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Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-21, 05:08 PM
I'm stuck with a roleplaying problem. I'm building a character for a potential game, and the GM has stated that the characters need to be well-written, so I'm trying to develop a good backstory and believable personality for my character.

The problem is I have no idea where to go for either. I can't even decide what kind of alignment this character should have, as I'm moving out of my comfort zone of Lawful Good religious types.

I have the character's statistics all figured out: She's a human sorcerer with the Serpentine bloodline (the game's Pathfinder), but that's all I have figured out. I'm drawing a blank on what she's like as a person and what her story is. I'll admit a certain bit of escapism, but I don't want her to be just a cheesecake character. I want to be something other than Lawful Good, but don't really know how to roleplay anything else believably. I've got some basics for the very end of her backstory, that she's booked passage on the ship the party will start on, but nothing about her origins, her parents or her education.

What do I do?! :smallfrown:

Vitruviansquid
2012-03-21, 05:13 PM
Oh boy.

All my best characters tend to have pretty bare-bones backstories that get fleshed out as I RP them and, as it were, get to know them.

Maybe ask the GM if it's alright for you to go a couple of sessions without having a concrete backstory so you can get to know your character?

hamishspence
2012-03-21, 05:14 PM
On alignment- pose various moral issues and ask where the character comes down on them. Similarly with their attitude to order and authority.

questions that might come up:

"would they torment an enemy if they had them in their power?"
"Do they feel that the ends justify the means to a degree- and if so, how much?"
"do they feel power corrupts and the authority governs best that governs least?"
"do they feel that organisation is the way to success?"

Etc.

LibraryOgre
2012-03-21, 05:28 PM
Vague it up a lot. Have some rough ideas, but be ready to go with the flow.

For me, it helps to talk to my character. Run them through a few scenarios and hypotheticals, and figure out how they would react to things.

Kurgan
2012-03-21, 05:34 PM
Oh boy.

All my best characters tend to have pretty bare-bones backstories that get fleshed out as I RP them and, as it were, get to know them.

Maybe ask the GM if it's alright for you to go a couple of sessions without having a concrete backstory so you can get to know your character?

I second this. I've played in games where I have done pages of backstory and personality and games where I have done absolutely none. The best for me is the middle ground.

Some things to think on for backstory: How old are you? Where did you grow up? Did you have a tutor/teacher or are you self taught? Are you from a wealthy family? Peasant family? And of course, why did you book passage on this ship?

Alignment, honestly, it is usually easier (for me at least) to be vague about alignment at first, and see how your character plays before setting it in stone. If your dm will allow it, I'd say try to leave this one blank until you got the rest figured out, as a session or two will show if you are leaning towards lawful, chaotic, good, evil, and so on.

Personality: This one too works best in play. Start out with a few basic ideas and then expand from there.

For example: I once played a wizard named Corren Trigmus, who I rolled up about half an hour before the game started because I was unaware that we were starting a new campaign. When we started the game, the backstory I had was: "A member of the mages guild, recently graduated from wizard student, working with party to pay off guild dues."

Once the game got into play, by the end of the second session, he had become fleshed out as a raging alcoholic who was really only loyal to the party in the sense that they had similar goals and were going in the same direction anyways. The height of his career was when he sold an artifact that the group had been hired to transport to a group of druids, in exchange for 20,000gp and a wagon-load of absinthe. He then graciously took no share of the 10,000gp that he claimed to the rest of the party he sold the artifact for, as the alcohol was reward enough.

I'm told he has become a recurring npc in the games that that dm runs. Not bad for someone I made up in 30 minutes. :smallbiggrin:

Rain Dragon
2012-03-21, 05:40 PM
As far as backstories go, sometimes just asking some questions like the alignment ones above work wonders for backstory, even if you just change the tense for them.

'Has your character tormented people in the past when/if she could?'
'Did she ever feel the ends justify the means?'

Normally I find DMs or even just myself give a little bit of a description about how the campaign is, where you guys are, etc. If you already know where your character came from and what sort of people lived there you can begin to formulate a basic idea of how they would treat your character.

At the same time though, if you're having troubles role playing it it's really not uncommon for PCs to end up having slight changes to their personality as they go along anyway, just as long as you have a nice solid even if basic idea of where you're at.

Good luck!

Oh, just an afterthought, you said you wanted to play a sorceror. How does your character feel/act about her magic?

WildPyre
2012-03-21, 05:42 PM
You might also want to look into traits (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits) as they can help not only add to the crunch of your character to bring it closer to what you want, but they also add flavor. I was just making a new character the other day and decided to take the "Love Lost" trait for the Perform bonus. That of course killed my character's mother (talk about harsh) but taking that gave me something to start building my character's backstory around.

QuidEst
2012-03-21, 05:54 PM
To make characters, I try to come up with a gimmick. It's the memorable something that gets them started. You can build off of that.

For instance- I kind of want to play a Sorcerer who has "Please let this work, please let this work, please let this work…" as the verbal component for all his spells that require one. That's all I've got for him. A little thought leads me to more. Wringing his hands nervously is probably the somatic component. That right there implies a basic backstory (he really doesn't have much control, he might have injured somebody, or more likely, his magic failed on him when he was trying to save somebody), a character (nervous, a little clumsy, ingratiating), and he could play pretty well as Chaotic Good or a wishy-washy True Neutral.

TheThan
2012-03-21, 06:20 PM
Here is a good method of character creation.
Ask yourself these questions, and write the answers out in paragraph from, in the order they appear.

What is your character’s name?
Where does your character come from?
How old is your character?
What race is your character?
Does your character have any family or significant others (alive or dead?)?
What does your character currently look like?
How did your character get put on the road to adventure?


Example:

Squall Hunter hails from the village of Westbrook. He’s a 20 year old human. Squall’s father, mother and uncle died in a house fire. His father threw Squall and his little sister Sky out of the second story window before flames consumed them all, saving his life and that of his little sister. Ever since then squall has hated fire. Squall feels ashamed that he couldn’t protect the ones he loved, so he continues to carry a large burn scar over his right eye and cheek, a reminder to himself of his failures.
With nowhere to go and no living family Squall and his sister were entrusted to the priest hood. Squall studied in a nearby parish, while his sister was sent away to a convent. While studying at the church, he witnessed another student fall into a fire pit and get horribly burned. He pulled the kid out of the flames and used his budding cleric magic to heal him. That is when Squall found his calling in life; To heal and protect others.
Squall had found his calling; he just needed to find his place in the world. So with that, Squall set out on the road for adventure, seeking a group of heroes he can befriend and work with.

Squall Hunter: level 1 Neutral good Human cleric (water and protection domains)

INDYSTAR188
2012-03-21, 06:35 PM
All of these are very good suggestions! I always like to imagine something dramatic that happened to my character that influenced them into a career of adventuring. For example, I played an Moon Elf Wizard who was abandoned at birth at the door of a benevolent, local Human Wizard. The DM and I got to talking and we developed a back story that helped partially drive the campaigns plot.

Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-21, 06:50 PM
You might also want to look into traits (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits) as they can help not only add to the crunch of your character to bring it closer to what you want, but they also add flavor. I was just making a new character the other day and decided to take the "Love Lost" trait for the Perform bonus. That of course killed my character's mother (talk about harsh) but taking that gave me something to start building my character's backstory around.
I already have two traits picked out for her. The first is the Campaign Trait "Boarded in Varisia" which represents that she's exotic to the people of the Mwangi Expanse, where we're headed, signified by the fact that her mind-affecting spells are treated at +1 caster level when used against people and creatures of the jungle. The second is a homebrewed trait I made up and my GM approved that I call "Serpentine Intuition." Basically it's that she's good at reading body language because she stares at people when talking to them like a snake will watch its prey for slight and sudden moves before striking, which gives her a +1 to Sense Motive and lets her treat it as a class skill.

Part of the problem is that I have ideas of where I want to take the character, but I don't know how to roleplay them believably:


I want her to seem seductive. As a friend of mine said when I told him about the concept, "A female character with a Charisma-based class and a bloodline based around the most flexible animal ever? Avoiding sexual innuendo is going to be difficult." But I don't want her to seem like a two-dimensional juvenile fantasy.
I want her to eventually develop the goal of taking the Test of the Starstone, a way for mortals to ascend to godhood, after encountering the people she's descended from, deciding to try and replace their decapitated evil god. It's similar to a character I played before: a tiefling paladin who sought to become a god because she thought the only god who had any impact on her race didn't really care about them and was a bad influence. But I don't want her to be a goody-two-shoes.
I want the changes her power brings to her body to be a central theme of her character, the fact that she's slowly but steadily losing her humanity. But I don't want her to fall to either extreme of self-loathing "Boo-hoo I'm an evil spawn rebelling against my own kind like a certain drow ranger!" or self-loving "Yahoo, I'm an evil spawn becoming more like my own kind, let's do some evil stuff!" And I want her to develop more snakelike traits and mannerisms, but I don't want to do so in a way that seems too cartoony, like constantly using Sssssnake Talk (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SssssnakeTalk).
I want her to like the power she has and want more of it, a subtle hint that she's almost like a return to her ancestors' glory days. But I don't want her to be all "MWAHAHAHAHAHA MORE POWER!!!"

That's the core I think. I've got a lot of ideas and don't know how to do any of them subtly and how to combine them into a single character.

Rain Dragon
2012-03-21, 07:27 PM
Your character seems very well rounded so far. I wouldn't worry so much about the changes to your character brought on by the power until you actually start playing her out some more, although it would be something that bothers me too.

Snakes have always been portrayed as sly, deceptive creatures in most things I've experienced. In a certain book most people have heard about the snake was the voice which caused some people to stray from the path assigned to them. They're sharp and such, but in reality snakes can't move much faster than people can for very long. Keeping all this in mind, your character could possibly a mistress of subtlety, deception and a constant whispering voice within the party purely for her own ends. I really haven't seen anyone write about a selfless snake.

Another thing which strikes me in movies and animations is the way they cause snakes and serpentine people to use their eyes. Perhaps as the power consumes her, her eyes could play somewhat of a major role in a non-laser way? There's just a certain way media makes snakes look upon the world... I'm not very good with words, I hope it sort of makes sense.

kyoryu
2012-03-21, 07:51 PM
As others have said - ask yourself questions about your character. They don't even have to be extreme. "What would she do if she was accosted by someone due to mistaken identity?" "How would she react if something was stolen from her?" "How would she react to a beggar in a street?"

Another thing that may work is to write out (or even just imagine) some conversations between her and a random person. How does she think, what does she say? Again, the idea (for making a character with depth) is to get in her head, to understand her dreams, emotions, desires, fears, and all of that.

Also, try to figure out what she believes that's just plain wrong. Not necessarily factually, but what are the things that are holding her back? This often makes for memorable character arcs as characters are confronted with these deficiencies and then either triumph over them, or succumb to them. Han Solo is not interesting because he's a smuggler. Han is interesting because we watch his transformation from being a completely self-centered, selfish person into seeing what's at stake, and putting himself at risk for it.

Another good way to drive character (in-game) is to use randomization. When confronted with a decision, decide what options seem somewhat likely, and roll for it. Use the results to "back-fill" *why* the character would have made that choice.

Good characters are about what they *do*, not what they *are*.

EDIT: I also believe that it was Dave Arneson who said that the first five levels ARE the backstory. I think there's truth to this - going into a game with too strong an idea of who the character is can prevent you from letting the character speak to you via the game.

Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-21, 08:03 PM
The thing is, I think a lot of her reactions to things would just be bland, typical responses:

Accosted on account of mistaken identity? She'd ask just what the other guy's talking about and after hearing him out tell him he's mistaken.

Sees a beggar on the street? Tosses a few coppers his way and keeps walkin'.

Something's stolen from her? She'll try to get it back if it's convenient, such as chase down a thief who pickpocketed her. If not, like if she was the victim of a burglary, she'd just buy replacements for whatever was stolen.

You know, the kind of things most sane people would do when confronted with situations like these.

kyoryu
2012-03-21, 08:16 PM
The thing is, I think a lot of her reactions to things would just be bland, typical responses:

Accosted on account of mistaken identity? She'd ask just what the other guy's talking about and after hearing him out tell him he's mistaken.

Sees a beggar on the street? Tosses a few coppers his way and keeps walkin'.

Something's stolen from her? She'll try to get it back if it's convenient, such as chase down a thief who pickpocketed her. If not, like if she was the victim of a burglary, she'd just buy replacements for whatever was stolen.

You know, the kind of things most sane people would do when confronted with situations like these.

But there's a wide range of "typical" responses. What you've just described is someone who's relatively aloof, non-confrontational, and something of a peacemaker. You've also described someone that doesn't hold too much of a grudge, can tolerate petty slights against her, and is pretty level-headed.

"Typical" responses for the accosting might be:
* What you described
* Warning the person to back off, they've got the wrong person
* Turning and walking away
* Calling for the guards

etc. Those would all, to me, be "sane" and normal responses. Yet they all suggest different character traits.

Similarly, with the beggar, "normal" reactions could inclue:
* tossing a few coins the beggar's way
* Finding out why they're a beggar, and seeing if you could help
* Tossing more than a few coins the beggar's way
* Ignoring the beggar
* Actively avoiding the beggar by walking on the other side of the street
* Berating the beggar for being such a drain

These are all pretty "normal" and "sane" responses. But they also suggest very different temperaments.

Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-21, 08:26 PM
But there's a wide range of "typical" responses. What you've just described is someone who's relatively aloof, non-confrontational, and something of a peacemaker. You've also described someone that doesn't hold too much of a grudge, can tolerate petty slights against her, and is pretty level-headed.

"Typical" responses for the accosting might be:
* What you described
* Warning the person to back off, they've got the wrong person
* Turning and walking away
* Calling for the guards

etc. Those would all, to me, be "sane" and normal responses. Yet they all suggest different character traits.

Similarly, with the beggar, "normal" reactions could inclue:
* tossing a few coins the beggar's way
* Finding out why they're a beggar, and seeing if you could help
* Tossing more than a few coins the beggar's way
* Ignoring the beggar
* Actively avoiding the beggar by walking on the other side of the street
* Berating the beggar for being such a drain

These are all pretty "normal" and "sane" responses. But they also suggest very different temperaments.
I see. I need something to make her seem a bit more predatory, then.

QuidEst
2012-03-21, 10:06 PM
Subtle snake-like things:
She doesn't blink, she bundles up when it's cold (unlike most female characters in fantasy), she uses Mage Hand as a back-scratcher (hardly shedding her skin, but that would be unpleasant for everybody involved). Nothing too over-the-top.
Once you want to something a little more out there, instead of making it a stock cool thing from snakes (eyes, tongue, flexibility), have her occasionally eat a mouse. Preferably live. Things like that. It avoids the two-dimensional "hawt sorceress" thing a little.

For her character, snakes are actually a little cat-like. Disinterested for the most part, posture when threatened, and then actually lay down some major hurt if you continue to mess with them. If I were using the character, I'd aim for a little aloof, coy rather than more aggressive, and rather than getting all heady with power, enjoying it like a warm fire on a cold day. Acts a little duller than she is so she can surprise people, but enjoys the occasional scathing comment. Perhaps a little lazy on the whole- I would expect most sorcerers to be that, or manically energetic. In her case, not only does she have magic at her beck and call, but she can convince people to do what she wants for her. Throw in magical reinforcement for when that doesn't work, and it's probably been a while since she's had to worry about the minor details of things.

A few more things to consider:
•Is she the type to conceal cosmetic changes magically?
•What's her Berserk Button (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BerserkButton)? Not everybody has to have one, but one of the nice things about stepping outside of lawful is that you can have your character freak out about something. For instance, somebody stealing from her might instead get hunted down, have Hold Person thrown on, and get the full force of that Cha bonus to Intimidate while they're there helpless. (Talking's a free action, so you can deliver the whole speech.) Blindness works as well, but leaves the option of leaving them like that. It doesn't have to be getting stolen from, and you can come up with something more creative for what she does. (e.g. Blindness, Deafness, then communicates telepathically with them while they're cut off from the world.)
•Suppose she fails Test of the Starstone (as most people do)- what's her reaction likely to be?
•An alternate suggestion for the beggar- perhaps she'd hire him. Give him some food and money to have him carry stuff for her, deliver a message, or some such thing. (Probably with a little threatening so he doesn't make off with the stuff- what else is Ghost Sound for?)
•Consider looking up some interesting snakes, plus behavior. You don't have to draw from it much, but it's good for brainstorming. The best things are ones that aren't obvious if somebody doesn't know she's somehow connected to snakes, but make sense once you do know that.

Kurgan
2012-03-21, 10:25 PM
I want her to seem seductive. As a friend of mine said when I told him about the concept, "A female character with a Charisma-based class and a bloodline based around the most flexible animal ever? Avoiding sexual innuendo is going to be difficult." But I don't want her to seem like a two-dimensional juvenile fantasy.

Well, here you might want to think about whether she sees people as, well, people, or if she sees them as tools to be used.

For example, she needs to get past a guard, so maybe she uses a charm spell plus some seduction to lure him away from his post, then dispose of him however, and proceed to the place he was guarding. Does it involve seduction? Yes. Is it two dimensional? Not really.

For here, you might also want to think of why she is traveling to this place. Could be to find her roots or whatnot. Also, how does she see the rest of the party? Friends? Comrades in arms? Convenient meatshields? Does she see them as people she wants to protect out of friendship or does she help them out merely out of shared goals?




I want her to eventually develop the goal of taking the Test of the Starstone, a way for mortals to ascend to godhood, after encountering the people she's descended from, deciding to try and replace their decapitated evil god. It's similar to a character I played before: a tiefling paladin who sought to become a god because she thought the only god who had any impact on her race didn't really care about them and was a bad influence. But I don't want her to be a goody-two-shoes.
I want the changes her power brings to her body to be a central theme of her character, the fact that she's slowly but steadily losing her humanity. But I don't want her to fall to either extreme of self-loathing "Boo-hoo I'm an evil spawn rebelling against my own kind like a certain drow ranger!" or self-loving "Yahoo, I'm an evil spawn becoming more like my own kind, let's do some evil stuff!" And I want her to develop more snakelike traits and mannerisms, but I don't want to do so in a way that seems too cartoony, like constantly using Sssssnake Talk (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SssssnakeTalk).

Well, snakelike, the first thing that comes to mind is lethargy to me. I know most times I see snakes, they are lazing about in a little nook/crack in my front porch sunbathing. Perhaps she starts to take a preference to days? Maybe its as simple as she prefers hanging out in the sun or on rooftops during downtime?



I want her to like the power she has and want more of it, a subtle hint that she's almost like a return to her ancestors' glory days. But I don't want her to be all "MWAHAHAHAHAHA MORE POWER!!!"
[/LIST]
That's the core I think. I've got a lot of ideas and don't know how to do any of them subtly and how to combine them into a single character.

If her goal is godhood, then the more power she gains, the more likely she is to succeed in her endeavor, then she will obviously like more power. You don't need to go "MORE MORE MORE!" to show this. Simply flaunting your power now and then, or maybe going on quests solely to increase your personal power is enough.

After all, why go to the Ancient Temple of Macguffinuffin to retrieve the relic for the local priest, when you can instead take it for yourself? That is pragmatism (though maybe a touch evil, depending on what the priest was going to do with the relic), not horrible greed and screaming and raving for power.

Hope these help!

Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-21, 10:44 PM
Subtle snake-like things:
She doesn't blink, she bundles up when it's cold (unlike most female characters in fantasy), she uses Mage Hand as a back-scratcher (hardly shedding her skin, but that would be unpleasant for everybody involved). Nothing too over-the-top.
Once you want to something a little more out there, instead of making it a stock cool thing from snakes (eyes, tongue, flexibility), have her occasionally eat a mouse. Preferably live. Things like that. It avoids the two-dimensional "hawt sorceress" thing a little.
Those are great ideas!

For her character, snakes are actually a little cat-like. Disinterested for the most part, posture when threatened, and then actually lay down some major hurt if you continue to mess with them. If I were using the character, I'd aim for a little aloof, coy rather than more aggressive, and rather than getting all heady with power, enjoying it like a warm fire on a cold day. Acts a little duller than she is so she can surprise people, but enjoys the occasional scathing comment. Perhaps a little lazy on the whole- I would expect most sorcerers to be that, or manically energetic. In her case, not only does she have magic at her beck and call, but she can convince people to do what she wants for her. Throw in magical reinforcement for when that doesn't work, and it's probably been a while since she's had to worry about the minor details of things.
That's PERFECT!

A few more things to consider:
•Is she the type to conceal cosmetic changes magically?
Initially, no. No one's seen serpentfolk in a very long time, but once they reveal themselves she doesn't want people lumping her in with them.

•What's her Berserk Button (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BerserkButton)? Not everybody has to have one, but one of the nice things about stepping outside of lawful is that you can have your character freak out about something. For instance, somebody stealing from her might instead get hunted down, have Hold Person thrown on, and get the full force of that Cha bonus to Intimidate while they're there helpless. (Talking's a free action, so you can deliver the whole speech.) Blindness works as well, but leaves the option of leaving them like that. It doesn't have to be getting stolen from, and you can come up with something more creative for what she does. (e.g. Blindness, Deafness, then communicates telepathically with them while they're cut off from the world.)
I'm starting to think people treating her like a peasant or commoner is probably a good one. She's descended from a mighty underground empire, dammit! She expects to be treated with respect.

•Suppose she fails Test of the Starstone (as most people do)- what's her reaction likely to be?
If she fails, wouldn't she be dead? I was under the impression that the only ones who succeeded at the Test were the ones who survived.

•An alternate suggestion for the beggar- perhaps she'd hire him. Give him some food and money to have him carry stuff for her, deliver a message, or some such thing. (Probably with a little threatening so he doesn't make off with the stuff- what else is Ghost Sound for?)
That's actually better. I'm starting to imagine her as a pampered noble's kid, used to bossing people around.

•Consider looking up some interesting snakes, plus behavior. You don't have to draw from it much, but it's good for brainstorming. The best things are ones that aren't obvious if somebody doesn't know she's somehow connected to snakes, but make sense once you do know that.
TO WIKIPEDIA!

Slipperychicken
2012-03-21, 10:59 PM
You know, the kind of things most sane people would do when confronted with situations like these.

With the homeless example, you could try ignoring (not looking at or talking to, turning your head away, looking down, pretending you can't hear) the homeless. She's a great person, but maybe...

Interacting with grimy/ugly/etc hobos is outside her comfort zone.

She doesn't want to risk disease or injury from an unwashed, potentially-violent, or mentally-ill homeless guy.

She heard rumors that rich people sometimes disguise as homeless to get free money.

A hard life (or experience with trading) led her to penny-pinching.

She thinks that beggars are lazy, and should pull themselves back up.

She believes that handouts will only exacerbate homelessness, by reducing incentives to get a job.

She thinks the beggar will only use the money on booze and drugs.

She's on a quest to save the world, so she needs every dime she can get to do that.



Also, googling "author/fiction-writer character sheets" brings up questionnaires which can really help flesh out a character.

QuidEst
2012-03-21, 11:01 PM
Those are great ideas!

That's PERFECT!

Glad you like 'em. X)


I'm starting to think people treating her like a peasant or commoner is probably a good one. She's descended from a mighty underground empire, dammit! She expects to be treated with respect.



That's actually better. I'm starting to imagine her as a pampered noble's kid, used to bossing people around.


I wouldn't play the nobility card here so much as the magical powers. The pampered princess is very common. Magic-user making life easier for themselves, potentially at the expense of those around them? That's a little more like Prospero from "The Tempest".

If I were doing it (your character, so you're free to do whatever), she'd still be trying to do things efficiently even when using other people. Minimal trouble for herself first and foremost, but if any individual does a lot for you, they expect a lot in return. That's a nuisance, one dealt with easily in three ways. 1) Spread it out- don't have one person doing everything. 2) Beggar example- sometimes "expecting a lot" isn't hard to meet. A little food and money goes a long way for somebody who's broke and starving. 3) Not lording things over people openly makes for better P.R. If somebody needs to be put in place, use a cool, direct, and menacing-but-veiled approach.

That said, I've got what I consider somewhat paranoid cliché avoidance. If a pampered princess is more fun, you're free to do it!


If she fails, wouldn't she be dead? I was under the impression that the only ones who succeeded at the Test were the ones who survived.

Well, not quite…

Those few who pass become demigods, while those who fail usually die, although a select few manage to escape, occasionally with great wealth, but no divinity.
Don't want to force the DM's hand with "Divinity or Death!" :smalltongue:
It'd make for interesting development, I should think.

Greyfeld85
2012-03-21, 11:04 PM
Almost every character I make starts as a set of stats and a bit of crunch. Then, I ask questions to figure out what that crunch says about my character.


She's a wizard. What sort of spells does she specialize in, or prefer to use?
She has a penchant for ice spells. Why?
She grew up in the frozen north. Why did she leave?
Her parents died of hypothermia, leaving her to fend for herself.
etc etc...


I try to make sure my crunch and fluff compliment one another, so I usually end up creating my character's history around their mechanics. It makes an easy jumping-off point, and if I hit on an idea that I really really like, I can expand on it.

Knaight
2012-03-21, 11:07 PM
But there's a wide range of "typical" responses. What you've just described is someone who's relatively aloof, non-confrontational, and something of a peacemaker. You've also described someone that doesn't hold too much of a grudge, can tolerate petty slights against her, and is pretty level-headed.

"Typical" responses for the accosting might be:
* What you described
* Warning the person to back off, they've got the wrong person
* Turning and walking away
* Calling for the guards

etc. Those would all, to me, be "sane" and normal responses. Yet they all suggest different character traits.

Similarly, with the beggar, "normal" reactions could inclue:
* tossing a few coins the beggar's way
* Finding out why they're a beggar, and seeing if you could help
* Tossing more than a few coins the beggar's way
* Ignoring the beggar
* Actively avoiding the beggar by walking on the other side of the street
* Berating the beggar for being such a drain

These are all pretty "normal" and "sane" responses. But they also suggest very different temperaments.
I'd also add that there is a lot of fun to be had leaving "normal". Consider these (some of which are more moral than others):

Accosting
* Throwing a near-tantrum, full of "Do you know who I am!" and similar.
* Pulling a weapon on the person and threatening them.
* Pretending to be the person they're mistaken for.

Beggar
* Actually going well out of their way to help them.
* Giving them a few coins somewhat respectfully, instead of with a nonchalant toss.
* Giving the beggar tips for begging, despite having no clue on how to actually beg.

Something Stolen
* Casually shooting the thief in the back
* Immediately calling the guards on them
* Cornering the thief, then threaten them until getting back what they stole and a fair amount besides
* Standing around dazed for a while, then see about finding the thief.

Kaun
2012-03-21, 11:14 PM
I already have two traits picked out for her. The first is the Campaign Trait "Boarded in Varisia" which represents that she's exotic to the people of the Mwangi Expanse, where we're headed, signified by the fact that her mind-affecting spells are treated at +1 caster level when used against people and creatures of the jungle. The second is a homebrewed trait I made up and my GM approved that I call "Serpentine Intuition." Basically it's that she's good at reading body language because she stares at people when talking to them like a snake will watch its prey for slight and sudden moves before striking, which gives her a +1 to Sense Motive and lets her treat it as a class skill.

Part of the problem is that I have ideas of where I want to take the character, but I don't know how to roleplay them believably:


I want her to seem seductive. As a friend of mine said when I told him about the concept, "A female character with a Charisma-based class and a bloodline based around the most flexible animal ever? Avoiding sexual innuendo is going to be difficult." But I don't want her to seem like a two-dimensional juvenile fantasy.
I want her to eventually develop the goal of taking the Test of the Starstone, a way for mortals to ascend to godhood, after encountering the people she's descended from, deciding to try and replace their decapitated evil god. It's similar to a character I played before: a tiefling paladin who sought to become a god because she thought the only god who had any impact on her race didn't really care about them and was a bad influence. But I don't want her to be a goody-two-shoes.
I want the changes her power brings to her body to be a central theme of her character, the fact that she's slowly but steadily losing her humanity. But I don't want her to fall to either extreme of self-loathing "Boo-hoo I'm an evil spawn rebelling against my own kind like a certain drow ranger!" or self-loving "Yahoo, I'm an evil spawn becoming more like my own kind, let's do some evil stuff!" And I want her to develop more snakelike traits and mannerisms, but I don't want to do so in a way that seems too cartoony, like constantly using Sssssnake Talk (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SssssnakeTalk).
I want her to like the power she has and want more of it, a subtle hint that she's almost like a return to her ancestors' glory days. But I don't want her to be all "MWAHAHAHAHAHA MORE POWER!!!"

That's the core I think. I've got a lot of ideas and don't know how to do any of them subtly and how to combine them into a single character.

For some reason this puts me in mind of Agent Stahl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf9iGZ1iJeI) from SoA.

kyoryu
2012-03-21, 11:26 PM
I see. I need something to make her seem a bit more predatory, then.

Not necessarily. In fact, if you want to make a more-than-two-dimensional character, it might be a good idea not to. See, what makes a two-dimensional character such, is when they have a single "tag" or "focus", and everything they do supports that.

What makes characters more than two-dimensional is conflict within themselves.

Someone who is kind and a bit of a peacemaker most of the time, but becomes extremely aggressive when their instinct forces them into "predator" mode (and how they handle the conflict between the two) is much more interesting than someone that's all predator, all the time. Someone with two driving motivations that sometimes conflict with each other is more interesting than someone with single-minded determination.

These are the types of things that, IMHO, make interesting characters. Just beating everyone over the head with "SHE'S A SNAKE" is very two-dimensional, and doesn't even necessarily provide a lot of roleplaying potential.

EDIT: I'd even go so far as to ask "what makes her interesting, apart from being a snake?" Typically, it's *who you are* that makes interesting roleplaying, not necessarily *what you are*.

DropsonExistanc
2012-03-22, 12:53 AM
She sounds like someone who is Confident. I mean, powerful sorceress, plans to become a goddess when she gets around to it...

Now, can you imagine what she would be like when something spins way out of control? When she is downright wrong? I think it's important to know who your character would react when her worldview is shaken.

Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-22, 01:01 AM
Like she will be when she finds her family is descended from favored slaves and isn't related to serpentfolk nobility at all? :smallbiggrin:

Tranquil fury is probably the best way to describe it. She doesn't yell or make big grandiose motions. She just works to disable whatever the source of her displeasure is quickly and harshly, whether that's with a stern lecture or a well-placed black constrictors (like black tentacles except they look like pythons rather than a Dark Tapestry monster) spell. If you shake her up enough to goad her into actual violence, she'll attempt to kill before you even have a chance to react.

Imagine her kind of like Gary Oldman near the end of The Fifth Element:

"I am very disappointed!"

Knaight
2012-03-22, 01:05 AM
Tranquil fury is probably the best way to describe it. She doesn't yell or make big grandiose motions. She just works to disable whatever the source of her displeasure is quickly and harshly, whether that's with a stern lecture or a well-placed black constrictors (like black tentacles except they look like pythons rather than a Dark Tapestry monster) spell. If you shake her up enough to goad her into actual violence, she'll attempt to kill before you even have a chance to react.

However, there is the point past that. The source of her displeasure may well be an entire society, and even if it isn't there is the question of what happens when her control of the situation is gone. She can't disable that source, if she tries actual violence she'll be on the losing side, and she is along for the ride. Maybe she is on a path where that is slowly coming into her perceptions.

Now what?

Coidzor
2012-03-22, 01:05 AM
All my best characters tend to have pretty bare-bones backstories that get fleshed out as I RP them and, as it were, get to know them.

Yeah... I can't write a backstory worth crud and have to get to know the character by doing. x.x Sometimes building the character mechanically will give me flashes of insight, I suppose.

Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-22, 01:14 AM
However, there is the point past that. The source of her displeasure may well be an entire society, and even if it isn't there is the question of what happens when her control of the situation is gone. She can't disable that source, if she tries actual violence she'll be on the losing side, and she is along for the ride. Maybe she is on a path where that is slowly coming into her perceptions.

Now what?
That's partly why she's interested in the whole "becoming a god" thing. She figures that the key to solving problems that big is having equally big power to cajole or frighten into submission.

Knaight
2012-03-22, 01:18 AM
That's partly why she's interested in the whole "becoming a god" thing. She figures that the key to solving problems that big is having equally big power to cajole or frighten into submission.

I'm not talking about her abstract opinion about those situations. I'm talking about how she acts when she is actually stuck in them.

Archpaladin Zousha
2012-03-22, 08:12 AM
She'd likely try to get out of it. Say it was a nation she had a problem with, she'd try to leave. If something's too powerful or entrenched for her power to remove, she'll decide it's not worth sticking around and putting up with. If she gets more powerful maybe she'll come back and deal with it, otherwise it's not her problem anymore.