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Coidzor
2013-05-15, 11:11 AM
So I'm kind of bad at the whole roleplaying segment of RPGs, and even when I have a fairly clear picture of what my character is and spend days or weeks thinking about them in advance of play, it still takes me about 3 or 4 sessions to actually start to get into character and think like them. Usually when a new campaign comes up I've got a fairly good idea of either the character or build I want to play and engineer the one out of the other...

Right now though we're starting up a game (pathfinder, specifically), and I'm just blanking out here. I'm not sure if it's because it's been a while since I've actually made a character or that most of my ideas have already been started in some other campaign and I don't really want to re-use them without some significant twist/change that I can't think of at the moment.

I've never really ever had to stop and actively think about what kind of character I wanted to make either, so that's not really helping me, being so used to it just... coming to me or having had a character I wanted to play from reading online.

So how do you all come up with characters? What is your process? If you run into a block, what do you do to try to overcome it?

Kol Korran
2013-05-15, 12:19 PM
I am rarely a players, mostly DM, but in the case I don't have the seed of a character in mind, I often try the following:
1) read a bit about the specific setting (not all of Golarion, but rather the area the specific campaign is supposed to take place in). I read about the major players there, the major problems and conflicts, and try to think of an interesting idea that might work with that. I talk with the DM to see if my concept could work in his/ her campaign, and try to refine it with them to max out the interest and interaction with common or main campaign issues.

For example: In my sig there is a link to a campaign I play in (haven't had a meeting in a loooong time though). The DM said there is a major organization called The Fist that hunts arcane users, and that it might be a major part of the campaign. I therefore decided that my character will have a connection there. I made her an ex soldier of The Fist- thus having some connections to it, but not part of it anymore.

2) I work off other players. I usually make my character last- I first like to hear what ideas the others have, and then I try to make a character that will have interesting interactions with the, since I think that is a MAJOR part of the fun playing with a group. I try to complement the other characters, but also have some potential points of friction. (Our group believes that some tension, some minor conflicts between the characters is good).

For example: our group had a criminal halfling, a gnome magic user, a human priestess of the goddess of love and lust and a stoic respectful half orc warrior. I decided to play the character as female, to contrast the males but mainly to have an interesting interaction with the priestess. I also made the character not charismatic, to contrast her more. Since the orc warrior was a new player, I decidd to play a fighter as well and work as a compatriot to him. I made Lynn (my character) more law abiding to conflict with the rogue, and still fearing arcane casters, for the gnome. I made her a bit racist towards the "little people", just because it added a bit more. The interactions in game were magnificent. quite a lot of fun!

3) Twists and turns: The idea is to do something a bit unexpected, something that might leave some impression- a common phrase you say, bits of equipment, something unexpected about the past. I like to leave these things open ended so they could lead many places.

I usually do in the game, as I like my character to develop from adventured played, not in the background. However, I added a few things:
- Lynn wore arm braces with the Fist sign emblazoned on them, even though she was no longer a soldier.
- I chose that she'll use a heavy flail, mostly disarming people if she can. An unconventional weapon that put an interesting image in the other players' minds. She also used spears as her ranged weapon
- In her past I made that she had 2 brothers, one became a sorcerer, one became a high ranking Fist officer (the short version). I left it open so she might have interactions with both later on, and her feelings about the conflict were left unresolved at first.

4- if all else fails: random viewing of movies, TV shows, clips, books and so on. You never know where you'll get your next idea. (I'm dying to play a character like Harley Quinn from the animated Batman for example)

I hope this helps! good luck to you and have a great game! :smallbiggrin:

TheCountAlucard
2013-05-15, 02:16 PM
A thousand different sources, and it's never the same! :smalleek:

Sometimes it's a matter of "What haven't I played before?", but more often it's me seeing a facet of something and saying, "How can I explore that?"

Other times I see something, historical or fictional, and say, "How can I adapt it to have my own take on it?"

Sometimes it's something like taking a role I'm unfamiliar with, and easing into it by blending it with one I have, and then moving into the unfamiliar territory more and more as it becomes comfortable.

But really, any one method I could tell you about ends up blended with every other method, to a degree.

Wookieetank
2013-05-15, 02:44 PM
If you have acess to the Apples to Apples card game, you can draw a number of the green cards and then use those descriptors as the basis for your character's personality and build their background from there.

