12 reasons for your D&D character to stick with their party

Why does your Dungeons & Dragons character stay with their party? What's keeping them there? Here are a dozen possible answers to that question.

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▼ INDEX ▼
0:00 Intro
2:01 Survival
2:20 Special Skills
2:37 Shared Goals
2:57 Altruism
3:19 Francis has a bone to pick (Sponsored by DGNFOG!)
5:14 It's a Job
5:33 Company
5:59 Relationships
6:28 Blackmail
6:45 Protective
7:04 Obligation
7:15 Observation
7:32 Acceptance
7:50 Outro

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[EMbrokehp]

Cleric idea: Shortly after becoming a cleric, their god arranges for them to meet the other adventurers because "it'll be good for you to get out of the temple for a while and socialize with others your age."

[thomasjdurfee]

"It's a job"
*ad begins*

I see what you did there

[noahthehoneyboy]

*sees group of casters*
My giant firbolg barbarian- “smol must protecc”

[Chelsey.A.L]

My friends and I just started a Humblewood campaign. My character is an older Vulpin (wolf-like humanoid) lady who was asked by an old friend to join a group in completing a mission. While on the road, she has realized that many of the people she is traveling with remind her of her family (especially of her kids). Those maternal instincts have kicked in and she is now determined to not only complete the mission but also keep everyone safe (and well fed) while doing it.

Also, can confirm that this Patreon community is amazing!

[Normy]

"I seem so charismatic when I'm alone in my basement performing scripted enthusiasm to a camera". I love it.

[SlimJimCowboy]

One of the biggest things I struggle with as a player is finding the common ground amongst my party for my character to, well, stay with them! As Sam Riegel always says "why would you stay??? You're always facing life or death, who wants to do that?" So this is a very cool video that I'm positive will help me a lot with my character intentions and reasonings for facing those life or death scenarios!

[lolli_popples]

So I have this character who’s a really important noble, and there’s a lot of people trying to kill him now that he’s left home. One of the other players is an assassin who is supposed to kill me. I made friends with him, like you do. So now he’s staying to make sure he can kill me when he gets the order and I’m staying so 5 other people don’t also try to kill me. Very fun.

[Michael-Drizzt]

Yes why be Batman, when you can be 'The Owlbear'

[Risu-sama]

Ginny makes the best sponsorship adverts on youtube, hands down.

[carolynwilliams]

'It's a Job' works very well when you're trying to get a bunch of weirdos together for the first time. It's worked for 3 of my parties so far!

[elisekorenhof]

I had a one shot once where we had:
A) a wizard with self-destructive arrogance
B) a cleric charged with keeping him alive
C) a fighter in service of a temple, committed to protecting the cleric

It was a lot of people jumping in front of each other...

[profdouglas]

I just made a character who is a creation bard, and is obsessed with beauty. He has a unique way of observing beauty and has learned to paint in a way that better portrays the beauty he finds in other people. Upon meeting the party, the dm asked every other player to roll a charisma check and my character viewed the highest roller as the most beautiful and now follows him around asking him to model whenever they are out of combat. I haven’t played him very long but I love the flavor on his spells and the way rolling has forced me as a player not to make any judgements based on class or player playing the character that may influence how I treat other PCs

[danieldonnert]

1: "spin the bottle" sounds like a great session 0 activity.
2: I've heard all those things about Francis the last time you introduced her. Francis deserves more. Have Francis come back for revenge and be part of a minor villain series (joking, but I would be thoroughly entertained).

[rhythma]

My character's in the party mostly for the 'survival' part. You've been dropped in the middle of a tundra, why not stick with the 5 other people who don't instantly try to kill you-

[ettoremancin]

7:15 OMG you just gave me the best idea! A wizard that wants to graduate wizarding university and needs a party to complete some internship hours and write a thesis. Until he gets his degree he cannot get paid because the internship cannot be paid or else it doesn't count and he has to find another party and do the same thing again (if he doesn't start at level one but instead at level 3 this already happened to him maybe). Then he finally ends his thesis goes to wizarding school, gets his degree after an exam, goes partying with the party (lol) and he stays with them because it is just easier for him instead of having to look for another job.

[leftonred]

my dnd character is literally just staying with the party for the fun of it. he's a kid who wanted to see the world and then he just! became a pirate! for fun! and I love him

[probablythedm]

Ginny: "I'm that person who ends up of in the corner with the host's cat."
Me: I thought I was the only one! Is this... is this what being seen feels like?

[FXowOxO]

*Oh my goodness, my character is that "Weirdo"-* He just wants some acceptance.

The character in question is my Tiefling Druid, Rei Lovis, who worships Malor the beast lord. Recently, the party has had a little run in with Malor and Rei is questioning is religion! F u n . We're about to start a Curse of Strahd campaign with these characters so I'm super excited! ^^

[CrowCandorra]

Lets Think about my current Caracter:
Salacia (Some Kind of Trickstery Tiefling Bard thinking most of herselve) finds the Party useful. They help survive an are useful for Jokes.
Libby (Verry Altruistic Halfling Monk) just wants to help the Party help others.
Dawn (Little Naive halfling Druid raised by Fairies): "Hey look these nice people help expolre this exiting and strange world."
Continuing With Shadowrun:
Jabby (Verry young cheery Decker, that normally cannot take anything serious) is in for the fun of the game and needs others for the irl-Stuff.
Red Robin (Semiviglilante Body Adept, thar really likes to SMASH) feels like those mushy idiots wold get themselves killes without her.

Hmm... Cold continue with older characters, but... Well they are legion and I think I agree with you. You need a reason to stay with the others or the Party is not a Party.

[prism]

This was VERY useful and I loved that "spin the bottle" you came up with. Every one of these videos helps with not only D&D but my writing as well.

I've been having MAJOR issues with how I want my main character to stay with the main party. Thanks to this I'm thinking a combination of EXTREME clumsiness (on my main character's end) and a debt involving a 300gp diamond.