Do you ever analyze your character list?

As in, analyzing the statistics of it! What kinds of characters take up the majority of your PCs, what personality characteristics you tend to match with each other, what percentage does your favorite archetype take up?

I love doing this kind of thing with my projects and I was craving some good analyzing yesterday, which resulted in a chart for my GP PCs! Here it is, if you're curious. :PAnd it actually gave me some interesting insights I didn't realize before! Like how most of my loners share the qualities of being taciturn and self-sufficient, or how all but one of my team players are reliable and confident.
Also how many of these folk have an animal motif. Mamushi, Rabbit, Wolf, Egret, Lark, Starfish, Moth... Salvador is a half-bird, Wiso is a cat, Sandwire is a worm, Binary is a mouse, Elderberry is a fish and a cat, Straj is a squid, Nova is a tiger, Skipper is a raccoon. Yeah, I certainly like animals.

Curiously, two characters I constantly misspell as each other ended up almost in the same spot (it's not two Felixes or Spark and Lark, though these are funny; it's actually Firafnir and Egret, I keep accidentally mistaking them for each other when I write their posts).

Almost every dynamic duo I have are two characters being in adjancent quadrants. :0 Is that what makes a good foil in my eyes? Maybe I should use this chart to get some of these people interacting.

...And I love how masked characters are in every single quadrant. Just proves how much I don't like to draw faces regardless of expression on them.


Anyway, do you ever do something like this? Not the chart, but just looking back at characters as a list and thinking about how they compare to each other in personalities, roles and quirks? I adore this stuff, so please do tell me all about your characters and what analytics you do with them. :D

I do reconise a clear pattern of my own characters

Now I need to do an analysis like this as well!

Also, how did Frost Opal end up in the walking disaster category if it can't even walk? 😄

Even if I count IRL one-shots, and PbP that lasted at least twenty posts... I still have played no more than half your Characters in my 15 years of roleplaying.

I went through all the characters I can remember, No masks on any of my characters...
however I used two other non Graph related Indicators both of which's results surprised meI'm sure I'm missing some characters and this is also only limited to GP characters but still, here it is.

I've made more than 200 PCs on GP alone. Can I afford the time and energy to do this? No. Will I do it anyway? Definitely!

I sometimes think about my characters and how to create one that feels different. Most of mine end up feeling sort of same-y. Maybe I should ask someone else to write a very basic personality and that's what I'll play?

I struggle with the same thing but I have found that if I roll on a table for character traits I can get away from that same-ynis. I have to think about how to incorporate those traits that I would have otherwise never picked for my character. It helps me deviate from my norm.

Is there a table online that you prefer to use?

Sometimes I lift a table from another RPG and sometimes I use a bunch of these.

Never mind the PC introspection, that's a purdy chart.

Okay, so I used the three axes from Flying's original post (disregarding the mask one) and went through the list of my characters on GP, using only PCs and only ones I've played in games that lasted long enough to really leave an impression.

He is here in spirit! :0 Together with Straj, who is a giant squid and technically can't walk too. Unless what squids do is still called walking?..
Hey, we both have the least characters in Quiet+Clueless category!
Also I like your character names. :0
Thank you, I tried. :D
I have too much free time, haha. If I count all of my RPs over the years, the number will look even worse - I used to be on a lot of forums in my teens, and tend to have multiple characters per game. Admittedly not many of them had long games though! And I don't even want to think of how many NPCs there are... XD
Honestly, same! I often fear playing characters out of my comfort zone, and thus most of my PCs can be summarized by either being a brooding loner or a friendly chatterbox.
When I try to spice up things, I sometimes try to first think of an interesting background or a profession/hobby I never used, and then try to come up with a personality on top of it. Amusing results of this approach included a ghost of a sniper mercenary, an eccentric dwarf engineer with pyromaniac tendencies and a winged teacher superhero.
It's kind of like Windyridge said, except I act as my own random roller. :P
I'm intrigued by The Sisters because of the name. XD Also wow, two walking disaster villains? And most of evil and neutral ones on the lower side, that's interesting. (Whoever Tanya is, what an outlier!)

(...there is something funny about seeing a Braineater nect to a Brain Bryan.)

Braineater Bryan was one person zombie.

The Sisters were a human fused with an alien. They spoke in plural of themselves (as 'we'). They were pretty fun while the game lasted

Ah the sister! that's why it looked familiar! To be fair, I barely recognize any of those names anymore ... Nice to see Grala and opal at the exact same spot :D

You're right. That's funny

I'll try to challange myself with certen perematers like, a non-core rase or a class I havend tryed before. But time and again I find that I make the same kind of character. One who is clever, a jack-of-all-trade with mystical and martial abilities. Its always those I enjoy playing mechanically.
Personality-wise, I have tried different sorts of outgoing and active types. But that is mostly as a passive character doesn't push the story forward.

