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npc revolution
2010-11-28, 04:29 PM
Okay so here's the thread for sharing cool character ideas. I haven't been playing dnd for long, so my best character wasn't that far out there.

Mark the bitter wizard had his wife killed and was forced back into adventuring because of it. Cynical, disillusioned, but not down.

So I ask the playground, who was your favourite character?

Dr.Epic
2010-11-28, 04:31 PM
I had a character who could only speak in one word exclamations. I got the idea from Start of Darkness.

GoatBoy
2010-11-28, 04:40 PM
The Wizard/Sorcerer is just the caretaker. The REAL character is the familiar.

The beguiler is on a quest: to attain enough power to manipulate the minds of all intelligent beings in the multiverse, and convince them all that they are named Steve.

The Factotum/Chameleon who is obsessed with the concept of being perfectly prepared for any and all conceivable situations. Locked in a castle jail that is slowly filling with sand? Got it covered. Being digested alive in the belly of an Ancient silver dragon? Yup. Waking up naked in the 437th layer of the Abyss with nothing but some twine, a fork, and a dead rat? I call that "a slow weekend."

npc revolution
2010-11-28, 04:45 PM
...and convince them all that they are named Steve.

"You are now Steve... My mind slave!"

Dr.Epic
2010-11-28, 04:46 PM
The Wizard/Sorcerer is just the caretaker. The REAL character is the familiar.

What? Why?:smallconfused:

Greenish
2010-11-28, 04:48 PM
What? Why?:smallconfused:Why not? :smallamused:

Comet
2010-11-28, 04:49 PM
What? Why?:smallconfused:

Because you didn't expect it. And now you are doomed!

edit: gosh, Greenish beat me to it. The sentiment still stands, though!

Brendan
2010-11-28, 04:50 PM
My Reincarnating spirit whose deaths is tied to the rise and fall of the lizardfolk empire. when he dies a leader gets deposed and vice versa. he then takes over the body of the deposed leader.

Dr.Epic
2010-11-28, 04:51 PM
Why not? :smallamused:

Because they're pretty much the same class and your just taking the same pointless levels again.

hamishspence
2010-11-28, 04:53 PM
Maybe we should link to all the previous threads of this type?

These are all more than one page long:

Awesome character concepts (3.5) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174340&highlight=concepts)

Interesting/strange character concepts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157306&highlight=concepts)

Favorite character concepts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127674&highlight=concepts)

Fun character concepts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129174&highlight=concepts)

(3.5) Post your fun character concepts your DM would probably not let you play (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118397&highlight=concepts)

AstralFire
2010-11-28, 04:54 PM
Saint Genevieve, angel without a cause who did not fall so much as gracefully stumble facefirst:

Most angels that are barred from heaven fell. One can consider the act of falling to be something of creation's grandest and most glorious exchange of, "You're fired!" and "You can't fire me! I quit!" with reverberations that rise verily up to the heavens, yea, verily. And to extend this already precariously thin metaphor, there were at least four angels - it was actually five and the fifth just lollygagged about too long to be famous - who were not fired, but rather, laid off. Brought before the Middle Management Metatron one fine day to an exchange of, "oh, how are you?" "Great, the missus and I just went for a picnic and-" "Unfortunately, we have no more need of your services. You've done a fantastic job, just some celestial downsizing." These four, it is said, wandered off to some cave somewhere and are plotting some dark elaborate scheme involving color-coordinated suits of armor, some horses, and strenuously avoiding the harm of oil and wine.

The fifth, however, was Genevieve. All in all, it was agreed, Genevieve - Jenny to her friends - was a rather nice but somewhat forgetful angel who had a habit of wandering off on pet projects like making sure this child she took a fancy to had chubby rosy cheeks and grew up happy in spite of the local grubby Duke, and completely forgetting to do minor things like systematically exterminate some plague-carrying rats in the 14th century.

The powers that be decided that, all things considered, Genevieve could have turned out much worse. As a result, when she was handed her pink slip, (to further abuse our poor metaphor) she was given a nice severance package. She was allowed to keep her wings and a portion of her angelic powers - not inconsiderable as a patron of the hearth, giving her domain over the flame which protects mortals - and was given a nice plot of land out in the country. She also got a fruit basket from the rest of the host, which she finished before her wings had time to rest on the trip down - Genevieve always had a weakness for cherries.

