Windsock
Two Thousand Club
Can I ask what you meant by this?
Character Theory Really Neat Character Ideas You've Had
- Thread starter BackSet
- Start date
Can I ask what you meant by this?
Crenando
Pencil Neck Geek
In terms of edgy superheroes. It's generally considered to be a very 90's thing, even though it stretched out into the 2000's pretty hard.
FoolsErin
when you at the when you you when the
I would be so so down for this, honestly.
ChasmOfOrganicMatter
High Priest of Depravity
I've been having a particular character on my mind as of late. Or rather, a fragment of a character I thought of for a video game setting.
The idea behind him/her is that they're not really a "person" as much as they are a vessel of a larger eldritch-Lovecraftian being that rules over a post-apocalyptic Earth. This entity is part of a network of beings that use the ruins of a once sprawling metropolis as a kind of power generator that feeds their eldritch biologies. However, conflicts between them result in some of the vessels being separated from their parasitic relationship (they are the hosts) with these ominous beings. One of them wakes up in a settlement relatively free of their influence but with no real recollection of how they got there, settling into their new life as their memories slowly return.
However, they find themselves compelled to return to this strange city; an urge and desire that feels like one they have had since childhood even if they technically never had one. After all, they are little more than a sort of homunculus, a being created by these otherworldly beings and given false memories and replicated emotions to fuel their psyche which in turn when placed in the city's feeder-mechanisms, feeds these beings. What they do not know is that they already have been in the city many times. Not as a visitor but a destroyer, a hunter, a murderer - used to destroy and wipe out the vessels of other eldritch beings and to "purge" the living body of the infested city of "impurities" as it is bent to the will of their particular unknown controller. Each time the task is done, they are mind-wiped by removing all the accmulated data from their experiences and using it to create new "purger vessels" while they themselves are simply absorbed into their macabre gods as a food source, diggested for millennia.
One of them however breaks from the programming. They do return to the city but this time, they find that they are practically being assaulted by multiple memories from multiple sources. Directed not to destroy "enemies" of the city/gods but the very "organ" mechanisms they use to control the city and vie for conrol amongst one another. Essentially, something else is controlling him now, turning this biologically and supernaturally enhanced being into a one person insurgency slowly networking with other humans that live within the city as they strive to unravel this alien mystery and figure out just what exactly they are and the machinations of both the eldrich beings and whatever the hell broke them out of their contorl.
The idea behind him/her is that they're not really a "person" as much as they are a vessel of a larger eldritch-Lovecraftian being that rules over a post-apocalyptic Earth. This entity is part of a network of beings that use the ruins of a once sprawling metropolis as a kind of power generator that feeds their eldritch biologies. However, conflicts between them result in some of the vessels being separated from their parasitic relationship (they are the hosts) with these ominous beings. One of them wakes up in a settlement relatively free of their influence but with no real recollection of how they got there, settling into their new life as their memories slowly return.
However, they find themselves compelled to return to this strange city; an urge and desire that feels like one they have had since childhood even if they technically never had one. After all, they are little more than a sort of homunculus, a being created by these otherworldly beings and given false memories and replicated emotions to fuel their psyche which in turn when placed in the city's feeder-mechanisms, feeds these beings. What they do not know is that they already have been in the city many times. Not as a visitor but a destroyer, a hunter, a murderer - used to destroy and wipe out the vessels of other eldritch beings and to "purge" the living body of the infested city of "impurities" as it is bent to the will of their particular unknown controller. Each time the task is done, they are mind-wiped by removing all the accmulated data from their experiences and using it to create new "purger vessels" while they themselves are simply absorbed into their macabre gods as a food source, diggested for millennia.
One of them however breaks from the programming. They do return to the city but this time, they find that they are practically being assaulted by multiple memories from multiple sources. Directed not to destroy "enemies" of the city/gods but the very "organ" mechanisms they use to control the city and vie for conrol amongst one another. Essentially, something else is controlling him now, turning this biologically and supernaturally enhanced being into a one person insurgency slowly networking with other humans that live within the city as they strive to unravel this alien mystery and figure out just what exactly they are and the machinations of both the eldrich beings and whatever the hell broke them out of their contorl.
