Jaelithe, I employ some other method you didn't mention.
Or, maybe more to the point, I actually don't have a "method" for creating a new character. I pretty much treat every new game situation as a "green field" and just go with what seems right.
The main thing I try to focus on is creating a dynamic, believable, and interesting character that I personally believe will be fun for me to crawl around in their heads for a while. My initial character creation process pretty much ignores the rules entirely, it's all about personality and background. Until I have the personality and background done, I don't even think about class or mechanics. Race is usually part of the background, and I have a tendency to enjoy playing custom races.
Because I'm the old grognard in our group (or maybe I should say "oldest grognard") I tend to give the rest of the team a chance to pick a character and then choose my character's class according to what hole is needed to fill.
I tend to like to play generalists (my current "active" characters are a druid, a witch and a bard) so it typically works out OK that I am the "gap-filler".
Once I have the personality, background, race and role nailed down, that's when I start looking through class and archetypes to see what I think best fits the character as I envision them.
If it's a point buy, I'll do a reasonable character, I don't min-max, but that's probably more because I hate sucking at anything than that I don't seek awesome cosmic powers. But I also don't min-max because I believe that characters in PF that are reasonably well built are pretty awesome already and don't really need the extra boost of a few more bonus points to make them more awesome.
If the option exists to roll stats, I'll roll stats. I prefer rolling to point buy, but that's hurt me and helped me. My druid was a little under-powered statwise, but my witch got awesome rolls. My bard was point buy. With point buy I typically don't go higher than 16 for a primary stat, nor below 10 for any stat.
If I roll stats that can drive the class or archetype choice, I'll do that, but if I point buy I usually have the class/archetype in mind before I assign points.
Once stats and class/archetype are chosen, I'll do the final equipping and fleshing out of the character.
That's as close to a "system" as I have.
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I have to go against the grain as well and say you forgot to mention campaign. I like to get as much info about the setting and expected adventures as possible. Based on that I try and think up the best concept that fits within those expectations. I would like to say I then browse the rules and optimize but if I posted any of my builds I'd be laughed right off the forums.
As for back-stories, I am of the philosophy that I am about to make my back-story. Sure I love to provide some color like hometown, family, friends, lovers, enemies for the GM to use as NPCs and flavor. However, when making a level 1 PC I just don't envision much of a history....yet. Besides in our group style the GMs would ignore it except NPC stuff anyways. I let the personality, drive, and desire of the character form naturally through play, so I don't make anything concrete at creation in that dept. either.
To me "backstory" is not an exhaustive journal of a fictional life. My backstories are usually a few paragraphs and outline the major life-altering events that drive the personality and motivations of the character. Things like "parents were murdered by bandits and was sold into slavery before escaping at the age of 15."
I think I've only had one character ever whose backstory included a romantic involvement, and that was my drunken ex-soldier fighter whose ex-wife was demanding that he provide their daughter with a dowry to attract a rich suitor.
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Part of my process is quote mining ... Sitting down with a book or quotes seperated by topic and picking one that I think the character might put on their wall or say - once I have a large list, I have a pretty good feel for what sort of person they are.
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Part of my process is quote mining ... Sitting down with a book or quotes seperated by topic and picking one that I think the character might put on their wall or say - once I have a large list, I have a pretty good feel for what sort of person they are.
Hey, I like that. That's a great way to develop a personality. I am going to steal that idea. :)
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I do one of two things.
1)I think of a theme for my character and then opitmize for that theme. Example: My blight druid is fire and ice to start the decay, he does both very well. He is based off of two quotes
the poem Fire and Ice by Robert Frost:
"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."
and the other quote is the whole "some men just want to watch the world burn" which I know was in batman but existed long before that (can't remember where from despite what google would have people believe)
So the druid is implusive and brash but insightful and mindful of how things fit together.
