The Character Creation Guide

T H E   C H A R A C T E R   C R E A T I O N   G U I D E

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Welcome to the Magical Hogwarts Character Creation Guide! This guide will provide you with all necessary information to create a new character. Before you start working with this guide and begin writing your character sheet, please make sure you have read our Basic Rules & Regulations and the New Player Guide.

Magical Hogwarts allows the creation of a variety of different characters. You can create a student of any age at any of the three schools (Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang), an adult, a canon, or even a special character like a centaur or a ghost. We recommend that new members create either a student or an adult as their first character, as these are easier to play and allow for more roleplaying opportunities. It is possible to create as many additional characters as you like later on.

The first thing you should be doing is to decide what kind of a character you would like to create. Please note that you will also have to figure out which bloodstatus you want for your character. Pureblood family lines as well as rich or influential ones need to have an Established Family Background.

Once you've made your decision as to which kind of character you would like to create you should familiarise yourself with the according guides.


L I N K   C O L L E C T I O N
Magical Hogwarts internal links:

Hogwarts Hogwarts Guide		Beauxbatons Beauxbatons Guide Beauxbatons Floor Plan Beauxbatons Student Services		Durmstrang Durmstrang Overview Durmstrang Cultural Overview
Adults Adult Character Guide Additional Guides		Established Family Backgrounds Established Family Background Rich / Influential Applications		Canons Canon Character Approvals Canon & Special Character Sorting

Other useful links (both on Magical Hogwarts and on the web):

Names*      Magical Hogwarts Memberlist Used Family Names on Magical Hogwarts Behind The Name Behind The Name (Surnames) Common Surnames Per Country

Appearance          Growth Charts Describing a Person Describe a Character's Looks

Personality*          Jung Typology Test Free Horoscope Zodiac Signs More Zodiac Signs Names, Numbers, and Characteristics

Various          Blood Status Information

*: Please note that the linked resources don't always offer suitable names. It is advisable to double check a name chosen from one of the linked websites as not all of them are really appropriate. If you are uncertain if a name works, please contact a member of the MH staff for advice.
*: The links lead you to websites that can give you some ideas for character traits for your character. You are by no means expected to stay true to a zodiac sign or anything along these lines.

T H E   C H A R A C T E R   S H E E T

Here, we will describe how to correctly fill in a character sheet. All explanations are written in this colour. This sheet spine contains the information of all available templates.

Full Name: Please pick a name that matches the character's nationality and is, in fact, a suitable name for a character in the Harry Potter world. We strive to avoid duplicate names on the site for the sake of clarity. Middle names are optional, but if your character is/was from the Durmstrang area, a patronymic will be necessary; more information can be found in the Durmstrang Cultural Guide. Please also consult the memberlist and/or Used Family Names to see which names are already taken.

Blood Status: You can play a muggleborn, a halfblood or a pureblood character. Please check out the Blood Status Information topic to learn more about blood statuses.

Date of Birth: Please include the day, month, and year that your character was born. Use the Age & Year Calculator if you need help determining this.

Age: The age should match your character's position. For example, a first year has to be eleven before the 1st of September.

Place of Birth: The place of birth determines the nationality of your character, hence you will need to choose a place of birth in one of the countries that are accepted at the school your character belongs to. Note: without a very good explanation we will not accept characters from countries that do not traditionally attend Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, or Durmstrang.

Languages: A Hogwarts character has to speak English, a Beauxbatons character French, and a Durmstrang character Russian. Should the language spoken at the according school not be your character's native language you should include how well they speak it and how they learned it.

Sexuality: This is where you can include your character's sexual leanings.

Member group: Choose the member group your character belongs to from the current list in the dropdown menu.

Department/Floor: This only applies to characters that are either Ministry or St.Mungo's workers. For more details on each department please consult the Adult Character Guide.

Job title: Adult characters need to have this section filled in with that their current occupation is, for example a shopkeeper or a professor.

Approved Special Features: Special features have to be approved before they can be played out and mentioned in the character sheet. For further information you can read the Special Features Guide.


Appearance: This is where you describe how your character looks like. You can start by describing facial features, hair, and general build. Think of how the face is shaped, how the skin looks (colour, does the character have freckles or dimples, etc.), the lips / teeth, nose and any striking facial features should be described here. Please bear in mind that scars rarely occur in the wizarding world. Most wounds can be healed easily without leaving a scar. Only some really dark curses might leave a scar. However, it's recommended to avoid this. You can also add something about typical expressions, body language etc. here.


