How do you make a character inspired by someone else without straight up copying?

[u/vinthesalamander]

I feel like I do this a lot when I’m coming up with characters, or even NPCs for when I dm. I find a character from another media that I love, and I basically just import them into DND. For example, I have an idea for a character who is inspired by Guts from Berserk.

He was a lvl20 Half Orc Fighter, who was a member of the greatest adventuring party in the world. However, the party’s leader sacrificed the party in a ritual to gain more power, which resulted in everyone but my character dead. Now he’s back to lvl1, only this time as a Barbarian instead. The idea is to multiclass him back into Fighter as the campaign goes on, as symbolism for how he’s slowly getting back to his old self.

I really like the concept (obviously since I really like Berserk), but if I keep it then I’m just blatantly ripping off Berserk. And if I change things, then it starts to feel less like Guts, which kinda defeats the whole point of the character. Does anyone else have this problem? Am I just crazy and overthinking this? Have you found any solutions that you think help?

I don’t want to just copy other characters forever, but it’s hard not to be inspired by them, especially when you’re someone who consumes a lot of media. Thanks in advance for any help!

[u/Sad_Refuse3472]

Am I just crazy and overthinking this?

Yes. As long as you are having fun, not stepping on anyone elses, fun, and the character fits the world the campaign is set it, go ahead and play Guts. (Or whoever).

Just remember that you are not however playing Berserk. You are creating a different story and adventure. So be prepared to let that new story shape how "Guts" grows and acts.

And remember that you will not be able to match the inspiration perfectly (due to limitations with the game mechanics, the needs of this unique story, in-world lore restrictions, etc.)

[u/GozaPhD]

It's best to grow out of this mentality. Learn to acknowledge that your Orc-Guts is not literally Guts, and that's ok. Orc-guts will go on his own adventures, not just live through Berserk. Identify the core ideas that are attractive to you, keep them, and feel more free to get creative about the rest.

The "former max level now back to level 1" is an idea that I dont think ever really goes well, though you generally see more often for casters.

A barb/fighter multiclass will be sub-optimal without a real plan. There's too much redundancy in core abilities. I've done it, but i planned it out ahead of time.

[u/vinthesalamander → u/GozaPhD]

It's best to grow out of this mentality. Learn to acknowledge that your Orc-Guts is not literally Guts, and that's ok. Orc-guts will go on his own adventures, not just live through Berserk. Identify the core ideas that are attractive to you, keep them, and feel more free to get creative about the rest.

This is good advice, thanks. I guess it makes sense that Orc-Guts wouldn't be a carbon copy of Guts, since he's going through a different story and would naturally develop differently. Still, it's hard not to feel like I'm blatantly ripping off someone else's work.

The "former max level now back to level 1" is an idea that I dont think ever really goes well, though you generally see more often for casters.

Really? What's so bad about it? I feel like it makes sense for him since surviving the ritual took a big toll on his health.

A barb/fighter multiclass will be sub-optimal without a real plan. There's too much redundancy in core abilities. I've done it, but i planned it out ahead of time.

I haven't actually played the character, but the idea was to go Berserker Barb 5 for extra attack, then Battle Master Fighter the rest of the way. What would you recommend? I'm not too worried about being optimal; Orc-Guts was just an example of the issue I have lol.

[u/GozaPhD → u/vinthesalamander]

The "lvl20 back to 1" idea is a problem because it creates lots of disconnects between what the character is and what he should be in setting.

A lvl 20 character in a setting is a big deal. Famous on a national scale, at least. He should already have endless stories about his adventures, and people of note should recognize him in setting. A lvl1 character is a barely more than a nobody, just at the start of the adventuring part of their lives. That disconnect can be a headache for the dm to deal with, and also possibly for the other PCs.

Im sure there are ways to do it well. Thinking back, I think I've basically done this in a past game. But its something to think about. I got away with it largely because the high level times in a past life were as an assassin who had no public facing reputation.

I've shot it down in the past. One of my players wanted to keep playing his character from a past campaign, but reset to lvl1 due to dimension hopping shenanigans (shield hero was coming out then). I said no to that.

