RPR Archive The Character Designers Guild

Yeah, I though about that when coming up with the character's backstory. I considered changing it, but decided not to - a thirst for vengeance specifically against the Skywalkers is part of what drives the character, and having Vader play a personal role in the story adds to that.

 

Yes, but Vader is currently Emperor, which I imagine makes him doing things personally problematic, these days.

And it's killing him. It really is.

So either Vader wasn't involved, or there was some reason Vader wanted this hit.

 

Ah - very good point. Would there be one figure who it'd be specifically good to include at that juncture? If it wouldn't work, I understand, but I'd kinda like to have Luke do it then. If that's unreasonable, I understand. I don't see it as necessarily having to be either Luke or Vader hunting down Alex; it could just as easily be Alex and his crew who sorta run into one or the other at one point while waging war against the Empire.

But yeah, I figured I might have to revise the bit involving Vader. I just wanted to get this post out fairly early, seeing as I'd like to have this character finalized sometime this weekend.

 

Having Luke be his own personal Darth Vader is kind of a cool idea...

 

If that means you approve of the idea, I'll go ahead and change it to that.

 

Does anybody else like to watch character sheets roll in for a game, then figure out their character? I often do so. Generally the main goals I keep in mind are creating a good balance of characters, while also ensuring that my character doesn't end up more or less alone in the game.

If there's one certain character type I'm keen on playing, I generally just go for it, but generally I seek to create a character that fits fairly well into the RP at hand, but stands out as different from the other characters.

Anyone else like to look at other submissions before writing up a character sheet?

 

Anyone else like to look at other submissions before writing up a character sheet?

[Accesses short term memory...]

[Accesses long term memory...]

No.

 

Anyone else like to look at other submissions before writing up a character sheet?

I usually have an idea of what I want before then, but I just recently encountered a game I wanted to play but couldn't come up with a character for right away, and then I did want to look at the other sheets first.

Anyway, since nothing has happened here for a while, I guess nobody would mind if I put up a totally random character sheet? I'm just looking for the standard discussion and reviews. This is an example of a character I made up with no game in mind. He could probably work in any era when the Jedi Order exists openly in the galaxy, but I think he's best suited to an Old Republic setting.


Character Name: Drolla Jhal

Age: 111

Gender: Hermaphrodite (masculine personality)

Species: Hutt

Alignment: Light

Affiliation: Jedi Order

Appearance: Drolla?s life of training has made him thinner and more muscular than the average Hutt (see the picture of Beldorion; Beldorion is exceptionally large for a Hutt though). His skin is bluish-green, though he has a blotchy yellow ochre birthmark covering most of the right side of his face. He has a dignified bearing and clear eyes (figuratively).
[image=http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/a/ac/Beldorian_Leia_Duel_TEC.jpg]

Force Sensitive: Yes

Goals: To serve he Jedi Order and the greater galaxy, and to improve the reputation of the Hutt species through selflessness and heroism. Although he won?t really admit it to himself, because ambition contains the shadow of the Dark Side, he would like to be promoted to the Jedi High Council or even Grand Master, but only so he will be a galactically recognized figure and can use the publicity to prove that Hutts can be good beings too.

Bio: Drolla was born to a top Hutt kajidic (ruling criminal family), the Vosadii, making his full name Drolla Vosadii Jhal. He was born with disfiguring birthmark, and because Hutt superstition holds that these marks bring horrible luck to the entire family of the bearer, his parents, Groddo and Chooha, intended to kill him. Since the Vosadii were a powerful family, a marked child meant their misfortune to be great indeed. Fortunately a Jedi Master was on a mission to Nal Hutta and recognized the child?s Force potential, and brought him to the temple. Partly out of fear that Drolla would be tempted by the vast wealth and power to which he was heir, and partly out of concern for Drolla?s safety since members of the Vosadii clan might still try to kill him over his birthmark if he did try to claim his birthright, the Jedi High Council determined that it was too dangerous for him to know his past, and avoided sending him on missions to Hutt Space. They did not reveal his Vosadii name to him, although they did not lie to him outright either. (It was a "from a certain point of view" situation). Drolla was brought up in the temple for the next 13 years until he was old enough to become a Padawan at age 63. All Drolla was ever taught was the Jedi way, and he believes it more or less completely.

