High Concept First | The Many Ways to Build a D&D Character

This approach to creating characters relies on inspiration and random ideas, but hopefully this video can show you how to cultivate those ideas to create something that you would love to play!
Also, if someone wanted to make a version of this character who is a warlock, and they DO hear a narrator and that's their patron... you have my full blessing.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro/How to Use These Methods
01:05 - What Does "High Concept" Mean?
03:11 - Where These Ideas Can Come From (And An Example)
06:18 - I Build a Character
18:30 - Final Thoughts
PATREON: / supergeekmike
DISCORD: / discord
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[@SupergeekMike]

MIKE CHRISTENSEN: "Hm, I really like the name 'Hayden,' not sure why I like that name so much in June 2022..."

[@brettjacobsen]

I love Wizards but have always been intimidated by the prospect of playing one in D&D. Specifically the schools of magic. Would you ever consider making a video about them? Is there a good way to approach playing a Wizard?

[@WilliamMoses355]

Wizards are my favorite class, because I like being smart and knowing more spells than anyone could possibly keep track of! Regarding schools, bear in mind, that you can pick whatever spells you like, not just in your specialization. Also, the War Mage from Xanathar's Guide makes for a great "generalist."

[@WilliamMoses355]

And, if you pick some spells you can't find a use for or that don't work how you thought, no big deal, you can swap them out the next day.

[@Keovar]

@@WilliamMoses355- Order of Scribes is the generalist for me. My little-used excess spells function as ablative shielding.

[@UmbraKrameri]

When you rolled out your main concept, I have immediately associated to the iconic literary figure of Don Quixote. He basically is an elderly knight who fantasizes about living in a romantic medieval knight novel, while the reality is quite different. So I would applaud paladin for the class choice. Edit: Ok, like 5 minutes later Mike realized the same thing. ^^;

[@tepmurt9981]

A couple tangiential comments. You mentioned about 7 and a half minutes in about avoiding luck, I actually did the opposite with a character once and had an amazing time with her. I made a halfling clockwork sorcerer/divination wizard with the bountiful luck feat with silvery barbs and counterspell. It was a blast to play this character who was just sort of dancing through life in a setting...that was a literal hellscape. Second, I think it would be cool to try this concept as either a warlock with the DM as your patron or an aasimar who can hear one of the players or the DM as your spirit guide.

[@SupergeekMike]

A warlock who has a “narrator” as their patron would be a TON of fun.

[@MorningDusk7734]

I think Sage is a viable option for a build like this. The character learns what they BELIEVE is the secret of the multiverse: that it's all a story, and they're just a character. Remember that just like class and race, backgrounds aren't bound to their exact descriptions either! This actually reminds me of the Warlock I made once, pact of the fiend. She believed she was a Magical Girl, called upon to rid the world of evil with the assistance of her animal companion cat, Mara! In actuality, her cat was a fiend that persuades her to cause chaos and wreak havoc in the world.

[@julzbehr6696]

This is my go to. My current character is a flame Druid who wants to help people and was raised in a search and rescue group. And while that isn’t particularly complex, it’s really a good time.

[@fardareismai4495]

Very excited about a character idea I have that I worked on with my DM and will actually play. Sorry, this might be a bit of a ramble: A Kalashtar who was separated from their Quori spirit when they were very young. They only remember an imaginary friend that watched over them in dreams. They always feel like something is missing, and turned to magic to understand why they feel that way. They're an order of scribes wizard whose sentient spell book is actually their Quori spirit trying to reach out from the place she's trapped in. Planning on multiclassing them into abberant mind sorcerer when they are reunited with their Quori spirit. In the beginning I'll play them as human, not using any of the Kalashtar abilities except the resistance to psychic damage because it's passive, but slowly have them become more aware of their innate potential. I'm very excited to play this character

[@connorc9322]

This is how I've personally always made my characters (and recommended my players to). Always nice to have so many concepts in your pocket whenever the need arises to fill the needs of the party. Also, "This is all of the characters I've made, I've played maybe four of them" was too accurate.

[@manueltorresart2345]

This way of creating characters can be exhausting thinking of the core of what you want to create and then rebuild and rebuild that idea, but at the same time the rewards, storytelling wise, can be huge and so fun. P.S. Spanish pride the moment you talked about Don Quixote hahaha

[@Eladelia]

Another interesting option for background for the Don Quixote concept would be Haunted One from Curse of Strahd. e.g. one of their suggested possibilities is "A monster that slaughtered dozens of innocent people spared your life, and you don’t know why." and that's a hell of a setup for someone who feels like there's definitely a reason for this, and feels like they're living out a long term plot arc where they're owed an answer by their reality.

