Character Theory Do you have a "type" of character you're most drawn to?

[CrystalMemoria]

I've just been curious because I've been thinking about my own characters and how a lot of them I've made/enjoy roleplaying as sort of follow the "young, inexperienced hero(ine) that is uncertain of themselves, but has more potential than they realize and will grow to become someone stronger and more trustworthy" as a basic concept (Although they all have their differences beyond that, of course).

Another type of character I'm drawn to are shy characters in general. I feel like they're really fun to roleplay as, and I can get into their head way easier than someone more boisterous or outgoing. However, I've used my share of energetic and outgoing characters as well, or characters that aren't necessarily shy, but don't enjoy talking much.

There's probably more that I'm not thinking of at the second, but these are the two that come to mind immediately.

I also understand that it's good to branch out and not stay too confined in your theme, but sometimes it's fun just playing as something you're familiar with, you know?

What about you guys? Do you find yourself drawn to using a particular type of character personality?

 

[jump.]

hope you don't mind me hopping in on this!
but honestly with my,, weird ass cast of muses i'm not sure if there's like. one definitive "type" if you get me? i guess i like characters that are complex. the ones with hundreds upon hundreds of layers, the ones who contradict themselves in behavior and personality. the ones that are just FUN to get into the headspace of, if that makes sense? i have a weird interest in psychology, so i guess the more "interesting" a character is, in terms of personality or whatever just draws me in. i also like morally grey characters? i think that only one of my muses is probably a solid good character. the rest are either neutral, or good but still morally dubious, yknow? ulterior motives and just,, figuring out what motivates and what makes em tick is good shit *chefs kith*
i guess another odd theme is just. cat-like? a lot of the characters under my wing are like, very feline-esque people lmao that prolly makes no sense but eh. if they be like a kitty, chances are i'll like em sksksksk

 

[Doomevil]

I wouldn't say I'm drawn to a specific type of character or even roleplay the same archetype in games. But I guess one thing that I'm drawn to the most is that determined characteristic where they know the odds are stacked against them, but they still want to prevail no matter what. Determination is what I admire.

 

[AnnJam]

Trash garbage men who don't cope with their feelings well.
Angry, loud, aggressive woman who don't cope with their feelings well.
Big sister who grew up to fast, is a little wild, who doesn't know how to cope with their feelings well.
THE DILF!

 

[Jannah]

The morally ambiguous types who ultimately have good intentions, but questionable means of getting there.

 

[Redfork2000]

I have a few types of characters I just love playing as, and I've noticed how over different roleplays I've made characters with the same central personality traits a few times.

- So one character I love to make is the kind-hearted and gently, but very shy person who has a really sweet and caring heart, but is painfully shy and struggles with socializing. They really care about other people, and would be willing to put others' needs before their own to help someone who needs it, but they find themselves struggling to be confident or socialize with people. Bonus points if this character has a crush on either someone who is the polar opposite (a cheerful, outgoing and talkative person), or someone who is just as shy and insecure as they are. This one is frequently female, but I've had a few times where I played a male version as well.

- The outgoing and overly confident individual who always feels like the protagonist of any moment, but despite them oozing confidence and even having a big ego, they're actually kind and friendly people, the kind of people who like to help a friend, cheer people up and do what they can to spread friendship and good wherever they go. So yeah, to some people they seem like just a narcissistic or egocentric person, but others see the heart of gold this person has. Usually I play this one as a male.

- The bubbly and energetic girl who just loves to talk and have fun. She's fun to be around, and will always cheer up a situation with her zany and energetic personality, and tends to be the one pushing her more shy and introverted friends to go ahead and talk to people, and tends to be the one giving out relationship and social advice to a friend who needs it. She can sometimes also be the main comic relief of the story when her crazy antics get her in hilarious situations. I love to make her the best friend of a more introverted female character, whether it's a shy girl or a tsundere, since I feel the different personalities give a great contrast and interesting dynamic, specially when the energetic girl tries to push the other girl to talk to her crush.