2)I get an idea on how to spank a machanic and spam it out all day long but like an intersting character to back it up Example: My ninja "scout" with a focus on bluffing and feinting enemies. Basically the goal is to be doing sneak attack damage every round but I choose ninja over rogue because I liked some of the abilities and it fit the mental image of a skilled pin point striking assassin better in my mind then a "thief"
I find it sort of interesting that when I do work to optimize a character according to game mechanics, it's an NPC that I'm optimizing that way. My PCs are never mechanically optimized, they are always role play optimized.
what is role play optimized?
When I am completing the final steps of creating and outfitting the character, I consider the role the character will be in and their personality to make all the final choices, such as where to put a human's +2 attribute, what feats to take etc.
For example, my male witch is a glib, glad-handing, fast-talking proto-politician. So his charisma is his second highest stat, and he focuses on charisma based skills. He enjoys pretending to be a wizard, so he spent some of his limited gold on a pet hawk and invests in "handle animal" as a skill. He drinks a lot so he buys a lot of liquor, meaning he has less gold for other things.
Stuff like that. Generally that means picking things that are non-optimal for the class, but are optimal for how I want to play my character.
I am careful to maintain the character's fundamental competence in his chosen role.
Part of my process is quote mining ... Sitting down with a book or quotes seperated by topic and picking one that I think the character might put on their wall or say - once I have a large list, I have a pretty good feel for what sort of person they are.Hey, I like that. That's a great way to develop a personality. I am going to steal that idea. :)
Sometimes its even almost one person; a book of quotes from Joshua Chamberlain produced a paladin once for me ..
We know not of the future, and cannot plan for it much. But we can hold our spirits and our bodies so pure and high, we may cherish such thoughts and such ideals, and dream such dreams of lofty purpose, that we can determine and know what manner of men we will be whenever and wherever the hour strikes, that calls to noble action.
I like seeding potential replacement characters in my character's background, so if my character dies; I have a replacement all ready rolled up.
My favorite, I had a character who was searching for his lost twin sister. My character met a fate that involved an owl bear, a forest fire and a cliff which ended in his death. My next character, the sister, who he as looking for. Good times.
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I like seeding potential replacement characters in my character's background, so if my character dies; I have a replacement all ready rolled up.
My favorite, I had a character who was searching for his lost twin sister. My character met a fate that involved an owl bear, a forest fire and a cliff which ended in his death. My next character, the sister, who he as looking for. Good times.
That is neat I also like to build in ideas for replacements. We play a gritty style where usually everyone in the game loses a character at least once.
I have at times found inspiration from artwork (self made or found) and/or a figurine and design a character around that. This way when I look at that figurine or that artwork I know at a glance my characters appearance, motivation, and his personality.
I try to make heroes so I expect a reasonable amount of optimization but nothing over the top and nothing contrary to the character.
My preference is to have the GM help in designing the background while I focus on the personality. This way the GM can plant story seeds in the character back story if he/she so chooses.
Arssanguinus mention Quote mining. This is an awesome way of finding your characters "voice". Great suggestion.
-MD
I have at times found inspiration from artwork (self made or found) and/or a figurine and design a character around that. This way when I look at that figurine or that artwork I know at a glance my characters appearance, motivation, and his personality.
I try to make heroes so I expect a reasonable amount of optimization but nothing over the top and nothing contrary to the character.
My preference is to have the GM help in designing the background while I focus on the personality. This way the GM can plant story seeds in the character back story if he/she so chooses.
Arssanguinus mention Quote mining. This is an awesome way of finding your characters "voice". Great suggestion.
-MD
I do the same thing.
I think of some idea and sometimes I type it into the Google search bar and see what pops up. (Do this at your own risk as at times I see things that I later can't unsee.) I find an image I like and I try to think of the story of that picture; then I start plugging in mechanics to make it work.
Envision a character, then search high and low for the rules sets that will allow you to bring him or her to vibrant life?
This, but probably without as much effort with the searching.
I've usually got the character named and half their backstory written in my head by the time I reach the shelves to grab a rulebook.
