Character concepting workshop

[tropic]

Hey all, I had some spare time today and I was trying to come up with character ideas, so I thought I'd make myself a little list and share it with you fine folks.
 
I know that a lot of players are excited about the new setting and looking for a really great concept to enjoy it with. These are just some guidelines, but hopefully something in here will stir your creativity.
 
If you have some other concepting tricks or advice, please share them!
 
Without further ado...
 
Background:
Your early life shapes your skills and attitudes.

• Nobility â€" You are versed in the finer social arts: tact, persuasion, and subtlety are your weapons; society is your battlefield. Whether elevating your station or sabotaging your rivals, you always present a refined image to the outside world, which may be a liability in rough company.
  
• Orphan â€" Whether you were raised in an orphanage, a brothel, or simply the streets, your childhood taught you the essential skills of survival. You are scrappy, streetwise, and have a keen understanding of what really motivates the desperate, but you lack refinement.
  
• Apprentice â€" You were apprenticed at an early age, in magic or some more mundane trade. Your master, whether kind or harsh, became a surrogate parent. With a watchful eye, he guided you to mastery and shrewdness, at the cost of familial companionship and leisure.
  
• Rural â€" Everyone knew everyone in the small town where you were raised, and the big city was little more than a legend. Your communal upbringing has taught you to dwell in peace with others, while long days on the farm have made you sturdy and hardworking, if a bit naïve.
  
• Nomad â€" Whether you are a refugee, traveling minstrel, or salty seaman, you are used to life on the move and taking care of yourself. You know how to barter for necessities and maintain the few possessions you have, though being unwelcome among more settled peoples has made you mistrustful.
  
• Slave â€" Human bondage may take many forms, but the effects upon those it touches are profound. You are durable, humble, and the close bonds of companionship with your fellows have kept you through the cold nights; however, you struggle to find your own purpose and are often dependent on those with more direction.
  
• Religious â€" The temple, monastery, or cult in which you were raised was steeped in contemplation and ritual. You may not have agreed with all of the priests’ teachings, but you were instilled with a sense of reverence and duty, if not practicality.
  
• Wild â€" The jungle is your true home. You were a member of a savage tribe, raised by druids, or suckled by wolves. You are at home among the canopy and accustomed to foraging and hunting for your daily sustenance. This existence has made you exceptionally resourceful, hardy, and ready to do whatever is necessary to survive, but your powers of reason and abstract thought remain undeveloped.

Role:
Your role is what you do "when you don't have something else to do":

• Scholar â€" Erudition is the hallmark of true civilization. You are constantly seeking specialized knowledge and consulting dusty tomes in search of new secrets. You will fill the library with historical tomes for the ages and be sought for your learned council.
  
• Explorer â€" You are driven to seek new places for the sake of knowledge, profit, or simply new and interesting experiences.
  
• Sage â€" The corporeal world is of little interest to you. Instead, you are satisfied by your inner world: philosophical debate and mystic experience are your primary interests.
  
• Warrior â€" Whether you are a disciplined soldier, detached mercenary, raging gladiator or even battle-mage, warfare is a way of life. When you are not attacking your foes or defending your home, you are honing your skill in combat.
  
• Artist â€" Be you a singer, dancer, playwright or painter, your art is your life and beauty your sole pursuit. You spend your time refining or displaying your craft.
  
• Trader â€" Time is money, and money is everything. You spend your time buying low and selling high, or seeking ancient relics of power and the wealthy clients who will pay for them. You may spend your profits on civic projects or luxuries, or simply re-invest in your own business.
  
• Leader â€" Anything is possible with enough work and dedication, but why do it all yourself? You are highly motivated by your goals and can persuade others to work with you and for you.
  
• Naturalist â€" You are fascinated by the world of plant life and its many uses. You cultivate gardens by nourishing plants and destroying pests â€" animal, monstrous, or otherwise â€" that threaten them. Your herbal experiments may start small, but you know that, with persistence, you can discover cures and harness natural forces beyond the ken of sterile and conceited arcanists.
  
• Spymaster â€" Knowledge is power. You spend your time learning about notable personalities and investigating (or creating) rumors of note, buying informants, and developing friends in high places. When the time is right, they'll pay for the information... to be shared, or kept quiet.

Personality:
For better or worse, your personality sets you apart.

• Proud â€" You really are great. Whatever it is that you do, you are destined to be the best. Anyone that doesn’t agree is probably just jealous.
  
• Vain â€" Your mirror is your constant companion. How else would you keep every hair in place? Oh, and you smell good too.
  
• Cowardly â€" You like living too much to give it up doing something stupid like raiding some dragon’s horde, or dying on someone else’s behalf.
  
• Greedy â€" If a little of something is good, a lot is better. Pleasure is what makes life worth living, and you’re going to get your fill and then some.
  
• Zealous â€" Your way of life is superior to all others, and the sooner everyone else realizes it, the better off we’ll be. So what if some people must be sacrificed for the greater good?
  
• Pious â€" You set an example with the constancy of your actions. Others will see your virtue and come around to your way of thinking. A little nudging in the right direction wouldn’t hurt, either.
  
• Humble â€" You're not special, just doing what anyone else would do in your position. Having a humble nature means you are sometimes passed over for recognition, even when it is deserved.
  
• Brash â€" Fortune favors the bold, and legends never die. You’re not afraid to be the first into the breach. After all, what’s better than glory?
  
• Rational â€" Reason is what sets us apart from the animals. If it can’t be explained and proven, it’s hardly worth believing.
  