I found a character portrait that got me very excited to play this D&D 5e Swordmage/bladesinger. When I saw another image that the artist had made of the same character, but in a "lustful" embrace with another, I realised that I seldom play a passioned character. I'm looking forward to play her - hopefully soon

I enjoyed White Rabbit very much, FlyingSucculent, your list brought back memories of the game! Sorry it didn't last.

I tend to create characters by mashing up two pop culture references I like. My favorite PC probably ever was Scrooge McDuck meets Saul Goodman. Another I liked was Luke Cage meets Jim Stark from Rebel without a Cause. Or Claire Temple (the nurse from the Marvel Netflix shows) meets Ripley. This tactic gives me enough to run with, keeps the characters from being exact copies of fictional tropes, and evades the sameness issue.

Another tactic I use is to first find a character portrait that speaks to me, usually on Pinterest. Once I have that portrait, a character personality may emerge organically from it.

I also try to do as Rune, trying classes or specializations or niches I haven't tried before.

I didn't even notice this! Huh. Guess that explains why they got along. XD
Thank you, I'm glad that you liked him! He is one of my all-time favorites here, and I can express how much I appreciate you giving me a chance to play him more! :D Even if didn't last, it was still fun - and it also gave me an interesting hook for making him a part-time gang informant. XD
You know, you're making me realize that most of my outgoing characters never push the plot forward and prefer to either be a follower, or search for trouble somewhere away from the group. I guess having a social butterfly being also the most proactive character feels like taking up too much spotlight...? Anyway, good luck with playing your new character! :D
That's an interesting approach! :0 I can't appreciate it fully since of each of your examples I only know half of a pair, but it sounds like a great method.

This seems like fun. I don't have a ton of characters, so it may seem quite sparse. It's surprisingly hard to categorize characters.

is there a relationship between morals and the amount of words used?😂😂

There does seem to be a vague relation there 🤔

We need more people to post character analyses so we can do a study on this

GP character stereotypes analysis: Do good guys ever shut up?

Hey, I spy a character I know! Go Kamph, make bad life decisions, Firafnir will support you from the opposite quadrant. :D
Also, I love your character names. Especially Taizo - makes me want to know about them for some reason? Many words and not very moral, what's not to love.
(PS: the "casually moral" category is a great way to put it. XD)
I respect Kevin for escaping the chart. And everyone else for making a straight line with him! :0
On behalf of all the villain characters who adore monologuing: how dare you imply that the good guys are more talkative?!

Love this exercise, though it hurts my head to think about doing it for all the PCs I've created over the years. Here's my GP stable... some were hard to pin down and I expect others could do a better job.

Don't shoot the messenger! shoot the data (and, since it's a villain, the players as well just for fun :D )

Wow, you have a lot of outgoing characters (with very fancy surnames). Also, high five from my Lark to yours! :D

Curious that the combination of quiet and clueless seems to be the rarest among all of us. Now I wonder how a game full of this type of characters would look...
Villains have lesser numbers, it's not a fair comparison. :P And you don't take all data into account!
My villains are 0/3 quiet/talkative, Bowl has 1/1, saevikas 3/2, Harrigan 1/2, KoldikSteelskin 2/3 (I think, unless yellow is neutral and then it's 1/0). It's a total of 7/11 (or 6/8). Talkative villains are more plentiful than quiet ones! :P

✋!

Also, at least one of those fancy surnames is from a pregen, so that doesn't count. ;)

I redid my good and evil chart to hopefully make it more clear, 2/3 is correct though I'm not sure they we're the same 2/3 you had marked originally 🤣 I also changed some of them a bit to better match what was coming out.

I tend to play raven-people, paladins, and people who worship the Raven Queen when possible. And sometimes all of these! This should surprise no one.

Other than that I have no pattern.

This was an interesting exercise. As it turns out I don't tend to play laconic characters that are struggling with life; I guess I express their chaos through words and non-stop talking :D

Still the same result, haha. Also you have a lot of evil, my respect! (And a lot of them are magically-aligned; the best type! :D)
...but did you ever play a falcon?..
How do paladins of Raven Queen work? I'm curious about what kind of character that would be.
It seems no one does! We should all get together and make a band of 'em as a writing exercise. :P
...also that's a lot of Seraphina Hollysharp, whole three of her. And two Leothorn Hollysharp? Are they the same person in different versions? Because that's very interesting, I love characters having alternate versions of themselves!
And lots of walking disaster rangers? Love to see it. XD

Hey I've got more good in me than evil... And yellow is neutral now.
And yes I need magic in my real life... If you have any ways to give it to me.

Neutral is evil when looked at from the right angle! >:P
And don't we all need magic... Maybe someday...

