Characters

Below is a recap of every DnD characters I’ve played over the years. This excludes a plethora of minor characters made for one-shots, that died, or didn’t work with the campaign setting. Maybe I’ll write about those in the future. In addition, for characters where it is applicable, I’ve attempted to archive any documents I have on them: notebooks, character sheets, backstory, etc. For archival purposes, I’ve done my best to leave those documents untouched, so please excuse anything evil, some of these are quite old and were never intended for the eyes of others.

Table of Contents

Askir

Askir is what I would consider my first real DnD character. I played him in our first run of Lost Mines of Phandelver. A lot of the details are fuzzy (or didn’t exist in the first-place), but the broad strokes are that he was a really dumb Dragonborn Barbarian (Path of the Storm Herald if you’re curious, but I remember being disappointed with it).

Key moments include:

All things considered I’m very happy with Askir. He was more of a gimmick character than anything, but given we barely had a grasp on the rules I’d say he came out okay. I like to imagine in his respective timeline he is wondering Faerûn as a venerated wizard.

Infir Cithreth

I love Infir! Infir was a High Elf Swashbuckler who I have very fond memories of. He was my first character with actual backstory and roleplay. He also may have been Chaotic Evil… Honestly, I think I kinda nailed it though. Most of the players remember him fondly, so I don’t think I was being a wang-rod1 or anything like that.

Infir was a bit of a Manic Pixie Dream Boy. His main vice was murder and crime, but he was fully convinced he was doing the right thing in any given moment. How this typically manifested was the use of extremely flimsy justifications for murder. Otherwise, he was extremely bubbly, sweet, and funny. An extremely fun character to play all around.

Key moments include:

Overall, Infir will always be one of my favorite characters. He wasn’t the most sophisticated, but he sure was memorable and very fun to play.

Grif Torhlag

Ah Grif, I wanted to love ya.

Grif was under constant revision, so I’m a bit fuzzy on his final class combination, but at his core Grif was a Shifter Ranger. Essentially, Grif was an unintelligent, but capable, hunter with a focus on self-sufficiency. His roleplay was decently simple, a typically earnest and straight-forward character with some silly moments. He also spoke with a southern accent, a voice I am notorious for slipping into by accident, so that’s a plus.

Unfortunately, playing Grif I was constantly plagued with dissatisfaction. I can’t precisely pinpoint one source of this unrest, but the contributing factors were most likely 2014 PHB Ranger (notoriously underwhelming), attempting a Blood Hunter multiclass, and my general alt-oholism2. I discussed respec-ing with the DM several times and conjured just about every class combination I could without losing his core premise, though, it never really felt satisfactory. I think I settled on Ranger (Hunter) / Barbarian (Lycanthropy).

Key moments include:

Overall, Grif was a character with ideas I liked and from a campaign setting I remember fondly. Alas, I was never really content with him which unfortunately, is what I find most memorable about him. He did have a southern accent, which my partner was very fond of, so it’s not all bad.

Servais Vous

Servais was a direct follow-up to Grif and was rad as hell. He was a Human Wizard (Transmutation)/Rogue (Arcane Trickster) multi-class, why on earth did I do that? with a gimmick I really liked.

In the campaign setting, magic was outlawed pretty militantly. Servais’ solution? He didn’t know any magic of course, he was merely a collector of strange and esoteric artifacts. During roleplay, this manifested as Servais flavoring each of his spells as a magic item, which he would go to great lengths to make convincing. Additionally, Servais (and I) kept a book outlining each “magic item” and their effects. I still have the book, and it’s always fun to flip through it. When I’m less lazy I’ll scan and post it.

Key moments include:

Overall, Servais was a bit of a gimmick character but was fun and memorable. Definitely one of my favorites.

Ianmorn Trodenheim

Oh baby, Ianmorn is an important one.

Ianmorn was my character for the entirety of Planet B, our longest running campaign by far. I took Ianmorn from level 1-9 the highest level I’ve ever played to. I have a lot to say about that campaign, so I’ll try to keep this section focused on Ianmorn exclusively.

Ianmorn was, as all good Maya characters are, a Bard twink, more specifically a Half-Elf Bard (College of Lore) / Warlock (Undying). Mainly Bard, the warlock part came later, with lots of context. He was flamboyant, flippant, sweet, and generally really fun to roleplay. I was especially fond of flavoring his spellcasting, which focused heavily on the material components associated with each spell. One that stands out in my mind is his method for casting sleep: a soothing melody suddenly interrupted by a rainfall of rose petals stuck in and then expelled from his flute.