- I love tsunderes in general. I actually prefer when my RP partner plays a tsundere, but I've played some tsunderes before, and well, I just love their dynamic when they have a crush. It's just so sweet to see them get all flustered and then get all tough and mean to try to hide the fact that they actually have a crush on the other protagonist.

- The responsible older sibling figure, who for one reason or another, has taken almost a parental role towards their younger sibling. This one I've played as both genders before. I just love the dynamic. Maybe their parents got divorced, or even died, but for whatever reason, the older sibling takes on the responsability to look after their younger sibling almost like a parent would. I'm an older sibling in real life, so I think I can really relate to that feeling of wanting to protect and look after your younger siblings. Generally I also have the older sibling be that cool older sibling that the younger sibling wants to be like as well. Most of the time the older sibling is a secondary character to the plot, with their younger sibling as the protagonist, but every once in a while, the older sibling turns out to be the protagonist. Ever heard of the classic parent x teacher plot many people like? I like to change it up a bit, have a younger teacher, and instead of the student's parent falling in love with the teacher, have the older sibling fall in love with the teacher instead.

-While I tend to avoid overly dark and angsty content, I do love characters that have a bit of drama in their life. Perhaps a traumatic event from their childhood, or someone they loved did something that hurt them, but something from their past left them with an emotional injury that has affected them in some way. The character doesn't have any mental illnesses or anything like that, but their behavior and mindset are greatly influenced by that event from their past, and generally over the course of the story, they learn to come to terms with their past, heal from that injury and move on to live a happier life. Generally someone, like a close friend, a family member or a romantic love interest will find out about this character's tough past, and help them heal from that event that caused so much damage to them.

-I love smart characters. Whether it's the typical academic prodigy, or a zany inventor, or a solitary scientist, I love a character who is very intelligent and displays a great skill in one or more areas of knowledge, and finds themselves somewhat misunderstood by the people around them. This character has a different worldview than most people around him/her, and generally finds him or herself being rather introverted as a result. Bonus points if the character ends up falling in love with either another character who is just as smart as them, or with someone who isn't particularly smart, but complements the character's personality in some way.

These are just a few I love to use in my RPs. There's probably many more I haven't mentioned.

 

[Jannah]

-I love smart characters. Whether it's the typical academic prodigy, or a zany inventor, or a solitary scientist, I love a character who is very intelligent and displays a great skill in one or more areas of knowledge, and finds themselves somewhat misunderstood by the people around them. This character has a different worldview than most people around him/her, and generally finds him or herself being rather introverted as a result. Bonus points if the character ends up falling in love with either another character who is just as smart as them, or with someone who isn't particularly smart, but complements the character's personality in some way.

It's usually not intentional on my part, but it seems most of my characters end up the intelligent and/or intellectual types. I guess since that's how I am, thus it's a bit more of a challenge for me to write characters who are...erm...less intellectually inclined.

 

[Redfork2000]

It's usually not intentional on my part, but it seems most of my characters end up the intelligent and/or intellectual types. I guess since that's how I am, thus it's a bit more of a challenge for me to write characters who are...erm...less intellectually inclined.

I guess we tend to incline towards characters we can relate to. That's kind of why I love this kind of characters a lot. It's also why I love the older sibling type I mentioned, as it's something I can relate too and thus, I feel I can portray a bit better, it feels more authentic. I generally consider myself to be an intelligent/intellectual person, and tend to identify myself a lot with that kind of characters. Even if my main character isn't this kind of character, I'll almost surely have a side character who fits this role, and will generally play an important part in the RP, sometimes as the main character's best friend or sibling.

 

[Idea]

It's usually not intentional on my part, but it seems most of my characters end up the intelligent and/or intellectual types. I guess since that's how I am, thus it's a bit more of a challenge for me to write characters who are...erm...less intellectually inclined.

I used to do that a lot, but the more I noticed people metagaming magical hunches the more I just kinda shifted into characters who are less intelligent. I can with those I can make the most of, be it for comedic purposes, to support other characters by letting them take the more intellectual roles and adding a "grunt" so to speak, or simply to allow me to play archetypes that are typically more naive and inexperienced.

