Character Creation

Creating characters can be extremely difficult. There is often a lot to it and a lot of things to consider when creating a character. In this page there are several of the most common aspects and some helpful tips on how to write that section well. Though not every section will apply to every roleplay and some sections may need to be adapted. (Like if you have a medieval roleplay you likely wouldn't use technological explanations but magic might be fair game. )

Powers are an easy place to begin with. You pick what capabilities they have. Do they have an elemental power? (electric, fire, ice/water, earth/rock, wind, shadow/darkness, light/holy, gravity, etc…)

Suppose you picked a base element (listed above, for the sake of simplicity in these examples, suppose we picked lightning), you can then come up with some ideas how they use their powers.

• Can they manipulate their element? (EX- if they shoot lightning, can they change it's path mid flight or change it's width or create shapes with it?)
• What does their attack look like? (EX- a simple ball of blue electricity or a thin jagged blue current.)
• Does it have any extra functions? (EX- an electrical ball that breaks apart when it hits objects.)

Not all powers though have to be offensive, some can alter their user in other ways.

• Does the power alter their appearance? If so, how does it? (EX- electricity sparks all around them whether or not they're using their power.)
• Can they use it defensively?(EX- Electro-magnetic field that creates intense resistance and stops moving objects like bullets from passing through.)
• Can their power alter their mobility? (EX- an electromagnetic field that allows them to jump higher or cling to objects.)

Next you should think of some limitations based on their powers.

• Can they generate their chosen power? (EX- if they have electrical powers can they generate the electricity themselves or can they only store it within themselves but require an external source to charge them. Or do they have to find and be in presence of a constant source of electricity to use their powers?)
• How much strain does using their power take? (EX- if they use a small electric bolt it might not put much strain, but if they call down a huge rain of lightning it might take a lot more.)
• How long does it take to execute their power? Can they use their power very quickly or does it take time? (EX- a small lightning bolt might take no time to throw, but a stream of electricity might take time to built up charge to unleash.)
• Does their power have a range? (EX- can they only throw electrical bolts for a certain distance before they dissipate or because they can't throw further? )
• Is there anything that can negate/influence their power? (EX- water causes their electricity to hurt themselves or earth/rock absorbs their electrical current.)
• Does it affect their daily life? (EX- electrical powers might make showering harder if the water shocks them…)

When writing an original character's history, consider questions like:

• When were they born? (You can also consider rebirths too like if they were converted from human into a vampire.)
• Were they born under special circumstances? (EX- if they are a non-human they may have different ways to be created.)
• Who raised them. (And what kind of life that was. Did they get in fights? Were they picked on a lot? Were they left alone? Did they have friends?)
• What they've done with their life. (Did they go to post-secondary school? What kind of job did/do they work? )
• If they lived somewhere else (before wherever this game is set, why did they move?)
• Any past relationships they may have had. (What happened to them and why they didn't work out.)

Some aspects to avoid when writing histories though…

• Unnecessarily tragic history. (Feel free to include some tragedy in a backstory, but don't overload on tragedy. Too much tragedy simply becomes exhausting, unbelievable and thought of only as a desperate grab for attention. Yes, there are people who get raped, have their parents murdered and are sent off to orphanage. But this should be rare.)
• Mental health issues. (Unless you do the research on these.)
• Extreme wealth. (For most part, very few characters are going to have extreme wealth because based on real world economy 1% of the population has 90 or more percent of the wealth. This doesn't mean you have to be poor either… )
• Extreme poverty. (Like mentioned above, you don't need to have extreme wealth, but you also don't need to have extreme poverty either. There is a comfortable middle ground.)
• Broken poverty. (This is when a character is extremely poor but always has money to buy expensive new clothes, eat at fancy restaurants or purchase whatever they want/need.)
• Connections to canon characters. (Do not tie your history to a canon's. You character generally will not hook up with a canon. And your character should not be a child of a pairing of canons either.)

A person's personality should be based on things that have happened to them. This means that their past should have a massive impact on who they are.

Consider a person (EX- Cole MacGrath from inFamous) who went from a normal everyday Joe to a person with extraordinary powers over night. How might he feel? Suddenly burdened with all this extra power and responsibility? Does he want to accept this new responsibility or shirk it? Or what if all this power twists his mind? Suddenly he has the power to get revenge on those who have stomped on him or made his life miserable but he couldn't do anything before?

Like mentioned above when writing history, tragic pasts are one aspect that truly shape a character. But be careful with extreme tragedy because it should deeply affect a character to their core and should be something that doesn't go away. (This is not to say that every thread has to be them brooding in a corner over their past, merely that if they have experienced tragedy they might react to situations different or more strongly than others.)

A character with both parents murdered before their eyes and is then abused will not likely be very open, kind and trusting because they haven't had a past that would foster trust with anyone. Similarly, they might not form relationships easily and are likely to be pessimistic and cold.

If a character was raped, they would most likely not want to get close to people, they would likely have trouble with intimacy and even being touched the wrong way (like if someone grabbed their hand) might cause them panic. Only rarely will a characters who was raped will go sleep around and even then it is not done because they necessarily like sex or their partner, but merely to retake control over their body.

Appearance is a very tough section to complete because it can be difficult to know what a character looks like at first. Sometimes it's easier to leave this until the very end (after you've completed other sections then you can use cues from other sections to help fill in your character's appearance). For example if your character is very silent and shy, they might wear very plain clothes to fit in and not be noticed (certainly not anything neon or very exotic). If a character is very confident and charismatic, they might have a taste for certain higher fashion brands and styles. (Though be sure to make sure their fashion choice fits with their background in that they can actually afford their fashion choices. A poor person might not be able to afford top quality Armani suits that retail for over 1000$ a suit.)

If your character has powers that affect their appearance that may factor in too. (Or if they need to wear certain equipment to use their powers. Like for the X-men villain Pyro who can't generate fire so he needs his lighter or fire starter to give him something to work with.)

And their history may help fill in appearance too if they've been in battle (or even just a few fights) and gotten scars on their body or tattoos. (Or they wear an eye patch or constantly carry a flask of alcohol or something.) Or they may carry objects because of sentimental value (like a watch given by their uncle or father) or their mother's locket.

After you have a basic idea of the type of clothes they wear, you can move onto their physical appearance. What colour skin they have, their hair style and colour, their eye colour, the shape of their head, etc…