The Potter's Army Mary Sue Litmus Test

wow you guys. Selwyn you saying i need to stop arguing with the admins at least i know where to stop even if i don't all the time. You are being increasingly rude to all of them.


I think this needs to be locked and moved to the pensive. I would do it myself but i cant. :/

Ne'os, you may be right. I shouldn't have called Khaat vain. Even though I am ridiculously vain and don't think it's anything to be ashamed of, I should have known better, especially considering the way I worded it.

But apart from that, I haven't been rude. I've just disagreed. Disagreement is a completely valid form of self expression.

Neos Thank you for agreeing with me

I don't see what you're all so up in arms about anyway. It's not like any of you are getting high scores. Caelani gets something like 52.

I got 29

That's not high. It probably means your character is well developed. I worry about people who get less than 10, though. Every time I've had a character that scored that low, I dropped them because they were so boring.

Alright we get it everyone, people can hold opinions and blah blah blah.

From now on, if you have a problem deal with in PM's. Granted it's raising the forums post count but not in a good way. Please stop having a "discussion", otherwise I'm locking the thread. However I will not move it, in case people still want to take this test.

Yay thnks for agreeing with me

Jamie got 9 but some of the questions don't really make the person a sue. Whatever. It really doesn't matter

Lucy Weasley wrote:Basics

Is your character named after you?
-- Your real first or middle name +5
-- A variation of your name (eg, a diminutive of your name, or vice-versa) +2
-- A nickname or other alias you use on a regular basis +1

Makes sense. Name sharing, or some variation thereof, is usually a sign of self-insert, which almost always spells sue.

Lucy Weasley wrote:Is your character the sibling, child or parent of a canon...
...but not mentioned by JKR? +5
-- Cousin or grandchild? +2
-- Has a canon surname? +1
-- A name or combination of names from another canon? +1

Good, as relations to cannon characters is another early warning sign. However, PA seems to encourage this, so it seems a bit...harsh. I certainly don't know how I would fix it though.

Lucy Weasley wrote:Is your character Pureblood? +1

Is your character non-human?
-- Vampire +5
-- Part Veela +3
-- Werewolf +3
-- Part Giant + 2
-- Part Goblin + 2

While I agree with most of this, I do not agree with Pureblood or part giant (can you even be part goblin?) part giants are rarely played, and discriminated against. Maybe you should add: "But everybody likes him anyway?" (Though this really depends on the other players on the site...hm...) Also, I don't think pureblood is a mary sue trait, but it's only plus one, so no huge complaints.

Lucy Weasley wrote:History

Does your character have a tragic past? +3

Was your character raised by people other than their parents? Ignore this if they regard the people who raised them as parental figures. +1

Add one point for every dead member of your character's immediate family.

Has your character been disowned? +3

Was your character disowned before they came of age? +5

Has your character been a child bride or teen mother? If male, has your character married a child bride or got a teenage girl pregnant? +3
Both? +3

Has your character ever been abused or molested (statutory rape and neglect count)? +5

Is your character part of the peerage or a celebrity? +3

Are one or both of their parents famous in the wizarding or muggle worlds? +1
Muggle and wizarding worlds? +2

Agree with all of this, except the teen mother/father, as that's generally considered negative....also, the penalty for famous parents should be more...

Lucy Weasley wrote:Appearance

Does your character have a similar appearance to you? +2

Does your character have the appearance you wish you had? +3

Do you describe your character's appearance by the stereotype it is most often associated with (eg. emo, goth, raver, prep, etc)? +3

Is your character comically tall or short when compared to the average height for their age group? +3

Would your character's BMI put them in hospital under ordinary circumstances? +3

Does your character have any unusual physical attributes, such as, but not limited to, unnatural eye colour, changing eye colour, animalistic ears, interesting birthmarks or scars? +3

Does your character have a particularly piercing or intimidating gaze? +1

Does your character often wear clothing that you own? +1

If a student, does your character often break uniform rules to wear clothing you think looks better on them than the school uniform? +2

Does your character own an accessory or piece of jewellery somehow tied to their lineage or an ancient magical lineage? +3
-- Is it enchanted? +3

Does your character carry around an ornamental weapon for no purpose other than it looks cool? +3

Again, agree with mostly everything. Only complaint is you should be more specific when mentioning "special scars", do you mean of the magical variety?

