Please discuss interesting character ideas

[underseer]

Whenever I see discussions about character builds, people just talk about what is more effective in combat, but there is so much more to this game than just combat mechanics.

I recently made a halfling charcter on a lark. I know I can respec any character, but I already had a Circle of the Moon druid, and wanted to try a Circle of the Land druid made for the healer role instead of a melee role. While the Lucky racial trait does seem to be nice for combat, what I am really enjoying are all the silly country bumpkin dialog options when you play a halfling character.

Evil characters almost universally find you tiresome, and I deeply enjoy annoying them while playing a halfling.

I usually do not make characters of classes for the first few party members you pick up. I don't feel the need to play a cleric because the first party member you get is a cleric. I already know what it's like to play a cleric. Ditto for theif, wizard, and fighter. I don't generally feel the need to make such characters because I already know what they are like. (Certain conversations are more interesting if you use Astarion. Try using him to talk to the child tiefling vendor in the Druid grove who has a pickpocket friend.)

But I did make a Wizard character just because that is the only class with Intelligence as a primary ability. I wanted to make a "party face" character who was really good at all the intelligence-based dialog options (history, et. al.), so naturally, I went with a rock gnome for the histroy-related racial trait, naturally. The combat feels exactly the same because I am already used to Gale in my other playthroughs, but it's fun knowing that I can ace those intelligence-related dialog skill checks. For example, you can free Shadowheart in the nautiloid opening sequence without running to the other room for the tablet/key thing to unlock the panel.

I have made more than one elf character just because I like having the boost to Perception for spotting traps and the like, but boy can elves be snotty and arrogant about other people's cooking. That gets annoying after a while.

I tried a githyanki sorcerer, but deleted the character after only a few levels because I don't care for the sorcerer playstyle. It just feels too restrictive after playing around with Gale and Wyll. I'm not going to lie: I did like being able to wear medium armor on a spellcasting character, and having vault + misty step as racial traits are epic as [bad word], but I find githyanki culture kind of annoying, so the race-specific dialog options aren't fun like the halflings are.

I have yet to try a dwarf or a half-orc yet. Maybe I'll reroll my Circle of the Moon druid as a half-orc and make a dwarf cleric. I already know humans from Gale & Wyll (light armor + shields + more carrying capacity is nice for spellcasters, and the extra skill can be good for dialog options).

Anyway, what do you find interesting in a main character that has nothing to do with combat?

I'm addicted to act one and am endlessly creating new characters (this is normal for me in computer roleplaying games). I have not really experienced acts 2 or 3 because of my rerolling obsession. I'd love to find out what other people find interesting about various races and classes that have nothing to do with being better in combat. Too many discussions about character mechanics in CRPGs focus on being "elite" in combat. Bleah.

[lawjax]

I noticed when playing a tiefling the sheer volume of opportunities that seemed to present themselves to me in Act 1, to either be perpetually offended or otherwise racially aware. The same can be said of Drow, as well as the other races I'm sure - have not played with all of them yet.

By default, I have always played a human fighter for as long as I can remember, and so this is what I typically go with as I seem to be able to come up with logistics and rationale for my decision making most easily under this particular race and class.

Ultimately, and for narrative purposes specific to this game, I have a difficult time playing a classically "morally good" character of any race, as due to the nature of the adventure (lethal parasitic infection), I feel compelled to behave like I'm running on borrowed time and so the ruthless and most pragmatic decisions feel the most reasonable to me since I am trying to get my problems, and I suppose those of my companions, sorted out quickly and efficiently, thus I treat everyone and everything else as either an obstacle, asset, or justifiable collateral.

[Izlude]

I just play a human male sorcerer on every run.

[underseer]

Interesting take, Lawjax. So far, I'm enjoying my Zariel tiefling paladin, even with the forced "be nice" mechanics. Zariel tiefling paladins are ridiculously good at intimidation thanks to the Thaumaturgy racial trait, but many of those intimidation dialog options just don't feel very paladin-like. I might just re-roll my paladin character because of this, even though it's really nice having a high charisma, an +intimidation boost from the Soldier background, and Thaumaturgy for truly epic Intimidation rolls.

I did roll a Zariel tiefling bard, just because bards are the only ones that can use the Performance side of Thaumaturgy. That character is not very high level yet.

[underseer]

Originally posted by Philogosten:

I just play a human male sorcerer on every run.

What do you like about that?

[victorvnv]

I always play human , and I make him always look the same- to make him look as close to me in real life as possible.

I also usually make him something similar to me in real life too- I been learning to play guitar, I also workout and have a toned body, so a bard with a few points in thief who usually prefers diplomacy over raw power is probably the closest thing to my real self .

I tried to make something totally different like a drow warlock / sorcerer but it just didn’t feel right so I always just go back into more realistic classes and human as a race

[Izlude]

Originally posted by underseer:

Originally posted by Philogosten:

I just play a human male sorcerer on every run.

What do you like about that?

I like playing as a character that looks like me and I like magic.

[underseer]

Originally posted by victorvnv:

I always play human , and I make him always look the same- to make him look as close to me in real life as possible.

I also usually make him something similar to me in real life too- I been learning to play guitar, I also workout and have a toned body, so a bard with a few points in thief who usually prefers diplomacy over raw power is probably the closest thing to my real self .

I tried to make something totally different like a drow warlock / sorcerer but it just didn’t feel right so I always just go back into more realistic classes and human as a race

Fair enough. I can see why that would make it more interesting for your playthroughs.

