do you have a collection of characters you like to revamp for each game?
maybe one single character that you always play?
maybe a new character every game never to be repeated?
How do you play and set up your characters?
I generally play a Bow Ranger like 60% or 70% of the time. out side of that I like a crit focused fighter, used to like monkes, and have recently come to enjoy witches.
But I am not the kind to just roll dice and make any random new character, if I do I end up not caring about the character enough to play it correctly.
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I couldn't play the same character over and over. I have revamped character concepts that are many years old, usually made for a totally different system. And I have a couple of PFS characters I may may 'reboot' to play in a full blown campaign, but to play basically the same character back to back... to back? I'd get burned out.
I like a little variety.
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I have three mains, with a few lesser used alts. They get their character class revamped depending on the rules in use.
Auris Vector - human street urchin
Falandar Thornarrow - wood elf archer
Ardelaneu Zakath - human two-handed fighter
Kurik Greathelm - dwarf battle caster
Sierra Heartward - human healer
Bael'avel - warforged shield guardian
Whisper - halfling rogue
Falandar has gotten the most use, being a Scout or Ranger depending on the game. Kurik has been an Eldritch Knight and Fighter/Cleric as needed. Auris is nearly always a Monk.
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do you have a collection of characters you like to revamp for each game?
no
maybe one single character that you always play?
no
maybe a new character every game never to be repeated?
not really, I have a few character concepts that I recycle every so often. Say like 1 character in 5 is one of my 5 recycle concepts.
How do you play and set up your characters?
Not really sure what you are asking.
I generally play a Bow Ranger like 60% or 70% of the time. out side of that I like a crit focused fighter, used to like monkes, and have recently come to enjoy witches.
But I am not the kind to just roll dice and make any random new character, if I do I end up not caring about the character enough to play it correctly.
New character every time - variety is the spice of roleplaying
my faorite is a ranger twf (then i make him a shadow dancer or assassin... now im thinking about red mantis)
i have a dual class ranger (dragon/outsider evil/undead/shapechangers in that order)/paladin lg with some pimp with twf...
a ftr with tower shield and heavy lance (charge intitiative)
a rogue/bard halfling (used like kender)
a druid shifter/suporter/ranged or melee
in melee i do prefeer a wolf companion, and teamwork feats
im thinking about to take a Inquisitor gnome
i prefeer use human as a race because he has a no pluses and the enviroment can be great enemy for him
Whenever I am short on time and were playing a one-shot game, I lean towards just Barbarian. Always the same woman, name, and race. However, her stats are always different. She might take an archtype or simply a new line of rage-powers depending on the flavor of the moment. I was thinking of multiclassing for the next one to try Rage Prophet.
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I get drawn into characters that develop as I'm writing them up. each one is different, but when I'm struck by an idea that expands their rp backstory, then I really get hooked. Right now I'm champing at the bit to run a goblin rogue since so many of the story hooks in the description alone make for some fantastic rp moments.
He's a sucker for "civilization" and gladly left his tribe to work as a mortician's assistant in town. He helps prepare bodies, doing the worst of the dirty work, and doesn't complain. He lives in the sewers (where changes with the driest spot) and spends all his money earned on rare nights in a tavern on food and drink. His 'force of personality' however puts him in the crosshairs of everyone he meets, and declares war on all four legged beasts of the city.
that's how it grows for me. I just read the goblin description, tried to figure out a way to fit him into a city/adventuring group, and viola.
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I am yes and no on all of this... lol
I use to be a huge melee guy, then my focus switched to gishes and recently a love for pure casters (specially Druids) has come up. So I guess I been around the bases.
As for PC that I play over and over again, well its more like the same classes.
Evil Game
Favorite class - Fiend of Possession PRC from Fiend Folio.
Standard Games
Favorite class - Jaunter PRC from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits.
* I have one PC I have play over and over again in many different games (due to his demise) but all with the same flair. He has gone under multiple names but can never seem to finish an adventure.
He is a roguish PC (Bard/Rogue/down on his luck Aristocat) that only goal is to get to 50K gold which he figures is enough to retire and live a Very Happy well sustained life. He spends no money an anything magical but will accept magical gifts from others (which he usually sells soon after). He also has a bit of a gambling problem.
