PnP RPG Gamers - What kind of character do you typically create?

For Pen and Paper RPG players out there, what kinds of characters do you often make in your games? I've always been lucky to be in a group of friends where everyone has their niche...one guy always goes for brawn, another goes for stealth, a gal goes for clerical, while my wife goes for sheer power. I myself, tend to just fill in whatever's missing, but here's my fave:

Typically, I'm a race that is considered "normal" or "common". My characters tend to be better looking than average, but not movie-star handsome. They are very dextrous and quick, never really strong or sturdy. However, they tend to be focused martially on one, civilized weapon (like a rapier) that uses speed over power, and another focus on magical skills and skills in general.

My favorite characters combine the stealth and subterfuge of a Rogue with the power of a caster. Though not as strong in magic as a full wizard, my characters can hold their own, and though unarmored and using only one weapon, they are so trained in that weapon, that they appear to have the skill of a seasoned warrior. In addition, my characters often emphasize skills such as languages and lore, and often tend to take a party leadership role (my inborn manager tendencies, lol)...

More of a Jack-of-all-Trades, and master of none. I also tend to usually have fairly normal statistics (I am a sucky dice-roller, hence my concentration on one thing). I enjoy the challenge of playing such characters, vs. a guy with 3 18's (in D&D for example)...and I enjoy applying low-level magic to generate very powerful effects (I'm pretty imaginative...with the right application of only 1st and 2nd level spells, I can pretty much decimate a nonmagical and normal small army, hehe...)

So how about you? What kinds of characters do you make and enjoy playing?

Most of the time I play as a dungeon master, but when I am a player, I often like to pick an oddball class, like a monk or something. (I love monks!) Part of the reason for this is I often like to try something new, so I'll dig up some obscure class I've never tried before and play that. I've played so many RPGs that making my 1000th human fighter or elf mage starts to lose its appeal :p It's also easier to role play something unique than yet another of the same. 3rd edition AD&D did help that a lot, though, with feat choices; you could have two fighters of the same level and race with completely different abilities, whereas in 2nd they were clones.

Sometimes I'll go for 'the character that can do everything'. One friend's campaign (AD&D 2nd edition) I did a half-elf fighter/mage/druid, for instance. That sometimes has its disadvantages too, like not being able to do anything well, or, in 2nd ed rules, that combo had crappy hp and xp gain. Still, it was fun to make choices like 'do I heal my buddy, cast magic missile, or attack with a longsword?'

The other thing I'll do, particularly if the group is small, is, like your wife, go for sheer power. The half-ogre barbarian swinging a two-handed sword, stacked with supporting feats, or the mystic theurge with more spell slots than the rest of the party combined. The drawback to that is basically I'm picking one thing and taking it to the max, so that when you find a situation where the chosen tactic doesn't work, you become completely useless. Still, that can be half the fun, complaining about the monster's spell resistance or slash damage immunity or whatever it is that just screwed you.

Of the basic fantasy classes, though, really I'll play just about anything. Rangers for some reason I don't really like that much. They seem to suck in a lot of the games I've tried.

Rangers can be fun to play, but only at the point where they use clerical magic. If you just concentrate on bow-related feats, (3rd edition), you can be pretty insanely powerful.

Some of my favorites though have been really unique. How unique? Try a Kobald Ninja... "Krazal the Mighty"... How much fun is it to have your foes go, "Oh look, a little Kobald wants to play"...only to have a pile of bodies after a couple of rounds, while that same foe runs away screaming?

Yeah, most of my ranger experience was 2nd ed... yuk. It feels like being a crappy fighter and a crappy druid all at the same time!

Krazal the Mighty... he has NOTHING on...

PUN PUN THE MIGHTY KOBOLD!!!!!!!!
PUN PUN

I usually go for either the musical or the healing types of characters. And it's always either human, elf, or some race that is animalistic, like shape shifters or weres. So bards and healers are my favorite, but apparantly I can play a pretty good bitchy noble as well. But, with pen and paper rpgs, there are always minor characters needed, so I fill in whatever character is needed at the time, which is usually half of the characters, since I role play with usually only one or two people. Any more and it gets too confusing.

I'm a Dungeon master, but i'll currently describe the player characters involved in my game.


PC's ( Ranged between level six and nine)

* A ranger, a rugged forest man, brilliant with both bow and sword, he is essentially the glue of the party, always putting his life in line for the greater good. Is now currently the longest surviving character in the campaign following the death of the rogue.

* An 'anti'-Paladin, a very disturbed yet charismatic individual, who having 'inadvertantly' caused the death of his own brother (a goodly paladin) has now tricked the rest of party into believing that he too is of noble deeds. He is responsible for cursing the souls of at least two dead party members with his 'blessings'.

* A warrior from the east. A plainsman, bronze skinned and mysterious, he is currently searching for a band of pirates and raiders who killed his tribe many months ago. He is an excellent swordsman, and quite dexterous.

