What is Character Dysmorphia?
Once the character prep work and design has come to an end, and the actual play has begun, players may find themselves not enjoying the character that they lovingly generated and designed. I’ll coin this Character Dysmorphia, Character Dysmorphia can stem from many different underlying reasons, but most typically fall under two different categories, either not fulfilling the fantasy for the character you’ve made, or unintentionally developing a character that meshes poorly with your unique individual playstyle and personality.
This clash doesn’t have to end with the death or retirement of your character, that is certainly an option, and I’ve personally retired a character after wrestling for sessions, but these options below can offer an alternative method of bringing the joy back to the symbiotic relationship that is PC and Player.
Underlying Causes for Character Dysmorphia
Many cases of Character Dysmorphia come from a lack of fitting in, or the absence of a stake in the story that is being told. Take a look at the current world, campaign setting and party your character is a part of. Figure out which side of the coin you fall on, and finding your niche becomes much easier.
The key to solving this problem is understanding the root of the issue, to do this it’s important to look at what particular side of the Character Dysmorphia coin you fall on. Player Fantasy VS Character Fantasy, here is a brief overview of two possible cases falling under each individual side.
Character Fantasy (Example A)
Say your character is a rugged wilderness exploring Harengon Beastheart (Link to Beastheart, super flavorful class), hailing from the Feywild, with a Mimic companion. You’ve got an interesting background that you’ve written about chasing after this renowned party, whose stories are so famous they’ve made their way across the various planes. You meet up with an adventuring party, your heart set on providing a unique flurry of Feywild magic and the ferocious monstrous nature of your faithful companion, but when it comes to combat, you find your mimic being constantly mauled, and your arrows plinking off Ankhegs like marshmallows, you look to your skill book and find you lack any spells, and your Mimic hardly has a chance to use his abilities before he rages out or gets put down.
In the example above, we see a player invested in their character and their backstory, but when it comes down to gameplay, they feel overshadowed or underwhelmed when in comparison to their intended fantasy. An interesting question to ask yourself when you feel like this is “What would my character Wish for, if they got ONE wish?” What would your character want and why?
Player Fantasy (Example B)
You’ve made yourself a Redemption Paladin tanking character, set on putting right all the wrongs in the world, one arrest after another, during character creation you’re set on a law abiding anti-murder warrior of justice, but when the game starts rolling, you find your usual enjoyment for kicking doors down and slicing heads is now suddenly directly opposed by your Paladin’s Tenets and Oath. Your party kick’s down the big bad guys door, weapons out, and you reluctantly yell “WAIT! Lay down your arms brothers and sisters, we must give them one last chance to redeem themselves.”
In this example, we find an interesting character concept clashing with the players individual playstyle, or perhaps even the playstyle of their group, this can cause the player to feel angst or discomfort roleplaying their character.
Treating Character Dysmorphia
Almost all of these solutions and possibilities require collaboration with your Dungeon Master. I always highly recommend that, if you have any issues or discomforts with your game-time or play experience, always, always, bring it up with your DM. Many would love to assist with helping players feel at home in their characters and in the world that the DM is constructing.
- Improving your backstory
When the case of Character Dysmorphia stems from a boring or uninteresting backstory, a Backstory that lacks proper story hooks or even a backstory that clashes with the world or party, you can work with your DM to make edits or even completely change aspects without major changes to the game world or character. Development of your character’s background can allow you to roleplay the character more effectively in a way that coincides with you and your character’s fantasy.
- Magic Items
For minor cases of Character Dysmorphia, where you just don’t feel like you’re fitting the particular role you wanted, or you find yourself struggling to be engaged, working with your DM to create a magic item that can fill that missing piece can sometimes be all it takes to find your stride.
- Multiclassing
Multiclassing can be a great option for players suffering from issues on both sides of the coin, it can allow your character to organically grow in the direction of the player’s fantasy, or the characters fantasy, let’s take a look at example A, Multiclassing into druid, would allow the Beastheart to slowly incorporate more magical elements to their gameplay, and allow them to enrich the roleplaying experience of having a connection to the Feywild, and nature as a general force.
- Class Change
For long standing characters, and players invested in their character deeply, a class change is a dramatic route that can potentially change the way a character is played completely. Changing class is almost as dramatic as retiring a character. But allows for a crisis or major moment within the game (Along with some collaboration with your DM) to reshape your character into something more fitting to your particular fantasy for your character. For Example B, perhaps during this moment confronted with the BBEG and his party rallied for a confrontation, he is struck with a sudden break in his psyche, causing him to unleash a pent up rage that has been boiling within them, allowing them to turn into a Barbarian, and wreak havoc as the player wishes.
- Retiring the Character
As a last resort, if the above tips fail, and you are left with no choice, retire your character. If you are not having a fun time, not enjoying your character fundamentally interferes with your enjoyment of the game, Tabletop Roleplaying Games are meant to be fun for everyone involved, and if you are not enjoying your character, change that character, full stop.