Making an Interesting Character
Before we start, let's be clear about one thing. Make the character you want. This post is my thoughts on creating a character that is interesting and hopefully a bit exciting. You may wholeheartedly disagree with everything I say, and that's ok. You maybe want to make a simple character and plan on fleshing it on during the campaign, or not at all. That's perfectly fine too. Make the character you want, not what you think other people tell you to make. People always say a party needs balance to work, and since there's no healer, you need to play a cleric. I disagree. If they think the party requires a cleric, they can always change their character. If you had your heart set on playing a fabulous barbarian that's a cross between Conan and Fabio, I say go for it.
The Player's Handbook provides clear direction on how to create a character. This is fantastic when you're a brand new player. Dungeons & Dragons can be intimidating when you are first starting off. The step-by-step guidelines you'll find in Chapter 1 will help you feel less overwhelmed, and while there are a multitude of choices you'll have to make, at least you know what to do.
Now for the experienced player, you know you'll be rolling ability scores, selecting a race, class, and deciding upon your background and personality. You may have a few years under your belt or have been playing for 20 years. At some point in you D&D career, you'll have played almost every class and/or race you wanted to and have run through the same tired old background personality tropes. You've rolled on the personality chart so many times it's even your dice are tired. Don't fret because there are many things you can do to bring a new character to life in a new and fresh way.
Classes
Everyone wants to play a UA subclass when it's released. It's new, fresh, and exciting. It allows you to not worry about creating a unique character because the new subclass does all the work for you. But what about when you want to play a fighter or wizard. These two classes (along with the cleric) harken all the way back to OD&D. I'm sure to many, it feels like there is just no way to breathe new life into them. They'd be wrong.
Look at all the fighter variations in literature, books, and movies. You've got fighters galore in the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. Captain America? Fighter…sorry, not a paladin. Lancelot? You guessed it, fighter. Wizards range from Merlin to John Constantine. The list can go on and on, but here's the critical part. They all bring something different to the table. Whether it's being a shield fighter, one who likes exotic weapons, a necromancer, or whatever, your character class is only boring if you let it be.
Subclasses can help freshen things up too. It's easy to fall into the same old routines when picking your subclass. Don't always play a Circle of the Moon Druid. Everyone likes to be a CR 1 bear at 3rd level, but it gets old after a while. Circle of the Land has so many options it would take you multiple characters just to play all the land types. Why not give it a try?
Race
My goodness, there are so many races available now. With the Fairy and Harengon races (from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight), there are now 46 official player races. All of them may not be available at your table, but I'm sure if you had a burning desire to play a Grung, most DMs would accommodate you. With so many options, I'm sure you can find a race that will allow you to spice up your latest character. Add to that the new character options introduced in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and creating a completely unique character focused on race and ability scores is possible. The important thing to remember is this; just because you're playing a tortle doesn't mean you've got an interesting character. The novelty will wear off pretty quick.
A quick note about playing a human. They don't have to be boring. As mentioned above, Tasha's gives you 'permission' to adjust your race's ability scores as you see fit for all intents and purposes. Here's what the book states:
Suppose you'd like your character to follow their own path. In that case, you may ignore your Ability Score Increase trait and assignability score increases tailored to their personality. Here's how to do it: take any ability score increase you gain in your race or subrace and apply it to an ability score of your choice. If you gain more than one increase, you can't use those increases to the same ability score, and you can't increase a score above 20.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
How could you apply this to humans? Since the race gets +1 to all ability scores, does this mean you can bundle them together and apply +6 to one ability score? Technically, based on the rule above, yes, as long as you don't go above 20. It's power-gaming for sure, so you'll probably want to talk to your DM. While I'm not a fan of this idea, if you're going to do it and your DM allows it, it's just one more tool to put your character on the road to being unusual.
Characteristics, Backgrounds, and Inspiration
To me, this is where the meat of your new fascinating character comes from. There are so many tables and charts you can roll on that you may think you're playing 1st edition! Even more tables and charts appear in the new book Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, which I may or may not yell about in our latest podcast.
The Player's Handbook provides a limited selection of backgrounds one can choose from, and that list has grown exponentially over the lifespan of 5th edition. Each background has a table that you can roll on to determine your ideals, flaws, and traits. Some backgrounds, such as the Volstrucker Agent from the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, have a table to help you determine a particular trait for that specific background. There's a lot of great information available to you, and it is helpful for the new player.
That said, nothing requires you to use any of this.
I've always found people that play D&D to be a creative lot. To immerse yourself in a fantasy world and have a truly great time, you must have an open mind, creativity and a good imagination. Why not use these talents to make your character awesome. Anyone can create an ultra moody edgelord. Nothing requires your parents to have been killed in front of you. Mine your personal artistry and inventiveness to build a character you'll care deeply about. Use your race and class as inspiration, or don't use it all. D&D is a fantasy game, so you can be whoever or whatever you want to be.
As I stated in the opening, please know you can use all of these thoughts or none of them. There are many other ways to make a fantastic character. Work with your DM when you start building your character. They can be a wealth of knowledge and help you integrate them into the upcoming world they will be living in. Who says you can't 'borrow' ideas from movies or TV shows? Stealing a couple elements of Arya Stark can give your character a little zip. Add a genuine flaw or detriment to them. Do more than just say you're never satisfied with what you have. Finally, realize that your character is supposed to change and grow through your adventures. The experiences in our lives influence who we are and who we can become. Your character should do the same.
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