If you’re reading this I assume you want to make a Naruto OC. This guide was created to help people come up with well thought out characters that are /not/ Mary-sues. This guide will tell you how to create and develop a character while telling you what to avoid and what not to do. This will be the basic outline.
1. Gender and Personality
2. Appearance and Name
3. Age and Birthday
4. Ninjutsu and abilities
5. History and Clan
6. Village and Rank
7. Family
8. Likes and Dislikes
9. Friends and Enemies
10. What to Avoid AKA What Not To Do
This guide will be full of examples using some of my OCs and giving you practical advice and links to websites that will help you out. If you have any questions feel free to ask me. Now on with the guide!
Part One: Gender and Personality
Gender:
The first thing you need to determine is whether your OC is a female or a male. This is probably the easiest step and also the simplest. Once you have decided whether they’re male or female you can move on to the personality section.
Personality:
This is one of the more difficult steps. First off decide if your character is an introvert or an extrovert, then move on to the specifics. Is your character kind or cruel? Are they shy or social? What are their good points? What are their bad points? Be sure to balance out their bad traits with their good traits. Some other questions you should answer are:
1. Are they immature or mature?
2. Do they have a temper?
3. Are they easily annoyed?
4. Are they naïve?
5. Are they sensitive?
6. Are they obnoxious?
7. Are they stubborn?
8. Are they good friends?
9. Are they loyal?
10. Are they selfish?
11. Can they be childish?
12. Do they care about other people?
13. Are they annoying?
14. Are they spontaneous?
15. Do they show their emotions?
16. Are they brave?
17. Do they speak their mind?
18. Can they be rude?
19. Are they seen as a mean person?
20. Do they share their thoughts or do they keep them to themselves?
21. Are they manipulative?
22. Are they a good leader?
23. Are they intelligent?
24. Are they rebellious?
25. Are they calm a lot of the time?
26. Are they lazy?
27. Are they creative?
28. Are they optimistic or pessimistic?
29. Are they overdramatic?
30. Are they hotheaded?
31. Are they arrogant?
32. Are friendly?
33. Are they trustworthy?
34. Do they support their loved ones?
35. Do they tend to lie a lot?
36. Are they imaginative?
37. Are they sarcastic?
38. Are they respectful?
39. Are they conformists?
40. Are they harsh at times?
41. Are they curious?
42. Are they judgemental?
In order to give your OC actual personality you should spend a long time on your OC’s personality. Be thorough and don’t leave anything out. Remember you can change their personality at anytime.
Part Two: Appearance and Name
These are two of the most difficult steps of creating an OC. Their appearance can be difficult to design so feel free to make draw or describe them until you finally get a design you like. These are some things you need to decide on:
1. Hair style and hair color:
Is their hair long or short? Is it curly or straight? Do they wear it up or down? Does it cover part of their face? Do they have bangs? Do they wear hair accessories? What is their hair color? Is it a natural (black, brown, blonde, red) hair color or an unusual hair color (pink, green, purple, white, blue, etc.)?
Eye color:
What is their eye color? Is it a normal color (blue, brown, green, grey, hazel) or is it an unusual eye color (purple, silver, gold, black, red, pink, orange, yellow, etc.)? Is it a specific shade of the color? Do they have flecked eyes? Are their eyes different colors?
Weight and Height:
How tall are they? Are they short, tall, or are they medium height? What is there weight? Are they chubby, thin, skinny, or fat?
Hitai-ate (Head band):
Where do they wear their hitai-ate? Do they wear it around their neck, or over their forehead? Is it around their waist? Is it on a leg? Is it on an arm? Choose whatever appeals to you.
Clothes: What do they wear? Do they have long sleeves, short sleeves, or no sleeves? Do they wear fishnet? There’s not much I can say here because it’s all up to you.
Accessories and Markings: What accessories does your OC wear? Do they have any markings on them?
Name:
The naming part is one of the hardest parts mainly because there are so many choices. In order to create an acceptable Naruto OC you must, I repeat, must give them a JAPANESE name. Naruto is a Japanese series and all the characters have Japanese names therefore your OC needs a Japanese name. Avoid names taken by the canon characters. Give them a name that makes sense. Here is a link with many Japanese names to choose from: http:///japanese-names.html
Part Three: Age and Birthday
Age: How old is your character?
Birthday: What is your character’s birthday?
Part Four: Ninjutsu and Abilities
Ninjutsu:
First off you should decide on your OC’s chakra type. Do they use water, fire, earth, wind, or lightning ninjutsu? With that decided you should choose whether they use mainly long-range ninjutsu or close range ninjutsu? Do they use mostly defensive ninjutsu or offensive ninjutsu? With those ideas in mind brainstorm and make a list of your ideas for their ninjutsu. This is one of the steps that is difficult and takes a long time. Remember no super unstoppable powerful ninjutsus.
Abilities:
Now you should choose your OC’s abilities or skills. You should make a list of stats telling what their strengths are. Houseki’s stats for example are:
Ninjutsu: Excellent
Taijutsu Good Genjutsu: Bad
Chakra Control: Excellent
Make sure that you don’t give them an excellent in each category.
Weapons:
Does your OC use a certain weapon? Does it have any special abilities? What does it look like?
