Is there an "archetype" you find yourself repeating in your characters more often than others?

Male human or half-orc Gish. Pretty much always.

Sometimes pure fighter or rarely pure mage to mix things up.

Never a healer or a thief.

I often have characters with an attitude, most often super sassy and sometimes a bit cocky. This applies to maybe 4 of my characters though, besides that they're all really diverse.

I usually roll a Half-Elf or Dwarf (because screw not being able to see in the dark) Druid.

I am the eternal GM because no one in my group has the energy and patience to make campaigns
If I had the choice I would always play a goblin rogue

All of my characters represent different archetypical representations of aspects of myself that I hate. Manipulation, conflicting beauty standards, toxic masculinity/femininity, projected self-loathing, paranoia, impossible moral standards for yourself, imposter syndrome.

They always have more to them than that, and tend to be fairly well fleshed out, but at their core, they are a part of me that I have always hated.

I always enjoy playing flawed characters, whatever their class or system or setting. Be it a Town Guard with a crippling addiction to a narcotic that will someday cost him dearly, a space smuggler with a mountain of debt that'll rip his cushy life apart at the seams someday or a PI who's only doing the job for selfish reasons.

I once played a Paladin who was flawed as such, raised in the confines of temples and taught by sermons and not life. He desperately sought peace at any cost, because he was afraid of combat and that he might not be able to uphold his vows and commitments. It tended to work out, talking down Bandit chiefs, Goblin kidnappers and somehow a Minotaur.

in the rare instance I get to play, the only thing I've noticed shared between characters is survivability. almost always the last man standing, whether it be paladin, fighter, or wizard

>Nonhuman or nonhumanoid race
>Very different culture with different values and taboos
>Odd cultural traditions that make little sense to outsiders
>Fairly sexually active, born out of either hedonistic worldview or different life values
>Pick 3 of 4, shuffle as needed.

Basically most of my characters lately.

Int-based "tech" equivalent character.

Engineers/Scientists in most sci-fi.
Techpriests/Hereteks in 40k.
Smiths/Artificers in most fantasies.

Almost always minimal direct combat use but maximal preparation support with tech, items and the like. Also usually pretty handy with lore and intelligence based skills outside of a scrap.

Int focused classes, general focus on survival, team player, though paranoid of those not a party if said team. If magic exists, usually the settings wizard/Mage.
If possible, focuses his efforts on research and general info gathering.

One trait that I do purposely is a varying degree of interest in undead/zombies, be it liking zombie movies to being a necromancer, hell they can hate undead, but it's a focused hatred of them.

I don't have one predominant genre and I rarely get to choose freely because I am rarely the first to make a character for a given campaign. So I don't think I have an archetype. It's more like getting hit by inspiration (within he constraints of the over all party) regarding personality/backstory.

I tend to create a lot of "important Noble women" that the PC's work for. Usually in charge of their protection and whatnot.

They so far come in two flavors, either completely incompetent and sweet, or spunky and naive.

>playing a prissy deadweight character who exists only to be protected

Different strokes I guess, but I can't get myself to like any character who can't hold their own in a fight.

That sounds like it could get a bit annoying if you do it a lot, "oh great ANOTHER princess, what's this ones deal?"

Stoic, boring asshole.

Because I'm a stoic, boring asshole.

Ay me too! I do this with every character. Sometimes I just play anow all around self insert but turn my own personality up to 11. This comes out as a wildly gay alcoholic who is very depressed and doesn't know what he wants out of life but is VERY into the idea of going and finding it and using ANY excuse to get away from a stagnant lifestyle. The kind of guy who would love to be one of the Monarch's henchmen from Venture Brothers.

Male human fighter is not an archetype.
It is combination of race, gender and set of skills and abilities.
There is fuckton of actual "archetypes" within this combo, so if your characters are really just "male human fighter" they must be terribly bland.

In fantasy I tend to go for the altruistic diplomatic headsmasher cleric.
In modern fantasy I like being a demo man with terrible paranoia.
In space/scifi I like making pragmatic technologists or engineers.

