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I know not everyone has a planned trajectory for how they want their character to develop but... I'm one of the people who does! I love making characters who have places they want to be, goals that they want to reach, and relationships they want to mend or make.

The purpose of this thread will be for those of us on the site who have plans for what we want our own original characters to achieve, fail, or just plain old try at! Not just that but the relationships they seek to mend, maybe past things their not proud of and types of characters they'd want to meet for whatever reason. The reason this is something of an OC's dreams only thread should be kinda obvious since cast ponies of  certain tier already have their dreams and aspirations set or met in the show's canon. Characters who are similar to Bellosh101's method of apping characters who are not given spotlight or personality until later... such as the one true Moondancer and her clone that appeared later in the show's running (WHO WILL BE NEXT?! CALAMITY MANE PERHAPS?!) Are perfectly fine to participate in this thread as well. 

To get us started I'll give an example starting with my own OC who's been getting a lot of spotlight, Bevel gear. 

 

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Bevel's goals are somewhat lofty, wishing to be the greatest magitech pony on the planet, hoping to make a remarkable creation/discovery that could change the face of various civilizations all of these may or may not be possible but She'll still work at it. Beside those lofty goals she also seeks to find the remnants of her father's research of certain types of dark magic he had studied. For a sort of goal I have for her as her player I wish to try and have her mend the bond that has been broken be circumstance between the surviving members of her family she cut ties with for reasons that will be elaborated upon later to live with the technological giant in the land of the griffins; The Silverbeak Family. Other goals that she's going to be working towards will be studying the culture she's been separated from for years and trying to understand the strange melodramatic (in her opinion) virtues that they talk about. For instance she still doesn't see love as essential or even all that important to a pony who's cutie mark doesn't involve it.

That's all I've got that in my mind at the moment! Please let me and everyone else on the site know what you hope to do with your character!

 

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I have an OC that I'm currently working on getting ready to post up who is going to be a major go-getting pegasus stallion, he dreams more than anything of being a Wonderbolt, or at least become a famous flier. He's going to be wheelchair bound without the use of his back legs, get told constantly that he can't do it, that he'd never be strong enough to actually get through the try-outs to even be in their flight academy. But he bucks their nay-saying and has a very fiery determination to do it. He's incredibly athletic and despite his lack of back leg usage, he's working to strengthen his wings and devise a way to be able to maneuver without his legs getting in the way. He's very brash and confident, with a bit of a temper and a fiery personality, but an all around likable pony.

He majorly looks up to Rainbow Dash, so he'd probably eventually look for her to tell her this, and to meet his hero face to face. His dreams are far fetched and maybe even unachievable, but he's not giving up on them anytime soon. I don't know if he'd ever actually make it into the flight school, much less the Wonderbolts, as there are a lot of drills he probably wouldn't be able to do. But I'd like him to at least TRY, even if he fails, and if he does he'd just push himself harder and try again and again. He'd probably end up hurting himself more than anything, so it'll be interesting to watch him develop through that.

Symphony Spirit is a pony who's story is fairly up in the air, but I'd like for him to eventually face a spirit much stronger than him, something he never foresaw happening, getting in over his head on a case or on a call from a client. Overexerting himself and severely damaging his horn, horribly crippling his magic. He would have to live with the knowledge that his whole life's purpose was meaningless now. He would slip into a deep melancholy, until someone pulled him out, I'd like him to eventually become infatuated with another pony, pulled out of his despair and given a new drive to find a way to work around his newfound limits. I definitely want Symphony to find someone to care for, he's far to loving a pony to be alone forever. This wouldn't happen for a while, since he still has so many stories to tell and things to do, but I'd love to go down this road with him someday.

 

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Indeed, most of the characters I make have general 'character development arcs' which I usually have in mind when playing them. It's quite fun to see them move along it and develop. Unfortunately I haven't exactly been able to show that on Canterlot but hey. Some of my other RPs have seen my ponies fulfil their life goals and come to terms with whatever predicament I put them in. It's a really wonderful thing to look back on that.

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Most of my characters don't have set plans as they have yet to be properly introduced or have been established over the years. But here are some I'm I think can expand their story.

