Character creation is fun when you change it up from the “usual suspects”

With the release of the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, the accessibility to podcasts and streaming games, and the overall mainstreaming of gaming in general, I’ve had a number of friends ask about playing DnD. One of the things that I always try to sell them on is the customization of characters. Sure you can be a sword swinging fighter, or a black cloaked rogue, or a reserved and mysterious wizard, but you can also play against the archetypes of the classes. With the 5th edition inclusion of character Backgrounds, this is even easier. Let’s take a look at three class and background combinations that produce characters of a different flavor.

Ranger – Sailor

The ranger often conjures images of a slender, shadowy figure silently tracking an animal through the forests. However, with a different background, the character takes on a very different style. By taking the sailor background, we create a nautical ranger.

A number of elements from these two features play well with each other and not just for character optimization purposes. The ranger class gets proficiency in strength and dexterity, which are two abilities a seafaring person would definitely need to work on a ship of any size. The sailor background grants proficiencies to Athletics and Perception, which frees the player to choose two other ranger skills during creation. A nautical ranger could have been a navigator, a deckhand, or a whaler before his or her time adventuring in a player’s story, so all of the ranger skills fit well with the sailor background. For starting equipment, it would be logical to go with leather armor, as it would be lighter than scale armor in case of going overboard. The ranger calls for two short swords or two simple melee weapons; a quick internet search of whaling tools provides all manner of knives, harpoons, and spears that would easily fall under the category of simple weapons. Also, the sailor background provides a belaying pin that can be used as a club.

For roleplaying the nautical ranger, look for source materials like maritime adventure stories like Treasure Island, or Moby Dick. While these are in very different time period setting than most DnD campaigns, the mannerisms, language, and superstitions of seafaring folk are very easy to keep in mind when speaking for a character or deciding what they might do.

Fighter – Acolyte

This one is a little farther left of center, but it provides quite a bit of depth to the fighter class which can often be very shallow as far as roleplaying is concerned. The fighter with an acolyte background is a character that spent a lot of time in or around a church or temple, but instead of getting the call to become a paladin or being touched by the deity like a cleric, they found their skills were more in the worldly realm.

The acolyte background provides the fighter with a skill not found in the fighter proficiency list, which is Religion. This can come in handy making the fighter a useful member to the exploration and interaction portions of a gaming session instead of being limited to the combat portion. The acolyte also knows two languages of the player’s choice which gives the fighter another level of depth.

The real fun of this character comes in the role playing. Imagine someone that has devoted their lives to a deity. Imagine that they grew up going to temple, observing fasts and celebrations, saying their prayers and completing the holy rites for their entire lives and is never contacted directly by the deity they follow. They see clerics and paladins with halos of virtue or shadows of malice from their chosen deities, and they see warlocks that call upon the power of other worldly monsters for power, but the fighter acolyte never gets that “proof” of the gods. A fighter acolyte would conceivably have more tests to their faith than the other religion based classes, and the player could role play these crises in very interesting ways.

Barbarian – Sage

These two seem to be the furthest from each other. Barbarians are known for their combat prowess getting bonuses to damage dealt and resistance to damage sustained. Sages are students, professors, and librarians that devote their lives to the acquisition and understanding of knowledge and lore. However, these two types of character are not mutually exclusive.

First, some fun rules and abilities. The barbarian has the highest hit die of the classes using a d12, and they get the class features of unarmored defense and rage. The sage background gives the character two languages and proficiency with History and Arcana skill checks, which, like the fighter acolyte, provides some interesting depth to the character in exploration and interaction. Traditionally, barbarians are much more wisdom based, meaning they are not necessarily dumb, just not learned in the ways of academia. Having two languages gives the barbarian a more worldly character, one that regularly interacts with multiple cultures.

With all of these features added together, we create a sort of a nerd-rager. A bookish type that gets pushed beyond their control leading them to launch into a murderous rampage, or we get an anthropological researcher that “goes native” and joins a group or tribe after spending weeks and months learning about them. A player may also choose to flavor the character into a more urban barbarian, a professor who moonlights as a bare-knuckle boxer from the fighting pits.

The most important thing to remember about ANY class/background combination is that these characters are never “JUST fighters” or “JUST rogues.” 5th edition does a wonderful job of encouraging character development and depth. When you are interested in your character, others will be too.