Character development

From HollowWiki

We all know that role-play junkies have their individual idiosyncrasies. Some of them prefer to script everything for their character to develop how they want them, while others are insistent upon being organic in plot development and just winging it. If you were to ask a multitude of gamers, you’d get a myriad of answers as to what is right or wrong when it comes to certain aspects of role-play. Not so for the type of player most find utterly annoying and painful to interact with. That’s because all you need to do is ask around, and you’ll find that there’s little that anyone hates more than a godmodder.

Now, most of you will understand what I mean when I use the term ‘godmodder’, but I know that there are some who are new to the role-play experience, or just those who have been off in their own little world, so I’ll elaborate for you. A godmodder, generally speaking, is someone who can do everything without fail, without ever having role-played a lick of it ever. The term can also apply to someone who pulls skills or attributes from multiple classes to perfection without having substantially devoted time to developing it.

Examples of godmodding include the monk who can turn into water on a whim, the necromancer who’s also great at healing and can whoop warriors with the sword, or the ranger/warrior/druid/paladin/death knight/mage of destruction, who can do everything without ever missing anything ever. We all have encountered them, and they all drive us nuts. But somewhere along the lines, we’ve probably been in their shoes to a veritable extent, and thus it’s better to not come down on them but to show them the way.

So, for those of you whom I haven’t offended and are still interested in figuring out a way to not be ‘that gamer’, your moment has arrived. In the following few moments, you’ll see how to best develop that ‘novice’ character into something of a professional at whatever his or her given setup is to be.

The first thing to consider is the class that you’ve chosen for your character. Whether it’s to be the dashing and carousing rogue, the fearless and fearsome fighter, or the most skilled magician or illusionist the world will possibly ever know, it is paramount that you not stray from the fundamental construct of the character.

That is to say, if you have a character that’s a warrior, don’t go role-playing them learning how to use magic. It makes no sense whatsoever for him or her to do that. On the other hand, it makes far more sense for that character to develop by learning swordsmanship from a blade master, or one of the more known skilled fighters of the world. Then, with enough time and practice, he or she can become one of those famed and feared warriors.

The second issue to take into account is the feasibility of the character to learn a given trade (or multiple trades). This is more common with beings of greater lifespan, such as dragons, vampires, or elves; it also goes toward beings with a particular weakness such as dryads, orcs or hobbits. What I mean by this is that you should make sure your character should have the longevity and physical attributes necessary to warrant the power they’ve earned.

Humans, for instance, are one of the most short-lived races. While their aptitude and curiosity makes learning magical abilities fairly easily, they’re probably only going to live long enough to become a master of one discipline of magic (necromancy, hydromancy, illusions, and geomancy are four of the various disciplines), and it will probably take a number of years to master one at that. Other races like elves and dragons might be able to learn more because they have a far longer lifespan, but even then they will probably only stick to two or possibly three disciplines.

While the lifespan and longevity aspect is particularly tricky given the number of variables, the physical aspect is a little less problematic. Keeping in line with the physical attributes means to make sure that your character is in line with what its strengths or weaknesses are and not breaking them.

For example, creatures such as giants or orcs, while brutishly strong and great for developing into a fear-inspiring warrior, should not be learning magic. They are, for lack of a better term, Neanderthal-like and in their stupidity cannot muster the mental focus necessary to develop magical inclinations. In a similar thought process, creatures such as pixies and dryads shouldn’t become warriors. Their bodies are extremely frail and they’re likely to succumb to the weight of battle armor even before anyone would get a chance to crush them with a single blow of their sword or shield.

The final point to ponder is the length of time this all takes. Most godmodders don’t realize that it’s not necessarily their character’s power that gamers have issue with, but rather they take umbrage with the time it took to gain that power. Making your character ultra-powerful too quickly ruffles feathers in a game setting and will result in a hindered experience for you as the more experienced and accomplished gamers are likely to ignore you.

Fear not, though, for there is a way to avoid it! The way to avert being made a mockery of, however, is one that necessitates deferring your desire to see your character lord over everyone, and it’s going to require a little effort. But trust me, a little elbow grease won’t kill you, and it’ll gain you a whole heap of respect from your fellow gamers. Here are a couple of examples of how you do it.

If you decide to have a swordsman, for instance, don’t make him or her the best sword-fighter in the world off the bat. They’re likely to make a lot of mistakes when they first start out, and steady make fewer and fewer missteps as they progress. In time, they’ll become accomplished fighters who rarely make mistakes until age and injury have caught up with them, like they did a character of mine. In the case of a thief, maybe he or she fails a few times before they actually pull a low-level job off.

For those who are magically inclined, you can do the same with your characters. Start off with very basic spells, and have them exact a great physical and mental toll on your character. With a lot of practice, your character should be able to conjure those same basic spells with greater ease and less toll, and then you can make a step up to stronger spells in the same discipline, with the same starting point of great physical and mental toll.

One very important element to keep in mind is that no matter how skilled your character is in a given area, this does not mean that they will always avoid attacks or always succeed in their attacks no matter what. One of the most common forms of godmodding is role-playing so that your character never fails in his or her attacks, and always avoids everything thrown at them without any damage whatsoever. This is simply not possible, and it doesn’t matter who you are. Your character is not a god, it is a mortal being (unless you’ve secured a god-like character, which is extremely rare and comes with an entirely different set of rules), and it should develop as a mortal being would. Even Achilles or Hercules had their vulnerabilities in battle, so your character should have them too. Besides, it gets boring to block everything all the time, so spice it up a bit!

So now that we’ve touched on some of the most common examples of a godmodding faux pas a person is likely to make, I’ll make a suggestion as to how best to avoid them, with the aforementioned points to ponder firmly in mind. My recommendation is that you stick to one particular skill, one that fits to your character’s profile, physical and mental ability, longevity and – most importantly – something that progresses in its alacrity.

I can’t stress enough that the rush to accomplishment is something that people do far too often. Remember that your characters are not perfect, and that developing them should be more for you to enjoy the process of developing them rather than making them unbeatable as of yesterday. Make that skill your character has into the best it can be, with lots of effort and practice.

You’ll not only have the great sense of satisfaction that you can get by rushing through it, but you’ll also see that other gamers will come to respect the power you say your character has, because they’ve been able to see it develop over a length of time rather than have it all happen in an eye blink. Give it a try for a while, and I’m sure you’ll find that there’s a lot of fun to be had even when your character isn’t the Mary Sue or Gary Stu.