Fire Heart - Wants to graduate from Princess Celestia's School and explore teaching unicorn foals about their magic.

Sweet Surprise- Keep on making candy and host grand chocolate related events!

Heart Healer- Continue helping ponies with their issues.

Lore Weaver- basically he's happy as the librarian of the Ponyville Castle, but perhaps discover new knowledge that not even Princess Twilight Sparkle knew about!

Guiding Light- Attend Princess Celestia's School on advice from the Princess herself and learn how to expand and apply his light magic.

Diamond Cut- Continue exploring for unique gems and strange artifacts (basically become a Nathan Drake of Uncharted)

Nocturne Melody- Overcome feeling self-conscious about being an Aerion (bat pony) and increase her popularity.

 

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Yes! Character development is fun! The characters' motivations are often a big part of it. :) I mean it doesn't have to be all character development, all the time... it's good to have a balance, a bit of variety. But every time I take a step in a character's journey it's a fantastic feeling.

Umbra, my conniving scoundrel, means to start a thriving new changeling 'hive' with his comrades. It will be tough for him to get it off the ground, but I think it's more fun to start from the very beginning sometimes, since there's more to see and do, more room to grow and get more complex. He wants to become a power worthy of being feared, while remaining an unknowable shadow. I would enjoy seeing him try to deal with having any sort of emotion, but he doesn't really have any relationships yet, and I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what to do with him.

Cyclone has lived a lot and has pretty much fulfilled her dream - but she's not the kind of mare to sit still and be satisfied with a quiet life - for her there's always more to achieve. She wouldn't mind climbing up the ranks a bit more before she's too old to do her job, and she has some old cases and drama left unfinished. She has an emotional scar that never truly healed, as well. Beyond that, she hopes to see her children be successful, and she wants to make some kind of great lasting positive mark on Equestria. I think with her I'll just work on fleshing her out as she gets into more RP without aiming to do anything specific yet.

Garrett is a little mysterious, but I like him that way. He's an intimidating gryphon ranger, always looking out for number one, and generally won't do anything unless it benefits him. He came to Equestria because he got sick of his old life, and his only motivation is acquiring vast wealth. I would love to fit him into WoE at some point; his apathetic, grumpy, unsociable attitude is very fun to play, and I can't wait to inflict him on some more ponies. :blush: He may have a heart of gold underneath it all to be revealed, who knows.

I should make some more characters...

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Ooh, I love this sort of stuff!  Most of my characters are written with the express purpose of developing their characters and story through play, though I tend not to have strict plans setting out.  A lot of my best stories have come out of serendipitous developments initiated by other people.  Case in point...

commission_3__earth_writer_by_generic_po

My first OC, Earth Writer.  Not gonna lie, this guy started as a self-insert, but soon developed into a reporter thanks to his debut FFA thread.  Over time, I've molded him into a bohemian, slightly jaded "stallion of the world."  He's good-natured generally, but not without a degree of cynical resignation at the world, and therefore inclined to accept and let slide what would shock most of his fellow Equestrians.

Recently, he's taken a trip to Maretonia, Kastrot in particular, and I plan to have the place further corrupt him.  He is a unicorn, after all (the horn is hidden by his hat in the picture), and being in a city built to the glory of his kind hits him in the more vulnerable parts of his now-slipshod conscience.  What I really want to do with this character is play out a downward path; almost all my other characters have striven to be better versions of themselves.  Earth, on the other hand, is going to gradually slip into something worse...

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I'll only do this a few of my characters: the rest are either cast, have already accomplished their goals, or are OCs I'm not all that interested in anymore.

  • Limi: he's my Priority One character at the moment. Once he faces his barbaric half-brother and passes his Will Test, he'll be officially an adult bull. Limi will move to Equestria so he can "follow his heart". Make of that what you will, hehe.....
  • Moony: she'll graduate from graduate school, start her proper magicking career, and perhaps conspire to keep her coltfriend... for eternity.
  • Merlot: one day, he'll greatly endanger the world by recovering a powerful artifact for WRAITH. Eventually, he and Pathfinder will have a final showdown from which none of them will return.
  • Morianna Razorclaw: will work in the shadows to plot Celestia's downfall and truly bring about a Pax Aquallia.
  • Svengallop: I want his career to go down in flames after all his past misdeeds finally catch up to him.
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I don't have a lot of long term goals in the sense of where I'd like to see my characters end up.  Sometimes I come up with sets of possibilities, creating scenes or situations which could result from threads going one way or another, but I generally prefer a more reactive approach, where I see what happens, and let the character develop from there.

