A great way to expand your roleplaying abilities in Dungeons & Dragons, or any other roleplaying game, is to try and make better characters. Developing a background and personality for your character will give you a better guideline on how to play your character and it will also give your Dungeon Master more hooks for their story and opportunities to role-play. We're going to discuss a few ideas on how to easily create a better D&D character background by using simple plot hooks and personality traits. These methods can be altered to work with other roleplaying games as well.
Decide on one thing that your character would lay down his life for. It may be something noble, or it may be more self-serving. But pick something that your character would, under any circumstances, fight to the death over. It could be that anytime someone steals something from him, he will go to the ends of the earth to track them down and make them pay at any cost. Or, it could be that whenever his homeland is disrespected in conversation, he just cannot let it go. Whatever it is, choose this one carefully as it will turn out to be an extremely important part of your character.
Choose three things that your character will always fight for. He may not fight to the death over them, but he will definitely throw blows under almost any circumstance when the opportunity presents itself under one of the three listed circumstances. Maybe he hates it when people insult his family members. Or, maybe he cannot walk by an orc without attacking it.
Decide on one thing that your character fears the most. Perhaps your character has an intense fear of flying and resists any flight or levitation spells that are cast on him. Your character may have an intense fear of snakes, no matter how big or small. Or maybe your character has an intense fear of a specific creature, like werewolves, vampires, liches, or ghosts.
Decide on one characteristic, or trait, that defines how other people see your character. Maybe your character is always calm no matter what the situation is. Or perhaps your character is the comedian. He is always cracking jokes, even while in the court of a king or the lair of a dragon. You can take this character trait and write it at the top of your character sheet, so you will always be subtly reminded to play your character in that way.
Create one additional character that is important and somehow related to your character. This could be a meddling uncle that always seems to show up in your business at inconvenient times. Or, it could be a childhood enemy that has followed you much of your life. He's often poked fun at you when you're down, but has also shown an act of heroism on random occasions which leads you to wonder if he's really good, or really bad.
With these seven different characteristics, one thing that you will die for, the three things you will always fight for, and one thing that you are afraid of, and one characteristic that defines your personality, and one character that is important to you, you've instantly created a small amount of background, personality, and a play style for the characters. Answering these questions for your character dramatically increases the chance for fun and dramatic roleplaying opportunities in your game, as well as starting the foundation for your D&D character background.
Author Resource:
Espen writes articles about Roleplaying and Dungeons and Dragons Character information.
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