Always diplomatic and intellectual, Drolla chose to train as a Jedi Consular, and focused on his Force abilities and other cerebral pursuits, like moral philosophy and meditation. However, he did master Talo Rulya, an unarmed martial art used by serpentine alien species with arms, like Hutts, Sluissi, and Thisspiasans. This was taught to him by the renowned Sluissi Jedi Master Garatis Yenn, who became his Master when Drolla was promoted to Padawan. Drolla also built his own green lightsaber, and is proficient at lightsaber combat.

As he began traveling the galaxy with his master, he came to better understand what being a Hutt in the greater galaxy meant. He was often treated with mistrust or anger. On multiple occasions, people assumed Drolla was some sort of con man, because they believed Hutts were intrinsically too wicked to be Jedi and a Hutt Jedi just couldn?t exist. Though Drolla was discouraged, he resolved to take the Jedi ?high road? and do his best to prove that Hutts could be as benevolent and sel

 

I know I should read the rest of it, but I got jarred out by the Hutt spending the next 13 years at the temple before becoming a padawan at 63, and all he knows is the jedi way.

What about the previous four decades of his life?

And if the other Hutts weren't going to kill him over his birthmark in the first forty years, they are probably not going to.

That said, I applaud your idea of putting a Hutt into this role, as well as his intention to portray his race in a better light.

I like the level of research you went into on this, learning other Hutt terminology, as well as finding an unarmed combat form used by serpentine forms. I am learning things here.

 

I think, though don't quote me on this, that Hutts don't get out of infancy until age 50 (it's like how humans rarely remember anything from before the age of 3), and are not considered mature until 100. Wookiepedia would know more but Wikia doesn't work in China.

 

Xan, you're in China? Cool! (except for no wikia or google there)

Anyway, Sith-I-5, what Xan said is correct. I'll copy what wokieepedia said: "Fetal Hutts spent their first 50 years of existence in the pouch of their parents, and have no sentient minds at that stage. Upon emerging, the intellectual level of a young Hutt was around that of a ten-year-old Human. Newborn Hutts, also known as Huttlets, would stay close to their parents for decades, returning to their pouches when they were tired, lonely or scared. Other Hutts were sometimes known to kill them in fear of future competition. Young Hutts were not considered important or accountable for their actions until they were 130 years into their average life-span of well over a millennium?making Jabba's rise to power at the incredibly young age of 80 all the more impressive."

So that's why there's a 50-year gap. But you have a point, since the canon is vague about Hutt upbringing and stuff. I don't know whether birthmarks form at birth or after the time spent in the pouch. I also don't know how you spend 50 years in a pouch with no contact with the outside world and come out with the intelligence of a ten-year-old. Rotta from the Clone Wars move isn't really portrayed that way, but whatever. I'll try to accommodate canon as best I can. Actually, since Hutts aren't considered adults until 130, I'll probably have to change Drolla's age around somehow, but I don't know what age 130 would be analogous to with Humans. (It could be anywhere between 12 and 21, really). I won't post a corrected sheet just for that though.

You also have a point that the rest of his clan might not care about his birthmark after 50+ years. That doesn't matter to me either way though; I just thought it was something the Jedi might consider when deciding to hide his past from him, but it wasn't the main reason for that anyway. I guess I wont mention that if I ever use the character sheet.

But I'm very glad you liked the general concept of it! That's most important to me. Just so you know, the birthmark stuff, and Blotus, are canonical, but I made up the martial art. I just thought it was an interesting idea, and especially good for a Jedi because it's non-lethal. Rulya is the Huttese word for "weapon" though. "Talo" is a word I made up. It's supposed to mean "tail," and I figured Huttese words are often just warped English words (Boy="bookie", Late="alay"). Thanks for reviewing it!