Belle_Sorciere
Queen of Plot Twists
I like this thread! =D
Okay, one neat character I made fairly recently was a background character in the My Hero Academia world, but he worked so well, I developed him into a fully fledged original character. And I drew inspiration for him from three sources: Beastboy (from a Mumbo Jumbo episode), Inspector Gadget, and the ACME company from all the Roadrunner cartoons.
Haku’s a nerdy guy with a quirk that allows him to turn into inanimate objects fully or partially. Everyone thought his quirk would make him useless as a hero, but might make him a side-kick at best. However, after he was caught by a myriad of bullies in middle school, he discovered that all he needed...was good, comedic timing and some smarts. Winning with Home Alone - esque transformations, he walked away from the fight completely unharmed while his peers were sporting broken fingers from punching the side of steel anvil or being laid out on the ground after slipping on a rogue banana peel.
Over time, he learned how to only transform parts of his body, increasing his ability to fight with more conventional means. He still enjoys catching opponents off guard by transforming into something they weren’t expecting to deal with. He’s also quite good in stealth operations, even if everything he turns into keeps his color scheme. And as he continues to develop as a hero, he can turn into working electrical devices by amplifying the electricity naturally found in a human body - which he can only maintain for five-ten minutes - or by carrying around battery packs as part of his gear.
Now it’s a quirk with drawbacks. For example, he can’t turn into a Mazda and ride off into the mountains...not unless someone fuels him up first with actual gasoline. (But he could turn into a parked car as part of a stake-out.) He also can’t turn into something that requires projectiles to work, like a gun - again unless someone supplies ammo or a power source he can convert into a projectile. Haku can turn into a fired grappling hook though since the hook and rope remains attached to the device. And heck, with Denki as a partner - Haku could turn into a Tesla-like electric vehicle that could transport a small team so long as Denki kept providing the power Haku needed to operate as a car. Haku can turn into a bomb...but only once.
And no matter how hard he trains, he can still get stuck as an object from time to time - sometimes requiring outside rescue.
Mineta enjoys suggesting inappropriate things for Haku to turn into in order to sneak into the girl’s locker room. Haku would never do that on purpose, but he has become a shoe for a female classmate after her original was destroyed during a heroics class. (There was a lot of sharp debris everywhere and didn’t want her to hurt her foot.) As a guy with a little sister that looks up to him, he doesn’t want to do anything to break a girl’s trust - so he acts as a dorky big brother figure to any classmate that’ll tolerate it.
Okay, one neat character I made fairly recently was a background character in the My Hero Academia world, but he worked so well, I developed him into a fully fledged original character. And I drew inspiration for him from three sources: Beastboy (from a Mumbo Jumbo episode), Inspector Gadget, and the ACME company from all the Roadrunner cartoons.
Haku’s a nerdy guy with a quirk that allows him to turn into inanimate objects fully or partially. Everyone thought his quirk would make him useless as a hero, but might make him a side-kick at best. However, after he was caught by a myriad of bullies in middle school, he discovered that all he needed...was good, comedic timing and some smarts. Winning with Home Alone - esque transformations, he walked away from the fight completely unharmed while his peers were sporting broken fingers from punching the side of steel anvil or being laid out on the ground after slipping on a rogue banana peel.
Over time, he learned how to only transform parts of his body, increasing his ability to fight with more conventional means. He still enjoys catching opponents off guard by transforming into something they weren’t expecting to deal with. He’s also quite good in stealth operations, even if everything he turns into keeps his color scheme. And as he continues to develop as a hero, he can turn into working electrical devices by amplifying the electricity naturally found in a human body - which he can only maintain for five-ten minutes - or by carrying around battery packs as part of his gear.
