Fascination with Thin, Smart and Unremarkable Characters

[Otogi]

I've been around the recruitment forums a lot, and many of the characters not geared toward a specific genre tend to be very similar: people (usually male) with a thin build, unremarkable appearance, high intelligence (varying from just smart to above genius level) that more is often shown as high wisdom, low charisma (that is often shown as general hostility) and perchance for electronics when it's available. These characters usually show up in modern games, but it seem to be getting more common. Anybody see why this is getting so prevalent?

[jmbrown]

The ego at work?

[Foryn Gilnith]

You sure they're actually getting more common? Might be a bit of confirmation bias here. Anyway, I think it's a minor fad.

An actual answer: Sounds like a nerd, but less fat, less ugly, more intelligence, and more wisdom. So nerds are playing idealized versions of what they see around them. That sounded horribly dismissive, but I can't think of a politer way to put it.

[Boci]

Thin: That has always been around and always will be. Aren't Aragorn and Legalas people's favoprite characters from LotR? Weren't they both thin?

Unremarkable: An excuse not to roleplay for those shy and a blank slate for those who want to.

Smart: Idealization of self, boosts inter party standing.

Low charisma: Only play DnD so I can only attribute it to the lack of uses for charisma.

[Otogi]

Thin: That has always been around and always will be. Aren't Aragorn and Legalas people's favoprite characters from LotR? Weren't they both thin?

Aragon is pretty muscular, and Legolas has a pretty compact build, and isn't being muscular more liked than thin?

[Yuki Akuma]

Most gamers on this site are young white nerds. You play what you know.

[Mystic Muse]

My favorite character was Gimli.

[Glyde]

Thin? Check
Smart? Check
Unremarkable? 7 Wisdom, 22 charisma and 19 int is not unremarkable.

[Otogi]

Sorry, meant to put unremarkable in appearance.

[Boci]

Aragon is pretty muscular, and Legolas has a pretty compact build, and isn't being muscular more liked than thin?

Not really. High strength yes, but most games do not enforce high strength = lots of muscles. Hidden power.


Sorry, meant to put unremarkable in appearance.

Might be seen as a free advantage. The people you piss off might not remember you so well.

[Demented]

Unremarkable as in "I don't have any defining features" or unremarkable as in "My defining feature is that I work at Costco"?

[Otogi]

The former most of the time, but I think it falls into the latter most of the time.

[Ryuuk]

^ So a 50/50 split?

Well, everyone must've played this character at least once. Smart and Unremarkable sounds like it would be a good description of anyone using a message board. Why not play an ideal you in an RPG?

[jokey665]

Well, everyone must've played this character at least once. Smart and Unremarkable sounds like it would be a good description of anyone using a message board. Why not play an ideal you in an RPG?

Heh yeah the last time I actually played instead of DMing, my character fit pretty well into the "ideal situation if I was a character in a fantasy world," and while he was highly intelligent (Wiz/Psion/Cerebremancer, so yeah a high int), he wasn't exactly "thin," (he had a 12 str so he was almost muscular) and though he strove to be entirely forgettable in most circumstances, at times he could make himself stand out more than anybody else around if he wanted/needed to, even before resorting to his spells and powers.

[Solaris]

Thin? Check
Smart? Check
Unremarkable? 7 Wisdom, 22 charisma and 19 int is not unremarkable.

Dangerous, yes, but certainly not unremarkable.

Meh. Back on my zoids forum games, I had to beat off sixteen-year-old kids wearing trench coats with a stick. I eventually put in that the ZBC mandated you have to be eighteen or older for that ride - but every once in a while, you'd get some genius who didn't read. They all read pretty much nigh-identical to each other (before my new mandate). Players in a certain fandom/game generally tend to think like each other.

[Tengu_temp]

I'd say the same force that makes so many people on the internet self-diagnose with Alzheimer's is at work here.

[imp_fireball]

This stereotype is mostly associated with the male archetypes of anime.

Thin, unremarkable, highly intelligent. Appearance simmers down to brown hair, jeans, t-shirt, hunched posture, apathetic gaze. Probably depressed, as most thin male anime characters are. Depressed characters are hefty philosophers (high wisdom). The ones that also get good grades and are computer savvy may have high intelligence too.

The opposite of that is big hair (high charisma in anime, since every character otherwise looks pretty much alike).

And of course, too many role players love anime.

[Claudius Maximus]

I'd say the same force that makes so many people on the internet self-diagnose with Alzheimer's is at work here.

I've not heard of much about self-diagnosed Alzhiemer's. Do you mean Asperger's Syndrome? Because I see that one a lot.

[Curmudgeon]

It's Xander Harris syndrome.

[chiasaur11]

It's Xander Harris syndrome.

But, well...

Xander's not the world record holder for idiocy or anything, but he's not anywhere near genius. Or did we forget that his choice of study material was "Meteors and You!"?

[Yuki Akuma]

But, well...

Xander's not the world record holder for idiocy or anything, but he's not anywhere near genius. Or did we forget that his choice of study material was "Meteors and You!"?

Xander is smarter than average - it's just that his best friend is Willow, so it kinda stands out.

[Doc Roc]

So... if this is 3.x? It's because those are the good stats.

[mabriss lethe]

I think this is the best description of an Orc character ever. yeah. he's thin, smart, and unremarkable....by Orc standards. he could still rip your head off while flaying your optic nerves with his raw ugly after he figured out that he isn't bright enough to balance a checkbook.