Up until now, I’ve avoided digging into the backstories of these characters because their stories were mostly a means to a gameplay end. With Ianmorn however, while his story started that way, it soon became vital to the plot of the campaign. Ianmorn was a disgraced member of a major noble house trying to win back their favor after a cheating incident at his College left him destitute. After a time-skip at the midway point of the campaign, Ianmorn was asked by his father to flee the city with a magical sword, unbeknownst to Ianmorn this was one of the 3 artifacts required to claim the throne of Khlemsmar. Those three artifacts went on to serve as the central tension of the campaign. In summary, he was a flamboyant former rich-kid thrust into a continent spanning sociopolitical conflict.

That damn sword guided just about every decision Ianmorn made for the rest of the campaign, culminating in the creation of a pact with a mysterious entity named Grimathune, a self-proclaimed god of spring, knowledge, and rebirth. Maya’s goal was to stow the sword away using Pact of the Blade, preventing it from being stolen. After some theft and infighting between Ianmorn and fellow party member Feltyr, that was nearly immediately thrown to the wayside in favor of deciding to help Feltyr acquire all three artifacts and end the war.

Overall, Ianmorn will always one of the most important DnD characters I’ve played. He was my longest running character who I laughed and cried with many times. It was really fun to revisit him.

Edward

Edward, a gimmick character to rule all gimmick characters.

Edward, or more properly Education Warden, was a Warforged Paladin (Oath of Devotion), whose central gimmick came from his Warforged nature being unknown to the party. I actually still have his backstory, and it’s pretty short, so I’ll post it in full:

Helm’s Armory was a compound established by “The Armorers” a small sect of Helm worshiper, that do not themselves practice his tenants, rather they attempt to build automatons that can. Edward was the first, intended to guard a library within the city. Eventually the sect, due to a disagreement with the larger Helm’s Hold, was forced to relocate abandoning their facilities. Edward is now in a world with no directive or goals other than following the tenants of Helm. In this quest with no direction, Edward happened upon a small dwarf known as Gundren Rockseeker and a strange spiritual pull convinced him to take a job, leading him to Phandalin.

That’s right, we’re back in Phandalin baby!

Roleplaying Edward was very straight forward. He was a jovial Lawful Good Paladin who always wanted to do the right thing. It helped that he was strong as hell and made of steel. He also had a Scottish accent that I sucked at, which the table appreciated.

Key moments include:

Overall, Edward was super fun to play, a, by the book, Lawful Good Paladin, with a fun reveal, in my favorite module. What’s not to love?

Marino Jahlae

Marino was a change of pace for me.

Before his demise, Marino was a Human Warlock (Hexblade)/Bard Chef. Marino’s patron was a mysterious man/entity that required him to prepare delicious meals in exchange for powers, with the caveat that he never offered him the same food twice. Leading to Marino joining a Monster Hunter organization in hopes of discovering exotic meats. Oh, his patron also gave him an Imp named Zed, who Marino would cook for. Outside his obligations, he was a jovial and kind crew member who loved to belly laugh.

I’ve left it unacknowledged until now, but I’m a bit of a power gamer. Synergies, optimization, and “doing it right” are all things that are very important to me. I can’t speak for my DM’s, but I don’t think I’ve ever breached into Munchkin3 territory, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about being optimal when possible.

Marino was a bit of a change of pace for me. He wasn’t unoptimized per-say, it was still a Maya character, rather, I think I had too many ideas going on at once, and I wanted to avoid options that were too Munchkin-y. It didn’t help that the Monster Hunter campaign was tough. Mechanically, this unfolded as Marino being a Hexblade Bardlock who deliberately avoided options that were “too” good, such as Agonizing Blast, Thirsting Blade, etc. That didn’t go to well.

Key moments include:

Overall, Marino was cool character who I unnecessarily knee-capped. I was so worried of being seen as a power gamer, I made choices that didn’t reflect my actual desires. That mistake got Marino killed, which is honestly kind of hilarious. Good character, 7/10.

Hasam Flintrifter

Hasam was a very interesting character unfortunately left mostly unexplored due to the campaign ending relatively unceremoniously.

Hasam was an older Human Cleric who detested the gods, an unwilling vessel for an unknown deity. To this day, Hasam, nor I, know the identity of the deity that burdened him with their blessing. In addition, Hasam was an exile, along with the rest of the party, after refusing to continue a long-standing tradition of his village leading to a tragedy. The tradition consisted of a shepherd, Hasam in this case, raising a sheep from infancy to adulthood, then gathering with the town to sacrifice it. Refusing this lead to a horrible monstrosity sprouting from the sheep, killing all the townsfolk except Hasam.

I loved Hasam’s story and I roleplayed him as a curt and bitter older man. One of my more nuanced characters in terms of backstory and roleplay I think. It only dawns on me in retrospect the obviously biblical motifs going on in his backstory, him being a reluctant Abraham-like character and all. I wonder if I sub-consciously used Hasam to explore some of my own lingering thoughts about religion. Unfortunately, the campaign Hasam was in did not last very long, which I will explore more in its own section, so I didn’t really get to bring him to any satisfying conclusion or progress.

