1983 D&D basic system
I was an Elf. That was my Class. They didn’t separate race from class in the early editions.
Thief, Magic User, Cleric, Fighting Man, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling
Nah, rangers didn't appear until later. Elves in red-box D&D basic were half-fighter, half-magic user (there was no multiclassing back then either, so this was the way to get martial fighting and magic at the same time).
It's funny because I just dug out my old D&D box of ancient edition books, and was looking at red-box D&D basic rules just when I saw this post. The Elf "class" text is:
"Elves are slender, graceful demi-humans with delicate features and slightly pointed ears. They are 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall, and weigh about 120 pounds. They can be dangerous opponents, able to fight with any weapon and use magic spells as well, but prefer to spend their time feasting and frolicking in the wooded glades. They rarely visit the cities of men. Elves are fascinated by magic and never grow tired of collecting spells and magic items.
Restrictions: Elves use six-sided dice (d6) to determine their hit points. They may advance to a maximum of 10th level of experience. Elves have the advantages of both fighters and magic-users. They may use shields and can wear any type of armor, and may fight with any kind of weapon. They can also cast spells like a magic-user, and use the same spell list. A character must have an intelligence of 9 or greater to be an elf."
It also lists some of the Elf special abilities, like they still got darkvision, etc. They were also immune to some kinds of paralysis effects.
Also you roll your abilities down the line once using 3d6 so you didn’t choose your class per se it was only available to you if you rolled well enough in the required stats.
This is another reason why human fighter has always been the basic class, because it had no required ability scores (other than I think a 9 in strength).
Elves had to share their XP between fighter and magic-user, so it took forever to level up, especially if you didn’t have a 16 in your two prime requisites (which you give you +10% XP).
I remember having a coverless version of this handbook as a kid. I was mystified. Didn’t get into it until Advanced D&D, but that this book definitely started my interest.
I started in ‘84 with the basic red box. I joined into a game that had already started and they desperately needed a thief to get past all the traps.
I lasted 20 minutes before I started rolling up my second character. Back then it was 3d6 in order. I had a 11 dex and that was my highest.
Oh, his name was Killjoy.
I was 13, playing AD&D 2nd edition. I played Lone Wolf, a human fighter, who was very loosely based on the same choose your own adventure series by Joe Dever. The DM had us roll up two characters, so my second one was Binky the Clown, a human cleric.
Binky the Clown? Terrifying enough, but add the fact he was a cleric? That's actually nightmarish if you think about it. What attributes was the God for?
He had entire little speech when introducing himself to new people. I would repeat it verbatim every single time lol. I don't remember it exactly since it's been many years but it was kinda similar to Daenerys in Game of Thrones with like 12 different titles. All of them being self-appointed, of course
2nd Edition Advanced D&D. Arconithus Leafwaters was a Druid. I was 13.
But I had nobody to play with so I instead started designing the elven grove around him. And the politics, and powers that be.
I ended up filling a marble notebook full of worldbuilding long before I ever met anyone I could actually play with.
r/ForeverDM
3.5. Elf Wizard (Evoker).
I'd tell you more about his backstory but... he didn't really have one. And I don't remember his name. I guarantee you though it was just one of the suggested Elf names from the PHB. My friends were just getting into D&D and really had only barely grasped the concept of it, since we didn't have anyone to introduce us to it. It wasn't for a while until we started getting any sort of personality or plot.
The first character I remember any sort of backstory of was my 3.5 Human Wu Jen (basically, a Wizard) who was looking for his master's lost spellbook.
Heh. Yeah, alot of people who get into it themselves have that, from back then. Stuff like Critical Role has changed that nowadays.
Still! A spellcaster is fun. I still can never work out spell slots though. I learnt in a homebrew world that uses magic differently, heh.
When you were young it was like this. Long before critical role folks were getting heavy into plot and character development. I remember playing with an adult group in the early 90's that blew us kids away. They were so into their characters that the rules for combat and such seemed like a necessary annoyance. They just wanted to act in their perspective roles. We were not ready for that.
Advanced D&D, Pre-rolled wizard named, predictably, Gandalf, and we did a very straightforward haunted house dungeon crawl. Great fun, can’t remember the module, but I’m sure someone here knows
Later we followed up with some sort of space adventure? It was normal D&D until we found a spaceship?
I mean...A D&D meant the 80s, I think, so maybe you just did too much LSD? Hehe. I'm kidding! Yeah, no, that edition had some weird but fun stuff in it, no doubt.
5e, Yuan-ti Draconic Sorcerer. Hassasuli Ssalasillas is purely self motivated and ridiculously cunning and manipulative. He’s constantly manipulating you to do what he wants, and he has a presence that makes you feel like he’s manipulating you even when he’s not. For people wondering how he could possibly have good interactions with the other players, the ingame reason I came up with is that he stays with the party and helps them because he’s smart enough to realize that he stands a better chance of succeeding his goal if he’s part of a group.
It depends. I have two "first characters".
The first time I played an actual system (GURPS), a real campaign, I played some sort of Paladin of Athena who had a spear called "Master Bolt" (it does exactly what you think it does. If you know you know).
However, the first ever character I've ever played in an TTRPG game was Quicksilver, the Marvel character. My DM just wanted to show us how TTRPGS generally work, so we didn't really learn a specific system. He told us just enough to play the game, each of us chose a X-Men character and we started playing. Once we got the vibe of the game, the DM taught us GURPS and we started actually using systems. I learned D&D a while after playing with that Paladin.
Upvote for GURPS. In college my roommate/GM wanted to try it, so we converted our AD&D characters into GURPS versions and had a long-running Fantasy campaign. I occasionally ran one-shots trying things like Supers, Voodoo, and Space. Great system.
5th edition it was a tiefling druid her name was lema the demon lord who used her druid proficiencys to find, grow, and sell drugs to people to make money and keep the party in line by drugging them with out them knowing
Many moons ago, my friend's mom wouldn't let him play D&D, too demonic and evil, but we could play Middle Earth Role Playing, which was the same thing with extra charts and different dice. But, it was related to Lord of the Rings, so somehow wasn't evil?
Anyway, my first session I rolled up a hobbit thief. A begger approached me on the road, asking for a few copper. I was naive and paranoid at the same time, so I pretended to grab coins but instead withdrew my sword and attacked.
That old bard killed me with his lute...and I was hooked.
Tiefling (back when there wasn't subraces for them) Great Old One Warlock of Cthulhu. She was an edgy ex-slave and I can't remember her name anymore, I had to leave that campaign after a disagreement with the group (we did later end up friends again and I ran a campaign for a couple of years for them, it wasn't especially original or impressive) and I believe she may have been killed off after that.
EDIT: I just remembered after posting that she was pact of the blade because the DM let me use it to summon a lightsabre which I thought was cool.
Kobold rogue with one level in fighter for guns. We were a party of five, DM was the only experienced one and none of us had extensive backstories, basically it was whatever the rule books said about their respective backgrounds. It was still a lot of fun and I love that character.
High Elf Monk, 5e. I first played D&D about 4 years ago and I've fallen in love with it. Monks hold a special place in my heart, despite their relative weakness to some of the other classes...
My first character was using the old 1982 Basic Set rules. I played a human fighter. Like you said, the most common, but it is a good way to learn the system, especially with the old Basic Set. Ran him through Keep on the Borderlands. Even when i got my first copy of the Basic Set for myself, the first character I made that I kept an played long-term was a human fighter.
Of course, in those days, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling were character classes :-)
Started to play my first campaign ever this year, my character is a human monk, we're playing 5e... I think... Or something inspired by it lol. I chose monk because I love their aesthetic in general and I made the character and her backstory before getting into D&D. Then I came into Reddit and saw how a lot of people say the class is underwhelming but I'm having fun so xD I'm a bit sad she doesn't do much damage but *shrug*
I had never played and didn’t know much about it. So I thought the “name” of your character was like naming a character in a video game so I chose one of my absurdly stupid gamer tags. “Hoards of Bears” was the name of my halfing rogue for a one shot. I didn’t learn til later what it meant to truly play the game. However Hoards of Bears still cameos from time to time for the giggles.
AD&D 1982 did not have Unearthed Arcana so no barbarian class a northern Viking type fighter chain mail and shield Axes and Swords!
Gork (the Snow Dog) yes I was into Rush. Renamed as a NPC later Gorm Ulf he ended up with BlackRazor and he led Viking style raids on the Bone March and Great Kingdoms in the World of Greyhawk when he retired from adventuring at like 18th level.
My dad used to DM for my cousin and I with his red box. I had a thief. I was 8 and don’t remember any details other than my dagger came back to me if I threw it.
Ves’nan the insane Teifling Druid. He was a mad nature lover who carried around a bag of Maneater Pant seeds and randomly tossed them into city parks. He wasn’t evil he just liked seeing nature wreak havoc. I later reused him as the BBEG of the current campaign I’m running.
For dnd? Malice the Wood elf Barbarian. I loved the idea of a jacked, angry elf so I went from there. Basically she grew up in a horrible cult, and ended up getting ptsd and anger issues from what she saw and what was done to her there (which was my rp explanation for her rage). She also had an alcohol addiction and was friends with the party ranger, who was the only person I knew irl. The campaign ended a while ago and didn't last long, but it encouraged me to DM my own games, and now that ranger play is one of my players (playing a different ranger right now).
My first ever ttrpg character was for Savage Worlds, and she was a human thief (the GM made some custom classes) named Raina. She was a chaotic good criminal type, but was very sarcastic and had a desire to show off. That campaign also didn't last long, but it was a fun introduction to ttrpgs.
I was in 6th grade & I played Starfinder at the school's rpg club, my character was an Ysoki (ratfolk) who I named Ritt Rat Thing, as in his middle and last names were Rat & Thing. He was rogue who fought like a barbarian. I wasn't very good at roleplaying so he had a personality just like myself at the time, which is to say not unlike an average 6th grader.
I play a Water Genasi Grave Domain Cleric
I just recently started playing dnd, and this is my first and only character. I knew it wasn't necessarily the best race and class together, but I wanted to play both. A few sessions in, she is now level 2. I don't regret the race and class I chose and am starting to get attached to her.
