Ideas for sibling characters?

[Sir-Carlos]

Me and my buddy are making a pair of siblings for a mini-campaign. We don't have much of a concept besides that. We tend towards two Half-Orcs or Drow. Any suggestions on thematic character classes? For example: Soulknife rogue and psi-knight fighter could be a very thematic fit, but neither of us wants to play a rogue. Any suggestions on classes that fit well together thematically?

[Amnestic]

Celestial Warlock and Arcana Cleric.
Wild Magic Barbarian and Wild Magic Sorcerer
Draconic Monk and Draconic Sorcerer
Battlesmith Artificer and Forge Cleric.
Samurai Fighter and Shadow (Ninja) Monk
Vengeance Paladin and Redemption Paladin.
Horizon Walker Ranger and Watcher Paladin
Fey Ranger and Fey Warlock
Totem Barbarian and Shepherd Druid
Beastmaster Ranger and Moon Druid

[Christew]

Any other qualifiers besides "not rogue"?

Eldritch Knight and Bladesinger
Wild Magic Sorcerer and Barbarian
Storm Herald, Tempest Cleric, Storm Sorcerer
Beast Barbarian and Moon Druid

Just off the top of my head, there's lots of thematic resonance among the subclasses.

[Pildion]

Artificer and Wizard
Ancients Paladin and Druid

[Necrosnoop110]

Barbarian Twin Brothers
https://youtu.be/8a731vJIWaA

[Burley]

I'm playing a gnome Alchemy Artificer who uses alchemy because their twin brother got all the magic. His brother, a sorcerer, is chillin' in my back pocket if the artificer gets got.

For half orcs:
Druid and Barbarian seem thematically appropriate.
Paladin and Barbarian, if siblings were raised by different parents.
Ranger and Ranger, with one playing ranged and the other melee. I guess Fighter/Fighter could be more mechanically effective, but I like the image of two tusky Legolases. (Legolasses? Legoli?)

For Drow:
Cleric and Fighter, if sticking with traditional matriarchal caste system, for a priestess and bodyguard duo.
Druid and Ranger for a real spidery, cave stalking theme.
Paladin (Redemption) and Bard for a fun take on the whole "exiled from my evil race because I don't fit in" trope.

[JLandan]

Totally in general: one that casts and can heal / one that can fight

Everything else is taste and there are a zillion combos.

One crazy idea... Both Warlocks, but with different opposing patrons. A fiend and a celestial, that's for an interesting Thanksgiving.

Or... Both gishes and trade off fighting and casting. Like an Eldritch Knight and a Bladesinger.

[TyGuy]

Scoundrel and the Squire
Years ago, two human nobles had a tiefling child much to their embarrassment. They kept the child secret, as they weren't sure they wanted someone with such an affliction to be their heir. Eventually they had a second child, and again, it was born a teifling.
The elder sibling grew up training diligently to take over the noble house one day.
The younger sibling disenchanted by the fact that there was no chance of leading the house one day because of birth order and the infernal bloodline, spent most time shirking duties in taverns and on the streets.
When they became adults, their parents had a third. A perfect human child. The father sent the siblings away. Stripping them of all titles and claims. They were to be forgotten.

Eldest sibling
Zariel teifling, noble background. Servants were a gift from mother. Either fighter or paladin, something knight/noble themed.

Younger sibling
Glasya teifling, criminal background. Swords bard.

The eldest is a protector and lawful. The younger is a bad influence and chaotic.

[Hairfish]

Both Echo Knights (at least 3 Fighter for the subclass) and you can only place your echoes on each other and you swap places whenever one of you uses the bonus action to swap places w/ the echo. Requires a bit of DM buy in, ofc

[5eNeedsDarksun]

I know this wasn't really the question you were asking, but after just reading the title my mind went to 1/2 brothers/ sisters. So you could have a human and any of the other 1/2 or part races, or Drow/ 1/2 Drow. I think that could lead to more interesting role playing opportunities.

[Kane0]

War vs Peace Clerics
Vengeance vs Redemption Paladins
Monster Slayer vs Drakewarden Rangers
Fiend vs Celestial Warlocks

[CTurbo]

This is nothing exciting and hardly even worth mentioning but me and my sister-in-law played Wood Elf siblings. She was an Assassin Rogue and I was a Battlemaster Archer Fighter. I was the over-protective big brother and I mainly targeted whoever she was closest to. We did not plan on the sibling arch, but decided last minute when we both showed up with Wood Elves.

I think if I was going to plan on playing siblings, I'd choose a less common race. A pair of 8ft tall Goliaths would be fun.

Barbarian and Wizard?
Paladin and Cleric?
Bard and Druid?

