RWBY OC Template

Want to make a RWBY OC?

Examples of Template

Blank Template

It's always good to remember Rome wasn't built in a day and a good OC isn't spat out in one session. The best thing you can do is find a place to save it and come back to it multiple times. Sta.sh , googledocs, a notepad, anything!

A good OC is nibbled at and researched and scribbled on and erased and polished and crumpled up and thrown away and dug back up and gnawed at again until you're 100% happy.... and even so you slink back to change the wording or a slight detail as the canon evolves just to be on the safe side.

So perhaps copy paste this into a Word Document or Google Drive. A great way to get your OC out into the world is a website!  Make it a one stop shop for your Team, with bios, fanart, fanfiction, soundtracks and Trivia! I recommend Wix.com because it's easy to use and to customise. I'll draw a banner for anyone who makes a website.

Another way to help create a good character is research. Character research is the best place to start. Don't be arrogant. Even if you think you know, give it a browse because just avoiding Mary Sue and Gary Stu isn't enough and these articles are more than that, they're about genuine character building.

Mary Sues  ||  Gary Stus  ||  MS Common Characteristics  ||  Avoiding Mary

The next thing to do is look at your fellow OC makers! Find out the common tropes, the boring cliches. What are commonly used names, species and backstories? What's overdone and what's unique. Here are some common RWBY OC Hubs

RWBY OC Tumblr Tag || Deviantart || Fanfiction.net || RWBY Fanon || r/rwbyoc  || Create a Character for RWBY || Rwby Forum


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Setting: Where and when is your character first introduced. Pre-War Remnant? First season of RWBY? Post Beacon Fall? Twenty years later after a zombie war? A great place to set up the context of your OC.

Name: As stated by Monty Oum himself, all teams and characters in RWBY are influenced by colours and this is a steadfast rule of our fandom. We will research to make sure you're not making stuff up.

• Sounds like a colour

• Means a colour

• Reminds you of a colour

What is more is that in the FNDM there are names that turn up again and again- Violet, Jett, Skye, Silver- and it means if you chose this name, prepare to get lost amongst the herd. I highly recommend going to DA and searching rwby [name] just to see the competition.

Colour Names 1 || Colour Names 2 || Colour Names 3 ||Colour Names 4 || Dark Names || Light Names || Metallic Names || Alloys  || Elemental Names || Colourful Stones || Colourful Flowers || Colourful Fruit || Blood Names || Pigments || Herbs  || Wiki Colour List || Natural Dyes || Minerals || Periodic Table || Colours in Languages ||  Wood Types || 

You can also help yourself with Google-Fu. Phrases that may help may be:

• List of things that are [colour]

• Varieties of (fruit/wine/flower)
  Eg Variaties of Orange- Pomelo, Mandarin, Valencia, Clementine
  

• Jargon's and Glossaries
  Eg Weather Jargon - Arcus (A low, horizontal cloud formation associated with the leading edge of thunderstorm outflow i.e., the gust front, Cirrus High-level clouds composed of ice crystals and appearing in the form of white, delicate clouds.  Scud  - Small, ragged, low cloud fragments

• Translate [thing of specific colour] into [language]     Google Translate
  

Origin, Allusions & Influences: RWBY often tends to have wonderful influences, be it fairy tale, mythology, literature or history. Describe the meaning of your character's name, its language origin and themes and tales influencing your character. You don't have to get stuck in the same Big Bad Wolf and Nine Tails Fox myths used over and over! Research!

• Japanese Creatures

• Grimms Fairy Tale

• List of Deities
  

• Cultural Heroes

• Legendary Creatures

• Famous Weapons of Mythology

• Aesop's Fables

• List of Fairy Tales

• One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
  
  
• Hans Christian Anderson 

• Google-fu Stories with [animal, specific weapon, ect] , Folk lore , Fables , Fairy Tales , Mythology
  

Age: The standard age for attending Beacon is seventeen and I would avoid going below it. Yes, Ruby was fifteen when she was invited but she's the main character of the series and has close connections to both Ozpin and Qrow.

Sure, you could do something similar and be another Speshul Snowflake so the rules don't apply to you either, but you don't want your OC to be beaten-with-the-Ruby-stick... the fandom way of saying weak-ass Mary-Sue copy cat.

Many of the RWBY fandom are young- What thirteen year old doesn't dream of wielding a kickass weapon and fighting monsters?- but as tempting as it is to make your OC your own age just remember that you'll age far faster than your OC. It's easier to make your OC 'seventeen' and not have to argue with OC-Police if they're going to a combat school.

Symbol: Each of the characters of RWBY have an identifying crest. Always monochromatic (one colour), common symbols involve stylized versions of an OCs weapons, symbolic of their story or their species. You can find inspiration for your symbols on symbolism or tattoo sites. That gorgeous tribal tattoo that looks like a dragon coiled around a sword eating a taco looks great, but simple and repeatable is easier on the eye.

Google Fu: Symbol, geometric, tribal, clipart, simple.

