Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What type of player are you?

Are you a roleplayer or a powergamer?

If you are a roleplayer do you roleplay as yourself if you were to exist in the DND world or is the character you make purely fantasy?

What type of stats would you have if the character you are making is based off you?

Definitely roleplayer, and if I like a game I’ll play a variety of different characters to experience different aspects. I definitely don’t base my characters on me as I’d make a truly terrible RPG protagonist, though I need to be able to enter into the motivations for even my evil characters to some extent, so tend to avoid playing thugs, murder hobos or characters motivated purely by greed.

I’m not sure what my stats would be, but the physical ones certainly wouldn’t be up to snuff. I’d like to think my INT wouldn’t be too bad, though it was probably better when I was younger. But conversely, I hope I’ve now lived long enough to have built up some WIS! And I suppose I do mirror this to the extent that my favourite characters tend to prioritise the mental over the physical, but on the other hand I had great fun with my dwarf barbarian!

Oh, and while power gaming isn’t generally my thing, if I like a game enough to replay then I generally do try out the harder difficulties at least once, at which point I will think much more about optimising my party.

Roleplayer from a storyteller kind of angle. A good story needs good characters who act believably. Probably sometimes my PC is influenced by my own personality as well.

That said, I don't find weak character builds fun. While I won't min-max all the way and often have no 8's in my ability scores, I will play efficient builds and play them in an efficient way. That's why Larian's OP exploits bug me to hell - the smart characters would use anything at their disposal i.e. cheese the encounters. But that would just kill any fun i.e. challenge in the gameplay.

A combination of the two (I still like to have a decent ending for my character) but mostly a roleplayer. That does not prevent me from trying to make a good build.

Playing myself? No, but I might put in an element or two from myself (which can often be nothing of importance; it depends). However, I must feel a degree of sympathy for them. But not all of them are good people (not necessarily evil either). For example, for my first run I have planned to play a drow-fugitive with a criminal background. One who had lost a love and his old life within a couple of days. For him, profit and survival trump morals. Yet he still tries to help when somebody's story strikes a cord in his heart. And having friends is important. But gods help you if he has to go over your corpse.

My characters can grow and surprise me, usually (though not always) towards redemption. Once created their logic starts to make decisions I have not expected. That's the beauty of the RPG

Haha, I would be a lousy adventurer. I might have a bit higher strength and charisma but nothing significant.

I don't know if either of those terms describes what I like to do? I like strategy and teamwork within my party. I like doing beneficial things ... wouldn't it have been great in the original BG series if you could have healed a few sick bedridden villagers once in a while? I like my character to have a central and sometimes unique role within the party. I like interesting stories with strong thematic currents, and I love subtle humorous dialogs. I love "whodunnit" mysteries; J.K. Rowling was right about that!

As for my stats, all 8's. Natural talent will get me only so far, and I have to work for anything more.

Depends on the quality of the game; if the game is rich in story, world-building and characters with an extensive and thought-out dialogue system and so on, I tend to gravitate towards an int/charisma jack of all trades kinda guy. As this kind of character is really immersive for me. however I'm not(sadly) intelligent nor charismatic IRL.
As I move through the world I generally try to make rational decisions that help the most kind of people, crushing hopes and desires of the poor fools who cannot see as far as I(lol) and, if possible, end the game in the worst way possible as a joke.

As for my characters stats, I have to agree with 1varangian; unless the game allows for more wonky builds, because strategy/environment/planning, is as important as getting that 20 strength or whatever.

If the game is bad, well just give me the loot and experience so I can finish it quickly(if at all).

I tend to have two distinct approaches to those kind of games. If I go heavy on the roleplay then I can build my character on the fly without giving it a second thought - in that case the thematic of the build matters more than power and I try to explore some unorthodox strategies or go heavy on consumables or try to play a pacifist card (if it suits the character). I tend to separate each character from my real self and write them like a book with a strong emphasis on appearance - it should be unique and carry the vibe I am aiming for through the whole story. This approach I usually go for on my first run.

Powergaming and theorycrafting kicks in later, on a second and consecutive playthroughs, where I try to push the boundaries of gameplay or create unique builds that can refresh the experience.

roleplayer
i end up turn the system up because after playing so many times you end up as a powergamer by default
my personal fav character is middle of the road selfish adventerer out for rep, $, power or sex but i sometimes play over the top Good\ Evil just to mix it up
Str

Both

It depends on the game really - if the game encourages roleplaying I will do my best to participate. If a game has enjoyable and balanced challenges I will be happy to focus and mechanics and try to find optimal solutions.

I generally don't do extremes though - I won't write biography for my characters. Just figure out broad strokes - personality, alliegances, believes, biases etc.

Similarly, I am not a minmaxer or powergamer, but I do try for my builds to make sense, and for party to have synergies.

Depending on mood.

Roleplayer here, with characters whose personalities are a mix between my personal attitude and pure fantasy. I tend to create characters that make sense in the context of the setting rather than be powerful and efficient.

No idea how to describe my playing style. Hmmm first of all explorer for the very first full run of the game.

For me, kind of a mix. I definitely don't min/max power game, but I do like to have a dominant role in a party. For me the fun is in becoming powerful and I find it more plausible for my character to be very good at everything with an important but less strong party supporting. Whilst I will aim for strong combinations and builds I will always bake in certain weaknesses - for example in EA I mostly play Warlock/Sorcerer and have very high DEX/CHA but will dump CON to compensate. Where there are unusual or particularly strong build choices there has to be an RP justification for them, not just "because it's really good". Because of this I gravitate towards games with a great deal of depth and complexity because it helps you to feel involved. Shallow games just don't hold interest for very long at all...

