So character flaws, they make and break the originality of a character. Makes them stand out from the crowd, makes them unique and interesting to play. I've been wondering for a time what kind of flaws people often focus on when making their characters and what are their fav flaws to see in character and the ones they dislike the most.

Myself I dislike seeing people stating their character simple drinks a bit and smokes a bit being their character's major flaw lol that not a flaw that’s just a normal social action lol. Also character who are really nice but can have a terrible temper, I myself play this as a flaw as I say below but I make sure my character’s crap at getting his point over which makes more scenes for someone who’s so loveable they could rarely do nothing wrong lol


I myself normally focus on the whole defensive character, who in fact often watches from a far, bunches his fists and measuring up the person to see if he could take him in a fight but if any conflict were to happen he would feel terribly shaky and ill due to nerves and possibly be sick with worry after any soft of physical scrap how ever minor.

I also like having character who hold some responsibility who are often nice and caring blah, blah, blah but when it comes to having to tell someone off, it never turns out right and becomes more like a heated rant which goes out of hands and becomes very embracement lol.

So lets here you thought people :D

I love making flaws. XD One of my character's flaws is smoking, but the fact that he's trying to stop. Because he's trying to stop, he gets angrier than he normally would, and then people began tothink that avoiding him would be best, because they wouldn't want to be yelled at. And because of that, the only thing he had to go back to and try and reach normality again would be smoking, and then he'd remind himself how bad it would be for him, so he's stuck in this endless cycle of stopping, arguing, starting, being avoided, stopping, arguing, etc. xD And although one day I'm going to end up making him stop, there's always the high chance of him starting again. So rather than being obsessed over his life, he's obsessed over his lack of will-power, trying to stop smoking yet being utterly useless at doing so, whilst in the mean-time attempting to have a half-way decent social life.

See now that’s what I would like to see in a character. Some depth to the whole smoking problem lol Just often I see characters who have the odd smoke and this is soooo wrong (I don‘t support smoking myself but I think it‘s funny how some people class smoking as such a bad thing lol) but trying to get over this problem, I've yet to role-play with anyone like that, strange really because it's such a normal thing lol

The character I'm talking about is one that I've had a while, but always given him something different each time. xD On this particular forum, it is smoking. And I don't approve of smoking, yet I know that people do it, and sometimes people just don't care what people think. And at one point, my character thought that, but then realised that slowly he was becoming one of those guys who would sit on a trash can and live by himself for the rest of his life, which was due to be shorter than it would've been had he not began smoking, and he spends all the money he might get on cigarettes. So even though he has the small flaw of smoking when others around him don't want him to, he has the bigger flaw of wanting to be a better person in the eye of his peers because he wants respect from them, even if respect doesn't include friendship.

Hehe your character seems pretty cool if you ask me, got some real depth :D

I find character flaws are what make RP fun; of course, I think it's more accurate to say that personality makes RP fun. I hate, hate, HATE to split my characterization up into 'flaws' and 'strengths'; it simply isn't how people work. Almost any trait can go either way, depending upon how you use it. However, I'll list some of the common 'flaws' I give my characters, the imbalances on the 'too much' side.

1. Anger problems. And I mean real anger problems. I've actually had a thread wherein one of my characters was so horribly mean to someone else's (someone I really enjoyed RPing with!) that I felt the need to apologize OOC for his behavior in case of misunderstandings. But it was realistic and IC, so I did it.

I have another who had fantasies, fleeting thoughts, whatever, about raping the woman he began to involve himself with, and hated himself for it. His reasons were complex, though, partly to do with the power dynamic of their relationship (she's upperclass, he's a serf) and with his childhood abuse. It's an interesting 'weakness,' because, while in many ways he's quite the Gary Stu (intelligent, handsome, moral), he's also, well, first off, missing three fingers, secondly, a serf, and thirdly, feels cripplingly insecure and angry and blames himself for the status quo.

2. Jealousy/insecurity. See above. Also see another character of mine, on AG, who's deeply insecure and jealous because he's a Squib. Or another, who's jealous chiefly because, well, it's just how he is. It's a great trait to leverage if you favor antagonistic relationships.