Occasionally I do come up with something that's pretty hard to find the correct rules for and have to spend a bit of time digging through extra supplements for a good fit, but usually I just get something built mostly from core to work.
Envision a character, then search high and low for the rules sets that will allow you to bring him or her to vibrant life?
This combined with
I have at times found inspiration from artwork ... and design a character around that. This way when I look at that ... artwork I know at a glance my characters appearance, motivation, and his personality.
I try to make heroes so I expect a reasonable amount of optimization but nothing over the top and nothing contrary to the character.
My preference is to have the GM help in designing the background while I focus on the personality. This way the GM can plant story seeds in the character back story if he/she so chooses.
This.
My usual character creation process goes:
1. Decide class and alignment. Sometimes race.
2. Pour through my (enormous) folder of pictures to find a "face" for my character that fits the proto-concept I have in my head. Gender and sometimes race are decided here.
3. Solidify concept. Search out mechanics to do the job.
4. Paperwork.
These are of course somewhat mutable.
I usually start with a general personality archetype (not class archetype), for example, some time ago I decided that I wanted to play a character that was the "voice of his ancestors" in some way.
For fun, I decided to explore this idea mechanically, independent of any actual campaign. (I was running a campaign at the time, and had no idea when I'd be able to play the concept.) I cooked up two or three different versions, including two or three different Oracles, a Magus, and something else. I hit upon the idea of Elves and the Ancestor Mystery for the Oracle, and I thought that's what I would want to do. Then, after I ended my campaign, and finally had the opportunity to play, the GM explained that we would be doing a Golarion based version of Monster Hunters International, in Absalom. So I looked more closely at game mechanics, and how I would get my character to Absalom, and wound up changing to a Battle Oracle, Half-Elf, with a twisted family history in the Mordant Spire community. To represent his connectin to his Elven ancestry, he has the Haunted curse, as well as an Archetype (Ancestral something or other). In addition, if the GM wants to run in a different direction, I explained to him the mental connection between the elves and the Spire (per the Mythic setting book), if he wants to take the Haunted thing in a different direction.
And generally, this is how all of my fantasy characters are generated. Very spaghetti-like, where cause and effect are difficult to trace.
I usually start by writing up a monk or sometimes a fighter... Then I'll have myself a good laugh while I crumple it up and throw it in the trash. Then I write up a caster instead. Just kidding.
I'm pretty random. I try combining a couple of interesting concepts and take a little inspiration from books, TV, or movies without creating clones. Since I tend to get focused on an interest for a while, I'll often create a character based on it. I also get inspired when I see a cool piece of art or a miniature I'd like to paint and play. Campaign settings can give me ideas as well.
For example, in the last campaign I started with a NG "assassin against evil" ninja with a Warhammer 40K assassin vibe to him, then switched to an angelic aasimar paladin as I was reading a lot of Christian angelic folklore and "heaven vs. hell" fiction at the time. Both were fun to play, but were sticks-in-the mud for the rest of the group ("No, don't do that!"). I didn't want to keep playing characters who were always trying to keep the other characters from doing anything rash and stupid. For the current campaign I created a slightly crazy CN gnome pyromancer with a background a bit like Carrie and Firestarter.
After I come up with a concept, I write a short story background. I throw in a few plot hooks for the GM, some angst (not too much), and simmer for a half hour, adding some garlic and fresh-ground pepper. After all that, I create the character's stats.
My character creation method varies highly, based mostly on whatever happens to inspire me at the time, be it rules, artwork, characteristic, the campaign, books, movies, games, or anything else I might run across. Sometimes just a whole idea pops into my head at once. Sometimes I have a kernel that develops over time.
Thus I've pretty much used all of the methods you've mentioned and then some.
Of course, I've built far, far more characters than I'll ever play.
I am usually working on some PC concept. Probably 10 or so a year that I more or less finish out if they seem worth while. When a new campaign comes up, I see if any of those seem ideal. Usually they do not or are too close to what someone else in the group is already planning to do.
