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| THE COMPLEAT GUIDE TO CHARACTER CREATION
| Questions to Aid in Character Design
| a.k.a. Four Steps to Better Role-Playing
| By Paul Tiseo tiseo.paul@mayo.edu
| Reprinted without his permission as taken
| from rec.games.frp.dnd
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Disclaimer: Use is made of the male pronoun only
insofar as it minimizes my typing. I do not mean to
offend any PC who is a member of the female sex. Heck,
I don't even want to offend hermaphroditic races either!
This text was written in order to help anyone, DM or player, who is having difficulty fleshing out a character get over any writer's block they may be experiencing. Also, it helps more weathered RPG'ers flesh out their character in ways they might not have yet addressed. Simply follow through the questions and write down short answers. Then take the answers and compose your history/personality text for your character sheet.
Here are the quick-links to get you to the various pieces of this document:
Exactly where and when was your character born? Under what circumstances? Was he wanted? Was he adopted?
Who raised him? How did he live? What was his quality of living and/or living standards?
What was happening in the region while he was growing up? Any marking events?
Does he have any immediate relatives? If so, how did he get along with them? What are they doing now? How many sisters or brothers does he have? What are their names? Where are they now? What are they doing?
Any marking events in his family's history? Fortunes made or lost? Migrations? Lost members? Found members? Deaths? Births? Crimes? Great acts of philanthropy? Any legends or stories of ancestors?
Is he well-educated? Where and under who did he study?
Where is he living now? Is he patriotic about his current locale? How is he living? What are his living conditions? How does it affect him?
Who are his close friends? Why? How did they become close friends? Does he currently have a love or exclusive relation of some sort? Who is this special person? (It may be useful to have some of this information for that person as well.)
Who does he deal with on a frequent basis? Why?
Is there anyone who dislikes him? Is each person currently acting on it, or just passive about it? Why do they dislike him?
Does he have any enemies with deep-seated hatreds? Blood feuds or vendettas? Why? How are they acting out this hatred in relation to him?
Any marking events in his recent past? Did he commit a crime? Any acts of great philanthropy or heroism?
What are your character's immediate goals in the next year? What does he want out of life at the moment?
What are his long-term goals, in the next five, ten, or twenty years? What does he want out of life in the long run? Fame? Fortune? Family? Land? Enemies crushed? Nothing?
What type of person, briefly, would be his ideal mate?
Who is his patron deity? Is he a devout worshiper?
Is he a member of any nonreligious/secular cause, i.e. is he a loyal servant of a king, baron, organization, etc?
Is there any race, creed, alignment, religion, or the like, which he cannot stand? Does he fight against it?
What is his greatest fear?
What is his greatest hope?
What is the one task he absolutely refuses to do?
What is your character's motto or favorite saying?
What is his favorite color?
Describe what he would wear if money were no object. How does he usually dress?
What is his favorite food? His favorite drink?
What is his favorite animal?
What habits of his friends annoy him most?
What are his pet peeves, if any?
Does he have any mannerisms?
Does he have any distinguishing marks?
Use of the concept herein will thankfully make the alignment system useless. With personality traits well-defined, alignment becomes extraneous as a guide to role-playing your PC. Alignment was designed as a quick and dirty system for explaining a character's behavior, but inherent in the system are limits that do not make for very "realistic" or "3-dimensional" characters.
Pick traits that you see your character possessing and rank them in their tendency to dominate in the character's personality as indicated below. For example, the most frequent traits in an Arthurian, Good-type character would be the Positive traits, with maybe a couple of negative traits here and there (hey, nobody's perfect!). It's up to you to "paint" your character with the traits, thus one should not necessarily impose a limit on the number of traits to use. Think about the following aspects of a character's personality: his outlook, his openness, his emotionality, his self-esteem, his sense of humor, his sociability, his mannerisms, his political inclinations, his sense of ambition, his attitudes, etc.
