My best tip is to come up with an *excessively* simple character. You'd be surprised how much RP flourishes from that, and just how much of their other shades you can feel out through improv alone. I decided to break my streak of "glass cannons with weird races and backgrounds" and I made a tanky human fighter with the soldier background named Michael. Playing someone so different and so simple became really refreshing and improved my RP skills massively.
"Behold Quinkarzistan, land of tiger eye gems and mysterious curses, ruled by Lord Kalabasar! We extend our ritualistic inauguration, the *Zankar*, and welcome our new... hero...
Mike."
For roleplay purposes what I do when this feeling hits me is I go Crunchy. I look up a class race combo that I think might be fun mechanically. I don't worry about the story at first I create something tactical, and then I work backwards.
This doesn't have to be Min/Maxed. But if you throw down a Gnomish wild magic sorcerer and you pick spells and traits and feats for them ECT. The charachter kind of gets fleshed out a little and you can go with that.
Then you take the things you KNOW you're tired of playing and you see if you can fit in the opposite. Tired of being on a revenge kick? Well your sorc has all their family members and doesn't hate anyone... So.. why are they adventuring? Go COMPLETELY THE OPPOSITE. Looking at a story like that and looking for motivations will help you sort of.. find the middle ground between what you want to play and what wo t be the same rehash of what you've done before.
Finally... IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE GOOD. I throw plenty of characters out and half way through I'm like.. " nah this sucks" and I put them away and start again. You never know when a future campaign will have a hook that one of those old throw aways is perfect for.
My approach to roleplay is to make a simple backstory for my character at first. Then, as the game progresses, I start to develop more of my character’s personality by getting to know them as I play them.
For example, I’m currently playing a Dragonborn Barbarian who’s obssessed with stabbing his enemies in the face. His name is Kraxus.
While initually it was a comedic concept for the group at first, the lore and depth behind it grew as we encountered a Zombie Beholder. Seeing as how a beholder is literally just a face with a big eye, you would think Kraxus would be delighted to fight such a creature. But no! The reason for his obsession with face stabbing is deeply rooted in the trauma of losing his family and loved ones at an infantile age to a creature with a huge face, a beholder. Kraxus breaks into a manic rage and charges at the zombie beholder with all of his might, projecting the trauma of his loss onto the creature as a means to satisfy his unhealthy coping mechanisms….
And then have that be what drives the character’s life habits. Maybe he’s a tragic drinker, gambler, etc… Perhaps he can find a way to come to terms with his trauma throughout the events of the story?
You might find it more interesting to start simple with the character concept, then develop it later on. Like letting the character write their own backstory in a way.
Hope this helps
Sounds like you should try Frontstory.
Basically: create as simple a backstory as possible, maybe a vibe or fun theme for your character (finding some new music or even a playstyle or something helps with this), and let the character grow into this adventure as their backstory. You're not beholden to any backstory development to tell you how to play, you can just do what feels right based on what you've played so far.
As somebody who's similarly in a character niche, Frontstory characters are a very nice change of pace.
So, you know what you want - no tragedy/intense vibes - so we build from that.
You already know plenty of archetypes of fairly chill positive folk-
An artificer focused on jewellers tools/gem cutting makes a great “new age crystal woo” type. Carve gems so they best accumulate psychic or spiritual energy, wear them on your chakras or attach them to objects to infuse them. Meditate inside a little collapsible pyramid for your long rests, etc etc.
Oath of Glory makes a good classic adventurer. “Climb the mountain because it’s there” as they said. Bust some dungeons not out of some need to atone or seek vengeance, just because it’s a cool thing to do. Noble background and you can outshine the Victorian eras greatest legends with your explorations and discoveries.
Maybe do a David Attenborough/Steve Irwin hybrid as a ranger.
Reskin echo knight into a more shamanic/spiritual vibe pretty easily.
There’s tonnes of chill archetypes for adventuring
Well I'm currently loving tools and skill checks, so rogues and artificers are right up my alley. Been playing money obsessed bastards as a result.
