How do you roleplay as a death knight

[Corrie-emerald-dream]

I am pretty new to rp, and I have only done rp as a rogue. its was easier for me as a rogue because i just played a criminal

however, how do you do RP as a death knight. i mean, im brought back from the dead.
would a death knight try to have a job. or just being an adventurer?

how could i RP as a death knight without being stupid or cliche?

[Falothorin-wyrmrest-accord]

Hi Corrie! Welcome to RP!

I answered a similar question on another thread.

Benevolent Undead?

This is about how I RP my kaldorei death knight (hi, I’m Falothorin, and I’m an elf addict). He feels guilt over the atrocities he committed under the command of the Lich King. He seeks absolution by saving as many lives and performing as many good deeds as he can. He’ll scour “help wanted” boards for those that need his talents. Then, you gotta get that good, edgy Death Knight flavor in there. He’s a rotting corpse. Black gums, yellow teeth, missing flesh, smell, etc. He does hunger to …

Perhaps give that a read, then ask me any questions!

@Corrie-emerald-dream

would a death knight try to have a job. or just being an adventurer?

However, death knights don’t have jobs. They don’t need to eat or drink or sleep. I’m not familiar with the new lore, but used to be they were required to belong to the Ebon Blade. The Ebon Blade allied itself with the Alliance/Horde, and all other death knights were considered enemies of those factions. So, they are effectively soldiers for the Ebon Blade, which provides them with training, armor, and weapons.

However, the Ebon Blade is usually pretty lax with what it’s individual members do. So, if your death knight wanted to take up side jobs for gold, for whatever reason, they could. My death knight is basically an “adventurer” who occasionally reports into the Ebon Blade.

@Corrie-emerald-dream

how could i RP as a death knight without being stupid or cliche?

The way to play a “dark” character without playing an “edgy” character is to know when to, as a writer/player, not take your character too seriously. Give him/her a few funny/good traits. My death knight has no emotions, so I play him deadpan all the time. He works best with a goofier character to highlight his seriousness. But, even without, he occasionally just forgets where he is/what he’s doing (due to death via axe-to-head) and wanders aimlessly, even stopping mid-sentence. Use their being dead as low-key slapstick. Nothing super “comical”, but just a little wink/nod.

The best way to describe it is this quote from WCIII Blood Mage:

Warcraft Blood Mage Quotes

The character takes himself incredibly serious, but it’s so over the top, that it’s clear the writer was having fun with a serious character by not taking that character too seriously. It’s pretty meta, and kinda hard to describe.

[Tim-tanaris]

1. Walk. You wear plate. You’re strong, you have muscle mass, walk.

2. /pray at a Grave Yard

3. Be room temperature. Think without a pulse. Death Knights originated on the Horde, /growl, /snarl, /peer, inquire. You are red, be the Red ranger.

4. Interact with your minions. Use undead Pet Companions. /wave to your zombies if you PvP with Reanimation. /cheer your Abomination. If you play Unholy, play around, have fun with the dead.

[Corrie-emerald-dream]

One[quote=“Falothorin-wyrmrest-accord, post:2, topic:435524”]
However, death knights don’t have jobs . They don’t need to eat or drink or sleep. I’m not familiar with the new lore, but used to be they were required to belong to the Ebon Blade.
[/quote]

I want this character to be a friendly adventurer. She was an adventurer before becoming a death knight and still loves to adventure. since she froze to death, and that became he powers as a death knight, she always feels cold.

my biggest question is that when interacting with other characters, if someone asks you to tell them about yourself, are they looking for that basic backstory i wrote, or how would i explain it to them. “i like to do adventures” seems kind of boring.

The basic concept of my character is this

---

Corrie was part of a 4 person expedition to Storm Peaks in Northrend to locate an ancient artifact to be displayed in Vol’Dun. While in Storm Peaks the group was attacked by a large polar bear. Corrie did her best to fight off the bear giving the others a chance to escape. The bear realized that although Corrie was very small, she would not give up easily, and decided it was not worth the fight for such a small meal. Corrie, now alone, was lost in the freezing cold for 3 days. She was not used to the cold of Northrend, as Corrie originated from the desert land of Vol’Dun, and she died by freezing.
The Lich King, Bolvar, recognized the ultimate sacrifice she made, and returned her in the form of a Death Knight. Because she died by freezing to death, Bolvar granted her the power to control the frost that had taken her life.

