rychillacases:

hotchocolatewrites:

homesteadhorner:

moonsp1r1t:

8 Character Creation Tips (for DnD or just writing in general)

1. Have a goal

While it may sound like I’m stating the obvious here, your character needs to have something they want to accomplish. Maybe they want to be the best at something, see a place, fall in love, conquer the world, or something else. Whatever it is, they need to have something that they desire beyond all other things. Ideally, give them more than one goal. Make them have to sacrifice one to achieve the other, to add extra drama

2. Have a reputation

Maybe they’re the best artist in their class or they’re great at juggling. Perhaps they slipped on the stairs in front of their whole village. Either way, give something for the locals to remember about them. That way it can give you a starting point for the interactions with other characters

3. Have a friend

Whether a friend, a coworker, a sibling, an army buddy, or someone they saved, have someone close to your character whom they’re close to and wish well. Yeah, angsty “I have no friends” characters can be fun, but in small doses; eventually the reader gets fed up with them. At the very least the character needs someone to talk to or bounce ideas off of

4. Have a home

It may be a neighborhood they grew up in, their parents’ house, or a room they’ve been renting in a tavern. Hell, it could even be a person if you so choose. Everyone needs to feel secure at one time or another

5. Have a signature item

Now, recognize that this may not work for EVERY character, but it’s up to you to decide what will fit and what won’t. In many cases, it can work. A signature item is something that is recognizably YOUR CHARACTER’S, be it a weapon, a scarf, a toy, or a piece of jewelry. It’s something that makes them feel like themself

6. Have a problem

This should be something other than the problem addressed in the main plot line. Maybe a member of their family is sick, they are broke, or they’re failing their classes. This helps make your character seem more realistic because NO ONE has one problem at a time

7. Have a secret

This can affect the plot or not; either way, it helps make your character more well rounded. Maybe your character can’t read, left their crewmates to die when a kracken attacked their ship, or made their long lost sister run away. If you choose to have it affect the plot in any way, this secret should embarrass your character, make it so that other characters don’t trust your character, or somehow endanger them and the people they’re close to if found out

8. Have a reason to be brave and to fight

Maybe it’s because your character wants to be like their hero, maybe it’s so they can repay a debt (like if someone saved their life previously), maybe it’s for their child, but your character needs to have a reason to occasionally face their fears

Have fun!!!

I understand that this is meant to be simple, but GOSH DANG, is it so helpful! This came at the perfect time for me, as I am in the process of creating characters both in the realm of fictional writing and tabletop roleplaying. I’ve been seriously struggling with one of my characters for a long time now and always felt something was missing. Only now do I realize – I had all of these, except for a secret! Well, I gave him a secret to keep, but not one that would make him fearful, embarrassed, or ashamed! And what point is there in a secret without a price attached to it’s exposure? There was no cost, no blow to his own worth or self-esteem or ego, to keeping that secret from his friends and allies. Now I know I need to sit down with my DM and work out where to interweave a potential secret into the plot. 

Thank you for this, OP!
May it genuinely help all of my followers as it has helped me.

!!!

I think I may need to do this for my own characters.

kramergate:

heres a neat little quiz for getting your real life stats

http://www.kevinhaw.com/add_quiz.php

tell me what you get

heres my fucking embarrassing textbook nerd stats

pigeonbooks:

More often than not I’ll crack into a sprawling fantasy series and, while I appreciate the luscious descriptions of furniture, landscapes, and clothing, all I’m focused on is that I don’t actually know how this world works. I only know what it looks like.  

Including some functionality to your universe can add to immersion and give your reader a strong foundation on which to build their mental model of your universe. 

You certainly don’t need to use all of these questions! In fact, I recommend against that, as all of these certainly won’t make it into your final draft. I personally find that starting my worldbuilding off with 5 to 10 functional questions helps pave the way for glittery and elaborate aesthetic development later on.

