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Does anyone ever play for character personality development in their Pathfinder Society characters? This seems like something that isn't that common. I'm one of the few players who regularly does it even with PFS characters, though I've only got two of them so far. All PCs grow in power as they advance, but most of their personalities seem largely unchanged over time, because the players don't usually tweak them as they develop.
As an example of the personality changes I'm talking about, I introduced my barbarian, Mash, to the group at my first session with, "Me Mash! Me barbarian! Me like ta hit stuff with big axe!" He had intimidate trained as a class skill, but with single digit charisma, intelligence, wisdom, and no other social skill training. At the time, I'd created the character quickly for a group that I wasn't sure I really wanted to join, so I figured the big, dumb barbarian stereotype would be easy to throw together with minimal work.
I was new to Pathfinder at the time, so I created him without traits, because I didn't know about them at first. So the GMs of my first adventures told me to just add those details to the character afterward, since they were left off in character creation.
After he met Grandmaster Torch in the First Steps adventure and joined the Shadow Lodge, I imagined a conversation between adventures where Torch would have told him, "Mash, my boy, I know it's fun to just intimidate people into giving you what you want, but sometimes, you have to be more subtle, and pretend to be nice", and then sent Mash for some special training. As a result of that, Mash took the Shadow Lodge trait that gives him a diplomacy bonus and makes it a class skill, and he trained it when he advanced to 2nd level. He's still no rocket scientist, but Mash definitely talks to people better than he did at 1st level, and it's an intentional change in the character that happened because of what he learned from the events of his adventures.
I've had a few other examples of these types of things, mostly taking the form of Mash deciding to train specific skills based on his recent experiences. ie He trained swim for the first time when he leveled up right after a long sea voyage.
As another example, I've just created my second PFS character, Sister Isabella, a cleric of Sarenrae, who I haven't had a chance to play yet. Because the character comes from a noble family, I'm making her very book smart, but not street smart. There's a TON of room for growth there as she becomes a seasoned adventurer over time.
For instance, she might have been well trained in school to use a scimitar, but I can just imagine after the first time she uses it in actual combat, she'll say something like "Eww... there's goblin guts all over my blade!" Other examples of her being book smart include all her initial skill ranks going into spellcraft and knowledge skills. She'll pick up useful stuff like diplomacy, perception, and sense motive only after learning the hard way that she needs them. Yes, this might make her 1st level adventures a little tougher, but I think giving her a consistent and interesting personality is more important than maxing out stats on a character.
One other thing I'm considering is having her start out Lawful Good, like her father the paladin, but converting to Neutral Good later. After all, she wants to go out there and smite evil like her daddy, but she chose to worship Sarenrae for the goddess's softer side as the patron of healing and redemption. I'm sure it won't take her long as an adventurer before she's breaking laws "for the greater good", which will lead to her conversion from LG to NG. This works well, since it'll bring her from the alignment of her daddy to the alignment of her diety.
So does anyone else try to actively work in personality changes over time with their characters, or even plan for them in advance this way?
Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau
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I like to create my characters with what I refer to as an "organic" build.
I started my Barbarian character with the history of being the bastard son of an Ulfen Guard station in Taldor through frequent dalliances with a local prostitute. When his term of service cam e to an end, he returned to the Land of the Linnorm Kings, leaving them behind with out even a consideration. He was raised by his mother on the streets (Vagabond Child trait), where he learned how to make a living (added Sleight of Hand to class skills) with his own charm, but with little book learning (STR 18, DEX 14, CON 15, INT 10, WIS 10, CHR 13). Growing up a deserted son of a barbarian, he had anger issues (RAGE class skill, Vindictive trait), and growing to maturity, realized that his size would allow him to get what he wanted (Intimidate, Intimidating Prowess feat) most of the time. His life was changed when he tried to pick the pocket of one Adril Hestram, who for some reason took a liking to him and offered to sponsor him for membership into the Pathfinder Society. As a Pathfinder agent, he has learned how to locate and disarm traps (levels of Rogue), and after a few adventures even learned how better to combat those undead guardians (levels of Ranger) often found in old tombs he seems to always find himself in.
I have found that letting the circumstances of a characters experiences determine how he advances is way more fun than building a character for purely mechanical reasons.
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So does anyone else try to actively work in personality changes over time with their characters, or even plan for them in advance this way?
I know I try to do the same. I've fleshed out a tale of Taldan estate in severe debt, with the family members sent out to acquire riches as Pathfinders. I have intra-family conflicts and political machinations laid out, and PCs with dreams and ambitions.
However, I've recently come to the understanding that trying actively work in personality changes to them feels really hollow within the constraints of PFS. The modules are just so straightforward that there are effectively no character-developing decision points. So, I have these PCs with fleshed-out histories and personalities, but their adventures are just not sources of further development. There's no evolution over time; after so many adventures, my PCs remain exactly where they started.
