Character Worksheets Guide

Shamelessly stolen, slightly edited, character building exercise!

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Project Overview

This 3 part project is designed to help you and your DM take a closer look at your character for the purposes of storytelling and character progression. Through it, you can hope to gain a better understanding of:
Who your character is.
What issues they struggle with.
What circumstances could lead to them overcoming these issues.
With this knowledge, your DM can create a narrative structure within your campaign that facilitates character development. If this sounds like fun, this project is for you!
Author’s note:
These exercises are intentionally brief! Most characters have far more than 3 character traits and you could easily expand on many of the exercises below. If you and your DM want to keep going, more power to you! This is really just meant as a starting point to get the old brain juices flowing without being too demanding.
Keep in mind that although we’re laying things out very neatly, character traits aren’t always so cut and dry. It’s very likely that you’ll find at least some overlap once you get into things.
Unpredictability is one of the most enjoyable parts of D&D. Although some level of planning and forethought about your character can help your DM and lead to a more satisfying story, consider that too much detail can lead to a lack luster experience, especially when laying out future events. Although most traditional character arcs follow a similar structure, a lack of specific details will allow your DM to surprise and delight you with the story they’ve created. Similarly, uncovering questions and mysteries about your character’s past (that you aren’t aware of) can also be a lot of fun.

Worksheet #1: Character Traits

The purpose of this worksheet is to define your character’s top 3 core traits and determine their causes and effects. Armed with this information, we can make deductions about:
What kind of a person your character is.
What events or situations have caused them to become the person they are today.
How your character might act under a given set of circumstances.

Exercise #1

List out 3 of your character’s core traits, describing each trait in 15 words or less. For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll define a character trait as a defining feature of your character’s personality that can be expressed in multiple ways. Examples of character traits include an underlying narcissistic personality, a high degree of empathy, a nagging sense of insecurity, an overly trusting or loyal nature, abundant curiosity, an overactive imagination, etc.
Consider that a character trait doesn’t necessarily need to be positive or negative on its own. Rather, it’s how these traits are expressed (which we’ll look at in a minute) that result in good or bad actions. A trusting and loyal nature, for example, can lead a person to do right by others and develop meaningful connections. On the other hand, it may cause a character to put their trust in the wrong person and lead to betrayal.
Once you’ve determined a trait, ask yourself “is this a trait in and of itself, or the expression of something more fundamental?” For example, if you say “My character drinks to excess,” you might follow the train of thought and say “my character is an alcoholic.” We can continue that train of thought and argue that an alcoholic is likely dealing with some underlying fear, insecurity or trauma.

Case Study: Anakin Skywalker

Trait #1: A need for validation.
Trait #2: Loyalty towards people over principles.
Trait #3: An overly emotional nature.

Exercise #2

Describe the events or circumstances leading up to each of your character’s core traits. Write one concise paragraph of 3 sentences or less for each trait. Though some character traits may simply be ingrained (e.g. a narcissistic personality disorder), many traits will have an origin that can be traced back to childhood, or some life defining event. By building the circumstances around our character’s traits, we can better understand why our characters are the way they are and how they might overcome any character flaws that result as an expression of their core traits.

Case Study: Anakin Skywalker

Let’s take a look at how 3 of Anakin’s core character traits may have come about.

• Trait #1: A need for validation.
• Anakin’s late entry into the order of the Jedi and his status as the Chosen One may have led to an inordinate amount of pressure and a need to belong. Because of this, he feels the need for others to validate that he’s worthy of being both a member of the Jedi order as well as the Chosen One.
• Trait #2: Loyalty towards people over principles.
• ]Anakin’s difficult past as a slave may have resulted in his extremely loyal personality. Having grown up with so few positive influences, Anakin may have gravitated to - and put all his trust in - the few people that showed him any kindness (e.g. his mother, and then Obi Wan and Senator Palpatine).
• Trait #3: An overly emotional nature.
• Having missed crucial years of Jedi training, Anakin may simply have lacked the proper tools to deal with the strong emotions that arose as a result of his early childhood traumas.

Exercise #3

List 3 examples of how each character trait may be expressed over the course of the story. Describe each example in one to two short sentences. If possible, try to think of both positive and negative ways your character’s traits might be expressed, as per the example in exercise #1. This is your chance to create some context around your character’s traits and really see how they might work in action.
For example, you might say that a character with a high degree of empathy will strongly consider their party member’s needs when decision making. They may also be more likely to let an antagonist escape, rather than kill them.
DM's Note: See the example character worksheet. You need to have a positive, negative, and neutral impact of each character trait.

Case Study: Anakin Skywalker

Let’s take a look at how Anakin’s character traits play out in practice.

• Trait #1:

  A need for validation.
• Example #1: Anakin constantly shows off and takes unnecessary risks. He displays an arrogance that stems from a need to prove himself.
• Example #2: Anakin feels alienated from the rest of the Jedi Order and feels the High Council does not recognize him.
• Example #3: Anakin gravitates towards people who offer him praise.

• Trait #2:

  Loyalty towards people over principles.
• Example #1: Anakin’s loyalty to Padme supersedes the rules of the Jedi.
• Example #2: Anakin’s loyalty to Senator Palpatine supersedes the advice of the High Council.
• Example #3: Anakin’s combined loyalty to Senator Palpatine and Padme supersedes even his own morality.

