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Isamu Dyson
2014-02-01, 04:18 AM
I'm always interested to read what my fellow gamers consider essential for their character(s), whether it's necessary for survival or necessary for a sense of aesthetics.

Alright then...i'll start us off.

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My characters have to be both physically and mentally tough. They might not be the best in combat or social situations, but foes will have a hell of a time knocking them down/wearing them down.

A cool jacket of some sort.

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Let the sharing begin :smallcool:!

TheCountAlucard
2014-02-01, 04:47 AM
Ambition, vision. I generally don't play a character without drives and volition.

Der_DWSage
2014-02-01, 05:38 AM
Manipulation. i just can't seem to play a character that doesn't do a little bit of fast-talking...

Erik Vale
2014-02-01, 06:25 AM
I prefer for all my characters to either be inately magical somehow [most systems], or they tend to be ludicrously good archers.

Talyn
2014-02-01, 09:01 AM
Looking back on the characters I've played over the past decade and a half, I have three consistent attributes:


I play characters who are idealists, people who believe in their ability to change the world for the better.

Like Isamu, I favor characters with strong defenses who are difficult to kill, charm or frighten.

I often play people from wealthy or privileged backgrounds (sometimes ones who have since fallen on hard times).

This combination lends itself well to Paladins and Knights, which I play frequently. But I've also played a Corp-born money guy (Cyberpunk 2020), an adventurous former military doctor turned suffragist and ghost-hunter (Steampunk Ghostbusters), an upper-middle-class art student trying to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless (Hunter: the Vigil), and a deeply conflicted religious scholar who was resisting his new monstrous nature (Vampire: the Requiem).

Artemicion
2014-02-01, 09:03 AM
I like my characters to have psychological flaws and play them enough to give a laugh to other players. I also really like my characters to have some sort of psychological growth with time, otherwise I tend to get bored roleplaying them.

Actana
2014-02-01, 09:07 AM
A thing I've noticed is that my characters are almost always dignified. Not necessarily always serious, but they all have at least a modicum of dignity with them.

Another thing is that I very often play characters who have some philosophical stance on things, like morality, society or the like. And I love nothing more than to engage in debate with these fictional standpoints, seeing how well they actually hold up.

Mastikator
2014-02-01, 09:34 AM
....they are played by me.
Looking back over the last couple of characters they have basically nothing in common.

[trudvagn]
- A mercenary who was in great debt and had to get lots of money to free his family from indentured servitude. He was weak willed and strong bodied, very experienced warrior and during his money-gathering had become a werewolf and would hulk out whenever there was a supernatural enemy (putting his friends in danger of himself). He did anything for money, and was too ashamed to tell anyone who he needed the money so badly, so everyone just thought he was a psycho killer. Eventually he got enough money to go home and was retired.
- A dragon who had polymorphed himself into a human to infiltrate human society to take over it, he was like a dragon greedy impulsive, likes to eat virgins, burn down stuff and enamored by gold. But he was acting like what he perceived humans to be, specifically a human priest, so he pretended to be extremely judgmental in addition to the other traits he tried to hide.
- A wizard who was just wandering around with no real goal in life and just wanted to see the world, he lived in a part of the world were there were basically no other wizards and did his best to hide his powers, people didn't take him very serious as a result. But he didn't really mind. His personality was laid back and logical, in a land of barbarians.
[soul society] (present day)
- A shinigami who electricity based zanpakuto and high risk offensive combat tactics, very compassionate and laid back out of combat. Doesn't want to hurt anyone, would not kill an enemy unless unavoidable. Grew up in the outer skirts of soul society and has no real concept of honor and the kind of class society that he lives in.

DigoDragon
2014-02-01, 11:45 AM
All my characters need to have a nice little flaw in their character. Something they need to overcome, be it a phobia, moving on from a lost loved one, etc. I've even done physical disabilities that, while minor, make role-playing them interesting. I like my heroes being imperfect.