Now it’s a quirk with drawbacks. For example, he can’t turn into a Mazda and ride off into the mountains...not unless someone fuels him up first with actual gasoline. (But he could turn into a parked car as part of a stake-out.) He also can’t turn into something that requires projectiles to work, like a gun - again unless someone supplies ammo or a power source he can convert into a projectile. Haku can turn into a fired grappling hook though since the hook and rope remains attached to the device. And heck, with Denki as a partner - Haku could turn into a Tesla-like electric vehicle that could transport a small team so long as Denki kept providing the power Haku needed to operate as a car. Haku can turn into a bomb...but only once.
And no matter how hard he trains, he can still get stuck as an object from time to time - sometimes requiring outside rescue.
Mineta enjoys suggesting inappropriate things for Haku to turn into in order to sneak into the girl’s locker room. Haku would never do that on purpose, but he has become a shoe for a female classmate after her original was destroyed during a heroics class. (There was a lot of sharp debris everywhere and didn’t want her to hurt her foot.) As a guy with a little sister that looks up to him, he doesn’t want to do anything to break a girl’s trust - so he acts as a dorky big brother figure to any classmate that’ll tolerate it.
SP3CT3R
eepy
Okay so the discussion in a Discord server I'm in turned to moths at one point and now I have tons of ideas for moth-themed characters. And because I can't stay off my bullshit for any reasonable length of time, they're mostly superheroes.
BackSet
The Great Thief Yatagarasu!
All I can think of is classic Killer Moth spouting moth puns (even though he never did that). He's not a hero though.
Folly-Derrezzed
Heaven restores you in life.
A mute cybernetic faun with porcelain skin and white hair that is very sassy while using sign language.
Crayons
Iconoclast
I had a moth theme character. He was named Timothy.
Ambiloquous
Graphic Fanatic
One character that I really didn’t get to play enough was the shit-talking daughter of a video game character and a witch. This was in an RP where every character was technically just code and being used in a competition of death matches to advertise the corporation who owns them. She knew she was fake but fought anyway, in hopes that the leader of another corp would give her a artificial body when she topped the popularity list. Or something like that, my memory is really quite bad. That RP had a really delicious concept.
Oh, and I made a teapot genie once.
Oh, and I made a teapot genie once.
laceanddoodles
Your run of the mill Victorian lady
Ooooo, okay, I'm a bit weird here, because I have favorite tropes and use them and reuse them constantly, but I think the coolest concept I ever had was for one of my first D&D campaigns that I was in.
Her name was Eilvyre, and she was a drider. She was also a paladan, oath of devotion. The basic story is that her father (yes, biological father) was an elf, and an academic who made his fortune studying monsters. Her mother was a drider who was taken into captivity by him as a very young woman. Eilvyre was born in captivity, initially only named "specimen E." As a small child, she first heard the voice of Lolth, the spider queen, who had seen flashes of Eilvyre's potential and wanted to use the girl for her own gain. Lolth gave Eilvyre her name, and taught her to use her rage and pain to become strong enough to leave. She tried to convince her mother to come with her, but Stockholm syndrome won out, and her mother refused. Lolth started to claim that she was more a mother to Eilvyre than her real mother. Eilvyre slipped away from captivity in the night. Lolth had groomed Eilvyre to think that the world was ugly and horrible and that she had to be a monster to be strong, that she shouldn't be kind, because nobody would be kind to her.
Unfortunately for Lolth, the minute Eilvyre actually got to see the world outside her father's house, she started to see the truth. Where Lolth had promised darkness and ugliness, Eilvyre saw trees and sky, sunlight and birds. She found a group of paladins who, instead of beating her back or killing her, showed her kindness and let her train alongside them. And it came to the point that when she was ready to swear an oath, she picked devotion-- the tenets of which are courage, honor, honesty, compassion, and duty. It became her goal to rise above what people thought when they first saw her, and to prove through her actions that even somebody who seemed to be a monster was capable of kindness, gentleness, and reason.
It was one hell of a campaign.
