Welcome back to the latest installment of Building Memorable D&D Characters, the column dedicated to helping you make your Dungeons & Dragons character “come to life”.  So far we have discussed race and class, background, and most recently using quirks and flaws to assist in developing more interesting and compelling heroes, this week we focus on another aspect of personality; your character’s Goals & Motivations.

Goals and motivations are perhaps the most dynamic traits a character possesses.  Background helps us understand him, quirks make him unique, a tragic flaw may ultimately spell his doom; but it is the character’s desires and what drives his ambition that sets events into motion and makes the hero an active, dynamic force in the world.  No matter how interesting the background or unique the traits; ultimately, a character is memorable because of the things he does and why he does them.

Over the years I’ve noticed that oftentimes a character’s only goals are simply the ones that the DM has laid out through the campaign’s story.  And that the motivation is just “because your heroes/adventurers”.  There’s nothing wrong with this; in fact the entire party should share those goals to some degree.  This helps bring the party together and assists the DM in continually driving the campaign forward.  However, a campaign doesn’t have to simply be the telling of the DM’s story; it should also be the combined tale of its protagonists’ personal stories as they are intertwined with the primary plot line. 

So, what types of goals and motivations make for memorable characters, and how do you integrate them without disrupting the DM’s story or overshadowing the other characters?  The following sections offer some ideas for both goals and motivations.  In both cases remember that they should ideally run parallel to the campaign story and not force the campaign into areas your DM isn’t prepared to deal with.  Ultimately creating good goals and interesting motivations will most likely be a collaborative effort between you, the DM, and even the other players.

Goals

Even if it hasn’t been specifically stated most players have a couple of goals in mind for their characters.  In general they want to see their characters survive and level up.  These goals are built into the game itself and are in many ways simply a byproduct of the game’s design.  So how do we come up with other types of goals and roleplay them?  I divide goals up into two categories; short range, and long range.  Both of these can be used at different times and in different ways to make your character feel like someone who does things, not just someone who reacts to things.

Short Range Goals

A character’s short range goals are going to be the ones that come up as a result of the campaign and the adventures created by the DM.  These tend to be mission-specific goals and are usually directed at the entire party.  These are pretty strait forward even if they are not necessarily easy to accomplish. 

Short range goals can run the gamut but are most often “party goals”.  They may be assigned goals such as, rescue Duke Winthroe’s child, find out who killed the High Priest of the Raven Queen, or stop the bandits along the Old North Road.  Or they could be goals of necessity like, escape from the flooding cavern or raise your ally from the dead.  In most campaigns the players needn’t worry too much about short range goals because they are the ones thrown at them by cunning DM’s.

At this level personal goals tend be relatively simple as well.  A character may want to retrain a feat, acquire a magic weapon, or simply keep from failing his third death save.  At any rate these goals are usually built into the game and don’t necessarily require a lot of work on the players’ part, although their motivations may still require some effort.

Long Range Goals

Many long range goals are still DM initiated, such as discovering who is behind the Dragon’s Eye.  But the ones that make a character memorable are their own personal goals.  These are the goals that can bring a character to life and can give the DM solid hooks in which too build adventures around.  Although some of these goals may require an entire campaign to realize, I like to use a single tier of play as a rough guideline for accomplishing a personal long range goal.

Inspiration for a character’s long range goals can come from many sources.  In an earlier Building Memorable D&D Characters column we discussed hooks provided by character background and how the DM could use them.  But, background is also the perfect resource for creating a character’s personal goals.  Perhaps your character’s old mentor has gone missing, maybe a six-fingered man killed your character’s father, or maybe your ancestral lands have been usurped by a rival noble house and you have sworn to reclaim them.  These goals may even be based in an in-game mechanic such as your character needing to perform a sacred rite for his religious order before he can attain paragon-tier or a speaking to a learned scholar to acquire a new spell.