Lucy Weasley wrote:Personality

Does your character judge others based purely on what house they are in? +1

Does your character think rules apply to everyone other than him or herself? +1

Does your character rigidly adhere to their house's most well-known stereotype; that is, Reckless Gryffindor, Evil Slytherin, Friendly Hufflepuff or Brainy Ravenclaw? +5

Does your character have unusually enlightened views considering their upbringing? +3

Do they voice these views around their friends and family without concern? +3

If your character has a problem with authority figures, is your character always presented as being in the right? +1

Do you personally share your character's values? +5

Does your character have a psychological or personality disorder? +3

Would your character be described as insane by a lay person? +5

Did you give your character a tragic past to justify their present actions and/or opinions? +3

Again, agree but for two points: One, stereotyping characters by their houses, at least in my opinion, is definitely not a sue trait, and I would like to hear an explanation on that one. (No offense meant, just curious)

Two, a character who radically changed their personality to fit in more with their houses stereotypes would actually be interesting and less sue-ish (on account of feeling like they needed to change to be accepted) though this is less of a complaint than an interesting observation I suppose.

Lucy Weasley wrote:RP Life

Is your character described as being unusually talented at quidditch, despite not being on a team or ever playing a game? +5

Is your character described as being unusually talented at magic or duelling, despite not attending classes? +5

Is your character a member of the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix while still in school? +3

Does your character's life revolve around their romantic entanglements? +1

To the point where they hit on anyone of the opposite sex, regardless of age, manner, or whether the feelings are reciprocated? +1

To the point where they hit on anything that moves? +1

Hitting on anything that moves isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless everyone finds this character attractive (or the rper thinks they should. It's actually a nice character flaw, in my opinion, showing someone very vain or impulse driven.

Lucy Weasley wrote:Does your character have an encyclopaedic knowledge of spells and their effects? +2

Despite being too young to have learnt them? +2

Does your character always look fresh and fit, even after playing quidditch, duelling, being tortured, etc? +3

Is your character easily angered, but doesn't engage in battle with people more powerful that him/her? +5

Is your character impervious to the normal limitations of his/her species (answer yes even if attributable to a magical artefact)? +5

Are the rules of the universe bent for your character (answer yes even if it's with admin permission)? +5

If pureblood, is your character obscenely wealthy? +2

Agree, though I'd remove the "if pureblood" part of the last question and make it just "extremely wealthy"

Lucy Weasley wrote:Is the family's name somehow incorporated into the name of your character's home? +3

Does your character have experience in a non-magical form of combat? +3

If pureblood, is your character comfortable around muggle technology? +3

Does your character use the word mudblood whenever possible? +1

Don't agree with the first or last.

Lucy Weasley wrote:Can your character somehow get muggle technology to work on school grounds? +3

Is your character well accomplished in any area of the arts? +3

Have you ever attempted to dub your character the king, queen, prince or princess of their house or some other title? +2

Agree, but perhaps be more specific on "the arts" and make it so they add three points with every field they're proficient in.

Lucy Weasley wrote:De-Sueifiers! (minus points)

Would you let your character be killed for a plot, knowing that you could never bring them back? -3

Do you poke fun at your character's weaknesses or use them as plot devices? -1

Has your character ever been completely selfish, shallow, lazy or pointlessly cruel? -1

Is your character really and honestly overweight and going to stay that way (puppy fat and chubbiness does not count, we're talking obese here)? -1

Is your character honestly ugly and does nothing to improve their looks? -1

Is your character out of shape and staying that way? -1
Do they actively avoid exercise? -1

Is your character physically disabled and has nothing to compensate for it (enchanted limbs are compensation)? -2

Is your character over 40 and looks his/her age? -2
Over 60? -2

Does your character have a debilitating phobia that does not suddenly disappear, or that they work through to get over it? -1

Has your character ever run away from something simply because they were scared? -1

If your character has a bad past with their family, have they ever tried to reconcile? -2

Has your character ever been in a situation that they simply could not overcome on their own? -1
Did they give up without trying? -1
Did they give up after failing? -1
Did they eventually overcome it but it was really hard and took a really long time? -2

Does your character admit to being wrong even when he/she doesn't really mean it? -1

Agree, except that you made "eventually overcoming" an obstacle more points than just failing. Less sueish to fail outright.

Lucy Weasley wrote:Congratulations! This is the END

The very dodgy score board:

Less than 10 - probably not a sue.

50+ - Double check your character.

100+ - You might want to just start over.

Don't particularly agree with the scoring system here...50 seems too many. Overall though, nice work.