Being true to yourself of your fantasy?

[Lothalis]

Hello there,

I was talking to a friend recently about our characters we are playing when the question came up why do I normally play Bards or Wizards (Warlocks too, he likes mixing them in the same bag). I responded that I roleplay to be something that I'm not like in real life.

In real life I'm a fairly large guy who is kinda clumsily with his fingers and is completely tonedeaf. I have always loved the guitar and music but no matter what I do I can't play. But in Greyhawk I'm a rockstar.

I never really did good in school, poor grades and an average IQ score, but as Fizban Falstaff I am top of my order.

He then asked what I would play if I had to play something more "like me". I was at first taken aback by this but thought about it and I said "I dunno probably Dwarven Fighter." He laughed a bit and said "Well try that then, just try and be what you see yourself as yourself once in a game."

This made me think a bit about how people pick their classes and races in the game, are there people out there that pick characters because they are "like" them in real life, or do people tend to branch out and try to be what they wish they could be?

Of course there are those who just see it as a game and that's fine too, but I'm looking for people who prefer the roleplaying aspect rather than the mechanics.

[FMArthur]

I exhibit zero heroic qualities or skills even vaguely associated with fantasy heroes, so it's hard for me to pick something that is either more similar or more dissimilar than other classes to myself.

Well, that's not entirely true. I am a bit of an a-hole, and I play wizards pretty often.

[Acanous]

any of my characters share at least some of my qualities, but none of them are a direct avatar. My Half-Orc barbarian might feel the same way I do about friendship and Family, while my Paladin espouses my views on the benefits of organized religeon. My Wizard shares my viewpoints on what's wrong with society, and my Bard tries to do things to fix it.

They all have different ideas and opinions on other things, and may not share my age, race, or gender, but there's a little of me in all my characters.

[Honest Tiefling]

I try to make my PCs different somehow in morality, goals or strategies. My PCs should not be me. There'll always be a bit of me in them, such as a very short attention span. It's not really something I can help.

I generally play full spellcasters. I'm probably a lot weaker then the OP, but I play spellcasters because I do not like melee. I also think it is tremendous fun to turn the fighter into a gold dragon or confuse the enemy and let things happen and win the fight like that.

I might play druids, but I hate camping and nature. Yes, I am one of those guys who rather not leave the comforts of civilization including cafes and internet. I'm not a big fan of nature as nature seems to keep doing things like trying to eat my breakfast or excrete near me.

I don't play sorcerers or bards, because I lack social ability. Trying to compensate is not just difficult, it is unfun and probably near impossible. I also don't play bards as I know nothing of music and couldn't carry a tune if it came in a bucket with instructions and a tutorial.

I guess I try to work within my abilities to RP to make a character divorced enough from myself to actually carry the story.

As for myself...Human Commoner 1? More seriously, I guess a really socially awkward wizard. I guess since I can't go outside without sunglasses and like to live in the dark, I could be a drow. With shadow evocation to go 'Bored now! Let's light it on fire to see what happens'.

On second thought, a drow with very bad wisdom and charisma.

EDIT: And I say wizard because I would be very happy to be parked in front of some books and told to read so I could light things on fire later on. So what if I only have 11 INT or so? I have books.

[Silva Stormrage]

I tend to have my characters be pretty similar to my personality, as much as I can with my party's lack of RP. I find it difficult to find what class a direct port of myself into dnd is. Probably an Erudite (spell to power of course :smallbiggrin:) due to my pretty high intelligence and enjoyment of deep thought.

[Eldest]

I generaly play CG or NG, so that's true to myself. But I don't have any class preferances, so not really. And in real life l'd probably be a Rouge 1, complete with some lockpicking (yes, I know the basics).

[ffone]

I doubt I'd risk my life for treasure or the Greater Good, so...yeah. :smallbiggrin:

[Crow]

I've tried playing a character that was like myself in personality/profession once. I gave him a few sessions, but gave up because it wasn't any fun. In fact, when playing, it felt like I was going through scenarios at work, with rifles replaced by crossbows, and demo replaced by magic.

So I pretty much stick to characters that are nothing like myself. Females, because it helps remind me to stay in another character, and magic users, because I obviously don't have access to it or encounter it in real life.