* Yet another warrior, a female half-orc blacksmith, who is slowly going insane as a result of an unconscious telepathic link to an illithid as a result of looting a ring from a drow. She is currently scalping her enemies whenever she gets the chance.

* A shaman (druid). Is seeking revenge upon the dark dwarves that destroyed his holy grove. Is now the only party healer.

* Two female mages. In my world, Mages are considered witches and wisely keep their magic secretive. The two mages are respectively master and apprentice and both happen to be of an evil persuasion. Since the Master mage was presumed dead in a Duergan fortress, the apprentice mage has now become VERY untrustworthy of the rest of party. She has been known to use devastating spells on enemies and party members alike.

Former party members:

A snuff addicted and slightly insane viking type warrior - devoured by ghouls. Was known for his extremely loud laughter and chaotic fighting style. His soul was cursed by the anti-paladin in the last rites (but it also effectively stopped him from becoming a ghoul. Has an intense distrust of magic, and being caught up in a fireball (cast by the apprentice mage) didn't diminish this distrust.

* Rogue. A very selfish, greedy and cowardly individual but was excellent at disarming (and setting up traps), was known to leave his comrades in immediate danger and run for his life. He only ever fought when he was sure of a victory. He met an untimely death when peering into a hanging cauldron in a temple on the edges of the grey wastes. Unfortunately he slipped and the contents of the cauldron spilled on to him......... The green slime consumed him (although the half orc ingeniously used his slimey remains as away of killing a villain mage, by hitting him with a clay flask that contained the unfortunate rogue and corrosive slime)....

* Barbarian. Only lasted one game. Was killed by a summoned dire-stag, which broke his neck with a critical hit with his antlers.

* Paladin. A very noble and proud individual. His brother caused his death in a deep cavern, as his ledge crumbled, sending him falling to his doom into the murky black waters below (in full plate armour)....

* Another Ranger. Shot through the eye by an arrow shot by bandits. Ironic consider he too was an excellent bow man.

* A half dwarven priest. Extremely tough and was equally a warrior aswell as an excellent healer. Was beheaded by a Duergan collar trap in the fortress. Well actually he was fine until one of the other party members decided to fiddle with the collar. His soul was cursed by the anti-paladin upon his last rites.
--

My villains include.

A pair of mages (brother and sister) from another dimension (namely pandemonium). They arrived to 'this' plane in a magical tower powered by the screams of their captive and tortured foes. The male wizard was killed by a flask of green slime. The female wizard is still tracking the party.

An insane Duergan battle cleric. Has developed an intense hatred for the party after they killed swarms of his duergan warriors and damaged his fortress whilst rescuing slaves.

An Illithid, who subconsciously controls the half-orc. Has slowly been tearing her mind into two. None of the party are aware of this enemy yet.


--

As you can imagine the game is fun.

Oh and i hasten to add, i've NEVER played 3rd edition Ad&d, as i believe 2nd edition is fine.

The only changes i've ever made to the rules are critical and fumble tables which add extra flair to a battle.

reply to post by mr-lizard


Yeah, I like both 2nd and 3rd. I'd probably still be playing 2nd but I took a break for a couple years when my best friend moved out of country for a time, and when he came back we decided it was a good time to go to 3rd due to the long hiatus. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

I love the feat system in 3rd, because, as I think I said before, it makes Joe fighter at level 3 different from Bob fighter at level 3. 2nd edition however, has a different feel to it. By the time they got to 3rd ed, there was a lot of rather... 'unprofessional' material, for lack of a better word, it seemed to me. There was a lot of crap books and modules, mostly because by then, WotC owned it, and they took it in a different direction than TSR had. TSR printed less stuff, but what they did print, I generally liked better.

I really enjoy playing a rougue/mage mix. I used to be involved with a kick ass AD&D group and had worked my rougue/mage through a sweet campaign all the way to level20/15/6(fighter). took me damn near a year of playing on sunday mornings! I'm all about the crossed classes for a good D&D campaign.

As for console and pc based games i try to change it up now and again. I was playing EQ when i was about 15-17 years old. that occupied quite a bit of my time, lol. I had a level 60 dwarf warrior and a level 58 halfling druid.

Currently I'm playing Mass Effect for xbox 360 and am working on a stealthy assasin type character. Another great RPG that i recomend to all who haven't played it is elder scrolls: oblivion. It starts out kind of slow, but after the first few scenarios the pace picks up and it becomes extremely enjoyable!

I like to play the party face in 3rd. My current top pc is a elven bard12/wizard6 named Silvas. A weak combination normally but I took dual wand fighting as a feat and now with like ten wands I can pretty quickly blast away foes. But as the BS artist Silvas a.k.a. Abernucs Dickisnockus the barrister he knows few equals!! I've been playing the shackled city adventure and he died once only to raised. A great support TEAM character, he's poopy alone but with allies he kicks tail!

