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+--- Thread: Overpowered or underpowered characters? (/showthread.php?tid=10288)
Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Mitzer The Mighty - 02-23-2015
I see a lot of different types of roleplay. I was wondering which type appeals more to you. Do you like playing powerful characters? How do you keep it interesting? Or do you enjoy regular joes, how do you make mundane life interesting in roleplay? Both types are needed in stories It's what keeps things moving. More interested in which is more fun to play and why.
There is a door in front of you, it is locked.
Adventurer 1 is a powerful Captain of Everything, born half demon/ half angel/ half primal/ half key so they pushed the door open with ease. They see Ifrit, who says "Dear gods not again." Afterward they go to the quicksand and cant find a seat so they drink in a dark dank corner and brood while the other half voidsent/ half potatoes ask "Did you kill primals today?".
Adventurer 2 is a young refugee with no particular skills in trade. He is attempting to break in to the room of a famous thief and prove himself to be worthy of his attention. He has no skill in lock picking and just realized the key was lost in the long travel through a freak flash storm. It was with luck a courier from Gridania had crossed their path, seeing as the boy struggled with the lock. "Just what are you trying to get from that shack boy?" The courier would only see the eyes of desperation. She took pity on the trembling figure who reminded her of her son at home. With a novice's understanding of carpentry she took an awl and mallet to the hinges of the door. A crack of wood, creak of rusted metal, the door found it's way to the floor. Beyond the cloud of dust was a small table with single wooden box. Inside, was the spare key and a parchment with a laughing face inscribed in charcoal. The spectacle caused the courier to laugh at the boy's misfortune. The thief was a clever one who would not be found so easily. She took him back to Gridania to fill his belly by the fire, in the company of a few friends who might have some meaningful work with plenty of room to teach in exchange for the boy's humorous tale of misadventure.
In my opinion: Viva Adventurer 2, the bringer of laughs and endless entertainment.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Desu Nee - 02-23-2015
OP characters are never fun unless they aren't serious. They have no capacity for real development, whereas an underpowered has their own strengths and their personality normally and can improve as time passes.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Unnamed Mercenary - 02-23-2015
Those seem a bit polarized. If we were to put them on a scale of say, 0 is absolutely useless at everything, 5 is your average person and 10 is Warrior of Light/Echo-enabled/super-duper amazing, I'd say I like stuff around maybe a 5-7 range.Â
Sometimes we need those awesome people for stories. Other times, it might be that a person is overpowered, and trying to deal with it. I lean in at what I'd maybe call a 6.5 on the scale. Franz is certainly normal when it comes to his strengths (he's not going to be killing primals by himself for lulz or something, but he's gonna be able to take a a fair amount of hits and get back up, for the most part.Â
On rare occasions, he gets a moment or two where he'd probably rank an 8-9 on the scale. I keep this reserved ONLY for people who are looking for that RP, and it is used sparingly and with consequences.
edit: But at the end of the day, people should play what they find fun. ...but don't expect a 0 and a 10 to sit at a table and assume they'll have a friendly arm-wresting match just for fun. In my experience, if someone is playing a "10" character, they need to know when it's time to be OP. People will not flock to someone who's always better, alwas prettier, always [insert descriptive words here]. But the same could be said for people playing 0. Progression is important. We're here to make interesting stories and engage with other people.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Gone. - 02-23-2015
What about somewhere between the two in that mystical grey area? I prefer characters that have the right blend of both strength and weaknesses.
No one is perfect, but it's rare that someone is entirely talentless, either.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Gegenji - 02-23-2015
(02-23-2015, 07:07 PM)Unnamed Mercenary Wrote: Sometimes we need those awesome people for stories. Other times, it might be that a person is overpowered, and trying to deal with it. I lean in at what I'd maybe call a 6.5 on the scale. Franz is certainly normal when it comes to his strengths (he's not going to be killing primals by himself for lulz or something, but he's gonna be able to take a a fair amount of hits and get back up, for the most part.Â
On rare occasions, he gets a moment or two where he'd probably rank an 8-9 on the scale. I keep this reserved ONLY for people who are looking for that RP, and it is used sparingly and with consequences.
That sounds a lot like Chachan, too. The only thing he's really GOOD at is smithing... and he's passable in combat thanks to moons of training with Warren. Still, he has his moments where he's... greater than he otherwise would be, I suppose is the way to put it, because the plot calls for it.
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, it's more fun to focus on both and their interactions with each other instead of focusing solely on one or the other.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Mitzer The Mighty - 02-23-2015
That was my aim. Extreme examples of roleplay tropes facing a locked door. I've been in enough forum rp to know each type is very integral for development. A room of potatoes equally powerful without a threat is boring. A room full of zeros without a bump in the road is equally dull. Both need each other.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Aaron - 02-23-2015
Aaron is a highly capable opponent and strong ally to have. Several people IC can confirm Aaron is highly capable and skilled in a lot of the things.
