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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladyshade" data-source="post: 2558546">Just a few abstract, slightly connected thoughts that popped into my head.     How do you define in play, the little flaws, favorable, or even just subtle traits of your character(s)?  Do you have a favorite of any of these?  Have you ever really thought that issue out pre-play or do things just sort of develop once you get started? (Do you just play off other characters and get new ideas that seem to fit.)     What brought these little questions to my mind was thinking on the various discussions over how to play certain things well, mistakes people make in playing yada yada, and some of the replies topics like these drew out.  The answers that stand out in my mind at the moment are those that expressed the fact that some of these ‘out of the ordinary’ or ‘uncommon behaviors’ in certain unexpected beings are entirely planned.     I am not really talking about some of the terribly fantastic shifts in natural behavior like beings that are generally understood to be evil by nature portrayed as being ‘entirely goodly’ and vice versa.  I mean mostly ‘simpler’ things, parts of a character rather than the whole.  Things that are just out of the ‘ordinary’ enough to make other characters look at yours strangely now and then.  Perhaps even cause conflict in storylines.  I think of druids as being open to appreciating all creatures in some way, so my idea of ‘out of the ordinary’ would be someone playing a druid as utterly loathing a specific animal for some reason.  Some character portrayed as ‘evil’ might also be shown to have a very honest disgust and enmity for certain other evil and could go to great lengths to aid certain ‘good’ folk in getting rid of it.  (For some reason the idea of an anti-paladin hating an also evil assassin comes to mind.  It probably wouldn’t seem natural to most people for such beings to be at odds unless they were rivals in some way.)     An example of what I’m talking about in my own character Ladyshade, is her ‘willingness’ to rub elbows (interact at all) with beings that due to race/profession/life experience, she would be generally expected to shun.  I try to play out a few aspects of her character and history in this, and even though I might break down and explain them IC now and then I try to do it without her speaking a narrative every time she acts,…or doesn’t.       It is not uncommon for her to be seen speaking very pleasantly with certain obvious undead or even demon-kind who in turn conduct themselves politely and peaceably.  The conflict here is that she is a ‘goodly’ elf,..heh,..of a species of elf that is generally even more strictly thinking than other elves, who happens to be a cavalier of all things;  All in all a being who should ‘not’ be chatting away the day with such creatures.  This of course tends to look very bad for her.       Think most people would trust the honor and integrity of a so called ‘defender of good’ who consorts with the most obvious of ‘harbingers of evil’?  Hehehehe, I think not.       Yet IC, due to her characteristics (flaws, favorable, subtle), she has good reason to be doing so, without ‘betraying’ the general traits of either her class or race.     She, as a cavalier, is the sworn enemy of all creatures that threaten the general Weal, that are evil, that are unnatural.  She will never, ever, strike up a true friendship with such beings.  However, as part of her history, she was brought up with courtly manners.  This combined with perhaps a bit too much bravery and a very curious, adventurous nature makes her almost comfortable conversing with certain beings.  (At least to the point of her being able to appear outwardly comfortable.)  She is also has the internal conflict of being bound by the same Code that brings her to stand against certain creatures, to abide by the Laws of the land she is in.  In Juxta in particular this means she must grit her teeth and not ‘attack on sight.’  Even in the Greyhawk setting, Siani ‘welcomes’ all to her establishment so long as they ‘don’t go behind the bar, get blood on the floor or break her furniture.’  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />    Thus, if a creature doesn’t offer her obvious violence or threat, even if she’ll never truly trust them due to her nature and theirs, she is very likely to at least return polite conversation.  A few different character traits of hers are played out in this way.  I could even add to them both cleverness on her part, and alternately occasional bad judgment.  At times she speaks to certain beings just to get a measure of them, or perhaps give them a not entirely accurate measure of herself.  That of course can backfire on her as well.I like playing these things out.  Her friendliness can be both honest and artful, and not always when one expects.What is your favorite in your own characters?  What do you find gets the most interesting response?</blockquote>

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