type one: the reformer

type one THE REFORMER

➜ HEALTHY - Conscientious with strong personal convictions: they have an intense sense of right and wrong, personal religious and moral values. Wish to be rational, reasonable, self-disciplined, mature, moderate in all things. Extremely principled, always want to be fair, objective, and ethical: truth and justice primary values. Sense of responsibility, personal integrity, and of having a higher purpose often make them teachers and witnesses to the truth.

• AT THEIR BEST - Become extraordinarily wise and discerning. By accepting what is, they become transcendentally realistic, knowing the best action to take in each moment. Humane, inspiring, and hopeful: the truth will be heard.

➜ AVERAGE - Dissatisfied with reality, they become high-minded idealists, feeling that it is up to them to improve everything: crusaders, advocates, critics. Into “causes” and explaining to others how things “ought” to be. Afraid of making a mistake: everything must be consistent with their ideals. Become orderly and well-organised, but impersonal, puritanical, emotionally constricted, rigidly keeping their feelings and impulses in check. Often workaholics, “anal-compulsive”, punctual, pedantic, and fastidious. Highly critical both of self and others: picky, judgemental, perfectionistic. Very opinionated about everything: correcting people and badgering them to “do the right thing” — as they see it. Impatient, never satisfied with anything unless it is done according to their prescriptions. Moralising, scolding, abrasive, and indignantly angry.

➜ UNHEALTHY - Can be highly dogmatic, self-righteous, intolerant, and inflexible. Begin dealing in absolutes: they alone know “The Truth”. Everyone else is wrong: very severe in judgements, while rationalising own actions. Become obsessive about imperfection and the wrong-doing of others, although they may fall into contradictory actions, hypocritically doing the opposite of what they preach. Become condemnatory toward others, punitive and cruel to rid themselves of “wrong-doers”. Severe depressions, nervous breakdowns, and suicide attempts are likely.

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type two: the helper

type two THE HELPER

➜ HEALTHY - Empathetic, compassionate, feeling with and for others. Caring and concerned about their needs.Thoughtful, warm-hearted, forgiving, and sincere. Encouraging and appreciative, able to see the good in others. Service is important: they are nurturing, generous, and giving; a truly loving person.

• AT THEIR BEST - Become deeply unselfish, humble, “disinterested”, and altruistic: giving unconditional love to self and others. Feel it is a privilege to be in their lives of others.

➜ AVERAGE - Want to be closer to others, so start “people pleasing”, becoming overly friendly, emotionally demonstrative, and full of “good intentions” about everything. Give seductive attention: approval, “strokes,” flattery. Love their supreme value, and they talk about it constantly. Become overly intimate and intrusive: they need to be needed, so they hover, meddle, and control in the name of love. Want others to depend on them: give, but expect a return: send double messages. Enveloping and possessive: the self-sacrificial, mothering person who cannot do enough for others — wearing themselves out for everyone, creating needs for themselves to fulfil. Increasingly self-important and self-satisfied, feel they are indispensable, although they overrate their efforts in others’ behalf. Hypochondria, becoming a martyr for others. Overbearing, patronising, presumptuous.

➜ UNHEALTHY - Can be manipulative and self-serving, instilling guilt by telling others how much they owe them and make them suffer. Abuse food and medication to “stuff feelings” and get sympathy. Undermine people, making belittling, disparaging remarks. Extremely self-deceptive about their motives and how aggressive and/or selfish their behaviour is. Domineering and coercive: feel entitled to get anything they want from others: the repayment of old debts, money, sexual favours. Able to excuse and rationalise what they do since they feel abused and victimised by others and are bitterly resentful and angry. Somatisation of their aggressions result in chronic health problems as they vindicate themselves by “falling apart” and burdening others.

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type three: the achiever

type three THE ACHIEVER

➜ HEALTHY - Self-assured and energetic, with high self-esteem: they believe in themselves and their own value. Adaptable, desirable, often physically attractive and popular. Ambitious to improve themselves, to be “the best they can be” — often become outstanding, a human ideal, embodying widely admired cultural qualities. Others are motivated to be like them in some positive way.

• AT THEIR BEST - Self-accepting, inner-directed, and authentic, everything they seem to be. Modest and charitable, self-deprecatory sense of humor and a fullness of heart emerge. Gentle and benevolent

➜ AVERAGE - Highly concerned with their performance, doing their job well, being superior, and rising above others. Compare self with others in search for status and success. Become careerists, social climbers, invested in exclusivity and being a “winner.” Become image-conscious, highly concerned with how they are perceived. Begin to package themselves according to the expectations of others and what they need to do to be successful. Pragmatic and efficient, but also premeditated, losing touch with their own feelings beneath a smooth façade. Problems with intimacy, credibility, and “phoniness” emerge. Want to impress others with their superiority: constantly promoting themselves, making themselves sound better than they really are. Narcissistic, with grandiose, inflated notions about themselves and their talents. Exhibitionistic and seductive, as if saying “Look at me!” Arrogance and contempt for others is a defence against feeling jealous of others and their success.

