ITT: Interesting characters we've thought up in our heads, but never rolled or put into a game

Title tells all. I'll start.

>the character is a conman, the idea is that he proclaims himself as an engineering genius, while having subpar intelligence substituted by charisma
>say a merchant caravaneer broke his wagon's axle
>"well sir, it looks like you miscombobulated your wagon's frontal rotating staff. i can fix it easy, but i'd like payment up-front - AND for supplies."
>uses the opportunity of buying supplies from a nearby town to slip away
>later reunites with party and splits the scammed money with them so they don't turn him into the guard
>the paladin inevitable paladin will be impossible to trick, let alone get on board
>maybe do it in a party with no paladin or something

You guys got anything similar?

I've always wanted to do something like a Luchador that's a monk/paladin multiclass or something along those lines, but never got to.

Also, some kind of Goblin tinkerer or just a general inventor, but not someone who goes "hurr durr I make a shotgun in fantasy land." I mean someone who just makes magical items as their main purpose, and is really just there to buff their teammates and deal with knowledge stuff. Doesn't have to be a combat caster.

Two others that I don't think people will ever let me play: Bear Monk, Owlbear Wizard.

I threw together some pregens for a con game. One of them I've been desperately wanting to run in a pulp or superhero game.

The base concept was a young and healthy Stephen Hawking with a gun. The character uses their advanced knowledge of mathematics and physics to shoot people.

Those all sound like shitty characters, either ridiculous meme status or some just some shitty trope that's been done to death.

I mean seriously, why don't you just play a character from your favorite anime or another half-orc barbarian, if that's the sort of characters you want to play.

Phoenix UA sorcerer whose powers come from some kind of fire spirit that lives within him. When he gets too excited the fire spirit takes over, and he goes from a small, shy guy to some incoherent ragnaros-equivalent.

Never trusted myself to pull it off without going full mary-sue-anime character though.

expert mechanic and motorcycle racer rolled into one. got character art made and everything but havent gotten to play it yet.

I also have a conman idea that uses prog rock albums/songs as themes to his cons. he has fake stocks and "arizona beachfront property" deeds he sells to npc's as well.

Do you hate fun?

You might try asking the GM for a paladin nemesis, sort of Lupin-Zenigata style.

Astonish us with your brilliance in character design user, we'll wait.

>>the character is a conman, the idea is that he proclaims himself as an engineering genius, while having subpar intelligence substituted by charisma

You want to play Edison?

>inb4 muh Tesla meme

I had an idea for someone who met a legendary paladin as a kid and had the typical "I'm gonna be just like you when big!" moment.
Guy enrolls in the military and has a stellar career, becomes commander of a small and successfull batallion, settles down with a loving wife and child in a nice province close to the kingdom's capital, everything's all right... Except that the Gods never blessed him with Divine magic and he's therefore just a fighter. Out of sheer frustration over this he sets out to adventure, save people, recover lost holy artifacts, slay the devil himself if he has to, as long as he can draw divine attention to himself like a holy Don Quichote.

>THE Battle-attourney
"Well feel free to continue looting and pillaging to your ugly, diabetic heart's content. However, I should warn you-"

-places shield on table and pops open concealed briefcase in the back-

"-you're going to be looking at a considerable number of indictments if you continue in this fashion. I have here 16 individuals who are all looking for reparations from one "Grizwulf the eliminator" for damages done, both psychological and physical, loss of product, loss of personal property, and impersonating a warlord. Here's my card."

Sounds like Tesla.

(I always thought this was a cool background)


Meet Tobyn, a peasant from a not all too significant hamlet in some small corner of Taldor, located near the north eastern part of the Verduran forest. Most of the hamlet, named Visec, is fairly typical, revolving entirely around agriculture and providing the appropriate taxes to their Lord.

However, the village has had a quirk to it for as long as anyone can remember. The village's dead never really rest fully, with various grandparent/great grandparent figures haunting their family's homes as spectres and ghosts... Sometimes handing out advice, other times making a nuisance of themselves through poltergeist like antics. None of them thus far have become actively violent... So Visec's inhabitants just left them be, until the ghosts simply became commonplace.

Tobyn himself grew up under the constant guidance of his long dead Grandfather, Jack, who, in life had been a bowman. Whenever Tobyn wasn't in the fields with his father, he was at home, being taught by his grandfather how to fletch arrows and make bows. Jack would always go on about how his life in the military had taken him to exotic places, he even met elves and learned their language! Also something which he passed on to Tobyn.