What makes him below average is that he limits himself and is scared to do anything significant or help anyone majority. Thus all that potential he has is 90% dormant and wasted. He won't even fight for his life if he's put in a dire situation he'll just fight to escape or wound.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - LimeOfDoom - 02-23-2015
I find myself drawn to writing stories about powerful characters because finding the every day person in a singularly powerful being can be a fun challenge. Â I tend to avoid them in rp though. Â To make a powerful character interesting requires a delicate hand and a planned structured approach, but it can be very difficult to orchestrate the kinds of moments that highlight the relatable qualities in a transcendently powerful person when there are other writers involved in trying to tell a story with you while trying to tell their own story as well.
I also find that there is a certain kind of rper who can be very confrontational about such characters, for whatever reason they seem to be angered by the idea that someone might want to play a powerful or indeed overpowered character and I am simply too old to be dealing with things like that.
I've noticed that some of the replies in this thread have mentioned having a relatively balanced, normal adventurer-type character occasionally achieve or do more than they normally would be able to and I like to call those heroic moments. Â Maybe it's luck, maybe it's adrenaline, maybe it's fate or divine providence, but moments like those are some of my favorites. Â I tend to play regular rank and file soldiers as a way to test the waters of an rp community when I join a new game and I always look forward to those opportunities have my otherwise nameless so and so stand up and hold the line just long enough for reinforcements or what have you. Â I say all this because I think what makes those moments so pleasurable are the same things that draw people to overpowered characters.
Heroic moments and overpowered characters serve the same purpose in my mind, they take a world that is already fantastical (even relatively realistic MMORPGs are never actually that grounded in reality) and create a stage where that fantasy is taken a step further because the circumstances are so far detached from reality that it forces the players, as writers, to shine a spotlight on the one thing that remains relatable, which is the personality under the power. Â The rank and file soldier who rises to glory after his heroic moment may not be at all suited to his new found fame, perhaps it makes him uncomfortable, maybe he feels like a fraud. Â Does he break under the pressure and desert? Â Does he wash out and become a drunk somewhere, telling tales of his days in the service in exchange for a pint? Â What about the God/Primal/Void-child? Â So isolated by their power, feared, hated, maybe pursued by those who seek to use them? Â These are all circumstances that present the player a chance to really explore a character. Â Whether or not a player capitalizes on these opportunities or indeed even realizes they have been presented with an opportunity is a completely different matter.
 That's my two cents I suppose.  Sorry this ran so long.  I had not planned to ramble so.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Virella - 02-23-2015
With power comes responsibility. At least most of the time. We all know our all powerful overlords who show of their power constantly. In truth, the less the person shows it off, the more believable their character is. Of course there are exceptions, but I use that as my main rule for 'powerful' characters.
I don't mind roleplaying with overly powerful character, as long it is done well. 'Useless' characters can be just as cringe-worthy if done terribly.
In the end it comes all back to the ability of the roleplayer behind the screen to make his or her character pass off as believable.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - V'aleera - 02-23-2015
When the entire plan for your young and middle adult life is to fight on a daily basis giant flying monsters that vomit fire and lightning, you either learn to be kinda badass or you die.
In my experience, it's less about how much power a character has and more what they choose to do (and not do) with it.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Zyrusticae - 02-23-2015
(02-23-2015, 07:05 PM)Desu Nee Wrote: OP characters are never fun unless they aren't serious. They have no capacity for real development, whereas an underpowered has their own strengths and their personality normally and can improve as time passes.But this is purely wrong.
Someone who is extremely powerful (monetarily, physically, or otherwise) can still develop quite a bit over the events of a story. The circumstances one can find themselves in can create quite a conflict regardless of that power - especially if the situation sidesteps that power entirely and cannot be addressed in that way.
As an example, T'rahnu may be well-equipped to take down any opponent in a one-on-one battle and possess a great deal of wealth, but she is not so well-equipped to make moral judgments and decide who is in the right. She tends to go with her gut instincts, which may or may not make for a positive outcome for all involved. She's also never really gotten over her loss from the Calamity, and someone can easily push those buttons to push her off-balance. Those are two big areas where she can grow right off the bat, despite her incredible martial prowess and rock-solid self-confidence otherwise.
It really bothers me that some folks believe that being weak or average is a requirement for personal growth. That's completely tangential to character development, which is predicated on the idea that people change in many ways besides martial prowess, which is only one and, indeed, often a very small part of a character's total package. It's a very base-level, RPG-derived mode of thought that starting at low levels and going up over time is somehow a virtue and a positive. High-level characters can grow, too - and oftentimes the exercise is all the more beneficial for all involved, since you have to apply more lateral thinking to accomplish it.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Kurt S. - 02-23-2015
So we're not really taking the void potato into consideration right? Ocake.
