I'll always love games with character creators that little bit more. There are some iconic bodies I have inhabited over the years, feeling the plight and the victories of Cloud Strife, Arthur Morgan, Lara Croft, and Bayonetta Nolastnamegiven. But nothing quite compares to building your own character from scratch.
Occasionally this can backfire - bad character creators that limit creativity feel worse than none at all, because the opportunities have been dangled and then taken away. But most of the time, even if your character lacks the polish and attention to detail Rockstar can give Arthur Morgan, you forgive imperfections because they're your character. Sometimes they're even you. But no video game, no matter its features, can compete with Dungeons & Dragons.
Dungeons & Dragons is clearly lacking in the most obvious department, I grant you. Typically, we judge character creators on the level of depth they offer in terms of appearance. Do they let you select from a few preset faces, or is it down to preset facial features, or even individual sliders and graphs to alter each part as we see fit. How many hairstyles are there, and how do they look on each model? Can we have scars, tattoos, make-up? Does height and weight play a role, are there a number of voices, can we dress them up? When I wrote about losing hundreds of hours in Baldur's Gate 3's creator, this is exactly what I meant.
With D&D, there's none of this. There are websites which let you design your own minis with a variety of race options, but personally I just look online for existing fan art. It's strange that, despite having no input on the art, offering no direction or advice, just coming along after the fact and claiming it as my own, I can still connect with this character as I would one I had spent hours poring over every detail for in a video game character creator. I guess that's how AI artists would feel, if they were capable of human emotion.
Dungeons & Dragons lacks the visual flair, but makes up for this in the craft of it all. I recently helped some of TheGamer team make D&D characters for the first time, and navigating newbies through it, you realise how complex it all is. 'Pick your race and you get these stat boosts' seems like an easy start, but then you're walloped by a wall of text explaining their traits, and for some characters the stat boosts aren't even automatic. Then there's class, which is the same again - on a basic level, it's asking for your party role, but once more the choice and stat boosts are followed by walls of information. If your class is magical, it's also time to add spells.
Other character creators do not ask for this level of attention. Whether you're happy to go for one of the basic presets or spend hours making your warrior look like Taylor Swift, reading is not required. With D&D, you're expected to absorb the rules as you make the character, which can make for a rough entry. And you're still not done. Background is mostly flavour text, but can still be overwhelming to explore. Feats are next, which you don't technically get until fourth level but many tables will offer from the start. Then there's ability score, which you'd think would be the most confusing, but actually speak for themselves (at least once the difference between the confusingly named Intelligence and Wisdom has been explained), and equipment for the party to arm themselves.
Once this is done, you finally start adding in whatever image you have, the name, and with it all of the extra character building information. This is where it comes most in-line with a video game, where you get to imprint your own ideas onto the being. For many, at least the first time, it feels like the hard part is over and the fun is finally here. But in reality, all of the complicated parts of the character building are what make the character special, and what make it yours.
Once you start playing, the feeling of being able to solve something or escape or beat a tough enemy because of a spell feels far more special because it wasn't one thrust on you by virtue of reaching a certain level as might happen in a video game. It came from a choice you made, perhaps months ago, perhaps unknowingly, and now you have the way out when no one else does. Picked a weird language like Primordial? Guess what, we just met some Grippli and you're the only one who can talk to them. That odd background you picked to get it over with? It means we can shelter in this church.
The rewards for making a character the D&D way are not immediately obvious. It can take a while to get through, often means more reading than you might expect, and while a video game character makes you feel like a god shaping clay, D&D can make you feel like a doofus scratching your head. But down the line, that godlike power will come, and it will feel so much mightier. Whether it's a feat only you have that outsmarts the DM's tricks, a spell that saves the day, or a part of your story you can lean on for roleplay to make the whole experience better, Dungeons & Dragons characters are much more than a pretty face. They're your character. They're you.