To RP as a deathknight ( honest help required )

[Demontune-area-52]

I dont want to be edgy… i got a vulpera deathknight and im kinda wondering how to even step into RPING.

[Benedikt-emerald-dream]

Well you should keep in mind Death Knights are addicted to humanoid suffering and will go into a blood crazed withdrawal after a long enough period of not causing any.

Thankfully though this world has no shortage of humanoids you can cause pain so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Beyond that there’s no real specifics. You see DKs all over the alignment chart in their Class Halls. So there’s nothing wrong with RPing one as a perfectly nice if slightly intense person.

[Demontune-area-52]

@Benedikt-emerald-dream

will go into a blood crazed withdrawal after a long enough period of not causing any.

how often does this occur ? days? weeks? months?
Is it like a meal? 4 times a day for a healthy life style.

[Benedikt-emerald-dream]

According to the devs;

" Are blood elf death knights still afflicted by their racial addiction to magic?

No, though their new addiction, the one all Ebon Blade death knights possess, is arguably worse: the need to inflict pain. If death knights do not regularly inflict agony upon another creature, they begin to suffer wracking pains that could drive them into a mindless, blood-seeking hysteria—a far worse fate than that of those who suffer from arcane withdrawal"

So, whatever your interpretation of regularly is should be fine.

[Minerva-wyrmrest-accord]

Is it clear whether or not Bolvar’s Death Knights feel the same addiction to suffering?

[Vargrsten-moon-guard]

It isn’t really clear, though I know that 3rd generation Death Knights where purposefully created with the “must inflict pain” caveat to keep them in line

It’s not without reason to imagine that Bolvar wouldn’t be a little nicer

OP
To avoid some general pitfalls one of the most important things you have to decide is your purpose. Also you could have an ideal or memory of your previous life and cling to it. You don’t have to be a brooding dillweed

[Emaliah-moon-guard]

Some good points here. Though, keep in mind Bolvar wouldn’t only be raising allied races as DKs, he would be raising all races. So any characters can be 4th gen DKs now. The elves, humans, orcs, gnomes… tortollans…

Yes, I am waiting for my tortollan DK.

[Falothorin-wyrmrest-accord]

Hello! There’s plenty of ways to RP a DK without “being edgy”, although all DKs have an inherent bit of edge in then.

I’ve answered similar questions in past, so I hope this will provide some benefit.

@Falothorin-wyrmrest-accord

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 .

1. He’s a rotting corpse. Black gums, yellow teeth, missing flesh, smell, etc.
2. He does hunger to cause pain, but, as Benedikt said, he deliberately inflicts this pain upon the targets of his contracts.
3. Undeath affects the mind differently for everyone. Some barely change, some forget their life, some become cruel. My character lost his ability to feel most emotions, or at least feel them to any intensity.
4. He refuses to actively use the dark magics at his disposal as part of his penitence.

Thus, he’s not really good to fit in with normal society, but he feels as though he owes them a debt. He plays the “dark guardian” role. It’s just about… Getting what you want (a do-gooder) while also incorporating the nastier sides of being a death knight. Because, unless your character goes way out of their way, they’re going to have visible, negative side effects (but also, that’s the fun part of playing a death knight). You can avoid being an edgelord by striking that balance of “passive edge” and “active good”.

@Falothorin-wyrmrest-accord

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 dead pan 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.

[Myrdred-moon-guard]

I COULD give some pointers on this, but more importantly, I’ve always thought that Dolorous Edd would make a perfect death knight.

“We’ll defend the Wall to the last man,” said Cotter Pyke.

“Probably me,” said Dolorous Edd, in a resigned tone.

#asoiaf

[Alondra-moon-guard]

The DK I had and RPed for a time was a high borne who died before they were accepted into the society again and she always regretted not helping during the war of the ancients. Thus she had the saying of “Dead though I am, I shall not abandon you.” when Darnassus burned she dragged everyone out that she could find. While yes she does have the addiction and she does sate it on the unforgivable if she can. The idea of your character is to give them purpose in undeath what drive them to push on in what is quite an unpleasant life.

[Woodhammer-thrall-991700]

We see some goblin death knights as the “perfect” bodyguards since they dont need to sleep. you dont need to go off all edgy and dark. i think it would be funny for the smaller races to be able to sate that hunger of causing pain by just squishing a nearby bug.

not every humanoid u kill has to be some cruelty driven rampage. you can choose who u want to suffer and who is just a kill quest for ya. you can still be a normal vulpera that has a slight itch for death and suffering

[Malcotin-cenarion-circle]

I would like to know more about the Allied races DKs. Are they created the same way? I mean, in my head cannon says that Arthas created the DKs expressly to be killing machines, and he gave them that insatiable hunger to make them more ruthless. But why would newly created DKs by Bolvar need to be given that insatiable hunger? I mean the start area for them is not even the same.

[Vargrsten-moon-guard]

Generation 3 Death Knights where created with the insatiable need to inflict pain as a method of control. Should the Death Knight refuse to obey the scourge would tie them up and let the madness torture them into submission.

While 4rd generation Death Knights don’t have too much lore it could be infered and assumed that Bolvar is a little nicer to them.

[Aidoneus-emerald-dream]

The most important thing to remember about roleplaying a Death Knight is your character was not always a Death Knight. Your character was a full blown person before they died and where reborn.

Take Aidoneus for example. Before he became the Death Knight he is now he was a Farstrider. HIs class was Rogue, though I always RPed him with some Hunter tendencies, and he had his own dreams, aspirations, and goals. He had a full fleshed out story, he had his flaws, and his quirks.

When I swapped him over to Death Knight all that story came with him. He still has goals and aspirations and some of his flaws. His quirks translated a little in a way, and he still has his pastimes.

In my personal opinion the golden rule of roleplaying a Death Knight is roleplaying a character that is a Death Knight, and not just a Death Knight character.