Character Theory Really Neat Character Ideas You've Had

[BackSet]

I've noticed that we have a whole bunch of threads about "these things are bad in characters and I don't like them" or whatever. I myself have participated in a few. But we have no threads for "really cool characters" so, long story short, what are some of the coolest character ideas you've come up with.

 

[Crayons]

I don't really tend to make super high-concept characters, but I got reminded of this one recently so I thought I'd share it:

A friend was making like a "dark" kingdom with necromancers, monsters, human slavery and so on, and I made this character who was an undead skeleton seneschal to the ruling Lady. I did make it for a laugh, because I couldn't possibly be totally straight-faced in a super-cliche "dark" setting, but actually I thought this concept was pretty neat.

This skeleton has been brought back to life, but they have no memory of who or what they used to be, so their schtick is that they get humans, flay them, and wear their skins, trying to find the skin that "fits" them, and brings them closer to being themselves. Because they don't really remember what it was like being a human, the skins don't fit them very well, so they are always dragging lose bits around with them, or wearing the skin sort of askew, and in general looking really, really NOT like a human at all.

Additionally they were really polite and snobbish, like a sort of undead Jeeves running the household.

And they had a romance with a necromancer... and something something ... implied weird smut.

Something cool about it was that it is a stupid concept on many levels, but also it has great themes. Aren't we all just putting on ill-fitting "skins" when we roleplay? Aren't we all trying to find our true selves and be comfortable with it? Is this character in fact nothing more than a self-insert?! Oh my GOD I only just realised it but it's true. *headdesk*

 

[Darrian_Gabriel]

I think one of my best characters is one I came up with a Vampire The Masquerade RP. I made my character a bitter and resentful Ghoul who turned on his master after she refused to turn him into a Kindred. So he became a vampire slayer and eventually started up his own cult of Hunters who worshiped the sun. He has survived for over a century on consuming vampire blood. His cult which I named The Ra Ahau(Army Of the Sun) is a mix of both Egyptian and Mayan mythology. Even the name is a combo of the Egyptian and Mayan sun gods.

 

[Crenando]

I had this idea for a character (or at least the idea to put the archetype in a supers setting) who subconsciously alters reality to fit what he views as realistic. If people find workarounds, his views change, and as a result, what reality is altered to be is changed. It'd be a nice twist on unnecessarily skeptical characters in settings with incredibly far-fetched things happening on the regular, yeah?
It's ideal for an NPC because I don't think anyone in their right mind would let them in as a player character.

 

[Grey]

I really like a character I made when trying to play against my normal type.
I usually play scholars, warlocks, poets, con-artists, etc.

So for a friend's RP using my setting, I made Wolkire Koikalle.
An illiterate, honourable, blunt warrior who thought he was a prophet of his people's death god but was in fact a necromancer who turned his powers to killing undead and calling on his ancestors.
If he ever found out his power doesn't come from his god, it'd ruin him.

 

[dae mec]

My favorites... well, I got a lot, but off the top of my head, I'm really fond of two (one of which I never got to properly role play, sigh).

The first is a mixed-race Petyr Littlefinger type character in a European royal court setting. Born illegitimate, clawed his way up, works from the shadows, etc. Has an absent-minded air while being quite keen. Except he's a genuinely nice guy who agonizes over every ruthless thing for his ends-justify-the-means philosophy. I tend to go for commoners in these settings, lol. I guess it's the anti-monarchist in me. I really wish I got to play him

The other is an actually selfish, impulsive, cut-throat, ex-warlock criminal-for-hire. My characters are usually thoughtful planners in one way or another, so playing someone who's balls-to-the-wall "I do what I want, whenever I want, and only I matter" is a real trip. I'm currently writing her in a RP here, and she's been a lot of fun! Especially since she's on her way to a (hopeful) redemption arc, though her impulsivity isn't likely to change...

 

[Delinquent]

Man, I have such a cool idea for a bartender/necromancer character for an Epithet Erased roleplay. Sadly the fandom is practically none existant.

 

[Stale Biscuit]

One thing I really thought was cool was idea was a demon character who loved people. The setting was a world where demons and humans co-existed, but most demons maintain their same appearance except for size. She was a chimera of a demon donning a monstrous wolf head with grotesque claws attached to the body of a human woman. She was initially born from human desires a long ass time ago and was worshiped as a deity until people lost faith. Anyhow, she currently works as the secretary of a customer service department where she enjoys spending her time analyzing her human co-workers. She also got the okay to adopt a human child since she wanted to try her hand at child rearing. I really wanted to emphasize the humanity within demons using her, though there are somethings that would take longer for her to understand That didn't get to happen though.

 

[SP3CT3R]

There's been an idea nagging at me for a good few months about a superhero team of supernatural creatures. I need to use it so badly, but I don't know how to get people on board, short of making an entire roleplay for it.