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type four: the individualist

type four THE INDIVIDUALIST

➜ HEALTHY - Self-aware, introspective, on the “search for self,” aware of feelings and inner impulses. Sensitive and intuitive both to self and others: gentle, tactful, compassionate. Highly personal, individualistic, “true to self.” Self-revealing, emotionally honest, humane. Ironic view of self and life: can be serious and funny, vulnerable and emotionally strong.

• AT THEIR BEST - Profoundly creative, expressing the personal and the universal, possibly in a work of art. Inspired, self-renewing and regenerating — able to transform all their experiences into something valuable: self-creative.

➜ AVERAGE - Take an artistic, romantic orientation to life, creating a beautiful, aesthetic environment to cultivate and prolong personal feelings. Heighten reality through fantasy, passionate feelings, and the imagination. To stay in touch with feelings, they interiorise everything, taking everything personally, but become self-absorbed and introverted, moody and hypersensitive, shy and self-conscious, unable to be spontaneous or to “get out of themselves.” Stay withdrawn to protect their self-image and to buy time to sort out feelings. Gradually think that they are different from others, and feel that they are exempt from living as everyone else does. They become melancholy dreamers, disdainful, decadent, and sensual, living in a fantasy world. Self-pity and envy of others leads to self-indulgence, and to becoming increasingly impractical, unproductive, effete, and precious.

➜ UNHEALTHY - When dreams fail, become self-inhibiting and angry at self, depressed and alienated from self and others, blocked, and emotionally paralysed. Ashamed of self, fatigued and unable to function. Tormented by delusional self-contempt, self-reproaches, self-hatred, and morbid thoughts: everything is a source of torment. Blaming others, they drive away anyone who tries to help them. Despairing, feel hopeless and become self-destructive, possibly abusing alcohol or drugs to escape. In the extreme: emotional breakdown or suicide is likely.

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type five: the thinker

type five THE THINKER

➜ HEALTHY - Observe everything with extraordinary perceptiveness and insight. Most mentally alert, curious, searching intelligence: nothing escapes their notice. Foresight and prediction. Able to concentrate: become engrossed in what has caught their attention. Attain skilful mastery of whatever interests them. Excited by knowledge: often become expert in some field. Innovative and inventive, producing extremely valuable, original works. Highly independent, idiosyncratic, and whimsical.

• AT THEIR BEST - Become visionaries, broadly comprehending the world while penetrating it profoundly. Open-minded, take things in whole, in their true context. Make pioneering discoveries and find entirely new ways of doing and perceiving things.

➜ AVERAGE - Begin conceptualising everything before acting — working things out in their minds: model building, preparing, practising, and gathering more resources. Studious, acquiring technique. Become specialised, and often “intellectual,” into research, scholarship, and building theories. Increasingly detached as they become involved with complicated ideas or imaginary worlds. Become preoccupied with their visions and interpretations rather than reality. Are fascinated by off-beat, esoteric subjects, even those involving dark and disturbing elements. Detached from the practical world, a “disembodied mind,” although high-strung and intense. Begin to take an antagonistic stance toward anything which would interfere with their inner world and personal vision. Become provocative and abrasive, with intentionally extreme and radical views. Cynical and argumentative.

➜ UNHEALTHY - Become reclusive and isolated from reality, eccentric and nihilistic. Highly unstable and fearful of aggressions: they reject and repulse others and all social attachments. Get obsessed yet frightened by their threatening ideas, becoming horrified, delirious, and prey to gross distortions and phobias. Seeking oblivion, they may commit suicide or have a psychotic break with reality. Deranged, explosively self-destructive, with schizophrenic overtones.

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type six: the loyalist

type six THE LOYALIST

➜ HEALTHY - Able to elicit strong emotional responses from others: very appealing, endearing, lovable, affectionate. Trust is important: bonding with others, forming permanent relationships and alliances. Dedicated to individuals and movements in which they deeply believe. Community builders: responsible, reliable, trustworthy. Hard-working and persevering, sacrificing for others, they create stability and security in their world, bringing a cooperative spirit.

• AT THEIR BEST - Become self-affirming, trusting of self and others, independent yet symbiotically interdependent and cooperative as an equal. Belief in self leads to true courage, positive thinking, leadership, and rich self-expression.