[Falconer]

Just a wild shot in the dark, but perhaps people see a "thin, smart, unremarkable" character as more original? Consider that the stereotypical role-playing character is basically just a mary sue, and have one or more of the following traits-they're big and strong, are very unusual looking, or have ZOMGSUPERMAGICPOWERZ!!1! They also tend to solve problems, puzzles, or odd situations with "hit it until it stops being a problem."

And so, in an attempt to come up with something more original, they go with the opposite-creating characters that are very thin (distinctive, but not unusual) and rather sensible, but otherwise unremarkable.

[Lifeson]

But I AM Thin, Smart and Unremarkable!

Really though? It's super easy to do. Thin and Smarts are desirable traits to put forward if you're hoping to snag people by looks and first appearances alone. And it's me! Idealized and Fantasized! I get to do cool things! Yeah!

Why the heck not? Unless you're one of those "I HAVE TO BE DIFFERENT :smallmad: " People, whatever, right?

[Gamgee]

When I make a smart character I go all out. I make them smart, wise, and charismatic. Incredibly dangerous as they are trained in tons of knowledge skills. Usually have tons of support skills. They will be fairly inept at combat in every way, but god damn if you need to crack that ancient cipher they got the knowledge. I usually play them as having ulterior motives for doing what they do, and usually since I am so smart I get some plot fed to me from my rolls. ;)

I go out and do "crazy" things none of the other players would have been capable of had it not been for my dude. Then I go sit down while they take care of the challenge.

Looks wise I have them fairly unremarkable or average human looks. It's good fun when I can get a game to last any decent length of time. Games involving this character usually don't last long as the DM head slams at all my crazy ideas.

[Otogi]

So... if this is 3.x? It's because those are the good stats.

Even if it is 3.X, these games usually have a point buy/pick your own stats ability generator, and I often see people put their highest stat into Intelligence, if not Wisdom, but rarely Charisma.

[Optimystik]

Charisma-based casters are unpopular because WotC had this peculiar notion that they should all be spontaneous, get less spells AND get their spells more slowly than everyone else. Thus they are not popular choices.

[Tengu_temp]

I've not heard of much about self-diagnosed Alzhiemer's. Do you mean Asperger's Syndrome? Because I see that one a lot.

Yeah, you're right. Apparently it's me who has Alzheimer's. See what I did here?

[Thajocoth]

Nerds are choosing to play high int, low cha characters? But that should be very difficult for nerds to roleplay!

More seriously... My first char was high int, low cha. A wizard. Lorendai Quelaevin. Lore for short. He was an Eladrin. Pale skin... Blonde hair... Purple eyes... No other features noted. He was booksmart, but new to adventuring. (Like I as a player was at the time.) He met the party while waiting in an inn for a conman to return with an item he thought he purchased. He corrected the word tense in the speech of the first villain he came across. It was a good first character for me. A lot easier than a low int character would've been at the time.

I still can't play a high cha character... I've tried, but my IRL cha is all a string of happy coincidences, luck, optimism, and... I'm not sure the word... Whatever the word is for what a cynic would refer to as "naivete". I can't translate that to a character I'm playing. I hit a hard block and wind up with "I want to bluff the guard into thinking that I'm someone else." ...which kinda sucks. Not that I can bluff IRL... Lying makes me laugh. (Adding a HUGE penalty.) But you know what I mean.

[Optimystik]

I like high Wis characters, because Wisdom is my favorite of the mental stats in real life. You can be extremely book smart or extremely personable, but insight is what truly makes people respect you, and come to you for help. I would like to think I have a fairly high WIS in real life, so RPing a character who dumps it is difficult for me - someone who is rash, short-tempered, emotional and/or oblivious, when I am none of those things.

I also have a tendency to play dark-skinned humans (or human subraces), which tends to have unfortunate implications (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalNegro) in groups.

[Zaydos]

My characters tend to be about 5'6" and 130~150 lbs. I typically put a lowish Str and a decent Con (14~16) with their highest stat in Int.

In real life I'm 5'6" and range from 120 to 145 pounds. I've bench pressed more than my own weight before and can lift more than 200 pounds off the ground for short distances, so I'd say I have about 11 or 12 Str looking at max benchpress in 2e and lift off ground in 3.X. Moving on I've ran a 20 mile mountain run before so I like to think I have above average Con. As I definitely do not have good Dex (ok I get told my reflexes are good but not the best, but still not good Dex) and my characters do I assume they would be thinner than I am. I get told I'm too thin by my friends (I have about 5% body fat) but my characters have similar strength limits and so I go with what seems realistic based on my limited and mostly first person experience. So my characters tend to be thin, smart, and unremarkable in height. They tend to have at least one flamboyant trait in their appearance or garb. They also tend to be wizards and have higher Charisma than Wisdom.

[Alcopop]

My characters tend to be thin, averagely intelligent and quite remarkable! (and mostly woman, notably)

I tend to favor high dex & cha and tend to dump wisdom or strength.
I usually go for mid int and con, playing characters as just smart enough.

My favored archtype seems to be a kinda of Charming Antagonistic Rogue (sorc/warlock/binder, ect)


IRL i'm thin, shy to very personable (depending on my mood) 6ft 8 and male, so pretty different. oh and the opposite of Antagonistic, I hate conflict.

*shrugs*

[Foryn Gilnith]

I'd say the same force that makes so many people on the internet self-diagnose with Alzheimer's is at work here.

Not so much on the internet, but I know people that self-diagnose with Alzheimer's, yeah. More than self-diagnose with Asperger's, anyway.