D&D feeling, but they can also get a bit annoying at times...

Thread(s) these stories came from:
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:16 Edgy Rogues
00:48 Starting in a Tavern
01:18 My Parents are Dead!
02:18 THAT Bard, among others...
03:25 Tavern Owners are Level 20
04:29 Favorite NPC is the BBEG
04:56 Curse of Strahd Mimic Door
05:40 2 Stage Boss Fights in D&D
06:32 Tiefling Warlocks are FINE!
07:16 All D&D Players are Overweight Single Guys
07:54 Killing an NPC To Anger the Players
08:17 I CAST FIREBALL!
08:51 Roll to Seduce
09:13 I have Darkvision!
09:44 Dungeons & Dragons Without the Dungeons and Dragons
10:11 Outro
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The Twisted Pint Tavern is a warm and fun place where all weary adventurers are welcome to gather for a drink and a story! Come hear fantastic stories and tidbits from various fantasy TTRPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons (D&D / DnD), Pathfinder, and more!.
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All graphics and sounds are sourced and used with due permissions or are free of copyright. All stories are sourced either directly from viewers or from public D&D and Fantasy forums/threads online. If you believe anything is being used in these videos incorrectly, please reach out immediately so that we can remedy the situation!

[twistedpinttavern]

What are your favorite (or least favorite) D&D cliches? Let me know in the comments or the Twisted Pint Tavern Discord server!

[tynangroves]

I love the trope cliches - orcs versus dwarves (having a half-orc in the party with a dwarf is just asking for a rash), elves believing they are the superior race (ummmm), the matriarchy of the Drow, wolves being ridden by goblins, vampires taking damage in running water/ needing to be invited in. L to the oh V E it! The world is a shiny mess and it’s nice to have things you can count on and sort of control.

[dragonblade]

I had a character that had a peaceful happy life and went on an adventure. His backstory was that he was a mediocre merchant who managed an OK and stable life for his family. His kids turned out to be geniuses and took over the business. The kids actually cared about him and his wife and wanted to take care of them, but they completely eclipsed my character as merchants and even managed to expand the business a lot. My character, Norm the Ordinary, had a midlife crisis while feeling useless. During a heavy drinking session, he remembered how he had learned the basics of fighting from when he was still a traveling merchant, so he decided to go out and make a name for himself so his family could be proud of him (they already were). He wrote a letter, grabbed some basic gear, and left home. The next day, he regretted his decision, but was too proud to go back on it. Later, he was drinking again and the next day he woke up in Barovia (Curse of Strahd). He swore off alcohol after that.

[thornangel]

Another compelling alternative to dead parents is having s*** parents you ran away from. That's a good reason to not be at home. Plus the potential catharsis of giving them what's coming to them could be oh so sweet!

[JuicyBlueWill]

With the 2 stage boss fight, I don't get what the difference between resetting and doubling the hitpoints is. The players will never know the boss' health so the point at which they swap to stage 2 doesn't matter

[Mousemonday]

Taverns ARE cool! My first DnD session EVER was in a tavern and it provided tons of ways for our entirely new party to have some fun and break into roleplay.

Taverns are a classic man. Just make sure something like, actually happens!

[nickbelice]

"Evil" characters in a good party i have no problem with that it can work well if played with tact, but from what i have seen in my years of hosting its mostly a excuse to be mean

[connor_draco_tempest]

a cliche I heard not sure if it counts but It's the Town Doesn't remember some people existing and OH look A False Hydra has been doing this to them

[svartrbrisingr]

while i didnt kill them. i did kidnap the players favorite npc.

they were dealing with a major npc i use in all my campaigns. one who is well known to fuck with the party(he is a whispers bard) and well he convinced the rogue and the npc fighter/paladin dmnpc(she was weaker then the party, just there for frontline support as they had none otherwise. and for roleplaying. she never took the lead) and they ended up in a fight with the bard and well he wasnt having any of it. and so he started choking the rogue with his hands and the rogue out of desperation broke a magic dagger trying to stab the bard(his unique powers is to destroy anything) and of course the party is panicking not really knowing what to do to save the rogue so i have the npc same the rogue but she is quickly knocked unconscious after and while the party escapes the the Astral Plane(the bard cant enter other planes) he takes the fighter.

so que a very pissed off party(character wise, not player wise) finding out she is alive and they are given a way into the place she is.

well its a simple dungeon where they face a powerful foe at the end(not the Bard) and manage to save the npc only to find out she lost an arm. and is pregnant(whole story of its own)

to this day my players enjoy my bard npc. since i dont use him super often but when i do its an enjoyable roleplay section where sure i am aiming to get them to slip up and do something stupid but i do reward them for being smart against him as he will tend to drop some pretty subtle hints for things related to the players stories and the main story they are doing.

[rougeofdastcentury]

Dude, I havent been keeping up with the channel, so hyped to see you cross 1K subs!

[tinycrimester]

tropes are fun, subverting tropes is fun, subverting the subversions is fun... everything there is to do, you can do either well or poorly. it's a choice, really.

[nabra]

It isn't really annoying, but the dwarfs vs elves problems are overall confusing to me. They don't really have a lot of shared resources or interests crossings to be in a historical conflict, they just... Hate each other, because of their different opinions on philosophical questions or something of a sort. I guess they should just be unable to care less about each.

[TheNoobRapter]

This is more ttrpg cliches I hate.
1. this character is the main character from "insert famous anime here"
2. elves and dwarfs hate each other period
3. guns should never be anywhere near D&D/ D&D games
4. You should only play D&D, any other ttrpg is just bad
5. never split the party
6. all tieflings are part of the lgbt community, mostly if they are a bard

[jesselegere]

I have to disagree with you on why people would be out adventuring. There are plenty of extremely dangerous jobs that pay very well that people do. Adventurers are the wealthiest people that don’t come from money. Making money for your family is a huge motivation.
Wanting to explore the world and taking jobs for gp to fund your travels is another great motivator.
Having no family is boring and cliche. I’d say dig deeper and find a more interesting story. That’s what I say to players that fall into that cliche at my tables. It always makes for much more interesting stories.
Good job on the vid though. Def an interesting topic.