There are plenty of articles out there on how to create better Dungeons and Dragons characters, usually packed full of advice on personality traits, mannerisms, and other ways to make your character feel unique and special. What I see less often is advice on creating better adventurers, and I think that’s an important distinction.
The more I play Dungeons and Dragons, the more I become convinced that characters that work well in literature are not necessarily characters that work well in Dungeons and Dragons.
Some characters are better suited for games with narrower, less combat-centered scopes than Dungeons and Dragons. Some characters are even just better explored through short stories, novels, fanfiction, or solo journaling games.
And that’s 100% okay! Creating fictional characters is a way we express our creativity and not every character needs to be explored as a playable D&D character.
But what about the ones that do?
The Adventurer Is A Core Concept of Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons seems to work best when player characters are specifically adventurers rather than characters in the literary sense.
In fact, it’s right there in the Introduction to the 2014 D&D 5e Player’s Handbook:
In the Dungeons and Dragons game, each player creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends). Working together, the group might explore a dark dungeon, a ruined city, a haunted castle. a lost temple deep in a jungle, or a lava-filled cavern beneath a mysterious mountain. The adventurers can solve puzzles, talk with other characters, battle fantastic monsters, and discover fabulous magic items and other treasure.
This isn’t a new concept. It’s been around for decades. Here’s the 2003 D&D 3.5 Player’s Handbook:
Your character is an adventurer, a hero who sets out on epic quests for fortune and glory. Other characters join your adventuring party to explore dungeons and battle monsters such as the terrible dragon or the carnivorous troll. These quests unfold as stories created by the actions your characters perform and the situations your DM presents.
And the 1978 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook:
A fantasy role playing game is an exercise in imagination and personal creativity. The organizer of the campaign, the Dungeon Master, must use the system to devise an individual and unique world. Into this world of weird monsters, strange peoples, multitudinous states, and fabulous treasures of precious items and powerful magic stride fearless adventurers – you and your fellow players.
From some of its earliest iterations, the game has focused on the characters as adventurers. Although addons and supplements have proposed different playstyles, the core rules have always backed the idea that player characters are dungeon-delvers, quest-seekers, daring-doers, monster-slayers, treasure-hunters.
Well, Okay, But What’s An Adventurer?
Photo by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, edited by wobblerocket
Before we can talk about creating better adventurers, I think we need to nail down what exactly makes a character an adventurer.
I think honestly it’s pretty simple:
Adventurers all have reasons to put themselves in situations that any responsible person with a solid sense of self-preservation would avoid.
Sometimes those reasons are lofty. Luke Skywalker busts into the Death Star because he wants to rescue a princess.
Sometimes they’re fiscal. Han Solo does it because he wants to get paid.
Maybe they’re fulfilling an obligation. Chewbacca does it because he’s got a life debt to Han. Obi Wan Kenobi wants to confront his old apprentice.
Maybe they don’t even know what that reason is. The droids are just along for the ride and don’t really have anywhere else to go.
We see this play out in all kinds of adventure stories:
- Odysseus ends up in the cave of a cyclops because he’s trying to get home.
- Sir Gawain seeks out the chapel of the Green Knight because he swore to fulfill an oath.
- Jim Hawkins ends up among Long John Silver and a cadre of pirates because he’s seeking buried treasure.
An adventurer has a reason substantial enough that they’re willing to endanger themselves to fulfill it.
Good Players Choose To Create Adventurers
The other day, I was watching a video on How to be a Better TTRPG Player by Fennec Fables. About six minutes in, Rayne drops this incredible piece of advice:
Whatever game you’re playing, whatever tone you’re aiming for at the table, whatever group you’re playing with, it is so exceedingly important to make a player character that has a reason to actually engage.
You can watch the whole video here, and you should, because it’s packed full of other great advice:
I really think this is step one in creating better adventurers. You, the player, need to make the conscious choice to create a character who has a reason to get involved in the adventure offered by your Dungeon Master.
If the DM is presenting you with a grim flight through the Underdark where you will be hunted and desperate for survival, maybe don’t make a character who just wants to run a cozy fantasy coffee shop.
On the other hand, if your DM wants to run a social cozy coffee shop game about exploring the stories and troubles of varied NPCs, maybe don’t come in with a bloodthirsty barbarian warlord who seeks glorious death in battle.
Of course, sometimes your DM doesn’t have a clear-cut adventure premise, especially if you’re playing a sandbox game. If that’s the case, how do you know how to shape your character’s motivations?
Simple: talk it out. Even sandbox campaigns have tone and atmosphere. Ask your DM what kind of characters they feel would best suit the tone of the campaign. This is a great thing to hash out in Session 0.
Beyond that, good players make a conscious choice to create a character who is able to work with others. Save the “lone-wolf edgelord who doesn’t trust anyone” character for your Doomguy x The Punisher crossover fanfic where they just spend all day silently glaring at each other from across the room.
Some classes seem to struggle with this more than others — rogues, warlocks, and certain spicy flavors of paladin. And yet, we have plenty of examples of classic heroes who fit these archetypes who are perfectly capable of fitting into a group.
The Greek hero Autolycus, a demigod patron of thieves, taught Heracles to wrestle and by some accounts was a member of the legendary Argonauts. Although some stories have his actions causing some shenanigans for Heracles, he isn’t depicted as picking Heracles’ or Jason’s pockets every five minutes, which probably would have gotten his brains clubbed in.
