Character Creation

First Things to Note About This Thread

Characters are the foundation of role playing. If you don’t start strong in this stage of writing, then your role plays might just crumble into crap. This guide will focus on what to do to avoid making a Mary Sue as well as what Councilors will be looking for when approving your character.

Disclaimer: Secondly, this is NOT a character policies and/or guidelines thread. If you're new you should go there first. This is just a suggestion and advice thread.

Remember that to RP in the Battle Arena you must have an approved character. Go to the Writing a Character and Getting Started thread to see what is required for approval and then come back here for more advice. Not to mention checking out the Quick and Easy Introduction thread, which contains rules and other helpful information.

Since I have said this twice, I will kill anyone who thinks this thread is full of rules and policies about character making. This is purely my personal advice as a Councilor and Moderator of this section as well as a fellow RPer. I know what Councilors look for in approval, and I am also a seasoned writer. I have been doing this for a long time. These are things that help me and I find personally work better. Also, this character creation guide is naturally geared to apply mostly to RP characters. So Mary Sue qualities that I point out will just be things I have seen often in RP characters as I have RPed here in the BA. Though they often share qualities with original characters of fan fiction and even original fiction genres of creative writing. The focus will be on Mary Sue RPG characters.

Suggested Readings and Rules of Thumb

I also suggest that you read Fairess’s Navi’s LISTEN!!! Thread, which is also about character creation/profiling. It’s also a good idea to look around at other characters in the BA to get some good ideas, as well as learning what are not good ideas. Don’t ever think that this is a noob/newbie thing to do. I still do this when I’m creating a new character. So feel free to look at any of the characters of the Councilors and any seasoned BAer’s around the block. Even some newbies have been coming out with good stuff lately.

One other thing I would like to mention before we dive into this: by rule of thumb, the stronger and more powerful and more skilled your character is the longer and more detailed the profile needs to be. You can't half-ass it because a Councilor will come along to approve it and tell you to add more details. This is to prevent intentional or unintentional godmoding. Not only that, but it's really helpful to anyone you may RP with. For more details as to how to avoid making a godmoder character, read the rest of this thread, and I would also suggest reading Fairess's other thread: 5 Ways to Avoid Creating a God Moder.

So, if you're new to RPing, I suggest starting with a weaker character just to make things simpler for you on your first few characters. Once you've seen other profiles and get the hang of this character thing, then it'll be easier to make more powerful characters. Not only that, but it isn't required for your character to be a battle character. We have combat and non-combat RPs here. So it's perfectly fine to make a character that would be useless in a fight.

Template Notes and Advice

Here is a basic template provided for a character profile and what you can do to start strong. The most basic sections of the character profile template are listed and explained below in the succeeding posts.

Names, Alias, Tiles, Nicknames, etc.
Age and Apparent Age
Sex
Race
Height and Weight
Eye Color and Hair Color/Style
Skin Color/Complexion
Appearance
Weapon(s)
Armor
Carried Possessions
Powers/Magic/Skills and Limits
Battle Strengths and Weaknesses
Other - Pets, familiars, Vehicles, Tidbits
History - I am addressing history first because it’s important to first hammer out your character’s past before going into personality. (However, I would place this very last in the submitted profile because it can be the longest section.) Or if you already have a specific and unique personality in mind, it is important to consider what was significant about their past that would help shape that.
Personality

Last Notes on Mary Sueism in Profiles
Not all Mary Sue ideas are bad. In fact, if we didn’t have at least a little of them, characters could be very dull. They were first thought up because they were dramatic and perhaps interesting in the beginning, but after being over used and unrealistic, it got old fast. Sometimes these things can spice them up a bit, but only if the golden rule is followed, you add some of your own unique and creative ideas and twists, and you don’t over do it and have too many of them.

The only Mary Sueism that is strictly not allowed in profiles are things that allow godmoding. Councilors will zero-in on those things very fast.

And if you want to, do The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test on your characters to make sure it isn’t you.

You can also see my Mary Sueism thread which covers the matter in more detail than this thread does.

Oh, and I would see Gohan-Uto Sensei for a good and intentional example of a Mary Sue.

Name: I often seen characters will only one name. That’s perfectly fine. Your character does not need a first, middle, or surname. A single first name works. Sometimes, RPers will don the name of their character as their username. I don’t feel that it is … horrible to do this. It could be just the character that they particularly like at the moment. Also, this a trend seen more with newbies, probably because they didn’t know what username to use and since they maybe joined the ZU forums to RP, to them it must make sense just to use the name of the first character they create here.

That’s all well and good too. The only thing is that it might suggest that your ego is significantly attached to the character. This often what is meant by “self-insertion” characters. Is this a character different from you or just you with awesome powers? It can be Mary Sue issue, but not all the time. I have seen plenty of people who use their character’s name as their username and are not self-inserters nor a Mary Sue writer.

I would suggest trying to be … authentic when naming characters. Don’t try to make the name “awesome.” The point here is mostly to not go out of your way to make your character interesting and unique. Think about the name in the context of the character’s background and history. Is this kind of name considered normal for the world, time, place, or ethnicity of your character? It could be an odd name compared to the modern times we live in or even the location. But if it is normal for the background from which your character comes then it is more acceptable. This is because you are not going out of your way to make your character impressive and unique and somehow more noticeable than the rest. Names can be awesome in their own normalcy. Try to find something fitting but also natural.

I have often just thrown sounds together for my character names. They can end up sounding pretty interesting, but also in the context of my characters’ world it is also a normal name. Even when compared to the names of other characters in the BA. Everyone here makes even a “unique” name normal. Sometimes, I have seen names repeated among different RPers by accident. This is fine too. Sometimes someone will think of and want the same name as another person. Just remember, your character is not their name. It doesn’t need to be SUPER UNIQUE AND AWESOMER than everyone else’s. Your character will be unique … if you take the time to really develop them. Your character will be unique so long as you don’t try too hard to be unique.

Nicknames/Alias/Title: This is pretty similar to the Name section of this template. However, you run into similar problems as with the character’s official name. Nicknames can be anything. A childhood nickname given by parents, family, or friends. The character may not even like this nickname either. The same thing to avoid is nicknames given to a character simply to make them sound more awesome. Unless it is a nickname an egotistical character gave themselves. I think the main thing to keep in mind about characters in general is to not let your ego become so attached to them that you dislike it when humiliating things happen to them. Such as embarrassing nicknames.

An alias is more like a fake name a character may have used to hide their identity for whatever the reasons. Maybe even a name they had changed legally. A name others might know them by as well. However, an alias is usually the fake name. Not the name that they were born with. The name that is least well known. I would argue that you should use the name that a character most identifies with as their official character name. Alias is the secondary name. Their birth name could even be completely secret and maybe only mentioned in the History section.

Sometimes people include official “titles” of a character such as Prince, Princess, King, Queen, Captain, Knight, Lieutenant, Private, Duke, etc. Not necessary but sometimes helpful. However, Mary Sues tendency is to make their characters impressive because of their titles. I am not completely against having characters with titles, wealth, and power. They can be just as interesting as characters who are more “normal.” It just depends on how the writer uses it. Again, don’t let your ego become attached to a character’s title.

Do not be afraid to create a child or a senior (seniors who are 10,000 years old but look 17 do not count). They’re actually pretty interesting to do. Typically, RPers make characters who are close to their own age or at least in their prime of their life physically. Most people don’t want to do anything outside the teens to around thirty. This is either because it is not close enough to their own age or too old or too young to be sexy. Again, this is not about self-insertion. Nor is this about having an attractive character.

In the BA, it is more acceptable that there are more characters who are younger or at least in the prime of their life because of how much our characters here are more focused on combat. It is hard to have an elderly warrior. Not that it can’t be done. 40-60 years old could be a wise, experienced, and aged warrior who can kick the younger pups’ behinds in skill. That is far more acceptable than having a 10-year-old who is a warrior. Even if they are, they are not likely to be as awesome as Link in the Zelda games, where he is primarily a warrior child.

However, the BA is moving toward characters who have little to no combat skills. So there is now more room for younger and elderly characters who do not have awesome unrealistic powers. There is more room to step outside the box into an age-range different from our own and into a new age perspective. One could even have a character that isn’t humanoid, and thus their life expectancy range is different.

Don't make your character older than it needs to be and make sure you play your character according to its age. I’ve seen a lot of people do “10,000 to 200-years-old but looks 17”. The problem with this Mary Sueism is that people still play the character like they are still 17-years-old in mind as well. Here’s something to consider about that:

Originally Posted by Drammor

If I think about all of the things that have changed me over the years, and turned me into who I am now, and then recognize that most of those changes have only been in effect since I was 5, when I was still sheltered by the protection of my parents, and have only increased in frequency since I was 16, and therefore out of their protection, then I must logically realize that between now and 28 years from now, I will experience no less than as many changes as I have until this point. Some of those previous changes were pretty heavy, too.

There's just... no such thing as a year that goes by without impacting your life. That's why I have a hard time believing in characters who are 500 years old and haven't figured out how to pay their taxes, yet.

They must have gotten bored somewhere along the line, right?

And if you've been alive for ... heck, 10,000 years, give or take, then how experienced would you have to be, and how much stuff would you have amassed? How long would you have to live before you had collected everything you wanted to, and how long would it be before you got bored of those things and decided to replace them? How many times would you have gotten depressed and started over from scratch?

To summarize, more years means more experience, more growth, and more change emotionally as well as mentally. Just because the body stops doesn’t mean the head does too. So if you are going to do this, consider how you should play a character that has lived for so long and how this has affected their personality and behaviors, and more than just having an excuse to for them to have a ton of powers and abilities of epic proportions.

Some writers chose to put “unknown” for their character’s age. This is acceptable so long as you provide their apparent age, which is a section provided just under the normal Age section. So you would place the age-range your character would fall under according to their appearance under that section. If your character looks the age (the number of year they have been alive or existing) then you can either not include the Apparent Age section at all, or just put “NA” under it.

Not a big issue, obviously, and it’s always fun to make a character the opposite sex of yourself (stepping out of your own gender prospective). Though, the tendency here is also to make them attractive and the ideal lover. Try to avoid that. I’ve even seen characters that have no sex.

