Discussion! How to 'properly' play a Death Knight

[۞ KAT ۞ AKA Red Viper]

So many people are doing it, but what is the 'right' way?

Discuss it here!

Remember opinions may vary, and that's ok. Just keep tone respectful.

Related reading: Death Knights, Your Character and You.

[cantera]

Not sure if there is a right way. The DK I created had some major issues to deal with. Her name was Crithy. Maybe some of the Cheshire Cats remember her?

Anyway, she was suppose to be a younger sister of my main who was killed in a scourge attack at a young age, 16-17 or so.

Cannie did not know of her...but she found out about Cannie and began to cause her alot of trouble.

My point is this: Crithy knew enough of her past life to be irritable, hard to deal with, and quite mean. SO I think there should be some edge with a DK.

She hated being betrayed to walk among the humaniod races. She called them all "flesh-pots'
She had accepted her fate as a DK.... and hates those other DKs who have settled in.

Youth, love, and a zest for life were taken from her...she was not a happy Azerothian...and she threatened many members of the Cheshire Cats to get to her sister, Cannie.

There was an incident when she was walking into Stormwind that she came upon a group of flesh-pots reaching out to a brother DK to join their group. This DK was obviously conflicted with what he had become...

Crithy jumped in and chastized him for forgetting who he was...why he was selected and that he disgraces his new race by even talking to these humans...She called him to remember his purpose and former hatred for the humans. She told him that Morgraine will once again join the Lich King..and conquer all of Azeroth...and that he would do well to remember her when she takes her rightful place next to Arthas...as his bride.

She walked away and left this poor night elf DK...in tears.

for me....that was how I played a DK.

[Mordivys]

I would like to chime in and ask an opinion. I agree with the philosophy that once turned a Death Knight this is what your are.. no way back to your old self or old talents.. But I ask you this. What if the soul of a person were to be snatched away before Arthas got his clutches on it.. Would he still be able to be risen as a death knight? or maybe something in between? Something not quite a full DK and not quite a full <insert class here> .

For instance, my warlock had the misfortune of calling into being an overly powerful Doom Guard.. It marked his soul for possession upon death and refused to serve him and tormented his mind until he was killed by his sister..(whole other story^.^) Once risen by Arthas .. I rp'ed him as not recalling much of his past.. his only clues were his journals he had kept. His personality completely changed. Now, since he was no longer in possession of his soul, I felt that his new skill set my not have took fully to him and adversely his old powers as a warlock remained intact (though vastly diminished such as only being able to call out to his imp.. which now might or might not show up.. or maybe banishing another demon for a very short period of time.. and absolutely none of his offensive spells..)which i think might be plausible.. You now have some one not completely both classes but is forced to live a damnable existence until he finds a way to re acquire his soul(shard) so to speak. At which time he would fully become a Death Knight.

Another reason for the above short explanation of my role play is because I am seriously considering trying out the faction swap to allow my Blood Elf to RP openly on both sides and maybe seek a home with the Cats. Still trying to come up with a viable back story to tie it all together..

[Megane]

Hi, I’m new to the server SoE and stumbled across this group in my search for guilds to possibly interact with on my character that happens to be a Blood Elf, Death Knight. Anyway, I’m very interested in your group and wish I could find a horde version with similar expectations and idea’s toward RP. This site is very informative and I wanted to let you know I appreciate that fact since; I’m new to WOW and a bit rusty on my RP skills.
I wanted to share my thoughts on this topic with those interested.

I also feel there is no “right” way to role play a death knight because that seems to suggest conformity where each character should be allowed freedom to be original and creative, based on his or her standards alone.

That said I am finding that most of the death knights with re-instated horde fractions have ill-willed role play stories that conflict with my own interpretation of the lore. Specifically, I am talking about abandonment of the class. The death knights my character has been exposed to dislike being called death knights, are no longer in self-pursuit of immortality and act as if suddenly the light returned to them. It is possible these players are doing so because of the controversy that surrounds the Death Knight and various interpretations of the lore, that has generally created nothing but OOC rants and raves from other players when one of our kind show up. (That’s been most of my experience with other RPer’s so far, I’ve only been playing two weeks though.)

As I understand the information about the class, Death Knights are supposed to be a new breed, (no longer needing to sacrifice the body to complete the allegiance.) unlike the Death Knights of old that remained loyal to Gul’dan. That is why I presume the two types of Death Knights do not merge in the story of the Linch King. The only thing a modern DK ex: “paladin” has to do to become a Death Knight is pledge his/her soul to the Linch King.

The plague of the undeath corrupted the faith of the light, and messed with their minds. That taint was planted all over the place in small dosages so that it would be easier for the Linch King to seduce individuals onto the idea of pledging in exchange for immortality. However, the Linch King’s promise was empty.

(Cut scene where The Forsaken massively kills the cross fraction group shows the Paladin losing faith before he dies but the dragons appear and restore it at least that’s what I interpreted from the facials and events).

My Death Knight has a history but as far as I understand it the life before becoming a Death Knight is void for the masses. So while I am mindful of the history I rarely RP the awareness out but it is totally up to the player if he/she wants to RP flash backs, in search of clues to uncover the past, or partake in RP where one relearns how to be compassionate if so chosen. However, this does not happen overnight or shouldn’t since Death Knights are willing to betray, torture, kill anything that stands in the way of obtaining true immortality. In my opinion each Death Knight should start out being detached and battle thirsty as a minimum.

In fact my character is mindful to be peaceable within the city and obey the laws but she is without compassion and therefore purposely seeks out pain, sorrow and suffering to feed on. That energy excites her; she enjoys the torment of others still, even if she’s not the one dealing it. Yet, in some that display these emotions it has also sparked her curiosity to understand.
I prefer to role play my character evil on the wide spread but I do want her to have valuable relationships with an exclusive few.

Thanks for reading my book if you did. Feel free to return comments to correct me on my lore intake or whatever. I'll check back because I am always looks at polishing my style and being a better RPer.