One of my players HAS to have all his characters competent in unarmed brawling. Doesn't matter the system either. He's played D&D wizards walking around with monk belts and punching things when he's out of spells.

"I cast fist!"

Ionbound
2014-02-01, 11:53 AM
Punching the fabric of the Universe until it does what you want...Classic Wizard

My characters are, for the most part, female casters with backstories of varying levels of morbidity. Anywhere from almost being fed to Strahd, to being forcibly implanted with a mother cyst, they all are pretty messed up.

Figgin of Chaos
2014-02-01, 01:50 PM
Freedom, dragons, hammers, valor, playfulness.

Axiomatic
2014-02-01, 02:17 PM
A certain whimsy or flamboyance, coupled with a tendency to panic if things go pear-shaped.

The Oni
2014-02-01, 02:37 PM
Strong convictions, chafing under arbitrary rules, a slight flair for the dramatic. They usually lean chaotic, although my favorite by far has been my Lawful Good witch-monk (he is severely minmaxed, and I play every inch of his 20 Intelligence, 7 Wisdom and Charisma)

Oh, also weird main weapons. My characters have used: A whip, scythe, dual war fans (disguised as regular fans), a giant flying blade that replaced an arm, and prehensile hair (as a piercing weapon).

madtinker
2014-02-01, 02:46 PM
Recklessness "my halfling bull-rushes him into the lava!" "I attack the ogres. How many are there?"

I also like really high ACs and high strength. Curently I'm trying to break the reckless streak with a wise, patient half-orc druid (who is known as the wrath of the mountains).

Anxe
2014-02-01, 03:15 PM
Crazy plays that stretch the rules. My most recent character is a barbarian/cleric in an E6 pirate campaign. He has a habit of doing running jumps off the boat onto our opponents boat. I'll do a charge attack on the way and impale an enemy on my spear.

Before that I had a dwarf that loved using mundane equipment. Oil is your friend for making people prone in confined spaces! Then you can sneak attack them.

I am the DM though, so I don't play that many PCs. Only other ones that stick out were a Drow Paladin and a halfling gladiator. The drow paladin was... meh. Didn't like it. The halfling gladiator was awesome, but mostly because I rolled my stats and didn't have anything below a 14.

Craft (Cheese)
2014-02-01, 03:22 PM
I'm fond of characters who have lost a part of themselves (whether literally or metaphorically), usually through their own fault, and seek to reclaim it. A deposed monarch who seeks their throne. A fallen angel who seeks redemption. A reformed criminal who seeks to escape their past. A damned soul who seeks their freedom. All of these at once?

Mekboy
2014-02-01, 06:15 PM
* Characters with flaws that they are oblivious to, or don't see as flaws.
* Generally slightly weird, I tend to find writing dialogue difficult, so having socially weird characters gives me a bit of a get-out clause.
* A tendency to make snide comments.

Shyftir
2014-02-01, 07:32 PM
I tend to play melee with practical attitudes and a direct no-nonsense approach to problem solving. They are usually common people with a will to make the world a better place, one troublesome beasty at a time.

Subaru Kujo
2014-02-01, 07:41 PM
Either a strong sense of justice or a cold disregard of it, I've noticed. Trying to get away from that in my next character.

Dycize
2014-02-01, 08:05 PM
My characters tend to be Serious Mc Frownyface or Mischief Makers(tm). And sometimes -both-. Which ends up in characters acting quite silly but also being some of the best assets of the group (I tend to optimize a bit).

Which I guess my friends kind of both love and hate me for. Sometimes you just forget that the person who makes wood sculptures and practical jokes in his spare time is also the party's very destructive psionic. Or that the gynoid who just keeps making jabs at everyone's personality flaws and misleading evey conversation possible is also a mobile suit of armor with the actual rank of "elite soldier".

Sadly my games with the more serious ones have also been the shortest due to various circumstances.

