Character Development help :P

okay I'm a bit bored with my typical "noble hero" hero" archetypes I usually play (Jedi, Paladin, superman-esque tanker etc.) and I want to try the other side, the "noble criminal" (Smuggler, Rogue, Batman-esque scrapper) but since it's the opposite of what I usually play I'm a little stuck.

I know some things about the character
superhero name is Acies=latin for edge (or Vesica=latin for blade) unless I get a beter suggestion

He is either science or mutant origin
and his powers are Dual-Wield (daggers) or Martial Art (no training he just fight and it happens to look that way)/Super reflexes

might be able to turn invisible (Still debating)

I'm leaning toward black/white for his costume, mostly tights, something that I can imagine him wearing under clothing.

His name is Jason Alexander
He is a college Student (23 y/o)


my biggest problems tend to lie in why does he use daggers and why does he fight crime

I was leaning towards this story

Jason is a mutant, always known he was one but never used them for anything was shopping and was in a novelty shop. After a few minutes a couple of thugs bust in start robbing the place. Jason grabs a plastic bag and a couple of prop daggers and scared the thugs off. The store manager gave Jason the daggers as a thank you (alternativley he just gives the thieves a good thrashing)

Realizing that he seemed to be rather good at this Jason dons a costume and begins fighting crime.

it sound okay to me but it seems to missing that element of tragedy, something I can't seem to come up with. I don't want the character scarred, but I'm not sure if I want to do a typical "my parents were killed and now I fight crime" story (I could handle it but that might be TO MUCH tragedy)

so any idead? Opinions? etc.

I should note that although he is a "noble criminal" he is a happy guy, he listens to Owl city, he doesn't have a lot of friends, but he isn't really depressed. he taunts his enemies is combat to distract them. He is not moody or emo

Darky McDarkGoth, the Dark/Dark scapper.

Well, I think you may want to break down your 'edgy scrapper' type idea into what it is you want exactly. I mean, you make it seem like you want this to be a hero though the 'noble criminal' tag sorta indicates a villainous streak a la Han Solo though, I don't think that's what you particularly mean.

You indicate you want a 'light edge' to the character. Now, to motivate someone to risk thier lives in persuit of justice... it sorta has to be soemthing pretty memorable, not necessarily a huge event like the death of a family member but something important to the character.

"I remember the look on my sister's face when they came. I'll admit it... I wasn't always a good guy. I... sold drugs. Its not my brightest time in my life but... I needed money, ya know? Anyway, I'd tried to get out and I remember what my bosses did to send a message. I came home late one Wednesday and I found lil' sis crying over her puppy. Dad had gotten it for christmas and... There was so much blood. I'll never forget what they did to that innocent dog, what I did to it. I swore to my sis I'd make them pay for what they did. I did and I will make sure no other little sisters in this city have to go through what she did."

Now, my recommendation for playing the 'edgey yet happy' hero is to read up on some Spiderman. He's (What I'm assuming best fits your idea of a edgey yet great guy) probably the best example of one I can think of. Look over what you like about that archetype and pick and choose what you think your character should act like. If it works for ya, it works. If not... I dunno. That's what I do. The biggest thing you wanna remember is you need to give him a trouble of some kind. He's not a hero because he's naturally a great example of humanity. He has to struggle with it to be a hero. Least, that's what I think makes the archetype so great.

Instead of having something tragic happen to him, you could have it happen to someone close to him. A friend, perhaps. He sees it, and realizes that the next time it could be him in that situation. So, he sets out to deal with it before that happens.

I don't know that death, whether human or animal, is necessary to motivate. One of my DB, Two Points, and my natural tank, Streetwise Hercules, both got into the business because they were fed up with seeing the kids of the 'hood all starry-eyed over the "powers" gangs, and skipping home in hopes of becoming the next big thing in the Skulls or the Hellions. There were no specific deaths or vengeances to motivate them, just the need to put their neighborhoods to the right, and to show the young people that one could be powerful without resorting to drugs, black magic, and other powers to which the gangs are addicted. Both these heroes consider themselves men of the street, and are willing to fight "the Chicago way" as the Irish cop in The Untouchables put it. Manticore might like their tactics, but Statesman would at least wince.

