Characters Inspired by Media

[Tosamu]

The Inspirational Reading section of the Player's Handbook is a great starting point for classic fantasy, but I'm curious if any Playgrounders have specific characters in books, shows, or even games that they consider archetypes of a particular character class. What characters in media have inspired your own character creation?

[Regitnui]

The Inspirational Reading section of the Player's Handbook is a great starting point for classic fantasy, but I'm curious if any Playgrounders have specific characters in books, shows, or even games that they consider archetypes of a particular character class. What characters in media have inspired your own character creation?

4e Monk; The entire Avatar franchise, more TLA than TLK.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I'm playing a LN noblewoman-wizard (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=691366) at the moment who has more than a little in common with Moiraine Damodred from Wheel of Time - who is, herself, a thinly-disguised homage to Gandalf from Tolkien's stories. The funny thing is, I made the character before I read the books, but then after I started reading I've made a more conscious effort to channel (lol) Moiraine's manner and attitude.

[Gastronomie]

A friend of mine created a character called Diego "Dio" Brando who was Barbarian 1/Druid 6/Rogue 2.

When he used Wildshape, he every time declared he will reject his humanity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2mHPdhiZbg) and transformed into an Allosaurus (http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/jyojyo_soku/imgs/3/b/3b5f8b1b.jpg). He also sometimes declared he's getting real HIGH (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=off7z8xvcZw) and used the Rage ability from Barbarian. And when he took Cunning Action to take the Hide action, he always replaced his icon with this (http://pic.prepics-cdn.com/16000915/33271459.jpeg).

Now literally all he needs is a way to cast Time Stop.

[Logosloki]

I occasionally use other media as a springboard but one of the times i just flat out played a character from elsewhere is when i brought leia organa to the table.

[Ninja_Prawn]

flat out played a character from elsewhere

Oh, that reminds me! I'm playing a game of the RWBY unofficial TTRPG (well, it's on hiatus at the moment, but we should be resuming it eventually) where we're all playing characters from the show's canon. I'm Raven (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lhyxfcq895jaj4m/Raven%20Branwen.pdf?dl=0&preview=Raven+Branwen.pdf)!

[smcmike]

Thomas Cromwell from Wolf Hall, believe it or not. It didn't quite work in practice, but it was a fun starting place. A representative of bourgeois values in a feudal world.

Also, non-fictional, Franz Boas, the anthropologist. The conceit was that my elf was mingling with the "lower" races for academic purposes, combining an enthusiasm for their culture with a troubling tendency to treat them as objects rather than people. The more skulls I collect, the more likely I'll get tenure!

Captain Jack Harkness, for unabashed glee in adventuring. That's a fun way to play.

[The Glyphstone]

I had a Vostroyan Arch-Militant in a Rogue Trader game who was almost-literally Heavy from Team Fortress 2, down to the minigun he could move-and-fire (slowly).

[RedMage125]

In a 4e game that I was DMing, I ran my players against a group of enemies themed from an iconic group.

Because of the nation my players were in at the time, these were all dragonborn (with an Oriental Adventures feel), and I used the NPCs-with-Classes option to give them all recognizable powers.

Liam - TWF Ranger, used dual bastard swords (flavored as katana)
Miko- Monk, used a club (nuchaku) as an implement
Rafuru- Brutal Scoundrel Rogue, used 2 daggers
Dani- Sorcerer, used Staff as implement

They were joined by Usagi-Assault Swordmage with a greatsword
And led from the back by Sliver- A Warlord

[Beleriphon]

In a 4e game that I was DMing, I ran my players against a group of enemies themed from an iconic group.

Because of the nation my players were in at the time, these were all dragonborn (with an Oriental Adventures feel), and I used the NPCs-with-Classes option to give them all recognizable powers.

