Create a Personality Gimmick!

[Zkitty8]

A pegasus/wyvern/griffon rider that's afraid of heights. Maybe they chose a flying class because they wanted to overcome that fear (and over the course of the game they do), and because they really trust their mount not to let them fall.

[illegal knight]

A wyvern rider who wants to impress his crush by learned and became a magician for entertaining his crush and their friends. But his performance goes too well because it impressed the Lord and his superiors as well. After Lv.20, he got the master-seal from his Lord and he'd ordered to promoted into Malig Knight.

[AnonymousSpeed]

9 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

Ohhhhhhh. I really like that.

Oh, you flatter me. I think you also gave an excellent expounding on how that might work in practice. I especially like the idea that their interactions would get heated, but there would still be a heavy emphasis on the camaraderie between the two. They disagree, but that doesn't mean they can't be friends. I mean as long as the issue isn't an analog for racism that'd get kinda awkward. The specifics of what which one believes would be kind of hard to settle on until you actually knew what game you were going to put them in, of course, but it could serve to either add depth to a question at the forefront or highlight more of a background issue, a political discussion which is relevant to the continent in the next twenty or thirty years but really has no bearing on how to stop the evil wizard from summoning a dragon and whatnot.

***

Speaking on politics, I've long thought it would be neat to have a Fire Emblem character who was heavily based on Niccolo Machiavelli. A cunning and opportunistic pragmatist, someone who is outwardly very heartless but, if you hear him out, you find out sees that worldview as necessary. Is that an accurate description of Machiavelli? I never finished reading The Prince. However, from what I have read Machiavelli talks a lot about recent history and contemporary events in it, so that could also serve as a way of worldbuilding through supports.

[Jotari]

10 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

Ohhhhhhh. I really like that.

Not even a monarchist vs. a republican per-se; but any christmas knight duo where they're gimmick is they're brothers-at-arms and best friends and would die for eachother. But they have diametrically opposing political ideas + philosophies on serfdom and lordship and war and peace and the like, and they're constantly getting into heady political arguments about the events unfolding around them (not only in their supports but in plot progression).

You look a duo like Kent/Sain, and while they never get full-on political as part of their role in the story it doesn't take that much imagination to think that if they did they might have that kind of dynamic.

...Kent's personality suggesting that he would likely be an arch-conservative, with staunchly deferential views to traditional values and legal orthodoxy and strict class and gender roles.

...Sain's personality suggesting that he would likely be far more--liberalized--in his thinking.

I'd love to see a Kain/Abel dynamic where those differences take to the forefront of their interactions. And the knights have a habit of verbally sparring in an explicitly political manner.

That would be a really nice piece of characterization (and excellent worldbuilding tool--a fire emblem setting always feels more like a fleshed out world when you have politics and intrigue and characters giving their take on it. If you really look at the settings that are considered more developed vs. the settings that are considered underdeveloped, that IMO is the real difference between the Tellius's and the Judgal's vs. the Nohr/Hoshido's and the Magvel's. Those little attentions-to-detail in the internal politics of the settings)

Definitely hope we get something like that, and that seems like one they may actually use.     

I'm in full agreement. This is a wonderful idea, and not something I think the series has ever tried to attempt before. It would make a really memorable duo and just do so much for making the world feel more real. I think the closest we ever got to political opinions was in Thracia between Dorias and August (as well as a throw away line that different part of the army wanted to go to different places after the failed defense of Tara).

13 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Oh, you flatter me. I think you also gave an excellent expounding on how that might work in practice. I especially like the idea that their interactions would get heated, but there would still be a heavy emphasis on the camaraderie between the two. They disagree, but that doesn't mean they can't be friends. I mean as long as the issue isn't an analog for racism that'd get kinda awkward. The specifics of what which one believes would be kind of hard to settle on until you actually knew what game you were going to put them in, of course, but it could serve to either add depth to a question at the forefront or highlight more of a background issue, a political discussion which is relevant to the continent in the next twenty or thirty years but really has no bearing on how to stop the evil wizard from summoning a dragon and whatnot.

***

Speaking on politics, I've long thought it would be neat to have a Fire Emblem character who was heavily based on Niccolo Machiavelli. A cunning and opportunistic pragmatist, someone who is outwardly very heartless but, if you hear him out, you find out sees that worldview as necessary. Is that an accurate description of Machiavelli? I never finished reading The Prince. However, from what I have read Machiavelli talks a lot about recent history and contemporary events in it, so that could also serve as a way of worldbuilding through supports.

