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Fictional or non-fictional, who is the creative inspiration for your character(s) mechanics/thematics/roleplay?
Dagvaar Inkalde, Mystic Theurge of Asmodeus: Al Pacino from the Devil's Advocate...but really Al Pacino from Scent of a Woman. HOOAH!
Konraeus, Barbarian in service to Zarta's Dark Archive: Doctore (Oenomaus) from Spartacus--especially his dialogue styling.
Bruno Breakbone, a beautiful and handsome Tetori: Bruno Sammartino (and old school wrasslers)
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Some of my PCs are inspired by specific fictional characters, some by generic archetypes that come up a lot in fiction, and some aren't based on either.
Here are my "generic archetype" type of characters:
- Mash - Barbarian based on the generic "dumb barbarian" fictional archetype. I know, not that original, but it was my first PFS character thrown together at the last minute for a group I wasn't sure I'd stick with, so I didn't put much thought into his initial creation.
- Seamus Luckleaf - Halfling cleric of "Lady Luck" (Desna), based on the generic friendly leprechaun fictional archetype (short, Irish accent, spreads the luck around)
- Yzarctihstab Garblenarf - Gnome sorcerer based on the generic ADHD Pathfinder gnome :P
- Qassir - Halfling Dawnflower Dervish Bard/Rogue/Halfling Opportunist - looks and personality based on a generic Arabian style swordsman, but half as tall. His name is the Arabic word for "short".
- Green Beard the Pirate - Half Orc cleric of Besmara, the pirate queen. Generic pirate, but green.
Here are mine based on specific (fictional) people:
- Azkadellia - Tattooed Sorceress - Looks and name based on the character of the same name from the SciFi Channel miniseries Tin Man. It's a steampunk-esque version of the Wizard of Oz, and Azkadellia was their version of the Wicked Witch of the West. But instead of being ugly and green, she was a beautiful sorceress who carried the winged monkeys as tattoos, which is why I thought of her when I first heard about Pathfinder's Tattooed Sorcerer archetype. My version is borderline evil, but other than that, her personality really isn't based that closely on her namesake from the TV show.
- Erikenzira Mensah - Lore Warden fighter with an arrogant know-it-all type of personality based roughly on Eric from the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, which is also partially the inspiration for his first name.
- Wizzlefarb - Gnome Prankster Bard - One third generic Pathfinder ADHD gnome, one third Jokey Smurf (Beguiling Gift FTW!), and one third Cyrano de Bergerac. I once used Cyrano's speech about "Is that the best insult you can come up with?" and then making fun of his own huge nose with dozens of insults as an audition speech for performing at a Renaissance Faire. That's what I have in mind for this guy when he debuffs enemies with his Mock bardic performance.
- Yoshi Yamamoto - Aasimar (Tien-Min) Paladin of Shizuru, goddess of swordplay, honor, and ancestors. Personality based on Hiro Nakamura from the TV show Heroes, including the bad Japanese accent and yelling "Yatta!" when he accomplishes something.
Josiah Ragathiel Hallowburn - Conversion Inquisitor of Shelyn
A combination of Boyd Crowder from Justified, Lafayette from Trueblood and Doc Holliday from Tombstone.
Brother Holden Holywood, of the Order of the New World - Ulfen Tetori Monk
An homage to Hulk Hogan, with a sprinkling of Macho Man Randy Savage and a few other pro-wrestling tropes from time to time.
Hadrian Calthiss - Chelaxian Witch
A combination of Dorian Gray from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Merovingian from The Matrix.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Saitama - Warpriest of Irori: Taken directly by the manga One Punch Man Right now Sacred Fist/MoMS (not double dipping the Wisdom). Need to get Dragon/Pummeling Style going to go for the most powerful single attack possible.
The Dandy Hobo - Mysterious Avenger Swashbuckler: Inspired by a single line from Portlandia's 'The Dream of the 1890s' sketch.
