I need feedback on my characters

JTCRASH

New Member
So I made a self-insert character (Yes I know that rpers hate self-inserts, but screw it I really like this character) along with some other ocs that were made to rp in this rp fandom server on Discord based on the webcomic called Awaken. Long story short, I got benched because my characters have too many problems, and I need help fixing them. These are my first ever official ocs, so they are full of flaws but I don't think that they're irredemable. So can you guys please help me out? I'd like some explaination with your feedback, and any feedback is welcome, regardless of if you've read the webcomic or not.

Here are there bios (I've removed the webcomic-specific information to make it easier for everyone to understand):

Name: John Legend (NOT THAT JOHN LEGEND!)
Age: 21
Birth Date: 5/17/96
Gender: Male
Height: 5’ 8”
Weight: 176 lbs.
Skin tone: Light brown
Hair color/style: Short black curly hair
Eye color: Brown
Clothing:/Accessories: Black t-shirt with blue jeans and black sneakers. Also wears a utility belt with various tools, a black katana with a matching sheath, a black blunt katana, a pair of black headphones that are around his neck when he's not using them, and a backpack. He also has a combat suit, but he only wears it when he knows that he's going to fight.
Personality: A open-minded intelligent man who’s been through all kinds of experiences. Therefore, he understands people very well and is good at understanding other people’s perspectives. He also hates lying in any sort of way and will tell people exactly how he sees something. He usually wants all the facts in any situation before making his move
3 Strengths: Smart, very social, and extremely strong
3 Weakness: Stubborn, sometimes gets obsessed with things, and is brutally honest
Occupation: Traveler, aberration exterminator
Backstory: As someone who has grown up with machines, Legend is someone who has extensive knowledge and skills when it comes to any sort of machinery. He has trained his body, so he is unusually strong and resilient compared to other people. He has had a martial arts teacher in the past, but now he spends his time either killing aberrations, doing research, or building something

Name: Razulla "Goku" Wukong
Age: 32
Birthdate: 10/22/85
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Skin tone: Pale
Hair color/style: Black and is usually in a bun behind her head. Her hair is shoulder length if it isn't in a bun
Eye color: Light green
Clothing/Accessories: A red combat qipao that has a gold outline and a golden dragon pattern near the right shoulder. She also wears red shorts with then since it's similar to Chun Li's. She wears tight flexible shoes that are meant for combat. She has two red ovals above her eyes that's basically a permanent tattoo. She also has a red staff that can extend to great lengths or can contract. She also has a sling to hold her staff as well as a small bag
Personality: As someone who has always been a lone wolf for the majority of her life, she’s completely closed off from most people and has only recently started opening up to people. Has a cruel outlook in everything and is mostly cold hearted. She is extremely blunt with strangers
3 Strengths: Highly skilled, very practical, and very straight-forward
3 Weakness: Cruel, cold-hearted, and lacks some social skills
Occupation: Master martial artist/teacher of hand-to-hand combat
Backstory: Witnessing the murder of entire family, Razulla has always been cold and cruel lone wolf as a result of that tragic event. She's only recently started taking interest in socializing with other people as a result of a specific student that she had in the past

Name: Sasef
Age: 20(?)
Birthdate: ???
Gender: Female
Height: 4’ 6”
Weight: Maybe 145 lbs?
Skin tone: Pale
Hair color/style: Black hair with white tips. Her hair just goes past her shoulders
Eye color: Light blue
Clothing:/Accessories: Wears thick, grey bracelets on both of her hands. Wears a black leather jacket with blue jeans and black boots. Has small skull earrings. Also usually has black eyeliner. She has small metal balls that she can use as projectiles
Flux color: Dark blue
Flux type: CR-type
Flux abilities: Can move and manipulate objects as well as living people. She can do stuff like move objects around, crush large objects into a ball, stop bullets in mid air and shoot the back, and basically whatever a telekinetic user can do. Although doing something like crushing someone into a ball requires her to overpower their FOA if they have it activated. She can also move herself with her abilities to some degree.
Personality: A woman who’s extremely prideful in themselves. She thinks that everyone is beneath her in every aspect, but she isn’t arrogant enough to not realize true skill when she sees it. She’ll get mad whenever she’s outmatched in anything that she takes pride in
3 Strengths: Extremely smart, observant, and can judge people really well
3 Weakness: Stubborn, self-centered, and a overconfident at times
Occupation: ????
Backstory: The majority of her background is shrouded in mystery. She has lost the majority of her memory and only remembers bits and pieces. All that she knows is that she was born in [redacted], but she doesn't remember the circumstances. She only really remembers something about some sort of lab, and something about a [redacted] experiment. She doesn’t even remember much about her childhood. Everything past the age of 7 is a complete mystery to her.
 