Teapot Salty
2014-02-01, 09:10 PM
My characters tend to be chaotic neutral who were abandoned by there parants/had a freak accident involving severe death.

mikeejimbo
2014-02-01, 09:43 PM
My characters tend to be naive and trusting. Or maybe that's just me.

Jacob.Tyr
2014-02-01, 10:05 PM
I like my characters to have a worldview that clashes heavily with whatever setting we're using.

Once had a character with the tragic "Family was murdered by X" back story in which his family was actually killed by a group of heroes trying to rescue slaves.

Played a character from a family of thieves in a "save the kingdom" style game, who was working from the perspective of war=soldiers, soldiers=harder to rob than farmers. It was fun trying to twist the party actions to follow these viewpoints, convincing them that it was for the good of the kingdom. "Weapons just cause war and violence! Helping the Royal Blacksmiths will just cause more death. We should just take care of the real problem and fight the enemies of the kingdom, instead of symptoms like weapon shortages!"

Had another character who, in a group of straight-up Heroes, really just wanted to own his own farm. Everyone else wanted to free the villages from tyrannical rule, overthrow the evil empire for the good of the people etc. I threw him to the wayside after a few months, once he had enough money to buy a farm and start a family.

Played a Lawful Good character who was a bit shut off from society, and managed to clash with everyone in every social situation due to being from such an odd background that he didn't understand how the world worked.

Trinoya
2014-02-01, 11:09 PM
Every Character I make has heterochromia, a hewards handy haversack, and if possible, magic.

Screw being normal ^_-

CoffeeIncluded
2014-02-01, 11:39 PM
I can't make a character with less than 12 intelligence and even that's pushing that. Many of my characters also have some physical or mental oddity, and sometimes talk strangly too.

Terazul
2014-02-02, 12:59 AM
Lessee, I can think of three.

Secondary agendas. Most of my characters it seems either always have a previous organizational affiliation, or some other backstory-based motivation deal going on. It always bugged me early on in my roleplaying career to see characters who had absolutely nothing better to do than follow along with the 5( or howevermany)-man band with no other ambition. Not that I usually plan to split from the party, but it's typically more interesting when I'm balancing my loyalty to my kingdom with saving the world and whatnot.

The next one is some air of being genre-savvy or the (as my long-time fellow players call it) "cool" one. Very rarely the leader, more often the lancer (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLancer) (warning, tvtropes link) kinda role. What "cool" entails varies depending upon campaign, in one it was the stoic know-it-all psion guy who kept the party on track, in another I'm the Exalted equivalent of Bruce Willis who's answer to most problems is heavy explosives. Usually always a foil to another member, usually their best friend.

The last, slightly less common trademark is destroying enemies through liberal use of celestial bodies. You know, like the moon, stars, sun, etc. As in, dropping it on them, creating one on top of them, etc. Good times.

Kitten Champion
2014-02-02, 01:36 AM
My personal favourite is the hotblooded reckless character, the kind with barely concealed emotions bubbling underneath a calm veneer and set off with a short fuse.

My characters rarely have small goals, and relish difficult challenges.

tensai_oni
2014-02-02, 06:02 AM
Most of my characters:

-Are social misfits who chafe in normal society and often don't even have skills to exist in it. I don't mean the too cool for rules rebel type, but people who quite literally don't know what to do with their lives once the adventure is over.

-Have poor self-esteem. They will beat themselves up for shortcomings real and imagined, and suspect their friends and allies to think low of them. This results in an unhealthy obsession of "proving their worth".

-Are talented but lazy, and I very empathically mean that in a BAD way. Whatever they specialize in - combat, magic, etc, they are naturally gifted towards it and reached where they are with relatively little work. This causes problems when something that actually requires a lot of work and determination happens, because they're not used to it. And trust me, it's not a case of if, but when.

Rarely all three of above happen at once but I don't remember the last time when I played a character who wasn't at least one of those.

Prince Raven
2014-02-02, 07:43 AM
If there are multiple races in the system my character will definitely not be human.