Really these are only when im doing a new system or working with a new dm (which tends not to happen, since im almost exclusively the dm)

I'm the GM. The players typically really like them because they grow as the story goes on and always really hold the party and what they say in high regard. So if they say something like "I can't just keep defending you like this, you're going to end up dead if you can't defend yourself," they will wake up the next morning to them practicing sword drills at the camp. I had one that shot a troll to death because the party was in a shit position and needed the helping hand. So when one of the guys went down she picked up their crossbow and started unloading.

They may start out meek and defenseless but in my settings that's usually just asking to get killed and the girl usually quickly learns that. If nothing else she does after the first party member dies and she cries over their grave for a few hours.

Middle aged, fatherly Paladin/inquisitior , or snarky academic wizard/bard

Clerics of Dark, but not Evil, gods.
Necromancers who aspire to live forever.
Black Knights and Paladins who are dangerously close to falling (and sometimes do).

I don't know. I'd probably get really tired of my GM saddling me with another princess NPC every campaign.

Quirky tinker-like/alchemist-like class where I can do CrAAaaAAzy things with macgyver devices

High-society sorceress, usually Lawful Neutral equivalent (our games usually don't have an alignment system, we play a lot of homebrews). Can talk her way out of things, but when things get ugly, out comes the golem/undead horde/magical boot to the head. Knows how to play on her looks and sexual appeal without stepping into magical realm. Usually has some weird quirks due to having to juggle socialising and bookworming, and I like to give my characters some random, non-statted fears or even phobias just for RP.

Male human or dorf; fighter, paladin or barbarian. Dudes who attack foes head-on.

Though last couple characters were a sorcerer (5e) and a really min-maxed healbot using the book of exalted deeds(3.5)

So goddamn much this.

I end up playing either terrible Dale Gribble tier nutjobs.

Everyone else always wants to play boring brown haired white guys in their 20s to 40s with no personality or hobbies, so I often end up having to play a wierdo that they can react to.

I tend to play male thiefs or rogues. They tend to be more Indiana Jones or troubleshooters than dick ass thieves.

I also like necromancers who push for acceptance in society or casters who build golems and clockwork creatures.

Rolled 9 (1d12)

Sorry for interrupting, I need to roll a die

Yeah, mostly characters that can tank a lot and use mostly brute force. I have played as mage classes before but it's uncommon (mostly because in most games magic ain't that fun to use.

I do the broken noble out for redemption. Usually some variant of the 15th son who wont inherit or the 7th cousin of some popular house but has no real connection to them. My goals are usually to found a city or build a name for my house even if it doesn't amount to much.

Yeah being black would automatically make them more interesting

I can't stop playing things like Eldritch Knights, Paladins, Antipaladins, and etc.

Sword-and-sorcery characters are just so fun to play

Tim Curry-tier gaudy asshats.
Often casters that have no chill for FEEBLE cursed ones.
>so I often end up having to play a wierdo that they can react to.
Doing the lords work, user.
Did you ever get to use the fabled pocket sand technique?

Party face, gish. Some kind of elf.

Awww yes, full default party.
Let's go over to the default village and clean out the default goblin cave.

What's the default BBEG? A mad (human male) Wizard?

Paladins, Warlocks, and Monks.

Mainly because, as someone who's atheist and doesn't have a strong philosophy of their own, characters with strong beliefs and connections to dieties/powerful spirits, with firm goals and desires because of that, is attractive to me.

Lawful Good is an obvious favorite, in a Captain America-esque style of standing for something no matter how the world moves, but I also enjoy toying with straddling the line between good and evil, which is where Warlocks scratch that itch.

Elf guy from a big city, either assassin/rogue or mage that, while not exactly evil in nature, are capable and willing to commint evil acts to further their goals. Despite their shadiness, will never betray their party or employer, at least not without a very good reason.

Also, mages that view Power as the goal, not a mean. Usually on a quest for some very powerful artifact or simply travelling to learn and accumulate experiences that can further their might. These range from "happy-go-lucky" to extremely ruthless that won't let anything stand in their way.

The last one is an older character, though once very idealistic, after having their views on the world challenged doesn't currently know what to do with themselves. Might regain their former spirit or devolve into the thing they once fought against.

I fill gaps, and the most often absent role is healer. My last one was basically Mr. Rogers in 40k, went surprisingly well

Two handed frontliner.

