For some reason, when it comes to individual characters I tend to gravitate to the roguish archetype. Not quite the D&D rogue but like the somewhat shady dude doing what he needs to in order to get by even if it isn't always pretty. Not outright evil but not good either. I guess it just suits my jaded view of reality. That and the fact I always thought Han Solo was cool as a kid.

Obnoxious but well meaning Halfling

Rugged, thuggish characters, "dark knight" archetypes, manipulators who aren't very strong in direct combat, and unrelenting heroes of justice would be my primary types, I'd say.

A crazy flamboyant male with a dark past.

Very competent characters, but everything always goes wrong and they can't succeed at anything.

Gods, swordsmen/women, and generally any character that doesn't often change themselves. There are exceptions of course, but those are mainly what I'm drawn to. Also, as an introverted misanthrope, my characters tend to not be the ones interacting unless they got dragged into something. Once again exceptions do exist, such as a character I made named Craig Sims, who used telekinesis to aid in his practice of being a doctor and was all in all a pretty outgoing and nice person on the outside.

Inside though he had an issue with perfectionism if I recall, and trouble with OCD. Plus any god characters I make, that I never end up using for RP since they're too damn powerful, generally don't fall under the above. As they are usually entities that do as they please when they please thanks to being unkillable and having damn near infinite power.

Besides that I can't really think of any other specific archetypes I've been drawn to as of late. Will say though that I don't play straight up heroes who do good for the sake of good. I find it boring.

Well here's the thing; I'm capable of playing any archetype but the sort of character I'm best roleplaying are honor bound knights, cowardly kobolds, secretive spell casters, and dumb muscle tropes. I can adapt to any archetype and do it well as in acting you play a multitude of roles.

And if this were a stage I'd be the Thespian upon it's boards.

One recurring archetype I've noticed is the uptight kuudere with past regrets. I've had at least four characters like that. Weirdly, they often lean towards lawful good, even though I typically prefer chaotic good characters. Then again, they do usually struggle with keeping darker sides in check.

Perfectionists who strive to be the best, only to break under the weight of their impossible standards.

Workaholics, which usually ties in with the above two.

Shy but determined characters.

Reeeeeeally really really hyper, outgoing and cheerful characters - yeah this is as far from most of the other listed archetypes as it's possible to get, but there's something incredibly fun about them.

Trickster archetypes, usually chaotic good, but can be any chaotic alignment.

I always wanted to play a hyper character. But I newer dare go all in on one for fear that I won't have the energy to write one. Really, I don't know if this is just me being insane but the way I make characters is that I take an aspect of my personality and than branch off that. So whilst no character I play is me all of them are born of me. And it's that bit of me that I know intimately that I can fall back to and use as a safe base to improvise off. And I just am not very energetic.

Arrogant, strong, fantasy characters usually with magic powers or extensive fighting skills. I always love a good Ranger/Rogue/Ranger Rogue Battle Mage... I've always had an itch to play an animal.

I tend to play characters less handsome than I am so I can better relate to you, the people.

Essentially. Don't even do it on purpose anymore, just happens naturally. Dunno why.

@TGM Yes!! Tsunderes too. Less often than kuuderes, but still a recurring trope. My longest-running character on this site is one. There's just something I like about a harsh character with a soft side that shows through from time to time.

@PPQ Purple Oh yeah, hyper characters are certainly tiring so it's understandable. I just find them fun anyway. I'm nothing like that, and yeah my characters often have a few of my traits too, so maybe it's the challenge of writing someone who's very unlike me. Or because it's uplifting to get into their heads and write their wacky antics, even if it can be exhausting.

I have a bit of a varied cast of characters to be honest so I don't know that I really use archetypes too often!

Lately I've been really enjoying writing very plain, normal characters in fantasy settings. So, characters without any kind of magic or experience with adventure. Something something lack of skill, incredible and extraordinary spirit.

So I have one particular character archetype I just can't get a way from, and though I don't play them all the time, I've played them a lot now. They have gone by many different names and appearances, but they are essentially the same character - the scarred mage who has done something terrible.

The thing I really like about this character its juxtapositions between things like frailty and power, intelligence and madness, vengeance and guilt. The character is always a frail mage, damaged both physically and emotionally by something they themselves have done, normally dabbling with powers and forces far beyond their ability to control. They often deflect their responsibility in whatever terrible thing has happened and externalise it in a misguided revenge quest. Often foolishly dabbling further with powerful magic in an attempt to gain greater powers in order to fulfil said misguided revenge

The intended character arc is them realising the futility of their vengeance and them learning to live with what happened to them. They cannot undo the past, they can only learn from it and move on. Giving up on forever chasing greater powers and learning to live by the maxim of doing what one must, rather than what one wills.

I know where loads of this characterisation comes from - damaged mages who do bad things are two of my favourite characters in literature, Ged from Earthsea and Kvothe from the Kingkiller Chronicles. Maybe if I have a real long running RP with this character I'll finally get it out of my system, but somehow I doubt it considering I've been writing variations of this character for over ten years now.

I tend to play characters less handsome than I am so I can better relate to you, the people.

Lol this made me laugh

The black sheep, the criminal, the man who has come to the conclusion that the only person he can rely on to watch his back is himself.

I've had a lot of characters that don't fit this mold lately, but there's just something magnetic to me about a character who has to learn how to trust other people after going through something that broke that part of him/her in the past. I enjoy writing about their pitfalls and the habits that get them into trouble whenever they try and fail to make it through life without anyone else's help. If/when I ever get around to trying my hand at writing a novel, the protagonist is definitely going to be a character that falls into this category.

I find myself drawn to characters who think about religion and/or about their place in society as those I’ve RPed with can surely attest to. I think religion and spirituality is a really interesting means of thinking about characters especially in settings where it can feature strongly but be oft unexplored (especially in fantasy). Likewise, I think a really interesting way to explore worldbuilding is to write characters ill-at-ease with the norms of the ‘typical’ members of their society, characters who don’t necessarily stand out per se, but who definitely transgress social norms in particular ways or feel limited by them.

A trend I noticed is my characters, either because of asperation, deformity, or a twisted mentality, trying to make themselves into something else.