I'm fond of characters who have lost a part of themselves (whether literally or metaphorically), usually through their own fault, and seek to reclaim it. A deposed monarch who seeks their throne. A fallen angel who seeks redemption. A reformed criminal who seeks to escape their past. A damned soul who seeks their freedom. All of these at once?

I take it you're a Fullmetal Alchemist fan? :smalltongue:

Kalmageddon
2014-02-02, 08:52 AM
They fit perfectly in the setting.
Seriously, I can't stand playing something that stands out like a sore thumb.

tensai_oni
2014-02-02, 09:29 AM
I take it you're a Fullmetal Alchemist fan? :smalltongue:

Those themes aren't limited to FMA only, you know.

Terraoblivion
2014-02-02, 10:10 AM
While I don't think there's any one thing I can say all my characters have there are a few things that are very common between them.

- They're never motivated by greed or a lust for power for its own sake. If they want power it's to achieve some end they lack the political clout to do on their and I don't think I've ever had money eve for a purpose as more than a short-term goal.

- While none of my characters have really been punks who just wanted to stick it to the Man, many have come to some form of revolutionary agenda. This is often due to prior idealism for the current government getting betrayed in some way and pretty much always with respect for the idea of lawful, ordered societies and just a belief that the existing one fails at providing that.

- Even when not revolutionary the vast majority of my characters have in some way been alienated from the society around them. It doesn't come with much glamor most of the time and instead with self-destructive behavior and self-loathing.

- I'm frequently in some way the leader of whatever group my character is part of.

- My characters tend to be cripplingly introverted and very bad at dealing with others in informal ways.

Tengu_temp
2014-02-02, 01:57 PM
Let's see. My characters tend do:

- Be physically attractive, no matter their gender. I guess I'm just vain that way.

- Have geeky hobbies. Some of them revel in it, others lay low about them. But they're usually geeks about something.

- Rely on cunning tricks and maneuvers in combat. They're almost always heroic, but the pragmatic kind of hero who's not afraid of fighting dirty.

- Be really, comedically bad at something where most people are at least competent. For example, a paladin who's absolutely horrible at singing and music. It actually became a plot point later!

- Be philosophical and introspective. They like to think and talk about deep concepts, morality, and such.

- Believe in personal freedom and hate the concept of destiny.

- Snark. Not like the kind of unfazed, cynical Daria-like teenager who doesn't take anything seriously and communicates entirely in snappy comments, that'd be annoying. But they like to use one-liners and dryly comment when something ridiculous happens.

- Be a bit derpy and/or awkward, but more intelligent than they seem at a first glance.

- Attract the attention of other members of the same gender, for some reason. This is rarely intentional, but happens a lot anyway.

- Be martial pacifists who avoid killing, or at least killing humans. Obviously applies to games where non-lethal damage is easier than in DND. They also don't get high and mighty about it, that'd be annoying.

- Engage in self-destructive behaviours that are never shown as being good for them. A repeating example is a talented character who squanders his or her talent due to laziness and the feeling that the world owes them something.

A_Man
2014-02-02, 02:50 PM
As a player, I've been training myself to play other archtypes, since a year ago I realized that every single on of my characters were a version of me.

However, as much as I work on it, I've never been able to actually remove Overconfidence in my characters, or martial prowess. I just don't like the frail and helpless characters, I suppose.

They also generally have some semblance of being an Alpha-Male/Female.

3WhiteFox3
2014-02-02, 03:49 PM
All my characters have room to grow, challenge expectations, are usually young, they have major personality and backstory issues that they need to overcome. My characters tend to have a somewhat rebellious streak and hate being bullied or pushed around, but they have good intentions or want to become better people. They are often misfits or weird, they generally have someone that they either want to make proud or feel like they owe them something.

Essentially, they all have the potential for growth arcs, they all have issues they need to overcome in order to discover themselves.

GrayGriffin
2014-02-02, 04:21 PM
I tend to try and not repeat character classes/concepts as much as possible, unless I'm importing a character from a dead game into a new one.

