Random Rants on TRPG

=== How Do You Create Your Player Character? ===

Recently I met some new friends in roleplaying games, and most of them were just starting to play their few first games. I also read about some of their character's concept and backgrounds. These informations left me wondering about several thing.

How do we create our PC?

It is quite often (unfortunately) I heard someone said "oh my PC failed" or "oh no this is not a good one", or something like that during the course of gaming. Maybe even it is too often to hear that. Anyways, those kinds of things made me thinking on character creations in RPG (especially pen and paper RPG, or tabletop RPG).

I am trying my best for not being judgmental (I mean, who knows which one is 'better' or 'proper' or 'the right way'), but it can not be helped that I would be biased. So instead, I would rather just make this short rants focusing on how 'I' create my character, and what things made me raise my eyebrow (personal preferences apply).

1. Character Concept.
For me, character concept was not only about 'the build' or 'the stats', but more like 'playstyles'. As for concept, I would try my best to fit into the setting.
What made me raise my eyebrow usually when I hear character in-appropriate for the setting, or when someone can not describe their character in 3 words.

2. Background Story.
Woohoo. The best part in pen and paper RPG, and maybe the most annoying part for GM. Basically this is where my character 'came to life', so I often put extra effort here. Not only about describing events, sometimes I go as far as putting some stories on "... and that's why he has this Feat."  or "... therefore he has a Strength of 18."
Seriously, it is quite fun to be able to describe our character's "Statistical" and "Game Ability" using some story; especially with GM approvals. That way, we can 'go into character' more easily, IMO.

3. Min-Max-ing.
Right. I am an optimizer. I pride myself in creating difficult encounters, or even my TPK record. I know I am also good in min-max-ing PCs or NPCs.
Curiously, I am not the type of person who browse the internet or forums in the search of the holy grail of 'ultimate build'. I am not the type of person who idly browse the d20pfsrd or Character Builder reading every single entry of power/feat/skill combination and find some loopholes (unless of course, when someone requested me to do so).
So, how do I do it? Simple. Start with Concept. How will my PC fight. How will my PC interact. How will my PC behave. How is the preferred lifestyle. After that, do some minor BG Story (or sometimes, a comprehensive one). Using these two, I usually find out about 'what kind of entity is my PC'. Then, I browse the rulebook. But right now, I already have in my mind, the picture of my PC as a whole. So I just discard the non-relevant builds, and only gather the relevant ones. Faster, easier, more effective. At least for me.
Another good point is, IMO, because I start with a concept, I know the 'feel' of the character. Therefore during playing the game, I know my strengths and weaknesses, and can play my PC optimally.

So in the end, it is how I play that matters, not how good my PC is. Of course, sometimes some things are just brutally overpowered or broken; but would you enjoy playing them? Usually I lost interest in a PC / Campaign when everything feels too easy for me (no challenge, no story, etc.)

Regarding How I Play That Matters, just a gentle reminder from a TCG player. Once, one of my friend challenged another friend to play Magic The Gathering.
"Hey, this is the ultimate deck. I borrowed it from a friend of mine. I heard you are good with MTG. Let us play!" But after they play several times, the ultimate deck always lose.
"Darn, this deck is bad."
"Oh, actually, if you think that way, why don't we swap deck and rematch?"
After few more games, now the ultimate deck wins all the time. "You see, it is not about the sword. It is about the person wielding it."
(of course, in case of +10 Excalibur, things might be different, but I hope you got the points).


---- Another notes
More often than not, I heard people disappointed by their characters because of 'they are not as good as I thought'.
When I asked them, what do you have in mind?

"She is the best fighter."

"She knows anything about undead."

"He knows no fear."

and the toppest one: "He is a good person." or "he is trustworthy"

Well guys, just to warn you about one thing. What you 'think' about your character there, were not fully controlled by you. I mean, 'best'? And when GM or other player proves to be better, your 'concept' then shattered. 'knows anything'? An unlucky roll 1 will ruin everything. 'knows no fear?' A no save strike would even make you cower (unless you are a paladin of 3rd level ++). These are things that we can not control. I personally prefer to build a concept from 'inner self' outward.

Oh, and the worst IMO is "he is a good person". Seriously, how often do you hear a good person saying he is good? But how often do you hear a bad person saying he is actually a good person?

Good, Evil, etc, actually is not something that we can state. It is based on others' perception (in this case, your GM and play friends). Further, no matter how hard you say 'I am trustworthy', trust is something to be earned; and sometimes it is just too difficult to earn trust from some people.

I would rather change the words into:

"She aims to be the best fighter" -- nice, now I have ambition that will drive me further in quests and rivalries

"She learns anything about undead" -- now I have reason to KNOW many things; and when I fail, new story for me!

(okay the he knows no fear part is too difficult to change) "He has yet to know fear"  up until now, he was fearless. Starting now, who knows you will roll 1 on your first session? (been there, done that, roll 1 for a noble warrior knight, flee like a rabbit).

"He wants to help people."   "He wants people to be happy."   "He puts others above himself."  Now you have guideline on how your character will behave, instead of self proclaiming some morality.

"He does not like to lie."  "He tries his best to keep his words."  Now this might yield to give him 'trustworthyness'.


--- TLDR ---
Start from your self, to others. Start from inner, then outward. Much better for all of us.