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Ideas for Future Characters
A while
back I
wrote up some short biographies for characters I thought about using
in a 5th edition game of Dungeons and Dragons. While I ended up using only one of them and
have since moved on to running a game rather than playing in one. However, and let’s be honest here, the most
fun there is in Dungeons and Dragons is making a character.
Since I
like doing it, I figured I would make a chart in Excel and start checking off
class/background combinations, by the end of this writing exercise I will have
156 character ideas. I have decided not
to include races, sub races, sub classes, or the backgrounds
from supplemental materials. Just the
Players Handbook… FOR NOW.
For fun, I
will also give a numerical rating for whether I think something is
“Interesting”. There are characters that
are so common as to be arch typical or even cliché, but maybe there is a reason
they are so common, because they are just that intriguing. Feel free to disagree or offer your own
suggestions and objections in the comments.
If you
would like to share some of your own unused character ideas, do so in the
comments, maybe use this format (maybe get it to catch on, I like its simplicity)
and try and keep to a shorter length, you don’t want people to “tldr” your
stuff.
One more
thing worth mentioning, I will make an effort to include a variety of different
fantasy races in my character creation. I
have written before that I could run an entire fantasy world with
just humans and see most fantasy races as too bland to be seen as meaningfully
different from humanity (elves, to me, are too often played as just tall humans
with pointy ears). I also know that this
is not an opinion shared by most and I want to try and expand my own horizons.
What Have I Got?
Good Heavens, it has been 11 months since I last wrote up one of these entries. Maybe it has something to do with my full time job and that this entry was so large and themed that it always seemed just a bit too big to get done. Whatever, it is hard to be creative sometimes... sometimes for a long time. On to the subject.
I recommend
as a DM, that if you have the luxury of having your players making characters
as a group, picking a theme of 1-5 words to serve as an inspiration seems like
a good idea.
What is the theme? I decided to make this an all Acolyte
section. I invented a fantasy religion
(not atypical for DnD, you
can read it here) called “The Five” based on Mother Nature, Father Time, the Hero with a Thousand Faces, the Ladies Fate, and the Grim Reaper.
To fully explore this religion, I decided to make this full 5 guy
adventuring party, each member is an Exemplar of one of The Five. Even though The Five are all worshiped as one
pantheon unit, some choose to emphasize one aspect over the others. The real strange part about this, no
Clerics.
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| This is a good image. |
Name: Tet the
Firebrand, Acolyte of Heroes
Class: Bard
(Valor)
Race: Dragonborn
(Red)
Background: Acolyte
History: My clan was
a race of nomads journeying thru the mountains, but when a flash flood obliterated
them and left me the lone survivor. Now
I wander the world telling tales of my sad origins, my great deeds, and how my
faith in the god of heroes inspired me.
Goals: My world
is on fire and it is the job of people like me to fight fire with fire. While I may come from a people with the look
of great and terrible monsters, I wish not to inspire fear but to inspire hope
and love. I want those around me to look
to the future where the conflagrations that surround us now have dimmed to
candle and hearth around which the children of those who triumphed gather to
hear stories of this age of glory.
Methods: I went
with the tired cliché of a dead clan… OR DID I.
I wrote this character as a blowhard who is out to play the hero. I would like this character to work with the
DM to have two twists associated with it, without those twists it is a rather
lame and thin setup.
Twist 1,
the clan is not dead. There was no flash
flood, the character just left the clan to go play hero to indulge their glory
seeking mindset. Twist 2, the clan is EVIL
and is planning to go to war once they do something BIG, this could serve as a
multi-session adventure that culminates in a choice for Tet’s player. Try to be a hero by negotiating his people away
from a brutal conflict (as a charismatic bard such negotiations are to be
expected) or help the characters defeat the evil and be a hero like they always
wanted but by bringing the destruction to his people he always claimed had
already happened due to natural disaster.
In regard
to heroism, having the character use Bardic abilities in the Valor school means
leading from the front in medium armor and passing around buffs when not
breathing fire. A big flashy character
who shouts things like,"Come on you
apes!? You want to live forever!?" What I am saying is to play it like Michael Ironsides.