[Xanmyral]

Honestly, in life I'm very average. You could put my picture near the definition of average, and people would probably agree.This is probably exaggeration on my part however, but the point is still there. Playing a class close to what is me would lead to INT/WIS based classes.

Which is fine with me really, I've never been a fan of stories that follows naive, clueless, musclebound sharpened stick wielders. It's just never interested me really. Playing my opposite would be a class based on CON/DEX/STR, or CHA to a lesser extent, depending on one's definition of Charisma.

A barbarian would probably be my foil, while an archivist would be close to what is me, if one ignores the religious fluff and pays attention to the knowledge seeking fluff. Strangely though, Paladin would be one class I would choose if a magic wielding class was not available. Strange because of stat focus, religious focus, and the fact that I'm normally unapologetically pragmatic, cynical, and near misanthropic. I guess I just have a soft spot for idealists...

[Cornelius Grim]

I generally try to play human races, but most of them have backstories that differentiate them from any human. I try to play something that shares 1 or 2 of my traits, such as my moderate (not too high) social ability, and short-lived patience. I almost always play spell-casters, and the few times I have played a melee class, it was something rogue-like. Spellthief, Ninja, Rogue.

In real life? I see myself as a halfling bard in that halflings are just something I have always thought of to be like me, and bard is a class that is good at music (medium proficiency with violin/fiddle), and chaotic tendencies are definitely my style. :smallcool:

[HappyBlanket]

Every character I make is an aspect of myself.

It's not like I slap a few levels of Wilder on HappyBlanket and call that a character. But every character I make starts with me. I begin a character's persona by taking a single, meaningful, core part of me, and letting it grow into a fully fleshed out person. So one character will be my megalomania, and another will be my optimism. One will be my cowardice, or dependence, or paranoia. But they'll all be me :)

Heh. Still, they sometimes surprise me.

When it comes to making supporting characters (back when I played without a system), or familiars, or other personae that aren't actually my character, I play things that make my character react in notable ways :D

Class preference... Pretty much every character I've ever made was a melee character with magical/psionic/etc abilities to help them out. Two gishes, a Binder, a psionic scout Dervish, etc, etc. Hm.

[Analytica]

My characters tend to take some facet of me that I like, only more of it, with other stuff added in to make them different from each other.

[Fenryr]

Your characters must have something from you, like small details, flaws and the like. Doesn't matter if you're CG and the character LE, 'm pretty sure that one lil' similitude is hidden somewhere.

I choose my classes and races to be martial. I like in the MMORPGs and all those games the martial power, the muscle, the blood and the courage. Seems more heroic and human to me than wiggle fingers and conquer the world. Even if it's a D&D with a ... beautiful balance.

Yes, I wish I could speak 8 languages like some of my characters, but meh, happens. They're adventurers and they don't have to work for their food...

[Vandicus]

Your characters must have something from you, like small details, flaws and the like. Doesn't matter if you're CG and the character LE, 'm pretty sure that one lil' similitude is hidden somewhere.


This is true of my characters, although I usually find an interesting philosophy/belief system(even one which I don't agree with much or at all) and try to roleplay my character as someone who follows this belief system/philosophy. I tend to play mundanish melee characters over casters and divine casters over the arcane casters, though I don't play druid(too hippy for me :smallbiggrin: ).

[slaydemons]

Personally, I think I would be a binder as I think I am only slightly above average in the mental department and I am below average on the other parts. I would probably be True neutral with neutral good tenancies, or LN as I tend to be cautious about what I do, and I would also be if there is such a flaw or feat a pacifist as I hate violence.

as for making characters I want to be something I am not because While it maybe easier to rp closer to something like me, I don't wish to be me.

