Characters: More than just a name on a sheet?

Maxwel.Demon · Post by **Maxwel.Demon** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:57 pm

I've been wondering if other people feel the same way about their characters as I do. I can't play my characters unless I have a backstory written (and, thanks to my lousy handwriting) typed up about them. I just have this mental block about how to play them unless they have their own history. Anyone feel the same way?

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:55 am

Exactly, I need something to base my character off of and so that my DM knows about him. It, in fact, SHOULDN'T be something of just a name and sheet.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:54 pm

I play my characters like a book.
I have to know them and my characters actually change during the campain, I don't like fixed characters. They are alive to me.

Pellinore · Post by **Pellinore** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:43 pm

Yes, that is the only way to role play. I actually like characters much, much more if they have a nice background. I will reward players for creating characters and not just a name with stats.

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:03 pm

I've been starting a "what did you learn" kinda XP reward system.

Instead of giving a flat XP reward for everybody, I base it off of what they learned. If they didn't pay attention to what went on, should they get XP for roleplaying? I don't think so, so that's why, so long as it's decent information, you can potentially get more XP than what the book would suggest.

Maxwel.Demon · Post by **Maxwel.Demon** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:54 pm

I agree with you guys. I just don't see the fun in playing a character without any real character involved, if you know what I mean.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:18 pm

[QUOTE=Siberys]I've been starting a "what did you learn" kinda XP reward system.

Instead of giving a flat XP reward for everybody, I base it off of what they learned. If they didn't pay attention to what went on, should they get XP for roleplaying? I don't think so, so that's why, so long as it's decent information, you can potentially get more XP than what the book would suggest.[/QUOTE]Could that not hurt good RPer's who have characters with low wisdom/intelligence scores?

As for me, I used to do that, but our DM's have a habit of TPK's, which makes it a bit redundant to create a full backstory. One reason I enjoy this latest game we are playing using Eberron. Using a Three year old Warforged Artificer who is almost completely new to the world. Everything is a learning experiance for him. He has a pet kitten.

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:35 pm

Yes that could, but the what did you learn isn't restricted to the plot of my story. It can be literally anything.

"I learned not to pick a fight with a guard when he has backup" is obviously no good.

"I learned it's not really a good idea to insult a guard, as even though I know I'm just, he is stronger than me" is more of what could happen. I'd give XP for that, as even character's with the low intelligence and wisdom could figure out not to insult a guard.

So long as they say they learned SOMETHING, I give them XP. By something, I mean something of at least some relevance that happened to his character.

Meh · Post by **Meh** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:57 pm

I normally have some sort of backstory, but I don't have it writtten down were everyone can see. Its up in the ole noggin. I let other characters figure out about my characters as we go aklong in the campain

beano · Post by **beano** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:44 am

im so glad someone else feels this way. i thought i was super geek lol. i absolutley have to have a back story with my character. family, former groups, everything i can imagine. and i'll throw this out there when your character dies in an adventure/campaign how bad do ya feel? b/c i know when my characters dies i feel so bad like i have lost an actual friend ther ehave been times where i have been so attached to characters that when they die i wont play for a few weeks.

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:00 am

[QUOTE=beano]i thought i was super geek[/QUOTE]
You weren't, up until this part:
[QUOTE=beano]when my characters dies i feel so bad like i have lost an actual friend ther ehave been times where i have been so attached to characters that when they die i wont play for a few weeks.[/QUOTE]
Just kidding.

I like to give my characters backgrounds and personalities so I can play the character rather than just an extension of myself with a sword. It also makes the campaign more interesting, because when I approach situations from my character's perspective, I notice different things, and have different goals or means by which to reach them.

Have you looked into The Hero Builder's Guidebook from regular 3rd Edition? It has tables and such with piles of ideas for different aspects of a character's history. I used to think I made fairly thorough backgrounds, but the book has stuff I'd never considered, or could never figure out how to implement, like family political views, ancestors of note, specific education, etc.

Using this book, I made a halfling rogue (how generic) into a person with stories about Grandpa Roscoe the ettin-killer, and, my favourite, Uncle Plunkett's Peculiar Pig Pen. And these stories tied in aspects of of the family financial situation, social status, and so forth. It really helped to intertwine aspects of her history, rather than just having a sort of chronological lead-up to her adventuring career.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:40 pm

I don't need one to be honest. It helps, sure. However, so long as you have a concept in mind, you play the concept. Regardless of whether you come up with a backstory and what not.

For example, if you decide to play and evil rogue. You have lots of leeway with that. However, when you make the character sheet, you need a concept in mind, correct? You just don't toss together a generic character that is equally good at everything. You decide whether or not the character is strong, or intelligent, or charismatic. You decide whether or not the character can be sneaky, or pick locks, or trick people with words.

With what is on the sheet, you can understand what to do in just about any given situation with your character if you truly have a decent concept for him in mind. This however, can be helped by having a background. To give you a definate way that the character should act in certain situations. For example, if you write a backstory saying your parents were enslaved and taken away by some race, you would have an emnity to that race, because they took your parents away and left you an orphan. Not only that, you may rather die than be enslaved yourself, or allow another person to be enslaved.

You can very well come up with this on the fly without a backstory. Yet, the backstory makes it all right there for you, so you don't have to be creative on the spot and come up with something spontaneously.

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:06 pm

But looking at your sheet, your concept becomes numbers and equations, no?

Making a small story with your character in mind can still give leeway, but also make it more interesting. Is an evil rogue with a high intelligence and charisma necessarily good with words? No, he can formulate plans and he might look good, but charisma might not have to do with his wording. He can still be an ornary immature yuppie.

