(crossposted to !rpg@ttrpg.network)
I like all sorts of characters. I’ve yet to find a class I don’t enjoy playing. That said, my absolute favorites tend to be high-charisma types and blow-stuff-up casters.
Mechanically, my favorite character was my first ever TTRPG character: A half-drow draconic sorcerer in DND 5E. I focused a lot on fire spells and damage. Like I said, I love blowing stuff up. Plus I just think the fantasy of being innately magical is cool.
Roleplay-wise, my favorites have been my tabaxi swashbuckler rogue and my aasimar celestial warlock (DND 5E and 5.5E, respectively). The former was a pretty selfish guy who gradually became a better person as he grew to care about the party, and the latter started off as a magical cop who slowly started to realize that all the authorities she’d trusted were corrupt. Sadly, both campaigns fizzled before they could complete their arcs, but they were still a blast to play.
Some of my characters are a lot like me, while others are nothing like me at all. My first character, the aforementioned sorcerer, was more or less a self-insert because I was new to roleplaying and thought I should test the waters with something easy. By contrast, the aforementioned rogue, who was my second ever character, was someone I created specifically to be extremely different from me because I wanted a challenge. Most of my other characters have been somewhere in the middle of the “nothing like me” to “me irl” spectrum. (Although I’m currently playing another self-insert, just because I hadn’t done so in Pathfinder before and thought it might be fun. She’s a kitsune grandeur champion with the draconic sorcerer archetype. Yes, I WILL make and play a fox-dragon self-insert OC and there is nothing you can do about it. I may be cringe, but I am free.) For example, my warlock had pretty similar morals to mine, but she was much more naive and less confrontational than me.
So yeah. Tell me about your characters!
I usually play ranged martials. In 5e, is was basically exclusively rangers, and in AD&D2 it was a ranged fighter. I’ve always kind of played fairly timidly, trying to stay back, kite enemies, and avoid actually taking hits.
I’ve only gotten to play PF2 as a GM. My table only has 2 players, so I have a GMPC tagging along with the party. I wanted someone explicitly defensive in nature, so I originally spec’d them as a Champion. It wasn’t the best fit for who the character was supposed to be – they weren’t devote, and they weren’t in any way magical – but I made it work. When the Guardian playtest launched, I respeced him immediately.
Guardian has been a real breath of fresh air for me. Since the GMPC is there to be a meat shield, and because I’m not especially attached to him, using the Guardian as a mobile interceptor has been a lot of fun, even as I do everything to make sure he exists solely to shine the other players. Also, GMing has really helped me deal with my hesitation to get into the fray – the NPC monsters exist to be killed, and I’m happy to put them in positions to be killed.
If I ever get to a PF2 table where I’m just a player, I’m absolutely rolling another Guardian. Especially with the buffs that came with it’s official release. A utility defender is scratching an itch I didn’t know I had.
No matter what I try, I always end up playing Swashbucklers. I just can’t help myself.
