Character Math

Hello, stranger! Maybe you are a new player, or maybe you've been around a while but only as FCs of various kinds. You are trying to write your first app for an OC and the math involved is bewildering you. Fear not! This page is here to help!

Maybe you already have an idea of what faction you'd like to join and what you'd like your function and general persona in that faction to be. Maybe you already know what you want to turn into (these three things are closely interlinked). If so, great! If not, take some time now to think about it and consider the strengths and weaknesses of the different factions and how their qualities might suit you.

Autobot personalities are: likeable, friendly, well-meaning, stubborn, defiant, creative, compassionate, thoughtful, brave, freethinking, generous.

The Autobots are, generally, conservationists. They are willing to lay down their lives to prevent the Decepticons from enslaving and strip-mining more primitive inhabited planets (like Earth) to plunder their natural resources. The Autobot faction was formed millions of years ago on Cybertron when a group of Transformer politicans refused to allow another group to harvest resources from a planet with life on it, because it would've damaged that planet's ecosystem, even though the Transformers were in a fuel shortage at the time. Very few modern Autobots are old enough to be the original set, and they tend to have become more warlike as time went on, in order to keep up with the Decepticons... but the core of their faction is about protecting the helpless from exploitation.

Traditionally Autobots turn into civilian vehicles (made for service with a smile by the Quintessons), although more recently the percentage of them built for war has increased. Although a few Autobots change into things that fly, virtually no Autobots are capable of flight in robot mode.

Autobots are typically friendly with humans and other aliens, since they're on this planet to protect the humans and other Earthly life forms. The humans also (usually) appreciate their Autobot friends.

Decepticon personalities are: bold, aggressive, cruel, conniving, ruthless, fearless, cowardly, brutish, wild, implacable, indomitable.

The Decepticons are a diverse bunch, sometimes pretty accurately described as "misfits." Their personalities tend to vary widely based on their altmodes; the aircraft usually adhere to more of a military hierarchy and tend to be spit-and-polish types, while the ground pounders are usually rough and tumble sluggers of simple pleasures and little ambition. One thing all Decepticons have in common is that they respond to the use of force. Power commands them and power is their reward. They tend to be flagrant in their wanton consumption of everything, be it fuel, slaves, ammunition, territory or any other resource. The Decepticons can trace their lineage to the original line of combat Transformers who overthrew their masters, the Quintessons, and fought for freedom. But not everyone's freedom... just their own. Decepticons acknowledge authority only so long as they have to, and usurp it when they can. They tend not to have close friends and their relationships with eachother are more like comrades in arms than boon companions.

All Decepticons are made for war. This doesn't mean they're necessarily made for open combat; intelligence-gathering and engineering and logistics are also necessary in war. But all of them are war machines. They are typically well-armed and each one can fly in at least one mode.

Decepticons do not interact peacefully with humans unless it is to exploit them in some way. More commonly they view organic life as an annoyance, at best ignored, at worst tormented for fun.

Let's say you've decided on an Autobot boat. A torpedo boat, with a function of SENTRY, your job is to guard the rivers and shores from incursion by seagoing Decepticons like the Seacons, Submarauder or Octopunch. Although you have to remain in robot mode on land, you take this as part of the job and consider it worthwhile, because the littoral ecosystems are some of the Earth's most sensitive and worth protecting, or maybe it's because the shores are the natural border of every human-inhabited landmass, and you consider yourself the watcher on the walls. Maybe you just love the thrill of a pitching sea and an exciting night hunt. Whether your motivation is militant or ecological, you still need to somehow fit this character into the 80 Character Points (unless you have extra to add from playing an FC) that you get for a starting OC.

Let's work on that!