How did your characters evolve as they leveled?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I've put a few levels into a couple characters when I'm not DMing. Over them their styles, or my style of playing them has changed.

My Human smuggler who did not want to be a Warlock became a more adept magic user though he still wore the crossbow and had an urge to pull it instead of using the more effective Eldritch Blast. This fella still "sent off some gold" to pay debts whenever we were in a town until the day he was turned undead. His annoyance with his patron and love/hate with fey in general including his "ex" wife was fun and never messed with the story line.

My first 5e character, a Wood Elf Lore Bard, was a virtual Ranger at first but by by the time Magical Secrets rolled around both I got more experienced with 5e and some neat spells came on line. Of interest, other party members got their second attacks and became MORE effective in melee combat thanks to some abilities they leveled into where my Dex heavy Bard while having a good AC for early on, didn't get worse but got better at magic.

Finally my Drow Land Druid has gained a few levels and is now more likely to cast spells than use animal forms for damage though they're still handy for speed and to soak up a couple hits in melee heavy encounters. Using animal forms to negate sunlight sensitivity has not been as much of a thing as I would of thought as we seem to fight a lot underground or at night in city's. The experience with melee is somewhat similar to the Bard's.

I sorta expected the Drow to become more focused on magic but not as fast. I should of seen the changes in the especially the Bard's fighting style coming but thanks to experience did not. How have your characters changed over the levels? Any big multi class moments even?

[Odessa333]

I could list a few here, but the biggest change (in my mind) was for my Half-elf bard. She was a walking cliche, and she knew it, embraced the cliche to blend into taverns and acted as a spy/informant for the Lord's Alliance. She had the background feature to have another identity, and working with the DM we established her cover within the Zhents (the DM wanted to highlight the various factions, and no one picked them, so I offered this as a solution and he loved it). She was an interesting character that as gameplay went on, the Lord's alliance kept using her as expendable fodder and the Zhent's loved her, to the point I was able to successfully flirt with our local chapter's leader for perks (the faction heads sent us on a suicide mission vs a green dragon, and my love gave me and me alone a Periapt Of Proof Against Poison. HANDY). By game's end, my bard had switched sides and was now spying on the Lord's Alliance for the Zhent's, has her alignment drop from good to evil, was working with assassins and mind flayers, and the switch had felt natural over the long campaign.

A more comical shift was for my cleric stuck with murder hobo's, who took up drinking to cope with her God ordering her to leave her quiet garden and kill in his name (long story). She was fun for many, many reasons lol.

[DevilMcam]

The character I played the longest was Lucy (still playing her and loving her).
And from level 1 to 15 she has seen a lot of evolution.
She started as a young women revered as a local hero for slaying a vampire.
Truth is she has no memory of that event (aside a pair of scars in her neck) and doesn't feel she deserve it.
She started as a not very confident and quite weak set on the path of adventuring by destiny. Where she met her current best friend, and exiled dwarf barbarian who is the polar opposite of her : exceptionally strong and hated in his lands for crimes he is not completely responsible for (ahhh demons...).

For a bunch of time, every significant encounters ends up with the ennemies disappearing while she is inconcious (just like her nemesis).

With the help of her friends she becomes a stronger fighter and learns that the vampire she "killed" while younger is in fact still out there somewhere, is one of the oldest and strongest beeings in the universe and hate her guts personnaly for she may be a reincarnation of the priestess who cursed him in the first place and kept fooling his revenge plans as generations passed.

For a while she rejected beeing a divine agent and tried becoming a hero of her own. Becoming friends with "the dragonesse" the most famed adventurer of the realm and her role model.

But in the end she decided that she could do more good with such power and is currently the party little "guardian angel", using her powers to ward her friends from harm has they protected her until then and sometime unleashing heaven's fury on their foes.

(And also trolling the DM with those lvl1 spells and 10cp adventurers gear)

[KorvinStarmast]

My (Celestial) Warlock seems to change an invocation at almost every level up. She went from being an aggressively outgoing 'face' to using disguise self most of the time (invocation) and letting the Bard be the face. She also went from being a beer swilling sailor to being a rum sipping 'sophisticate' as a matter of behavior.

Most of her spells are control spells, but she did get wall of light recently in case she needs to do some more damage. (She has repelling blast, but not agonizing blast, as an EB invocation).

[SociopathFriend]

I sorta expected the Drow to become more focused on magic but not as fast. I should of seen the changes in the especially the Bard's fighting style coming but thanks to experience did not. How have your characters changed over the levels? Any big multi class moments even?

I have a Mastermind Rogue in Descent to Avernus. He began the campaign as a sneaky, money-swapping, silver-tongued, backstabbing little man dead-set on starting his own criminal empire in Baldur's Gate. Ardeth was a small-time guy in charge of cleaning goods (the particular example I gave the DM was swapping stolen money and jewels with perfectly legal versions or stolen versions from a different region) but he was more than ready to get more from the world. Just so long as he could stick to the shadows and benefit from outside of the spotlight.