Haha, indeed!

I have played 3 different Seraphina Hollysharps and 5 different Leothorn Hollysharps (but they were only two distinct types so I only put his name in the graph). They are the same character but from alternate universes. They are each different in terms of classes, but they are all either Gnomes or Halflings. The Seraphinas are all confident, scrappy women who specialize in "practical justice," often bounty hunters or mercenaries. The Leothorns are all mischievous tricksters who are booklovers but untested in the field, and their curiosity will be the death of them.

They have a larger plotline that I never explore in game but I have thought about. They are estranged brother and sister who don't know the other exists, but if a world has a Leothorn then somewhere there is a Seraphina.

I keep playing these characters because I really liked them, but the games they were in fell apart. So, when I miss that character, I might join a game and make a new Leothorn who has the same personality but who's life played out differently depending on the game setting. The Leothorn from Eberron was an artificer and interested in gadgets, but the one from the Sword Coast was a Cleric/Rogue and interested in unlocking divine secrets.

Also, I find these characters fit well into other peoples' stories. They are proactive so they can keep a game moving, and they are either friendly and funny (Leothorn) or fiercely protective of their found family (Seraphina) so they build good bonds with other characters.

As long as they stay alive in my imagination and people like playing alongside them, I'll keep exploring these characters.

That is incredibly cool, even if it doesn't come up in actual games. :0 I absolutely love alternate universe concepts in general, so this is right up my alley - please tell me more! Did you ever explore the idea of them meeting (not in game, outside of it)? Or even them from different realities meeting?

Frost Opal and Wilhelm on my own chart are also the same character with different fates, and so are Klaus and Klarence - though these two I later made brothers instead. But a duo is a whole different idea; it's like platonic soulmates: no one without the other in whatever world they are... Very interesting.
Ouch, this is very relatable, I can never properly let go of my characters too... Though your approach is probably better, I simply stick them all into one solo game and deal with the consequences, or write self-fanfiction. Maybe I should steal your method instead, hehehe. :P
...And now I wish I was in a game with one of them. You successfully intrigued me further.

😮

I told you I had Opal 2.0. :P This one is an evil gemstone turned very confused human, trying to figure out this whole morals thing and pretend that he knows how to human. (He fails at pretending.)

I am intrigued

Taizo's the least eligible heir to the Minamoto conglomerate family, and is generally a spoiled and reckless brat of a rich teen who happens to be a exosuit wearing ninja. He really, really wants to climb up the ladder, hence the "whatever it takes" morality, but also has his more youthful moments. Also has a tragic backstory that never explicitly came up in the game even though it informed the nature of almost all of his actions. Fun character overall.

I think it is telling that I usually play an active and extrovert character. It is mostly the kind that push the story forward

Of course he wants to climb up the ladder - he's a ninja! :P
But really, he sounds like a very fun character to interact with. And gotta love a good backstory that actually makes impact on the present, that's hard to pull. Did he ever manage to prove himself in the end?
That's some nice statistics! And I can't help but be curious about the names of Wiki, Rain On Dry Stone and Harmony-565. XD (Also hi Cathy!) Oh, and Galahad, I think it's the first time I've seen an Arthurian reference on this site.
How come Wash is such an outlier? :D

Hahaha, no. He got his pinky cut off and not much to show for it except for the friends he made along the way. Honestly, should've placed him way lower on the chart. But Taizo Minamoto's still working at it, unperturbed.

I don't even have to look too deep into my character list to know that i have a very prevalent theme in my characters: big, strong, but highly insecure melee cleric who fails at everything and (usually) wields a big warhammer. I am playing two currently, Okto the Frozen Tusk in Adam's IDRotF game and Ezra in one of Falconloft's 13th Age games, with another 2 characters either in games on GP that have gone inactive or in IRL games. My luck with GP dice rolling is so bad that I have begun incorporating it into my characters lmao

But do they really fail, or is it actually an elaborate karmic ploy for them to store up luck until the decisive moment?..
Big strong who is an absolute teddy bear inside is one of my favorite archetypes in media. They sound lovely. C:

Thx - I am a dataanalyst, so I had a bit of fun

Wiki: is from a World of darkness, Mage (techno mage)
Rain On Dry Stone: is from World of darkness, werewolf (wolf born)
Harmony-565: is from Starfinder, and android

Wash: is from a D&D game where we all played cat people, (tabaxi) and I tried a more cautious character

Wow, skittish cat person sounds like a very fun character to play!
...Now I wonder if there are any rabbit people somewhere in the TTRPG ocean. There probably are... XD

Harengone From The Wild Beyond The Witchlight D&D 5e

Oooh, thanks! Now I know what to make my next DnD character. :D

I hope so, but that climactic moment hasn't quite happened yet lol