20 characters atm. Didn't start with classic - NESS was the first one I unlocked.
As an impulse I bought the fighter pass (I know, I know…) but I also started a separate Switch profile for the "meat" of the Smash experience with me and my brother to share. I'm fairly certain the code (or rather, the DLC) can be shared. It's not a huge deal if I can't....anyways, the third account was created so we won't have to constantly log into our separate accounts and reconfigure everything
But I realize if I ever get the Switch online, the two of us have friends tied to our individual profiles so it'd be individual logging in anyways.
tl;dr I might have overcomplicated this, but the game is pretty rad.
--- Update From New Post Merge ---
https://www.cnet.com/news/game-awards-2018-super-smash-bros-ultimate-news/
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime says that's the plan. All of the characters coming to Smash's DLC will be characters from games new to the series he said, and all of them will be unexpected. Sadly, Nintendo didn't have anything else to reveal about the new character – no in game footage, no screenshots and no hints.