The thing I like to distinguish here is sex vs gender. Sex is the physical characteristics of your character, and by physical characteristics, I mean the primary ones, which are the sex organs and gonads of the person. Gender is the spectrum of femininity and masculinity of the character and which they identify with. Sex is female, male, hermaphrodite/intersex (possessing both sex organs--intersex is the more socially acceptable term when referring to a human who is hermaphroditic), unisex (ambiguous sex organs, yes this is a thing), or none. Gender is man, woman, girl, boy, or “gender fluid.” Gender is a socially constructed thing, and sex is the biological and physical state of their bodies.

So there can be much or little to think about when filling out this section. Most of the time, just keep it basic. Is your character male or female? Do they have a penis or do they have a vagina? Do they have genitals at all? Pretty simple.

If you want to get more creative, your character may have no sex or both. However, this section mainly covers the purely physical, biological, and anatomical sex characteristics. Put “hermaphrodite” or "intersex" here if they have some combination of both, or put “NA” if they have none.

If your character is male but feels more “womanly” that can be covered in the Personality or even in Appearance if their physical appearance is ambiguous; whether because of their natural features or because they attempt to do this consciously or subconsciously. The rest of the profile should speak for their gender which can be different than what their anatomical sex would suggest their gender should be.

This can be simple or it can be complex. It depends on the kind of race you chose for your character. Human, elf, Goron, Deku, Zora, Hylian, Gerudo, Sheikah, orc, goblin, halfling, gnome, troll, vampire, angel, demon, dragon, oger, and dwarf are generally well known races that don’t often need a lot of explanation (or races of any other popular fandom your character might be from). However, there can be a lot of different kinds of elves, trolls, and orcs and others. So if your character’s race is specifically different from typical stereotypes of elves and the like, the profile should still speak for the race of your character through appearance, powers, and abilities. Unless you give them some kind of fancy name. Some Councilors can get confused by that. For example, drow is a type of dark elf. So you can include “Drow” under this section but be sure to include “dark elf” with it somehow. Like “Drow/dark elf” or “Drow (dark elf)”. This helps Councilors to understand what you mean by a name they may not know very well.

Even if a character is called a “Drow/dark elf,” writers still often have their own take on the physical, magical, and cultural attributes of this race. However, the rest of the profile should help fill in these blanks. The point is that one writer’s idea of “drow” can be different from another writer’s “drow.” Those goes for most of the other more artistically mastered races, like elves, trolls, vampires, goblins, etc. Many popular and published writers have had their own interpretation of these mystical races.

Some Councilors will ask for a brief Race explanation or description if they find your character’s race is too ambiguous or strange. I sometimes agree with this but I often times don’t. Unless the race is a very highly customized one, I don’t feel a race description is necessary, because the rest of the profile should speak for the appearance, powers, and abilities of the character’s race. Any specific cultural aspects of a race can also be covered under Personality and History in the profile. Sometimes little side notes when explaining the powers of a character or their appearance and how it compares in relation to the norm of their race or even how it compares to the standard of humans also helps to clear up any confusion about the character’s racial features. You can include a Race explanation or description under this section without being asked by a Councilor if it tickles your fancy or if you just want to be sure that the race is not ambiguous or misunderstood. It’s up to you.

If you have a racial aspect that modifies an original race, for example vampires, it might be good to include what that original race was. Since vampirism is usually considered a transformation, then normally the character was some kind of other race before they were turned into a vampire. You can include it in the same way one would in the drow example I gave before. “Vampire/human” or “Vampire (human)” or “Vampire/elf.” Of course, if they are the kind of vampire that is just born a vampire, then that may not be necessary.

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes a writer will place “unknown” for this section as well. This is acceptable so long as you include the race that your character appears to be either here or in the Appearance section of the profile.

Any races like Caucasian, Latino, Mexican, African American, German, Peruvian, etc. aren’t really necessary to mention as it is more important to be clear whether or not your character is human. The BA has so many different fantasy races that typical human races aren’t the focus. You can include it if you wish, but what we will be looking more for is a “human” or otherwise indication in this section.

I suppose the only Mary Sue things to worry about is race mixes. Not that every character who is a mixed race is a Mary Sue. But it would be pushing it if the character is a mix of more than two different races. The Mary Sue purpose to having a mixed race character is often just to make them even more special and unique than everyone else. Or maybe even so that they have all of the strengths of both races and none of the weaknesses, to create a super powerful character who triumphs over all. Or they create a race for a character that accomplishes this. I would just strongly advise avoiding having a character that is a mix of more than three races, like vampire/elf/angel for example (or at least not for a starting racial status, if a development in an RP causes a mixed race character to become a vampire, then it‘s not so bad). Creating a race can be very fun and well … creative, if you take your time with it.

Also, some race types are avoided, like dwarves. I have seen maybe only one dwarf character in my character approval experience. Why? Because dwarves are short, stocky, hairy, and basically seen as unattractive. Goblins and orcs I have seen more often, and mostly as villain characters though I have seen some neutral or good ones. But typically, the ugly or unattractive races are more often uses as bad guy characters. Though there are still plenty of sexy villains out there as well. Attractive is still the most popular choice for a character.

If you pick your character to be a race like a Goron or a Deku Scrub, it’s pretty easy to avoid the Mary Sue issue. It’s easy because they are not really attractive to humans like us. It’s also harder to self-insert because they are not human-like, and more alien and harder for you to relate to. Of course, some people are just ignorant of that notion and write the character from their own human point of view. My suggestion here is to really explore that race. Really think about how they live, what kind of values that would be likely to give your character, how that might affect how they view relationships of all kind, how they view themselves, and how they would view the world and other races and cultures. Just stop to think when you pick or create a race. Aside from the physical aspects, what are the cultural aspects (if your character was raised among their own kind), relations to other races, and how it has all affect and shaped who your character has become? Race can have a lot of implications for content in the History and Personality sections of a character.

The only issue here is finding the realistic measurements for the kind of physique you want your character to have. Firstly, consider that muscles weigh more than fat. So if your character is slim but athletic and rippled with muscle, they may weigh more than you think a slim person would. Here are some tools to help you calculate accurate measurement in both types of units: one for men and one for women. For safer measure, I would research more about body types.

I also suggest providing the units for both types, as in kilograms vs pounds and centimeters vs inches/feet. The tools above can also convert these measurements for you and you can keep the metric unit you are not familiar with in parentheses. Not all of us use the same metric units, and when I see 60 kg I go “I don’t know what it means!!!” because I’m an American, and I wasn’t paying attention in school when they went over both types of units in relation to each other. I often seen “stones” as a kind of measurement, but it isn’t very common here, and I also have no idea what it means. So please take this in account as your write a profile, including other measurement units can be helpful even if it takes more time to figure out the conversion. I also use this site for any other conversions that the links above do not provide.

Also consider race in this factor. A Goron is probably going to be pretty heavy and big, but still mostly dense for their size. You can still use the tools above to see what a normal person would weigh as a starting point to figuring out the dimensions of your non-human character. I encourage you to research if need be for characters based off animals and other things. Researching can be your biggest ally in making a character.

Strange hair and eye colors can be fine, as long as they are considered normal for their world, time, place, and ethnicity. Again, try not to go out of your way to make them interesting and unique. But remember when I say this, it doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun with a character as you create them. Just try not to create them with the idea that this will make them somehow ideal or better or more special than any other characters. Sometimes a character with just normal brown, blonde, or orange-red hair and brown, green, or blue eyes is just fine. Remember that personality development of the character is really what counts the most.

The point of this section is basically because many people often forget to mention skin tone, usually for humans and other similar humanoids like elves. It helps with the fact that we don’t focus on race labels like “white/Caucasian” and “Hispanic” or “black/African American.” Not only that, but just because you’re “white” doesn’t mean you have the same uniform skin tone as everyone else who is “white.” Some people have more fair skin while others have more olive toned. This counts for “brown/Hispanic” and “black.” They don’t have uniform levels of dark skin either, some are lighter or darker than others. But this is especially important because, since this is fantasy, “black” could also mean literally the color black like charcoal, such as some dark elves (like the Drow). But it doesn’t have to been anything too fancy or detailed. Just one or two words really covers skin color just fine.

Next would be the complexion, though it doesn’t have to be mentioned if there is nothing special or particular about their complexion. It can synonymous with skin color even. However, you can mention if they have acne, beautiful smooth skin, somehow discolored, or rough for whatever the reasons. Complexion can cover texture as opposed to just color: scaly, grimy, or smooth as a baby’s bottom. Again, not strictly necessary but just something to keep in mind.

Things you’ll need to fill out this section are descriptions of their facial features (other than hair and eye color, though you can mention them again if you wish), body type, and clothing. This section puts all the pieces together. What does your character look like? What kind of lips, eyes, nose, eyebrow, and chin do they have? What kind of body type? Chubby? Normal (but what is normal for you)? Muscular and athletic? Body builder huge? Or just a lean athletic machine? They are incredibly thin? Do they have any scars, acne, tattoos?

Usually, people forget to really describe the faces and bodies of their characters. They usually just slap a quick hair color and style and eye description with a vague description about their clothes. They forget to paint a picture if their face and forget to mention their bodies. Sometimes for clothes they’ll only mention pants and a jacket of some sort but completely forget to mention a shirt or boots.

These descriptions don’t need to be super detailed (though you can be as detailed as you like), but it needs to enough to paint a good general picture. If not, a Councilor will ask you to fill it out with more details. As for using pictures, it’s fine, but you have to have a written description no matter what. Using a picture is not a ticket out of writing an Appearance description. What if a reader can’t see the picture for whatever the reason? You always need something written under this section. Pictures are really just an extra reference. Councilors will not accept pictures alone for anything. They will ask for a description before they can approve anything.

Of course, everyone knows the typical Mary Sue thing to do is making your character very attractive. Attractiveness is typical of fantasy writing. So whatever, but please do try to make your character attractive in unique and human ways. Don’t make them all blonde haired and blue-eyed with sensual curves, wonderfully slim, and with generous busty breasts. Please no more muscled out and rugged looking Gary Stus (though muscles are typical for fantasy fighters, there should be room for this, but they can have muscles without really being attractive in a typical way) or princely handsome and charming. Be attractive, but please no more stereotypically attractive unless you have a reason for doing so other than just to have a hot character for the “fun” of it. A hot cross-dresser would be awesome. Or even an unattractive one would be wonderfully different.

