Character Building Guidelines

This is a guide to aide you in developing a more interesting and nuanced character. This also serves as a guideline of who your character really is in your mind. The steps to building out your character should be done at the same time as your are building out your character sheet. 

Race

Race is always a contentious concept depending on what type of game is being run, setting, and narrative. But the type of items to consider when crafting your character is how does their race affect their character?
Does your character inhibit the natural cultural traits of their race? Is your half-orc quick tempered? Is your High Elf snooty and arrogant? Is your Gnome crazed and passionate?
Or perhaps, does your character exhibit traits that would normally be contrary to that race? If so, why? What made them so? Why is your goblin wizard intelligent, studied, and beholds herself with an outstanding vocabulary? Why does your dwarf sailor prefer the sea to the forges of home?
Or maybe you have a different vision of what a particular race is in general? Maybe in your mind, your half-elf was accepted by Humans, but not the elves. Maybe Grifs in your mind are more recluse and territorial.
Work with your DM and help create the culturalbeats and lifestyles of the race you want and have it represented in the game world as a whole.

Class

Typically at first glance, the choice of class for your character is a more mechanical one than narrative. “I want to be a magic wielding badass wizard.” “I want to be able to take more damage than anyone else.” Which is great! But now comes to the task of developing why your character became a Bard, or why they chose to serve the Platinum Dragon as a Paladin.
“Well, it’s just what was there.” Now that is the most average and boring answer possible. Similar to your personal life and job that you do, there were reasons you chose to take on that job.
Perhaps as a young child, you were saved by a wandering cleric who healed you of a terrible disease that you caught, and they did it for nothing, no payment, no reward, merely because it was the will of Erathis. This experience burgeoned your faith in the Lawbringer and you chose to follow in the footsteps of your savior.
Perhaps you were abandoned as a babe to the wilds, left to die unwanted. But then a hermit sage found you and raised you within her home in the wild jungles. There she taught you the magics of her teacher, the path of nature of the Druids, and there you trained yourself as her successor.
Once you have the reason why your character retains this class, then proceed to ponder what this class means to them. That’s right, think not what it allows you to do, but rather think about what value it holds to your character’s heart.

• Is being a Fighter merely a way to earn coin for the stout mercenary? Being the only thing he is good at and is therefore his way of life.
• Is being a Warlock to some elder god a burden to your character? Something unwanted and forced on him.
• Is being a Paladin a source of pride and a tradition and continuation of the family line?

Once you have the what and why of your class, begin to bring those elements into your character’s personality. A proud boasting of the Paladin’s capabilities. A wistful envy from the Fighter towards the talented and learned Bard.

“7 Dagger Theory”

When creating a character’s backstory, it is within best practice to include a number of “Daggers”. A Dagger is essentially anything the DM can use to raise the stakes of a situation for your character. Anything that can make a conflict personal such as a threatened loved one, or the appearance of an enemy. They are called “Daggers” because the player lovingly forges them and presents them to the DM so that they can continually use them to stab the players.
The more “Daggers” a player has, the easier it is for the DM to involve the character into the story with meaning and purpose. It is an important element on investment on the player’s part. When breaking down a character’s backstory, a few examples would be:

• Every named person your character cares about, living or dead (i.e. sibling, spouse, childhood friend) +1 Dagger [A large family can be bundled into one big Dagger]
• Every phobia or trauma your character experiences/has experienced +1 Dagger
• Every mystery in your character's life (i.e. unknown parents, unexplained powers) +1 Dagger
• Every enemy your character has +1 Dagger
• Every ongoing obligation or loyalty your character has +1 Dagger
• Additionally, every obligation your character has failed +1 Dagger
• Every serious crime your character has committed (i.e. murder, arson) +1 Dagger
• Every crime your character is falsely accused of +1 Dagger
• Alternatively if your character is a serial killer or the leader of a thieves guild, those crimes can be bundled under a +1 BIG Dagger
• Any discrimination experienced (i.e. fantasy racism) +1 Dagger
• Every favored item/heirloom +1 Dagger
• Every secret your character is keeping +1 Dagger

So on and so forth. Any part of your backstory that can be used to get at your character either physically or emotionally is a “Dagger”. A DM will use these Daggers directly, indirectly, perhaps wave it in front of you or place them within unsuspecting places. They will take your dagger and break them down into smaller ones to stab you many times individually. They will take your dagger, combine it with other character’s daggers to form a sword to slash at you all.
On the other hand, having too many daggers will result in over burdening the other characters with your daggers that may annoy other players. Having too little “Daggers” will build a boring and uninteresting character which in turn makes a more difficult narrative for the DM as they will have to invent reasons why your character should be invested.
More “Daggers” will hopefully be created as the game goes on, but at the beginning there has to be a few. New “Daggers” become forged as your character grows and interacts with the world; new friends, new hatreds, new morals, and etc.
Personally, I believe a happy median to be around 7 “Daggers”. Enough of a pile for the DM to pick and choose to fit situations as well as enough to last should all 7 be eventually chosen. Those seven should be different “Daggers”, for example:

• A family Member
• A Moral Obligation/loyalty
• A rival/enemy
• A location
• An item
• A secret
• A flaw, phobia, mystery

Flex your creative muscles and create unique and interesting “daggers”.

