What Makes a Good D&D Character?

So anyway my character is a half demon half angel vampire hunter that dual-wields crossbows

To be honest, Steve the Cow Farmer sounds like a pretty cool D&D character. In a party full of edge lords and OP wizards, this dude just wants to help his cows. Sounds like could be a very wholesome character and a heart of the party in a way.

I know a lot of people don't like the "You But Cooler" archetype, but I think it's an easy and simple way to get started with character creation. Starting with yourself (a person you highly understand) and adding small differences to make them more interesting is an easily digestible way of learning the ins and outs of DnD. [Just don't be afraid to try something new for later campaigns!]

I love how you pointed out Scanlan from CR1, his character was horny yes, but that developed into a father figure that no one in the party ever really had. He was so heart broken when the party barely knew anything about him (like his last name) that he left for 10 sessions at the end game arc (ep80+), just so he can establish a foundation in his relationship with a daughter that despised him. When the group lost him, they all lost what they really yearned for, and that was a fun father figure of the group.

One of my favorite parts of the Witcher books is this one scene where Geralt is adventuring with a bunch of people while being a broody-loner, but Dandelion and Regis and the others in the group respond to Geralt's behavior by just straight-up take the piss out of him for "playing Batman" as they make camp.

This is outstanding, a revolutionary and emotive idea.

About writing a novel length Google doc… I’d say if you have a short summary for your DM, you can have a long Google doc for yourself and anyone else who wants to read it. A friend of mine has a very interesting three dimensional character that she’s been writing the backstory for for a year, and she’s still fantastic at the table!

Playing your self insert is always what I tell people to do if they’re about to play their very first character everything. It lessens the divide with the question of “what would my character do?” A new player can focus on the problem solving at hand and not adding in the element of character study

Pirate Samurai Centaur, my first ever character idea and it was just a way to make completely random tropes come together in the most dumb way possible. A horse would never be in water or a boat, so make a centaur a pirate, and samurai just purely for the ridiculousness of the statement. It's my fantasy version of cyborg space ninja. and i love it. do not copy, i will sue.

I'm a DM and I had a player in my group who was a really good at min maxing but was really bad at creating interesting characters. (funnily enough most of his characters died). So after his current character died I sent him this video. And it's helped him a lot, I've only had a single one shot with him since he's watched this video but that one shot was one of the best D&D experiences I've ever had.

I really like the idea of a character's mechanics changing as a metaphor for their own character development. Like, a paladin being stuck between a moral choice where either option would break their oath, and in their rage against their broken religion, they make a pact as a warlock with some morally neutral patron and continue to fight for the right thing anyway, with the dm converting their character sheet in all their levels, waiving it away as a feat of sheer willpower. That sort of thing really gets my rp bones tingling.

I always find it amazing how many emotions a hat with an eye can show.

My tips for edgy characters (my name is Matthew so my dnd advise is valid): -don't expect to be taken seriously -if your character is a dick let them get their comeupins -make sure they are anchored to the party so they don't run off -use the edge as a source of humor (wether that's have a stoic character play straight man or using the weird loners lack of social skills as a source of comedy)

I played a "Batman" at one point, a vigilante with his own brand of justice. I found that allowing him to do his vigilantism during down time kept it from getting in the way of the story (simply roll and elapsed time in which the DM told me how it occured), and his ultimate arch was learning to trust the aid of others (and even adopted a set of three aasimar orphans in the party)

4:03 my mom is making her first dnd character. The personality of this character is her but cooler, but somehow she managed to build a developable person with a really good story. And the charcater is a tortle :)

This advice goes so far beyond D&D. Any character development can benefit from this, be it larping, roleplay, D&D, or even just writing fiction. Thank you.

The tip about not figuring out your characters need upfront is GREAT especially for writers like me who need the reminder! I’m so used to planning out character arcs I found myself doing it automatically, but it’s so true that you don’t know where the story will take your character

20:56 If you can't or dont want to pay for comitions, you can also make your character in a page called "Hero Forge", the facial details are not the greatest, but the clothes, equipment and colors helps you to show the mental image you have of your character. (and it doesn't looks as bad as many other online character creators out there)

This helped me round out a character I'm playing in Strixhaven a ton! Thank you so much! Gimmick: A swashbuckling rogue that is secretly an insecure dork Conflict: He's been thrust into the position of heir to his noble family following the disappearance of his older half brother/mentor, and is chafing under the domineering yoke of his parents who despise him. Want: Prove that he deserves the life he has, and is worthy as his brothers successor. His brother was always charming, daring, and smooth, so my character emulates this. However, he's actually TERRIBLE at the smooth part. He's definitely charming, and definitely daring, but the moment he has to flirt he becomes a stuttering mess, only feeding into his insecurities.

The first dnd charcater I ever made was literally just a stronger version of me. That campaign has been going on since 2019 and holy shit how much she has grown is crazy. It’s gotten to the point where I not only diversified her look from mine, but she actually has her own personality and flaws It’s all about time and practice and having a good dm/party willing to let you explore and grow :3