What's your favorite type of character to play, and why?

[Altair]

I know I'm starting a massive pile of new threads, but I couldn't really find something that fit what I was looking for, and the community has been super rad in enabling my obsession here

 

Anyway! What I'm kind of missing out is something like The Class Guides from Pathfinder, which might seem a touch misleading at first. Those guides are purportedly about how to build effective, powergamy characters, and in a sense, they are. 

 

What I've actually found, however, is that they're really love letters to certain build types. 

 

So what I'd like to know, is what kinds of things have people found crazy fun? Do you love playing Super Bricks? Why? Is it piles of damage dice, the ability to juggle pickup trucks, or something else? Those who like playing fantasy psionics - what is it that makes that so awesome? 

 

Basically, I'm trying to get people to wax eloquent about things that they've found really satisfying in HERO. 

[Nolgroth]

Well, if you count the types of characters I played most often....NPCs.

 

As to the other, it depends entirely upon the genre. If you use generic MMO terms (which I hate but serve a reasonably good job of describing the types) I prefer Tanks/Bricks with a secondary preference for Controller types. If I can cross pollinate the two types, I am happy. Surviving when all the other characters fall is sort of my schtick in games. Damage output is important but not as important as being able to endure. I tend to buy my "disposable" stats (END, STUN, BODY) as high as I possibly can. Depending on protective abilities I tend to max those out as well. Then comes damage dealing abilities. Then comes healing. Then everything else.

 

I can play other types and often have fun with them. 

 

Examples from other games or specific genres:

• D&D: Clerics or Paladins, Cavalier or straight up Fighter failing all else.
• Shadowrun: Troll Street Samurai or Troll Physical Adept. For that matter Troll <anything> works.
• Pulp Hero: The "Marv" type character.
• Robotech: The Beta fighter pilot as opposed to the Alpha. In non-transforming Mecha, the Mac III Monster.

More important that the type of character I have the most fun with though, is the campaign and how my character fits into it. Not just which role they play in combat, but how they interact with a living, breathing world. Part of that comes with the opportunities for my character to grow and expand beyond whatever genre role that they might have started from. 

 

Sort of a long answer that doesn't precisely answer your question. Characters and characterization are pretty important parts of the RPG experience for me.

[Steve]

I love playing two types of characters: Bricks and Martial Artists.

 

When it comes to Bricks, there is something immensely satisfying to me about being highly resistant to damage and being able to wield super-strength. That said, I tend to prefer what they call Agile Bricks. These characters have higher Dexterity and Speed, but don't get up into the heights of Strength that more lumbering sorts of Bricks can. Give me Spider-Man's level of strength and agility instead of the Hulk's.

 

My love of martial artists derives from my love of anime and video games. Hero has given me the tools where I could make a Kung Fu superstar that wouldn't be out of place in Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Not super strong (15-25 STR) but makes up for it in extra Damage Classes, a great bargain at four points each for zero END cost damage.

[Lucius]

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41478-what-i-learned-playing-a-fighter/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41442-the-things-ive-learned-playing-a-martial-artist/page-1

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41481-what-i-learned-playing-a-mage/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41578-things-i-learned-playing-a-thief/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41504-what-i-learned-playing-a-cleric/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41452-what-i-learned-playing-a-blaster/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41634-the-things-ive-learned-playing-a-metamorph/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/42010-what-i-learned-playing-a-robot/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/41945-what-ive-learned-playing-an-alien/

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/42002-things-i-have-learned-playing-a-hard-boiled-detective/

 

I swear there was one for bricks too, but I can't find it. I did find this.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/65556-help-me-get-into-bricks/

 

Lucius Alexander

 

What I learned riding a palindromedary

[bluesguy]

I mostly GM so I don't get to play very often.  My favorite genre is Fantasy.  So here are some of my favorite characters:

 