I make it a point to try something new. There are some themes I return to, like TWF or the archery feat tree, but I rarely have the same base class even when repeating themes. There's just too much fun to be had learning how to make a new concept work.
I couldn't stick with the same character out of the campaign i made it for. Hell, I even have difficulties sticking with one character throughout one campaign. I keep having ideas for characters with cool stuff, and losing interest in my previous ideas all the time.
I make a new character for every game, although I do have a tendency towards armored melee combatants. I play rogue and cleric types too, but again they tend towards melee. Arcane types are the least common for me.
I also devise a new voice for each character, but after so many years its getting tough to be distinct from every other.
For awhile, I'd stick to martial types. But, having played them all in Pathfinder and loving it, I've branched off into casting. Currently playing a bard in a Jade Regent game and loving every minute of it.
Creepy Loli, 5 dozen flavors of Creepy Loli. occasionally i will play something different. can be anything from a tiny petite framed youth with a massive sword and is a whole lot stronger than she appears to be to a sickly noble heir with anemia, asthma and tuberculosis. ZUN of Team Shanghai Alice is my brother from another mother.
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maybe a new character every game never to be repeated?
I try to do this as much as possible. I fall into a few tropes though.
My characters tend to be
Deadpan Snarkers or Cute Bruisers
Always go back to some type of Ranger, but like most classes except straight casters.
maybe a new character every game never to be repeated?I try to do this as much as possible. I fall into a few tropes though.
My characters tend to be
Deadpan Snarkers or Cute Bruisers
i RP a lot of these too.
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I built a Rogue (Scout Archetype) specializing in two-handed weapons once, and loved it so much pretty much every character I've had has been a variation on him, with few exceptions. My favorite version was a Rogue 4/Ranger 2/Spherewalker 3. The spells he got were just so much fun, and he was one of the better damage dealers in the group, despite not being terribly optimal. Got turned into a squirrel fighting a Protean, though. O_O
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There is an old favorite I tend to want to build with every new fantasy system I try. Originally a 2nd ed Fighter/Theif half-elf bounty hunter. I most recently statted him up as a Ranger for PF, but I never seem to be able to play him very long in any system, so I never seem to get it out of my system. There is also a particular modern/magic character I stat out for those types of systems, and a superhero character that I build in every superhero system that I have access to. I rarely get to play them, which is probably why I remain so nostalgic about them, If I actually got to play them, I would probably see all the flaws in the concepts, but so far I haven't. I only have fond memories of them, so I want to try to recapture that if I can.
Watch how others play characters and you'll notice very few people don't go far off their normal path. For example I like to play mildly demented characters with tendencies to undercut others.
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I tend to vary my characters in class (I have a dedicated melee fighter/alchemist, a summoner, and a total support archet Evangalist), personality (my 3 characters are lawful "evil" (Cheliax LN), LG, and CN), and such. They do have some characteristics that tend to follow:
1) I tend to prefer to be in the front line. Even my support characters often end up on the front line, just to give flanks or such.
2) All of my characters are extraordinarily (almost suicidally) brave
3) All have an odd character quirk
4) All have exactly one dump stat, and overplay it (summoner complaining about even carrying his light load, the foolhardy 7 int cleric always claiming no knowledge of anything, and the chronically depressed 7 Cha fighter)
That's how I tend to roll; the only key is I won't play a straight-caster with no weapon (get bored, especially when I'm trying to conserve spells. Plus, I wAnt to roll dice, I hate just watching people role saves).
Nearly always new characters each time for me. So many different things to try. Once in a blue moon, when playing a different game world, especially with people I haven't gamed with before, I'll do an "incarnation" of a character I've played before...kind of like Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion: same basic guy with some specific differences.
I tend to like versatile characters. Since 3.0, these are the types of characters I've played:
Tiefling rogue 5+/wizard 3
Aasimar ranger 1/cleric 7+
Human cleric 7/paladin 2
Halfling ranger 2/rogue 6
human barbarian 2/fighter 4/frenzied berserker 4+?
