Your Very First Character

[Stormhammer]

If you are like me, your first character holds a special place in your heart. Did he or she die heroically during their very first adventure? Did he or she retire as veterans of the war that decided the fate of the world? My very first character was Stormhammer, a 2e AD&D half-orc fighter, who managed to make it to 10th level (there were level caps in those days) and retire as the chieftain of an orc clan. Since I was a new player at the time, Stormhammer had plenty of mishaps, but all were fun and memorable moments. I remember hiding from a red dragon in a forest, only to be roasted alive when the dragon reigned fire down on everything in sight; I had to get resurrected after that one. I also remember being attacked by an assassin using some sort of magical poison that had no known antidote; a powerful wizard had to make a simulacrum of my character and transfer his soul into it while his original body perished. Unfortunately, his character sheet was lost to the annals of time (or the messy room of a college student). I would do anything to get it back. Anyways, I would love to hear about your very first character. How did he or she die? How did he or she become a legend?

[Naresh]

My first character (in 3.5e) was an Elf called Drusilla Elvenfall. She was a loner, ranger.

She bit the big one at the hands of an ogre and a gang of cat people. The party had no idea how to form an efficient team, though she was the last to die.

[Pilgrim]

My first character, that I actually made and played, in a tabletop (rather than computer game), was in a Revised Star Wars game. He was a doctor, and later programmer, with a gambling problem - he joined the PCs when they stopped some loan sharks from beating him up. When the party sided with the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars, he betrayed the party and secretly worked for the Republic - creating two computer viruses to cripple Mandalorian fleets (one to cause static on their radios at random intervals, the other to alter any course set by 5 degrees in a random direction so any groupings would scatter) and also a biological virus targeting Mandalorian DNA (neither the GM nor I knew at the time it wasn't a distinct race) to effectively give them diabetes. So while he didn't actually kill any Mandalorians, they were using resources to fight sickness and having trouble coordinating their war machine, leading to an easy Republic victory.

He also killed a Sith with one shot of a blaster, though that was really due to luck. (I rolled 3 nat 20s in a row.) Also, after the party's wookie cut his leg off for trying to destroy a Mandalorian idol that was influencing the captain, he got a cybernetic limb. Later, when he was the only one who remained conscious after a crash, he took the Sith lightsaber and cut the wookie's leg off... he got a dark side point for that.

[prometheous100]

In the first real game I played, I was DM'ing two of my friends who had never played and had a DMPC that just sat in back to help them out during fights. When asked what his name was, since I hadn't made any kind of story for him I said the first thing on my mind 'Antelope'. Thus began the story of Antelope the Gnomish Illusionist

After two or three sessions one of the players tried he hand at DM'ing (and was better at it than I was) and so I got to play my little gnome Illusionist. Around level 3, I was talking with a weasel when the rogue came over and slaughtered it... turning it into a fine red mist, then a dire weasel popped out of it's little tunnel and looked at the blood mist. Rogue pointed at me and said 'He did it!'

Fast forward to level 9 or 10.... the party was in a town and my wizard wandered off into the woods for a bit. A little solo later, the rogue and fighter (PC the DM had from the start) hear my screams and track me down a weasel cave to find me being tortured. Antelope the gnome had a phobia of small burrowing animal from that day forward.

Level 13 or 14, after a strenuous few weeks of adventuring they return to the tower they had acquired to find it overrun with weasels. Trying to stop antelope from emptying his entire spell list on the tower, they walk in and start clearing it out (Antelope wouldn't go anywhere near it). Then when he was alone outside, they got him. No one could make it back in time to stop the death of poor Antelope at the hands of the weasels.

Was a lot of fun and that was basically the end of the game since I took it poorly. Still have the sheet around though, look at it sometimes for kicks and giggles.

And here is the link for Antelope

[Lushmoss]

I can't remember exactly which was my first character, but it was likely an elven fighter called Drake since it was he who I played in the starter adventure thing for 2E. I don't remember a heck of a lot of what happened, only that he got fear'd by a lizardman priest and later managed to land the final blow against the ogre boss. I was pretty stoked, but because I played irregularly and I liked making new characters so much I don't think I ever got around to playing with him again.

[shadowsedge]

My first character was a human paladin he made all the way to the wopping level of two before being murdered in a back alley by a gang of gnomes !

[saranel]

My first D&D character was an incredibly stereotypical half-elf ranger, Koren. My DM was in a hurry and I was a newbie, so he let it slide. I enjoyed her so much that I continued to play half-elf rangers until I started playing 3ed in college. And then I realized what I'd been missing. The original character was left abandoned and forgotten when I graduated high school. I think we'd only gotten up to level 3, and I don't recall any really exciting moments with her. Sad, considering the fond memories I have of every character I've played since then.

