Your first 3.5/PF Character! [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Volos

2012-01-13, 11:21 AM

What was your very first 3.0, 3.5, or Pathfinder character? Did you have previous D&D experience before making them, or did you just wing it? What sort of mistakes did you make with them? Or what kind of triumphs did you have with them? How long did you play with this character and how did things turn out for them?

My first 3.0/3.5 character was a Elven Druid named Wolfgang with a Wolf animal companion named Volos. It was my first time playing the 3rd edition of D&D, but I had some roleplaying experience beforehand. Even so I was unfamiliar with the system whereas my friends were all masters of the game. They immediately complained that my character would outshine theirs before I even started rolling for my ability scores. I was still writing my background, so I made him more humble than I had intended and gave him an oath to protect the natural world from the agression of the humans. In the DM's setting, the humans were destroying all the forests and natural lands with little to no reguard. It seemed natural for Wolfgang to want to protect the lands. Still the other players complained, but the DM allowed me to play a 'powerful' class since I was a newbie.

We started at first level, to make it easier on me and my lack of experience with the system. The DM asked me what sort of equipment I would be buying. Having just read over the Druid's restrictions on weapons and armor, I decided I was wearing wooden armor with a wooden training sword. The DM tried to explain that this would be a terrible choice, as both would be subject to fire damage and weren't as good as other armors and weapons. I refused to use worked metal of any type, as it was part of Wolfgang's oath. He let it go, figuring he couldn't get me to change my mind.

As we adventured we fought against corrupt nobles and ranger guilds. Instead of falling behind, my character was able to make good use of Volos, his wolf, to trip his foes before finishing them off with a buffed wooden sword. As we got into higher levels Wolfgang took the leadership feat, awokened Volos to be his cohort, obtained a 'mate' for Volos as his new Animal Companion, and enchanted his wooden sword with Ironwood & Brambles to make it a truely deadly weapon. He became a diplomancer and perfect battlefield control caster. Wolfgang hadly used Wildshape for anything other than blending into a wolf pack that started following him (from leadership) or to scout for the party. There was one fight with a dragon in which Wolfgang dropped his blade, wildshaped into a massive gorillia, and then proceeded to beat the dragon to a pulp with his magic wooden blade. In the fight with the BBEG Wolfgang turned into a Dire Wolf shortly after turning his blade into a treant. In the end he and his party saved the kingdom from the possible war with their neighbors, re-established a fey princess as goddess of the forrests, and made wolves trusted by the common people everywhere. It was a long campaign and I made plenty of mistakes, but he was a great first character to have played.

Kalegkos

2012-01-13, 11:52 AM

My first 3.5 character didn't make it high :/ Only to 7th level because of an idiot girl and her psion-vamp and her fellows who destroyed our campaign. Anyway. He begun as a Elven Ranger, named Erevos. One of the best rangers in his village who was send in a really important mission but got kidnapped and was about to sold as a slave, actually as a "prince" who the party was waiting to kill. Anyhow they kinda "rescued" me and they didn't kill me but in a fight, after a short the met me, with a vamp, he cursed us to Ravenloft. Many other mistakes made he starve to death, survived in the last moment exhausted. But many other mistakes happened mainly in our group. So we ended inside a sphere and the DM gave us a second chance to the campaign. So my character came back to life as a Druid. A shaper druid who made it through many battles as an assister mainly -.-' After being betrayed by almost all his friends, and party, he went to camp and spent the rest of his life next to a cleric fighting evil of Ravenloft. That was my first character. That wasn't my first experience with rpg games and DnD.

Snowbluff

2012-01-13, 12:18 PM

My first two characters (I made them at once, they my firsts chars and I was like 12) in 3.5 were Alvasari the "Hemophiliac Elf" (He had 3 points in Con), and Marik the Gnome Cleric. They both served Heironeous, and have been working together for some time. For the most part, I did alot of healing and buffing. Al had really high Cha, which gave him alot of Lay on Hands points, and Marik's Wis got him a bunch of bonus spells. They were kinda squishy, but Al got lucky on the loot roles and got a nice suit of magic Full Plate, and Marik got a nice Heavy Mace that let him put the smack down on some kobolds! :smallbiggrin:

ahenobarbi

2012-01-13, 12:21 PM

My first (d&d 3.5) character was tiefling psion. He recovered some magical item for 10'000cp (to be shared with his companions...) and then DM moved away :smallfrown:

Dark Kerman

2012-01-13, 04:01 PM

A wizard. Got him to 14th level, and on the final session got to cast Mordenkainen's Magnificient Mansion. I wanted to use that spell all campaign and GOSH did it feel good.

elvengunner69

2012-01-13, 04:10 PM

Sylvos330

2012-01-13, 04:27 PM

My very first character was in 3.5 and was a Drow Monk. When they explained what Drow were I couldn't resist. He was really fun at first but after a full year of playing him I finally noticed the level adjust was a HUGE problem for him. So I scrapped him and played a Soulknife. Not much better but a whole lot of fun to play with the INSANE DM I had.

Forgot to mention. First game he wa a body guard for a magic armor merchant, I decided he wasn't paying me enough and after an arguement I decided the best move would be to punch him. *Roll* Nat 20, he's out cold. DM rolls to see if anyone noticed *Roll* Nat 1. So I hide his body and announce an armor sale "No price refused". I ended up bringing the party together to split the huge sack of gold that I couldnt physically lift.

Unseenmal

2012-01-13, 05:24 PM

My first 3.0 character was a halfling rogue. I had played 2nd Ed many times before this and liked the thief class so rogue was obvious.

