Favourite player character concept of your authorship

[deicide]

Whom did you enjoy playing the most?

I must admit, mine was the most over the top and unoriginal one: the Tzimisce (Path of the Beast / Harmony variant follower) who cannot tolerate the suffering, nor his own, nor others, for the reason of the misery being the most boring and predictable force in the universe. Toughest survive, not the best. Survival for the sake of survival makes no sense.
Although would not hesitate to cause it if necessary, for the sake of personal gain or experimentation, he would do an extra mile or two in order to avoid it if possible.
That certain character started off as a human so degenerated that absolutely nothing was below him, though he did not actually commit anything that could be considered immoral (and acted quite decently) because of the lack of ambition, not to say it would have made the already screwed up world around him even worse in his opinion.
Destructive urges had become apparent immediately after the embrace, which grabbed his interest. In fact, he was actually interested in something for the first time in his life, so he began to play with and experiment with this new state. Due to his degeneracy the idea of these urges being an essential part of his own was undeniable as he was harboring these the entire human life and well aware of them. For him, it seemed like his own thoughts had turned into the immense source of destructive power. Trying to supress them felt as foolish as tilting at the raging sea, but if left without attention that power would have destroyed him from within for sure, ending his barely found life. Blowing off steam, directing thoughts and riding resulting waves of destruction seemed sensible. As the result, what is known as the Path of the Beast was reinvented once more. Initially, his sire planned to introduce him into the Path of Metamorphosis, but was impressed and let him deal with the Beast on his own, as the Fiends do value independent research.

The reinvented path somewhat differs from the original Path of Harmony (or the Beast). It's not spiritual (as the character has zero interest in spiritual values), not concerned with balance between natural and artificial (as he considers everything natural), instead focusing on the inner balance between "bestial" and "rational" aspect of mind (which he thinks is purely conventional, as both are manifestations of one and the same).

The embrace was, in a classical fiendish fashion, a somewhat whimsical experiment. The sire, who is a few hundred years old, still not get the modern insane tempos of life despite trying to keep up with times so could not comprehend what it could do to the regular mortal (granted, the case still was out of ordinary). He haven't encountered such an empty shells nearly devoid of anything humane but still looking normal on surface, with the mind perfectly intact, before, and was amazed at this not being a result of supernatural tortures or any other misfortunes. What kind of cainite the man would made (and if he will be of any use) if the Beast on his heels will break him out of the lethargy, he wondered.

Unlike many, that one considers his condition a gift, despite having little chance to outlive a human lifespan and avoid ending up ashed, or, the most probably, diablerized for his low gen blood. The transformation had freed him from the limitations of a mortal body and given an edge over mortals, which enabled him to try himself in the areas he did not have enough patience and power to gain resources for in the past life and actually get himself interested in something for the first time.

Exact details and names are omitted on purpose, for the reason of above being an outline, a concept, not the actual backstory, which is much longer.

[Gurkhal]

I had pretty fun playing a Tremere who once ended up in a melee fight with a Tzimisce elder and survived until the rest of the coterie could jump the Elder. Good times. 

[deicide]

What sort of character he was? Any concept behind or anything distinctive about him?
It's interesting that you're mentioned Tremere, as the first campaign with the character I've mentioned included the Tremere who had been forced to get rogue due to an accidental sight of what he wasn't supposed to see, which ensured an extra attention from the Pyramid to the party and some poisonous interaction.

[fylimar]

I have two characters, I like very much:
- Hanna P. Lovecraft, Malkavian, mild-mannered and easygoing, a musician. She suffers from hallucinations and has sometimes powerful visions, but since she never know, what is what, she ends up confusing her friends and allies a lot. Her sire is a Beckett-like character in so far, that he is an explorer and likes to find out all about vampiric history and lore. Hanna often travels with him. Both are in the Camarilla, but do a lot of freelance work. Many vampires come to them for information or if they like things to get found. Hanna also has a Nosferatu friend, whom she knows from the time, they both were alive. The Nosferatu character is another player and we decided, that our characters are allies and friends. At the moment, her sire is missing and she and her friend followed his trace to San Fransisco. There they found themselves together with a bunch of other young vampires in the middle of the war between Camarilla and Sabbat - not a nice place to be. And now, they have to find out, if either side has taken Hannas sire prisoner. Sadly, the campaign stopped, because the gm moced away, but hopefully, I can play that character in another setting again. I like Hanna, she is no over the top crazy malk or Joker/Harley Quinn clone, she is a nice girl, who makes friends easily and is mostly reliable. She gets panic attacks, when her hallucinations get too scary and her friends have learned not to blindlytrust her 'visions', but other than that, she mostly lives a nornal (for vampires) life. Her sire sometimes has fits of paranoia, that is, why Hanna nowadays handles clients, because he nearly killed on potential client, because he thought, that client was trying to murder him. He likes to be on his own and Hanna is one of the few people, he tolerates around him. For that reason, he was never asked to become primogen. because that would not go well in meetings 

