Dungeons and Dragons Players Discuss Characters They're Afraid Will Never See Action in Their Campaigns Due to Dice Rolls

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Feb 22, 2024 11:30 AM EST

I'm a huge DnD fan, so trust me when I say I know that bittersweet (but mostly bitter) ache that accompanies the thought of characters left unplayed. I have many such characters who may inevitably be bound to the confines of my imagination. I hope not, because I put a lot of thought and effort into these characters' backstories. Their fate hangs in the balance of time and circumstance. Who is my favorite? Gondathuria. Her silver sword reflects the moonlight as she traverses the perilous paths of forgotten realms on horseback, yelling 'Giddy up' every now and then because I like to imagine her from the West.

Who knows if she'll ever see the light of day? In the screenshots below you will find countless Redditors who share their own characters who they fear may never get to be played in their campaign. Next you can check out these Harry Potter memes for brave Hogwarts students skipping herbology to explore Hogsmeade.

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  • 01
    679 What characters do you have "sitting on the shelf" that you fear will never get to be played? 7 205 89
    via Canva
  • 02
    What characters do you have "sitting on the shelf" that you fear will never get to be played?
    via u/Mackntish
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    . Dunsparces 1 day ago Most of them, I'm over 40 ideas now that I'm way too passionate about. A 212 atlvf- 1 day ago DM Reply Share Take up DMing and make them all NPCs, that's what I do. :) 89 Reply Share
    via u/Dunsparces, u/atlvf
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    clandestine_justice - 1 day ago An elf. He's a warlock, his patron is Santa Claus. He reports his observations to Santa nightly. Reply Share 236 Ok-Succotash-3033 - 1 day ago This is buried way too deep. This is great A 35 V Reply Share
    via u/clandestine_justice, u/Ok-Succotash-3033
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    Deastrumquodvicis · 1 day ago · edited 1 day ago Rogue Llloyd-that's right, three Ls—the eloquence bard. But he doesn't perform music, oh no sirree, he's a bonafide public defender. Sure, he may be a kobold, and he may sit on his briefcase as a booster seat in court, but he knows the traps of the law and how to navigate you out of them. His law firm partner, Liandra, is a lizardfolk, and she takes the paid cases.
    via u/Deastrumquodvicis
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    Llloyd and Liandra Law Lizards, checking for traps and looking for legal loopholes in your warlock contracts since, uh, a time! 128 Reply Share
    via u/Deastrumquodvicis
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    FirbolgFactory - 1 day ago 50 yr old human commoner A 115 Reply Share dwarvish1 1 day ago I'm an almost 50 human commoner. I will live this character idea for you. 767 Reply Share
    via u/FirbolgFactory, u/dwarvish1
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    Gambit_tank 1 day ago A gentleman barbarian. 38 Reply Share mrsnowplow 16 hr. ago DM its a lot of fun i just did a nobleman barbarian who wasnt cutting it in his studies so dad sent him on a walkabout
    via u/Gambit_tank. u/mrsnowplow
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    i reflavored an ancestral guardian barbarian and his ancestors pitying him and keeping him alive kind of like a mushu/mulan feel A, V 9 Reply Share
    via u/mrsnowplow
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    cnbuch 1 day ago A monk with a chicken familiar he claims is his wife who was polymorphed by an evil wizard. All his monk moves reflavored with chicken themes, i.e. Stunning Strike is now Wing Stop etc. Maybe his chicken is kled, and now he has to multiclass into Barbarian 64 Reply Share
    via u/cnbuch
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    Jedi4Hire 1 day ago Ranger Haha, which one? There's only about 600 of them. One of the more recent ones is an Eldritch Knight/Wizard. The inspiration for him was partly some loud mouth here on reddit years ago complaining that there's absolutely no way to create a viable low level starting character with a long, heroic backstory. I set out to prove how un-imagitive and dumb that take was by creating three characters, all with long/heroic backstories with built-in reasons why they were
    via u/Jedi4Hire
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    all level 1-4. (Just to be clear, there are players who create big, heroic backstories that don't jive at all with starting at a low level. But to say that there are no ways at all to make that work is just dumb.) But anyways, that concept stuck with me. This character was, not too long ago, a powerful (high level), successful and famous Eldritch Knight in service of the crown until one day a few years ago he mysteriously vanished off the face of the earth without explanation. Everyone more or l
