Concerning Character Design

This is a brief synopsis on how I personally believe characters should be created, devloped, and played. All of the information posted here is simple opinionated, and therefore not set in stone. Eventually parts may be considered rules, however I would like to allow players to create their own characters, instead of using an archetype.

From my experience with roleplaying, I have found a few things that have contributed to creating amazing characters. I have found that:

•No one likes a god tier hero
•God tier villains are difficult to play though not impossible
•Players enjoy playing the villain more than they enjoy playing the hero
•Characters tend to be over-powered if left unchecked.
•When left without instruction, players will make things up that do not fit with the plot and or theme
•Players think that the term Rogue means thief, and or stealth however this is not always the case.
•Mages are over powered generally.
•Warriors are over populated, but under played.
•Good archers are very rare. Players tend not to know how to play an archer or how to roleplay as one.
•Players believe that playing as a psychic dual-weilding blood knight is awesome, however it is most definitely not awesome as no one likes to play with someone they can't confront.
•Players think that every time they swing, they're going to make contact with someone.
•Players believe that every time they are swung upon they can dodge the attack and or redirect the blow.
•Players will ignore the administrators of the role-play to make their own theories up about how things happened.
•When faced with confrontation of wrong-doings, players will justify their actions with ridiculous answer


More focused towards Minecraft now:

•People think Ender Pearls are somehow related to souls.
•Lightning is over used.
•No one ever uses TNT as an RP element.
•People think that they have to use the best gear in Minecraft while RP'ing.
•When faced with a dilemma concerning puzzles, players will look for flaws in order to solve the task at hand.
•When faced with a story, players will ignore it and focus on their character's background story.
•Players think that just because there is no physical material for something In-Game, that is must be unobtainable and therefore not allowed to be RP'd with.
•Players believe that the only poison that exists is one dealing with Venom.
•Apparently getting hit by lightning doesn't hurt people.
•Players ignore common things, such as falling ill randomly and sparsely, or catching a disease.
•A lot of players believe that romance is a major plot thing. It's not.


To encompass the entire thing in one short statement. Players over-power good characters and ruin them.
I believe that if a player were to focus the thought, "Would I want to be this character in real-life?" and they say "Yes, look what all he can do!" then their character is incorrectly drawn up. If the response was, "Maybe... I mean, he is absolutely horrible at magic, and his skills with a blade are rubbish... but he is very kind and compassionate towards others." Then the player is doing something right! This means that they are more focused on the story then they are making sure their character is suited to kill the final boss all alone.

Sight wrote:This is a brief synopsis on how I personally believe characters should be created, devloped, and played. All of the information posted here is simple opinionated, and therefore not set in stone. Eventually parts may be considered rules, however I would like to allow players to create their own characters, instead of using an archetype.

From my experience with roleplaying, I have found a few things that have contributed to creating amazing characters. I have found that:

•No one likes a god tier hero
•God tier villains are difficult to play though not impossible
•Players enjoy playing the villain more than they enjoy playing the hero
•Characters tend to be over-powered if left unchecked.

There's some truth there, but I'd dispute point three. I think it's that players enjoy being the anti-hero, hero. Riddick from Pitch Black, Dirty Harry, or Avery Cates if you've read any books from the Electric Church series. Give me the option of fighting evil as Joe Smightingly Goodman, Lawful Good Paladin, or Avery MotherFucking Cates, mercenary, and I'll take the second, thank you kindly.

I think players view the good guys as being very two dimensional, so ofcourse they'd like the touch of depth a bad ass can bring to their character. But it doesn't *have* to be that way. Good characters can be every bit as conflicted, deep, and nuanced as your Chaotic Neutral spellslinger for hire. The fun part of a character is all the quirks and flaws we give them.

My .02

Added a wee bit more for more in-depth thought processes. However I do agree Monk. I'd prefer to play as a love-struck dwarf with a drinking problem than I would playing as my lightning-obsessed elven mage. I had more fun and it felt far more realistic in my mind.

•Players think that the term Rogue means thief, and or stealth however this is not always the case.

When i see Rogue, i normally think archery, better reflexes, not so much, sneaky, so much as fast enough to hide quickly, or cunning enough to talk their way out of things easily.