I can recommend making/keeping a spellbook/abilitybook for your character. My own guild's forum has a section for them, with a template. The idea is that as you fill it in, you map your characters spells/abilities (Spells obviously for mages/healers, ability melee oriented) and get yourself an overview of what you're playing around with. It works wonders for maintaining a balance in your character - and allows you to write down descriptions which can help you when you're out fighting. During RP it can be hard to remember all of the tricks your character has up their sleeve. As your character learns new things, you can update and adapt - maybe your character learned something really powerful, but in doing so they failed to maintain another of their strong abilities which subsequently became less strong. You can also work out how to balance having several strong moves by making rules such as, if my character uses this move, this other move can't be used in the same fight due to exhaustion. Â
I keep an ability book even for my non-fighting characters, most of them would do okay in a barbrawl but would be no match against anyone that is trained (or alternatively, not drunk). As an addition for those non-fighting characters, I decided to map their network of people as well, because I consider a characters political reach (just to give an example) an ability as well. Maybe they'd get beat up in a fight, but then they know someone who could make the offender feel sorry later on.Â
Otherwise I'd say, remember your environment, remember your characters condition - having had 5 meads at a tavern shouldn't magically not have any effect when you start fighting and remember to take hits. If you end up losing, try not to get sour over it - losing can be just as fun as winning, it all really comes down to what you put into it when it happens. Practice, practice, practice. The more you do it, the more familiar you get with your character, the more quirks you can work in.Â
To add a fun element.. If you can work your character into a state where they can mentally drive their opponent down during/before the fight, then that can be very fun to both watch and do. I've seen it happen irl to an archery competition, the guy wasn't downright mean to his opponent, but his confidence and belief in himself, his friends cheering on him and I mean /really loud/ cheering made his opponent so nervous they could barely shoot xD Absolute sorta like, "I am the best and I am letting you know it" style. However, remember that talking during fights can distract your character and make them vulnerable if they're not used to it. It's not the only way to make it fun, more just to give an example.
Sorry if I repeated anyone else's points, I just skimmed through the thread so far.
I can PM you the template I've been using if you're interested in it, OP.
I keep an ability book even for my non-fighting characters, most of them would do okay in a barbrawl but would be no match against anyone that is trained (or alternatively, not drunk). As an addition for those non-fighting characters, I decided to map their network of people as well, because I consider a characters political reach (just to give an example) an ability as well. Maybe they'd get beat up in a fight, but then they know someone who could make the offender feel sorry later on.Â
Otherwise I'd say, remember your environment, remember your characters condition - having had 5 meads at a tavern shouldn't magically not have any effect when you start fighting and remember to take hits. If you end up losing, try not to get sour over it - losing can be just as fun as winning, it all really comes down to what you put into it when it happens. Practice, practice, practice. The more you do it, the more familiar you get with your character, the more quirks you can work in.Â
To add a fun element.. If you can work your character into a state where they can mentally drive their opponent down during/before the fight, then that can be very fun to both watch and do. I've seen it happen irl to an archery competition, the guy wasn't downright mean to his opponent, but his confidence and belief in himself, his friends cheering on him and I mean /really loud/ cheering made his opponent so nervous they could barely shoot xD Absolute sorta like, "I am the best and I am letting you know it" style. However, remember that talking during fights can distract your character and make them vulnerable if they're not used to it. It's not the only way to make it fun, more just to give an example.
Sorry if I repeated anyone else's points, I just skimmed through the thread so far.
I can PM you the template I've been using if you're interested in it, OP.