That's not a completely inaccurate summary of August from Thracia 776. He basically tries to use Leif as a pawn to build the myth of a hero to save the people, but slowly grows impressed by Leif's independence and real desire to help people (even though he frequently disagrees with the actual decisions). Throughout the game he is always suggesting the pragmatic approach to dealing with situations (which is how Thracia has to be played coming to think about it) while his opposite, the aforementioned Dorias, always spouts honor and nightly ideals. Although August is depicted more heartlessly, his suggestions are never really seen as outright wrong, just severe. His introduction into the story sums him up pretty well.

Spoiler

August:
"Bucks, watch your killing.  I know you have to plunder the villages, but don't
 kill more than necessary."

Bucks:
"Ah, shut up.  I don't know if you're some big-shot tactician or what, but I'm
 in charge here.  So keep your mouth shut, all right?  Besides, those fighters
 from Fiana won't be bothering us.  It's our boss that leaked the information
 that they were hiding the prince of Lenster."

August:
"Prince Leaf!?  Are you sure?"

Bucks:
"Yep, he took one of the villagers and made him talk.  He died, of course."

August:
"Torture..."

Bucks:
"Right.  Our boss said you're the one who taught him how to torture people.
 No wonder you were cast out of the order."

August:
"That Lifis, he's going overboard...  Of course...I'll have no more use for him
 once I find the prince.  Well...what to do now...  I suppose I should first
 let my master know of this matter."

4 hours ago, Zkitty8 said:

A pegasus/wyvern/griffon rider that's afraid of heights. Maybe they chose a flying class because they wanted to overcome that fear (and over the course of the game they do), and because they really trust their mount not to let them fall.

A possible justification (stolen from Catch 22) is that they only trained in a flying class because it has the longest training time and they expected the war would be over before they were finished.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Jotari

[AnonymousSpeed]

I really should get to playing Thracia.

8 minutes ago, Jotari said:

A possible justification (stolen from Catch 22) is that they only trained in a flying class because it has the longest training time and they expected the war would be over before they were finished.

A similar gimmick would be someone who declared a major in underwater basket weaving (or whatever the medieval equivalent of that is) only to be horrified when they find out that they recruit those to the war too. Maybe it could be the Dancer type character, I've always wanted to see Bards back and trying to become a court musician to escape conflict only to be dragged onto the battlefield by your liege might be funny.

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 6/18/2018 at 11:26 PM, Jotari said:

  Hide contents

August:
"Bucks, watch your killing.  I know you have to plunder the villages, but don't
 kill more than necessary."

Bucks:
"Ah, shut up.  I don't know if you're some big-shot tactician or what, but I'm
 in charge here.  So keep your mouth shut, all right?  Besides, those fighters
 from Fiana won't be bothering us.  It's our boss that leaked the information
 that they were hiding the prince of Lenster."

August:
"Prince Leaf!?  Are you sure?"

Bucks:
"Yep, he took one of the villagers and made him talk.  He died, of course."

August:
"Torture..."

Bucks:
"Right.  Our boss said you're the one who taught him how to torture people.
 No wonder you were cast out of the order."

August:
"That Lifis, he's going overboard...  Of course...I'll have no more use for him
 once I find the prince.  Well...what to do now...  I suppose I should first
 let my master know of this matter."

 

I didn't actually catch this edit. Yeah, after a bit of reading, that seems to be pretty close to what I envisioned.

***

Okay, so hear me out. You got three Pegasus sisters, nothing special there. Now, imagine they're all named after flowers. The catch is that these three aren't all of their parent's daughters. They're just the three that became Pegasus Knights out of, like, twelve. So the oldest has a fairly standard flower name, like "Rose" or "Lily." A bit later down the line you have the middle Pegasus sister, they're burnt through a few common options so they go with a slightly more obscure/obtuse name like "Chrysanthemum" or "Sunflower." By the time they get to naming their youngest daughter they're left with "Jonquil." That could somehow transfer into a gimmick, I'm sure. I mean, Kellam's schtick is that nobody notices him, surely there's soemthing to be done with having such a ridiculous name?

 

I was trying to think of how Arden's "slow and useless" character gimmick could be reinterpreted in a neat way (like the earlier Ziegfried idea), but the best I came up with is someone who is so eager to prove their effectiveness that they rush into everything head first, which makes them more useless/detrimental then they would be otherwise. I'm not even sure if that would count.

