#Lesson Character Building-Simplified

So you're new to RP. You're not quite sure what you're doing yet. That's alright, we've all been there. My first character was horrible; at least he was until I rebooted him.

What was wrong with him? Well, he needed rebalancing, he needed a more in-depth history, and most of all, I needed to know him better.

The following, of course, assumes you are making an OC.

-Step 1: Understand what You Want-

Meaning, simply, no one knows you better than you do. If you are going to make a character, you need to understand what you are looking for out of that character: do you want a silly account? A serious SL account? Do you want something to goof off on or are you in for the long hall?

-Step 2: Creating a Concept-

Now that you know what you want, you need to have a basic concept of who your character will be. This is with regards to his personality, mostly; how does he react under stress? What kind of person is he? How old is he?

-Step 3: The Race Issue-

This could be interchanged with Step 2, but I do think it's important to know before moving on to step 4.

What race is he? Is he a vampire? A werewolf? A strange crossbreed? Make it logical and balanced. No one wants to play with the werewolf demon undead angel from Pluto. That's just bad writing.

-Step 4: Abilities-

What can your character do? This is largely dependent on race and personality. Why? Race determines what they are capable of doing, and personality determines what they would be interested in doing. No one can do everything.

-Step 5: Flaws-

This is everything from character flaws (he's a misogynistic prick) to physical flaws (he has a scar on his right cheek from when he tripped as a child). This also includes the cost for being who he is: the cost of his abilities, the limitations of them, and the cost of knowing his skills (I.E. I have a character who can heal practically any wound, but it costs him a certain amount of his life. He is also a carpenter; what did this cost him? Not a damn thing, he had to learn because he lived alone in a very brutal world. In other words: it cost him time, and thus he is fairly old.)

-Step 6: History-

And this is what all of this has lead up to. This is where it gets fun. This is where you really justify your character.

Your character can do that? Where did he learn it? How long ago?
Your character was born with that? How is that even possible?
What horror (or blessing) happened in his past that made him able to do that?
Does he have a family?

You need to know /why/ your character can do what he can do. You need to know /why/ he is what he is. That is the only way you will know where he is going, and how he will react to the situations you put him in.

-And for Canon Characters-

See the above. Read it. Consider your "canon" characters. Do you know their history? Do you know who they are?

If they don't have a history in canon, I would advise you to make one, if only to get a good grasp on the character itself.

Another note: Canon doesn't really happen in RP, unless your interact with no other characters outside of his universe, and when you do you only do what the character did in the source material. Don't be afraid to rebalance them slightly, put your own interpretation on them. Change will happen anyway.

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