Advice/Help Personality section

[baggysack]

Assuming the RP uses the classic appearance/personality/history triad. I always feel like I either write too much or too little for "Personality." I want to avoid writing myself into a corner by over-predicting everything my character could and would feel, trying to dodge a 2+ paragraph wall of "maybes." But I also want to give a good picture of how I imagine my character to act so they stand out. I think appearance sections are a necessary evil and have stopped using them to "flavor" a character, so I need to use the personality section to its full advantage.

Basically, what do you think are the key components of a character's personality? What do you look for?

 

[nerdy tangents]

what are your characters Values not their personality.

I look at it like Hogwarts Houses. People see them as personality tests when really they highlight values.

A depending on a situation you might react with bravery, intelligence, ambition, hard work, etc. All those traits are too variable to build a personality around.

But the things your character values are going to remain stagnant throughout the roleplay.

So ask yourself, what motivates this character? Are they the sort to do things based on moral reasoning (ie what’s right or wrong). Are they the sort to be motivated by external validation (ie they act in a way that makes people think specific things about them) Are they motivated by internal validation (ie they want to reach some internal goal they set for themselves)

Something to keep in mind with values is they are subjective. Just because your character is motivated by the “right thing” does not mean they can’t act in a manner that hurts others OR is deemed wrong by society. They just have to have an internal justification that fits their values.

 

[FoolsErin]

Interesting question! I struggle with making personality sections myself, but the method I find works is to think of the traits you’re thinking the character would have and apply them to situations.

Examples:
How does this character interact with strangers?
How does this character interact with people they are close to? (i.e. family, friends, significant others)
How does this character interact with people they dislike/hate?
How does this character react to an ideal situation?
How does this character react to a nonideal situation?

 

[Kaihaku]

Most of my character concepts don't fully come together until they start to interact in roleplay so, generally, I use the Personality section as an outline that's light on specific details. I take it as an opportunity to set a direction rather than lock the character in.

I usually start by thinking about their core motivations - what do they want, what do they avoid - and how that fits into the roleplay. It's a disservice to everyone involved to make a character that isn't engaged with the roleplay.

Then I start thinking about their psychological traits and how those influence how they act on their core motivations. I like to add some inner conflict around the plot engagement here, coupling that strong point of interest with internal complications. For example, if it's a roleplay about a martial arts camp... Perhaps they are really interested in martial arts since it provides a physical release for their anxiety but had a traumatic experience around an abusive senpai and avoid training with other people because of that. This introduces an internal conflict that connects them with the plot but provides a future hook for character growth.

Finally I sprinkle in a few fun personality quirks. Not too many, I think quirks are better improvised during roleplay, but just a few to help establish the new character. Things like 'stress bakes', 'refuses to eat chicken', and 'hates attention from authority figures' add flavor to the character.

Then I look back at what I've put together and usually rewrite it 15 times. Sometimes I'll involve other participants in all of this, bouncing ideas off of them and coordinating characters... Other times I'll do it on my own. It really depends on the 'feel' I get from the sign-up.

 

[Chordling]

I have written out a system which can replace/ supplement the traditional personality section. You can read more of my thoughts here: 3-to-5-Pillar System

 

[baggysack]

Really good point about values: motivated characters are best character and what-not. Additional shout-outs to Kaihaku for putting more collaborative effort into the character-making stage than I ever do...

I don't want to fall into the trap of writing out the different ways my character "would" interact with Group A, Group B. It feels like writing out a script. How much do I need to include, and how much would actually be explored in the rp? Not sure how to feel about the 3-to-5 system, but there is an emphasis on values that I agree is really important, and the appearance/perosnality/history triad is one I don't think is super efficient anyhow.

I've asked myself, "What motivates her?" And then, "How could her personality create conflict?" It helped guide my thinking process at lot. At the very least, I wrote the personality section. So thanks for the ideas, guys!

 

[Pith]

With personality sections I tend to try and highlight how they deal with people (individual and with crowds), how they WORK with people, how they handle conflict, and how they handle being alone. I also usually try to bring up a couple of their passions, bad habits, and struggles, as well as anything which might set them off to a significant degree. While I might not consider all of that to BE their personality, it's what other people and characters will build their perceptions of my character's personality off of.