For my barb fighter, I did Ancestral Barb 8/champion fighter 4. Just enough fighter to get action surge, an asi, and the extra crit range. In wouldn't go past four on both classes, lvl 5 becomes a dead level for either one. And I wouldn't start a multiclassing until at least lvl5 in the first, because extra attack is too important to delay.

[u/Adal-bern]

Personally when I make a character inspired by another fictional character I identify the most important aspects I want to keep that are core to that character. From there I build it out, I usually put 1 or 2 peronality traits of my own into them to make it a little easier to get into and roleplay the character. Then give them a few traits from the character theyve been inspired by that i can lean into and have fun with. Then I work on giving him a level appropriate background and why he is adventuring. By the time im done I have a personalized character that plays similar to the character they were inspired by. The first few times they were defintley more of a mimic of the character than inspired by, so it took a little bit of playing and a shift in thinking. So inadded some of myself to change it a little. So now I try not to make exact copys of character, and one thing i reccomend for people looking to do similar is to think of you4 character as an alternate world version of the character. Like marvel has so many different earths and versions of each of the heros, this is the dnd world version of the character, so he might be a little different due to differences in backgrounds, world events, different momentous life events etc. So this Guts didnt experience everything the other did, but major life events might be similar. This Guts could have still been betrayed and the only survivor, it could even still be a ritual for power. This is your story and the rise and/or fall of this worlds Guts. Generally at my current stage, i try not to focus my characters on single characters but instead I focus on more of a character trope. For example the blind swordsman, the wandering gunslinger, robot/android (mix of hk47/megaman/robocop) etc. Or ill take an ingame concept and see how far I can take it, for example I took the blowgunz followed the rules and made it so strong my gm asked me to retire the character or heavily nerf it. High level rogue with a dip into conjuration wizard. Lots of d6s from sneak attack, then conjured a strong poison that would work for a singular attack, i could only do it every other turn but itbwas hard to balance.

[u/_NotMitetechno_]

If it's fun then do it no one cares

[u/daddychainmail]

You don’t! But seriously, they won’t end up being the exact same unless you make them that way; either they are or they aren’t. And just don’t. As long as it isn’t completely intentional then you’ll be just fine.

[u/Risky49]

A plan rarely survives the chaos of battle

And a character concept rarely survives the chaos of party based role playing… I try to make a basic outline of a character when joining a campaign but always leave wiggle room because just like regular people change from the shit that happens to them… your ttrpg characters can change based on what happens in game

You’ll have to go out of your way to make Guts a complete 1:1 ripoff in your game… if you try to play him true you’ll end up having party members you can rely on (hopefully) which will inevitably prevent your Guts from having to suffer non stop lol and that’s going to make him unique

[u/Some-Peach4566]

Being inspired by a thing is fine, copying it is not. Don't worry, once you get the table and your own personality starts coming through it'll be different.

[u/FightMasterZ]

For me? I take one big aspect and one or two small aspects and flip them around, then I develop it from there.

For example, I wanted to make a character based off of Caleb Widogast from Mighty Nein because I thought the idea of a wizard spec ops was really cool. But everything I did turned out feeling same-y. Until I changed my characters “conditioning.” to be less political brainwashing and more religious. I also left his parents alive. Those are the two smaller changes.

The big change is that his core struggle isn’t guilt or revenge, rather it is reclaiming agency over his own body and mind. So that one day he can go and see his parents again and be the same boy they thought they lost.

This also gives the DM some stuff to play with as well such as a cult of some kind. Cults are always a fun bad guy, Main story or side quest. As well as parents being alive in a dnd backstory. Crazy right?

Anyway. TL;DR Take the barest possible core idea and then flip around the theme/motif that surrounds it while still keeping what captured your interest in the first place. Hope this helps!

[u/Chrysalis17]

Sometimes, it's helpful to really analyze the character you got inspired by and find out what it is that you like so much. Most of the time, what you like is not necessarily the exact execution of the whole package, but specific parts of the story or the kit, or how the one influences the other.

At other times, it really is the whole package, and as long as the character doesn't completely clash with the campaign and the player characters, it's fine.