Oblivion is hands down, the closest thing I've ever played on a console that comes close to a PnP gaming experience.... Truly, a great game...You can even decorate your character's house for Pete's sake!!!...

I still even play that if I get a dungeon crawl urge...(I just have to dial up the difficulty, as I kill just about anything in one shot if I want to..)

reply to post by Gazrok


I haven't played Oblivion (my comp can't run it; I tried once) but Morrowind was really good, though rather easy. Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights were also good, and Neverwinter has community mods. (I hear good things about NWN2 also, but again, I can't run it)

Oblivion is also on the XBox and PSIII consoles. I used to be a strict PC gamer, but got tired of the constant updating, so use my PC as a PC and let the consoles be for gaming...these days....

My only regret is not playing WoW, but then again, think of all the hours I've saved, hehe....(my EQ addiction of years back, reminds me what that was like...)

Had to add, the last Player Character I played was a Thief/Bard.

Had some big fun playing him. I often made up songs using existing tunes, but changed the lyrics to describe our latest adventure. We played in a 2nd Edition / 3rd Edition fusion (basically 2nd Edition with Feats)...

I focused combat skills mainly on my rapier (great feats for this) and a little on my bow.
Then, most others went towards bardic feats and skills. He had a LOT of skills. As a human, he had no trouble getting the nice bonus of thief skills, then changing over to full-time Bard. This made him as good a thief as any rogue out there, but with the added magical punch and decent combat ability of the Bard.

He was never a major damage-dealer (but could usually hit his target), but his "buffs" allowed the rest of the party to really dish out the pain. In social settings, he really shined, and often used his fame to open doors more than a lockpick. He was pompous, but charming, kind of silly, but deadly all at the same time.

I tend to play a character who has many non-weapon proficiencies, as they come in handy when not playing hack and slash style....

I prefer stealth or casters, myself. I really love thieves, and I tend to go for the elves for the extra dex.

I had one character who was compelled to steal ANYTHING shiny, regardless of the items value or the danger involved in stealing it. It led to some interesting situations.

I started a 3,5 D&D campaign last sunday and I'm in love of my new character. she's a fighter/wizard, and it's or too childish or too serious. I love playing her.
The long lasting character I've had was a wizard/fighter that lasted for like 2 yars of campaign. She was a coward, and always casted Invisibility and then looted the treasure. Finally she understood that it wasn't a good way to spend her life and became powerful (and keeped turning into stone the paladin of the party, because she hated paladins xD)

in other issue... 4.0 just need the USB ports: it's like playing oblivion without a pc. I really HATED it.

And for PC games, I love Neverwinter Nights. I'm playing it again (finally with the best graphic quality hahaha, my pcs always have been #ty) because I overwritted the save when I was about to finish it the first time :bnghd: . That damn queen lizard must die!!! It's based on 3.0 D&D, in Forgotten Realms. Oldie but goodie!.

Actually, come to think of it...I really like oddball characters, too. In text RPs, I am horrible about giving my characters the oddest weaknesses that inevitably come up at the worst possible times. How my characters stay alive is beyond me...

Typically with DnD, Priest and Mage, my favorite is Psionocist though. Herbalist master. I prefer the long range damage of spellcasters. Usaully playing a human female(as I am female harder for me to play a male char), often around my age or a bit younger. Looks don't always matter but a unique look is fun a with variety. Mostly played neuteral good to good because of the DMs prefering it.
Favs of DnD;
Psionics handbook, Oriental Adventures

I've played numrous game from DnD, White Wolf(Vampire:TM, Mage: The Ascension ),CyberPunk 2020, Marvel, Anime RPGS, Shadowrun, d20 Future, Rifts, etc.
prefering some older editions over current.
I've been a DM a few times...
and am planning for a DnD campaign and possibly a Cyberpunk2020 one too.

Getting ready to start a new D&D 3.5 game this Sat.
Originally, I was planning on about 4 players, but it's somehow bloomed into 8 players, 4 of which are (gasp!) female! I know, right?

Well, helps that most of us are married...so mostly spouses/girlfriends there...though one gal is playing without her hubby (he's a 2nd edition rules nazi...) I get that, I went kicking and screaming into 3rd edition...and haven't yet delved into 4th (I've got too much vested into 3rd edition books)...

Dragonlance campaign setting, to eventually have the players be dragon highlords (evil party), kind of a second Dragonlance Wars idea...the return of Takhisis from the Abyss...

Depends on the system. Rolemaster usually sees me playing firepower, Palladium has some severely unbalanced race/class combos, 2nd edition was rogue or mage all the way. 3rd edition saw me use (and sometimes abuse) support characters (monk/bard), and I haven't really found a "type" in 4th edition, although the Kenku Assassin I made is probably my favorite so far.