125 Character Roleplay Challenges

'Witch of Endor' by Nikolai Ge

I believe interesting roleplay can be achieved by setting a challenge for characters, a limitation of some kind. Alignment is the default roleplay challenge in the game but that's just the starting point.

Whenever my players make new characters, I have them take a look at this chart I made for inspiration (if they want it). Some of these are obviously more challenging than others, so I leave it up to the players to decide what they take on. The rolling is there for fun/convenience. (None of these challenges should get in the way of approaching the game in a smart way as a player, but should rather make certain choices more interesting.) These could serve as inspiration for NPCs, too.

Note: the rolling method below does not give results even probability. If using an online dice-roller, just roll 1d125. For even probability, use this formula: (1d10/2) • 25 + (1d10/2) • 5 + (1d10/2) + 1.  The first die roll is telling you whether to pick the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth group of 25 options. The second die roll tells you which group of 5 to choose within that group of 25. The final die roll tells you which one to choose in the group of 5. The 1 at the end is because humans start counting at 1, not 0. (thanks to /u/Zenocrate for the dice maths)

/u/Fenind3745 has made an awesome PDF version of the table. Get it here. (printer-friendly version here)

Roll d100 + d6	(if d6 is even, add +25 to roll)
1. Addicted to substance	64. Hates magic
2. Kleptomaniac	65. Obsessed with magic
3. Hatred/fear of killing	66. Bad manners/vulgar
4. Expensive taste	67. Leaves no one behind
5. Too proud to ask for help	68. Fears the gods
6. Doesn't know the common tongue	69. Superstitious
7. Never refuses a challenge/extremely competitive	70. Obsessed with a god
8. Has an injury	71. Receives visions (insane)
9. Owes a large debt	72. Fugitive
10. In love/heartbroken	73. Haunted
11. Fear of common hazard (fire, water, heights, animals, darkness, insects, magic)	74. Hunted by something/believes they are being hunted by something
12. Moral code	75. Secretly evil (and must keep it a secret)
13. Magical curse (inhibits certain type of interaction, action, or activity)	76. Prophesied to die soon by a fortune teller and believes it
14. Has a terrible secret/not who they claim to be	77. Servant to a hidden master
15. Has a great past sorrow	78. Multiple personalities
16. Irresponsible with money	79. Socially inept
17. Trusts nobody	80. Dormant behavioural conditioning program
18. Responsible for a dependant	81. Traditionalist
19. Apologist/condoning	82. Conspiracy theorist
20. Responsible for a terrible event	83. Brainwashed
21. Blames something or someone for a great sorrow	84. Naive
22. Breaks hearts	85. Father/parent complex
23. Faints at the sight of blood	86. Collector
24. In love with someone horrible or forbidden	87. Obsessed with fitness
25. Desires an honourable death	88. Terrible liar
26. No sense of smell	89. Illiterate
27. Blind	90. Extremely shy
28. Obsessed with justice	91. Overconfident/arrogant
29. Hunts a certain type of foe	92. Self-deprecating
30. Plagued by nightmares	93. Fiery temper/anger issues
31. Parties too hard/over-indulgent	94. Trusting
32. Easily seduced	95. Hypochondriac
33. Compulsive liar	96. Oblivious
34. Extremely greedy/will do anything for money	97. Chronic illness
35. Puritanical	98. Monstrously ugly
36. Fears building close relationships	99. Painfully beautiful
37. Thrill-seeker	100. Social conformist
38. Bloodlust	101. Authority issues
39. Obsessed with personal hygiene	102. Was involved in a huge scandal
40. Attracts a lot of attention (gigantism, towering height, dwarfism, exotic features, albinism, unusual/flamboyant fashion choices, booming/piercing voice, distinct loud laugh, exhibitionist, has ravenous fans/followers)	103. Notorious
41. Extremely vain	104. Self-righteous
42. Altruistic	105. Avenging
43. Devoted to one of the player characters	106. Pretender/heir to distant throne or ruined kingdom
44. Pyromaniac	107. Impoverished noble
45. Psychological trauma	108. Dependant upon an item for an ability score/incredibly weak without a certain item
46. Hears voices	109. Suffers from chronic pain (magical or non-magical)
47. No patience/impulsive	110. Constantly seeks out fortune tellers, palm readers, tarot card readers, good luck charms
48. Paranoid	111. Once-powerful demon cursed with mortality and stripped of all powers
49. Running from the past	112. Takes up a new hobby every adventure
50. Pet collector/animal-lover	113. Taken a vow of silence
51. Pack rat/hoarder	114. Hand-makes everything
52. Ritualistic (by choice, conforming, or magically compelled)	115. Keeps a chronicle of heroic events, exaggerating the details
53. Needs medicine to live	116. Composes short poems about party successes and failures
54. Absent-minded (randomly forgets/loses things)	117. Failed minstrel
55. Addicted to gambling	118. Prone to jealousy of others' success
56. Swore an oath about one of the party members (in regard to enemies, treasure, or magic)	119. Contempt for nobility
57. Only eats a certain food	120. Contempt for the comforts of civilization
58. Needs certain conditions to sleep (certain item(s), can't sleep alone, etc.)	121. Craves creature comforts
59. Vendetta against type of monster	122. Outwardly curses the gods
60. Very fat	123. Secretly much too young for adventuring
61. Very old	124. Romanticizes everything
62. Deaf	125. Reads signs and omens
63. Fears magic