D&D 4E In 4e, why do you play the Race/Class you play?

[Stumblewyk]

Dwarf Tempest Fighter - he wields and Urgrosh and puts a serious hurting on guys with his Urgrosh-wielding Two-Blade Ranger sister in melee with him.

Human Guardian Druid (Summoner) - I wanted the extra at-will (I have 4!), and it just fit with the background I had in mind for the character...social misfit who "wasted" his youth in the forest, rescued a trapped wolf from a hunter's trap and received a blessing from the Great Wolf Spirit (his Druid powers), and then left home to do the Great Wolf Spirit's bidding. (Total Three-Wolf Moon thing going on. )

Human Whirling Barbarian - I went with the Spiked Chain multiclass feat build, and decided that he was an escapee from a "circus of the damned"-type of travelling troupe. Sold to the troupe as a young boy, he learned to do the "Dance of the Bladed Chain". When he got old enough to realize that he didn't have to live life as an unueducated slave, he killed the circus' ringleader in a fit of rage and fled.

 

[TarionzCousin]

goliath bard... just because it is more than cool...

I am envisioning him with a huge drumset harnessed to him (as in a marching band) with at least a dozen drums...

... or maybe just a stand-up double bass acoustic electric. He carries an arcanely powered amplifier on his back.

 

[Smoke Jaguar]

Minotaur because of their all around bad a'ness and they have horns. I wanted to go with the huge intimidating figure that deals massive damage.

 

[JohnSnow]

I normally DM but I whipped up a character for D&D Encounters Season 3: Keep on the Borderlands.

I tend to like martial characters, and have always had an attraction to rogues. So this time, I whipped up a Thief (to try out the new Essentials mechanics). I opted for human because that's my default unless I have a compelling story reason to make another race. Basically, there'd have to be race flavor that caught my interest - and so far, nothing has. My two favorite races have always been human and half-elf. I'd play something else if I came up with a good reason, or a decent world fit.

My two favorite classes tend to be ranger and bard - but neither of those is an essentials option yet - so I made a two-weapon fighting and bow-using rogue.

I guess I've DMed so much that I haven't become bored by even the most basic options yet. For example, I think I've played all of 1 PC wizard in 30 years...

 

[spinmd]

Almost always a DM, but one of players started to DM as well so I finally got to play. Made a dwarf fighter multiclass cleric because it looked interesting and the rest of the players thought fighters were boring (3.5e hangover).

Has proved to be very interesting to play and once I hit 8th level has become very effective at the defender / leader role.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I wanted to play a Minotaur or Githzerai (even though I think the 4Ed versions are gimped), but the DM wanted us to be PHB1 only.

So I thought about it and decided to play a Dragonborn or Dwarf, then settled upon Dwarf because the Dragonborn was too close to one of my most recent 3.5Ed PCs.

As for class, I thought the new Warlock was a clear improvement over the 3.5Ed version. I didn't care for the way any other class worked except the Ranger, Warlord & Wizard. And I knew that 2 players in the group always played Wizards and Rangers...I didn't want to spoil their fun.

At the time I was designing the PC, I was reading Brian Lumley's Mythos stories, watching Meteor Men on TV, From Beyond & the Phantasm movies, and working on some jewelry designs.

That all simmered together to form a concept of a clan of dwarves who had discovered a connection between certain exotic stones (Pallasite in particular, being the remnants of failed "Aberration Seeds") and the Far Realms...and had started dabbling in the occult to combat it, fighting fire with fire.

Because- incomprehensibly, IMHO- lore of aberrations & Far Realms stuff is handled by Dungeoneering (a skill not on the Far Realms-linked Star Pact Warlock list), I needed a way to reflect this PC's research on the topics, so I MCed him into Ranger at 1st lvl.

At first, I was mocked by my fellow players, but as time has passed, Magnus Skyhammer has proven a valuable asset.