So then I throw all those out and start from what the group as far as I've heard seems to be missing. Let's say for example that in this case I've heard that we don't have anyone with any scouting capability at all. Ok, let's see if I can make a PC to cover the scouting role. But I'm not gonna play a plain old rogue cause that usually seems boring.
Hmm... a smart little creature would be really sneaky. So a familiar. So I could get a familiar from eldritch heritage, sorc, wiz, cleric domain, alchemist, or witch. Well I ran a divine caster last time so I don't want an inquisitor or cleric. I've never run a witch before. So let's look into witch.
What kind of witch. Well since the familiar is going to be so important the beast bonded archtype gets my attention. It sounds pretty kool. Wait what's this. It ends up stopping you from getting any kind of improved familiar other than a celestial version of what animal you started with. Well since I want it to be able to learn to disarm traps and stuff that won't work out. So base witch.
Well, I know a lotta people are big on the healing patron and hex to make a kinda second class healer. Again, just ran that, not interested. Direct damage is not their thing, but I want to do stuff to the bad guy not buff allies. Whoa, look at the vengeance patron. Yeah that will let me do stuff to the bad guys.
What race. Hmm... Hobgoblins seem pretty witchy but a gnome with an animal to do the scouting for him also seems appropriate.
Ok, I got a witch with a scouting sneaky familiar (going for improved familiar when possible. Vengence patron and some nasty debuff spells and hexes. Gnome or hobgoblin.
Usually that is about all the farther I get in my build before I start working on the personality and back story of the PC. Once I get a personality and back story, I see if that still matches the half-ashed build that I have so far. If not I will adjust one or the other until they do (even odds on which changes).
I post my sketchy build in the advice forum and ask for help making it better.
Then I find out the group has changed their mind and we have 2 scouting characters and 3 arcane casters (1 is both as an arcane trickster). So my witch is now triply redundant. What we don't have now is a melee person or high damage dealer.
Well I find just a straight fighter or barbarian boring as all get out after just a few levels. But what if mister Gronk is dumb as a post but a pretty lovable guy (so moderately high cha). Then to keep from getting boring he can have the eldritch heritage line (maybe storm or fey?). And even though he is dumb I don't want him always dominated and murdering the party so improved iron will is a must.
Etc...
That is pretty much how my creation process goes.
Of course, when I'm GM'ing, it's a little different. Tactics play a stronger role in my custom NPCs (villainous or not), as well as the role they play in the story. For example, as I learned more about the Cavalier class, and figured out what would make an optimal Cav, I hit upon the "small character riding various exotic animal" idea, specifically a gnome on various exotic rides. Well, in my version of Golarion, gnomes are very childlike, and are often used for comic releif. So I decided that his tag line would be something like, "Hey guys, look what followed me home!" as he walked into camp with a dinosaur or a giant spider. Cue laugh track. But when I actually put him into play as an NPC, he wound up being a messenger character working for the PCs for a bit. So I gave him a Batman/Lone Ranger feel (always wore a mask/helm, handed out 'gnome signals' that would alert him from any distance, that sort of thing). He was an amusing amalgam of goofiness. Players seemed to love having him around.
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I feel like I'm one of very few people who even tries to play Gnomes with a scrap of seriousness.
I feel like I'm one of very few people who even tries to play Gnomes with a scrap of seriousness.
I'm currently in parties with a gnome summoner and a gnome sorcerer. We take them very seriously.
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For me it's always the second option - coming up with a character concept and trying to find rules that feel right for the character. This often leads me to consciously make suboptimal choices - which is just as well, because it's more interesting to play suboptimal people, and it's nice when the rules reflect this.
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I have used a ton of different ways that span the original list and into many other lines of thinking of other posters but the ones I find I most enjoyed are the ones where I rolled, then created the character as the dice fell as it were and where I had some type of clich'ed mannerisms. Like my Joe Pesci dwarf, or Archibald the Cleric turned Inquisiter based off of Archibald Asparagus from veggie tales or Lord Dongolor, the DMPC that was a blatant rip-off of Chancellor Donold David Dongalor of Krod Mandoon fame....he was a blast to play!