 

Probably a little late, but I liked the character a lot. A unique Jedi. Just what GMs usually are looking for. Concerning his age . . . with canon being soooo blurry about it, I think your bio reflected the "strange process of aging" that Hutts have. And that´s a good thing.

Also the idea of his ambition being based on his wish to make the Hutts look better (gooood luck with that) is a great and unique character motivation. One that can lead to many choices conflicting with the Jedi Code. Which is a good thing, because Jedi are only interesting when they collide with their rules. And the fringe-elements as possible future enemies is far better than anything including the Sith-of-the-day.

On another note he is a good Jedi but you have completely avoided the "power-trap". Making him a very usuable character. And at least three or four stories jumped me I could spin around him. Which is usually a sign of quality.

I really like him. One of the best Jedi concepts I have seen in quite some time, actually.

 

Thanks! That did wonders for my self-esteem. Hopefully I've made up for that bad character i did a few months back...

I wanted to ask about the "power trap" you mentioned, because I did originally prepare a very tentative list of Force Powers for him in case a GM wanted it. I assume that "the power trap" means making him overpowered or an uber-character. This was the first time I designed a Force-using character, so I didn't include the list of powers, because he isn't affiliated with a game yet and I know GMs can have very different approaches with respect to Force powers. Some want just a list of powers the character knows, some use points, some use no formal system at all and let the player do anything within reason.

I had no idea what to do with the Force powers, or how many to give. I don't really care how "powerful" the character is, but I am curious as to what the general consensus or rule of thumb to create a character with prudent Force power is. Is it to assign no powers and just roleplay well in the actual game, or what? How do others do Force powers? I may not be able to do anything with this character because he isn't in a game (as of yet) but I just want to know what people generally do with Force-using characters for future reference. Anyone?

 

Lest you guys think I'm ignoring you, I might as well contribute.

Ok, first off... name. Obviously you've noticed that Hutts have three names. But what Wookieepedia doesn't mention is the point of those three names.

The first name is the common name, the name by which they do business. Hutts don't particularly mind being called "______ the Hutt" because they think being a Hutt is the best thing in the galaxy.

The second name is the kajidic name, as you've already noticed, though some Hutts are invited to join other kajidics as an exceptionally rare honor, and take that kajidic name instead.

The third name is a secret name, known to only a few who are close to the Hutt, and might be unknown to most until the Hutt dies. Wookieepedia screwed up on this one, since the name differs from Hutt to Hutt, and thus Zorba and Ziro shouldn't share the name of "Tiure", since the editors assumed it followed the same naming conventions as humans (for comparison, Jabba is Jabba Desilijic Tiure, while his aunt/uncle is Jiliac Deilijic Tiron. The Anjiliac clan follows a similar system, where even offspring don't share their parents names. I don't think that either Zorba or Ziro had their full names revealed, so it's more of a guess on Wookieepedia's part).

Next issue: Gender. You have "Hermaphrodite (masculine personality)". One of the problems with many of the Star Wars publications is that they don't use words the way they normally mean. Hermaphrodite is a sex characteristic, biologically based. Gender is a word that may be used interchangeably with sex in some areas, but in the social sciences it more often refers to socially defined behavioral traits. The problem is that we have concepts like "masculine" and "feminine", used to represent the "essence" of being a man or woman. The more intelligent among you may realize that there are a great deal of traits that we associate with masculinity and femininity that have absolutely no roots in the biological differences between the sexes (which itself is something of an artificial binary, being as chromosomal differences can result in people who are neither XX nor XY, forcing people to guess at what they might be). The fact that we may act against those who fail to conform to our preconceived notions of behavior that may have nothing to do with their biology means that this is an issue.

