Ok! Here is this little thing in my head. How many of you give you characters a rather major flaw/issues/permanent injury so on so forth? and if so what kind of things like that do you put?
I for one have a rp character on furcadia that is mute. Though this is more or less compensated for by pen and pad. Just a example so you get what i mean!
I for one have a rp character on furcadia that is mute. Though this is more or less compensated for by pen and pad. Just a example so you get what i mean!
That depends what is considered a flaw or issue. A few of mine need to feed on humans in miscellanious ways to survive, like vampires but not. Cerius has no tongue, teeth or basic things to speak with. Zenthus is subject to cosmic tides and can be sealed away on a dime. Rudianos is allergic to anything positive, like love. I mean... with broad parameters, yeah... pretty much all of my characters have some sort of crippling weakness. Save for maybe Rafe, but at the same time he has no real powers aside from being a magical null, and wearing a batsuit at night.
I always give my characters flaws, I personally find they are more fun with them.
Nathaniel for example, as a spellcaster everytime he does something remotely psychic powered has the chance of random effects happening. Be it fracturing his mind or just something as plain as curlding the milk in his tea... or anything else fun anyone can think of that's near him!
I also prefer to find characters with flaws as well, be them major or minor flaws; as it makes the characters I am interacting with more fun. For me at least.
Yet, I can understand why people don't want their creations to be flawed though.
Nathaniel for example, as a spellcaster everytime he does something remotely psychic powered has the chance of random effects happening. Be it fracturing his mind or just something as plain as curlding the milk in his tea... or anything else fun anyone can think of that's near him!
I also prefer to find characters with flaws as well, be them major or minor flaws; as it makes the characters I am interacting with more fun. For me at least.
Yet, I can understand why people don't want their creations to be flawed though.
(I moved the topic to RP Discussion for you. 
)
A couple of months ago, I posted a similar thread about flaws and strengths. It might be interesting to give those reply a read as well! Perhaps there's some inspiration to be had.
I personally tend to have characters who are more flawed than perfect, sometimes annoyingly so. I don't like playing all powerful characters, and even if it's not apparent from their profiles at all times, I tend to roleplay their downsides more than their upsides. (I rarely seem to win battles in RP.
)
It's not just always physical flaws I like though. Sinnice is pretty strong, being the secret daughter of the Emperor and trained from very young to become a Sith Lord. But she is emotionally rather broken, as she never quite experienced love (and what little she did was vanquished by her surroundings) and witnessed ruthless murdering at an early age. She is very prideful and if her pride is challenged, it's nearly impossible for her to walk away, making her easily provoked even when the odds are not in her favor.
The idea of loving somebody was preposterous and only led to weakness, so when she ended up developing feelings for somebody, it took a very long time for her to come to terms with the thought "I love him". Interactions with him have been very dramatic and intense because of her constant efforts to reject him for not understanding her emotions. (And it's one of my best roleplays as of yet for its dynamics!)
Then there's Panne, whose history was roleplayed out and shaped her quite a bit. As a free woman she was a headstrong, prideful and adventurous creature. When she was captured as a slave, the captivity and punishment she received for attempting to break free left her severely scarred, both physical and mentally. The following might potentially be a bit heavy on some people's stomachs, so I'll throw it into a spoiler. Her tentacles were consumed while she was conscious and felt everything. It created a severe mistrust towards others while she socially craved interaction, but was too afraid to get. Because the person who did that to her was an anthro owl, she got a serious fear of birds now.
I could probably go on endlessly about almost 80 characters or so, but these two have some interesting emotional flaws that make roleplaying them a little more fun than the others, usually.
)A couple of months ago, I posted a similar thread about flaws and strengths. It might be interesting to give those reply a read as well! Perhaps there's some inspiration to be had.
I personally tend to have characters who are more flawed than perfect, sometimes annoyingly so. I don't like playing all powerful characters, and even if it's not apparent from their profiles at all times, I tend to roleplay their downsides more than their upsides. (I rarely seem to win battles in RP.