Tattoo Designs || Tattoo Designs 2 || Symbols

Species: RWBY is a show that has the option of Human or Faunus. Human's are straight forward but faunus have a lot more variations. Faunus are humans with animal features and in the canon we have seen things like ears, horns and tails, so far only mammalian faunus have been seen, and only one trait at a time.

There's also no such thing as a half faunus. Your OC may have a human parent and a faunus parent, but it's binary. Either they have animal characteristics and they're a faunus, or they don't and they are human.

• If two Faunus of the same phenotype breed (e.g. two Dog Faunus), their child will also be of the same species.
• If a Faunus and a human breed, their child will either be a Faunus or a Human.
• If two Faunus of different types breed (e.g. a Dog Faunus and a Cat Faunus), their child will have a chance of being a random type.

I recommend exploring any of the macro species like mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects and fish as they have been confirmed by the creators of RWBY (although not as common as mammalian). If so I recommend choosing a specific species- eg Ethiopian Lion, Crimson Darter Dragonfly or Thorny Devil. If choosing a domestic animal like a dog or a sheep, specify the breed like Springer Spaniel or Iranian Red Sheep.

Before you choose a species try browsing  RWBY OC haunts like Deviantart, Tumblr or FFnet so you can avoid common and cliched faunus types. For example, I can throw a rock in any direction and one in three faunus are a wolf faunus- do you really want to compete in that rat race?

But the world is a plethora of diversity. What about a Bear Cat? Or a Bilby? Or a Pangolin? Or a Fossa? A Panther? A Mongoose? A Praying Mantis? A Lionfish?

Amazing Animals 1|| Amazing Animals 2 ||Amazing Animals 3 || Dog Breeds | Cat Breeds

Appearance: RWBY is a very visual fandom with lots of depth outfit and weapon designs, therefore finding a visual representation of your character is recommended. Not everyone has artistic talent, or the money to commission others but the internet has so many options for you.

Some members of the community choose to steal from websites like zerochan but I find that theft at worse and boring at best.

The easiest is flashgames, easy click and copy and you can find something almost unrepeatable.

Chibi Maker || Doll Divine || Rinmaru Game || Female Flashgames || Dream Selfy || Female Flashgames || HeroMachine

Gaia Dream Avatar can't be beat for its variety but does have a password wall to bypass. If you need it you can use our generic login; arcadiaacademy with the password madmaddox. It's basically TekTek reincarnated.

You can also try a collage to get your OC's appearance across. Here is a template that may help.

Deviantart also has many generous artists offering line templates to help you design your OC. Print it out, get out your tracing paper and doodle to your heart's content!

Remember, trying is far more admirable than whinging on blogs that you can't draw and that the meany selfish artists won't draw your OC. Just by showing you're willing to try, artists will be more willing to try.

Male Line Art || Female Lineart

Remember to be appreciative and give credit to the line art owner!

Personality: Personality is what most defines your character, and how accurately others play with you. Personality influences every aspect of our lives; how why wear our hair, what we choose for lunch, how we walk and talk and who we hang out with. These characters are no less.

It helps if you start with a single defining trait- I recommend a flaw because it offers an instant character arc in overcoming it, and that simple trait can be reinforced throughout his bio giving him a strong personality.  A good bio is like a contingency plan where no matter what the situation, a random stranger can refer to this section and guess fairly accurately how they react. If they can, then you've done a good job describing your OC!

Once you have your trait you can then write his bio with four chunky paragraphs about a different part of their life. Try and write three or four sentences per paragraph. You can have any four topic paragraphs but I think these help cover a lot of ground.

Paragraph 1: Identify your characters driving Trait, the one that motivates all of their actions. Purple is shy/ superstitious /rageaholic.   How does he commonly project this trait with actions, body language and word choice. He is this way because _____ .

Paragraph 2: Social Life.  Are they sociable? How do they make friends? How do they treat friends? Enemies? Authority figures? Strangers? How does he act in a group setting? A team setting? On their own? What do others think of him? What about him is so annoying and frustrating he so annoying even his friends want to take a cheese grater to his ears? What is his redeeming virtue? Remember their Trait.... Because of Trait he treats others like ___. Every trait has its benefits and its flaws, balance it out. 

Paragraph 3: Combat! Because of Purple's Trait he is ____ in combat! How does his trait affect his training and motivation? Does he co-operate within his team? Can he hold his own individually? What is he like fighting against grimm? What about flesh and bone people? How is he with blood and gore? Is he a support character? Is he a leader? How is he a leader? What is his biggest weakness in battle? How does he normally mess up a mission beyond repair? How does he save the day when it's at it's blackest?

Paragraph 4: Exceptions, Quirks and Hobbies. This last paragraph is a little summary of the lesser drivers of his personality. Is Purple shy.. except in the presence of food in which case he gobbles and shoves and elbows his way to the table? (Too many exceptions makes your character weaker and wishywashy) Does he have an odd habit of clicking his fingers when thinking? In his spare time, does he enjoy watching clouds and making shapes and stories?

Also remember that Personality and Backstory are different and should be kept separate.

Personalities 1 || Personalities 2 || Common yet Terrible Personalities

What are some common personality traits I see and roll my eyes?