Gaius Underfoot, Halfling Rogue, started @ 1st lvl played up to 13th. Then retired in place of a Human Female Ranger who was the childhood friend/future spouse of Gaius. However, she was relentlessly picked on by the rest of the party and eventually backstabbed in the middle of combat by the party's CN Wizard who was using OOC knowledge to go after her. He killed her. (All with no alignment shifts by him or the NG Cleric OR the LN Monk OR the CG Fighter). I figured it to be an unlawful, evil act but no one else in the party seemed to be bothered by it. I digress.

Gaius came out of retirement and sought revenge on his "friends". For weeks OOC, they thought I was just helping the DM run the game but I was passing him notes telling him what Gaius was up to. It took about 4 game sessions for everything to work out

In the end, I slit the Monk's throat in his sleep, stole the clerics holy symbol, sundered the fighters weapons and in the final act of revenge, threw the wizards spell book into the campfire. TPK....Except Gaius who had a scroll of Teleport and was now decidedly CE....driven insane by the death of his love. I miss that little guy...

agahii

2012-01-13, 06:38 PM

First character was a vow of poverty saint human cleric/radiant servant of pelor. Was pretty fun, I just usually buffed and healed(I enjoy support roles).

El Dorado

2012-01-13, 07:28 PM

My first 3.0 character was a human rogue named Stefan Winslow. Stefan's early adventures soured his attitude toward arcane magic. Aside from his haversack and his rapier, the only other magic items he owned were a quickdraw glove, a pair of night vision goggles, and the occasional healing potion. In addition, he never learned how to manipulate magic items the way many rogues do. Stefan prided himself on his mastery of other skills, particularly his ability to open locks and disable traps. Despite his personal prejudice against arcane magic, Stefan had no problem when others wielded their powers on his behalf.

Stefan was also fiercely independent. He greatly disliked anyone who tried to manipulate him and was always looking for signs of coercion. While he often bemoaned being the subject of "machiavellian schemes", much of his hardship was caused by his own vacillating nature.

Stefan Winslow never did an honest day's work in his life---and that made him exceedingly happy. He spent his youth on the streets and was inducted into the Thieves' Guild at an early age. Over the next few years, he became known for his skill with locks as well as his large ego. He also made no secret of the fact that he disliked tithing a portion of his earnings to the guildmasters. One night, after a particularly successful heist, Stefan packed his belongings and fled the city without a word to anyone.

Stefan traveled up the coast into Naria and entered its capitol city one bright afternoon. The young rogue had settled under a large tree for a break when he overheard a gawky, bespectacled acolyte imploring the aid of a young warrior. Stefan was impressed by the warrior's well-musculed physique, accentuated by his sparse attire. Stefan discovered that Skylar (the acolyte) wanted Daga (the monk) to accompany him into a nearby crypt and retrieve an artifact for his order. Lured by the promise of excitement, wealth, and
Daga, Stefan quickly introduced himself and insinuated himself into the scheme. The three men struck an agreement and emarked on the first of many adventures together.

Skylar was based at the local temple, prompting Stefan and Daga to adventure in the area. The three men were an unlikely group. Skylar was bookish, reserved, and devoted to his order. Daga was athletic, honorable,and had little interest in worldly possessions. Stefan was impulsive, promiscuous, and swayed by wealth and power. The three often bickered but they all respected each other and had great success in their endeavors. After a time, the trio's adventures tied them more and more to the community and they were lauded as heroes. They also dealt with personal matters, including an attack by Stefan's old guild. Eventually, Skylar left the party to dedicate himself to the church. Stefan and Daga were later joined by the paladin Alex and the druid Taranela.

Stefan and Daga learned they were both descendants of the Sky God. Each embodied an aspect of one his champions, who often traveled together, joining other champions whenever evil forces threatened the land. As Stefan learned about his lineage, he began exhibiting interests and proficiencies that were completely out of character. He purchased a boat and became an avid sailor. He also developed a keen interest and aptitude playing the lyre. Stefan let himself get swept up in these events. He gained the patronage of a
wealthy sailing clan, the MacTaggerts, and with the blessing of the Sky God's church, became captain of the Caveat Emptor. The church assigned a young warrior named Lessa as his bodyguard and companion. Stefan also learned that Duke, the hound dog he raised from a puppy, was actually a bronze dragon, symbol of the Sky God and Daga and Stefan's guardian.

Stefan was outraged at the revelation. He suddenly felt that the church and his friends had been manipulating him for their own ends. Stefan publicly renounced his connection to the Sky God and abandoned his prized rapier (at great cost to his health) when he discovered that it was affecting his behavior. The church elders were incensed at Stefan's outburst and proclaimed that they would search for another champion to assume his mantle. Lessa and Duke remained on the ship when Stefan decided to travel inland.

Stefan was last seen when he and Daga encountered a sphinx. Engaged in a game of riddles, Stefan managed to stump the creature. The sphinx then scratched a pattern on a nearby tree and asked the men to decipher it. Stefan looked at the puzzle first and was stuck dead by a symbol of death. Daga killed the sphinx in retribution.

Daga returned to the capital and buried his friend in the local cemetary, surrounded by the community that had adopted the wayward rogue.

Metahuman1

2012-01-13, 08:25 PM

I general: Some people might remember a game that came out years ago called NeverWinter Nights. It was made by Bio-Ware before even the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game.

It used 3.0 D&D rules with a twist. It was how I learned some of the basic ropes.

First character I made was a half elf Monk that today would make me utterly cringe at how bad the mechanical construction was.

At the Table: Some time later I met my first group. It had Issues (DM wasn't very good at DMing, partially because he was new, partially cause he had the "DM girlfriend" problem, couple of other things that aren't even worth getting into at this juncture. )

It was a Dragonlance Game with 6 people in the group. I rolled a healbot cleric.