[Midnight_v]

My brother used to say "people are either playing themselves magnified or someone as far away from themselves as they can get"...
Don't know if there's much truth to it for everyone but, for my characters its proven true. Barbarians, and Psychic warriors, and fighters are my thing, but... When I've played casters they're very far away from me (or how I see myself) . The first group is like me magnified the second group I don't know... I guess I just never really Imagined an aspect of me that was a full caster. I never play a rogue, though come to think of it. I don't mean just the class either the archtype, I've made a few to see what could really be done with the mechanics but those are just shells. Some people love them. You really open up an interesting dialogue with this one. :smallsmile:

[Esprit15]

I tend to play as a character that has one or two traits that are extreme versions of me (for example my first D&D character is a hothead who gets angry about things that most people wouldn't or dwells on them longer than most) but other than that is a regular elf (which heightwise is nothing like me). But unless you go out of your way to avoid it, I think a little bit of you is visible in your character. If you're a quiet person, your character would likely be fairly brief in their words. If you are intelligent, you might be a bit more verbose or use larger words than the other characters naturally.

[Kenneth]

Every single character I have played has at least 1 trait (most of the time several) of mine. for me that is how i can actually roleplay a charcter, if there is no way (for me at least) to somehow 'feel' teh character, i would be at a loss on how to play him.

though the weirdest thing the crusader fluff almost describes me verbatim ( it very eerily when you friend say "hey we got a new D&D book and.. Sh*t man.. they took your personality and built a character around it."

also everytime my D&D buddies have a dispute over what alignment does what when it comes to CG all they say is would *** do it? LOl its funny i have literally been called up in the middle of the day and asked ' hey, would you ever do blah if blah and werp was going on and if ploo would happen?"

[Narren]

My brother used to say "people are either playing themselves magnified or someone as far away from themselves as they can get"...


This is absolutely true in my group. One of my players HAS to play something with a high charisma and social skills. He's that way in life, and doesn't want to play a dullard. He gravitates towards classes that make use of charisma, but he's made a monk and a wizard with highish charisma. Others will play variations of themselves in personality. One player, who is normally quiet and unassuming, will only play the strongest warrior or the most blastiest caster. They care little for optimization.

My only constant is that I don't usually play a leader type. I've got considerably more system mastery than the rest, so I usually DM. If I'm playing, I'll play an irresponsible or ignorant character, so that I don't accidentally to run the show.

[NichG]

I often try to play characters that are good at things that I am not but would like to be good at. I don't mean things like playing the guitar, but more subtle things like reading people or doing the chessmaster thing or adjusting to never speaking anything untrue or whatever. It doesn't always work, especially if the GM and I aren't on the same page, but I've found I can basically use mechanics as 'training wheels' and then slowly rely on them less until I've actually learned something new from it.

[Drelua]

Class-wise, I'm usually the exact opposite of myself; I'm always a melee class. I think in real life I would either be a wizard or a rogue; I've got about 140 IQ and pretty good reflexes, and I guess I'd have pretty good wisdom, but I'm weak, in terrible shape, and incredibly socially awkward. Unless I'm lying, strangely. The only caster I ever played was warmage, and I've played a rogue three times; once gestalted with a fighter, once I hated it in combat, loved it for RP, (this is why I love to play swashbucklers) and the other time was level 30 with PrCs to be one hell of a knife fighter. The last was the only one I really enjoyed, and he did ridiculous damage. Even though I do this with classes, my ability scores always reflect myself, (emphasis on DEX and WIS) and I take bluff whenever I can, which I guess is always with Pathfinder's skill system, now that my group switched over. I guess that's sort of an idealized version of myself physically, opposite personality wise; same ability scores, used completely differently in combat, and nothing like myself socially, except for being quiet, which, being extremely introverted, I can't really avoid. I've always found this subject interesting, too, as the length of this post likely makes apparent.

[Knaight]

I tend to make characters that are interesting and fit the genre I'm in. This rarely coincides with me in everything, and is rarely completely different.

[kardar233]

Every character I make is an aspect of myself.

It's not like I slap a few levels of Wilder on HappyBlanket and call that a character. But every character I make starts with me. I begin a character's persona by taking a single, meaningful, core part of me, and letting it grow into a fully fleshed out person. So one character will be my megalomania, and another will be my optimism. One will be my cowardice, or dependence, or paranoia. But they'll all be me :)

Heh. Still, they sometimes surprise me.

When it comes to making supporting characters (back when I played without a system), or familiars, or other personae that aren't actually my character, I play things that make my character react in notable ways :D

Class preference... Pretty much every character I've ever made was a melee character with magical/psionic/etc abilities to help them out. Two gishes, a Binder, a psionic scout Dervish, etc, etc. Hm.