[Mastikator]

Psi-knight fighter and aberrant mind sorcerer
Chronoturgy wizard and echo knight fighter
Drakenward ranger and draconic sorcerer
Knowledge cleric and lore bard
Celestial warlock and divine soul sorcerer

[Catullus64]

I say figure out the relationship dynamic you and the other player want, and work the classes from there. Sure, a strongly contrasting dynamic, Raistlin & Caramon style, could be fun. But so could a set of simpatico brothers who are very similar and tightly in sync, like Fili and Kili from The Hobbit. Don't know how likely this reference is to land, but one of my favorite examples of sibling characters in fantasy fiction is Hogun & Mogun from The Banner Saga.

With that noted, I think same-class pairings could be very cool, and would be a great way to emphasize their shared history.

Two Clerics (twin aspects of a single god?), Fighters (Bash Brothers!), Monks (same thing, but with more Kung-fu), Rangers (sons of the wild), Rogues (grew up running jobs on da streets), Sorcerers (the product of the union of two powerful bloodlines), Warlocks (they got signed up as a pair) or Wizards (both apprenticed to the same master). All fun ideas.

[Unoriginal]

You could have a Scourge Aasimar and a Zariel Tiefling be siblings, with Zariel as their mother.

[Sception]

Older sibling who was raised to be a self-sacrificing divine champion of their kingdom/faith, but was frail and sickly and so they pursued forbidden arcane knowledge in the hope of finding some way to escape a fate they were unfit for. When their younger sibling comes to harm attempting to fill the role they abandoned, they turned against their former faith altogether and are now committed to tearing it down. Any knowledge themed class or subclass that doesn't require high physical stats - divination wizard, old ones tomelock, lore bard, knowledge cleric, etc. Low constitution despite that being suboptimal mechanically.

Younger sibling who attempted to take up the holy warrior mantle their older sibling couldn't, not out of faith but rather to spare their older sibling a destiny they couldn't fulfill. Their lack of faith - or the fact that the role still technically belonged to their older sibling - made them spiritually unworthy, causing them to fail some divine test and be terribly scarred in the process. This prompts their older sibling to turn against their faith altogether, and the younger sibling joins them in apostasy rather than become their enemy. Paladin definitely. Devotion if you want to focus on their commitment to their sibling, & if their former faith was mostly unholy. Oath Breaker if you want to focus on their abandoned duty, especially if their faith was mostly holy - if perhaps unreasonably strict.

Now the siblings are exiles, making their way through the world as best they can while hunted by the remaining adherents of their abandoned faith. Any race, but should be one prone to building long lasting societies with rigid traditions. Humans sure, maybe dwarves or high elves. Maybe drow, the background could work for the daughters of a drow matriarch in city-state with a particularly martial take on the Cult of Lolth.

[FirstAgeMagic]

Zealot Barbarian and the War Cleric that keeps raising them.

[Athan Artilliam]

Two paladins who had a really tough life but each refuse to let thier brother falter. Thier faith in each other might even eclipse their faith in their cause

Two wizards. They aren't actually brothers, but clones, either to each other or a third party. Have themselves talk to each other it a very odd manner, either have them both use the same name or call each other Brother, but when talking they say it a lot. I.e. "What should we do brother?" "We should go left brother" "Left it is brother" "Hand me the lamp brother" "Of course brother" "Thank you brother" "You're welcome, brother" on a cascade of dialogue.

[Sorinth]

I would probably go Warlock and then tie the Patron into the other siblings class. Fiend Warlock + Devotion or Watchers Paladin could be great especially if the Warlock is trying to get out of their Pact. Though Undead Warlock + Long Death Monk or Ancestral Guardian Barbarian could be interesting.

[RogueJK]

Small (any subclass) Paladin little brother with the Mounted Combatant feat riding on top of their Medium Ancestral Guardian Barbarian big brother.

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian big brother moves into melee with an enemy, and attacks them, triggering Ancestral Protectors.

Paladin little brother uses Mounted Combatant to force any return attacks to target themselves, against which the enemy has Disadvantage and the Paladin has resistance thanks to Ancestral Protectors.

Plus, the Paladin's Auras are shared between the siblings at all times. In addition to the standard Aura of Protection that all Paladins grant, most subclasses add an additional useful aura to share, like Ancients' anti-magic damage, Devotion's anti-charm, Glory's +10 speed for your already speed-boosted Barbarian sibling, Watchers' Initiative bonus, etc.


Paladin 6 or 7/Divine Soul Sorcerer X with Twin Spell could be especially nice, to twin Paladin/Cleric/Sorcerer buff spells between the two brothers. Would also work with other classes for the little brother, just without the benefit of the shared Paladin Auras. The important part is that they're Small, they have the Mounted Combatant feat, and they're a melee character too (or I guess you could utilize Gunner or Crossbow Master).


There are some races/lineages that allow you to choose either Small or Medium, so that way the siblings can be the same race/lineage while setting up the Small + Medium dynamic. These include Harengon, Owlin, Custom Lineage, Hexblood, Dhampir, and Reborn. And I suspect once the Monsters of the Multiverse book comes out in the coming months, this Small/Medium choice may be an option on even more races too.