It was a very nice fruit basket, but of more concern was the plot of land. Situated in-between two warring countries, it was not far from many battlefields. Genevieve took this as a sign and quickly set to work, building a small fortress atop a hill - a small orphanage and hospice, for travelers. While in Heaven, she had proven effective at doing the tasks immediately set before her; this, she saw as merely an extension of that reality.

Zhavier, the half-orc swordsage fire busker. An old war horse, he's settled down in a town for the last years of his life; he makes his money now by doing fire-based acrobatic street performances, with his annual culminating event being Rain of Bacon, where he uses death mark on several pigs to cause it to rain crunchy porkmeats over the local neighborhood. He specialized in using Intimidate - but rather than trying to be scary, he used Intimidate to make people afraid to send him on life-threatening missions because he'd just screw them all up.

Probably the most 'off-the-beaten track' characters I've made, though I also have my transgender Jedi detective.

-----------------------------



Because they're pretty much the same class and your just taking the same pointless levels again.


Think that was 'Wizard or Sorcerer', not a build suggestion.

npc revolution
2010-11-28, 04:57 PM
Maybe we should link to all the previous threads of this type?

These are all more than one page long:

Awesome character concepts (3.5) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174340&highlight=concepts)

Interesting/strange character concepts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157306&highlight=concepts)

Favorite character concepts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127674&highlight=concepts)

Fun character concepts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129174&highlight=concepts)

(3.5) Post your fun character concepts your DM would probably not let you play (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118397&highlight=concepts)

Oops. :smalleek:

Chrono22
2010-11-28, 05:07 PM
Phoebe was an ancient dryad of incredible magical power. She was the overseer and protector of the forests of Lethyr, and had been for over 2000 years. She came to be revered as a goddess, and as an embodiment of the forest. A temple was built around her massive tree, and a community of monks and druids thrived in the area. The mortals sought to reach nirvana by attaining a perfect balance with nature.
One day, without warning, Byakko (the White Tiger, the King of the West, and one the four Nature Guardians) appeared at the temple. He bore with him a human child, and passed the infant boy into Pheobe's care. He spoke only one word before departing. "Kenji."
In time, Kenji grew into an energetic, vigorous, and boisterous child. He had an honest, straightforward, and curious attitude. He showed talent at nearly any task he attempted, but was particularly adept in the ways of divine druidic magic and monk martial tradition.
On his 15th birthday, Kenji told Phoebe his wish. "To learn who I am." The monks threw a massive party, and the following morning Kenji found himself lying on an unknown stretch of country road, with a map and a day's worth of food. With a firm and resolute first step, Kenji began a journey into the unknown future.

Kenji is a gestalt monk/druid with the vow of poverty feat. He is a fire human, and is in fact the half-human son of Byakko. A combination of incredibly luck, courage, and intellect have allowed him to survive innumerable challenges against all odds. He's learned to tap into the feral half of his nature to gain access to a tiger alternate form (which replaces his wildshape ability). Overall a very fun and interesting character to play.

Gnomo
2010-11-28, 05:36 PM
Belrid the builder.

Old dwarf, once the master builder of an old and now abandoned underground dwarven city, expelled after a rival dwarven noble got proof of him having duergar blood on his veins. In his travels learnt the Human, Orcish, Elven, Drow, Kobold and Gnomish architecture and awaken his latent psychic powers. Captured by a Lich to build the greatest castle ever constructed, and after his job was done his soul trapped in a gem. His real adventure began after some heroes rescued him 400 hundreds years later, only for him to have to learn the new architecture and construction ways.

He was a Psion (shaper) with massive points in Knowledge (Arch. and Eng.), Craft (Masonry), Craft (Sculpture); An artisan Psycristal and a constant use of the Greater Fabricate power.

hamishspence
2010-11-28, 05:51 PM
Oops. :smalleek:

Nothing wrong with raising the question though.

There was a thread which attempted to compile all the major threads for each really commonly raised topic.

Maybe "Character concepts" can be one of these- and this thread can be a compilation thread?

Flarp
2010-11-28, 06:06 PM
Note: This character existed in a setting where orcs were a bizarre combination of OotS orcs, Blizzard orcs, and elves. They possessed a huge empire in the southern jungles and were one of the few races (the other being the xenophobic and hated elves) to practice druidism.