I am fairly good with voices if I can stay in character so finding a good distinct voice is something I love.
I feel like I'm one of very few people who even tries to play Gnomes with a scrap of seriousness.
In one of my games I had a Gnome Alchemist NPC that the party took pretty seriously. He was a key witness to one of the larger mysteries in a campaign I ran.
I don't optimize. I get some outline going in my head and I get that down on paper or in the computer. Then I go for the feat list. Once that's done, then I worry about stats and other things. The character background is brewing in my head while all this is going on. I'll have some sort of idea or suggestion at the end and then work on a full back story if needed.
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I usually start with some mechanics I want to try out, "optimize" the build around it and then create the background story that supports it.
Note that the personality is designed with no interaction with the building part though. As in the very same build could be played as a pure saint or a wicked bully. I choose the character's personality and outlook based on types I want to try roleplaying and adapt it to what feels appropriate in play (once going so far as completely changing the character after the first session while keeping the exact same build).
Obviously, the personality also impacts the background story.
Note that events in play can cause the original build (and personality) to become something very different.
To date :
- RotRL : Wanting to try out the PFRPG Ranger + wanting to play a bully who still acts the heroic part.
Events in play took him down the completely unanticipated path of multiclassing as a Paladin :-)))
- PFS : Wanting to min-max a STR-dumping high AC high saves meleist + wanting to play a freedom fighter
- Serpent's Skull : Wanting to try the Halfling Jinx system + wanting to play a brooding anti-hero. Felt awkward and recreated as a stereotyped bimbo : cute and loveable and completely naive/stupid
- Darkmoon Vale : Wanting to build a Channeling specialist + wanting to play an evil character that could still fit in a non-Evil party. Adjusted to less obvious evil and more weird neutral.
Which idea comes first between build and personality varies for each character.
1. i search imageboards for a visual that appeals to my ascetic tastes, usually something pertaining to anime or loli in some way
2. i come up with a species and skillset based upon the artistic visual
3. i tweak the visual accordingly to accomodate race, age, and skillset
4. i come up with a basic background according to visual, race and skill set
5. i tie a nationality or come up with a set of key relatives
6. i add more friends and relatives to the character, a set of contacts and a source of backup characters
7. i flesh out a description of each mentioned friend and relative with an appropriate visual
8. i provide character sheets for each friend and relative to the DM
9. i work on a description of any rivals or nemisis
10. i stat up any minor rivals or nemisis that could serve as a low level nuisance
11. i come up with why the rivals have their rivalry
it's a process that takes me a plural of weeks
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1. i search imageboards for a visual that appeals to my ascetic tastes, usually something pertaining to anime or loli in some way
2. i come up with a species and skillset based upon the artistic visual
3. i tweak the visual accordingly to accomodate race, age, and skillset
4. i come up with a basic background according to visual, race and skill set
5. i tie a nationality or come up with a set of key relatives
6. i add more friends and relatives to the character, a set of contacts and a source of backup characters
7. i flesh out a description of each mentioned friend and relative with an appropriate visual
8. i provide character sheets for each friend and relative to the DM
9. i work on a description of any rivals or nemisis
10. i stat up any minor rivals or nemisis that could serve as a low level nuisance
11. i come up with why the rivals have their rivalryit's a process that takes me a plural of weeks
I must say that this is BOTH inspiring and daunting.
I guess I would be much more involved in an intricate character-building process with lovely crafted backstory if we played a house game. As is, we play APs with a GM who barely has time to prepare the game sessions because of real-life workload :-(
I am quite thankful that he takes the time to provide us with game sessions, but I must admit that I lack the feeling of creating a character for a story rather than as an exercise in rules mastery and roleplaying.
When I design a character as a player, I want to make a PC that's going to fit with the campaign that the GM wants to run. Most of the GMs I play with these days are either running a published adventure path with a Players Guide, or will write their own. If not, I try to talk with the GM first to find out about the nature of the campaign, so I can make something appropraite.
