Advice/Help Character development

[Mad-Moony]

I've made a lot of characters over the years as well as roleplayed with many different people. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or imput on how to make a character interesting, yet not cliché or overpowered/Mary Sue. I've found people have tried to make their characters cool and unique, but it just turns out like everyone else's or it's just plain childish...

Plus it's hard to take them seriously when their character is frolicking with their magical rainbow hair talking to their magical wolf soulmate that they were bonded to as a child...

Can anyone relate to this? Or at least have some advice on how to make a character not boring and bland yet not unbearably overpowered or cliché?

Thanks! : )

 

[Idea]

Well, first it's important to understand "cliché". If "cliché" was anything that could be fitted into a trope, then you're out of luck, because every story and character idea has been done in some way or another. If anything that has been done enough to be recognized is enough to consider a character cliché, then it's no longer a matter of "if", but rather "when" as to your character getting called out on those tropes.

You can imagine I don't subscribe to this idea. The way I see it, the broader strokes are all painted, but one can still find originality in the fner details. Originality is not about what you do, so much as how you do it, it is not about doing something entirely new, but finding a new angle to explore something that was already presented.

For this reason, consider the following:

1. Don't fret over being original before making it good. Cliche or not, at least someone will like it if you just make a good character. Not every original idea is a good idea, sometimes the reason an idea wasn't done is because it doesn't work. So, the most important thing is to first and foremost focus on making a good character- though I do believe the rest will come by association.

2. Make the character deep and explore the character. Rather than piling traits and events onto the character, try exploring how, for instance, being stubborn would have impacted the character's life, and how that impact in their life would have in turn impacted them and their perspective, and then bounce back to how it would have affected their life, and back and forth. Every element you add to your character, you should commit to and properly explore it. You will almost always come out with something unique if you do this, because not only does it have inherently large complexity and depth, but it also makes use of the best tool you have at your disposal for originality, the only one nobody can ever replicate: Your own unique perspective on the world.

3. Immitate traits ONLY to recontextualize or expand upon. If you plan on making your character taking inspiration from some piece of media, that's fine. In reality humans aren't capable of creating without taking inspiration, positively or negatively from something else. As such, it is more important that you at least take your immitation beyond immitating itself.

4. When writing a character, consider the room you are leaving for other people, what roles and functions you leave open. A balanced character will typically only occupy at most a couple small specialities, leaving other players to fill the rest of the slots. Consider also how it would be to fight your power at its strongest, would it be fun for the opponent? To keep things from being overpowered, one ought to always consider the other side.
Oh, and don't try to cheat here. If you have a power and you aren't judging it by how powerful it is when it is abused then you are probably understimating your own power level.

That's about what I can think of for now. Best of luck and happy roleplaying!

 

[rae2nerdy]

I find thinking of your character as a real person helps. Like I base a lot of my characters on people I know in real life and will often image parts of their backstory that have nothing to do with the roleplay but help them more realistic.

Like I spent a week once figuring out how the mother of one of my characters bought a house. How she decorated it and the general layout. None of which was super relevant to the roleplay beyond some basic world building but it actually made me view the character as more of a real life person than just a cardboard cut out.


Also as Idea indicated look at the complete picture. I find sometimes writing the backstory first then working on personality helps. Because I have seen a lot of characters where their stated personality makes zero sense considering the backstory they have.

Ex. I once had someone who made their character a thief who liked to steal priceless artifacts for bragging rights. But her personality said she was a very cautious person who didn’t like to rock the boat. That is a very obvious example of making personality and backstory entirely separate from one another.

A good way to catch these things is just read your CS outloud or if you can having someone else do it for you. So you can hear what the character sounds

 

[natsukashii]

I just set goals for my characters and toss them into situations that, while every scenario they are in will push them further and further to said goals, these situations/scenarios will push them to be better than they were (or worse depending on the character(s)). I always make sure not to give them too hard of a task to where it is impossible for them to complete it, thus never progressing but nothing too easy, either. For me, balance is key when developing a character.

I love exploring the psyche of my characters. What makes them tick? How will they react in this situation or that scenario? Sometimes you will need to break them down until they just have one core aspect of themselves left to build them up into the person you envision. It's a fun process but it's also one that could be tricky if said character is, for a lack of a better term, fragile.

 

[still watching fma]

I've made a lot of characters over the years as well as roleplayed with many different people. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or imput on how to make a character interesting, yet not cliché or overpowered/Mary Sue. I've found people have tried to make their characters cool and unique, but it just turns out like everyone else's or it's just plain childish...

Plus it's hard to take them seriously when their character is frolicking with their magical rainbow hair talking to their magical wolf soulmate that they were bonded to as a child...

Can anyone relate to this? Or at least have some advice on how to make a character not boring and bland yet not unbearably overpowered or cliché?

Thanks! : )

I feel like you're too harsh of a critic. What you described to me was actually interesting. Perhaps the child of a leprechaun(cloud person), fell to the earth after a coup. Its mother used the last of her magical power to parachute her into the woods below. Where she met a dire wolf, who sensed something was different about the child and at first recoiled in fear. Before the pack slowly came around to nurturing the child as their own out of instinct due to the unnatural nature of the rainbow colored child.

What you probably need to do is stop trying to reinvent the wheel and write something you personally like. Hell Legolas, one of the most iconic fantasy elves of all time, was a prince who was an amazing marksman. Although he was also a bit cheeky and sarcastic, he's a fiercely loyal friend who would follow you to whatever end.

What more do you need to write an rp after reading that?