How to RP a Death Knight

There's info to get from them from all kinds of sources:
- The introduction story of the DK's (given somewhere on the official WoW website, or used to be given at least.)
- WoWwiki (although not always a trusted source, since it allows players to add and edit stuff, it might give a good idea about things probably).
- Warcraft novels (For DK's, probably one of the lastly sold ones, about Arthas and the Frozen Throne. Don't know the name of the novel, nor have I read it myself yet)
- Experience gained by playing the former Warcraft games. (warcraft 1,2 and 3, expensions included)

This last point, might be a bit vague.
But what I meant with that, is that if you know how the story and games worked, you can use common sense as to how things "could be" and "should be" done.

Although, one source can't be trusted without the other.
The novels can't be fully taken as truth, since even though very well observed by Blizz, the writer has his own vision and fantasy with it.
The WoW official website/forums can't also be fully trusted, for they leave many things unclear and unknown.
And we shouldn't forget, that Blizz themselves have nerfed some of their older lore (from warcraft 1,2 and 3), for the sake of the well known WoW game through time.

So the best thing to do is gather as much lore info, from all sources, with the official Blizzard lore as basics, wich can be found on the website mostly. The rest could be found in FAQ topics on the forums, probably.
I was about to start with things to keep in mind when RPing in general, but when I rethought this I remembered that this isn't The Venture Co, but Defias Brotherhood. ^^
Truely, I have yet to find a better RP community in the entire game

I don't really care about how people play their DK's. I think it's way more uncomfortable when someone plays a DK who is completely emotionless and creepy than when they play a DK who acts like most people would.

We all agree that the other nine classes can be ignored during RP, right? I mean... if I am a paladin who wants to pretend being a warlock in RP I may, right? Or if I am a mage who just wants to be a beggar or farmer without a class? No one has the right to tell me who my character should be. Certainly, none of the other classes have big glowing eyes and icky skin texture so maybe DK's should be played as just DK's. But my point still stands. I want more people to say Yes to roleplayers and their efforts instead of grading a RP quality after how much lore the person knows.

I feel sorry for those who wants to play a DK for PvE or PvP reasons but gets denied to RP anything but a sad and pathetic lonely biatch. Poor people, let them have fun.

I thought the concern here was more about people that claim to be DK's icly (that are the class) but act like nothing bad ever happened to them.
Not that they for example have choosen the class but rp a farmer without the abilities. I know a belf that grabbed the class just for the runic stuff (since runeblades and the like aren't lorewise dk exclusive).



Altough, has been a while since i saw the belf dk that is actualy a high elf.

Well, Meralynn.
The thing is, we all try to RP in "The World Of Warcraft", not "The World Of Random RP".
I frown when I see people RP a human couple, who are the parents of two Gnomes who claim to be little children about the age of 10 of the two humans. (Really, I did once)

I mean, yes, RP doesn't have to be very restricted in this game, also thanks to Blizzard keeping RP mostly open.
But according to the official story, there are certain things we simply can't ignore as RPers who like to RP a character in the -World- within the -game series- of -Warcraft-.
I'm not trying to say that people should be forced to RP a character in one certain way, but I simply find it odd if people RP in a game, wich has already a long and very extended background and story plot, and RPing something totally different wich has nothing to do with the game at all.

There are other RPGs wich allows you to compose a total different story loose of other stories, where you make your own story as you go along. Runescape for example, I thought that game had no red line in the game. At least not when I played it (wich was probably 10 years ago or something, mind you).

I think it's fair to respect the basic story and out of that, to make your own character's story.

Sharkhan:

Of course the basic ruleset and lore should be followed. I frown myself upon vampires, for example. mostly because I find it uncomfortably emo to play one. So I guess I am a hypocrite. xD

My point though is that if someone wants to play a DK who's been through all that but still has feelings and a libido I will not stop him or frown upon him, as I will assume he is doing it because that is what he (or she, by all means) finds enjoyable. And being a game he should be allowed to enjoy himself.

Would I be correct in assuming that this thread can be split into two cathegories?

A: People who think DK's are 100% devoid of any feeling, what so ever, and are just human weapons.
B: People who think DK's got their free will and emotions back when Tirion went all kung-fu on Arthas at Light's hope.

