Tabletop RPG Player Character Show n' Tell

I have to say that I'm genuinely surprised one of these didn't exist already. One of the best parts of any good tabletop adventure is who's shoes you step into for your quest. This is an opportunity for you (yes, you) to show off and share a PC of yours, either current or past, for any campaign or one-shot you've done.

But, much like these games themselves, there are rules to keep this organized and to encourage participation:

1. Please limit yourself to discussing only one of your characters at a time, and no double-posting. Let someone else share their's too.
2. Engage with the previous poster before posting your own character. This can take the form of providing feedback, asking questions about them, or if they remind you of a character from some work of fiction you enjoy.
3. That being said, only include original characters. Though you might've played Indiana Jones in a goofy one-shot while the paladin was Captain America and the barbarian was Conan the... Barbarian, please refrain from posting them here.
4. Prospective characters are welcome, but might be more suited for the thread "Characters you'd Like to Play." That thread might be more constructive if you want in-depth analysis of a concept.
5. If any content related to your character is homebrewed, designate it as such for those unfamiliar with the game.

Without further ado, below is what the format will generally look like. You are welcome to add or remove details as you find necessary.

Name: Because "Fighter 2" is boring.

Age: Are they a 12 year old goblin or an 800 year old vampire?

Race/Species: Tabaxi and Rakshasa and Bugbears! Oh my!

Tabletop Game: Some explore dungeons with dragons, others dystopian futures or the deep reaches of space. Which game did you play?

Level and Class(es): A pivotal marking of an adventurer's growth. Plus you get some sick abilities.

Alignment: The age-old question of whether or not it's okay to brutally murder a peasant for his loot.

Personality: How do they interact with others and their world? Can't always have a joke guys.

Motivation: Everyone's got a different reason for risking life and limb. Maybe their Netflix subscription expired.

Backstory: Dead parents...check.

Relevant Tropes: I mean, duh.

Other information: Anything else that doesn't fit above goes here. If you'd rather just tell us that your character is a Judge Dredd ripoff rather than let us infer it, go right ahead.

Edited by randomdude4 on Jun 18th 2020 at 3:07:11 AM

"Can't make an omelette without breaking some children." -Bur

I'll bite. This is one of my favourite characters I've ever played.

Name: Vincent Claudio Cardinale

Age: 30, prior to Embrace.

Race/Species: Vampire, Caitiff. Member of the Anarch sect.

Tabletop Game: Vampire: The Masquerade

Level and Class(es): -

Alignment: Humanity 8

Personality: Friendly and polite, though often nervous due to being constantly out of his element. Still a bit freaked out over his own death. Very reliable and trustworthy, intent on doing his best.

Motivation: To play a fundamentally decent person who will try to be good, even when forced into the monstrous world of Cainite politics.

Backstory: An Italian immigrant, who only ever wanted to start his own limousine-firm, Vincent was Embraced by an unknown Sire and subsequently adopted by the Anarch-movement. As a high-generation Caitiff, Vincent's unlife was difficult, with the other Anarchs constantly hazing him as the new kid. Because Vincent was so unfit for the paramilitary lifestyle of his sect, the local leaders had a protective attitude towards him and they are trying to raise him into pulling his own weight within the Anarch community. While he was often neglected and ridiculed for not being much of a fighter, he ultimately showed his worth when he managed to save several others by sacrificing himself during a Sabbat raid.

Relevant Tropes: Nice Guy, Big Fun, Dead Weight, Big Beautiful Man, Badass Driver, Masquerade, Getaway Driver, Friendly Neighborhood Vampire, The Heart, Sharp-Dressed Man, Gentleman and a Scholar

Other information: A short fat man, not in very good physical shape. Excellent driver, decent mechanic. Quite knowledgeable in litterature, history and art, as well as etiquette.

I couldn't find Caitiff in my rulebook. What power disciplines did your character use?

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

I don't remember which of the 3rd edition books my storyteller used when we created Vincent, but Caitiff can be customized within certain limits and disciplines can be justified by backstory. At the end of his unlife he had Fortitude (2), Presence (2), Potence (1) and Celerity (1). Most of the anarchs he hanged around with were Brujahs, so he learned their disciplines through training and the Fortitude he got by getting beat up by them on a daily basis.

Yeah, Caitiff are clanless and have no discipline specialty, though they usually don't get to take clan-specific disciplines IIRC. Seems like a decent discipline spread for a fighter - ironic since he doesn't seem like a fighter in terms of non-Discipline abilities!