Groxar was an established and well-regarded druid of the orcish empire for several decades before the war with the elves of the east. Much of the land was devastated, with great swathes of the wilderness being burned to the ground by the elves' fiery elemental servants.

When it became clear that the jungle, and the communities of orcs that dwelled within it, would not recover naturally, he began experimenting with less-common magic - arcane, lycanthropic, even diabolic. His obsession gradually tainted his sanity - though he is slightly mad now, he's not omnicidal or outright dangerous; just... kooky.

He's joined the adventuring party to try and find new ways to restore the jungle, and might just manage it. His fellows keep him around because he's not really dangerous, and, hey, he turns into a tiger and kills goblins.

Balain
2010-11-28, 06:59 PM
2nd edition AD&D I had the most out there characters. A blind/mute Wizard, an insane wizard who's familiar was his twin brother that was polymorphed into somr sort of lizard by some evil witch. 3rd edition had a NG orc fighter/priest.

Dark ages Vampire had a malkavian that thought he was the pope and king of France, who always talked about himself in the royal we.

In Modern times Vampire, Mr. smiles was this little person vampire that was incredibly sadistic and never kept a person alive after feeding and always cut a big giant smiley face in them.

Super heroes campaign currently in I am Playing Joe Limagio also known as the Bat. He use to play for the New York Yankies but got a dose of bad steroids his manager gave him that mutated him to this 7' tall 800lb brute. His rival is The Bat. Another super hero that is kind of like Batman. We are ticked at each other because we both use the same name.

Dr.Epic
2010-11-28, 07:35 PM
Think that was 'Wizard or Sorcerer', not a build suggestion.

That would explain it. The splash through me off.

Amphetryon
2010-11-28, 10:55 PM
Warforged Duskblade 7/Reforged 3/Renegade Mastermaker 10.

Rivet wanted to know what life was like when not covered with armor and treated more like an object than a person. Soon after finding out his answer, he regretted his decision and spent the rest of his time trying to take it back....

Kelb_Panthera
2010-11-29, 12:18 AM
One of my favorites is my most recent, a changeling factotum/chameleon who never outgrew the "I'm you" game. Every so often I'd have him pretend to be one of the other party members and adamantly refuse to admit that he wasn't the original. This led to at least a few instances of the other characters (characters mind you, not players) being completely unable to tell which was the real one.

valadil
2010-11-29, 12:36 AM
That would be Wittenberg.

He started out as a cloistered cleric of Mystra. He found arcane magic fascinating and decided he was going to pretend to be a wizard, just to see if he could fool anyone with it. I had domain spontaneity for the force and spell domains, so it wasn't too hard.

I've always liked the trope of the eccentric wizard. My interpretation of it that repeatedly using ones mind to distort reality will eventually result in insanity as your character loses his grip on anything being real. Witternberg was dealing in arcane magic and was of course subject to that, but he didn't have an actual wizard's training to ward off the insanity, so he went crazy much, much quicker.

Because he held wizards in such high regards, he assumed everyone else did too. Once he forgot that he wasn't really a wizard, he used this to win arguments. Obviously he knew more than everyone about everything because of his wizardliness. "Because I. Am. A. WIZARD," was his closing statement for any argument and eventually became his catchphrase. He also berated the party sorcerer and referred to him as "the peasant." Eventually he crafted a spell called "Wittenberg is a Supreme Being," which had no other effect than to make him appear to be an epic caster.

Anyway, Wittenberg became unplayable. It didn't help that the party lacked leadership. They basically ended up babysitting the crazy old guy until they became dysfunctional. During his last session of play, I found Wittenberg speaking to the trees. I think he was ranting about the peasant when the party decided to go do something useful. Knowing that he couldn't be seen talking to himself (only crazy people do that), Wittenberg decided that he'd be speaking to the trees all along.

What I liked about the character wasn't that he was crazy. It was the descent into crazy. Each session his view got a little more warped. A character who speaks to trees is a joke. But when Wittenberg did it, it made sense, at least to him.

