D&D 5E Help! What should I play?

[Psikerlord#]

Yeah if it were me, I'd be looking at paladin, barbarian or half-orc champion fighter. With the champion you'll never know when a big crit might arrive, he's always a threat. Then just go big on personality and enjoy.

 

[mach1.9pants]

There is so much flexibility in 5E. My group is a drugged up hippy Monk/Moon Druid and rescued from slavery/marriage elf Wild Sorceress with the resulting paranoia. As we didn't have a tank (tho druid is partial tank) or a rogue type I made a half-elf Paladin of Vengeance with criminal background. I use rapier and buckler (dex focused), can stealth and trap find with the best of them... and am the party face. Not my initial thoughts of what a Paladin is but lots of fun!

 

[transtemporal]

For a tank? Human variant bear barbarian w polearm master and/or sentinel. Pop rage and resistance and go to town.

 

[Mistwell]

Consider a Tank Bard.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Although I'm sure it's too late now, something very important to remember with most classes and especially the Paladin: you aren't limited to being Str-based. Literally zero of the Paladin's core features require it, and it is perfectly reasonable to play a lightly-armored, high-dex Pally who has Stealth skills.

If your party does "skew evil," which I find unlikely but is possible, you would be in a great position to lead and mediate as a Paladin. You can do that with any of the oaths. Or, specifically with Vengeance, you could be the "dark knight" archetype the book mentions, solving problems by making things dead. Lots of options, and I can't think of a single "group goal/rp style" that would conflict, that wasn't just straight-up "we don't like divine characters," yet there's already a Light Cleric so even that would be profoundly hypocritical/unfair.

 

[Li Shenron]

Does anyone have any ideas?

If you think you "should" be a melee character because nobody else is, then you are a fool. At least some of the other players choose their PC freely without knowing what class the others were going to be, so why should you get the shaft and be morally forced into a limited choice? The game works fine without all traditional roles covered, the party will adjust itself to whatever composition, so just make up a PC you want to play instead of worried that it's up to you to do community service for the rest of the group.

I won't believe that with 12 classes and 30+ subclasses there isn't a character archetype that doesn't attract you into play Either choose one because of the narrative or because some mechanics makes you feel you'll have fun playing it that way.

It also always helps a lot to recall some cool character from a movie or book you have recently watched/read, and try to base your PC around that. What was the last fantasy/sci-fi/action movies you've seen? Wasn't there some cool character? How could you transpose that character into the fantasy medieval-ish style of D&D?

And if you really really have no clue (but normally that happens when you have too many cool ideas to try) there is always the good old gamer's friend: the die. Roll a random character Roll class, race and background at least... or roll everything if you dare!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

High elf fighter. Either 16 str. 14 dex. 14 int. 14 con. or 18 dex, 12 str.
or even 16 dex, 16 con. Take a nice cantrip. Something that deals damage or utility. Go eldritch knight at level 3.

You have a fighter Mage from day one.

A different idea, though a little bit weird:

A dwarven mage. 14 Str. 14 int. 18 con. Be an abjurer at level 2. Go dual hand axe or battle axe.
Don't tell anybody that you are a wizard.

Instead of wizard, you can be a warlock or even sorcerer. Though warlock may work better.
The fiend pact warlock with the right spells and invokation is a great tank.
The only thing you miss might be shield proficiency.
Starting fighter and multiclassing is also always an option.

 

[EroGaki]

Actually, due to some technical difficulties (we game online via virtual tabletop) game was cancelled for today, so I actually have another two weeks to get a character designed, as we game biweekly.

The party isn't actually evil, though everyone seems to be...questionable; the light cleric is a zealot pyromaniac who constantly needs to be reigned in, and the necromancer is, well, a necromancer. But no one is actually evil.

 

[Henry]

While Li Shenron's first sentence might be a little strong, he's got a great point: choose what interests you and let the dice fall where they may. If your group didn't coodinate together beforehand to come to an agreement on roles and strategies, then the death rate will solve that soon enough, and you can all coordinate on who needs to be taking point instead of getting "stuck" with a role you don't enjoy.

If that's not the case, then there's plenty of great suggestions in this thread. To it i'd add:

-Vengeance Paladin goes great with a "morally flexible" party.
-Battlemaster Fighters make fantastic swashbucklers.
-I've seen an eldritch knight Archer in play and with the Hex Spell can do some nasty damage! Very well done class.
- If the group is allowing feats, then Human with "magic initiate" feat can give you that touch of magic to any class you choose.

 

[Herobizkit]

Lawful Evil Paladins with a cause make the best "masterminds" of a shady group.