Enter the ragtag adventurers he found himself falling amongst and their eventual journey into hell. Ardeth at this point was trapped and, even worse, always found himself in the front lines as eventually death/quitting players resulted in him being the strongest and tankiest of the group.

And so Ardeth, at great personal expense in terms of effort and pain, started to learn the ways of the Fighter through raw, unending, and brutal combat scenarios constantly going his way. The man walked into Avernus barely able to fight and now he's stared death in the face so often he's started developing a method of fighting (just hit level 3, chose Samurai) that involves making peace with your impending doom while ensuring the enemy pays for it as dearly as possible.

At this rate through sheer prudence the DM is going to turn Ardeth from LE to some manner of Neutral or Good purely because Avernus has forced him to be unrepentantly caring about his party and even the enemies. He's also having to stare endless sin in the face and how nobody in Avernus seems to be well-off no matter how rich their schemes made them or how powerful their ill-intentioned armies were.



Of course there's no big moments because... it's effing Descent into Avernus. I swear for the last 3 months every location we've gone to has featured a boss that shows up, kicks us in the nuts, and is generally untouchable. I genuinely cannot think of a battle we've won since leaving Elturel that involved anything other than fodder enemies or the DM telling us how badly the book WANTS to screw you like throwing 8 Mummies at you, at once.

[Omni-Centrist]

My Divine Soul Sorcerer was a very shifty, not super trustworthy or experienced fighter in early levels. He didn't leave the confines of town, he had basically never wielded his sword, and he had gotten all his experience from social encounters.

As he leveled up, he became more sure of himself, becoming more of a braggart, flexing his innate clerical abilities when applicable, but his instincts informed his natural abilities: get what's yours and never risk yourself for the benefit of others. Darkness, Blur, Mirror Image were his key spells. He let others take the risk for him gladly, but used his Blessed Talents to make sure that they didn't at least die.

A session before his story ended, he and his party were ambushed and his brother was almost ritually sacrificed by ghouls. His level 5 cantrip boost showed itself in a feat of surprise, with 4 eldritch lances solving the issue and he took on the role of protector for the first time, EVER.

Then the party was ambushed by a blue dragon and he was eaten. The end.

[Pex]

I do it by game mechanical necessity.

For my Paladin, as the campaign progressed it became apparent my lack of any range prowess was hurting the party. Nothing stopped me from using a bow, but it was not my forte. 10 DX, no smite. I could get by most of the time only being melee, but losing my turn of actions when a range attack was needed was bad for the party. To take a feat for a range attack spell was possible, but it meant losing an ASI. The party needed me to raise CH, so I multiclassed. This DM is very particular and strict about this. He wasn't against it but at the time was paranoid of overpoweredness especially after a Blade Singer fiasco I won't get into. We kept it simple and fitting campaign narrative I went with Dragon Sorcerer. It was enough to give me a decent range attack for when I need it while Shield and Absorb Elements would eventually save my character's life literally a number of times. I became a simple build Sorcadin, but the extra spell slots were a nice boost.

My Barbarian multiclassed twice though that wasn't my intention at first. My character was all about being the strongest man in the world. Bear barbarian for tankiness. I took 6th level for bear because it fit the character. I went to 8th level for the ASI. I purposely chose Shield Master feat because I do care about AC. I went the typical loin cloth look but didn't want to be hit that easily, and a minor evasion was nice thing. Plus, the DM ignored sage advice and allowed the bonus action shove before attacking, so I didn't need to always reckless attack. However, by 8th level I realized while my defense was good my offense was starting to lack. I needed more offensive power quick, so I multiclassed fighter. Dueling style meant +2 damage. Good. Action Surge was wonderful in so many situations and not always for more attacks. Even the DM was excited whenever I used it. I went Battlemaster for tactics and some extra damage dice. 4th level for the ASI.

At 13th level I did not want Fighter 5 because I already had Extra Attack. Later levels of Fighter were tempting, but I couldn't stand the dead level. I went Rogue. My main weapon was a magical long sword that had campaign history and would "grow" to become a buffed frost brand. I didn't want to get rid of it. Becoming a Rogue I didn't care about sneak attack. I wanted the other class features. I was all about physical fitness so Expertise in Athletics and Acrobatics was paramount. Expertise in Athletics was key in helping me become strongest man in the world. Expertise plus advantage from 6th level bear totem for when I'm not raging gave me victory. Cunning action gave me more flexibility in doing stuff. I then went into Thief for the ribbon of no speed loss while climbing, which proved useful a few times, and more importantly Use An Object as a bonus action. I was the game world's Hercules as intended. Then came Uncanny Dodge which stacks with rage resistance. It was beautiful. I eventually would notice Sneak Attack and would acquire a magical short sword for those occasions where I need extra offensive power. Normal evasion increases my overall bada$$ery. I wasn't immortal or invincible, of course, but he was such a blast to play. I haven't had as much fun playing a warrior since my 3E days with my crusader/swordsage/master of nine. I wrestled fiends in hell. I hogtied a tyrannosaurus rex single handedly. I slew 3 dragons, Yeenoghu, a multiheaded dragon meant to be Scylla from Greek myth, and at campaign finale Cthulhu. Of course the party helped for most, but the fiends in hell, the dinosaur, and one dragon were all me alone. I miss playing him and that gaming group a lot.

