In recent times this has become such a much talked about issue on the FPL, where newbies come and start asking, 'How do I make a successful character?' Well, while there is no secret technique (at least, to the best of my knowledge) to creating a character that would win many fights, from my experience there are nonetheless several critical aspects of a character you need to work on in order to ensure his/her/its survival on the kill floor. We'll begin with the basics... 1st Aspect: Beef Not the literal meat, beef is the FPL term used for the number of words in a character's biography and power descriptions. Or in laymen's terms, 'sheer volume'. A good bio, in my opinion, is neither too short nor too long, but tells readers what they need to know about the character, and allows them to understand the character... Four sentences is usually the rule for a character's descriptions, though ever since we did away with the character review system, the admin has tried not to be overly tight-fisted about sheer volume. (Which means the character may not get a godsmack; still, there is the chance that it'll get voted down because nobody likes a character with an indecipherable origin, which makes reading kinda painful) Remember, it's quality and not quantity. If they like what they've just read, it's usually quite okay... afterall, in this game, imagination is the key. 2nd Aspect: Concept and Execution This is probably the most important ingredient of a good character. Concept and Execution are two seperate, yet integrated aspects of every successful character I know of. Starting with concept; like was mentioned earlier, the FPL is a game of creativity and imagination... and as such, novel concepts tend to win the hearts of FPLers... new and never-before-seen character ideas, from the gothic realms of dark imagination... to simply hilarious and out-of-this-world. Take Page and The Dead Man in Dean's Fridge for example... to me there're few things on the FPL neater than an evil little girl with dreams of world domination (though not in the way one'd normally expect, which makes it an added plus), and a corpse inside a refrigerator. And then there's execution... not too sure how to put it, but the best way I can describe execution is that if Concept is a house, then Execution would be the foundations that support it. Good writing, and fitting powers setups are examples of solid executions. Many of the successful characters out there not only have wonderful concepts, their ideas are also solidly executed - good writing, and fitting power setups; the characters' creators did not purchase powers simply for the sake of winning fights, but because the powers fit in nicely with the character concept. A well-executed character should be able to do at least one of the following: A) Allow readers to understand and/or identify with the character through his/her/its storyline; for instance, I could almost sense the emotions of Zalrafel and Lincoln Matthews when I read their bios. B) Invoke certain emotions - crazy characters like BARE CHESTED THUGS had me rolling with laughter, while Sphere and Mr. Graves sent shivers down my spine - C) Thought-provoking; the character has the capacity to capture the reader's imagination and simply forces you to think... examples include Ravenna Cervantes, Thanatopsis, One Million Total and more... Just a brief note on how Concept and Execution are seperate yet integrated: A strong foundation that is called execution is critically important. A good example of a fairly generic but solidly-executed concept is Uberman and Blitzkrieg. While they appear to be just another superhero and supervillian character respectively, (which the FPL is in no shortage of) it is the quality of their writing and the depth of their story which sets them above the run of the mill superheroes/villians, and that accounts largely for their success. On the other hand, poor execution can send an otherwise good concept to an early grave. With Omniscient Man being an example from recent memory... a neat idea, but had a dull story, bad writing and overall poorly executed. Needless to say, he didn't go very far. Of course many of the greatest characters in the FPL are strong in both concept and execution... 3rd Aspect: Power Combos It has often been said, 'good powers do not a good character make' While this is pretty true, there is one thing you ought not to forget - the FPL is a game of creativity, and besides creative writing, what else could you show creativity in? Well, the answer is power usage - yes, creative use of FPL powers. The power system in the FPL is a very versatile one; if there's something you can't do using one power, you might be able to do it by joining two or more powers together to form a Power Combo . A power combo allows two or more powers to work together such that it's capable of performing an action the powers normally cannot do when seperate. An example of a character to use a power combo is Mr. Graves, winner of the FPL's 2000 Contest of Champions. Back before teleportation was an official FPL power, Mr. Graves used flight, super speed and phasing in unison to bring about the effect of teleportation. He was the first example of how normally seperate powers can be used in tandem to achieve a new effect... the key to creating a power combo is, well, your imagination. Try experimenting with the effects of various FPL powers, and ask for advice on the message board. No matter what, creativity is always an added plus! 4th Aspect: Seek Help Last but not least, you can always seek some advice from other players. Since the outcome of every FPL matchup is decided by the people, it is also they who feel that what's hot and what's not. The FPL Forums has a Character Reviews board for players to post ideas for their upcoming FPL characters for review by other players, who might be able to help by giving some advice on how to write a better backstory for your character, a more creative power setup and so on. Their advice really helps at times... if the people liked what they see on the Character Reviews board, it probably gives your character a better chance when he/she/it makes it onto the kill floor.