)It's not just always physical flaws I like though. Sinnice is pretty strong, being the secret daughter of the Emperor and trained from very young to become a Sith Lord. But she is emotionally rather broken, as she never quite experienced love (and what little she did was vanquished by her surroundings) and witnessed ruthless murdering at an early age. She is very prideful and if her pride is challenged, it's nearly impossible for her to walk away, making her easily provoked even when the odds are not in her favor.
The idea of loving somebody was preposterous and only led to weakness, so when she ended up developing feelings for somebody, it took a very long time for her to come to terms with the thought "I love him". Interactions with him have been very dramatic and intense because of her constant efforts to reject him for not understanding her emotions. (And it's one of my best roleplays as of yet for its dynamics!)
Then there's Panne, whose history was roleplayed out and shaped her quite a bit. As a free woman she was a headstrong, prideful and adventurous creature. When she was captured as a slave, the captivity and punishment she received for attempting to break free left her severely scarred, both physical and mentally. The following might potentially be a bit heavy on some people's stomachs, so I'll throw it into a spoiler. Her tentacles were consumed while she was conscious and felt everything. It created a severe mistrust towards others while she socially craved interaction, but was too afraid to get. Because the person who did that to her was an anthro owl, she got a serious fear of birds now.
I could probably go on endlessly about almost 80 characters or so, but these two have some interesting emotional flaws that make roleplaying them a little more fun than the others, usually.
*stops to think for a moment, because she had already replied to the other topic-- doesn't want to repeat her response!*
Permanent injury is a little in the way of come-and-go-- the last character who had at least a crippling injury was Johann. He took a blessed knife to the arm and wasn't able to use it for a while. Even though it has healed enough to be of use again, that arm will always end up being a bit weaker than the other.
Prior to that, there was Draconus, who for a few IC-years sported a totally useless, injured arm he was not willing to part with. Turned out for the better when he became a paladin-- while the class change caused a divine regeneration to that arm, healing it permanently, it caused an entire rewrite of his strengths & weaknesses; and the arm itself still sports the scars from the injury that harmed it as a reminder of which god saved it, and that having it in use again isn't a privilege.
Otherwise, I simply don't get my characters into constant serious-harm/near-death situations all the time. It can happen, certainly, but I just have a knack for avoiding them.
Otherwise, as I said in the other topic, I do my best to balance out my characters with flaws I know I will play alongside their strengths. One of my favorites in that regard is probably Typhus. He's a Big Bad ex-military Emperor, but he's also rather mundane (no magical skills of any sort), getting up there in age and showing it (arthritis), a heavy smoker, horrendously paranoid and anti-magic-usage, and is blind in one eye-- and while he's tried to fight back against his flaws, because it's in his nature to do so, he isn't always met with success... and it shows.
Permanent injury is a little in the way of come-and-go-- the last character who had at least a crippling injury was Johann. He took a blessed knife to the arm and wasn't able to use it for a while. Even though it has healed enough to be of use again, that arm will always end up being a bit weaker than the other.
Prior to that, there was Draconus, who for a few IC-years sported a totally useless, injured arm he was not willing to part with. Turned out for the better when he became a paladin-- while the class change caused a divine regeneration to that arm, healing it permanently, it caused an entire rewrite of his strengths & weaknesses; and the arm itself still sports the scars from the injury that harmed it as a reminder of which god saved it, and that having it in use again isn't a privilege.
Otherwise, I simply don't get my characters into constant serious-harm/near-death situations all the time. It can happen, certainly, but I just have a knack for avoiding them.
Otherwise, as I said in the other topic, I do my best to balance out my characters with flaws I know I will play alongside their strengths. One of my favorites in that regard is probably Typhus. He's a Big Bad ex-military Emperor, but he's also rather mundane (no magical skills of any sort), getting up there in age and showing it (arthritis), a heavy smoker, horrendously paranoid and anti-magic-usage, and is blind in one eye-- and while he's tried to fight back against his flaws, because it's in his nature to do so, he isn't always met with success... and it shows.
All of my characters have interesting weaknesses to balance out their strengths, even when they are a high-strength character. Take Heimdall, for instance: it is big, very strong, has great fortitude, and isn't even dumb. But other than the obvious weaknesses like being un-agile, it cannot lie and is lulled by the sound of soft music. I like to play characters who are old, too, which is in some ways a weakness and in other ways a strength.