I don't base anything off of the stats in my character sheet. I generalize it. For instance, I don't limit what my characters can say by intelligence, but rather what they can say by all three combined. The only time intelligence actually comes into play is when my character needs to make a roll, NOT when I'm talking or conversing with people.

Obviously you have to play a stupid character if the intelligence is 9-6 or so, but let's say that character has a wisdom of 16 at that too, would you necessarily just make him dumb all the time no matter what, due to the numbers.

I wouldn't. His wisdom is generally high, meaning even though his words are primitive, they make logical sense most of the time. I've never limited my characters and what they do, lest it's absoloutely necessary.

For instance-

"Maybe we shouldn't go into the cave, or if we do, do it stealthily," might be a character with a 10 or 12 int/wis. But he can also goof up and say some stupid stuff sometimes as well. He can also say something super smart at the spur of the moment.

"Dat cave look bad, filled wit da dark in it," is an example of a person who might say something and he has an int of 8. BUT, it means the same thing as that person with the 10 or 12 said, just less refined.

I will never limit my character's speech, my characters overall style just by numbers and equations of a character sheet lest it's necessary due to some odd thing happening, such as an ability score below 9.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:14 pm

*nods* However, as I stated, when you make the character, and then, when you improve the character (leveling), you have a concept formed already. What is the difference whether it is in your head, or on paper? IMO, forcing the character to stick to the roots of his background entry is like suffocating the character. You should have a base, sure, but...most of the stuff doesn't matter really. If all people involved are creative, and want to bring out a highly detailed role-playing experience, they can work together in doing so, whether or not detailed back story's are provided.

[Generic] · Post by **[Generic]** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:35 am

Siberys wrote:But looking at your sheet, your concept becomes numbers and equations, no?

Making a small story with your character in mind can still give leeway, but also make it more interesting. Is an evil rogue with a high intelligence and charisma necessarily good with words? No, he can formulate plans and he might look good, but charisma might not have to do with his wording. He can still be an ornary immature yuppie.

I don't base anything off of the stats in my character sheet. I generalize it. For instance, I don't limit what my characters can say by intelligence, but rather what they can say by all three combined. The only time intelligence actually comes into play is when my character needs to make a roll, NOT when I'm talking or conversing with people.

Obviously you have to play a stupid character if the intelligence is 9-6 or so, but let's say that character has a wisdom of 16 at that too, would you necessarily just make him dumb all the time no matter what, due to the numbers.

I wouldn't. His wisdom is generally high, meaning even though his words are primitive, they make logical sense most of the time. I've never limited my characters and what they do, lest it's absoloutely necessary.

For instance-

"Maybe we shouldn't go into the cave, or if we do, do it stealthily," might be a character with a 10 or 12 int/wis. But he can also goof up and say some stupid stuff sometimes as well. He can also say something super smart at the spur of the moment.

"Dat cave look bad, filled wit da dark in it," is an example of a person who might say something and he has an int of 8. BUT, it means the same thing as that person with the 10 or 12 said, just less refined.

I will never limit my character's speech, my characters overall style just by numbers and equations of a character sheet lest it's necessary due to some odd thing happening, such as an ability score below 9.

I like the points you make in this post. It's true, really. I think that having a decent wisdom score can balance out having a low intelligence. In fact, one of the most interesting characters that I've ever played had an intelligence score of 8. I balanced this out quite a bit with my wisdom score (14). Sometimes I would have him act like a buffoon and screw up in certain cases, but I would usually balance these out with moments where he would give advice or say something that actually made sense. At first, my party didnt really listen, because they thought I would roleplay him stupid because of his intelligence score. I remember once where we were in a dungeon, and there was a room that was completely empty. There was just nothing in it at all. The rest of my party looked in and left, but my character thought we should explore the room. They said that it would just be a waste of time, and I didnt press the issue because it wouldn't suit my character. About a week of fruitless dungeon crawling fraught with random encounters and minor loot later, we eventually returned to this room on our way out. It was an empty room so we decided to set up camp inside. Turns out, this room was QUITE important to the plot. We found 3 secret doors inside. We would have found these doors much sooner if the party had listened to my half-orc.

Anyways, I've told my little story and gone rather off-topic, so I'll just say that I always create a backstory for my characters, no matter what. I don't always share that backstory with others though, but that depends on the character.

Philos · Post by **Philos** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:11 pm

"Role Playing"

Playing the "role" (or acting the part if you will) is the big appeal IMHO. Like many have said having a back story really helps to foster that. The character's stats help provide a bit more of the framework to that story. I created an elven fighter/mage for one campaign. I rolled the stats and he had a high intelligence (17) but unfortunately, a low wisdom (6) but this gave me a good opportunity to blend the stat into the generally capricious nature of elves. My character "loved" to pull pranks on dwarves whenever the party hit a town. Not the smartest move but was more reflective of a low wisdom than low intelligence. He would craft up great, sometimes very clever, pranks simply because in his opinion dwarves were a little too dour and needed to lighten up. The dwarves usually didn't see it quite that way. My character had a couple close scrapes with some rather "unenlightened" dwarves.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:52 pm

Well, looks like I am the odd one out. I prefer doing a mental backstory which is malleable. I think writing one out restricts the character more than helps the player form him/her. I make a basic concept, and then just run with it. I react to situations in-game based on that concept, so it's basically the same as a written one I suppose.

Philos · Post by **Philos** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:02 pm

Magrus,

I do that too with some characters as well. I once created a Sverfneblin NPC for an adventure in a campaign I co-DM'ed. I had mentally worked out his basic story, rolled his stats and then developed him as the adventure went on. The little guy was such a hit with the group that I had to turn him into a permanent party NPC (and play him as a second character when I wasn't Dm'ing). So I guess sometimes developing a character "on the fly" works out best.