Even the fucking spellcasters.

Basically cute things doing uncute things (like my 8 year old cutebold druid cutting the ears off a drow rouge that tried to kill him)

Fantasy? Noblebright swordsmen
Sci-Fi? The Starship Engineer.

I know that feel bro. I've been GMing for so long that I literally can't play anymore. Not having "game omnisicence" is frustrating; like being blind. If I am (ever) invited to play, I am far too busy metagaming or silently criticizing the GM to ever enjoy the game.

Opposite here, big fan of the gentle giants and good hearted monsters.

>Is there an "archetype" you find yourself repeating in your characters more often than others?

Half-orc or dwarf fighter/barbarian. That's all I ever play. That's all I'm ever interested in playing.

Dashing, agility based man with mouth far too big for his ability

In DnD I almost always play some sort of caster or spellsword because in the open imagination game environment magic just offers a dumb amount of options. In video games though my first/"main" character is almost always some kind of sword and board or dex tank - warrior in WoW, plate+shield in TES, gladiator in Path of Exile, etc.

>Shy and reclusive magical girl who only becomes outgoing when she wants to protect her friends
>Old samurai cultist trying to convert people to his religion under subtle threat to his granddaughter
>Young southern bumpkin boyscout type who made friends with an extradimensional secret-hording monstrosity
>Runaway princess who joined a mercenary company so she could live out the adventures she heard of in fables and legends
>Teenaged school girl who can see ghosts vows to destroy a soul-sucking sword holding a spirit she's made friends with hostage, while simultaneously needing to make use of its powers to fend off supervillains accosting her city
>Demigod of the wild who has vowed to protect a village by rip and tearing anything vaguely threatening, basically Hercules meets Garruck
>Not all my characters, but those are the ones that come to mind offhand

I legitimately can't. I don't play villainous characters, but that's about the only pattern I can establish here.

Every character I have ever made for a fantasy setting has to have three things or I can't enjoy it to the fullest:
1. Fights well in melee
2. Has access to some magic, at least healing
3. Can't remember the third, but pure spellcasters are easy mode faggots and pure martials are useless in these settings

Oh you betcha

>Paladins, Monks and Psionics if they are a class soo looking forward to the Mystic.

Neutral Good male human sorcerer with a focus on direct damage. I hardly ever play anything else.

I just recently started playing FRP, and i made 4 character by now.

A Pharasmin who will stop at nothing to destroy undead and those who dabble in necromancy, no excuses, preaty stubborn in this. But he has a soft spot for children, and will always help a child in need, also is a headmaster of an orphanage which is financed by his adventuring and donations.

Second one is a barbarian girl who is a monster in fights - no matter what, the enemy is going down, in the bloodiest way possible, and tooth, ear, tail or tusk collecting are a must. But, she loooooves making fancy dresses and talking about fashion and other domestic stuff with other party members. She switches her almost monstruos and "housewife" persona quite easily.

And then there is my alchemist who is a great guy to party with, have a constructive talk about everything, he's there to help a party even at his own cost etc. But, he's secretly a drugy, who beside his mutagens loves smoking, inhaling, snorting and injecting all kinds of shit just to get the kick out of it, which in time makes his mutagen transformations so bestial that a couple of times only our party witch succedded in calming him down not to turn on party members.

And the last one - a pestilence bloodline sorcerer. Self loathing for what he is, will help, wants to help, but no one trusts a guy who has a voice like silk and honey, but mouth like a rotten corpse and strange wiggly things beneath his clothes

So, i don't know what archetypes i like, but lets make it "playing character who are basicaly nice people, but with strange or sometimes horrible quirks".

Wood Elf Barbarian

Human monk/battlemaster

Goliath Monk/Ranger

I find I either wind up as THE WALL(tm) or the resident demolitions expert.

Lately I've been wandering into LG knight-type characters, but it's not uncommon for them to fall into one of the aforementioned categories.

My characters are typically stoic and far too nice for their own good.

Playing a big ass Barbarian? Eventually he'll be practically walking old ladies across the fucking street. I can't play evil, no matter how I try.

The voice of reason or the trouble maker usually. Sometimes the old wizard, usually a middle age cleric.