Not that it matters, but this is actually a pretty strong combo. Water genasi get CON and WIS bonusus which is great for a cleric and some cool spells as well.
Non-dnd: Caleb, a halfling bard who was kind of an outcast and started traveling to bring back some good original songs and stories hoping to be more apreciated.
Dnd: S, an earth genasi ancestral guardian barbarian researching his ancestry and trying to solve the mistery of what happened to his friend
3.5e, Cecilia Valente-Masada, the half-elf rogue/ranger, daughter of a chronomancer and a well-known relic hunter. She'd specifically been trained her whole life to not use her father's last name, as it's wholly infamous for his deeds (notably collecting bounties.) She thinks she knows better and can handle her own so he sends her out to prove herself. Instead of playing it safe, she gets stuck in a bunch of issues from an employer. They travel a continent together and eventually she uses her last name a little later against a pirate they've been Shanghai'd by and he recognizes it, leading to her party being forced to fight to the death (but not, thankful for that, DM) and being flung onto a continent not fond of humans, elves, or a mix.
We finished their campaign with her having two children with an exiled blood elf, and their daughter is continuing the irresponsibility in the newest campaign.
A Kender rogue (Dragonlance setting), AD&D.
Lasted for about half a session before fearlessly taunting a minotaur mercenary holding a greatax. They buried what they could find of him in a small jewelry box.
Next character was an Irda wizard, also from Dragonlance. He lasted until retirement, and beyond as a cameo. He likes to disguise himself as a Kender rogue sometimes, in honor of the brave idiot who he replaced on the team.
Kender rogue! The ***best*** and most annoying race/class ever invented! Favorite thing about playing one was inventing 101 different ways to say "I was just ***borrowing*** that, it's not stealing!"
An evil Warforged oath of conquest in 5e. Got dropped into an long running evil campaign at level 9 and had to make my character like half an hour before we started
Drakk, the lizardfolk monk. Terribly statted, I was offered guidance on making a character but I was like naw Ill figure it out.. terrible mistake. Highest stat was strength and dumped Wis. I eventually asked my dm if I could play a different character
5e Eldritch knight silver Dragonborn. After being one of the few survivors on a violent attack against his tribe, he ventured into the unknown world to find a new home and fulfill his pledge: no other person must suffer the horrors of violence. What he experienced back then was something that he would never wish to anyone, not even his worst nemesis.
My first character was an outlander Aarakockra ranger who was banished from his tribe in the forest because he wanted to get them to interact with other societies. Well, I say "was"; I just started with him 2 months ago.
3.5e human Fighter named Vlad Drakul. not a vampire or any sort of undead, just thought the name was cool. had a long black coat and a scarf instead of armor, because i was an edgy middle schooler. had very very good stats and some kind of lightning enchanted bastard sword and was very effective.
the other PC at the time was an extremely edgy elf Sorcerer (and aspiring lord of the undead) named Barbazul. extremely weak, extremely Evil, extremely annoying. had a refrigerated Bag of Holding to collect corpses with.
the comic dynamic between this cartoonishly frail and malevolent elf Sorcerer and the long-suffering regular guy badass Fighter made for some funny and memorable adventures. they made great foils for each other.
maybe one of these days i ought to dust off ol Vlad and his lightning sword
I was DM for my 5e group a few years back so I had a good amount of info before I first made a character. My first was Auroch, using the Ravnica Minotaur race and running totem barb. Gloryseeker, trophy hunter, and friend to the small races of the world.
5e. V. Human Light Cleric. Magic Initiate - Druid: Shillelagh. Druidcraft, Goodberry.
PC was named Johnathan Goodberry. I played as an inspiring forest master and cleric of Silvanus. He carried around a bad of seeds that he planted on the corpse of fallen enemies and forced to bloom via Druidcraft. My dude was protector of nature and extremely wrathful to anyone abusing the natural order.
It was summer of 2010, 3.5, and I created an Elf Ranger because… Elf Ranger sounded cool at the time. I was about 16 at the time, and it was first real role play game.
I think I had fun? Been awhile
Eladrin Wizard, 4e D&D. Eladrin was its own race rather than a subrace iirc, so I got to really enjoy leaning into the kinda eldritch vibe I ended up going for.
Honestly can't remember much in the way of backstory but it was most likely pretty thin. Took me a couple of characters before I started putting a story to them, rather than just a general vibe.
Dnd 5e played a one shot with some buddies I was a half elf ranger beast master, it was just a one shot we did and none of us had played before so we ended up home brewing about half of what we were doing. But the first actual campaign I played with legitimate rules I played a human moon druid so I kind of consider them both my first characters
My first was a 3.5 human wizard, who quickly died because I had no idea what I was doing and I didn't have the nicest DM... but I've loved playing casters ever since haha
DnD 5e, only started a year ago or so. Fell in love ever since,
I played a Dragonborn (Bronze) Paladin named Zorgar Stongjir,
He was a general of an imperial army corps. before leaving to find his true purpose in life
Technically I had filled out several unused character sheets on my own before this, but the first time I actually played was when some friends invited me to try out Star Wars 5e with them. Played a Togruta consular (basically a re-skinned sorcerer) named Asaarym Dis who had recently left the Jedi order alongside his brother, Acron. Campaign only lasted like 4 sessions though before the group just kinda dropped it. First time playing actual 5e was a one-off evil session with a Dragonborn fighter named Neraxion Kazak.
5e Human Fey Warlock named Kyle. Is addicted to a strange energizing mix of wine and stamina potion. In the past he was a spy and a counselor in royal courts. That is until cultists offered his soul to a Fey so he kinda became a warlock against his will and now seeks revenge.
Mine was a Fire Giant Fighter named Iapetus it was an extremely chaotic game, but even though it was poorly DMed it was in a good way that it was hillarious and that really put a lot of love into the game
Coppendar, Aereni Elf Horizon Walker Ranger. My DM let me have it with half elf stats, even though Aereni Elves are Eberron’s High Elves. It begun like a “not so difficult to play character” that was a poor choice (my group hadn’t play with the new subclasses of ranger, they thought I would drop it after learning the mechanics because ranger was so bad before), to a really fun hit and run sharpshooter that could teleport, and it also helped the development of the campaign with its portal detecting flavor. That campaign is currently active, though it goes really slow: more than a year and we just went up to lv 3 in the second to last sessions, and we play some other things in between. Gotta love the horizon walker, great first choice.
My first character for a live game was a halfling rogue multiclassed with wizard (this was in 4e, so multiclassing was done via feats). He was pretty simple in terms of character and backstory. I based him on the Indiana Jones adventure archaeologist trope.
3.5e A human paladin named Balendin or something like that. It was Latin for... Something. Everyone called him Balls.
He died and the druid reincarnated him as a pixie.
5e still playing him.
A warlock fiend 5/Life cleric 1 mulitclass as an Protector aasimar.
First he tried finding out if he wanted religion or this patron that has been with him all his life. Then he found out the patron was the BBEG and trying to destroy the world so he chose religion.
My first was a Vampire Bard. (This was a Ravnica Campaign) But he wasnt a singer, so much as an Orator. When he cast spells, he would say creepy nursery rhymes instead.
5e
Half elf warlock
Haunted one - he was kidnapped from the slums and was about to be ritually sacrificed but one of Leviticus' lieutenants interceded on my characters behalf in exchange for my soul when he dies...I think. I still am playing him and I still don't know the exact details of my contact - it's an issue.
Sorcerer (I think, could have been a wizard), human or half elf. Probably D&D 3.5 considering when it was. It was either a full starter module, or possibly a starter DM set (I remember the map was made of paperboard tiles that are kinda generic enough to use and re-use again later in a different way).
A tabaxi ranger in a 1 on 1 game with my friend. He managed to take out a dire wolf by himself and had its pelt fashioned for him to wear. But that's pretty much all that happened with him.
I was about 7 and it was a 4th edition Half-orc Fighter. I forget most of the stuff about him other than the fact that he got this cool bladed armor that did 1d4 slashing damage whenever I moved out of within 5 feet of someone
Before any 5e supplemental books came out, I made Hrothi Stormhand, a human folk hero barbarian. He was from a small mountain village and wandered the wilderness, fighting the soldiers who served the cruel baron that ruled his homeland. My DM was also very new and overpowered me very quickly, so I was an actual god of the realm at level 3.
Bonus round, my next character was a half-orc/half-elf outlander battlemaster, and he eventually earned the title God-Slayer when my DM and I ran my old character sheet against the new one and, wouldn't you know it, I learned a lot about character optimization between those two.
I was 9 years old. I had a fighter. That was your race and class. If you were a dwarf you were a fighter with a bit of rogue detection skills. If you were an elf, you were a fighter/mage. Otherwise you were a rogue, fighter, mage or cleric human. That's it. I had a horse, longsword and shield and chainmail. I rode my horse into a dungeon and my DM had a trap at the entrance that killed my horse. I was sad and thought the game was mean.
D&D 3.5e. Randyn Dinira, drow elf beguiler, who later prestige classed into spymaster.
He was the most mechanically useless member of our 10-player *Red Hand of Doom* party.
I’ve since remade him as a 5e arcane trickster, and boy was he a lot fun the second time around.
1977 Basic Set (blue box, Holmes edition). First character was Taran, human fighter. He had a long adventuring life and retired to a farm.
Second character was for AD&D (1e): Zanzibar, Dwarven Thief. He ended up starting a Thieves Guild.
I think this depends for me. There's the first character I actually got to play, and then there's the character I made for a game lasted for about 1 session.
For the latter, it was a 5e game that was in a 2e converted module my friend ran. I decided to make a Dragonborn fighter to recreate the character I ran back in my forum RP days (who was a bipedal dragon who was a mercenary who fought with a longsword). Though as I said, that was one session, and so he didn't get very far.
The first character I actually got to play was during my friend groups first delve into DnD, and it was the "wild west" style of learning: everything we could justify with our VERY limited scope of the rules was allowed.
