New PCs

[Talus]

Had some thoughts recently about new characters and backgrounds. When starting a new PC I do one of two things. I either start with a personality and find class and such that fits it. Or I want to play this class, what's a good background/personality for that. Now as Justi can attest to I have started numerous characters on FRC in the past. And really only two have stuck with me. Those two are the ones I had a personality for before I ever chose a class. I also had very loose unspectacular backgrounds for them(well Kam's is some what spectacular).

So on that note, I was wondering how other poeple came up with their character ideas.

[Foomanchu]

I based mine on myself...VERY LOOSLY...VERY...lol as for choosing monk...I fell in love with fast-hitting melee characters ever since I played a Teri-Kasi Master on Star Wars Galaxies, so I tried out the monk class. Jorban's name actually comes from my name...very very similar to my name obviously lol...and the background was kinda just random thoughts on what I thought would be a cool bad-guy history...I also tried to keep him evil, but not nowing it...he's doing what is right and lawful from his point of view. so Jorban was a mixture of me, and random ideas.

I made a drow just to see how long i could rp it till it was killed permanetly by a PC...played it for like...3 hours maybe 4 total then just left it cuz it was boring and the race is illegal so i thought i shouldn't test it

Made one good guy...Bron "the butcher"....yes...a meat cutter...name came from the generator, nickname was because he uses an axe...to cut meat . Ended up highly disliking playing a happy-go-lucky kinda guy and havn't touched em in a while. His only back ground is that he was a meat-cutter from some land far away (kinda gave up on him so i don't remember) and that was chosen because i wanted him to rp a close bond with his axe then end up a weapon master.

so there you have it....the only 3 characters i've made on FRC...which also happens to be 3 out of the...maybe 6 characters i've made on NWN lol FRC was my first

[DM Grizwald]

Thats usually how i do it. I've had a dozen or so characters...only really stuck with a few of them....im going to have to clear some of my characters because of the fact that most of them now dont get played.

I just want to also suggest that when i try a new character out, i also try to come up with something original and something that might fit into a crowd. Playing a grumpy jerk doesnt ALWAYs work. Just my two pennies

[Talus]

Vashal was came to me one day while playing I was very bored with the character I had. So I just thought, I'll make a big, dumb, nice guy, with a huge temper once he gets angry. So I did some 5 minute research on where there were barbarians in FR, thought of the Celts and how the garish colors they wore freaked out the Romans. Oh and I though weapon master that sounds neat. Little did I know at the time that weapon master need to be smart ;D Thus was born Vashal Redfeather. From Rashemen, ran away from home to meet knights, and dragons. But really he was running from the mean witch he was suppose to protect. That right there is what I had for Vashal when I started him.


Now Kam is a different story, he is the out come of a bored at work. I had him in a day, with some help once I got home, from some source books. Someday I'm going to poorly write his back story.

[Talus]

clarkgrizwald said:

Playing a grumpy jerk doesnt ALWAYs work. Just my two pennies

Sure it does, you just have to have something people want ;D

[Keetena]

talus said:

Vashal was came to me one day while playing I was very bored with the character I had. So I just thought, I'll make a big, dumb, nice guy, with a huge temper once he gets angry. So I did some 5 minute research on where there were barbarians in FR, thought of the Celts and how the garish colors they wore freaked out the Romans. Oh and I though weapon master that sounds neat. Little did I know at the time that weapon master need to be smart ;D Thus was born Vashal Redfeather. From Rashemen, ran away from home to meet knights, and dragons. But really he was running from the mean witch he was suppose to protect. That right there is what I had for Vashal when I started him.


Now Kam is a different story, he is the out come of a bored at work. I had him in a day, with some help once I got home, from some source books. Someday I'm going to poorly write his back story.