• Eltrois - This is a character who has been 'resurrected' a number of times for a variety of campaigns.  He is a warrior priest.  He is not a paladin.  He is devout, practical, determined and enjoys having a good time.  In the current version I am playing he has a high strength, constitution, PD/ED, Body and Stun.  He has sword play martial arts.  He has a few protective type spells.  He loves to rush right into the middle of a fight and sweep a bunch of opponents who try to swarm him.  When he is not on a mission he loves to be in a tavern/inn - swapping tales, ale, singing and flirting with the local ladies.  He is moderately studious.  He is fiercely loyal.
• Grand Guignol - A bard who enjoys fencing.  Definitely light on his feet.  Wins fights by disarming opponents and taunting them.  While Eltrois will flirt with the local ladies - GG is definitely going to romance them off their feet.  Happy go lucky.
• Apache Archer - The only superhero character I have ever played.  He was an Apache Indian who had moved to Texas to get a degree in Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering.  He was blessed with superhuman dexterity and speed.  He was  crack shot with his bow and arrows - which were very much like Hawkeye's gear.  After saving a bunch of experience points his bow, arrows, and abilities got a huge boast because he became the empowerment of the Great Spirit in the form of a warrior.  After that his bow and arrows were OIF (think Thor's hammer) and he had a lot more variety with the arrows.  He also got a higher speed.  He was proud of his heritage.

[Scott Baker]

Since I've played the same power armor character (and now his "progeny") off-and-on through multiple campaigns for the last 27 years--correction 28--I'd have to call that my favorite.Not so much because he's a power armor character, but because he's who I like to think I would be given a world with super powers. 

 

Beyond that, I don't have a favorite. I've played all kinds of characters in Hero both as player and GM.

[mhd]

I primarily GM, so I have to say that my favorite character is the "sleazoid". I have way too much fun playing them, and as opposed to some other characters, you're rarely in a position of supreme power over the PCs with them.

Least favorite: Saucy wenches.

 

When I'm actually playing on the other side of the (imaginary) screen, I've got a really bad case of decision paralysis. So I usually end up with jack-of-all-trade support characters.

[Tholomyes]

Depends on the setting/genre. In High Fantasy, I tend to typically like playing down-to-earth, usually non-magical characters. Unfortunately in most systems other than HErO, they're almost always the most boring subset of classes, mechanically. When I do stray from this, it's not usually that far to stray: for example I've played a Wizard who uses his great mastery of cosmic powers... for masonry and architecture. Same down-to-earth feel, just with a little magic.

 

With Superheroes, I can't say I can pick a favorite. I've had a lot of fun with a variety of characters, simply because superheroes covers a very broad conceptual area. I'd say I most often like to go with a character with some versatility, meaning either a skill-monkey with a utility belt (or trick arrows or what have you) or a Powersuit character with a broad multipower, or the like. Speedsters can be interesting, but in my mind they're almost too versatile in that it's hard to be able to adequately represent all the cool speedster-tricks in a moderately-priced character.

 

In Other games it's hard to specifically say a favorite, since it's so campaign dependent. Sci-fi is so broad that even after breaking it down to cyberpunk, or Space Opera, or Military or Mecha, I still can't say a "favorite" type of character for the subgenres. I rarely get to play stuff like pulp or action games, so I couldn't say for sure.

[Altair]

Wow, thanks everybody! This is great, keep it coming!

 

@Lucius - This. This is absolutely the kind of thing that I was looking for. Awesome to see this see to awesome.

 

@ Pretty much everybody else: thanks for the variety of answers! It seems like there's a strong sentiment regarding the character, which is super rad, and pretty much in-line with my own preferences. I came into RPGs from a performing arts background, so my standard form of engagement is pretty much always personality-centric, fill in the mechanics afterward. It's one of the reasons why threads like this are so useful to me - really getting a feel for what people enjoy in the mechanics, or just enjoy in general, is a great way to get ideas, or maybe think about exploring something I normally don't do myself. 

 

This is super rad, keep it up

[IndianaJoe3]

I used to be heavily into powered-armor types (even played one in an X-Men-style campaign), but I've moved away from that. The only consistency now is that my characters all tend to be relatively smart (13 INT or better), and they are heroes. They are good people whose powers allow them to do great things for the greater good.

[Zephrosyne]

I've gmed way, way more than I have played over the years.  As I player, I really don't have a type.  I'm more focused on a character in terms of personality than I am cool powers and what not.  If you put a gun to my head and made me choose a power-based archetype, I would say a psionic.  As a gm, it is pretty much the same thing; although, my favorite personality archetype gming is a scheming manipulator.  I also enjoy running a big bad's ex-wife who allies with the players just to stick it to the ex-husband.  Granted, that instance is rather rare, but it was fun the couple of times that I have done it.  The players have also had fun trying to manipulate the power couple's animosity to their advantage.