LETS MAKE A CHARACTER 5e

[Foxolicious]

Starting a game in the new year and just want to make a character that might be a little bit random my DM is really into backstory so any ideas are a plus. My party consists of a warlock, wizard, rogue and a monk I have no idea there races and being the same class as them is ok

Let the games begin

[Consensus]

What level are you starting at?

[dejarnjc]

Starting a game in the new year and just want to make a character that might be a little bit random my DM is really into backstory so any ideas are a plus. My party consists of a warlock, wizard, rogue and a monk I have no idea there races and being the same class as them is ok

Let the games begin

What kind of character do you want to roleplay? That's a good place to start.

[Foxolicious]

DM hasn't told us levels and as for role-playing I'm always down for whatever I just finished dming a campaign that last a year and a half so I'm use to role-playing several different characters

If it's a multi class and I start at lvl 1 I'll just develop the character over time

[Aett_Thorn]

Looks like you need a Tank/Melee anchor in there. But you want something different. As such, I am going to suggest a Lizardfolk Forge Cleric. Wear some nice, heavy armor, forsake weaponry in favor of your own fiery bite of doom, and use some good ol' fashion Cleric spells to make sure that you can control the battlefield.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Your good on magic so I wouldn't choose a magic class. Do you have a healer or fighter/barb.?

[PopeLinus1]

Fighter Looks Good
But let’s not do an ordinary fighter, how about a dex-based low-constitution(although not negative) fighter.

[Quoz]

Taking a different approach, what hook would lead you to the life of an adventurer? Are you on the run from the law, maybe an escaped slave or prisoner? On a holy or self imposed quest?

What relation, if any, do you have with magic? Do you think witches should be burned at the stake? Will you do anything in the pursuit of arcane power? We're you born with inexplicable abilities that you must master before they consume you?

What race are you, and how do you fit into the grand hierarchy of the world? Will you let your culture define you, or are you adventuring because you never fit in at home?

Get a feel for a character - their personality, their goals, their story. Then, choose your mechanics based on those choices. And don't be afraid to tweak both sides as you go to make a cohesive character, both naratively and mechanically.

[hellgrammite]

Do you feel the campaign will lead towards combat or role-playing? If you have played with these people before, or if the DM has made some explicit comments, you can typically predict if your leaning one way or another.

[Foxolicious]

The DM is heavy into role-playing

[hellgrammite]

The DM is heavy into role-playing

If that is the case, focus less on what the group needs for 'combat', and more what is going to make a compelling character.

Assuming Neutral alignments are open:

-You could use the Glamour Bard to effectively be a less viscous Insidious Corruptor (a 3.5 prestige class worth reading about.) Basically your goals are wealth and power. http://molivero.com/dndtools/USRD/srd/classes/prestigeDotu/insidiousCorruptor.html

-A Hexblade/Oath of conquest Paladin who views peace as being maintained by replacing hate with terror in those you defeat. You made a deal with an infernal creature, but really you learn that deal was with a god of order (gods impersonate fiends sometimes to draw worship or utilize mortals.)

-A bugbear Rogue/Ranger Gloomstalker who works only during the evening either assassinating or bounty hunting. Considers himself doing the ugly, but necessary side of justice.

[GooeyChewie]

Next question. What kind of world do you expect the DM and players want to create? Strictly high fantasy? Something looser where a somewhat wacky character could thrive? Something darker, like Ravenloft?

[Foxolicious]

Next question. What kind of world do you expect the DM and players want to create? Strictly high fantasy? Something looser where a somewhat wacky character could thrive? Something darker, like Ravenloft?

High fantasy and slightly wacky I think the dm is shooting for

[danpit2991]

half orc wizard any school sage or acolyte background

raised by halflings in a temple devoted to magic the jungles of a faraway land where he learned his spellcasting but due to his restless nature he(or she) has gon forth to discover lost magics and to seek out new spells to one day return to the temple with his recovered knowledge

[Foxolicious]

half orc wizard any school sage or acolyte background

raised by halflings in a temple devoted to magic the jungles of a faraway land where he learned his spellcasting but due to his restless nature he(or she) has gon forth to discover lost magics and to seek out new spells to one day return to the temple with his recovered knowledge

This is kind of the route I wanna take just something odd enough back story wise

Keep the ideas coming

[Spiderguy24]

Fighter Looks Good
But let’s not do an ordinary fighter, how about a dex-based low-constitution(although not negative) fighter.

