What are your thoughts on flat characters? For example, my character is a half elf sorcerer that was given the power of fire magic by his dad Ninjazz Cynderwing, a Phoenix…and that’s it…to be fair he has always had trouble controlling his temper…
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Do you mean characters that have no depth beyond the gimmicks that define them?
Absolutely no thought at all.
I mean, he has no self changing journey like other characters in fiction do, Frodo, Ratchet, no ultimate goal
So what kind of answer are you expecting then, Seinfeld?
Your character is essentially a collection of gimmicks that last until the novelty wears off.
Just getting peoples opinions
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Flat characters can be fun in the short term, but there is rarely ever any reason to keep coming back to them.
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For me, the whole joy of roleplay is in the fact that your characters will experience (unplanned) growth and change. I may have an idea in mind when I create a character, but it’s a product of collaborative writing that the directions they go in are unpredictable.
I don’t think I’d enjoy RP much if my characters didn’t have that sort of growth - or the potential of growth.
That said, I tend to start a character pretty broadly. I come up with a rough personality, a few traits, and a few major points in their background, and then I like to flesh the character out through roleplay, rather than pre-writing.
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Its easy enough to start with just a flat, generic character, and then grow with it as you experience things.
I dont think you have to go in to it with an arc planned out, or a dark backstory or whatever. Just roll with the character and see where it takes you.
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This is good advice. You don’t need to begin with every nuance and detail of your character already planned. Sometimes it is better to let your character develop organically as you roleplay with others.
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Drahliana’s character didn’t come into being until I’d played herd her into the early teen levels.
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No such thing as a flat character. Those are Just characters that grow as you do irl. Change happens whether we want it or not.
Looking down on people because you took the time to write out a “story arc” so you can have 2 Ashbringers and other people didn’t is the weirdest sort of sad.
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