Turk Thundershield - Dwarf Guntank: Personality inspired by Jayne from Firefly/Serenity
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I am no inspired "character." I am Tomisaburo "Shadowstorm" Arashikage. I seek the murderer of my uncle, whom I suspect was a member of Chelish agents. I have been undercover and working towards uncovering the hard master's murderer. I have had many brushes with the Liberty's Edge and may well defect to them once my uncle's murder has been avenged.
Excuse me, but what is this "G.I. Joe" you speak of?
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Sparrow Sundance gunslinger/paladin was inspired by Paladin from the classic western TV series Have Gun, Will Travel.
Professor Cosmo Berrythwaite, adjunct history professor, is equal parts Indiana Jones and Cliff Clavin.
Boomer, gnome barbarian/alchemist/gunslinger/ranger/rogue who thinks he's a goblin has a personality that I base somewhat off of my 3-year old nephew.
Doctor Tarr - Tielfing Witch Doctor (actually Alchemist [Grenadier])
Baron Samedi, with a touch of the D3 Witch Doctor.
Professor Fether - Tengu (although you didn't hear that from me) Conversion Inquisitor [Heretic] of Calistria
Every caricature of a motormouthed snake oil salesman ever devised, meets Navaan from Oglaf.
Both of the above were named for the Poe short story The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether.
Devon Crowley human urban ranger. Originally planned as a typical noir detective type but after watching Copper he became modeled after Kevin Corcoran.
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My inquisitor is based on Garrick, the Cardassian tailor from Deep Space Nine.
My armiger is based on a mix of X-Force Wolverine and Riddick.
I have a Qadiran cleric, Aryk, who claims to be searching for his twin sister Kyra, and the image I use on his sheet is Sallah from the Indiana Jones movies.
There's Chusynd, my Life Oracle who's essentially a proselytizing televangelist, and spends most of his scenario time trying to convert PCs and NPCs alike to the true faith of Aroden. (I hand out leaflets at the table, too.)
My Sorcerer is part Prince and part Norm Crosby (purported king of the malapropism).
Even when I don't necessarily model mine after other particular characters, I do usually develop an individual "thing" that is them.
I had a bunch of these back in Living Greyhawk, my favorite of which was modeled after Harpo Marx. I rarely played him at a table with people I didn't already know, so I could occasionally pantomime at the table.
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I only have one character that is directly based on a fictional person:
My Aasimar Dual-Cursed(Lame & Tongues)Oracle/Bard Claudius, is based directly off of the eponymous character from the 1976 BBC mini-series "I, Clavdivs", as created by the incomparable Derek Jacoby! I even use the stammer when he speaks. ;-)
About a third of my PFS PCs are inspired (in part) by famous characters. I've used this to join up a personality with a mechanical concept before and ended up with interesting characters. I actually wrote out some of the backgrounds on my PFS account, when I still had time for that.
*Kazith Dustclaw - Tengu Dungeon Rover/Skirmisher Ranger. Old bird from Osirion that regularly drinks, smokes, hits on women, and kills things. Kind of a cross between Indiana Jones and Clint Eastwood.
*Desmond Augustine - Kitsune Swashbuckler. Noble Kitsune from Tian-Xia, exploring the world. Fights with a spear and buckler. I came up with the idea after watching Prince Oberyn fight in Game of Thrones, and based the personality on him. Haven't had a chance to play him yet though.
*Selina - Cleric of Groetus. At first I just wanted to use the 8th-level Protean subdomain power, but I came to like Groetus. She two-weapon fights with a sword and fist, and will take the Domain strike feat when she levels. She's a former Groetus cultist from Nex, driven half-mad when they accidentally summoned a protean into their lair, though it has begun to move her towards good as she realizes that intentionally bringing the End-Times is heresey. Personality loosely based off princess luna. Believes herself to be royalty, descended from Azlanti Kings, usually speaking in "We."