• Gossip â€" Conversation is the lubricant of society. You love to gossip about anything and anyone, and you never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
  
• Quiet â€" Words have power, and that power is diminished if they are overused. You don’t talk much, but people listen when you do.
  
• Comic â€" Life's funny, when you look at it.
  
• Mysterious â€" You cultivate an air of mystery about yourself. Others don’t need to know your business, though you may probe theirs…
  
• Honorable â€" Your personal honor is paramount. You would never lie, cheat, steal, or shirk your duty... even if it costs you everything.
  
• Paranoid â€" They’re after you. They’re coming, and nothing can stop them. They control everything â€" EVERYTHING!
  
• Wordy â€" You may be inclined to utilize such extraneous diction that those harboring less loquacious tendencies are continually disposed in deciphering your meandering sophistries. Some folks will just tell you to shut up.
  
• Trickster â€" There's nothing quite like that feeling of knowing something more than the people around you. Now, if only you could get that smirk off your face...
  
• Control Freak â€" Somebody's got to be in charge. Naturally, it should be you.
  
• Dominant â€" Might makes right. The weak are fodder for the strong and... you? You are strong.
  
• Hench â€" Some men are good. Some are great. You are neither. You are, however, particularly well-suited to a certain task... you just need someone to tell you to do it.
  
• Sensual â€" Life is just a series of experiences, and you're interested in new ones, enjoyable or not.
  
• Flaky â€" Okay, okay. You’re really going to do it this time, your master plan. It’s going to be amazing, and you’ll show them all! You’ll get started right away… after a drink or two, and maybe a nice nap.
  
• Morbid â€" Oh, what's the point? You're just going to end up as worm food.
  
• Flamboyant â€" You are who you are, and you’re going to let the whole world know it too.

Looking for a little something extra?[hide="Themes and affectations"]

• Totem Animal â€" You have always admired the survival strategies of a certain beast. The cunning panther, the noble hawk, the clever monkey, even the shameless boar â€" you strive to emulate your totem in your daily life.
  
• Esoteric â€" The dogmatic pursuits of natural science, bland histories, conventional magic, and other mundane avenues of study bore you. You’re after forbidden knowledge: ancient heresies, forgotten magics, and cursed places compel your interest, and you won’t let the self-righteous orthodoxy of small minds stand in your way.
  
• Four-eyes â€" Nearsighted or farsighted, spectacles or monocle, you’ve been wearing corrective lenses so long that they have become a part of you. They lend you a certain erudite look, though you may have been picked last for games as a child â€" and you’ll be helpless without them.
  
• Physician â€" You understand the tissues and functions that constitute a living body. With your accrued knowledge you can improve bodily health, and maybe even the form of the body itself...
  
• Addict â€" Ah, the drink, the pipe-weed, or perhaps something stronger. It may rot your teeth and befoul your breath, but you find that, properly applied, it relaxes and focuses you in times of duress. Deprived of it, however, you’ll be a desperate mess.
  
• War injury â€" You walk with a limp and often require a staff or cane. You may move slower than most others, but you do command a certain respect from the young and uninitiated in the ways of warfare.
  
• Foreign â€" Kara-tur, Maztica, Zakhara... the Ziggurat has snatched you from a far-away land. You may be a cultural emissary convinced of your superiority or a savage intimidated by the civilization of Faerun. Your customs are strange and sometimes offensive...
  
• Elemental â€" You may or may not be a genasi, but you’ve always found yourself attracted to one of the prime elements: air, earth, fire and water. You may have a fiery temper, an earthy stubbornness, an airy free-spirit or a frigid disposition, and you find other ways to express your affinity for your chosen element.
  
• Planar â€" You have a fascination with the outer planes, and have always wanted to visit. Mount Celestia is said to be nice this time of year, while the Plane of Fire is a great place to get a tan. You’ve heard stories of Sigil, the City of Doors, and you’re constantly seeking portals for your ticket out of the dullness of the Prime Material and into infinity.
  
• Necromantic â€" There are many in the Realms who have conquered even death and risen to heights of great power. Sure there’s a cost, but how can it be measured against immortality?
  
• Tinker â€" Reliance on the ancient discipline of magic has blinded society to the power of innovation. Amazing things can be done with alloys that shame mithril and alchemical concoctions that make magical fireballs look like matchstick flares.
  
• Heretic â€" You are one apart from the many: you have true knowledge of your chosen deity. Sure, others may be granted spells, but those are just consolation prizes. You know what he or she really wants, and through your service you shall gain an exalted place at his or her side.
  
• Gambler â€" Risk makes life interesting. You'll bet on anything that moves and some things that don't.
  
• Sickly â€" A childhood illness has weakened you to this day. You may be gaunt, wheezy, or weak, but the resolve that kept you alive then has become part of your personality.
  
• Guided by Voices â€" The spirits may be helpful, vindictive, or simply only in your head. Either way, they speak to you whether or not you care to listen.
  
• Journalist - The people have a right to know! Whether they know the truth or simply what you tell them is the truth is up to you... You publish a newsletter, publicly or privately, containing news, gossip, interviews and advertisements.

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[Spiffy Has]

Nice post.

[tropic]

Updated!

Also, I had hoped others would post their concepting advice, even if its not in the same format.

Also, please remember that these aren't your only choices - half the reason to look at a list like this is to give you ideas that you can expand on.

[Jagged]

Sweet post, man. NEEDS TO BE STICKIED!