Character Commonalities

[Dusk]

One small joy of mine is making spreadsheets and charts. I also make a lot of characters. As a result, I make many spreadsheets and charts compiling data on my characters. I've recently done a lot more character building and creation than usual. All these old, new, and revived characters clustered together has me noticing trends. Sometimes this is because certain character aspects are just my favourites to play. Some things aren't ones I actively think about until I identify the absence. And other times it is my personal bias slipping through. For example, as a certified adorer of cats, it's rare for me to make characters who dislike them.

So how about you, Iwaku? What are some traits or aspects that are common (or rare) among your characters? This could be anything -- aesthetic, interests, background, personality -- tell me about any and all of them. Is there a lot of variety in your characters or do you prefer to stick to certain archetypes? Do you want to branch out more? Is there a personality trait you didn't think you'd like to play but turned out to love? I want to read it all!

 

[PavellumPendulum]

None of my characters are straight. As someone who was always told, "Stop thinking every show/book/movie character is gay, make your own" as a kid, I took it personally. :)

 

[Sorrelfur]

Same as pav I very rarely have a straight character and rarely make female characters. The only time I have straight characters is if I'm doing a rare female character. I think I have one female character I made just sitting around and she's straight. Another common thing amound my characters is height mine are always short because I identify as being a short person and when I try rping a tall person I make dumb mistakes liek forgetting they'd be able to reach the top shelf without a chair

 

[Diana]

Since I've been roleplaying for so long and I tend to keep a collection of my characters to reuse and develop, I def have certain tropes and traits that come up a lot. Some more often than others. Cause YEAH! Some stuff is just hella fun to play!

I also play short characters, like super tiny short people -- but it's because I am SUPER TALL. XD

I also like to throw in not being able to swim? I think half my characters can't swim. O_O It's cause I wanna add in a relevant scene where it's going to be an issue, but it's rare when an rp ever touches on that so I keep adding it to characters hoping it will come up and there will be some DRAMA.

 

[Nemopedia]

I feel that all of my characters start out clueless on their sexuality. The majority remains that way because, well, it doesn't get discussed, or gets no focus. The few who do, because they fell in love, or are confronted with it through some other means, always feel confused.

 

[Dusk]

It's Take A Risk month!​

What better time than a month of risks to examine what your characters have in common? Knowing what you normally write is a great place to start if you're trying to branch out. I am kicking this thread back to life by listing some of the commonalities I found in my own characters. I'm extra, so I made a chart containing 44 of my most developed roleplay characters (most of them active, others I just want to be active) and compared various aspects. A long time ago, I realized I never played many characters who were petty, and as a result, I gave it a try. It turned out I enjoyed it a lot.

Like those who mentioned it above, I don't play many straight characters. Most of the active ones I have are ones I've had for a long time. Even some of the legacy straight ones have been touched by my desire to make characters who have a multi-sexual orientation. My agenda, if you will. I already mentioned in the intro how my fondness for cats slips into my character creation. This was undeniably reflected in the fact that only three of the 44 characters dislike cats. Furthermore, I play a lot of characters who are at or between the heights of 5'6 and 5'11.

Another commonality I observed is that I have few characters who are exceptionally lazy or cowardly. This is one I haven't tried much, so I think it's one I will intentionally experiment more with in the future. Conversely, a good chunk of my characters are some degree of whimsical or volatile, and most of them are adventurous. A high number of them also have a complicated (but reconcilable) relationship with at least one of their parents. I usually do this because I want to use it for a character arc or development, but not many of the RPs I've included it in have made it to that point so I keep adding it.

On the other hand, I was also surprised to see some things were more balanced than I expected. I chalk this up mostly to two things 1) it was an aspect that I used to use a lot more but didn't realize until this chart that it had become less frequent or 2) because I am in a lot of roleplays where I have 3+ characters, there is a greater deal of diversity among them.