Part Five: History and Clan
History:
Before I start on the history section let me lay out some rules:
1. No tragic pasts. It’s okay if one or two people they knew died but if everyone they cared about dies then your OC will be labeled a Mary-sue/Gary-Stu.
2. Don’t make them an important part of a canon characters past. Don’t even make them a part in a canon character’s past or make a canon character part of their past.
3. No abusive family members. Not much to say here.
4. No revenge stories. We don’t need fifty million Sasuke rip-offs running around.
And with those two rules in mind let’s proceed.
Childhood:
What was their childhood like? Was it happy, sad, or normal? What are some important events that changed them or made them who they are?
Genin:
What were there years as a genin like? What important events happened? Who were some of the important people to them during this time?
Time Skip:
What happened to them during the time skip? Who were the people who were important to them?
Clan:
The Clan:
Rule time again!
1. Don’t make them a member of a canon clan that is wiped out liked the Uchiha clan or the Kaguya clan. This rule is one of the most important and necessary rules to follow when making a Naruto OC. The only exception to this rule is if the character is a next generation OC.
2. Do not make them the only member of a clan because they are the last member of their clan. This is a sign of a Mary-sue/Gary-stu.
3. No rip off clans. Be creative.
What clan are they in? Is it a canon clan or is it a made-up clan? Who are some of the members of their clan? What are some of the characteristics of the clan? What is the clan’s history?
Kekkai Genkai:
Does your character have a canon Kekkai Genkai or is it a made up one. If it is a canon Kekkai Genkai follow the number one rule.
1. They may not have the Sharingan or stuff like that unless it is a next generation OC.
If it is a made up Kekkai Genkai there are also some rules.
1. No super unstoppable all-powerful Kekkai genkais.
2. No Kekkai genkais that can let your OC read minds it use to be original but now it’s cliché and annoying.
That’s pretty much it. Anyways you think of the answer to these questions:
1. What are the special abilities of your Kekkai genkai?
2. How do they activate the Kekkai genkai?
3. Is the Kekkai genkai offensive or defensive? Is it both?
4. How is it used?
5. What can it do?
Part Six: Village and Rank
Village:
Once again we have some rules:
1. Try to avoid made up villages unless you have thought them out really well and have culture, clan, geography, history, and alliances thought out.
2. Your OC cannot be the last person from a village.
Moving on… Is your OC from a canon village or a made up one? Is that where they were born? If not what village did they originally come from? Why did they leave that village?
Rank:
Rule time:
1. Unless your character is like forty or fifty they can’t be a sannin.
2. Unless your character is in their late twenties and up they can’t be an ANBU member, especially the ANBU captain.
3. Same with a kage.
4. Be logical. If your OC is thirteen then they can’t be a jonin.
And that pretty much covers it.
Part Seven: Family
Family:
Before I start I want to state some rules:
1. Their entire family can’t be dead either.
2. They can’t be an adopted sibling of a canon character.
Those rules shouldn’t be too hard to follow now should they?
Anyways answer these questions:
1. Do they have any siblings? If so how many?
2. What are their parents like?
3. Do they still live with their parents?
4. Do they have a large family?
Part Eight: Likes and Dislikes
Likes and Dislikes:
In order to flesh out a character you need to think about their likes and dislikes. In order to give you some inspiration for thinking about their likes and dislikes you should answer these questions:
1. What is their favorite food?
2. What are their favorite colors?
3. What is their favorite animal?
4. What are their pet peeves?
5. What are their hobbies?
6. What are some of their favorite activities?
7. What is their favorite type of weather?
8. Do they like the heat?
9. What is their favorite season?
10. Who do they dislike?
11. What is their least favorite food?
Answer these and any other questions you can think of.
Part Nine: Friends and Enemies AKA Relationships
Friends:
Once again there are some rules to follow:
1. They cannot be best friends with canon characters.
2. They cannot have an intimate relationship with canon characters.
3. They cannot have been best friends or have had an intimate relationship with canon characters.
4. Crushes are fine but keep it discrete.
Anyways you should think about these questions:
1. Who does your character like?
2. Who are some of you OC’s friends?
3. Who do they care about?
4. Do they have a rival?
5. Do they have a crush?
6. Are they taken?
Enemies:
1. They cannot be worst enemies with a canon character.
2. They can hate a canon character.
Alright question time:
1. Who do they dislike?
2. Who do they hate?
3. Who hates them?
4. Who dislikes them?
Part Ten: What Not To Do
This is last section of the guide. Remember these rules and your OC won’t be a Mary-sue/Gary-stu.
1. Your OC cannot have a demon, bijuu, or any type of deity or spirit in them.
2. They cannot have wings or animal parts.
3. Avoid making an OC in the Akatsuki.
4. Avoid making a blind OC. It’s really cliché.
5. You’re OC can’t perform Chidori or Rasengan.
6. Avoid giving them a curse seal.
7. And all the rules I mentioned already.
And I’m done! I hope my guide helps!(jk not mine i copied n pasted ^.^' it is useful though)
Oh and if you know of any good Naruto OC story communities, pm me plz!! I am desperately trying to find one so I can read some OC character stories (they are my fav...just sayin')