Regardless of your relationship with Dungeons & Dragons, it's pretty safe to say you have heard of some of the tropes and stereotypes. Whether it's a Rogue with kleptomania, a Bard flirting with every NPC (non-playable character), the hippie Druid, or even the dreaded rolling of a Natural 1; D&D is rife with these things.
In the same vein, however, books are also full of their own tropes and stereotypical character types. Don't believe me? Check out Overly Sarcastic Production's long, long list of Trope Talks. And just like characters can have tropes, so can DMs/Authors. From some of the tweets, stories I've heard, an Author's characters can be just as disagreeable and surprising as a DM's players!
So I'm curious, what Dungeons & Dragons Stereotypes have you found in your books and which ones would you want in your party? Create an adventuring party of characters you've read and use 4 or 5 of the following stereotypes:
- Artificer - Gadget tinkerer who relies on machines for their abilities.
- Barbarian - Always relies on their muscles and definitely an idiot.
- Bard - Has incredible charisma and skills but uses them all for flirting.
- Cleric - Designated healer even though they can do so much more.
- Druid - Uses their knowledge of herbs to get high and prefers to save the monster creatures.
- Fighter - They just want to help but don't know much about how other than hitting things.
- Monk - Meditative fighter who uses their fists, never weapons.
- Paladin - Stick-in-the-mud, goody-two-shoes, teacher's pet, etc.
- Ranger - Underappreciated because it takes them so long to get powerful.
- Rogue - Kleptomaniac emo.
- Sorcerer - Born talented and knows it and reminds everyone of it.
- Warlock - Frequently needs to rest.
- Wizard - The group nerd.
Some examples to help you out:
Zaphod Beeblebrox - Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Bard - Charming personality, flirty with the ladies.
Mark Watney - The Martian - Artificer - Holy wah, he's good with tinkering!
Neville Longbottom - Harry Potter - Ranger - He was always the laughingstock, but dang he got good closer to the end of the series.
Hellboy - The Hellboy Comics - Fighter - Even he admits he's mostly good for being able to take and dish out damage.
Whoever has the party I like the best, will win a $10 gift card to a bookstore of their choice (default to Bookshop.org).
