I'm new to the board, so I apoligize in advance for starting a thread probably done to death several times before. So what was everyone's favorite? Brag away.
If we are talking D&D, it would have to be Tanis half elven from the Dragonlance cronicles. The gutwrenching decisions of being a leader really echoed with me.
Are we talking PCs or strait from books characters?
Considering he said "brag away" I would assume he's asking about our own characters.
Mine was a half elven Psionicist/Thief/Mage way back in Darksun. Back in the days when we didn't know what we were doing and didn't care about anything except having fun, especialy little anoyances like the rules, or game balance. Even though he was a psionicist he had a wild talent, which I got Metomorphosis. Could never seem to get it to work worth a crap at lower levels. I remember one session we were trying to sneak out of a walled city, and I decided to metomorph into a big flying lizard thing (some creature native to Darksun that I can't remember the name of at the moment) and fly out, carying I think the wizard out. Me being me I didn't tell anyone my plan, I just started rolling dice and marking off PSPs. After I burned through all my PSPs and made an ass out of myself in game (my character having stood there for the better part of ten minutes grunting and sweating for no obvious reason) I remembered I was a thief and climbed over the wall, followed by the spider climbing wizard.
No real time to brag, but my second-ever AD&D character is my favorite.
(My first one died 10 minutes after creation! Swallowed by a giant frog!)
He was a human thief/wizard. (He started his career as a thief, stopped at 5th level, then made it to 11th level as a wizard before dying in a climactic fight to save his fellow PCs.)
Loved the guy so much I "resurrected" him in a different guise with a different gaming group. His son, followed right in his dad's footsteps and is now retired, living near Amn.
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Mine would have to be the one I am playing right now. For the past 20+ years, I did nothing but DM. Now, I finally have somebody else in my group willing to trade off.
Laran is an 8th level Human character (6th level Paladin/2nd level fighter) currently working his way thru the Shackled City campaign. (Still using the magazines, my DM has not bought the book yet. I have, but have promised on my Paladinhood not to peek!!!)
Laran just died trying to sunder Zenith's weapon so that a fellow party member could grapple him. Pelor released him to continue his quest so onward and upward.
Favourite character I have ever played would have to have been henbane, my 18th Level (2nd ED!) drow fighter/wizard built on the bladesinger creation kit. True Nuetral in alignment, I started this guy at 3rd level (2ftr/1wiz) and took him all way to 9Ftr/9Wiz. He was unstoppable... I liked him so much I resurrected him for an evil campaign (with the DM's blessing), where, at the end of it, he was truely epic (3.5ed), had a Divine Rank of 5, and happened to be the Avatar of Lloth.
Thus started my love affair with all things drow...
Well, my first ever character was named Skycrown Coldwind, and he was a third level elven ranger. His life was one of ironies and contradictions. He worshipped the god Aralyth, the Night Protector, bane of undead. His grandfather died and his first adventure was to go to the city of Corbedon and find his cousin, the necromancer Leafdance. He came to the city to find a goblin attacked by an owlbear, and he and a nearby teifling paladin ended rescuing it. He told them his mission, and they lead him through the streets, when this bloke called the Rooftop Archer begins shooting arrows at them and other random people, so they chase him, lose him, and Skycrown gets lost. He ends up finding his cousin, who leaves for the city of the elves. Skycrown goes to the market and is again attacked, and actually won, causing the 10th level human fighter with favorable ground to flee. Score. He lived with the dwarves for ten days in the city before leaving, being attacked by a dire weasel, knocked out, captured by troglodytes, and prepared for sacrifice to the Lady of the Dark Tongue. He escapes and fights the trogs, unarmed and, for some reason, naked, in the middle of the wilderness. He kills three of the four, but the last one runs him through with a spear. He awoke later to find himself a ghost. Yes, a ghost worshipping a god who kills undead. He eventually ended up uncovering a plot to overrun Corbedon with undead, and warned Leafdance of the plot. Leafdance warned the city. I haven't played Skycrown since then. But he was a good character.
he...easy. Black Dougal..Human Ranger started in Hommlet, defeated the slave lords, survived lost caverns of Tscojanth, found the infamous wand of force in the Lost temple of Tharzidun..gave it to the fighter mage at the glacier of the frost giant jarl in exchange of giant slaying bastard sword and ring of 3 wishes..was instrumental in killing snure ironbelly. snuck past the vault of the drow..went to the demonweb pits..took the wrong gate from lolth's spider ship and wound up being a king on some alternate prime material plane. Think he was 17th lvl ranger when all said and done..this was 1st edition ranger mind you, he was a very dangerous fellow. Most stats in the 18's or 19's (again 1st edition) thanks to books and lucky draw from deck of many things.