So an archer, or close range fighter? Or a mix of the two?

[Foxolicious]

So an archer, or close range fighter? Or a mix of the two?

Half orc dexterity based fighter I like where this is going

[Nidgit]

Your party could rather use a tank and/or healer, so how about:

Outlander Aasimar Paladin or Cleric. Lost at birth and raised by apes/wolves/flying squirrels, your holy parent has recently laid claim to you. Instead of accepting them, though, you scorn them and instead leave to aggressively spread the word of your decidedly pagan god, Wiggribbly the Bountiful Grub.

[GooeyChewie]

Based on the party make-up so far, you’ll likely want something with at least a bit of healing, even if only for brining other player characters back from 0. It also sounds like you want something out of the ordinary but not completely out of place in a high fantasy setting (so not the voodoo-priest Cleric of the Grave with Magic Initiate for Hex and the Haunted background from Curse of Strahd that I was going to suggest).

I would likely look at the Divine Soul Sorcerer or Celestial Warlock from Xanathar’s Guide. Both have great role-playing opportunities in connection with the source of their powers, and both can provide the party with some much needed healing action.

If you don’t want to go the healer route, I always have fun playing small fighters. I once had a Gnomish Fighter (in 3.5) who made up for his low strength by using a lance while riding on the back of a large husky. I figured Gnomish civilizations had to have some form of guards, so they *should* have fighters, but how often do you actually see them played?

[adolann]

A character I never got around to playing...

Oath of Ancients Paladin / Bladelock

Variant human, backstory is that you really wanted to be a ranger, and while in training for it, raiders hit the camp with you and your fellow trainees. As you fled into the deep woods, hoping for a miracle, one of the Summer Court happened to notice and decided why not. Start as paladin, for variant human skill take survival to represent your early wannabe ranger training. How you take levels depends on how you feel about optimization; I think you probably want to eventually be Pal 7+ / Warlock 5+.

[Sception]

when i want to play something different and don't have specific ideas, I like to let the dice decide. Use the Xanathar's extended personal history tables, but actually roll on them and just take what you get. Either choose your background, race, class, and subclass based on those, or else roll those randomly, too.

I ended up with a halfling shadow monk this way once, and they were one of my more enjoyable characters in 5e. Didn't stick with the party very long, but had a lot of fun while they were there.

[effenhoog]

that party looks like a great place to try an ancestral guardian barbarian cavalier fighter multiclass, but that's my own bias

[Callin]

Halfing Conquest Dexadin. Be cute and unleash the fury of baby groot and strike fear into your enemies.

With med armor and a shield you have decent AC. Use a rapier for melee. If you dont multiclass you can dump Str. See the guide to this subclass for great options. Pump dex and Cha with an ok Con. Feats wise you might not have many because of trying to max Dex and Cha.

[JellyPooga]

I'm going to suggest Ranger.

Go beefy (Str and Con focus) instead of Dex, so that you can provide a solid melee center for the other, more mobile, characters (Rogue and Monk) to dance around. Ranger will give you the option to take healing and stealth spells, to shore up any deficiency other party members might have, plus some combat control if you want it. Your AC and HP might not be the best (though potentially still better than your party members), so at some point after level 3-5 you might consider multiclassing Barbarian (aiming at Wolf Totem will make your other melee party members love you) to give you added durability, or Fighter (EK?) for better armour.

Alternatively, do the same thing, except as a Bard.

[MxKit]

This may be silly, but I find that if you're looking for random builds in the sense that you're talking about, actually going to completely random builds (rolling for literally almost everything about your character and including the extra stuff in Xanathar's) and then trying to make it all work together does a surprisingly good job of it. So, made entirely out of random rolls, here's my idea for the character you should play:

A Goblin Berserker Barbarian. If you do multiclass later, take some Rogue levels. If you take enough Rogue levels to grab a subclass, choose Swashbuckler.