Liam - TWF Ranger, used dual bastard swords (flavored as katana)
Miko- Monk, used a club (nuchaku) as an implement
Rafuru- Brutal Scoundrel Rogue, used 2 daggers
Dani- Sorcerer, used Staff as implement

They were joined by Usagi-Assault Swordmage with a greatsword
And led from the back by Sliver- A Warlord

That's awesome. It took me a second to catch on what was happening here.

My favourite was an 3E OA Vanara monk/sorcere named Shin. Really I had enough sorcerer in there to get a few uses of Enlarge.

[indemnity]

At my table is an Assassins Creed style rogue who refuses to attack unless they are in stealth-mode.

They annoy everyone else a lot.

[Seruvius]

I quite recently played a dwarf abjuration wizard who was heavily influence by Cheery Littlebottom from Terry pratchets Discworld series. The character worked rather well =P

In a campaign I have just started running, there are 2 characters inspired by Blizzards Overwatch. A fighter based on reinhardt and a monk based on Genji, homebrewed cybernetics and all. So far, it has worked quite well. The fact peopleuse characters from media that i recognise often helps inspire magic items/quests/plot twists for the campaign.

[Laserlight]

One of my players is running Matrim Cauthon, from Wheel of Time, with no name change and as close to the same personality as his level and abilities will allow. This player has said that he has trouble being creative.

[Joe the Rat]

In an old 3.5 game, I played J.R.R. Tolkein (Oratory Bard). I may resurrect that at some point.
My go-to back pocket concept is Guts from Berserk... as a Halfling. I start with Fighter, but may tuck in a little Barbarian down the road.

[Madbox]

Not playing him currently, but one of my back-up characters is a druid who's basically a Grickle-style gnome.

[Socratov]

My pirate cahracters at at least 50% Jack Sparrow, my 3.5 E6 warlock (current avatar) is inspired by Dresden's Mavra and Goethe's Faust, My Druid is part Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Part Kronk of Empror's New Groove (though considerably smarter), My Halfling Sorceress is basically Jem. My 5e warlock was based on the Mad Arab and that's about it for inspired characters. It's about 80% of my built characters.

[Millstone85]

In 4e, I played a ranger/warlock with a beast companion named Nymeria (Game of Thrones) and a familiar named Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica). I didn't envision the character herself as Arya Stark or any specific magical girl, but the influence was there.

Next week, I should finally get to play the character in 5e. She is no longer a ranger and I essentially retired the wolf, but she has the outlander background.

[Gastronomie]

Guts from Berserk... as a Halfling.But he can't hold heavy weapons! He can still have one of his arms be a cannon though.

[Moosoculars]

It was Littlefinger from game of thrones who inspired a manipulative, socially skilled lore bard. Spells like enhance ability, detect thoughts, clairvoyance and suggestion made him a shrewd negotiator. Cutting words successfully ended many contract negotiations. Expert in deception and insight he was very hard to read. He was smooth and deadly in any Royal court.

[Specter]

At my table is an Assassins Creed style rogue who refuses to attack unless they are in stealth-mode.

They annoy everyone else a lot.

Captain Kenway from Black Flag actually has three rogue archetypes; Assassin, Thief and Swashbuckler.

[JumboWheat01]

I'm reading these and sitting here, wondering how many classes at level 20 Chuck Norris would have in one character.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm reading these and sitting here, wondering how many classes at level 20 Chuck Norris would have in one character.

He would have one class: Chuck Norris.

[DracoKnight]

Oh, that reminds me! I'm playing a game of the RWBY unofficial TTRPG (well, it's on hiatus at the moment, but we should be resuming it eventually) where we're all playing characters from the show's canon. I'm Raven (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lhyxfcq895jaj4m/Raven%20Branwen.pdf?dl=0&preview=Raven+Branwen.pdf)!

Where would one find the rules for this? :smallbiggrin:

[RickAllison]

Not a PC, but I have plenty of NPCs that originated from other media, especially Kingdom Hearts. I made Riku using the Death Knight, Maleficent from a lich who could transform into a shadow dragon, and the Behemoth heartless from the gnoll demon lord from OotA.