[Legomaster00156]

Riku, the Hengeyokai Sorcerer in an Oriental Adventures campaign. Ah, that campaign was fun. Let's see what his antics were, shall we?

1. After transforming into his fox form to escape imprisonment, he met the other PC's and helped to escape using his dagger. And ONLY his dagger.
2. As we were escaping, we were pitted against two guards. Riku's response? Grab one's head and smash it into the wall.
3. As we left with a new quest, we headed through a desert. River, our Samurai and "guardian", was tasked with protecting me and another spellcaster (a Wu Jen). We saw bandits rushing towards us, with a desert tornado behind them. River's response? "The tornado is a Prestidigitation by one of the spellcasters in the wagon. I drive into it." Both I and the spellcaster jumped out of the wagon before he could send us to our doom, which really should have tipped him off.
So, it was two d4 spellcasters vs. 3 bandits. Ultimately, we won (mostly because one of the bandits rolled two critical failures in a row, thus stabbing himself in the eyes with both of his daggers). Unfortunately, it was not without cost. It was, more or less, a draw, as both of us were unconscious at the end of the fight, with 3 dead bandit bodies before us.
4. Luckily, we survived. We found Skyler's character, who would help protect us. We then found River's character a few miles forward. He had his legs broken from the fall out of the tornado and was being burned at the stake with a green fire by a band of barbarians. My Chaotic Good Sorcerer was all too happy to take revenge for failing to protect us and making such a stupid move, and so joined in the ritual, eventually plunging a blade into River. This was not the end, and in fact, strengthened River's friendship with the barbarians.

Unfortunately, the campaign ended after that...

[Jocularity]

My first character for tabletop (As opposed to computer games, etc) was a Lizardfolk cleric. I can't actually remember his name. It was actually an evil characters campaign, and we were running about trying to survive an invasion of constructs. Big mechanical Octopuses and dragonflies. He was a teriffic coward, which was good for some laughs. I didn't get to play him all that much, that group was fairly inconstant about who was DMing, and it seemed like we were playing a different campaign and character every 3rd session. I don't think he even reached level 2.

[Mr Melee]

My first character was a 2nd edition fighter. Cliche, yes. Memorable, no, at least not beyond the class. My most memorable character was a mul gladiator in 2nd edition DnD. His story was a rags to riches scenario. He started as a slave and eventually retired a free man, living near the Sea of Silt with a trove of precious metal and a righteous estate.

[Numen Wraith]

3.5e Forest Gnome Bard. Houseruled as Tiny at the start of the game because he started at less than two feet tall, he had Reduce Person with Permanence, so he was in effect Diminutive.

His favourite trick was to move with Leave No Trace and then hop into a Bag of Holding and then use buff spells while the bag was on the hip of a well defended character.

As a quirk of his being from an alpine forest, his instrument was a horn like those you see in Ricola commercials. Given that he sometimes had to continue playing to sustain a spell, he was a big fan of circular breathing and would have been the envy of any trumpet player. lol

He was given away to another player when I moved. I heard he died when the Bag of Holding he was in was eaten by a dragon.

RIP Numen Lignumwood (Cheers if you get the word play in the last name. He was a Gnome after all)

[Shaughraun]

Tabletop pen and paper rpg.
Lao Of The Lotus. An Earth Mage consumed by greed and wealth. I began as a humble servant and inadvertantly became the main villian of the story. Not quite sure how i managed it. By the end of the story everybody was gunning for me and i was crushed in a palace garden by a dragon knight who was supposed to be my subordinate.

It was a great game. I still use Lao here and there.

[Syne]

This topic brought back some good memories.

My very first character was a 3.0 Human Monk, who only managed to get one adventure before the group broke up. I can't even remember the name at this point. I do, however, remember some of the highlights of that adventure:

When the DM pointed out a mirror covering one wall, I became convinced that something was behind it. I tried to punch my way through it, only to meet solid stone and get a broken fist for my troubles.

When the fighter managed to stab himself in the foot with a trident and get knocked out, I managed to resuscitate him by punching him in the chest repeatedly.

Come to think of it, that particular character had essentially one solution to all problems.

My first 'real' character that saw several sessions of play was a 3.0 half elven chaotic neutral sorceress. She had a penchant for color spraying NPCs, which got on the lawful good Cleric's nerves quite a bit. Though, there was one NPC/obvious plot hook that so annoyed him that I received the memorable command: "Color Spray him again."

[Loudwhisper]

All this talks sparks excitement in me...

I cant wait to make my first character

[Numen Wraith]

Originally Posted by Loudwhisper

All this talks sparks excitement in me...

I cant wait to make my first character

I might suggest going to the Solo threads then. You can sign up to have an adventure that's just you and the DM one on one, and they'll be able to help you understand a lot of the mechanics and processes involved. Welcome!