Or perhaps C!
C: A lone confused deathknight who wonders why they wouldn't have any emotions to begin with, they were willess, not mind nor emotionless, as far as I know. There's no known way of stripping a person of emotions, I believe. I kindly redirect you to Resident Evil zombies for that.

Can't we all just agree that;
Death Knights were evil and mindless.
Death Knights are no longer evil (Mostly I guess), nor mindless (Also mostly).

Basicly
dks have feelings too, leave dks alone D:

I don't think they are completely devoid of any feeling, but when your body becomes undead a lot of physical attributes to emotions would disappear, I think.

What puzzles me is that changes to the physical built of a person have a tremendous impact on their daily life. Nobody seems to doubt these impacts when it's a Human being compared to a Gnome. But when the human turns undead, it's seems like all it changes was his short trip through emo land "but hey we're back".

Undead people don't breath.
*Glares at shields*

Jeanpierre/Jeanclaude wrote:I don't think they are completely devoid of any feeling, but when your body becomes undead a lot of physical attributes to emotions would disappear, I think.

I really want to stress that I'm not having a go at anyone here, and am only adopting a challenging stance for the sake of discussion (DK's advocate, if you will!), but: what is it specifically which makes you think this in regard to the specific Death Knights that most people (I assume) play - those of the Ebon Blade who were freed for the Lich King's will?

Only Sharkhan has posted sources from where he thinks informed opinions might be drawn.

The DK lore section of the WoW site is indeed very spare on info. It does state 'modern death knights consist mainly of paladins who lost their faith and pledged their souls to the Lich King in exchange for the promise of immortality', but this only tells us of their former lives, and doesn't dwell upon how the events at LHC affected their personality.

Info on wowwiki is much the same. The main thing I could really draw from there (which matches what I remember from the DK starter quests) is that what happened at LHC caused our Ebon Blade DKs to remember their humanity, so to speak (drawn from the section on Thassarian, who, I would say, seems to have quite strong emotions, not only those relating to revenge against Arthas, but love and affection for his sister).

The novels I haven't read, but anything written about Death Knights around the time of the Frozen Throne doesn't relate to our DKs, which are explicitly stated to have been created at a later date.

Similarly, the Death Knights in the WC games have little to do with the Ebon Blade DKs, especially those created by Gul'dan.

Quests, it seems, would be the best source of information, but as said I can't really remember too many specifics. Are there any quests in particular which would give hints at the prevalent emotional state of freed Ebon Blade DKs?

As far as I can see, there isn't much to base definative statements on how a DK should or should not be played upon. Yes, a DK's transformation and subsequent lease of freedom should no doubt be a very traumatic part of one's backstory, but people (and I personally think the term 'people' does apply to Ebon Blade DKs!) deal with traumatic experiences in different ways: some might repress, some might be able to move on, others might be eternally emo.

Unless someone can produce hard facts about life as a Death Knight, I have to agree with Meralynn: there is no real right or wrong way to play a Death Knight.

If someone RPs a death knight in a convincing and competent way, I guess I wouldn't mind if they swayed out a bit in ways I personally don't think are fun or reasonable when playing death knights. That doesn't include being horny or being pregnant, though, in my opinion.

Not RPing that your character is dependant on your class is all fine and well, but all DKs actually look and sound differently, even if you pretend it's a human and alive. It ruins my immersion, seeing the blue eyes, and having to hear their metallic laughter.

Chase wrote:If someone RPs a death knight in a convincing and competent way, I guess I wouldn't mind if they swayed out a bit in ways I personally don't think are fun or reasonable when playing death knights. That doesn't include being horny or being pregnant, though, in my opinion.

My disappointment with the class has always been this. We get given a class that offers the possibility to RP differently than any other class before. Yet it's not used and people go back to roleplaying it like the other classes. I wouldn't say that's an RP mistake. It's more a missed opportunity.

I have the same fear with Worgen though. Missed opportunity.

Personally, I think death knights are very wide-range.

I liked how Graham played it, a super super super sarcastic emotionless guy, that really had spite for the world, but wasn't evil.