Elf druid archer 16
human vow of poverty monk 6
Kender rogue spiked-chain user 20
Human cloistered cleric/radiant servant of Pelor 20
human barbarian 2/fighter 4
dark dwarf warlock 21
dwarf ranger 5/fighter 4
human ranger 1/warlock 9
human paladin Greek hero 10
human sorcerer w/ dragon blood feats 1
human spellthief 1
chaos gnome dragon shaman 14
dark whisper gnome ninja 9
half-giant binder 5
human witch 10
half-elf ranger 10 (wannabe Legolas)
And soon....
half-orc witch 5
half-elf paladin 5
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Personally, I like the evoker wizard type. I have been branching out and playing a lot more sorcerer varieties (have an enchanter in a campaign atm) along with fighter, paladin, and rogue (in one case paladin/rogue). However, since I found preferred spell and spell specialization (greater), I have been returning to wizard with the inevitable evoker feel. Lately, I am a bit hung up on a Scorching Ray focused Evoker build.
So, in summary, I have a basic concept but also play outside that concept to get some variety (and make sure the party is rounded out).
as a fairly new player (a couple of years) i tend to change it up. I played a CE Barbarian, a LG Paladin, a NG Monk, and my namesake CG Wizard. The Barbarian was an outside the box thinker and came up with lots of unorthodox solutions to problems. The Paladin (Galadin the Paladin lol) was stick up the butt straight arrow. The monk was a vow of poverty (no bonus to Ki, did it for flavor) who was terribly polite and respectful but incurred the wrath of my fellow players many times because he never had money to pay for passage on ships or a room at the inn. Fizzle is a bit of a douchebag who has little respect for local customs and no real concern for others, but a strong desire to prove himself worthy.
Thinking of going with a happy go lucky Bard next.
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I have concepts or classes that I want to try, inspired by various sources.
My PFS character is a Chelaxian monk. All the monk talk on these boards made me want to try one. :)
My home-game (PF+3.5) character is a very "I follow the green faith" kind of switch-hitter Ranger.
My last (PF+3.5) character was a two-handed polearm fighter, who was the bastard son of a King.
I like trying new concepts and don't like repeating myself if I feel like I got a good stretch as a given PC. I don't plan on playing a Monk or Ranger after these characters are done and it'll be some time before I try playing a Fighter again.
Next on the list to try? Bard, Cleric, and Wizard, mainly. Possibly Barbarian, *maybe* Rogue if I want to try a character going for the Pain Taster PRC.
My current character is completely revamped from a 3.0/3.5 version of her that I used to play years ago. Same name and personality, but everything else had to go (since the Ooze Master PrC is not an option for me anymore). I'm kind of fickle when it comes to characters, but my GM loves my current character, so he doesn't want me to get rid of her just yet.
I haven't played too many different campaigns yet, but I have a feeling that I would tend to stick to what I know. I hate preparing spells, bookkeeping modified stats, and alignment restrictions, so that pretty much leaves me with Fighters and Sorcerers. I'd love to try out an Oracle or a two-weapon fighting Rogue someday, though.
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New character concept for every campaign, though there certain classes that I tend to come back to over others, and some classes that don’t appeal to me that much for one reason or another. Race-wise I tend to favour humans, half eves and elves.
Even when I play the same race/class I tend to try different builds and to vary personality as far as RP goes, otherwise I find it gets very stale, both for me and for my fellow players (if I am with the same group for a while).
My main characters for 3.5 / PF have been:
Female Human Fighter
Female Tiefling Rogue / Wizard
Male Human Barbarian / Ranger
Male Elf Wizard (Necromancer)
Male Half Elf Rogue
Male Human Ranger
Male Half Elf Cleric (Fharlaghn)
Male Half Orc Druid
Male Human Wizard
Male Half Elf Wizard
Female Human Ranger / Rogue / Extreme Explorer
Male Bariaur Binder
Female Human Cleric (Pharasma)
Female Human Witch
Male Human Fighter
Warforged Paladin / Exorcist of the Silver Flame
Female Elf Ranger / Wizard (Transmuter) / Eldritch Knight
Male Half Elf Bard
Male Human Rogue
Male Human Paladin (Abadar)
Male Human Ranger
Male Human Black Blade Magus
Male Human Undead Slayer Paladin (Iomedae)
I forgot about my all time favorite: A LG human scout in a pretty much CN party. I really liked the skirmish ability. I switched between longbow, longspear, and handaxe, depending on the combat. The party quest was to shatter the barriers to the outer planes, which I thought was a horrible idea, because it would let the demons and devils back in. I was the "bodyguard" to the N or CN aristocrat/bard whose bright idea it was to break open the wards protecting the world from interplanar invasion, so I helped party (if only because he was the son of my king), but mostly I planned on betraying the party to save the world. Too bad it never got that far.
