Hi all, I had a question with a character concept, but i dont know if this would be considered as offensive or not.
A small forewarning and background:
Please do not troll, this is a serious and legitimate question.
Secondly im attending college right now and I am learning ASL and Deaf culture.
With that said here is my question.
Would it be in bad taste to Role play my charater as using Signing as his way of communication, i have his two finger tips glowing in the air as he signs he would leave light trails in the air as he would sign.
I thought the concept was really intriguing.
But i have never rped anyone or seen anyone rping like that.
Would this be in poor taste and offensive, im really not trying to be rude or anything i just thought the concept was very intriguing
Could i get some honest opinions and thoughts on this.
I really appreciate your time in advance
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There is nothing wrong with this. I have seen many people over the years roleplay deaf and mute characters who utilize sign language and other non-verbal ways of communicating. I have never seen anyone take issue with it. In fact, the characters are always rather novel.
I love the idea of his fingertips leaving light trails! 
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Ok thank you so much, i didnt want to come off rude or any thing.
Much appreciated
And thank you i though it would be a fun idea with his finger tips
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You are welcome! It is never a bad idea to check in and ask questions if you are not sure about something in roleplay.
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I played as a Nightborne that had a hard time communicating with other people, as he was mistreated by his family, locked in his house for 10k years.
If you do it with respect, then nobody should be offended by your char.
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One and maybe the only problem I see with this, isā¦ how are you going to RP the Sign Language? ASL is great as is its Azerothian Counterpart Iām sure, as it gives a āvoiceā to those who donāt have one. However much like ASL, there may only be a few whom āspeakā and or understand it. Ryu here likely would not be able to communicate with you as it is unlikely heād have that knowledge. I myself only know a few words in ASL, but not near enough to hold any type of conversation.
So think about how you will address this ālanguageā barrier for both the characters and their players. Even though I couldnāt hold an intelligent conversation in ASL, that doesnāt mean one of my other characters wouldnāt have that knowledge. You mentioned ālight trailsā, are you suggesting that your character Spells out what they want to say in light? As another character could read these words before they fade, thus being able to understand even if they didnāt understand the actual Sign Language.
Come to think of it, wasnāt there a spell Mages could learn that allowed them to understand the other languages in their faction??? Is that still a thing? Cause that could be a route you could take.
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The couple of suggestions i got was:
either the trails of lights stay in the air long enough to read.
The signing actually whipers the words or phrase to them, close to like enchanting.
Another was to create a speaker box/ or an enchanted gem ( engneering) that can translate hand signing into words through the speaker box
Another was, since i am a void eld i can use hand signing and the void to speak directly to their mind, the signing helps activate the spell.
The last one seemed abit of a strech to me.
So thank you for your advice ill definitely think about it
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Those all seem like good ideas to me. You can also go with the good old pencil and notepad. It is prosaic I grant you, but it will get the job done in a pinch. I knew a mute character who did this exclusively in RP.
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Just thought of something lad. What if you had an interpreter? Someone who spoke ASL and could translate for you? There are plenty of Magical Pets whom could suffice. There are even Human/Orc pets whom could stand in for an interpreter NPC.
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In forty plus years of roleplaying Iāve run into dozens such. I generally find them irritating at best, attention seeking flower cases at worst.
Ooo good idea i may try that thank you for the suggestion
Let me introduce you to a forsaken character of mine.
āARGHLKJ! Grghkjkl mhgmfrmyglk. Frghkhmngh.ā
He sounds perpetually pissed off.
That actually sounds pretty cool
A bit late, but this isnāt offensive at all I feel! If anything youāre introducing a more diverse state of being into a world that would have people with disabilities including the inability to speak or speak in a way thats easy.
Iāve actually known several characters IC who have had to rely on ASL and they have found different ways to try and accommodate communicating with other characters who may not know how to exactly reply to them (which is sad , really. Feels too true to life that a lot of people who try to RP things like this often find themselves with people not wanting to attempt to understand)
I have met one person who wore an enchanted locket that could identify her hand movements and spoke what it was she was saying. Another person had an elemental that could speak what it was he was signing.
Iāve even seen characters who could not sign at all, and had to rely on writing things down to communicate, which might often be the case for some people.
Other times, Iāve seen characters make the attempt to learn sign language just so they can speak to their friend. When they were speaking with sign language they would bracket their sentences < Like this > to show they were signing.
Even my main character is slowly learning sign language because he works as a Great-Father Winter during Winter Veil just in case a child might need it (as many professional Santas do.)
So I think you have a fantastic idea! I think him combining his ability to sign should also combine with having to write things down for people for those who might not know exactly what it is heās doing.
Great idea so far and I hope you have fun with it! Use the knowledge you learn of what people go through to help bring balance and realism to your character, and continuing doing that research!
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Hereās the issue I have with the above.
These are disabilities that are all being cheesed away, the enchanted locket, the speaking elemental, or telepathy, or any other gimmick that turns the disability into a non-issue and cheapens it.
Iāve even seen people that claimed that wheelchairs could work in virgin forests. Spoiler: They donāt. Most people have never seen the true wildness of a virgin forests as most in Western nations are actually regrowth forests in places that had been stripped bare.
The vast majority of people creating these characters donāt know what itās actually like to be a person dealt with that hand of cards.
No youāre right. I was only giving examples of some of the methods people have done. I had worried that me not explaining I understood this would come up, but I do understand completely that it does take away the disability it self.
I do take this sort of thing rather serious, but in RP itās hard to sort of tell people all the time theyāre doing wrong and it can come off as annoying. Best thing I can do is suggest if asked.
But you are right, I hope this is understood. Itās why I mention that people get frustrated. Itās pretty sad and you can oddly see a lot of how people react like they really would, even in a fantasy setting. There are some people who have amde characters with disabilities and a lot of the times other players get bored and move on, not realizing what a negative impact that is. And rather then the player do more research in how they can maybe narratively interact with others who cannot speak, they opt into finding a āmagicalā method of text to speak in a way. However with the elemental, I can see that as a little better, as a shaman maybe learning they could have an interpreter with them.
I always try to see what could be justified as well in what the player is doing, and this can co-exist with the mindset of feeling that more people should not opt into going the easy route when itās too hard.
Its like how I feel with characters who have babies. Suddenly you realize your character is going to have other responsibilities, so rather than own up to the narrative choice you age the baby up confuse everyone.
Thank you for your addition!
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Quite frankly, I just put those people on /ignore. Because Iām not going to tell them what to do with their 15 /month, but I donāt wish to deal with it either.
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Thank you so much for your suggestions.
Im not quite sure drahliana was saying they would ignore, but i did really appreciate your suggestions.
Just like we are creating tech irl to be able to help reconize asl (its really intresting what they are doing take a read, signall technology:)
I might use tech or something else to help but that will depend on whether or not i got alot of problems with people.
I dont think its really wrong for people to rp tech or magic to help aslong as it is done respective (if we are starting to irl i dont think that too far fetched to atleast consider for some.)
So thank you again
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In my literal decades of roleplaying experience, I have run into tons of people whoāve played deaf/mute characters, all of them without exception were exceptionally awful at it. So my reflex action is to put them on /ignore so I wonāt be tempted to rain on their parades.
If you play a handicapped person with a gimmick or gizmo that negates the handicap, it really infuriates me as someone whoās cared for handicapped people in the past. So I try to avoid situations that would get me honked off. If the group has such a character, Iāll just bow out.