I'd give less favored body parts to get the rolls I got on that cleric, witnessed rolls, again on a better thought out and build character. Rolled a pair of 16's, a pair of 17's, an 18, and via a house rule, a 19.

Character was murdered in his sleep because the Party Necromancer who played like an evocter decided she didn't want someone in the party who could conceivably cramp her style of being every inch as evil as Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Adolf Hitler and any other notoriously evil individual you can think of combined.

She then complained when the DM told her her alignment was shifted form LE to NE. Yeah, she was the one he was sweet on but anyway.

I'd actually like to go back and run that modal again with a none evil party at a mid-highish op level just for the heck of it.

AgentofHellfire

2012-01-13, 08:29 PM

My very first DnD character was actually a CN...either human or elf druid, that was basically a militant nature-worshiper and former abandoned child.

It was a game built for the new, so there wasn't much opportunity for story development, but...a fun character to play.

Kenneth

2012-01-13, 08:55 PM

I was an Elven Ranger who hated humans (they had killed my family or something). I also hated Orcs. And Dragons.

In fact I pretty much hated everything. I slogged along with a group of mostly humans (who I hated) and a Kobold monk. We killed some stuff and found out we being manipulated by this half gold/black dragon thingie. He was a real jerk. I hated him.

Well eventually we put an end to his evil plots (but not before accidentally killing off half of a major city - he had tied his life somehow to the members of the city and any time we struck him they would die...ironically our evil halfling wizard figured it out and saved the rest of the city before we killed it). Oh yeah I hated the Halfling too...more humans could have died.

I laughed out loud when I read this. if i made you mad im sorry but your ranger hating everything it seems was just so funny. I would have enjoyed playing with you and your (presumnaly0 eternally angry ands grumpy character.

My first 3rd ed character was a Bard! AWW YEAH!! gave me an excuse to do this during the game AWEOSME BARDING SONG!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4)

Tsuzurao

2012-01-13, 09:12 PM

My first character is still in play, although the campaign itself is on hold until some of our players are regularly available again.

Lia Silverleaf - NG Elf Druid (Wardens of the Wood sect) in an Eberron game. Generally rather soft-spoken, though surprisingly good at convincing people to see her viewpoint when she actually tries. She has a moderate disliking of aberrations, a greater one for undead and for slavers, and an utter loathing directed specifically toward Changelings. Naturally, conflicts have ensued involving the Changeling Ninja on our team.

Her Animal Companion is a wolf named Ash. He's noted for being rather adept at getting from point A to point B in rather... amusing ways (we once were climbing from the Lightning Rail to an airship via ropes thrown over the side of the deck - by the time the first of us got onto the ship, Ash was already on the deck, holding the end of a length of rope in between his jaws).

bluerocker

2012-01-13, 09:13 PM

I'm still playing her. Her name is Aradia. She's a 3.5 Edition lvl. 6 Paladin of Pelor/1 Platinum Knight with Draconic Heritage (Red) feats. So far, they've been fun for flavor. However, my party makes things very hard for me, as they are all chaotic, or neutral. There is an Dread Pirate who flits between chaotic neutral and chaotic evil, A chaotic good bard, a swordsage of indeterminable alignment, and until recently, a lawful evil factotum. (I now hate factotums, simply for the skill mongering they posses).
I played her as a paladin fresh out of a monastery, as she was orphaned by an evil wizard, and extremely naive in the ways of the world (it didn't help both her and I shared similar confidence issues, especially as I was worried about falling/losing my powers). This changed quickly after journeying with the aforementioned bard (who was something of an on-off father figure), and learning how people acted. It didn't help he led us to stay in what amounted to a whorehouse. After some misadventures in said whorehouse, and some soul searching, Aradia became far more forthright and began to stand up more for herself, as opposed to following whatever the bard told her to do. We eventually met up with the other characters on the trail of the evil wizard that killed her parents.
I also had her bloodline come into play by taking Draconic Senses, and giving her Draconic as a bonus language. Funnily enough, the whole party tends to use it as a secret language with one another. I've had a few hiccups when it came to the playing the code properly, such as under-reacting to some things and overreacting to others, but again, the DM is rather forgiving. It's becoming far more instinctual to play the code properly, and I have an intelligent mace now! :smallbiggrin: So, someone who can relate to my moral principles (finally)!
It's hard to play as a paladin, but I find the benefits most rewarding.

Igneel

2012-01-13, 11:52 PM

3.0 was when I started, and was when Valderg the Brave a Human Paladin of Heironious was born. Quite truthfully it was my very first time playing anything DnD-like and so I spent maybe an hour just looking through the Players handbook our Dm lent me just figuring out what I wanted to play as. Paladin, Cleric, and Fighters struck my fancy for some reason back then, but since my friends already claimed the Halfling Rogue, Human Cleric, Human Fighter, Elf Wizard [and later a 'Half-Drow, Half-elf' Druid] roles I decided to go ahead with a paladin.

Valderg the Brave had a simple background compared to what I try to go with now a days. Him and his half-brother [the party's Fighter] had a tradgic childhood when their parents were murdered. Being sent to spend time at an orphanage till closer to their teen years they both joined the military as a way to combat the evil forces that were rising on the land. Valderg recieved a vision from his god and he went to answer the call, thusly becoming a Paladin.
Looking back at his now yellowing character sheet [yes I still have it despite it being somewhere around 9 years old if memory serves] he was not optimized in the least. With stats of Str 15, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 15, and Cha 18 I suppose he was lucky with the majority of his rolls, but with 15 AC and 22 HP he wasn't as good as he could of been in combat. His career as an adventurer only lasted from levels 1 to 4 before the good half of our group disbanded with the Dm being one of them.