*Eliah Daring - Human Archaeologist Bard. Whip Master! Another take on Indiana Jones, this one more naive and excitable.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I actually very rarely model my characters after existing personas in any way.
My pseudo-retired tiefling cleric of Iomedae (Thomas the Tiefling Hero, 11.2) was originally born of an interest in playing a character who could overcome any challenge he faced. I saw that the cleric spell list had lots of "problem-solving" spells, along with good fighting potential for when there's nothing weird to deal with. He was originally going to be a human, but then I got a tiefling boon. My wife originally suggested (as a joke) that I could name him Tumnus, but I misheard her and thought she said "Thomas", and I found myself unable to put the name out of my mind. I eventually worked the overly-generic name into his backstory (hint: it's not his real name). This ended up as my favorite character.
My human sorceress (Arlyn, 8.0) started as an experiment: What if I built a caster with no melee capability whatsoever? To avoid temptation, I dumped STR to 7 and limited DEX to 12. That left me with so many points to spend that I ended up with my first (and only) 18-pre-racial stat ever. Looking at the stat spread, I picked a personality and have been pretty happy with it, but it's not "from" anything.
My undine cleric of Sivanah (Ulam, 3.1?) was basically "Hey look, I have an undine; that reminds me of Magic: the Gathering's blue magic and its relation to water and knowledge and trickery, so I'll do something like that." Boom, cleric of Sivanah, pure caster. Still figuring out his personality (only played him a couple of times; he's got some GM credit), but I'm considering a nod to the amiable-but-deadpan-and-confident archaeologist Nico Robin, from One Piece.
My new Varisian bloodrager (Jenter the Happy Swordsman, 2.2) is my foray into full-BAB-damage-guy territory, but with a hint of spellcasting (and a trait for Diplomacy) to keep him flexible. My mental image of his appearance (but not necessarily his personality or abilities) is partly inspired by Klein from Sword Art Online.
So I guess I've got a couple of vague, partial inspirations. Not much, though.
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Sanuba the Withered - a surly elven ranger/rogue/pathfinder delver who's a mix of Jonah Hex wearing Vampire Hunter D's iconic hat.
Chelzy D'tona-Stone - which physically patterned off of Michelle Tachtenberg, Chelzy is nowhere near as nice as she is.
Damini - my power shopper glaive swinging cleric/monk of Shelyn looks like Dilshad Vadsaria.
Dr. Greigor - a rakshasa-blooded tiefling summoner who's a blatant golarion version of Archer's Dr. Kreiger.
ViVi DeLay - a CIA assassin played by Amber Heard in 3 Days to Kill is the template I used for my Slayer from Ustalav.
I don't honestly know if I ever really based my characters off of anyone. My rogue was just plain nuts, excitable and a pack-rat. She would literally pick up anything in a dungeon she could carry and was always at medium load or higher because she had no strength (really need a Double H Sack). Not only would I pick up anything useful, I usually found a way to use them during the campaign. Rogue with high dex and Throw anything is actually hilarious to play. I was slowly morphing her into a Shadow dancer too.
My inquisitor is a surly, scarred orphan raised by a hermit who REALLY likes artwork. She once, rather than drinking from it, sat at the table and admired the workmanship of a shot glass she'd been handed. However, due to the fact that our main healer may not be playing anymore, she's going to become a cleric to the same god through a little Deus Ex Machina and collusion between myself and the GM. She's still going to be overly suspicious of everyone she doesn't already know (and some she does know).
Most of my characters have a tendency to be a little neurotic and definitely chaotic although usually Chaotic Good.
My PFS ranger, based on:
Machiko Noguchi, japanese woman in the AvP universe.
Spent a couple of years with Predators.
Ranger spent her childhood with a tribe of Orcs and collects trophy skulls.
My Sorceress Gwynneth Vanderbilt from Council of Thieves (and who will be returning in Hell's Rebels) was very heavily based on Harry Dresden.