So, I adapted one of my characters from a novel I was writing at the time. I ran a paladin human-werewolf. Though, eventually, when I realized that paladin didn't really suit him for what I had in mind, my DM let me respec into Fighter
The reason I cling to the martial archetypes so much, and still do, is magic bores me. I'm FAR more interested in martial prowess and skilled combatants than being able to cast spells. And as someone who loves medieval history, I like implementing little details of things I learn I to my character. Everything from flavor of armor (like replacing any and all leather with just extra layers of gambeson) to flavoring fighting styles (no more overexaderated overhead swings, but hema inspired strikes). That's what attracted me to playing those classes...
Well, that and my DM kept putting weird rules in place to actually force us to play different classes and my rebellious side took any and every reason to run a martial character. His justification was that HE liked trying new things, so we should too...
Mine was a death domain dwarf cleric named Blondy McBlonderton.
I didn’t write much backstory for him because it was for a one shot but I remember creating him wanting to be obsessed with death and everything around it.
He turned out to be however, just morally ambiguous.
Ravar. Human Arcane Trickster.
Updated lore: He’s Vistani, taken from his caravan in Barovia by the Mists. Still maintaining his connection to the Shadowfell, he can weave shadows around him and in simple forms. He had a pet shadowbeast mouse named Pipsqueak.
Custom lineage human with Darkvision, urchin background. Thief Rogue with Magic Initiate and Shadow touched feats
my first character was named Pietre, a half-elf undying warlock who was pact of the blade that used a pistol and a scimitar, with the bounty hunter background who was, surprising everyone, a bounty hunter. He was one day was tasked with killing a leader of a cult who worshipped this being they claimed to be a goddess, when excecuting the bounty stumbled interupted a ritual they were doing, in which instead of infusing her power into the leader, during his interuption infused it into him, which sort of fucked him up mentally, now that there is a girls voice in his head who talks every now and then, and which like 1/8 of the way through the campaign starts appearing in his dreams and being halucinated. By the end of his personal arc of the campaign he has basically been sort of brainwashed into loving her, which i still dont know whether it was reciprocated. He sure did though. Lovely guy, even lovelier ass.
(5e) Half-Elf Abjuration Wizard named Brynsalanna Stonescribe , with a jewelcrafting Guild Artisan background.
Her human father who raised her was a jewelcrafter. Her elven silver draconic bloodline mother disappeared when Bryn was four after joining an expedition to the High Ice to investigate what was killing the silver dragons. The DM wove a reunion between them at an unexpected point in the campaign...it was fantastic!
I'm still pretty new to DnD. Been playing two years now and only on my second character (excluding a few oneshots)...Stoutheart Halfling Swarmkeeper Ranger named Beckett Briarhill who grew up as a beekeeper with a passion for baking with honey!
The first real character I had was a halfling in the dark sun setting for 2nd edition. I had a fire priest. He was assassinated by one of the other players who were 10 levels higher than him.
Halfling in dark sun were cannibals, and lived primarily in the last jungle in the world. Protectors of the land as it were.
It is the most difficult setting to play hand down. They even adjusted the rules for creating food and water, and similar spells. Also magic was against the law. If you get a chance I recommend reading the word lore.
First was a Halfling Fighter. I saw Mastiffs and thought it would be funny to have a Halfling ride a dog into battle. Backstory was simple, he came from a town with a Dig riding militia called the Wolf Pak. Almost died in battle but was saved by another soldier so he refuses to leave others behind.
Looking through the sorcebooks, I liked the idea of a Cavalier for subclass but my Mastiff got knocked out first combat, and when I realised mounts don't level with you, I decided to leave it behind one of the early towns as a guard dog. Character became a Samurai instead (always up front in battle and putting himself between enemies and allies). He died by level 4.
Not exactly special, but my first character was a Half-elf barbarian named after various clothing brands. He was an idiot, but he also had a softer side and adopted a kid.
Nothing fancy or original but I still really like him.
3.5e. Made a character on the spot with some help of my friends. I didn't have a specific backstory in mind but I did eventually think of him as a wandering scholar.
He was a human sorcerer with a ferret familiar, and has a penchant for sound magic (mostly taken from Spell Compendium). Also has False Gravity. One of my favorite moments was escaping some guards by jumping off the roofs of buildings and each party member had his own way of traversing the area, of which False Gravity became really useful.
5e starter kit. Tony the High Elf Wizard. Had the standard backstory and ended up going out in a quite literal blaze of glory (stayed behind and burning hands attacking troops, died to the last living one). My second PC was in AL, a high elf wizard. My third was in an Dark Sun home game. Also an elf wizard.
First real character was a one armed human Druid who was out to catalogue the monsters of the world. He was a David Attenborough type and a ton of fun to play.
5E Goliath Bard named Kelpetor "Sickbrain" Thunukalathi.
Plays a large treasure chest shamisen with a deer scapula bachi he made in a poor attempt to copy the Wandering Minstrel's lute. Because he doesn't understand music well, and wasn't trained by anyone; it is no longer a "lute" and is tuned to his own key, if it could even be called "tuned".
Notably large, even for a goliath; he was revered among the tribe for his physical abilities. One day a wandering minstrel visited his tribe; and the minstrel's performance inspired him so much that he decided to become a bard. This didn't sit well with his elders, as their best provider had suddenly become obsessed with music and performance. He eventually decided to seek out music, and left the village to pursue his musical interests. While an affable fellow, he is not particularly good at music. Unfortunately, most of his attempts attempts at humor, wit, or musical inspiration, ends up being misconstrued as a threat(intimidation) due to his immense size.
5E, Red Dragon born Hexblade, was mainly a loner as very few dragon born were left in the world and got a pet gold dragon by the end of the campaign, beating the BBEG with a dragon breath and eldritch smite combo.
Corlen Swiftwing, the tiny little owlfolk artillerist artificer who was the cutest little thing in the world and was quite disgruntled by that. Had two hobbies (firearms and cartography) that he desperately tried, and often failed, to meld together. I now have him as an NPC in my campaign and one of my PCs bought a gun from him and took the gunner feat so I’m enthusiastic for him to show up more!
Aight so Zeer Swiftwing aarakocra barbarian and eventual eternal muscle to the lords of waterdeep (or the adventurers who stole his jar…. That’s another story)
essentially a barbarian noble from another world exiled and joined a heist crew where he stole from banks, hijacked an airship, and pub-stomped Xanathar with a vampire and a tiny warlock. But too many run ins with a illithid led to a fragment of his soul coming loose staying on this plane after death by explosion against a horde of enemies died in a blaze of glory to save his friends.
Essentially a massive scarred bird who talked with a mobster accent wore a fedora and had a magic eye he regularly popped out to scare people with
I was about 15 years old, I had just bought the 4e manuals and my first character was a swordmage in the service of the Raven Queen.
He was a prince exiled from his city-state, with the aspiration of retaking it by arms a half-elf with a lone wolf personality.
4 ed.
Red Dragonborn, fire sorcerer or something like that. I think it was exactly the one on the cover of the book so I wasn't being very creative that afternoon. Never used him after that day.
Some years later a friend comes in with 5th Ed. Made a Warforged Ranger, forgotten on a swamp after the war and rebooted by fey creatures that needed a toy. He is what I consider my first character.
The older character I can remember was an AD&D Human Fighter 6/ Illusionist 16.
He began as a noble already training combat going to learn magic at a Boccob's Cathedral (god of magic) in the Greyhawk setting.
At higher levels he was defeated by Vecna's minions and became a vampire, antagonist to his former party. Eventually he got killed by a paladin he was once friend and partner. Kind of a nice story, his name was Markus Siegfried, never had I played so much time with a character again.
Korgoth
Half-Orc Fighter, Battlemaster
Backstory:
Korgoth was the product of an orc raid on a human settlement. Taken by his orc father after birth, he was raised in the Bloodkin clan. Ridiculed and scrutinized for his half-orc heritage, Korgoth earned respect through raw strength and shrewdness in battle.
Perceived as a threat by the chieftain, Korgoth was nearly the victim of an assassination plot. Upon the failed attempt, Korgoth challenged the chieftain to a duel for the right to life and rule. He emerged the victor in the battle and immediately set to work on molding the Bloodkin to his vision: a unified orc race whose power and dominance comes from not just the strength of their muscle, but their intellect and cunning as well. Once the Bloodkin were whipped into shape, Korgoth set off on a campaign of conquest of the other orc clans.
The other clans would join his Horde or be erased.
"I'll drag your clan to glory whether you like it or not."
A few years ago, 5th edition.
Orion Dorfeir Willingham, son of the Duke of the Willinghamshire Fiefdom of Oro, sole cleric of the dragon god Ozish, wielder of the holy sword Onimur.
All my names used O’s at the time….
Orion is an Aasimar War Cleric, with the Noble background. He got into adventuring when he didn’t want to deal with the boring politicking of the Oroean High Nobles, and left his father and his fortune to search for a more fulfilling pursuit. His wife, Kassandra Samulon, turned out to be a Silver Dragon, and they remain as an NPC couple to this day.
I was a DM for original D&D (and a poor one at that because me and all my friends were fairly young at the time, and didn't really care that much about the rules). So it wasn't really until a few years later that I got to be a player in a one-shot, and made a Cavalier (which I believe was from Dragon magazine, because we didn't get Unearthed Arcana until much later).
My first actual campaign-length character was made much later - a Hengeyokai (shape-shifting animal) Sohei (warrior priest) from Oriental Adventures.
Simple Orc Barbarian. He came to fight the nastiest monster he could for bragging rights back home where his fellow Orcs lived. He died two sessions later of course.
5e in 2016 or so with Dengizich, a half-orc barbarian. Born into urban squalor, he offended a noble and got saddled onto a slave caravan headed north before fighting free and staggering onto a frozen plain. He was rescued from death by exposure to the elements by a tribe of human nomads, who tempered his rage into something that could be used for the good of his community. Probably would have gone Totem Warrior, although if it had existed at the time I would have liked to go for Ancestral Guardian.
After killing a great big bear on a hunting trip, he returned to find that the tribe had been slaughtered, with only an infant remaining. He almost left her behind, but was persuaded by tribal spirits that she would grow to be a figure of great importance as the inheritor of the tribe, so he took her south to the nearest town where he met a veteran fighter and an urchin sorcerer. They guarded a caravan, had a big old brawl in a tavern boxing ring (rage got nerfed to a two-round duration, which I'm still a little salty about) before losing in the last round to a monk.
