The Art of Role-Playing

how close and believable should a P.C. be when is made. should the player dictate what the character does or should the book dictate what the character does?

The player with out a doubt.

What do you mean by "close and believable"?

i think that it should be up to the player to dictate how their character should be played

It should be up to the character. But that is not always the case. If I create a character concept that consists of doing flips while throwing ninja stars, it's impossible to role-play that when all of my ninja stars were taken away from me somehow and no one has any kind of weapon that can be thrown and I can't even seem to find rocks or dirt in a cave to use as weapons while I'm doing my flips....Of course I've never created such a character, it was just an example of how a player trying to role-play their character can easily be thwarted whether they want it to be or not.

well obviously you would have to have some sort of weapon in order to roleplay killing someone and not roll

I think what Areowyn means is more of how the characters personality and reaction to situations and other characters should be. (Correct me if I am wrong Areowyn).

I personally believe that the book should have some relevance, but your character itself will develop with a background and as the story progresses and situations unfold. You have to go more with the truth of the character you want to play than what a handbook or guide tell you. That is the beauty of role playing.... you get to create an entirely new persona. What fun would it be if you stuck strictly by the book.

As Albus Dumbledore once said "You place too much importance... on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!"

Now... There are, or course, certain rules that must be followed. If you are a Paladin and you hide in the shadows or don't defend the good and just, than, your character should of course change.... But that is at the DMs discretion, as always.

im actually thinking of being a paladin but being more stealthy...i have plans for him

I was just replying to what Lancelot and Lee said. I'm still waiting to see what is meant by close and believable to reply to what Chappy said.

its up to the person making their character in my opinion. if following the book makes you happy then by all means do it. however dont get mad when the DM throws a wrench in you plan abd throws something unexpected at you. If the book cant answer it then what do you do. Its up to everyone playing to do what makes you happy. If you dont want to be happy playing then maybe you just shouldnt play

I think he means should you stick to the description in the book when it comes to playing a character class or should the player decide how he or she wishes to roleplay the class.

tjey should decide..for example if i want to be a rogue the book says i should be sneaky and most likely rob people. what if i dont want to do that and i want to specialize in traps. thats me being what i want to be and not really following the book entirely

Hmmm...Do what you want or follow the rules?...Well we all know my answer to that one, but for everyone else I think you should consider what the book has to say for the class and use that information along with what you want to do as the character. Like Lancelot said, "if i want to be a rogue the book says i should be sneaky and most likely rob people. what if i dont want to do that and i want to specialize in traps." Now use what he said and consider that the class does have the abilities to specialize in traps so he's able to do this easily. But lets take into consideration something the class doesn't have. Lets say you make a rogue but want to specialize in poisons and killing your foes from the shadows in a single shot, never to be seen. You could do this as a rogue, but it will require you role-playing it all the time and you will fail at it for a very long time. Eventually, if you live long enough, you will be able to these things. But wouldn't it have been easier to just make an assassin so that you could start with these things and then you could spend all that time making your character even more bad ass?

So I say use the information in the book to make your ideas better. (How do you think I can come up with broken characters for any campaign in just a few minutes of reading the rules?)

i actually like to roleplay...roleplaying invovles thinking. You can role play doing anything. A wizard can roleplay using spells and wearing armor. even if the book says you cant.

Yeah, unless the DM has it out for you and says you can't cast arcane spells and wear armor of any kind, even if you try to role play it, it will never happen. (Has happened to me before)

then you work at it until he has no choice but to allow it

paranoia! paranoia! cha cha cha!!!

^^ confused by above comment lol

I'm not going to waist my time roleplaying a character that the DM said specifically I couldn't pull off and will never let me do no matter how long or hard I role play trying to do it.

Idk, for some reason she likes to make fun of the truth I speak about things she knows nothing of, even after I've asked her not to very many times....

are you paranoid? lol

Nope. Whenever I say something like, I would try to do that but I know the DM would say no, it's because either he has told me so already or I made a reference of it about someone else doing it and he said he would allow that person to do it but not me.

maybe cuz they roleplayed how they do it

Lol, I was talking about things no one had done before that I wanted to try to do but I said someone else wanted to do so I could see if I had even the slightest chance of being able to do. For instance being a mage that wore armor. The second character I ever made in C&C was going to be a Cleric/Wizard that wore armor. I told Lem about it and he said I could never wear armor and cast my mage spells. I would have to take my armor off before I could cast arcane spells. I would be allowed to cast my Cleric spells though.

then you should have roleplayed trying harder or practicing with the armor on. unless he gave you a logical reason why it could never happen