Come to think of it, Ace Barnstormer's backstory is somewhat like that too. (Though admittedly, he's more the "noble hero") He's a globe hopper that returned home and donned a powered undersuit (under his costume, that is) because restoring his hometown was vital. The tragedy was already there. Ritki War I and the loss of most of the heroes, the rise of the Sky Raiders, 'dyne, etc., all these upset his sense of home, his mental and spiritual anchor as he journied the world.

okay aside from a couple minor things (like whether or not he can turn invisible, leaning toward yes but not sure)

Jason is a mutant, his abilities are Enhanced reflexes, Strength, endurance etc. He jump extremely high, pick up more wieght, run faster than a normal human at peak effeciency, he is alos slightly smarter.

A friend of Jasons, Jerry, get involved with some bad people and owes them money. Jerry asks Jason, unaware of his abilities, to go as backup.

During the "meeting" Jerry is shot and passes out. Jason manages to knock out the thugs and get Jerry to a hospital. Over the next few weeks Jason begins to notice crime more than he used to. Things that he might have ignored now caught his attention. A drug deal here, a mugging there. Finally he decides enough is enough.

taking the name <blank> (need a new one now) he uses his powers to help stop crime in paragon city.



hows that sounds?

I like it.

Your character could use his mutant powers to showing off with his daggers. Twirling and throwing daggers and such. Basically playing the "BAD BOY" angle to get the girls. Perhaps even used them a few times in knife fights when he was dealing drugs. His skill with knifes be the reason Jerry ask him to act as his backup.

This way you have the background with daggers already included.

not really daggers but bone fragments?

I'm prety much settled on MA/SR just becuase it's less deadly :P.
he doesn't actually use martial arts, it's just him fighting that happens to look that way.

his powers are basically spiderman w/o the webs, sticking to walls or spider snese. Though his reaction time to noises and sights and such is quick enough that he can dodge bullets, just not as effectively as spiderman.

still debating on invisibility though

all I need to work on are his costume (right now it's basically Clark Kents from Smallville, or Huntress from Birds of prey) may stick with his current

and his name. right now it's twilight huntsman but I'm trying to think of something w/o the night reference, but for now it's twilight huntsman.

EDIT: okay got the classic costume done. basically just dark grey and black angel pattern with a a mask....got sudden burst if inspiration from the classic comic book huntress :P

that just leaves a better name

((Names -- and I just checked to see if they're available:
Say No
Fren-Z
In the Black

Just some suggestions. ))

okay I'm still loking for a name.

I'm totally stuck on this part. It's the hardest part of character creation IMHO.

he doesn't work exculsively at night, his costume is white/black. His inspiration is huntress (a combonation of DCAU and Birds of Prey.) I want his name to represent his feeling towards WHY he is fighting crime.

Any ideas <.<

I'll have to admit I'm not really seeing a criminal/rogue/vigilante aspect to the character.

As far as I can tell, he was a mutant who never wanted to do anything with their powers until a friend got injured while they were there and now they've wised up to the whole 'great power/great responsibility' deal.

Is their primary motivation the safety and welfare of others? The enforcement of the law? Or is it the thrill, attention, privileges or benefits of being a registered hero?

Because if he's mainly doing it for the attention or the prospect of enhanced dating opportunities, (which I doubt, since you'd mentioned him being like Batman) then the name Showbird is available.

it's kind of a wierd thing.


the character himself has no real mental issues. He just wants to protect people.

he is not depressed or angsty. He is not interested in picking up dates.
his pwers are basically spiderman w/o the web-slinging or spidersense or wall sticking.

It's his superhero identity that I'm looking to kind of be batman=superman..in other words if I used my Classic tank USApex, this guy would be the opposite. Work form the shadows, his costume is mostly black.

it's kind of hard to explain so the best way I can think is what I posted originally
normally I make------but I am now making
Jedi Smuggler
Paladin Rogue
Superman Batman

it's more the vigilante/Rogue persona I'm going for.

sorry if that doesn't make any sens ebut it's 4am where I am and I'm VERY sleep deprived :P

I think what you're needing is something to drive the guy to fight crime.

It sounds as if he's from the tough part of town, lot of gang activity, drugs, muggings, et cetera.