 

A fighter who is a man. I mean, like, a super manly man. They shave their beard with an axe and wrestle bears with their bare hands because to do anything less would be to be a ninny. If you eat your meat well done your food should be thrown out the window and so should you.

 

A smart character who, rather than being calm and collected and repository of random facts and big words, instead is filled with a burning, childlike and enthusiastic hunger for knowledge. It gets their brain to start moving too fast for the own tongue to keep up with, so they constantly trip over their own words and sound like an idiot or say something completely opposite to what they intended to. Leaving out a single negative because you were talking to fast to remember it could lead to some zany antics!

Edited June 21, 2018 by AnonymousSpeed

[Scoot]

A character who is completely unremarkable and inoffensive but everyone irrationally hates them.

A priest who is deeply devoted to his faith but is also crude, foul-mouthed and violent.

A character who acts suspicious all the time and everyone thinks they're an enemy spy. Whatever they're doing when sneaking around always turns out to be completely innocent.

An armor knight who doesn't talk much and will sneak out of their suit of armor and leave it as a decoy,  but people still think they're talking to that character.

[henrymidfields]

A couple of what I've been thinking about for a FE6 x Pokemon XY Anime fanfic involving Poke!Bern being the Neo-Nazi Germany:

A possible variation of the cassanova, which is an adaptation of FE6!Saul, where his family in the adaptation is a bunch of noble cassanovas from Kalos. Saul's uncle - being an expy of Awakening!Virion - is the seemingly suave lady-lover. Saul's cousin - being an expy of Lasward - is the more enthusiastic and outgoing type - and also more explicit, like Yosuke and especially Teddie in Persona 4.

As for Saul himself, he also has the interest in women, but unlike the two, he is ashamed of this, and resists the temptation through his religious training. And he has to negotiate his way between his religious colleagues calling for chastity and his family who are bewildered by his lack of enthusiasm to romantic polyamorous love.

For the country of Poke!Japan, or Shoyo, I've thought up of a variation with Fates!Mikoto. Here, she is Empress Mitsuko of Shoyo (and the first female Tenno in the post-Meiji eras) who has the calm, kind, and benevolent demeanor towards citizens like the original. Except Mitsuko actually has a backbone, and she has much less tolerance against the Prime Minister and his/her government's shady dealings, and is on very bad terms, with tons of angry arguments. If the case is bad enough, Mitsuko may even refuse assent to their Acts of Parliament. She would also take a equally hardline against Sakaki (Giovanni) of Team Rocket who would attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy to make a return back to Imperial Shoyo. Good and kind at heart, but surprisingly aggressive and calculating.

Edited June 21, 2018 by henrymidfields

[AnonymousSpeed]

23 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

By the time they get to naming their youngest daughter they're left with "Jonquil." That could somehow transfer into a gimmick, I'm sure. I mean, Kellam's schtick is that nobody notices him, surely there's soemthing to be done with having such a ridiculous name?

Actually the more obvious gimmick here would be to take advantage of how many sisters they have. It gives a reason for the eldest to be more motherly, the middle child to feel more neglected, and the youngest to want to be the center of attention more than usual. You know, standard sibling stereotypes, but exaggerated and filled to the brim with references to characters you can't recruit.

Though, it might be neat if you could recruit another of their sisters, who is the one everyone looks up to and feels is the most successful, but who feels alienated from her sisters in the army because she's not a pegasus knight.

***

A "Team Mom" who is an avid advocate of healthy eating and is constantly trying to get the rest of the army to eat healthier. Well meaning and obnoxious.

Spoiler

"Would you like an apple? It's good for your body and will fill you with energy!"

"No, but thank you."

"Are you sure? It's delicious~"

"Oh, I'm sure."

"I can cut it up into slices for you."

"I said that I do not want an apple.

"...do you not like the peel?"

***

A troll, but not one who plays tricks on his enemies. Devilishly clever and sharp as a tack, this troll makes it his personal mission to find out the deepest, darkest, and most personal secrets of everyone in the army and then spread them like influenza. Going back to the earlier Ziegfried/Siegfried idea I like so much, this guy would find definitive proof that Ziegfried was, in fact, not Siegfried, and then not tell anyone.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Actually the more obvious gimmick here would be to take advantage of how many sisters they have. It gives a reason for the eldest to be more motherly, the middle child to feel more neglected, and the youngest to want to be the center of attention more than usual. You know, standard sibling stereotypes, but exaggerated and filled to the brim with references to characters you can't recruit.

