The person on the paper. (Most memorable characters.)

[shipratstew]

I have a few but to be brief I'll stick with two.

Siin 003 (As in ugly as sin)
Warforged artifice/fighter

I made Siin to be as simple and stereotypical as I could. He was for our first Eberron campaign and I just saw the cover of the book and just pointed and said "I wanna be that!" Not very original and I hadn't even read the setting yet. Anyway I enjoyed being big and social awkward just smashing through stuff and just being the party fighter. Now this was in early 2005 and our group only had the main setting book so my hmmmm was breaking the history of Eberron over his knee, this lead to my DM saying that I was one of the original warforged preserved from the time of the giants. Three others survived thus my brothers were the lord of blades and a third who I awoke in xendrick.

Anyway over the next 3 years I slowly became party leader and away tasked with executing two of our own party members and amazed a small army of NPC followers. Eventually in our games time line the war was resparked by the lord of blades but our group fell apart so we never saw how that panned out.

List of NPC followers for siin (without leadership)

Two drow girls he rescued from a quori sacrifice
2 humonculi
Bitey the kolbold
Bear, the magebred war-mount

At this point I took leadership to get followers for my personal army against the LOB.

 

[MadLuke]

Biography of Nam'har, Bedine fighter (exoticist)

Nam'har was only eleven years old when he first participated in a raid, belonged to the Binwabi Bedine, through the Anarouch, and his tribe had never known any other way to survive if you do not plunder the caravans of merchants who dared to venture into the lands.
For him, who was then just a kid, it was more than one race, was the baptism of blood. His brothers did not have no mercy of merchants and their families, they had not and would never have had, only the raging hot sun on the desert could be more ferocious than their own.
After the initial loss due to sudden onset of battle, even Nam'har he fell headlong into the fray, his eagerness to imitate the most senior and experienced warriors gave him the thirst for blood, one of the soldiers of the escort roamed the field for the injured, he happened to be behind him, ran him through with his sword, when they fell back to earth he realized what he had just done: for the first time he had killed a person, then and there he even didn't paid particular attention.
The memory of that day is soon lost in the memory, months, years later, the same ritual is repeated several times, always under the guidance of the cruel Alzhael, always more easily removed than the lives of people they knew nothing but who had made the mistake of being to pass through their territory.
But that face, disfigured by pain and wounds that he had inflicted, that face he had never forgotten what kind of person was he? Honorable or not, he had killed in his life for money or maybe it was a gentle man? Nam'har beginning to wonder if what he was doing was right ...
Six long years passed in this way, many predicted that the tradition that a boy could be called "man", far from the family home, only with their brethren to learn the art of survival.
Then one day something happened that would change the lives of Nam'har. The scouts had spotted a small field of merchants on their way south, Alzhael "cusp" the smell of blood already looking forward to his order all hell broke loose, a script already seen and reviewed, pour the dead on the floor, screams of women and death everywhere. Nam'har was wandering near the point of collection of wagons, in the event of finding some object of value that had escaped. Instead he saw a little girl, curled up between two large wooden crates, she was shaking like a leaf. Approached with caution, considering his possible violent reaction but this did not move, just head up to face him and started to shake again, with greater intensity if possible: "Do not worry, I will not harm you."
His attempt to calm was interrupted by a voice from outside: "Nah'mar did you find anything?"
He only had time to whisper to the girl: "I will return, do not move." Then quickly jumped off the wagon: "No Alzhael, there is nothing here."
He said in a firm tone and firm, not whether or not he was lying, but his boss looked at him intently for long moments: perhaps he had heard his words a little earlier, had read the truth in your eyes?
"Okay, then please come into the largest tent to celebrate this new day of victory!" Spurred his horse and walked away, looked past.
For the next several hours Nam'har did nothing but think about how to release the girl from the camp, he was innocent, was not part of the tribe of Binwabi, was not a Bedine, but could not find a single reason why he should do harm.
Before midnight, his friends were already drunk in the big tent, some sleeping, others compare the different jewelry that were found. For him this was the right time, all you duck and quickly headed for the wagon where the girl, which did not even know the name, was waiting for him. Yet something was wrong: he had recommended not making the slightest noise, and yet could be heard from outside her whining.
Looking more carefully, Nam'har understood: in the light of a torch he saw clearly the naked torso of Alzhael, bent over the little girl was about to rape her. His legs began to tremble, not for what he was seeing but he knew he would soon: silent and agile mounted the chariot, pulled out his khopesh agreed and pointed to the neck of his head. He never knew Alzhael say if he could feel his presence and then partially dodge the blow, or the fear of the consequences was to betray him, in any case, the blow was not mortal. That foul beast slumped cursing wildly. Nam'har wasted no time, weight loads on the shoulder and the little girl with her deft mounted on his steed.
He rode with her all night without one of them said a word until he crossed the border dell'Anarouch. There finally came across a troop of armed horsemen, the Nam'har came forward with his hands up. In brief meeting with Captain Mooth Ror, Nam'har prayed only to return the girl to someone who could take care of her, maybe a relative, if it was still possible. A quick exchange of glances as she dismounted from his horse, was the only greeting that is conceded. Nam'har soon turned his back and began to gallop towards the east could not get back among his brothers, he would have expected certain death, and even his father could not prevent it. The only thing he could do was flee, waiting for that one day he was strong enough to return and challenge Alzhael "cusp" in a deadly duel.