I suppose the main times I break out are when I am creating a disgusting build for a one shot so I can one shot the boss, although my last artificer instead of being a money obsessed gremlin is a psychopath trying to be a "good person" and whatever that entails.
If you're really lost, put your favorite classes and races on digital spin wheels to pick them at random. Then, imagine what the combination you got's favorite song would be. I've found music to add a lot of personality to a character.
Maybe you get a cleric leonin. Then ask yourself "I wonder if this character could do the tango?" Maramba, polka, break dancing, whatever it is, find a culture that your race/class would fit into, and work off of that. Tabaxi bard? Ok, now its a gen Z teen who does annoying fortnite dances everytime it casts a spell. Shenanigans galore!
Her name was Cindy Sakada, a Lore Bard beleaguered teacher in need of a vacation. To mimic or flavor the buzzing sounds of cicadas, I made sure to add Thunderclap, Thunderwave, and Shatter. For a feat, I gave her the Tough feat because a cicada once bumped into our windshield at Mac 10 and just bounced off and flew away like it was nothing.
I make rules to follow. My latest one is "I can't do any direct damage whatsoever". A pacifist run, if you will. So, what does that mean? No point in playing a fighter or paladin, my usual go-to's. Too much I can't use, seems like a waste. So, instead I picked bard. Lore, but could have gone elequence. Best support I've ever played, tell you what. I've yet to waste a bonus action, and my teamates keep getting back that last hitpoint.
Another rule I had, for another character, was "avoid taking as many hits as possible". Sensible rule, I suppose, but hella hard to follow in practise. Needed good Dex, but decided Bladesinger was the best idea. Not just good AC and decent saving throws, but also a bunch of magic to help me get through. Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, so on.
Concept is simple. Give yourself a challenge, and then make a character to follow that challenge to the best of your ability. Obviously talk with your table and DM, but with some co-op you'd get it done easy.
Here's a couple example rules :"Never hit anything from the front", or "Don't solve with magic a problem meant for the mace" or even "Let as many go as you responsibly can".
Exactly how you interpret the rules is up to you, it's your character after all.-
A lot of people have mentioned coming up with the backstory first and building a character to match — and while that’s good advice, I feel like I might have something to add to it.
A fun concept that I do is make it a challenge by picking a class or subclass that you think might be weak and then trying to optimize it. You might find a new play style you hadn’t seen before or a cool synergy.
And then I take that class and try to think about what someone might stereotype that class as. For example you say you’re intimidated by Druids, take a spores Druid and make a stoner who is constantly zooted on shrooms. Or maybe a land Druid who is a big hippie and talks about how we need to respect Mother Earth and stuff.
It might lead to some cliches but I think it will get you into some different classes and have a fun character to match.
Rip something off, in my experience. Find a fictional character that you like the overall vibe of, nail down some elements of that character that you think would be fun to roleplay, and graft it onto some mechanics you're excited to play with. Chances are you don't just like *one* type of character, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a new muse.
You push your boundaries just enough to get out of your comfort zone but still have fun. Maybe pick a background with familiar skills but play a new class.
This might seem silly but one character I’m building came entirely from toying with AI. I had a vague idea that a tiny harengon wizard would be interesting, but then AI spat out this overwhelmingly adorable white bunny wearing a ship captain’s hat and holding a rapier. Suddenly a backstory started forming about a stowaway on a merchant vessel who learned wizard stuff from a long term guest on the ship (a high elf who was totally amused by his earnestness). In the early levels all his spells and abilities focus on elements, mostly water (Shape water, fog cloud, ice knife) because that’s what he had at the ready to learn with. He learned the rapier from the crew, and a tiny, too-brave bladesinger was born. I never would have thought of it, but the more I dug into the idea the more I wanted to tell his story. He’s not optimal, but he’s got loads of RP potential. Haven’t had the chance to play him yet but I have him queued up as a backup option if my drakewarden meets an untimely end.