I tend to stick to the manly man fighter classes, I kind of want to play a sorcerer or wizard. But at the same time I just think I'll be abysmal at getting into character.

>Human Fighter/Barbarian hybrid
>Ex-military, tactician, fluffed rage so hes not full rabid-beastman, just simple infantry who tends to follow the law, and is atoning for past sins as well as caring for his family and sick sister.

>Human Fighter
>Old man with a family, making a living for a family the only way he knows how. Mercenary type work. Loves them very much, constantly sending gold and letters.

>Human Paladin
Stereotypical lawful good paladin.

>Human Cleric
Pretty much Russian battle cleric with a large mace for smashing.

I want to play dwarves, but I already have run so many fighter type classes I don't know how to add more variety. And I'm not playing a fucking Dwarf as a caster, a rogue or a ranger.

>I can't play evil, no matter how I try.
Amen to that. All my Neutral characters are typically just Good, but without the almost requirement to actually go help people.

Would never be able to roleplay an evil character, I can't even really understand the mindset.

I've played so many witches. All kinds of witches or other debilitating effect magic users. But for the most part I play the mildly insane witch haunted by eldritch horrors from realms beyond knowing.

However, this is only because several groups have banned me from playing bards.

Usually neutral alignment of some kind.

Always use light armor or no armor, never play magic classes. Rarely use ranged weapons.

Stick to fighter / rogue / monk / ranger mainly.

Like being special snowflake outcast edgy races like Tiefling and Drow and such.

Backgrounds usually involve ex-military or mercenary shit.

Oh, good for you. Our GM always haunts my wife with some ghosts, so she got almost addicted to "hide from undead" potions.

I have been able to play Evil, but I have to make a very specific effort to do so. Otherwise I just slip and start helping people.

It gives me a good reason to have my knowledge skills pumped. Forbidden knowledge being whispered to my subconsciousness by some variation of shoggoth is a little cooler than "I read some books".

Hah, my party has done a similar thing, except with force-feeding me potions of Owl's Wisdom. Gotta keep my Will save up.

I like playing somewhat odd races. I'm the guy playing the Xexto in an 80% human party in Edge of the Empire, or the dude who sucks up the level adjustment to be able to play a lizardman in D&D.

As for traits, I tend to have a few personality traits that pop up a lot. Most of my characters are very loyal, very concerned about people, and not at all concerned about material damages. Most of my characters will blow up a building full of money to save one man and then look at you uncomprehendingly if you suggest that maybe that wasn't worth it. One of my wizards was affectionately called Sir Collateral by the party (look,Mutants and Masterminds makes it so easy to have spells with over a hundred meters explosion radius).

Shit I'd be happy if I had a GM that ran multiple games that I could babysit prissy NPC princesses in. Being a forever-GM is a sad existence.

High INT Male Druid who is very Tooth and nail and fucks off the paladin that I let 'weak' people die.

Definitely Paladins with a scholarly bent. Someone who can consider the ethical ramifications of smiting Evil as they kick in doors delivering the Good News (you're dead)!

My brother.

Mine is a Male Human that uses a Ranged weapon (Preferably a two-handed rifle or equivalent), Ex-Soldier or Law Enforcer, and has a black mark in his past that he want to redeem himself from, or move on with a new life. Oh, I also give him a Scottish accent most of the time.

Whenever I read up on a new system I try and make a version of this character as a test run, I also like to give it a unique twist depending on the system.

In Pathfinder he's a Gunsmoke Mystic (Gun-user with fightin' magic). In Call of Cthulhu he's a PTSD ridden WW1 soldier. In Deadlands he's a Harrowed Ex-US Marshal. In Shadowrun he's actually a Troll not a human, and wields a gauss rifle. In Legends of the Five Rings he's a dishonored member of the Mantis clan. ect ect. I'll never ever get to really play any of them because I'm a forever GM.

Fighter who's sour and cynical but not a total asshole. Barbarian who wants to fight and fuck a lot. And Wizard who's diplomatic and scholarly.

Always human, and always male.

Sometimes I branch out and play dickass thieves but they're dickass only dialogue-wise. I'd like to play a power hungry asshole mage too but the one time I made an evil character the other players got really butthurt.