Rhoda from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
..wha..
..oh..
..in D&D?...
..oops my bad...
My own character? My first, 1983, a cleric of St. Cuthbert named Moonhill. Had a strength of 9.
from books? Raistlin
My fav personal PC... My second ever character and online namesake, Maldin (of course!) created in the fall of 1980 and still going. Archmage. Both savior and destroyer of worlds. Ok, maybe that's a bit of a hyperbole. But just a bit.
My fav official NPC... Page 10 of the Living Greyhawk Journal Issue #2. Maldin!! (of course) ;-)
There are advantages to being a writer/designer. Alas, "financial" is not one of those. I really feel for the guys who try to make a living from it.
Denis, aka "Maldin"
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Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
My favorite cha was "Todrick J Andersburgenstein the 3rd" a human 5lvl Fighter/ 5lvl Belmont Acolyte. The Belmont Acolyte was a prestige class of my DM's making (nicked from the Castlevania whip wielding Belmonts). I had a Vorpal Whip and the power to create 3 bottles of holy water per day. I was a holy water machine! I would pour it on my cereal in the morning and splash it into every NPC's face that we met (just to be sure, vampires are tricksy!). Needless to say, a wet NPC is not a happy NPC (especially shop keepers).
Todrick's crowning moment was when the rest of the PCs had laid about a metric ton of dynamite in the catacombs of the Vampire Ultanrian's Castle...with me still in the upper halls (the Dwarf of the party didn't much ken to waitin for "some fairy with a whip" to shag ass out of there). So it's just me and a very angry vampire and a castle falling down around us. My Hide checks were helped by the incredible amount of noise caused by a 500 year old castle giving up the ghost and by Ultanrian's penchant for narcolepsy (a sleep curse from a well placed enchanted crossbow shot that affected him every couple rounds). All I could do was jump out from behind corners trying to behead Ultanrian with a vorpal critical but the vampire wasn't having it. At the last moment, just as the castle was crumbling to dust, Todrick unhitched his belt (with about twenty bottles of holy water attached) and used it as an improvised whip on the sleeping vampire, and then it was off a nearby balcony for about a thirty story fall into the moat. My group was kind enough to drag my body out of the water and jam a cure moderate wounds potion down my throat.
My favorite chracter was Basil Fael, a human wizard. He was tall and thin, with wisps of hair covering his male pattern baldness and a promient adam's apple. He wore thick glasses and light, moth-eaten brown robes with a number of patched holes.
Until he got his haversack and a bag of holding, he staggered around heavily encumbered by a portable writing desk, and all of his ink and quills. He also got a -1 to surprise rolls in dungeons due to his over-interest in the arcitecture.
Still, despire these defects, he was a bad man at the spellcasting. He had the Staff of the Magi (2nd edition), a bandolier of scrolls, and a ton of potions and other crud. I miss that character. Last time we played with him, he killed a master lich with a rebutive strike, and got teleported to Pandemonium (actually, he was killed in the blast, but my kind DM rolled a second time for me).
I suspect he's still wandering around somewhere in the dark caverns of Pandemonium, taking soil samples and recording wind speeds. . .
Oh yeah, my favorite "D&D" character from a book is Galen from "Weasel's Luck."
I usually DM, but my favourite character has to be the last one I had a chance to play. Shen Ying Xiong (translated loosely into chinese as Spiritual Hero) was a pandaren shaman who, just as he left the borders of his isolated homeland, fell through the Mist into Ravenloft. He was wicked-cool!