Is the campaign going to be exploring the untamed wilderness? Delving into lots of dungeons? An urban campaign with lots of political intrigue? Will we have a base of operations? Is it an ocean-going adventure? Are the PCs supposed to be heroes who will be saving the world? Or are we going to be guns-for-hire, selling our services to the highest bidder? Or are we supposed to be villainous protagonists?
What I don't want to do is to create a PC that's going to be a problem for the setting. If it's a shipborne adventure path, I'm not going to design a character that relies on mounted combat. If it's a wilderness adventure, I'm not going to bring an urban fixer with lots of contacts in the city's criminal underworld. If we're supposed to be the heroes of the realm, I'm not going to bring Sketchy McStickyFingers the unrepentant thief.
Once I know the basic outline of what the GM expects, then I'll come up with a role-playing concept for the character. By that, I mean: what is the character's reason for going on this adventure, and what are the personality traits of such a character. From there, I'll write up the background, at least in broad strokes. Is the character a child of wealth? Are her parents still alive? What kind of education or early experiences did she have that influence her today? What's her motivation to be an adventurer? (Gaining wealth? Restoring her good name? Running from the law? Correcting past misdeeds? Revenge?)
This might sound very complicated, but the process usually only takes half an hour or so. I'm guided by real-life stories from my own life or those of people I know, characters from film and literature I want to emulate, and flashes of inspiration.
Only after I've mostly put together a backstory and personality will I move on to the mechanics of character design. The character's race and sex will have already been decided by the story. I will then pick a class, set the attributes accordingly, and then pick the various character options. I base my decisions on a combination of making the character mechanically competent in his or her chosen niche, and being true to the personality and background I've chosen. If the two come into conflict, I always choose to defer to the character's personality and backstory.
Then, it's a matter of polishing off the rough edges of the story and mechanics, and adjusting both to match.
When looking ahead for the character, I usually have an idea on the advancement direction I'm intending to go, but I leave it open so that the character can grow organically from the story. That means, I usually have an idea on which options I'll pick on the next level, but I don't hold myself to that until it's time to actually level up.
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Why don't I give a real-world example of how I create a character.
This is how I created a character for a PbP I'm playing in the Online Campaigns section. The campaign is called Thralls of Thrune.
The setup: The GM said that all of the PCs were to be slaves of House Thrune in Cheliax-- expendable agents of the Thrice-Damned House to solve problems that need solving without anyone important needing to get their hands dirty. The agents had all done something to anger the government of Cheliax, and had been captured somehow. They have been promised that they will be set free upon successful completion of enough missions... although the number of these missions was left vague.
Here is the initial recruitment posting.
So, first of all, I needed a concept. Well, ever since I'd read the Player Companion Cheliax: Empire of Devils, I'd always been intrigued by the fate of priests of chaotic faiths in the devil-haunted land. I decided that I wanted to play a chaotic cleric pretty much immediately, and that the character's crime would be heresy. I then decided that I wanted this character to worship a faith that was diametrically opposed to the Lawful Evil realm, and quickly decided that my heretical priest would be a servant of Desna: someone devoted to liberty and overthrowing the yokes of a rigid and evil society that oppressed personal freedoms. The connections to Desna and liberation made me think immediately of a young Varisian woman-- so I had the character image in my mind.
I then dug out my copy of Pathfinder #2: The Skinsaw Murders and re-read the deity article on Desna. The Starsong is the goddess of dreams, travelers, and luck; and she also values freedom and liberation. Perfect fit for a slave who dreams of escape! The article also said that bards are frequently priests of Desna, and I briefly considered making the character a bard instead of a cleric.