I must add... Keetena likes Vashal a lot, a big friendly dumb guy
A pity Kam isn't so cool... so Keet only likes and love him as she likes and love everyone ;p by Sune's garce

[moulinous]

playing a grumpy jerk? hmmmm, who could he be talking about?lol Guldar comes from a line i read in the players handbook about dwarven rangers, about them being called cavers and underdark explorers...i was like cool. Never heard of one, might as well try one. His personality is a little like my own as he is very sarcastic, speaks his mind whenever and to whoever, and loves to drink. The gold he earns to him is also like my veiw on the world...its a big game to earn it, and a better game to spend it. The children thing is also like me...i still cry when i read the paper about what happens to children and the evils that people inflict on them. I incorparted that into his personality and slowly started to devolp his own rough code of justice.
Now Squillion Berrygobbler is also from the same paragraph about dwarven rangers in that you never meet a halfling rangers cause of how rare they are. And i could not let that name go to waste. I love the name and had to bring him about.
I like devolping personality and actully study up on my names to match the pc. Kam's name...Aelriks...Padrin...they all fit the PC rather well and i think the name says a lot about the PC. Heck, look at DM Justicar, just sounds like friggin royalty doesn't it?
I will admit, there has been some stinkers, like the time me and Chrill tried to play brother half orcs...lol. But hey, good ideas and bad abound, and sometimes PCs just take off. I think i remember Aelrik saying he just made the guy at first to see if he liked FRC and next thing you know, he is a big part of it. You just never know what will stick.

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

talus said:

clarkgrizwald said:

Playing a grumpy jerk doesnt ALWAYs work. Just my two pennies

Sure it does, you just have to have something people want ;D

Bah, still not working for me.

The way i started with hroth was basically wanting to play a rogue/fighter. But what is a rogue/fighter was the real question. To me he was a mercenary, and always will be. But events of FRC have forced him to break off of what he was originally concepted as. But this has also given him a more life like image. The only ideas I had when starting him, as can be noted in the first entry of his bio, is that he is a man out for himself and kind of a jack-of-all-trades.

But since he was my first RP character, I found some flaws in him later. I still tend to develop characters based on what class i want to play, then pick a region they are from as well as race, from there i just ask "Why would this person be there?" and then off I go.

[Booze Hound]

basically, Vind was just an elven version of me. yea it isnt too much of a stretch playing him, cause I just do what I would do, and it works. I love rangers, and it suits me, so yea that's that.

the only other character I have gotten past level 2 is Fenrak. Me and Talus got a bug to play some mean ass dwarves, and they are what came from it. I often get great character ideas, but dont flesh them out in my mind, and they get wasted. I think coming up with a character story and history is HUGE part of making a great character.

[Aodhan the Unusual]

Here's how I came up with my four main PCs:

Torian actually started out as a happy-go-lucky kender in a message board whose best friend was Jarlaxle (yes, THE Jarlaxle) and had a bag of endless random food items that doubled as weapons. Because of internal strife on the boards (and player's life going through rough patch) Torian took on the darker aspects she now exhibits so predominately.

Oriana is a personality I've had and used many times, more so in short stories and fanfics. She wasn't always the dark sarcastic one she is now and when she was originally created, she was actually more of a warrior than a wizard, coming from a family history of warriors. I'm currently playing another version of her in one of my PnP games where her mystical powers comes from a demon-tainted blood line that shows up every few generations.

Misha is my attempted NWN version of the character I play in my LARP. As Justi can verify of the different variations I've got sitting around, it's taken a while to figure out how to make her as close to my LARP persona as possible. The hardest part of creating this character was the class. Once I finally figured that out, the rest was easy.

Whisper, though I don't play her very often because she is VERY rp intensive, is actually based off a friend's character in my LARP. Whisper is, unfortunately, one of those kinds of characters that is really fun and interesting to interract with, but as my friend will attest, a royal pain to play at times.


For the most part I have a hard time coming up with new character ideas. I've played so many PnP games that I've pretty much run out of ideas and end up repeating old characters with new names or races, which really bugs me at times, but... *shrugs* What else can ya do, right?

