In-Depth Character Creation Guide

Alright, after going around through a lot of roleplay chats, I decided to make my own guide for character creation, as many of these characters lacked backstories, were unrelatable, and/or were incredibly two dimensional. That is obviously a huge problem. So, I've decided to make a comprehensive guide on how to make a good character-- and no, this does not only extend to roleplaying.

Before we actually start with the process, we need to identify what we want:
- We want the audience to become attached to the character, and feel the character's pain. Usually through relating to a situation.
- We want the audience to be able to identify the character by their unique attributes.
- We want the character to have depth and reasoning behind every action.
- We want the character to stand out.

Alright, so now that that's covered, here are the primary aspects of a character:
- Backstory. What have they done? What have they experienced?
- Relationships. Who caused them pain? Who caused them happiness? Friends, family, and enemies.
- Personality. How do they react to this?
- Physical appearance and voice. What do they like to wear? Are they short? Do they have an accent?
- Abilities and stats and such, if you're going to have some kind of character that will be entering some kind of combat scenario at a given point. Usually in fantasy. Not always necessary, but can also be perceived as "are they fast? How fit are they?"
It's important to note that personality, relationships, and backstory are closely linked; however, I will not be going into relationships as much.

Alright, so now we can start. This will be structured in order of what steps you should take.

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"I want my character to be relatable." - Backstories, relations, and why your character should be humanized.
First off, I apologize for this one being so bulky.
Yes, you do. This is a very important thing. Your character should be as humanized as possible, so that people understand why they're doing things. We want our audience to feel empathy with the character, and we want their pain to be shared. People typically like those they can associate themselves with, and even if they are the villain, they still need to be relatable. A bad villain is a two-dimensional one who does bad things without reason. A prime example of a one-dimensional character would be Team Rocket grunts from Pokemon. They love their boss, they detest those outside of Team Rocket, and are prone to narcissism, but will bend down and kneel before their beloved superiors. A good character, which we spend more time listening to and interacting with, would be James from Team Rocket, who humanizes his allies when you hear about his back story. For example, his bottle-cap collection; most children had collected something at some point in their life, whether it be Yu-Gi-Oh! cards or even rocks. James's innocence creates another layer of depth, despite his criminal actions.
That being said, such reason for criminal actions will come from SOMETHING, particularly past events in their life. If your character is a hero, their good actions will come from their own past. Such examples may include Spiderman, who was bullied in school. As such, he had decided that such actions against the good are bad, and that he will stray away from them and fight for justice.
Further-more, Spiderman's relatability also stems from loss, IE: literally his entire family. Those who have lost another in their life will deeply feel empathy for him, and put themselves in his position. They will grieve with the character, they will cry with the character, and they will learn to love the character. Typically, I give villains the most tragic backstories, as it may take quite a bit for somebody to be pushed in that direction, since people are trained from a young age to force themselves out of association with negative things. Typically, I recommend loss as the biggest motivator for your character. Or, if you want to make them even more relatable, start with a single piece of you-- self-hatred or shyness, or perhaps even greed-- and let that expand outwards into the rest of your character.

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"I want my character to be more than a face that doesn't take anything seriously." - Personality, depth, and reasoning.
Typically, this branches off of backstories and relations. What I tend to do is start off with a piece of me; let's say we want to create a character with a strong sense of justice. Such character would possibly be an angel, or a judge. Let's roll with angel.
As an angel, what have they experienced in their backstory, and how did they react to it? Being an angel, they would probably seek out wrong-doers, and, if they are the one to make a mistake upon accident, hate themselves for it. They are hard on themselves, which is good. That's another attribute, and a common one. On top of that, let's say that at one point, they are kicked out of heaven as punishment, and are sent to Earth. They would probably detest humans, as they are able to sin, which they hate. Another attribute.
As we start off with one idea, we throw more and more experiences to expand their personality. If we have a character that is bullied, they may need somebody close to them, or something to act as a way to distance themselves, such as a hobby like drawing or video games. The more fragments of their personality you have available, the easier it is to predict how they will react to situations. Remember to give your character some kind of weakness in their personality, or people will fail to properly associate themselves with them. On top of it, weakness makes them less one-dimensional.
That being said, however. Keep away from stereotypical personalities as much as possible. If you find an archetype you wish to fill, do it in a unique way. Give the hero a reason to detest that which they defend, give the villain a family, and, better yet, make your characters suffer as much as possible.
I promise I'm not a sadist.

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"I want my character to look and sound like who they are!" - Physical appearance, voice, and standing out.
Typically, a character will have something unique about them. Tracer from Overwatch has her iconic line "cheers love, the cavalry's here," and a British accent-- the latter probably because she's British. This section will be taking a look into a large amount of symbolism, sociology, and psychology, so be warned.
A character has some kind of unique thing about them to separate them, such as how a character of mine wears a mask with no eyes and patchwork clothes in poor condition. Masks are used to conceal, meaning they hide many secrets. Eyes are the windows to one's soul, and are typically signs of whether or not one is lying; this extends upon the mask to show that they are lying and not just shy. On top of that, the mask has a large grin, meaning they are one to smile and joke constantly. However, their poor-condition clothes with many patches sewed on may represent messiness, dirtiness, and the like. They have had a bad upbringing and have committed many actions that will be frowned upon. They can sew, meaning they are crafty and are known to mend and fix situations; they are resourceful.
Their mask also acts as something iconic, as it is very unusual and unique.
The way your character walks (those of more pride will walk straighter and taller, what they like to wear (dark colors usually for the quiet ones), whether or not they hold any important objects on them (a locket reminding them of somebody), jewelry (money and vanity)-- everything is determined by who they are. Those who are unused to conversation may be quieter, and stumble more on their words. Thinking everything over before they say it, unlike somebody who may talk all the time. Does your character feel the need to keep a weapon on them at all times?
Just a side note.

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"COMBAT. WHEN. WHERE. WHAT." - Fighting with your character.
Strife is, in roleplay, typically common, and a lot of anime will feature some kind of form of fighting. It should be obvious that your character can't excel in everything, and I like to narrow it down to four different things:
Attack, defense, utility, and speed.
The more they are proficient in a skill, the weaker they are in others. Typically, I wouldn't recommend more than two strengths. If you have a bulky character with good offenses, I don't recommend giving them good speed. Your character has to be beatable in combat, because otherwise, they could just step on everybody if they wanted to, and let me tell you, roleplaying with a god-modder who apparently has a bajillion magic runes in place to defend themselves from literally everything is NOT FUN. That being said, if you're going to place some kind of intense and powerful ability on your character, make sure it is unique and balanced. A character of mine is incredibly slow when moving, but has high attack speed, and their attacks will always do a percentage of an enemy's health.