I'm Creating a New D&D Character

I probably won't ever get to play him, but it's the process that's important, right?

I don’t get to play games very often. First of all Sue isn’t a gamer, and the cats don’t follow the rules very well. Couple that with trying to get a gaming group together regularly can be difficult. I had a game night geocaching event scheduled, but then I got hired at the comic shop and had to work until 8:00on that night so I wouldn’t be able to make it to my own event. The times I’ve been in a group usually someone stops coming (sometimes it’s me) or the GM just stops scheduling. I kind of have started to take it personally. Choosing which comes first- your spouse or your gaming group is hard. I already feel like I’m weird and no one wants to be around me (thank you high school- even 40 years later), but it is what it is. Every so often I talk to someone and we talk about gaming and I get excited about creating a character.

A History of Characters

When I was in middle school my first character (Advanced D&D) was an assassin and like all good kids I picked a name out of pop culture. Since I had rolled nobility and he was a Count I chose- Count Iblis. He was Lawful Evil and basically just adventured as an opportunity to kill things. He rose in rank and soon was the Marquis de Iblis. Usually he was used by the DM to assassinate some member of the party who was annoying. We played fast and loose in those days and basically gathered every magic item possible as we rose through the levels.

In college we played Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP) a version of Iron Crown Enterprises system. This was because our GM felt it was better at simulating combat. Here I played a loner Magic User named Greyf. He looked like a rogue, carried a katana but when you least expected it would cast a lightning bolt or fireball.

When I finally returned to role playing years later (Pre-COVID) it was at my local comic shop. I started by playing a rogue named Cecil… yes, I was definitely being “creative.” As I was playing a rogue, again, I decided to try a few other classes to see what might fit best. The problem being that most people don’t want to play a support character and usually that’s what a party needs. Hence I started playing a bard. Bards tend to be able to do a little bit of everything. They can also learn healing spells which are needed. When a group gathers everyone tends to have a character in mind. Sadly, those characters may not be the best group when put together. At least as a bard I knew I could help wherever needed.

I recall one game in which a player showed up late: and said he was playing a “Warforged” cleric. I was happy we had a healer in the group. He then announced he didn’t want to be the healer and hadn’t given his character healing spells- it was all part of his elaborate backstory, which was a secret… ugh. Fortunately he lasted only about two sessions.

I have consistently tried to stay within the realm of what is in the Player’s Handbook. Basically if you are playing with new people, the choices within the Player’s Handbook are enough to confuse most people. That said I did try a home-brew character an Intoximancer. Basically a wizard who got more and more powerful the more drunk they got. Amusing, but some of the specialized spells were out of the realm of understanding for the DM so I was making it up as I went along. So after a few other more traditional classes I went back to playing a bard.

Not being musical my bards tended to be more story tellers. Their reason for adventuring was to gather and share stories. Not being a great story teller, it made role playing challenging, but most of the time my character was the one who just burst into the room and push the party into action. It was my opportunity to ditch being an introvert.

As I continued playing a bard I started also looking for musical interludes to play when things got dull, and I had to move things along. So I’d start finding instrumental covers of modern songs on the ukulele, or played in the style of the middle ages. The only problem is as a character I don’t have a band with me, so I tended to stick with solo ukulele covers- which in some cases meant my character knew a lot of Disney songs.

The Naming of Names

My bards tend to have unique names in order to set the stage for their actions or at least let the party know what they have gotten themselves into. My first attempt at a bard was “Lennon McCartney.” From there we had Peter Paulenmary, Arlo, and Simon Garnetfunkel. Again I try to come up with names that let the party know that I won’t be taking this too seriously… then again if you’ve played with me you know how serious I can get- which is pretty serious when needed.

So this week I had lunch with a friend and he mentioned there might be an opening in his Sunday gaming group (having lived through the Satanic Panic I found the idea of a Sunday D&D group mildly amusing). I started to think about my next bard. First I pretty much knew he’d be a non-human. I tend to play dwarves due to some racial bonuses. I also prefer having someone with darkvision so I don’t have to worry about torches or oil lamps. Now… a name. Brian, son of Wil who was raised near the sea first came to mind. As a Beach Boys fan it did seem to fit well. Fredrick Hydragyrum seemed a bit clunky for a name, but one to file away for future use. At least Jake Shimabukuro’s cover of Bohemian Rhapsody could be used without any issues. Then it kind of came to me… Angus. Young Angus. He doesn’t have a last name (that we know of) and he came from a small town where there was an “Old Angus” hence he will always be “Young Angus.” I could imagine him and even pull together a playlist if the right covers existed. Now it was time to figure out the specifics of the character.

Do I roll it out old school or have the D&D Beyond AI do it for me? I’m against AI doing a lot of things, but rolling out a character isn’t one of them. This way I can be pretty sure that the rules have been followed. Every DM, every gaming group has specific ways to roll out a character. For some it’s things like “No score below 10” these are heroes so they should be above average. For others it’s roll 4 dice and throw out the lowest. Maybe roll 8 sets of scores and pick the top 6 for your abilities. Something else, or a combination of these. I don’t know with this group, so… I’ll wing it for right now and reroll if needed. Like I said, I’m probably never going to play this character, so…

He’s going to be a gnome because… I really don’t know. He’ll come with with a Merchants background (Lucky). I might change him to a dwarf (dwarven constitution and poison resistance is always nice to have) but I already have a couple of dwarf bards to choose from. Now to visualize him and draw him out which might be the real reason why I made him a rock gnome… it just seems to fit with my concept better. Imaging the dwarven physique in this costume, just wasn’t working. Although I just saw a post asking why everyone hates gnome bards. 🙄 Will he be the trickster in the group? Like the characters in Drew Hayes book NPCs I like playing something that isn’t what you think. Although I guess a gnome bard is kind of the stand up comedian of the D&D Universe. So he’ll have to be a bit more intellectual and reserved until he needs to be on stage, or he gets bored.

So we have Young Angus- a rock gnome bard… Currently level one. I can see using certain covers at certain times… I am torn, do I use “Thunderstruck” for the spell Thunderwave or is the lead in to handing out Bardic Inspiration? I guess the worst part is I really need to work on my personal ukulele skills (just one more thing on the bucket list) instead of just playing tracks from my phone. I also need to see about filking some of the standard AC/DC fare… “Highway to Hell” becomes “Road to Mordor”? 🤪

Character Stats:

• STR: 13

• DEX: 17

• CON: 16

• INT: 14

• WIS: 11

• CHA: 19

• HP: 11

I’ll work out a background story and probably tweak a few things (like weapons, spells and musical instruments). Currently he only has two daggers. Minor Illusion (to add other instruments and background vocals), Viscous Mockery, Mending and Prestidigitation as cantrips. Thunderwave, Cure Wounds, Healing Word, and Silvery Barbs as level one spells. He’s proficient in playing the lute, flute, and hand drum although I’ve always been partial to the war gong and think it would be nice if I ever wanted to play Hell’s Bells.