CREATING A CHARACTER

A ROLE-PLAYING PRIMER

Below are some questions that will help flesh out your character. Answer as many of them as you can for your character. This will help you (and me) develop your character better. Also, these provide role-playing opportunities for you to earn extra xp.

1.What does your character look like? Does he/she/it have any scars? If so where and from what? Calluses? Has your character broken any bones, have mismatched eyes, ears, hands, legs?

2.How does he/she/it dress? Include jewelry (earrings, rings, necklaces, hairpins, brooches, bracelets). Examples: Always buys the finest he/she/it can, runs around in a loincloth whenever possible, has a gold ring with the largest diamond he can afford on his left index finger. Try to avoid stereotypes of always dresses in black, dark cloak, basic pattern colors. These have been done to death, and then some. Add some spice - plaid, or fine, shimmering, rainbow-colored silk, peacock feather in the hat, a gem-studded red sash, and so on. Heck, give her silver studs on her boots.

3.What sort of annoying habits does your character have? Examples: Constantly sniffing people (especially for non-human/demi-human races), eating any critters the party comes across, sleeping out in the barn, *always* taking notes, any short pithy statement that becomes irritating with repeated use (such as "Interesting", and "Indeed" from Hiyoshi and Tyleen). Any little something that you can tack on as an afterthought: "And while I’m talking to him, I sniff the girl’s hair."

4.What sort of non-annoying habits does your character have? Examples: Bathes at every given opportunity, always checks to see if someone’s tampered with your gear, always strikes up conversation with the servants, eats meat with every meal, hates grits, always takes care of mount before anything else. "Okay, after I pay the entry tax, I ask the gate guard, ‘Where is the best bathouse in the city?’"

5.How about quirks? Examples: Talks in third person - ALL THE TIME!, constantly embellishes events (And then the mighty knight, Sir Akkadar of the Shin Faer Calun, slew the evil ghost dragon with one blow of his powerful halberd!), always sings and hums to himself, constantly fusses with clothing (a la Piccard from STNG), always has a fresh feather in his hat after the first day in town.

6.How does your character feel about authority figures? (Knuckles under, makes jokes, sits back quietly and smiles, actively rebels)

7.If your character were being tortured, what would he/she/it do (besides try to escape, I mean)? What sort of torture would really get to him/her? Remember, given enough time, a torturer can break anyone. Examples: Character has a pain allergy - will give in quickly, character will lie until his tongue turns black, bite off tongue and spit it into torturer’s face. This doesn’t mean I’m going to force you into a torture chamber. I just want to know how much your character can take.

8.What does your character prize above all other things? Is it a person, a thing, or a concept?

9.How does he/she/it spend money? Quickly, flagrantly, miserly, judiciously, gambles it away, or wisely?

10.Will your character take prisoners, or just kill all opponents, whether they surrender or not?

11.Who is your character’s greatest enemy? Why? (Childhood rivals, he got the girl, killed your (insert family member(s) here), tortured you).

12.Who is your character’s greatest friend? Why? (Saved your life, helped you escape from prison, mentor, just a really steady guy who helped you out, former lover)

13.How does your character feel about magic? Why? (Magic is Cheating! Magic is frightening, magic is evil, magic is an Art, magic is a tool - neither good nor evil, magic is a confusing and aggravating thing, magic? What’s that?)

14.What are your character’s hobbies? (Horseback riding, calligraphy, mapmaking, singing, dancing, acting, story-telling).

15.How does your character view the opposite sex? (Sexist, puts men/women on a pedestal, loves them to death, hates women, homosexual, bisexual, neuter, they’re kinda strange.)

16.What sort of entertainment does your character enjoy? (Assuming he/she has the money: Cockfighting, gambling, poetry, plays, drunken binges of legendary proportion, horse races, knife dancing, exotic entertainment (S&M) fine wines/clothes/food, patron of the arts.)

17.How honorable is your character? Where does he/she draw the line? (I may be a thief, but I only steal from those who can afford it! He touched his weapon - I killed him, on seeing a beggar get kicked in the face you beat the living $#!^ out of the attacker.)

18.For mages: Is magic an art, science, or means to an end?

19.What is your character’s one main goal in life? (A farm and plot of land, the final irrevocable death of Laroth, to regain an inheritance, to become a ruler.)

20.How trusting is your character? Does he/she trust too much, too little, always gather more information about people given the opportunity?

21.What disgusts your character more than anything in the world? (Muddy clothes, wet underwear, fish, raw meat, snakes - why did it have to be snakes?)