Makes for quite the group when thats how everyone generated their characters personality. I ended up with a cleric who was convinced that he was BFFs with his deity and was always carrying on conversations with said deity. Our sophisticated and highly intelligent barbarian kept wondering why my character was talking to the local fauna. My cleric also had a compusion to fish in every body of water we found due to having a severe case of OCD and having grown up as a fisherman. Was a very entertaining campaign.

Fighter1000
2013-05-17, 05:12 PM
If I were you, I would look online for a list of questions that would help you develop your character a bit more. Or, if that fails, make up your own list of character development questions.
You could also flip through the books, and see what looks cool. Maybe you'll find an ability that you think is really cool.
You don't always have to come up with a super-interesting, super-exciting and over-the-top unique character every time. Don't pressure yourself. It's better to have a boring character than no character at all, I say.

Jay R
2013-05-17, 09:56 PM
So I'm kind of bad at the whole roleplaying segment of RPGs, and even when I have a fairly clear picture of what my character is and spend days or weeks thinking about them in advance of play, it still takes me about 3 or 4 sessions to actually start to get into character and think like them.

This tells me that you are good at roleplaying. The character is a real person to you, and it takes a while to get to know a real person.


Usually when a new campaign comes up I've got a fairly good idea of either the character or build I want to play and engineer the one out of the other...
...
So how do you all come up with characters? What is your process? If you run into a block, what do you do to try to overcome it?

Usually I start with either the personality or the build, and develop the other out of the first, just like you.

When I'm blocked, I go watch a couple of favorite movies, and re-read a couple of favorite books, that fit the genre. Then I ask myself, "Who looked like it would be fun to be?

Better yet, and more directly to the point, what actor looked like he was having a good time in the role, or which character did it seem like trhe author most enjoyed writing?

The next question is - why? What made that character fun? There's the idea - it would be fun to have a character like Tarzan in this particular aspect. OK, now how is your character different from Tarzan?

I decided that swinging through the trees and moving silently would be fun, but raised by apes wouldn't be, and eventually wound up with in elven mage/thief with Acrobatics, Breakfall, Tightrope Walking and Tumbling, who didn't like cities.

Once I based a Flashing Blades character off of Aladdin. So he was a street rat, who grew up on the streets of Paris, but who was a friend of a fencing master (to give him a reason to be good with a rapier.

But the essential question remains: what would be fun?

[If I run into a block, then the idea wasn't fun enough. Find another.]

Craft (Cheese)
2013-05-17, 10:23 PM
Well, for making PCs my preferred method is rather similar to the method I use to create important NPCs.

First and foremost, consider the important themes of both the setting and the campaign itself. Come up with a concept that plays with these themes. If you don't know what kind of setting or adventure you're going to be playing, ask your GM about it: I find it way harder to come up with a good character idea if I'm doing it in a vacuum without any decent setting details to work off of.

Next, name the people this character has a significant connection to, and what the relationship between them is. Each of your fellow PCs should be on this list.

Now name some things that our character is afraid of or feels threatened by. These should not be general, abstract fears like "spiders" but should be immediate, specific worries like "I owe money to some nasty folk." What's she trying to do about these fears or threats?

Then, list a few things from this character's past that were ugly, and she would rather not have come up again. (Hint: The GM should bring these up as the adventure plays out!)

Finally, we should have enough information to come up with your character's aesthetic. What outfit does she generally wear, what's her mood usually like, etc.? One thing I like to do is imagine a dramatic entrance scene where the (other) PCs meet her for the first time, even if this scene is never played out at the table.

Asahel24601
2013-05-17, 11:14 PM
I don't have a lot of experience, but I do have the most interesting PCs in any campaign I'm in. I just find something interesting and cool about something and go from there or take an aspect of myself or someone I know and weave it into a character.
Examples: (from star wars d20)
Barkt Aht'on was a Bothan (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bothan), orphaned at an early age and brought into the Bothan spynet (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bothan_Spynet) at a young age. After he proved to be a better marksman than agent (Dex 18), he was moved to the commando branch, which led him to meet the love of his life. She was a agent he was to cover that mission, and they were assigned more and more to the same missions (probobly at her request). Eventually he expressed his feelings to her, and she admitted she loved him too. Unfortunately, it was not to last. In a cantina in Mos Espa, she was shot and killed by an imperial officers for not giving herself to him. The officer was executed, and Barkt was given the body for burial. He took it to Kashyyyk, as she had always wanted to go there, and asked a friend to bury her where he could. Currently, he works for the rebellion while he is on a sustained r&r from the patent.