I was in a group chat in a campaign I'm in where I've decided to play a character concept where I'm a Wizard obsessed with the mechanics of magic missile and adapting other spells into the form of a missile. The character ends up renaming his spells, altering damage types, and basically flavouring his casted spells as being him shooting a magic missile like projectile with a more volatile effect. I accomplished this by playing a lore wizard, an archtype dedicated to altering the forms of my spells.
So we were talking in group chat, when someone, a sorcerer, asked me how I did such a concept (he's a new player). I responded with something along the lines of "I just took my features and asked myself what they would actually look like off of paper". It naturally evolved to me and a few others giving him advice on how to flavour the casting of his spells as a wild magic sorcerer. This all got me thinking on why do some people find it so much easier to flavour things and others have such difficulty even coming up with a description of their character.

I think the first point to think on when it comes to this topic is how much your DM is willing to let you stretch your creative muscles. If your a barbarian, will your DM allow you to mechanically wear some sort of heavy armor or something, but have your character appear to not be wearing much in the form of protection? Will he allow you to use short sword statistics when you say your a rogue using a dagger? I think that people overstate the importance of sticking to the book when it comes to actually playing your character. You might have a low intelligence, that doesn't mean your bad at reading though, your character might love reading books, yet never remembers much from them. That's an interesting character concept that has just breathed enough individuality in your character to make him memorable. Perhaps your someone that likes samurai, and you use greatsword statistics to represent that you have a wakizashi (two handed katana).

The second point to this is understanding why aesthetics matters at all to a character. This point boils down to you as a player and how you and your group play. Is your campaign a lot of dungeon crawling and grueling combat? If so, then maybe your aesthetics is not that your a cheery bard that likes to play in taverns, but rather your a battle-hardened skald that feels it is your duty to spread word of the heroics of yourself and your companions. On the other hand, if your in an intrigue campaign, perhaps your less of a wild raider from the forests, but simply a man who trained martially to make his body a temple, but has a short fuse.

The third point is that you are only as tied down to what your class is as you and your DM forces you to be. You can be a righteous rogue with a heart of gold, or a paladin who's only purpose is to tear evildoers asunder. Your character sheet does not define how your character acts, your character and group defines that. If we were being honest here, if that weren't the case, how do you justify a righteous paladin or a druid all about the preservation of nature, deal with being in an adventuring group with necromantic wizards, thieving and murderous rogues, and violent and unstable fighters? In the end D&D is an RPG, and that means that both aspects should be considered, but they are still two aspects that need not interfere with each other. You can build that character with 5 different classes by level 14 and still have a rich character description about who he is, what he does, and why he does it. On the other hand you can easily have it be a boring character who's only purpose it to roll a lot of dice and not much else.

The last point I wanted to make is about how to be in a group. If your interfering with other people, stop what your doing and ask people how they feel about it. Sure the barbarian interrupting a peaceful discussion can be funny the first time, but maybe you are getting on the nerves of the people around you. Don't be a dick to people, because they might just let you get eaten by a gelatinous cube, or not drop however much gold is required to bring you back to life when you inevitably get yourself killed. Tabletop games are unique because they are infinitely adaptable, and two groups of people could start with the same module, but come out of it completely differently. Check in with your group, find out what is expected, if your the one guy with an 8 page backstory and everyone only has a paragraph or two, you messed up. The reverse is also true, find out what everyone else is expecting to happen, and if you don't agree with it, find a new group. There are plenty out there, and a campaign is shaped by everyone at the table.

If you feel inclined to, feel free to post examples of how you make your characters unique, whats your process and results. 

Side note, I wrote this when I was tired so feel free to point out how I messed up and what not. Cause I totally care about you guys.

I'll only bust on you for the your instead of you're typos. That is as far as I will unleash my editor mode for a forum post and only because you said I could. ;)

I'll agree with you on most of these points. Every group is going to work differently and have a different vibe. Sometimes it leads to players bowing out, but that should not be seen as a bad thing. They will find the people they can play with and so will you. I've bowed out of things due to people before and I'm sure I've scared a few people in my day, too. ((Tries to hide maniacal laughter)).

So what things do I do to make characters different:

Well let me go with my PbP toons as everyone will get a better chance to see them in action over time as we spend more time at it. I have a rogue and two clerics. NONE of them are anything alike. One of the things that helps is the background. I prefer to pick rather than roll it. Also, the simple placing of your stats can lead to what goes into a backstory.

So let's look at crazy little Thia first. She is a feisty wood elf. Actually the game does not have true elves and humans, but has the Hulven race with traits being picked with which is the strongest for ease of game play. She also isn't that smart and likes playing tricks on people. To explain the not so smart part and the fact of something worked out with the DM, she had a major head wound she survived from an orc raid. She is a mess and doesn't remember much from before the attack other than she is a cleric and a prankster. So she has the Tickery Domain and has a lot of stats that work just as well as a rogue as a cleric. However, she put her efforts into disguises and forgery. She can be a good copy cat. She has Charlatan for her background.

But then I have Portia in another that is a cleric of Lathander. She is set in what she believes and she pretty much grew up in the temple and she doesn't even care that no one knows her father is. As far as she is concerned, the priest that took over raising her at two when her mother died might as well be called father. She will try not to break the law, but if someone wants her to check things out just to be sure all is on the up and up, she will. This has already got her possibly into more trouble than it is worth. Just check out Beregost Blues in the PbP area. LOL! But she is also a heavy armor wearer,life domain cleric, and an acolyte. She will not be found pulling pranks on people like Thia and can be pretty predictable in her ways which Thia is not.

Cliste, is a rogue, who knows a good bit about being a burglar and acquiring things. However, she has this belief there can be a little good found in everyone. This does not make her stop from killing something that is trying to kill her or something finds to be wretchedly evil. If she gets a chance to talk to people she will try to discern what their real intents are and go from there. She'll gladly help others if she knows that help won't be squander into helping evil instead of good. So she has to trust even if she hopes for the good to show.

So what you pick for background, your domain, and how you apply your stats can help you decide on the character personality. I actually did not even chose alignment until I had the personality figured out from the other stuff. And Portia's choice of god worked as Lathander due to how I built her and it just wound up to be the god whose temple was in Beregost.

If newer to RPG it is a little easier to pick something closer to your own personality to try first. Some of us just can't pull off some of the personality options and alignments available.

It's also a good thing not to have your character antagonizing the party too much and keeping it to RP level and not to dice rolling. For instance, Thia is quite the scatter brain and chaotic, but when it's time to beat something up she is going to help the group to save her own hide. She'll resume the pranks and stuff after the battle is won.

A wakizashi is a shortsword, not a two-handed sword.  (You did say to feel free to point out how you messed up.) 

Quote from Matthias_von_Schwarzwald >>

A wakizashi is a shortsword, not a two-handed sword.  (You did say to feel free to point out how you messed up.)