22.What is your character’s name? Stay away from done-to-death names (Conan, Red, Grey, Kull, etc.) and names from science fiction (Doc Savage, Belgarion, Polgara, etc.). If you decide to insist on one of these names, I WILL give you hell. This is usually the hardest part of character creation. If you’re stumped, ask me. I’ve got lists of names for various cultures that you can choose from.

Cool Things That Have Been Done Before

Here are some of the more interesting concepts that have been applied to PCs before. Hopefully, these will inspire you.

The Blind Weaponmaster. Conan Sevenarrion had his eyes painfully removed at an early age, so he trained very, very hard to overcome it. He took the Blindfighting non-weapon prof and pumped 5-6 slots into it. As a result, he had very sharp hearing, had a fair chance to detect poisons by scent, and was immune to visual illusions and darkness penalties. Of course, a Silence spell effectively blinded him, and he suffered a few penalties for odor attacks (notably Stinking Cloud). Everywhere he went, people were laughing at him. He’d challenge them to a duel, kick their butts, and go on about his business. He also liked to use bastard swords as missile weapons, which was really funny when one critter grabbed his magical sword out of the air and wouldn’t give it back. Played by Mike Metrosky.

The Dwarf Who Hated Magic. Jalobar was a Dwarven scout who hated magic and mages. "Magic is Cheating!" he’d say while brandishing a very large, very sharp axe. He refused to use magical weapons unless they were made by priests. "If it’s from the gods, then it’s not magic!" He would attack mages who cast simple detection spells on him, and barely tolerated the other spellcasters in the party. (He made his extreme displeasure about their magic-use known in a violent, physical manner. Lucky for the mages, his older brother, Dane, was a priest.) The party came up with some very ingenious ways to trick Jalobar into accepting protective spells (casting them on him while he was asleep, unconscious, busy in a fight, or during prayer). He got bonus experience points - sometimes 3x normal - whenever he refused magical assistance, especially if he accomplished the task without magic. He also became adept at recognizing when people were surreptitiously trying to use magic on him or anyone else. He berated mages and anyone else using magical devices, trying to show by example that magic was an unnecesary complication in anyone’s life - Dwarf or not. Played by Sean McDaniels.

The Desert Elven Prince. Rakir was an Archer/Ranger whose whole tribe had been slaughtered by Orcs, which is why Orcs were his racial enemy. Rakir had a very direct, take-charge, damn the consequences approach to problems. "You will do this because the alternative is far worse," he’d say to recalcitrant NPCs. He always spoke in very broken sentences (Tradespeak was his fourth language, after all). Often, he ran roughshod over companions, getting them and himself into very deep trouble. As a direct result of him getting the party trapped in a cave in the Lesser Barrier, the Darking Sea was created (It’s a long story). Prisoners served no purpose. And he insisted on cooking for everyone in the party. (He used a lot of spices. Neutralize Poison became a required spell before every meal.) If someone refused his cooking, he would be insulted and lace their clothes with itching powder (you couldn’t wash it off - water made it itch worse), convinced their horse to walk so that every bone in the rider’s body jarred (take it out on the horse and it would just stop and refuse to move), and loaded their rations with pepper. Played by Jerald Eaker.

Dyran "Sacrifices to Crom!" Topaz. Imagine an 8’8", 400+ pound green, hulking lizard waving a pair of two-handed swords running at you screaming, "Sacrifices to Crom!". Now imagine the same lizard treating you like a pampered child ("My Babies!" - greetings involved bear hugs, cracked ribs, and a few Cure spells). Now imagine a dominatrix "helping" you with your personal life. Add in a propensity for eating opponents - while they’re trying to run away, a liking for horse grain, and the appetite of three normal, hungry people. Heck, once a giant lizard bit and tried to swallow her. Topaz bit it back and tore its tongue out of with her teeth. Needless to say, the giant lizard ran away. Topaz had a quick snack. Played by Todd Powel.

Gronk. The Half-Ogre demigod who nailed a man to a wall with a thrown chicken, killing him (He thought there were throwing boulders in that pocket). Had a genius for coming up with ways to use large armies. Like using Trolls to train his troops ("You have to kill this troll with this club to join the army"). Since the trolls regenerated, he always got the toughest, strongest, dumbest troops - the best kind. Then, he’d load the now psychotic trolls into catapults and launch them into enemy castles. The troll would regenerate, wake up really, really pissed, and start killing everything in sight. The catapult punishment in Calanport was his devising. Added the "Gronk" attack to our vocabulary: Grab an opponent by any two available limbs (an arm and a leg work best), lift, and separate. Played by Chris Groves.

Go to Section 8 - Money and Coinage

Last updated 11/02/00.