[@SupergeekMike]

🔥🔥🔥

[@newfiescreech7328]

This High Concept method works for party dynamics too. I had a session 0.5 where I challenged my players to brainstorm how they meet up, and why they share some goals. Better than meeting in a tavern or a mysterious summons, they started with a party full of both complimentary and contrasting personalities.

[@alexandragoff6609]

I think for the character that thinks they’re in a story it would be interesting if, while their open ideal was the belief that life is a story, their secret motive was to find the main character or at least someone to share the spotlight with. I’ve always felt more comfortable with someone else to share credit with so I might make them reluctant to be the full focus of attention. I think believing you’re a character in a story would need a certain comfort with being seen, so I wouldn’t make them completely averse to attention, but I could see not wanting to be the only focus helping to avoid the “main character syndrome” you warned about. This paladin might even interpret this discomfort as a sign that they aren’t the main character or hero. If the party develops a particular “face” character or most impressive damage dealer they might even decide that this is the main character they’re meant to support, which could lead to interesting team dynamics. Playing off the idea that liking the other characters is an indication that the story wants them to stay with these people would also be interesting. Honestly, I think if I were going to play this high concept, the character wouldn’t say they think they’re in a story often, because people in stories don’t admit that openly. I would probably have it be in their expectations and maybe in small conversations that they think are in time an author would skip over.

[@pedrogarcia8706]

My first background idea when you mentioned the particular character concept was folk hero.

[@RyanZibell]

My current PC which I joined an existing curse of strahd campaign is a death domain cleric, serving the God of death and judgment Kelemvor. He is a cleric who believes in preserving life, but not prolonging it. Cure diseases and punish murderers, but at the same time he shepherds the dying to through their demise instead of healing them.

[@WhyseWytch]

Shoutout to Emily Axford-- her Tempest Cleric/Storm Sorcerer from ACoC inspired me to created a Far Traveler witch from a place called the Eternal Storm. In some ways, it's combining 2 of the ways you proposed for character creation.

[@emmathornburg7300]

As soon as you explained the premise, I was like "Oh! Kinda like Don Quixote! That's cool!"

[@SupergeekMike]

😁😁😁

[@togotfury]

made a divination wizard npc in my game who knew he lived in a fictional world and went insane because of it. it was very lovecraftian where he couldn't handle the fact he was a figment of the creator's imaginations. the players enjoyed it

[@FlameUser64]

I usually look at a piece of character art I've found and infer something about them as a person and their hobbies and fighting style by like… how they dress, what accessories they have on their person, how they carry themselves, what weapon they carry (or don't, as the case may be)… that sort of thing. So I usually end up with a basic concept of who they are and what they're doing by those surface-level things. It's like a reverse engineered version of JRPG character design. Normally, you decide who a character is, and then design and accessorize them based on those traits. Presea from Tales of Symphonia is a lumberjack and wood carver, so she has a wood carving knife in her belt at all times and wields a big axe. This is like if I saw art of Presea, and reverse-engineered her wood-carving hobby by the fact that she has a wood carving knife in her belt and wields an oversized woodcutter's axe..

[@RPGtourguide]

This was a fun character to make. I hope you got or do get the chance to play him! I like to play characters based off of weird ideas. One of my characters was a dwarven warlock based on Snow White. On his travels, he became lost in a dark wooded area that was residence to an ancient hag. In exchange for sparing his life, the dwarf became a servant of the hag. The hag’s powers were fueled by the suffering of others. To feed her powers, the dwarf was forced to wear a necklace which held a small mirror. He would wander the world and show the hag the images of pain and suffering he would come across through the mirror. And for the hag’s own amusement, as well as to cause the dwarf some suffering as well, she cursed him to lose control of his mannerisms whenever she desired. Out of character, I would roll a d6 to determine if my character would become grumpy, sleepy, sneezy, happy, bashful or dopey. It was fun to roleplay.

[@SupergeekMike]

Heck yes!

[@stephenmanak6024]

Stranger than fiction is so amazing!!! Using that as the jumping point, a warlock would be a fun idea. I'm not sure how they got into the pact, but their patron is the voice talking to them.

[@sarahlanger2605]

I love the idea for this character! I especially like that you give them the posibility of not thinking of being the main character. I think there is something so funny about the idea that there is a "support charakter" in a party who thinks its his place in the story to be there... Hilarious!

