What drives your character?

[Zypher]

A lot of the time I struggle with making a character's personality and usually end up defaulting to a select few character traits that all come out a bit differently. Sometimes I get stumped and can't think of anything at all (even more so when I'm trying to make a character different from all the others I've made before.)

Well I've recently found a nifty little tool that helps create character motivators, perfect for creating a character on the fly! Click Here!

What kinds of traits do you usually default to in your characters? What sort of new ideas did this tool help you come up with?

 

[October Knight]

That is a useful tool, Zyph! I like it.

My characters vary, however the ones that I think I play the best tend to have anger issues and are very selfish, either that or some sort of mental disorder.

 

[Diana]

All of my characters have one thing they want to accomplish! Sometimes it's something simple, and sometimes they have no idea that's what they want. XD

When they -don't- have drive or ambition, I get bored of them real fast. x__x

For example, Katrinka needs love and security in her life. But doesn't realize it. She's been trying to fill that void by providing it for other people. >>;

Paris, has no drive. NONE. She has been very dull. BUT, she is going to -gain- drive in her sequel. Where she feels like she needs to get closure and "revenge".

I LOVE that motivator site, though. >:D Sooooo going to use it so much!

 

[Razilin]

In a Pathfinder game (Pathfinder is basically D&D 3.75, very fun), I'm a ranger modeled after Prince Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke.

I like to model characters after existing archetypes or characters I've read/seen in movies, cartoons, and comics. Their motivations are generally adapated from the source material.

Based on past characters, I seem to have a love of either the naive, energetic, forthright heroic figure (think Luke Skywalker) or the downtrodden tragic hero (Kenshin Himura) who can at least put up a face of cheerfulness. I'm really not into the Bad Boy with a Dark Past. Dark Pasts yes, Bad Boy no. Anyone with a Dark Past that I play has at least learned from past mistakes and tries to be a better person. The Luke Skywalkers, on the other hand, have to learn to reconcile their idealism with reality and make it work.

One of my favorite fiction characters is Keldorn from Baldur's Gate 2. This is an idealist who somehow balanced simple justice and goodwill with being a soldier. That's pretty freaking cool, since most characters end up abandoning their old ideals and calling it "character development." That old soldier just kept at it and found a happy medium.

 

[Vay]

Ambition, money, lust, power, love, emotional hunger, for the evulz, getting kicks, out to prove themselves....

I don't like to keep to one motivation, but like Diana, no motivation = character being neglected/killed off never to be used again.