Character Creation and Power

 When starting a new campaign, there is always the question of how generous you should be with character creation. Specifically, people have long discussed the creation of overpowered characters and average characters that must struggle more. Overpowered characters use to be the norm, at least for me in my younger days. Slowly people started to value the struggle more and not having these so easy. These are all great ideas. Today I would like to promote a middle of the road approach.  

I definitely think that characters shouldn't perfect, all powerful, or able to do everything, but they should be exceptional. This opens up what I feel is flaw in the character creation process in most ttrpg's. A hero or character of any sort should be exceptional at their "thing." That thing may be defined by an attribute, a skill set, or a particular power. In the standard creation, you may take the chance of not being exceptional at all in your area of expertise or may have to choose between being great in one area at the expense of basic skills you should possess. Let me give a couple of tangible examples: 

D&D: 

If you use the standard array, min/max, or dice rolling you're almost certain to be barely above average. That's great until you factor in that your important actions are at the mercy of a dice roll and statistically you're not likely to appear above average. You're actually still very likely to fail at tasks you should be good at often. It takes a healthy +4 bonus for your character to appear above average, and that's definitely no guarantee. As a player, I feel dejected if my character is not at least exceptional at their specialty. 

Aberrant: 

My current character is an ex-CIA terrorist hunter who can now teleport. Now, I've got a cool power, which is pretty handy and I'm really good at a few things. Something I've run into with this character is that the creation process didn't give me enough points to have my power and be a realistic agent. I'm an expert in investigation, but I don't know how to drive, or do intrusions, and I barely had points for firearms. A normal human agent is actually super well rounded if you think of all the skills they actually possess. So, my hero somehow misses these basic job skills to have my power. 

Vampire: 

The most defining feature of a Vampire is that they are damn hard to kill, and the rpg does a good job at this. Personally, I think a new Vampire is the most well balanced out of these three games for two reasons. Your toughness (a defining feature) is pretty much automatic, and Vampire encourages not making rolls for things the character should reasonable be able to do. Less dice and more story. The skills come out a little sparse, but the attributes are much more balanced. 

Now, you might be reading this and thinking, "do you expect your character to always be better than everyone else?" Well, yes. My opinion is that a character should always be exceptional/powered in comparison to the average NPC. You should seem amazing compared to the ordinary people, because there should be much more challenging opponents and test waiting for you. If you're a thief or monk that can't win in a Dex contest at a bar, then what does that do your identity as a hero? 

What I suggest is giving your character's some leeway with attributes, maybe consider making 1 primary score an automatic max level (or close to it.) Be a little more giving with skills or proficiency. Help make your players feel exceptional compared to the average characters around them. Challenge them in other areas with more interesting tests. 

 As usual, you can contact me if you have any further questions or if you'd like to see me write a post on a specific topic. I am now writing general TTRPG supplements and creating maps. You can find them on my Ko-Fi page! 

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