Fair enough then. One can argue about whether DKs have feelings still, since lore allows such a freedom. Some may still have the ability to feel, even in a romantic way.

However, once a body is dead, like JP said, it loses certain attributes connected irreversibly to life. It just doesn't sit well to watch an undead creature act like a 16 year old hormone bomb, not when one uses their common sense at least, despite the gaps in the lore. An undead body should be void of any physical needs, including the sexual drive, let alone the ability to bear offspring. People might want to RP their DKs having sex to achieve certain goals and not out of any sexual attraction or desire, but that remains highly disturbing and not very convincing.

Besides, like already mentioned, if one really feels the absolute need to have a character with a vivid libido or a family of their own, then by all means, there are 9 other classes. There's no argument whatsoever supporting that kind of behavior really.

Mandui wrote:Fair enough then. One can argue about whether DKs have feelings still, since lore allows such a freedom. Some may still have the ability to feel, even in a romantic way.

However, once a body is dead, like JP said, it loses certain attributes connected irreversibly to life. It just doesn't sit well to watch an undead creature act like a 16 year old hormone bomb, not when one uses their common sense at least, despite the gaps in the lore. An undead body should be void of any physical needs, including the sexual drive, let alone the ability to bear offspring. People might want to RP their DKs having sex to achieve certain goals and not out of any sexual attraction or desire, but that remains highly disturbing and not very convincing.

Besides, like already mentioned, if one really feels the absolute need to have a character with a vivid libido or a family of their own, then by all means, there are 9 other classes. There's no argument whatsoever supporting that kind of behavior really.

Um, well, to be honest, while I do not want to start a(nother) fight between us or anything, I think this is a little unfair of you to say. You yourself rp a pretty "fringe" rp concept, that many people think is unlikely/unwanted whatever. If people want to rp their Death Knights as having some want of, well, erm, sexual contact or hunger or something, and have a plausable reason or ic story behind it, I do not see why they shouldn't be allowed to rp it out. I think the issue here is more the wrong sorts of people rping dks, rather than dks being rped wrongly, if you see what I mean?

Jazeel wrote:
Um, well, to be honest, while I do not want to start a(nother) fight between us or anything, I think this is a little unfair of you to say. You yourself rp a pretty "fringe" rp concept, that many people think is unlikely/unwanted whatever. If people want to rp their Death Knights as having some want of, well, erm, sexual contact or hunger or something, and have a plausable reason or ic story behind it, I do not see why they shouldn't be allowed to rp it out. I think the issue here is more the wrong sorts of people rping dks, rather than dks being rped wrongly, if you see what I mean?

Even if my rp concept is indeed unusual, it's far more likely for a priest to be able to use both light and shadow to certain level than having a DK being as horny as a teenage girl/boy.

I just find that it contradicts any logic possible to have a dead body (or at least once dead and now reanimated) have such urges. I wonder what else could scream "EWWWW" any louder than a body whose decay was stopped at a certain degree. And then....you see one of them pregnant?

^ I'm going to have to agree with that. To RP a DK doesn't mean you have to be emo and dark all the time. But it also means you have to realize that lore itself has placed limitations on how you should actually RP it.
Thassarian for example is capable of guilt, for when he killed his mother, while under the Lich King's grasp. The point is, when you do come back to terms with your jolly consciousness back, you don't come out the same as you were. You lose most of what made you human/gnome/elf/orc, etc. You lose lifelikeness. And there's nothing more lifelike than running around with a banana in your pocket.

Mandui wrote:

Jazeel wrote:
Um, well, to be honest, while I do not want to start a(nother) fight between us or anything, I think this is a little unfair of you to say. You yourself rp a pretty "fringe" rp concept, that many people think is unlikely/unwanted whatever. If people want to rp their Death Knights as having some want of, well, erm, sexual contact or hunger or something, and have a plausable reason or ic story behind it, I do not see why they shouldn't be allowed to rp it out. I think the issue here is more the wrong sorts of people rping dks, rather than dks being rped wrongly, if you see what I mean?

Even if my rp concept is indeed unusual, it's far more likely for a priest to be able to use both light and shadow to certain level than having a DK being as horny as a teenage girl/boy.