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| I just like this image from "Scanners". |
Rating: 4/5 with
twists; without twists 2/5
This is
inspired by a misconception I had about the super powers of a DC character
named “Firebrand”. The idea I had was
that he not only had fire powers but also had an aura around him that caused
his allies to feel more driven to do good.
Making them braver, more cunning, and more capable of making the “right”
decision. Turns out he just had fire
powers. Which makes a scene in which
Uncle Sam says something to the effect of, “you’ll be my Firebrand”
significantly less meaningful.
I feel that
the twists are a big part of what makes the character work from a story
perspective. Without them the character
is just a bog standard big and loud fire themed character without any sort of
ironic subversion. I would encourage these
sort of story ideas for players, as TO ME, AS A DM, this takes some of the
weight of writing the game’s story off.
They provide enough framing and motivation for multiple sessions and can
result in characters having interesting payoffs. These things make for more interesting
roleplaying.
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| This guy has some great art. |
Name: Emanon, Acolyte
of Time
Class: Monk (Open
Hand)
Race: Halfling
(Stout)
Background: Acolyte
History: What is
history? It is the attempt of those in
the now to make sense of the world around them by assigning a narrative element
to that which they were not there for.
They do this by observing the world around them for clues and using
those clues to regress in their minds eye the world around them, creating
scenarios to explain those elements, eliminating possibilities that seem too
far fetched or strange to fit into a clean and clear story.
This method
is a good one. Understanding how things
might have happened helps someone to understand how things might proceed from
this point. I have spent a great deal of
time, thinking about history. Observing
the natural world and the people in it.
Looking back thru their habits, possessions, and demeanor to construct a
narrative for them. I then forget it and
do it again. Forget and repeat. Hundreds of times I look into the past, run
the sand thru the glass, and turn it over once more.
Goals: I want to
run the sand back up thru the glass. I
have dwelt heavily on the topic, and I think I can do it. In small amounts I can rewind time, slow it
down, and then move thru it faster. I can
go back, I can do it right this time. I
can then go home and go back, so I won’t have to apologize.
Methods: I think
that manipulation of time and awareness of time is one of the best ways to
explain several monk abilities: slow fall, faster movement speed, and deflecting
ranged projectiles. The Wholeness of
Body and Tranquility abilities afforded by the Way of the Open Hand also could
be seen as experiencing time at different rates.
The Halfling
luck ability can fit with this too, as it allows for a minor regression of time
to try something again. If I were to
suggest some feats to fit this character, it would be Alertness and Lucky. Allowing for a level of supernatural
awareness of time and the ability to slightly rewind and manipulate it.
Rating: 5/5
I think
this is an ideal blend of rules and theme.
I think that there is enough shadowy motivation and cosmic weirdness to
allow for character growth and hints at bigger elements as manipulating time
upsets things like the Inevitables.
This guy
was inspired by a scene from “Earthbound” in which the tiny monk/ninja, Poo,
meditates. In so doing he is contacted
by a celestial presence and is stripped of his senses and physicality to exist
in a timeless void. He is a halfling to
simulate the diminutive stature of Poo, who is a child in “Earthbound”.
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| "Earthbound" also has a lot of Time Travel. It also has a lot of good fan art. |
This also
ties into the magic-fu present in “Doctor Strange” which (and you may have
missed it) had a lot to do with the presence of TIME. There is also “The Matrix” which blended
martial arts and time manipulation like chocolate and peanut butter.
The
ultimate goal of “Going home without having to say sorry” is something that can
be decided on as the game goes on. The
player can drop hints at having done something awful that they do not want to face
but does want to undo. A character arc
of coming to peace with what they did, either by facing it down or moving
beyond it could serve as a story element for the character gaining greater and
greater control of there powers, “Stop living in the past, free your mind, and
be something more than a person rewinding and reliving a mistake in their own
mind.”
