QUESTIONS FOR PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

The unexamined life is not worth living- Socrates
      If the unexamined life is not worth living is the unexamined character worth playing?  A character should not be a mere collection of statistics and attributes.  They should have personalities, loves, hates, quirks; more or less like a character in a novel.  However in the AD&D game little in the rulesprovide a guideline for how these personas should be crafted by players.  Often a character's alignment, class, race or worse yet kit takes the place of a true personality.  This traps many into playing stereotyical and boring characters bogged down by alignment.  The following is a series of questions players can answer to gain a firmer grip on the personality of their character.  Not all these questions need answered in the beginning of a character's career. Many will be answered during the course of the game as the character develops and becomes more firmly fixed in the mind of the player.

1.  APPEARANCE (A physical description of your character)
a.  What do most people notice about your character?
b.  What is your character's hair and eye color?
c.  How does your character normally dress?
d.  What is your character's build?
e.  Does your character have any distinguishing marks?
f.  How does your character normally wear his/her hair?
g.  How tall is your charracter?
h.  Describe your character's voice.

2.  BACKGROUND (Your character's past)
a.  Where was your character born?
b.  Who raised him/her?
c.  What happened in the region during the character's childhood?
d.  Does your character have any relatives?  If so, do they get along?  what are they doing now?
e.  Why did your character become an adventurer?
f.  Has your character had any other jobs other than adventurer?
g.  Describe your character's first battle, first hunt, or first kill.
h.  What is your character's social class, if any?
i.  How did your character learn his/her skills?

3.  Motivation (What drives your character)
a.  What are your character's immediate goals?
b.  What are your character's long term goals?
c.  Does your character have a patron deity?  If so, which one?  Is she/he devout?
d.  Is he/she a devout member of any non-religous cause (i.e secret societies, guilds, king's guard, etc.)?
f.  Does your character have any strong prejudices against any race, creed, alignment, class, cause, etc.?
g.  What is your character's greatest fear?

4.  TRAITS (Vices and Virtues)
      Rate the following behaviors for your character on a scale of 0 to 6.  3 being the character has the average amout of this trait, 1 meaning the character has very little of the trait, 5 meaning the character has a great amount of the trait, 0 means the character has no trace of the trait and will behave in the exact opposite manner, and 6 meaning the character practices the trait to excess.  Consider the trait of valor.  A scoring of 0 would mean the character is a total coward refusing to face direct combat, a score of 6 would make the character foolhardy charging all foes.  Any trait which rates 1 or less or 5 or more should make up part of the character's personality.

Modesty Valor Courtesy Sobriety Forgiveness Generosity Self Sacrifice Energetic	Honor Calm Temper Honesty Curiosity Patience Loyalty Optimism Helpfulness

5.  IDIOSYNCRASIES and QUIRKS
a.  What is your character's motto or favorite saying?
b.  Does your character have a favorite curse (i.e. Crom's toeclippings, by Odin's nosehairs, Hell's Bells, etc.)
c.  How would your character dress if money was no object?
d.  What is your character's favorite food?  Favorite drink?  What food does your character hate?
e.  What is your character's favorite animal?
f.  Does your character have a pet?
g.  Does your character sleep well?
h.  How does your character relax?
i.   Does your character have any habits that would annoy anyone after a while?
j.   Does your character have any hobbies?
k.  Does your character have any phobias?

6.  MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS (the essay part)
What is your character's greatest quality?

Your character is plagued by a reoccuring nightmare/dream.  Describe it.

Does your character resemble any current media, or fictional figure?  If so, who?

What would your character seek satisfaction over:  the death of a friend, or relative; a serious insult to honor; a slight or perceived insult?  How far would your character take it:  first blood, yield, or death?

There is a difference between a warrior and a swashbuckler or a sell sword which has nothing to do with level.  How would your character describe his or her profession?

How does your character view vengence?  An eye for an eye, repayment with interest, the only good enemy is a dead enemy, or something else?

One of your character's henchmen is kidnapped.  You capture one of the kidnappers.  Would you use torture or mental domination magic to gain information to rescue your henchmen?

Which is more important to your character:  The Ethical (Law, Neutrality, Chaos) or Moral (Good, Neutral, Evil) part of his or her alignment

What would your character describe as the perfect mate?

Questions, Comments, Suggestions?


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