Some glaring issues are that the first character is a complete mary sue, none of his weaknesses are actual weaknesses. The second's name is kind of irksum having goku and wukong both in the name. Overall the backstories also could be far more fleshed out.
 
Some glaring issues are that the first character is a complete mary sue, none of his weaknesses are actual weaknesses. The second's name is kind of irksum having goku and wukong both in the name. Overall the backstories also could be far more fleshed out.

Both points are obvious to any experience rper but not to any newbie. Thanks for the feedback
 
I agree with Randomfella. Maybe flesh out your characters’ weaknesses more; they all seem to be extremely strong and good at combat. What are they bad at in combat? Think of their physical strengths as well as their physical weaknesses to counteract it.

For John, he seems to have no weaknesses. You’ve listed a ton of things he’s good at. Well, what is he bad at? He’s apparently honest, open-minded, understanding, great with machines, sounds like he’s great with fighting... what isn’t this guy good at? Try to think of some specific things. Either take away some of his good qualities to make him more balanced, or just give him bad qualities to counteract them - something a lot more than “stubborn”. You say he likes to have all the facts before acting. Maybe this makes him much too slow and reluctant to act, so sometimes he’s procrastinated things for too long and ended up in a mess/or been too late to save someone because of it. You can think of other things too. Now what about his physical weaknesses? What does he just flat out suck at? Maybe if he’s thin and lithely-built, then his strength is agility and speed... but his weakness would be a lack of too much strength. In a battle of brute strength, he would lose. Or if he is really strong and muscular, maybe he would win in a battle of brute strength, but in turn for that, he’d be slow and maybe not too good at speed or fine motor skills. He might be easily beaten by someone quicker and more nimble than him.

Think of things like this for your female characters too. Think of their mental and emotional strengths, and then think of mental and emotional weaknesses to counteract them. Think of physical strengths and physical weaknesses. Think of plenty of things they flat out suck at. This will make them more human and interesting, and less perfect and Mary-Sue.

I also think your female characters might be a bit chubby... I don’t know for sure though. I know that muscle mass can add to someone’s weight, but I don’t know how much, especially for a female character (since females are usually much more slightly built than males). For reference, I’m a 5’6 female that weighs about 125 pounds... So 145 for a girl that’s only 4’6 seems like a lot to me. If you want them to be chubby, then hey, that's fine, I just wasn't sure if that was your intent?
 
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Hello JTCRASH JTCRASH !

As a long-time roleplayer, what sells me most on a character is their personality. Give me someone I can relate to, someone who seems less like a character and more like a human being (or whatever they're playing; just make it believable). I like to see likes and dislikes. Quotes perhaps. Influences, too.

O.K. some of your characters study the martial arts. Nothing wrong with that, but which system or systems? What is their motivation behind that particular system? A person's chosen system can say a lot about that person. Someone who purposely studies Muay Thai or Kyokushin Karate might have an aggressive, tradition-bound traits that display respect to the respectful. Have a compassionate and looking for self-knowledge? Maybe Aikido or Tai Chi Chuan. Want it to be that with physical hardiness and weapons training? Perhaps they study Shaolin Gung Fu? My point is - a person is what they think and do. Martial arts is one of many paths to showing what a character is really like!

Going into emotions, I could care less how many bad guys the character can kill barehanded in six seconds while blindfolded (barf!). Instead, give me the reasons I should care about that character! Help me relate with this "person"! What are their disadvantages and weaknesses and how do they cope with them? Or are they strong of spirit and their goal is not to cope, but instead to change these things they don't like?

(Here's a little brainstorm you're welcome to use any part of). Perhaps you have a character who was a Army K-9 Handler who served in Afghanistan until an IED (improvised explosive device) took him and his military working dog out of action along with some his or her buddies? Now, on the road to recovery, someone recommends the character study a martial art to better know themselves and get themselves back into physical shape. Plus, the character being K-9 might get along better with dogs than other humans (or at least prefer their company). Now the character has a "shell" to come out of that your party might see as something to help him with instead of him or her just being "stubborn" or "dead honest." Give the character a background. Is he from Tennessee? Tokyo? Frankfurt? What does she do in her off time? Swimming? Play the flute? Work out? Play video games? All of the above? Is the character someone you would want to hang out with in an adventuring party, or would you ditch them at the first opportunity? Think of your fellow players so everyone can have fun together!

The more the player knows about the character, the easier this is, and often the more enjoyable it is to share. But only you can provide that. So, I recommend you dig a little deeper. Bring out a bit more humanity in these human beings. A little bit of practice "molding the clay" can achieve some incredible results in the long run - results you and your RP group can enjoy for years to come. Good luck!

Honor and fun,
Dannigan =)

P.S. Oh! And Merry Christmas, JTCRASH! =)
 

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