The party was my LG scout, a CN wizard/truenamer, a CN aristocrat/bard, his CN gnome cleric/rogue cohort, and eventually, a LG paladin.
Human druid. One class, so much versatility. I got to play him as a wildshaping melee, a summoner and as main healer in differen groups and different systems and am still loving the class.
Ruyan.
I have a habit of building characters around a massive dump stat or flaw. Like a halfling rogue with 5 STR, needing sneak to do more than a single point of damage.
Or I build a character that should be awesome but in a way that undermines it down and gives it character - currently playing a utility synthesist.
Works well as the group I'm in mostly isn't big on optimizing and if I built for power I'd stick out as horribly as the one power gamer we have already does.
Human druid. One class, so much versatility. I got to play him as a wildshaping melee, a summoner and as main healer in differen groups and different systems and am still loving the class.
Ruyan.
Druids are super versatile! My elven druid was an archer, battlefield controller, blaster, face, healer, scout, summoner, tank, tracker, transporter.
New character every time although I did play a lot of archers in the past.
For a long time, Phinease the psychopath Fighter was my main line of defense. In an effort to break that mold, I prefer to play a different race/class with each new campaign. I'm currently playing an Elven Ranger, Human Barbarian is next up.
I generally DM, but when I play it's always bards of course! Also, occasionally barbarians. Actually, my most recent character was a bard / barbarian multi-class. This was a 3.5 game, so I used the Battle Howler prestige class from Dragon Magazine. It was awesome! I'd love it if Paizo would do a similar Prc.
I occassionally recycle concepts (especially unfinished ones) but generally I like to run new character concepts. However, that doesn't mean new classes every time. Since there are many concepts within a single class I have alot of ways to try something new with the same class. - Gauss
I started playing D&D 3.5e after having NWN as a gateway drug.
In NWN servers I reused my original character on the first couple server vaults I played. He began life as a Baldur's Gate character, but after having played him so much in NWN when I went to play BG2 when I finally got it, I couldn't get into it because my character simply wasn't the Bhaalspawn he started out as in BG1. He wasn't a Bhaalspawn at all. To this day, this is the main reason I never played Baldur's Gate 2.
Since Lancy O'Toole, a NG male half-elven rogue/ranger/shadowdancer of Sharess, originally from Tethyr, but having spent time in Calimshan during his formative years, was retired in March of 2004, I haven't brought him out again except for that one attempt to import him from BG1 into BG2. He was a knight of the island kingdom when the server and campaign ended, but the island kingdom had been destroyed, and he was on a refugee boat headed toward Calimshan, where his story of happily-ever-after was with a CG female half-elven rogue/cleric of Sharess (Sonja Jassan, my second character on the server) that I said had left the kingdom earlier (character retirement) after she found out she was pregnant.
Those were my first two NWN characters. My third, also on that server, was CG half-elven ranger of Shaundakul named Barker Graycastle. He had an animal companion I named after my own log-in name, a wolf named Munroe. He was from Tethyr.
After that server went down in 2004, I got into tabletop D&D more. My first D&D character was Corbett Clay, a NG rogue with profession [scribe], craft [calligraphy], and ranks in forgery. He became an adventurer rogue because he was being strong-armed by local thugs into forging government documents so he fled to a frontier town to escape the thugs. That group of players didn't last long together so he only got to level 2.
Next was Joseph Dugan, a NG half-vampire human rogue/fighter of Selune in a campaign with some guys in a dorm when I went back to college for awhile. He had plans to go shadowdancer but the campaign didn't get high enough level.
Then I played a cleric of Selune whose name escapes me with those guys in a new campaign that only lasted a couple sessions.
Then I got back into NWN and my next character was Carl Dugan, a NG celestial-blooded human rogue/fighter/shadowdancer on a high magic, fast advancement server where celestial-blooded characters got angel wings. My guy dressed in black and more a cape to hide his wings.