[@ericpeterson8732]

"If you haven't seen Lady in the Water... I can't recommend it." LOL! So true!

[@Stephen2K4]

Love the thought process you went though with this. I had played a Paladin for my very first character and I didn't want the sterotypical "high and all mighty" build. So I came up with the idea of building the character arround the idea of Santa Clause. He was kind to a tee, also had a nauty and nice list. I took was the Oath of Anchients for the build and I forget what I took for a back ground. I made him a round "barral chested" character with polearm master and sentinal. The idea being you, the attacker, had to enguge me. I never initiated a fight. and the DM obliged.

[@kelpiekit4002]

As a DM I love people coming with their high concept to a session zero. Rather than "Here is my complete character with their detailed backstory and what they are going to do. Fit it in your world." instead character creation can be an interaction with the world where the DM and other players can offer a range of possible links that might shape choices of race, class, or backstory.

[@dailymdesdemona]

I'm usually a "here is my complete character" person, because I want my character to be solely my baby. But in my most recent campaign, I came with a high concept and my DM helped me come up with a backstory that ties perfectly into the lore of his homebrew world, which I never would have thought of but absolutely love. It really got me out of my comfort D&D zone, and I'm thankful for it.

[@thomasnissen1402]

Hey Mike. Just want to say hope you are doing good. Thanks for the fun and instructive content.

[@mattewald9378]

There’s a Marvel character called Gwenpool who was someone from our world that was transported into the marvel comics and knew that she could not get killed as long as she was a popular character so she adopted the persona of the two most popular marvel characters of the time Spider Gwen and Deadpool. A dnd character that thinks their on a fantasy TV series and won’t get “written off” as long as they remain popular could be fun or could be very annoying

[@Eladelia]

If you've never read it, you might enjoy "The Last Unicorn" (book especially, but movie has some of it) as an example of what it looks like for characters in a story to know they're in a story without being as over the top as Deadpool, because it's an interesting rendition of it. Mostly they just go about there business, but there are some key moments where they take action based on realizations about the expectations of the story. e.g. at one point the Wizard can't do anything to help the unicorn and another character is asking him what magic is even for then, and he says "That's what heroes are for" and the prince who hears this immediately realizes that yes, it is HIS job to act in this situation, and that's what causes him to make the decision to charge into danger.

[@flawlix]

High concept is my starting point for character builds most of the time. I usually have a strong idea of the character I want to play (e.g., “young cleric raised in evil cult who wants to become good”; “former assassin being blackmailed by old partner into returning to his old lifestyle”; “Druid trying to uncover the mystery of her younger brother’s disappearance”) and then I build around it. I have fun playing these characters, but do wish my main group was more roleplay inclined.

[@inklingrights4860]

Good to see an upload from you. Keep em coming!

[@mkang8782]

Your DnD Beyond character page resembles mine! So many characters made, so few campaigns to play in.

[@jakebot666]

you make really good videos man. keep up the good work and continue to pilot my current hyperfixation on dnd

[@2011multisam]

The character I most recently created was based on the concept "The bandit turns and looks up at the hulking goliath glaring down at him that he, somehow, didn't notice until now" Thus I made my Goliath Rogue Assassin

[@BlindZubat]

Hey, Lady in the Water is a FANTASTIC comedy. Lol

[@SupergeekMike]

Hahaha

[@Keovar]

3:50 - In the early days of Vampire: the Masquerade, I played a Malkavian (madness vamps) who believed that everyone was being controlled by regular humans with weird dice. More recently, while DMing Dungeons of Drakkenheim, my players’ characters were exposed to the insanity effect of a Symbol spell. I had them get a brief vision of a regular human just sitting at a glowing window full of text, tiny images, and a list of all their names on the side (we play over Discord).

[@SupergeekMike]

Hee hee hee I do like that :)

[@SethPentolope]

I do this all the time, it’s great. But I’m usually a little more mechanical. Example: “I want big boom, but not fireball…” Result: Sapphire (thunder) dragonborn, tempest cleric. Had a thunder breath weapon and would use channel divinity to maximize damage from thunderwave. Thunderwave was flavored as a magically enhanced version of his breath weapon

[@FNAFdomania]

I’m brand new to DND (I mean, I haven’t even played my first session yet), but I’m a huge storyteller and RolePlayer, so I love this kind of approach. I recently came up with a High concept for a character I really want to play eventually: She’s a DND Mary Poppins, she has an infinite bag (maybe that’s something that exists in DND, if so that’s perfect). She’s a rogue who has an obsession with shiny things and grabs whatever she thinks might be useful in one way or another. So if somebody in her party were ever asking about any important item, her go to response is as follows; “Wait, lemme check…” Anyway, sorry about this huge block of text XD Edit: Her name’s Wanda btw

[@Zakiel97]

I like that idea, side note I probably would have gone with the folk hero background for that paladin of yours, y'know someone who made a bit of a name for themselves in a small pond and everyone in their village thinks and acts the way he thinks the world works, so that would give a nice contrast when they leave that space or return later on.

