PDA

View Full Version : [Chargen] Do you ever find yourself compelled to repeat certain elements



Kiero
2011-04-28, 06:13 AM
By which I mean even beyond having preferred archetypes or the like, are there very specific elements about your characters that tend to recur? Or even things which you have to resist using yet again because you find them so compelling?

Something I've struggled with recently is my love of dual-wielding of weapons (particularly in fantasy). Some part of Feng Shui's "two hands=two weapons" seems ingrained in my soul and I really have to fight against that. My longest-running character (in WFRP2e) uses two weapons. Both my D&D4e characters used two weapons (twin battleaxe and twin shortsword respectively). The second of those was supposed to be a sword-and-board Fighter, but somehow ended up morphing into a two-weapon Tempest.

I did manage to avoid it once for a Star Wars game, my Scout/Jedi character used just one lightsaber. So perhaps I'm not hopelessly stuck on it. I'm determined that my next character will not be yet another dual wielding sort.

Another one (again fantasy-related mostly) is choice of weapons. I avoid swords. There's something overdone and cliche feeling about them, even though they're popular for a reason. A lot of my characters use axes, either as a primary or at least backup weapon. I'm determined to have a character who's a spearman for a next character.


A third still is armour (which is primarily, but not solely a fantasy consideration); I avoid the heavy stuff. At most my characters wear medium armour, to preserve their mobility. Many only have light armour, though it's rare I have unarmoured characters, since they tend to be melee-ists and that means physical protection from your opponents. So I must endeavour to try an armoured juggernaught at some time. I did advance a little in that direction with my Jedi character, he started wearing armour before the game ended.

Things like always playing humans and favouring combat-ready generalists are more archetypal and so less problematic as far as I'm concerned.

What about you?

Earthwalker
2011-04-28, 06:40 AM
If I have played a game system more then once I will always have had a detective character. Even if there are no detective characters I just like the type. Its all about being curious and wanting to find "the truth"

Shadowrun it was a former FBI criminal psycologist, turned Private Detective.
Runequest it was a Initiate of Lankor My (how do you spell that) that spent his time helping the local city gaurd of Boldholm and solving crimes.
DnD 3.5 - A thief / diviner that spent all his time trying to solve the mysteries around him.
Squadron UK - Private detective / superhero. (was down to the powers I rolled) was focused on skills and investigation, with a good helping of boxing, to deal with the ner'do wells when I found them.
Call of Cathulu - Prive eye, didn't last long. Being curious and looking into mysteries didn't seem to work well.

Analytica
2011-04-28, 07:00 AM
You can generally spot my characters from unnecessarily high Intelligence stats and as many languages known I could possibly cram in there...

supermonkeyjoe
2011-04-28, 07:17 AM
I for one can never play "dumb" fighters, I always have to give them average or better intellegence to allow for some tactical ability.

Generally I don't repeat any traitswith if I feel I've played enough as that particular character, if a campaign is cut short or is a one shot I will often play another near-identical character in another game if I can.

dsmiles
2011-04-28, 07:22 AM
High Charisma is my weak spot (in DnD). I really enjoy playing the party's face. Probably a full 75% of the time, it's a high CHA rogue. When it's not, it's a mind-controller type (either an Enchanter Wizard or a Telepath Psion).

Reynard
2011-04-28, 09:22 AM
Well, once I really got my head into Exalted's setting, all my characters have been the larger-than-life, let's go take life by the balls in mindset. Valor and/or Conviction at 4+, and Temperance at 1, baby.

But mostly because I'm sick of seeing Exalted chars not really living up to the title, who fudge around doing nothing but talking about doing things.

Z3ro
2011-04-28, 09:23 AM
I'm with the OP on the dual-wielding, light armor wearing characters, except mine usually have swords. But more than that, I'm usually playing something of a loner, usually the party scout. I like being sneaky, and I like being able to be independent from the party, more in the vein of Ranger than Rogue.

PairO'Dice Lost
2011-04-28, 10:52 AM
You can generally spot my characters from unnecessarily high Intelligence stats and as many languages known I could possibly cram in there...

This describes me as well; if I don't have max ranks in at least 6 Knowledge skills, one or two of those slots are instead taken up by Speak Language and Decipher Script.

While it's not an unconscious trait exactly, my last four or five characters have all been buffer/support types who attempt to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible, since I'm in a large group with some less-than-experienced players and I've been trying to let them advance the plot and go after their own goals. It's kind of getting old, because I'm usually the DM and "my last four or five characters" covers the last 6 years or so, but I'll probably be rolling up another dragonfire bard or healer cleric or war weaver or whatever for next semester's campaign.

randomhero00
2011-04-28, 10:58 AM
Very much so. My favorite tripe is to have an anti hero with a demon sealed inside.

