If you haven't done so yet, go read Part 1 of this update. Or don't, since there wasn't much new info in there.
The following are just a couple of ideas for the type of RPG character that could appear in a Console-based RPG. The characters themselves won't be too developed (that way, it would be easier to insert them in an RPG setting of my choice further down the road) but I'll be as detailed as I can with regard to powers and abilities.
Elementalist
Most RPGs like to play around with the concept of elements as a form of "rock, scissors, paper" (well, "rock, wind, water, fire" at least) system for sharp players to pick up on and exploit. A boss with an obvious affinity for ice therefore would be a perfect target for fire-based spells and weaponry. With this character, I'm taking that elemental theme several notches up into the crazy zone.
On your initial meeting, the character will have just completed monk-like training to use their innate powers of the respective elements in a martial art similar to the Chinese Tai-Chi, what with its focus on balances and such. Therefore, the character would be a skilled hand-to-hand fighter with various elemental spells at their disposal.
The strength of these elemental spells are boosted by wherever the character happens to be fighting: So inside a volcano it would be much easier to get to grips with your fire element. The trouble therefore being that volcano monsters are affiliated with the fire element too, which is why most of the spells for this character will be supportive (fire element spells could boost attack for instance).
As your party of heroes travel the world, the character will have opportunities to meditate around strong elemental sources. Keep in mind most of the character's training will have been around the lakes and mountain of their master's home, so visiting a glacier for the first time, for instance, will help that character unlock even more powerful Ice-like abilities.
As such, the elemental growth system for this character will be in three steps per element, with the new powers and abilities listed next to each:
1) Basic elemental mastery. The character starts with this once they have completed training and join the party. They can "equip" an element at any point (even during battle) and they gain two or three low-level spells of that element and a slight resistance to that element (though they also suffer a slight penalty to the opposing element).
2) Intermediate elemental mastery. The character will learn this during an event at some point along the first half of the game, during its "linear" stage. They gain more spells, gain a higher resistance to the element and also gain a direct bonus to statistics based on that element (fire would boost the character's attack power).
3) Advanced elemental mastery. The character will need to take a detour to a specific, "bonus" elemental dungeon and descend into its depths to discover the ultimate form of the chosen element, and meditate in front of it like with the previous levels of mastery. At this level, the character can actually assume an elemental-like appearance of whichever element they're equipped with. So with the 3rd form fire element mastery, they would become a being of living flame. Not only does this increase spells, resistances (to the point where they now absorb their element, healing them instead) and stats further, but it gives them almost godlike powers over their element, manipulating the surroundings with their willpower alone. There may even be various previously unpassable areas of a dungeon (a path covered with lava for example) that the elementalist character can now go through, allowing the player to finally reach a passed over treasure chests or the like.
Psionic Archer
This character trained as a regular archer for their local kingdom's army. At some point around their turn to adulthood, they acquired various psionic powers such as telekinesis and pyrokinesis and was able to cause much more damage with far more accurate shooting than a human would normally be capable of. However, for some reason or another, they can only effectively do this with smaller objects like the arrows they shoot as opposed to swinging a sword around or a giant rock with the power of their mind. Their godlike aim allowed them to be promoted all the way up to the monarch's (or Duke's or whatever) personal sniper. Depending on if the boss they work for is evil or not, they either tire of assassinating innocent people for the evil boss and attempt to defect to the heroes or they're assigned to help the heroes that are working for the benevolent monarch.
Their basic skills involve being able to hit targets accurately and in areas of maximum damage. They acquire "weak point" experience by attacking certain classes of enemies: For humans, the "weak point" is already given (since the character has vast experience with shooting human targets). Ditto for local beasts. Monsters like dragons or elementals, being rarer and much less human-like, require quite a few encounters before a weak point is learned. Or, the character can simply read up on a creature class's weak point by reading books at various points of the adventure.
Thier psionic abilities are where they become truly formidable. Besides general telekinesis to improve their aim to near-unmissable accuracy, they can also extend it to several arrows fired at once. So if they fire three arrows, the arrows would fly off in different directions but would converge on a single target with the character's telekinesis. Pyrokinesis would set the arrows on fire shortly before impact, doing additional damage. The character could also psionically move the arrow while it is still inside the enemy, doing further damage. Those last two abilities would work with a trigger, meaning the player would have to quickly press a button between the arrow being fired and the arrow hitting its target to set it alight. The player would have to press the button again for the short duration between when the arrow embeds itself in the target and when it vanishes (since non-crucial items like loose arrows don't stay on the screen for long) for the next damage bonus.
As the character's mental mastery over their arrows continue, they might be able to do even cooler stuff, like send an arrow into the future by a few rounds so they can focus a massive attack on the enemy the moment it lets its guard down. So for instance, if an enemy's pattern is to block twice and then attack (leaving it defenceless), the psionic archer can fire arrows into the future in the two guarding rounds and attack with one of the other psionic abilities for the third round, hitting the enemy three times when it is at its most vulnerable. They could also fire an explosive shrapnel arrow straight up, and psionically focus on all the shrapnel shards to converge on the target. They might even be able to target an enemy's equipment or coinpurse and bring the arrow attached to it back, effectively stealing the item (though there would be a size limit).
To be honest, the folk that work on D&D modules are always cooking up new characters based on the flexible d20 rules that govern the game. As such, it would be far easier to design a unique character set once a ruleset is established (especially when considering damage and defence stats and things like distance). The two ideas above could be configured to work with D&D or any Console RPG, but if I ever design more characters I think I'll either have to use an existing ruleset for the character to adhere to (or bend the rules of) or create my own system. That way, not only will the characters have cool-sounding (or at least in my head they are) abilities and whatnot on paper (or... internet text.. whatever), but they could also be implemented to work in an actual game scenario.