My old character Kain was missing an eye from wayyy back in her history (2003 or so). As I RPed her, she accrued a vast number of scars and mutilations, the most prominent of which being her missing cheek. I always loved it when she got a new scar from a fight.
My old character Kain was missing an eye from wayyy back in her history (2003 or so). As I RPed her, she accrued a vast number of scars and mutilations, the most prominent of which being her missing cheek. I always loved it when she got a new scar from a fight.
I like giving an Achilles heel of sorts for example my Tibetan Mastiff Abar he is a dog, He gets easily distracted by things such as food. Whereas my troll Alarion is clumsy and my T-rexes Buster and Trevor are both confused by the world they inhabit, Buster has acquired speech and is logical but is normally depressed. Trevor is not as sensible and when confused he gets anxious and aggressive which leads him into confrontation with anything new too him. Preston my Coyotl (yes from the show Grimm they are similar to a werewolf but smaller in size and power) is blind in one eye from a battle he had and along with his cousin Luke they are both Alcoholics and addicted to chewing tobacco.
Ah yes every character I've ever made comes with at least one distinct flaw. While all of my characters are pretty even as far as flaws and strengths go, the one that was always a little more flaw over strength was Zexnon.
I cannot describe how many ways he was messed up in one go. But to name a few, he was connected to his opposite. In my continuity, everyone in the world has an opposite. If you are mostly good, your opposite is evil, and vice versa. But Zexnon was cursed to be directly attached to his, when they are usually supposed to stay separate. In this, his opposite influenced him to make bad choices. And trust me, some of them were pretty bad! This made him an outcast to many, but more appealing to others. He was constantly at war, had to discern between reality and his mind, and eventually he let the darkness win. He was one of the few characters that never overcame his nemesis and instead gave in.
Due to this, he became one of my most beloved and cherished characters. I played him for about 12 years before I settled him into retirement. That big flaw made for a very complex and insane character, and that was just fun! He had inspired me to continue the flaw chain, always trying to out do myself in the process. But in the end Zexnon got it right from start to finish and I was never able to duplicate that kind of character again. So I think flaws are just as important, if not more so, to the way characters grow and change. Either opposing forces, or trying to overcome adversity in the face of oppression.
I cannot describe how many ways he was messed up in one go. But to name a few, he was connected to his opposite. In my continuity, everyone in the world has an opposite. If you are mostly good, your opposite is evil, and vice versa. But Zexnon was cursed to be directly attached to his, when they are usually supposed to stay separate. In this, his opposite influenced him to make bad choices. And trust me, some of them were pretty bad! This made him an outcast to many, but more appealing to others. He was constantly at war, had to discern between reality and his mind, and eventually he let the darkness win. He was one of the few characters that never overcame his nemesis and instead gave in.
Due to this, he became one of my most beloved and cherished characters. I played him for about 12 years before I settled him into retirement. That big flaw made for a very complex and insane character, and that was just fun! He had inspired me to continue the flaw chain, always trying to out do myself in the process. But in the end Zexnon got it right from start to finish and I was never able to duplicate that kind of character again. So I think flaws are just as important, if not more so, to the way characters grow and change. Either opposing forces, or trying to overcome adversity in the face of oppression.
I think it's really important to add flaws to your characters, otherwise they're not realistic and seem offhand. Traits make them look more well-developed and better thought out.
All of my characters have their flaws and weaknesses, and many set them little above the average and can be exploited to the benefit of others -especially in RP but in stories as well.
Examples...well... I'm working on a novel currently where the main character is blind. And I do believe such an injury makes it more intriguing to write. OCs I have on this site include Scarlet Grauenwolfen -a Blutbad from NBC's Grimm- who has an awful temper and always gets in trouble for she has no self-control. She's a bit forgetful as well -always loses her keys- among many others. Jonathan, who's her brother, is extremely affected by female charms and therefore loses his concentration around them. Zanep Gebar -an enchantress- has no special power to survive in a world where supernatural beings can dine on her effortlessly. Alpha (or Darth Primus) from a SW fanfic I'm writing, lost half her upper body on a mission and now lives on life support that renders 60% of her body mechanical. She has to maintain the complexity that is her respiratory and circulatory system every week and that's an extremely painful and annoying thing. I think being blind and losing your lungs are the worst flaws I've given to characters so far, but minor traits do the job as well. I try to keep them close to reality most of the time.
