D&D 5E [POLL] What drives your inspiration behind char gen?

[Daern]

I was going to choose thematic but then I realized I mostly follow the dice. Sometimes I choose a class first, but I really like using the Backgrounds, bonds, flaws system in 5e. I like it when randomness nudges me to create a character I wasn't expecting. So I guess, my other option would be, "Emergent".
Also, I always name my characters after Premier League soccer players.

 

[Marandahir]

I was going to choose thematic but then I realized I mostly follow the dice. Sometimes I choose a class first, but I really like using the Backgrounds, bonds, flaws system in 5e. I like it when randomness nudges me to create a character I wasn't expecting. So I guess, my other option would be, "Emergent".
Also, I always name my characters after Premier League soccer players.

I love this word for it. Emergence is a great concept that needs to be discussed more, since Tabletop RPGs are a beautiful example of where creativity can be incredibly Emergent. I feel like 5e has been the edition most supporting of Emergence, the number of random generation tables involved throughout the edition's rules are very high. Previous editions had them too, but they were largely optional, add-on elements published later, rather than built into the core rules.

For me, I usually have a character in mind I want to explore. But those characters can be very roughly developed, and have multiple possible pathways for exploring them. My chief character I've played many times has been run as a Druid, as a Ranger, as a Bard, even as a Cleric at one time. Actually, thinking back, one of the earliest versions of the character was run as a Paladin. Huh.

As I've explored these characters, random tables help me uncover new aspects of the characters I didn't know otherwise. For example, rolling on the trinket table revealed something precious to the character I was talking above, while rolling on the Charlatan tables helped me form a cohesive and intriguing character backstory prior to Level 1 (he's currently expressed as a Bard). So I voted Thematic, but Emergent really plays a good deal into it too!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I think my primary inspiration is first and foremost the dice. I look at a given stat array and often can see a character in my mind. Sometimes those characters are inspired by books and stories, but only when it matches the stat array. (E.g. I recently created a beefy Str 15 Dex 8 Con 16 Int 13 Wis 9 Cha 19 Fighter 1/Fiendlock 2/Sorcerer 4 and it was just obvious to me that this guy was a corrupt high-ranking cleric, based on Zhaspahr Clyntahn from the Safehold series. Forceful personality but not self-aware, short-tempered, a bully, cunning but not patient. His evil, brutish personality flowed directly from his stat rolls and class choice.)

 

[Rya.Reisender]

I have the same character I always play in any MMORPG. Since he's a god (kinda), DMs usually don't accept him for Pen&Paper, though, so I'm usually just going with a standard WotC character out of frustration. =3

 

[Uchawi]

All of the above. I've created characters because I wanted to play with some specific mechanic, have created them to emulate characters I enjoyed in other media, and also as concepts of my own design.

I agree. Creating a character is a collage of everything in the poll. They all add to the process of what eventually ends up on the piece of paper. And as you create more characters the process gets refined based on your experience. Eventually you will become a master of creating characters.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Other: "concept."

Sometimes "concept" is heavily thematic, like "traditional Merlin archetype, with shapeshifting and subtle magic." Sometimes it's heavily optimization, like "(nearly) unhittable tank" or "main-healer paladin." Sometimes it's an axis that I feel gets overlooked far too often in these discussions, "procedural"--that is, thoroughly developing the most entertaining/engaging process of playing the character, even if it's not especially thematic nor especially optimal--e.g. "grapple and support."

Incidentally, all four examples are things I've actually tried to do in at least one TTRPG system, and three of the four were for actual campaigns even if I didn't end up using them (the thematic one was just a personal exercise, to see how close I could get to "Welsh" Merlin in 4e).

In the pursuit of a concept, I will weigh each of the three axes above (theme, effectiveness, procedure) until I find the right balance. No matter what the prime nature of the concept, I will (and have) made sacrifices in each area in order to reach that balance. Perhaps "subtle" magic doesn't mesh with "shapeshifting" in the rules; I may settle for "elemental" magic instead. Perhaps being a meaningfully engaging support character means you have to have spells (I'm looking at you, 5e), which is a procedural level I often find excessively intricate but will accept if it is the only path available. Perhaps the "optimal" path for a healer Paladin means dumping Intelligence, which I am loath to do because I don't like playing "dumb" characters. Regardless of the situation, I'll make sacrifices in any one area if the loss is sufficiently compensated in the others--and without careful thought and knowing the context, I can't rule out any particular change.

 

[FuelDrop]

These days I tend to roll up a background for the character using a random background generator, then build the character from there. Tends to have fun results

 

[TheLoneRanger1979]

Most of the time, i use and abuse mechanics to achieve a certain thematic goal. My themes are however almost always strongly media based (books, poems, movies, comics....), even other gaming systems, so i voted media.

However, my latest PC was actually rolled, as in BG, bond, flaw being all randomly generated and then i fashioned several pages of history around his origins (up to 2 generations prior), so at least in some cases i would fall into the "emergent" category i guess......

 

[Kabouter Games]

I voted "Thematic," because I always have at least an idea what sort of character I want to play. I'm with the people who then work to make their themed characters effective through mechanics. But it's not as optimized as they can be, generally; if optimization goes against the spirit of the theme, I'm willing to discard the fullest optimization and instead concentrate making the mechanics of the theme as optimal as possible. The example of the butcher in this thread typifies what I'm talking about. See also Durnik the Smith in Eddings's Belgariad.

I adore the idea of the "emergent" character based on random elements in generation. In a very real way, all characters are emergent - or they should be - but the idea of not really having a pre-determined role until the dice fall on the background table is really, really cool.

The character I'm playing now is a themed Cavalier. He's a bodge of various mechanics to fit the concept/theme: A noble knight errant, specialized in combat with lance on horseback. He's totally useless doing anything other than charging at foes, with the possible (and arguable) exception of schmoozing other nobles/aristocrats. My DM and I developed a niche for him in the party by house-ruling a "mark" ability which lets him tank. I'm having a fabulous amount of fun roleplaying his flowery Jacobean language ("Stand, knave! I name thee recreant, false, and craven. Take up thy lance that I might prove thy folly upon thy body!"). Yeah, basically he's Mandorallen from The Belgariad.

 

[Lanefan]

The character I'm playing now is a themed Cavalier. He's a bodge of various mechanics to fit the concept/theme: A noble knight errant, specialized in combat with lance on horseback. He's totally useless doing anything other than charging at foes, with the possible (and arguable) exception of schmoozing other nobles/aristocrats. My DM and I developed a niche for him in the party by house-ruling a "mark" ability which lets him tank. I'm having a fabulous amount of fun roleplaying his flowery Jacobean language ("Stand, knave! I name thee recreant, false, and craven. Take up thy lance that I might prove thy folly upon thy body!"). Yeah, basically he's Mandorallen from The Belgariad.

Mandorallen is THE archetypal Cavalier if ever there was one. But he's none too bright; which leads me to...

Perhaps the "optimal" path for a healer Paladin means dumping Intelligence, which I am loath to do because I don't like playing "dumb" characters.

I don't mind playing dumb characters now and then, as it means I can drink beer and relax and not have to worry about thinking at the games.

But these days, unless playing a Cleric, I almost always use Wisdom as the dump stat; 'cause then I can do whacked-out foolhardy things and still be in character.

Lan-"mightiest knight on life"-efan