Always Frequently Generally Occasionally Never
Hereafter are listed the traits and behaviors to pick from. Note that Negative, Neutral, or Positive traits are not necessarily Evil, Neutral, or Good, respectively, in the AD&D sense of the alignment system. For example, being obedient to an Evil lord would make you evil, in a sense, since you will execute his draconic orders which in turn force you towards evil acts. Obedience is a neutral trait, but the character could still be considered LE in terms of "official" AD&D. Some of the negative traits are simply traits not desirable, while others are perhaps closer to what could pass as a common idea of Evil. Also, the classification is not hard and fast and is somewhat personally biased. Societal values, whether ours or of the game setting, would be a strong influence on whether something is negative or positive. For example, Adultery could be something other than negative in some settings where marriage isn't an institution like it is in our world. Well, enough disclaimers.
Go through the list three times. The first time, just read each of the traits. The second time, circle in red those traits that your character most strongly exhibits. The third time, circle in blue those traits that are present, but perhaps not as obvious or pronounced.
Positive
Accepting, Affable, Altruistic, Ascetic, Austere, Benevolent, Careful, Cheerful, Chivalrous, Clean, Comfortable, Compassionate, Congenial, Conscientious, Considerate, Courteous, Creative, Dapper, Dignified, Eager, Earnest, Educated, Enlightened, Enthusiastic, Forgiving, Friendly, Gallant, Generous, Genial, Gentle, Giving, Good-humored, Graceful, Gracious, Handsome, Happy, Helpful, Honest, Knowledgeable, Lively, Mannerly, Mellifluous, Neat, Optimistic, Outgoing, Paragon, Patient, Peaceful, Perseverant, Philanthropic, Pious, Polite, Pretty, Provident, Quaint, Reliable, Resolute, Respectful, Sociable, Tranquil, Trustworthy, Unselfish, Valorous, Vivacious, Well-read, Wise.
Neutral
Accurate, Ambitious, Anarchistic, Anticipative Aristocratic, Bold, Calm, Candid, Celibate, Charismatic, Chaste, Competent, Conciliatory, Contemplative, Cunning, Curious, Dainty, Daring, Demonstrative, Diplomatic, Discerning, Dogmatic, Dreamer, Eccentric, Efficient, Even-tempered, Fair, Faltering, Fascinating, Fearless, Frank, Honorable, Humble, Impartial, Inquisitive, Instinctual, Intelligent, Just, Keen, Lawful, Lawless, Liberal, Loyal, Meticulous, Modest, Mollifying, Moral, Non-conformist, Obedient, Obscure, Obtuse, Odd Ostentatious, Passionate, Perfectionist, Phlegmatic, Prideful, Prudent, Rational, Righteous, Scheming, Shrewd, Sober, Solitary, Straightforward, Tenacious, Virginal, Zealous.
Negative
Absentminded, Abusive, Addictive, Adultering, Aggressive, Aloof, Antagonistic, Apathetic, Arrogant, Barbarous, Bigoted, Bitter, Boisterous, Boorish, Boring, Bullying, Callous, Capricious, Careless, Caustic, Cheating, Clumsy, Compliant, Conceited, Condescending, Confusing, Conniving, Contradictory, Controlling, Corrupt, Covetous, Coward, Crazed Criminal, Cruel, Cynical, Dark, Deceptive, Deformed, Delinquent, Depressive, Derogatory, Despondent Destructive, Dictatorial, Difficult, Disdainful, Disfigured, Dishonest, Disorderly, Disturbed, Drunken, Dull, Envious, Erratic, Exasperating, Foolish, Frivolous, Gluttonous, Greedy, Haughty, Haunted, Imbecile, Immature, Immoral, Impatient, Impetuous, Incompetent, Incorrigible, Indifferent, Insensitive, Insidious, Insolent, Irritating, Kleptomaniac, Lazy, Lustful, Malevolent, Manic, Manipulative, Megalomaniac, Merciless, Messy, Moody, Naive, Neglectful, Obstinate, Perverted, Plotting, Reluctant, Resignation, Reticent, Rude, Ruffian, Ruthless, Self-serving, Severe, Shallow, Shy, Sinister, Sly, Sniveling, Stubborn, Stupid, Submissive, Surly, Savage, Traitorous, Ugly, Uncertain, Unclean, Undecisive, Vainglorious, Vapid, Violent, Weak-willed, Wicked.