The only pitfalls are that A) it requires DM buy-in for one character to ride another character and B) Initiative could be an issue if the little brother rider goes before the big brother mount but the enemies aren't in range yet, though that can be mitigated if the DM allows players to delay their initiative (or similar) or if the big brother invests in DEX and a feat like Alert to reduce the chances of that happening. Or they can just use than round to cast a buff spell.

[KorvinStarmast]

Two (gold) dragonborn brothers.

Older brother: Devotion Paladin
Younger brother: Draconic Origin Sorcerer

Works fine (me DM, them players).

[Sorinth]

I'll also add for some interesting RP you could have something like a Human as one sibling and a Tiefling as the other since it's just a bloodline that expresses itself more/less at times. You could even have say the Human be a Fiend Warlock whose pact was for the Patron to leave their progeny (ie the sibling) alone.

[Unoriginal]

I'll also add for some interesting RP you could have something like a Human as one sibling and a Tiefling as the other since it's just a bloodline that expresses itself more/less at times. You could even have say the Human be a Fiend Warlock whose pact was for the Patron to leave their progeny (ie the sibling) alone.

Could also have a Human Warlock who made a pact because they were jealous their sibling got the innate Devil powers while they didn't.

[Athan Artilliam]

One is a fun loving Half Elf Bard, the other is a stoic Half Orc Barbarian

Together, they fight crime!

[Sception]

Zealot Barbarian and the War Cleric that keeps raising them.

I like this one a lot. Any cleric works here, too.

[f5anor]

Me and my buddy are making a pair of siblings for a mini-campaign. We don't have much of a concept besides that. We tend towards two Half-Orcs or Drow. Any suggestions on thematic character classes? For example: Soulknife rogue and psi-knight fighter could be a very thematic fit, but neither of us wants to play a rogue. Any suggestions on classes that fit well together thematically?

For me the obvious are:

Paladins and Clerics
Rangers and Druids
Various race specific builds, e.g. Bladesinger and Arcane Archer.
Origin specific builds, e.g. Dragonic Sorcerer and Dragonborn Paladin.


Regarding a very thematic Rogue, take a look at the Double Phantom build by Treantmonk. It is seriously impressive both for theme and damage, it might change your mind.

[yellowrocket]

I didn't see a level. And I'm away from my books, so I don't know what level you get to be a mount sized wild shape. But a druid and rider of level appropriate could be fun.

Or a pair of shepherd druids. Minionmancy for the win.

[Sigreid]

Long ago a buddy and I made a pair of halfling alcoholic brewmasters that were adventuring primarily for the purpose of finding the ultimate hooch recipe. They were reliable party mates, but the rp was all entertaining drunkards carrying around their home made still trying to find a better drink.

[Rashagar]

Two Clerics (twin aspects of a single god?)

This is my favourite idea so far. The only bad thing being that I don't think clerics play differently enough.

I'd go for two Divine Soul Sorcerers, each representing one side of a dualistic deity. That way each of your characters could specialise in different ways, you could pick spells that synergise mechanically with your sibling's spells, and you could have fun reflavouring spells to be distinct to your specific aspect.

[Zetakya]

If you are playing Drow, lean into the "noble houses" aspect of their culture; a Drow Priestess and her physically capable brother is a good combination and bypasses the "why do these evil characters stay together?" problem.

[Sorinth]

How about a Half-Orc/Half-Elf pair. The half-orc focuses on grappling and prone and the Half-Elf crit fishes thanks to EA and advantage from prone.

[Mercurias]

I feel like a Twilight Cleric and a Stars Druid would be a really potent, thematic, and versatile support/utility caster combo. Diviner Wizard could be thrown in there too. They could be trying to raise a fallen star back to the night sky.

If you’re more focused on combat, then a Shadow Monk and a Hexblade Warlock with Devil Sight would be an interesting pair. They could have been born and raised in a drow encampment and only escaped after a chance encounter with an artifact gifted the Hexblade with their Warlock powers.

A Watchers Paladin and an Arcana Cleric sibling pair whose ancestral duty is to protect the seal on a sacred/evil artifact might be a cool game, especially if the both of them have different ideas on how to fulfill their duty.

A Bladesinger Wizard and a Swords Bard who were close as kids but grew apart as they trained with different teachers. Now adults, they decide to reconnect and go on a journey to hone their martial and magical talents.

A Scribe Wizard is trying to locate an ancient library, and their Fighter older sibling is tagging along to keep them out of trouble.

As far as races go, pretty much anything goes. Just be half-elves and use the Tasha’s optional rules to redistribute stats. If you really wanna be spicy, a Protector and a Scourge Aasimar would be a neat sibling duo.