Classes/Character concepts you've wanted to run in different editions of D&D?

[Luccan]

Simply the title. Sharing character concepts for other systems is also welcome.

Basic/OD&D: A halfling. Why? AFAIK, halflings are the smallest characters available to PCs in these editions. In the right sort of environment, the ability to slip through grates and other spaces too small for humans, dwarves, and elves is in itself a unique ability. Of course, that would require the proper place to utilize their size being present, but being exceptionally small is a tactical consideration I've rarely seen anyone take into account in any edition.

AD&D 1e: Illusionist. Here's some spells you'll need your wits to use effectively. Seems fun, but prone to suddenly stopping.

2e: Psionicist sticks out to me as the most unique thing I've actually heard about from this edition. Plus in a setting where it's more rare, being an unassuming character who turns out to have freaky powers nobody has heard of or seen seems fun.

3e/3.5: A shugenja/hexer, just for the fun of it. Not a high tier build, but the idea of throwing free wizard spells on a shugenja is fun. Oh, and I kinda want to run a baseline Hexblade.

4e: I've never played 4e, but I'm honestly curious about all the fuss over Warlord.

5e: Wild Magic Sorcerer. Every time I've tried to play it, someone says they'll quit if I do

d20 Modern: I've always wanted to do a Shadow Chasers game and play either an Occultist or a Mesmerist. The former because it implies a lot of very shady dealing with the supernatural and the latter because actual FX abilities are otherwise sparse in Shadow Chasers.

[CharonsHelper]

In 3.5/Pathfinder I kinda always wanted to play a Dragon Disciple. In 3.5 it never really worked because I was usually the DM, and I didn't expect any campaign without me DMing to make it to level 6 (they didn't). Plus, in 3.5 the class was absolutely terrible, so I'd have to get DM approval to do the standard fix (change the bonus spells to actual spell progression) which is largely what the Pathfinder version is.

In Pathfinder I did have one game I joined at level 3 or 4 where my character was aimed at the Dragon Disciple. I was a straight crossblooded sorcerer (crossblooded to get the STR boosts instead of CON) who was a tiefling that thought he was a half-dragon. (To be fair - he had blue scales, a tail, fangs that dealt damage, and dragon powers. And I specifically avoided taking Knowledge: Planes.)

Unfortunately, that turned out to be the campaign's last session because it was rolling into the holidays, and it never picked back up. It was a fun session too. Going natural weapons with a bunch of touch attacks was pretty sweet. He'd cast shocking grasp before a fight, and then his first bite or claw that landed would set it off - with the added bonus of getting +3 to hit if they had metal armor.

I just started a game of Kingmaker (CRPG) where I'm going to be using close to that same build. Not quite the same as tabletop, but still fun.

[Anonymouswizard]

AD&D 2e: psionicist. Mainly a consequence of really wanting to try Dark Sun, but I'm also a big supporter of psychic powers in magic.

3.5: Dwarf Swordsage. I've grown to like dwarves, and love mystic warriors, so the idea of a 4' tall woman in robes and a cropped beard alienating between bashing people with her stick and throwing across the room before sitting down to discuss philosophy with the elf is inherently appealing.

4e half-orc psion! No, I don't care that it's suboptimal, I want to be a burly guy who reads your mind.

5e: an interesting martial character. Or a gnomish battlesmith artificer with a housecat steel defender.

Special mention goes to:

Unknown Armies: a Cinemancer. In essence in exchange for spending a lot of your time acting as an archetypal character (and getting people to act out clichéd or iconic scenes) you get the power to enforce clichés. Sure you can't let's cliché go unfinished without losing your stored power (and the book points out how some lead to illegal behaviours), but it's the only magic use to get a spell called Imperial Stormtrooper Combat Training (the next 13 shots by grunts miss).

[Pleh]

3.5 gnoll barbarian champion of gwynharwyf

Based loosely on the fluff that gnolls are humans cursed by demonic pacts/affiliation/interbreeding. The character was conceived without consent and given birth by a cleric of a good aligned deity that values all life. She ended up leaving the church to raise the hellspawn away from society that would want to destroy him, unable to quell the dark forces in his blood.

