First Characters

[Dragonamedrake]

My first character for a campaign (not a one shot) was Bud Tugly, A Wererhino Fighter who went into Epic levels. The game ended at level 30-something. The other party members were a changeling-turned-warforged artificer and a warforged cleric who took his third reforged level at level 27 to gain a shit-ton of epic feats -enough to give Heal and Disintegrate at will.
I had...hitpoints. And a super-enchanted greatsword. And something like 50 Str.

lol that reminded me about my DD frienzied berserkers Toad... 3.0 he got half my HP and the dm ruled that it got a size increase when I did. I had a toad Familiar that was Medium and 300 HP... we always joked that it could Swallow Whole Halflings if it wanted to.

[Quikren]

My first character was last summer. He was a half-orc paladin. Not very bright, but charismatic (due to sheer effort!).

He was fun to role play. We were doing the typical "clean out the tavern basement" thing... I punched two doors, used one as a shield, and threw the other one into the room. Missed the evil demon bat inside.

Then our Wizard friend threw a fireball into the room, killing both of us, since it was a 10ft x 10ft room!

[Shadowhunter]

It was either my Monk, focusing on using a nunchaku (had played to much Soul Calibur with Maxi) or is was my Sorcerer aiming for Frost Mage.
Didn't level, ever.
Since those campaigns died after like 1 session each. Or perhaps 2.
The Monk was done during the time in my CharOp career when I thought that at Sorcerer 4/Fighter 6/Order of the Bow Initiate 10 was optimized for ranged damage output.
With 2 rounds amassing to:
True Strike
That Aimed shot for, what, 31d0 extra damage?
5d10?

By the time I did my Sorcerer, I was scarcely better.

Then I got somewhat decent. Less than 10 sessions later, I'm the only DM for D&D 3.5 around here and haven't played in real life for somewhat 4-5 years...

[Tonymitsu]

Like ever?  In all of D&D?


A 2nd Edition halfing thief named Koric Dromen.

Was my first time ever at a table, but it was a good group of guys.  We played pretty regularly, about twice to three times a week for two years.  Took him from level 1 to 17.

It was weird being around the "seasoned professionals", who were concerned mostly with the legalities and rules for a build while I was the one asking if I could over-turn the bar table and use it as cover to hide (to backstab someone the next round), and shooting the rope on the chandelier in the desecrated church to drop it on the bad guy.

The most noteworthy feat he ever accomplished was killing an irredeemably insane gold dragon in one attack (we were good-aligned also, but the story required it to die).
We figured out it had killed a warlord and was ruling his lands in human form and was using his keep as it's lair.  We all marched in convinced we were going to die and I convinced them to let me have the opening shot.  I rolled a 19 to sneak up on it, DM random rolled and it was actually asleep, I made a called shot to it's eye, and rolled a natural 20 (and we used to rule that if that happened, you double your weapon damage and THEN apply your backstab multiplier).  I also had a Dragonsbane Shortsword, but I didn't know this at the time (it was a gift from an NPC I saved by accident.  I just used to call it "Lucky").  It was also already down some random amount of HP that the DM had pre-rolled, but he was so pissed that I ended his epic encounter outright he wouldn't tell me.

Afterward, when the group was divvying the horde, Koric announced it was time for him to go, thanked them for everything, and promised never to forget them.  Then walked off down the road into the sunset.  I thought that was a great ending for the character and I never played him again.

[the_shadowmind]

A CN half-elf Sorcerer called Rinta. It was for a newby one-shot introduction game, and the objective was to defeat what was causing a haunting in a abandoned tower. Once the BBEG was found instead of fighting it, Rinta decided it wasn't worth the risk at the 100gp offer, and the Constable refused to up the reward money. So as Rinta left everyone in the village died. Oh well, he was in it for the money to start with.

[NiteCyper]

Chaotic Evil Human Rogue 5/Assassin 3, Spring Attack feat tree. Attacked a weapons shop-keep, DM D-E-M-teleported me. Pocket-picked waiting outside temple, the rest of the group talking to some good-aligned employer. Bought elemental Burst gem/crystal enhancement for short-sword that the DM offered at some shop from third-party "Pocket Magica". Envied fellow CW Samurai's full-attack.
I think I got a level of Shadowdancer in there or was planning to as I remember doing a "Perform: Dance" check. I think I rolled high and got 5 gp from passers-by. Realized I missed some mod, like the "1" to the left of the "6" making it "+16", not just "+6". 5 gp became 50. Else, this was the build after some modification. I modified it as much as I modify my posts. Sessions grew thin, fast, after I joined (not because I joined).

Is it bad to have spent more time optimizing than I having played? I...don't think so.

I'm still obsessed with playing Rogues.