That was completely intentional, as my first two vampires were designed to be brawlers. He was a crap fighter, but still durable like a small tank in a nice suit. But my work to play a vampire who strives to be a decent person paid off, as he took a level in humanity before he had his Final Death.

Name: Claire Durand

Age: 2...don't worry, she looks 18.

Race/Species: Gynoid

Tabletop Game: Godbound

Level and Class(es): Godbound 2, bound to the Words of Artificial Intelligence, Passion and Sky.

Personality: Well, Claire awakened to full sentience in-play, so she's got an erratic Character Development arc going on and swinging her around. At first she was extremely serious, inflexible and murderous toward bad people - one guy got kinda freaked out by seeing her go "from pop diva to Autocossack" in a split second. Hanging out with a bunch of Lovable Rogue types (and not liking it when everyone around her was super-terrified) helped her mellow out a bit, and by the time the game froze over, she'd become a laid-back type with a penchant for jokes and playful sarcasm.

Motivation: Her immediate motivation was to find out who the assholes who killed her (human) sister were, then introduce them to some pink laser death. She also found herself responsible for some freed slaves, and she wanted to build a nice, beautiful outpost of civilization where they could be free.

Backstory: Claire was built in the Bright Republic - that's an island which still has advanced modern technology, while the rest of the world is in Medieval Stasis. She was created as an Idol Singer bot by Bright Records and housed with her manager and his daughter, and they were a lovely little family even if she wasn't truly sapient yet. Then Claire and her family were attacked by forces unknown, Sarah was killed, and she was shipped off to the back end of nowhere.

I was discovering a lot of my backstory in play (the GM had a lot of ideas) and it turns out that Bright Records was actually fronting for a military R&D department - which is why an idol-bot was equipped with enough firepower to level a city.

Relevant Tropes:

I had to read up on the game a bit to get the context. The game sounds complex and delightfully insane, trying to mix in so many different themes. Sounds like you had a lot of fun playing Claire.

Name: Informally, Juliana Brand. Formally, Machinist Mate 1st Class Lady Juliana McAuley Brand, Imperial Navy

Age: 34

Race/Species: Human

Tabletop Game: Mongoose Traveller

Careers and Terms: Four terms Navy/Engineering

Personality: A bit of an odd duck, as she's a Noble serving in an enlisted role. She's experienced at her work, and can lead people, but can switch between the technician and the proper lady.

Motivation: Initially, she joined the Navy to leave her father's political ambitions (arraigned marriage and all that), since then, she's grown into a professional ship's engineer, and looks to complete a full career in the Imperial Navy.

Backstory: The second child, and first daughter of Marquis Brand of Saagii in the Diaspora sector, she left home at the age of 18 to join the Imperial Navy, and leave her father's plans for the future. Her parents were talking about finding a good spouse for her, and how they'd like to be closely related to a Duke at some point. She spoke with a Navy Recruiter, who said she could join in another sector to avoid the family, and got an uncle to take her to the Rim to join the Navy. She joined up, and made a career out of it so far. Currently, as of 1120, she's the Engineer and Leading Petty Officer aboard the Patrol Cruiser Boxing Kangaroo, in the Sol subsector, and left Terra for a patrol earlier this year.

Relevant Tropes she was a Spirited Young Lady, works as a Wrench Wench, in a Military Science Fiction campaign, where she's Petty Officer Rock, in a setting where Gender is No Object, and a Lady Ranker.

Name: Annabel "Ann" Angevin

Age: ??? (Looks 10)

Race/Species: Dragon, thinks she's a human

Tabletop Game: Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game (but using D&D's Spelljammer setting).

Level and Class(es): Detective (not actually her class as the game lacks a class system. Closest I can come to her actual class is her Power Source and Archetype which is Unknown/Flyer), game lacks a leveling system

Alignment: A big old shrug. She's generally a good person but associates with mercenaries and murderers, though she's more an oblivious accessory to their crimes.

Personality: Cheerful and upbeat. Also completely delusional. She thinks she's a noir style private detective and is actually fairly good at it. She regularly attempts to be dark and brooding with over dramatic monologues but it comes off as more comical than anything.

Motivation: Dedication to friends, solving mysteries

Backstory: She was a Blue Dragon who was really evil before a powerful Wizard used three wish spells to banish her from that world, remove her powers, and removed her memories (where the noir detective thing came from is unclear). She was picked up by the party when they found her floating in space.