Overall, Hasam was a character whose premise I absolutely loved. It’s a shame I didn’t get to flesh him out, maybe I’ll revisit him someday.

Caoimhe

Caoimhe!

Caoimhe (pronounced Kwee-vah) was a bear themed Human Barbarian who spoke almost no common. Not only was she my first Pathfinder character, but she was also my first and only female character (so far!). Caoimhe was a classical raised by wolves archetype. Meaning, she was tough as nails and borderline feral. A bit gimmicky, but all around a blast to play.

Key moments include:

Caoimhe being a girl was actually a major point of internal contention for me. I was a boy at the time and typically avoided playing female characters because I was worried about potentially constructing some sort misogynist simulacrum of a woman or something of that nature. In retrospect, my uneasy feelings playing Caoimhe almost certainly arose from some unaddressed gender unease within myself.

Overall, Caoimhe was deliberately simple character to get my feet wet with Pathfinder. I didn’t end up enjoying Pathfinder much, but I remember Caoimhe quite fondly. I would also be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that roleplaying as a girl for the first time was very memorable for an at the time, closeted trans woman.

Rhys

Finally, we make it to the present day: Rhys!

Rhys, just like all good Maya characters, is a twink Warlock (Archfey)/Bard. I may be respec-ing him into Warlock (Archfey)/Sorcerer (Wild Magic) instead, TBD. I actually love the personality traits on his sheet, so I will post them in full:

I am gentle, kind, and intelligent. I want to help others and embrace art, creativity, and joy. I am only just beginning to enjoy taking risk, socializing with others, and taking pleasure in the small things in life.

He speaks with an attempt at an Irish accent and looks mostly human besides his horns and goat hooves.

Unfortunately, I cannot speak as candidly as I’d like, as the players for Rhys’ fellow party members maybe reading. So, if you’re a player for the ongoing Birth of Lords campaign, please do not read any further, there are spoilers ahead.

With that out of the way, here is the abridged version of Rhys’ backstory:

Rhysand Elvaris was a young Tiefling noble who faced social rejection due to his infernal heritage. His, notably Elven, mother, Lady Ania Elvaris, was kind and compassionate towards him, but faced horrible treatment due to him being a Tiefling. It was rumored that her, now absent, husband conspired with fiends to acquire their family’s wealth.

Rhysand, ambitious to improve his home city, Evershade, struggled with his family’s lack of influence and was humiliated at a Midwinter gala, leading him to flee the city.

He ends up in Willowbrook during their once in a generation Festival of the King’s Return, where he hopes to have a wish granted by the Fairy King, Oberian. After a series of misfortunes and a public outburst, Oberian grants his wish in a twisted way, transforming him into something Satyr like. Embarrassed and horrified he fled Willowbrook.

Initially horrified, Rhysand surprisingly began to find happiness in his new form and embraced it. Lacking the courage to face his mother again, he convinces himself he can send her a letter in the meantime. Wandering with that goal until he reaches Stillwater, where the campaign begins

I love Rhys so much. He actually originated as my first Baldur’s Gate 3 character (there were many more to come). Eldritch Blast is superb in BG3, something I discovered very early in my first play through. As a result, I only took 2 levels of warlock, for Agonizing Blast, then proceeded to multiclass into just about everything else. Sorcerer (Wild Magic) and Bard (College of Lore) being the main two.

It is currently unknown by the party and Rhys that he has been transformed into a Satyr, he fully believes himself to still be a Tiefling, merely recolored or something. Long-term, Rhys will slowly begin to gain more attributes common to Satyrs: hedonism, facial hair, boisterousness, etc. Hopefully culminating in some major choice and hero’s journey-esque return with the elixir. Moving forward, we’re currently quite early into the campaign, so can’t say a ton of development has happened, but playing Rhys has been really silly and fun.

Another silly detail is that Rhys’ full name is Rhysand because my partner was reading A Court of Thorns and Roses during his creation and I couldn’t help myself.

Lastly, I absolutely have to acknowledge that Rhys (who was made when I was barely still a boy) is the world’s most obvious trans metaphor. I mean, look at his flaws:

The trauma of the circumstances of my birth has left a mark on me. I can be agonized, uncomfortable in my own skin, and one that struggles to trust others on a deep level.

Completely unintentional, but it makes me love him even more.

Anyway, key moments:

I love Rhys so bad.

Footnotes:

  1. An expression I picked up from Matt Colville and his Running the Game series. ↩

  2. A term used primarily by World of Warcraft players to describe the habit of endlessly creating and leveling new characters. A trait I am extremely prone to in all games, especially WoW and DnD. ↩

  3. A pejorative term describing a type of TTRPG player that tries to “win” or otherwise use abuse mechanics to get a leg up on the DM or other players. ↩

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