Creating your character

Here is a bit of a tangent for you, enjoy the rambling. - Stephen

I've been thinking about characters and their character arcs, not least because I might be joining a game as a player, not a DM. Which is weird as when I was a player, I was very new to the game and didn't think much beyond what an action was, and why oh god do I keep getting stuck with fighter? 

See, my first character was a Champion Fighter at level 7 as a Mountain Dwarf. I picked this combo because I wanted something easy, and wouldn't die immediately. I was worried that the people at the store would think less of me if I immediately died, so I freaked out, was overwhelmed by choices and picked champion fighter. 

I had Hit Points, I had an axe and I had no idea what I was doing. After that session, which was all RP and nothing for me to do for 2 hours as I was just sitting there with a thumb up my ass, I wondered if I even felt like coming back. I told my wife I wasn't sure I wanted to go back again, but I did because I figured I can't get the full experience from a single session and you have to try things multiple times. So the following week, I came back and we did stuff and I had no idea what was going on but I got into combat and... Well, it's a bit hard for me to remember exactly what was going on. The group was playing Storm King's Thunder and were already level 7 and I still didn't know how dice worked. 

But then, that game ended, I had no idea what was happening the entire time and I had some fun, despite my character. The biggest moment for me was when I was turned into a T-Rex and went and fought some giants. Which, should have made it clear to me I don't like playing champion fighters, not enough to do. 

After that, I decided to make something different and I went with Warlock for 2 levels, and then that campaign ended, so I went to Ranger who died within a few sessions as I got eaten by orcs and so I made a paladin who never got to level 3 because we ended the campaign/adventure before then. I then played a dragonborn cleric to level 3, and then that world ended. Then I picked up a rogue and left the table at level 3 because I just wasn't enjoying it. I never got to hang out with my characters for very long, and I was constantly being ripped away from them. I didn't want to play a bunch of mini-adventures, and I just stopped showing up. 

6 months later I came back, a bit sheepish for dropping out, but I had enjoyed my time mostly and so I was going to get back into it. I made an eldritch knight fighter and was bored by it. They were level 7, I understood how the game worked this time and I realized... my fighter was too limiting. Which, should have made it clear to me I don't like playing fighters, not enough to do. 

But I kept playing and eventually gave up the fighter a few levels later and started DMing. This was where I realized I enjoyed being everyone. If I didn't want to be a fighter, I could introduce a wizard. If I didn't want to worry about spells, I could just have a fighter show up. There was way more fluidity, but there was something else bothering me. 

I was running ToA and I was not enjoying it that much. Sure I got to kill characters with traps and have fun laughing with them over it... but I never felt really connected to any of my NPCs. One moment they were there and the next, they were gone. 

Now, I promise there is something to this and I'm not just rambling like an old man.

Creating your character is an important step to enjoying D&D, and should be something that you want to play as. Picking a fighter because you aren't sure what to play, or picking a cleric because you guess your party needs a healer and no one else is signing up for it is just setting you up to play something you don't want to and making a not-so-fun game. 

But how do you create a character? This should start at a pretty fundamental level, and is the basic idea of your character. What does your character do? 

By that, I mean, what abilities do you see your character having? Do they swing a stick? Do they cast spells? Picking one of those options helps narrow down your choices... picking both options, narrows down your choices even more. 

But this post isn't about how to create a character, but rather it's a bit of a rambling mess to get me to this point: Play something you want. 

In my examples above, I originally picked a fighter a few times because I wasn't sure what to play, and no one was there to help me. I struggled and I played something I didn't like, and it almost made me quit the game in the first few sessions. If that happened... well, I'm not sure what I'd be doing now... probably playing video games and being bored with how restrictive they are... which on a side note, I don't really play video games anymore now that I am into TTRPGs and board games so much. Maybe its because I have no time for it, or maybe its because I just find them too limiting. Or maybe its a phase, and I'll grow out of it like my mum always wanted me to grow out of hanging with the goth kids in high school. 

Back to the topic... sort of, when you create your character don't worry what other people at the table are doing. Sure, it's nice to know what other people are playing, but don't feel like you are restricted to certain roles in D&D. The idea that every party needs a Cleric, Fighter, Rogue and Wizard is an old idea that doesn't hold weight anymore. Monsters aren't that deadly, there isn't the Fuck You players mentality and a good DM will know how to create challenges that work with their group, not create challenges that fuck up the group. 

If the group doesn't have a Cleric than the DM should be aware that certain challenges, like dealing with hordes of undead, are going to be harder for their group. That doesn't mean you can't introduce hordes of undead, but you have to keep in mind that those aren't challenges that make anyone in the group feel special. You want to ensure that you have challenges that call on the strengths of your characters, not that calls on their weaknesses time and time again. 

And that's something that every DM is going to struggle with, and my hardest struggle is with Rangers. They are supposed to be expert wilderness people, but in 5e... wilderness doesn't mean anything. It's just there, and then immediately handwaved... which is a topic for another day. 

All this to finally say, create what you want to play and don't let the ideas and traditions of the past force you to play something you don't want too. You are at the table to have fun, and you should play something that is fun. 

On a small side note, stop making characters that don't work well in a group. I know I just said play something you find fun, but geez... this is a group game, can we all just agree to make characters that want to be in a group? 

Sorry for the long ramble and for those curious, I'm playing a Battlemind Psion in January... so that'll be fun! Then I'll pry play a bard....