Likewise, my Crusader Siobhan Quirke in Rise of the Runelords is based on Michael Carpenter, in the sense that any good paladin/Lawful Good cleric or crusader or any other divinely-oriented class can take a good learning how-to from Michael Carpenter. Throw in a little of Indiana Jones in that she's a history geek and way too into exploring ancient ruins and bringing stuff back for museums.
My Zen Archer Thistle/Thorn/Briar/Archer/various other names in Age of Worms is loosely Black Widow's personality on Hawkeye's array of capabilities. She's also sort of made to be an evil version of a similar character played by one of my Kingmaker players (where I'm the GM), who likewise was heavily based on Hawkeye.
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A conversation at a con
So what does your druid do?
Walks up to animals, vermin,and oozes and instantly makes friends with them, and offers them belly rubs for letting the party past.
"So.. you basically made fluttershy as a character.
Takes a second to take out the character sheet
"Sorry , I just baby sit and see the show with the kids, didn't mean anything by....
Slides the character Sheet over with the name up top :)
My go-to cinema character type that I like emulating frequently includes
Tommy Lee Jones in the fugitive
Marisa Tomei in anything she's ever done. The queen of classy in my book.
Ryan Reynolds in blade III
Qui Gon Jin
Master Oogway
Kevin Flynn
Lebowski 'The Dude'
Rockhound
Wade Garrett
Dr Ian Malcolm
David Tennant as the Doctor
Cumberbatch as Sherlock or as Khan
The dude from volkswagen GTI's 'german engineering yah/unpimp your auto' commercials (who also plays the russian cosmonaut in armageddon... American components, russian components... ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!)
outlier: Jet Li's 'Gabe Law' in 'the One'... to fill my 'neo kung fu master' moments
I like to play the wise/ancient philosopher types and the grizzled vets.
Visually my favorite character representation is either a haggard Mads Mikkelsen in King Arthur type, or a Kibagami Genjuro/Raiden from Big trouble in little china aikido hakama and bokken motif. My latest pathfinder character incorporated both and it's the happiest with a character i've ever been. Evolutionist Summoner that looks like a samurai. Good times.
Dig the pirate motif. A dread pirate roberts clone may pop up from time to time... Serpé from the cover of the minrothad guilds will make an appearance. Shandril Shessair's 80's hair and thief tunic always felt a bit piratey to me. I can dig it.
The number of times we've seen a 'pet' in the campaign that behaves like the dog in 'up' cannot be counted though. When our 'wolverine' type player got a pet honeybadger, dressed it up in a little wolverine xmen costume, and gave it a voracious appetite for leather... Yep. You guessed it. Had to be the 'up dog' type.
That badger never lost the pun husky expression
Theres a new pet option surfacing though that is more like 'angry baboon'... like ma fratelli in goonies when she's hustling... kind of a stern huffing hustle...
*glower* chuff chuff chuff!
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Captain Jimetheon Turbulence Dread, Halfling Swashbuckler Guybrush Threepwood and Captain Jack Sparrow. Loveable liar, thief and insult swordfighter.
Rocky Krakoa, Oread Brawler Ever-Lovin' Blue Eyed Thing and Rocky from Rocky. A champ who took a few too many blows to the head.
Ash Q'Asheem and Sharumander, Human Summoner and Eidolon Ash is a combination of Ash Ketchum and Gandalf. Sharumander is basically Aku from Samurai Jack redeemed with GREAT FLAAAAAAMING EYEBROWS.
I have a Paladin with a Dip in Synthasist modeled on Joan of Arc. The Eidolon is a celestial spirit.
I have a gestalt Druid / Summoner whose look (but not personality) is based on Blaxspoitation films of decades gone by - Norathar Jones. This image is somewhat jokey - the character herself is deadly serious.
Tarj Kajat - a Kasatha Shaman very Green Martian.