Working with your DM these kinds of goals can easily be implemented into the existing campaign storyline.  For instance, expanding on the examples listed above; perhaps the missing mentor is an expert in relics of an ancient age.  As the campaign progresses the heroes need information that is only known by the mentor.  The characters go on an adventure to find the mentor and the DM has killed two birds with one stone.  The party works toward the collective goal of acquiring information they need, and the individual expands his personal story by discovering the fate of his beloved mentor.  Of course perhaps they find the information but the mentor has already moved on, deepening the mystery continuing the goal for the hero.  It might even charge the goal.  Suppose the heroes discover the information but learn that the mentor is held captive by some enemy.  Now the goal changes, it might even force the party to make a tough judgment call; rescue the mentor (the personal goal), or continue with the primary quest (the group goal).

In general goals are the driving force behind virtually everything in the campaign.  Even the antagonists have goals; of course the heroes probably want to thwart those.  Party goals, individual goals, and even the DM’s goals all add to the story.  And remember, great stories are about overcoming conflict; and conflict springs form the interface of opposing goals.

Motivations

What a character wants to do, achieve, and acquire is important, but equally important, and perhaps even more revealing, is why the character wants those things in the first place.  In an article I wrote a few moths back I discussed motivation from the standpoint of asking “why is the character an adventurer?”  The answer to this question provides a wealth of information about the character as well as helping to define his relationship with the other characters.  Here we’ll examine a variety of motivations that cover a broader spectrum of character desires.

Motivations are as varied as the people who have them.  They can range from the honorable, such as for love, for truth, or for justice, to the deplorable, like revenge, anger, or greed.  What motivates a character into action reveals more than just what he wants.  It tells us about who he really is, why he would risk his life as an adventure, and what really drives him into action. 

Just like goals character background is a great place to start when looking for motivations.  A lost love, avenging a friend, serving a god, all of these things can push a character into action.  The following are examples both benevolent and malign, any of which could be suitable for a memorable character. 

• Power: Personal, political, or social the character wants the ability to control and influence the world, and the people around him. 
• Patriotism: For King and Crown.  Or perhaps, for clan and county-men.  Either way the character acts out of civic, tribal, or even national pride. 
• Obligation: Whether through duty, loyalty, or simply being indebted to another, the character acts out of a sense of owing someone or some organization.
• Religion: The character answers the call of a higher power.  Faith and adherence to the deity’s ideals moves the character to act.
• Family:  Whether blood relatives, adoptive family, or simply the character’s race, family ties are the root behind the character’s deeds.
• Revenge: Pay back for some slight, whether real or imagined drives the character into action.  This may range from avenging the wronged to simply saving face.
• Justice: Whether serving the side of law, a deity of justice, or simply acting as a vigilante, the character acts out of a sense of righting wrongs. 
• Profession: It’s just a job, nothing personal.  At the end of the day it’s just what the character does to pay the bills and get by.
• Love: Might be true romantic passion, love of family, or the unbreakable bond between friends and companions.    
• Greed: Material wealth and possessions are the driving force behind the character’s actions.  It may be the having, or the getting of things that’s important to the character. 
• Fatalism: Maybe the character is truly suicidal or maybe he just accepts that death is inevitable.  Either way he acts as if every day will be his last.
• Honor: Whether stemming from societal demands, a noble upbringing, or simply an internal sense of fair-play, the character’s actions are the actions of the “better man”.
• Knowledge: When all else fails, knowledge is eternal.  The character may act to uncover secrets, long lost knowledge, or simply to learn as much as he can about his enemies or even his own mysterious past.
• Renown: People will know the character’s name and his actions are big, bold, and public.  Of course the nature of those actions will determine if the character is famous, or infamous, beloved or despised.

These are just a handful of possible motivations.  Not only are their many more but each of these has an entire spectrum of manifestation possibilities.  The key to building motivations for your character can be as simple as just asking yourself a few questions:

• Why is my character a [insert class name here]?
• Why does my character risk his life virtually every day?
• Why does my character continue to chase his goals even in the face of extreme obstacles? 

Just quickly jotting done a few answers to these three questions can help you understand the motivating forces that drive your character.  Not only is the understanding of your character’s motivations an invaluable roleplaying aid, but they are also the foundations for making your character an active force in the world.  Instead of just being a passive, reactionary element along for the DM’s ride.

This concludes this week’s installment focusing on character goals and motivations.  Stay with us for next week when we’ll take a look at some of the more philosophical elements that make up your character’s traits, his beliefs, ethics, and morals.