[Sawrock]

I don't normally like being long-winded, but I'll do my best to respond to everyone, because I do agree with Polk's messages.

Mewmi:
Polk doesn't create shallow characters. Some of my favorite examples are his necromancer who disputed how Duyuei treats their dead, and in a spur of the moment, he's had an Omina regale about the cruelties of life against a more well-off redtail, playing off the good luck and bad luck of their lives and situations. I can testify that he puts more time into his characters than I do.

Dezark:
Thank you for the compliment. In Polk's post, I will say a lot of his beliefs echo my own: consent is important, don't plan too much to be restricted, etcetera.

Tana & Moku203:
It's a joke along the lines of how people would shitpost about "lesbian catgirls". While I've never favored such jokes myself, I can ascertain Polk is not homophobic.

Imotepchief:
At no point does Polk promote non-consenual ganking. In fact, whenver Polk and myself go ganking together, we do exactly as he posts- if the person doesn't want to get ganked, we simply offer to omit the entire scenario. As Polk himself outlines in his post, consent is important and roleplay is cooperative; attacking someone when they do not want to be attacked is just going to escalate things OOCly. Under part four, with "When communication doesn’t work". We even offer to let people to brainstorm with us for how they get away if we win the fight.

FaeLenx:
While Polk does weigh which of his defined types can be more or less rewarding, and more or less prone to failure, he does specify that there's no right or wrong way to write a character. I can't weigh in on him referencing his own characters, though- I'm far too narcissistic, and his reference to my own character, Gowwel, vomiting centipedes was a small delight for me to read.

Kazzy:
Polk has experience being a villain. Almost all of my Kcorvara villains have fought besides one of Polk's. He isn't making this thread to say "look at me", he's making this thread because he's had experience and it's worthwhile to share with the community.

Autumn:
I agree, but some of my own thoughts on the matter: A character being mentally instable isn't completely taboo. Bloeden wasn't sane. Beryl wasn't sane. Hell, a whole thing of Shaitans is their madness. There have been many characters in popular fiction that have been mentally ill. As I believe some have pointed out in the past, researching medical conditions and mental illnesses is the bottom rung of basework for knowing what you're even writing about- better that than writing of them without any research. Of course, it's not okay to say "my character has bipolar, that made them evil", and certainly not a topic to be taken lightly no matter the circumstances.

To anyone who read their individualized responses, thank you.

To Polk himself, I agree with many points in your post. My criticisms are that the topic of mental illnesses should definitely be handled more carefully- "mixing them in a cocktail" is dangerous phrasing. I know how you roleplay, and I've never seen overt disrespectful use of any mental illnesses, but including such in a guide is dangerous, especially when new or young players might look to this and overstep boundaries that are known by more experienced roleplayers. I will agree with others, as well, that the lesbian joke was out of place. Finally, you posted the section of "A foil, in writing, is essentially a character that exists in stark opposition in order to accentuate the hero’s traits" twice.

I will state a lot of what you wrote echoes my own beliefs- I especially enjoyed the part on how characters should be more valued for having brought a story, than used as a golden pedestal to never overturn. As I say myself, better to die from execution than to die from stagnation. You champion respect for consent and including smaller tips into the overall post with links to the applicable rules, character repurposing being allowed, etc., adds value overall to the post for those who would use this as what it was intended for- a guide.