- Aladar, a Tzimisce. Aladar is over 300 years old, but was imrprisoned by an emey for a long time. He is a Sabbat pack leader and is a bit challenged with modern time technology and developement. He was a lord in lifetime and has kept this demeanor. But because he has no problems getting his hand dirty in fights, his pack respects him. And yes, he is typical for his clan in that he likes fleshcrafting a lot. But he isn't a mindless brute or cruel without sense. He can be very charming and friendly if it suits his purpose, but he has no problem with killing to reach his goal.
Aladar was my first evil character in any p&p game. I normally play good or neutral characters. But I like trying out different things and am fascinated by the Tzimisce, so when our gm wanted to start a Sabbat round, I had Aladar already in my mind. It's fun to be the pack leader too - we have a very hotheaded Brujah, an unbelievable naive Toreador (Aladar still wonders, how she managed to survive the Sabbat initiation, but she has a mean streak and likes killing ... a lot), a Lasombra, who is a bit full of himself and another Tzimisce, who is a bit too focussed on his experiments (yes, he is making our warghouls, since Aladar has some other tasks as pack leader). It was a really fun campaign, mainly, because all the players are great (we are still playing together, but at the moment it's more Call of Cthulhu)

[deicide]

I think I'm following where you coming from... D&D, Forgotten Realms, right? While I've found its morality system that connected to the cosmology fascinating, myself prefer to leave these matters aside and think about the fitting alignment (light/darkness, order/chaos) after the fact even if absolutely required. Just about any well-writen character (from any setting), even deliberately amoral, could be easily classified according to this system. If not, it usually means the writer is cheating on readers.

[Gurkhal]

What sort of character he was? Any concept behind or anything distinctive about him?
It's interesting that you're mentioned Tremere, as the first campaign with the character I've mentioned included the Tremere who had been forced to get rogue due to an accidental sight of what he wasn't supposed to see, which ensured an extra attention from the Pyramid to the party and some poisonous interaction.

Forgive my late reply, I didn't notice.

Anyway, he was a kind of oracle and book worm with some street smarts but with an increasing Sabbat presence in our city he turned into semi-warrior for the XP he got in those last sessions.

The main point of him was that he had the "oracular something" ability which is what made the Tremere interested in him from the start. It was an ability that really helped out several times for our coterie.

[fylimar]

I think I'm following where you coming from... D&D, Forgotten Realms, right? While I've found its morality system that connected to the cosmology fascinating, myself prefer to leave these matters aside and think about the fitting alignment (light/darkness, order/chaos) after the fact even if absolutely required. Just about any well-writen character (from any setting), even deliberately amoral, could be easily classified according to this system. If not, it usually means the writer is cheating on readers.

I used those alignment concepts only as exsmples. I just meant, that my Tzimisce Aladar was the first character, I played in Any System, that can be considered evil. I played other evil characters since, but he was the first. But you are right, I started my roleplaying life with D&D :)

In VTM terms, Hanna is an artist and explorer with a kind heart and Aladar is definitively a scholar and scientist with slightly monstrous tendencies.

[deicide]

Myself too. Not that I consider another approach wrong, officially both (starting with alignment / choosing appropriate one afterwards) are correct, according to D&D 3.5 Core Rulebook at least. I don't think there are right and wrong ways of character creation (and writing in general sense).
Probably, I just don't know how to use it in proper, but the blue lightsaber refuses to obey me so I still about to play a character that could could be described as "good" or even "without evil leanings". The first paladin that I had tried to create had turned into a blackguard during concept development stage, I think that gives an impression.
The concept from topic is, perhaps, is the tamest of my roster, still could be considered evil from the point of view of what is considered morals, but not malevolent by himself.

Should add that your take on Malkavians sounds appealing, myself prefer what's called "Dominate Makavians" (save for Dementation instead of Domination) in rulebooks as canonical, i.e. disturbed people who are forced to consider their quirks a part of their personality instead of 4chan unleashed IRL (their attempt in increasing the sales among the certain audience). No "great prank", no "madness network", no rules but only one. The fate of Malkav remains unknown, though it's speculated that he had become the universe itself for a moment, and so his childer had inherited a taste of omniscience through the blood.
See nothing wrong with funny lunatics though (no rules, remember?) if done well enough and appropriate for the game.

Regarding Hanna herself, I wonder if Emilie Autumn happens to be her prototype/inspiration IRL, a quietly disturbed musician who happens to hear what's not here occasinally and does not use alleged medical help (has a sense of self-preservation, speaking openly). As of her first name, my guess it's a reference to Hannah house.

[Gurkhal]

Should add that your take on Malkavians sounds appealing, myself prefer what's called "Dominate Makavians" (save for Dementation instead of Domination) in rulebooks as canonical, i.e. disturbed people who are forced to consider their quirks a part of their personality instead of 4chan unleashed IRL (their attempt in increasing the sales among the certain audience). No "great prank", no "madness network", no rules but only one. The fate of Malkav remains unknown, though it's speculated that he had become the universe itself for a moment, and so his childer had inherited a taste of omniscience through the blood.
See nothing wrong with funny lunatics though (no rules, remember?) if done well enough and appropriate for the game.

