iserith
Magic Wordsmith
Chugstein only works with the most steadfast of drunkards, who are not known for making great decisions. Rest in peace and godspeed, noble tosspots.
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Class, Concept and Optimization
- Thread starter Treantmonklvl20
- Start date
Chugstein only works with the most steadfast of drunkards, who are not known for making great decisions. Rest in peace and godspeed, noble tosspots.
My preferred method is to design an overall concept first. Then I figure out what class or race might work best to make it happen. Afterwards I usually pick a background that fits, and then begin the mechanical crunching. Afterwards I try to optimize the character as much as I can within the overall concept.
Unfortunately I'm DM half the time, so I don't get a chance to try out the cool different options as much as I'd like. Instead, in 5E I've basically looked at a mechanic I want to see used, then build the concept around that. For example, I wanted to see how the Shield Master Feat would work, so I worked out Adamar de Petri, a Noble Human Paladin who's family is in exile from their fallen homeland (variant human, because we started at level 3 and I wanted the feat early). After his death I created Daergal, a Gnome Wizard, because I was interested in the Battle Mage subclass. My current character is built around the Eldritch Knight, most notably the ability to attack as a bonus action after casting a cantrip, so I created Aevarr Kolrson, Craftsman Mountain Dwarf Fighter who's a master mason (high Int to go with the tool proficiency) and cousin to one of the other PCs.
Unfortunately I'm DM half the time, so I don't get a chance to try out the cool different options as much as I'd like. Instead, in 5E I've basically looked at a mechanic I want to see used, then build the concept around that. For example, I wanted to see how the Shield Master Feat would work, so I worked out Adamar de Petri, a Noble Human Paladin who's family is in exile from their fallen homeland (variant human, because we started at level 3 and I wanted the feat early). After his death I created Daergal, a Gnome Wizard, because I was interested in the Battle Mage subclass. My current character is built around the Eldritch Knight, most notably the ability to attack as a bonus action after casting a cantrip, so I created Aevarr Kolrson, Craftsman Mountain Dwarf Fighter who's a master mason (high Int to go with the tool proficiency) and cousin to one of the other PCs.
Valmarius
First Post
Concept first, so the character will be fun to play. Then optimisation to ensure they're a benefit to the party.
Latest creation is Nicholas Shiftskin, who I imagined as a regular looking human who can mutate his body to create weapons. That led me to Pact of the blade warlock, where I could reskin the summoning of the pact weapon as Nicholas morphing his arm. From there I picked other spells and abilities that could support the theme.
Latest creation is Nicholas Shiftskin, who I imagined as a regular looking human who can mutate his body to create weapons. That led me to Pact of the blade warlock, where I could reskin the summoning of the pact weapon as Nicholas morphing his arm. From there I picked other spells and abilities that could support the theme.
L
lowkey13
Guest
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FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
My characters typically start off with a fairly basic mechanical concept. Sometimes it's, I want to be a Wizard. Or I want to be a control spell caster. Sometimes it's I want to be a tank. Or I want to be a thief (not necessarily a rogue). Sometimes it's even more basic, like what interesting things can I do with divine smite. So typically some basic mechanical concept starts the ball rolling for me. After that I explore some basic variations to see what class options and feats and multiclass options etc give me the most inspiration. After all that is done I typically give my character a bit of an over the top personality. In decision points for skills and starting stats I'll optimize to a certain point and then I'll put the rest into skills that are more flavorful etc.
A few examples:
I wanted to play a Wizard to I made Lodu the really smart mad scientist style Wizard. He was all about experiment part of science. He focused on having spells that would "rescue" the party from bad situations. Also responsible for getting the party into a number of those bad situations.
I wanted to play a archer fighter so I made Cooter the Hillbilly that liked to shoot things and say watch this. Had a lot of wisdom and nature and guerilla tactic awareness and would argue with the smart characters even when he was obviously wrong (he wasn't a very intelligent character). Funniest moment was when he told the party he was going to ride the phase spider and it phased on him after he jumped on it.
I wanted to play a tank so I determined barbarian / rogue was one of the most effective ways to build a tank. So I made NeedsAHug the trollkin barbarian / rogue. He plays more as a dumb gentle giant whose basically spent his whole life just trying to survive.
A few examples:
I wanted to play a Wizard to I made Lodu the really smart mad scientist style Wizard. He was all about experiment part of science. He focused on having spells that would "rescue" the party from bad situations. Also responsible for getting the party into a number of those bad situations.
I wanted to play a archer fighter so I made Cooter the Hillbilly that liked to shoot things and say watch this. Had a lot of wisdom and nature and guerilla tactic awareness and would argue with the smart characters even when he was obviously wrong (he wasn't a very intelligent character). Funniest moment was when he told the party he was going to ride the phase spider and it phased on him after he jumped on it.
I wanted to play a tank so I determined barbarian / rogue was one of the most effective ways to build a tank. So I made NeedsAHug the trollkin barbarian / rogue. He plays more as a dumb gentle giant whose basically spent his whole life just trying to survive.
I use classes, backgrounds, spells, feats, etc. for inspiration the exact same way I get inspiration from pictures, minis, a character from a book or show or video game, etc.
Many is the time I've thunk up a character concept based on a class, only to switch to a different class as part of the character-creation process. Same with other game mechanics (feats, weapons, etc.). Likewise, sometimes I'll be inspired by a character from fiction, and by the time I've filled in the mechanical details, they are completely unrecognizable.
So for me it's not so much about restrictions vs. freedom, or mechanics vs. story, it's more about what catches my imagination and where that leads.
Many is the time I've thunk up a character concept based on a class, only to switch to a different class as part of the character-creation process. Same with other game mechanics (feats, weapons, etc.). Likewise, sometimes I'll be inspired by a character from fiction, and by the time I've filled in the mechanical details, they are completely unrecognizable.
So for me it's not so much about restrictions vs. freedom, or mechanics vs. story, it's more about what catches my imagination and where that leads.
I come up with an idea. Usually a concept inspired by a song, or something I watched, something I read etc. I put my own spin on it because I have particulars. For some reason I have these touchstones I've been fascinated with for years (duality or similar like fire/ice, dragon/phoenix, light/shadow, life/death, magic/tech) so my characters tend to incorporate something from that. Then its on to the mechanics like race and class that best fit that.
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