Rule of 3

The rule of 3 is a simple exercise to create a more unique picture of your character at a more granular level. The exercise is simple. Create 3 things for your character within each of the following categories:

• Actions
• Words
• Customs
• Food/Drink
• Celebrations

These items may be something related to your character’s race and their traditions, maybe something of your home town, or perhaps family characteristics that your character displays.

Actions

Perhaps there are certain actions that your character takes before or after doing something. Something that denotes either something they’ve learned in their experiences, or something learned culturally.
For example, in the US military, it is regulation to remove your hat upon entering a building. So perhaps your soldier always removes his or her helm before entering the tavern.
Or perhaps while you were growing up and learning in the monastery, your friend always rigged doors with buckets and other traps to hit you when you entered. So before you enter any door, you let it open fully before stepping in.
Mayhaps as a young magic initiate, your mentor never thought you’d amount to anything so she did not allow you access to her books. So you snuck into her library late in the evenings to secretly read, and applied a small crease to the corner of a page to serve as a book mark, and you now habitually do that regardless.

Words

Words are a very powerful thing. Both symbolically and culturally. It is how we share ourselves with others as well as a representation of what we experienced in our lives. Typically words are a bit more cultural, but sometimes they are habits formed by repetition.
Perhaps your elven druid always says “Vanya sulie” (fair winds in elven) as a goodbye.
Perhaps your dwarven ranger says “Bolag” as “Cheers” everytime he takes a drink as a remembrance of his home.
Perhaps your human ranger offers a prayer to lady luck before firing, a habit picked up by her teacher huntress “Lady luck bless this shot.”

Customs

Every culture and every household has customs that they follow. Things ingrained into them since times of youth. Perhaps your character takes part in these customs, which can be served as conversation points as well as points of contention.
Perhaps the rogue always marks the path out of a cave system or dungeon with thieves cant markings as a custom to warn other would be thieves guild members of what lies ahead.
Perhaps the half orc sailor always takes off his shoes when first returning home from an expedition to relish the feeling of firm ground beneath his feet.
Perhaps the former slave never speaks first in a conversation as that always resulted in a beating.

Food and Drink

Food and drinks are important to every adventurer. One of the few pleasures they are able to take part in between risking their lives for coin and glory. Favorite food items can be a result of something from their culture, something from their background, and maybe something from an experience.
The Dwarven Guard only drinks ale and only ale as that is what his forefathers drank. Wine is for those sissy elves.
The orphan rogue had his tongue branded as punishment for stealing as a child and has lost his sense of taste. So he only buys the bare minimum to stay alive to eat because he cannot enjoy it.
Whenever feeling down, the sorceress always eats sausage stew because that is what her mother always made her growing up and it reminds her of home.

Celebrations

Celebrations can be a multitude of things whether cultural, religious, or personal, and the activities of those celebrations can be varied. Every character celebrates something, and those things may differ from person to person, but those celebrations may also overlap.
Perhaps the Elven Ranger celebrates Elvendawn, the 20th day of June where elves and druids celebrate the birth of the fey through the Archeart by taking uncharacteristic vigor and merriment with fey entities.
Perhaps the edgelord warlock celebrates the anniversary of the day his family was killed by taking a drink and cutting a small mark on his forearm in remembrance and to recommit his conviction.
Perhaps the halfling celebrates his 4th birthday within the year as his people always celebrates their birthdays monthly instead of yearly.

Morals and Values

Each character has their own set of morals and concepts that they value. Their own set of rules that they follow so to speak. Sometimes the align with the laws or rules of a kingdom or organization, or sometimes they are more nuanced toward the character’s own experiences and state of mind. It is important to establish them to create a foil in which your character can grow or change.
The DM will challenge these values and morals with personal conflicts, and hard choices to provide an opportunity for your character to grow and reflect. The DM will also provide opportunities for you to reinforce your moral and values. These are opportunities for your characters to change in some aspects as well as share your character’s values with the other players.
An inter party conflict over morals and values can happen, but it shouldn’t be in an argumentative or overbearing way, but rather a debate of philosophy that ends in an understanding in the other and what they value and represent.
Perhaps the Valiant Knight never attacks those who are in a disadvantageous position because it would be deemed dishonorable. He also has the values of a knight to defend the common people. But what happens when the villain he let go previously has come back and harmed more people? Does he once again allow this villain to be imprisoned only to escape once more and potentially harm more people? Or does he strike the unarmed man down to protect those he made an oath to.
This creates an opportunity of roleplay and character growth in that his values may change.

Antagonist

An antagonist is a great foil to your character that can come to challenge them or push them along in various ways. It can be a foil to your character’s morals and values, constantly challenging your character’s beliefs. They can also be rivals in which the characters compete and grow and expand their capabilities.
An antagonist does not have to be an individual person either. It can be an organization in opposition to your own. It can be a philosophy or idea that your character is trying to challenge. It can also be the classic antagonist villain who harmed your family member.
Nonetheless, the antagonist adds a potential goal for your character and it adds avenues of character exploration and character growth.

