Creating Personalities for PCs

[Gantros]

Just curious what kinds of methods people use to come up with personalities for the characters they play. For something that seems so central to a role-playing game, there is disturbingly little discussion about this in the core rulebooks.

 

[The Shaman]

I voted for the first six - my characters are a blending of those elements to one degree or another.

 

[Zappo]

I invent my own character personalities, but I'll try to make the stats fit the personality. I really dislike rolling stats, because that prevents me from doing that... any power I have to influence my stats, I will use it to reflect the character's personality.

 

[Vonlok The Bold]

I usually start with an interesting idea, but sometimes that idea will be based on a personality out of history. I will definitely refine the character by what statistics I've rolled. When I play fighters I usually place the lowest stat on wisdeom, and that will affect their personality.

Whether I want to or not, my own personality will find its way in to the character. That usually comes in with what I think is fair regarding our own party.

 

[MonsterMash]

I've used all except DM assigned or Other - think the options covered pretty much everything.

 

[Threedub]

I decide on a character class as needed by the party, roll scores, and then dream up the personality from ideas that also fit the scores. But before any of that, I first talk to the GM, no matter what the game, to figure out the type of campaign and the type of characters that would fit into it.

I never come to a campaign with a charcter, I let the character come from the campaign.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The only one I haven't done is basing it on someone I know.

As for "other," I have gotten inspiration from music, art, cool minis, interesting equipment, video games, and even random generators.

 

[davidschwartznz]

Sorry, I've skewed you're result by voting for everything (or should I say failed to skew?). Sufficed to say, I've done everything on that list, often several at once.

 

[monboesen]

My own experience is that a characters personality often isn't really set in the beginning of a campaign.

I usually have some ideas and the actual stats factor in as well. But the most important influence is the game itself, Making tough choises in game builds the character.

 

[delericho]

My players are free to develop their character's personalities as they like. However, I like them to have some idea of what they're aiming for prior to the campaign beginning. However, I have found that they lean in one of two directions: either they play a slightly modified version of themselves over and over, or they play the same character (often an extremely self-serving mercenary) over and over.

As an aid to PCs creating character backgrounds, and also for my own use, I offer the following quick method for generating characters. The system tends to produce fairly iconic characters, which is somewhat intentional, and also allows a great deal of room for future development, which was definately intentional.

To create a character's background, write four sentences.

The first sentence is the anecdote. This is any one story, fact or memory from your character's past. "I grew up in Rivendell, for a time.", "I dumped a cargo of smuggled goods when I was about to be boarded.", "There's a 24-hour period in my memories that I can't account for."

The second sentence is the quirk. This is any one fact, mannerism or detail about the character's present. “I'm always investing in dodgy businesses in an attempt to make a quick buck.” “I'm constantly whining about how hopeless the situation is.” “I wander the forests as a crazy old hermit.”

The third sentence is the goal. This is something that the character wishes to achieve in the future (preferably not something that can be achieved too quickly). "I want to become a paladin." "I want to wake everyone up, to free them from the tyranny of the machine." "I want to discharge the life-debt I owe."

The fourth sentence is the mystery. This can either be some fact about the character that he doesn't want others to know, or it could be something that the character does not know, but wants to (in which case, it should be something distinct from the goal, or else it's just repetition). "I killed my best friend in a drunken rage." "I want to learn the identity of my human father." "I woke one day with a strange tattoo on my arm, and want to know what it is and what it means."