[Joe the Rat]

But he can't hold heavy weapons! He can still have one of his arms be a cannon though.
You can hold them. Heck, you can wield them at disadvantage. Reckless Attack from Barbarian puts you back to normal.

But no, I went the Guts (age 7) route. You want to fight like an adult, you use an adult weapon (in this case, a longsword)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Where would one find the rules for this? :smallbiggrin:

I think this (https://www.reddit.com/r/Rwbytabletop/comments/45ogyl/the_unofficial_rwby_tabletop_february_update/) is the most up-to-date version. A note of caution: the game system is very heavily geared towards rule of cool and 'if you can imagine it, you can do it'. There's also a lot of 'oh. Now you need to roll extra dice' that makes it poorly suited to PbP.

[DracoKnight]

I think this (https://www.reddit.com/r/Rwbytabletop/comments/45ogyl/the_unofficial_rwby_tabletop_february_update/) is the most up-to-date version. A note of caution: the game system is very heavily geared towards rule of cool and 'if you can imagine it, you can do it'. There's also a lot of 'oh. Now you need to roll extra dice' that makes it poorly suited to PbP.

Cool! Thanks! This is for an IRL group anyways :smallbiggrin:

[Arkhios]

I've had more characters over the years (spanning from 3.5 to 5th) than I can possibly remember, but here are a few which come to mind that had something "stolen" or "borrowed" from a media person.

Pathfinder:
Savage Halfling Barbarian (loosely based on homo floresiensis, aka "Hobbit", discovery in Australia)

Raging, drunken Dwarf grappler in spiked plate who was based pretty closely on the Battlerager Thibbledorf Pwent, though he became monstrous compared to Pwent. (which isn't a bad thing, considering what I tried to accomplish).

A Ranger with whom I aimed to avoid all spell-casting completely, who semi-accidentally became a rip-off from Indiana Jones (an archaeologist by trade). More so when I made his Father (who was basically a copy of Henry Jones Senior).

5th edition:
A complete mess, combining Aragorn (from the books), Ned Stark (from GoT), Madmartigan (Willow); A Northerner Paladin with celtic and nordic aspects, e.g. those of a viking, a family lineage closely related to wolves (hello, House Stark!), with a faith which is a mixture of the paladins of silver hand (World of Warcraft) and The Old Faith). Probably the deepest character I've ever had, and absolutely my favorite concept so far.

[Daishain]

I don't generally play themed characters, though I did do it once without realizing it and then doubled down on the character once I recognized the connection.

Created a very moody sorcerer that talked to voices none could hear, acted like a snooty king most of the time, would easily fly into rages often accompanied by explosions, and was highly unpredictable (my party members were spared most of this behavior, it was metagaming a bit, but in the context of not being an ass...). It took me a while to realize I was channeling a late series Rand Al'thor from the Wheel of Time.

[JumboWheat01]

I don't generally play themed characters, though I did do it once without realizing it and then doubled down on the character once I recognized the connection.

Created a very moody sorcerer that talked to voices none could hear, acted like a snooty king most of the time, would easily fly into rages often accompanied by explosions, and was highly unpredictable (my party members were spared most of this behavior, it was metagaming a bit, but in the context of not being an ass...). It took me a while to realize I was channeling a late series Rand Al'thor from the Wheel of Time.

...Dang, now I need to re-read that series again. It was quite the gripper from the start to the end.

[Ninja_Prawn]

...Dang, now I need to re-read that series again. It was quite the gripper from the start to the end.

I'm somewhat surprised that WoT has had the most mentions of any piece of media in this thread so far. I'd have thought a film or TV show would take that prize...

[Regitnui]

I'm somewhat surprised that WoT has had the most mentions of any piece of media in this thread so far. I'd have thought a film or TV show would take that prize...

Long running high fantasy book series trumps shorter TV series (only since GoT has fantasy picked up on television) and one shot short sh films. I've never read it myself, but heaven knows i channel Sam Vimes into any guard character I play.