Volthawk
2011-04-28, 11:01 AM
Yeah, with Exalted, I always seem to make Twilight or Daybreak castes, either using Sorcery or Necromancy, depending...

Binks
2011-04-28, 11:06 AM
High Charisma is my weak spot (in DnD). I really enjoy playing the party's face. Probably a full 75% of the time, it's a high CHA rogue. When it's not, it's a mind-controller type (either an Enchanter Wizard or a Telepath Psion).

I know what you mean. I try to make every character different but I have to make a deliberate effort to not be a face character most of the time. Of the 5 rl characters I've played 3 were built as faces and one faked it with ridiculous intimidate. Part of that is my group, only very recently have we picked up a player who likes social rp as much as me (so of course the only rl game I've never played the face in is the one he's the face), but it's mostly that bluffing is my guilty pleasure in games :P.

PbP games I have a slightly better record for not playing the face, mainly because I'm usually playing one in rl games at the same time.

Lesingnon
2011-04-28, 11:31 AM
I think it's probably fairly common that most players will tend to lean towards certain traits in most characters they make. Everyone has preferences, and that's bound to carry over into character creation as well.

I know that I almost always lean towards intelligent, deliberate characters. And I usually value Dexterity over Strength and Stamina/Constitution. For the most part I also like to make sure my characters are good at noticing things; whether it be by putting ranks into spot/listen/etc, making sure I have decent Wits + Composure in nWoD, etc.

Goober4473
2011-04-28, 04:18 PM
The traits I lean towards tend to be a little more abstract than weapon selection or always having a high score in a thing.

I like to play characters with hidden power that they can't always use. For instance, I might play a social manipulator that has to be careful what abilities they allow other people to see, and that may be able to muster some great effect, like starting a civil war, but only once, and then their cover is blown. But I'm as likely to play a character that carries around a few very powerful one-shot items, or one that has some special power that requires a lot of materials or lifeforce to use.

Somewhat related, I also like to play characters that are heavily connected to the world, usually with some reputation or legend, but that can't use that influence. For example, royalty that can't return home for some reason. Or a character that was once extremely powerful, but lost that power, due to level drain, a destroyed spellbook or other item of power, etc. Or a character that was exremely influential in the history of the world, but has been frozen in time, just recently reincarnated, etc.

I also like to make weird characters. As soon as I'm done reading a system or setting, I'm probably considering how I can do something totally different, whether that's taking a class or class combo and doing something the class wasn't designed for, playing some weird monster or alien, or having a strange power soruce.

Finally, if I personally know a setting very well, I tend to play characters with similar knowledge, and if I don't know a setting very well, I tend to play characters that are outsiders to the normal setting, or sheltered.

Akal Saris
2011-04-28, 05:13 PM
High Charisma is my weak spot (in DnD). I really enjoy playing the party's face. Probably a full 75% of the time, it's a high CHA rogue. When it's not, it's a mind-controller type (either an Enchanter Wizard or a Telepath Psion).

I'm the opposite - many of my characters have had medium charisma/social skills, generally quiet, shy, or simply uncomfortable with being the group's leader. I think it comes from my typically being the DM, so when I'm a PC I want the others to take the spotlight while I sit back and enjoy watching their role-playing skills develop.

Jallorn
2011-04-28, 05:20 PM
I for one have yet to play a character who wears heavy armor, and I rarely even use medium armor. Str tends to be my dump stats (as much as I dump, which is usually 10, but practically never less than 8) with Wis being my secondary dump unless it's vital to the character. Int is always in my top two, unless I'm playing a slightly MAD concept, and then it usually only drops to number 3. Other than that, I like to try out different things. I gave one character I made a whole mess of weapons just cause it was fun. He's primarily an archer, but he's got a short sword, a dagger, and two throwing axes.

dsmiles
2011-04-28, 05:29 PM
I know what you mean. I try to make every character different but I have to make a deliberate effort to not be a face character most of the time. Of the 5 rl characters I've played 3 were built as faces and one faked it with ridiculous intimidate. Part of that is my group, only very recently have we picked up a player who likes social rp as much as me (so of course the only rl game I've never played the face in is the one he's the face), but it's mostly that bluffing is my guilty pleasure in games :P.

PbP games I have a slightly better record for not playing the face, mainly because I'm usually playing one in rl games at the same time.Worst part? My only RL friends are the people I game with...and even they call me introverted. :smalltongue:

Figgin of Chaos
2011-04-28, 09:42 PM
Sometimes, once in a blue moon, I play someone who isn't recklessly passionate and obsessed with freedom. Then, usually I get bored.

Pentachoron
2011-04-28, 09:57 PM
I tend to play characters with high dexterity/agility/speed and high mental stats, beyond that I try to mix it up as much as possible, I vary backgrounds, equipment, class, et all.

