D&D 4E Brainstorming 4E characters

[Wednesday Boy]

I used to do that all the time in 3.x too! And I do it the same amount for 4E., even if there isn't the same amount of jumping between classes that happened in 3.x. My latest attempt was reimagining the party from our 3.5 Ptolus game (which ended with the advent of 4E) into 4E characters in case we ever want to return to that game. Oh what fun!!

 

[Obryn]

I make a ton of characters in my downtime. With the Character Builder, it's a blast. I don't know that I'd get a kick out of it without Character Builder + splatbooks, but with those, it's fun.

Just like with 3.5, I find a certain game element - a feat or power or item or paragon path and try and build a character around it. For example, Lethal Hammer from MP2 encouraged me to try and make a dwarf rogue. The Genasi wizard feat from AP encouraged me to make a Genasi elementalist. Avernian Knight from MP2 set me on a kick to try and make the perfect melee warlock.

I also made a lot in 3.5 - but, again, only if I was using software (specifically HeroForge) at the time.

-O

 

[renau1g]

I find I spend more time tinkering around with odd-ball or corner case builds, not broken or cheesy ones, but certainly ones I find interesting.

Like my polearm warlord... the stat requirements for polearm gamble are super high for that class, but it was a lot of fun to put together in like 15 mins and see what it would look like. I love having access to all the splatbooks in one program without having to shell out $30 a month for the latest and greatest and still having to pore over dozens of books for info.

 

[Garthanos]

What are you talking about? I am having trouble making sense of your post.

Anyway, if you read the OP, I do play 4E. I do not in any way hate it, I was wondering if other people found themselves making characters less in 4E than previous editions (mainly) or other systems(also a good comparison) You seem not to. In no place did I imply I hate 4E. If I did, why would I be posting in this forum?

I took your curt statement as being a sarcastic one which could imply ... good for you (... but not for me) It is one of those web "lack of" communication because no tone or anything is involved...

Not being inspired to design characters would kill an rpg for me... I would indeed not like it.

 

[MrMyth]

I dunno, I find myself constantly coming up with new characters and combinations in4E. Between multiclassing and hybrid rules, there are a lot of options out there, even before you get into various feat combos and the different build choices within each class. I was glad for a recent one-shot a friend ran, where I produced the pregens - it gave me the chance to stat out several characters recently on my mind: a staff-based fighter, the dwarven rogue with a Dwarven Thrower Warhammer, the ranger|artificer who set traps everywhere, a hybrid runepriest|warlord built around shield use, a thaneborn barbarian and a mystic theurge (hybrid wizard|cleric).

Some of those inspired by old-school elements, others wanting to build around a flavorful character concept, others by wanting to try out new mechanics, others just wanting to try a different style of a class I had seen before. Four of them ended up getting used, and were fun to see in action.

I mean, I'm not saying your experiences are wrong or anything, but I really just don't see the lack of options you mention - not in character concepts available, nor in mechanical choices to be made.

 

[mneme]

I do, in fact, spend more time mulling over and building 4e concepts. Part of this is the ease of doing so in CB without a lot of research (though I -so- wish the searching in CB was better -- even having the "search" window restrict the view to results would help -enormously- -- you could use the "house rule" button and get effects that way!), but part is that it's a great toykit.

The possiblities are in different places than they are in 3e -- power/feat choices rather than skill/level/spell choices, but they're still very signficiant and fun to play with.

 

[Jack99]

I make way more characters in 4e than ever before. During 1e and 2e I could only play wizards, during 3.5 I added druid to my repertoire.

In 4e, I have already played a wizard, a warlord, a rogue, a fighter, a barbarian, a druid, a sorcerer and a ranger. I have plans for a cleric, a runepriest, a psion, another sorcerer, another fighter, another wizard (two actually) another druid and a shaman, and that's of the top of my head. My biggest problem is that I am the DM normally, so I only get to be a player on average once ever month, so I am not sure my characters will die often enough to ever get through that many characters.

 

[Turtlejay]

Many of the 3.5 characters I built were gimmicks, proof of concepts, or planned out characters I played. 3.5 and PrC's pretty much required you know where you were going from 1st level. Buying the right skill ranks and feats, or level dipping, was part of getting into the PrC you needed, and made building characters *something to do*.

I build characters for fun with 4e, too, but from the other direction. For example, I have wanted to play a Sorcerer for some time now, and have been working up different builds to see what works best with my group. My current one is a hybrid, with the Paladin class brought in because it fit our campaign (our benefactor is a priest with some rank in the church of The Silver Flame). 3.5 building would have involved approaching it differently. Maybe that is what you miss. The sideways approach and almost mathematical development of a character from its parts.

Jay

 

[Dice4Hire]

Interesting, so it seems my experiences are not the norm, or at least compared with those who have posted here.

 

[Turtlejay]

Honestly, part of it might be the non-DDI part. The CB makes it a breeze to try new things, to swap parts on a character to see what you like. Doing it by hand has its own rewards, I would agree, but takes much longer.

Jay