The Brash Youth

Character Description: This character has just recently become an adventurer, and he doesn't have much experience or common sense . . . meaning that he gets in trouble, and leads his companions into trouble, quite often. Therefore, you should only choose a Brash Youth personality when you're willing to role-play this attitude. The Brash Youth is easy prey for fast-talkers and con men, suggests straightforward and foolish plans sure to get the party captured or killed, admires more experienced warriors without questioning their motives, and can be quite a menace to himself unless taken in hand by a more experienced adventurer.

Inevitably, a Brash Youth character has to "wise up"—to lose some of his preconceptions and naivete. If this doesn't happen naturally in the course of a campaign, the DM should design an adventure around the Brash Youth, an adventure where he's confronted with the consequences of his brashness. For instance, a confidence man could trick the Youth into accidentally betraying his allies; or, a Youth's plan could go horribly awry and seriously or critically endanger his friends; or, a hero particularly admired by the Youth could turn out to be far less admirable than the Youth has always thought.

When this happens, the character must stop being a Brash Youth and choose some other personality type. By now, he should have been playing long enough that the player will know what sort of personality that is; alternatively, the events that shock him out of being a Brash Youth could affect him seriously enough that this event chooses his new personality for him (this results in such personalities as a disillusioned Crude Crusher or a hostile Dangerous Antagonist).

Best Suited For: In terms of alignment, the Brash Youth is best suited to the full range of Good and Neutral alignments (L/G, L/N, N/G, N, C/G C/N). Evil characters aren't suited to being naive and trusting. In terms of Warrior Kits, the Brash Youth is admirably suited to all of them! The only kit that might give you a problem is that of the Samurai, but it's possible to play an inexperienced and eager Samurai struggling to keep his enthusiasm from showing beneath the veneer of eastern detachment; this is an especially good choice in an all-samurai campaign, where one character is the brash young warrior interacting with more experienced and settled samurai.

In Combat Situations: The Brash Youth is likely just to charge up to a foe and begin pounding away, unless that foe is so big and scary that even the most foolish youth will be afraid of it. He's very likely to take combat orders from his friends, however, so it's easy for one wiser warrior to keep him from killing himself through bad tactics. It's often a good idea for the party to make the Brash Youth one of their designated archers, because it usually keeps him out of direct hand-to-hand combat until he has wised up.

The Brash Youth can learn from his experiences, on a case-by-case basis. After he's been hammered by a troll, he can be more cautious with the next troll or troll-like monster he encounters. But he'll be just as brash with a monster unlike the others he's encountered . . .

In Role-Playing Situations: The Brash Youth gets along with everybody until such time as the other person insults one of his friends, challenges one of his preconceptions, or betrays him. Even then, he'll simply be furious and willing to fight or oppose the other fellow; to be truly vengeful requires that the Youth go through his personality change and take on a new personality.

The Brash Youth should be played as either hesitant and nervous in new situations, or eager to throw himself into such situations—he's never bored or indifferent. Other characters find his youthfulness charming, but may also find him exasperating because he's always getting into trouble.

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