When you Create a Character that ALREADY Exists in Dungeons and Dragons

To quote one of my D&D friends: "There are no original ideas."

I tend to go through the five stages of grief when I made an already-existing character. Denial: There’s no way they’re similar! Anger: How could I be so blind?! Bargaining: Ok, they have a few different traits that set them apart! That’s unique, right? Depression: I’ll never make an original character again. Acceptance: Screw it, I’m playing this character because they’re awesome.

I've been in campaigns where virtually every character was based off of something else. Batman, Hawkeye, Spike (Cowboy Bebop)... Funniest thing was they were accompanied by one of the most vibrant original characters I've ever seen played. And then there was my half-orc, who just tried to keep missions on track. It was honestly some of the most fun I've had as a player, honestly.

"The most original character possible" "I dont believe you" "He had a good childhood with no traumatic event recently" "Oh !" "He have 2 parents that love him a lot." "OH !" "He have a good relationship with his wife and their son is not dead." "DAMN !" "And he is a bard that focus on art and dont try to fornicate." "You mad man !"

Every writer takes inspiration(whether they know it or not) from every movie, show, game, play, campaign, etc. they've ever been exposed to. Dnd isn't any different. If it bothers you that its too similar, add in some twist to make it feel more like your work.

As somebody who is planning to make an already existing character my own (Loz albw, Yuga, chaotic evil), this is majorly amusing

My most creative one was a half orc monk... Who was a pacifist... And his lifetime goal was to find the single greatest cow in the world, milk it and make the best cheese ever. He had a surprisingly emotional arc tho, and in the end got his cheese, after beating Demogorgon to death with a stick because he was going to kill the said cow. Edit: deleted a few irrelevant sentences

It’s safe to assume everything you do falls under a trope Just put your own spin on ideas that sound cool and you’ll have fun playing

A lot of my arcs in my campaign are loosely based on movies or arcs from anime. It has become a fun game with my player to see if they can figure out what I'm ripping off based on plot beats and easter eggs. What's even better, is if they can figure it out earlier enough they'll start tailoring their roleplay to the story arc I'm hijacking. Or they'll go trouping off in the opposite direction because they know what's coming next.

That's a reminder of all my campaigns and almost every player I had. I laughed a lot the entire video, just for the nostalgia of my first characters. Respects from a roleplaying community from Chile!

This makes me question things about myself. My favorite character I made is a female Nagaji called Zaka. Her INT is 5, she always refers to herself as "Zaka" and is a powerful bloodrager who never realizes she is casting spells. Instead she just thinks it's something she can do, like using the spell Jump to leap great bounds or believes when she uses Thunderstomp, she is just causing the ground to shake from her sheer strength. She is very naive and loyal, and being a bloodrager she is surprisingly good at social situations, and makes friends easily. Also never learns anyone's name, instead giving them a nickname based off the first thing she recognized about them. Like "Zaka's short friend!" She also never went into her bloodrage unless she saw an injustice happening or a friend getting attacked. Even if she was getting plummeled she wouldn't get angry enough for it. One time she got "baleful polymorph" cast on her, and she failed the save against the polymorph but made the save against the mental asset that makes you lose who you are as a person. Then during that same fight as a squirrel, she activated her bloodrage, growing one size larger and getting long limbs for extra reach cause that is what she gets from her bloodline. So the caster that polymorph her suddenly had this large demonic squirrel with abnormally large legs leap on his face and start trying to bite his wind pipe out from his throat! God do I wish I could play her again.

Now I kinda want to see a video about making characters that already exist, but you don't know them. Like, the DM congratulates everyone on their creative reinterpretations of various characters, and no one in the group has any idea what the DM is talking about.

This is just like Daniel Thrasher's when you accidentally write music that already exists series and I love it

So good, keep doing what you’re doing. You’re a light upon the D&D community.

I haven't done this (as a player) but a friend of mine who is really into Marvel made his character essentially Starlord by accident and then after realizing it decided to name him Quill just to hammer it home. Our group name is the Guardians of the Galaxy, for no apparent reason in game (it's Curse of Strahd)

I made a strength based ranger named Stefan Everwind. He was a variant human who took the grapplers feat. He loves to travel the world discovering new creatures and grappling the bigger ones to test his strength against them. He had an Australian accent and his special item was an orb that would record his adventures. Those recordings would be sent out for people to watch and he titled his adventures "Kobald Hunters."

So for me, I actually love the tropes, the classics, the wise old knight or elven ranger. But what I find even more fun is letting them grow to and become their own being, and slowly through that change they become new and unique (as much as it can anyway!).

I came up with the idea of a business man that is a necromancer. Basically if you need physical labor you go to him and pay him hourly and he summons a bunch of skeletons for you. Kinda like home depot. I was showing him off to one of my DM's and at the end he said "Im playing that character right now in one of my games" Although my pride shrunk like a balloon i still plan on using him lol.

These are some pretty fun concepts for translating characters into D&D!

I always start with “this character mixed with this other one, with a third character’s power set” and by the third game night, they barely resemble any of them and feel super original, lol. Just except they start as based off of something, and they will grow into their own people, that’s my method. I feel like it also helps me create a good playlist for them too. 🎶