Her name was Eilvyre, and she was a drider. She was also a paladan, oath of devotion. The basic story is that her father (yes, biological father) was an elf, and an academic who made his fortune studying monsters. Her mother was a drider who was taken into captivity by him as a very young woman. Eilvyre was born in captivity, initially only named "specimen E." As a small child, she first heard the voice of Lolth, the spider queen, who had seen flashes of Eilvyre's potential and wanted to use the girl for her own gain. Lolth gave Eilvyre her name, and taught her to use her rage and pain to become strong enough to leave. She tried to convince her mother to come with her, but Stockholm syndrome won out, and her mother refused. Lolth started to claim that she was more a mother to Eilvyre than her real mother. Eilvyre slipped away from captivity in the night. Lolth had groomed Eilvyre to think that the world was ugly and horrible and that she had to be a monster to be strong, that she shouldn't be kind, because nobody would be kind to her.
Unfortunately for Lolth, the minute Eilvyre actually got to see the world outside her father's house, she started to see the truth. Where Lolth had promised darkness and ugliness, Eilvyre saw trees and sky, sunlight and birds. She found a group of paladins who, instead of beating her back or killing her, showed her kindness and let her train alongside them. And it came to the point that when she was ready to swear an oath, she picked devotion-- the tenets of which are courage, honor, honesty, compassion, and duty. It became her goal to rise above what people thought when they first saw her, and to prove through her actions that even somebody who seemed to be a monster was capable of kindness, gentleness, and reason.
It was one hell of a campaign.
Puhon
New Member
Hm!
Well I have this concept for one of my active characters, though I'm not sure if I'll actually put it to use in the rp as it would basically... Wreck everything we have previously established.
I don't wanna go into detail too much as I don't wanna spoil anything in case my rp partner from that rp will read this, but the basic concept would be that he thinks some killer is out to get him and ruin his life while it's actually all the time been he himself.
Well I have this concept for one of my active characters, though I'm not sure if I'll actually put it to use in the rp as it would basically... Wreck everything we have previously established.
I don't wanna go into detail too much as I don't wanna spoil anything in case my rp partner from that rp will read this, but the basic concept would be that he thinks some killer is out to get him and ruin his life while it's actually all the time been he himself.
SP3CT3R
eepy
A rat king, but made of snakes instead of rats. The other details will come later.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
This idea stems from a dream I had, but I thought the idea was so cool that I could explore it through writing. Basically the character is something called a "traveller", somebody who possesses the ability to jump to different periods of time within their lifetime. For example, somebody born in 1991 could travel into any year as early as 1991 up to their death(which of course comes with the potential downside of their traveller self knowing exactly when they die).
Of course this ability has all sorts of other implications such as these travellers meeting themselves in their natural timeline, thus being unaware of the future that their traveller self would be. In my dream where the idea originated I was back in the 90's and I had met a young traveller who was not yet aware of her ability and the present where people "were dying from a deadly disease"(a reference to Covid perhaps?). Yet, it was the same person I had known in the present, indicating that travellers due to their abilities are, in fact, in two different timelines and gain different knowledge as they travel.
This person, the version of her in the present, wanted to assist me in helping the people in the present who were dying, but first her past self, the version I had met in the 90's, had to learn about her ability or something like that. Some details remain fuzzy as the dream had been awhile ago.
The concept itself is pretty complex and in-depth for having stemmed from a dream, but I really want to do something literary based with it.
Of course this ability has all sorts of other implications such as these travellers meeting themselves in their natural timeline, thus being unaware of the future that their traveller self would be. In my dream where the idea originated I was back in the 90's and I had met a young traveller who was not yet aware of her ability and the present where people "were dying from a deadly disease"(a reference to Covid perhaps?). Yet, it was the same person I had known in the present, indicating that travellers due to their abilities are, in fact, in two different timelines and gain different knowledge as they travel.
This person, the version of her in the present, wanted to assist me in helping the people in the present who were dying, but first her past self, the version I had met in the 90's, had to learn about her ability or something like that. Some details remain fuzzy as the dream had been awhile ago.
The concept itself is pretty complex and in-depth for having stemmed from a dream, but I really want to do something literary based with it.
