Long time fantasy reader here

Literally 10 years of reading one genre

As a newbie to the genre, I could only offer so much, but what I usually gravitate towards would be different protagonists. Like yeah, there's te poor boy suffering for food and wants to fight to make everything better, but being an aristocrat isn't a piece of cake either. I want something different than the evil overlord vs the wonderful, gracious underdog. You know?

Yes ^^^ What Otamega said.

I also agree with otamega. I also like when they're pretty grounded too. Like, questing sucks. The ground is hard and sometimes there's not enough food and sometimes you have to fight bad guys at inopportune times, etc. I think books that show that side of it are more real for me and it's easier to relate to the characters.

As a side note, I recently read a fantasy novel where the hero literally got caught with his pants down. He was going poop in the woods and a band of thieves caught him and he's trying to fight them off with his pants around his ankles. That was hilarious.

Maybe make it where it isn't even anything like "save the damsel" or "save the world" why not try just a tale of some people adventuring

Ok all great advice my story is basically a medieval fantasy with superpowerful teenagers that learn to control their powers and well fight in battles and kill bad guys etc.

Sounds fun.

Usually a way to make people like your characters is to make them all have deep bonds. Everybody loves close knit friends.