For humans, it's confusing enough to figure out if any of these perceived differences are biologically linked, but for Hutts there is really no such issue. Hutt society lacks the concept of two sexes, let alone two genders which are in part socially defined. A Hutt's "gender" is entirely based on the viewer's perceptions and/or whatever the Hutt feels like doing. A Hutt who fits our gender norms is essentially roleplaying. Furthermore, what comes to mind when you hear the word "masculine"? Now, what does society consider as highly "masculine"? Now, what does your character do that you consider to be "masculine"? You may notice that these things don't actually line up. Personally, I'd just stick with "masculine pronouns" rather than "masculine personality" because there is neither a set of ideals your character seems to be aiming for, nor any physiological differences that might motivate your character one way or another on an arbitrary and artificial binary. Plus, the phrase "Hermaphrodite (masculine personality)" is used on Wookieepedia to describe both Jabba and Ziro, who have two different personalities and are only similar in that they both use the masculine pronoun (in English (and Basic by extension), the genderless pronoun "it" also lacks a certain degree of agency/personality, calling someone "it" is to imply that they are not on the same level. Such an insult would not sit well with most Hutts, which is why most people use gendered pronouns to refer to them. Well, that and our need to fit things into categories).

Moving along, we get to the goals. You use the phrase "prove that Hutts c

 

Alright, first of all, lol.
Second of all, that was almost tl;dr, but somehow I had the patience to read it.
Thirdly, that was brilliant.

 

I wondered where you had gone, LightWarden. That is a very long post, but I?m grateful that you were so thorough. Thank you for taking the time. It really helped, and I even copied saved some of things you said into the file on my computer to help me in the future, (like the stuff about Force powers). I will do my best to break it down and address it point by point, and I will be changing many things based on your input. I have sort of a general question first though: Having seen two of my characters, can you tell me what you think are the main or most overarching mistakes I make when creating characters in general? If you can?t make a call from just two characters or don?t know how to answer that I understand.

So now I?ll just take your analysis and address it point by point, let you know how I would change the CS, and if you want to you can reply with whether you think that?s a good idea or not if you?d like. Is that agreeable?

Names: I see. I was just going by wookieepedia. I assumed Hutt names worked like ancient Roman naming conventions, which I believe is a given name, an extended family or clan name, and then the name of the paternal line, because it says Jabba and Zorba had the same third name. In Drolla?s case, he wouldn?t even use his kadijic name since he doesn?t consider himself a part of it (he wouldn?t even know it, but I?ll be changing that). And I think not being raised in the Hutt culture would cause him to not mind the use of his ?secret? name by non-Hutts. But that all applies to his roleplaying, so in this case I don?t think I need to change the name on the CS itself, other than maybe denoting his lack of use of the kajidic name. Where did you find out his information, by the way?

I?m aware of the difference between sex and gender, and you?re right in saying that I should have just said ?masculine pronouns? since that?s essentially the only way in which ?masculine? applies to the character. He really doesn?t do anything I consider especially masculine. I just wrote it that way on the CS because that?s how they denote Hutt gender in certain sources like Wookieepedia and also the Essential Guides, I think. So I?ll just replace the word ?personality? on the CS with ?pronouns.? Is that good?

I see what you are saying. I really was confusing those. So Drolla?s goal really then is to demonstrate to the general public that the Hutt species and Hutt culture are not synonymous. And this goal, itself, is secondary to his goal of simply being a good Jedi, but he knows that if he demonstrates his ability to do that, the people he encounters might question their previous conceptions of the Hutt species, and hopefully become more tolerant in general. It would be more accurate to say he wants to be an example to the general public, rather than ?prove Hutts can be good beings too.? Like the general public of the galaxy, he has some disdain for Hutt culture, which makes him arrog

 

Hey all.

This character sheet is without a doubt the greatest there has ever been. I am completely confident in that.
So far I haven't seen any that can compare with this.

Perfection.