 

[No Name]

Psionic is my favorite power source, striker is my favorite role. Been playing a monk for about 8 months now and really enjoying it. Human above all else.

If I had to choose something different, I'd probably try a controller (druid maybe).

 

[Ryujin]

So far I've only played two 4e characters.

The first is an 20th level Eladrin Feylock who multiclassed to Bard and took Darklock as a second pact at Paragon. He's a scion of the House of the Summer Fey, who dabbles in the death magic of The Raven Queen. He keeps his face hidden behind a blank, white mask. His implements are a +5 Shadowfell Blade Longsword (though he still has a preference for the Longsword of Summer) and a Rod of Corruption.

The second is a 2nd level Changeling Cunning Bard, multiclassed to Warlord. He gives a boost to his allies' damage just by being in the room. Rather than beating on the opposition he taunts and tricks them, making them stagger into the path of his allies' weapons. When Essentials hits CB I'll likely rebuild him as an Eladrin though.

You see, I grew up reading books like the Lord of the Rings series, Three Hearts and Three Lions, Scots and Irish folklore... To me, the 'classic' Elf isn't an Elf, he's an Eladrin. A Fey whose morality is frequently beyond the understanding of mere mortals. Who draws on the powers of nature and ancient Fey beings. Who believes that the world was created in a song. It has always bothered me that the tall and stately race of Elves, who thrive on misdirection and political intrigue, didn't get a charisma bonus. Well that's being remedied.

In short, that's why I play Eladrin.

 

[BASHMAN]

Halfling Ranger- he was my favorite character in Basic D&D (okay so he was just "halfling" class back then, but with +1 w/ all ranged weapons, shortbows doing the same damage as longbows, and the halfling racial bonuses to hiding, it was a good fit). He rode a dire wolf named Whisper.

In 4e, unfortunately, he sucked. Instead of a d12 damage, he did a d8 due to weapon shrinkage. Useless +2 CHA bonus made people always say "Just play an Elf instead".

I thought "at least the small size will let me ride a wolf". No such luck. DM ruled that my beast companion couldn't be ridden, even though the adventurers vault saddles section mentioned they were for mounts or beast companions . Lame.

I gave up on using this one in 4e, but eagerly use this character in Basic D&D, AD&D, C&C, Pathfinder, etc.

So I decided to go "Full Optimization" mode and made a Dragonborn Hybrid Barbarian/Cosmic Sorcerer with a badass staff. DPS was ridiculous, but character concept wasn't as fun.

Other fun builds: Alucard (from the Castlevania game): Half-Elf Dhampir Infernal Pact Warlock.

Eladrin Tac-Lord w/ Eladrin Weapon Training. Tac-Lords with reach weapons are awesome. Getting +2 damage with them is even better.

Current: Mul Warden in Darksun. Pretty cool combo, fits the setting- HATES defilers. Downside is someone in the party insisted on playing an arcane caster despite knowing the social ramifications thereof in the setting. I don't plan on looking the other way, either, if they defile. My character has been very clear that his mission in life is to "kill defilers".

 

[Tony Vargas]

Human more often than not. Other races get caught up in just being the race too much, with a human, you can get accross a more individual character idea. Dwarf, because it's easy for people to remember you're a dwarf when they're looking accross the table at a short, brearded, heavy-set guy - and Dwarves really are kinda fun. Other than that, if a concept or a mechanic really makes one race stand out, I might give it a try.

For Class I prefer the leader and controller roles, and the martial source. So Warlord is definitely a favorite class. I played magic-users a lot in the old days and got bored with 'em, but that was a long time ago, so I've played the occassional wizard. I liked the customizeability of the 3.x fighter, but the 4e fighter's sheer effectiveness and variety of powers makes it interesting, too - particularly the Brawling fighter, which can exert a little of it's own brand of control now and then. Clerics are more fun than they used to be - devoted Clerics have some strong secondary controller stuff, which adds to the fun.