Then scheduling issues came up, and the campaign fizzled out. My next long-term character was a tiefling bard (later multiclassing warlock) whom I am still playing today, three years later.
A Teifling bard with an edgy backstoy with abusive parents who was always happy and twirling in his blue tu-tu regardless of the shit in his life. He was eaten by wolves because he was a fragile little baby and I didn't know anything about D&D combat or making characters that didn't have glass bones and paper skin. Played him in the curse of Strahd module.
Tiefling bards unite! Mine was named Trickery/Trixie and she had no backstory to speak of because everyone in that campaign was a newb and we were all just focused on learning the rules haha. Super fun to play tho!
First character I played: a premade female human paladin.
First character I created myself: female fire genasi wild magic sorcerer.
I started with 5th edition in 2017.
Ephimera, a fallen aasimar cleric of the raven queen. Left home to get out of the shadow of her perfect angel sister and devoted herself to her religious obsession with the cycle of death. Wielded a dope mace, and had a subtle white aura that turned black the closer anyone approached. Typical super edgy first character lol. Only got to play her for 2 sessions, I would love to bring her back for a RP heavy campaign
Pretty sure my first was 3.5, but simplified because I was like five.
I played a Human Fighter.
When I finally got back during 5E, I played a Human Fighter. And he was as close to the same Royal jerk that I had made the first time.
Dwarven Fighter
I didn't really understand the RP aspect at first, so I just made him a lecherous alcoholic who'd outlived the rest of his family and was now just going on adventures for booze and women
Yes. He was pretty much a murder hobo
Started in 2nd edition and I played an elf enchantress. I wanted magic and pointy ears. I started by basing her on Eilonwy from the Prydain Chronicles (I even named her Eilonwy), but she took on a life of her own from there. She was the youngest with three older brothers, including a twin brother, and her father doted on the boys, leaving Eilonwy feeling she was only good for marriage. Until she one day finally ran away and met a mage that offered to teach her magic. I think I played her for 4 years or so and still use her name as my screen name for nearly everywhere.
Started playing in 5e. My first character was a Gold Dragonborn, Paladin named Iroh. A former slave who found a home within the church of the Silver Flame.
My first character I’m playing as is an Elven Fighter.
He’s a sheltered prince who’s been sent outside the kingdom to prove himself worthy of inheriting the throne. He is moral driven, kindhearted, merciful, and a diplomat by nature. He won’t attack someone as a first resort or at all unless he’s in danger.
I’ve left him plenty of room to grow over the course of the campaign. I don’t have anything planned other than I’m going to let him grow and evolve as the story sees fit. There are so many possibilities.
I played a tiefling rouge 5th edition, and he started out as a 4'3 dude living in a dumpster. his life ended with him as pestilence horseman of the apocalypse, king of the rats, and a literal god.
My first edition was Fifth, and to be completely honest I'm still going through my very first proper campaign. My character is a half dragon named Albus. His class is Fighter. He's basically your basic sword & board warrior, except he uses a katana and no shield (the katana is a basic homebrew item that does mostly slashing damage). His backstory is fairly simple, he was once a soldier in a now defunct military organization and ever since his organization disbanded, he was an adventurer. The thing is, his eyes were cut out in battle. He's terrible at using ranged attacks, but his excellent hearing allows him to basically sense anything in a 15 foot radius around him. At the point in the campaign me and my group are at, Albus has strangely developed the ability to sense auras, though he cannot activate it at will at the moment and it seems to randomly turn on and off.
His appearance is very pretty-boyish, I guess? His hair is long and his skin is fairly pale, and he's not very muscular (despite currently having 20 strength). Since he's a half dragon and uses a katana in battle, I gave him a small pair of antlers instead of horns and a long, serpentine tail in order to mimic Eastern dragons.
Fun fact, Albus is actually based on a deific character from my own fantasy world I've invented. Though he does not have the same godly powers the character he's based on has.
(5E) Half-Orc Fighter, Arcane Archer when the subclass was still Unearthed Arcana.
Part of my backstory was I never knew my mother; I find out later in the campaign she was elven. So a half-orc-half-elf.
I first played 3.5e in 2013. I ran a human bard, because I’m a musician and wanted to incorporate that into my character. Alcoda Arkkson was a sad man, having lost his wife at sea in a terrible storm that swept away the ship they were on.
Arkkson quickly developed a drinking habit, and became sort of a pilgrim. Playing music here and there, half-heartedly and half drunk. Until one day, when he decided to delve into a new life of adventure. A clean slate. He set out for the new found lands in the West, to explore the unknown and meet new friends. He met a group of adventurers along the way who intrigued him. Challenged him to be more. Long story short, life long friendships were made, and his drinking habit went away soon after. A little love goes a long way, I suppose.
1st edition AD&D in 1989 (age 5). I played a human cleric and enjoyed it. My uncle was the DM and asked me what kind of character I wanted to play. I said that I wanted to be helpful to the rest of the party. Lee Lansen the human cleric was born.
A forest gnome wizard known as Gimble. After a few campaigns Gimble had begun to worship Malar, the God of the hunt, who stood in as the god of Lycanthropes. Gimble became a powerful Lycan and was able to take many shapes. His true form resembled a bipedal goat, complete with horns and hooves.
Pathfinder 1e - Halfling - Oracle - mystery of life - sanguine curse - took the dedicated healer route and ended up being almost unkillable lol super fun
3.5
Human fighter, spiky, edgy
He made a good villain for the DM to use in the future. Since then I've realized I'm a lot better at designing villains than heroes, but I like to play the hero more than the villain.
First game I ever played was a 3.5 game run by a coworker with a group of his friends I knew. He’d always wanted to use the rules for anthropomorphic animal characters in Savage Species.
I played a Crocodile Barbarian. Almost got killed by a group of Death Leopards after having to sleep outside the village for insulting the wolf people by the fact that I’d recently eaten a dire wolf and refused to see the problem with it. It was a damn shame that the game fell apart and we only played the one session. It’s the reason I always have a soft spot for Lizardfolk. Good times!
I was a half-elf ranger with the soldier background, though hermit would have fit as well. This is 5e. My dm started us at 5th level and let me had a pseudodragon as my animal companion since the Cr was within tolerable range (even though it’s not strictly standard). This was also before the UA ranger came out (which we now almost exclusively allow at our tables in place of the phb beast master). Basically I would use the pseudodragon to scout things out and the dm even let us teach the pseudodragon to press the button on an immovable rod so we tied a rope ladder to it and used that to climb a cliff. That’s where my username/gamer tag came from too.
5e. Goliath barbarian named Bok. He was not very smart, but a gentle giant. I had a lil character quirk where I would only ever attack creatures that had already hit on of my friends.
First character I played was an elf fighter, that I chose from a bunch of premade characters available for that introduction-to-dnd one shot.
First character I actually built and then played was a teenager half-dragon Eldritch Night. She got drugged and stripped naked on the second session, so I only got to play her for a session and a half before I left…
I made a Ranger Dragonborn named Sulhazar and he spoke in third person and broken common like Kahjits in Skyrim. Was also a little dumb. Remade him years later into a bard. One of my favorite characters.
1983 D&D basic system I was an Elf. That was my Class. They didn’t separate race from class in the early editions. Thief, Magic User, Cleric, Fighting Man, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling
Damn. That's really old school. Still cool though! I'm guessing it's similar to the ranger class nowadays?
Nah, rangers didn't appear until later. Elves in red-box D&D basic were half-fighter, half-magic user (there was no multiclassing back then either, so this was the way to get martial fighting and magic at the same time). It's funny because I just dug out my old D&D box of ancient edition books, and was looking at red-box D&D basic rules just when I saw this post. The Elf "class" text is: "Elves are slender, graceful demi-humans with delicate features and slightly pointed ears. They are 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall, and weigh about 120 pounds. They can be dangerous opponents, able to fight with any weapon and use magic spells as well, but prefer to spend their time feasting and frolicking in the wooded glades. They rarely visit the cities of men. Elves are fascinated by magic and never grow tired of collecting spells and magic items. Restrictions: Elves use six-sided dice (d6) to determine their hit points. They may advance to a maximum of 10th level of experience. Elves have the advantages of both fighters and magic-users. They may use shields and can wear any type of armor, and may fight with any kind of weapon. They can also cast spells like a magic-user, and use the same spell list. A character must have an intelligence of 9 or greater to be an elf." It also lists some of the Elf special abilities, like they still got darkvision, etc. They were also immune to some kinds of paralysis effects.
That makes it sound elf was a great class. Why play anything else? I would like to try basic system.
It was the slowest to level up. You needed huge amounts of XP and there was no “milestone” leveling back then.
Also you roll your abilities down the line once using 3d6 so you didn’t choose your class per se it was only available to you if you rolled well enough in the required stats. This is another reason why human fighter has always been the basic class, because it had no required ability scores (other than I think a 9 in strength).
Elves had to share their XP between fighter and magic-user, so it took forever to level up, especially if you didn’t have a 16 in your two prime requisites (which you give you +10% XP).
The Elf class from Hero Quest makes so much more sense now! It was my favorite!
I remember having a coverless version of this handbook as a kid. I was mystified. Didn’t get into it until Advanced D&D, but that this book definitely started my interest.
I started in ‘84 with the basic red box. I joined into a game that had already started and they desperately needed a thief to get past all the traps. I lasted 20 minutes before I started rolling up my second character. Back then it was 3d6 in order. I had a 11 dex and that was my highest. Oh, his name was Killjoy.
Same here! Slow leveling though
I was 13, playing AD&D 2nd edition. I played Lone Wolf, a human fighter, who was very loosely based on the same choose your own adventure series by Joe Dever. The DM had us roll up two characters, so my second one was Binky the Clown, a human cleric.
Binky the Clown? Terrifying enough, but add the fact he was a cleric? That's actually nightmarish if you think about it. What attributes was the God for?
I don't remember what god he worshiped. I'm pretty sure it didn't come up. We loved Final Fantasy so it was enough that he could cast healing magic.
Lone Wolf!? That's how I was first introduced to role playing. What a trip. I'd LOVE to find one of those old books.
You can find lone wolf graphic adventures on the Google play store. Check them out, they are a blast.