That aside, I, again, suggest that you read Fairess’s thread. She does a wonderful section on the appearances of characters. I will even use an excerpt from her thread because I know of no better way to say it. Though this is a little more detailed than strictly necessary, but if you want tips, keep reading. If not, skip to Weapons.

Originally Posted by Fairess

In your browsing of other’s and your own characters, you’ve probably come to understand that appearance is one of the most important details for you and other RPers to know. Without it, there is no outward appearance accurate enough for other characters to find any meaning or value in.

Sensory Details: My comment here is not that I think most profiles are lacking in this area. While some are certainly far more detailed and valuable than others, they all serve the purpose of giving the reader a rough picture to form in their mind. My problem is that that’s all I see, a picture.

Have we forgotten that there is more than one human sense? There are in fact five: sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. I see characters painstakingly described in the visual sense— I can picture their hair, clothes, and shoes, but I can’t smell them. I can’t hear what their voice might sound like, what their skin might feel like. I don’t know how my character should react to yours because I don’t know if they smell like a ripe monkey or a pungent flower. I don’t know if their voice is generally gruff or strangely soft.

Don’t underestimate the power of touching all of the senses. The more variety you have, the more detail and significance your character will have, and you will also provide other RPers with more deep, subtle details to cue reactions with. Even auras are significant: the kind of presence your character has due to magic or general abilities. We also have A LOT of aura sensers in the EH, and providing such detail (not just about how your character can hide their aura) will also allow other characters to perceive them at greater depths.

Implicit and Explicit Details: Now, this isn't a particularly awful issue that I see in profiles, but it is an issue nonetheless. It's somewhat bothersome to read profiles that blatantly state what you as the reader ought to interpret from the character. Take a look at this:

In those four separate sentances, I have managed to tell you absolutely nothing about Mary Sue. Instead, I have told you everything that I think your characters should think of her. Instead of listing details and leaving it for you to interpret and think about, I have blatantly ordered that Mary Sue be seen this way. If you were, in fact, to do an RP with this Mary Sue, about the only thing you'd be able to describe her as is... well, HOT.

What is HOT? Is hot being thin, or having voluptuous curves? Is a character beautiful if they are tall or short? Are blue eyes that sparkle prettier than green eyes that gently glow? What colors are the actual clothes that the character is wearing? What kind of clothing is it? What does all of this tell about the character in general?

This is where the difference between implicit and explicit details begin. An implicit detail is one carefully placed within the character profile, which says nothing as to whether or not the subject is "attractive," but provides the story behind what actually makes them that way. If I give you a list of small, intimate details that are meaningful to the character, suddenly you have a lot more material to work with. Your character can decide for themself whether they like the sparkling blue eyes or soft, peachy skin. Maybe they're a green skinned alien that thinks human hair is absolutely hideous. Whatever the case, it is no buisness of mine to tell you how my character is. My job is to provide the details that will lead you and your own characters to their own conclusions.

Explicit details are empty. Coming up directly and simply stating what I think will make for a very vauge character. Little details like the fabric the clothing your character wears can be significant. For instance, it doesn't make sense for a peasant to be waring a silk dress around, does it? Nor does it make sense for a 12th century character to be wearing a white T-Shirt. Take the time to put things into context, to consider the world your character lives in. Tiny, implicit details like this will serve to tell the story of your character, as well as provide a firm base for other characters to build an understanding of them.

I have provided a list to help with clothing items that will better match medieval context:

Bodice- part of a woman's dress above the waist
Breeches- trousers ending above the knee
Coif- men's small, close fitting cap
Fouriaux- woman's silk sheath to cover hair that has been coiled or put up.
Girdle- a band of material around the waist and strengthens a skirt or trousers
Jerkin- a tight sleeveless and collarless jacket
Kirtle- knee-length tunic, or long dress worn by women
Smock(frock)- An outer garment (generally a dress) traditionally worn by rural workers (also attributed to females)
Tunic- any of a variety of loose fitting cloaks extending to the hips or knees (wordnetweb.princeton.edu)

There are many, many more specific clothing items to that time period- this is just to give a general overview. While you can get away with using things as vauge as "shirt," "pants," and "dress," do remember that the more detailed and specific you are, the more depth your character will have. And you are also welcome to add more items to this list ^^

Meaning: The more meaning you can apply to a character through the use of detail, the more profound their interactions will be with other characters. If I come out and blatantly tell you each physical characteristic of my character, you'd be able to easily picture them-- then promptly forget. Attaching meaning, history to the attributes of a character will make them deeper and more memorable. Take a look at this example:

If you look closely, you'll find that this sample of Khaz's profile not only provides a great deal of detail, but also a great deal of meaning. From this, we can draw that Khaz is athletic because he has recieved training as a warrior. These past battles, however, leave no trace on him because he was around healers like his sister when he lived with the Gerudo. Because of this, we see that his past directly affects his current body, and that even in his physical traits, there is a history. Details like this serve to tell you why Khaz is the way he is and how he lives and mantains that life. That means you've got a lot more material to use as your character interacts with him. How much more different would that be if Shrub had included only that Khaz was lean and athletic?

Examples:

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Appearance: Jarik is an aging man, which is not helped by his stress filled lifestyle. He is bald, with grey stubble upon his face. His eyes are stern and fierce, with a hint of anger behind them. He has a muscular body thanks to his profession, but he lacks the energy he once held. The first signs of wrinkles are appearing on his face, although they are still hard to notice. He has multiple scars, mostly on his chest. They criss-cross all over, as souvenirs of his numerous military campaigns.

Jarik’s armor is made of steel, and is made of fitted plates bound to each other with leather straps. This goes from his feet to his neck, as he wears no helmet. He wears a deep red cloak behind him, complete with a hood for warmth on cold days. It is hooked together with a clasp on his neck, allowing him to easily remove it for combat. Underneath his armor is a white noble’s tunic, made of silk. He wears grey linen pants underneath his greaves, and comfortable grey socks on his feet under his steel boots.

Originally Posted by Crackle

Appearance: Dr. Watkins is of a medium build. The only definition he has is in his arms due to the amount of work he does with his hands. (Speaking of which, his hands are rough and calloused over.) He enjoys fine food and scotch, and as a result he has a bit of a belly. This is hidden under his many layers of clothing. His first layer is a white dress shirt with a neck tie. On top of that is a light gray, single-breasted vest which is held shut by a row of buttons. The final layer is a dark gray, single-breasted frock coat. He usually keeps his frock coat open. His pants are gray pinstripes. To keep his head fashionable he wears a top hat with a wide brim. In order to keep his clothing nice when he is working he has an apron which he will wear. It's a cream color and is stained random colors.

His hair is cut short, but it puffs up a little, and he keeps it brushed back. He has mutton chops which come down to the halfway point of his cheeks. When he works a little lock of hair will come down on his forehead. If he doesn't brush it back it is a sign he is really into the project at hand.

Originally Posted by Shrub

Appearance:
Head – Kira’s most alluring features are her deep blue eyes and olive toned skin. It’s not precisely tan, just not fair or fragile against the rays of the sun. This being due to her wood elf blood. Her features are obviously feminine, though she never seems to lean toward feminine things. As her hair is a short cut like some males, layered and often tossed in slight disarray for she does not often brush her hair for it to remain very tame. The part in her hair is often crooked, to the side and not right down the middle and never perfectly straight. Her bangs often fall into her face from the left side (her right) of the part. She has always kept it short for battle. Kira views long hair as a vulnerability in a fight. After so long of keeping short hair, she likes it and has no desire to grow her hair out even if she weren’t a fighter. It’s the darker shade of chocolate brown and compliments her skin tone well.

Her facial structure is a beautiful feminine heart shaped jaw. Her short hair goes well with her bone structure. She has beautifully shaped lips, soft and feminine, which often makes her mischievous smile quite charming and infectious. Her nose is somewhat small and delicate, neither turning up or down. Her eyes are of average shape and size, and her brows full yet not bushy or course of hair. Her ears are a slight point to them, due to her wood elf blood.
Body – Kira’s frame is more muscular than the average dainty female’s, though not bulky or unattractive. Her limbs are strong, yet lean and slender, like a cat’s. As is the rest of her body toned and undoubtedly attractive in its own right. She has broad shoulders, yet still feminine, just broadly set for a woman’s. Added with her hips, her body is generously curvy and hourglass-shaped, a fine balance of curve and slender toned muscle. Her breasts are of an average size, neither too small nor particularly big. They fit her proportions alluringly.

She has a set of scars scattered over her body from fights and war. Kira’s body is not a soft one. Hers is hardened with muscle and callous from wearing her armor. Her hands are strong and rough from all the years and hours of practice wielding her sword. Her body is one that has seen much action for her young age. It is also less hairy than a female human’s body, due to elf blood.
Clothing – When not prepared for travel and/or battle, Kira’s outfit is very simple. Often dull and boring colored tunics, preferably sleeveless, such as shades of brown and tan leathers with a belt around the waist and simple dark cloth leggings and boots. Kira doesn’t seem to understand much of the concept of fashion. She often keeps a spare of these with her when she travels in her armor. She also keeps a forest green traveler’s cloak.

No matter what, she always wears a silver chain around her neck with an emerald pendent set in beaten silver coin, given to her by her lover, Kai Awai.

Yay, weapons. These are items that cause harm to others in some way, magically or just normally. Sometimes both. How much detail you’ll need will depend on the kind of weapon. Typically, you’ll just need some sort of basic length and size measurement. If it’s a sword, how long is the bloody thing? A bow is kind of just a bow, so no biggie. Don’t forget the arrows if they have any special qualities. Magical staves, rings, and other items, can be counted under here if it is a magic user’s main tool in casting spells and using magic.

You don’t always need to include exact weight for a weapon, but do consider it for combat. Huge swords, hammers, and axes will probably require two hands to wield, unless your character is inhumanly strong or just an incredibly huge human.

You might need to include what kind of material the weapons are made out of if it somehow enhances them in performance compared to normal weapon steel. Different materials that make it sharper and harder than other weapons is important to mention. You mostly just need to include how much different it is than normal weapons.

Also, if it has magical powers you must state them explicitly here. What you put here will be all that your character’s weapon is capable of. If it’s not here, then you can’t use it in an RP. You can’t make up new magical abilities for this weapon whenever you want. Treat them like the powers and magic of your character: they will need specific descriptions of what the power does, what it looks like when its happening, and what kind of limits it has. If you are not descriptive enough, a Councilor will ask for more details on the power. This is to prevent intentional or unintentional godmoding.

