Whether you’re playing through the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, or Ravenloft,Dungeons & Dragonshave a long, long list of characters they’ve made throughout the decades to inhabit their many settings. If your goal is to create a character deeply rooted in the setting, mixing official characters into your backstory can make things much more interesting and even give the DM an easy way to use said character.
That said, most of these characters are powerful, and you can use that to make them a sort of mentor figure for your character. Or, if you’re a DM, you can have one of these NPCs appear in the story and mentor one of the player characters.
If you’re a player, ask your DM about using an official NPC within your backstory narrative before actually doing it. Your DM may have plans for the character that don’t include you, so it’s important to get a green light first.
1Drizzt Do’Urden
Feat Guenhwyvar
By this point, Drizzt is probably the most famous drow out there — at least for us surface-dwellers. He’s an adventurer himself who escaped Menzoberranzan for a better life. And despite being a good person, he can be a true monster in combat.
He can be an interesting mentor figure for rangers or any martial character since these are all weapon combatants. Drizzt can also show how good a drow who escaped Lolth can be, so a drow PC can see him as an inspiring figure to relate to.
2Tasha
Or Iggwilv, The Witch Queen
Tasha, also known as Iggwilv,is a curious example of how your mentor doesn’t need to be a good person. She has had quite a journey from turning evil for getting too close to the Abyss to trying to remedy herself a bit in the Feywild.
She can work for any class, though she’s an interesting option if you’re also a spellcaster. Depending on the timeline, you’re able to have Iggwilv in a more evil persona and lean for an evil character, too. She’s also a good match if your character has connections to fey or demons.
If you think these characters are too big for a low-level PC to know them personally, it’s okay to make them meet at random, or maybe these adventurers saved you at one point. The characters also don’t need to be close enough to the point that they have easy communication with you.
3Mordenkainen
From The Circle Of Eight
You’ll see that many wizards make good mentor figures, andMordenkainenis one of the most powerful wizards, if not the most. That also justifies him being a busy man focused on many important things so he can be a mentor who’s often absent, preventing him from dealing with players' problems.
As an archmage whose spells became popular among many worlds within the multiverse, simply meeting him is a big deal, let alone being mentored by him. That can even be why so many evil people are paying attention to your character and ignite a backstory from this meeting.
Alternatively, Elminster Aumar is a good fit for similar reasons. Other members of the Circle of Eight might be worth checking out, as they are all powerful, but they can be different types of spellcasters, making them more fitting for a non-wizard caster.
4Alustriel Silverhand
Or Any Other Of The Seven Sisters
The Seven Sisters are a group of women who share one thing in common: They’re all daughters of Mystra, the goddess of magic. That alone shows how powerful each of them can be, but not all of them are alive anymore — unless your DM says otherwise.
Alustrielis the more relevant one for her good deeds, connections, and appearances in Eve Of Ruin. Her younger sister, Laeral, is also a good option for a spellcaster’s mentor and is also around. you may also use Ambara for martial characters, Storm for bards, or Qilué for clerics or drow in general, similar to Drizzt.
If you want powerful spellcasters but not as big or famous, try Vajra Safahr or Jallarzi Sallavarian.
5Bruenor Battlehammer
King Battlehammer To You
Bruenor has a long history, as he’s been around for a long time. He’s also a King, so being acquainted with him is likely going to be a big factor in your story, as not many people would have a King for a mentor figure. That can make an interesting character for martials, though, especially something like a fighter or paladin from his army.
Still, while his title is a good reason to justify his absence, it’s imperative to talk to your DM about a good reason for him not to get involved in the story too deeply. After all, you don’t want an entire army to pop up and solve the whole campaign for you, right?
6Rudolph Van Richten
Vampire Hunter
If you have playedCurse of Strahd,this name is (probably) familiar to you. Still, depending on when your adventure takes place, or if Rudolph survived the events of Curse of Strahd, nothing stops him from showing up in other adventures.
There’s also the upside that he’s not a particularly powerful character due to his age, which means he serves the mentor role extremely well, as he’ll mainly give you advice but won’t be able to solve the problems himself.
If you’re a DM and a player wants to get one of these characters, making them older or depower them for whatever plot reason is a good way to prevent powerful characters from solving everything.
7Vi
From Eberron
We’ve already mentioned quite a few mentors who are good picks for spellcasters, and Vi isn’t different on that criteria, but she’s an artificer, meaning that her magic is more tech-based — she’s from Eberron, after all. Still, she’s traveled through the multiverse, and you can use her in other settings.
She’s also a great pick for a less serious mentor, as she can be quite sassy. Additionally, she comes with a homunculus, which is just a fun thing to have for roleplaying reasons, if anything.
If you’re the DM and want to make the mentor relationship start during the adventure, you can introduce these characters without telling who they are, with the NPC actively hiding their true identity.
8Baldur’s Gate Companions
D&D Is More Than The TTRPG
Considering how big the Baldur’s Gate series is and that you like D&D, we’ll take a wild guess and assume you and your group like the video games, too. With that in mind, these characters are canonical — unless your DM says otherwise — which means they’re free game for you to use.
Martials can have characters like Karlach, Astarion, or Lae’zel as mentors, while casters can have Shadowheart, Wyll, or Gale, and that’s only thinking about the origin characters from the third game. Any NPC from all three games is available for you to pick — assuming they’re alive.
Alternatively, you may also use the Heroes Of The Realm - aka the group from the D&D cartoon - or the characters from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
