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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 955336" data-attributes="member: 259">I agree with you.  FWIW, I think people sometimes mistake outRAGEous character quirks for personality in their characters:  they think that being terrified of the color purple, or throwing flowers at their enemies, or calling themselves by the names of '70s rock stars constitutes good roleplaying.I disagree with that.  A good character is one that is easily visualized, whose motives are understandable, who reacts to events in a somewhat plausible fashion.  Caricature, exagerration, comic flaws are all great, but they need to fit in the framework of a plausible character.Thus, a character might be from a kingdom in which purple clothing is reserved for royalty, and have a tendency to bow to people wearing purple before remembering himself.  As long as the player does this quickly and subtly and doesn't interrupt the flow of a game, it could be great fun.Thus, a swashbuckler might tuck a daisy into the armor of an opponent (using a touch attack and incurring an AoO) before beginning a one-on-one fight to the death.  This could be a fun recurring motif, and if the swashbuckler has a reputation of winning all such single combats, I might even allow her a special intimidate check against an opponent who knows of the reputation; if she succeeds on the check, her opponent would be shaken for the combat.Thus, a character might come up with transparently false aliases whenever he meets someone new.  As long as the aliases stay within the realm of plausibility for the campaign world and don't break the fourth wall (to use Taky's apt phrase), it'd be a fun recurring gag.  Of course, an ally ought to clue the character in to the inadvisability of continuing this course, but it'll be fun while it lasts.In all cases, however, quirks work best as part of a more rounded character.  You might mention every other session how your druid smells faintly of goats, and as long as the druid has other character traits, people will snicker at being reminded.  You might when angry refer to yourself in the third person ("Velio the bard does NOT appreciate being interrupted in the middle of a song!") and as long as there's more to your personality, the joke won't grate on everyone's nerves.Quirks are a fine part of character development.  Just make sure they don't substitute for coming up with a compelling and coherent personality.Daniel</blockquote>

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