• How is the healthcare funded in your world?
• How does healthcare functionally differ between the wealthy and the poor? (i.e. can only the wealthy go to hospitals? do poor families often have to rely on back-alley procedures?)
• Where are health centers (i.e. hospitals, small clinics, etc.) organized in your cities?
• Does it differ in smaller towns?
• How does this affect people’s ability to get healthcare?
• Is healthcare magical, and if it is, how does that affect the healthcare system? 
• If healing is instantaneous, how does that affect people’s views on injury, illness, and chronic ailments?
• If you have both magical and physical healthcare, which one is deemed superior and how does that affect society? 
• What illnesses are common in your world? 
• How does this affect daily life? 
• What do the people in your world think illnesses are? 
• Is it a miasma theory? 
• Humor theory? 
• Demons? 
• Do they know about biological viruses and bacteria? 
• How does this affect healthcare?

• How do people get water? 
• Is the water sanitary and if not, how do they sanitize it?
• How does agriculture work? 
• Is it large corporations or individual farms?
• What sort of agricultural technology exists in your world and how does it affect food production?
• Are farmers wealthy or poor?
• What sort of natural resources does your world/country(ies) have and how are they obtained?
• How does this affect the average wealth of the country?
• How does this wealth affect the culture? 
• What livestock or beasts of burden are most valued? Least valued? Why?
• What is considered a luxury good vs. a regular good?

• What forms of transportation does your world have?
• What classes use what forms of transportation?
• How far has the average citizen traveled, given your transportation limitations?
• Which cities are the most accessible and which are the least? Why?
• How do popular transportation methods change how cities/towns are laid out?
• Does your world have public transportation? What is it?
• Is there a coming-of-age aspect to travel?
• Describe your world’s postal system or whatever equivalent there is. 
• Who pays for it? 
• How reliable is it? 
• Are there emergency methods for transporting information?

• How does your world keep time (i.e. watches, sundials, water clock, etc.)?
• Does your world have a currency system, barter system, or something else? 
• If you have multiple countries, do different currencies have different values across said countries?
• How does this affect travel?
• Do you have banks in your world and if so, how are they run?
• Who owns the banks? Government? Wealthy? How does this affect the economy and/or class system?
• How does credit operate in your universe?
• Does your world operate more on big corporations or small business? Something in between?
• How are workers/labourers treated in your world? 
• Are there workers unions and if so, what are common views on unions? 
• Describe your tax system. If you don’t have a tax system, explain why and how your world is affected by that. 
• Can certain social classes not own property, certain livestock, certain businesses, etc.? Why?
• How are business records kept? Are business records kept?
• If your world has technology, does your world prioritize developing entertainment tech, communications tech, transportation tech or something else entirely?
• What does this say about your world?
• How does this affect your economy?

• To the closest approximation, what type of government does your world have? 
• How are rulers/presidents/nobles put in place? 
• How much power does an individual ruler have? 
• Is there a veto process? 
• If you have multiple countries, do they have different types of rulers?
• Describe any large-scale alliances (i.e. countries, factions, etc.) that are present in your world. 
• How did they come about and how are they maintained? 
• Are they strained or peaceful? 
• How does it affect the greater politics of your world?
• Describe how wars are fought both internationally and nationally. 
• Do methods of war differ between countries/races? 
• What about philosophies about war?
• If there is a military, what is its hierarchy structure?
• How does the military recruit?
• Is the military looked upon favourably in your society?
• What weapons are used by each country/type of people during warfare, and how does that affect war strategies?
• Describe the sentencing system of your world. 
• Is your accused innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent?
• How are lawbreakers punished? 
• If you have prisons, describe how they are organized and run, and who owns them. 
• Does differing ownership change how the prisons operate?
• What are the major ways in which laws between countries vary? 
• Do laws between cities vary? If so, how and why?
• How does citizenship work in your world? What rights and privileges do citizens have that others do not? 
• Can certain classes or races not become citizens?
• Are there certain taboo subjects or opinions that artist/authors/musicians are not allowed to depict (i.e. portraying the official religion in a negative light, explicit sexual material, etc.)? What does this say about your society?
• How do people get around these censorship laws?
• What is the official hierarchy of duty in your world? (i.e. is family the most important, or patriotism? What about clan?)
• How many languages are there in your world, and how many languages share a common origin? 
• How many people are multilingual? 
• Which language is the most common?
• How is multilingualism viewed?
• How are different languages viewed? (i.e. is one language ugly/barbaric while another is romantic and sensual?)