Drascin
2014-02-02, 06:01 PM
Hmmmm. It's a good question. Let's see, some trends I usually follow...

- My characters tend towards the extremely loyal, and personal bonds are always among the most important things to them, while things like philosphies or ideals are more secondary. No matter if they're kid heroes or jaded barbarians, experimental cyborgs or horrendously evil druids, when the chips come down almost all of them will risk life and limb for someone they care about without even thinking about it. Half of them wouldn't even really understand that acting otherwise could be an option.

- On that note, I've noticed I tend to channel a fair amount of my lack of care for material stuff in my characters. Most of them would destroy their own house to save someone's life, and even the eviler ones just kind of regard material stuff as kinda meh and just there because it's kinda useful, but if you lose your evil base of awesomeness, hey, who cares, it was just brick and mortar. They rarely put much value in things like money. Incidentally, this tends to make them a tad lax when it comes to things like material collateral damage. Long as nobody got hurt it doesn't really count as important damage!

- I tend to play relatively calm characters. Some are snarkers, some are stoic, some are rather emotionally muted or even stunted, but it's rare that I play the loud guy in the party.

- Most of my characters tend to have some sort of contradiction to them. Things that one would think belong in opposite archetypes. This is not actually done as things to "solve" during play or story hooks or anything of the sort - I simply tend to believe that most real people hold a few contradictions, and I try to catch that elusive quantity when making characters.

Hmmmm... I'm sure there are more. Maybe they'll occur later.

Prince Raven
2014-02-03, 01:27 AM
Those themes aren't limited to FMA only, you know.

True, but I would think that someone who enjoys that sort of a character concept would be naturally drawn to FMA, considering it is a fantastic show where those are major themes.

Fri
2014-02-03, 05:29 AM
A while ago I realized that I only play mostly three kinds of characters with variations.

1. An extroverted, charismatic adventurer

2. An awkward character who desperately want to be/thought themselves to be cool.

3. A sociopathic cloudcuckoolander.

souridealist
2014-02-05, 12:26 AM
I try to keep it varied, but the things that keep cropping up:

- always with the smartassed streak. (This one is character bleed, a little.)
- I play a lot of outcasts and rejects, gutter kids, redheaded stepchildren - people who'd be considered the dregs of society. A lot of my characters spent a while being hungry, and almost all of them spent even longer being lonely.
- If I can get it to make sense with the rest of the storyline, my characters end up really loyal to the rest of the party, kind of a whole ride-or-die thing going on.
- Practical, when I can think of practical things for them to do. ("The amount of gold in your cart is definitely attracting attention"//"I buy a tarp.")
- Girls and women, always, and if their sexuality comes up at any point, they won't be straight. (That's me bleeding into the character again.)
- Anyone not dependent on strength for damage will have the strength score of an anemic fish. Someday I'm going to run into a DM who loves strength drain and I'm going to die in the first session.

Gamgee
2014-02-05, 01:05 AM
My most infamous character has been described as Machiavellian. I have been described as Machiavellian. I'm so proud. :smallbiggrin:

They all tend to be smart as hell. I guess I have a hard time distancing my own intellect from those I play. It's almost impossible for me to roleplay a dumb character since I always seem to be doing the smartest course of action. However if I try roleplay bad choices my fellow players get irritated I'm not helping them out as much as possible with my general knowledge.

The Fury
2014-02-05, 01:08 AM
My characters tend to give nicknames, especially to characters that don't offer up their own names. I find it especially funny when I can get the other players or even the GM to start using my nicknames.

A stranger trend is that my characters try to muscle themselves into a position of authority, but end up not actually being a leader. I have no idea why this seems to happen as often as it does. Maybe I'm just a sucker.

Marlowe
2014-02-05, 07:03 AM
My characters tend to be pretty. Even with low charisma. If I have to I roleplay their differently-stated prettiness as being a little tactless, or terse, or prone to making awkward comments at the wrong time.

