I tend to play around a bit with different attributes a bit; males/females, older/younger, strong/weak. One thing I do tend to utilise a lot is mental or physical hindrances.

I had a teenage female recently that was in a super hero style RP that died off. She came from a broken home with an alcoholic mother while being depressed and suicidal. Her power however reflected that and when threatened she would become the monster that she feared inside herself. Almost like a self-defence mechanism.

The current character I have in a futuristic/fantasy RP is a demon living amongst humans who has the ability to release her inner self. She has a weapon that is able to inflict injuries upon others by harming the user. Best analogy is that the user can become a living voodoo doll. Essentially it's a very similar character to my last one I mentioned above but I also never really got into detail with the young girl so I utilised some of that as inspiration for the new character.

What I have found however is that I tend to create characters based on what's happening at that present time. Partly through music and media for the view, appearance and style, but the essence of the person comes from my experiences. Bit hard to explain without going into massive personal detail, but I can look at each character I create and see a bit of me in them rather than "I wanna play a Legolas or Frodo".