Most of my character's goals then end up more as motivations than necessarily their character arcs, although the former often drives the latter.

Naj ultimately wants to reconcile changelings with the rest of Equestria, such that changelings who remain hostile are seen (rightly in her mind) as criminals acting on their own rather than representative of the species.  I don't expect her to ever achieve it, but it will determine much of what she does in terms of where she goes and how she interacts with others.

Rex still has dreams of becoming a smith, though he's been sort of shoved to the back burner for the moment.  The hope would be that eventually he comes across someone who can teach him.  In the mean time, given how the arena threads went I'm planning on having him look to be trained with some sort of ranged weapon, though which sort of weapon, who might train him, and when I'll get around to it are still up in the air.

The one character I'm really working on plans for is my current villain character, who's planning a campaign against Equestria.  The hope is for it to be a widespread campaign spanning a number of threads.  I'm still working on it, though there's at least one more character I want to app before I start any of the threads themselves.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Plans...?

I'm late on the bandwagon for this thread, but yeah, I got several plans. Some bigger than others. And for most I have none at all! Some my plan might include just using them in RP for once! As for the ones I DO have plans for...

Pinchy - I know, making plans for a cast character rah rah rah. She's only tier 3, get off my back mom. Anyway, I WOULD like to play with her some more, and eventually maybe get a cutie mark thread up once I'm confident enough (she was featured with one in the show at one point). But that's down the line. For now, adorable pink antics ho!

Trailblazer - I would like to build up more or a reputation for him. A background in an application doesn't mean much. That being said, I'd like to insert him in more adventure RPs of any sort. Any place at all that would suit a brown-nosing, arrogant failure of a womanizer. Also he's an adventurer, I guess. I'm joking. Kinda. Either way, yeah, big plan is to build him up, make a name for him.

Wildflower - Oddly enough, I'd like to have her interact more outside of a naval environment. Not too many ship RPs out there right now, and the pirate craze has died down save for a few very fun exceptions. But yeah, I'd liek to explore a possible aspect of her character other than being a sailor.

Dog - Big plans for a big guy. While I don't have any advancement ambitions for him, I'd like to make him more fearsome, as he deserves. Make him that towering shadow of destruction that nopony wants to see. Playing a villain is fun, but it kinda sticks when they lose all the time, which is why I'd like to build up his rep and give him some swag to fit any situation. Every good villain needs gadgets! Some possible load-out ideas I have thus far are:
Dogdozer - Uses a spiked shield to charge into enemies and break down obstacles.
Howlizer (Thanks Pressy!) - An Aquellian crank-operated gattling gun probably wasn't meant to be used as an infantry weapon, but ask Dog if he cares
UnderDog - Perhaps some kind of high-powered drill would allow Dog to strike from where it's least expected: Below!
Round of APAWS -  Little bit of an outlandish idea this one, but the Accelerated Pulse And Weaponized Shockwave would be a set of seismic gauntlets Dog could use to really cause some chaos
Muzzled - Dog has a speech amplifier over his face that allows him to stun with sharp barks
Diamond Dog - Zeig gave me the idea for this one. Another set of punchy knuckles, capped with diamond for extra penetration.

Tuukka/Alpha - Is it weird that the two characters I have the biggest plans for are Diamond Dogs? Anyway, not much I can really say here without giving too much away... But I have super big plans for Tuukka.

Biancha - One of my bug ladies. Just wanna use her more, really. We'll see.

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Not much for Obsidian, though mostly because he's already accomplished what he wants to do.

New character Wrench Works though, she might go fund, equip, and command her own army (more of a special forces thing, I suppose) to deal with the inadequacies she sees in the Equestrian military. She won't go full take-over-the-world with it, though. Celestia's doing a fine enough job as is. Yet I still see her starting up her own country just to see if she could. Or perhaps she'll remain in her lab, working and tinkering.

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