DnD: Character Flaws To Make Your Backstory More Interesting

screenrant.com:

Tabletop roleplaying games like let players put themselves in the shoes of fantasy heroes, daring adventurers, and other kinds of fictional characters with remarkably different lives, but characters with flaws — genuinely tragic or debilitating flaws — can more interesting than those with no defects whatsoever. character builds with interesting personal flaws can, however, require a greater dedication to roleplaying these narrative or mechanical issues at the game table in a way that creates fun for every player involved.

5e character sheet has a place to record a character's flaws, but narrative tabletop RPG systems like or have more elaborate rules for describing a PC's personal qualities and directly connecting them to the mechanics. The more combat-focused rules of, however, don't give players guidelines for how to integrate things like ideals, bonds, or flaws into the behavior of the characters they portray. The player's handbook for 5e also doesn't talk about how flawed PCs can be more fun than over-powered PCs.

Newcomers to fifth edition who are told to give their new character class combination a narrative flaw might be tempted to come up with a quirky characteristic instead. For instance, a jagged scar running down their cheek or a tendency to keep to themselves rather than talking to others. These sorts of characteristics may seem cool or edgy on the surface, but aren't really flaws for one simple reason: they don't make the lives of an RPG character harderA character whose flaw is being cold and aloof comes across as a stereotype of the dark and edgy anti-hero, but is also fundamentally passive and unable to interact with PCs or NPCs in interesting ways.

On the other hand, a character who is greedy — not to be