You can be more detailed if you want to describe it down to smaller details rather than just general for the weapon‘s appearance, but it’s not strictly necessary. Again, you can use pictures, but basic weapon measurements and description is necessary for Councilors to approve. You must always have something written under this section, even if it is a “NA” if your character lacks a weapon.

As for Mary Sue things, the most common thing is to make a reference to media. For example, “looks just like Ichigo’s sword from Bleach.” This is not an adequate description. You can still use that idea for your character’s weapon, but just saying that is like giving someone a black picture. Not everyone will have watched Bleach to know what that sword looks like.

Though it still is Mary Sueish to give your character a weapon that a main character had in a game or anime. Why? Because you’re just trying to give your character an awesome weapon. If you like the type of sword or something like that, that’s kool, but it doesn’t have to look exactly like that main character’s weapon. There’s little creativity when you just take something like that from a game or show. That’s someone else work that you’re using. You had little thought involved then with your character’s weapon.

In conjunction with this is the BFS: the Big Fancy Sword, often seen in Final Fantasy. If your character is going to have a BFS, at least try to be realistic about it. It needs to either be made out of a material that is unusually light or your character must be a magical creature or magical enhanced person to be able to wield such a big thing. Some times both. Or just a very being human.

Besides the Mary Sue stuff, I, again, highly suggest researching weapons and armor. Just plug it into the Wikipedia and learn more so that you can describe it accurately and realistically. This helps add more depth and more visuals for the weapon/armor. Not strictly necessary, but it’s always nice to see.

If it is just a normal arming sword, plug it into Wiki and it’ll tell you the average dimensions for an arming sword. Include how long it is in a whole, and then how long the hilt is and then how long the blade is. Please also include both metric units so that everyone can understand how long and how wide it is. Weigh influences how easily they are able to move around with their weapon. Length can also contribute to how much finesse it takes to wield a very long weapon, even if it is light and thin. Unusual shape and design of a weapon is also important to its usage. If your character has a more exotic weapon, research can be very helpful, more so than with normal ones like swords and daggers.

Examples

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Weapon(s): Jarik is a highly trained warrior, and is extremely adaptable. He has an extensive list of weapons from various disciplines around the world, and carries them around on his horse. However, whenever he is forced to leave his horse (such as during combat), he may only carry two sets. A set is either one two-handed weapon, or two one-handed weapons. One handed weapons are contained in leather sheaths on his sides, while two-handed weapons are slung on his back. The process of changing between the two sets takes a few vital seconds. This limits the power available to him at any one time, but allows a great deal of variation between conflicts. The weapons available to Jarik are:

Scimitars: One handed, and specialized in catching agile foes. These curved blades were favoured by desert dwelling nomads, and are both light and extremely sharp, with an iron handle and steel blade. They favour a swift combat style, and are excellent for situations that demand speed. Their defensive capabilities are limited, but their swing arc is wide and hard to avoid.

Rapiers: One handed, these swords are ideal against heavily armored foes, such as enemy knights or scaly sea-serpents. These narrow, pointed swords work well with a methodical fighting style: they provide excellent parrying capabilities, and deliver precise strikes. Not very good versus hard to catch opponents, as they are designed to stab instead of swing.

War-axes: One handed, these axes are excellent for overpowering physically weaker opponents. They are short, with a large blade sticking out of one side. Their design allows Jarik to transfer most of his strength in each blow, and can absolutely destroy lightly-armored targets. These axes have no defensive capabilities at all.

Maces: One handed, these weapons were created to control and disrupt the enemy. The mace features a long, steel handle, with a single iron ball welded to the top. Great for stunning enemies with a blow to the head, or knocking them down with a powerful smack to the chest. Well designed for defensiveness, but lacks the killing power of other weapons. Their control is great, but their damage is small.

Spear: Two handed, this spear is ideal for dealing with ranged opponents while still offering melee capabilities. The spear is a reinforced wooden pole, with a steel, barbed point on top. The hilt of the spear has a chain, which is hooked onto Jarik’s right gauntlet. When thrown, the spear can be pulled back via the chain. This allows the weapon to function as either a javelin at range, or a spear in melee. This weapon is horrible when enemies close in, as it offers no defense, and can’t be used against extremely close opponents (within 3 ft of Jarik).

Greatsword: Two handed, this large claymore is situated for melee combat against defensive opponents. Leather straps bind the handle, and the silver blade reaches almost five feet long. With both a huge swing arc and a large mass, this weapon will quickly overpower any opponent who thinks they can dodge or block it. It is very heavy, however, and greatly impedes Jarik’s ability to dodge or run. This is compensated with excellent parrying capabilities, but makes him extremely vulnerable to ranged combat.

Flintlock Pistols: These deadly weapons are ideal for skirmishing, as they provide instant damage from a medium to close range. These revolutionary weapons have a clockwork design, and can only fire five shots before a lengthy fifteen second reload process. They fire lead bullets, and become inaccurate at long ranges. Still, these lightweight weapons are the only one handed range options open to Jarik, and pack quite a punch if they connect.

Crossbow: Two handed, this weapon is designed to quickly fire iron bolts from a distance. It is made of wood, and feature a self-reloading mechanism: ten bolts are inserted at the bottom, and one rises as the other is shot. These are perfect for ranged battles versus heavily armored foes, as the bolts are designed to penetrate hard surfaces. Once all ten bolts are expended, a ten second reload process must occur. After each shot, the string must be pulled back. This requires a great deal of effort, and will quickly leave Jarik exhausted.

Longbow: Two handed, this large bow is designed for warfare instead of hunting, but can function for both. It is made of flexible wood, and comes with a quiver of steel arrows. The longbow has the furthest reach out of any of Jarik’s weapons, and can allow him to take out opponents from large distances. The rate of fire is slower than any other ranged option available to him, but the longbow does not require a lengthy reloading process.

Originally Posted by Shrub

Weapons:
Akane – Full name is Akane Ryuu Masaru, which means “(deep) red dragon victory”. He carries this katana around with him; the blade is 2’ 6” (76 cm). The hilt is made of wood and stained a glossy blood-red and eight inches (20 cm) long. All together makes it 3’ 2” (97 cm). The sheath is made of red dragon scales and black ebony. This is the weapon Ren fights with the most.

The steel was made by the Otius earth dragons of Sekin. Metal that comes from those dragons is the best material one could ever wish to create a sword out of. Their craftsmanship is almost other worldly. Since Ren has owned the sword it has never needed to be sharpened. It is capable of cutting swords of a lesser material like chopping wood or slicing butter (Moh's hardness of 10.5, yet not brittle like diamond). It is unaffected by normal fire and heat, only the fire of dragons similar to the dragons of Sekin can be used to bend and shape the blade. The sharp edge is lined with silver, making it an excellent weapon against Vehenmus (evil/negative) creatures such as vampires.

Rin – Full name is Hitomi Rin Masaru, which means “pupil (of the eye) dignified, severe, cold victory”. Rin is a very special knife to Ren. He only uses it to kill certain people. So it is seen rarely in normal fights. However, if he somehow runs out of weapons, he will use it. The blade is curved and about nine inches (23 cm) long with an ebony handle. The sheath is made out of the same black ebony as the hilt.

This knife is also of dragon-make. However, it was made by the Vehenmus earth dragons, in contrast to Akane, which was made by the Otius earth dragons. It was made with Vehenmus fire, thus the blade is embedded with dark energies. It is a Vehenmus weapon, excellent against Otius (good/positive) creatures such as high elves. This is also due to the knife’s history. It has belonged to many violent and corrupt persons and did many dark and heinous deeds before it came into Ren’s possession.

Kasai – Full name is Kasai Shinzui, this means “fruit pith” or “essence of fire.” Its blade is a kris design, the handle is not dissimilar to a bastard sword. The blade's core is made from the same sort of iron as Ren's bones, but the blade is the same metal as his other sword, Akane. Blade length is 1' 11" (60 cm) and the blade width starting from the base of the hilt is 3 1/2 in (9 cm). The double-edged blade narrows as it waves to its point. The edges of the blade are lined with the metal copied from Akane. The hilt is made from wood and steel reinforcements (same as Akane's) with leather grips, having a small, clear faceted crystal ball at its end. Hilt length is 1 ft (15 cm). Length all together 2' 6" (75 cm). The dimensions are similar to the size of a Gladius (aka a gladiator's sword). The weapon itself is kept in a sheath made from a combination of wood, vellum, and leather, which rests strapped to his belt along with his other blade.

It was made specially for him; Ren will be able to focus his essence, or energy, into the work of its blade. It is fair to say, however, that the working of its magic may take practice to get right. If Ren focuses his fire into the sword, the blade will first melt in shape and then become flame. It works in the same way with the traits from his blood spider, but those are actually secondary to the sword's design. Kasai Shinzui is supposed to enhance Ren's ability to reach his fire. There more tricks for him to learn with the blade, such as making the blade grow or shrink in length, throwing a bolt of fire like Zeus throws thunderbolts, turning the blade to flame, then stabbing something with it before turning it solid again (for maximum piercing ability), or vice-versa. The fire abilities of this weapon will only function for as long as Ren has energy to fuel it.

The sword will also always follow Ren. Even if he were to drop it down some abyss. It will always find its way back to him.

Isamu – Full name is Isamu Shin Masaru, which means “courage, real/true victory”. A small metal ball with small spikes all over it connected to a very long chain. The ball is six inches (15 cm) in diameter. The spikes are an inch (3 cm) long. The chain is about fifteen feet (456 cm) in length. It is not made out of any particularly special material. Ren uses this weapon when outnumbered and taking on many opponents at a time, alone.

It is generally Mary Sueish to have weapons, armor, and items of magicalness. Not all of these are bad things. That’s often an element of RPG’s, finding a magical weapon or shield or suite of armor during some quest and adventure that adds to your character’s combat abilities. It’s simply better to develop and gather these kinds of weapons and armor as you RP, rather than starting out with it. It’s more interesting and it’s more fun to write. You can always update and upgrade characters. You don't have to start out as the top dog.

The same rules for weapons apply to armor, be it just body armor or a shield. Typically, these are things that protect a character from harm in some way, magically or just normally. They don’t often cause damage to others, but they can if they have special features for it, like spikes or magical stuff. Again you just need to describe how much of the body the armor covers, what it generally looks like. You’ll need to include some measurement of how big a shield is. Be sure to mention if any special material it is made of makes it stronger than average and how much so. As for weapons, if they have any magical properties and powers, you will need to detail those here along with their limits. The same Mary Sueism for weapons also apply to armor.