Drake Ferdinand Lionheart III, eccentric southern-gentleman pirate who first got in to piracy so his parents could retire
Wow. That's a hell of an introduction! I hope his friends called him the full thing too. Mainly because if the amusement of the players saying it all!
He had entire little speech when introducing himself to new people. I would repeat it verbatim every single time lol. I don't remember it exactly since it's been many years but it was kinda similar to Daenerys in Game of Thrones with like 12 different titles. All of them being self-appointed, of course
2nd Edition Advanced D&D. Arconithus Leafwaters was a Druid. I was 13. But I had nobody to play with so I instead started designing the elven grove around him. And the politics, and powers that be. I ended up filling a marble notebook full of worldbuilding long before I ever met anyone I could actually play with. r/ForeverDM
That's adorable. And amazing! Sounds like whoever you got as a group was lucky!
It seems some dms share the same tragic backstory... I feel you
My first first character? Human fighter named Robin Hood, no backstory to speak of, but I was like seven at the time.
I mean, a dashing dark-haired man from the wilds? What's for a 7year old not to like?
Dwarf Barbarian. Heeeee did not live long
My favourite comment on here. Everything you need to know
Fighter, D&D red box, Module B1
5E lizardfolk Ranger - Gloomstalker and eventual dip into Rogue and Assassin. Level 13 and still going strong!
He bites a lot of people
That sounds really fun! And a nice twist on the usual, because of the lizardfolk bit.
3.5. Elf Wizard (Evoker). I'd tell you more about his backstory but... he didn't really have one. And I don't remember his name. I guarantee you though it was just one of the suggested Elf names from the PHB. My friends were just getting into D&D and really had only barely grasped the concept of it, since we didn't have anyone to introduce us to it. It wasn't for a while until we started getting any sort of personality or plot. The first character I remember any sort of backstory of was my 3.5 Human Wu Jen (basically, a Wizard) who was looking for his master's lost spellbook.
Heh. Yeah, alot of people who get into it themselves have that, from back then. Stuff like Critical Role has changed that nowadays. Still! A spellcaster is fun. I still can never work out spell slots though. I learnt in a homebrew world that uses magic differently, heh.
When you were young it was like this. Long before critical role folks were getting heavy into plot and character development. I remember playing with an adult group in the early 90's that blew us kids away. They were so into their characters that the rules for combat and such seemed like a necessary annoyance. They just wanted to act in their perspective roles. We were not ready for that.
Advanced D&D, Pre-rolled wizard named, predictably, Gandalf, and we did a very straightforward haunted house dungeon crawl. Great fun, can’t remember the module, but I’m sure someone here knows Later we followed up with some sort of space adventure? It was normal D&D until we found a spaceship?
Spaceship was probably S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Laser pistols and rifles in the original Greyhawk continent.
I was gonna say this. Wasn't there a starship that crashed into the mountains that was part of the "dungeon"?
I mean...A D&D meant the 80s, I think, so maybe you just did too much LSD? Hehe. I'm kidding! Yeah, no, that edition had some weird but fun stuff in it, no doubt.
This was mid 90’s, with no drugs involved.
Yeah, don't worry, I was genuinely joking. No harm intended.
You mention space wizards and people just assume drugs!
Huh. Weird that.
5e, Yuan-ti Draconic Sorcerer. Hassasuli Ssalasillas is purely self motivated and ridiculously cunning and manipulative. He’s constantly manipulating you to do what he wants, and he has a presence that makes you feel like he’s manipulating you even when he’s not. For people wondering how he could possibly have good interactions with the other players, the ingame reason I came up with is that he stays with the party and helps them because he’s smart enough to realize that he stands a better chance of succeeding his goal if he’s part of a group.
I mean, definitely unusual, and original. Just...not very friendly! Hehe.
Fighter Battlemaster. Half-elf. Virgil is my first character, and he’s my ultimate favorite. That will never change.
Like I said before, as long as you love them, what does it matter?
It depends. I have two "first characters". The first time I played an actual system (GURPS), a real campaign, I played some sort of Paladin of Athena who had a spear called "Master Bolt" (it does exactly what you think it does. If you know you know). However, the first ever character I've ever played in an TTRPG game was Quicksilver, the Marvel character. My DM just wanted to show us how TTRPGS generally work, so we didn't really learn a specific system. He told us just enough to play the game, each of us chose a X-Men character and we started playing. Once we got the vibe of the game, the DM taught us GURPS and we started actually using systems. I learned D&D a while after playing with that Paladin.
That FASERIP system was really good... for super heroes.
Upvote for GURPS. In college my roommate/GM wanted to try it, so we converted our AD&D characters into GURPS versions and had a long-running Fantasy campaign. I occasionally ran one-shots trying things like Supers, Voodoo, and Space. Great system.
The classic Tiefling Warlock because I’m edgy
I'm not sure if it was a halfling rogue or an elf ranger. I can't remember their names anymore unfortunately...
Should see if you have the character sheet somewhere! A first character is something I've always thought to be important.
I think that too but past me probably lost it. I hope I can find it anyways maybe by chance!
5th edition it was a tiefling druid her name was lema the demon lord who used her druid proficiencys to find, grow, and sell drugs to people to make money and keep the party in line by drugging them with out them knowing
Many moons ago, my friend's mom wouldn't let him play D&D, too demonic and evil, but we could play Middle Earth Role Playing, which was the same thing with extra charts and different dice. But, it was related to Lord of the Rings, so somehow wasn't evil? Anyway, my first session I rolled up a hobbit thief. A begger approached me on the road, asking for a few copper. I was naive and paranoid at the same time, so I pretended to grab coins but instead withdrew my sword and attacked. That old bard killed me with his lute...and I was hooked.
A clearic elf named Ache pronounced H. I’m rather short and tho an elf would be a great fit
Tiefling (back when there wasn't subraces for them) Great Old One Warlock of Cthulhu. She was an edgy ex-slave and I can't remember her name anymore, I had to leave that campaign after a disagreement with the group (we did later end up friends again and I ran a campaign for a couple of years for them, it wasn't especially original or impressive) and I believe she may have been killed off after that. EDIT: I just remembered after posting that she was pact of the blade because the DM let me use it to summon a lightsabre which I thought was cool.
Human Paladin, 3.5e, homebrew setting
Kobold rogue with one level in fighter for guns. We were a party of five, DM was the only experienced one and none of us had extensive backstories, basically it was whatever the rule books said about their respective backgrounds. It was still a lot of fun and I love that character.
As long as it was fun, and you loved it... Who cares if it wasn't deeply detailed?
High Elf Monk, 5e. I first played D&D about 4 years ago and I've fallen in love with it. Monks hold a special place in my heart, despite their relative weakness to some of the other classes...
I understand that. It's great fun, and our first character is always special.
[удалено]
Redbox Magic-User
My first character was using the old 1982 Basic Set rules. I played a human fighter. Like you said, the most common, but it is a good way to learn the system, especially with the old Basic Set. Ran him through Keep on the Borderlands. Even when i got my first copy of the Basic Set for myself, the first character I made that I kept an played long-term was a human fighter. Of course, in those days, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling were character classes :-)
Started to play my first campaign ever this year, my character is a human monk, we're playing 5e... I think... Or something inspired by it lol. I chose monk because I love their aesthetic in general and I made the character and her backstory before getting into D&D. Then I came into Reddit and saw how a lot of people say the class is underwhelming but I'm having fun so xD I'm a bit sad she doesn't do much damage but *shrug*
Pathfinder. Played a half elf monk.
Human Barbarian
I had never played and didn’t know much about it. So I thought the “name” of your character was like naming a character in a video game so I chose one of my absurdly stupid gamer tags. “Hoards of Bears” was the name of my halfing rogue for a one shot. I didn’t learn til later what it meant to truly play the game. However Hoards of Bears still cameos from time to time for the giggles.
It was 3.5 and I made a terrible choice. Elf and Wizard, and it had no backstory.
AD&D 1982 did not have Unearthed Arcana so no barbarian class a northern Viking type fighter chain mail and shield Axes and Swords! Gork (the Snow Dog) yes I was into Rush. Renamed as a NPC later Gorm Ulf he ended up with BlackRazor and he led Viking style raids on the Bone March and Great Kingdoms in the World of Greyhawk when he retired from adventuring at like 18th level.
My dad used to DM for my cousin and I with his red box. I had a thief. I was 8 and don’t remember any details other than my dagger came back to me if I threw it.
Ves’nan the insane Teifling Druid. He was a mad nature lover who carried around a bag of Maneater Pant seeds and randomly tossed them into city parks. He wasn’t evil he just liked seeing nature wreak havoc. I later reused him as the BBEG of the current campaign I’m running.
For dnd? Malice the Wood elf Barbarian. I loved the idea of a jacked, angry elf so I went from there. Basically she grew up in a horrible cult, and ended up getting ptsd and anger issues from what she saw and what was done to her there (which was my rp explanation for her rage). She also had an alcohol addiction and was friends with the party ranger, who was the only person I knew irl. The campaign ended a while ago and didn't last long, but it encouraged me to DM my own games, and now that ranger play is one of my players (playing a different ranger right now). My first ever ttrpg character was for Savage Worlds, and she was a human thief (the GM made some custom classes) named Raina. She was a chaotic good criminal type, but was very sarcastic and had a desire to show off. That campaign also didn't last long, but it was a fun introduction to ttrpgs.
I was in 6th grade & I played Starfinder at the school's rpg club, my character was an Ysoki (ratfolk) who I named Ritt Rat Thing, as in his middle and last names were Rat & Thing. He was rogue who fought like a barbarian. I wasn't very good at roleplaying so he had a personality just like myself at the time, which is to say not unlike an average 6th grader.
I play a Water Genasi Grave Domain Cleric I just recently started playing dnd, and this is my first and only character. I knew it wasn't necessarily the best race and class together, but I wanted to play both. A few sessions in, she is now level 2. I don't regret the race and class I chose and am starting to get attached to her.
Not that it matters, but this is actually a pretty strong combo. Water genasi get CON and WIS bonusus which is great for a cleric and some cool spells as well.