Then I started playing a more low magic, slow progression server set in Cormyr as Lydia Rosewater, a CG half-Calishite/half-Chondathan human female bard/cleric/divine champion of Lathander who came from Calimshan.
Then I started playing Joseph Dugan, a NG Tethyrian human male rogue/fighter/shadowdancer of Selune on that server. He dressed in all black and even wore a veil to cover his face, and kept himself to himself mostly. But he talked with a thick Appalachian accent.
Most recently on that server I started Kira Pashar, a CG half-elven female bard/rogue/divine champion of Sharess, also from Calimshan.
Over the last few years, while playing Lydia, Joseph, and Kira, I've also been DMing a 3.5e game so haven't had any player characters.
This past year I finally got into a Pathfinder game for a few sessions with one of my former players from the 3.5e game that wrapped up. My characters in his games have been:
Borachio, a NG male human cleric of Sarenrae from Absalom that talked like a surfer played by Keanu Reeves. I retired Borachio early though because he was a pre-fab that the GM had just printed out to have starting characters on hand and I didn't really like his stats. For one thing, he couldn't swim.
Beruso Arsbeta, a NG male dhampir inquisitor of Sarenrae [fire domain] 3 sent from Absalom (where our campaign started) to replace Borachio on his quest when he was recalled to the temple because of some kind of "family emergency" (Beruso didn't get the details.) Beruso was raised in Varisia by his mother but he knows that his family originally came from Ustalav and he was named after a vampire destroyed long ago. Both of his parents were human but his mother was attacked by a vampire while she was pregnant (she survived the attack but he was bitten), which was a big factor in his family's move from Ustalav to Varisia.
My most recent character, created for a Halloween one-shot being ran by the same GM that was my former player, was Felix, a NG male dhampir cleric of Pharasma [ice & souls domains] 4. He was only played once and we didn't get killed as the GM expected because he had to go get his sister out of jail, so I got permission from the GM to continue that campaign as a GM and it's the basis for my Ustalav campaign currently being developed. I've made Felix an NPC, but he's just going to be one of the townie NPCs. He'll arrive when the party is around level 4 and the current village priest vanishes under mysterious circumstances, so they'll have to decide whether to trust the dhampir or not. (He arrives without notice, but the previous priest had already prepared a room for him because Pharasmins do stuff like that sometimes.)
And that's prettymuch all my characters.
In general you can probably see I like playing rogues and clerics, and my favorite race is dhampir. My favorite alignment is Neutral Good.
In general, I dislike monks because I prefer the cloistered western monk archtype to the eastern martial arts monk archtype and I'm not very fond of the demi-human races as player races, but I do like halflings (aka miniature humans), gnomes (of the Pathfinder variety, anyway), and the half-human races such as half-elves, half-orcs, dhampirs, aasimars, tieflings, changelings (of the Pathfinder variety), and the five genie-kin races.
um... OK...
^_^
Well I always play human so I guess that counts
I used to play with a guy who always played a scantily clad leather bound ninja chick, and always took Quick Draw. So he had a sexxxy leather clad ninja druid, sexxxy leather clad ninja fighter, sexxxy leather clad ninja wizard, sexxxy leather clad Fast Hero, etc. etc. I can't really remember all his characters, because they were always the same.
At least he was really good at using the Quick Draw feat.
Halfling Master Summoner with a rogue-style Eidolon who only summons elementals
Half-Orc Paladin/Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple with Eldritch Heritage feats (Orc Bloodline)
Human Fighter (Weaponmaster - Falchion)
I'd say I add a fourth one into the rotation, a wild card of sorts made up of whatever new idea I've come up with... it was an Eldritch Archer concept for a while, now its a pure support Geisha Bard... but those 'four' make up the characters I play, probably in more or less equal measure.
For me to play a character it has to be viable even at low levels, has to be able to handle a variety of threats and do at least one thing better than anyone. I always pre-plan my characters out to 20, always optimize them within the role-play framework that inspired them and I never rely on magic items to do it. I don't play Druids, Clerics, Witches, the Magus, Gunslingers or Alchemists.
My characters are always different in terms of personality and backstory (as best as I am able to distiguish them as every character is really a portion of my own personality with a different focus).
My characters often have similarities mechanically, my preference is a fighter/magic user mix, but its never precisely the same, usually different classes or at least different feats/weapon choices and skills.