Examples:

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Armor: Jarik is equipped with a shining set of steel plate armor. Held together by leather straps underneath the plates, they cover the warrior from toe to neck. Jarik does not wear a helmet, as he feels that it impedes his vision too much to be worth the protection. The breastplate has the emblem of Saltreach emblazoned upon it (a blue steering wheel, like those found on seafaring vessels). The gauntlets feature small spikes on each knuckle, making punches that much more powerful. The armor is heavy, but is custom-fitted, and designed to impede the wearer’s movement as little as possible. This provides some additional agility over contemporary armor, yet is still slower than leather armor by a large margin.

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Shields: One handed, these shields offer unparalleled protection. They are large, made of steel, and have the symbol of Saltreach engraved upon them (a blue steering wheel, like those found on sailing ships). They provide protection to Jarik, and aid his stability and survivability. They hurt his damage, and can becoming tiring to hold after repeated blows are struck against them. Can be dual-wielded to support and protect allies, but that removes any combat functionality.

Originally Posted by Shrub

Armor: During times of war and conflict she wears dark blue armor that covers the majority her body making her look as the knight she is. She wears dark steel chain mail and wool with tight black spandex pants and shirt underneath.

The armor was a gift from her friend and princess of the wood elves. Kira had a hard time accepting such a present, for it is quite priceless. The armor is lighter than is natural. It was forged from steel and fire of Otius earth dragons. The armor includes the plates (no helmet) and chain mail shirt and leggings. The tight yet flexible leggings and shirt for underneath the wool and steel came with the gift, though made by the gifted hands of ancient wood elves. The sleeves reach out and are one with the fingerless gloves that cling to her hands. On the gauntlets and other plates are ancient runes carved out of richly colored emeralds. It shaped specifically for her womanly curves and size.

Metal that comes from Sekin earth dragons is the best material one could ever wish to create armor and weapons out of. Their craftsmanship is almost other worldly. It is unaffected by normal fire and heat, only the fire similar to the dragons of Sekin can be used to bend and shape the armor. It takes metal of an equal caliber to ever have a chance at denting the dragon metal.

It is generally Mary Sueish to have weapons, armor, and items of magicalness. Not all of these are bad things. That’s often an element of RPG’s, finding a magical weapon or shield or suite of armor during some quest and adventure that adds to your character’s combat abilities. It’s simply better to develop and gather these kinds of weapons and armor as you RP, rather than starting out with it. It’s more interesting and it’s more fun to write. You can always update and upgrade characters. You don't have to start out as the top dog.

These possessions could be magical and otherwise useful tools, or just completely normal and boring items like money, a bag, a sentimental token from the past, etc. Depending on the usefulness of the item, it may need more details than the normal and boring ones. You will always need more details on magical items.

So if it is a magical or otherwise useful item, be sure to describe them in good detail and give a good description of what it can do and what its limits are. Limits and good detailed descriptions of the tool’s exact capabilities are key. Councilors love that. Mostly because it’s very helpful for when other people read your profile and perhaps they need to know how this tool works exactly to be accurate with their responding post. This also helps prevent intentional or unintentional godmoding, as stated before and stated again for truth. So if yours is lacking description, a Councilor will most likely ask you to add more.

A good example:

Originally Posted by Drammor in Omentus Anima

Artifacts
Ash Doubter: This is an object more commonly referred to as a candle snuffer. It has a smooth wooden handle, a long, dark gray iron neck, and a pair of branches that reach off the end of the doubter. One of the branches curves into about a 90 degree angle and has a clapper-less bell attached to its end, which is used to snuff out flames by placing the bell over them. The other branch points in the opposite direction of the bell and is ended with a wick that is lit and used to light candles. There's a sliding button near the handle of the doubter that is used for pushing out or pulling in the doubter's wick by up to an inch.

The Ash Doubter's magic allows it to extinguish any fire the doubter's bell is cupped over, no matter of whether or not the fire is mundane or magical in nature, and the entire flame need not be so cupped. If the doubter extinguishes a fire spell in this way, then the wick can be lit and imbues the next candle lit with it with the power and effect of that spell, one of two ways, either the spell's effect is stretched out over the course of the candle's duration, or the spell is cast when the last of the candle's wick is burned. At any time, it can be commanded to forcefully expel a cone of warm ash and cinders from the doubter's bell, which varies in size based on how much fire the doubter has snuffed out since the last time it was commanded to gout ashes.

A good description of what it looks like and what it can do. It can be hard to tell sometimes if these are weapons or just tools. I think if it is not your character’s main weapon and if it has several other uses of non-violent means, then it should be placed here.

It is generally Mary Sueish to have weapons, armor, and items of magicalness. Not all of these are bad things. That’s often an element of RPG’s, finding a magical weapon or shield or suite of armor during some quest and adventure that adds to your character’s combat abilities. It’s simply better to develop and gather these kinds of weapons and armor as you RP, rather than starting out with it. It’s more interesting and it’s more fun to write. You can always update and upgrade characters. You don't have to start out as the top dog.

The BA is known for having a soft spot for powerful characters. So as long as they are given enough vulnerabilities and distinct limitations to their powers, magic, and abilities, then they will be approved by a Councilor. Though it is rather over done, thus a Mary Sue trait. The only Mary Sue-ing not allowed here is that which allows godmoding. You are not allowed to bend the limits of their powers here to make a fight go in your favor, or simply to make your character less vulnerable and more of a hero (for bending limitations to save another character or NPC). You must abide by the rules and limitations you have set for your character.

The Writing a Character Profile thread already gives a description of what you need here. Please read it and really read it. Just slapping one a power describes as “controls all four elements” is not adequate in detail for a description. Firstly, which four elements? Some people like to include, light, dark/shadow, and electricity (though often considered the same as fire control) as elements. Describes in detail what the power or spell or ability does. How exactly are these elements controlled? What can they do? Be sure to be specific.

Example:

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Earth Magic: Earth magic is Meesha’s secondary school of magic, and can only be cast while standing on a Symbol. This type of magic is characterized by stability, raw power, and immobility.

Stoneskin: For five seconds, Meesha takes on the form of stone. She literally turns into an indestructible statue. She cannot move, act, or be harmed in any way. Because of its extremely low duration, Stoneskin must be exceptionally well timed. This ability is often used to buy time for help to arrive, or to negate a powerful attack.

If your try to give your character abilities that give them power to defeat any enemy, whether or not it is stated explicitly or implicitly, it will not be approved. Your character is not allow to god mode, so your will not be allowed to have powers that give them license to do so. Other characters have powers and abilities that could possibly counteract your character’s powers/abilities, thus you should keep that in mind when creating a power for your character (meaning let it be so). Very powerful abilities should be countered, if you have them, with a very significant limitation.

It doesn’t have to be special magic and powers but maybe just a skill. You can include things like archery, swordplay, martial arts, etc. here. You can also include non-combative skills, like first aide/medical skills, trade skills like blacksmithing or fishing, pretty much anything. The more combative skills will need to be more detailed, but more useful skills like medical and blacksmithing may need details too, like the extent of their medical knowledge and skill, and also the extent of their knowledge of blacksmithing. Because those things can heal characters or upgrade character weapons, they have an important affect on combat, just less directly than archery or martial arts does.

For skills like sword style or hand-to-hand/martial arts, I, yet again, recommend researching on the subject if that is your character’s main way of combat. Try to really give more details on their style if it’s their most important form of attacking and defending. This helps give you a better idea of how strong they are when it comes to sword fighting and also for anyone who might battle your character.

Examples:

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Powers/Magic/Skills: Through his long and storied career in the military, Jarik has trained under all of his available weapons. As such, he can use several skills to alter the tide of battle. Each weapon has a corresponding skill:

Sand Swiftness (Scimitar): Jarik enters a heightened sense of awareness. His pupils dilate, and his breathing rate increases. Sand Swiftness allows Jarik to dodge most attacks for the next ten seconds, even projectiles like arrows. This does not work against extremely high-velocity attacks, such as bullets.

Tactician’s Stance (Rapier): Jarik pulls the sword’s hilt close to his body, and points it directly at his foe. As long as he maintains this stance, he can easily parry attacks and counter attack with accurate stabs. However, his attacks will lack their usual strength, and each consecutive parry will take more and more energy to deflect.

Fixation (War-Axe): Jarik roars, and dashes towards his foe. He unleashes multiple heavily-damaging swings, and pours all his strength into the axe. If his foe moves away, Jarik will push himself to give chase, fixated on catching and killing his prey. His swings are so powerful that they will often knock down his foe. This lasts for only fifteen seconds, after which Jarik will feel extremely tired. Due to the amount of energy consumed, this is often a desperate move that can work in his opponent's favor if not handled correctly.

Originally Posted by Shrub

Rontu's sword style is rather interesting. His main advantage is range and reach, because he has long arms and a long sword. Thus he does his best at keeping his enemies away from him and at mid-range combat. His style is often misleading as well. It's a very fluid style that seems to be constantly in flow and motion. It goes with the momentum and weight of his lengthy weapon. It's misleading because others often see it as slow. Due to the length of his weapon and the sudden speed-up due to going with the fall of his hefty katana, others are often struck before they realize what had happened. He reaches them with his blade much sooner than most would realize. Also because of the momentum, Rontu can keep swinging for much longer than others think. They often think they see an opening where they believe his combination should end and rush it. However, it doesn't end, and they are struck with the length and sudden speed-up again. This is also combined with openings Rontu leaves to draw his enemies in. This is where he'll insert sudden short-ranged attacks with his fists, knees, foot, and sometimes even his head.

And then there can be other skills and abilities that are not exactly violent in nature. Such as alchemy, potion making, hunting, tracking, survival in the wilderness, smithing, sewing, cooking, etc. Just try to give us a good idea of exactly what they can do with these abilities and what they can’t do. Believe it or not, they could become important in a battle or role play. So be creative and descriptive.

Example:

Originally Posted by Shrub in Leita Serwen

Skills/Magic:

• Leita is sensitive to auras and can often feel magic. She can sense when a spell is being cast and feels the flow of energy while the spell is in action. She’s good at analyzing the structure of the spells, so she can often understand how unfamiliar magics and spells work after seeing and feeling it done at least once.
  