In his adolesence, he ran away from home, but stuck around haunting his mother's home learning to hunt helpless animals while she secretly left him food in the forest. When he ambushed her in the woods to finally kill her, she broke down from the years of torment, refusing to defend herself, and her limitless kindness broke the curse in his heart. Anger consumed him, but this time it was a holy rage and he swore he was going to put an end to the one who put her through so much misery. He was going to kill his father.

From here, the character plays somewhat like batman with an emphasis on brutal justice side of things, playing with the edges of what a paladin can do without breaking their oath.

Got this far in the backstory and realized that unfortunately, this is a novel, not a TTRPG character.

[Xervous]

(Early not sure which editions) truly exotic characters that are innately OP/UP/unique. I remember seeing mention of one guy rolling a steel dragon. This goes hand in hand with playing a stable of characters and higher lethality, which is frankly the only place I see for rolled character generation.

3.5e abjurer wizard. Shockingly yes I’ve never played a wizard in 3.5. Part of this is due to most of my time being spent GMing, then there was the early introductory period where I gave the GM my cleric so I could reroll to a lower powered sorcerer Gish to better fit the party. Or the selection of a tripping fighter to not overshadow others in what I expected to be a short low level campaign. A big part of this is having a group where a wizard is appropriate.

4e: radiant mafia, a rogue, a lazylord.

[Telwar]

3e - I regret not being able to play a swordsage, but we had ongoing games with characters who didn't die until campaign end, and then we went to 4e.

4e - I really wanted to play a dwarf invoker angel summoner, with defenses out the wazoo. Bonus points if we could have had a BMX Bandit.

13th Age - I had/have a lovely warforged sorcerer concept. His One Unique Thing is that his materials included shards from the Lich King (think Vecna with name/serial numbers filed off). There's a feat that gives you a +1 to hit if you pluck out one eye and chop off one hand, which I was going to do, and mount his staff in the hand socket. I wasn't sure if his eye was going to stay on one side, be moved to the center of the field, or endlessly cycle left to right.

Also, I had a concept for a ranger who was fluffed as a moon priestess, whose animal companion was a grizzled tomcat, who would start as a familiar and then turn into a full animal companion while staying the same size, basically using the Shadowrun talis cat as a reference (https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Talis_Cat).

[LibraryOgre]

I just started a game of Kingmaker (CRPG) where I'm going to be using close to that same build. Not quite the same as tabletop, but still fun.

I liked going with an Aasimar Bard (Archaeologist), switching into Dragon Disciple starting at 7th level. 16 Charisma, 18 Intelligence, most of the rest in Con and Strength. Focus on self-buffs, and the Power Attack/Cleave/Cleaving Finish/Corungon's Smash style feats... you'll rock in melee, the Heroism spell makes up for a lot of weaknesses, and Archaeologist plus high Int means you can do everything pretty well (especially Thievery and Perception and Knowledges).

For builds? I can't think of any official ones I haven't gotten to do in the past 30 years that I really wanted to, even if it was only for a couple sessions. Most of it is stuff I have created or modified that I want to see in practice... like a points-based 2nd edition AD&D or a character who uses OA/Complete Ninjas Martial Arts in a regular campaign..

[CharonsHelper]

I liked going with an Aasimar Bard (Archaeologist), switching into Dragon Disciple starting at 7th level. 16 Charisma, 18 Intelligence, most of the rest in Con and Strength. Focus on self-buffs, and the Power Attack/Cleave/Cleaving Finish/Corungon's Smash style feats... you'll rock in melee, the Heroism spell makes up for a lot of weaknesses, and Archaeologist plus high Int means you can do everything pretty well (especially Thievery and Perception and Knowledges).

Yeah - there are several ways to do the DD. I really wanted to go with a natural weapon build though. It's fun being level 3 with claw/claw/bite, even if I do have accuracy issues with each individual attack.