3. Depression. Not in the 'emo' way. But as something to write, to explore the contours of, it's fascinating.

4. Addiction: during, post. Of course, what really make this interesting, since it isn't quite a weakness in itself (it's a symptom, not the problem, as I learned in... well, more on THAT later) are the causes of the addiction.

5. Father/family issues! A great many of my characters feel they don't live up to their fathers' expectations. I wonder why. *sarcasm* I suppose 'inadequacy' is a good way to describe this one.

6. Selfishness, immaturity. I don't love to play characters like this, since it's the simplest kind of flaw, but mixed with others, it can be interesting.

7. Stubbornness, pridefulness. Fun in older characters who have presumably outdistanced other problems enough to be generally 'good guys.'

8. Physically handicapped in some way. I have several characters who are missing bits (fingers, an eye, etc.), and I'm going to keep going with that. War, after all... I suppose playing a Squib on Harry Potter is almost the same. Again, though, this isn't a weakness per se, just a limitation.

9. Immorality. Just doesn't believe in helping others, doesn't really care about others, doesn't really think about what's right; possibly just fundamentally cod and detached form people.

10. Awkwardness. You know--says the wrong thing, does the wrong thing, stutters a lot, has no conception of propriety... that can be awesome to RP.

11. Emotional neediness. 'Nuff said.

12. Perpetual poor hygiene. It's so fun to RP a character of whom I must tell my RP partners 'he smells funny--make sure to mention that!', who dresses like a homeless person, etc. I play a character who's absolutely brilliant, and therefore quite valued by some other characters... but who's really sort of miserable to be around.

Ha. Some of my characters have all of those weaknesses.

I'm sure there are other weaknesses I haven't played out. I've never played a blind character, a deaf character, a paralyzed character, a completely insane character (schizophrenia is so clichéed, and, anyway, I think most people really mean antisocial personality disorder when they talk about it), a very stupid character... a woman... the list goes on.

I jest. Women are lovely people, and I don't just say that because I'm one of them. Or do I? ;)


Hey, maybe we should make RPG-D's Big List O' Weaknesses. You know, compile a whole bunch of the things, so people can reference them when making that character that 'honest, really isn't a Mary Sue!'.

Maybe I'll do a documentation.

That’s quite the impressive list SmathNa, gives me a hell of a lot of idea's for characters and makes me think a bit more about my character and the fact they also have some of these traits :D

Yeah would be cool to make a list of weaknesses, maybe we could create a document on it, take stuff from this topic and such :D

Well, one of my characters is gravely mentally ill, another is a mysoginist with big mood swings, another is simply insane (not with any condition, he just makes no sense and can barely think), another is ulta-confrontational, incapable of talking to someone without attempting status transactions, and the last one... well, I dunno if it counts be he is repulsive to look at (in a world where being repulsive is not a norm), on the antisocial side of things, and a complete party pooper. He just sucks all the fun out of pretty much everything.

Dunno if those really count but, bleh.

I've played a character who was kinda homely but had an incredible vain streak. He'd only go after the prettiest Mary Sues, way out of his league. It was interesting to say the least but I got a lot of ooc flak for it. Some people just can't take a joke...

I also played a girl based off of a relative. She had this incredible propensity for being right about everything but she'd rub people the wrong way because of it. Try to give her any advice though and she'd freak.Was fun for awhile but got old quick.

My favorite character flaws to play are usually males who do things to excess (sex, drinking, drugs, etc. and other times over sleeping, undersleeping, workaholics, ). They usually mean well, but often mess things up; and they never see their flaws as flaws at all. They're irrisponsible and I love it! Most of this stuff aren't things my characters could just drop either. Usually they're terrible addictions that they're in denial about. They really do need interventions, but their never the types to ever listen.

Though they have these flaws they're usually quite happy people, that or completely depressed and repressing these feelings by doing stuff to excess, and acting happy on the outside. Though, I try to never make a character tragic. Tragedy usually equates to too much drama; and that's too much drama for this mama. ^^

I also love to play men that are Casanovas of some kind. They fall in love with every woman that they see and believe that they truly love them until something new comes along. They can never be nailed down to one woman. I guess this is the quality to love to excess.