  
• She’s a medic, skilled in treating a number of injuries and medical conditions. Leita is also experienced in assisting in child birth and child birth complications. She, surprisingly, doesn’t have a weak stomach and isn’t afraid to get her hands messy with blood and a number of other bodily fluids. She’s something of a doctor, but still somewhat primitive because she comes from a medieval kingdom. Her magic and potions are often combined in these skills, which makes it more effective than your average doctor. Leita is amazingly skilled in the arts of healing.
  
  
• Leita is very talented with potions and plants. With this knowledge she can create potions that can increase physical and magical abilities, have healing properties, and serve as antidotes for poisons. Of course, this is not something done in the mists of battle. They’re prepared before. She has basic knowledge of plants; this is for the use of her potions. Any plant or thing that is used for potions, Leita has knowledge of it: what it looks like, its properties for potions and other, how to use it in several ways, and where to find it. However, this knowledge is limited to the plants of her world: Hyrule.
  
  The potions listed below are those that Leita always makes sure she carries when she goes out. One must be careful when mixing potions. It’s best not to take more than one at a time. Taking a second while the first is still in affect will most likely cause the drinker to become ill and they’ll puke up both potions, disrupting their affects.

Health (5) – The famous blood red health potion. Leita always carries many doses of these. Her recipe is so affective that often it takes only one vial big enough to fit in one fist to heal. However, depending on how extensive the damage done to the body is, it may require more doses. It cancels out most poisons, drugs, and venoms, and returns their system to a normal state.

Mana (2) – The bright green potion is a restorative for Leita’s mana. She does not carry many of these because she is often the only Hylian mage in her group, and they work only for those who use the same type of mana as she. Hylian mana. Two vials are enough to restore all of her mana points.

Health and Mana (2) – This dark blue potion is a combination of a health and mana potion. These are mostly for Leita’s use, for its double use of restoring mana, though it still can be used as a health potion on others.

Liquid Courage (3) – The clear liquid of this potion often makes one question the truth of its nature. Any living creature that drinks Liquid Courage will find their health, their eyesight, their mental acuteness and willpower, their physical speed and strength—the limits of all of these things become nearly twice their norms. The affect of the potion lasts for five minutes.

Infinity's Favor (1) – The potion is silver and white, shimmering and swirling around each other. It enhances one’s chances. Suddenly everything seems to come together. They’ll know exactly the right thing to say at exactly the right time. Every concern and doubt will vanish of their mind. In fact, it’ll almost be blank. Blank enough to really see events as they happen. Their timing will always be perfect. They will have a trust in the universe’s ability to bring them what they need. There is nothing to fear when one drinks this liquid gold. They’ll be blessed with clarity of mind and luck. The universe will be on their side. It lasts for an hour.

Camouflage (2) – This potion is clear but always seems to glitter and move with colors of the rainbow. When one drinks this potion their body becomes like a chameleon’s, only better. They’re more see-through around the edges and take on all the colors around them perfectly. However, it does not do the same for their clothing. So one must be willing to go naked, otherwise it won’t be very affective. It lasts for two hours.

Flash (3) – This shimmering white potion is contained in a small vial. Once smashed upon the ground it creates a blinding flash, stunning most in the immediate area. It serves mostly as just a distraction to get away or gain an upper hand.

Smoke (3) – This whirling gray liquid is much like the Flash potion. It’s contained in a slightly larger vial. Once smashed open and the liquid touches the air, it instantly becomes smoke that spreads quickly through the air. It clouds vision, makes their eyes burn and tear up. If inhaled it causes much discomfort and heavy coughing. It also assaults the sinuses. It does not cause any lasting damage.

Knock Out (4) – This potion is a light and fairly translucent purple. Three of the four vials Leita keeps in her bag are much like the Flash and Smoke potions. They were brewed so that once they touch the open air, it become a light purple gas which causes those within range to faint within five seconds. It knocks them out for about an hour. The other vial is not reactive to the air. Instead, it can be applied to a cloth and pressed over another’s nose or dripped into their food and drink to have the same affect.

Sometimes it’s fine to just list the skills in this section and then go into more detail about them when in Strengths and Weaknesses to hammer out their limitations and reach. If a Councilor thinks it should stay in a certain section, they’ll let you know. But mostly this is for anything else about the power, magic, or skill that you can possibly think of.

Remember, even if your character is capable of doing something to another person’s character, you don’t have license to do so. You must communicate with the other RPer to gain permission. This means you cannot kill or harm or change another person’s character without their permission. This includes taking possessions of another’s character such as weapons and carried possessions, using magic on them with the assumption that it is successful (your character can do magic on themselves just fine), or making an attempt to hit or grapple or attack a character in anyway and assuming it is successful. Communication is extremely important. If you can’t agree with your RP partner, you should stop RPing with them.

Limits: Okay, so limits, those good old limitations. The above section is about what powers and abilities can do. The limits section is about what these powers and abilities cannot do. To have these subcategories separate from the main section of Powers/Magic/Skills is optional, but you still must have limits to each and every power and skill. They are made into sub-sections on the template only to remind you to think about including these in the description of your character’s, powers, magic, and skills. So long as you remember to have limitations to powers and abilities, you don‘t have to make a separate section for them, but you can if it helps.

You are not allowed to bend the limits of their powers here to make a fight go in your favor, or simply to make your character less vulnerable and more of a hero (for bending limitations to save another character or NPC). You must abide by the rules and limitations you have set for your character. These not optional and they must be real limitations. No self-imposed limitations, which means your character “holds back.” That’s fine if it’s a personality thing, but you need a set limit beyond their control. Limits are things a character has whether or not they want them. Fake limits would include things like a 2 hours time limit to an ability that is strictly combat-oriented, when fights typically never 2 hours to complete. Unrealistic time limits, or limits that are unlikely to occur in the situations it is suited for. Or limits that are contradicted by a Battle Strength or anything else without a good limit. Your limits need to be clear and as exact as possible. If you say, “these effects only last for a few minutes.” Please specific the exact number of “a few minutes.” Is that 2 or 3 or 4 minutes? Range limit? How far exactly?

Examples:

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Limits: Although Meesha’s powers are formidable, they come with several limitations. First, with a few notable exceptions, her spells can only be cast twice within an hour. The exception to this rule are:

Stoneskin: Can only be used once.

Another limit would be her Symbol. If she is standing on her Symbol, she can only use earth magic spells until she steps off of it. If she’s not on her symbol, then her earth magic spells are unusable.

Finally, each spell has a gesture that must be performed for the ability to take effect. If Meesha is unable to act out the gesture, then she is unable to cast the spell.

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Limits: Jarik’s skills are subject to extreme limitations. First, each weapon can only use its skill once per combat scenario. This usually means only three-four of the above skills can be used in an entire battle. Second, most of the skills have a downside of some sort, or a limited time frame. Finally, he cannot use a skill without the corresponding weapon. If he loses the weapon somehow, such as by being disarmed, his is unable to use the skill until he retrieves it.

Side-Effects: This section just helps to remind you to detail out what it looks like when your character is performing their powers and abilities. Do their eyes glow (Avatar State!)? Do sparks fly? What special appearance do they take if any at all? Like the Limits sub-section, if you have already included this in the power or ability’s description, don’t worry about filling this out separately.

Example:

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Side-Effects: When using a light magic spell other than Radiance, Meesha’s body will warp and distort for a split second. Also, when Meesha initially steps upon her Symbol or casts earth magic, the Symbol will glow bright green.

Everyone has them. This is where you put the limitations and flaws of your character and their powers when placed in a combat setting so that they aren’t a big fat Mary Sue. The biggest issue I see here is when people put down personality flaws rather than combat weaknesses. We have a personality section for that. If you put it here, a Councilor will tell you to put it in the personality and to give your character more weaknesses. Though, there is that thin line where a bad personality leads to bad combat. However, leave things like bad at lying and drinking problems in the personality section.

You may have noticed by now that the key to a good and useful profile is details. Describe how strong their strengths are. Use reference points to give us an idea of how strong your character is physically if that is a strength of theirs. The same goes for speed. How fast are they and for how long can they be that fast? Endurance is something a lot of people forget to mention or are very vague about. Try to keep in mind how fast combat and battles move, so to say they can keep swinging around their swords and weapons and fists for 24 hours is not very realistic for a character bound by human limitations.

Also try to keep them fairly balanced. Perhaps if you have 5 recognizable strengths you should have 5 weaknesses to match. But that also depends on how intense each strength and weakness are. Like a few mild strengths and then one huge, crippling weakness, then you’re probably good. Just keep it balanced, especially for your first couple characters. After a while Councilors might start to trust you more as these see you use your character responsibly.
Examples:

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Battle Strengths: When in light attunement, Meesha is incredibly hard to catch. Her misdirection and speed will confound many foes, and leave them open for an attack. In earth attunement, her defensive capabilities become very strong, and her spells can cause a ton of damage. Her warmth and optimism can help her find new allies easily.

Battle Weaknesses: Meesha is completely reliant on her magic, and has no natural protection. In light attunement, she lacks raw damage or defensive skills. Her only damage ability is Radiance, which requires her to be in melee range of the foe and must be cast multiple times to deal any real damage. In earth attunement, she is completely immobile (as she must stand on the Symbol). If she cannot reach her Symbol, she is locked out of her earth spells. Due to her spell limit, she will become useless if a fight continues for too long.

Originally Posted by Cascadian

Battle Strengths: Decades of battlefield experience have hardened this veteran, and he is rarely frightened by anything. This life of warfare has led to a very experienced soldier, with strength and leadership being his core values. His words can inspire allies and terrify foes, as he is a skilled orator. His physical strength far outpaces most men his age, and he can keep up with younger soldiers just fine. His main strength, however, is his versatility. Jarik has a weapon for every battle. If he is able to survey his opponent’s fighting style before engaging in battle, he can start with a large upper hand.

Battle Weaknesses: Jarik’s main weakness is his age. Now in his 50s, Jarik’s aging body is fighting his spirit. Although he is still strong, his endurance is fading. While he used to be able to sprint for several hundred meters with no issues, he now finds himself short of breath often. His energy is not what it used to be, and it becomes apparent quickly, especially during long battles. His senses, while still sharp, are just beginning to drop off. He also lacks the tools to defend against magic (mages are very rare in Jarik’s world), and will get pulverized quickly if he can’t compensate for it. Although his versatility is a strength, the fact that he can only utilize two sets in combat can be a downside. If he gets ambushed, or his opponent changes tactics, his current weapons can quickly become useless. His only hope in that situation is a tactical retreat, in the hopes to reach his horse and equip new weapons for the next battle.