Telasi
2011-04-28, 10:00 PM
I most often play high mobility skirmisher type characters in D&D/fantasy games. It's sorta my personal schtick to get the most out of my mobility without being an ubercharger. If I feel like a change, I usually blend that into a gish or archer build.

I tend to be the group's rigger in Shadowrun games, if that counts.

I pretty much always love to play some flavor of elf, though I like to mix that up a bit more.

Toofey
2011-04-28, 10:06 PM
I pretty much always have a personal vendetta against slavers either from a matter of character's history, or out of disgust. This carries over to my evil characters.

I almost always play someone who has left a (tactical)leadership position with one of the game world's militant factions/armies etc...

I in fantasy I almost always play mages who were something else first.

As you can probably imagine these themes have overlapped a few times.

gourdcaptain
2011-04-28, 11:32 PM
Weapon Finesse, psionics, dex to damage via various means. Trying to come up with an excuse to run an Incarnum character. Oh, and trying however I can to come up with a viable power-attackless build. And max ranks in everything I have ranks in.

Also, generating movement and full attacks in the same round is another obsession of mine, but that's just good melee optimization.

Bang!
2011-04-28, 11:48 PM
I often try to make big flashy genre heroes in slightly inappropriate genres (eg. a samurai/western character in a sword-and-sorcery game, applying superhero staples to an urban fantasy game).

Most of my characters have a penchant for botany. I blame Doyle.

More a personality thing than a matter of taste or choice, I hog the spotlight. But I know I hog the spotlight, so I try to avoid the spotlight. So I wind up with big flashy characters that I conspicuously try to avoid drawing attention to. So then things get kind of weird.

The_Werebear
2011-04-29, 02:07 AM
Whatever type of character I play, they tend to try and come up with out of the box ideas and solutions to problems. I also like to play the outlier. If the group is caster heavy, I'll play someone melee focused. If the rest of the party leans towards diplomacy, I'll play someone intimidating.

Makiru
2011-04-29, 05:39 AM
Every time I play, I consciously try to play something I've never played before. A game that'll be starting soon will have me playing a warlock for the second time ever, but I'm mixing it up by being a dwarf, actually using invocations that have saves, being melee focused, and using Spellfire Wielder.

I also like to play the outliers if I can, as well, but that's me trying to cover all the bases.

I do tend to prioritize Constitution and Wisdom, but that's just the min-maxer in me rather than some personal preference.

Tengu_temp
2011-04-29, 06:00 AM
I have two character archetypes: the anti-authoritarian loner/rebel/outsider who doesn't like The Man, but it still a good person on the inside, and the laidback goofball who in reality is much smarter and more badass than he (this character tends to be male) seems. No matter the gender, my characters tend to have at least above average looks (vanity, I know), and often (but not always) combine mental and physical prowess. They also tend to be lazy and hate hard work, which is 100% projecting on my part.

Lord Raziere
2011-04-29, 08:56 AM
I always like to play two characters that serve as foils to each other. unfortunately since most RPG's don't support playing two characters, I have to make do playing whatever odd concept I come up with like a halfling paladin, a water aspect willing to do any underhanded sneaky plot to become the Emperor and save Creation, and so much more....

Vortling
2011-04-29, 01:48 PM
I tend to lean toward support classes. All told I've probably played more clerics (in the sense of religious healer) than any other concept. However I mix things up frequently. The one constant seems to be that I avoid traditional arcane classes in fantasy settings almost completely. Sure I'll play a bard or beguiler on occasion but a straight up wizard or sorcerer or mage simply doesn't happen with me.

Talyn
2011-04-29, 08:29 PM
Every character I build either is, or grows into, someone with high defenses and resistances. I love being able to take the roughest attack an enemy can throw at me, and then spit in their eye and say "is that all you got?"

I tend to play one of two archtypes, as well - rigidly incorruptible agent of Order, and well-meaning aristocrat in over his head. In the past couple of characters, I've actively tried to branch out away from those two archtypes, but no matter what my character concept, I always end up building my characters to maximize defenses...

Urpriest
2011-04-29, 08:59 PM
I used to play halflings constantly. I'm something of a small guy, so I identified with them.

The first time I play in a system my characters almost always end up very similar to me, usually despite my best efforts to make them interesting and different. My party animal college student Wizard was the one who stayed in to report to our bosses while the rest of the party drank, and my ex-resistance fighter shadow-themed superhero uses big words and doesn't really know how to respond to affection. When I'm more used to systems I'll manage to branch out, though.

Mutazoia
2011-04-29, 09:21 PM
Very much so. My favorite tripe is to have an anti hero with a demon sealed inside.

Do they love Ramen?