Though, it might be neat if you could recruit another of their sisters, who is the one everyone looks up to and feels is the most successful, but who feels alienated from her sisters in the army because she's not a pegasus knight.

***

A "Team Mom" who is an avid advocate of healthy eating and is constantly trying to get the rest of the army to eat healthier. Well meaning and obnoxious.

  Reveal hidden contents

"Would you like an apple? It's good for your body and will fill you with energy!"

"No, but thank you."

"Are you sure? It's delicious~"

"Oh, I'm sure."

"I can cut it up into slices for you."

"I said that I do not want an apple.

"...do you not like the peel?"

***

A troll, but not one who plays tricks on his enemies. Devilishly clever and sharp as a tack, this troll makes it his personal mission to find out the deepest, darkest, and most personal secrets of everyone in the army and then spread them like influenza. Going back to the earlier Ziegfried/Siegfried idea I like so much, this guy would find definitive proof that Ziegfried was, in fact, not Siegfried, and then not tell anyone.

Especially since there are a tonne of girls names that are also flowers (or trees). You'd have to go beyond a dozen before it even starts to be stretched. Rose, Lily, Jasmine, Angelica, Daisy, Iris, Dahlia, Heather, Lavender, Holly, Clover, Ashley, to name just a few. Now, take the same concept and apply it to a group of brothers and you're going to start stretching things very thin after the first two or three children. Basil and Rowan are the only male planet names that immediately come to my mind.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Jotari

[Hawkwing]

A mailman who gets lost in the middle of the battle, and decides to join the players army simply because they're heading in the same direction. They'd have the highest (or at least, among the highest) defense and resistance growths in the game, and won't be affected negatively by terrain.

A pious thief who wants to become a monk or priest, but has absolutely no skill with magic or healing whatsoever. They're also a kleptomaniac, and extremely good at stealth, so they remain in their class in order to be useful to your army, even if they do their best to resist the temptation to steal things.

[Perkilator]

Wait! Got another one:

A Pegasus Knight who wants to become a magician (the ones with the bunnies in their hats); she’s basically the Est of herself and her sisters.

(I got the idea from “So this is basically Fire Emblem.)

[AnonymousSpeed]

21 hours ago, Jotari said:

Especially since there are a tonne of girls names that are also flowers (or trees). You'd have to go beyond a dozen before it even starts to be stretched. Rose, Lily, Jasmine, Angelica, Daisy, Iris, Dahlia, Heather, Lavender, Holly, Clover, Ashley, to name just a few. Now, take the same concept and apply it to a group of brothers and you're going to start stretching things very thin after the first two or three children. Basil and Rowan are the only male planet names that immediately come to my mind.

I didn't even know some of those were flowers.

...Okay, so hear me out. You got three wyvern brothers-

 

4 hours ago, Hawkwing said:

A pious thief who wants to become a monk or priest, but has absolutely no skill with magic or healing whatsoever. They're also a kleptomaniac, and extremely good at stealth, so they remain in their class in order to be useful to your army, even if they do their best to resist the temptation to steal things.

This is a fun idea.

 

2 hours ago, Perkilator said:

(I got the idea from “So this is basically Fire Emblem.)

Fat Vaike MVP.

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I didn't even know some of those were flowers.

...Okay, so hear me out. You got three wyvern brothers-

 

This is a fun idea.

 

Fat Vaike MVP.

Come on man, it's the 21st century. We;re living in a Post Fates world. You got three Pegasus brothers!

[FRZNHeir]

On 6/21/2018 at 1:12 AM, Scoot said:

An armor knight who doesn't talk much and will sneak out of their suit of armor and leave it as a decoy,  but people still think they're talking to that character.

This would be hilarious, especially if his personal skill revolved around it, like, a 10 percent chance to decoy and then crit or smthn 

On 6/20/2018 at 11:44 PM, AnonymousSpeed said:

A fighter who is a man. I mean, like, a super manly man. They shave their beard with an axe and wrestle bears with their bare hands because to do anything less would be to be a ninny. If you eat your meat well done your food should be thrown out the window and so should you.

So basically Dolza but with the manliness turned up to 11.



Okay, a bard who keeps trying to get people to listen to his hot musical score, but nobody, and I mean NOBODY wants to.

[AnonymousSpeed]

11 hours ago, Jotari said:

Come on man, it's the 21st century. We;re living in a Post Fates world. You got three Pegasus brothers!