My characters like to talk. A lot. And ask a lot of questions. And don't tend to mind being thought of as less intelligent than they actually are.

Darkpaladin109
2014-02-07, 02:52 AM
If RtD and PbP's count, all my characters so far seem to only have a few things in common.
They're likely references to webcomics or videogames I like, and they're tipically either creepy, completely over-the-top, or blandly normal, nothing inbeetwen. I guess they also tend to be simply better at combat then anything else too, ussualy having more balanced stats in everything else.

BWR
2014-02-07, 06:21 AM
The only thing I can think of is, like Kalmageddon, they have to fit the setting. I've had a few exceptions but that is mostly due to unfamiliarity. If a setting has certain restrictions, conventions or requirements, I do my best to follow them. It makes the game run smoother and is more fun if everybody is on the same page.

Arcane_Snowman
2014-02-07, 06:31 AM
I tend to enjoy playing the prodigy, and most definitely the eccentric, and being unappreciated also seems to be amongst my more common themes. When all that fails, I'll go with someone who is close to but still denies the stereotype somehow.


The only thing I can think of is, like Kalmageddon, they have to fit the setting. I've had a few exceptions but that is mostly due to unfamiliarity. If a setting has certain restrictions, conventions or requirements, I do my best to follow them. It makes the game run smoother and is more fun if everybody is on the same page.
Well, obviously being accurate to the source material is important, but there are valid ways in which to stand out.

DSmaster21
2014-02-07, 10:20 AM
My characters are always illusionists. Not in the literal sense but often being someone who carefully calculates his moves to keep his true nature hidden. One of my favorites was the sorcerer who pretended to be a cleric. In every way he really was a cleric but he actually just had ranks in heal and a large repository of potions. I feel that this is justified by the fact that almost every character I have ever made had above-average intelligence.

Another trait I see is my tendency to play them as mildly eccentric magnificent illegitimate children.

BootStrapTommy
2014-02-07, 11:21 AM
All my characters tend to possess at least two predictable qualities: intelligence and insanity. The second is probably due to my love of GURPS and its role-playing enforced maladies, but I just can't help but play a character who is absurdly eccentric and prone to fits of strange or inappropriate behavior. Though how these traits manifest is usually dependent on what I'm playing. For the holier-than-thou pali types it's often an unnatural, morbid, and slightly disturbing obssession with martyrdom. For the rogue and charismatic types it usually involves excessive and awkward childlike social interaction, plotting against my fellow players, and acting otherwise fearless and reckless in all situations. In mages it often involves obnoxious and strange obssessions, like the desire to know what everything tastes like, and ignoring the safety other others in combat.

Meanwhile my evil characters are characterized by excessive plotting, yet a complete lack of paranoia, as well as a tendency for very subtle evils of the more diabolical kind, rather than those of the more overt pychopathic nature.

The_Werebear
2014-02-07, 11:24 AM
The most consistent trait I have across all my characters is their extreme tactical, social, and strategic flexibility. Which is a polite way of saying that all of my characters tend to be terrifyingly (for the party and any NPC superiors we have) unpredictable.

mephnick
2014-02-08, 02:14 PM
Knowledges.

Whether it's a ranger, fighter or caster (though I hardly ever play pure casters), I like to be the encyclopedia of the group that warns about monsters or recalls something from history to help the current situation.

Thus I get pretty annoyed at DMs that hand-wave all the knowledge skills. Let me identify the monster! Don't tell us what it is when we wouldn't know!

JBPuffin
2014-02-08, 08:11 PM
I usually play gishes/hybrids; I don't play straight classes very well, and I like versatility a LOT. In classless games, I build a jack-of-all-trades 90% of the time.

All my characters have my moral compass for no reason other than "It's who I am"...although I'll add in an occasional twist to make things interesting.

By far, however, the common denominator is that my characters usually connect to the others in the party at a young age. They're usually childhood friends, used to live in the same neighborhood, or at least had parents in the same line of work.