➜ AVERAGE - Start investing their time and energy into whatever they believe will be safe and stable. Organising and structuring, they look to alliances and authorities for security and continuity. Constantly vigilant, anticipating problems. To resist having more demands made on them, they react against others passive-aggressively. Become evasive, indecisive, cautious, procrastinating, and ambivalent. Are highly reactive, anxious, and negative, giving contradictory “mixed signals.” Internal confusion makes them react unpredictably. To compensate for insecurities, they become belligerent and sarcastic, blaming others for their problems, taking a tough stance toward “outsiders.” Highly partisan and defensive, dividing people into friends and enemies, while looking for threats to their own security. Authoritarian, prejudiced, and fear-instilling to silence their own fears. Counterphobic.

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type seven: the enthusiast

type seven THE ENTHUSIAST

➜ HEALTHY - Highly responsive, excitable, enthusiastic about sensation and experience. Most extroverted type: stimuli bring immediate responses, they find everything invigorating. Lively, vivacious, eager, spontaneous, resilient, cheerful. Easily become accomplished achievers, generalists who do many different things well: multi-talented. Practical, productive, usually prolific, cross-fertilising areas of interest.

• AT THEIR BEST - Assimilate experiences in depth, making them deeply grateful and appreciative for what they have. Become awed by the simple wonders of life: joyous and ecstatic. Intimations of spiritual reality, of the boundless goodness of life.

➜ AVERAGE - As restlessness increases, want to have more options and choices available to them. Become adventurous and “worldly wise,” but less focused, constantly seeking new things and experiences: the sophisticated, connoisseur, and consumer. Money, variety, keeping up with the latest trends important. Unable to discriminate what they really need, become hyperactive, unable to say “no” to themselves, throwing self into constant activity. Uninhibited, doing and saying whatever comes to mind: storytelling, flamboyant exaggerations, witty wise-cracking, performing. Fear being bored: in perpetual motion, but do too many things — many ideas but little follow through. Get into conspicuous consumption and all forms of excess. Self-centred, materialistic, and greedy, never feeling that they have enough. Demanding and pushy, yet unsatisfied and jaded. Addictive, hardened, and insensitive.

➜ UNHEALTHY - Desperate to quell their anxieties, can be impulsive and infantile: do not know when to stop. Addictions and excess take their toll: debauched, depraved, dissipated escapists, offensive and abusive. In flight from self, acting out impulses rather than dealing with anxiety or frustrations: go out of control, into erratic mood swings, and compulsive actions (manias). Finally, their energy and health is completely spent: become claustrophobic and panic-stricken. Often give up on themselves and life: deep depression and despair, self-destructive overdoses, impulsive suicide.

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type eight: the leader

type eight THE LEADER

➜ HEALTHY - Self-assertive, self-confident, and strong: have learned to stand up for what they need and want. A resourceful, “can do” attitude and passionate inner drive. Decisive, authoritative, and commanding: the natural leader others look up to. Take initiative, make things happen: champion people, provider, protective, and honourable, carrying others with their strength. 

• AT THEIR BEST - Become self-restrained and magnanimous, merciful and forbearing, mastering self through their self-surrender to a higher authority. Courageous, willing to put self in serious jeopardy to achieve their vision and have a lasting influence. May achieve true heroism and historical greatness.

➜ AVERAGE - Self-sufficiency, financial independence, and having enough resources are important concerns: become enterprising, pragmatic, “rugged individualists,” wheeler-dealers. Risk-taking, hard-working, denying own emotional needs. Begin to dominate their environment, including others: want to feel that others are behind them, supporting their efforts. Swaggering, boastful, forceful, and expansive: the “boss” whose word is law. Proud, ego-centric, want to impose their will and vision on everything, not seeing others as equals or treating them with respect. Become highly combative and intimidating to get their way: confrontational, belligerent, creating adversarial relationships. Everything a test of wills, and they will not back down. Use threats and reprisals to get obedience from others, to keep others off balance and insecure. However, unjust treatment makes others fear and resent them, possibly also band together against them.

➜ UNHEALTHY - Defying any attempt to control them, become completely ruthless, dictatorial, “might makes right.” The criminal and outlaw, renegade, and con-artist. Hard-hearted, immoral and potentially violent. Develop delusional ideas about their power, invincibility, and ability to prevail: megalomania, feeling omnipotent, invulnerable. Recklessly over-extending self. If they get in danger, they may brutally destroy everything that has not conformed to their will rather than surrender to anyone else. Vengeful, barbaric, murderous. Sociopathic tendencies.