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| I like this mushroom cap idea, same with the snail on the staff. This is cute. |
Name: Dominic Bill
Thomason, Acolyte of Nature
Class: Druid
(Circle of the Land- Forrest)
Race: Gnome
(Forest)
Background: Acolyte
History: I fancy
myself a casual expert on all things to be found in the woods of the
world. Talking to the trees and the
creatures to learn their paths and cozy nooks and crannies to wander thru,
under, and into. I am tied to the natural
world and seek to share it thru poems that I tell those I help thru the forest.
Goals: I have
heard of several distant forests that are in a state of decay due to various
tree related diseases. I would like to journey
to each of these and spend time constructing druidic circles to help with the
channeling of magical energies and combat the spread of such diseases.
Methods: The
emphasis here is on being a healer that mildly disrupts the enemy and focuses
instead on dealing with environmental issues.
Locate spells, Protection spells, and utility spells like Speak with
Plants.
Rating: 1/5
Woah, hold
on a minute… A DRUID being all about NATURE?
Gee this seems exceptionally trite.
It is.
Honestly, nature
is one of the easiest things to exemplify in the game as Druids, Barbarians, Rangers,
and the Oath of Ancients for the Paladin all fit this theme just fine. My options for this one is binary between “Obvious”
and “Disjointed”.
Beyond
that, fantasy in general has always had a nature vs civilization and a lot of it
comes down hard on the side of nature, Elves and Gnomes both fit the trope of
noble nature loving race… while paradoxically being the most likely to fit into
the Wizard class, which is all kinds of civilization.
In my
opinion it is hard to find a fresh take on the, “I like nature” character, this
is an attempt at it, but even I will admit that there was no creative spark
when I hammered this one out. Even his
name is my brain warping beyond recognition Tom Bombadil of which he is a pastiche
of (and I hate that character).
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| Look at this jerk off. |
Dominic is
much more about cultivating life rather than combat. This is a difficult thing to play in a game
that emphasizes combat, but it is the only thing that puts this character off
the typical path. It is something to work
with tho. Having a character grow more
violent and wrathful as the game goes on and goals changing toward tooth-and-claw
nature is a potential character arc.
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| This art is great, and I think that more skin colors should be used for Tieflings. I had an NPC Tiefling that had pale white skin with prominent white veins, good image. |
Name: Melech the
Precise, Acolyte of Fate
Class: Fighter (Battle
Master)
Race: Tiefling
Background: Acolyte
History: I have
always had a way with people. Making
sure they did what was best for them, helping them get on the right track and
find what was right for them. Not everyone
knows what is best for them and it is up to those of us with the mind to play
the long game to help them plan things out with simple plans and achievable goals. I like the idea of fate, but people need help
finding where their destiny lies.
Just
imagine how many kingdoms have fallen because the chosen one thought his
destiny was to farm beats or run for mayor.
Just think of how many noble souls would have rotted away never
realizing their full potential without some wiser hand guiding them. Grab your pack and take my hand, I will be
your guide as we go on your wild adventure.
Goals: It is my
belief that I am a facilitator. I help other
people get to where they need to be. Sometimes
I am a bodyguard, or a teacher, and sometimes I just draw them a map if I know
the way. “Fate takes a hand” can be
literal, reaching into a river to pull someone from the current, helping
someone up off the mat during practice, or maybe it requires cutting off the
hand of someone who would have taken something that someone else needs.
Methods: I think
that the Battle Master’s Maneuvers fit thematically with the idea of Fate
lining things up. The Feinting and Goading abilities somewhat, but the Maneuvering
Attack is especially where I think this works as it helps with positioning
someone else to take action.
Rating: 2/5
While I
think the Tiefling = Fire would more push the race toward the Thousand Faced
Hero, same with the fire breathing dragonborn above, for whatever reason I
brain thought of putting the vaguely demonic character in the role of Fate.