But then I remembered reading the Hidden Priest cleric archetype in Inner Sea Magic, and thought that there would never be a better time to try out those rules. Re-reading the archetype, I decidced that my character would be a hidden priest of Desna who pretended to be bard. She would be using her cover as a traveling troubadour to spread the liberating message of the Starsong to an oppressed population under the thumb of the Church of Asmodeus. And that would be her downfall-- the church caught her spreading the worship of a chaotic god, and that's how she became a Thrall of Thrune!
From there, it became pretty easy to build the character. Charisma would be her second-highest ability score, and she would also need a bonus to Intelligence in order to get enough skill points to pass. She would also need to spend her favored class bonus on skill points. She'd need to have a very good Perform skill, which isn't a class skill for clerics, so she'd need the Skill Focus: Perform feat as well. I decided that an itinerant undercover priestess of Desna who spread the word of freedom to the oppressed would likely have the Travel and Liberation domains, which I added. Looking at traits, I decided to give her the Holy Birthmark trait, and that added a story element to her background.
So, I adjusted her backstory to include a bit about her mother recognizing her as a gift from Desna, and encouraging her religious study as a small child. I also had her grow up in the relatively liberal city of Kintargo, where she would have had the opportunity to study under an organized (but underground) temple of Desna, where she also learned to hide her messages under the guise of music.
Here is the final character: Valeria Baladin, hidden priestess of Desna.
After I'd mostly finished the character, I wrote a vignette about her capture by the Chelxian authorities. And, after I was accepted into the campaign, I wrote another vignette about how she came to become a Thrall of Thrune.
So... that's my process!
I feel like I'm one of very few people who even tries to play Gnomes with a scrap of seriousness.I'm currently in parties with a gnome summoner and a gnome sorcerer. We take them very seriously.
Awww. . .come on guys. It's hard playing a clown when everyone around you wants to be serious. :-)
To me, the fluff in the various PF books and the setting books just screams out for trickster/comedian madness. Not self destructive, or party-disruptive necessarily. More. . . cleverness.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're 'doing it wrong', but gnomes set my inner child free. And he's a very goofy kid. >:-)
I feel like I'm one of very few people who even tries to play Gnomes with a scrap of seriousness.I'm currently in parties with a gnome summoner and a gnome sorcerer. We take them very seriously.Awww. . .come on guys. It's hard playing a clown when everyone around you wants to be serious. :-)
To me, the fluff in the various PF books and the setting books just screams out for trickster/comedian madness. Not self destructive, or party-disruptive necessarily. More. . . cleverness.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're 'doing it wrong', but gnomes set my inner child free. And he's a very goofy kid. >:-)
I am not suggesting that it is "wrong" to play a jokester. I play a jokester/trickster myself. He happens to be a human witch, and he provides great fun for the table. I am just saying that gnomes are just another race and to type-cast them as comic relief is, imho, a self-limiting exercise. Whenever I deal with stereotypes in the game I am far more likely to play against them than to play to them. That's all.
I am not suggesting that it is "wrong" to play a jokester. I play a jokester/trickster myself. He happens to be a human witch, and he provides great fun for the table. I am just saying that gnomes are just another race and to type-cast them as comic relief is, imho, a self-limiting exercise. Whenever I deal with stereotypes in the game I am far more likely to play against them than to play to them. That's all.I feel like I'm one of very few people who even tries to play Gnomes with a scrap of seriousness.I'm currently in parties with a gnome summoner and a gnome sorcerer. We take them very seriously.Awww. . .come on guys. It's hard playing a clown when everyone around you wants to be serious. :-)
To me, the fluff in the various PF books and the setting books just screams out for trickster/comedian madness. Not self destructive, or party-disruptive necessarily. More. . . cleverness.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're 'doing it wrong', but gnomes set my inner child free. And he's a very goofy kid. >:-)
I hear you. I do that from time to time as well. If I'm playing, I'm much more likely to not use stereotypes. When I'm GMing, I'm about 50/50 use/ignore stereotypes. Mostly depends on which is more useful at the moment. But that's probably for another thread. ;-)
You know, necrothreading is not going to help you much, and what you're asking would go better on the advice board than the general discussion