Personality: Here you describe your character's personality. Try to structure them a little and make sure that you explain the character traits which you mention in some way. It might help to collect some key words first and we strongly advise you to look for both positive and negative character traits. Bear in mind that nobody is perfect and your character, therefore, should have some flaws as well. You should also include strengths and weaknesses that impact your character's personality (for example bravery, honesty, laziness, jealousy etc.) as well as likes and dislikes.


Spouse/significant other: Any information about your character's spouse or significant other will go into this section. Include their names, ages, former schools/houses if applicable, and their jobs.

Children: Any information about your character's children will go into this section. Include their names, ages, current/former schools/houses if applicable, and their jobs, if applicable.

Parents: Any information about your character's parents will go into this section. Include their names, ages, former schools/houses if applicable, and their jobs. For any pureblood parent you will need to write an Established Family Background.

Siblings: As with all relatives you should list the siblings' full names, ages, houses at school (if they are students or graduated), and in case of graduates also the profession here.

History: The Background Story is an important part of your character sheet. Please bear in mind that the personality of your character developed because of the things that happened in their lives. Their personality and their morals stem from their experiences, after all. This being said, you should make sure to show this in your writing. If your character is very tense and overly shy there might have been something in their life that made them behave like that. It is essential that you also describe the relationship your character has with their parents, siblings or any other people who play a big role in their lives. If your character has a rocky relationship with their father, for example, there is certainly a reason for this.

Please note that overly dramatic background stories will only be approved if you provide a detailed and convincing explanation of the events and describe how they influenced the character.

The history should always be written chronologically. That means you start in the past and move up to the present. It is recommended to write a paragraph about how the parents met. If one parent is of magical descent and the other is a muggle you will have to explain how they met and how the non-magical person reacted to the fact that the partner is magical.

Then you move on to your character's birth and early childhood. Describe anything that is important and influenced your character. Relationships with the family members, the first sign of magic, and some special events can be mentioned here. Please note that halfblood and pureblood characters are typically homeschooled prior to attending a wizarding school as wizards are not supposed to show magic in front of muggles. These characters wouldn't be surprised to discover their magical ability either. After all, children of magical ancestry are magical as well, there are only very few exceptions.

Once you've completed your sheet so far you can go over to your character's years at school. Please note that students who don't start as first years need a paragraph about every year they spent at school so far.  Also even first years might need to write a little about their beginnings at school depending on the playtime month. You can describe how they feel at school, whether they made friends easily, which subjects they like, etc.

For adult characters you should write something about each phase of their life. The older a character is, the less important become the early years of their life unless something happened at this time that influenced them deeply. Make sure to cover job changes, personal crises, relationships, and everything that affected your character's life.

If you aim to make your character of a mixed ethnicity, want one of the parents to be dead, or want anything that is not common, then you will have to provide a detailed background for this. Note that strange diseases and muggle illnesses won't be approved. In the magical world a lot of things can be healed easily. Keep 'muggle references' out of your sheet. Brand names, existing bands, religious content etc. don't really belong into a character sheet. If you are unsure if something can be approved, you can contact a member of the MH staff and ask.


School/house: Please choose from the options provided in the dropdown menu.

Other school/house: In the event that your adult character did not attend one of the played schools here on MH, use this space to include your character's former school/house.

Year: Please choose a school your character belongs to in the dropdown menu.

Magical Strengths: Please choose two to three areas of magic your character is good at, keeping in mind that these should be magical in nature.

Magical Weaknesses: Same for weaknesses, and it should be noted that the two shouldn't contradict each other.

N.E.W.T.s: Here you list the subjects in which your adult character graduated with, along with the marks they achieved. Make sure that the subjects listed are available at the school your character attended.

Wand: Please list the length, wood, and core of your character's wand.

Pets: Students can only bring owls, toads, rats and cats to school; although it is possible for character to own a wide variety of different pets, which will need to be purchased. Check out the Creatures & Items Guide for further information.

Quidditch position: Please choose a position from the dropdown menu.

Affiliation: Please choose an affiliation from the dropdown menu.


Roleplay Sample: Posts are written in the third person only and in past tense. Note that you should not include dialogues with NPCs (non played / other characters) as this is not acceptable. You can address a person using direct speech; just don't let the other person (the non-played character) reply to it in your text.