Threads like these make me sad, in realizing how few characters I've actually gotten to play as a player.
Best one, my first D&D character, a 2nd ed Elf Fighter named Puck. 18/93 Str, 15 Dex, 17 Con, then a 10, 9, and 8, though I forget how they were arranged. Played him in the summer on '98 while working at Boy Scout camp. The next summer I played him again, leveled up to 20th, for a slog through the Labyrinth of Madness. Best time playing a character that I've ever had. Best encounter out of that game, from one of the other players:
DM: You look down the shaft. There are metal ladder rungs down one wall.
PC Mage: I detect magic.
DM: There is a spell on the first rung. It is some sort of electricity magic.
PC Thief: I touch it with my quarterstaff.
DM: You touch it... with your iron-shod quarterstaff?
PC Thief: Yeah.
DM: Make a save... you die.
My first 3rd ed character was a Human Sorcerer who got up to 4th level before the game stopped.
Later played Gorath, a Human Wizard 3/Cleric 3 on his way into Geomancer while starting to play in a Rapan Athuk game that lasted two sessions before the group decided to play what I think was Ptolus. I had a Paladin 1/Sorcerer/Mindbender named Willem that died to some stupid trap that encased me in ice. I couldn't survive the fire damage needed to bust me out, so I suffocated. Game soon fell apart.
Then a Telepath named Makhai in a ~12th level game for a few months. I got booted from the group for using Mind Switch, and also pointing out the DM was wrong when he said Rings of Protection didn't stack with armor. I was young (21), and hadn't learned to reign in my playstyle yet.
My first 3.5 character was a Human Druid playing City of the Spider Queen. I joined up at 11th level, and played to the end, but we leveled fast, IIRC. It was just a summer game while home from college. I had Dragon Wildshape, and that was tons of fun. I still remember the incredulous look on the DM's face when a demon tried to attack me, with something like a 38 on the attack roll, and I said "no, my AC is a 44." (What can I say... we actually fought a Shadow Dragon in the module...)
My next character was Rhonan, a Rogue/Ranger/Dread Commando that I played through Red Hand of Doom back in 2006. This guy was my second favorite. We played to the end of the module, then that game ended, I took over the DM chair, recruited a few new players for an Eberron game that eventually lead into a slightly leveled-up Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.
Moved to a new city right after my PC's killed Strahd, and became co-DM of a group (alternating campaigns every other week). I played a Swift Hunter that was headed into Abolisher, then Nature's Warrior. Right after I gained the ability to wildshape, the other DM had to stop due to a job change. Aside from three sessions of a Pathfinder game, I've been DMing ever since.
So, a total of 8 characters (no counting effective one-shots), only 4 of which were played for any real length of time. That's sort of sad. I guess that's part of why I stuck with 3rd edition. I have too many damn character ideas that haven't been played out yet.