Feel free to add your own questions in reblogs or in comments!

needlekind:

baconnarwhal3:

baconnarwhal3:

Here’s a list of random joke items to use for fun in your campaign. I’d recommend adding them to treasure hoards rather than subbing normal items for them.
Anyway here they are:

1. Ace of Spades – An ace of spades from a standard card deck. No matter where you store it on your body, you will always be able to find it in your right sleeve afterwards.

2. Amulet of Extra Amulet Slot – This amulet allows you to gain the benefit from two magical amulets rather than one. It cannot be further enchanted.

3. Amulet of Feather Fall – When worn, this amulet turns into a feather and falls to the ground.

4. Amulet of Unbreaking Bones – Con-man says you can’t break any bones. Really, he means other’s bones. -100% damage against skeletons.

5. Amulet of weather detection – yells that it is or is not raining.

6. Anti-Matches – A box of matches. Striking one will make it begin to drip water from the tip while the match shrivels away. The amount of water a match releases is about enough to fill a tablespoon.

7. Arrow of Euarere – A silver arrow, suspended on a string. It always points to the person holding the string.

8. Arrow of Slaying, The – This magical arrow is capable of killing a creature.

9. Artist’s Bludgeon, The – Inanimate objects hit with this bludgeon will receive no damage; they will however change color.

10. Attentive Guardsman’s Pike – These ornate and deadly-looking ceremonial pikes are reach weapons and appear to weigh at least 20 lbs, not counting the weight of the fluttering banners that can be unfurled for parade use. Constructed of shadowstuff, they weigh one pound, and inflict only a single point of damage on an attack, being almost entirely for show, although they also have the unique property of remaining in place when set (although unable to support more than 20 lbs), allowing a ‘resting his eyes’ guardsman to prop it up and leave it standing under its own power, while his hand sags off of it.

11. Attentive Guardsman’s Tabard – A dozen of these tabards were fashioned for palace guardsmen in the Empire of Sard, 250 miles from the nearest enemy. The bearer is placed under a glamour that causes him to appear alert and awake, even if his eyes are closed and he is snoring lightly.

12. Axe of Big Numbers – This axe shouts “Big numbers baby, come on!” whenever it is swung, but always deals 1 damage or less.

13. Axe of Empathy – Every time you hit something with this +5 greataxe, you get dealt an equal amount of damage. Both you and the thing you hit are then healed the amount of damage dealt by the axe, even if either are dead. The Axe hopes you have learned your lesson.

14. Axe of Pain – The axe is always moaning and groaning with pain.

15. Bag of Faerie Gold – This sack appears to be full of gold coins and jewels. When one attempts to spend them, however, the glamour on them soon vanishes, revealing them to be nothing but leaves and pebbles. Obviously, most shopkeepers will not be happy about this, and no amount of ‘we didn’t know, I swear!’ will change their mind.

16. Bag of Holding – This item functions as a normal backpack, however when attempting to retrieve an item, a calm female voice tells them there is a wait time of 4d10 minutes before they can retrieve their item (actual time is stated time plus 6d6 additional minutes). During this wait, the bag plays either annoying muzak or advertisements for the bag’s creator’s other products/services. Upon attempting to retrieve an item, there is a chance that the wrong item is retrieved, or that the intended item is simply missing. Obtaining the original item requires an additional 4d10+6d6 minutes and has only a 5% chance of success.

17. Bag of Trading – You can take one thing out of the bag for each object you put in the bag. However, you have no control over what you get, and there are no trade-backs. Past research seems to imply there’s some sort of correlation to what gets you what, but it’s extremely convoluted and far from understood.

18. Bag of Trick – This bag operates like a Bag of Tricks, except it only works once a week and produces a rat each time it is used.