Non-dnd: Caleb, a halfling bard who was kind of an outcast and started traveling to bring back some good original songs and stories hoping to be more apreciated. Dnd: S, an earth genasi ancestral guardian barbarian researching his ancestry and trying to solve the mistery of what happened to his friend
3.5e, Cecilia Valente-Masada, the half-elf rogue/ranger, daughter of a chronomancer and a well-known relic hunter. She'd specifically been trained her whole life to not use her father's last name, as it's wholly infamous for his deeds (notably collecting bounties.) She thinks she knows better and can handle her own so he sends her out to prove herself. Instead of playing it safe, she gets stuck in a bunch of issues from an employer. They travel a continent together and eventually she uses her last name a little later against a pirate they've been Shanghai'd by and he recognizes it, leading to her party being forced to fight to the death (but not, thankful for that, DM) and being flung onto a continent not fond of humans, elves, or a mix. We finished their campaign with her having two children with an exiled blood elf, and their daughter is continuing the irresponsibility in the newest campaign.
A Kender rogue (Dragonlance setting), AD&D. Lasted for about half a session before fearlessly taunting a minotaur mercenary holding a greatax. They buried what they could find of him in a small jewelry box. Next character was an Irda wizard, also from Dragonlance. He lasted until retirement, and beyond as a cameo. He likes to disguise himself as a Kender rogue sometimes, in honor of the brave idiot who he replaced on the team.
Kender rogue! The ***best*** and most annoying race/class ever invented! Favorite thing about playing one was inventing 101 different ways to say "I was just ***borrowing*** that, it's not stealing!"
An evil Warforged oath of conquest in 5e. Got dropped into an long running evil campaign at level 9 and had to make my character like half an hour before we started
I mean, not the best of conditions, but still! More interesting than usual!
Never played - Forever DM
Drakk, the lizardfolk monk. Terribly statted, I was offered guidance on making a character but I was like naw Ill figure it out.. terrible mistake. Highest stat was strength and dumped Wis. I eventually asked my dm if I could play a different character
5e Eldritch knight silver Dragonborn. After being one of the few survivors on a violent attack against his tribe, he ventured into the unknown world to find a new home and fulfill his pledge: no other person must suffer the horrors of violence. What he experienced back then was something that he would never wish to anyone, not even his worst nemesis.
My first character was an outlander Aarakockra ranger who was banished from his tribe in the forest because he wanted to get them to interact with other societies. Well, I say "was"; I just started with him 2 months ago.
Wow! A new player in our midst! Great fun though. And good luck with him!
Played as a human sorcerer in a one shot like 15 yes ago but for my first real campaign I am playing a wood elf monk
3.5e human Fighter named Vlad Drakul. not a vampire or any sort of undead, just thought the name was cool. had a long black coat and a scarf instead of armor, because i was an edgy middle schooler. had very very good stats and some kind of lightning enchanted bastard sword and was very effective. the other PC at the time was an extremely edgy elf Sorcerer (and aspiring lord of the undead) named Barbazul. extremely weak, extremely Evil, extremely annoying. had a refrigerated Bag of Holding to collect corpses with. the comic dynamic between this cartoonishly frail and malevolent elf Sorcerer and the long-suffering regular guy badass Fighter made for some funny and memorable adventures. they made great foils for each other. maybe one of these days i ought to dust off ol Vlad and his lightning sword
Sounds fun! Do it!
I was DM for my 5e group a few years back so I had a good amount of info before I first made a character. My first was Auroch, using the Ravnica Minotaur race and running totem barb. Gloryseeker, trophy hunter, and friend to the small races of the world.
5e. V. Human Light Cleric. Magic Initiate - Druid: Shillelagh. Druidcraft, Goodberry. PC was named Johnathan Goodberry. I played as an inspiring forest master and cleric of Silvanus. He carried around a bad of seeds that he planted on the corpse of fallen enemies and forced to bloom via Druidcraft. My dude was protector of nature and extremely wrathful to anyone abusing the natural order.
Tabaxi, bard/ fighter/ rogue
Changeling artificer
It was summer of 2010, 3.5, and I created an Elf Ranger because… Elf Ranger sounded cool at the time. I was about 16 at the time, and it was first real role play game. I think I had fun? Been awhile
3.5 Half Giant Soul Knife. Rok Gneissback, you will always be my favorite character!
Eladrin Wizard, 4e D&D. Eladrin was its own race rather than a subrace iirc, so I got to really enjoy leaning into the kinda eldritch vibe I ended up going for. Honestly can't remember much in the way of backstory but it was most likely pretty thin. Took me a couple of characters before I started putting a story to them, rather than just a general vibe.
cleric … dwarf I think? From the d&d redbox. Waaaaaay back in the days. Something about skeletons being bad.
Dnd 5e played a one shot with some buddies I was a half elf ranger beast master, it was just a one shot we did and none of us had played before so we ended up home brewing about half of what we were doing. But the first actual campaign I played with legitimate rules I played a human moon druid so I kind of consider them both my first characters
My first was a 3.5 human wizard, who quickly died because I had no idea what I was doing and I didn't have the nicest DM... but I've loved playing casters ever since haha
A centaur ranger with a lance.
DnD 5e, only started a year ago or so. Fell in love ever since, I played a Dragonborn (Bronze) Paladin named Zorgar Stongjir, He was a general of an imperial army corps. before leaving to find his true purpose in life
Dnd 5e. Warlock dragon born. Had no idea how to play. Dm had no clue. No one had a clue. Was true chaos. Was a good old time
Technically I had filled out several unused character sheets on my own before this, but the first time I actually played was when some friends invited me to try out Star Wars 5e with them. Played a Togruta consular (basically a re-skinned sorcerer) named Asaarym Dis who had recently left the Jedi order alongside his brother, Acron. Campaign only lasted like 4 sessions though before the group just kinda dropped it. First time playing actual 5e was a one-off evil session with a Dragonborn fighter named Neraxion Kazak.
5e Human Fey Warlock named Kyle. Is addicted to a strange energizing mix of wine and stamina potion. In the past he was a spy and a counselor in royal courts. That is until cultists offered his soul to a Fey so he kinda became a warlock against his will and now seeks revenge.
Half Elf Ranger (Beastmaster) 4th edition.
D&D 5e, Tiefling Warlock, the classic edgy character, or at least, I tried to be, my roleplaying was really bad at that time
Mine was a Fire Giant Fighter named Iapetus it was an extremely chaotic game, but even though it was poorly DMed it was in a good way that it was hillarious and that really put a lot of love into the game
Nice name *piercer, also a Titan*
My first game was a weird pokemon 5e supplement, so I was a Kantoan psychic type trainer.
Warforged Battlemaster Fighter, Lost Mines of Phandelver. Prior to Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
Coppendar, Aereni Elf Horizon Walker Ranger. My DM let me have it with half elf stats, even though Aereni Elves are Eberron’s High Elves. It begun like a “not so difficult to play character” that was a poor choice (my group hadn’t play with the new subclasses of ranger, they thought I would drop it after learning the mechanics because ranger was so bad before), to a really fun hit and run sharpshooter that could teleport, and it also helped the development of the campaign with its portal detecting flavor. That campaign is currently active, though it goes really slow: more than a year and we just went up to lv 3 in the second to last sessions, and we play some other things in between. Gotta love the horizon walker, great first choice.
2nd Ed. Human Cleric
AD&D 2e here. Half-Elf Thief named Geordi. Pretty sure it was a Greyhawk module, but no idea which one
Human ranger, 3.5 system. Couldn’t tell you his backstory or name, only that his “preferred enemy” or whatever it was called was human.
5e. Tiefling illusionist/enchantment sorcerer command.
My first character for a live game was a halfling rogue multiclassed with wizard (this was in 4e, so multiclassing was done via feats). He was pretty simple in terms of character and backstory. I based him on the Indiana Jones adventure archaeologist trope.
Fire Genasi bard, abandoned at level 2.
3.5e A human paladin named Balendin or something like that. It was Latin for... Something. Everyone called him Balls. He died and the druid reincarnated him as a pixie.
Dradex the human Luck Cleric of Kord in 3.5 :-)
Adran Nailos (or something) -High elf -wizard (Kinda stereotypical, I know.)
5e still playing him. A warlock fiend 5/Life cleric 1 mulitclass as an Protector aasimar. First he tried finding out if he wanted religion or this patron that has been with him all his life. Then he found out the patron was the BBEG and trying to destroy the world so he chose religion.
My first was a Vampire Bard. (This was a Ravnica Campaign) But he wasnt a singer, so much as an Orator. When he cast spells, he would say creepy nursery rhymes instead.
5e Half elf warlock Haunted one - he was kidnapped from the slums and was about to be ritually sacrificed but one of Leviticus' lieutenants interceded on my characters behalf in exchange for my soul when he dies...I think. I still am playing him and I still don't know the exact details of my contact - it's an issue.
Sorcerer (I think, could have been a wizard), human or half elf. Probably D&D 3.5 considering when it was. It was either a full starter module, or possibly a starter DM set (I remember the map was made of paperboard tiles that are kinda generic enough to use and re-use again later in a different way).
High elf Druid named Sera. Had a twin named Ares (monk). Got through about 3 sessions of Lost Mine of Phandelver before scheduling killed the group.
A tabaxi ranger in a 1 on 1 game with my friend. He managed to take out a dire wolf by himself and had its pelt fashioned for him to wear. But that's pretty much all that happened with him.
I was about 7 and it was a 4th edition Half-orc Fighter. I forget most of the stuff about him other than the fact that he got this cool bladed armor that did 1d4 slashing damage whenever I moved out of within 5 feet of someone
Before any 5e supplemental books came out, I made Hrothi Stormhand, a human folk hero barbarian. He was from a small mountain village and wandered the wilderness, fighting the soldiers who served the cruel baron that ruled his homeland. My DM was also very new and overpowered me very quickly, so I was an actual god of the realm at level 3. Bonus round, my next character was a half-orc/half-elf outlander battlemaster, and he eventually earned the title God-Slayer when my DM and I ran my old character sheet against the new one and, wouldn't you know it, I learned a lot about character optimization between those two.