As much as I groan whenever I look at the sheet, I also have to admit that I let out a sigh of nostalgia as I think back on all the fun we had trying to figure out some of the puzzles the Dm conocted and how Valderg never let that BBEG Necromancer turn him away from the forces of good. Every once and a while when I feel especially nostalgic I do try and roll up at least a theoretical Paladin trying to one up my last version, each time given the same name as a memorial.

Elboxo

2012-01-14, 01:22 AM

A terrible rogue, it was my first time playing a table-top RPG, it was supposed to be sneak-attack focussed, it was really nothing focussed and did nothing except miss, that was a one-off trial to see if people wanted to play.

Next one lasted the entire campaign: Chaotic 'Good' Sorcerer who liked fire and necromancy. Quite evil after about half-way, not optimized at all, but was decent with what he did, and was extremely fun :D

Dr.Epic

2012-01-14, 01:27 AM

Halfling fighter. Went TWF.

Thurbane

2012-01-14, 01:29 AM

Human Sorcerer (Avarchil) with a terrible understanding of the rules - I thought Maximize could be used with no level adjustment 1/day for some weird reason. :smalltongue:

...only ever played that character for a couple of sessions.

Cardea

2012-01-14, 02:17 AM

Ranger. I pinned the Rogue to the wall with my arrow.

I took TWF. He was mildly pissed.

SpaceBadger

2012-01-14, 10:05 PM

First Pathfinder character (I'd done a lot of "D&D" before, from Basic Set to AD&D to GURPS) is a Dwarf Barbarian - but don't call him that to his face, because he thinks he is an Orc and he hates Dwarves!

That little twist came about when I realized that the rest of our party were all Orcs (plus one Goblin) and had to come up with a reason why my character would be adventuring with them. What I came up with is that my character was captured to be a slave (or food) while only an infant, but then an Orc Mama who had lost her baby decided to raise him as her own rather than as a slave.

He thinks he is an Orc, and is one tough barbarian due to all of the teasing and abuse he endured from the other Orc kids who were taller with green skin and less facial hair. His name is Drawf, but he has no idea why Mama named him that (avg Wis, low Int and Cha). I'm still playing him, and he is a lot of fun.

Argoti

2012-01-14, 10:58 PM

Half Orc Fighter/Barbarian, for Rappan Athuk. Sadly only ran 1 session of it before it fell apart due to scheduling, was fun (though got overshadowed by an Incarnate). Did have some fun destroying spiders and acting as the "horse" for a wagon.

Seerow

2012-01-14, 11:05 PM

My first time playing, the DM thought 'low levels' were too boring, so started us at the nice solid mid level of 25. Me with no 3e experience at all starts reading feats, and after deciding how awesome some of them are to make a fencer, make a Human Fighter10/Duelist15.

You can probably imagine how that went.

Circle of Life

2012-01-14, 11:07 PM

A Psion who spent the entire 30 minutes before the campaign fell apart plinking away with a crossbow.

Because, see, when you're given a pre-genned 21st level character for your very first game, the basic attack rules are about all that make sense.

Hiro Protagonest

2012-01-14, 11:13 PM

Half-orc fighter/ranger. I was going for TWF, but the campaign ended at 4th, before I got my second level of ranger.

At least even back then I realized ranger and barbarian were better than fighter. That was after I had some sessions of play though. Seriously, as a fighter with 8 intelligence, I had one skill point per level. One.

Xerinous

2012-01-14, 11:29 PM

My first Pathfinder character (actually, my first character overall) was a Half-elf Sorcerer with the undead bloodline. Started at 1st level, but the campaign collapsed, only got to about 3rd level I think.

Had a rather fun little tactic of weakening doors so the dwarf barbarian could smash right through them. Subtlety? Ha, subtlety is for rogues. (Oddly enough though, the rogue never objected to us doing it.)

Silva Stormrage

2012-01-15, 12:36 AM

I first D&D character was a level 8 Human Dread Necromancer. I had previous experience with the rules due to Neverwinter Nights but this was the first time playing in an actual campaign.

First session came buy and I started off with 2 zombie minatuars that proceeded to overshadow the fighter and cleric individually in an encounter against about 8 medium and large Xorns. Then after that we headed into a weird swamp place following a guy we had been payed to trail. We got ambushed again and ended up fighting a dragon. Which I proceeded to one shot due to shivering touch and spectral hand. Then when fleeing by himself to the dragon's corpse to animate and coup de grace it my character solo'ed around 60 kobolds because the DM had given them all slings and Dread Necromancers have 4 damage reduction.

He was then promptly banned for the next session :smallsigh:

Chained Birds

2012-01-15, 01:31 AM

My first true character was a human CW Samurai who is still my best played character ever. He upheld a strict code and managed to survive all the way to the right 'ol age of lvl 5... The game was like on Insanity Hard difficulty with a lot of torturous events created by our demon of a DM. It was pretty epic for a lvl 1-5 game ending in a TPK. :smallbiggrin:
He was always running headlong into combat shouting "Honorable Combat" waving around his shiny masterwork bastard sword and wakizashi. Here are the few things he accomplished over his short life:

- He died once (Something shared amongst all party members) before the eventual TPK.
- Fought a blunderbuss wielding mugger.
- Got knocked to exactly 0 HP twice to an evil outsider (I think a demon or devil) and a satanic Mage who led the party for a while before and after this.
- Broke a magical barrier holding an entire town full of people within a large burning church using only his non-magical sword and a lot of Spirit!
- Survived an onslaught of bandit archers who, 50% of the time, rolled either 2 or 12 damage with each shot (DM rubberbanded two D6s together :smallannoyed:).
- Had an awesome 1 on 1 final battle with an Ogre after an exchange that summed up to something like:
"Leave this town and never come back."
"Even if I leave now, I'll just come back again."
"Then I, Gil (Gilgamesh) just have to stop you here and now!"
Gil was one hit til dead, Ogre was one hit til dead. Gil won initiative! :smallcool:
- Gained a goblin cohort after the Ogre battle (saved him from the Ogre before the battle), ironically was the only surviving character by the end of the game.
- Ate a human arm... The evil Mage was very convincing.
- Stabilized his party members with his wakizashi by stabbing it into their chests.