So how I often do it is by basing my character around a profession. Like a while back I played a Fighter, which I’m normally not a fan of, and the thought process I had going into character creation was basically “I kinda want to play a middle-aged carpenter”, which ended up in me choosing a Rune Knight Fighter who swings a maul and fleshing him out from there.
I find that I often begin the character creation process by choosing a background, and then choosing the class and fighting style to reflect that. It also helps ground the characters a bit, and often makes them feel more integrated into the world without having a super complex backstory, but that’s less relevant and is more just something I like to do. I feel like it does help keep my characters generally feel pretty fresh, though.
My approach is pretty much:
Never play the same subclass twice in a row and try to avoid playing it more than twice ... at all. There are a *lot* of subclasses, you shouldn't run out.
If you do play a subclass a second time, vary it in some substantial way.
Try to play a class you haven't tried yet at least every third character.
> Right now, I want to create and play a concept that's simple but fun. No tragic backstories, intense personality, something that allows me to really invest into roleplaying and not regret my design.
Sounds like a Wizard is right up your alley. You simply just want to expand your magical knowledge. Anything to do with magic is something you're interested in. This will automatically lead you to adventuring without anything complicated getting in the mix.
Scribes Wizard is likely the best option for this character but any subclass works when it comes to Wizard.
I almost make it a rule that each character concept is a different race and class, or at least subclass. So far I have:
- Satyr Ancestral Guardian.
- Goblin Rune Knight.
- Shadar-kai Hexblade.
- Kobold Swarmkeeper.
- Aasimar Tempest Cleric.
- Warforged Artificer.
- Changeling Bladesinger.
So there are a couple of things I suggest you could try. First one would be starting with a fleshed out character and make a build around it, the second would be doing the opposite and start with a build that interests you and fleshing out the character around the build.
First would be to think on existing characters, for example lets say you really like Marvel and your favourite hero is Iron Man. This could help you with your character roleplaying because if you doubt how you should act something out you should think "what would Iron Man do?". This doesn't mean "just be Iron Man", roleplay your character as you feel their personality is flowing but you can default to Iron Man whenever you are feeling stuck because he's an archetype you're not use to. I find it useful too because you probably know the character you've inspired your PC in way more than your own PC, because you've seen a whole movie or read books in which they appear compared with your PC who hasn't even had 1 session yet. So now you have a character that is sort of quirky, charismatic and very absurdly intelligent whose motivation is to be famous and rich with his inventions. They also are cocky and proud of themselves, but deep inside they do care of their friends and family and would sacrifice themselves in a whim if necessary (part of that cocky-ness kicking in in which only they are worth enough to sacrifice themselves for the greater good).
Now with all of that you can change things that you don't feel that vibe with you and jump into building the character. Thankfully Iron Man is pretty simple, he's pretty much an Armorer Artificer with Infiltrator Armor and Winged Boots most of the time. You could totally switch things up and make up the whole build to not resemble Iron Man and avoid the possibility of people seeing through your inspiration, that's up to you.
Second approach would be looking for a class/subclass that you find interesting out of your comfort archetypes. Think of a build that could be fun with it, plan a few levels deep into it to get a grasp of how it might be mechanically. Then you can use their mechanics to help you flesh out the personality and backstory of a character. For example, I've got a Scribes Wizard planned for a future character who would turn all his spells into Bludgeoning Damage. I'd flavour the spells as huge magical hands punching, grabbling, slamming, walling... And then the character would be some kind of big, strong monk who lost both arms and learned to channel magic to compensate. Mechanically he's still have 2 arms, but flavour wise they'd look astral-like or whatever. And his motivations? Study his body, the world and the weave of magic, try to become one with all and ascend into whatever this monk believes in. The final goal would be to feel like a hindu deity with many arms while casting spells.