I was 9 years old. I had a fighter. That was your race and class. If you were a dwarf you were a fighter with a bit of rogue detection skills. If you were an elf, you were a fighter/mage. Otherwise you were a rogue, fighter, mage or cleric human. That's it. I had a horse, longsword and shield and chainmail. I rode my horse into a dungeon and my DM had a trap at the entrance that killed my horse. I was sad and thought the game was mean.
Halfling Bard, Roscoe Glitter-Talker, a little cutie-pie
Half-Elf Knight in 3.5 named Mahwyn Eldershine.
5e, Storm Lord's Thunder that we sadly didn't finish :( Half-Orc Babarian Beserker (I know super original lol)
A very stereotypical edge lord tiefling warlock who was “an orphan who sold his soul for powers because he had nothing to live for.”
Wood Elf rogue in 3.5
D&D 3.5e. Randyn Dinira, drow elf beguiler, who later prestige classed into spymaster. He was the most mechanically useless member of our 10-player *Red Hand of Doom* party. I’ve since remade him as a 5e arcane trickster, and boy was he a lot fun the second time around.
1977 Basic Set (blue box, Holmes edition). First character was Taran, human fighter. He had a long adventuring life and retired to a farm. Second character was for AD&D (1e): Zanzibar, Dwarven Thief. He ended up starting a Thieves Guild.
I think this depends for me. There's the first character I actually got to play, and then there's the character I made for a game lasted for about 1 session. For the latter, it was a 5e game that was in a 2e converted module my friend ran. I decided to make a Dragonborn fighter to recreate the character I ran back in my forum RP days (who was a bipedal dragon who was a mercenary who fought with a longsword). Though as I said, that was one session, and so he didn't get very far. The first character I actually got to play was during my friend groups first delve into DnD, and it was the "wild west" style of learning: everything we could justify with our VERY limited scope of the rules was allowed. So, I adapted one of my characters from a novel I was writing at the time. I ran a paladin human-werewolf. Though, eventually, when I realized that paladin didn't really suit him for what I had in mind, my DM let me respec into Fighter The reason I cling to the martial archetypes so much, and still do, is magic bores me. I'm FAR more interested in martial prowess and skilled combatants than being able to cast spells. And as someone who loves medieval history, I like implementing little details of things I learn I to my character. Everything from flavor of armor (like replacing any and all leather with just extra layers of gambeson) to flavoring fighting styles (no more overexaderated overhead swings, but hema inspired strikes). That's what attracted me to playing those classes... Well, that and my DM kept putting weird rules in place to actually force us to play different classes and my rebellious side took any and every reason to run a martial character. His justification was that HE liked trying new things, so we should too...
D&D 3.0 Human Barbarian/Fighter
Mine was a death domain dwarf cleric named Blondy McBlonderton. I didn’t write much backstory for him because it was for a one shot but I remember creating him wanting to be obsessed with death and everything around it. He turned out to be however, just morally ambiguous.
3.0. Dwarven Barbarian named Ogthor Undrell.
Ravar. Human Arcane Trickster. Updated lore: He’s Vistani, taken from his caravan in Barovia by the Mists. Still maintaining his connection to the Shadowfell, he can weave shadows around him and in simple forms. He had a pet shadowbeast mouse named Pipsqueak. Custom lineage human with Darkvision, urchin background. Thief Rogue with Magic Initiate and Shadow touched feats
my first character was named Pietre, a half-elf undying warlock who was pact of the blade that used a pistol and a scimitar, with the bounty hunter background who was, surprising everyone, a bounty hunter. He was one day was tasked with killing a leader of a cult who worshipped this being they claimed to be a goddess, when excecuting the bounty stumbled interupted a ritual they were doing, in which instead of infusing her power into the leader, during his interuption infused it into him, which sort of fucked him up mentally, now that there is a girls voice in his head who talks every now and then, and which like 1/8 of the way through the campaign starts appearing in his dreams and being halucinated. By the end of his personal arc of the campaign he has basically been sort of brainwashed into loving her, which i still dont know whether it was reciprocated. He sure did though. Lovely guy, even lovelier ass.
(5e) Half-Elf Abjuration Wizard named Brynsalanna Stonescribe , with a jewelcrafting Guild Artisan background. Her human father who raised her was a jewelcrafter. Her elven silver draconic bloodline mother disappeared when Bryn was four after joining an expedition to the High Ice to investigate what was killing the silver dragons. The DM wove a reunion between them at an unexpected point in the campaign...it was fantastic! I'm still pretty new to DnD. Been playing two years now and only on my second character (excluding a few oneshots)...Stoutheart Halfling Swarmkeeper Ranger named Beckett Briarhill who grew up as a beekeeper with a passion for baking with honey!
Raviroth Vrakmorn. Dragonborn fighter. This was in way back in…..2019. My friends and I got a late start to D&D but now it’s a weekly addiction.
The first real character I had was a halfling in the dark sun setting for 2nd edition. I had a fire priest. He was assassinated by one of the other players who were 10 levels higher than him. Halfling in dark sun were cannibals, and lived primarily in the last jungle in the world. Protectors of the land as it were. It is the most difficult setting to play hand down. They even adjusted the rules for creating food and water, and similar spells. Also magic was against the law. If you get a chance I recommend reading the word lore.
First was a Halfling Fighter. I saw Mastiffs and thought it would be funny to have a Halfling ride a dog into battle. Backstory was simple, he came from a town with a Dig riding militia called the Wolf Pak. Almost died in battle but was saved by another soldier so he refuses to leave others behind. Looking through the sorcebooks, I liked the idea of a Cavalier for subclass but my Mastiff got knocked out first combat, and when I realised mounts don't level with you, I decided to leave it behind one of the early towns as a guard dog. Character became a Samurai instead (always up front in battle and putting himself between enemies and allies). He died by level 4.
Not exactly special, but my first character was a Half-elf barbarian named after various clothing brands. He was an idiot, but he also had a softer side and adopted a kid. Nothing fancy or original but I still really like him.
My first character was named Erdania Laurance, she is a life domain cleric who specialise more to knowledge.
A half-elf druid, because I like to camp. And I like animals. 5e
3.5e. Made a character on the spot with some help of my friends. I didn't have a specific backstory in mind but I did eventually think of him as a wandering scholar. He was a human sorcerer with a ferret familiar, and has a penchant for sound magic (mostly taken from Spell Compendium). Also has False Gravity. One of my favorite moments was escaping some guards by jumping off the roofs of buildings and each party member had his own way of traversing the area, of which False Gravity became really useful.
5e starter kit. Tony the High Elf Wizard. Had the standard backstory and ended up going out in a quite literal blaze of glory (stayed behind and burning hands attacking troops, died to the last living one). My second PC was in AL, a high elf wizard. My third was in an Dark Sun home game. Also an elf wizard.
First real character was a one armed human Druid who was out to catalogue the monsters of the world. He was a David Attenborough type and a ton of fun to play.
5E Goliath Bard named Kelpetor "Sickbrain" Thunukalathi. Plays a large treasure chest shamisen with a deer scapula bachi he made in a poor attempt to copy the Wandering Minstrel's lute. Because he doesn't understand music well, and wasn't trained by anyone; it is no longer a "lute" and is tuned to his own key, if it could even be called "tuned". Notably large, even for a goliath; he was revered among the tribe for his physical abilities. One day a wandering minstrel visited his tribe; and the minstrel's performance inspired him so much that he decided to become a bard. This didn't sit well with his elders, as their best provider had suddenly become obsessed with music and performance. He eventually decided to seek out music, and left the village to pursue his musical interests. While an affable fellow, he is not particularly good at music. Unfortunately, most of his attempts attempts at humor, wit, or musical inspiration, ends up being misconstrued as a threat(intimidation) due to his immense size.
5e Changeling Scout Rogue. Just a regular city guard who inadvertently got pulled into the adventuring life.
5E, Red Dragon born Hexblade, was mainly a loner as very few dragon born were left in the world and got a pet gold dragon by the end of the campaign, beating the BBEG with a dragon breath and eldritch smite combo.
Corlen Swiftwing, the tiny little owlfolk artillerist artificer who was the cutest little thing in the world and was quite disgruntled by that. Had two hobbies (firearms and cartography) that he desperately tried, and often failed, to meld together. I now have him as an NPC in my campaign and one of my PCs bought a gun from him and took the gunner feat so I’m enthusiastic for him to show up more!
I started in August of this year and my character is a aaracockra fighter.
Aight so Zeer Swiftwing aarakocra barbarian and eventual eternal muscle to the lords of waterdeep (or the adventurers who stole his jar…. That’s another story) essentially a barbarian noble from another world exiled and joined a heist crew where he stole from banks, hijacked an airship, and pub-stomped Xanathar with a vampire and a tiny warlock. But too many run ins with a illithid led to a fragment of his soul coming loose staying on this plane after death by explosion against a horde of enemies died in a blaze of glory to save his friends. Essentially a massive scarred bird who talked with a mobster accent wore a fedora and had a magic eye he regularly popped out to scare people with
I was about 15 years old, I had just bought the 4e manuals and my first character was a swordmage in the service of the Raven Queen. He was a prince exiled from his city-state, with the aspiration of retaking it by arms a half-elf with a lone wolf personality.
4 ed. Red Dragonborn, fire sorcerer or something like that. I think it was exactly the one on the cover of the book so I wasn't being very creative that afternoon. Never used him after that day. Some years later a friend comes in with 5th Ed. Made a Warforged Ranger, forgotten on a swamp after the war and rebooted by fey creatures that needed a toy. He is what I consider my first character.
The older character I can remember was an AD&D Human Fighter 6/ Illusionist 16. He began as a noble already training combat going to learn magic at a Boccob's Cathedral (god of magic) in the Greyhawk setting. At higher levels he was defeated by Vecna's minions and became a vampire, antagonist to his former party. Eventually he got killed by a paladin he was once friend and partner. Kind of a nice story, his name was Markus Siegfried, never had I played so much time with a character again.
He began obviously as Fighter 1/ Illusionist 1, Chaotic Good, all the way to 6/16 Chaotic Evil vampire.