Conclusion

These are items that should be taken in consideration when wanting to create a full, rich, dynamic character that has the opportunity to change and grow into a living character. A static character is nothing but a video game avatar moving through the motions and that’s just plain boring.
The next item will be Character Development and brainstorming what type of issues you may want your character to face as it grows.

Example Character

Name: Marius LaVorre Age: 17 Gender: Male Race: Human
Marius grew up sheltered within his family’s home in a human settlement. Surrounded by mostly humans and mostly shut in within his family estate, Marius never really had the opportunity to see or interact with the other races.
He has a bit of human naivete/innocences in that he does not discriminate against any races, however, he looks in wonderment at any other races he encounters. Almost seeming innocently racist as the only things he knows of are the stereotypes other humans have told him.
“Is it true that all half-orcs have tusks too?”

Class

Bladesinger Wizard
The Why Marius LaVorre comes from a family of warriors. The Lavorre Clan are often sought after as knights and guards due to their outstanding combat prowess. All Lavorre children are trained at a young age, molded to be proper warriors as they grow.
Marius LaVorre, second son to the current clan head, was a prodigious talent with the blade. He stood far ahead of his siblings and other clan members and was touted as the next Clan Head of the LaVorres.
In his youth, he befell an “attack” in which his maids were killed and Marius’ arms were left crippled, unable to even grip a blade any longer. And thus his warrior future became blemished and he became a shame of the Lavorre Clan.
Desperate and cast out, young Marius found guidance in an old Elven Bladesinger who taught him the ways of battling with a blade through magic.

What it means to Marius Marius’ class is a second chance to him, his second lease of life. He can now be the warrior he wanted to be even if his arms do not work the same. These new abilities mean everything to Marius. No longer the useless former son of the LaVorre’s, the class is the means for him to earn his name. Marius of the LaVorre.

7 Daggers

Place: The LaVorre Clan Family: His father, Divico LaVorre who threw him away Phobia/handicap: His crippled arms and the inability to really apply strength in them Enemy: Whomever sent the assassin to cripple him Secret: His last name which is still a secret as he hasn’t earned it back Discrimination: He looks like a weakling, but tries to be a warrior. “Warriors” will discriminate against him. Heirloom: His broken LaVorre blade. Broken as he was tossed out of the Clan.

Rule of 3

Actions

• At the end of every battle, he’ll wick his blade in the air to remove excess blood from the blade.
• Every morning, he does vocal exercises while preparing his spells as that is how his bladesinger abilities work.
• He’ll tap his hilt 3 times when wishing someone good luck.

Words

• After given a command, he’ll shout “Understood!”. LaVorre’s speak loud and clear.
• “Novaer” Elvish for farewell, but also meaning Be Good. His master’s last words to him before he left on his adventure. Now he uses the same to others close to his heart.
• “Foolish!” When he gains the upperhand against his opponent. A habit picked up from his elder’s within the clan when training as a young child.

Customs

• After wicking his blade in the air, he always wipes down his blade. Prevents rust and maintains the blade.
• “The Flower of Desire”. His master taught him of the desire for another, and that in elven culture, when an elf desires another, they adorn themselves with a single flower, either pinned to their clothing or worn in their hair. It is custom to see if you are the subject of their desire, or to keep it there until the person of your desire responds.
• LaVorre Salute. Marius will salute his opponent in battle before it commences.

Food & Drink

• Whiskey, dry. The warriors of the LaVorre clan always drank whiskey when carousing together or after a battle. Marius hates it, but that’s what the people he looked up to drank, so he replicates them.
• Salted fish, hard bread, and pottage. AKA, field rations. Marius grew up on this stuff, and is used to it. “Every warrior doesn’t know how long they’ll stay out on the battlefield. Nourish yourself and your battle spirit.”
• Lamdas Bread. Only his master gave it to him. He loves it compared to field rations, but it is rare for an elf to give it to a non-elf. And the secret recipe is elven only.

Celebrations

• Marius as the LaVorre clan did, celebrates every victory in battle. Usually with food and drink.
• The Day of Challenging (2/7). All warriors challenge another to a duel in celebration of Kord and the Platinum Dragon
• The day he was kicked out of the clan. Marius will focus and practice with all his might on these days.

Morals and Values

• Marius will never battle with an unarmed opponent. He believes that he cannot earn the LaVorre name if he does.
• Marius will go above and beyond to do good/great things as he believes it’ll earn him honor and notoriety to face his family.
• Marius respects nature due to his master, and dislikes to see brainless destruction of it.
• Marius has a softspot for the rejected and outcast and will help them if he can as he can relate.
• Marius does secretly think he’s better than other warriors and the arrogance will shine through due to how he was raised.
• Marius also likes to show boat and likes to receive praise.

Antagonist Marius does not know who sent assassins after him as a child. He know that it has something to do with the Clan because he was crippled instead of merely killed. Someone wanted him ousted from the clan and dishonored. This person, group, or whatever must be found and he will have his payback.