The idea of
pushing people to be in the right place at the right time as part of a scheme seems
like the darker side of “destiny” in fantasy fiction and something I would more
associate with evil machinations than divine providence. But then showing that while the character is
manipulative, they see themselves as helpful, in a sense having a bit of the Varys or Jon Connington
from a “Song of Ice and Fire”. That while
they are manipulative, it is because they are trying to push someone with a big
destiny into a role they need to be in, and to make them ready for that role.
This is a
stretch, that I think uses a clever theme merging with the rules, but I am
unsure how obvious that theme would be and whether that theme would come thru
in the use o the rules. It makes sense,
but I think it lacks a certain “Neat” factor.
Beyond that
I couldn’t think of a way to incorporate the number 3 or the idea of water
(both things I assigned to the Ladies of Fate) into the final build. The idea is there, but I am not able to fully
realize it.
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| I like the darkness around the hand. Looks flowing in a cool way. |
Name: Tepheroth
the Grim, Acolyte of Death
Class: Wizard
(Necromancer)
Race: Elf (High)
Background: Acolyte
History: When I
was younger, I suffered a near death injury.
I was struck in the face by a horse hoof and blacked out for more than a
day. After waking up I was informed that
I was suffering from a form of facial palsy and was no longer able to express
emotions of any kind.
My
community found the condition unnerving and alienating. I was ostracized when healers claimed that
they had cured all the damage to my body and that I was, “Pretending”. Why I would pretend was anyone’s guess, and
they did guess. After being called a
liar and attention seeker for too long I left to go on a spiritual journey.
I arrived
at a chapel of the Five and for a decade worked on their grounds in exchange
for lodging and use of their library. It
was there that I found kinship with the Grim Reaper. The unchanging visage of a skull mimicking my
own inability to express. The fairness
of death. The indifference to all
things.
I turned to
studying death in an academic sense. The
magic of necromancy allowing me to understand the inner workings of form and
function better than I could have ever hoped.
Goals: Some would
describe me as having a “Death Wish”.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
My life is to explore and understand the world knowing that death is
inevitable and impartial. I will one day
go to my death and will probably never realize when it comes, and I will great
it as I have greeted all things, with a blank expression.
Methods: I am not
normally one to say, “Ask the DM if…” but I think that the character story of near-death
experience could be used to justify getting Spare the Dying as the
free cantrip a high elf receives at first level. While Spare the Dying is a cleric spell and
not a wizard spell (oh no! We are
bending the rules!) it fits a lot better with the character’s history and
motivation than Chill Touch does.
As Tepheroth
is more academic, utilizing Divination spells as a secondary focus makes sense.
Utilizing True Strike to line up attacks
shows a cold deliberateness to her actions, if the DM doesn’t allow for the
Spare the Dying variation, instead go for True Strike.
Rating: 4/5
This was
inspired by a character in my campaign setting, Claudius the Grim Necromancer,
with “Grim” being a title denoting him being the head of his order, aka the
Militant Mourners. I did not however
just take him over completely because the point of this whole series is to
stretch a little creatively.
The
creative stretch came by making her a High Elf, definitely a curve ball for an
elf to be a necromancer… Unless you are one of the few people in existence who
remember the collectible card game, “Warlord”. In that game’s setting the elves were short
lived, sometimes only aging up to 10-12 years, being the product of mercurial
nature magic. The elves not wanting to
extend their lives began
practicing necromancy and becoming one of
the primary antagonists in the setting.
This all
twisted into an idea of a long lived High Elf in the regular sense of Dungeons
and Dragons still seeing centuries of life as not being enough. Wanting to understand death on a spiritual
level and ultimately seeing it not as something to circumvent in a literal sense,
but in the sense that she does not see death as something to be feared.
Outro
What do you
all think? Do you have a request for a
class/background combo? Did you play one
of the combos I have featured and want to share your spin on it? Post in the comments.
Listed below are the past episodes
of this blog for your reading pleasure.
If you want to read more Dungeons and Dragons stuff from me, here is a
3-part diatribe on the Celestial Warlock from “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything”
(Part
1, Part
2, Part
3). Otherwise, Have Fun.
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