Stock Character Clichés
THE ALL-EMBRACING, ALL-INCLUSIVE, FUNKTASTIC COMPENDIUM OF STUPENDOUS STOCK CHARACTERS AND SUPERFLUOUS STEREOTYPES
(aka the AEAIFCSSCSS)
(c) Guy Hoyle, 2006
Similar to "That Last #@!% Cliche" table from the Risus Companion (p. 7), the cliches on this table can, with some adjustments, be used for virtually any genre and any campaign. When you're having trouble thinking up useful cliches for your character, take a look at this list!
Credit must be given to the Stock Characters article at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_character) and the TV Tropes website (http://tvtropes.org), from which most of these cliches were drawn.
Absent-Minded Professor Action Girl Adventurer Archaeologist Almost Dead Guy Amateur Sleuth Amoral Scientist Angst-Ridden Youth AntiHero Arch Nemesis Avenger Axe-Wielding Lunatic Bad Boss Bad Fiancé Bad Guy Trapped Into Working For The Good Guys Badass with a Long Coat Baldrick Battle Butler Benevolent Boss Beta Baddie Big Bad Guy Big Boss Bitter Rivals Bitter War Veteran Black Cloak Black Moustache Villain Born Loser Fall Guy Bouncer Bounty Hunter Bridezilla Broken Hero Brought-Back-To-Life villain Bumbling Dad Bungling Inventor California Girl Canon Immigrant Caped Crusader Casanova Chosen One Cinderella Pretty Ugly Girl City Mouse Classy Cat Burglar Cloudcuckoolander Clumsy Hero Colonel Makepeace Comedic Hero Comic Relief Competent Man Con Man Control Freak Cop On The Edge Corrupt Corporate Executive Corrupt Hick Country Mouse Cousin Oliver Cowboy Cop Crazy General Damsel in Distress Dark Lord Dead Star Walking Defective Detective Designated Antagonist Designated Hero Devil In Plain Sight Dirty Old Man Dogged Nice Guy Doomed Appointment Doppelganger Double Agent Dr Jerk Dragon Drill Sergeant Nasty Drop In Character Dumb Blonde or Bimbo Dysfunctional Nuclear Family Eccentric Millionaire Enfante Terrible English Butler Erudite Stoner Evil Albino Evil Chancellor Evil Clown Evil Counterpart Evil Genius Evil Matriarch Evil Minions Evil Overlord Evil Twin Extraordinarily Empowered Girl Fake Boss False Hero Favorite Son Femme Fatale Flunky Stooge Toadie Fool Fop Foreign Exchange Student Gang Members General Ripper Genie In A Bottle Genius Bruiser Gentle Giant | Gentleman Thief Giant Monster Girl Posse Girl Threesome Greek Chorus Haunted Hero Henchman Herald Heroic Scientist High School Rejects Hippie Chick Granola Girl Honest Thief Hooker With A Heart Of Gold Horny Scientist Hot Librarian Hot Scientist Hot Teacher Ill-Fated Lovers Impeded Messenger Implacable Man Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain Ingénue Inspector Javert Inspirationally Disadvantaged Intellectual Animal Invisible Guardian Angel Jerk With A Heart Of Gold Jock Joe Schmoe Jokester Knight In Shining Armor Knight Templar Large Ham Leisure Suit Larry Local Hero Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places Loony Fan Loser Guy Lovable Rogue Lovable Traitor Mad Scientist Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter Master Of Disguise Master Thespian Master Villain Mission Control Monster Clown Monstrous Adolescent Mooks Mouthy Kid Mr Exposition Mr Fixit Mysterious Informant Naive Newcomer Nature Hero Nerd Nerd Girl Nietzsche Wannabe No Respect Guy Noble Demon Noble Savage Non Human Sidekick Nosy Neighbor Number Two Nurse Nurse With Good Intentions Oddball Old Flame Old Friend One Winged Angel Opposing Sports Team Outlaw Parker Lewis Ferris Bueller Part-time Hero Physical God Pied Piper Playful Hacker Plucky Comic Relief Plucky Girl Pointy Haired Boss Pompous Idiot Popular Girl Pretty Woman Prodigy Proud Warrior Race Guy Psycho For Hire Punch Clock Villain Quirky Miniboss Squad Racist White Guy Raised By Wolves Rake Cad Reclusive Genius Red Scare Redshirt Reluctant Guardian Angel Reluctant Hero Reluctant Villain Repentant Traitor Atoner Repulsive Womanizer Reverse Mole Rich Bitch Right Wing Militia Fanatic | Rival Turned Evil Robot Buddy Rogues Gallery Rookie Sadist Sassy Secretary Scary Dogmatic Aliens Scary Minority Suspect School Bully Sealed Evil In A Can Serial Killer Shape Shifter Shapeshifter Sidekick Sin Of The Father Snoop Spear Carrier Spirit Advisor Stalker With A Crush Stupid Boss Super Grape Super Soldier Sycophant Technical Pacifist Techno Wizard Teen Genius Temporary Love Interest The Ace The Baroness The Brigadier The Commander The Contender The Coroner The Cracker The Ditz The Dungeon Master The Enemy Within The Government The Hunter The Igor The Illegal The Intern The Judge The Kimberly The Lab Rat The Legions Of Hell The Libby The Mad Hatter The Major (or Jolly War Veteran) The Mark The McGuyver The Minnesota Fats The Mole The Napoleon The Obi Wan The Patsy The Professor The Profiler The Punishment The Radar The Renfield The Skeptic The Spock The True Believer The Unseen Character The Urkel The Vamp The Vicar The Virus The Watcher Tin Man Token Minority Tomboy Too Dumb To Live Tough Guy Town Drunk Tragic Hero Tragic Villain Trickster Trickster Mentor Troubled But Cute Twins Tyranical Boss Tyrannical Father Vigilante Villainous Crossdresser Wacky Guy Wacky neighbor Waif Prophet Warning Warrior Poet Well Intentioned Extremist Western Terrorists Whiz Kid Wicked Step-Mor Wicked Witch Evil Wizard Womanizer Worthy Opponent Wunderkind Enfant Terrible Yellow Peril Yuppie Couple Zen Survivor |