Seeker - A warforged Swashbuckler done completely Three Musketeers.
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I usually try to come up with off the wall concepts that I don't hear of too often or are just bizarre. Typically, inspiration is in the form of an outlandish rhetorical question.
Lysander Spurius Dragomir- What would paladins be like if they were on LSD? Can I make a support character that is compatible with any party make-up, even 4 bards?
Miss Daryll Maude Agathia- Can drug addiction in PFS become a viable tool or weapon?
Lysander's Father (as yet unnamed)- How many teamwork feats can I grant the party simultaneously while still being effective?
Rolf Rolf Tollwut the Convict- What would an Andoran prisoner rehabilitation program be like? What kind of character would be part of the Society unwillingly?
Cinodem Noyllopa- What would a swarm focused caster be like? Is medical malpractice an acceptable day job?
Gorch Stronguller- Do full-blooded orcs get lovelorn? Can a witch make a good arcane archer?
In pathfinder, the closes thing that I have is my Monk from the last game. I wanted the no weapons monk like in the TV show Kung Fu. Also there were a few of David Caradine's moves that had those martial arts types. Bruce Lee I suppose was "2 Fast 2 Furious" for me. At the time we were just using the CRB and APG. Had we access to other books I might have made a different archetype.
Outside of Pathfinder I played Champions: New Millennium and I made a superhero based on Bubblegum Crisis. Named Powerspyk.
There was also Champions and I had lots of characters who were influenced by books and comics.
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"Steerpike", my first character, very loosely based on the villain in the first two books of Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" trilogy. He started off as just a straight Rogue until I discovered the Alchemist class. I had to re-invent his back-story and put a tragic twist on it, to justify his more sympathetic persona so as to adapt him for PFS play. (Spoiler-free note for those of you who haven't read the original books - he is not a very nice person in them).
"Mani", based on the cool, Kung-Fu fighting, Native American Indian in one of my all-time favourite movies: "Brotherhood of the Wolf". In PFS he is a Shoanti Ranger/Monk.
"Nemesis", a Tiefling Slayer / Magus, based on the character in the British comic 2000AD.
"Captain Harry Flashman", from the Flashman novels by George MacDonald Fraser. A cowardly, racist, sexist, treacherous, villainous bully and rotten cad of the highest order. Needless to say, he's absolutely great fun to roleplay and my own personal favourite.
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My primary character and one I've been playing as far back as the prerelease of 3.0, Calim Throckwoddle the necromancer, was heavily inspired by Tim Roth's character "Ted the Bellhop" from Four Rooms. Physically, Throckwoddle should look like Roth from that period with long greasy hair, while his personality is modeled on his pandering, slimy and cowardly style in that film.
My Musket Master gunslinger Raithel Sartana is a direct homage to the character Sartana from the spaghetti western series of the same name, beginning with If You Meet Sartana Pray For Your Death. The fact that I could get a PFS legal pocket watch for the character thanks to Adventurer's Armory just made it all the more fun for me.
Richter Von Aubreck, my whip Warpriest/Infiltrator Corpse Hunter Ranger is heavily inspired by the Belmonts from the Castlevania video game series. I always imagined he would be played by Peter Steele of the band Type O Negative, back in his prime.
I'm still searching for the right "faces" for the rest of my PFS characters.
Eleutherius "Leuther" Belthrune, the vivisectionist alchemist and exiled Chelaxian nobleman I play in Rise of the Runelords, is heavily based on Peter Cushing's portrayal of Dr. Frankenstein. Bitter, misanthropic and utterly devoted to his alchemical and medical research. Yet he is aristocratic, sophisticated and undeniably brilliant at what he does.
One of the more artistically talented people in the group offered to draw him off of my description, and while doing so, commented that he looks a lot like Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series. Thinking on it further, we realised that my character had more than a little in common with the grim Potions Master. I guess I was inspired by him on a more subconcious level.