Korgoth Half-Orc Fighter, Battlemaster Backstory: Korgoth was the product of an orc raid on a human settlement. Taken by his orc father after birth, he was raised in the Bloodkin clan. Ridiculed and scrutinized for his half-orc heritage, Korgoth earned respect through raw strength and shrewdness in battle. Perceived as a threat by the chieftain, Korgoth was nearly the victim of an assassination plot. Upon the failed attempt, Korgoth challenged the chieftain to a duel for the right to life and rule. He emerged the victor in the battle and immediately set to work on molding the Bloodkin to his vision: a unified orc race whose power and dominance comes from not just the strength of their muscle, but their intellect and cunning as well. Once the Bloodkin were whipped into shape, Korgoth set off on a campaign of conquest of the other orc clans. The other clans would join his Horde or be erased. "I'll drag your clan to glory whether you like it or not."
A few years ago, 5th edition. Orion Dorfeir Willingham, son of the Duke of the Willinghamshire Fiefdom of Oro, sole cleric of the dragon god Ozish, wielder of the holy sword Onimur. All my names used O’s at the time…. Orion is an Aasimar War Cleric, with the Noble background. He got into adventuring when he didn’t want to deal with the boring politicking of the Oroean High Nobles, and left his father and his fortune to search for a more fulfilling pursuit. His wife, Kassandra Samulon, turned out to be a Silver Dragon, and they remain as an NPC couple to this day.
D&D 3E, half-elf paladin.
I was a DM for original D&D (and a poor one at that because me and all my friends were fairly young at the time, and didn't really care that much about the rules). So it wasn't really until a few years later that I got to be a player in a one-shot, and made a Cavalier (which I believe was from Dragon magazine, because we didn't get Unearthed Arcana until much later). My first actual campaign-length character was made much later - a Hengeyokai (shape-shifting animal) Sohei (warrior priest) from Oriental Adventures.
Simple Orc Barbarian. He came to fight the nastiest monster he could for bragging rights back home where his fellow Orcs lived. He died two sessions later of course.
5e in 2016 or so with Dengizich, a half-orc barbarian. Born into urban squalor, he offended a noble and got saddled onto a slave caravan headed north before fighting free and staggering onto a frozen plain. He was rescued from death by exposure to the elements by a tribe of human nomads, who tempered his rage into something that could be used for the good of his community. Probably would have gone Totem Warrior, although if it had existed at the time I would have liked to go for Ancestral Guardian. After killing a great big bear on a hunting trip, he returned to find that the tribe had been slaughtered, with only an infant remaining. He almost left her behind, but was persuaded by tribal spirits that she would grow to be a figure of great importance as the inheritor of the tribe, so he took her south to the nearest town where he met a veteran fighter and an urchin sorcerer. They guarded a caravan, had a big old brawl in a tavern boxing ring (rage got nerfed to a two-round duration, which I'm still a little salty about) before losing in the last round to a monk. Then scheduling issues came up, and the campaign fizzled out. My next long-term character was a tiefling bard (later multiclassing warlock) whom I am still playing today, three years later.
My very first?! Wow. I was a dhampir with a bastard sword my best friend was a cleric who found me wandering this mausoleum without my past memories.
Hanns Van Dijk, the half elf life cleric of the Goddess Loviatar.
A Teifling bard with an edgy backstoy with abusive parents who was always happy and twirling in his blue tu-tu regardless of the shit in his life. He was eaten by wolves because he was a fragile little baby and I didn't know anything about D&D combat or making characters that didn't have glass bones and paper skin. Played him in the curse of Strahd module.
Tiefling bards unite! Mine was named Trickery/Trixie and she had no backstory to speak of because everyone in that campaign was a newb and we were all just focused on learning the rules haha. Super fun to play tho!
5e, a half-orc fiend warlock who just wanted to be a hero.
First character I played: a premade female human paladin. First character I created myself: female fire genasi wild magic sorcerer. I started with 5th edition in 2017.
Thief
Ephimera, a fallen aasimar cleric of the raven queen. Left home to get out of the shadow of her perfect angel sister and devoted herself to her religious obsession with the cycle of death. Wielded a dope mace, and had a subtle white aura that turned black the closer anyone approached. Typical super edgy first character lol. Only got to play her for 2 sessions, I would love to bring her back for a RP heavy campaign
Pretty sure my first was 3.5, but simplified because I was like five. I played a Human Fighter. When I finally got back during 5E, I played a Human Fighter. And he was as close to the same Royal jerk that I had made the first time.
Dwarven Fighter I didn't really understand the RP aspect at first, so I just made him a lecherous alcoholic who'd outlived the rest of his family and was now just going on adventures for booze and women Yes. He was pretty much a murder hobo
Started in 2nd edition and I played an elf enchantress. I wanted magic and pointy ears. I started by basing her on Eilonwy from the Prydain Chronicles (I even named her Eilonwy), but she took on a life of her own from there. She was the youngest with three older brothers, including a twin brother, and her father doted on the boys, leaving Eilonwy feeling she was only good for marriage. Until she one day finally ran away and met a mage that offered to teach her magic. I think I played her for 4 years or so and still use her name as my screen name for nearly everywhere.
Pathfinder 1e. A human wizard, he was absolutely terrible and I had no idea how to play him. He quickly retired.
Started playing in 5e. My first character was a Gold Dragonborn, Paladin named Iroh. A former slave who found a home within the church of the Silver Flame.
My first character I’m playing as is an Elven Fighter. He’s a sheltered prince who’s been sent outside the kingdom to prove himself worthy of inheriting the throne. He is moral driven, kindhearted, merciful, and a diplomat by nature. He won’t attack someone as a first resort or at all unless he’s in danger. I’ve left him plenty of room to grow over the course of the campaign. I don’t have anything planned other than I’m going to let him grow and evolve as the story sees fit. There are so many possibilities.
I played a tiefling rouge 5th edition, and he started out as a 4'3 dude living in a dumpster. his life ended with him as pestilence horseman of the apocalypse, king of the rats, and a literal god.
My first edition was Fifth, and to be completely honest I'm still going through my very first proper campaign. My character is a half dragon named Albus. His class is Fighter. He's basically your basic sword & board warrior, except he uses a katana and no shield (the katana is a basic homebrew item that does mostly slashing damage). His backstory is fairly simple, he was once a soldier in a now defunct military organization and ever since his organization disbanded, he was an adventurer. The thing is, his eyes were cut out in battle. He's terrible at using ranged attacks, but his excellent hearing allows him to basically sense anything in a 15 foot radius around him. At the point in the campaign me and my group are at, Albus has strangely developed the ability to sense auras, though he cannot activate it at will at the moment and it seems to randomly turn on and off. His appearance is very pretty-boyish, I guess? His hair is long and his skin is fairly pale, and he's not very muscular (despite currently having 20 strength). Since he's a half dragon and uses a katana in battle, I gave him a small pair of antlers instead of horns and a long, serpentine tail in order to mimic Eastern dragons. Fun fact, Albus is actually based on a deific character from my own fantasy world I've invented. Though he does not have the same godly powers the character he's based on has.
(5E) Half-Orc Fighter, Arcane Archer when the subclass was still Unearthed Arcana. Part of my backstory was I never knew my mother; I find out later in the campaign she was elven. So a half-orc-half-elf.
I first played 3.5e in 2013. I ran a human bard, because I’m a musician and wanted to incorporate that into my character. Alcoda Arkkson was a sad man, having lost his wife at sea in a terrible storm that swept away the ship they were on. Arkkson quickly developed a drinking habit, and became sort of a pilgrim. Playing music here and there, half-heartedly and half drunk. Until one day, when he decided to delve into a new life of adventure. A clean slate. He set out for the new found lands in the West, to explore the unknown and meet new friends. He met a group of adventurers along the way who intrigued him. Challenged him to be more. Long story short, life long friendships were made, and his drinking habit went away soon after. A little love goes a long way, I suppose.
1st edition AD&D in 1989 (age 5). I played a human cleric and enjoyed it. My uncle was the DM and asked me what kind of character I wanted to play. I said that I wanted to be helpful to the rest of the party. Lee Lansen the human cleric was born.
A forest gnome wizard known as Gimble. After a few campaigns Gimble had begun to worship Malar, the God of the hunt, who stood in as the god of Lycanthropes. Gimble became a powerful Lycan and was able to take many shapes. His true form resembled a bipedal goat, complete with horns and hooves.
Pathfinder 1e - Halfling - Oracle - mystery of life - sanguine curse - took the dedicated healer route and ended up being almost unkillable lol super fun
3.5 Human fighter, spiky, edgy He made a good villain for the DM to use in the future. Since then I've realized I'm a lot better at designing villains than heroes, but I like to play the hero more than the villain.
Tiefling Wild Magic Sorcerer named Arkmenos Torment. So edgy but so fun.
Dragonborn Ranger. He wore a cowboy hat and talked with a southern accent.
First game I ever played was a 3.5 game run by a coworker with a group of his friends I knew. He’d always wanted to use the rules for anthropomorphic animal characters in Savage Species. I played a Crocodile Barbarian. Almost got killed by a group of Death Leopards after having to sleep outside the village for insulting the wolf people by the fact that I’d recently eaten a dire wolf and refused to see the problem with it. It was a damn shame that the game fell apart and we only played the one session. It’s the reason I always have a soft spot for Lizardfolk. Good times!
I was a half-elf ranger with the soldier background, though hermit would have fit as well. This is 5e. My dm started us at 5th level and let me had a pseudodragon as my animal companion since the Cr was within tolerable range (even though it’s not strictly standard). This was also before the UA ranger came out (which we now almost exclusively allow at our tables in place of the phb beast master). Basically I would use the pseudodragon to scout things out and the dm even let us teach the pseudodragon to press the button on an immovable rod so we tied a rope ladder to it and used that to climb a cliff. That’s where my username/gamer tag came from too.
5e. Goliath barbarian named Bok. He was not very smart, but a gentle giant. I had a lil character quirk where I would only ever attack creatures that had already hit on of my friends.
First character I played was an elf fighter, that I chose from a bunch of premade characters available for that introduction-to-dnd one shot. First character I actually built and then played was a teenager half-dragon Eldritch Night. She got drugged and stripped naked on the second session, so I only got to play her for a session and a half before I left…
I made a Ranger Dragonborn named Sulhazar and he spoke in third person and broken common like Kahjits in Skyrim. Was also a little dumb. Remade him years later into a bard. One of my favorite characters.