I am also looking forward to the day when I can actually complete an envy arc, and have a character in tears because they keep (though maybe rightfully) being taken for a fool. But that kind of thematic set up unfortunately takes a lot of set up to do right.

 

[Ace Cream]

In a school or royalty setting I like playing the weak but feisty type, it challenges me to utilize words and situation more rather than using the awesome magical power card. But in regular DnD-esque setting I like playing the dominant bossy type or the innocent comedic type.

 

[Redfork2000]

I used to do that a lot, but the more I noticed people metagaming magical hunches the more I just kinda shifted into characters who are less intelligent. I can with those I can make the most of, be it for comedic purposes, to support other characters by letting them take the more intellectual roles and adding a "grunt" so to speak, or simply to allow me to play archetypes that are typically more naive and inexperienced.

I am also looking forward to the day when I can actually complete an envy arc, and have a character in tears because they keep (though maybe rightfully) being taken for a fool. But that kind of thematic set up unfortunately takes a lot of set up to do right.

I generally make a lot of less intelligent characters as well who fulfill other roles in the roleplay. Generally when I have several characters, specially if I have two or three that are best friends, I give them a dynamic. One of them will be the more intellectual one, who can either be the main character from my cast or a side character who acts more as the voice of reason for the main character. Generally another character will have another major strength, such as being charismatic and a natural leader and great at talking to people.

Not to say I haven't given the same character both traits at once, but generally I like having a more logic and reason based character to contrast with a more emotional and social person. One who is very analytical and is the one who likes the think first before acting, and the other is more spontaneous, and tends to follow his heart rather than think too much about things. I find they make quite a good combination.

If I have a third character in the group then he'll frequently be the naive and gullible one, who isn't the brightest, but has a level of optimism, heart and overall endearing cheerfulness that the others don't have. Sure, he'll be clumsy, and might be less intelligent than either of the two others, but he's a lovable person who just means good and is overall very loyal. The lovable klutz, to put it that way. This is usually the character I use for a more comedic purpose, though sometimes the character will find himself giving the other two advice that seems so simple, but really helps them out.

I've had 1 x 1 RPs where either of the first two characters is my main character, and the remaining two are the side characters that are his closest friends, and generally contribute to the plot in their own ways. I feel these character types have a very interesting dynamic, regardless of which of them gets more focus and what the love interests my RP partner provides are. Having characters with different but complementary personalities is something I really enjoy, not only with love interests, but also when RPing friendship groups. I like to put together characters who have different personalities, so that each of them contributes something different to the group, and I just love the dynamics between them.

I've also used characters who can be considered "grunts", though most of the time I use them as assistants or helpers for the villain whenever there's a good vs evil dynamic involved, like in superhero or fantasy stories. I guess I just love the dynamics between a smart, cunning villain and his more silly or unintelligent minions.

Though on occasions I'll also have two or three of these kinds of characters as a separate group of their own, unrelated to any villain, and just as a group of side characters who sometimes contribute to the plot in different ways. In one highschool themed RP I did, there were two characters like this, a duo who were basically the classroom clowns, they loved to do some ridiculous stuff and just do whatever they thought was funny, and while they didn't get involved in most of the dynamics of the main characters, they definitely had their place in the story, and contributed to the plot with their antics.

 

[Superfly47]

Inexperienced witch/mage whose spells sometimes go wrong. My favorite is conjuring creatures that have a mind of their own. They usually start off doing the intended task, but often get diverted by their own desires before the task is finished, or the perform the task in an unintended way that has significant drawbacks, or even after the enemy is defeated they will continue to cause mayhem and want to keep destroying. I have actually thought about doing a roleplay where I use dice to determine how magic spells perform.

 

[HavocandBobo]

My favorite type of character to roleplay as is the bad boy who has anger problems, or someone who has mental problems, or the villain of the roleplay.

 

[Crayons]

intellectual pacifists
comedy thugs
sneaky tricksters
self-destructive reckless types
schemers who over-plan everything
snarky bitter types with a heart of not gold but maybe silver who need a redemption arc stat
idealogues and rebels
morally grey types
anyone with a complex inner life that is at odds with how they behave
outgoing friend-collectors
bird-themed characters

And you can mix and match any of those to create new ones.