This section is for other details that might not be covered by the other sections that you would like to share about your character. However, for this guide I will just cover some things that might come up but aren’t apart of the typical template. You wouldn’t necessarily have to put them here.

Car, vehicles, houses, etc. you could put into a profile if you felt it important and if they use such things often during this adventures. Maybe they even have their own spaceship for whatever the reason. These thing don’t often have a huge effect on combat or godmoding, but they might if you use these things in unfair ways. Typically, if anything you put in this profile performs a function that is not listed here, then it could be considered godmoding.

If your character has a horse, and you detail that here, but the in an RP you decide to make your horse super fast and strong to beat someone else’s character to a place, and you never said your horse was that fast in the profile, then you are godmoding. Don’t do it. Stick to the profile. That’s why we have them!

Now onto creatures and animal companions that may follow your character. Depending on how much they can do or how intelligent or magical they are, you can add a mini profile within your character’s profile. Otherwise you can just do a little description of them. Or if you want, you can write a separate NPC profile for them.

For example the mini profile within your character‘s main profile:

Originally Posted by Shrub

Familiar: Abyssal Binders usually have Quasit familiars. Any familiars they may have had before were devoured once they automatically gained their Quasit. They’re, basically, tiny little demons from the Abyss. Kushin has lost count of how many Quasits he has owned. He tends to use them like little pawns to test if there are any dangerous traps before he goes through an area. Perhaps normal magic users with familiars suffer physical and mental affects from losing a familiar. Kushin doesn’t. There is no wait time for him to summon a new Quasit familiar either. Though his current one has lasted a little longer than the rest have, and he has come to be slightly fonder of it than usual.

Squee usually prefers her snake form, in which she is normally wrapped around Kushin’s arm and up the sleeve of his coat and shirt. There is also a pocket on the inside of his coat that was enchanted to be an extradimensional safe haven for Squee. She can disappear into this pocket even at her normal full size had hardly make a lump in it.

Name: Squee
Species: Quasit
Sex: Female
Height: 1 ½ ft (46 cm)
Weight: 8 lbs (3.6 kg)

Appearance: In her original form, she looks much like a little green person with bat-like wings, no hair, vivid green skin, claws, and horns coming out of her head that curl around like a ram’s. Squee wears no clothes, her body remains naked and hairless. Her breasts are small, almost adolescent, and her private parts are exposed but also hairless. She has glowing red irises and cat-like pupils.

Quasits can polymorph. Squee has two other forms she can take. One being that of a small insectivorous bat, being only about 6 ½ inches (17 cm) tall. The other is of an albino corn snake in coloring: red, pink, and white patterns and red-pink eyes. It is about 2 ft (61 cm)long and has the girth of a dime.

Weapon(s): Claws when in her original form and fangs for her snake form. Her bat form is less able to attack, though it can also bite. All of which are poisonous. It is not a strong enough poison to kill, but it affects the dexterity of her enemies. Slowly causes grace and dexterity to suffer the longer the victim goes without treatment. It gets worse about every 6 seconds.
Armor: Squee’s skin is rather like Kushin’s, because she is a demon. She is less affected by physical attacks such as sharp piercing/slashing objects and bludgeoning. Not only that but if such things do manage to harm her, such as adamantite weapons, she heals most injuries in a matter of seconds. About thirty seconds for injuries that penetrates past her thick hide. Her skin is strong and resists such things, but she is weaker to energy and magical attacks. Depending if they are of good or lawful alignment, she heals these just as fast as normal injuries, but if they are, they smart like a human’s wound. She is also moderately resistant to fire.

Powers/Magic/Skills:

• Squee, like any other demon, is skilled in the deception of bluffing and diplomacy at least moderately enough to trick those knowledgeable enough of her kind and also relatively naive to these forms of dishonesty.
  
  
• If out of sight, Squee can disguise her voice and is decent enough in acting to fool others, as long as the time and exposure to certain questions remains limited.
  
  
• Squee is moderately good at moving silently and stealthily. However, if caught off guard she is not often graceful enough to keep herself from being discovered.
  
  
• She can fly in her original and bat forms, but not in her snake form.

Dark Vision – Like Kushin she can see 60 ft (18.29 m) in pitch darkness.

Detect Good – Squee can sense the presence of good. The amount of information revealed depends on how long she studies a particular area or subject. After 6 seconds of concentrating she can sense the number of good auras (creatures, objects, or spells) in the area and the power of the most potent good aura present. Since Squee is of an evil alignment, any creature, object, or spell that is at least twice that of Squee’s magical level causes her to be overwhelmed and stunned for 6 seconds. After 12 seconds, she can sense the power and location of each aura. If an aura is outside her line of sight, then she can discern its direction but not its exact location.

A good aura lingers after its original source dissipates (in the case of a spell) or is destroyed (in the case of a creature or magic item). If Squee uses detect good and is directed at such a location, the spell indicates an aura strength of dim (even weaker than a faint aura). How long the aura lingers at this dim level depends on its original power.

Animals, traps, poisons, and other potential perils are not good, and as such this ability does not detect them.

Squee will always be immediately aware of the presence or absence of good, and then she can focus on a different area soon after. This ability can penetrate barriers, but 1 ft (30 cm) of stone, 1 inch (3 cm) of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 ft (91 cm) of wood or dirt blocks it. Her range is 60 ft (18.29 m) without obstacles.

Detect Magic – This works in much of the same way as Squee’s detect good does. Only it is not limited to only good presences but simply magic in general. The amount of information revealed depends on how long she studies a particular area or subject. After 6 seconds of concentrating she can sense the number of magical auras (creatures, objects, or spells) in the area and the power of the most potent aura present. After 12 seconds, she can sense the power and location of each aura. If an aura is outside her line of sight, then she can discern its direction but not its exact location. Given 18 seconds she can attempt to determine what type of magic it is. Squee will not always know or be absolutely correct.

A magical aura lingers after its original source dissipates (in the case of a spell) or is destroyed (in the case of a magic item). If Squee uses detect magic and is directed at such a location, the spell indicates an aura strength of dim (even weaker than a faint aura). How long the aura lingers at this dim level depends on its original power. Squee usually detects spells, even of the lower levels, sooner than she detects magical items.

Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may distort or conceal weaker auras.

Squee will always be immediately aware of the presence or absence of magic, and then she can focus on a different area soon after. This ability can penetrate barriers, but 1 ft (30 cm) of stone, 1 inch (3 cm) of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 ft (91 cm) of wood or dirt blocks it. Her range is 60 ft (18.29 m) without obstacles.

Invisibility - Squee can make herself, and only herself, invisible for 6 minutes. If she is carrying anything, it becomes invisible too until she drops it. It doesn't keep her from being solid or making noise. It only veils her from sight, unless another kind of sight is used and/or a magic is employed. If Squee were to directly attack what she considers to be an enemy, she will become visible, the spell will break. However, she can do indirect actions to cause harm to her foes. Like triggering remote traps, cutting ropes to a bridge, summoning other creatures to fight, eat, talk, climb, open doors, etc. Only requires concentration to activate.

Induce Fear - Once per day, Squee can activate her ability to cause fear in other creatures within a 30-ft radius of her. She can target only one creature and depending on the creature and their level, it may or may not work. If successful it remains in effect for 6 to 24 seconds. If the creature is able to resist the affects (depends on strength of personal will) it will only be shaken for 6 seconds. When Squee successfully frightens her foes, they either attempt every possible way of fleeing, or attack but their abilities will be somewhat stunted by the extreme fear. A shaken creature's ability to fight is also somewhat stunted, but they do not have the intense desire to run.

Commune - Squee can meditate to connect her deity or the agents of her deity to ask 6 questions. It takes 10 minutes of meditation for Squee to make contact. She then can act as a medium of the deity or agent for Kushin to ask six questions of but within 1 minute and 12 seconds. It is important not to lag with the limited time given. The questions must be simple enough for a yes or no answer. The answers given are correct within the limits of the entity’s knowledge. “Unclear” is a legitimate answer, because powerful beings of the Outer Planes are not necessarily omniscient. In cases where a one-word answer would be misleading or contrary to the deity’s interests, a short phrase (five words or less) may be given as an answer instead. The entities contacted structure their answers to further their own purposes.

Strengths: She best utilizes her abilities in the most covert ways. Squee is fairly clever and is best at ambushes and sneak attacks by use of her alternate forms and her invisibility. She relies more on her poisonous claws and fangs and dexterity to wear down an opponent. She can work well with her companions, so that while they are locked in combat and distracting their enemy, that she may use her abilities to set traps for them. She may also weave in and out of a battle, sweeping in to irritate and distract enemies so that her allies may strike them down more easily. Her reflexes appear to be higher than the average Quasit, which is perhaps the reason she had survived this long as Kushin as her charge. She is immune to poison and moderately resistant to heat and fire. She is fast; on foot she can run 30 ft per 6 seconds and by flying she can travel 50 ft per 6 seconds. If one is not able to land a good killing blow on her or wound her with the correct magic, she will easily recover with her fast healing.
Weaknesses: Squee is a small creature and not very strong. Direct combat with others by herself is not advisable. She remains weak when it comes to magics of lawful and good alignments. Magic, besides fire, chaos, evil, and darkness, her skin is also weak to. Her tricks and deceit are useless when it comes to those of greater knowledge and caution. Those of high skill in observation and stealth could most probably catch Squee in her attempts.

Personality: Squee is as ambitious for power and victory is as any other demon, but like other Quasits she is a coward at heart. Thus her skills in deception and stealth. She prefers to avoid direct confrontations, but will strike when she sees the perfect opportunity. Squee is rather clever if not intelligent, perhaps more so than the average Quasit. This may also be why she has survived with Kushin for so long. No perfectly normal Quasit has lasted very long with his cruel behaviors. Kushin has treated her the same as his others, but any danger she braved for him, she has come out alive from. She is quiet but there is a burning need for her to prove herself among her kind, thus she does not hate Kushin for the dangers he has forced her through. She sees them as opportunities.