This is good.

Sometimes, it's good to play someone who is just a different take on yourself. I once did a thought experiment to take my core intellectual processes and take away any morality or compunctions; what was left was a criminal mastermind or similar. Plant that into a character chassis you can really feel (in my case, a Warblade, seeing as I swordfight IRL) and then you get an interesting character.

It's enlightening to try making ordinary decisions in this different mindset. I see a different take on things when I take a moment to slip into character.

[Talya]

My characters are in many respects me, but there are always differences. I grew up in a very religious family, but I share absolutely none of their faith now as an adult. In real life, I avoid religion like a plague. However, in games, I am usually a very religious person, even though I've rarely played a divine spellcaster. I find the very real and obvious gods of most campaign settings appealling, and the variety of dogmas and philosophies they allow fascinating. I also tend to be somewhat nature-focused in games, whereas in real life I avoid nature (apart from oceans and beaches, which I adore), preferring air-conditioned, internet-wired comfort.

Beyond that, my characters tend to share qualities of mine. I tend to play Sorcerers, Bards, skill-monkeys, dextrous light-melee types; and in real life, I'm a somewhat charismatic, romance-obsessed tiny redhead with some musical and oratory experience, a high IQ, and a little bit of gymnastic talent. I tend to have little-to-no real-life respect for authority or law, instead following my own ethics and ignoring whatever society wants for me. Similarly, I strongly prefer chaotic alignments (Usually CG) to lawful ones.

[Kol Korran]

I haven't played many long term characters (i mainly DM) But i found that the ones i do play, come from various aspirations or issues of mine. you can say that most characters i play involve parts of who i am, and parts of who i'm trying/ intrigued in being:

- A good cleric which agonizes about his religion, trying to find a new meaningful path: this guy involved two issues. the first is to be the traditional hero, caretaker of his fellow beings and all that cliche. to some it is cliche, but i found being noble and good appealing, something i aspire to in real life. the second issue is dealing with faith. I am secular in real life, but i'm also spiritual, and i'm fascinated by belief systems. i found it fascinating to try this out.

- in shadowrun i took a darker path, a mentally scarred, difficult to communicate ex soldier, who has a drug addiction. here i tried to touch my army service (which left it's scars) and the resulting breakdown that followed. though still quite different, this guy is closest to me from my characters, and i've often found my responses playing him to be quite instinctive, but also surprising. he's an interesting experience to say the least- discovering yourself from a different angle.

- the last characters is a character in potentia (yes, i played only 3) is a halfling gypsy fast talker scoundrel, full of mischief, and some malice. this is my "farthest away from me" character- i tend to be quite well natured, law abiding, by-the-book kind of guy. i took on playing him EXACTLY to find out a different mind set than my own. might be interesting when it plays out, eh? :smallwink:

tl;dr- characters are a combination of who you are and what you want to do/ be/ explore, at least for me.

[Iferus]

I always pick an aspect of my own personality, enlarge it, and find a class that matches.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Well, that's not entirely true. I am a bit of an a-hole, and I play wizards pretty often.

FMArthur, are we secretly the same person?:smalltongue:

Seriously, though, I like roleplaying wizards. Having crazy cooky stuff helps me get more in line with the idea of taking a role. I've done the same thing with Paladins and their faith and other ideas. Generally speaking, I like having options as a player. Don't care if half those options are a variant on "Talks well" or "Disables an enemy." I just like options.

Heck, even for a campy one-shot type games, I'm the guy that rolls an archivist not because it's the most powerful class every... but because it gives me the ability to stop in the middle of my turn and say "Alright? It's a magical beast?" before jumping to the in-character gruff, old-man voice I decided for the character and say "Let me tell ya 'bout tactics! See these wargs are nasty biters!" and just going on from there with my Dark Knowledge check.


Outside of silly gags like that and Warforged Bards doing "his people's native dance," I roleplay to, well, do something new and interesting. I either do something I am not (devote servant of an ideal or god) or something I like to think I am (mad scientist) to even something more true to this world (possibly crazed engineering student).:smallbiggrin: