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enderlord99
2012-07-17, 01:51 PM
Here's one of mine:

His name is Lothar Donovan, and he was a powerful warrior who slew giants, dragons, and many other terrible things. Because of an attack from his most fearsome foe (as of that time), an archfiend, his soul was shattered. However, his will was so strong that the shards of his soul, while separate, still acted as one. Some of the shards hid within various objects around the world*, others manifested themselves as ghosts, and still more remained within his body, keeping him alive. He barely managed to win the battle in which this happened (you try killing a demonic demigod while you only have one third of a soul in you), but the demon's soul own soul was also shattered upon its death, and, although most of those shards were destroyed, one planted itself within Gregory. Gregory has since learned to control the demonic shard within himself, in order to use powerful magic without being overcome by that shard's evil. He can also absorb additional shards from other foes he kills, and gain power from them, as well. He now has clawed hands and glowing red eyes (the demon's only visible manifestations), and is still just as great a warrior as he ever was. He also has gained enough strength that, if he wanted to, he could bench-press elephants.


*(like horcruxes, minus the evilness)

What are the best characters you have made?

EDIT: Come on! Does no-one have interesting characters?

enderlord99
2012-07-18, 10:26 PM
It has been nowhere near six weeks, so it should be okay to bump the thread, right?

Sir_Gabes
2012-07-19, 01:43 AM
Here's one I made for Mutants and Masterminds.

His name is Man' O War. He's a paraplegic man who invented a battle suit to protect the world. His wheel chair could transform into his battle suit. The battle suit has an in built sword that could form a cannon as well.

I don't have much of a back story for him unfortunately.

prufock
2012-07-19, 08:50 AM
I tend to actually do research on characters. It's weird, but for instance:

Lucifer: For a superhero game, I had Lucifer, who was born with the pigment luciferin in designs in his skin, and the enzyme luciferase in his blood. When the two combined, he could glow sort of like a firefly, but with a colour more like glow-in-the-dark stickers - that greenish-yellow. He had some minor powers associated with this. He was taken from his parents as a baby (has no idea who they are or what his real name is), and trained for a shadow organization of the government for military black ops. They experimented on him, adjusting the luciferase until he was able to create solid light constructs, fly, etc. When he bleeds, his blood reacts with the air and partially forms hydrogen peroxide - no game effect, just descriptive. I read up on all these terms and chemicals and reactions, obviously fictionalizing them for the sake of superhero logic.

That's an example of how I obsess about little things sometimes. Another example:
Eldritch: Have you ever heard of the Philidelphia Experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment)? Well, Eldritch was a private on the Eldridge (that's the source for his name), when the experiments were conducted. As such, he got powers related to the alleged happenings of the experiment: his consciousness was projected a fraction of a second into the future, giving him great insight and reflexes, he could teleport in a blue flash, he could move through solid material, he could become invisible/concealed in green haze, he could phase people out of time in a minor way by touch. His powers seemed like magic to anyone who didn't know what had happened to him, so he took an altered version of the ship's name. He also suffers from a little bit of PTSD and has trouble relating to people since his mind isn't quite in the present, making him seem aloof and distracted.

Actually, mental disorders or syndromes are a common theme in my characters. Take this guy:
Bartleby Underburrow: Mechanically he is a gnome beguiler/shadowcraft mage/shadowcrafter. He was part of a magical experiment which went awry, trapping him in the plane of shadow, where he remained for some years. Because of this, he suffers from solipsism syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism_syndrome).

Though he has managed to return to the material plane, he's never sure what's real and what isn't, whether things are all in his mind, or if reality is all just some dream. He can't be convinced of the material nature of things, and his magical abilities just seem to confirm these suspicions, since he can alter reality in such seemingly real ways, conjuring things out of nothing more than shadow. He is lonely and detached from the world, never being able to rely on the realness or immutability of things.

His friends and family have tried to get him to engage in behaviours that they feel would help him come back to reality - he has a pet and a plant for which to care, he journals, he's changed his diet and gets plenty of sleep and exercise, and spends plenty of time outdoors and with others. He went into adventuring mostly to be around people, have responsibility, have goals, be active, etc.

I guess you could say I like to give my characters personality hooks and plenty of room for development.

Jay R
2012-07-19, 09:04 AM
I had two characters in Champions (comic-book super-heroes). The coolest part of their character development was that one was a 60s (Silver Age) stalwart hero, and the other was an 80s-90s (Modern Age) grim'n'gritty hero. I'm leaving out the rest of their character descriptions (which went on for pages - yes, I'm That Guy. The most creative part was working out their codes so that they were true to their respective eras, but could still work together. (I suspect that only the comic book geeks here will enjoy this.)


Silver Age Code
With great power comes great responsibility. These powers aren't for self-aggrandizement, but for a higher purpose. The most important priority is to rescue people, and to not endanger them. Second priority is to stop crimes & capture criminals. Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot, and my larger-than-life reputation for truth and justice will make them fear me

Save the children first. (The adults are assumed to be trying to help, with all the skills they have.) The greatest heroes of all are the policemen, firemen, rescue workers and others who risk their lives daily with no powers -- just naked courage. We owe them our highest level of respect.


Modern Age Code
Doing the right thing is a great responsibility we all have, simply because it's right, totally independent of any power we have. These powers are merely tools. The most important priority is to rescue people, and to not endanger innocents. Save the children first. Unlike the adults, they are all innocent. Second priority is to stop the criminals. There are people who, by their own actions, deserve death. I won’t kill them, not because they don’t deserve it, but because I won’t go down to their level.

Criminals come in all walks of life, and the ones in suits and penthouses are as bad as the ones with the guns. And the ones in uniforms are the worst of all. Nobody has any right to any level of respect based on their job or rank or title. Respect can only be earned individually, day by day. Honest, hard-working policemen, firemen, rescue workers etc. deserve as much respect as the corrupt and cowardly ones deserve contempt. Unfortunately, there are too many corrupt ones, so the structure cannot be counted on to save people. That’s one reason why I choose to do so.

I will work within the system only to the extent that it's a useful tool, not because it is in any way inherently good. It's just as useful when used by evil people to hurt people. Cowardly and superstitious? Nonsense. Criminals are a greedy and hard-headed lot, usually using all modern tools available, including guns and computers, but also including boardrooms and media relations. If they come to fear me, it will not be out of superstition, but because I have proven that I can hurt them.