Go with the alignment of Neutral Good.

Take the Acolyte background. Make your extra languages Orc and Elvish (so you can now speak Common, Goblin, Orc, and Elvish).

Your two personality traits are "I quote (or misquote) sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation" and "nothing can shake my optimistic attitude." Your ideal is Charity: "I always try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost." Your bond is "I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died." Your flaw is "I am inflexible in my thinking."

Jumping over to Xanathar's Guide, you carry around a personal totem that hold significance to you, as a barbarian. Yours is "a small leather pouch holding three stones that represent your ancestors." You also have a significant tattoo, which in your case is "the symbols of your clan are displayed in viny patterns along your arms." You have the ingrained superstition of "magical things bring trouble; never sleep with a magic object within ten feet of you."

You know who your parents were. You were born in a prison. You have, or had, three siblings: two older, one younger. You were raised by your father only; your mother died escaping from the prison and your father died of an accident some time later. Your lifestyle was modest and you lived an ordinary childhood. (Your parents were Lawful Evil; your two older siblings wound up True Neutral while you and your younger sibling wound up Neutral Good as well. Your parents were hunters or trappers while one of your older siblings is an exile or hermit or refugee, the other is a sailor, and your younger sibling is an academic. You had a mostly indifferent relationship with your father, and you have a friendly relationship with all of your siblings at this point. Your two older siblings are alive and well, while your younger sibling is alive but doing poorly due to injury, financial trouble, or relationship difficulties.)

You became an acolyte because an impassioned sermon struck a chord deep in your soul and moved you to serve the faith. (The priest that took you in was a True Neutral Human that you developed a friendly relationship with, and who is still alive and well.) You became a barbarian because you lost control in battle one day, and it was as if something else was manipulating your body, forcing it to kill every foe you could reach.

Finally, for life events, you have one: You spent time working in a job related to your background, and you start the game with an extra 2d6 gp.
So... You were born in a prison where your mother, father, and older siblings were being kept; while you were in there, your mother had another child after you. Your parents tried to escape with all of you when you were still quite young, and your mother was killed in the attempt but the rest of you made it out fine. Your father, a hunter/trapper, taught you the importance of your clan while he was still alive; he gave you a small leather pouch holding three stones that represent your ancestors, and you were tattooed with the symbols of your clan in viny patterns along your arms, and taught to distrust magic ("booyagh"), so that even now you feel that magical things bring trouble, and refuse to sleep with a magic object within ten feet of you.

While you were all still fairly young, your father died in a hunting (or trapping) accident. When your father was killed, a Neutral Human priest of the god of travel had pity on you and your siblings and took you all in. He managed to be a tempering influence on all of you. Your eldest sibling withdrew from society and became a hermit, harmless to anyone; your other elder sibling sought their livelihood as a sailor after a few years, and prays to the god of travel for safe sailing. Your youngest sibling became fascinated with academia after learning to read, though their scholarly bent is leaving them in a dire financial straits currently.

You became an acolyte; you may or may not have been interested initially, but one day one of your new caretaker's impassioned sermons struck a chord deep in you and you became fascinated, and eventually came to serve the god of travel because of it. You helped your caretaker in his job, even, and you were paid for it. The two of you mostly spoke with humans and elves, through some halflings and half-elves came through; you got along well with the halflings, but an elven academic who stayed to help for a while took a shine to you and helped teach you elvish. (They turned out to be neutral evil and was forced to leave, but the fact remains.)

Still, your father's teachings stuck with you in some ways, or maybe you just have inherent abilities whether you like them or not. A battle of some sort cropped up one day; perhaps undead or wild animals attacked, or perhaps the elf betrayed you and came back with reinforcements. During the battle, you lost control and went berserk; it was as if something else was manipulating your body, forcing it to kill every foe you could reach. Either intimidated by this lack of self-control and wanting to travel to find a way to figure out how to control it, or already realizing that you can use your ability to help people as an adventurer, you have decided to strike off on your own, with your caretaker's blessings and a little extra gold (2d6) from your job.