19. Bag of Unholding – Quite a large backpack but even the smallest item doesn’t fit.

20. Bagpipe of Stealth – Grants the user invisibility as long as it is being played.

21. Ball of Eyes – A snow-globe filled with miniature eyeballs. When shaken, it grants the user a blurry, jittery vision of some future event.

22. Banana Walkie-Talkies – There exist two, and only two, of these items in the world. One of which is possessed by a cranky and lonely half-orc. It appears to be an innocuous wooden banana with a coat of faded yellow paint. When an end (doesn’t matter which one) is placed against your ear, you can hear a ringing followed by a click and a half-orc yelling at you for waking him up at this ungodly hour. If you drop the banana or “hang up,” the call ends. If you stay and listen, the half-orc will yell at you, call out obscenities, and start going on about his daily problems and mishaps in his love life. Every so often (2% chance/day), the banana will ring while you are sleeping and the half-orc will want to talk to you about his problems.

23. Barrel of Holding – This large wooden barrel measuring √(12/π) feet in diameter and 5 feet in height can hold up to 15 cubic feet of matter.

24. Beam Sword of Severed Nerves – A beam sword. It cannot cut anything but nerve strings. Will pass through any other material leaving no harm.

25. Belt of Pants – This belt creates illusory pants on the wearer. The wearer can suppress the illusion at will

26. Belt of Tightening – Every time you put this belt on, all of your clothes permanently shrink a fraction of a millimeter. The effect is compound.

27. Belt of Unbathed Breath – When worn around the waist, allows the user to breathe underwater. Does not function when wet.

28. Boogie Skeleton – This pile of bones is small, such as one that might be obtained from a bird or a toad, though it can look as though it came from any creature. When a song is sung or played in the vicinity of the skeleton, it begins to dance appropriately. As soon as the music stops, it collapses into the pile of bones again. The skeleton, when dancing, can be no larger than Diminutive.

29. Book of Canon – A book that automatically transforms into a copy of the sacred text of any religion, translated into the language the user is most familiar with.

30. Book of Confusion – The letters in this book always appear to be upside down, even if viewed from different directions at the same time. The book is a bad novel about zombies.

31. Book of Curses – When opened, the book verbally berates anyone in the immediate vicinity, calling into question their combat ability, intellect, personal hygiene, lineage and profession of their mothers, and other delightful insults. Once closed the book continues shouting (although it is muffled) until placed inside a bag or some other similar container for 1d4+1 minutes and ignored. Replying to the book in any other way causes the insults to get louder and more childish the more time you spend replying to it.

32. Book of Exalted Deeds – Contains a listing of some of the finest houses ever sold and the specifics of the titles to the properties.

33. Boots of Blinding Speed – The wearer’s speed is doubled, and they are blinded.

34. Boots of Levitation – These boots levitate a few inches off the ground when not worn.

35. Boots of Stylishness – Knee high black boots that are always clean and shiny. They never take in water, thus feet are always dry.

36. Boots of Teleportation – Allows the player to teleport wherever they like, but don’t carry the wearer with them when activated; the boots teleport just fine, though.

37. Boots of Walking – The wearer of the boots cannot run, nor can he take a double move action, and takes a -5 to Tumble checks. These boots are made for walkin’, and that’s just what they’ll do.

38. Bottle of Air – It’s a bottle. Full of air. Congratulations.

39. Bottomless Beer Mug – Any liquid poured into this mug treats the bottom as incorporeal, but solid objects don’t.

40. Bowl of Comfortable Warmth – Any liquid in the bowl will feel comfortably warm, so icy cold water will feel like it’s a bit over room temperature. Do note, however, that it’s still icy cold water, it just feels warmer.

50. Breastplate of Secret Detection – If the wearer of this breastplate gains a piece of information that is somehow connected to the concealment of a hidden conspiracy or plot, a live and still wet red herring forms on the inside of the armor.

51. Bullying Gloves – At random intervals, these gloves instil the wearer with a near-irresistible urge to hit themselves.