Relevant Tropes: Hardboiled Detective (at least she tries to be), Great Detective (she occasionally is competent), Shapeshifter Mode Lock (part of the whole "no powers" thing is being stuck in human form, not that she's aware of it), Identity Amnesia (no memory if her previous identity whatsoever. It's the one mystery she doesn't care about solving), Private Eye Monologue (she does one Once Per Issue)

Other information: Sometimes she acts like she's in her 20s sometimes she acts like a child. It depends on the writer. She also frequently performs the Dance of Deduction from The Great Ace Attorney.

"Hope for our world, tragedy for another."

My Starfinder dwarf mechanic/biohacker is my longest lasting RPG character ever after having played her for three months. Never had a character survive this long, be this ancient. She could almost have a personality and relationships with other characters, I regret not having more of a backstory than "Dwarf Fortress-style Gundam space colony died, she was a combat medic".

I've learned not to put that much effort into characters that usually die by the third session. Who generally accomplish absolutely nothing with my rolls.

Edited by Rotpar on Jan 8th 2023 at 1:52:33 AM

"But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you." - O'Brien, 1984

Jeez, what kind of killer GMs are you playing with? I don't think any of my GMs would ever think about killing off a character without permission, even if we were playing a system where getting KO'd in battle would usually be death.

"Hope for our world, tragedy for another."

Name: Fennec Reynard

Age: Adult

Race/Species: Kitsune

Tabletop Game: Starfinder

Level and Class(es): Technomamcer (Lv. 1)

Alignment: Somewhere on the neutral spectrum.

Personality: Mischievous and somewhat seductive. Loves starships. Flirty.

Motivation: Haven't decided yet.

Backstory: Haven't decided yet.

Relevant Tropes: Asian Fox Spirit, The Tease, Benevolent A.I., A Dog Named "Dog"

Other information: Is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns (occasionally she/her cause I slip up sometimes), despite being flirty they're not really interested in relationships, has a snarky British Artificial Personality (basically a step up from Mass Effect's VIs but a step below true AI) companion named Vixen. Yes, their name really is Fox Fox with an AI companion named Fox.

"Hope for our world, tragedy for another."

Nice, me and a buddy just started playing Starfinder today (we've previously played 5e, Pathfinder 2E, Cyberpunk RED, Interface Zero, and The Witcher TTRPG)

Man I really should do a write up of my Cyberpunk RED Rockergirl here one of these days. As of February, I'll have played her for 2.5 years.

Name: Marie "Mare" Mizutani aka Okami

Age: 21

Race/Species: Werewolf

Tabletop Game: Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game

Level and Class(es): Nature Physical Powerhouse (again, SCRPG does not have classes or levels, this is her power source and archetype)

Alignment: Neutral Evil? Lawful Evil?

Personality: Stoic but loyal to a fault. Sometimes sarcastic. Incredibly paranoid that Apex and his pack is out to get her.

Motivation: Just following orders.

Backstory: Formerly a member of the pack of Apex, the Wolf King, Okami was kicked out of the pack for being unable to fully transform (only able to grow ears and a tail). She later joined up with the criminal organization run by the supervillain Inkwell.

Relevant Tropes: Our Werewolves Are Different, Little Bit Beastly, Super-Strength

Other information: Nothing atm.

Edited by BackSet1 on Feb 26th 2023 at 11:29:55 AM

"Hope for our world, tragedy for another."

Mm. I'm wondering whether she's meant to seem like more than an Elite Mook. Seems a bit flat for a major character.

Could be that they didn't know what else to put. Is there anything more you can tell us?

---

Also, my character from Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Beau.

Name: Beau. Strictly speaking she's Reignbeau because I think I'm funny, but nobody ever calls her that

Age: About 8, but in human terms assume 18. This will become clear in a minute.

Race/Species: Ursine Gurahl. That is, Beau is a bear (A Spectacled Bear, to be specific) who shifts into human form.

Tabletop Game: Werewolf: The Apocalypse

Level and Class(es): Oh shit I forgot it's been a while

Alignment: I haven't the foggiest. She follows the Code of Ursa and tries to act with Honor, Wisdom, and Succor. She's also literally a bear though.

