Most enjoyable way to play a kiddie campaign

[Jeepy]

I have been with my current group for quite some time and in two whole campaigns from 1-20 and a campaign from 1-14, only three people have ever been reduced to zero hp.

In short, my DM doesn't make the game challenging and we are never really threatened. We mostly fight swarms of plebs at all levels. Most fights could be easily soloed by any one of our players. I have talked to him about it and it doesn't seem like it will change, which is fine, the game is still very fun.

How would you as a player find interesting ways to play in combat without any threat? I am currently thinking of playing an illusionist wizard to have funny things happen in combat. (Also note that skill checks aren't used whatsoever)

[ImproperJustice]

Play a Golden Age superhero!!!

Get a young sidekick.

Speak boisterously about everything and lecture evildoers frequently.

Yell Huzzah frequently and often while swinging from Chandeliers, etc.....

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Agreed, somewhat nerf your builds but in an interesting way. Make a low intelligence Wizard who just happens to be strong as heck and have fun with the character.

[Errata]

Pick mechanically suboptimal but versatile and fun abilities, and personally challenge yourself to find different ways to exploit combinations of those abilities in each encounter. Look for things that may be hard to use correctly on their own, but have multiplicative benefits when combined with other abilities or environmental circumstances that make them more effective. Avoid things that can only be used in one very narrow way, even if that effect is good, unless there is potential for it to synergize with other things in transformative ways. It helps if there is at least one likeminded person in your party that you can work out synergystic combinations with. If you find something "broken", don't just keep doing it until it gets boring, but move on to trying to break something else. Another player and I are low level casters and were concerned we wouldn't have much to do in early levels with few spells slots. So we worked out lots of interesting ways to use cantrips, racial abilities, and basic class abilities, often in coordination with complementary abilities for an effect that is much more than either could do alone. Some of them are not very practical, or not "worth it" because they're not mechanically better than something simpler, but that doesn't mean they're not fun as one-offs. Some of them are very worth it, and mean we have the potential to contribute significantly even while holding most of our spell slots and limited use abilities in reserve.

[Anonymouswizard]

Ideas ideas. For a build that comes online at level 6 (4 for Variant human), and is rather suboptimal and vague because I'm currently afb:

One armed Fighter. First style Protection. Wield a Shield. First feat should be Shield Master or Tavern Brawler, the other is your second. Use your shield as an improvised weapon (Tavern Brawler gives proficiency) for 1d4+Strength damage, get a bonus action shove IIRC, and use your Reaction to block attacks meant for other party members. Alternatively go Paladin and channel Smites via your shield.

It's an idiotic and suboptimal build, but easy games are exactly the place to use idiotic and suboptimal builds. It's also relatively easy to invent a story for the character compared to some builds (had their dominant arm cut off in a battle, decided to develop shield fighting instead of learning to use a weapon in their off hand).

When you steamroll encounters stop optimising for the most powerful character and just go with something fun and a tread suboptimal. This is when you play the Gnome Barbarian Fisherman, the Half-Orc Cleric of the harvest god, the Fighter/Sorcerer/Cleric/Rogue (one man adventuring party!), the Goliath Assassin with 8 Dexterity and 8 Charisma.

[Jeepy]

Thank you everybody! Seems like the general consensus is to make limitations just to break or explore creative options. I think I will stay as an illusionist to explore the creative side of illusions and general tom-foolery.