Shen was a pandaren dressed in a Chinese kung fu suit with many pouches, a satchel, and carrying a keg of ale. His animal companions were a weasel named Ben (ala Ben Weasel of the band Screeching Weasel) and a cougar... I forget her name... probably something like Old Skank.
Shen is very passionate and opinionated. However, he perceives himself as in control and reasonable. His superstitions are based in sophistications. While a rabbit’s foot is certainly unlucky, walking under a ladder means something could easily thunk you on the head. His faith is incredibly strong. He sees what he reveres in everything. His confidence reflects his passions. If he feels strongly about something, he is assured that he can handle it himself. Otherwise, he will gladly accept assistance in areas he know that he is no expert.
Originally, his drive developed from an overwhelming curiosity about the “outside” world. However, after falling through the mists into a mysterious land, he follows the adventurers trade as a means to survive. He keeps the knowledge of his homeland and his memories to himself. Fearful that others will think he is outright insane.
Sydrill Skymoon, an Elf Magic User/Thief (2nd Ed) that I played in the FR setting. I never have developed a backround like the one I had for him, and I really enjoyed roleplaying this Chaotic Good fellow to the T. Unfortunately his entire party died in an ambush one day, and he went a bit crazy and attacked the whole raider encampment later that day by himself. And that was the end of Sydrill, I just didn't want to play him with another party. I still keep his character sheet to this day.
Not my first, not my last, but probably the most fun was a wild elf ranger named Euxitikos (unless you're Greek good luck with pronouncing it). He was obsessed with finding the mage that had killed his mother and while that led to world-wide chaos, it was little things like refusing to wear clothes, not knowing the concept of money ("What do you mean if I give this metal to that man he'll give me food? What is he an idiot?") and topped off with a chaotic neutral alignment, that made it good times for all.
My DM had so much fun with the adventures he wrote them into a trilogy and now is trying to get it published.
Hrm.. currently that'd be "Chance."
Chance was a foundling, who was lucky enough to survive a terrible winter and was picked up on a doorstep in Hardby. Though the orphanage was run by a cleric of Pelor, who named him "Chance," thinking it quite suited the luck of his survival, Chance grew to find he was far more attracted to the notion of Olidamarra, and ended up as a Cleric thereof.
He was remarkably easy to teach, however, and easily bored with skills and knowledges that he seemed to pick up too quickly (he has the 'Able Learner' feat). Though he joined up with an adventuring group, even that, he felt, wasn't challenging enough. He just wanted to be more, and espoused on this philosophy often - "How can you know what is right for you if you don't try everything? But there's no time to try everything and be good at anything..." It was his most common lament. His jovial nature, and his quick wit were enjoyed by his companions, and they were a little sad to see him go off on his own for a while.
He returned a slightly less shining version of himself. Still witty, and still jovial, his companions noted a bit of a reserved glow in his eyes, and he seems quieter now than he's ever been.
Basically, the DM and I crafted Chance to be a Chameleon (from 'Complete Adventurer') from step one. His time off from the rest of the group was to gain his first level of Chameleon and to get signed up at the Mimic Mansion. He was quick to realize the more nefarious purposes of the Mansion, and is a little worried they'll call upon him to do something he really can't feel good about (that said, he's N, so he's not exactly Johnny Paladin). He's come back to his friends, but knows he shouldn't tell them that he's already begun to learn how to do and be anything... most of the time, he's using a warrior focus, and they think he's taken a level of fighter. But he's secreted away a spellbook recovered from a vanquished foe, and he's wondering how long he can keep up appearances...
And the Chameleons are sure to call him for a mission soon.
He also has no clue that his parents were the ones who dropped him in the snow, hoping someone would find him, as they were being chased by the very people Chance just trained with. His folks were two of the most talented Chameleons out there, and they'd been forbidden to have a child together by the head of the Mimic Mansion (he fears that child might have been too strong in their art). During his time at the Mansion, he's been recognized, but for now, they're letting him go, to see how maleable he is. His parents, of course, were eventually caught and killed...
So I'm really looking forward to playing this fellow out. Eventually, he might even learn his name. Heh.