And then an example of a brief little description for creatures of less power and familiar-status.

Originally Posted by Drammor in Omentus Anima

Mockeries of Science and the Natural Order: Omentus is skilled in the art of fusing together two or more different species of creatures from the natural world into twisted animals of his own creation. He can also simply change the natural shape and function of a creature's body to a certain extent, and also its mind. He has practiced these magicks in order to produce his sword, shield and armor, as well as a few things that have yet to be mentioned. The creatures whose names are marked with an asterisk and detailed below are usually kept in vials of crystal glass and iron, which are physically too small to contain the vast numbers or size of creatures that are within them, but Omentus has magically augmented the vials to allow for this sort of storage without causing the death of a vial's occupants. He has done nothing, though, about the pain that would be associated with being crammed into such a tiny space.

Guren Hawks*
These insects are crossed between a tarantula hawk (a type of blue wasp with red wings that kills tarantulas to implant their eggs in them) and a box jellyfish. They appear much as tarantula hawks do, but for being covered in a light blue coat of jelly, with tentacles hanging down between their each of legs. They are about two inches and their tentacles can be as long as three inches. They can both fly and swim, and store bubbles of air in sacs to breath with when they go underwater. They attack other creatures by stinging them with their tentacles, biting them and stabbing them with their stingers. The poison of their stinger causes horrible pain that has been described as, "Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath."

Guren Hawks are usually in groups of two to eighteen dozen when first released from one of Omentus' vials, and tend to angrily swarm the first thing within five feet of them before moving on to anything else nearby. They are especially resistant to fire and heat, but cold makes them sluggish and eventually fall dormant with freezing. If guren hawks are allowed to live in the natural world, they search out temperate to jungle regions and cities to build colonies near bodies of water, and have a hierarchy that consists of a queen, hunters and workers. They eat fish and small animals.

I am addressing history first because it’s important to first hammer out your character’s past before going into personality. (However, I would place this very last in the submitted profile because it can be the longest section.) This is because like you, your character is a product of their past experiences. It has shaped and molded them into who they are … hopefully. There are many Mary Sue issues here. I, personally, see nothing wrong with tragic pasts as long as they have realistically affected your character, and not just pity and guilt factors/parties for your Mary Sue to cry about. Try to really put yourself in that kind of position and imagine how such events might actually change you as a person or what could and should happen to anyone else involved. Maybe your character wasn’t the only one to suffer from such a tragedy.

Not only that, but I would find it odd if a character didn’t have something that holds them back in life. Everyone has their “Vietnam”, so to speak. Something, maybe even many things, that cause them to struggle not only in the past but currently. It may not be as traumatic or dramatic as others, but this has been a source of some amount of pain and suffering in a person’s life. Maybe it was just an absent parent. Absent not necessarily meaning that they left, but that they gave the character very little attention and love: paying the bills, obsessed with work, and simply making sure they have been fed and watered and have clothes on their child’s back. Or maybe they simply feel unfulfilled in their life. Maybe they had spent most of it living up to the expectations of others and not their real wants. There are actually a lot of people who feel that way even if there hasn’t been tragedy in their pasts. We underestimate the subtle things in life that cause unhappiness.

A character needs some kind of struggle to overcome, not just physically (like assassins, dragon, or crazy mages) but internally, emotionally. These struggles usually have sources in the past, which is understandable, but they can be found in the future too. So you could have a character with a happy and healthy past, who comes to find their struggles by venturing out into the world via the role plays you use them in. Struggle internally as well as externally is important for character development. Internal focuses on the Personality of the character, and external might affect the more physical aspects like new powers, magic, skills or even more battles weaknesses as well as new strengths. In any case, struggle should leave a believable mark on your character if you want to avoid a Mary Sue.

I leave History and Personality alone as an approver. I might ask you questions about them or give you suggestions, but very rarely will I ask you to change them in order to be approved. Because Personality and History should have no effect on combat within RPs or godmoding in general. So you have license to be as Mary Sueish as you want here, but the question is: do you really want to?

Here’s something I find commonly in the histories of characters in the BA. Not that you should never use these at all in profiles. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying if you use these things in a lame, attention-needy way, your character will suck.

There is a golden rule for these, which I will emphasize for truth: Realism and Research.

Rape/Sexual and Physical Abuse
This one has been over done a lot. I am guilty, myself, of using this one quite a bit. I have a morbid fascination with abuse. It might have something to do with my mother being a social worker and hearing about all the dark parts of humanity. I try to give them as realistic spins and variations as I can though, also try to back this up with good writing and realistic reactions and affects on the character. I frown upon using this just as a sympathy call, a reason to cry and create drama about sex between characters for attention, and just a common angst-injection for good measure. My advice: don’t be an attention whore and work it out realistically. Do research on these forms of abuse and how victims typically feel. Read stories about real-life accounts, and then think about how you might feel if this happened to you.

There are other ways to produce mental and emotional abuse. Verbal abuse can be also just as extreme as the physical and sexual. We really underestimate the power of the spoken word by others. Whether it is screaming at each other, or just deeming quips added here and there and tucked into normal speech that eventually drives your character in low self-esteem and depression. The same thing to avoid here though is for it to not have affect or changed your character’s personality and behaviors. These things that are known mental and emotional abuse are called such because they have a negative affect on the mind and emotional state. It could be beneficial to do research on such abuse to get a more realistic hold on it, if you are going to use it for your character’s history.

Parental Death or Abandonment
Done, done, and done again. Guilty here as well. Most of my characters are orphans or run aways. Most of my characters were originally created when I was fourteen, and I haven’t had the heart to change them much except to try to be realistic with what I have. This is mostly used to move a rape and sexual abuse plot along and/or for another sympathy call, or a reason for your character to go out and seek training in combat so that he/she can avenge their dearly departed parents and/or siblings. If done, note the golden rule: realism on what the affects of such things are and how it might really feel to have something like that happen.

Unwitting Murder
This is the accidental murder or slaughtering. Because your character is a victim of circumstances in which they lost control of their awesome powers and either killed or injured one to several people to the whole damn village. Needless to say, they are wrecked with guilt and ridden with self-loathing. Often driven away from their home by any survivors and/or guilt, or has left because they are the only survivor. The point here is that it allows for them to whine about how their hands are forever blood-stained, when they actually aren’t because it was not done intentionally. Everyone knows they’re really innocent. No real flaws in here for Mary Sue, except when they continue to whine and cry forever about it and continue to be angsty and annoying.

I think the best way to make this work well is the golden rule of realism of how this would really feel. Fairess manages to give Leonna a realistic personality and she also adds the realism touch to the story/history. Truthfully, it would be hard not to feel bad or guilty about this happening, unless you want to put a spin on it as your villain’s character evil beginnings. So no denying the guilt and self-loathing factor. Though the character interactions from here on out are a little predictable. They will have to come to know, usually through the help of other characters, that it wasn’t really their fault. I’m fine with that if they truly come to know and accept that it wasn’t their fault. I will vomit on them if they continue to hate on themselves just for more angst and for the sake of self-loathing and attention from other characters through all of that. Characters that do not change or grow suck. Also, just try to keep the whine levels down on this character. Don’t over do it. Would you whine and whine about this if it were you? Or would you shut up about it because you don’t think anyone would understand or forgive you for it?

Last Survivor
Usually this is when your character is the only survivor of their race after some kind of mass genocide or cataclysmic happening. The point is that they are all alone and there is much angst to be had. They usually have some kind of trinket from their fallen people or now dead parents (combining the Parental Death with Last Survivor, and if you really want to get Sueish, add Unwitting Murder to the mix).

This can be done realistically as well. Just think long and hard on it and really develop it, and then learn to write it well, and you have something you can work with. Consider how this might change a person.

Instant Master
This goes with the amazingly talented at very young age. Top of the class in their battle school. The child prodigy and incredibly proficient at something or other. Usually some kind of fighting style or magic. There can be tutors and mentors, but often it is not mentioned all that they had to put aside to focus on becoming so amazing at these abilities. They simply are amazingly awesome at it with very little training.

I have to say that I am guilty of doing this as well marginally. Only, Leita Serwen had become very reclusive and very focused on her studies to the point that she had very little to no social life. While she was naturally talented in magic, she did have to study and train a lot to get where she is. Bam! Golden rule of realism.

Conclusion: do not be an attention whore and use these as things that will make other people feel sorry for them and want to fix it by being their friend and telling them how awesome they are. Note the golden rule.

Some people like to get creative and write the important and pivotal scenes of their past in detail in this section as well. It is also encouraged to write a fiction for your character in the Character Fiction subforum, to help give your character chance for more development on their past.

Ah, personality, this is my favorite section. I usually start from the shallow levels and work my way to the deeper workings and layers of the character’s mind. Also, try to make them different from you and what your behaviors are. Make them their own person and be sure to really use the history for this.

It is also important to be consistent with their behaviors and try to avoid contradictory things. Like saying they’re this and “at times” they are that. “At times” is much too vague and then they could be “that” whenever the author feels like, thus making room for self-insertion and Mary Sueism. It makes it possible for the character to change to another character’s liking so that they can remain popular and liked by all characters. State what those “times” are exactly so that you can keep it consistent and avoid that issue. Don’t make a transparent character unintentionally for ego boosting via character.

But it’s also okay if the personality isn’t very strong at first. The more you write with this character, the more you will get to know them and develop them farther.

Also remember the most people don’t talk about their deep issues and dark and tragic secrets. Most people don’t want to talk about those things, and definitely not with any random stranger they found in a pub. Don’t be attention needy. Also, don’t be afraid to let your character look like a total and complete idiot. We all have moments that are embarrassing. So do our characters, and honestly they can be extremely funny. You just need to not take yourself or your character too seriously. Laugh at them. It’s good fun.

Also please try to not be too vague about personality characteristics. Just slapping on things like smart, mature, outgoing, and funny are kind of typical traits. Not only are they vague, but most everyone wants their Mary Sue to be these things, but try to explain how your character exemplifies these things. How do they show them? What makes them mature? What understanding do they have about life? Or is merely self-discipline they have that allow them to be that way. A lot of people can be smart, mature, outgoing, and funny, but how does your character personify these things?

Below is a list of sub-sections for Personality. You don’t have to include them in the profile if you don’t want to, but they can help you think about your character and who they are.

Likes
Dislikes
Fears
Virtues
Vices