[Daishain]

I'm somewhat surprised that WoT has had the most mentions of any piece of media in this thread so far. I'd have thought a film or TV show would take that prize...
There are very few high fantasy films and TV shows out there to draw from, and the ones that do exist often have issues translating to D&D.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I had a GM with a pickle up an uncomfortable place about Bards, so I decided to play a Bard by the name of "Pedro de la Cuba a la Costa", or 'Pedro' for short. He was more than a bit of a womanizer, playing up on the 'Don Juan' trope, and was pretty much exactly what the GM thought all bards should be.

The GM tried to throw in one of those moral tests by having a misled mob of commoners try to lynch us. We could take 'em out easy... but they were duped and the very people we were supposed to protect.

My response was a grin. "Facinate, followed by Mass Suggestion from Bardic Music."

"Okay, what are you playing?"

"My name is Cuban Pete (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dyO9SWiY7k), I'm the kinda crazy guy you like to meet..."

That was when the rest of the party suddenly understood the significance of my character's name. Pedro (a.k.a. Peter) from Cuba on the Coast. Or, quite literally, Cuban Pete.

The GM literally table-flipped and stormed out. We won. :smallbiggrin:

[Ninja_Prawn]

There are very few high fantasy films and TV shows out there to draw from, and the ones that do exist often have issues translating to D&D.

But like, you can take inspiration from anything, not just high fantasy. People like Han Solo and Indiana Jones - or Son Goku on the TV side - are not fantasy characters, but it'd be easy to import their personalities into a D&D character.

[Daishain]

But like, you can take inspiration from anything, not just high fantasy. People like Han Solo and Indiana Jones - or Son Goku on the TV side - are not fantasy characters, but it'd be easy to import their personalities into a D&D character.
True, but I've found that most people prefer to import the whole character, not just the personalities. (If they're going to be doing such direct copying at any rate, more subtle inspiration is another matter, but people aren't likely to mention such in this thread) If there isn't a character platform that can reasonably accommodate the signature abilities...

Take Han Solo for instance since you mention him. Probably the closest you can get in 5E would be a Thief with Eldritch Blast via Magic initiate (give him an arcane focus shaped like a DL44 to fire the EB with), but several of Solo's aspects can't be duplicated without homebrew, and a lot of the Thief stuff is difficult to justify with Solo's character.

[Autocon]

Uther Lightbringer (Warcraft) for a good paladin, or Judge Dredd for a stuck up paladin.

Aragorn for melee Ranger Hunter.

Dresden for a warlock.

Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts (Princess Bride) for Rogue Swashbuckler (with Sailor background).

Link (Zelda) could be a Rogue Arcane Trickster (jack-of-all-trades, can use most any tools, the spells can mimic the magics he uses in various games, and use Find Familiar to get Navi)

EDIT
And one more - not exactly a class, but William Thatcher / Ulrich von Liechtenstein (A Knight's Tale) is a perfect use of the Charlatan background.

[Beleriphon]

EDIT
And one more - not exactly a class, but William Thatcher / Ulrich von Liechtenstein (A Knight's Tale) is a perfect use of the Charlatan background.

He's a fighter with the mounted combat feat and the charlatan background. As a variant human he can do it as level 1.

[Oramac]

I've always thought a Mastermind Rogue is basically the D&D version of Michael Westen from Burn Notice.

[MBControl]

My ranger is a half elf named Varis Walker. He is of the Clan of Taxas.

He is Walker, Taxas Ranger.

[Regitnui]

My ranger is a half elf named Varis Walker. He is of the Clan of Taxas.

He is Walker, Taxas Ranger.

Impossible. You can't hit level 21, so using Chuck Norris as inspiration just cannot work

[Arkhios]

My ranger is a half elf named Varis Walker. He is of the Clan of Taxas.

He is Walker, Taxas Ranger.

I've always found the name Varis amusing. It means Crow in finnish :P