Well let's see Kurt, I really started him off a below average and all that, really wanted to RP his development and him getting stronger until he got the WoD armor but well that's all chucked out the window since he is kinda already decked in like 3/3 pieces of WoD gear. I think RPing below average or weak characters (something I quickly shed off Kurt once he reached 15 and there really wasn't any hope of finding some mentor figure) is tiring, especially if you have my luck at finding RPs and you just can't seem to find that mentor character or you have but *cought*reallifestuff*cough* don't really allow you to meet up with them regularly or worse see them only once in your life and never again.Â
On the other hand I designed Ramona to be potent as shit if she could only remember her past or at least key parts of her past. She can quad flare if she has to and can still pop the occasional fire III x3 to Bliz III to Thun III back to Fire III one more time if she needs to and still whip out her sword and slice a tomato. She's overpowered but can she really show it? No. Because of most of the time she can't even find people to adventure and show off to. So despite being a potent character if you can't find any opportunity to display your character as such it amounts to absolutely nothing.
And I agree with Zyrusticae overpowered characters can still develop. The development won't necessarily be related to their over 9000 power levels but rather how the character copes with being as such, how the characters copes with the world around them, how (for Ramona's case) it constantly torments her that's accidentally (or intentionally) killed 22 people in the blink of an eye (and may or may not have been laughing at the end before she slipped into a coma). How she is deathly afraid of casting the really high level magic especially around Cookie now that she knows she could unwittingly take a life.
Being overpowered is one thing and I don't think that's anything wrong with that, it's how you utilize the power that counts.
Okay so I may have jsut been rehashing what people are saying but I think I want to drive some of those points home...also because I want to mention the Void Potato but that's beside the point (or really is the main point)
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Chris Ganale - 02-23-2015
I dislike playing underpowered players, and I have a small selection of overpowered characters that I keep in a box for when the nuclear option is required.
As for my characters here, they're all simply 'powered'. They have areas where they excel, they also have areas where they're about as useful as a box of rocks. Of the seven of them, one is legitimately high on the power scale (relatively), but she spends her time sitting in the Quicksand writing in a notebook.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Val - 02-23-2015
Val is an above average fighter because he quite literally spends a good majority of his day training. No, I don't RP it all out (because that would honestly be boring), but I also don't RP him suddenly knowing something either. Mudra, for example, has been a long and arduous process as he doesn't have the slightest bit of knowledge/experience in controlling (or even detecting) aether. I balance it out by not allowing him to be socially inept and mostly ignorant when it comes to book-smarts. He's messed up plenty of times by telling someone "Oh there's like three enemies" when there were really eight or so. He's also incredibly humorous, so he brings a lot of comedy elements to RP (so long as no one gets offended by what he says).
Melfice is overpowered. I'll admit it. But I don't allow him to wander around and get into altercations specifically for that reason. He's meant to be a villain/boss for people to fight (which the FC has done on a few occasions and they seem to enjoy him). When I interact with him in public, I try to be very open and respectful to people's personal character and I keep him held back and mostly out of trouble, though I do love to have him interact with randoms!
Cyrus is underpowered. He's a self-pronounced squire and knight-hopeful, but he's not really that skilled. He's strong, but that only gets one so far. He doesn't really have any tactics or skill with a sword and shield beyond what his parents taught him, and even then he's never actually fought a real opponent.
Vallois I like to say is somewhere in the middle. He's very powerful as far as strength is concerned and uses his aether to augment said strength, but he's prone to tunnel visioning his opponent, which doesn't really make him a great ally to fight with.
In a combat scenario, Vallois could take Cyrus. Val could take Vallois with a bit of trouble, and Melfice could (and has) taken Val in the past (with little trouble).
I dislike playing overpowered characters, to be honest. It's not fun. I don't like shooting kamehameha blasts with one hand and snapping a finger to make things explode. I like struggle. I like to see characters fail, but I also want them to realistically fail. In combat, if someone pushes Val to the ground and runs the equivalent of thirty yards before coming back to hit him, there's a good chance Val would have been able to get up by then (assuming he was never really injured beforehand). I just like realism in combat scenarios (within the lore of the world), and to have a fun combat experience.
I've had MANY wonderful combat experiences with some people in the game. K'hali and Val have traded victories, as well as Berrod, Siobhain, Yangh, and some others. I actually quite enjoy combat RP so long as the opponent is adequately skilled and can be respectful and talk things out in a civil manner.
RE: Overpowered or underpowered characters? - Rotomoto Sunomoto - 02-23-2015
Never liked RPing overpowered characters or even just RPing with overpowered folks.. I like my RP simple and fun with character full of soul and personality (Or lack thereof) which in my opinion develops characters much faster.
My sole character that I roleplay Rotomoto is what I consider a "Deteriorating" overpowered character. In his youth he can zip around with such speed that would be difficult to track with the regular hyur eyes.. Now he's an old man that can barely move at that speed, his stamina is low and his strength is faltering. Though he tries his best! So from a 9/10 he's slowly decreasing to 6/10 and so forth, and I'm enjoying it!