[Foxolicious]

This may be silly, but I find that if you're looking for random builds in the sense that you're talking about, actually going to completely random builds (rolling for literally almost everything about your character and including the extra stuff in Xanathar's) and then trying to make it all work together does a surprisingly good job of it. So, made entirely out of random rolls, here's my idea for the character you should play:

A Goblin Berserker Barbarian. If you do multiclass later, take some Rogue levels. If you take enough Rogue levels to grab a subclass, choose Swashbuckler.

Go with the alignment of Neutral Good.

Take the Acolyte background. Make your extra languages Orc and Elvish (so you can now speak Common, Goblin, Orc, and Elvish).

Your two personality traits are "I quote (or misquote) sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation" and "nothing can shake my optimistic attitude." Your ideal is Charity: "I always try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost." Your bond is "I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died." Your flaw is "I am inflexible in my thinking."

Jumping over to Xanathar's Guide, you carry around a personal totem that hold significance to you, as a barbarian. Yours is "a small leather pouch holding three stones that represent your ancestors." You also have a significant tattoo, which in your case is "the symbols of your clan are displayed in viny patterns along your arms." You have the ingrained superstition of "magical things bring trouble; never sleep with a magic object within ten feet of you."

You know who your parents were. You were born in a prison. You have, or had, three siblings: two older, one younger. You were raised by your father only; your mother died escaping from the prison and your father died of an accident some time later. Your lifestyle was modest and you lived an ordinary childhood. (Your parents were Lawful Evil; your two older siblings wound up True Neutral while you and your younger sibling wound up Neutral Good as well. Your parents were hunters or trappers while one of your older siblings is an exile or hermit or refugee, the other is a sailor, and your younger sibling is an academic. You had a mostly indifferent relationship with your father, and you have a friendly relationship with all of your siblings at this point. Your two older siblings are alive and well, while your younger sibling is alive but doing poorly due to injury, financial trouble, or relationship difficulties.)

You became an acolyte because an impassioned sermon struck a chord deep in your soul and moved you to serve the faith. (The priest that took you in was a True Neutral Human that you developed a friendly relationship with, and who is still alive and well.) You became a barbarian because you lost control in battle one day, and it was as if something else was manipulating your body, forcing it to kill every foe you could reach.

Finally, for life events, you have one: You spent time working in a job related to your background, and you start the game with an extra 2d6 gp.
So... You were born in a prison where your mother, father, and older siblings were being kept; while you were in there, your mother had another child after you. Your parents tried to escape with all of you when you were still quite young, and your mother was killed in the attempt but the rest of you made it out fine. Your father, a hunter/trapper, taught you the importance of your clan while he was still alive; he gave you a small leather pouch holding three stones that represent your ancestors, and you were tattooed with the symbols of your clan in viny patterns along your arms, and taught to distrust magic ("booyagh"), so that even now you feel that magical things bring trouble, and refuse to sleep with a magic object within ten feet of you.

While you were all still fairly young, your father died in a hunting (or trapping) accident. When your father was killed, a Neutral Human priest of the god of travel had pity on you and your siblings and took you all in. He managed to be a tempering influence on all of you. Your eldest sibling withdrew from society and became a hermit, harmless to anyone; your other elder sibling sought their livelihood as a sailor after a few years, and prays to the god of travel for safe sailing. Your youngest sibling became fascinated with academia after learning to read, though their scholarly bent is leaving them in a dire financial straits currently.

You became an acolyte; you may or may not have been interested initially, but one day one of your new caretaker's impassioned sermons struck a chord deep in you and you became fascinated, and eventually came to serve the god of travel because of it. You helped your caretaker in his job, even, and you were paid for it. The two of you mostly spoke with humans and elves, through some halflings and half-elves came through; you got along well with the halflings, but an elven academic who stayed to help for a while took a shine to you and helped teach you elvish. (They turned out to be neutral evil and was forced to leave, but the fact remains.)

Still, your father's teachings stuck with you in some ways, or maybe you just have inherent abilities whether you like them or not. A battle of some sort cropped up one day; perhaps undead or wild animals attacked, or perhaps the elf betrayed you and came back with reinforcements. During the battle, you lost control and went berserk; it was as if something else was manipulating your body, forcing it to kill every foe you could reach. Either intimidated by this lack of self-control and wanting to travel to find a way to figure out how to control it, or already realizing that you can use your ability to help people as an adventurer, you have decided to strike off on your own, with your caretaker's blessings and a little extra gold (2d6) from your job.

