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Are you bothered by your cosmic insignificance?

Do you mourn for a place or person you’ve never known?

Do you really think there is somebody for everybody?

Do you place any value in gender roles?

Do you have to be related to be family?

Are your platonic relationships just as valuable as romantic or family ones?

Are you in love? Do you want to be?

Do you think you can put love into categories (family, platonic, romantic, etc.) or is it just one general sensation?

Would you be happy with a life without romance? 

Are you always going to be a little in love with somebody?

Would you change your appearance if you could?

Do you have the feeling you’ve lost something you might have had in another life - whether it be a person, a place, a world, a language, etc.?

Do you believe in reincarnation?

Would you want to be reincarnated?

Do you think you’re special, or just another person amongst billions? Can you be both?

Do theoretical ethical debates have any value? Is it important people discuss ethical dilemmas, e.g. the trolley problem?

Did you have imaginary friends? Do you still have them?

Are you religious? Do you think your religion is ‘correct’?

If you aren’t religious, do you wish you were? Why?

Do you want a grand adventure?

Do you have somebody, whether it be a friend or stranger, who you think you could have loved if the circumstances were different?

How long does it take you to fall in love with somebody?Is the sensation of ‘falling in love’ or ‘being in love’ better?

Is love about convenience or something more? Can it be about both?

Do you think you really understand your gender and sexuality?

How fluid is your concept of gender and sexuality?

What’s the most life-changing choice you’ve made so far?

Are you afraid of growing old?

Would you want to live forever? How about for a billion years, a million, a millennium, a century?

Do you believe in some form of god/s?

Are your choices fated or of your own free will?

Do you have a hunch about how you’re going to die?

Do you believe in star signs?

How old do you have to be to be considered an adult?

Was your childhood happy?

What are you missing from your life?

Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along?

Do opposites attract?

Is your life what you expected it would be five years ago?

Do you know what you want out of life?

What makes a person ‘good’? Are you a ‘good person’?

What fundamentally matters do you?

Is freewill an illusion?

Do you create art? How do you define art?

How often do you lie? Is all lying inherently bad? Are you generally truthful?

Do you want to be remembered after your death? What for?

Is true world peace ever possible?

Do you have to suffer to truly understand the human condition? What is the human condition? How can you really experience it?

Are you free? Will you ever be? Can anyone be truly free?

Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others?

What do you expect from a friend or partner?

What question could you ask to find out the most about a person?

Do you justify all your beliefs or have you just inherited/absorbed some?

Which beliefs do you have that is most likely to be wrong?

Can human really understand the complete nature of the universe, space and time?

Is a conscious what makes someone a person?

What do you think about artificial intelligence?

Do you thinks humans are obsessed with escapism (books, video games, movies, etc.)? Are you looking for an escape? Do you think that’s a bad thing?

Are we eventually going to ‘run out’ of new combinations for music, art, language, etc.? Is there a limit to human creativity?

What do you think the next era of music will be like?

What do you think the next era of fashion will be like?

Do we live in tumultuous times, or do they just seem so strange because we’re living in them?

Would you want to meet a clone of yourself? Would you like them?

How confident are you, really?

How consistent is your perception of time?

What age should people be allowed to vote? Should children and teenagers be allowed to vote?

How do you feel about the idea ‘an eye for an eye’?

What’s the worse thing a person can be?

How do you feel about monogamy?

Can you be in love with someone and still fall in love with someone else?

What’s the tragedy of your life?

Would your life make a good play?

Should people be prosecuted for crimes that weren’t considered crimes at the time?

Would you fight for your country? Do you feel a sense of loyalty to your nation?

Do you believe in gender equality in every aspect?

Do we have a moral obligation to care for others? To what extent?

Do you crave approval and/or praise?

Is there comedy in all tragedy and tragedy in all comedy?

Are you ever going to be satisfied?

When you are sad, do you listen to music that conveys your emotions or music that makes you happy?

Is your music organised by mood or sensation or do you just listen to everything at any time?

Would you marry a friend if they needed you to (e.g. for citizenship)?

Are you a deep person?

Given the chance to live your life on Mars, with no hope of returning to Earth but with the promise of scientific discovery and glory, would you take it?

Are you who people think you are?

Do you think you would be happier if you had been born a different gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality or religion?

What’s your toxic trait? Are you trying to improve yourself and fix it?

Do you anger easily?

Are you a jealous person?

If you lost all your memories, would you have the same personality?

Given the chance to reset your life (with none of the knowledge you currently have), would you take it?

Is hate as strong as love? Who do you hate?

Do you speak multiple languages? Which do you dream in? What language would you want to learn?

Do you draw meaning from your dreams, or do you disregard them?

How would you describe yourself when you love? Do you love forcefully, unconditionally, gently, quietly, desperately?

Is unrequited love real love?

Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you?

Are you overly analytical?

