How do you get inspiration and idea's for characters?
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Well I started playing again recently but I havent been able to get into a character I like and my mind goes blank when trying to think up something to play. Normaly I would get inspiration for a new caracter by whats going on IG but cant really do that since I havent played in a long time and would rather find out that stuff IC as it would be good to learn it when my PC does.
So what I am asking is how you go about getting inspiration and idea's for your characters especially when you have nothing that your itching to play?
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Movies and Television, mostly. Some novels.
Syler from Heroes was a big inspiration for a few of my characters.
Every time I see the new Batman I feel like making a "Joker" like character, but I feel it's too soon. Someday, though.
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I set up small guidelines for what he will be like What alignment and what not then I do what Cama does get inspiration from anything.
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I usually start with personality type. Is it fun to play someone who is nothing like you at all, or who has some of your personality traits exaggerated to the extreme? I second the inspiration from books and movies, and I add into it comic book characters. Maybe not something as recently popular as like, say the Joker, but hey maybe you want to see how Green Arrow or Huntress or She-Hulk would exist in Faerun. Start with a fun concept, and it can be as silly or serious as you make it.
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Playing a character is an important decision. It is always tempting to slump into to portraying caricatures and simply trying to "win"..
An easy way to portray a character is to simply model them on a close friend or relative/celebrity/whatever that you think you know, then emulate whatever action you think they would take given the situation. That gives pretty "natural" flow to your character - and a constant source of inspiration.
But yes, awesome tv-series, movies and books.. Comics and so forth.. Historical personalities, wikipedia helps..
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Characters from other games and books can provide a personality framework. Just use the general theme of that character then give it your own view.
Minsc from Baldur's Gate, Silk from the Belgarad series…
If your familiar with the site, the 'Lets Play' of Icewind dale 2 has some interesting personalities.You don't need a superhero, you just need someone willing to take a step.
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Booze, the Muppets & some anime here and there,
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Not just any book or movie or song, but clever, insightful ones that have both awesome stories and awesome lines that make you go "Ooooh" and thus, give you inspiration try something intelligent and challenging. Not saying that you don't, but… Okay. I shut up now >.>
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Movies, books and TV. Usually I'll just see how a random character could be turned into a coa characters and draw things up from there. Otherwise, I'll just go with whatever random inspiration I get.
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Movies, books and TV. Usually I'll just see how a random character could be turned into a coa characters and draw things up from there. Otherwise, I'll just go with whatever random inspiration I get.
Pretty much how I did it. Like with Elizu I was looking through the gods and was like damn Jergal pretty BA and I set to work concepting him
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Inspiration from literature, movies (even music). But sometimes I like my imagination to flow, so I go according to… a picture.
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ive got over 1500 portraits in the folder so i just scroll through until one leaps out and then i form the char from what i see
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Usually when I'm standing around naked under hot, running water contemplating the universe as Icelandic folk music blasts out of the stereo followed shortly after by Linkin Park and various other angst bands from your childhood.
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Wabz is my inspiration.
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Ditto
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Literature and movies mostly.
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mostly like everyone. TV, books, movies, stories of all sort. Also, I do find some inspiration in subrace description. Example, fire genasi: wild impulsive character. That sort of things. FR info on certain groups or races can give ideas sometimes.
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Movies, Tv Books, Video games!
my last paladin idea was a direct rip off of the Hugh Jack man's portrayal of Van'Helsing
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I tend to draw from more homesie origins than the superhero line. I tend to build up from farm-boy, orphan, rich-kid, or slum-dweller and then see where this goes and how his upbringing affects him to drive foward. I then look forward to see what kind of hero or vilain he might become.
For me, this brings reality and fantasy closer together than the Superhero line. Literature is the great melting pot. I steal a bit from this character and a snippit from that one and bake it with a few herbs and spices and see what I get.
I tend to be working on a concept months before it ever sees the light, slowly maturing in my mind. Having said that, Marin, my dwarf was developed in the space of just a few hours when someone told me they had a dwarven community that had no females and no rogue. So I broke all my rules with her, threw her together and built her up layer by layer IG. Not the best way, in my opinion.
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I know it's a little backwards, but I think of what I want to do, storywise, then think of fun personalities to do it with. In the past, I've had "kernels" of ideas for destroying William Thond because of a misplaced sense of inferiority, seeking undeath because of a broken body, and hunting down those who cause pain to people out of a sense of superiority. If those sound really cliche it's because everything is cliche. After coming up with that kernel I try to build a real character out of it, with goals, dreams, and real reasons behind the goals.