52. Bunyan’s Belt – When worn, causes an enormous, bushy black beard to appear on the wearer’s face.

53. Cape of Resistance – When this item is placed on any living thing it somehow manages to fall off, untie itself, slip past the owner’s neck entirely, or otherwise avoid being worn.

54. Case of the Litigator – Translates any document placed in the case into legal jargon; non-reversible. Does not confer the ability to understand legal jargon.

55. Cat of Schrodinger – When this cat is not being observed in any way it is both dead and alive. When something observes it, it suddenly becomes either dead or alive with a 50% chance of either.

56. Chair of Steadiness – This chair can be moved but cannot be tipped over by anything less than a DC 35 Strength check.

57. Charles – This small, unremarkable figurine of a gnome refuses to be called anything but Charles. No other name will leave the lips of the speaker. It has no other powers.

58. Chime of Interruption – This instrument can be struck once every round, which takes a standard action. On any round the chime is activated the user may ready one action without spending an action to do so.

59. Chime of Opening – Commonly affixed to or near doors, when pressed it emits a sound on the interior of the owner’s home to let them know guests have arrived.

60. Chime of Opening (Alternate) – When struck against a solid surface, this chime emits a loud click, and opens along its length, to reveal a tiny compartment adequate to conceal a single ‘smoke’ worth of pipeweed or a blowgun needle. When the compartment is closed, it is seamless and can be detected only with a DC 20 Search check. If hit with an instrument such as a small mallet, it chimes.

61. Cloak of Billowing – This black and silver cloak will always billow dramatically behind the wearer, it has no other effects.

62. Cloak of Displacement, Minor – This item appears to be a normal cloak, but when worn by a character its magical properties distort and warp reality. When any attack is made against the wearer the cloak has a 20% chance of falling off, no matter how it is secured.

63. Compacting hammer – The force imparted by it is multiplied, but is spread around the surface of a struck object facing inward.

64. Cymbal of Symbols – This musical instrument enables the user to comprehend dead languages, but only while they are deafened by noise.

65. Dagger of Told Secrets – A simple-looking dagger. If used to backstab someone to death, it will whisper your most embarrassing secret to that person.

66. Dagger of unnatural sharpness – The blade is exceptionally sharp to your touch. It confers no combat bonuses but can be used as a normal dagger for fighting or crafting, but the user seems to always cut himself in minor ways when using it.

67. Dagger of Untold Secrets – A simple looking dagger. If used to backstab someone to death, it will whisper the most embarrassing secret of that person to you.

68. Decanter of Endless Sorrow – A pewter flask that produces limitless alcohol when held to their lips by someone who is troubled. It gets them drunk but they never feel any better.

69. Diadem of Brothaurity – When wearing this headpiece, you are as elegant and well-spoken as a famous diplomat or regent, but you can’t stop calling everyone bro.

70. Enchanted Book of Collected Stories – Opening this will cause miniature creatures/people to pour out and perform a chapter from the book much like a theater.

71. Focusing Ring – The digit on which this ring is worn can be viewed in extremely high definition from a great distance.

72. Gloves of Tinkering – Wearing the gloves will make you able to almost repair any broken item. However, you will always end up with pieces from the item that don’t seem to fit anywhere.

73. Glowing sword of orc detection – When it gets orc blood on it the sword glows.

74. Good Luck ring – Gives your enemies good luck!

75. Greater Staff of Random Summoning – Summons a random creature at a random place. You could be summoning a giant Ogre on the other side of the globe for all you know.

76. Helm of Awareness, The – The wearer is acutely aware of the fact that they are wearing this helmet and that it has a magical effect. – All you need to do to make this work as a DM is frequently remind the player that the helm is magical while they are wearing it but be evasive about exactly what it does.

77. Hoarder’s Wand – Does nothing but for some reason you think it might be important later in your quest.

78. Hood of Offensive Facades – This hood will change your identity in the eyes of others to the appearance of the person they most personally dislike.

79. Hood Of Worrisome Facades – This hood will change your identity in the eyes of others, however the identity used will be random.