TechnoWarforged
2014-02-08, 08:57 PM
Currently, All my Characters eventually succumb to worshipping a dark god or some kind (even when the setting doesn't have dark gods)

All my Characters are Neutral, and due to the influence of ancient dark cosmic entity they are swayed toward Neutral Disturbing.

All the characters I've played (no matter their int score or caster/melee class) are tactical genius that other party members often turn to for advice in regards to how they'll overcome an encounter or a puzzle they'll need solving.

Needless to say, my characters sounds very sensible in combat or faced with a puzzle, only to fall back into insane rambling later to the dismay of his companions.

Isamu Dyson
2014-02-09, 02:11 AM
Don't tell us what it is when we wouldn't know!

You are a rarity :smalltongue:.

Bakeru
2014-02-09, 05:08 AM
Gnomes. Really, gnomes.
I don't even like the little buggers, but somehow, any character of mine that got actual play had gnomes in his backstory.
Best/worst example:An ADHD elf raised by gnomes.

Prince Raven
2014-02-09, 05:19 AM
Gnomes. Really, gnomes.
I don't even like the little buggers, but somehow, any character of mine that got actual play had gnomes in his backstory.
Best/worst example:An ADHD elf raised by gnomes.

This reminds me of my Halfling Rogue raised by the gnome Mafia (don't ask).

BWR
2014-02-09, 08:07 AM
Well, obviously being accurate to the source material is important, but there are valid ways in which to stand out.

You'd be surprised at the amount of willing ignorance of a setting there can be. And standing out isn't the point of the thread, just what tendencies your characters have.

Doorhandle
2014-02-09, 08:11 AM
In Pathfinder: Big dumb fighters.

Seriously, while playing pathfinder society, I have yet to make a character who has less than 18 strength.

In 4e, I tend to gravitate towards blasters with lots of area attacks: sorcerers and monks. I enjoy defenders too though, like wardens and fighters.

kailkay
2014-02-09, 08:42 AM
I give all of my characters a flaw, and reflect as such in their math.

I have a tendency to write up the background for my character first, or at least flesh it out decently, before I make the character, and then I take feats and whatnot that reflect their history, rather than crafting a history to make sense for an over-optimized built. Me likey Iron Will!

...Except for this time around. This time I'm playing a gnome warlord in 4e and didn't put any thought into it at all while I was rolling him up. He's a bubble-gum character though, meant for fun and giggles. Although, he does have a painfully apparent naivete reflected in an abysmal wisdom score.

Recherché
2014-02-09, 12:43 PM
I'm proud to say that I've now gone nearly a year without an incredibly sarcastic and rather jaded healer. This is unusual for me.

Other than that I like my characters to have at least some brains and knowledge skills no matter the system. which leads into . . .

I've never played a big dumb beatstick

I have a few diplomancer/chessmasters going around but I try not to do this too much. A little is fun, breaking settings via talking tends to make GMs through books at me.

AgentofHellfire
2014-02-09, 05:20 PM
Well, first of all, I've still got that big list (well, list anyway) from the last thread like this, so I may as well port that in...now with added commentary!


--Very few of them have healthy relationships, first of all. The reasons for this vary from character to character, but it's true a lot of the time. (Typically, this manifests itself as one of a couple things: The love of their life being dead and them refusing to get over it for any reason, the belief--sometimes justified--that any relations with someone else would be unfair to them, or just being attracted to screwed-up people. I've had many others, though, including being undead and no longer capable of that form of pleasure, etc.)

