GM Considerations for a Human Barbarian Toddler PC

Question

A player wants to join our campaign and I asked them if they had a character ready to go. They said yes, and I asked them what the character was.

"He's a human barbarian, level 1."

Me, "Ok, cool, that should work out well."

Player, "Oh, and he's 2 and a half years old."

At first I was all, "No." But then we talked about it and two things came to light:

1. I'm already running a lighthearted and somewhat silly campaign and this PC would add hilarity on so many levels it would be hard to pass up.

2. There's nothing in RAW in D&D 5e that says you can't be a 2 and a half year old Barbarian, or any class for that matter. Toddlers, children and even babies are not mentioned in the rulebooks.

The player had rolled fixed ability scores and got:

STR 16, DEX 7, CON 17, INT 9, WIS 6, CHA 15

So which race is kinda below average smart (in game play), has very little wisdom but a solid personality, and can leverage this personality to get what they want, and has such low dexterity they practically tumble over themselves? A human toddler of course! (at least according to this player.) From there, the class was an easy choice: a raging barbarian.

I'm not changing the stats to account for age or applying any disadvantages based on age alone. I think the rolled stats are already a good match for this character choice and reflect the deficiencies of the toddler (a really strong toddler).

My question is not "should I allow this?" I am. How can I resist? (Especially considering this player is a new parent.)

What I'm mostly looking for are role playing considerations. Mechanically I'm just going to treat them as any other character, albeit one that can't speak very well and has a hard time grasping concepts

My question is, have you ever allowed a PC at a ridiculously young age and what are some aspects I will have to consider as GM? (and is there a diaper changing mechanic?)

Answer 1

This is about roleplay, not mechanics

As 5e doesn't have any special rules for age, then the age isn't important in a mechanical sense. Their stats are their stats and the class/race mechanics are the class race mechanics. There are no fundamental RAW changes there.

The one thing I'd be wary of as a DM is to make sure the player isn't engaging in My Guy Syndrome.

It's more than okay for them to roleplay a toddler as long as it doesn't get in anyone else's way of having fun. But if there's a negative table reaction to it, then that's what you need to watch out for. These reactions can range from frustration about how the toddler generally acts and gets in the way all the way to how they'll react when the child dies. While death is always serious, when it gets to children dying people behave and respond differently. Understanding that typical character death may now cause a much larger issue is something to consider - but this is really only one of many things that create friction at the table with someone attempting to roleplay a toddler.

Just be aware of your table

Ultimately, this is going to come down to you and your players and making sure everyone is enjoying the experience. Specific issues will be hard to pinpoint because it's going to very much be focused on how the player roleplays their toddler - but it's less about general issues that may come up and more about specific reactions your table may have to how that player is roleplaying.

Answer 2

Consider the PC's Size

As NautArch's answer points out, half of the concerns here are about roleplay and the social dynamics at the table. So long as everyone else is finding it fun, then sure, but it may need to be revisited if it stops being fun for some people.

However, there is one gameplay mechanic that may be affected as a result of this. The PC's size.

They're a human. So how big and heavy does the PHB say humans are? A lot bigger and heavier than your average toddler. So unless you were planning on them being a magically enlarged toddler, or in some other way accounting for their size, then narratively it won't make sense for them to still be considered a Medium creature.

So, it should be simple for you as DM to say "Ok, it's a RAW human in all but size category; this human is actually Small/Tiny". If you opt with Small (the lower end of Small, sure, but still Small), then they're no different from a Halfling or Gnome, and so this should be balanced enough within what is possible with the existing rules. However, be wary of Tiny, since currently no playable races are of that size category and you may encounter unforeseen balance issues allowing a Tiny PC.

I'd recommend considering them a Small PC (unless, as I mentioned above, you've found a way to narratively explain why they're a Medium sized creature in a way that the player is happy with - however, I'm assuming that the player is imagining something along the lines of Bam Bam from the Flintstones, so I assume they won't want a giant toddler).

Answer 3

There are some real concerns here. One is the fact that this will result in a game and story that includes violence against and the possible death of a literal baby. While some might find that to be in good fun especially if you aren't generally too descriptive in regards to injuries, some players might find it disturbing. I would not proceed without having the ok from all other players. This also applies to your players not being into it from a different perspective such as internal consistency, realism or tone

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY This will result in the tone of your campaign devolving whether you want it or not.

Expect your next player to make a new character to also demand to make something ludicrous, such as three raccoons in a trench coat. Now there is nothing wrong with that in a vacuum but this might as well not be the direction you see the campaign going. And any move by you to restrict such character concepts is very likely to be regarded as unfair or favoritism, which will result in further problems. Allowing it might then alienate people who might be ok with one baby but no more. Be prepared to either cause hurt feelings or for your campaign to steadily become a theater to the absurd. Which again, is a fine way to play, just not what you might have in mind.

This is also not solely about characters. Prepare for players describe incredible and silly feats of strength or agility and when you say they are impossible them to respond with "but John here is playing a baby that is flawlessly using a greatsword why cant i jump this 100 feet pond"

The reasoning i offer here is also backed by my personal experince, both as a player and as a gm. Giving players more leeway in some respect naturally creates the feeling that this is now something that is acceptable, and people will want to do something equivalent too.

For example, in a campaign i used to play my dm allowed a player to adopt a monstrosity after a quest and allowed them to make animal handling and nature checks to tame it. After that another player started asking to roll animal handling in regards to monstrosities and apply his ranger benefits to them as beasts because the other player was allowed to. The dungeon master wouldn't let him to so which resulted in accusations of favouritism and dm fiat

In a different game i run, a player wanted to play a nazgul. Since there was a similar monster in the world i was running, i let him play a version of that. This resulted in every other player wanting to play some other traditionally evil monster. Since it was already an evil campaign i had no problem with that.

In another where i was a player, the gm decided to give a player a bonus on a check related to swimming because her character had a backstory that she had a mermaid as a grandfather. This resulted in players arguying they should get bonuses based on their backstories with the gm arbitrarily giving them bonuses or not. This all resulted in characters coming into the game with longer and more exploitable backstories. This wasn't even something that people were doing consciously, just positive reinforcement in action. It ended up being a very regular part of the game happening multiple times each session.

Adding a new element to the game often creates an expectation that this is now something that is allowed, and if its something applied in a way the players perceive as uneven or unfair, will results in accusations of unfairness and hurt feelings