Clicking With Your Characters

There’s something important for me about having a ‘click’ or a ‘story’ about my characters. I can’t just have ‘my Ranger,’ for example, without a connection. I can think of Terrentius Tryanel’s personality and backstory very easily, which makes me want to keep him. I have an emotional connection. I think of him, and his self-sacrificing nature comes to mind. I think of his bear, Illaido (who I rarely run unless I’m RPing), who is some kind of ancient spirit, trying to watch over Tyria through this Ranger, completely clueless to why this bear is so intelligent.

My first Thief (who was my first character) was deleted at 80 with full exotics. Why? Because I didn’t have a ‘click’ with him. Heck, I barely remember his name. Nowadays I have Markk Shadowclaw, a former Assassin with an elite group that simply call themselves “the Organization”–cheesiness intended. He’s a bit of an ass (I can’t think of any better way to describe him) and his looks were based off of my old dog, Edmund. The best part is that he looks over my wife’s character, an Elementalist Asura named Glorra, and sees her like a little sister (and she’s one of the few in the world he cares about). Markk frequently uses the line “I’ve cut people for less.” So he’s not exactly friendly, but I love him. This Thief, I can play because there’s a ‘click.’

So here’s where this post is headed: Griffyn Whitethorn. After rolling several Necromancers, I finally managed to connect with him. Maybe not so much in playstyle (and I’ll ask you all for help there later), but in character. I had an idea and made him very child-like and naive. The whole notion behind him was that he didn’t remember the Dream at all, making him clueless like the Firstborn originally were. He traveled with my wife’s Guardian, Ameera, and learned a lot about the world. Extremely naive, he only survives because of the immense power he has. This power was once augmented when he entered the Mad King’s Realm by himself and managed to walk through some trialing fires that reborn him into something even greater (yay Total Makeover Kits). Today, Griffyn has progressively grown into something tremendously powerful on in Tyria.

Still, Griffyn has a wonderfully childish side. He adores children, and will often be found in Divinity’s Reach, playing ball with the kids along the street. Many adults are wary, but children see his kind and innocent spirit.

And here’s where that development ended for me. It takes a lot to keep me engaged with my characters, I must admit. They need to have progressive development or else I fall out of love with them. So Griffyn will be taking a bit of a new route somehow with his new-found powers that have grown as of late, and is stepping into being a much more mature character than he was before. I’m not sure what this looks like, but with a few transmutation charges, I began the journey.

Griffyn has gone from this…

…to THIS!

There’s something to be said about a change in your character. It refreshes and renews them. It makes them something new. Perhaps I’ll write a little roleplaying section one day of my characters, but for now, I leave you with two questions I’d love to hear from you on!

1) Do you ever need to ‘click’ with your character, even if you don’t RP them?

2) What’s the most important thing for you to like a character you create?