I am very much a roleplayer. I like games with combat just difficult enough that I have to engage with the mechanics to win so that I can really enjoy the fantasy of being my character class. I want to have to actually do some thinking and make use of my character's abilities rather than just beating everything in one hit. Though if I get bored enough of certain games I'll just turn the difficulty right down so I can get through it and get to the story stuff.

Yes. But I don't insert myself into my characters. For some of them, it wouldn't make any sense. For OW, or semi OW games, I have a "know your world" philosophy. This means I'm poking my nose into every corner of a map, to see what's there. This applies to character building as well. I look for synergies within the class/classes of either my possible class choices, or party composition, or both, and build accordingly. But the best character I ever built had a novella for a backstory, that I actually started writing in game, while in a session with another player in a NWN module. It fully explained the class choices and alignment of the character, how it got there, and why. These are things that go on in the back of my mind once I get invested into a character, and for me, it isn't something I "switch on or off", it just is.

A combination but if must choose then powergamer and absolutely and proud of it and not shamed at all lol. However I have also even played Pen and Paper and roleplay to some degree can be fun. It is not always fun though sometimes I have found roleplayers boring really their characters at least if they slow down gameplay or even try prevent the quest going forward for solution well and this is touchy subject it is usually only own roleplay that is interesting and all others uninteresting to some degree lol. Roleplaying is not some paradise to me sometimes it can be annoying. In computer games it does not matter so much and roleplay of NPC companions can be nice to see. This is also uninteresting to say stats for me then it would be much more interesting to give background, but that is personal information so I refuse to give that info.

To tell how I would roleplay my character reflecting myself I feel would go into politics crystal clear so I refuse to answer that as well. I do not discuss politics or religion in real life thank you.

I'm mostly a roleplayer. I like my stats to be reasonable, but I don't do powergaming.
I don't self insert and try to find a fitting personality and Stick with it.

Probably a roleplayer, I am inclined to choose a race/background according to the role I want to play, not the stats. But when I am finished with that I powerplay like hell, squeezing every possibility to optimize my build and make my character stronger in these strict rules I have chosen for myself (Not killing everyone for exp for example).

As for a character... I was always amazed at how people can roleplay someone with different views on a world or opinions. Even if I create a character of a different race and gender, it is really interesting for me to feel in a different body and background in general, but it is still me at its core. I was trying to roleplay a Loth-Sworn drow one time, and it did not go very well. It was fun to be evil at first, but empathy still gets an upper hand. At the end of the playthrough, I said to a child who I saved before that his poem is garbage and I do not care about him, and his reaction made me think "Yeah, I feel like shit". Not to say about siding with Minthara and slaughtering the Druid grove...

I'm more of a roleplayer than a powerplayer...however :


This! Oh thank goodness, I thought I was alone on this 😅 Which I felt a bit ashamed of 😶
I do have so much respect and admiration for the people who can properly play a character that is drastically different from them.
I'm still learning 😊I do find it to be easier when inspired by something like a (sub)class or theme.

I love to immerse myself in the universe and it's easier to do so with character that I can identify with...well...to some extend.
So, it's not 100% a self-insert either and I like to have some variety here and there :

Things that are very consistent :
- Fey Ancestry : I just love the Feywilds 💚 and things related to the feys. In such, I systematically pick "Elf" as the race for my Tavs 😅. I would also love if the Eladrins were an option 💚!
- Leaning toward "Chaotic Good", sometimes with a little zest of "Neutral Good" or "Chaotic Neutral". I've learned that Lawful or Evil weren't for me. This means that I do tend to take similar path/decisions every time (but using different dialogue options according to their personality, see below).
- CHA based (that's just what I like and it's very convenient in this game 😁), but I would love to play Druid and/or Ranger as well (just not in BG3).
- Open-minded (I don't reject companions because of that, for instance).
- Sense of humor, which could be more or less whimsical (which will make it difficult for me to not play a Bard, or to multi-class with one level in Bard for the Tag options).
-...

Things that often vary :
- Is the character more prone to use Intimidation, Persuasion or Deception during conversation?
- Is the character anxious about their survival chances or are they more confident? This could impact how to deal with the goblins (at their camp or at the Grove), for instance.
- Does the character easily display their emotions (quick-tempered? open book?) or are their more reserved and keep a neutral tone as much as possible?
- Does the character feel self-righteous enough and/or strong enough to kill some of the evil doers on sight (only applied to my Draconic Sorcerer with the Duegars)?
- How blunt/assertive is the character?
-...

Honestly, I have this weird thing where it's hard for me to play different characters/paths through the same story/game 😳. It would feel (to me) like watching a "behind the scene" and it would break the immersion.

I usually have a "canon" and I stick to it on replay with some very small variations. For instance, in Dragon Age Inquisition, my character went through gender-swamping, changing other physical attributes and had another love interest...but everything else was the same.
I also have 12+ very different characters in GW2, so there are exceptions to this "one canon" preference.
The EA of BG3 was also an exception (given the amount of Tavs created, even an attempt being made at playing evil), which was a nice experience.
But I'll probably pick a "canon" Tav on full release 😅 That's just the comfort zone that I need 😁
Right now, I'm torn between my Lore Bard build and my Archfey Warlock build 😊

T.L.D.R. : My comfort pick is to stick to a "canon" character that I've created which shares similarities with me (especially when it comes to moral and world views) but I do enjoy, every now and then, trying to go out of the confort zone with certain games.

EDIT : companions do offer the opportunity to roleplay characters that I wouldn't typically play/create which I wholeheartedly enjoy ^^ 💛