Introduction

You've all seen the section before, maybe you've even dreaded it: Flaws. Seriously, you just got done writing up this magnificent specimen of a character, and now people expect you to tell them what's wrong with him/her? Were they not paying attention? Did they not see the spectacle of magnificence outlined before them?

Well, in all honesty, these lists help admins, staff, and others recognize, at a glance, how balanced your character is. Because it's really not that fun to have a bunch of little godlings running around. And really, flawed characters are just more fun to play. However, writing flaws can sometimes be a problem. Here are nine common flaws that appear on applications, mostly ones I've seen, that really are, well, flawed. They're either not really flaws, unusable, or show up so often that it doesn't matter.

1. The Min-Max Flaw

But Fate, that's not a real flaw! You're right, I'm overgeneralizing a little to make it easier for us. But flaws that are "min-max" flaws are the types of flaws we expect to see hap-hazardly thrown on characters. These flaws are the types of things that will never show up in an actual game, and therefore have no real meaning or detriment to your character.

This could be "bad at physical combat" for a character that will most likely never fight. Or "deathly afraid of flying Big Boys", which a friend of mine once selected in order to fill up this position. The main idea here is that the flaw has to be detrimental to your character in this game.

2. "Too Trusting"

I hate to break it to you, but this is overdone and one of the first signs of a Sue character. "Too trusting" is very rarely ever played out in a way that actually hurts the character, and when it is, it often leads to "damsel in the distress" or "poor me" moments, neither of which are appealing to read. If you stop and think about it, you'll be hard pressed to come up with a literary character that has this flaw. That's because, and here's a shocker: It's not interesting.

3. "Too smart/pretty/strong/witty"

First, you're probably not, despite what you might think. Second, this is another one of those Sue indicators. And third, very, very rarely does this actually wind up being a flaw for your character. It's just not likely that your character being too strong is going to hurt him/her so horribly bad sometime in the near future. Unless they have a loved one made entirely of breakable glass. That, I'd like to see.

4. Obscurus Weakpointus

This goes hand in hand with the "never going to see in the RP" one.

Remember Superman? Remember how he's pretty well only unique to this special green rock that comes only from his destroyed alien homeworld? While it makes for interesting ways of the writers actually getting a hold of enough Kryptonite, it also makes for nearly ridiculous situations, not to mention ones that, again, aren't likely to happen.

So your animagus character with the secret allergy to garlic shaped like Abraham Lincoln, or that killer robot with a weakpoint behind his left ear.

5. Most of the Time This One Thing, but Sometimes Something else

Your character is either mean or nice. They are not "mean some times, but if you trust them or get to know them, blah, blah." If your character is mean, but you want them to be able to open up, just say that they're mean. We don't need qualifying statements. We get that your character can change, or act differently around a specific person. It's called development (or bad writing, but we're assuming the good thing here).



Conclusion

As you can plainly see here, there is a running theme: flaws have to hurt your character. It has to be something that a person can easily turn against you, or something that would genuinely hurt your character in the setting you're playing in. So stop and consider those flaws that you're coming up with, that you're writing down. Are they really things that are affecting your character in a negative way? Or are they just things that make your character seem more awesome? Bite the bullet, give your character some respectable flaws, and you'll end up thanking yourself in the end.


this guide was written by the Overlord known as Fate, for RPG-d and overlords of all shapes and sizes