[@emilymitchell6823]

5:15 My friend, you just invented Don Quixote EDIT: I got to the rest of the video lol

[@bencarter1646]

"If you are a dungeon-master, I imagine at least one of those ideas excited you in some way." You imagine correctly! I was grinning away at your list of concepts at 02:00! To add my own example, what happens to elves who suffer a crippling injury, and have millennia to live? Easy enough to deal with in standard 5e, but in the low magic setting I'm playing in, it spurred my character's concept to travel the world looking for true healing. Thanks for another interesting topic Mike, glad you're feeling better.

[@karlgrimm3027]

The meta character idea is done really well with Elian from Order of the Stick. Also if you haven’t read it yet go read Order of the Stick.(it’s a free webcomic)

[@Jeezusehchrist]

Hell ya. Oots is superb.

[@OrganMuncher]

A fun tidbit: A very common theme in Japanese media (light/web novels and manga in particular) is that a character is transported or reincarnated into the world of some sort of media they consumed during their lives, mostly games they played. More often than not these are plain power fantasies, but some of them actually explore the idea you presented where a character who thinks they're "meta-aware" clashes with reality in all its weight. Makes for some really interesting moments if utilized properly ("those are real people I killed, not just 'NPCs'..." for instance). When originally suggesting the idea of D&D to my group of friends, their immediate thought was wanting to take direct inspiration from League of Legends characters. I've thought for a while about how to translate these characters and their thematics into a character without making it too confusing or game-breaking without straying too far from the characters' ideas and themes, but never managed to get anywhere, and the idea of a "high concept" is actually really interesting for that, and I've never thought of approaching the subject like that. For instance, and I legitimately had a spark of inspiration for this thought just now, there's one character whose concept in my mind is that she's the matriarch/queen/leader of a northern tribe in the midst of a war, seeking to unite the other large tribes under her, fighting against those who were brothers and sisters to her before they splintered. Something along those lines, at least, and the thought of trying to break her down like that never occurred to me, and it also just makes for a really interesting idea on its own, I think. Great video, keep up the good work.

[@TakeWalker]

Fascinating thing about this video is I could never make a character from rolled stats. The most granular I get is "Well, I've never played X" and then build a character around or out a race and/or class. But otherwise, I'm always going with concept first. :O

[@Keovar]

9:15 - Here’s another case in which a character concept could work better if they weren’t necessarily a spellcaster. Or, if they’re a spellcaster, they could have a couple choices about which ability score to use for their casting. I’d love to play a warlock or sorcerer that’s focused on intelligence rather than charisma, and paladins could also make sense using wisdom rather than charisma.

[@GypsyxDarling]

Making the character NIT be a bard opens up the party to have one join, which I think could lead to some really fun interactions (I'm imagining them trying to convert the bard lol). Thinking about that has always been a huge part of my building process.

[@CJWproductions]

Haha this is the character I played in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage campaign. A Paladin who thought the world worked like in his storybooks.

[@CJWproductions]

Yeah! Don Quixote was absolutely the inspiration!

[@IceRiver1020]

A while back I created a character based on the idea of a warlock trying to break his pact, because it's a bloodline curse. I've yet to have an opportunity to play him, because I dont have many friends both interested and available in playing with me, and I'm not interested in playing with any group unless I know and am comfortable with at least one person. In my D&D drought, I've reworked him a couple of times, and expect that if I finally do find a group to play with, the DM and I will work together on more tweaks.

[@lkriticos7619]

I think this the main, possibly the only, way I build characters. It just comes really naturally to me and I find it keeps my interest in a character going for longer. Sure I can put together number and randomise background traits and produce something playable. But that doesn't actually interest or excite me. Whereas building from a character concept does.

