Why Flawed Characters Are More Interesting

The best characters aren't perfect. They're the ones who make mistakes, cause problems, and somehow survive the consequences.

Nobody remembers the character who always made the right decision. They remember the fighter who charged the 30ft tall troll, the wizard who opened the cursed book, and the rogue who promised not to steal anything this time.

Flawed characters create stories, usually by creating problems first.

Flaws Create Growth

Nobody becomes a better person by being right all the time. Character growth happens when heroes fail, learn a lesson, and then ignore that lesson for at least another session or two.

Flaws Create Meaningful Choices

The best roleplaying moments often come from a character's flaws. The greedy adventurer takes the cursed treasure. The suspicious rogue questions everyone. The proud warrior challenges something three times their size.

These moments reveal who your character really is and why the GM keeps smiling whenever you make decisions.

Flaws Make Success More Rewarding

Victory feels better when it isn't guaranteed. A character overcoming their flaws can be just as satisfying as defeating a monster.

Sometimes the real treasure is personal growth. Sometimes it's the treasure you didn't touch because it was obviously cursed.

Flaws Create Better Stories

Every adventure needs conflict. Sometimes it's a dragon, an evil cult, or an ancient lich. Sometimes it's the fighter's inability to back down from a challenge or the rogue's inability to leave suspiciously valuable objects alone.

The best stories usually involve both.

Good Flaws vs Bad Flaws

Not every flaw makes a character better.

A good flaw creates opportunities for roleplay, meaningful choices, and character growth. It causes problems without making the character impossible to adventure with.

A bad flaw is usually just an excuse to be disruptive.

"Sometimes I take unnecessary risks" is a flaw.

"I steal from the party and start fights with every NPC I meet" is a problem.

Some examples of 'Good Flaws' are:

• Overconfidence: Certain they can win any fight, solve any problem, and survive any danger. Reality often disagrees.
• Afraid of Being Wrong: Hates being wrong so much they'll perform increasingly impressive mental gymnastics to avoid admitting it.
• Guilt-Ridden: Desperate to atone for a past failure. Unfortunately, they keep creating fresh problems while trying to fix the old one.
• Distrustful: Certain that every friendly stranger is hiding something. To be fair, in most adventuring parties, that's usually true.
• Obsessed With Knowledge: Sees phrases like "forbidden", "sealed", and "do not open" as personal invitations.
• Can't Say No: The reason the party is currently investigating a haunted mill instead of completing the quest they were actually hired to do.

Poorly chosen flaws, on the other hand, tend to make the game less enjoyable for everyone.

Examples of 'Poorly Chosen Flaws' are:

• Constantly stealing from party members.
• Refusing to cooperate with the group.
• Deliberately sabotaging adventures.
• Starting arguments simply because "it's what my character would do."

Anyone can slay a dragon. It takes a truly memorable character to create three new problems before breakfast.

So the next time you're creating a character, don't just ask what they're good at. Ask what keeps getting them into trouble.

Your Game Master will thank you. Right before using that flaw against you.