 

[Idea]

To me the questions are:

1. How do I want the character to act?
As in, what parts of their behavior am I personally interested (by convenience, preference or hype) in seeing them behave as? This is relevant not only for one's personal interest in playing the character in the way they are described but also it can establish your role within a group or a pair. For example, a lot of the time my characters are curious, almost 100% of the time in fact, and this is because unless I'm specifically looking to have variation on that specific aspect it's an extremely useful trait to have in terms of getting the character to organically interact with the plot and characters, as it can generate interest from their part. There are also times when a character's particular behavior is the reason why I make them in the first place, usually attached to some kind of character arc (wanting a specific character arc does fall into this point 1 after all)

That said, one has to be careful and self-aware here. Unless your character has no actual personality or their personality is a pile of contradictions (which is pretty much the same as having none) it's actually pretty hard to make a bad personality. However, it is very easy to make a personality that isn't actually compatible with your values and way of writing. A common example I give is a character that doesn't know how to write without action and interaction making a character that is too shy or otherwise reserved to interact with others of their own accord and intiative.


2. How do I imagine the character acting?
Specifically, what part of their behavior stands out to me when I imagine the character acting in a scene, chatting with others etc... This is admittedly something that is harder to do if you aren't particularly imaginative (in the sense that getting a clear picture in your head of how a character acts, sounds and such to the point of being able to visualize it doesn't come equally easily for everyone), but one which I find very useful. I picture the character in random situations and try to get a general feel for them.

I think that is important to point out though, "general". The personality section isn't meant to be something written in stone. It's more like a general snapshot of the character at the moment they start. Sure it shouldn't change without organic input, but the fact it can change with that organic input shouldn't give an aspect of the character special treatment one way or the other. It isn't meant for incredibly specific situations either, but if I met this character during a normal day on a typical occasion, who am I encountering? And if you say "it depends" then you missed the point of the word "general".


3. What kind of personality results from their other elements?
Golden rule of consistency. Always golden rule of consistency with me. This is as simple as they come, well easy to understand and hard to master I suppose (and to be clear, I am not saying I mastered it myself, far from it): Your personality is the result of many different things coming together, your circumstances, personal history and natural predispositions namely. This means one great way to create a personality is to consider the character's backstory and other aspect of their design, and ask yourself "what kind of a personality would this create?"


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Hope this helps, best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[SP3CT3R]

I usually try to start with what the first impression of the character would be like upon meeting them, followed by how they act in close company or comfortable situations, and then get to what's usually going on inside their heads.

Also, I haven't really had the chance to apply this, but I've been playing with the idea of giving my characters a "fatal flaw" of some sort, like a major, deep--seated personality trait that most of their problems stem from. I feel like it might result in some spotlight-hoarding if I lay it on too thick, though.

 

[Jannah]

Personality sections of sheets are always pretty intimidating for me since I'm the type of person who can't really fully develop a character until I get a feel for them through RP. History and such I can do beforehand, but personality? Definitely quite a bit harder.

 

[Crayons]

I've never had a problem doing these unless they demand a certain length or weirdly specific items like "what are their three favourite foods?" Etc. Important bits are: how they behave and what are their values. I think if you have those you're probably good to go extrapolating the rest of the personality.

 

[kibou]

I'm also someone who doesn't want to reveal every little bit of detail and flavor I have for a character and would rather have it as something fun for players to discover about each other's OCs as they go, but there's a good reason personality sections exist and people want paragraphs, and I'm not willing to trust strangers either that they'll just make a good roleplayer without a decent sheet. I think the best compromise is to describe what they seem like to people from the outside.

One of my characters is friendly and does small talk or discussing other people just fine, but keeps his own matters vague as possible. It's still facts about his personality, but leaves the "why" a mystery, and yknow hopefully other players won't immediately start prying and digging because of that little bit of meta knowledge but it's definitely less risk and more room for both the fun part of getting to know each other's characters, and for changes that occur naturally in the rp.

But personally I don't think it's a huge deal if events happen IC and your character turns out a little different. I view my own sheets as a guide for consistency but not an absolute if it accidentally takes a little turn. I usually keep a separate, much bigger sheet private to edit as needed.