[BerzerkerUnit]

I had a Hexblade Warlock that got his powers from a Sphere of Annihilation. I started with a clear intent to be an Eldritch Blaster shooting fist sized sphere's of annihilation. Notably, a 17th level Eldritch Blast can do the same damage of the actual sphere.

The character's arc had to do with his fear that the sphere was still consuming him and plagued by nightmares the universe would eventually fall into it.

At 3rd level I took Pact of the Talisman. He had fashioned it himself to look like the Talisman of the Sphere in the hope it would protect him from the Sphere's growing power over him. He loaned it to party members as a good luck charm that worked. When we reached level 4, I did a scene with the cowardly cleric that was in possession of it. As he slept the gaping maw of the talisman began to darken and the Talisman was being consumed.

Sensing something was amiss my warlock burst into his room and took the talisman back just as it collapsed into a sphere about a foot across. From that point on the sphered followed my warlock and responded to his thoughts and gestures, guiding it like he would a great weapon.

On paper I'd taken the GWM feat and switched to Pact of the Blade. I used Great Axe stats for the Sphere (I imagine it's like hitting foes with a magical melon baller, that seemed like slicing to me).

However, as the character has grown, he's become less empathetic. One party member was literally lit on fire and he asked what the rest were thinking about for lunch. Where he used to offer a variety of possible solutions, "Annihilate" is now the first and only solution he offers. He still goes along with other plans, but the party is starting to understand he's incapable of taking prisoners and has to just sort of be pointed at the bad things they want to go away.

When a conflict arose about rescuing some children from a hag, he was prepared to walk away without a word. When it became clear our cleric would not accept abandoning them, he made to go kill the Hag. When the barbarian, recently reincarnated to a different race before his eyes, attempted to stop him he looked at her without emotion and asked if this version of her had was his enemy because his worldview has become entirely binary.

I had intended to go in an ubermenschen nihilist direction, a person that chooses heroism despite a bad destiny. Earlier in the campaign we had the opportunity to to go to a land where all that die become ghosts and he was campaigning hard to go there because a tormented existence as a shade meant some manner of afterlife, while he believes his soul will be destroyed when he dies. When that didn't pan out the character ended up steering more into Hal 2000 territory.

A lot of fun all around. I've discussed with the DM, should the Dark Powers offer the chance to become Lord of the Domain, he'd jump at the chance, but the domain itself would start to wander, crashing into other realms and carrying away land and locales in an effort to stave off the inevitable collapse into the dark heart to which its master is bound.

[Quietus]

In a nautical-based Adventurer's League game (so, not exactly known for deep RP), I have a Triton beastmaster - the original intention being to stay pure beastmaster, given how important those levels are for your companion. Personality-wise he hasn't changed much; he started the game with the backstory goal being to prevent any ships from sinking, as a ship crashing into the ocean floor massively disturbs anything living there, even if it eventually becomes part of the ecosystem later. Over time, he has proven himself to be the party's moral compass; we have several people in the group who are Evil in all but alignment, or at least fall squarely into Chaotic Stupid. He's had to clean up situations involving Thunderwave against a bunch of commoners in a bar fight. He's successfully intimidated rowdy violent gangs into walking away, only to have Chaotic Stupid crew members decide to attack them as they left. But he's also had plenty of his own moments where he's gone straight murder-focused, usually against some particularly evil Fey. I'm not sure the party has really picked up on why that is.

Over time, the story of this character has shifted to be at least equally about his companion's background - his Primal Beast is a fey spirit, forced into the service of a mortal in an attempt to teach him how to properly serve. Unfortunately for the fey powers involved, my character is a decent and caring person, so what was meant as a punishment has turned out to be a good arrangement for both of them. Over time, the Primal Beast has become the party's loremaster, as we have no one focused on int-based skills, and PB's explicitly add their proficiency to "all skills"; we've reached the point where when a knowledge skill comes up, inevitably someone will make the joke of "I wonder if PB knows anything about that", and a surprising amount of the time, he does in fact manage to pull through for us. I've made great use of the Speak with Animals spell, to be able to understand what my PB is trying to tell us!

Along the course of our adventures, we had come into contact with a Brass Dragon; Adventurer's League allows you to make changes to your build between games, and I opted to make use of that. A minor shift - altering my point buy scores, lowering Strength and Con so I could raise Charisma. Narratively, this was represented by bonding with a shed scale, burning it into place on my character's chest. The process pulled a lot out of him, weakening him physically, but bolstering his charisma and allowing him to take a level of Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer. This opens up some attunement options, but also gets a couple of additional spells known (shield and absorb elements) which, when he reaches level 15 and gets Share Spells, will be able to affect both him and his Primal Beast. Never intended to multiclass at all with this character, much less into Sorcerer, but the option was right there and it made for a fun story beat, so I had to take it!