[Sinope-wyrmrest-accord (Sinope)]

I’m not sure how much this will help, as it’s pretty generalized advice, but I think it’s quite the boon for situations like this.

At the end of the day, the characters we play, regardless of their class, are still people. Whenever you’re having trouble configuring how they’d act, remove all the extraneous stuff; think of them just a relatively normal person and alter the results later.

Also here are some tidbits about Death Knights that may also help:

Third Gens, and presumably Fourth Gens (the core and AR player DKs), possess an inborn vice called the Endless Hunger. This compels them to cause pain and suffering upon others, lest they themselves suffer maddening pain until they do. The frequency of this is unspecified but I personally liken it to the living’s requirements for sustenance.

A common misconception about them is that they’re emotionless. It’s more likely that their condition amplifies their negative emotions.

“All that I am: anger, cruelty, vengeance - I bestow upon you, my chosen knight”

-From the quest ‘In Service Of The Lich King’, spoken by the Lich King (Arthas) himself.

This of course doesn’t mean your character has to be an a-hole now, it’s just something to consider.

Overall you’re technically free to do just about whatever. Keeping those previous two things in mind however, I’d say, is rather important.

I’d also say that depth is especially useful for Death Knight characters. Planning the character’s old life makes deciding how they act now much easier, I feel; unless you go the angle of the character having little recollection of who they were upon being raised, though from what I can tell that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

[Cybilshade-moon-guard]

I agree with sinope, end of the day your characters a person in azeroth. Yes being a dk would alter their personality a bit but i believe theyd still try to be who they where in life.

Cybil is actually really kind hearted and goes out of her way to help others (tank toon). She brings pain and suffering apon bad people who do unjust things…like burning a world tree filled with innocent elves. And despite her silly normal attitude i pictured her having a scary temper when she witnesses someone do something awful.

I personally say rp how you feel is right.

[Benedikt-emerald-dream]

Hey Corrie! There was a post asking a similar question about Benevolent Undead I’ll link my response from.

@Benedikt-emerald-dream

I RP this toon as Chaotic Good so I definitely think it’s more than possible. However with an undead character I think you need to keep them forever spooky.

In the case of the Forsaken they tend to crave the flesh of the living. Which makes sense as it can heal them. Death Knights also have an urge to feast off the pain and suffering of others. Now in most settings this would skew them to at best neutral. But in Warcraft there’s really no shortage of chaotic evil humanoids who want to ruin all of creation. The Naga and N’Zoth Cultists come to mind as recent examples.

In Benedikt’s case I write him as a Cleric and Alchemist who’s a generally nice person who believes firmly he’s a duty to heal. However he’s also still a creature of darkness with macabre predatory urges. This isn’t usually a problem - humanoid meat isn’t hard to come by just wander by a shore until you find murlocs - but some are unnerved by his tendency to ‘recycle’ enemies slain on the battlefield.

For a Death Knight Guardian type I could picture someone who is noble and but gets a touch sadistic with those theyve to protect people from. Maybe twisting the blade inside the wound of a dying enemy to really savor their suffering. That might sound cruel- because it is - but that’s how undeath works. They were instilled with terrible, unnatural feeding methods because the Lich King designed them to be inhuman monstrosities. They can’t help that aspect of their nature anymore than the living can fight their need to breathe. But they can chose to be cruel or vicious only to those who’ve earned it.

So being a friendly, if occasionally a touch depraved, adventurer seems totally feasible. However I guess I’d ask what they got out of adventuring in life? Why’d she do it in the first place? And what about undeath would change or effect those motivations?

If it was the hunt for treasure or rare artifacts that drove her - undeath might make that job a lot easier. But if it was the thrill of survival and rush of adrenaline that lead her to that lifestyle - well undeath will probably ruin that a bit.