An overall 'plot' for his origin might be:

Mutant reflexes get him 'in the door' with a few fight clubs, maybe even recruited as muscle for a dealer or a pimp. This lasts until he sees an atrocity committed, or he intercedes and kicks some deserving tail.

Problem is, he did it in his civvie guise, and he comes home to his sis/mom/dad/favorite cousin beat up/at death's door/cut up and stuffed in the fridge.

At that point, he decides he's NOT backing down, but adopts the costume as a way to build a fearsome rep and protect his family at the same time.

I like that a lot...but still lacking a name. Twilight Huntsman is okay but it doesn't feel right for the character

I have plenty of time to work on the character now :P

spilt coffee on my computer and now I need to build a new one T.T

It's important to remember that Dark Costume=/= dark character

The fundamental basis of any character you design is what they want, and what they are willing to do to get it. This is especially true for this sort of game, as it can define all the entire spectrum of good and evil. Design a character from here and you will automatically have someone who feels like a person and not a vague ideal.

Once you know your end and your means, you can work on why he does these things. Why does this person want to achieve that? Why is he willing to go to these lengths to achieve the goal, and why will he not go further? You don't need to get fancy here until later, but a base understanding of these will make the character be more interesting.

When your end, means, and motive are done, you can work on the mechanisms. What can he do, what can't he do? This is a part of the character you will always be tempted to do first, but it must be done last. If you do it first and work from there, the character will always feel like a plot device, because that is what it will inherently be. If you do this last even when the character actually is a plot device it will be easy to conceal that.

And now you've done end, means, motive, and mechanisms, you can do the minuitae. These are all the details of little importance to the fundamental basis of the character, such as dress, bearing, speech, habits, and so on ad infiniteum. Incidentally, these are also an excellent way to spot a relatively unskilled character designer as they will inevitably assign these grossly disproportionate attention and disregard things that actually make the character what they are.

Now, an example. One of my characters, Lord of the Red Fist.

This man wants to force humanity at large to strive for self-improvement instead of stagnating in helpless dependency on exceptional individuals, and intends to do this by removing from the picture any individual whose remarkable achievements are not simply the result of hard work and dedication.

He will do whatever is neccesary to achieve this end. While he would prefer not to kill those who only seek to help, if that is what it takes to force them to stop, then it will be done without hesitation. He will also constantly challenge forces made of individuals striving as collectives to improve the world, such as Longbow, but doesn't intentionally cripple or kill them, as he aims to make them stronger. He is not willing to compromise the security of humanity as a whole to do so, and will use his exceptional powers to destroy any threat that is genuinely beyond the abilities of conventional man to resolve, believing that so long as he cannot be relied upon to help mankind they cannot be dependent on him. He doesn't care for the fate of small people; they must prove their worth by fighting for themselves.

This, needless to say, makes him a villain in the CoH/CoV divide.

He does this because he has seen the remarkable dependency that modern individuals show on heroes, to the point that even in a city notorious for violence they will make no effort to preserve themselves, instead depending on heroic intervention. The agencies made of normal men, even as national and private armies, are almost mere support organisations for the heroes who do the real work. Compared to times past, when men fought men for their own destiny, the modern people are weak. They must be made strong again.

His abilities are extroardinary resilience thanks to an origin in fighting mythic creatures in Chinese history for so long he eventually took on their traits, both physical and mental. He is also an extremely skilled but utterly unsubtle brawler due to having spent the best part of human civilisation fighting for his life. This fitted the Super Strength and Shield Defense powersets, and the Brute archetype. Shield Defense posed the problem of where a shield came from until I saw the rock option, and the idea of the guy strapping a rock to his arm and beating enemies senseless with it fitted the brawling style.

The minuitae include the costume, chosen to look like a figure of early Chinese myth, and the manner of his speech, rough, crude, but with a core of wisdom unwillingly planted by having been alive for a ridiculously long time, and a whole lot more stuff of even less interest.

This is a method I find is extremely effective at making a character that feels liek a character, and is also helpful in refining the core concept, which iscrucial to make a hero or villain actually fun to play. It isn't perfect for this game, given I originally made the system for creating characters for stories short and long, but has worked well for me.