Please count me into this crowd as well.

[fylimar]

Myself too. Not that I consider another approach wrong, officially both (starting with alignment / choosing appropriate one afterwards) are correct, according to D&D 3.5 Core Rulebook at least. I don't think there are right and wrong ways of character creation (and writing in general sense).
Probably, I just don't know how to use it in proper, but the blue lightsaber refuses to obey me so I still about to play a character that could could be described as "good" or even "without evil leanings". The first paladin that I had tried to create had turned into a blackguard during concept development stage, I think that gives an impression.
The concept from topic is, perhaps, is the tamest of my roster, still could be considered evil from the point of view of what is considered morals, but not malevolent by himself.

Should add that your take on Malkavians sounds appealing, myself prefer what's called "Dominate Makavians" (save for Dementation instead of Domination) in rulebooks as canonical, i.e. disturbed people who are forced to consider their quirks a part of their personality instead of 4chan unleashed IRL (their attempt in increasing the sales among the certain audience). No "great prank", no "madness network", no rules but only one. The fate of Malkav remains unknown, though it's speculated that he had become the universe itself for a moment, and so his childer had inherited a taste of omniscience through the blood.
See nothing wrong with funny lunatics though (no rules, remember?) if done well enough and appropriate for the game.

Regarding Hanna herself, I wonder if Emilie Autumn happens to be her prototype/inspiration IRL, a quietly disturbed musician who happens to hear what's not here occasinally and does not use alleged medical help (has a sense of self-preservation, speaking openly). As of her first name, my guess it's a reference to Hannah house.

Thanks, but Hanna is inspired by one of my favorite medieval singer, Elisabeth Pawelke (if you like folk or medieval music, you might know her as the first singer iof the band Faun). She has a hauntlingly beautiful voice, which fits my Hanna perfectly. Instead of violin, she plays hurdygurdy and harp, but apart from that, it fits well.
As someone, who has experience with mental illness, I don't like the 'batshit crazy' Malks much myself. There is certainly nothing wrong with doing that once in a while, but I find it a bit strange, that those batshits (for lack of a better word) are so popular. I like a well written completely crazy person (still amazed by Heath Ledgers Joker), but I don't think, that that would work well in group play - not even in a Sabbat group. My Aladar would not have wanted such a reliability in his pack for sure. I think, such a character can work well as a npc though.
We never played with the madness network or the 'Great Prank' in our group and that's ok. Hanna is a very likeable person, knows a bit of vampiric etiquette and therefore often is the spokesperson of the group, because people easily like her, so she don't need that madness network to be of use.

I looked up Dominate Malkavian - and yes, that fits Hanna perfectly 


My characters tend to have their own will in character creation too

[deicide]

Never heard of her, which is not surprising as I'm a layman in anything but select areas beyond pop (in broad sense). Thought of EA when you've mentioned a violinist for the reason of her being bitten by the loony toons batshit crazy bug thanks to Bloodlines, no less. She played it a bit too much.
As for the different sort, it will fit a group easily if such a character is interested in anything but proving everyone how empty they are. Nor it takes to be crazy to treat the life as an illusion, for that matter.

[fylimar]

Never heard of her, which is not surprising as I'm a layman in anything but select areas beyond pop (in broad sense). Thought of EA when you've mentioned a violinist for the reason of her being bitten by the loony toons batshit crazy bug thanks to Bloodlines, no less. She played it a bit too much.
As for the different sort, it will fit group playstyle easily if such a character is interested in anything but proving everyone how empty they are. Nor it takes to be crazy to treat the life as an illusion, for that matter.

Interesting, I didn't know that about EA - and I didn't know, you can play Bloodlines too much 

This is Elisabeth Pawelke - love her voice so much and I think, the look fits Hanna perfectly, she has such a dreamy look. I don't think, that many people know her outside the historical music scene  tbh

[deicide]

Apparently it's possible if someone considered changing her faux-Victorian outfit into a Jeanette clone and the project genre into a female Marilyn Manson without drugs half a year past Bloodlines release.
As for Elisabeth, is she known to be weird IRL, or it was just a vague inspiration?

[fylimar]

No, she is a really nice person in real life, but I had her before my inner eye, when I created Hanna. I was looking for inspiration and listening to Elisabeths music at that time.

I find it sad, when someone changes pseudo-Victorian outfits, which are actually cool, to the trash, Jeanette i wearing, which is just meh  . I must have missed that phase with EA, I only know her in her pdeudo-Victorian garb and a bit weird, but not Marilyn Manson weird, but then  I saw her only once at a festival a very long time ago.

[deicide]

Indeed, complete with the concept album about sold-out revolution and cancan dancers, the cut rate material MM might came up with if lacked drug money. We still have to wait for a videoclip involving her striped shirt and depraved stuff in that hotel room, though.
Such a trash is logical for the current business model since an artist lacking time and funds for proper development is forced to rush it, jumping on the first train available in order to please the crowd and continue the project at all.