I just find that it contradicts any logic possible to have a dead body (or at least once dead and now reanimated) have such urges. I wonder what else could scream "EWWWW" any louder than a body whose decay was stopped at a certain degree. And then....you see one of them pregnant?

It wasn't just the light/shadow I was talking about, but okay

I have never seen any of these dks that rp being as horny as a teenage girl/boy myself. I do not think you can just flat out say "Death knights will never have these urges." But then, I think anyone that rps any class being as "horny as a teenage girl/boy" is dumb. I agree dks cannot get pregnant etc, that would just be silly.

Well, would it be crazy if a dk aquied an obession for, well, sex, that comes from the trauma of being turned into an undead. Maybe in a weird case of denial.

lol.
Well, there certainly are good and amusing arguments on either side I suppose it boils down to playing your choices convincingly. But if you chose to eliminate the entire aspect of being some horrible abomination, then what is the RP value of playing a DK? Fancy blue eyes? How is that convincing?
I don't mind people playing it differently. I can play along. But of all classes, it is the only class that actually comes with -biological- (almost exceeding racial) treats. To play it like it means nothing is basically scrapping the DK as a concept. Can we still consider it "how to roleplay a DK" then?

Oh btw, here's something that is joked about around the belfs, we call it the constant rigor mortis. Think about it.

I blame Twillight. It poisoned people's minds and depicted unlife like a stairway to heaven.

Aislin wrote:Let people RP the way they want. If you don't like it, no one is forcing you to RP with them.

I both agree and disagree with this.

I agree to this in the sense that people should have the personal freedom to play out their character in the manner that they want to. Do you want to be a holy paladin strict with doctrine or do you want to be a rebellious pirate, good for you.

I however disagree because there are certain limitations to how you can and cannot play your character, namely your setting. Your setting being world of Warcraft there are certain roles which have universal traits that you have to abide by to make it believable, not only for the sake of your own immersion, but also for the sake of the players you play with.

Some of these roles, with some universal characteristics are:
- Druids
- Death Knights
- Paladins
- Priests

Each of the above have certain unifying characteristics because of the path they've chosen in life. Just like how it doesn't make sense for a druid to run around burning down trees it doesn't make sense for a death knight to skip around on a flowery meadow singing happy songs while making out with Marry Poppins.

In summary: If you don't want your character to have any of the universal qualities required for role-playing a specific class, do not play that class.
You can however play a druid OOCly and just be a regular night-elf IC. This however isn't applicable for death knights since their appearances makes it impossible.
It really depends on what you want to play, but for any given "template / character class" there are certain universal behavioural traits that you should adhere to for the sake of believability within the setting.

avaiel wrote:I both agree and disagree with this.

I agree to this in the sense that people should have the personal freedom to play out their character in the manner that they want to. Do you want to be a holy paladin strict with doctrine or do you want to be a rebellious pirate, good for you.

I however disagree because there are certain limitations to how you can and cannot play your character, namely your setting. Your setting being world of Warcraft there are certain roles which have universal traits that you have to abide by to make it believable, not only for the sake of your own immersion, but also for the sake of the players you play with.

Some of these roles, with some universal characteristics are:
- Druids
- Death Knights
- Paladins
- Priests

Each of the above have certain unifying characteristics because of the path they've chosen in life. Just like how it doesn't make sense for a druid to run around burning down trees it doesn't make sense for a death knight to skip around on a flowery meadow singing happy songs while making out with Marry Poppins.

In summary: If you don't want your character to have any of the universal qualities required for role-playing a specific class, do not play that class.
You can however play a druid OOCly and just be a regular night-elf IC. This however isn't applicable for death knights since their appearances makes it impossible.
It really depends on what you want to play, but for any given "template / character class" there are certain universal behavioural traits that you should adhere to for the sake of believability within the setting.

I fully agree with this.

Yeah, I will also agree with Avaiel's post and the point raised by others in recognising the differences that come with a DKs physiology/necromantic nature.

This has been a good discussion imo.

Jeanpierre/Jeanclaude wrote:I blame Twillight. It poisoned people's minds and depicted unlife like a stairway to heaven.

Sparkle sparkle