"Purple hates bullies and faunus prejudice!" Is there anyone going to stand up and say... 'You know what, I think the bully might have a point!"

It's so generic in the fandom it's meaningless.

Other tropes include- really shy and weak.... until you pick on his friends! *Yaaawwwn* Or really shy and quiet- until she's in battle! Do yourself a favour; read, read, read every bio you can get your hand on!

Also 'confident, cocky and reckless in battle' is becoming the stock male personality.

Education: Here are the public schools of Remnant. Match their level of education and their history. A kid who was trained Sanctum and Haven is going to be much more skilled than that poor widdle orphan who grew up all alone on the streets since they were eight and was discovered by Ozpin.

Team: Does your OC belong to a team? Discuss partnerships, team dynamics and rivalries.
Need to think of a team name? Find More Words is helpful, but remember it still needs to follow the colour rule.

Relationships: Who are the characters they interact with, favourite teachers and mentors. Friends, crushes, rivals, enemies, authority figures. Why do they choose these relationships?

Backstory: Backstory is an important part of one's personality and often affects their choices in later life and we accept Remnant is a dangerous world. There's bound to be a few orphans, faunus are not loved and life isn't easy but please consider that while backstory is important to who your OC is, but it isn't all they are.

Ruby has lost her mother. Blake grew up on the picket line, a stigmatized Faunus. Weiss's father was possibly abusive and at least neglectful... and it's not their whole life and whole personality. They're still happy, rounded people and characters. Don't get into a More-Twagic-Than-Thou competition.

Similarly it's become common in RWBY to use mental illnesses, disabilities and abuse as a shortcut to 'interesting characters'. Dissociative identity disorder isn't quirky, blindness isn't a personality trait and rape isn't a plot point. Give these the due respect and research they deserve.

Quotes: What are some sayings or quotes your character is known for?

Theme Song: Is there some music that brings your character to life?

Hunting

Weapon: Remnant is a dangerous place and most would have some means to defend themselves, however a common trope I find is a poor widdle homeless orphan with a glossy, complex, beautifully wrought weapon that uses expensive dust munitions. Make sure to match your weapon to your character. Another thing to consider is the number of weapons and transformations. Look at the canon characters as examples. Even Pyrrha only has four transformations. Don't be that OC...

Rather than a transforming weapon, there is also the potential of dust charging a single weapon like Weiss's Myrtenaster. Having the option of multiple elements is alluring but if you do I recommend having a preferred element like Weiss's ice, for them to favour and perfect to give your character focus.

Ancient Weapons || Medieval Weapons || Cool Anime Weapons

Sword Types || Guns and Fire Arms

Aura and Semblance:

Aura and semblance are in the air right now and this will hopefully be expanded on in the coming seasons. If you would like to try your hand at it list it here in as much detail as possible, weaknesses, strengths and how they're used in battle. Semblances that are too powerful, vague or too close to canon will be rejected by readers. Describe how the semblance manifests, how it looks, and any physical changes such as eye or hair colour.

Sometimes Aura has a visual representation, often it's a pale glow of identifying colour but some have a more shapely manifestation such as rose petals drifting behind Ruby, or Yang's licks of flames.

But here is some inspiration to help you get started. Here are some generators/ wikis (keep selecting random) to help plant a seed that can be molded specifically for the RWBYverse. 

Super Power Generator ||  Super Power Wiki || X-Men Wiki || Pokemon Metronome || Hero Generator

I especially like the Pokemon Metronome. I like to pick 3. Choose one of those and make up three different versions of it. For example I got; Roost, Karate Chop, Hyper Voice. I like that idea of Hyper Voice so I sit down and wonder what kind of powers that might mean, strengths and weaknesses.

Hyper Voice 1: Amplifies the Hunters voice to mega decibel levels, deafening and disorientating, however it's not targeted and affects Allies and Enemies alike.
Hyper Voice 2: The hunter is able to pitch their voice in ultrasound, often a whistle that disorientates and distracts but also as a method of altered perception (eg echo location.)
Hyper Voice 3: Using infrasonic, the hunter is able to cause feelings of awe or fear around them. Also causes strong vibrations, weakening structures.
Hyper Voice 4: Using the semblance, the hunter is able to plant subliminal suggestions in an enemy's mind just by whispering close to their ear. "Limp." "I have a stitch." "Freeze" "My weapon's handle burns like coals."

Fighting Style: Again an extension of your character's personality. It should flow and reflect, not be a sudden schizophrenic schism, it weakens a character's strength. A common trope to avoid is the shy girl who suddenly becomes a confident, offensive team player.

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Thought it needed an update since I was handing it out so much but remember this is just a beginning. Add sections you think are pertinent to your character. Some add things like Sexuality, Zodiac, Favourite and Least Liked things but I think these are the core sections that need detail in a OC.

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Are you done?

You sure?

Really sure?

Reread? Spellchecked? Punctuated and paragraphed?

Time to see what your fell OC Readers think! It's important that you have an OC that inspires you and you relate to, but you have to weigh that up against the kind of attention you want. There's a difference between flames and constructive criticism, and that no answer at all is an answer as well.