I think that was everything... Oh ya...

- Broke a magical Oni club on natural rolls of 1, 2, 1... It was the second magical item found in the entire campaign. The first was sold for 1gp (it was a dagger) because nobody wanted it due to not trusting the DM at all; would you?

Riverdance

2012-01-15, 02:10 PM

Hiro Protagonest

2012-01-15, 03:27 PM

My first character was completely ridiculous. It can't be called optimization because it wasn't, it was just munchkinism at its most ugly. My friend, who had also just learned and was also a munchkin, helped me to make my character.

Here are a few reasons why it was so ridiculous:
1-It was a 6th level hound archon.
2-It had a magical Greatsword
3-The great sword was vorpal. This was 6th level.

Once I came to actually understand the game I realized that it's mot a video game and that it's much more fun for me to actually play a normal character and not cakewalk through everything.

...Why is hound archon part of why it's ridiculous? Even with no LA, it's about as good as six levels in a tier 3-1 PC class. Yes, even with Greater Teleport, because it's really only good if you need to deliver a message since you can't bring your allies.

Murillio

2012-01-15, 05:18 PM

My first 3.5 character was an 1st level Elven Ranger. I don't remember his name, but I remember our first game had us fighting a small army of goblins and an orc or two. What I remember most about that first session was that I kept asking if I could use attacks of opportunity which led to the amazing long range snipe of a run away goblin. It was all a lot of fun. Course later I found that you couldn't make attacks of opportunity with ranged weapons. The next session the DM ceased with the tutorial and slammed into us hard causing multiple fallen allies. Games with this DM became progressively harder which I believe led to my extremely cautious style of play in most future DnD games and also a slew of DnD horror stories.

My first played Pathfinder character was a level 3 Human Fighter named Gesler. I went into this game prepared to play a rogue but got roped into playing a fighter. It grew into one of my favorite characters. He was a man of few words growing gruff and stoic during his mercenary adventures. He returned home to help with a childhood friend (an elven wizard) to find his lost wife. I wrote into his background that he had an affair with the wizards wife, which was one of the reasons he'd come to help, I just never brought it up. :smallwink:

Some of my memorable moments include: him using liquid ice to coat the ground underneath then dropping prone to kick off from a giants creatures leg to full attack a group of three enemies ganging up on the party wizard across the room. He gave a prompt thumbs up to the wizard while he lay in the remains of the still twitching slain foes. Reflexively punching a roper in the eye after being pulled towards its maw. Later accidentally befriending a roper by sticking the halfling rogue into the roper to find some loot.

Around level 6/7 he went on a quest to earn a giants tattoo. The quest involved him climbing a tall mountain in the nude and equipmentless. He was accompanied by a giant who tried to stop his progress while climbing vertically. The giant was never heard from again. He found a cave full of blink dogs which he tried to fight unarmed but had to make a hasty retreat. Higher up into the mountains he walked onto a sleeping Remorhaz. Awakening him he ran for his life hiding behind some rocks. Contemplating a one on one fight he spotted a cave which he took refuge in after throwing a rock to divert the Remorhaz's attention. In the cave he dropped down into a small hole filled with water. This allowed him to escape the Remorhaz's attention. Afterwards it was all just a battle of willpower which he won due to the DM's impatience. He had a successful save or die roll.

Good times.

Krazzman

2012-01-15, 05:22 PM

DnD 3.5:

An elven Rogue (and the reason why I am banned from playing elves). Had some pretty fun times and messing with Lathander (gained an amulet that made his short bow shots holy and not needing any arrows) and MESSED UP every damned move silently check. (yes rolling a 1 on the first one, ruling with 1 = failure followed by an nat 20 [1 meant tripping and such]).

PF:

Tiefling Fighter/Rogue going Assassin. NE and wasn't trusted by the parties Elven Paladin and obtained a Tower in the first session.

Strormer

2012-01-15, 05:25 PM

My first time playing any RPG was 3.5. I made an Elven Druid which I have completely forgotten the name of. The campaign was run by three DMs working together at a McDonald's and had around 13 players. In my first five minutes of play my Druid had been kidnapped and brainwashed by the evil church of Vecna and turned into a Blackguard. I didn't play a second session of DND for two years at which point I had an absolute blast. Hell of a first session though...

First Pathfinder was actually really recent. I played a Tiefling Cleric who loosely followed Asmodeus, but mostly due to a curse placed on him by a demon prince. He threw around domination spells and curses when he wasn't healing the party. (Tiefling LN Cleric, Domination & Fire Domains)

illyrus

2012-01-15, 06:29 PM

I think 3.0 came out my freshman year in college. My first 3.0 character (the month it came out) was a fighter. I used the random option on the character generator for stats and got an 18 strength and 18 dexterity as well as some so so other stats. I decided to have him use 2 throwing axes to both attack with in melee and throw.

His storyline was that he was the LE human soldier-slave of a bad guy bent on world conquest. The character had been wrongfully accused of betraying said overlord. He was searching to find proof to show that he was setup. The GM liked the history so much that he made that bad guy from my character's history the BBEG of the campaign.