All of my characters have their flaws and weaknesses, and many set them little above the average and can be exploited to the benefit of others -especially in RP but in stories as well.
Examples...well... I'm working on a novel currently where the main character is blind. And I do believe such an injury makes it more intriguing to write. OCs I have on this site include Scarlet Grauenwolfen -a Blutbad from NBC's Grimm- who has an awful temper and always gets in trouble for she has no self-control. She's a bit forgetful as well -always loses her keys- among many others. Jonathan, who's her brother, is extremely affected by female charms and therefore loses his concentration around them. Zanep Gebar -an enchantress- has no special power to survive in a world where supernatural beings can dine on her effortlessly. Alpha (or Darth Primus) from a SW fanfic I'm writing, lost half her upper body on a mission and now lives on life support that renders 60% of her body mechanical. She has to maintain the complexity that is her respiratory and circulatory system every week and that's an extremely painful and annoying thing. I think being blind and losing your lungs are the worst flaws I've given to characters so far, but minor traits do the job as well. I try to keep them close to reality most of the time.
I'm sorry for stalking you, Copper_Dragon! It's just that I haven't been anywhere near RP for a long while... I used to eat, sleep, and breathe that stuff. An RP discussion just sounded awesome while dealing with insomnia. This also turned into a ramble, and I am so sorry! Avoid your eyes! Though, I will give you some Reese's and kudos if you do actually read this post. You deserve it!
I went a little overboard with character flaws, and I always ended up keeping them sort of useless in the midst of combat. A good example is my character, Shadrastrasza (commonly named Shady by the community, I never suggest nicknames. In the past, Shady was probably the worst nickname for her). She's a dragon from the World of Warcraft universe. There are people on there that really prefer it if you stick to the races that can be played in-game. I wanted a dragon because 1) loved since early childhood! And 2) I was curious. I wanted to experiment and see what I could get away with. At the time, I played young, "cutesy" characters sort of by mistake. I thought I was being funny and making awesome jokes, but I got more d'aws than laughs. So, with the widely dubbed "elitists", how did I get away with roleplaying a dragon? By making her worthless and too young to do a thing (and the cuteses; gotta have them cuteses). She had many revisions as far as appearance goes, but it was imperative to keep her flight-and-not-fight personality trait if I wanted her to be accepted (YEP I'm a people pleaser).
After about a year or so, I got sick of it. Luckily, about that time I met up with a new group of roleplayers. Through RPing with them, I was able to modify and expand Shady's personality. Despite this, I remained well aware of the stigma surrounding dragons when RPing them. I by no means wanted to make her godly, but biologically accurate. Her flaws and/or issues are based off of her aesthetic appearance, which I probably should've done the other way around -- but heck if I ever plan anything. The skin for her wings are stretched across the "fingers" but do not extend past the elbow. She might not be as fast or graceful as other dragons with more skin, and when attempting to "tread air", her bottom half hangs tremendously and pulls her down, thus keeping her from hovering for more than a few minutes or so. She's also a runt, and when next to a sibling of hers, she's a good five feet or more shorter. Red dragons in the WoW universe can wield magic, but she prefers melee and only uses magic for transformation (recently obtained skill, common to drakes and older of her species) and minor manipulation of fire which is mainly just the basic shape. Her scales are about as efficient as chainmail, and so she must be cautious when approaching someone or something dangerous.
Physical handicaps as mentioned above can even the playing field, but she's also mentally disturbed. Her self-esteem is nonexistent, and by now it's difficult for her to place faith or trust into someone else. She's somewhat indecisive and always uncertain of her ideas or actions. Lastly, if under large amounts of stress such as fear, frustration, or enormous responsibility, she will start to starve herself. In such a state, without someone to remind her to eat or jam food down her throat, she will continue to go without until she reaches a near-death state (or even to death itself, I'm unsure).
