The Art of Role-Playing

The Serpent wrote:

Areowyn wrote:To finally reply to what people think I mean, I'll use my characters as an example. Eliza for instance, her background includes no real training in any weapons or armors except for a staff. in the beginning of the campaign I caught a lot of heat for it in the beginning. Guess people warmed up 2 her in the end. Thing is I try to make a character as "real" as possible. People aren't good at everything, no one can pick up a weapon and instantly be a genius w/ it.
Another character I had was the "Pokemon Trainer" in Tom/Lem/Shaun's campaign. I took healer strictly for my pets and got harassed because I wouldn't heal the group. Even though in my background I have no knowledge on healing humans, I can still heal because I took the skill. That was the other P.C.'s reasoning.
I just think people (and I am generalizing this) should actually "think" about what your or other characters can or can't do. I put limits on my characters, because it makes me work harder for what I want to do; on top of that It makes my experience that much more.
Lastly I think people need to be a bit more considerate for/to other people's characters. just because a character choose to play their class differently doesn't mean they should be looked down upon... or worst told they should change the way they play their character.

I agree with you but only slightly.  When a player writes a background and uses that as the blueprint for a unique character it is beautiful however the palyer must be concious of the game he is playing.  In Dragon Quest a character is built from the ground up with weapon training, skills and knowledge all things earned through roleplaying.  The versatility of such a system is revealed in the ability to create a completely unique character who is not governed entirely by his abilities.  Castle & Crusades and Dungeons & Dragons are different.  These are games of archetypes.  The player picks an archetype and they advance within the boundaries of the role they've chosen.  A player might want to be a child, clueless to the world and unable to function outside of the strong singing voice and love of their god but having chose to be a Bard they have chosen to be the worldly jacks of all trades, the bard's archetype.  Now characters can choose to tweek an existance out of an awesome background, and I secretly encourage this, but there has to be a balance between what you imagine and what you choose.

I want to say more but Ms. Pauline is coming back!