From inspiration to creation, The slow understanding of how to make a character.
A brief summary of each of my creations
I am a writer at heart, this is something you can probably tell with the amount of books I write and the blog posts I like to bring to you all. One of the things I love to do is to create interesting characters that are still somewhat realistic. D&D has allowed me to do that. I can play characters that aren't me and actually be in there shoes. To be making deals with gods, to being kidnapped by gnolls, to turning down a powerful person because my beliefs didn't align with theirs... I have had a wide variety of experiences because of my characters... and I want to give you guys an idea of just what they are like.
As I've mentioned before, Aldren was my first ever D&D character, based off of another character I've seen. He broke off from there, becoming his own person with his own character development and motives and is still a powerful force to be reckoned with. He's a comfort to play not only because his move set and abilities are on the simpler side, but also because he's inherently someone I enjoy creating and developing... and I think that's incredibly important. Creating a character means allowing yourself to get to know them. If you find yourself not being interested, then let them be.
This somewhat falls into what happened with my second ever created character, Naer. Naer is a pre-monster of the multiverse aaracokra monk who is an a*hole most of the time and is seriously closed off due to his past. He also has a fear of heights which comes up a lot in combat. My first lawful evil character, he's interesting to do, but there is a lot of skill and thought necessary to play him... though sometimes he's easy as an opportunity is landed in my lap. One of his earlier games, the party found a bunch of chests and the others were split inspecting some. Naer inspected his, found it was a mimic, didn't tell anyone and just left. He kept walking even when he started hearing the sound of combat and screams behind him... It was both similar and yet very different from Aldren.
So, next time, I wanted to create a character who was a good character, someone who didn't fall under the neutral or evil alignments... and thus, I created Xiskiro. Xiskiro was when I really started to branch out and really dug into what I can do with D&D. I used the custom lineage and made him a half drow half fey who was fleeing from lolth worshippers because his mother was a priestess of Ellistrea... and actually adored him. I wanted to do a reversal with this character, where his mother and sisters actually protected him because he was family instead of torturing and seeing him as a lower being which tended to happen with males... and more so with half drow. He ended up being a sweetheart that just wants to help people and see the beauty of the world. He wasn't a cleric, but he was a healers at heart and loves to cook... and while he does still have his family, he isn't sure who his father is, besides him being a kitsune, and he's always in slight fear of Lolth finding him. This is reinforced when, in the most recent game, he was kidnapped and forced to watch horrific acts while unable to do a thing about it. It's interesting... how my sweetest character still ended up in probably the worst position of all of my characters.
Lastly, my youngest creations, Zinia and Jowan. By this point I was mostly just having fun. I had created each of the alignments previously so I picked the ones I liked most and worked with that. Zinia is the anti-thesis of most D&D characters in that she is a yuan-ti pureblood who had a lovely childhood with no drama and just went out to find the love of her life. Jowan is a war-forged disguised as a high elf who simply wants to learn about different cultures and the best way to blend in.
The difference in characters
My original characters had some sort of traumatic past that affected their lives intrinsically, some more complicated than others but... as time progressed and newer characters were created, I found myself settling into a storyline where the backstories are still complex, but not to the same point or level as my originals, so that I could develop them myself without relying on the dms.
Still, it's fun to compare the the characters I created, from a cinnamon roll to an a*hole to a young man who simply wants to keep those close to him safe so he doesn't lose anyone important to him again...
It is so fascinating the variation on characters, not even getting into their abilities... and that's what I love about D&D. You can focus on the characters, the mechanics or both. D&D is versatile for each person and player, allowing them to either really delve into what makes a character... or focus on mechanics that are fun and interesting to work with.
So, with that, now you got a brief overview of each of my characters and the process of how I created them, or, more so, the mentality behind creating them. Let me know about your first character! I would love to hear!
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