Going bard is probably better idea early-game (going pure sorc, I am a squishy melee combatant at this point) and I do need a buddy for all the skills, as I barely have enough for Persuasion & Arcane. I might really be better off dipping a level in Scaled Fist for the CHA to AC, but I decided to go straight crossblooded sorcerer into DD. I took Arcane Armor training, and I'm okay of defense so long as I have time to cast Shield. (super annoying those times when they force you to fight without any prep).

Even with the eventual +10 total STR, I'll still likely have mild accuracy issues late-game (at level 20 he'd only have +12 BAB) unbuffed, but since it's a natural weapon build, at least I don't have to worry about trying to land iteratives at -5/-10. But yeah, self-buffs all the way. There are several wizard/sorc spells which are great for gishes which are pretty mediocre for your average wizard/sorcerer, like all the polymorph spells.

And I did have to use the mod to have unlimited rounds of "grow claws". Kinda "cheating", but in tabletop a dozen rounds (using the tiefling favored class bonus for more) would be more than enough for the average adventuring day, so I feel like I'm just tweaking the rules to work properly in a CRPG.

[Jay R]

Original D&D: Ranger. I never rolled the required stats on 3d6 in order: INT and WIS 12+, CON 15+, and a high STR. That's fine; I knew it was supposed to be rare, and I never got it. [I had the only Paladin in our group; it balances.]

AD&D 1e: Illusionist.

AD&D 2e: If I ever join a game in which I start with 60,000 xps, I will have a dual-class 5th level fighter/6th level wizard. [I would never play that character from 1st level, because he would spend a long time unable to use his Fighter skills. But if I could skip that period, I would do so in a heartbeat. That would be a 6th level wizard whose first 5 hit dice are d10s, and who could use the magic abilities of magic swords, for the trifling cost of 18,000 xps.

AD&D 3.5e: too many to mention. There are a lot of weird prestige classes to play with. My next one might be a Wizard 1 (with Precocious Apprentice)/ Cleric 3 / Mystic Theurge -- a cleric who sacrifices one level to have a large complement of arcane spells. But mainly, this was the first game built around the idea of unique builds, rather than iconic builds made unique by clever play.

[Quertus]

2e: a Wizard. One who gets 0 new spells as they level, who automatically fails to retain their spells if struck, who adventures into the ruins of forgotten civilizations with a party for exactly those reasons.

Oh, things I *haven't* played? Hmmm a character whose *starting point* is that he's a child of a god (making him a demigod)? Or, better yet, the child of two gods, making him a full-fledged deity? That's a character I'd like to play.

Something more intended for the standard "1-20” (or 1-50, or 1-1, or 2+-whatever) run? … … … oh, I've got a lot of custom races/classes that I'd love to test out (mostly in 3e). And some characters that have had kids whose adventures I would love to play out. But, most of all, lots of existing characters whose careers have been cut short unrealistically by real-world interference. That's what I would most like to play: "the continued adventures of…".

[LibraryOgre]

Not one I want to play, but a game I want to run in AD&D:

A 7th-13th level fighter who has dual-classed to a 1st level thief. So they have enormous HP, a bunch of magic weapons, armor, and items... but they're limited to what they can use as a thief. So, they've got their best sword (since thieves can use longswords), their third best suit of armor (the leather that they kept for sleeping), scads of potions and the like... and they're out to solo a dungeon meant for many more players of much lower levels.

[CharonsHelper]

Not one I want to play, but a game I want to run in AD&D:

A 7th-13th level fighter who has dual-classed to a 1st level thief. So they have enormous HP, a bunch of magic weapons, armor, and items... but they're limited to what they can use as a thief. So, they've got their best sword (since thieves can use longswords), their third best suit of armor (the leather that they kept for sleeping), scads of potions and the like... and they're out to solo a dungeon meant for many more players of much lower levels.

The fighter dual into thief is such a good build... if you can survive getting thief up past where the fighter was. And I believe that they could keep their 18/xx strength score, if they had it. (At least BGII let me do that.)

And at least thief levels quickly, so it's not as bad as switching into mage. And once you can use fighter skills again, getting the backstab multiplier with your full weapon specialization is amazing, which was something a multi-class could never get. Dual classing combos like that is really the main reason to play a human back in AD&D, at least aside from the human only classes.

