"Slightly Off" Traits For Possibly Not Quite Human Characters

Let's come up with "slightly off" , unusual traits and behaviors for Ambigiously Human or Humanoid Abomination , etc. characters !

Ex. Sometimes they blink a transparent eye membrane .

edited 23rd Mar '14 2:57:18 PM by ElectricalLass

Their movements are overly precise

I have homunculi with no pupils and/or irises.

The good ones have a heartbeat, but the bad ones don't.

Also one can make them "flicker" under subtle energy field that has no effect on normal living beings.

Hmm, let's see:

• They don't blink automatically.
• They lack the natural reflexes (e.g. something unknown comes flying at them and they don't move or flinch).
• Their movements are odd and somewhat jerky.

One of the most effective "Hmm, something's off and I can't put my finger on just what" costumes I've ever seen was simply very good finger prosthetics that gave the person's fingers one joint too many. It helped that the person already hadverylong, slender fingers, but it was really disturbing to see. It took quite a while for me to figure out that what I was seeing was that when they bent their fingers, each finger was made up of four sections instead of only three, like it should be.

Entirely monochrome eyes.

No hair; not even eyebrows or eyelashes.

That thing G-Man does with his speech

A person who never injures themselves while tumbling.

There faces are dead. As in they don't have twitches, or eye movement, or any of the subtle expressions we associate with living humans.

Giving humanoids inhuman body language helps. A character who looks at things in the manner of creatures with non-binocular vision, first with one and then the other eye, and such.

Oddly large or small pupils, far more teeth than they should..

But the best things are just odd traits, like the body language suggestion- something that doesn't move like a person does can be rather unnerving.

It depends highly on the medium too. Portraying these sorts of things, especially if you're trying to be subtle, can be difficult with text.

Other sapient species might find humans slightly creepy or intimidating because of a certain trait :

...... when we are amused , we turn up the corners of our lips , and sometimes bare our teeth. To a species in which baring the teeth is always a threat , this behavior might be unnerving.

Our body language might creep them out !

Good point.

Y'know, the more you look at the Slasher Smile trope, the less smiles as a show of positive emotion make sense.

Lacking involuntary movements like blinking, twitching, breathing ect. At first you would probably notice something was wrong but it would take a long time to realise what.

No sleeping.

No body heat, cold to the touch

Silent when moving, no unintentional noise.

Black Iris

Speaking with multiple voices (this could be scary if they sound like multiple people talking at once)

unnaturally fluid/precise actions

Permanently calm or limited emotional response.

One I find quite interesting is super strength/invulnerability if you down play it. Don't put them in situations where it is obvious and let other characters slowly realise they keep performing feats they shouldn't.

edited 24th Mar '14 3:04:51 PM by aoide12

Perfectly symmetrical bodies. Everything the same size and the same place, just mirrored.

When I read the title, I thought OP meant "not quite human" as in "Humanoid Aliens". For that, my suggestions would be "mix in some features from other animals." In one of my settings, the resident elves are really catlike humanoids — as in, their noses are flatter, their ears are pointier, and they're more agile.

But, getting back to the main question: You can work wonders with inhuman speech patterns. Galaxy Quest is a great example with the "awkward monotone aliens." —> "Mmmcommmmmander, weeeeee needyourhelp!"

• Speaking almost at the same time as other people, eventually reaching perfect synch, and then anticipating their words.

• A weirdly integrated form of synesthesia so that they can obtain more information using different different senses and sense-redundancies like smelling things that we can't hear or see.

• Some weird quirk like a trembling hand or a limp arm.

• Have their faces be perfectly symmetrical. That looks really weird.

The mouth doesn't fit the words it's saying and — Oh, wait.

The voice doesn't fit the face. Oh, that's taken, too?

Mixing in animal reactions or behaviors. For instance, fae have a tendency to react like big cats in my head. (I.e. whenever there's a threat, they drop into the "shoulders hunched, teeth bared, back arched" position).

Have a hideous facial tic or something. Like Lore in Star Trek TNG.

One lazy eye

A tendency to walk up stairs on all fours .

( actually a weird trait I have , I don't know why ? )

for that matter, clinging to walls/walking up walls

edited 26th Mar '14 3:13:57 PM by fulltimeD

That isn't slightly off. That's just not human.

Maddie's suggestion seems to be the best out of everything here. It looks off, and it might not be easy to notice.

Their skin doesn't have a mark on it.

So I'm not human then ? The furthest back ancestor of mine I know of was born in the late 1700's .......