 

[AnnJam]

I adore this dynamic and my character type is RED GUY! XD

Spoiler

 

[AnnJam]

Another type girls who do this to creepy men!

I like to play hotheaded female characters paired against older chic, classy ladies with rage so deep they latch onto their spitfire and together they fuck up anyone in their way!

 

[Dr Laudanum]

Over the time I have noticed that I am generally draw to characters that are quite similar to one another. I don't even think that the concepts are that different, and they can be seen as trop-ish, or even cliché. Sometimes I am a bit ashamed about it, but if one gives them more depth, I think that a trope-ish character can definitely become a rounded one. I am totally not saying that I am good at giving them that 3D shape though. Identification is something I also deeply search in a character, because it will allow me to understand them even better and to connect with them, through an empathic process. Such empathic process, most part of the times, is cognitive, but a rounded character that I can relate to will lead me to be on the edge between cognitive and emotional empathy.

1. The Intelectual One
It has been mentioned before, and it is present in many books and TV shows, so it is definitely a popular one (since quite a long time ago - Frankenstein, I am looking at you). The reason why I like to write about characters who are intellectually focused is mostly because of their eagerness to learn. Despite being a potato, I love to learn new things, and writing this sort of characters often proves to be a challenge, since researching is very important. And researching stuff is my favourite part when it comes to writing. In a way, my curiosity is somehow similar to the one the character is displaying, which allows me to connect with them. Seeing how alienated they can be from the world and how other people may not understand them at all times (either because of their knowledge or because of who they are as people, often displaying eccentric behaviour) somehow, ironically, brings a sense of belonging.

2. The Morally Grey One
When people think of morally grey characters I guess that they often think of Machiavellian characters, people who have goals in mind and who will do anything to achieve them. Their intentions may be good, but they utterly end up disregarding any morality they might have along the way. And this often turns what would be a morally grey character into an evil one. I like morally grey characters who have some sort of touchstone, who have strict moral codes, who will do pretty nasty things, but that have a limit. Morally grey characters who know that they are being bad, but that they know that it is for a greater good, but retaining, at least, some level of humanity, and that humanity impeding them of achieving their goals. That battle "goals vs humanity" is something I love to explore. In fact, I believe that a well rounded character always has some level of moral "greyness", since I don't think that it is even possible to classify people as "good" or "bad", generally.

3. The Amoral One
No, they are not "immoral". Morally grey characters can be immoral, if they have a sense of morality that is not consensual, if such sense of morality deviates from the general one. Yet, an amoral character doesn't have a moral code whatsoever, or, if they do, it is very limited and flexible. They are the ones who are able to commit atrocious acts just "to see what happens". They often get mistaken by the morally grey characters, because both of them ignore, often, society's ideals of morality, being able to commit awful actions. There is an element of "Ordo ab Chao" when it comes to these amoral characters, as they often are able to find meaning in their amoral actions, often for personal entertainment or to explore a certain matter they are interested on. I often associate these types to the "mad scientist" archetype (one archetype I really like). Mad scientists don't necessarily have a goal in mind, studying what they want just because they find it interesting, and being able of committing atrocious acts along the way.

Note

No. 2 and no. 3 are some of my favourite archetypes, because they allow the writer to explore many darker themes, which opens doors to many different aspects of human psychology. It utterly can lead us to understand more about how people think, about the limits of one's humanity and even about how we cope with certain issues. It works pretty well as a coping mechanism as well, as many of those darker feelings the characters may feel are often the extreme of who we are as humans, what would happen if those negative feelings we feel throughout our life got out of control and took over ourselves. It can help us finding out what "being human" means or, at least, have a better understanding about ourselves.

4. The Sturm und Drang one
Perhaps we can classify this as a subtype of no. 2, certainly. I am being rather reductionist by using the term "Sturm und Drang" with this connotation, but I like to call characters that are driven by revenge, and that will do anything to achieve it, "Sturm and Drung", because some of the most famous characters from this subset of the Romantic literary movement were driven by revenge and such strong negative emotions, and seeing oneself being consumed by such hatred and despair, slowly, is just unsettling, but at the same time fascinating. I guess almost everybody loves a good revenge story.

