If you’re looking for a min/max build optimization… you’ve come to the wrong place.
There are already hundreds if not thousands of resources out there explaining just what features are the best to choose for any given class or race or module, but anyone who has been reading along to the D&D Dispatch over the past few weeks knows that is nowhere near how we operate.
Instead, we’ll be looking into the questions you need to ask yourself about your new character so that they can have depth, personality, and, ideally (if the DM doesn’t kill them too soon), a full and satisfying character arc.
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Because it’s easy to make someone that can hit hard for damage, but another matter entirely when you want to hit hard in the emotions.
So here are a few tips on creating a character whose story will stick with you long after the campaign has wrapped up.
Why are they adventuring?
It’s honestly a trope at this point to make a character with a tragic backstory filled with burned hometowns, dead family members, or a forgotten past, leaving them with nothing to do but wander with this new family they’ve found.
And that’s all well and good, but it makes for a very passive reason for adventuring; that the only reason they’re travelling with this party is because they have nothing else to do.
Don’t get me wrong; you can still incorporate any of those backstories into a fully fleshed out character, but give them an active reason to as well. Which leads nicely into our next point..
What are they after?
Be it gold to bring home to a starving village, renown for ages to come, the answer to a mysterious death, or the cure for a hideous curse; you need to give your character something to work towards so that there is a driving factor behind their motives and personalities.
Having a goal will work wonders for your RP, your in-character decision making, and your relationships with other party members who are likely trying to reach their own goals, as well.
How can they change?
There’s no satisfying character arc without a little personal development along the way. This is why it’s crucial to create a Level 1 character who isn’t already a super awesome hero.
Make them immature, or naïve, or in pursuit of a goal for all the wrong reason. Give them the room to grow into a hero, and once you start getting into the later levels the power that innately comes with an ongoing D&D campaign will feel earned rather than expected. You’ll ideally end a campaign with someone who is wildly different from the person they started the adventure as, in the best ways possible.
Why them?
This one’s the most optional of the list, but it’s always fun to collaborate with the DM about something special about the character.
It could be something that the character isn’t even aware of, like a long-lost royal lineage, an evil twin, or a dormant power laying in wait.
We should all veer firmly away from attempts at making our D&D character the main character of the story, but adding a little bit of spice off the jump can lead to some very interesting revelations and situations down the line.
How can a party help them?
It’s important to give your character goals and pursuits that can be aided by the help of an adventuring party, because all D&D groups will be, by default, travelling and working together.
It may seem enticing to create a gruff, edgy, loner of a character, but if the pursuit of their goals can’t be aided by the help of the party — and if they’re not the kind of person who is also willing to aid those party members in their own pursuits — then you may want to go back to the drawing board, because I hate to say it but that character simply won’t be fun to play alongside.
Now, creating one of those characters and have them slowly but consistently warm up to the idea of companionship and loyalty and helping people that aren’t themselves through the sheer power of friendship… Well, that certainly will make for a great arc, so make sure to note that in the How Can They Change category.
At the end of the day, D&D players can feel free to create a character any which way they want (so long as they don’t make anyone else at the table uncomfortable).
These are merely a few friendly suggestions on how to make a character that can grow and develop and build to a satisfying end of an often years-long character arc — if you’re into that sort of thing.
Or just make them a badass hero off the start. That’s the beauty of this game; it’s entirely your call!
(Well, and the DM’s call, of course.)
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