80. Indestructible Notebook of Memories – This otherwise normal notepad of normal notepad size cannot be damaged or destroyed, and anything written in it cannot be obscured or defaced. It also has unlimited pages despite its finite size. However, the data it holds only lasts as long as the writer independently remembers it, and decays in exact proportion to the relevant memories. Remember who and when, but not where? Then the words describing the location in that particular entry are the only ones gone.

81. Intransigent Rod – When the button on this artifact is pressed in, the holder’s opinions solidify and they become impossible to convince.

82. Key to anywhere – opens any door into a closet with a water bucket that falls and hits the player’s head. Inside this closet is the treasure of true adventurers. If opened with a key, it opens a closet…

83. Lunch Box of Delicious Unfulfillment – This lunch box will hold whatever food you desire. However you will never get full and the food will deliver no nourishment.

84. Mask of Concealment – Hides the wearer’s face and conceals everything from them by blocking their eyes! Bonus points for requiring a strength check or a time limit to expire to be removed.

85. Mattress of Poverty, The – No matter how you fluff this gorgeous, thick, mattress, you will always sleep on the thin part of it.

86. Mug O’ Dissatisfaction – A mug that always produces a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea when tapped on the bottom. It conjures the opposite of what the tapper prefers, so if you like tea you get coffee and vice versa. Handing the full mug to another person will make the drink in it transform to the opposite of that person’s preferences.

87. Murder Dagger – All damage it would deal is instead replaced by the target being harassed by crows for that many hours.

88. Needle Of Learned Compromise – This needle will create beautiful tattoos of any design, however they hurt a tiny bit more. When used to sew it is entirely normal.

89. Portable Dark Tavern Corner – Consisting of two wooden boards connected by a hinge, this artifact draws those nearby into assuming it is a perfect spot to conduct seedy business.

90. Potion of fire breathing – For the length of time that the potion is in effect, every breath out is on fire, whether you want it to be or not.

91. Potion of Quelchment – Cures thirst when consumed

92. Ring of Fire Detection – becomes warm when placed into Fire.

93. Ring of First Impression – Wearing the ring will make you able to perform a perfect handshake with the hand wearing it.

94. Ring of Stoneskin – Turns your skin, muscles, and organs into stone! Character is now a stationary statue. Can’t be reversed until someone takes the ring off.

95. Rope of Entanglement – Becomes entangled when left in a pack

96. Sack of Hive Eggs – Crushing one of the numerous tiny eggs will cause the thoughts of everybody in the proximity to merge. Everybody can hear what you think and you can hear everybody.

97. Shirt of fire protection – this shirt is sopping wet.

98. Shoes of the Restless Traveler – These shoes allow their user to run for miles without feeling fatigue, but if they try to do anything else with it (walk, sit down, jump), they will instantly trip

99. Sword of Parrying – Parries every attack, swinging it yourself will force it to “parry” your opponent’s weapon/attack even though he/she/it is defenseless.

100. Torch of Night Vision – grants bearer Night Vision while lit.

101. Vorpal Grindstone – It can “sharpen” any object to become vorpal. Any object.

102. Wand of command – Lets your character be controlled after saying the command word!

103. Wand of Create Wand of Create Wand – Creates a Wand of Create Wand. Consumes original Wand.

104. Wand of Pigeon Summoning – summons 1d20 pigeons everyday. On a 20 it breaks and summons a giant pigeon god (can be the size of Godzilla or like 5 pigeons.) Giant pigeon god should be in the mid 20s for CR, but is uninterested in attacking, and will simply fly away when summoned.

105. Water Hat, The – A small red hat, when worn, causes water to pour from the wearer’s fingers at the speed and pressure of a kitchen faucet at half power.

106. Wineskin of the Eternal Primary – This wineskin never runs out of water, but even the tiniest sip makes you have to go potty, like, super bad. Right now.

@probablybadrpgideas so I found this chart on Reddit and put it on tumblr. This chart replaces all other magic items.

“found on reddit” isn’t a source but this is!