Personality: For the most part Beau is friendly enough, though rather shy and awkward in social situations and especially around those she doesn't know. In conversation Beau tends to be very blunt and sometimes harsh, but it's mostly due to the nuances of human conversation being unfamiliar to her. She likes good jokes, so long as she actually understands them, shows affection through offers of protection or assistance, and enjoys showing her friends new skills she's picked up. However, Beau is also stubborn, holds grudges like a champ, is very prone to black-and-white thinking, and becomes legitimately dangerous to be around when angered or when she feels under threat unless someone she trusts can talk her down. Afraid of fire and being collared, will become violent at those being used as threats. Finally, Beau at pretty much all times operates under the assumption that she is the strongest person in the room. Because in her Crinos warbear form she usually is.

Motivation: Be a good bear, protect her friends, and oh yes kill the Wyrmtaint and all it brings.

Backstory: Once an (as far as she knew) ordinary Spectacled Bear living in Peru, Beau was captured by poachers and forced to wear a collar and dance to entertain tourists. One night beau sat in her cage and looked at the latch, and realised that if her paws were hands, she could open it. She looked at her paws, and the lock, and her paws, and the lock, and her hands, and then she got up, opened the latch, and walked clear away, stepping over the sleeping forms of her captors. After wandering a while, she was approached by a man who introduced himself in bad Portuguese as Neil. He claimed explained anything and said he had come to teach her. Over the next year, Neil taught Beau her history, how to be human, how to be kind to others, the importance of protecting the weak and helping the poor, how to hold her temper, and how to think around corners rather than just in straight lines. After an attack on their home Neil taught Beau her final lesson: Fight the Wyrm. And with that, and Neil's phone number memorised, they parted ways. Just in time for Beau to be nabbed by the SCP foundation, of all things. Woo.

Relevant Tropes: The Big Guy, Mama Bear, Comically Missing the Point, Eloquent in My Native Tongue, The Medic, Healing Hands, Black-and-White Insanity (At her worst)

Other information: In her true form ("Me") Beau appears to be a normal-sized adult spectacled bear. In her war form ("Real Big Me") Beau becomes a truly enormous humanoid bear monster, standing nearly 5 metres tall. In her human form ("Hands") Beau appears to be a tall Latina with two-tone brown hair (A holdover from her bear markings) and very limited facial expression range. She usually walks around barefoot (heh) and in just a singlet and ragged shorts - her only concessions to this stupid human thing where they get mad at you or act weird if you don't wear clothes. She also carries Lizard Backpack, a backpack shaped like a lizard which is the first thing she bought by herself and carries all her possessions. All five of them. She is more fluent in Portuguese than she is in English. She can write but she is slow and her spelling is...unique. Also Beau is Asexual, because I am Asexual and acting out romance would make me die of embarrassment.

Edited by Murataku on Mar 2nd 2023 at 9:35:12 PM

Everybody's all "Jerry's old and feeble" till they see him run down a skyscraper and hijack a helicopter mid-flight.

Just cooked that one up yesterday, as a pick-up-and-play premade for my Dark Heresy 2 players.

Name: Alexandria/Madeleine/Veronique Corbeau AKA The Walpurgite

Age: Unspecified late 20s

Race: Human, baseline, unaugmented

Tabletop Game: Warhammer 40000: Dark Heresy, Second Edition

Origin/Past/Role: Penal Colony/Adepta Sororitas/Assassin

Personality: Detached and cynical.

Backstory: Innocence is an illusion. Corbeau, born on the penal world of Stygma, is very much disillusioned. She's an embodiment of the Had to Be Sharp trope, having survived not only Stygma, but also the Adepta Sororitas Academy of Saint Walpurgis and, more specifically, the secretive Silent Night death cult that provides lethal operators for all Orders of the Inquisition in the Amestris Sector.

Combination of the Adepta Sororitas special ability (receive Insanity Points instead of Corruption Points) and the Seen It All perk you can pick for the Assassin role means she's all out of fucks to give and the only new ones available are on the other side of a Warp portal. Basically, she spent half her life in a gulag, the other half through Training from Hell (please remember that it's the Sisters of Battle that field fucked-up shit like Arco-Flagellants, Sisters Repentia, Penitent Engines and Mortifiers), so she's Conditioned to Accept Horror. And then there's the Penal Colony special ability that grants her Scrutiny and Knowledge (Criminal Underworld) skills and Rank 1 Peer (Criminal Underworld) perk. That makes her an one-person counter-revolutionary, counter-terrorist op that you can just drop in any Hive City and get results in under a week.

That and, due to my ridiculously lucky rolls, she has the largest HP pool of all the premades.

Edited by NotSoBadassLongcoat on Mar 22nd 2023 at 5:07:29 PM

"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von Lewis