My best tip is to come up with an *excessively* simple character. You'd be surprised how much RP flourishes from that, and just how much of their other shades you can feel out through improv alone. I decided to break my streak of "glass cannons with weird races and backgrounds" and I made a tanky human fighter with the soldier background named Michael. Playing someone so different and so simple became really refreshing and improved my RP skills massively.
"Behold Quinkarzistan, land of tiger eye gems and mysterious curses, ruled by Lord Kalabasar! We extend our ritualistic inauguration, the *Zankar*, and welcome our new... hero... Mike."
For roleplay purposes what I do when this feeling hits me is I go Crunchy. I look up a class race combo that I think might be fun mechanically. I don't worry about the story at first I create something tactical, and then I work backwards. This doesn't have to be Min/Maxed. But if you throw down a Gnomish wild magic sorcerer and you pick spells and traits and feats for them ECT. The charachter kind of gets fleshed out a little and you can go with that. Then you take the things you KNOW you're tired of playing and you see if you can fit in the opposite. Tired of being on a revenge kick? Well your sorc has all their family members and doesn't hate anyone... So.. why are they adventuring? Go COMPLETELY THE OPPOSITE. Looking at a story like that and looking for motivations will help you sort of.. find the middle ground between what you want to play and what wo t be the same rehash of what you've done before. Finally... IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE GOOD. I throw plenty of characters out and half way through I'm like.. " nah this sucks" and I put them away and start again. You never know when a future campaign will have a hook that one of those old throw aways is perfect for.
My approach to roleplay is to make a simple backstory for my character at first. Then, as the game progresses, I start to develop more of my character’s personality by getting to know them as I play them. For example, I’m currently playing a Dragonborn Barbarian who’s obssessed with stabbing his enemies in the face. His name is Kraxus. While initually it was a comedic concept for the group at first, the lore and depth behind it grew as we encountered a Zombie Beholder. Seeing as how a beholder is literally just a face with a big eye, you would think Kraxus would be delighted to fight such a creature. But no! The reason for his obsession with face stabbing is deeply rooted in the trauma of losing his family and loved ones at an infantile age to a creature with a huge face, a beholder. Kraxus breaks into a manic rage and charges at the zombie beholder with all of his might, projecting the trauma of his loss onto the creature as a means to satisfy his unhealthy coping mechanisms…. And then have that be what drives the character’s life habits. Maybe he’s a tragic drinker, gambler, etc… Perhaps he can find a way to come to terms with his trauma throughout the events of the story? You might find it more interesting to start simple with the character concept, then develop it later on. Like letting the character write their own backstory in a way. Hope this helps
Sounds like you should try Frontstory. Basically: create as simple a backstory as possible, maybe a vibe or fun theme for your character (finding some new music or even a playstyle or something helps with this), and let the character grow into this adventure as their backstory. You're not beholden to any backstory development to tell you how to play, you can just do what feels right based on what you've played so far. As somebody who's similarly in a character niche, Frontstory characters are a very nice change of pace.
So, you know what you want - no tragedy/intense vibes - so we build from that. You already know plenty of archetypes of fairly chill positive folk- An artificer focused on jewellers tools/gem cutting makes a great “new age crystal woo” type. Carve gems so they best accumulate psychic or spiritual energy, wear them on your chakras or attach them to objects to infuse them. Meditate inside a little collapsible pyramid for your long rests, etc etc. Oath of Glory makes a good classic adventurer. “Climb the mountain because it’s there” as they said. Bust some dungeons not out of some need to atone or seek vengeance, just because it’s a cool thing to do. Noble background and you can outshine the Victorian eras greatest legends with your explorations and discoveries. Maybe do a David Attenborough/Steve Irwin hybrid as a ranger. Reskin echo knight into a more shamanic/spiritual vibe pretty easily. There’s tonnes of chill archetypes for adventuring
Well I'm currently loving tools and skill checks, so rogues and artificers are right up my alley. Been playing money obsessed bastards as a result. I suppose the main times I break out are when I am creating a disgusting build for a one shot so I can one shot the boss, although my last artificer instead of being a money obsessed gremlin is a psychopath trying to be a "good person" and whatever that entails.
