What is the inspiration for your character’s personality?

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  • January 3, 2014 at 2:22 am #150501
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    So going on the coattails of the post about “Who is your character?”, I’m wondering what inspiration people have used for their character’s personality and role playing?

    For Kelb’ it’s a little bit of a conglomeration. It’s based a little on a character I played way back in 2nd Edition D&D, a bard jongleur. He was very flippant, quick witted, and tried to get out of most problems with a few coins and story. In addition, he’s also geared a bit like a combination of Indiana Jones, Rick O’Connell, and Captain Jack Sparrow \":)\"

    John

    January 3, 2014 at 2:29 am #254468
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    When I was in university I wanted to do a study on people’s first RPG characters (never had a chance). I have a theory that everyone’s first character is either based on how that person views themselves, or how they wish they were.

    Rurik is a reincarnation of a character I played in 3.0 Living City. There has always been something for me about dwarves, I think the stability. They might not be fast or agile, but they are solid and reliable. Things that have always appealed to me. Rurik has gotten his own personality over the years, and we certain don’t share all the same morals, but he certainly does have many characteristics I admire.

    Wouldn’t say he was directly inspired by anything specific though.

    January 3, 2014 at 2:46 am #254472
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Excellent idea, John!

    My motivation for Marcus Decius Val’Assante was a combination, also. He is a man who wants to amass power, which he defines as “the ability to get his way”. Money, favors, powers & abilities, etc. are only tools to be used for that goal. He is a huge liar. But lies are just another tool in his arsenal. He is, essentially, the man behind the curtain, but hides in plain sight. If any of his mechanizations are discovered…that might have been part of his plan all along.

    I based him originally on the greatest character on Star Trek:Deep Space Nine, Garak the Cardassian tailor. I have also borrowed heavily from Mr. Gold from Once Upon A Time and Frank Underwood from House of Cards.

    January 3, 2014 at 4:17 am #254479
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    For my character Vincens Lerato val’Borda, the personality was defined in large part based on his flaw Haunted by Nightmares. In his case his Century was ambushed by Infernals and he became a personal plaything of one of the nastier ones for more than a day. This led to him spontaneously awakening. It’s what kept him alive until being rescued. Though a legionnaire first and foremost, faith is very important to him as is music. Those are his coping mechanism for his PTSD and his lyre is always handy. I use that event as the driver for who he is now and how he looks at the world.

    With a sweep of his hat,

    Paul

    January 3, 2014 at 7:14 am #254489
    frootsnax
    Participant

    I see him as equal parts Indiana Jones and Fox Mulder with a slice of Malcolm Gladwell. Like Mulder I think some people want to write him off as a crank or intellectual light weight and others might be afraid of what uncomfortable secrets he might reveal. Yet like Indiana Jones i think others in the academic field think he’s a promising scholar and a go to guy when you need the tools for the Khitani Fork Ritual buried in something like the Lost Tomb of ul’Wei Xiao.

    January 3, 2014 at 5:10 pm #254508
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I have based my character, High Inquisitor Alberico val’Assante (w/ the Corrupt Flaw) on about 10 modern political and religious figures with a little LAPD thrown in combined with the sensibilities of ‘Game of Thrones’ machinations. . \":-)\" His ‘loyal retainer’ is a heretic who he literally pulled out of the fires and tends to do Alberico’s ‘dirty work’ (rumor spreading, evidence planting, etc.). All in all, a fun character to play.

    January 3, 2014 at 5:26 pm #254509
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Haakon isn’t based on anyone in particular, but rather is my impression of a Coryani Paladin. He tries to do the right thing, but the right thing through the lens of the Coryani Nierite temple. This is not necessarily the same thing as the “Knight in Shining Armour” paladin, so most of my ‘character’ is me trying to reconcile the personality traits I’m trying to balance out.

    January 6, 2014 at 3:55 pm #254592
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My first (Arcanis) character was based on the party’s need.

    They lacked a thief-type and smooth talker. I wanted to play a Kio. So, I found the stats that matched the need, and came up with the backstory and personality to fit the rather odd combination of the need with the want.

    January 9, 2014 at 5:00 pm #254878
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My main character, Ss’agoth, is a Ss’ressen Templar and I encountered a lot of the problems building his personality that Cody outlined in his last essay: how to come up with a personality for such an alien mind.