The character worked really well in the game both on the field of battle and in more social settings (everyone was more concerned with learning the game than optimizing stats). The game fell apart when 2 players became ticked at each other and continually butted heads for several game sessions in a row. I think the campaign went a few months and we made it to 6th or 7th level.

It was the last time I showed my character history to other players as several of them started trying to metagame the fact that my character was associated with the main villain.

That was also the campaign where 2 of the players met and started dating, eventually becoming husband and wife many years later. I still play ShadowRun with the husband and wife and several others about once a month in fact even though we've all graduated and many have families and jobs of their own now.

Chylde

2012-01-15, 06:42 PM

My first PF Character was a Human monk. I played him to 4th level, but then I had to leave the group due to schedule conflicts. I work with the Dm, and recently found out he was made into an NPC and was later killed for dramatic effect

DemonRoach

2012-01-15, 07:38 PM

It's a bit murky, but this is the character I think was my first.

Marco Pazzi (Yes, a lame reference to Italian history, I know), a Lawful Evil Blood Magus (Wizard with alternate rules, the DM did weird things with magic. Casting magic required a spellcraft roll, with a DC set by a formula I don't recall too well, something like DC 15 + Spell level, most people then had a set amount of mana for the day, Blood Magi just payed with hit points instead and had D6 hit die instead of D4). Realistically alignment was Lawful Evil.

Campaign was that we were conscripts in the Illithid empire, drafted into the army as one of many units sent forth to invade other planes on behalf of our squidly masters (Note: Because we were conscripts, we rolled 3D6 for stats and had sod all magic items the whole campaign).

The game had a mix of all alignments, but actually worked out quite well as a group dynamic. We started at level one, and Marco finally got a well earned death when the unit was sent to the mini-plane that was his home world and got kill by the party (Lasted level 1 to 7th I think).

Icestorm245

2012-01-15, 08:09 PM

A dwarven fighter who was so terribly optimized at 6th level with Weapon Focus (waraxe), Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Trip, Toughness (yes, I know), Weapon Specialization (waraxe), and finally Skill Focus (Climb). Suffice to say, it was my very first time playing anything D&D related. I did however, kill a Bodak so my party's bard could take it's eye that he replaced his own eye with. I also got to gouge out his eye with my bare hands, which he purposely failed his check on to cause the bard the most amount of pain possible, and eventually when the bard tried to kill me with the eye, I made the save and pummeled him with my fists and threw him out of a 4 story high window.

shortround

2012-01-15, 08:33 PM

First character was a dwarven monk named Brotor Hammerfist. Got to level 15 taking feats like Endurance, Diehard, and WF (Natural Attack). I was bassically the equivalent of a red shirt in the party.

Turtleroll

2012-01-15, 08:49 PM

Joseph Ohm, half-elf bard. made it to lvl 9 over the course of... 2 years? (meeting just about once every 2 months, snails pace of a game). a very non-conventional bard, even as far as bards go. He and his paladin buddy (who was played by someone who glimpsed over the code of conduct... and took no repercussions) would solve problems like "how should we get in this potion shop? (ignoring to look for a door, our dm had convinced us we shouldn't try) Throw the bard through the window!" and it became a recurring gag to throw Joe into all your problems. (doors, windows, enemies, friendlies, hell hound pits, etc.) but in hindsight, one of the funnest characters to play.

cc_kizz

2012-01-15, 11:16 PM

panaikhan

2012-01-16, 08:58 AM

My first PF character was a Half-Orc Bard named Krang.
He couldn't play a note. On anything. The original concept was to use the cantrip 'summon instrument' and then hit the bad guys with it using the 'improvised weapon' feat.

SilverLeaf167

2012-01-16, 09:49 AM

3.5 was the first PnP RPG I'd ever played, with core only and no idea about optimization. There was one player in addition to me (Elf Ranger, specializing in archery), who had about as much experience as me, and a DM who had only ever been a PC in an unidentified older edition.

I made a Human Paladin wielding a longsword and a heavy shield... with a Charisma of 12... and I picked the feats Weapon Focus (longsword) and Negotiator. :smallamused:

Our first sessions were basically just one-shots, with the characters carrying over and no RP in-between the adventures. Our first adventure was to go investigate a dark forest for no real reason, where a couple of goblins ambushed us, almost killing us in a painstakingly long battle, but we found some healing potions on their corpses. We then proceeded to find a big stone wall, which I found a weak spot on and pounded on it with my sword hilt until it collapsed.
We were now inside a castle of some sort, where we encountered some hobgoblins and a DMPC Rogue (who was level 5 or so) who joined our team, apparently adventuring for the same reasons as we were (none). Rummaging through a seemingly random pile of trash, we found a mirror (as a fantasy nerd, I had a pretty good guess of what were going to face at this point). Unsurprisingly, we faced a medusa, whose gaze we couldn't reflect with the mirror but at least it allowed us to fight it without looking it in the eye. The Rogue just sat in a corner doing nothing, but my Paladin and the Ranger defeated it, almost certainly due to either DM fiat or a misunderstanding of the rules, but unaware of how difficult it was supposed to be, we looted it for some more healing potions and carried on.
In a courtyard, we found a pile of phat lewts, but when we approached it, a mummy (again, far too high DC) appeared from the ground under us and grabbed our legs and the castle started sinking for some reason. The mummy was trying to take us down with its own impending doom. Realizing we had no time to fight it, I tried lighting it on fire with my torch. The DM allowed this to work, and the mummy let us go while burning to death. Abandoning the treasure (clearly I wasn't a true gamer at the time :smalltongue:) we ran out of the forest as we could.

It wasn't until I started DMing that I realized how over-DCd the monsters were, but we all just laughed about it.