5. The Cynical One
Perhaps the most realistic of them all, this is the one who has lost their faith in humanity, one who doesn't believe that people can get better and that expects always the worst from people. They are also the ones who also suffer because of their views of the world, often assuming a more misanthropic, introverted and introspective life, kind of living like an hermit in the middle of civilisation. The existential dread connected to them is just so big that they even adopted a cockroach as pet lol.

6. The Charismatic Bastard One
If a charismatic bastard is allied with the morally grey one, you have the recipe for a Machiavellian character, generally put. People who can manipulate others with their golden words, swinging the people around them to their favour, who often don't display a lot of emotional empathy, but that can surely be empathic on a cognitive level, who know what makes people tick, and that use it to their advantage. Sometimes, this is just done for a bit of personal gain, but if a character uses this to obtain a greater goal, then a truly Machiavellian character is born. From the overall list, I think that this is the character type that I feel less connected, emotionally with, but I also think that seeing how their heads work, and how they translate it into smooth social actions that they use to manipulate others is fascinating. It is astonishing how at ease they are with social interactions, and that's really impressive, having in consideration that I am completely the oppposite. Guess that I definitely admire that part of them.

7. The Rebellious Cunning Child One
Something less gritty now: when roleplaying children I really love to roleplay as smart kids, who are able to understand what's alright and what's not around them, who have that eagerness and curiosity to learn more about the world (somehow similarly to the Intellectual One). But that also have some sort of rebellious nature, that can pretend to be angel, but that in fact are rather devils. They can lead up to some interesting dynamics, normally in sibling like contexts.

Does this sound hella emo? Yes. Do I care about it? No, not really. Are my favourite characters all gritty and depressed all the time? No, that is actually something that I'd like to emphasise: despite their apparent lack of morality, sadness, hatred and all those other "good" things on their heart, above all, I like characters who, despite such internal struggles, are capable of doing things and not pitying themselves over and over, who are still able to get in touch with their humanity, and who are able to be human, and relatable.

Some random stuff I like about certain characters though:

• Introverts
• Sharing similar interests with me
• Tragic/traumatic pasts (despite the fact that this can be so much overdone and ending up making them a joke)
• Eccentric
• Intelligent
• Bitter people who actually aren't that bitter
• Masterminds
• Charismatic
• Having a wide range of hobbies
• Not being impulsive (forgot what was the opposite of "impulsive" in English. Calculative, perhaps?)

In the end, I guess I can summarise the characters that I appreciate the most into three types:

• The ones that I can relate to.
• The ones who I find interesting to explore (due to certain non-dissonant differences).
• The ones that have qualities that I admire.

And sometimes there are characters that can fall on every of those aforementioned categories. But I guess that that's it. In conclusion: emo characters, lol.

 

[Cazimir X]

I like to make characters that have more or less two common traits...
One, they don't take shit from people. I just don't like playing characters that let themselves get under people's wheels.
And two, they have one trait that DnD 5th edition would call a "bond" that they really lean into. Like, my one character's singularly determined to never lose his temper in front of people no matter what. And I just really extrapolate that one trait in order to shape other adjacent traits.

 

[Jules8008]

Looking at my own OCs...besides loving traumatized ones, I also love snarky and sarcastic ones. I once played one who kept mocking peoples stupid decisionmaking, "Yeah Mason it was a smart idea to sneak out at 2am, right? *mocking voice* Nothing will go wrong Avery, the cops won't see us and arrest us!"

 

[Walliver]

Since I struggle with non-medical social anxiety and overall being shy about what I like, shy characters are very helpful for me. I write characters that are loners and strangers to the people around them, so I can watch them slowly build up a friend group like I did.

 

[Cazimir X]

So as far as traumatized characters, do we have like a personal favorite (if to can call it that) or just personal traumas mostly?