Eventually when Tobyn came of age, he decided to leave Visec and head out into the world as his grandfather had done. He had become a good craftsman, as well as a decent shot with the longbow, something which he could sell to the highest bidder. Tobyn wanted to do more with his life before settling down and tilling fields, he needed to see the world! Who knew, maybe even get rich in the process! The peasant packed his things, bid his parents and siblings goodbye and went off... He would've said goodbye to grandpa Jack, but the spectre had been strangely absent.

and you sound like a retard

hat night, as Tobyn made camp, Jack appeared, bearing a grin that would've made the Cheshire Cat envious. "Can't be having you going off on yer own now can I Tobyn?" He said amicably. And so, Tobyn travelled into the world, guided by his Grandfather's spirit.

...

I wanted to play a lawful-evil weapons dealer. Came up with an eldritch knight with specialties in crossbows and crossbow making, who uses his natural charisma to sell his weapons and their special abilities, like a crossbow enchanted with magical wind blasting for crowd control, or a ballista that launches fireball spells.

Eventually, I realized I had recreated Jean Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, and shelved him.

A man dresses up in garish blue robes with stars and a beard and is named Fizzlewand the Marvelous.

He's a rogue with a skill focus on sleight of hand.

>Sir, Donny Redscarf is contacting me telepathically. He knocked over another magic shoppe and is seeking your legal advice.

Honestly, as long as you'd do the accent I'd allow it.

I've always wanted to play a prissy spoilt rich kid Summoner who is rather charming but a total manipulative dickbag that despises getting his hands dirty. His Eidolon would be an intelligent being, which takes the form of some huge hulking behemoth but is actually a giant softy with a heart of gold, trying his best to get his master to do Good deeds.

...

I want to run a painfully innocent kobold rogue.

>The character uses their advanced knowledge of mathematics and physics to shoot people.

>Phoenix UA sorcerer whose powers come from some kind of fire spirit that lives within him. When he gets too excited the fire spirit takes over, and he goes from a small, shy guy to some incoherent ragnaros-equivalent.

yawn

>I also have a conman idea that uses prog rock albums/songs as themes to his cons

Hello_Reddit.png

>dude who got high on east asian peyote and went on a spirit trip to become a ninja

An old man fighter with a few levels in warlock who basically sold his soul to some horror in an attempt to finally end the plague that had been threatening his people and consumed his entire life. Needless to say the attempt failed and that shit is still all over the place and the best he can do is put it down wherever he finds it, knowing all the well that he can't end the nightmare and is now bound to the will of some horrifying unknowable entity.

>"So he's a Ranger that's haunted by his grandpa?"
>"Y-yeah"

Not as well thought out as yours, but I'd like to play a Scottish Paladin that insisted on going into battle playing the bagpipes, modelled by his aura of courage. He's not been put into practice because I haven't thought of a way for him to interact with the combat in any other way, while still bagpiping.

I'd also like to play a crotchety old wizard who was quite happy in his cushy teaching job at some university of magic, until some routine bookkeeping revealed that the folder containing his DWiz (Doctorate of Wizardry) dissertation was empty. The Chancellor then decided that we'd all just forget about this unpleasantness, as long as he went out and completed another field research project. He's level 1 because he's forgotten just about all there is to know about practical magic. This was mostly a reaction to the high DEX, high CON, golden boy(/girl) prodigy that is the average D&D wizard, in my experience.

I've always wanted to play a clever, witty conman, but I'm not easily witty myself and find the effort is exhausting and causes anxiety.

Not a too much on him just a basic concept
>kind of old man
>not too old for adventure
>is a necromancer
>and a bard
>somewhat happy go lucky attitude
>living on his family's heritage of music making while pursuing his desires of necromantic knowledge
>makes the two work in tandem

I would fucking love being able to play as a burnt animated armor possessed by its former owner trying to get back to its family only to find out that its just a suit of armor that gained sapience because of the bond it had with its owner. Preferably finding this out when he sees that the person who it thinks it is abandoned the armor on the battlefield, setting it on fire to make it look like he was burnt to ash, only to escape and live a life with the family that the armor thinks is his.

My most cringy idea i think was the Whiteguard.

Specifically the idea is mutable to any ce race but the tldr is that a drow was outdicked and left to die horribly.

She offers her soul to anyone who will save her but before Asmodeus or lolth take it the soul is snagged by a minor god of flowers and rainbows.

The god, who is as naive as she is young, figures if falling a paladin is a viciously evil act, redeeming a evil race must be a great good act.

So you have a vile drow forced to act within LG by their patron who will only give their soul back when they discover the true meaning of friendship.

It seems like it could be fun and lets me step away from the whole drizzt thing.

goblin warpriest archer that, after getting smacked in the head a bit too hard, is sure that he's a champion of erastil and supposed to "guide" the party, only problem is that he doesn't speak common, and instead is using simple phrases that he has been slowly picking up.

i've very, very softly asked if this would be possible to play in the group and it was quickly shot down (which i was fine with and didn't bring up again), since i see the problems with playing a monsterous character and the troubles it would cause to not speak common, and that, unless you handle it very well, how quickly it would turn really annoying, really quick.
another character i've wanted to play is a senshi style adventurer, simply trying to write a cookbook with monster dishes.

