What makes a good character, Veeky Forums?

Failure. Mary Sues are hated because they don't lose. If someone can't lose, why get invested? You know the outcome every time.

It has to be dynamic. Just cause you start out the campaign in one way, your character should not stay static. Anyone would change from years of adventuring, and so should your character.

The worst characters are the ones that in the start have the psscht...nothing personell...kid... attitude at the start, and at the end of the campaign hs the same attitude even though they've been through a lot.

The ability for others to envisage what you want them to be like.

Engagement with the platform provided by the setting, namely the ability to interact with the setting in interesting and meaningful ways and to be acted on by the setting in interesting and meaningful ways.

This is shown by often a "bad" character is one defined by either being unwilling or unable to change the situation or be changed by it.

A miserable pile of flaws.

Giant balls.

Layers. People have layers, built slowly over time, and a good character has one too. Your first interaction with someone reveals some things right off the start, but delving into the motivations and habits of anyone is a bit of a journey with infinite variation.

These layers are often defined by conflict. With themselves and the world. I don't mean fighting or aggression really. But struggles, and challenges, and often times failures. The worst characters are those with no real opinions or energy towards anything. The nature of the conflict needs to be grounded though, or you run into the opposite situation where you have a one-dimensional character defined by their quirks and highlights.

Not necessarily. Characters can be well written or well recieved even without dramatic changes in personality. John Wick is a good example.

Why do old vintage pictures have so many good characters?

Tensive forces the GM can play with.

>implying the gambler who keeps winning by a smaller and smaller margin, and whose luck will eventually run out isn't a perfectly fine character

The ability to fail is what is needed, not actual failures.

>John Wick as an example

You could have said John McClane and I still would have called you out. Striving to be an action hero is a terrible example of character. There's not enough time in most action movies to develop the character, and quite frankly, the movie is not concerned any inward struggle of the character. It's going to be an outward struggle that is fought and overcome.

If that's what you're after, or you're playing a one-shot, cool. But a campaign implies multiple sessions and a great deal more time spent on things. A character should be able to continue developing over time.

Imagine John Wick as a PC for a second. Once he gets his revenge, why continue adventuring? What drives him to adventure? There needs to be a reason he doesn't just retire. Incidentally, that's the big question about John Wick 2 that doesn't seem to have been revealed in the trailers yet. What's giving him trouble retiring?

Based on the first movie alone, John Wick is a terrible example of what a PC should strive to be. The sequel may change this, but only time will tell. In the meantime, reconsider the basis for your PCs.

>Layers
So you are saying that good character is like an onion?

A good character has the race and class/occupation that i personally like.

A bad character is a character of a race/class/occupation i personally dislike.

If your character runs afoul of any of pic related's descriptors, it is bad.

If your character does not, it is good.

One that serves to the themes,arc and message of the story.

You appear to have got your novel confused with your RPG session.

Grow, change, struggle.

>onion
Are you saying that good characters are ogres?

When you have to spend hours in the darkroom to see the results, you choose your subjects more carefully.

A good character, to me, is one that doesn't limit itself to what the theme is, and can be fluid in behavior.

Suffering, genuine gut wrenching suffering in a manner that is not unrealistic. Depression. Pain. Regret. Shame. Trying to work past them because at the end of the day people still need help.

'Stonkin tits.

A character arc. Well, two of them.

They need to have an outward goal, what they tell everyone. This could be that they're going to get rich off of adventuring, that they're going to serve their term in the military then retire, that they're trying to be the greatest whatever in the realm. It doesn't matter, but it's what they're aiming towards.

Then they need to have an inner, personal goal. They may not even realize, and probably shouldn't consciously realize, what this actual goal is. Feel free to be hard-gay with this. It could be that they want someone to love them, or they want to have friends that treat them like family, or something like that. But ultimately, it's something that they want to change about themselves even though they don't know it, even if it conflicts their conscious goal. Especially if it conflicts it.

People don't make sense, and when you create a character who has these contradictions that they can't reconcile, they end up making poor choices, and those poor choices are what make them human.

...

Lead paint

A favorite food, a catchphrase, and an annoying verbal tic or accent.

The only good post in this thread

>A tripfag

He is a faggot but he's right anyway