delete this

[lerg2]

I'm deleting the thread, I've read all your comments and decided it was a stupid idea, so please don't post so it will expire, k?

[Knaight]

I have too many of my own characters that I want to use to even use anyone else's. Spending money on them? No way.

[BluesEclipse]

You mean have someone create a character, background and all, for you?

No.

Never.

If you have trouble building your character, get help from the other players in your group or your DM.

If you can't make your backstory, get help from the other players and your DM.

If you can't make a character after going to those resources, there's always these forums, and many others like them, to give advice and ideas.

If, after using all of the above, you still can't make a character, then you're playing the wrong game.

[BIGMamaSloth]

wait I'm confused. Do you mean give you a general feel of what I'm looking for, and a theme for the back story? then you would build the character? or just random character with a random back story?

[lerg2]

Ask what you want, whatever person B doesn't specify is random.

[Glimbur]

What you seem to be asking is "would you pay for a character?" I would not, making the characters is part of the fun.

[KillianHawkeye]

So are we talking about character sheets or actual characters here?

You can get character sheets for free on the Internet (even customized ones) and just print them out at home. Making characters and writing backstories is free, so why would you pay someone to do it? Your DM or other people in your group (or on the Internet) can help you make a character, and some people don't even care about backstories.

Anyone who suggested charging me for either of those things would only get a laugh in their face.

[Dr.Epic]

No.

Who would pay for a that? If you've played D&D enough, creating the mechanics of the character is easy enough, and if you haven't you're probably only playing because a friend told you they'd do most of the work.

As for backstory, the creative types would have no problem coming up with one and wouldn't pay for it. And the lazy people would just come up with a two-sentence backstory.

I don't really see an market for this.

[Lhurgyof]

Only if it's made all fancy like and looks like old parchment.

And only if I tell you what to put on it, and you fill in (or, leave blank) anythin I dont specify.

[Show]

To completely break the pattern thus far: YES!
I wouldn't use it as a character for myself, of course, but cheap, in-depth NPCs?
Yes please.
I could even just use them to figure out more fun character ideas and twists...

Edit: I could even carry a folder of these around, and whenever something is about to happen and I don't have a character handy(random one shot games, new player with no experience) I could just take one of those sheets and the problem would be solved. After all, it takes hours to come up with a character and backstory. Having tons of sheets always handy would be quite useful.

[Weasel of Doom]

No way, creating a character's too much fun.

[valadil]

Nope. I think the closest I could get is paying for a character portrait. That's something I'd consider doing, but not at prices that weren't insulting to the artist.

[RndmNumGen]

I have a good 5 characters already made that I haven't gotten a chance to play. So no.

[Starwulf]

Definitely not. I enjoy building characters and figuring out what paths I want them to go down in terms of skills and feats and spells(if applicable). Just to much fun!

[Jay R]

Now, how much would you pay for somebody else to play your character for you? How much would you pay me to go to a movie for you, or read a book for you, or watch television for you?

To answer the original question, no, I will not pay somebody to have some of my fun for me.

[Eldan]

Probably not. I mean, I could consider getting someone to distribute skill points for me, or search books for feats I need, or other such tedious stuff. But usually, I have mechanics done in twenty minutes for a low level character, or a couple of hours for a high-level one.

Writing the backstory? I would never pay for that.

[Killer Angel]

Yes, I've done it in the past. Usually 5 dollars, the price for the registration at some official tournament, when they give you a pre-generated character sheet (with background) for the one-shot adventure.

Oh, wait...

the answer to your real question, obviously, is: nothing, and never.

[Tyndmyr]

Character Sheets are inexpensive. That said, Pathfinder does charge a couple bucks for a deluxe, well put together character sheet in a custom folder. It's reasonable. However, I imagine it probably still isn't a top seller. Ditto for the Exalted character sheet bundle. The main value of these things is convenience. Avoiding printing a few sheets isn't enough convenience to make much for.

Paying for a backstory/build? Nah. The people who tend to want build work done for them are DMs, not players. They like books of prefabbed opponents...ie, the monster manuals.

You need to package the premade characters with something that reasonably benefits from their inclusion...they're not that big of a draw alone.

[Shyftir]

Yeah, not enough people would want to buy what your are suggesting.

Now stating out a ton of NPCs even basically non-combat ones? Sure but you couldn't sell it without figuring out the licensing of using somebody else's game system. Though I suppose if it was completely put together out of OGL stuff like the SRD you might be able to.

It touches on copyright law which is both outside the purview of the forum and not something I know a ton about.

[kyoryu]

You know what I'd consider paying for?

A customized, hand-drawn/calligraphed/whatever character sheet that had special treatment on areas where I typically did a lot of erasing/etc.

That would be pretty cool.

[Figgin of Chaos]

Nope, too broke to pay for something I can make (as a player), or make up hastily on the spot (as a GM).

[Knaight]

That said, if you have a large compilation it gets more useful. There are things nobody would pay for if there individually that nonetheless work as a group. If you released somewhere between 40 and 60 character sheets, with backgrounds and all that were useful for NPCs you might be able to sell it. I personally wouldn't buy it, but there are people that would.

[Eldan]

There are already NPC books, though. Enemies and Allies (I think that was the name) was one. Faces of Sigil is my favourite RPG book ever.

[Knaight]

There are already NPC books, though. Enemies and Allies (I think that was the name) was one. Faces of Sigil is my favourite RPG book ever.

There can be more.

[valadil]

So, on the off chance this post is really about lerg2 earning a few extra dollars rather than whether we'd hypothetical buy a character sheet, here's another idea.

While I don't want to buy a character sheet I might buy terrain for an encounter. I don't like the tiles that WotC sells. They're expensive and I don't want to always reuse the same combat areas. But if I could get a PDF that printed a cavern passage, three stories of an inn, or abandoned castle ruins, with a correctly sized grid, I might actually consider spending money on that. I'd especially consider money if the terrain made for an interesting encounter, since the whole point of this is to avoid fighting in yet another featureless field. Best of all, you wouldn't have to custom tailor anything. You could sell each area several times over.

[Jerthanis]

That said, if you have a large compilation it gets more useful. There are things nobody would pay for if there individually that nonetheless work as a group. If you released somewhere between 40 and 60 character sheets, with backgrounds and all that were useful for NPCs you might be able to sell it. I personally wouldn't buy it, but there are people that would.

This gets close to a scenario book or adventure module, but if these 40-60 NPCs with backgrounds had interrelated backstories, relationships between them, and plothooks related to them, you could essentially sell this as an idea generator for a DM or a sort of "political intrigue in a can" product.

[Mark Hall]

I would not buy character sheets. I might pay for character ART, but sheets are something I can either make myself or find "good enough" ones on-line for free.

[randomhero00]

I'd pay nothing, ever.

I see these types of posts pop up every once in awhile (pay for some DnD aspect that hasn't had a price tag). Don't you think WOTC would have taken advantage of that years ago if there was a place to make money? Sorry but youre are not a business genius.

Plus if you did start making money WOTC would start legal battles for making money off their product.

[Erom]

Yeah, the only way I would buy characters is a big book of tons of them, basically a Monster Manual but with NPCs instead of beasts.

And the price would need to be more like a nickel a sheet, not a dollar.

[ericgrau]

I'd rather use my own. It's like paying someone else to have fun for you.

As for DMing, art, NPCs/monsters, maps/battle layouts and other services, ya those are under-appreciated efforts that should be paid more often. Or at least get free pizza at game night.