[Morty]

Later 4E supplements seem to have many fun options that I really wish I'd tried before the edition disappeared off most everyone's radar. Like the grappling-focused fighter style.

[Anonymouswizard]

Later 4E supplements seem to have many fun options that I really wish I'd tried before the edition disappeared off most everyone's radar. Like the grappling-focused fighter style.

4e's crunchy design and large amount of options means that there's a lot of interesting options there, and it was a significantly better system than 5e. Unfortunate it had too fast arelease schedule and people reacted negatively to a version of D&D that didn't look like 3.X. It's the edition I have the most desire to actually play.

[Jay R]

An average STR, average CHA Fighter who wants to be a Paladin, and always believes he's about to become one.

It would have to be in a pre-3e version, where the game is more focused on great play than on great builds, because the whole point would be to play a bland build.

[Anonymouswizard]

An average STR, average CHA Fighter who wants to be a Paladin, and always believes he's about to become one.

'If you want to play a Paladin but didn't roll the stats you could play a Fighter who always wanted to be a Paladin, but is allergic to churches'?

[Jay R]

Basic/OD&D: A halfling.

Agreed. One interesting detail: while Basic D&D had halflings, original D&D had hobbits.

My oD&D hobbit thief was quite fun to play. I gave him a true Shire name (both first and last names came from the appendices in LotR) that was also a perfect thief's name: Robin Banks.

[Morty]

4e's crunchy design and large amount of options means that there's a lot of interesting options there, and it was a significantly better system than 5e. Unfortunate it had too fast arelease schedule and people reacted negatively to a version of D&D that didn't look like 3.X. It's the edition I have the most desire to actually play.

Yes, 4E's design lent itself well to cool mechanical widgets. Its core rules were perhaps even more restrictive than other editions (then again, it's hard to be more restrictive than the pre-3E ones), but splatbooks expanded it considerably.

[Crazyfailure13]

3.P: i've really wanted to try and play a fallen monk/barbarian quickling, mostly because i'd find it hilarious to act out the quicksilver apocalypse scene. I'd name the character breloom, he'd wear a mushroom hat and use mach punch.

5e: The other is a recent one, I wanna play a ranger, and or fighter. Dex old female halfling, near death even, who takes a oath to guide creatures to trials and respite. Basically i wanna run a custom LG paladin type character without worrying about falling. Probably something like using an oversized crossbow and battlemaster to act as a support role, take the skilled feat to get social skills and moderate charisma for parley. I'd run them as trying to understand everyones motives and work to pacify them peacefully, even undead amd monstrosities.

Neither optimal but i'd imagine they'd be amusing to RP.

[EndlessKng]

Personally I was once on a kick (and have a slight itch for it still) to find any way in 3.x forward to play Noctis from FFXV (or at least his teleport striking and possible weapon summoning; broodiness optional). I know that there's been a Spheres of Power build using the Bladewalker Armiger as a base, and build for 5e by Tulok on YouTube, but the one time I had a chance for a 5e game after seeing it, the build would have taken way too long to come online, and I haven't had a PF game... technically ever, actually (only ever did 3e and 3.5). Still not 100% what I would even do for it in 4e (I think some kind of Warlock could probably pull it off, though).

[FabulousFizban]

always wanted to play GURPS so I could play a ghost trying to solve its own murder. Permanent incorporeal, permanent invisible. Throw in a little mind-control for possession and you're set.

[Luccan]

always wanted to play GURPS so I could play a ghost trying to solve its own murder. Permanent incorporeal, permanent invisible. Throw in a little mind-control for possession and you're set.

I too want to play Deadman. No joke though, this sounds like a lot of fun

[FabulousFizban]

I too want to play Deadman. No joke though, this sounds like a lot of fun

you caught me, Deadman is absolutely the inspiration.

[angille]

I've always been a cleric player (I tend towards support/healing/buffs no matter what game I play), so honestly I just sortta got totally stuck in 4e, where no less than seven classes tickle me pink.