[@TheePIB]

I haven't watched all the way to the end of the video yet, so this might come up … but if you haven't seen _The Gamers_ from Dead Gentlemen Productions, similar concept applies as with in-game 4th wall breakage 😃

[@isitnotwrittenthat1680]

My inclination would have been to make hayden a folk hero, because then he has a reason for his sense of being a character

[@leadingblind1629]

Hi. Love these little videos. I'm in a campaign with my husband as the DM. I'm very excited about my characters. And I will have fun because we're working with family and spending inventive time together. But ... He knows exactly how to implement myBILs character backstories. But no clue how to integrate either of my characters. He keeps saying they're too complicated. And that he doubts anyone's backstories are going to come up or be important. It's incredibly frustrating to hear. But ... We'll work it out.

[@diamondblade3490]

Hey, just a quick bit of advice, feel free to ignore me. But in this situation, I would try to fill in any gaps the party has. Play the support/healer they need, or the party face. Whatever they need.

[@leadingblind1629]

@@diamondblade3490 appreciate but unnecessary. 2 Players. 4 PCs. 1 dmpc attached to 1 PC by request

[@basementmadetapes]

For me I like to start w the tone of the character. I want to know what the campaign's about and compliment that energy w my character. Either by the same hues or their opposites, but always respecting the tone of the story they will be played in

[@gameskultur9865]

First and only positve Thing I have ever heard about Lady in the Water? xD

[@SupergeekMike]

It’s the only good part of the movie, and even that scene isn’t especially well-executed

[@jeffm9770]

I love paladin for that concept. Kind of a Don Quixote type

[@joshuabonesteel2303]

There are lots of different things you could do here. You could go with a divine soul sorcerer who met their parent, and they dropped the fact that the world the sorcerer is in is not actually real. You could go with an order of scribes wizard who loves books until he stumbled across one that pretty much told his life story, including his death. Finally, you could go with a simple fighter who appeared out of nowhere one day with no memory of how he got there, but after reading some books he realized that this is something that seems to happen to loads of characters and now believes that is what has happened to him.

[@joshuabonesteel2303]

I also like the idea of you making up an actual character based on another work of fiction and having them remember what happened before, and knowing one of these two worlds is not real because they are too different.

[@ThatGirlOrSomething]

"Honorable knight character running into mismatches between their perception of how a story should work and how it ends up working in practice" I'm only at about 10 minutes but this character has become Don Quixote in my mind.

[@ThatGirlOrSomething]

fdsahjhjfds I just hit 12 minutes where you say that exactly

[@SupergeekMike]

It’s honestly shocking it took me that long to make the connection lol

[@DisneyLover258]

"There was this book, a book I used to read every night to the younger kids. THE TALES OF FLYNNAGAN RIDER!"

[@SupergeekMike]

Bonus points for referencing my favorite Disney movie!

[@Malkuth-Gaming]

I love High Concept characters, unfortunatly I am the DM and my players are more concerned with leveling up and getting more powerful, fast -.- I would absolutely love playing in a slow sandbox game

[@johnrichardson8903]

I actually had the idea for a character who knew they were in a dnd game. The idea was that he had spent a year in the real world, but spent the whole time believing he was tripping on mushrooms. He would have started a new religion under a god called "Thediem." DM said no. :(

[@LeWebslinger]

Another inspiration could be Don Quixote

[@LeWebslinger]

Oops you mentioned him xD

[@ArabKatib]

@05:55, I do. And big time.

[@michaelbryant3640]

I don't suppose you've ever read "Sir Apropos of Nothing" by Peter David...?

[@mikeybe206]

:: heavily sighs :: Great. Now I’m modifying the Don Quixote character and writing out an extensive backstory…

[@SupergeekMike]

I’m a bad influence

[@amberdaze7892]

lmao this is pretty much exactly how i make characters but its a little more like "oh i have a vibe what cool class/race combinations could i use to fit that vibe OMG WAIT I HAVE A COOL IDEA" then i accidentally build a character that either dies immediately because they're squishy and bad at combat for story reasons or they're so op it scared my dm

[@michaelnodine3803]

A little Meta for me.

[@malcolmrowe9003]

Re the character that thinks he's a fictional character, have you ever read a short story called (I think) 'Call me Ishmael' I can't remember the author. Spoilers follow. The narrator wakes up on a ship which he identifies as Ahab's ship from 'Moby Dick'. At first he thinks he's dreaming but then decides he's not. He realises that there is no Ishmael on the ship and decides that he must be Ishmael. After an initial panic, he remembers that Ishmael survives and breathes a sigh of relief but he then notices events diverging from those of the book...

[@Nietzschetron]

Am I a fictional character? My name is too similar to this character lol.

[@SupergeekMike]

😳

[@MySqueezingArm]

Hey Mike On behalf of the PF2 community, sorry some folks are obnoxious with their excitement.