I might try the same, but this game doesn't allow for less than 8 charisma. 😉

[ShadowDark3]

A fighter/warlock. The idea being this person is elderly (I'd make them human but could be any race that doesn't live for hundreds of years), was a high profile soldier but their fighting days are well behind them. They make a pact to regain their youthful vigour and embark on one last adventure.

Not really sure how well it would work in BG3, I just like the concept for a tabletop character.

[retsam1]

My first character run through was a gnome Cleric Thief which was fun for party composition. First death/game over was from waving at and telling Vlaakith she wasn't such a powerful "god" if she was telling me to do all her dirty work. I of course though reloaded to make different choices :P

Second run through's a human necromancer wizard dual wielding staves, having the divorce wand, undead and other summons. Armies are fun, especially when zombies make new short term zombies too.

That said...

How about a multiclass combination where with also the gear you opt for too, that you dont have to deal much in the way of direct damage but that anything that hits you takes lots of damage while you take very little?

Or a throwing only (weapons, trash etc) barbarian or monk or barbarian monk? Basically if they pick it up, they throw it in a fight. Seeing them throwing tongs and all that other trash never gets old.

Or a bronze/blue dragonborn (I know you said you dont like sorc) Sorc/fighter/tempest cleric that -only casts water and electic abiities and using elec damage gear. Drop some water then shock the field its actually a powerful combo though and you were more wanting to steer away from poweful stuff but seeing so many chain lightning electrical shows late game is really a light show. You can also do other variants of this with druid etc for the other elements only focus too.

Or there's that fun little achievement to play(though you can cheat it but dont) a jack of all trades making a multiclass of all classes as you level up (ie 1 level per class).

[underseer]

Originally posted by ShadowDark3:

A fighter/warlock. The idea being this person is elderly (I'd make them human but could be any race that doesn't live for hundreds of years), was a high profile soldier but their fighting days are well behind them. They make a pact to regain their youthful vigour and embark on one last adventure.

Not really sure how well it would work in BG3, I just like the concept for a tabletop character.

That's more of a "head canon" thing than something related to anything that happens in game, but still cool. I've run into several people (through YouTube videos or web articles, not in my personal life) who are roleplaying in ways very similar to what you're doing. It sounds neat, but for me, this kind of thing would be more for a tabletop game.

I haven't played tabletop for decades, and I've completely missed out on the D&D resurgance, but I have this character idea that I would like to try out some time.

Mostly, people who make thief characters use their thief characters to be jerks to the other players.

Further, I almost never play thief characters in computer roleplaying games because I just don't like stealth mechanics in most computer games.

But I thought it would be fun to come up with a thief character that had an in-game reason to not be a jerk to the other players.

My idea is to make a young archaeology postdoc who learned thieving skills at the local thieve's guild solely so he could join a party and delve dungeons for archaeological artifacts. Naturally, he would be interested in lock-picking and trap disarming for archaeological reasons. I would imagine he would be terrified of combat in general, and would be bad at the stealth thing due to his own fears. He would be less interested in the loot unless said loot had archaeological value. He would have reasons to avoid breaking the law (e.g. pick-pocketing) as an arrest record might make getting tenure more difficult.

[retsam1]

Originally posted by underseer:

Originally posted by ShadowDark3:

A fighter/warlock. The idea being this person is elderly (I'd make them human but could be any race that doesn't live for hundreds of years), was a high profile soldier but their fighting days are well behind them. They make a pact to regain their youthful vigour and embark on one last adventure.

Not really sure how well it would work in BG3, I just like the concept for a tabletop character.

That's more of a "head canon" thing than something related to anything that happens in game, but still cool. I've run into several people (through YouTube videos or web articles, not in my personal life) who are roleplaying in ways very similar to what you're doing. It sounds neat, but for me, this kind of thing would be more for a tabletop game.

I haven't played tabletop for decades, and I've completely missed out on the D&D resurgance, but I have this character idea that I would like to try out some time.

Mostly, people who make thief characters use their thief characters to be jerks to the other players.

Further, I almost never play thief characters in computer roleplaying games because I just don't like stealth mechanics in most computer games.

But I thought it would be fun to come up with a thief character that had an in-game reason to not be a jerk to the other players.

My idea is to make a young archaeology postdoc who learned thieving skills at the local thieve's guild solely so he could join a party and delve dungeons for archaeological artifacts. Naturally, he would be interested in lock-picking and trap disarming for archaeological reasons. I would imagine he would be terrified of combat in general, and would be bad at the stealth thing due to his own fears. He would be less interested in the loot unless said loot had archaeological value. He would have reasons to avoid breaking the law (e.g. pick-pocketing) as an arrest record might make getting tenure more difficult.

Locksmith= good thief

[Mokona]

My current two favorites are a drow bard/cleric of eilistraee with no armor and phalar aluve or a scimitar if you want to go 1h. Along with magic initiate sorcerer to get myself magic missile. Was surprisingly tanky once mage armor was placed on it although the damage isnt what I was hoping for, still effective enough.
My other favorite was based off a picture I saw of a kobold, since we dont have kobolds I had to make due with githyanki. Wanted a mid range tribal character so went eldritch knight so I can throw my spear and still actually have it with bound weapon and barbarian. Was originally going to go warlock instead of EK since I thought bound weapon would be the same and warlock would give me invisibility and dark vision but unfortunately warlock wants to be crap unless you use eldrich blast. Meaning you cant throw your bound weapon on warlock.