Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kaneohe 09-05-06, 10:41 PM	Specifically, with coming up with them. Can anyone give me some ideas on where to start looking for inspiration?
Seghan 09-05-06, 10:57 PM	Your favorite literature is a good start. My first concept (actually still my usual concept) is a rouge cribbed heavily from Silk, from David & Leigh Eddings' Belgariad series. Read heavily in your campaign setting as well, look for countries and classes and places that inspire you. Also look you yourself, some frown on this but if you and your group doesn't, then project your own background and attributes (suitably enhanced and exagerated of course) into the character. Hope I helped
Razieliffied 09-06-06, 12:45 AM	I introduced a concept to my group at one point that works rather well. Everyone takes turns flicking through my fantasy art folder on my computer, when they see something that grabs their attention, we all sita nd talk about what race/class/etc it is then the payer rolls it up and tries to play it :p This works best if you can truste evryone to play theircharacter, not the character of the picture. We've had some trouble when someone tried to play nightmare [soul calibur] and link[legend of zelda] and even cloud [ff7].
Galamere 09-06-06, 05:11 AM	In my mind it comes down to several different things really. A) What roll is the player hoping to fill? If they are as yet undecided then citing ideas from books, movies, games and any other media that the player likes can be a good start. I like the example that Razieliffied gave, so long as, as he said, they can keep that character and the character they are playing separate. B) So they have their rolls decided, that still leaves a lot of potential choices. Personally I think books like the Hero Builders Guidebook is a good source for new players, as is the Players Handbook 2. However all in all I prefer to start from scratch, just having a character type to play (as in dual wielding barbarian) doesn’t bring a lot to the party, I prefer to start with my character's childhood and go from there. Even if you never get around to talking about such backgrounds in game it can still help for purposes of keeping you in character in the heat of the moment. As an example, one of the more fun characters I played was a rogue/barbarian human who thought he was a ranger. A crazed idea that came from the need of a rogue in our group and my last character was just made into an NPC. Straight rogues have never really appealed to me, and we needed a high damage front line fighter. As for the background he was raised by his father who was a ranger, but also by his mother that was a priestess of the earth temple (he split his time between the two) in the temple and in the wild both he had to hide sneak about, in the wild he also needed to ambush, however he was never much for studying his prey, insted relying on his short temper to take down his foes. In the example given I'm only scratched the surface of his background and already he could be appealing to several types of players, still getting good stealth bonuses, good sneak attacks, and the power of the rage and damage reduction. The background is all gravy offering good RP potential. I'm just throwing out some conditions, suggestions and examples of course, if there is something more specific that I can help with, or a guideline to go by I can be of far greater help, it's always been one of my greater joys to come up with characters like this, so if nothing else have your players come out here and ask for tips/suggestions as well. Feel free to PM me if you like anything/want suggestions. I'm afraide I rarely frequent these boards.
Morka 09-06-06, 03:19 PM	Your favorite literature is a good start. My first concept (actually still my usual concept) is a rouge cribbed heavily from Silk, from David & Leigh Eddings' Belgariad series. Read heavily in your campaign setting as well, look for countries and classes and places that inspire you. Also look you yourself, some frown on this but if you and your group doesn't, then project your own background and attributes (suitably enhanced and exagerated of course) into the character. Hope I helped And use "litterature" in the largest meaning. Do you watch movies? Pirates of the Caribeans, Crouching Tigers Hidden Dragons, Troy, 3 Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Mission: Impossible, etc. Don't watch only the main characters, they are often too one-dimensional. Pay attention to the secondary characters, they have great quirks. Also, watch a few Pro Wrestling shows. The Wrestler have pretty strong gimmicks, that you could copy for your characters. For example, the Big Show could be a CG barbarian, John Cena a fighter/bard, Edge a sneaky rogue...
JulesCARV 09-06-06, 04:43 PM	Or, in addition to that, think of people you know. Maybe you know some real "characters" in your life -- friends, relatives, coworkers, classmates, whatever -- and you could draw a bit of inspiration from you characters from them.
Alakar 09-06-06, 04:48 PM	Also, read over the class descriptions, both base and presitge. I made a real neat character after I read over the bonded summoner out of the Mini's handbook. Think of a concept you like such as "Swashbuckling Pirate, Cynical Wizard, Pious Knight, and High Flying Martial artist", then go from there. If you need help fleshing out the character, there are people on these boards that would be more than happy to help. So to sum it up, Literature, Movies, Art, and the very game books themselves are all places to find inspiration. Good Luck.