Fantasy Novels to Get Inspiration for Your Next D&D Campaign
Dungeons & Dragons is all about getting lost in a fantasy world. What makes D&D so special are the characters and the stories that come from a shared imagination. Today, we’re looking at fantasy novels that have incredible characters that will inspire you to create your next unique D&D character. Hopefully, they’ll survive past the first level.
The First Law Trilogy
Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy is a gritty fantasy world filled with memorable characters. None of the characters are particularly good, though. There’s no knight in shining armor here, there are just interesting characters. The First Law follows six different characters as they’re caught up in the wizard Bayaz’s political machinations.
There are a ton of memorable characters that fit with different D&D archetypes. Each of the 6 main characters could easily fit within the 5e character classes.
My favorite character is Logen Ninefingers. If you’re looking to play a barbarian, pay special attention to Logen. He’s the best rendition of a Berzerker Barbarian that I’ve ever seen put to paper, as well as one of my favorite characters in the series. Most of the time he’s a calm and thoughtful warrior, but when the berzerker rage takes over him, he takes on the persona of the Bloody Nine and becomes a true monster.
The Wheel of Time
This may be a bit of a commitment, but I guarantee it’s worth it. The Wheel of Time is an epic fantasy story of good vs. evil. The character growth is amazing and after reading through 15+ novels and prequels, I was in tears when it ended. It was written by Robert Jordan and the series was finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan’s death using his notes.
The magic system is particularly interesting as it’s split by gender. Saidin is the male half of the power and Saidar is the female half.
There are plenty of amazing characters throughout the series, but Mat Cauthon was always the most interesting to me. Mat Cauthon is a prime example of a 5e rogue. He’s smart, intelligent, and a surprisingly good fighter when he needs to be. Another route for a Mat-inspired character would be to model him on a Warlock. He basically gets his own patron in the book series when he makes a pact with the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. In return, he gets the memories of the land’s greatest generals and a bit of unnatural luck that never seems to fail him.
The Stormlight Archive
Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, he’s currently creating an entire interconnected universe called the Cosmere through multiple series of books that he’s writing. One of his ongoing projects is the Stormlight Archive.
The series is currently unfinished but what’s written will have you turning page after page until you finish the massive 1000-page tomes.
The series has an interesting take on magic which is explained later, but the world is filled with magical creatures called Spren. There are also remnants of an order called the Knights Radiant that left behind their weapons and armor, Shard Blades and Shard Plate. They’re incredibly powerful and can easily slice through stone and steal. The only thing that can stop a Shard Blade is Shard Plate or another Shard Blade.
The first book of the series Way of Kings introduces Kaladin Stormblessed, an incredibly talented spearman that even manages to defeat another soldier that had both Shard Plate and Blade. He’s the definition of a fighter in The Way of Kings and has an incredibly tragic backstory.
The Kingkiller Chronicle
If you’re looking to play as a bard in your next campaign, then The Name of the Wind is a must-read book.
The Kingkiller Chronicles are a planned trilogy of books by Patrick Rothfuss following the main character, Kvothe. I wouldn’t plan on ever reading the final book, however, because it was set to be released in 2014. It’s debatable which series will finish first, Kingkiller Chronicles or A Game of Thrones.
Don’t let that deter you, though. The Name of the Wind, the first in the series, is an incredible book. The main protagonist Kvothe is the definition of a bard. His family is murdered and he finds himself turning to music as a form of solace. He’s later the youngest person in history to attend the University where he learns the Arcanist’s Arts which is the book series equivalent of magic.
On his journeys, Kvothe sneaks into restricted areas, earns money to stay at the University through music, and even learns swordsmanship from outlandish tribes. If that isn’t a D&D Bard, then I don’t know what is.
The Dragonlance Chronicles
If you’re looking for some inspiration for your Dungeons & Dragons game, it might be fun to return to some of the original sources. Dragonlance was a series of fantasy novels that was originally intended as a trilogy to coincide with the release of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons modules.
It’s literally the basis for an entire world within the D&D universe. It was written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and helped lay the groundwork for dozens of spin-offs. There’s plenty of inspiration to be found here and the best part is that it’s based on the D&D world, so it’ll be easy to translate to your next tabletop session.