So, with all of these flaws, physical and mental, she's kind of screwed up and vulnerable. It creates a challenge for me and prompts me to improvise on a solution within a short amount of time, sans brute force, magical poof, or extreme sneaky-sneaky (either a good sized dragon or a regular elf/human, and she is no rogue). She's become a great negotiator and can manipulate conversations to support her situation, and typically only a close friend can point out her misdirections or stalling (has been used on other roleplayers of all types, aw yeah!).
When in doubt, trade muscle, magicka poof-poof, sneaky-sneaky, and master-of-arms for LAWYER POWERS! Heh, dragon lawyer. Also, if I've offended anyone with my magic phrases, I apologize! That was not my intent, but instead I like saying "magicka" and poof. I even did an elementary play where I was a fairy and yelled poof at everything. HARDCORE!
I went a little overboard with character flaws, and I always ended up keeping them sort of useless in the midst of combat. A good example is my character, Shadrastrasza (commonly named Shady by the community, I never suggest nicknames. In the past, Shady was probably the worst nickname for her). She's a dragon from the World of Warcraft universe. There are people on there that really prefer it if you stick to the races that can be played in-game. I wanted a dragon because 1) loved since early childhood! And 2) I was curious. I wanted to experiment and see what I could get away with. At the time, I played young, "cutesy" characters sort of by mistake. I thought I was being funny and making awesome jokes, but I got more d'aws than laughs. So, with the widely dubbed "elitists", how did I get away with roleplaying a dragon? By making her worthless and too young to do a thing (and the cuteses; gotta have them cuteses). She had many revisions as far as appearance goes, but it was imperative to keep her flight-and-not-fight personality trait if I wanted her to be accepted (YEP I'm a people pleaser).
After about a year or so, I got sick of it. Luckily, about that time I met up with a new group of roleplayers. Through RPing with them, I was able to modify and expand Shady's personality. Despite this, I remained well aware of the stigma surrounding dragons when RPing them. I by no means wanted to make her godly, but biologically accurate. Her flaws and/or issues are based off of her aesthetic appearance, which I probably should've done the other way around -- but heck if I ever plan anything. The skin for her wings are stretched across the "fingers" but do not extend past the elbow. She might not be as fast or graceful as other dragons with more skin, and when attempting to "tread air", her bottom half hangs tremendously and pulls her down, thus keeping her from hovering for more than a few minutes or so. She's also a runt, and when next to a sibling of hers, she's a good five feet or more shorter. Red dragons in the WoW universe can wield magic, but she prefers melee and only uses magic for transformation (recently obtained skill, common to drakes and older of her species) and minor manipulation of fire which is mainly just the basic shape. Her scales are about as efficient as chainmail, and so she must be cautious when approaching someone or something dangerous.
Physical handicaps as mentioned above can even the playing field, but she's also mentally disturbed. Her self-esteem is nonexistent, and by now it's difficult for her to place faith or trust into someone else. She's somewhat indecisive and always uncertain of her ideas or actions. Lastly, if under large amounts of stress such as fear, frustration, or enormous responsibility, she will start to starve herself. In such a state, without someone to remind her to eat or jam food down her throat, she will continue to go without until she reaches a near-death state (or even to death itself, I'm unsure).
So, with all of these flaws, physical and mental, she's kind of screwed up and vulnerable. It creates a challenge for me and prompts me to improvise on a solution within a short amount of time, sans brute force, magical poof, or extreme sneaky-sneaky (either a good sized dragon or a regular elf/human, and she is no rogue). She's become a great negotiator and can manipulate conversations to support her situation, and typically only a close friend can point out her misdirections or stalling (has been used on other roleplayers of all types, aw yeah!).
When in doubt, trade muscle, magicka poof-poof, sneaky-sneaky, and master-of-arms for LAWYER POWERS! Heh, dragon lawyer. Also, if I've offended anyone with my magic phrases, I apologize! That was not my intent, but instead I like saying "magicka" and poof. I even did an elementary play where I was a fairy and yelled poof at everything. HARDCORE!
Well, Tell my main character has a scar over his left eye. So I say that the eye was damaged, and his vision is blurry though that eye. Whenever he has to relay on that eye alone, he has a hard time doing everyday things. Also, being a werewolf, he has well a wolf form. (who have guess?) But he actually has two. One he can control, it's half way between man and beast, and the second he has no control over, and it will attack friend and foe alike. I hope that counts
Generally I tend to strike a balance between past issues and current flaws. If they have one, they won't have the other unless it was caused by said issue or flaw. That way they don't get too flawed to the point where they are unplayable, which has happened in the past.