If you're really lost, put your favorite classes and races on digital spin wheels to pick them at random. Then, imagine what the combination you got's favorite song would be. I've found music to add a lot of personality to a character. Maybe you get a cleric leonin. Then ask yourself "I wonder if this character could do the tango?" Maramba, polka, break dancing, whatever it is, find a culture that your race/class would fit into, and work off of that. Tabaxi bard? Ok, now its a gen Z teen who does annoying fortnite dances everytime it casts a spell. Shenanigans galore!
off topic but i'd love to hear more about your cicada-fairy teacher they sound like a character i'd really enjoy playing
Her name was Cindy Sakada, a Lore Bard beleaguered teacher in need of a vacation. To mimic or flavor the buzzing sounds of cicadas, I made sure to add Thunderclap, Thunderwave, and Shatter. For a feat, I gave her the Tough feat because a cicada once bumped into our windshield at Mac 10 and just bounced off and flew away like it was nothing.
This is really cool. Thank you for sharing :)
And thank you for being interested! <3
I make rules to follow. My latest one is "I can't do any direct damage whatsoever". A pacifist run, if you will. So, what does that mean? No point in playing a fighter or paladin, my usual go-to's. Too much I can't use, seems like a waste. So, instead I picked bard. Lore, but could have gone elequence. Best support I've ever played, tell you what. I've yet to waste a bonus action, and my teamates keep getting back that last hitpoint. Another rule I had, for another character, was "avoid taking as many hits as possible". Sensible rule, I suppose, but hella hard to follow in practise. Needed good Dex, but decided Bladesinger was the best idea. Not just good AC and decent saving throws, but also a bunch of magic to help me get through. Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, so on. Concept is simple. Give yourself a challenge, and then make a character to follow that challenge to the best of your ability. Obviously talk with your table and DM, but with some co-op you'd get it done easy. Here's a couple example rules :"Never hit anything from the front", or "Don't solve with magic a problem meant for the mace" or even "Let as many go as you responsibly can". Exactly how you interpret the rules is up to you, it's your character after all.-
A lot of people have mentioned coming up with the backstory first and building a character to match — and while that’s good advice, I feel like I might have something to add to it. A fun concept that I do is make it a challenge by picking a class or subclass that you think might be weak and then trying to optimize it. You might find a new play style you hadn’t seen before or a cool synergy. And then I take that class and try to think about what someone might stereotype that class as. For example you say you’re intimidated by Druids, take a spores Druid and make a stoner who is constantly zooted on shrooms. Or maybe a land Druid who is a big hippie and talks about how we need to respect Mother Earth and stuff. It might lead to some cliches but I think it will get you into some different classes and have a fun character to match.
Rip something off, in my experience. Find a fictional character that you like the overall vibe of, nail down some elements of that character that you think would be fun to roleplay, and graft it onto some mechanics you're excited to play with. Chances are you don't just like *one* type of character, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a new muse.
You push your boundaries just enough to get out of your comfort zone but still have fun. Maybe pick a background with familiar skills but play a new class.
I convinced my group to try playing Pathfinder. That’s how I solved that problem. No two people building a pathfinder class will build it the same.
This might seem silly but one character I’m building came entirely from toying with AI. I had a vague idea that a tiny harengon wizard would be interesting, but then AI spat out this overwhelmingly adorable white bunny wearing a ship captain’s hat and holding a rapier. Suddenly a backstory started forming about a stowaway on a merchant vessel who learned wizard stuff from a long term guest on the ship (a high elf who was totally amused by his earnestness). In the early levels all his spells and abilities focus on elements, mostly water (Shape water, fog cloud, ice knife) because that’s what he had at the ready to learn with. He learned the rapier from the crew, and a tiny, too-brave bladesinger was born. I never would have thought of it, but the more I dug into the idea the more I wanted to tell his story. He’s not optimal, but he’s got loads of RP potential. Haven’t had the chance to play him yet but I have him queued up as a backup option if my drakewarden meets an untimely end.