QueenCaryatid
2010-11-29, 01:24 AM
Based on an actual person in our D&D group, we came up with a 3.5 character who was a wizard but had spontaneous-caster envy for sorcerers, whom he considered more "bad-ass." So he pretended to be a sorcerer to the rest of his party. He would stay up late at night studying and preparing spells for the next day, and then bluff to his party that he had spent the whole night seducing ladies at local pubs and generally being awesome.

TheMeMan
2010-11-29, 01:28 AM
Slizlaar Sliz (The Sliz):

An 8-year old Chaotic Evil Kobold Spirit Shaman, with a napoleon complex and an incredibly low attention span (As well as being a massive coward). He was universally despised by the spirits, although they allowed him his powers and abilities simply out of pure curiosity and amusement at what he would do with them(More often than not to himself and his comrades). He carried around an impailed frog on a stick as his "magical staff"(That was enchanted with "magic": Effectively, it would glow when someone used Detect Magic on it, but it actually did absolutely nothing... when asked what it did, he would simply reply "It's magic!"). He was "good-natured" though, although his methods of "fixing" a problem usually led to making them worse. Also like to eat rats. And walked around in a loin-cloth. And was an opium addict.

He also had a penchant for being the self-proclaimed leader of the group, and rode around on the shoulders of the other party members (Regardless of if they wanted him to or not). His first encounter with the group's Gnoll was in the arena in a fist fight(Which he almost won, might I add, before getting pummelled to a pulp).

Man, he's a fun character.

Warlawk
2010-11-29, 04:59 AM
My current concept I'm playing is a Forgotten realms Gold elf wizard.

We all know that the elven empires tend to be in decline. The elven races and magics are decaying and slowly falling apart. Books are full of talk of elves departing to ancestral homes, and talk of elves evolving into fey or other sorts of beings.

Tal is descended from a great family, from lines of the Elven High Mages of old. He grew up sheltered in a community of wizards, including both his mother and father. As such he is completely convinced of the superiority of Gold Elves. It isn't opinion, just fact. Now, on top of this he has the Otherworldly feat and is an outsider. In his opinion, elves are evolving. All the signs indicate that in a short few millennia Faerun will be mostly devoid of elves.

That means the world is pretty much doomed and has no hope, since there is obviously no way it could get buy without elven magic, guidance and heroes. He has made it the focus of his life to travel among the lesser races and help them develop. Nurture their heroes and foster their academies in the hopes of avoiding complete barbarism once the elves have moved on.

Racist superiority complex elves is nothing new really in gaming, it's just that he's so danged nice, and cheerful about it. I mean, it's not their fault. They were just born that way and can't help themselves. He honestly just wants to help. He offers that help in a horribly patronizing and insulting way, but it is honestly good intentioned.

Small rural town, the cleric dies leaving no one to run the church. Retired soldier who is one of the faithful steps up and takes over, even though he has no skills. He hires us to recover an artifact that was stolen a while back, and we are able to do so. I got some nice RP bonus XP for my internal monologue at the end of the session. Something to the effect of:

"Truly inspiring, enough to give one hope. That someone so completely unprepared, unskilled and unsuited for the job was able to find us and secure a victory for his church is glorious! His triumph is truly heartwarming, like watching a halfwit rescue a wounded kitten."

He doesn't mean to be insulting, it just doesn't occur to him that there could ever be a question of all other races needing his help and guidance. He is not bossy or pushy at all, and quite courteous and polite... just EXTREMELY patronizing about it. Been fun so far, and is a nice change from the overplayed haughty, distant and superior elves that crop up so much.

Hironomus
2010-11-29, 05:16 AM
Never came to fruition, but I planned a hexblade who sought out formidable opponents and turned their defeated corpses into his own personal collection of swords using powerful magic.

Also there was my prodigal violinist who fought crime by observing conflicts from afar and whipping both sides into a frenzy with music and watching the ensuing chaos.

gorfnab
2010-11-29, 05:22 AM
Beguiler (Shining South) Beguiler (PHB II) - redundant name, but the stats from Beguiler (+6 dex, -4str, +2int, small size) work out great for a Beguiler. Played one in a short campaign. Worked fairly nicely and lead to interesting RP because he was a magical beast and not humanoid.