 

[Idea]

Child Characters- To this day, my favorite character type remains the child character. This I divide into two different types though- the "actual child", and the "child but not really". Naturally both types share one of the biggest appeals for me, the sheer cuteness of it, but whereas one uses it raw, the other focuses more on the contrast.

"The actual child" type brings a unique perspective. The child's perspective is unique and very interesting to work with, given their innocence and naivety. Its very different, having a character viewing the world as "there is / should be good here" and a character that simply doesn't comprehend evil, and a lot of different things for that matter. The actual child-character also has a lot built-in weaknesses given their generally weak bodies and low skill and knowledge, but by contrast have some useful tools from a story-telling perspective, such as it being much easier to make them do things that other characters would have the common sense or courtesy to stay away from (such as talking to the big mean-looking guy asking why he's wearing an eyepatch, or crawling into that tunnel that says "keep out"). Lastly, actual child characters can often brings out sides of other characters you just wouldn't see otherwise.

Now as for "child but not really" (AKA, a character typically in the body of a child, but this is due to reincarnation, or some curse, or they are immortal and unaging... ) types, those are fun in a whole other way. They are, in my eyes, fodder for comedic gold, and they allow one to do something I actually find very rare otherwise. They can be childlike, mature, mysterious, cute, funny, badass and maybe even scary/creepy all at once without any of those elements necessarily detracting from the other. They don't have as many of the inherent weaknesses as the actual child, but they can often still be victim to some of them, which helps create that contrast I was talking about.


Transformed / Cursed Characters- While there is some overlap with child characters, this one is way broader. Animals, gender changes, swords, monsters... And outside the physical stuff, even changes of behavior could fit into this category. The means by which this occurs cause also changed wildly, though cursed are the most commonly used for me. The reason I love this so much is
A) It allows me to make a character that can be entirely ...odd I guess. Like everyone is playing humanoids and I bring in an animal character using a curse.
B) As I went over before, I have a big soft spot for cuteness and funny stuff, and this definitely brings it.
C) There's a lot one can play with within this archetype in terms of dramatic irony or character exploration.


Guilty but Regretful- This character f*cked up. They really did. Now they are probably undergoing some kind of redemptive arc, or perhaps just trying to move on and let go of the past. The theme of regret is perhaps the one that resonates with me the most, and this one just really takes the cake for me. In my backstories, unless there is a specific point to making my character a victim I will always make them the instrument, even if just in part, of their own problems. However, this archetype comes most into play when I leave those problems yet unresolved, especially if I make them big problems the character is fully responsible for. It can turn from "learning a lesson" to "I need to try to piece myself back together" for such a character.
Oh and if I could add a self-sacrifice arc... Just... I don't even have words (maybe cause it's 2 AM to be fair)...


Researchers and Engineers Galore - Can also be mages in fantasy. I very much prize my creativity, and I love worldbuilding, especially when it comes to magic systems. Put those two together, and you get someone who loves to tinker with the existing 'magic systems' of the setting, make new things out of it, or just uncover more of their secrets. Furthermore, using these virtually insures I can play around with what to me is often the most interesting part of the setting, as opposed to say a common soldier who might never get to have any magic or use all that cool tech.
There are also some weird researcher types that are just so detached and love to experiment, and I love that type. Especially because it works so well with the next thing...


Curious Characters- Less of a character type, but a trait my characters nearly universally have. The reason for this is that being curious is just such a damn useful thing in roleplay. It lets you ask questions and genuinely take an interest in other people's stuff in character, plus it lets you get stuff done you couldn't otherwise, justifying it as your character being driven to do it by their curiosity- something which work for almost any situation.

 

[Cazimir X]

So is this like
Just everyone answering the question but we're not discussing? K

 

[Idea]

So is this like
Just everyone answering the question but we're not discussing? K

That’s pretty common. Of course, if there’s something you wanna say to someone, feel free to. I usually quote them to make sure they know I’m talking to them though.

 

[Cazimir X]

That’s pretty common. Of course, if there’s something you wanna say to someone, feel free to. I usually quote them to make sure they know I’m talking to them though.

I guess I was trying to cast a wide net, shoulda known better. I don't come out in public here very much, clearly