A necromancer who got into it because he's incredibly lazy and just wants minions to do everything for him.

Gecko Moriah?

My idea was to make a character who was a golem made by a world-renown scientist. In order to understand humans better he decides to travel with some adventurers, however, since the materials he's made of are extremely rare, he can't be completely repaired when damaged.
When he reaches a point were he can barely function anymore he goes back to the scientist narrating the tales of his travels and then he dies.

Shadowrun Satyr Spartan
Uses modern materials for shield and spear. The shield has a built in shock-glove style for shield bash and the spear has a ammo-system with 10 spear-tips. The first nine are directed explosives.
In essence, he worked with waiting for the enemies to come towards him (Or he charges them) And stabs them with what is essentially a directed handgrenade in the chest, the spear slams backwards and into the ground to stop.

I had a similar idea for my 5e character. I was going to be a bard with the actor feat (imitate any voice), disguise kit proficiency, and eventually disguise spells. The plan was to pretend to be a cleric, and act righteous as hell while secretly using enchantments, disguises, and charisma to exploit the wealthy and con the foolish. Even my party would be none the wiser, and even they would have no idea what I really look like.

Ended up doing something different though, since the campaign wasn't intrigue-heavy enough for the idea to shine. Plus, the people I was playing with would have meta-knowledged the fuck out of me ("hmm... I think I'll do a completely random perception roll on user's beard"), unless I made a fake character sheet and did a shitload of private RP with the DM.

A lamia with a split personality. One is the epitomy of Lawful good and a pacifist and healer.
The other is essentially a type of Chaotic evil.
Both wishes nothing else than to the other to be gone, but killing the other means both of them dies. So both of them searches out the party.

The CE one would actually work with the party and act nicely towards. Though she would seek out any reason to inflict pain and suffering and moral corruption. In essence, her nature would be to appeal to the groups baser instincts in that she could offer them all the skills the lawful good one has, but she is willing to kill for them and do anything to help them.

That would actually be absolutely hilarious to play with.

I did think it would be fun and could be played straight too if needed. The biggest worry is that the whole concept of "Its like a blackguard but good" is a little snowflaky, atleast if the god indebted was Pelor and not Gumdew the princess of spring.

I pictured and intended to rp it as, a surly Raven beholden to a divine Starfire.

I never could figure out what would be the best class for them to use though, particurally cause there are so many setting i could hash the character in and so many suck.

I have honestly never seen why people are so obsessed in avoiding being snowflakes. Its a hell of a lot more fun than playing sword and board fighter #3 who was a guard from dirt peasant family.
It of course depends on the game, but in general its more fun to have a character that has a unique feel that sets it apart from the average knuckle-draging guard. Snowflake != Mary Sue.

A bard that can only speak in songs' quotes.

I think, in the words of Matilda. "Uncommon people are remarkably common", I've seen a LOT of half demon immortals whose face claim comes from assassin creed fanart.

There is a difference between: This is Killsmash the level one chosen one, and Dubs Cheekum the Bardic sharpshooter whose musical instrument is a airhorn.

Ultimately what you do depends on the setting. Even if you are pcing the third vampire in a lo evul campaign if people enjoyed it then good on them.

Of course, it is all depending on the setting and the game, so always consult your GM and fellow players.
But for instance, my favorite character so far was Melistia Winterborn, necromancer witch who died in a snowstorm after her village was burned in a barbarian raid.
For unknown reasons, she didn't stay dead and instead woke up and felt cold as fuck and couldn't feel any emotions, so she set off on a journey, a quest for the feels.
On her own, she wouldn't really be all to fun, but it worked well with the party and with an amazing GM.

...

necromancer who animates the corpses of people who died before their time, using their corpses as laborers/adventuring help, setting aside a portion of the money they make as 'wages' until the corpses have earned enough to afford an actual resurrection.

Mr Bugsy. I had his sheet finished and statted, but never got to, play him on the grounds that most of the party would try to kill him on sight. At point in our scifi campaign we fought a interstellar hive of telepathic insectoids 8 to 10 feet tall who rip people in half in combat. Mr Bugsy was one of the ground forces that was alive after cthe mother ship was destroyed, and 99 percent of the hive mind was killed. Not knowing what to do, he stopped his assault and went to find food. He found a little mildly autistic girl whom named him Mr Bugsy and invited him to tea party.

It was going to be a fish out of water character balancing surpressing his kill everything not hive instincts, and baby sitting his charge.

Never got to play them, and it still haunts me.

This wasn't me but it was such a good idea i want to share it from a earlier thread.

It was for a post apocalypse setting and it was simply a western animatronic android wandering from the ruins of his amusement park to bring smiles to the children like he did so long ago.