Name: Jerik Nah'ral
gender: Male
Age: 34
Species: Zabrak

---Appearance---
Hair Color: None
Height: 6' 4"
Skin Color Red
Eye Color: Ice Blue
Build: Very Muscular
Clothing: Black Jedi robes and black jedi cloak
Scars/Markings/Tattoos: none
facial hair: none

---Personality---
traits: Jerik is very calm but has a firey temper when angered. He keeps control of his temper the best he can and has never taken it out on another.
Likes: Jerik has an odd interest in ancient holocrons, and has a personal collection, even though he doesnt know how to open 3/4 of them. He also has a fondness for sunrises and usually pesters some of the female knights to watch one with him.
dislikes: jerik absolutely despises corellian ale.
habbits: he has been known to bite his naiils from time to time

---other---
Force sensitive: yes
weapons: two blue lightsabers
Force Abilities: All core powers. Jerik has also mastered emerald force lightning. He is also a master of force second sight. This enables him to see the past and future events associated with an object when he touches it so a certain extent. He cannot see very far into the future or the past, only about 10 years either way. With each year he looks into the future with the object, the glimpses he gets get foggier and foggier.
Jedi Rank: Master
occupation: jedi
skills: has great knowledge of demolitions, and he can pick almost any lock. he also is a wizard with mechanics and can repair almost anything.
Affiliation: jedi order

Bio:
Jerik was found as an infant on the doorstep to a jedi enclave on the 4th moon of yavin. Nothing is known of his past before then. He was immediately taken in and cared for. At the age of 12 he was made the padawan to jedi Master Urik Ullwyyn. He was made a jedi knight at age 22, and a master at 29. He has yet to take on a padawan of his own, as he can never find one that he wants to train.

 

I'd love to see anyone top this sheet.

 

Yeah, aside from the typos and the fact that your character has no realistic flaws, it's perfect.

 

What? What do you mean "no realistic flaws"?

Explain.

My CS is a work of art.

 

Don't get me wrong; it's great that your CS is art, at least in your eyes.

He's got, and I quote, "a firey temper when angered. He keeps control of his temper the best he can and has never taken it out on another."

Doesn't that strike you as, well, completely impossible and unrealistic? He's got a temper, but he never loses his cool. That's boring. I'd rather see a character who has anger issues and has to constantly keep it in check. If that was your intention, then it's not really apparent in your wording.

Seeing as how I'm not a master at judging Force abilities, I won't delve into any detail there.

I think his general skills need some balancing. Not only can he "pick any lock," but he has "great knowledge of demolitions" and "can repair almost anything." So basically, he's Anakin with explosive expertise? I don't really buy it and would ask you to redo his skills for balance issues if you submitted it to a game I was running.

And then there's his bio. It's too short and creates more questions than answers. Why can't he find a padawan he wants to train? What are some of the events in his life that have made him the character that he is? I don't think you need to write a novel, but more than a few sentences would be nice to see. It could also help out your GM - if he knows your charrie's past, he can throw a few things at you that will either play to Jerik's strengths or challenge him.

That's my two cents.

I suppose you can call it art, but I wouldn't. It needs work.

 

Sounds like someone just played KotOR.

 

Also, it's not all that impressive to be able to see into the past. Especially when you're only limited to about 10 years. My "force second sight" into the past extends further than that.

 

Just because your character sheet contains loopholes for godmodding does not make it art. Furthermore, unintentional typos are an immediate disqualification from art (Intentional is another story, but inconsistent capitalization doesn't seem intentional in my book). Your character is a Jedi and yet dresses exclusively in black in a universe of moral absolutes and western-inspired motifs (In other words, you're dressed like a Sith).

Not to mention... your character just isn't that interesting. He's got almost no backstory, his personality is typical of almost any "Playboy" type (Which, I might add, makes almost no sense for a Jedi master). So essentially anyone could trump your CS by having a mere paragraph of backstory. He grew up in a Jedi Academy and nothing ever happened to him? Where'd he pick up his fascinations with holocrons, sunsets, and women? How'd he become such a demolitions expert? Where does a Jedi even learn to be a pickpocket? And how did he come to master an unorthodox two-weapon fighting style with such an orthodox upbringing?

Yes, I am rehashing some previously made points. But if I hear perfection, I want something like THIS.

 

Milton? Nice!