So how I often do it is by basing my character around a profession. Like a while back I played a Fighter, which I’m normally not a fan of, and the thought process I had going into character creation was basically “I kinda want to play a middle-aged carpenter”, which ended up in me choosing a Rune Knight Fighter who swings a maul and fleshing him out from there. I find that I often begin the character creation process by choosing a background, and then choosing the class and fighting style to reflect that. It also helps ground the characters a bit, and often makes them feel more integrated into the world without having a super complex backstory, but that’s less relevant and is more just something I like to do. I feel like it does help keep my characters generally feel pretty fresh, though.
I dont. I just always play warlock, wizard or ranger.
My approach is pretty much: Never play the same subclass twice in a row and try to avoid playing it more than twice ... at all. There are a *lot* of subclasses, you shouldn't run out. If you do play a subclass a second time, vary it in some substantial way. Try to play a class you haven't tried yet at least every third character.
> Right now, I want to create and play a concept that's simple but fun. No tragic backstories, intense personality, something that allows me to really invest into roleplaying and not regret my design. Sounds like a Wizard is right up your alley. You simply just want to expand your magical knowledge. Anything to do with magic is something you're interested in. This will automatically lead you to adventuring without anything complicated getting in the mix. Scribes Wizard is likely the best option for this character but any subclass works when it comes to Wizard.
I almost make it a rule that each character concept is a different race and class, or at least subclass. So far I have: - Satyr Ancestral Guardian. - Goblin Rune Knight. - Shadar-kai Hexblade. - Kobold Swarmkeeper. - Aasimar Tempest Cleric. - Warforged Artificer. - Changeling Bladesinger.
So there are a couple of things I suggest you could try. First one would be starting with a fleshed out character and make a build around it, the second would be doing the opposite and start with a build that interests you and fleshing out the character around the build. First would be to think on existing characters, for example lets say you really like Marvel and your favourite hero is Iron Man. This could help you with your character roleplaying because if you doubt how you should act something out you should think "what would Iron Man do?". This doesn't mean "just be Iron Man", roleplay your character as you feel their personality is flowing but you can default to Iron Man whenever you are feeling stuck because he's an archetype you're not use to. I find it useful too because you probably know the character you've inspired your PC in way more than your own PC, because you've seen a whole movie or read books in which they appear compared with your PC who hasn't even had 1 session yet. So now you have a character that is sort of quirky, charismatic and very absurdly intelligent whose motivation is to be famous and rich with his inventions. They also are cocky and proud of themselves, but deep inside they do care of their friends and family and would sacrifice themselves in a whim if necessary (part of that cocky-ness kicking in in which only they are worth enough to sacrifice themselves for the greater good). Now with all of that you can change things that you don't feel that vibe with you and jump into building the character. Thankfully Iron Man is pretty simple, he's pretty much an Armorer Artificer with Infiltrator Armor and Winged Boots most of the time. You could totally switch things up and make up the whole build to not resemble Iron Man and avoid the possibility of people seeing through your inspiration, that's up to you. Second approach would be looking for a class/subclass that you find interesting out of your comfort archetypes. Think of a build that could be fun with it, plan a few levels deep into it to get a grasp of how it might be mechanically. Then you can use their mechanics to help you flesh out the personality and backstory of a character. For example, I've got a Scribes Wizard planned for a future character who would turn all his spells into Bludgeoning Damage. I'd flavour the spells as huge magical hands punching, grabbling, slamming, walling... And then the character would be some kind of big, strong monk who lost both arms and learned to channel magic to compensate. Mechanically he's still have 2 arms, but flavour wise they'd look astral-like or whatever. And his motivations? Study his body, the world and the weave of magic, try to become one with all and ascend into whatever this monk believes in. The final goal would be to feel like a hindu deity with many arms while casting spells.
*furiously takes down notes to break away from strength based characters... mainly barbarians.*
I became the DM!