Kender Spellthief 1/ Blue Mage X(see sig) - The Kender Spell Handler - would go around bugging mages until they would teach him magic by casting spells at him

Ravens_cry
2010-11-29, 05:24 AM
Friendly Neighbourhood Corpsesmith: LN Negative Energy Cleric, the backbone of the Necroturgy industry.
Raven familiar transformed into a Halfling, riding their master transformed into a Riding Dog by an evil mage.
Half Orc Sorceress raised by a Halfling travelling circus.

Mezmote
2010-11-29, 05:43 AM
Sir William of Iron Keep (real name Gilbert Ironstove)

Paladin/Stalwart Battle Sorcerer with Spellsword on top.

A righteous fool who didn't like his name and changed it, so people would stop making fun of him. He acted all paladin like, while casting arcane spells saying it was the power of his god that allowed him to do so. He himself believed it was divine powers and not arcane spells, for his spellcraft check was abysmal (as intended). Summoned mounts, buffed up, changed his greatsword to a lance (that enchancement you all know but never can remember the name of) saddled up and charged into battle. Threw fireballs when he got mad.

Most NPC's (and PC's alike) didn't know what he was or how he did it. I really enjoyed playing this arcane gish who was completely oblivious to his own surroundings most of the time.

Coidzor
2010-11-29, 06:11 AM
This is more of a visual idea, but I've become rather fond of the necromancer with a green thumb image. Heck, even a Dreauid Necromancer... Pretty much depends on a radical interpretation of frank and k's Tome of Necromancy's playing with fire variant. Would probably be a combination of dread necromancer/wizard and druid/nature cleric with levels of arcane heirophant and possibly bone knight.

Skeletons who have been modified so that they double as mobile pots for hanging plants and floral vines, zombies with various cultivated lichens and fungi on the surface with plants growing through reservoirs of soil inside the flesh and permeating the meaty interior, green mummies with flowers for eyes and something like black lotus growing in their mouths or even living vines as the funerary wrappings, topiary guardians animated using formerly living or negative energy spirits instead of enslaved elementals, and, heck, maybe even fungal ghouls like Ghost Warlock created. Possibly requiring the homebrewing of plant-undead hybrids.

Something about the juxtaposition of death and decay and life all in one mobile package that also doubles as both minion and decoration just seems awesome to me.

And the only reason I have had the idea at all is because of an offhand bluff made by a dread necromancer in someone's campaign to explain that they were a gardener and that was why they had all the dirt on their clothes and the collection of digging tools.

hamishspence
2010-11-29, 07:30 AM
I like. "Recycle corpses- it's greener" :smallamused:

I think Xykon said something along those lines to a somewhat irate Druid in Start of Darkness.

WinceRind
2010-11-29, 08:52 AM
How about this: a halfling black dragon shaman, with a lot of angst towards being a midget and a lot more dramatic sense then most halflings. He thought that by worshiping the biggest baddest dragon of the land would transform him into a dragon, too, and make him big and strong.

That didn't quite work out so well, but it's been fun. Incinerating (Or I suppose, dissolving) 3 gnolls with a well-placed Acid Breath was mighty awesome.

He was really aggressive for a halfling, too, always picking fights and being very unsubtle about it. Even forgoing the benefits of his small size, he'd try to fight like a giant.

Of course, in the land of magic the validity of his angst was very questionable (Alter Self, Enlarge are 2nd and 1st level spells...) but a midget who wants to be a giant is an awesome concept even if it doesn't succeed in my opinion.

nysisobli
2010-11-29, 09:35 AM
I played a red dragonwrought kobold, and his background was that he was once a mighty dragon Kimer'teradalas whos power spanned continents, he found a ritual to be advanced as a god, and upon starting the ritual, the gods of light challenged him, and banished him into the body of a kobold, so his one goal was to get his body back and take vengeance on the gods.

He was also a dragonfire adept for class.

Princess
2010-11-29, 05:13 PM
My favorite character that I've played for a long time (and is my current avatar) is a spoiled rich girl mystic theurge who has never hurt anything. She has never done any damage but remains party mvp with well placed heals, buffs and debuffs. Also, she has a maid following her around carrying her luggage.

Forb
2010-11-29, 07:05 PM
A Half-Elf Cancer Mage starting off as a Ranger with Humans as the favored enemy.

Their Elf mother was raped by Humans and that produced a child (the character), who grew with a vendetta against all Humans because of this.


It's funnier when you know that I almost always play a Human and hate Elves.