Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Drindin 01-09-05, 03:03 AM	Hiya! Being a big writer and all, I've learned a few tricks of the trade on creating a basic character development from such people as Catherine Rooseart and Don Trembath! Now, these rules of writing can be easily applied to DND characters as well! Rule One: This should be obvious. Give your character a name. Rule numero Deus: Physical Description! How your character looks can be a very good way to determine how your character was raised, what they do in their spare time, what kind of personality your character may have, and what their first impressions on other people may be. Rule number three: Okay, now that you know what your character looks like... lets find out where your character lives! Where did they grow up? Where do they live now? Why do they live there? Did something about the place attract them? How do they obtain food? Where is there water source? What are their neighbors like? How do their neighbors react to the character? Rule Number Four: Every character has this... Personality! Are they stoic? Do they initially act cautious, and eventually warm up to the person? Are they quick to judge? What sort of things do they like? What do they dislike? What sort of things do they eat? How do their surroundings and physical condition effect the way they act? What do they do in their spare time? What sort of things do they worry about? What sort of personality do they have that makes them interesting? Don't be scared to be creative! Every one is different! Rule Number Five: Okay, so now you know what your character looks like, where he/she lives, and what their personality and all things included in that are like, it's time for your final and most important step... TIME TO TAKE THEM SHOPPING! This may seem strange to you... but you'd be surprised how it can help! Whether you're walking through a supermarket and looking at things you think your character would like, or if you're simply looking through your manuals and picking out items/abilities for your character, if you take into account all the things you have decided about your character, this activity can provide a deep look into your character's most important aspects. For example: A paranoid character would probably be interested in choosing items and possibly abilities that can prevent said character from being watched, stalked, or even attacked. Such items may be a pendant of non-detection, or some similar item. One ability choice may be the feat blind fight, or the rouge ability improved evasion. I hope this helps! If you have any comments, or constructive criticism, please feel free to post them!
Grompa 01-09-05, 11:42 AM	The steps are alright I suppose, but (without trying to be rude/hurtful) it seems kind of redundant compared to Galahads Galahad's Guide to Holistic Heroes (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=176982) and Trydans thingy-mabobba (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=105563) .
Drindin 01-09-05, 01:40 PM	Yes, but notice that both are geared entirely to Role-playing characters, where as these rules are used (at least in my situation) for novel/short-story characters as well. Those rules are deeply indepth and used to develop fully fleshed out characters, where as these rules are, again, not used for that but for basically developed characters. This is helpful, because it allows you to further develop your character as the story goes on, wether it's a campaign or fantasy story. If you've noticed, this particular set of rules is actually more for creating a concept rather than a full character, at least according to what Galahad Knight said.
Grompa 01-09-05, 03:15 PM	Still, I think Galahad's and Trydan's guides are better thought out and more effective. Their methods just seem to 'click' more with me. Besides, it seems like you just ripped a few paragraphs from their guides, changed the wording and removed the formatting. Sorry.
Drindin 01-10-05, 09:52 AM	YEah, well, generally that's what things can look like when written at two o'clock in the morning. And I stand by my arguement that I had no idea any other guides previously existed, and therefore it is impossible for me to have plagarized there texts.
Persephone Imytholin 01-10-05, 10:40 AM	Both articles are linked from the FAQ (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=88555) stickied on this board. Reading it and having a go at the awe-inspiring power of the search (http://boards1.wizards.com/search.php?) function probably would've found them for you. For bonus points, the last reply to the thread with Trydan's guide was only last week. As I write this, it's listed on page two of the board index. Now, to be constructive. Consider limiting your use of exclamation marks; they interrupt the flow of text, making it difficult to read. As a rule, they should only be used in direct speech, and even then only when absolutely needed. Furthermore, the 'big writer' comment and the name-dropping both sound rather pretentious, especially in any kind of open forum. At best, it's likely to be ignored; at worst, it may encourage hostility. Be clear, be concise, and let the content speak for itself as much as is possible - after all, it worked for professor Tolkien,
Trydan 01-10-05, 12:47 PM	In response to the article itself: ... I'd fix the formatting of the five key points so that a single summary word or two appears at the start of each paragraph (in boldface too). For example: 1. Name: This should be obvious... etc. etc. 2. Physical description: How your character looks ... etc. etc. I agree it doesn't help to name drop, but if you have learned something from a book or reference, do cite that reference. Perhaps we could read what you read and learn something different. On the issue of traits, there is a good list of traits in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Does anyone know the page number... it would be a useful thing to quote here. Regarding shopping, if it is for a player's character, then lots of items are fine, but for an NPC, just one is usually sufficient. In response to some of the comments made by others: ... Aside from any other articles on the topic, sometimes writing your own "HOWTO" forces you to think about things in a more logical way. It helps focus the mind on the important issues. It may not necessarily help you, but it may help the writer, or a reader more in tuned with the way that writer thinks. Not all articles have to be quite so in depth either. Sometimes a lengthy article is great for a player's epic character, whereas a quick "5-step guide" works better for the dungeon maser, who is putting together 20 NPCs for a town-scene. And as for "borrowing" elements of other articles, well, as far as I am concerned, anyone can use anything that I've ever written. My aim is to help others role-play -- and if that means quoting, rewriting, translating, improving, using or anything else, then anyone is welcome to do so. Call it "public-domain" help. Of course, that's just me... I can't speak for anyone else's work.