 

[Haltherrion]

I like to plan out a character and work up backstory myself. But as a game group, some of the most memorable characters (not my own) are the broadly drawn, over the top types.

The first character that comes to mind when you posed your question was a friend's character in a small, post-Apocalyptic, rules-light game named Doc Cabbage. He was a former pharmicist "who never prescribed a drug he didn't try." There wasn't anything more to his back story although his first actions in game ran with that concept.

Maybe it's because we're a pretty straight group that it proved so memorable but that character was 15 or so years ago and anyone who gamed with us, and many who have just heard the story, know the character.

So, while I'm a big fan of backstory, it is far from required for a memorable character

 

[Dandu]

The first character that comes to mind when you posed your question was a friend's character in a small, post-Apocalyptic, rules-light game named Doc Cabbage. He was a former pharmicist "who never prescribed a drug he didn't try."

What about birth control?

 

[Haltherrion]

What about birth control?

Doc Cabbage: "Yep, tried 'em all."

THat was the first thing we asked him

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Was his response, "They taste funny...especially the gummi ones."?

 

[xigbar]

Wayne, the awakened dog searching for the meaning of life. Work in the making.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I had made a duo:

"Drifter"- Warforged Fighter/Ranger Ghostwalker, had walked though the Deep Shadow from another reality escaping oppression. Became a mercenary.

Wilson- Awakened Weasel Wizard, former Familiar, was cut off from the intelligence he had acquired from being a familiar, returned to being an ordinary, but depressed rodent, by chance (or fate, or gods) a gnome spoke with him looking for directions through the woods and he was able to tell his story, be taken to a Druid who awakened him, than he returned to the Wizard institution he came from, was rejected, enrolled in another school, was able to duel his former master, lost the battle but kicked the crap out of the familiar that had replaced him.

They met when Wilson was participating in an anthropological study of a war, watching from the Ethereal Plane, and Drifter stepped into the Ethereal Plane momentarily for a combat advantage, broke Wilson's little observation hut, and was bound to the Ethereal Plane by Wilson until he could repair it.

The journey begins...

 

[SnowleopardVK]

I've had two characters that I really loved, even though both got pretty limited use.

Ori Tenn, Half-Orc Barbarian: Ori was my first character ever, and I played her among three other new players and one with some experience. Ori was an ex pirate who managed to be the sole surviving member of her crew simply because she was rather unimportant to them. She was rather calm and collected for a barbarian and was (as the DM often joked) less prone to violent rage than our genocidal cleric. She was the only character, PC or NPC, that ever managed to befriend the party rogue, and she enjoyed using the sorcerer as a ball and kicking him across rooms (to be fair, he was gnome with an incredibly perverted personality. In other words easily kickable). She liked the sorcerer's replacement, the kobold that killed him, much better than the sorcerer himself. In our final session before the DM moved away (in which he told us that he'd be killing us all via paladin) she shoved the party leader, the too-cynical-for-his-own-good fighter, at the paladin and ran for it. She and the rogue actually got away successfully from an encounter that was supposed to TPK us all (five 3rd level PCs against a Paladin that was at least a 10th level, maybe higher), and the DM rewarded the two of us by saying that we went on to become successful pirates over the years.

Sizemet Tardaker, Gillman Fighter: Sizemet (may he rest in peace) died recently and will soon be replaced by an elf ranger. Sizemet never did manage to get past first level, but he was apparently well liked by his teammates despite having only known them for a short time, and his death by skeleton (an unfortunate combination of a critical hit, high damage rolls on that hit, and bad timing) has caused some character development among them about caring more for the safety of their fellow party members. Sizemet was the unofficial leader of the party, he was a classic heroic good guy, and he united the group and drove them towards common goals. He cared enough about the lives of other people to always put himself between them and any enemy, even when he himself was already injured, but he also knew when he was beaten (which I think was his finest moment; leaping backwards off a ship to escape the skeletons that outnumbered him, knowing that because he had been separated from his party at the time he wasn't leaving any of them behind by doing so).