How do you Build your Character?

[Hussar]

Ok, first off, I'm not talking about the mechanics side of things. There are people who do that WAYYY better than me.

I'm talking about where do you start when you want to make a new character? The reason I ask is I'm currently playing a Gnome Binder in a 3.5 game and it's taken me a heck of a long time for this guy to develop any personality. It took me a while to figure out why that was and here's the thing. This is one of the first characters I ever made from a mechanics first perspective.

Usually when I make a character, I try to envisage a personality. What's he like, what does he want, goals, enemies? That sort of thing. Once I have a fairly decent picture in my mind of what this guy is like, then I go and start picking class and whatnot. My last character, a priest of St. Cuthbert who wanted to burn all the sinners started exactly this way. I had his personality hooks first and then his class.

So how do you do it? How do you breathe life into your characters. My poor gnome didn't have much of a personality until he failed his first binder check. Now, almost all his personality comes from failing binder checks. Loads of fun. But, man, it took a long time. And, if he makes all his checks, he's back to being really boring again. :'(

What do you think is the best way to build a character?

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well, I usually like to know first and foremost what themes, ideas, focus, etc. the plot/setting will be oriented around. This can really get my brain going, if it is a urban campaign with *put interesting aspect here* then I can focus myself on that. Also in the same theme though probably more since I like drawing/visualization is "Colour Themes", it just works really well for me.

From there once I got a idea of what aspect I want to focus on I usually develop how the character will act out, not backstory or personal goals or what not. Simply how the character reacts to stuff to fit the theme I am going for.

Then finally I build a background, NPCs, etc. that fit with this. This I find you need not spend as much time on since it can always be expanded upon in-game. You come to a place that would make sense for your character to have traveled to BAM! there is a NPC you know in the city.

Obviously after all that comes mechanics.

 

[fba827]

it really depends on my mood.

-sometimes i pick personality archtype first and then build out that way
-sometimes i pick a race or class that has some feature and build my pc based on the 'personality' of that feature that excited me
-sometimes (yes, i'm serious) i will just roll a dice and have it pick my race, then repeat to have it pick my class, then i'll roll using the npc personality table, and then i work out the details on how those 3 results work together -- a couple "not my types" but i find a lot of fun that way too (of course, i am fairly 'go with the flow' and can have fun with most things... not all.. but most)
-sometimes something in the campaign plot just triggers a thought in my head for a good background and i just work from that

so, my point, it all depends on my mood at the moment and i pretty much do one of a wide variety of things

 

[Lanefan]

it really depends on my mood.

-sometimes i pick personality archtype first and then build out that way

This.

-sometimes i pick a race or class that has some feature and build my pc based on the 'personality' of that feature that excited me

And this.

-sometimes (yes, i'm serious) i will just roll a dice and have it pick my race, then repeat to have it pick my class, then i'll roll using the npc personality table, and then i work out the details on how those 3 results work together -- a couple "not my types" but i find a lot of fun that way too (of course, i am fairly 'go with the flow' and can have fun with most things... not all.. but most)

Aaand this too. Often any ideas I might have going in get amended or twisted or even thrown out completely depending on what the dice give me anyway, so I'm usually ready to adapt.

-sometimes something in the campaign plot just triggers a thought in my head for a good background and i just work from that

Or someone else will suggest a character or personality and I'll run with it.

And, occasionally, I'll end up in the same spot you're in with your Gnome, where nothing leaps to mind at all. All I can do there is come up with some sort of odd accent to make it distinctive and then hope something comes up in the game that I can use as a hook. (one suggestion: find a table for such things and roll a random previous profession e.g. jeweller, farmer, etc. - that alone can trigger an entire personality)

Lanefan

 

[wayne62682]

I follow the following steps:

1) Talk with DM to find out what the tone/theme/plot of the campaign will be.

2) Talk with other players and find out what they're planning on playing, to ensure group cohesion and make sure that we have a reason for adventuring together; typically I like my character to have ties to at least one other PC.

3) Come up with concepts that fit the tone and theme of the campaign (gleaned from #1) exactly; I like to play to the game and make a character who really gels with the overall setting - if the campaign will revolve heavily around undead and a vampire lord as the main villain, my character will be a devout paladin, and the vampire lord killed his wife and child; if it's courtly intrigue then my character is a loyal retainer to the king (or alternatively a revolutionary set on removing the evil tyrant). This doesn't always work due to DM secrecy and/or the "The campaign is whatever you guys decide" (which, as an aside, I absolutely HATE).

4) Flesh out said concept.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The ease of character design is really dependent on the amount of info I have about the game. If someone says "make up a character for a D&D game, we are starting at 1st level" then I will probably show up with just a sheet of stats and little thought about the character aspect until I know more about the game.

With a slight amount of information about the game, an actual character is much easier to come up with.

What info did you have about the game/campaign before you created your character?

 

[Doug McCrae]

Step 1: Mechanics. A personality free bag of points that will kick ass in that system.
Step 2: Personality.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Typically I let the dice build up a structure of ability scores and from there I think of the third thing that comes to mind to signify those stats. In a game that's more of a one-shot or is more cliche driven (like Feng Shui) then I'll take the second thing that comes to mind.

 

[Piratecat]

The last character I made from a mechanics-based perspective (a psiwarrior dwarf) turned out to be really bland. Nowadays I decide on the class and then imagine a roleplaying hook. I then build the character from there. It helps if I imagine what he or she sounds like, how he'd move, and how other people generally see him. Sometimes I consider who I'd cast in the role if it were a movie; that helps me get a handle on how they react.

That's one of the reasons I am loving the Character Builder; once I have a concept, it takes ten minutes tops to flesh it out mechanically.

 

[Lord Ernie]

I'm not entirely sure where the process starts, in most cases. I tend to have lots of potential character conceps floating around in my head, so I'm usually capable of coming up with an interesting enough character (at least, IMO) relatively easy. I usually follow these steps:

1. I see what everyone else is cooking up, both personality-wise and mechanics-wise. I'm usually the last to actually start designing my character, and I like to fill in 'holes' in the group. When I find that hole, I start gathering ideas for characters that would work well in that position.
2. Once I've got a rough concept in my head (which can be very generic, or very specific, depending on how well I know the system I'm working with), I start working on the mechanics. What classes would fit the concept & the group, and also work to be an effective character once I'm done (e.g. I've never played a pure-classed bard in 3.0 ... it works as a concept, but not very well mechanically)?
3. Now I add the two together, and start working on specifics, be it spells, feats, combat style, or even race.

Example: I recently played a couple of sessions of the Pathfinder beta (one of my friends who DM's is very reluctant about 4E), and had to make a character. I knew the other characters in the group would be a rogue, a fighter, and a bard, so I started thinking of a support character who still could help out in combat. I looked at the system, and came upon a cleric, which with the right domain picks and such can be a very effective combat character, but mainly heals and supports. Then I studied the gods and the races, and with some brainstorming I came up with a Half-Orc priest of the god of wine, freedom, and bravery, who's half-drunk most of the time, loves taking risks (or rather, doesn't really consider them), and tries to inspire his comrades to bravery with boisterous (bad) singing and bad plans.