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In this post, I'll be talking a bit about what I look for whenever I'm looking through a character template and some examples of what I find to be ideal in a character template while using the one I designed as a guide.
Now, I don't take most of the template seriously. The Name, Age, Appearance, and personality sections aren't too important in my opinion provided they're all make sense given the race. What I believe really matter at the end of the day are personality and history. The former less so than the last.
It is incredibly important to understand how your character will act in any given situation. It will give them a sense of uniformity and a voice of their own through consistent reactions to situations, such as a character being easily dismissive of company unless they persist. I feel that socialization in roleplay is a major part of developing a character as a whole and understanding what your character's personality is like is a major step in that direction. When it comes to personality, comprehensiveness and detail are the goals. Length doesn't matter. In fact, a shorter and more concise personality description could give one a much broader understanding of how the character will behave and leave freedom for creativity.
As for History, I find it to be the most important. A character's history influences everything about their being ranging from obvious scars to more subtle parts of them such as their name and personality. At least in my opinion, a good history should highlight on every part of the character sheet that came before it to some degree. Ask yourself why a character has a particular weakness. Don't make it simply to balance out the character's strengths. Ask yourself why your character has a particular weakness and use the history as an opportunity to explain why it's there. Don't be too intimidated by that statement, though. The only thing I require is a minimum of two paragraphs for a history and so long as it touches on nearly everything important, I don't mind how long it is.
At least for the time being, this will also behave as a Q&A thread, so feel free to ask more specific questions and I'll respond as best I can.
Now, I don't take most of the template seriously. The Name, Age, Appearance, and personality sections aren't too important in my opinion provided they're all make sense given the race. What I believe really matter at the end of the day are personality and history. The former less so than the last.
It is incredibly important to understand how your character will act in any given situation. It will give them a sense of uniformity and a voice of their own through consistent reactions to situations, such as a character being easily dismissive of company unless they persist. I feel that socialization in roleplay is a major part of developing a character as a whole and understanding what your character's personality is like is a major step in that direction. When it comes to personality, comprehensiveness and detail are the goals. Length doesn't matter. In fact, a shorter and more concise personality description could give one a much broader understanding of how the character will behave and leave freedom for creativity.
As for History, I find it to be the most important. A character's history influences everything about their being ranging from obvious scars to more subtle parts of them such as their name and personality. At least in my opinion, a good history should highlight on every part of the character sheet that came before it to some degree. Ask yourself why a character has a particular weakness. Don't make it simply to balance out the character's strengths. Ask yourself why your character has a particular weakness and use the history as an opportunity to explain why it's there. Don't be too intimidated by that statement, though. The only thing I require is a minimum of two paragraphs for a history and so long as it touches on nearly everything important, I don't mind how long it is.
At least for the time being, this will also behave as a Q&A thread, so feel free to ask more specific questions and I'll respond as best I can.
