I'm gunna be playing DND with some people, and I need to make a character. I was wondering if anyone had any cool character concepts? I'm looking for stuff that is not in the generic class - for instance, a paladin that reverevs a fallen god, or even themself. If it doesnt perfectly fit the class, thats OK. Stuff thats just cool for roleplyaing (not mechanics) is absolutely fine, as well. Thanks.

Rogue with greatsword. Enough said.

My group has titled me the ultimate powergamer (this isn't me bloviating, they actually have), since I have a gift for creating characters that are hugely powerful without resorting to cheese. Do you have an idea of what kind of character you want to make in general terms? I have my own biases towards and against certain classes, so the initial stages at least are mostly what sounds like fun for you to play.

Once you come up with a cool concept, the mechanics are all just a numbers game, albeit one in which having a ton of sourcebooks can really tip the balance.

And for the record, rogues don't start out being proficient with Greatswords, so if you're willing to burn a proficiency feat on it you could, but there are much, much better things for you to be doing with your feats as a rogue, unless of course your character concept involves being a rogue with a greatsword, in which case mechanical efficiency will take a back seat.

This prolly isn't gunna help, but I don't want to play a rogue, a druid, or a really evil character (mildly evil is ok). Spellcasterish, maybe? Paladin always seems cool to me because of the whole definition of role in the class (at least, until the game starts, and you have to follow the damn code... or deal with someone else having to follow the code).

So in short, no I don't have too much of an idea about my character. A rich aristocrat would be fun, but then so would some sort of spell caster, or some sort of fighter... I dont really know.

Here's one. Paladin axelord. Alternatively, be a duel wielding ranger with axes. Or a fencing sorcerer.

Fun classes

Scout with the Sniper shot variant... think rogue that knows how to kill people better

Hexblade with the dark companion variant.. a Hexing "dark" paladin... with no alignment restrictions (although you can't be a good character, neutral is OK)

Duskblade... a Warrior that can cast impromptu spells and can still use medium armor and light shields without spell failure %

Warlock.. Eldricht Blast is a never ending weapon that you can cast whenever... although quite weak

Psions are cool too

Swashbuckler is f'ing awesome too.. I love playing a swashbuckler that turns into the Duelist prestige class... oh, and Shield of Blades variant ftw

for more "classic" classes

A Cleric with Travel and Luck domain.. quite sturdy

Something I found quite strong is a Fighter with Oversized Two Weapon fighting (can use heavy one handed weapon on off hand as if it was a light weapon)... Dual Bastard Swords... quite cheesy, but strong as hell.... add Greater Cleave.. become the center of attention, concentrate on one target and when it drops, kill everything surrounding you... go go cheesy fighter!

Also, a Cleric with the healing domain... extra turning a couple of times, domain spontaneity (healing domain).. watch how your GM tries to kill everyone but you just keep healing them back.. the nightmare of a GM

go spellcaster, then prestige into Mystic Theurge. I am told it's ridiculously OP

I was going to suggest that, why settle for Healing OR Fireballs, have both.


Monk is always fun too, once you get up in levels. My one former DM always tried to get us captured and our weapons taken away, and my monk had a sling for long-range and a staff(mostly for show), but his.. no wait, her, I forgot about that stupid belt >_> she was a bald hairless girl, ran across a magical firetrap too. >_< Well anyway her combat readiness couldn't really ever be turned off or taken away, it was fun. It's pretty much a 'generic' class I guess though. :\\

Must...resist.....urge to go on discourse that no one would care about.

Must resist.......

Do not resist. Discourse!

That is, if it's about common misconceptions about DnD and what is powerful in the game and what isn't. Ah hell, I'll do it for you, short version.

VERY short version: casters rule, melee classes suck. Unless you play with Tome of Battle classes. Get it! Now!

Wizards win.
Clerics win, if you don't play them like walking pansy band-aids.
Druids win with Natural Spell Cheese.
Polymorph is overpowered.
So is Divine Metamagic.
Double-wielding sucks if you're not a rogue.
Oversized Two Weapon Fighting and Monkey Grip suck. You're not going to hit anyone.
Fighters, generally, suck.
Monks suck.
Ranged rogues suck.
Rangers... you guessed it. Suck. Since they specialise in either archery or two-handed weapons, both of which suck.
Warlocks are only average ranged damage-dealers. They don't really suck, because that'd be the Monk.
If your DM thinks Vow of Poverty is overpowered, that's because he sucks at DMing and doesn't give your party magic items adequate to their level.
Tome of Battle kicks ass and makes a good job at balancing melee classes - Warblade (new fighter), Crusader (new pally) and Swordsage (new monk) against casters. Has an anime feel to it, but if you don't like it you can work around the feel.
Artificers are awfully powerful and cheesy, but they're not from core books.
Samurai aren't from core books either, but they suck arse. Yes, more than the monk and the ranged rogue combined.