[MTGPackFoils]

For Amra:
I seriously was just messing around with a few class options. I've never played a Rogue before (not even in the original game) so that was going to be an interesting twist for me. I also wanted to cast spells and have some combat abilities focusing on her quickness. Once I had everything class/race wise made the personality I put into her was more of a child like one...or a happy-go-lucky type. This is also my first female character I've put work into.

For Aeron:
Players from TSM (rip) will at least recognize the character name, but gone from Aeron this time is his nice side. It's still there...but not as up front as it was in the past. Aeron was built from my need to channel a part of myself into a character. He is my dark side through and through.

For Marcus...whom I rarely play...:
He was actually a PnP character I made that I wanted to bring in. Nothing more to that really. I may not play him on here...not sure yet.

I have a new guy too that I haven't touched much...so I'm either on as Amra or Aeron when I'm playing.

;D

[marklar]

marklar was based loosely off myself for a long time, then things got darker so i made him..slightly more evil, only by a bit though.

Sodoic was built for 1 purpose to be a powerhouse mage lol which i displayed for a bit then...well everyone hated him and i didn't wanna have 2 characters that all they did was lurk in the shadows and such so i stoped playing him.

then my other alt, Thrandril was almost a marklar 1.1 then i dropped that idea, still play him a bit but he's not going to be a AA.

[Driderman]

I met your character Marklar one day, and he introduced himself as Thrandril

As for character development, an idea usually comes to me at some odd point. Like, when I'm sleeping or talking with a customer and then I mull the idea over in my head sometimes for months, where it keeps growing and changing.
Usually, the result is I forget it before I ever get to use it, but sometimes the ideas return and I turn them into something playable.
For the most part, I just decide on a general archetyp with some distiguishing features and slap a class and some stats on him/her, then start playing. The details will usually sort themselves out once I started playing

[marklar]

driderman said:

I met your character Marklar one day, and he introduced himself as Thrandril

lol yeah...he had to remain in disguise, maybe we'll meet again hope fully alone in a dark forest...cya then

[Grozer]

I've created characters both ways. I have noticed the characters I roll up with little thought I can never get into, loose interest fast and just wind up going through the motions with them, unless they run into some interesting RP that forces me to draw out who they are.

Most of the characters I have enjoyed playing started with a general idea, I researched some specifics and then started playing him. Using RP I would develop more personality and then fill in a detailed background after a couple of levels if I am "feeling" the idea works.

Usually when I am planning out a character I have a look and voice in mind as well as a background/personality. Many times what I had in mind doesnt translate well in game so I scrape the character.

Ranan is probably one of my favorite characters ever. And despite what others might think he is NOT based on me personally heh. Ok maybe the womanizer part! ;D Kidding! Seriously though I think I played one evil PC before Ranan and when I came to FRC there were no Banites that I knew of. I also wasnt familar with FR very much as my PnP campaigns were custom campaigns or other realms so I did a lot of reading on Bane. When I created him I wanted an evil PC that could operate under the radar. I also wanted him to have a dark side that consumed him... a fallen man who "believes" what he is doing is actually going to "save" people from injustice. And not fallen in the sense of a Paladin, but more of a hard working man who feels betrayed by the very people and system he unquestioningly served.

Anyway, his personality has led to some interesting RP to say the least... since in many ways I have created him to have certain vulnerable aspects there have been 2 characters that caused him to question what he represents. One came very close to convincing him to step away from darkness, heh.

[dajuke]

I grew up in the woods, and have always liked the druid type character in any books I read. (Allanon anyone?) So Taran was a natural, especially since I love working with animals. He also worked because when I started FRC it was very little (read, no) experience in an online community, and I figured that if a druid spent a lot of time by himself in the woods it wouldn't look too bad. His story started developing when I started being better at RPing and people started asking about his past. I had to write some on the message board so that I could keep straight what I was telling people lol.