 

Hey man I didn't play Fates I'm not up to date on these things.

The Leaf Family- Mr. and Mrs. Leaf were both fine Pegasus Knights, some of the best in the world. Perhaps most exciting was that Mr. Leaf came from a lineage with a history of male pegasus riders, so it seemed that his family carried the [UNKNOWN UNIT OF HEREDITY] for allowing males to ride pegasi. The government thus gave them a massive tax break to have as many children as possible, in the hopes that whether they were male or female, they'd be useful Pegasus Knights.

Basil- Oldest of twelve brothers. Probably just Oscar. He cooks, he cleans, he nags, and he multitasks.

Caraway (or Chervil)- Sixth of twelve. Seventh of twelve's twin, Caraway has always struggled to distinguish himself in his large family and is often ignored, overlooked, or forgotten about, causing him to adapt a quiet and unintrusive demeanor which exacerbates the issue.

Feverfew- Eleventh of twelve brothers. He loves to be the center of attention and will let you know when you aren't doing what he wants you too. Very jealous of the youngest brother (eight years his junior, the Leafs wanted to get one more tax break in), who has hogged the attention he so desires.

Garland- Third of twelve brothers. Pegasi don't like Garland very much, so he reclassed to Mage (or Mercenary). While his parents are proud of him and his siblings admire him, he's always felt insecure about not being able to ride pegasi, and feels especially isolated now that he's the only member of his family in the army who can't ride one.

 

48 minutes ago, FRZNHeir said:

So basically Dolza but with the manliness turned up to 11.

I was thinking more Teddy Roosevelt, but some mash up of those two, yeah.

***

Don't you hate all those fake "gamer girls?" Well, so does this guy. He's sick of all those chess-piece chewing broads who just play board games for the attention. They aren't real gamers, like him! He's played checkers, chess, backgammon, and Go Fish. Because this is an exaggerated one note personality gimmick, this random guy has more or less solved chess.

[FRZNHeir]

On 6/18/2018 at 12:57 PM, AnonymousSpeed said:

This is another idea I really like, but I kept it separate because I wanted to mention a character gimmick that would match it perfectly: a chef.

Now, I don't mean one of those namby Frenchmen with their stupid hats and culinary school experience. I mean a real, home-cooked-meal-making Southern-style chef.

"A pound of butter? That ain't nearly enough for a pound cake!

I was thinking about this and thought of another character gimmick like this, but funnier. 

He's a chef, but his cooking is just god-awful. Like, people purposely keep him away from the kitchens. The one day he cooks is the day when the previously mentioned mercenary wanders into camp, and the merc still eats and loves it, which makes you wonder- just how bad is the opposing army's food?

  

[Sasori]

"Hey there, little homies of the rad almighty"

I've been been reminded of dragon quest 9 again and its priests have potential for nice gimmicky characters.

One is a priest of a failing church who tries to 'hip', 'cool' and totally radical.

The other could be a crooked priest. One who charges money for healing, steals during confessions and who speaks like an unrefined bandit.

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 6/26/2018 at 1:20 AM, FRZNHeir said:

I was thinking about this and thought of another character gimmick like this, but funnier. 

He's a chef, but his cooking is just god-awful. Like, people purposely keep him away from the kitchens. The one day he cooks is the day when the previously mentioned mercenary wanders into camp, and the merc still eats and loves it, which makes you wonder- just how bad is the opposing army's food?

I like it. I would be a bit sad to see all those butter and bacon jokes go away, but it would be way too many food related character gimmicks in one day. The only question is, what would the style of this horrible cook?

 

On 6/26/2018 at 1:54 PM, Sasori said:

The other could be a crooked priest. One who charges money for healing, steals during confessions and who speaks like an unrefined bandit.

Ah, so an indulgence vendor. Sectarian Conflict Emblem when?

***

"Ou, I am ze arteest. I require the inspiration, but the inspiration, it does not come to me! Ah, but your army, the tactics, they are so beautiful! I must follow you and see the world and more of your brilliant fighting, so that I might be inspired!"

"Ou, potential S support, you are, how do you say, so beautiful! You simply must let me draw you naked!" *beaten*

[Hawkwing]

A myrmidon who was formerly a doctor. Since they had a great deal of knowledge of the vital areas of the human body, and a large amount of skill at performing amputations, they decided to join the army proper to put their abilities to a more deadly use.