Do you ever feel that you are really a terrible person, and only act good out of societal or some other obligation?

Do you believe in magic? Are you superstitious?

You live with your amazon wife, making her swords and other weapons for hunting and fighting off other amazon tribes. She comes home, bloodied from battle, but with a smile on her face. “HUSBAND! I HAVE RETURNED!” she exclaims, crashing on the couch.

You heal her wounds and she thanks you with a strong, nearly bone-crushing hug and a kiss on the forehead. You sit on her mighty lap as she tells you of her adventures today, of how effective and helpful your weapons were, and how proud she is to be your wife.

People have different thoughts and feelings about how to create a d&d character, and I want to preface this with the universal fact that however your group has fun playing d&d is the correct way to play d&d, and what I say here is how I and my group tend to play.

Step one: The World

When I am making a character or starting to review characters during a session zero, I consider how the concepts fit into the world of the game. I consider the setting and the tone of the game before I even start thinking of a concept, let alone a class or race.

Questions to ask your dm:

What pieces of media did you draw inspiration from for this campaign?

What is the tone of this game?

What themes will the game be exploring?

What events in the world of the game could have created an adventurer?

Step two: The Group

The second step I take is considering the group as a whole. What kind of character would fit into the group? Which group members might have a character connected with them in a way? What kind of archetype does the group need?

Questions to ask yourself:

Is my character a team player? If not, how can I justify them being in a group and not hogging attention?

What is the group missing that is integral to the game?

Is there a major theme of the campaign that is missing from the party’s motivation?

Step three: The concept

Before you assign a race and class, make a character. Give them wants, needs, and desires. Motivations for adventuring. Connections within the group. A connection to a main theme of the story and a backstory that fits within the constraints of the world. You can add in the race and class here if that helps you build a concept.

Questions to ask yourself:

What does my character want and need? What desire pushes them forward?

What would they have to achieve to stop adventuring?

What worldview does my character have that relates to a major theme the campaign explores?

Is my character value themselves over others or others over themselves?

Who will my character probably connect with in the party?

Personal freedom or structured rules?

Step four: The Mechanics

Now do all that fun character creation stuff like rolling stats and choosing a class and race.

Conclusion:

In a narrative-focused game like my group plays, having this setup for character creation will allow your DM to easily incorporate your character into major arcs of the game due to how you fit into the setting, your party will appreciate the cohesion from connecting the characters and it will make for fun roleplay encounters, Your character will have driving forces behind their decisions and the choices you make will feel more grounded in reality due to your understanding of your character’s motivations, worldview, and objectives.

P.S. NPCs

For you DMs out there, a condensed form of this formula is also helpful for making memorable NPCs. My process for making any of my NPCs is the “A DOVE” method:

Appearance: What does the character look like? Are they striking or plain? (ex: Arthur Augefort in Fantasy High is a dark skinned, bald wizard with a long white beard. He wears a purple suit that matches his eyes and carries an umbrella. In front of his left eye sits a gold monocle.)

Demeanor: What kind of personality does the character have? Usually a single adjective. (ex: Lucretia in The Adventure Zone being calm and regal.)

Objective: What does the character want from the players? (ex: Mishka in NADDPOD wants the party to rid her town of the Barbarians who have invaded.)

Voice: What sort of voice should the character have? Not necessarily an accent, but deep or high voice? Funny or grounded? How does it connect with the Demeanor? (ex: Ipskix in Escape From the Bloodkeep with his exaggerated screechy voice.)

1. Math skills

All the tiny equations start to add up (not sorry), and you’ll eventually find yourself gaining a stronger hold of every day maths. Very useful!

2. Camaraderie

Play with good friends, and it’ll never be dull! Don’t have friends? Make some at adventure league!

3. Imagination

The imagination of the DM and the players around you will rub off on you, and you’ll find yourself inspired more often! Great for writers!

4. Improv skills

Great for actors and comedians! Forces you to think on your feet for snappy and in-character responses!

Pride: The best magic user. There is NO ONE better than them. No one will EVER be better than them.

Envy: A man turned lich out of fear after his elven wife left him so she wouldn’t watch him die. He terrorizes all her lovers.

Gluttony: Consumed by their constant hunger from their former life they now devour the souls of lost and weary travelers and children.

Sloth: once a lazy king who ruled a great floating kingdom, he turned lich after he refused to put out the effort to stop a sorceress from destroying everything. She cursed him to a life of being bound by his soul to the very throne he would sink with. He saps life from the ocean without even lifting a finger.

Lust: A lich who lusts after bodies. They are constantly jumping from body to body. Trying to sate their lust for the next best looking body.

Greed: A lich who collects parts. He collects as many parts as he can to build horrible monsters in his lab. He will stop at nothing to get the best parts.

Wrath: A former man who died in his prime. Death turned him hateful and twisted. He believes that life is pointless and that death will always win out. He wishes greatly to see the flame of life sniffed out entirely.