Token 01-14-05, 04:08 AM	The first thing to do is to come up with stats. With out those, you have no clue what he's capable of, and any backstory you write would be pointless if nothing in there your character is actually capable of. If you are making this character for a story, then you probably don't want a nose bleeder (except as comic relief, but if you have more than one of those then you're a bad writer). Use point buy, around 32-36 points for a hero that works alone or with one or two side-kicks. Pick the character type mage/fighter/priest, and assign stats that benefit those classes. Highest in primary stat. If wizard, then int, fighter=str, cleric=wis. For a book, I recomend switching the cleric's spellcasting stat to charisma, rather than wisdom, as clerics are supposed to be able to attract followers and con people out of donations (maybe that sounds a bit too negative... oh-well). Next you need to come up with a character build. This way, you know how your character will evolve in the story. That way, you can avoid inconsistancies in personality. Durring this process, pick a race that best augments your character. If you're making a hero, use the axiom "The more broken the build, the more heroic the character." Remember that you don't need to put any of the flavor of prestige classes into your character, make up your own flavor so that it all meshes together better. After all's said and done, don't look at various prestige classes as separate classes, but rather the full evolution of that specific character. If you don't think the reason a class entry gives for a specific class ability, change it. The mechanics stay the same, but the character sounds better. Next a backstory. Avoid the "parents are dead, village destroyed by orcs, questing to avenge them" because that's about as interesting as watching C-SPAN, and original as dirt. Also avoid the "small bucholic village" background because they're lame and overdone. Think about your childhood in this day and age, then make sure you don't copy anything from that. Think about how the character received training, if any (perhaps he/she's self taught rogue/sorcerer/psion...). Think about the boring day-to-day life that exists in your setting, then think about all the things the character did to make it interesting. Next a personality. Most of this should have developed in your head while your were creating the backstory. Think about how the charater reacts to drunk/obnoxious people. Does your character smoke? Pipe/cigar/ciggarette? Is it tobacco? That's not the only thing you can smoke you know, and in an ideal world, the big tobacco companies wouldn't exist and you'd only have small companies with hand-rolled quality product. Note that I'm only going into detail about smoking habits to show the level of thinking you should put into your personality. Why is this character questing/adventuring? What is his/her goal? What does he/she seek to obtain? No "to avenge friend/family member," as that's overdone. If you answer "to gain experience and knowledge" throw the character away and start over. If the character's just a wanderlust, then what's to get the character into the dangerous dungeon? Why isn't he/she off enjoying life rather than risking it? Is the character a thrill seeker? What type of music does the character like (note: not ALL music in a setting based loosly on middle ages europe must be mandolin / lute accompanied by a make singer droning on about whatever. Organ music (usually in churches), symphony, tribal music, etc, are/were available BACK THEN). The second to last thing you should come up with is physical build (tall, short, thin, fat, muscular, weak, tough, frail, etc), physical characteristics (hair color/style, skin color, eye color, etc), and prefered clothing style/colors, as these are what you use to describe the character to the other players, or to the reader, thus they are the second least important to your characters persona. The LAST thing you should come up with is the name. It's the least important. The only possible reason for wanting it earlier is to have a character quirk about the name (perhaps a man was given a womans name, and everyone teased him about it, etc). But even then, you don't need the ACTUAL name until you are finishing up the character, simply knowing the quirk exists is enough to build the personality.
Drindin 01-16-05, 02:26 AM	Well, stats are all fine and good, but I didn't just create this list for characters that are from games! Remember, I also said I use this for Writing, and I can find names are very important to backstorys and personality (for example, a person named Cornelius would be hugely teased for his name, but his parents might find it a badge of honour due to the history of said name.), and, seeing as I will take Trydan's advice on using it for NPC's, the Name might be all you'd find out about a given character, and stats aren't usually that important for non-combative NPC's. Now, your idea has merit, especially for people who work from the stats and up, but I prefer to work from the background down. However, having personality after background makes alot of sense... Any Way, my re-vamped version: (P.S.)Added a sixth rule... 1. Name. Pretty straight foreward. 2. Physical Description. How does your character look and dress? 3. Where your character lives, and where they used to live. A village? Cities? 4.Back ground. What was your character's family like? Were they rich merchants, or poor farmers? 5.Personality. Intorverts, or Extroverts? Stoic or warm hearted and kindly? Don't forget to include Likes and Dislikes here (as well as fears, etc.) 6.Personal Belongings and abilities (Shopping Cart Rule). Pick these out now. For NPC's, I'd suggest only one or two items, unless they are a major NPC or possibly a final boss. For PC's, make sure to buy all the adventuring gear they can afford/is available to them (based on your DM and where your character lives.) For Novel and/or short-story characters, pick things that define your character and the way they live. Alright...