Since the adventures are ineffective at stimulating character development, you really have to do it yourself.
-Matt
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So does anyone else try to actively work in personality changes over time with their characters, or even plan for them in advance this way?
I don't normaly seek out this development in my characters, in an active way, but sometimes developments during the course of a carriere (or even a scenario) bring about such a personality change.
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Character development in any form of table top gaming is really only appropriate if the other players are developing it as well.
As a player I love having a character come into a game the same way one would come into a book about the character, what are his drives? how do they coincide with the motivations of the party. It leads games into becoming more intimate as the relationships between the characters exists beyond the boundaries of the scenario.
That being said, as a DM I usually find, finding a group who are willing to sit down and develop their characters persona isn't too hard to find. Finding players who don't just write out 5 or 6 pages of history for their characters before the game is. Having personality is all well and good, but it does take away from a game when one or two people are of the attitude the story revolves around them.
Case in point, an alchemist player I had wrote in how he was a herbologist filling out a book of all plant-life. Because of this he will use any and every opportunity to harvest components. This is a great idea in theory, however it does take away from the story a little when the main boss encounter, who happens to be the skeleton warlord who killed another player's mentor, When the alchemist decides instead of fighting the encounter he'd rather be digging around looking for various kinds of lichen growing on the dungeon walls.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I actually do most of my character development as a result of experiences in-game.
For instance:
My fighter, Cledwyn, started out as "a trip and disarm guy with a flail would be cool". But now he's a master baker, a linguist (makes it a point to learn any new language he encounters in the field), and something of a quiet, serious combat pragmatist.
My druid, Dimitri, doesn't have an animal companion because I didn't want to do the bookwork. Then he was attacked by animals in his first couple of scenarios, so I've decided he never really liked animals that well in the first place (and his archetype is more land-focused anyway). And recently, he's gotten a lot of practice throwing magic stones at undead, so I might add some undead-hate into his character.
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After he met Grandmaster Torch in the First Steps adventure and joined the Shadow Lodge, I imagined a conversation between adventures where Torch would have told him, "Mash, my boy, I know it's fun to just intimidate people into giving you what you want, but sometimes, you have to be more subtle, and pretend to be nice", and then sent Mash for some special training. As a result of that, Mash took the Shadow Lodge trait that gives him a diplomacy bonus and makes it a class skill, and he trained it when he advanced to 2nd level. He's still no rocket scientist, but Mash definitely talks to people better than he did at 1st level, and it's an intentional change in the character that happened because of what he learned from the events of his adventures.
Yes, your character's taking the lead on talking with NPCs (for example, your interaction with Frederik and the guards at Misery Row) was something that I noticed and thought was an interesting development with Mash. I had read your background (I don't think anyone else in our group has) and so knew there is more going on there than "Crush, Kill, Destroy!".
Honestly, based on my years as a DM, players vary greatly on a scale of how much they want to develop their characters. I've seen people for which an RPG is little more than a mathematical exercise and I've met others who want to write each adventure into a journal from their character's point of view. I think most are in the middle- they come up with a decent concept and run with it... if they can role-play some parts of their initial concept, I am happy as a DM- anything beyond that is frosting on the proverbial cake and a bonus.
It takes time too- I think you (Fromper) are working harder to build a believable character than anyone else in the group. :-) We'll have to see if anything develops with everyone else.
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I work to flesh out my characters - but I just have a list of important events before they started play, and then try to do SOMETHING at each character level to indicate growth.
I've got a Taldan fighter who ends up being the party Face a lot, as he's got good Intimidate and Diplomacy skills. His background is that he's from a Taldan family with a strong martial tradition, one of those families that hews to the traditions of "Taldan mothers used to tell their sons to come back with their shields, or on them." Due to circumstances (every time he's been dropped to negative HPs, it's been Electrical damage), his next armor upgrade is going to be Resist Energy.
I've got a Godspeaker of Gorum who was raised by her father as the son he never had. She always asks herself "What Would Gorum Do?" as her moral touchstone.
I've got a Paladin whose family were itinerant locksmiths who got killed as collateral damage by two petty Chelish nobles sending undead at one another. She was the sole survivor...and found herself blessed by supernatural powers and tasked with removing undead.
Unplayed, I have a Sorcerer of the Starsoul bloodline, who discovered his innate magics later in life. Prior to becoming a Pathfinder, he'd made his money by being an astrologer to people in Qadira. One was an organized crime boss. His "Astrology" skill is "Bluff." He had to leave Qadira in a hurry; on the boat out he got told to check out the Pathfinder chapterhouse in Absalom.