• Trait #3:

  An overly emotional nature.
• Example #1: Anakin follows his heart, not his head.
• Example #2: Anakin has difficulty controlling his emotions.
• Example #3: Anakin is likely to make rash decisions.

Worksheet #2: Character Flaws

In the last worksheet we outlined some of your character’s defining traits, why they developed and how they could be expressed. In this worksheet we’ll use this information to define your character’s top 3 core flaws and consider how these flaws may lead to complications. Remember - no one is perfect and perfect characters tend to get pretty boring, pretty fast. After all, story is all about overcoming conflict and if that conflict has its origins in your character, that gives them an opportunity to grow! If you're designing a bad guy then they still need good traits! A bad guy with no soft spots isn't relatable. With that in mind, we want to determine:
How your character’s traits express themselves in ways that have a negative effect (both on themselves and others).
How these negative effects can manifest over the course of the story so your character can create a proverbial hole to dig themselves out of.

Exercise #1

List out 3 of your character’s core flaws, describing each flaw in three sentences or less. For the purposes of this exercise we’ll define a flaw as an expression of one or more character traits that may have a negative effect on the character or others.
For example, a steadfast, lawful character may ignore the advice of those around them and put their trust in a figure of authority who may not have their best interests at heart.

Case Study: Anakin Skywalker

Let’s take at how Anakin’s character traits come together to create his flaws.

• Flaw #1: Anakin’s need for validation and strong loyalty towards people over principles allows him to trust and be manipulated by people who make him feel special.
• Flaw #2: Anakin’s overly emotional nature causes him to make poor decisions.
• Flaw #3: Anakin’s insecurity and need for validation cause him to be alienated from the people who care about him when they don’t give him the validation he desires.

Exercise #2

List out 3 complications that could arise (or have already arisen) out of each of your character’s flaws. These complications can range from petty troubles to life changing events. For complications that could arise in the future, I suggest keeping things fairly vague so your DM can determine the specifics and surprise you at the table.
DM's Note: Make sure you refer to the example! For this section you must have a complication that is a past event (great for your backstory), a possible future scenario (helps create roleplaying consistency), and then either a past event or possible future scenario of your choice.

Case Study: Anakin Skywalker

Let’s take a look at how Anakin’s flaws play out in practice. Essentially, they lead him further and further down until he becomes Darth Vader and hits an all-time low. Keep in mind that although we can draw some very specific examples of his actions and behaviours (because his story has already played out), you don’t need to (and probably shouldn’t) be as specific.

• Flaw #1:

  Anakin’s need for validation and strong loyalty towards people over principles allows him to trust and be manipulated by people who make him feel special.
• Complication #1: Anakin is groomed by Senator Palpatine, who gives him the validation he feels he deserves.
• Complication #2: Anakin trusts Palpatine even when he reveals himself to be a Sith.
• Complication #3: Anakin allows himself to become Palpatine’s instrument of destruction.

• Flaw #2:

  Anakin’s overly emotional nature causes him to make poor decisions.
• Complication #1: Anakin rushes to fight Count Duku alone without a plan and loses his hand.
• Complication #2: Anakin's lack of emotional control causes him to murder a tribe of Tusken Raiders.
• Complication #3: Anakin’s love of Padme and uncontrollable fear of her death causes him to seek the power of the dark side.

• Flaw #3:

  Anakin’s insecurity and need for validation cause him to be alienated from the people who care about him when they don’t give him the validation he desires.
• Complication #1: Anakin’s lack of validation from Obi Wan causes a rift between the two friends.
• Complication #2: Anakin begins to disregard Obi Wan’s advice and council.
• Complication #3: Anakin’s failed attempt at becoming a Jedi Master further alienates him from the Jedi Order.

Worksheet #3: Character Progression

In the last worksheet we outlined some of your character’s flaws and how they might result in complications over the course of the story. In this worksheet we’ll take all the information we’ve gathered so far and consider what circumstances could lead to your character’s redemption and growth.

Exercise #1

List out 3 key factors that would facilitate your character’s redemption. They should relate to your character’s fatal flaws as well as the events and circumstances that lead up to those flaws. Once again, though, you’ll want to paint in fairly broad strokes here to give your DM room to work out the specifics. For example, say a character can’t make their own decisions due to a parental figure treating them poorly (e.g. being controlling, telling them they won’t amount to anything, etc.). Due to this treatment, they’ve developed an insecurity which keeps them from taking action or accepting responsibility.
In this example, we might suggest that the character be presented with 1) supportive people that encourage them and recognize their worth, 2) a series of situations with increasingly high stakes that require the character to shoulder increasing burdens of responsibility 3) a final climax in which the character faces and must overcome an analog to their parental figure (or maybe the actual parental figure), resulting in the character accepting some greater form of responsibility.

Case Study: Anakin Skywalker

Let’s take a look at the factors that caused Anakin’s redemption over the course of episodes 4-6.

• Factor #1: The revelation that he has a son and therefore Palpatine had lied to him. We can also consider that the appearance of a family member is the closest thing to Padme he now has and Padme was arguably the most important thing in the world to him.
• Factor #2: A situation in which he is under control, but does not act in the best interest of Palpatine. When Anakin has Luke’s life in his hands, it would have benefitted the Empire the most for Luke to have died, but Anakin couldn’t do it. This showed us his true priorities.
• Factor #3: A climactic moment where he must choose between good and evil: save Luke or save Palpatine?