And finally, a short and painful guide to how to play a caster:
Arcane: pure damage effects for the lose. What you want are battleground control spells (Web for example), save-or-suck spells (Glitterdust is only second level!) and effects that make the opponent unable to catch you at all. Also, do not underestimate the power of divination.
Divine: buffs. Buffs. Buffs. More buffs! On party members, on you, doesn't matter. With appropriate buffs, the cleric is a better melee class than... practically anyone else. Don't worry about combat healing, cure your friends after the fight - don't waste spell slots, invest in a wand of Cure Light Wounds.


Okay, that's it from a purely metagamering point of view. Since, contrary to what some people believe, your character can be BOTH powerful and a good RP concept, keep the above in mind when creating the character's stats. That way, it'll be powerful instead of awfully crippled.


EDIT: Mystic Theurge sucks, because instead of having powerful Divine OR powerful Arcane spells, you're going to get average in both. Also, as a caster avoid races with LA, because your most important stat is your caster level.

Also remember that Clerics do not have to select healing spells at all. If they really need to cure someone, they can do a spell substitution. So save those slots for buffs, like Cuber said

And yet, Melee is awesome. My old grudge from Druids came from 3.5. I barely play a Cleric that does something besides healing and buffing the party. I love melee because it's balanced compare to arcane casters....

down with arcane! more love for fighters! Hurrah!

You sure we're talking about the same DnD?

Of course, it's nice to deal 2d6+6 damage with your greatsword at level one (two-handed weapons rock), but there's the problem with melee charactes - lack of options. All they can do is hit, hit, hit. Oh, and occasionaly charge, bullrush, trip or other similiar stuff which doesn't matter, because if a fighter enters melee range to a wizard, the wizard's dead.

However, no wizard worth their spell slots is going to let an enemy warrior close in to them. Either by spells like flying, time stop, contingency (possibly one of the most broken spells, ever), or simply by immobilising the warrior before he gets a chance to react. Not with Hold Person, because it sucks now, but even by basic spells like Web, Grease or Blindness/Deafness. Sleep for lower level characters.

And now's the best part. The Fighter has very weak saves, Fortitude aside. I do not even mention Spell Resistance, even a disoptimised Wizard can bypass that. Also, they have no way to remove the debuffs/afflictions they get. So, every spell the Wizard casts has a (high) chance to put the Fighter out of the combat. I'm not even going to mention no-save spells here, like Irresistible Dance... oops, I just did.



Seriously, what melee-types need in DnD are: more options in combat than just bashing the enemy's skull in, better mobility, better anti-magic options, either by increased resistance or a way to remove debuffs.
And Tome of Battle is exactly what addresses these concerns.

I had a griefer monk once, did nothing but sunder and smash. He'd just rip your armor apart and then bash your face in

Except that monks have trouble hitting people even without armour on!

Seriously, his opponents should have used adamantine armor then. Or just... be casters. Flying casters.

this was the one that went into epic, so Adamantine did squat because ki strike at that level ignores hardness completely. Also, his strength was up there pretty high, without magical items, so he really didn't have too bad a time hitting things. I can't remember what I prestiged him into, but it ended up getting pretty ridiculous.

Ah, epic. Epic levels are pretty broken, and when I say pretty I mean completely.

Besides, on epic levels, spellcasters can basically do anything. Their spells rule over the rest of the pitiful human race even more than they used to before levels 21+.


Offtopic, anyone heard of Pun-Pun? They made him possible at level 1 now. Beware of kobolds with maxed out Knowledge (Religion)!

With my monk. this was only the third game I had ever played, the first two being modules. It was also my first 3.5 game, and I had someone helping me with feats the whole time. When he asked what kind of character I wanted to make, I told him "A monk, that breaks things" ( I had no idea he was a powergamer). 19 levels later I had a monk who could destroy even items with the 'unbreakable' quality with little difficulty.

I wish I could find a group around here. All my college buddies graduated and aren't around. I've been wanting to play a Ghaele forever, just because it would be awesome.