Decipere} He's constantly on the run, and as a result of being a fugitive, he's very untrusting of people. He can form surface friendships, but very rarely if ever does he allow himself to get close to someone. He tries to do good at times, but ultimately, his own life and survival does take priority, and so he has come off at times as being manipulative and selfish.
Liberius} He is an ex-slave, and was pretty much constantly on the move and in some form of training since he was five. He tried to escape, was branded and punished - he reacts instinctively to authority out of a fear/pain expectation, but inwardly tends to be very resentful towards people trying to control him if said control does not obviously result in a good result. So someone giving him orders to help others is fine, but orders for say, him fetching them a drink when they can do so themselves would grate. He has a lot of anger issues, but has a lot of self control. He's scarred from whipmarks, hence why it is rare that he is ever shirtless in front of anyone even in the height of summer.
Pulchra} Her own real major flaw is the fact that she hears the voices of the dead since her own resurrection. It's never been a problem yet, but there is the possibility of in the future, her listening a little too much to those voices and going metaphorically 'deaf' to the real world. It's a balancing act!
Decipere} He's constantly on the run, and as a result of being a fugitive, he's very untrusting of people. He can form surface friendships, but very rarely if ever does he allow himself to get close to someone. He tries to do good at times, but ultimately, his own life and survival does take priority, and so he has come off at times as being manipulative and selfish.
Liberius} He is an ex-slave, and was pretty much constantly on the move and in some form of training since he was five. He tried to escape, was branded and punished - he reacts instinctively to authority out of a fear/pain expectation, but inwardly tends to be very resentful towards people trying to control him if said control does not obviously result in a good result. So someone giving him orders to help others is fine, but orders for say, him fetching them a drink when they can do so themselves would grate. He has a lot of anger issues, but has a lot of self control. He's scarred from whipmarks, hence why it is rare that he is ever shirtless in front of anyone even in the height of summer.
Pulchra} Her own real major flaw is the fact that she hears the voices of the dead since her own resurrection. It's never been a problem yet, but there is the possibility of in the future, her listening a little too much to those voices and going metaphorically 'deaf' to the real world. It's a balancing act!
katparker wrote:
Ok! Here is this little thing in my head. How many of you give you characters a rather major flaw/issues/permanent injury so on so forth? and if so what kind of things like that do you put?
I for one have a rp character on furcadia that is mute. Though this is more or less compensated for by pen and pad. Just a example so you get what i mean!
I for one have a rp character on furcadia that is mute. Though this is more or less compensated for by pen and pad. Just a example so you get what i mean!
Illiandi is just riddled with them.
He's literally got brain damage, permanently removing his ability to interpret symbols (so no reading, no understanding pictographs, no getting most slang or sarcasm without it being explained, no dreaming, no hallucinating, ever.) The brain damage also causes him to overemphasize tradition and Rules. He gets upset if there's disorder.
He also has a damaged right eye, which is oversensitive to light and futzes with his ability to adjust to changes in it.
In addition, he drops like a rock into a coma over the slightest cut, vomits up anything undigested every time he goes to sleep, has hypogonadism and struggles with serotonin imbalance.
He's racist against demons and vampires, has three major phobias which affect him at least once or twice a week, a heavily crippled self esteem, he's world-weary and lonely due to his age, and Catholic (listed here because it does cause him some daily struggles).
Why bog my character down so much? Because he can also download, review and store the entire lives of anyone who makes eyecontact with him, and has healing abilities potent enough to stave off death in himself and others. Those are enormously powerful abilities, and without heaping so much on him it's just not fair.
One of my characters had his arm removed from his body by his other family members for practicing magic~ It supplied a more lively background (which was never brought up, due to my character's disposition towards others~) and a rather permenant flaw that healing magic couldn't just poof away~
You are on: Forums » RP Discussion » Character flaws/issues.
Moderators: Mina, Keke, Cass, Auberon, Claine, Ilmarinen, Ben, Darth_Angelus