Progressing with this party, we also explored an underwater cavern, with me DMing for the first time and my Paladin as a DMPC. It had some Triton ambushes in strategic terrain, (I'm really disappointed that I have never even seen Tritons mentioned anywhere), a Sea Lion guarding some loot, a weird puzzle where they were simply supposed to detach a shellfish-of-sorts lying on top of a hidden button but instead spent a long time trying to use Diplomacy on it. As a final boss, they faced a slightly nerfed giant octopus and got some class-relevant nice loot.

In the next adventure, with the original DM again, we woke up naked with a huge hangover in front of a hobgoblin camp. A new player had joined with a human Fighter with the best rolls of the party (something three 16s and the rest in the 12-14 range). We proceeded to sneak into the camp, disguise ourselves with... hobgoblin skins :smalleek: and enter the largest tent of the camp... which was actually a mansion disguised as a tent :smallconfused: (we never let the DM forget that little piece of randomness). We were separated by a trap, found some gear, fought some monsters, reunited again and fought a wyvern as a boss, with some loot I can't remember.

With the obvious level difference between the characters and some new people joining the group, we decided to scrap the campaign.

But now for the epilogue, aka BUT WHAT BECAME OF THE PLAYERS, after about a year and a half or so?

The Ranger now plays almost exclusively munchkinny casters with a little dose of randomness and has the best system mastery in the group apart from me but apparently no interest in the RP aspect.
The Rogue plays varied, interesting character with nice RP (except when he gets bored) but doesn't really like playing with most of the group.
The Fighter plays somewhat varied insane meat shields... and I guess he RPs his characters pretty well.
A new player plays mostly Clerics or other divine casters (a niche which the others have no interest in filling) and is rather good at RP too.
A player temporarily joined as a Scout but quit/got permanently banned after being a jerkass in general and ruining a campaign the others really liked. He clearly wants to get back in the game, but disguises it as endless insults and jerkassery, so we don't really want to let him.
And I... I am, apparently, forever stuck as the DM. It's not like I didn't like it, but still. :smallfrown:

--EDIT-- Wow that's long.

Atentora

2012-01-16, 02:46 PM

My first 3.5 character was a fighter/dwarven defender. That character really got me into playing DnD. Only got to use him for a few sessions though :(.

My first pathfinder character taught me how much DMs can screw you over in seconds... I made a lvl 7 cavalier and relied heavily on my mount. Which was taken from me. Within about 20 minutes of starting. He still managed to hold his own pretty well (considering he became a fancy looking fighter with essentially 0 feats). Until I got a crit fail, and my heavy flail went flying behind the 4 enemies attacking me (the entire party had fallen into pit traps, that I managed to avoid with the lowest reflex of them all), My lance was of very little use at this point. I survived thanks to the party's monk making a jump and climb check and charging. He ended up dying thanks to what can only be described as super fire, a misused healing burst, and an enemy sorcerer landing on my head.

I moved to arcane casting classes after that...

Hiro Protagonest

2012-01-16, 03:05 PM

Thuran

2012-01-16, 03:38 PM

My first 3.5 character was also my first "non-single-session" D&D character, or rather, he was made during 3.0 and then got transferred over t0 3.5 as we converted the system.

It was nothing short of an elf fighter that ran around with board and monkeygripped a greataxe. Yes, laugh all you want, but back then it was awesome, and he became quite hard hitting as it was before the insane 3.5 book spam.

We played in the dragonlance setting and he came into the group around level 6-7 or something like that, and we all got murdered (more about that later) around level 13. In the time before that, he managed to get into quite an endearing amount of troubble such as:

One day, it was just me and the GM, so he was off to do some solo adventuring, which included climbing a 300ft cliff. About two rolls from the top, he lost his grip. Before hitting the gorup i had been allowed to try to grip onto the wall, pray to any god that was paying attention and even close my eyes and recite the words i assumed were part of a featherfall spell. (and yes, i was allowed to roll for whether I got it right :smallbiggrin:) In the end, he fell through a portal at the bottom, landed in a bathtub, and got recruited by a BBEG that had his eyes on him.

Later when they got to Palanthas, he and the halfling heard about the dark tower and how noone dared to get near, and of course were off to prove that people were just being a bunch of sissies. He managed to get within a few houndred feet of the tower before the save failed and the two of them ran screaming from the place :smalleek:

By then, he had gone more dark, and him and the sorcerer had pretty much ended up as the undisputed forces in the group with the exception of each other and since they didnt get into conflict they pretty much each ruled the rest of the group members, that is to say, the two guys who tried to have a say, while the halfling had had the idea of becoming the willing friend of the sorcerer, when he wasnt causing troubble. He kept working errands for the BBEG that saved him whenever the rest of the group didn't show up so eventually got to one point where he came to the others on a black shadow pegasus without caring to explain where he had been, ahh, good times.

Of more note, this group eventually explroed their way into an ancient castle, or rather, the two guys mentioned before did and we went after them to pick them up. They would up in a fight they could not handle in the lower levels of the castle, and in a fit of genius, the caster of the two decided to cast "Rock to mud" on one of the castle walls, which of course brought the entire bloody thing crashing down on top of them. It got even better when they dug themselves out right in front of the vampire with his mouth agape wondering what the hell had happened to his castle. Uhm, I think we killed him.

Another wonderfull memory was another of his solo adventures, he got into an inn in search of information where a Kender was busy showing the poor barkeep ALL the contents of his bags, said kender happened to have an item i needed, which he agreed to give me. Anyway in order to help the poor barkeep and get the kender out of the way, i told him that a rainbow-coloured chicken had been spotted out in the streets! He immeidiately began packing up, which meant that when i reminded him that i still needed that item, he had to get all the content of the bag out AGAIN. The whole seance ended with the kender running off to find the chicken and the poor barkeep at wits end turning to me and asking "you wouldn't happen to have some paint?"