    via u/Jedi4Hire
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    monster or dragon whatever in some dungeon and d ed. The truth is he fan afoul of some archlich/archfey/demon lord/whatever, who then stole his lifeforce (youth). He went from being a powerful Eldritch Knight in his prime to being and elderly man who can barely walk. Nobody suspects that the elderly wizard who just hobbled into town was the same young Eldritch Knight that saved the region from a dragon just a few years ago.
    via u/Jedi4Hire
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    The idea being that due to his artificially advanced age, he no longer has the strength and dexterity to be an effective Eldritch Knight and has now devoted himself totally to wizardry. His goal is, of course, to regain his youth. A 62 Reply Share
    via u/Jedi4Hire
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    omnipotentsco - 1 day ago Fi Guyeri, a halfling rogue chef from the village of Flavorton who adventures to find recipes and expand his cooking repertoire. He fights with his kitchen knives and is looking for the best Taverns, Townhalls, and Tap Houses across the land. 20 Reply Share
    via u/omnipotentsco
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    Few-Pressure5713 - 1 day ago . Warforged barbarian None of my group wants to dm a campaign with magic robots in them. 17 Reply Share Mackntish OP - 1 day ago That's kinda BS. Warforged are just about the most versatile race in the games in terms
    via u/Few-Pressure5713, u/Mackntish
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    of shoehorning one into the lore. Because they are created, they can be unique. Thus your character can be unique, and the DM doesn't have to worry about looking up the culture, civilization, attitudes, backstories etc... of an entirely new race he might not be familiar with. Would be really cool to have a flesh golem barbarian warforged, held together by rage and fury towards the one that created them. Reply Share 9
    via u/Mackntish
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    plankbob 1 day ago 1. Noir inspired Druid Pet Detective. 2. One my pal made for me called Luke Skyhopper who's a Ranger Rabbit and he's an absolute , he thinks he's superior to everyone else and is the "leader" of the group, everyone else is ether his employee or his butler. 17 Reply Share
    via u/plankbob
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    Dragonant69 1 day ago So so many. But my current fav that I'm looking to get into one of my games... A fairy barbarian. Her temper got her pushed out. All her weapons are made naturally. She is set to go path of the giant. Where her rage ability transforms her into a 9' tall berserker. And her weapons from with her. I've kinda gotten into another "magic girl or character from media" phase. Lol 28 Reply Share
    via u/Dragonant69
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    Lord Of Lettuce6 - 1 day ago Rogue old Tortle druid who has been wandering nature for decades and has a long winded story for literally everything. it works because the longer I don't use him the more time I have to come up with stories 10 Reply Share
    via u/LordOfLettuce6
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    wizardenthusiast - 1 day ago I have a Chaotic Evil character who I started tinkering with as a thought exercise. I had generally only played good-aligned characters (and I'm not really reliant on alignment in 5e overall), so this was a brand new perspective for me. Because their motivations, personality, behavior, and beliefs about the world unfolded slowly for me, they have ended up having quite a bit of depth beyond the standard "Chaotic
    via u/wizardenthusiast
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    Stupid" stereotype. I'm more attached than I thought I'd be, and proud of the work that went into them! My last group blew up, so the couple friends I still hang with and I are in tabletop limbo at the moment. I'm not really sure when I'll play my next campaign. And I've also resigned myself for the fact a new group with strangers or newbies may not be the appropriate time to play a CE character!
    via u/wizardenthusiast
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    Any Profession7296 - 1 day ago The halfling wild magic sorcerer who is so old and senile he forgets huge amounts of his past Reply Share 3
    via u/Any_Profession7296
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    VaerenLeniir DoUrden 1 day ago . I stopped creating single characters after I had about 30 characters "in the wings." I create entire parties now, usually centered around a theme. Like a party of bards: indie medieval rock band AND adventuring troupe! 3 ▼ Reply Share
    via u/VaerenLeniirDoUrden

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