In modern settings I usually go with some sort of down on his luck private investigator or reporter.

In fantasy it's almost always a traveling alchemist or divination magic using fortune teller. Bonus points if it's a low magic setting and I can play them as a con artist/snake oil salesman.

Not a specific archetype so much as a general style of character.

I love to McGuyver my way through problems with wits alone or imperfect spells/tools combined to create the perfect solution, to manipulate battlefields to create favorable conditions for allies and minions or interact with the environment in interesting improvised ways, and lastly to solve some problems through words, stealth, and subterfuge alone as a master of deals, deception, and diplomacy.

I love to be the Hero of Wits. Not Wisdom, because that implies foresight. Not Intelligence, because that implies recognizing a pre-established solution pattern. But Wits; the ability to improvise and think quickly to make the best of a bad situation and its ever-evolving complexity.

>pathfinder
Characters with somewhat complicated gameplay mechanics. IE an exotic race with special racial abilities and usually a caster or crafting class with lots of mechanical complexity in how the character is played, I think it gives a lot of useful abilities to the party and is fun to play someone who can do a lot of stuff.

For instance, currently playing a gestalt Yuan Ti alchemist/artisan, combining two crafting classes to make a kind of super crafter, with the racial abilities that come from being a giant snakeman, overall he's pretty fun.

I like to play either the uptight moralfag, or the upstart folk hero, either way with an idealistic bent.

>playing a teenage girl as an adult neckbeard
Are you some kind of magical realmist?

>boring brown haired white guys
>Dale Gribble
>brown haired white guys
Well I guess he might be blond or light brown haired.

It's hard to say what the default BBEG is. In olden times, it'd be a dark knight with an army of evil [Insert Minion] or a mongolork big 'un with a horde of slobbering green devils, but liches, witches and all kinds of evil bitches inbetwen have been the villain du jour, alternating over the years

this has been what I've always wanted to play but I've only played once or twice because I feel that always wanting to do it means I should avoid it for fear of being a one-note bore

help me user

>Heroic white human male fighter, usually with religious overtones
>Dickass doctor that the party hates, but needs
>Insightful and wise barbarian, not particularly smart, but true to his word and beliefs.
>Crazed pyromancer who has a benign hobby, like crochet or cooking.
And my favorite, but one I can't usually play:
>Evil Dark Knight of cartoon villainy, played with a good party, who keeps him around as his "evil" is far too stupid to actually be harmful.

My last character was basically just Dale Gribble. My current character is Gribble-lite

In modern or science fiction settings that allow it, generally a Japanese hacker of some variety. In fantasy games, I generally gravitate towards characters involved in some kind of organized dragon-worship.

I'm just imagining some guy in evil-as-fuck black armor strolling around town and cackling maniacally as he plays mildly inconvenient pranks on people, like swapping the placement of similar looking fruits in market stalls and shit.

>He will think he is purchasing a Gala apple but it is really a honeycrisp! Heheh. Heheheh. HahaHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

Honestly that sounds like a lot of fun.

Something melee. I get bored quickly plinking at things from a distance

I'm never a heavy magic user. Not sure why. I think I just like weapons too much. But I would like to try a healer. Also wanted try make a Kenku bard just because I like the idea of it.

Also, I always seem to play either a coward or grumpy guy.

I like this kind of stuff. I've played multiple characters that were super capable or rational warriors, but who were also secretly or explicitly cowards. Something about a skilled or famous warrior that isn't brave at all appeals to me. Probably why I like Ciaphus Cain.

I have with three different characters in two different systems successfully and mostly by accident made heavily armored ninjas.

Ever since I started watching Roosterteeth's D&D show, I want to play nothing but racist asshole Paladins. Gus made it look really fun.

>literally named one of my characters Plinkett specifically because he was the only party member with a rifle

Fantasy: "Last man standing". Lots and lots of Con and any bonus to Saves I can find.
Preferably human.

Or The above + hueg Strength, such as Half Ogre. Big Bruiser-kind of guy.
Leave the brains to the rogues and wizards.

Sci-Fi: Technical guy. Fix stuff while gun guys kill the shit outta people.
Or very very specialized fighting type. Sniper, martial artist or such, mainly in cyberpunk-like settings.