Yes this is just the random character I need in my life now do we have a name in mind?

[Personification]

Okay, so you just said that you had chosen a character but I still want to say my concept:

Half-Elf (high) Half-Gnome (forest), use half elf, but make it look like a gnome sized elf, relatively thin and graceful but compact and about four feet tall. If your DM allows replace the elf's two charisma with dex and then take one int and one str (because dex and int fit and you will need str). If not take one dex and one str or int as you choose. Then do point buy 15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8 or 15, 14, 15, 9, 9, 8. Make the 15s strength and dex, the fourteen or other fifteen con, and the other three the mentals. Make your bonus language gnomish and your skills stealth (or survival) and nature. Then make your class Barbarian. At level three take totem eagle, at 6 take either bear or wolf, and at fourteen take wolf. You are now anklebiter the invincible, slayer of giants, the iron pixie, etc.

I have zero idea I this character is at all viable, I just love the concept.

[MxKit]

Yes this is just the random character I need in my life now do we have a name in mind?

Unfortunately not; I hate trying to name goblinoids in 5e, since they don't really suggest names and none of the example names really speak to me or seem to gel together to suggest a theme. I mean, in Lost Mine of Phandelver alone we have goblins named Yeemik, Droop, Yegg, and Lhupo, a hobgoblin named Targor Bloodsword, and bugbears named Klarg and Grol. A random name generator is giving me either Wrivik or Lirg, so you might go with one of those!

[Foxolicious]

Okay, so you just said that you had chosen a character but I still want to say my concept:

Half-Elf (high) Half-Gnome (forest), use half elf, but make it look like a gnome sized elf, relatively thin and graceful but compact and about four feet tall. If your DM allows replace the elf's two charisma with dex and then take one int and one str (because dex and int fit and you will need str). If not take one dex and one str or int as you choose. Then do point buy 15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8 or 15, 14, 15, 9, 9, 8. Make the 15s strength and dex, the fourteen or other fifteen con, and the other three the mentals. Make your bonus language gnomish and your skills stealth (or survival) and nature. Then make your class Barbarian. At level three take totem eagle, at 6 take either bear or wolf, and at fourteen take wolf. You are now anklebiter the invincible, slayer of giants, the iron pixie, etc.

I have zero idea I this character is at all viable, I just love the concept.

Extra characters are great just in case I have to reroll due to unfortunate events lol

[Personification]

Extra characters are great just in case I have to reroll due to unfortunate events lol

Thanks, I also think the character could be boosted a bit with some monk levels and the grappler feat. Basically, I want someone who can punch out and/or easily trip someone who is taller than them by at least one order of magnitude.

Now I REALLY want this character to be played in SKT

[Foxolicious]

Okay, so you just said that you had chosen a character but I still want to say my concept:

Half-Elf (high) Half-Gnome (forest), use half elf, but make it look like a gnome sized elf, relatively thin and graceful but compact and about four feet tall. If your DM allows replace the elf's two charisma with dex and then take one int and one str (because dex and int fit and you will need str). If not take one dex and one str or int as you choose. Then do point buy 15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8 or 15, 14, 15, 9, 9, 8. Make the 15s strength and dex, the fourteen or other fifteen con, and the other three the mentals. Make your bonus language gnomish and your skills stealth (or survival) and nature. Then make your class Barbarian. At level three take totem eagle, at 6 take either bear or wolf, and at fourteen take wolf. You are now anklebiter the invincible, slayer of giants, the iron pixie, etc.

I have zero idea I this character is at all viable, I just love the concept.

The girlfriend approves of this class who knows maybe it will be her next character lol

[Mara]

Starting a game in the new year and just want to make a character that might be a little bit random my DM is really into backstory so any ideas are a plus. My party consists of a warlock, wizard, rogue and a monk I have no idea there races and being the same class as them is ok

Let the games begin
Variant Human Great Weapon master vengeance paladin.