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type nine: the peacemaker

type nine THE PEACEMAKER

➜ HEALTHY - Deeply receptive, accepting, unselfconscious, emotionally stable and serene. Trusting of self and others, at ease with self and life, innocent and simple. Patient, unpretentious, good-natured, genuinely nice people. Optimistic, reassuring, supportive: have a healing and calming influence — harmonising groups, bringing people together: a good mediator, synthesizer, and communicator.

• AT THEIR BEST - Become self-possessed, feeling autonomous and fulfilled: have great equanimity and contentment because they are present to themselves. Paradoxically, at one with self, and thus able to form more profound relationships. Intensely alive, fully connected to self and others.

➜ AVERAGE - Fear conflicts, so become self-effacing and accommodating, idealizing others and “going along” with their wishes, saying “yes” to things they do not really want to do. Fall into conventional roles and expectations. Use philosophies and stock sayings to deflect others. Active, but disengaged, unreflective, and inattentive. Do not want to be affected, so become unresponsive and complacent, walking away from problems, and “sweeping them under the rug.” Thinking becomes hazy and ruminative, mostly comforting fantasies, as they begin to “tune out” reality, becoming oblivious. Emotionally indolent, unwillingness to exert self or to focus on problems: indifference. Begin to minimise problems, to appease others and to have “peace at any price.” Stubborn, fatalistic, and resigned, as if nothing could be done to change anything. Into wishful thinking, and magical solutions. Others frustrated and angry by their procrastination and unresponsiveness.

➜ UNHEALTHY - Can be highly repressed, undeveloped, and ineffectual. Feel incapable of facing problems: become obstinate, dissociating self from all conflicts. Neglectful and dangerous to others. Wanting to block out of awareness anything that could affect them, they dissociate so much that they eventually cannot function: numb, depersonalised. They finally become severely disoriented and catatonic, abandoning themselves, turning into shattered shells. Multiple personalities possible.

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I’m really glad to hear that. That was truly my goal in making this blog - since I’m a writer myself, and I RP a lot; nothing bugs me more in the RP world than characters who aren’t thought out a lot, and so it’s more me conditioning the environment I play in by giving them the tools they need. So hearing that is really, really awesome.

I often base my characters on Jung’s personality theory (colloquially known as the MBTI [but please steer away from the MBTI and focus on the cognitive functions, because the MBTI is severely flawed]) and the Enneagram personality theory. I’ve speculated the following;

Jung = 16 personality types x Enneagram’s 9 personality types x Enneagram’s 27 tri-types x Enneagram’s 2 wings for each personality type x Enneagram’s 3 variants = 23,328 possible, unique personality types.

This excludes personal experience and the nurture part of the personality, and it only includes healthy personalities, so it also excludes abnormal psychology.

The more common personalities in roleplay that I have seen are (for Jung) ESFP, ENFP, ISTJ, ESFJ, and INFP - (for Enneagram) Type Two, Type Four, Type Six, and Type Seven.

The personalities I’d love to see more are ENTP, ISTP, INTJ, ENTJ, and INFJ, but generally, they’re hard to do for people who don’t belong to those types, due to how their cognitive functions work; it’s really hard to replicate (a character who is meant to be an INTJ ends up acting like an ISTJ, an ENTP often ends up like an ENFP, an ENTJ ends up an ESTJ, an ISTP ends up as an ESTP or ESFP, and an  INFJ ends up as an INFP or an ISFJ).

It’s not really so much as making an original character, rather than a real personality, that is separate from yours. A consistent character. How you do this is, you imagine what the character is like, and you look through real psychology for things that fall in line with your character (for instance, this blog would be a good start). Don’t try to mould the character into something YOU want it to be, let the character tell you what it’s like, and stick to that. Be honest about it. I’ve found that characters are much more believable, not when the writer decides who they are, but when the character decides who they are.

Don’t be afraid to go in deep. Decide on a Jung personality type, on all the faces of the Enneagram personality theory, but stay away from abnormal psychology (like personality theories), unless the personality truly is abnormal. For instance, sexual abuse in the past may damage some personality types mentally, and cause abnormalities, but other personality types are able to relativise certain traumas, and so there’s no need to diagnose it with anything, but it’s enough to say it’s a mildly unhealthy form of a certain personality type.

Play with a character’s history. See how they react coming from different situations, and which one fits the character most. I’d save moral alignment for last unless the character’s morals are firm, because I have plenty of characters who have two moral alignments based on what has happened to them (a default Chaotic Good character can also be a Chaotic Neutral character based on environmental events).

I’m really sorry if this turned out to be a very long post, I didn’t really mean to ramble on about it, lol. There’s just not an easy answer to it. If you want to see my own personal character development, you can find it here, for reference. Any questions you further have are more than welcome.