Eventually we got to the south, to a port where i dont remember what caused it, but i remember being in a tavern as a man came in and told me that two of my friends had gotten into troubble (try to guess who), and i arrived at the town square just to see the caster forget to think before casting a damn fireball into the middle of a crowded town square, needless to say we got out of that town as fast as we could, and had to make our ways through the mountains on foot instead of sailing around them as had been the original plan. We met this elderly man that offered to guide us through them and we followed, when offered some food he replied that it wasn't necessary, that he would eat later. He led us into a dark cave and merely said "ahhh, good to be home" before transforming into his true form, that of a very very large black dragon. Not wanting to wait around to get eaten we attacked!

The others got killed in the first breath, and i managed to land three attacks but no crits against it, before it tore me apart with a normal full attack, leaving only the halfling alive who had hidden behind a rock and decided to grovel before the dragon rather than fight it. Worst of all, we afterwards found out that it hadn't intended to attack us, just to cut a deal with us, which would also have allowed me to fly on its back and thus start on the path towards my dragonrider prestige class :smallfrown:

Oh, and we haven't gotten much smarter since then....

The Bandicoot

2012-01-16, 03:47 PM

Half-Ogre fighter with about.....9 points in intelligence. Yeah, you can guess how that played out. I nearly got killed chasing after the druid's dog, nearly got killed by a pit trap, nearly got killed by 7 kobolds. Oh the last one left a funny image in my mind. A half-ogre charges down the dark tunnel and comes screaming back with 4 kobolds chasing him, one latched onto his ear, another on his leg, and another on his arm.

Come to think of it.....all my characters almost die alot. The dice gods hate me when it comes to my enemy's attack rolls.

elvengunner69

2012-01-16, 05:40 PM

I laughed out loud when I read this. if i made you mad im sorry but your ranger hating everything it seems was just so funny. I would have enjoyed playing with you and your (presumnaly0 eternally angry ands grumpy character.

My first 3rd ed character was a Bard! AWW YEAH!! gave me an excuse to do this during the game AWEOSME BARDING SONG!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4)

I was attempting to be a little humorous there :smallbiggrin:

Metahuman1

2012-01-16, 08:05 PM

I started playing last month (in December 2011)! This is in a modified 3.5/Pathfinder campaign.

My first character is a 2nd level lawful good human wizard (I was inspired by Vaarsuvius). It's so much fun! Umm, anyhoo, I rolled pretty good stats (my lowest is 10, 18 in INT), but I seriously had no idea what I was doing at first. I picked spells that were pretty much useless in combat (See Alignment) and am still trying to figure out all the modifiers.

I'm thinking she's going to go more neutral than lawful. She's had some negative experiences in her life that are going to shape her as her adventure continues. Also, because we have no rogue (yet), I'd like to multiclass to that, perhaps as far as the prestige class of Arcane Trickster (which would rely on an alignment shift, of course). We'll see.

http://www.ccsgraphic.com/Extras/Gael2.png

Freindly advice. Do some internet searching and find guides to Wizards and Handbooks for Wizards and read some of them. They will help you avoid many painful mistakes by learning from others.

Example: You don't need rouge levels to find traps.

Unseen Servant, 1st lvl spell, players handbook. Have it push a 100lb rock in front of the party and have them simply hang back and keep it in view.

The rocks weight should be enough to trigger any trap that the party would reasonably trigger, thus allowing you to avoid them. Cast Silence on the Rock to not give away your position.

Boom. You now no longer need to dip rouge to find traps for the party with your wizard.

Averis Vol

2012-01-16, 10:54 PM

My first character was for 3.5. he was a fighter 6/rogue 3 fluffed as pirate captain bregga malleus, scourge of the sea not patrolled by any militant force.... he wasn't quite the best pirate but he definitely swung the biggest stick the hardest. this was a purely core (phb/dmg) campaign so i rolled him as a falchion wielder and went the improved crit route with a shocking burst weapon. probably the most memorable instance for cap'n bregga was before he even joined the party he was the mysteriously shaded captain of the small fleet in town. well they had been trying to get an audience with me the whole time (he was an unraced or classed npc before this). as they finally made their way into my room and as they finally breached the wall of smoke they stood before a high backed chair and as it slowly rotated to show me. i remember the laughs of the group as they stared down the dwarf ,or more so his outrageous hat that was all you could see over the the table. so after the 15 minute conversation with the bobbing hat a man ran in and said the fleet was under attack by the city guard. i agreed to pay them some amount of gold (which if i remember correctly i never did) if they helped defend my ships.

well the fighting went on for probably twenty minutes and left us fleeing hastily from my now burnt ships and my city. we actually managed to out run them, which was weird because half the group was small or dwarves. so as we were resting that night the fighter By the name of tego did a double take at me then rummaged around his bag where he pulled out a picture of the malleus (his clan name) clan from before he was born, it was his father, his mother, his uncle.....and me when i was about 18. so from there tego and bregga were the front lining duo of the group, the malleus brothers, where we went, **** died. we were first to leap into the fray back to back, we even solo'ed a quartet of frost giants using a combo of me throwing my hammer of thunderbolts i found a map ago and him using his snatch arrow as it flew by his head. so we systematic traded it back and forth the whole fight until we double bull rushed the last one off the cliff and sent it crashing into the town at the bottom of the mountain. it lasted up to 24 where we slayed the dead god eredrass. bregga wasn't optimized or even well built but he was still, atleast in my opinion, my best played and most successful character.