    In the end, he is very single-minded and pragmatic. Survive to protect The Clutch, obey and honor the Tenants of the Fire Dragon, protect the party to survive. I think he’s mostly amused by the level of emotions many mammals exhibit while at the same time trying to mimic them in order to engender feelings of goodwill towards himself and Ss’ressen in general. This makes it easy to have emotions as a Player and not be this cold, logical being.

    My secondary character is Malthius val’Inares, Sanctorum Mage. He’s very Eeyore-like in personality and I have to be very careful when roleplaying as I’ve accidentally been making the rest of the players more depressed. He’s biding his time, for what, he doesn’t know. In the meantime, as a practitioner of the Arcane, he has to protect himself Harvesters for whatever ultimate purpose he has.

    Out of character, we all know the val’Inares disappear and go somewhere, if they live long enough. I picture that as some itch in the back of their mind that grows stronger with age.

    January 10, 2014 at 4:13 pm #254966
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I have played Vardish Val’Borda in 3.0, 3.5 and now Arcanis RPG and he has evolved over each of the inceptions. We remade characters for each version. The original he was just a rogue and I had never really played one before so he pretty much was your typical rogue. The second incarnation he became a Twilight Warrior, and by the end of the game he acted more like Batman. He was a mix of the Dark Knight and the Detective. The newest incarnation he is a Expert with the background of Templar. Haven’t gotten much into his personality yet, but he will most likely start as Batman and go from there.

    January 10, 2014 at 9:32 pm #255028
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My primary’s personality developed naturally from his stats. He is Ying Hir to the core so his horse is the most important thing in the world. His jingoistic flaw combined with his 3 logic means his sheer ignorance gets him in a lot of trouble. His youth and charisma (8) makes him think he can solve the trouble on his own.

    January 11, 2014 at 10:45 am #255078
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My primary character was influenced a lot by his training as a Beltinian at Enpebyn. As you can imagine he can be a bit humorless and grim at times, and absolutely HATES anything undead. As for my secondary Ursala (Haakon’s older sister), she’s a woman of simple tastes. She a soldier who enjoys a good fight and quality adult entertainment (make of that what you will \";)\" aftewards. My Undir shaman Teonas is a Undir nationalist and all-round rabble rouser. Strangely enough he’s turning out to be a bit earthy and hedonistic. Not a Larissan by any means but someone out to enjoy life. If there’s a common core its that all have a strong sense of fair play (for the most part) and hate anything or anyone who preys on the innocent.

    January 21, 2014 at 11:56 am #255515
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I’ve just created a Dark-kin character and wanted to be something different from a Dark-kin Bardbarian I played a long time back. That character was brash and unashamed of his Dark-kin nature, so this time I have created a Dark-kin who is ashamed of his Dark-kin nature.
    He is somewhat humble and can be shy (when that doesn’t limit role-play). He seeks to aid those he perceives as his betters (any val of noble heart). He is also a Cadican Templar and is willing to assist his group as the Dark Hand of the group, doing all the things that the others turn up their noses at.
    As for inspiration, well, perhaps he is a reflection of the side-kick in many movies. I guess he was designed with a concept in mind, but no particular inspiration. Also, I plan to let him evolve a bit according to his experiences. Perhaps those experiences will prove to be defining inspiration. We’ll see.

    Deluge

    (aka Hattar Tantoros di Caligo)

    January 21, 2014 at 7:31 pm #255524
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My primary is somewhat based on the character Stelios (Michael Fassbender) from the movie 300. He’s brash, proud, and not very quiet. I like the visuals that movie showed of what warriors trained properly in the use of a spear and shield can do, and the mechanics of the Arcanis system match that nicely. Molding the rules into role-playing is all the easier then, too.

    Decios has a relatively simple background story but he’s not really shared much of it with anyone yet. He thinks/feels he’s been very valuable to his family, but as a male he understands his value is limited. Trying to make a name in the larger world suits him fine for now.

    February 5, 2014 at 2:46 am #256342
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My Gnome is my secondary. He’s an Encali who believes that the perfect item created for Sarish are the gnomes. Gnome souls go to the Cauldron and are thus free of Illir’s curse.

    He’s a ladies man and he’s out to make more gnomes. If I had the cash I would have bought the Tultipetan cert so he would primary worship Larissa and play match maker, making sure dwarves don’t breed true.

    Catchphrase, “If you are looking for perfection, look no further.” *Insert the smolder*

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