Reyvan came about because I like magic users, but didn't want a cliche serious mage personality, so I thought what if he starts out like a bumbling know nothing and starts to get more serious over time. Throwing in a familiar that he doesn't want was a last minute addition that makes every session with him fun to RP whether or not anyone else is around. I've tried a couple other char but none have really interested me.

[Spooks]

Ha! I came up with Thrulia because I made the char with Vind, as we moved from a different server together. Clotho was a bit harder, it's still not 100% complete. And Luthor's is just bare bones backstory.

[sneakingyoda]

How to discribe how I come up with characters. Hmm.

Well, I normally think of a personality, do I want someone abrasive? do I want someone inexperianced? do I want to play someone who is helpful or enjoys being lazy? Generally- I think of the pschological profile of the type of character I wish to play before I think of anything else.

In one example, on a mud I used to play on- I wanted to play someone who was blind. This was mostly because it seemed like most of the characters on the mud were pretty standard. Great roleplayers- but standard D&D characters. So, once I went with "She blind." I thought about how she handles her blindness, how she "sees" the world. How she truely copes with a day to day life. I decided then she would be a cleric. (which is funny because out of all the characters I ever create, I rarely pick Cleric. And now I love Yulena- and she's a freakin Cleric. Heh.) "But of whom?" and I decided it would be interesting to have a Blind Elf. And once I have the mindset, the background just kind of forms up behind it. She ended up being born blind. And on that particular MUD she ended up becoming sort of an Epic character. It was neat to see people confront with her and then send me tells of "How can you stand playing someone so ill equiped for adventure?" or "You scared me! Once I figured out she was blind- I had no idea what to do!"

I followed the same process for Yulena, I found one aspect- one psychological angle I wanted to play, and then filled in the rest of her personality with flavor. Then I had to ask the questions of "How did she get this way?" and the class and the background followed after. So, the one thing all my characters have in common is a very fine sense of what they think like. Who they are.

It makes it easy for me to slip into the role and look at things from a different angle. It keeps my characters distinctly seperated. IN my head it feels like looking at a list of variables and flicking through them very quickly to determand if a character I play would approve or dissaprove of a certain situation.

;D

[ShadowCatJen]

I also typically take sneakingyoda's approach. Find a single quirk about the character and work the personality and history around that.

With Mynian my original thought was that I wanted to make a tailor. Figured I was going to need the skill points for that so Rogue was the natural choice for a character class, then I started to try and figure -why- she has rogue levels, ect. and just went from there.

With Marichelle it was her portrait that inspired me to make a blind character. With the hood and such she seemed a vagabond sort then tried to think why she would be a wandering blind woman and, again, went from there.

I also like to do the "odd concept" deal where you take a class and put an unlikely race in it. Like a halfling paladin or a half-orc monk. They can turn out to be pretty fun.

[moulinous]

i played an orc, though listed as a half orc but more as a full blooded orc then not on a server who was raised in a Torm temple. Grommic, tried him out here a few times and might bring him back. Kinda liked it as he was not a paladin but so wanted to be one. Thought about playing a dwarven wizard just cause you never really see one...lol.

[vercingettorix]

My favorite characters are usually those I have created because I never tried it before, and they usually come to embody a particular theme or concept that I work out by playing them. In Haylin's case, I wanted to make a wizard. Id played tons of wizards before, and so decided to make a necromancer. However, I really dont enjoy playing evil characters, I just dont do well with them. I also didn't particularly feel drawn to the 'good' necromancer who studies the undead to combat them. In the end I came up with the concept of a very rich old man who suddenly finds himself at the end of his life with nothing to show for it but a big pile of money. Think Scrooge. He turns to necromancy as a way of delaying his own impending mortality. Not for any particular dreams of undead driven world domination or altruistic reasons, but simply to save himself. Haylin gave me a chance to play a character with a solid backround history and motivations. More importantly it gave me a chance to play a character whose motivations would change over time as he grew and experienced different things. Its that growth that keeps a character interesting for me over the long run.