-I've rolepalyed bodyshy characters....mainly one of my males- his girlfriend thinks its funny 'cause she can't take his shirt off without him blushing.

-I've played characters who bottle their emotions to the point of random and uncalled for explosions.

-I've played alcoholic characters.

-I've played characters that get seasick.

-I've played characters that are afraid of thunderstorms.

-I've even played a character alergic to mint....

and uhh at one point...all of those flaws were on on character...

I can't think of anymore at the moment...

I love having character flaws, but my favorite three that I've personally played are: having a character with a heroin addiction (I like went over the whole internet researching so I could play him exactly like a dope fiend. Surprisingly fun!), a klepto character. (who didn't see this as a flaw. He loved stealing things and it was always a game whether or not he'd get caught) and an insanely racist person. I'm like...probably one of the least racist people ever, so it was hard to be such a jerk. (Though, the thing I don't like about that is that some people automatically think you're a bad person just because your character is. They don't quite get the fact that he was part of the plot, so someone needed to do it)

yeah, I really like some of the ideas that are in this thread though! bahah.

I've said this before, but I've never sat down and thought, 'hmm...I have this character, so what flaws shall I give them?' because inevitably, the flaws come in as part of the character and they're never something I think about. All of my characters have them, but they're unique to each character and I don't think any have flaws that bleed into one another.

Flaws are important, but I always seem to find that building a character around a flaw is a recipe for an anti!Sue. If that's what you're going for, fine. Works for The Doctor, Harry Potter and Magneto, right? But for a character that is supposed to have more going for them than one single drive, a personality should be varied, and the flaws should come about naturally as that personality is built.

I have characters who have short tempers (this is the most overused excuse for a flaw, by the way. 'Super nice, butdon'tmakethemmad!!!'), characters who have image issues, characters with complexes, characters with warped ideals. Some have central themes and are created deliberately as Sues. I like flaws that can be used as strengths, and strengths that can be the character's undoing, though I don't think they make or break a character.

I make my characters as realistic as possible, but I can't sit down and write out a list of strengths and weaknesses for each one. I find their strengths, and their flaws, come out as I play them. It might lead to having a Gary Stu-ish (all my characters so far are male) profile at first, but this is why I don't lock profiles: so they can be changed as the player gets to know the character and the characters develops in play.

Interesting topic. :rice:

My charries come about in a sort of strange way, and so do their flaws. I don't think I've ever set out with a defined set of positives and negatives. The charrie starts out with a thought flash, and then I have to think and think and think and think until the pieces click together in another thought flash. When I work on their personalities, all I know is what the character feels like. If that makes any sense. So, for things like flaws and talents, I don't really break it down into seperate categories. I just look at what works with the feel of the character, what makes them a complete person. In general, if a character is one positive thing, it can also mean another negative thing, so I work with those to write something that's natural. What's really weird is that I can write a character and it works, I get the subtleties, but if I try to write about the character? Forget it, it just sounds stupid and cliche.

Stuff that usually turns up in my charries: pride, aggression, prejudice, insecurity/fear, flightiness, and obsession/addiction.

No, I know the feeling; it's because descriptions are often done in generic terms (it's the only way they can be done with any kind of ease), so it's difficult to portray the nuances of a character.

And hey, look at it this way: it's a writing dictum that you ought to show, not tell. Better to be able to show than able to tell very well, right?

I've found, in fact, that most characters look much more like Sues/Stus in their applications than in roleplay. I have the same problem with litmus tests. There are some people who would play any character, regardless of listed flaws, like a so-called 'Sue,' and some who could play, say, a rebellious princess very well. >.> They must be out there. Somewhere.

In any case, it's the same with flaws. As people have said, the flaw doesn't make the character... but it does help to broadly delineate the 'type' you're playing. And we're all some kind of 'type.' But it doesn't give you much else; that comes out in writing. So much of what we do every day is not internally motivated...

Stop me before I get psychophilosophical.