D&D 5E (2014) Who are the famous characters of D&D

[steeldragons]

Like that guy (Warduke), yes.

His armor's not multi-classed! In AD&D games [ime] that would totally count as "Chainmail & shield" for his AC. lol.

 

[TwoSix]

Like that guy (Warduke), yes.

His armor's not multi-classed! In AD&D games [ime] that would totally count as "Chainmail & shield" for his AC. lol.

His left side is fighter, and his right side is barbarian! It's like he discovered gestalt rules before 3.5 did!

 

[Mercule]

Mordenkainen, Tenser, Bigsby, Drawmij, Gord, Murlynd, St. Cuthbert, Vecna, Kas, Emerikol, Warduke, Demogorgon, Orcus, Iuz, and Kyuss are all pretty iconic, IMO.

Newer "big names" are Strahd, Lord Soth, Raistlin, Azalin, and Elminster.

Then there are some minor characters or recent names with varying degrees of recognition (or, IMO, worthiness). Characters like the Lady of Pain, Khelban Blackstaff, Ashardalan, Lareth the Beautiful, etc.

Why, yes, my definition of "icon" does generally require the character to have been around during Gygax's tenure. Also, anything appearing in the Realms (emo-sabre-boy) gets a downgrade.

 

[Mirtek]

Drizzt Wacky Sword Coast Adventures (Or Dude, where is my Abandoned Dwarven Mine?).

Don't forget Drizzt Wacky Sword Coast Adventures II (Or Dude, where is my Abandoned ancient Dwarven Homeland?)

 

[Tony Vargas]

Mordenkainen, Bigby and other spell namers?

Among actual D&Ders, those guys. Why? Not everyone reads the novels or plays in a given setting, but everyone reads the PH, and they've been in every PH.

Outside the hobby, though, it's only the ones in successful novels that have a chance at name recognition. They're just like any other book-series IP, in that sense.

In essence, who could make the jump from the latter list to the former. I mean, even among comic book fans the names Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket weren't especially well known, but now they are household names like Captain America or Thor.

Who among the D&D crowd would be poised to make a leap towards mainstream?

None of 'em. Guardians.. worked not because the characters were poised to break into the mainstream, but because Marvel had invigorated it's brand enough that the mainstream was convinced any Marvel movie was worth a look. D&D has name recognition (compared to other RPGs), but it doesn't exactly have a great reputation.

Even most of my geek friends and family would be hard-pressed to name a "D&D character". From what they understand the whole point is to come up with your own characters.

The magic items, spells, & monsters - and tropes, like dungeon-crawling - of D&D may be the things to mine for IP. The worlds and characters are just so many proper nouns.

 

[Galendril]

I think the only 'iconic' characters are those who have been mentioned in every incarnation of the of the core books. Those would include: Tenser, Mordenkainen, Bigby, Nystel, Otiluke, Otto, Dwamij, Leomund, Rary, Vecna, Lum, and Kas. Of course, this list is not exhaustive.

 

[MG.0]

Although they didn't originate in D&D, official products have included:

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Conan
Red Sonja

 

[Remathilis]

Interesting repsonses.

I was in Target the other day and saw Arena of the Planeswalkers; a board game based off the Magic: The Gathering mythos. For those not in the know; in MTG a Planeswalker is a super-powerful wizard, in game the Player is assuming the role of a Planeswalker dueling another planeswalker via his spells and creatures (the cards). In the beginning, the story was never more complicated than that. However, over the years Wizards developed a collection of Planeswalkers who you could call in for aid (play as cards) that had names, origins, storylines, and whose actions affected the meta-story running through the different card sets. In short, they took the concept of the nameless, faceless player-Planeswalker and made it focus on these unique characters that filter throughout the MTG universe.

I was looking at this game and realized that right now, D&D has few options to do that. It doesn't have many characters that reach the level of in-world recognition that a Planeswalker does. On the hero side, there is a few characters from novels, comics, or games, and on the villain side a few from modules, novels, or other spinoffs. The closest D&D got to this was the Iconics of 3e who appeared in every module and in most book art, but aside from a few mediocre novels and a sweet, but short, interactive movie (Scourge of Worlds, check it out if you haven't) never really made a group of heroes or villains that matched the level of what Planeswalkers mean to MTG, which limits D&D right now in terms of marketing outside the RPG.

So I was trying to see if there is a decent enough group of characters that could become the "faces" of D&D like the Planeswalkers became the faces of MTG. Despite being a much older game with much deeper lore, its not appearing there are that many characters who can fill the role of "character ambassador" right now...

 

[PMárk]

Tiamat, and the other 80's cartoon characters. Characters from the Baldur's Gate CRPGs - particularly Minsc and Boo.

Even most of my geek friends and family would be hard-pressed to name a "D&D character". From what they understand the whole point is to come up with your own characters.

I want Minsc and Boo merchandise NOW!

 

[Shasarak]

So I was trying to see if there is a decent enough group of characters that could become the "faces" of D&D like the Planeswalkers became the faces of MTG. Despite being a much older game with much deeper lore, its not appearing there are that many characters who can fill the role of "character ambassador" right now...

I would suggest the main reason for not having "iconic" DnD characters is the small but vocal segment of the Players that loudly decry the existence of official heroes as if DnD was not big enough for more then one adventure at a time.