--For a lot of them, class is a major concern. Like, economic and social status class.
--Arrogance and a sense of superiority figure in somewhere in many of my characters, either in backstory or personality.
--(For some of them this arrogance is actually a mask for an inferiority complex)
--A lot of my characters (though not all) are possessed of some form of prejudice. (Though in this case I think it's a result of that being a fun form of flawed hero to play)
--Whenever I play Evil characters, I play characters that are flashy and ostentatious; that love to show off their power. Whenever I play Good characters, I go the opposite direction: People who are subtle and don't need to show off.
--Actually, I almost never play heroes of the "typical" vein, where they come crashing in to save everyone, wrecking things in their way. If I ever do play that type of character, they're an antihero.
--I almost never play characters that are of average or lower intellect (I've played a fun exception or two, though), and I never really play characters of average appearance. I generally go with attractive or better, or hideous. No in-betweens except maybe one.
--A lot of my characters are smarter than the typical member of their social group, as well as more interested in technology.

So! On top of all that...

--I make a lot of characters whose motivations couldn't be described as good or villainous, and are more centered around love of a craft (detective work, martial arts, crafting) and a desire to be the best in the field.
--In fact, for almost all my nongood characters, pride is a central motivator for them, as well as a desire for power (but never of the traditional kind, just taking stuff over or making money--rather, they're more fans of mastery of a field or power over men)
--Very frequently, my characters have been thrust from one world to another (commoner-to-noble, elf-to-human, loyal scion of the empire-to-outcast...)
--Curiousity's a common trait in many of mine.

mephnick
2014-02-09, 07:02 PM
You are a rarity :smalltongue:.

I think it's cause I DM 90% of the time, so I'm tired of meta-gaming by players.

If you want to meta-game, grab those knowledge skills. :smallwink:

Ceiling_Squid
2014-02-10, 05:00 PM
I started out playing characters that were largely intelligent and careful, or else very diplomatic and level-headed. Grim and all business.

Now as time goes on, I find myself much more drawn to characters who think with the heart rather than the head. Brash decisions abound.

I'll play the noble barbarian who will make decisions based on stout-heartedness and honor (rather than sound tactics). I also love playing the stylish swashbuckler who acts with panache and derring-do because it will make for a great story at the tavern later.

Then again, it helps that I play with DMs who appreciate that I'm willing to take the risks that go along with brash behavior, and players who won't shout me down for unsound tactical choices. I've played with groups like that before, and I hate it. It also helps that my recent DMs (at least most of them) are willing to make on-the-fly rulings regarding insane stunts.

So far I've been pretty lucky, but should a gambit fail spectacularly and my character die horribly, at least I'll have earned that death while doing something interesting. :smallbiggrin:

Scow2
2014-02-11, 10:41 AM
My characters tend to be athletic (High physical ability scores across the board) and attractive... and usually fuzzy to some degree or another. They also tend to wear as little as necessary (Save for dwarves, who bolt themselves into pressure-cookers), for male and female alike. (Humans wear more than nonhuman nondwarves.)

I tend to dump WIS more often than any other attribute.


I think it's cause I DM 90% of the time, so I'm tired of meta-gaming by players.

If you want to meta-game, grab those knowledge skills. :smallwink:Maybe if Knowledge Skills weren't mutually exclusive with the Athletics+Acrobatics skills because Ain't Nobody Got Enough Skill Points For That.

Delwugor
2014-02-11, 02:33 PM
Personality, everything else about my characters start from that.

Kasanip
2014-02-11, 04:34 PM
Always my character has an accessory. Like [goggles] or [hair clip] or [hat] or [scarf]. Usually it is because character's appearance is imagined. I like to play young heroine style characters. :smallsmile:

FabulousFizban
2014-02-11, 04:45 PM
reckless stupidity and a very high bluff

Poison_Fish
2014-02-11, 08:49 PM
I'd differentiate between my PbP characters over the years and my in person characters.

In person:

- Tend to run the full gamut of types, from uncaring hedonists to worry-wort psychologists. I can't really narrow down a common trait to them.

PbP:

- Baring one exception, all my characters are extremely positive people.

- They are often energetic individuals, though not necessarily ambitious.

- They tend to focus on the big picture of events, rather then small details.

Tengu_temp
2014-02-11, 10:30 PM
Best/worst example:An ADHD elf raised by gnomes.

Do you mean an AD&D elf, or an elf with ADHD?