 

[Grey]

There's been an idea nagging at me for a good few months about a superhero team of supernatural creatures. I need to use it so badly, but I don't know how to get people on board, short of making an entire roleplay for it.

Uhh give me a week I've been stewing on that idea too.

 

[AnimeGenork]

I dunno, I think I'll always have a good chuckle at the tomboy reincarnation of the goddess of rainbows. Who hates rainbows.

Other than that, any "cool" concepts I come up with are just ones that amuse me, like the bookish girl who carries around a stuffed rabbit and is not surprised to walk into a house full of vampires because it's "cliche."

 

[SP3CT3R]

Uhh give me a week I've been stewing on that idea too.

Using CofD?

 

[Horace]

A vigilante who has a reputation of terrible brutality, yet in reality he is protected by a cherubic guardian angel sent to steer the chosen one on the right path.

 

[Crenando]

There's been an idea nagging at me for a good few months about a superhero team of supernatural creatures. I need to use it so badly, but I don't know how to get people on board, short of making an entire roleplay for it.

This reminds me of a character idea I had for an attempt at building a superhero setting from scratch back in the hosted project days that I'd like to have another go at. I wanted to help fill up the Golden Age history of the world while having someone who'd still feasibly live till the modern day.
Basically this dude was a combination of a two-fisted mystery man type like The Spirit and classic spooky, mysterious and powerful characters like The Spectre or The Phantom Stranger.
He died on duty as a cop, mysteriously came back, lived above a Jazz club by day and fought by night.
His powers were purposefully malleable to fit the tone of those old stories.

 

[Grey]

Using CofD?

Hell naw that's mediocre for this at best; custom work of some kind or possibly a Monsterhearts/MASKS hack


On topic, another character I really liked writing was Junko Koto for my game Year of the Spy. Junko and her parents were interned at Camp Topaz. By the time of the story, she'd gone through a period of anti-assimilationism, petty crime, and years of fieldwork as an agent for the Bureau of Inhuman Affairs. She's hardened, capable, and respected for her skills - but she knows she's getting too old for this shit, and she's either going to be too slow one of these days or the Bureau will try and put her behind a desk.
She's also a big fan of classic monster movies. I don't know why that little detail felt right.

 

[Tulik]

The best design I’ve ever had for a character was a farmer who was tricked by a super powerful deity like figure to become his thrall for knowledge, but ended up going mad with the knowledge and power and killing the deity who had stole him away from his home and becoming a mad god in his own right.

 

[BackSet]

The best design I’ve ever had for a character was a farmer who was tricked by a super powerful deity like figure to become his thrall for knowledge, but ended up going mad with the knowledge and power and killing the deity who had stole him away from his home and becoming a mad god in his own right.

Did he become the mad god of farming?

 

[Tulik]

Did he become the mad god of farming?

so much wheat. He was mad with power. And wheat. And power. ..and wheat.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Hell naw that's mediocre for this at best; custom work of some kind or possibly a Monsterhearts/MASKS hack

I should've figured that.

 

[haleighlujah]

Cool to me. Imagine a tom cat, standing on his rear legs, clamored in steel armor and wielding a full-sized claymore blade like it's a feather. His mount is a friendly, toxic Salamander.

 

[The One Eyed Bandit]

Hmm, reading this makes me realize that I don't really think I have any standout characters on the conceptual level. I generally take fairly spartan approaches to the basis of a character and then build up on top of it in a way that feels more like a reaction to the setting and, when it's appropriate, other characters. A character I'm enjoying right now, for example, is really just a disgraced noble trope if you really strip her down, but it's how that trope exists within the context of the particular setting that makes it interesting for me.

Thanks for making this thread, actually. I feel like I've just put something to words that's been in the back of my head for a while.

 

[BackSet]

I haven't had any really neat character ideas recently but I've always dreamed about making minor parts of a character important.

 

[Church418]

I've always been EXTREMELY drawn to villainous characters with goals that cause conflict within the reader. They do terrible things but you just CAN"T hate them. You understand and even sympathize with their motivations. This is even more engaging when the protagonist of the story is in direct conflict with the villain in question.

I have been so desperate for a star wars plot that nails this type of character within the boundaries of Sith lore. Kylo Ren was such a disappointment to the point it ruined the newest trilogy for me. I'm not a huge harry potter fan but Draco is a good example of this type of character.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

I've had this weird idea for a while for a character who's somehow been fractured into a bunch of different people with different personalities.

The second they touch another person who is a part of them, they absorb that person back into themselves and gain all the person's memories. They become more "whole" while the other person...dies(??).

Will I ever actually do anything with this concept? Who knows, lol.

 

[Cerise]

There's been an idea nagging at me for a good few months about a superhero team of supernatural creatures. I need to use it so badly, but I don't know how to get people on board, short of making an entire roleplay for it.

if this becomes a reality count me in 1000%