How Do I Make My Character Feel More Real During Roleplay?

There’s a familiar pause before slipping into character, it could be a breath, shift in posture, or the small mental handoff between everyday life and the world of your campaign. Sometimes it clicks immediately. Other times, you can feel a bit of distance between who you are and who you’re trying to portray. Most players run into that gap at some point, especially online.

Making a character feel real isn’t about theatrics or elaborate accents. It’s about strengthening that bridge between your own instincts and the traits of the person you’re playing.

Start With a Clear Internal Thread

A character becomes easier to inhabit when their motivations are simple and specific. Not a three-page backstory - just one thing that shapes the way they move through the world.

Try grounding them with a single question:

“What do they fear losing?”

That answer does more than personality quizzes or elaborate lore. It gives you a compass. When you know what matters most to your character, the choices you make at the table start to feel more natural, which in turn makes the character feel more alive.

Pick One Physical Habit

Many players try to juggle too many quirks at once, which usually leads to none of them sticking. Instead, choose one small, consistent physical behavior:

• A fighter who straightens their shoulders when threatened

• A cleric who fiddles with a pendant when uncertain

• A ranger who glances toward exits out of habit

It doesn’t have to be theatrical. Just a tiny behavior that your body can remember. Once you have that, it becomes easier to “settle into” the character the moment the session starts.

Why the Camera Matters More Than People Admit

In in-person games, physicality fills in a lot of the gaps. Online, it’s different. The webcam keeps pulling you back into your real environment - your room, your lighting, your face. Immersion requires setting your own world and your character they way you want to.

This is what Faes AR set out to solve. When your on-screen reflection matches the character you’re trying to embody - the clothing, the textures, the atmosphere - the mental transition takes far less effort. You’re not imagining the character; you’re reacting to a version of them that you can actually see.

React First, Speak After

A simple technique players underestimate: give yourself a brief moment to react physically before answering in-character.

Those micro-reactions cue your brain before your voice gets involved. And when you’re using Faes AR, those subtle expressions show up in the overlay, making the character feel more grounded to other players as well.

It’s a small adjustment with a surprisingly big impact.

Treat Your Webcam as Part of the Scene

If the webcam feels like a conference call, your performance will reflect that. Treat it the way you treat props and lighting at an in-person table.

Some players change the mood of their desk light.Some adjust their seating to match the character’s energy.Some practice staying “in frame” in a way that feels natural for the character.

But nothing influences immersion more than seeing a version of your character right on screen. 

Let the Character Settle In

When the emotional motivation, the physical habit, and the visual representation start moving in the same direction, the character feels less like something you’re performing and more like someone you understand.

Players often describe a kind of ease once they reach this point. The effort drops away. You stop monitoring how you look and start paying attention to the scene. The character’s reactions feel more instinctive because the cues that support them are already in place.

That’s the moment roleplay begins to feel natural rather than performed. And that’s usually when the character finally starts to feel real.

If you want your own character, you can maybe take a look at Faes AR.