In the Riddick series, Riddick is practically the poster child for lone-wolf edgelords and he still manages to saddle up with unlikely characters like a priest and a street urchin to accomplish his goals and the arc of the adventure.
That’s not to say you can’t have some initial chafing. Robin Hood and Little John fought before they became besties. In the 2012 Avengers movie, there’s a great scene where Thor and Iron Man duke it out before they decide to work together.
These kinds of scenes can work in a game of Dungeons of Dragons if they’re carefully managed by the DM, but as in films and stories, they should be brief disagreements before the heroes move on to working together against bigger threats.
What Other Players Say About Creating Better Adventurers
The other day, I asked this question on my Bluesky:
I got a wealth of answers from other players. Here are some of my favorites:
Maggie’s answer really confirmed my thoughts about TTRPG characters requiring a different philosophy of design than literary characters. Working in “an open-ended reason for forward motion” is a perfect way to transform an aimless character into an adventurer.
Keychi’s reply brings up one of my favorite points: your adventurer’s motivation doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes adventuring is just a paycheck and that’s 100% okay.
Simple motivations like income, safety, or just the desire to not be alone may be all your character needs to continue throwing their lot in with a group, even if the current adventure isn’t their particular cup of tea.
David’s reply brings up another solid option. Sometimes a character you’ve been playing for a while just isn’t a great fit for the latest arc of the campaign. Sometimes it’s okay to let that character go do their own thing and bring in a new adventurer better suited to the latest development in the campaign.
You may be able to revisit the old character again in the future, either in another arc or maybe as an NPC.
Some styles of older D&D actually encouraged each player to have a pool of multiple characters to choose from, with the party picking unique party compositions each time they chose to pursue an adventure. (This can work best when the campaign is centered on a hub like a city, guild, or stronghold.)
What If I Don’t Know My Adventurer’s Motivation?
In that same Bluesky thread, a player named ktrey shared that they use a d100 table they’ve created to help decide on a adventurer’s motivation when they don’t have one in mind: d100 – Why This Hireling Decided To Join.
Although designed to flesh out NPC hirelings, the table works perfectly for D&D player characters, with fantastic flavorful options like:
- “Being Blackmailed to Participate by Villainous Local Forces”
- “Convinced by the Fae that they are Destined for Heroic Greatness.”
- “Faithful, Three-Legged Hound went Missing in the area a week back.”
Be sure to check out the rest of ktrey’s website, d4 Caltrops. They’ve created literally hundreds of amazing random tables for TTRPGs and I’m going to spend a ridiculous amount of time looking through them all.
If you’d like something a little more in-depth than a d100 table, I just picked up a copy of What’s My Motivation by Runic Press.
I haven’t had a chance to really dig into the book yet, but at first glance, this system-agnostic book guides you through the process of fleshing out your adventurer’s past, present, and future. It’s chock full of awesome tables like this one:
| Causal Events Table | |
|---|---|
| d6 | |
| 1 | You were accused of a crime. – Are you guilty? – Did you run from your accuser or stay to face them? – Where are you now as a result? |
| 2 | A famous adventuring company posted a recruitment notice in your town. – Were you hired? – What motivated you to leave your current life behind and try something new? – Where are you now as a result? |
| 3 | Your stable source of income collapsed. – What happened to your work? – Was it related to your first adventure? – Where are you now as a result? |
| 4 | Someone important to you was taken by someone powerful. – Was the kidnapper monstrous or mortal? – Were they mindless or sentient? – Where are you now as a result? |
| 5 | Someone began hunting you, and you weren’t strong enough to face them alone. – Why was this being hunting you and did you do something to deserve such animosity? – Who did you turn to first for help? – Where are you now as a result? |
| 6 | The person you were apprenticed to turned out to be a powerful and influential figure. – Why do you think they never told you and how were they able to keep it a secret? – When you found out, did you wish to emulate them or bring them to ruin? – Where are you now as a result? |
Creating Better Adventurers Is A Way To Be Nice To Your DM
Presumably in most situations, your Dungeon Master is someone you’re friends with. Unless you’re just meeting a bunch of strangers for the first time on Roll20 or at your local gaming store or a convention, you probably know your DM.
When you show up on game night, your DM is crafting the scene for you. They may be managing anywhere from 3-12 NPCs you’ll interact with that session (or more) and preparing any combat encounters or puzzles you’ll be challenged with. They may be managing battlemaps and miniatures or virtual tabletop funkiness.
Your DM may even be crafting the entire world from scratch and pulling a good portion of it out of their ass and trying to do it in a way that convinces you it was pre-planned all along.
Your DM is trying to make sure that four or five people are all getting enough scene time to have fun. They’re keeping one eye on the clock, trying to keep your party is moving forward in the time allotted for the session. They’re probably doing all that while still teaching the least experienced member of your group how to play.
So the next time you want to make a character who won’t buy into the DM’s adventure and can’t work alongside a group, I just gotta ask: why are you being a dick towards your friend who is working hard to make sure you have a good time?
Choose to create an adventurer. Create a character who wants to slay dragons and delve dungeons. I promise you that it will greatly improve your experience with the game.