Dnd has lost its magic - need a fun character to try and bring it back

[Regis_is_a_bro]

Hi all,
Dnd has lost that magical feel of being immersed in a fantastical land of monsters and magic. I feel now like it's almost just a bunch of rules and some dice rolling.

I'm hoping a fun, different character might bring the 'magic' back. So i'm here asking you all for your ideas and input. I'm open for just about anything.

Thank-you in advance.

[Nettlekid]

What archetypes do you usually play? Do you often go high-optimization? If so, I would suggest something either diametrically opposed to your normal type (if you play casters, try a sneak or a warrior) and optimize that, or alternatively play your normal archetype but unoptimized or centered around a theme. For a while now I've been trying to think of gimmicky characters for just that purpose - characters who are strong enough in their own right but have a heavy roleplaying component due to some theme or pattern in their skillset.

What are some of the last characters you've played? Let's see where we can go from there.

[Regis_is_a_bro]

I'm not very high-optimization at all. I like my characters to be good, but not overpowering. I normally play a melee class, but i've tried casters a few times, but never liked them.

Some previous classes played (starting from most recent )
Beguiler
Factotum/Warblade
Warblade
Death Master
Rogue/Assassin
Druid
Ranger

[ericgrau]

Child (~10-12) aasimar sorcerer. Summons celestial monsters and later polymorphs self into a hound archon then later other archons/angels. Sort of like Terra from Final Fantasy; a half esper who cast spells and sometimes morphed into an esper form because of her esper blood. Gives you a chance to play a kid who acts like a saturday morning cartoon hero who can transform into a dog man. Deepened yet still childish voice, "I will smash you evildoers", etc. Mage armor, false life and other 24 hour buffs help too. Later you can get still spell and wear armor. It isn't that strong at melee, at least with MM1 forms, especially since it takes a round to transform. But it's alright. You might also continue the celestial theme with spells like fly, tongues and so on. Variant: tiefling bratty devil child. Also for pre-polymorph levels makes alter self into outsider aberrations less contrary to the theme, since most of them look like abominations of nature or like imps or etc.

Orc wizard specializing in melee touch spells with a great con and ok str. Minimal int. Talk about how you're the smartest orc in the tribe because you can read. Speak without using articles because that's the way your tribe speaks, even though you have a >10 int. Example spells: [empowered] touch of idiocy, feeblemind, irresistable dance, shocking grasp, vampiric touch. A mithral shield has no arcane spell failure so it'll help your AC at melee range. Similar to the aasimar other hour/level buffs help you survive too.

Half dragon ogre dungeoncrasher. Or cheesier high str low LA races/templates if you need better optimization. Like half-minotaur mineral warrior goliath. Kool-aid man your way through challenges. Say "Oh yeah!" a lot. An adamantine pickaxe helps for anything you can't strength check through in 1 round. Call yourself a rogue because you find secret doors (create opening in solid wall), open locks (smash lock), find traps (face tank them / bypass trapped door via neighboring wall).

Chicken infested leadershiped magic-missile-awakened-wizard-chicken master-thrower.

Unicorn based caster. Probably druid/wizard (I think there's a PRC for this). Summon nature's ally (unicorn), melf's unicorn arrow, mount, phantom steed, unicorn cohort w/ class levels (also summons unicorns). Steal many of the forum's My Little Pony ideas to apply to your character's personality.

[Fable Wright]

Hi all,
Dnd has lost that magical feel of being immersed in a fantastical land of monsters and magic. I feel now like it's almost just a bunch of rules and some dice rolling.

I'm hoping a fun, different character might bring the 'magic' back. So i'm here asking you all for your ideas and input. I'm open for just about anything.

Thank-you in advance.

One thing that you should consider is taking character options that force you to interact with the game world. For example, try making a character with the Apprentice/Master feat chain from the DMG 2. Playing as a young apprentice just the first tricks of his trade, reporting to master every week in between adventures, before becoming skilled enough to teach naive newcomers yourself definitely adds to your sense of wonder and investment. Perhaps convince your DM to adopt the rules for favored establishments from Sharn: City of Towers, or Contacts from Cityscape, so that you have people you boast of your accomplishments to after a good quest. Maybe join an Organization from City of Stormreach/PHB 2/Dragon Magic/Complete Champion. Take Favored In House if you play in Eberron. Just, find some way to get the DM to go along with immersing you in the world, and see if that helps your sense of wonder.


Unicorn based caster. Probably druid/wizard (I think there's a PRC for this). Summon nature's ally (unicorn), melf's unicorn arrow, mount, phantom steed, unicorn cohort w/ class levels (also summons unicorns). Steal many of the forum's My Little Pony ideas to apply to your character's personality.
I think Pathfinder had some expansion (Ponyfinder?) that let you replace your familiar with an small unicorn that gains a wizard level for every two levels you gain or something like that. If the image of a small cartoon-style unicorn looking over your ancient wizard's shoulder to sneak peeks at their spellbook doesn't help you feel immersed in a world of magic and monsters, I don't know what will.

[Malroth]

Evil Bard with Fell Animate metamagic song and Requiem, raise all your foes as backup dancing zombies.

[Bloodgruve]

Try an optimized Truenamer Quickening everything you can at level 9. Challenge yourself to make it work?

Binder with Totemist2, see if you can get into Midnight Occultist homebrew PRC, every day you could play something different.

Clawlock is simple but super fun so far.

Incarnate/Cleric/Sapphire Hierarch has some good options

Duskblade w/knowledge devotion.

[Regis_is_a_bro]

I've always been interested in trying a binder, though I've always heard that they're not very good. At this point though, I value the RP and flavour more.