This idea fell out of a meme I saw on facebook. The first three columns (Poverty, Middle Class and Wealthy) are from that meme. I've got no clue what the original source was.

It led me to thinking about character traits. We know our hero is trustworthy and the villain is not, but what makes a character real is the details. Does he grab a burger or dine on filet mignon? Does she wear gowns or jeans? Do they hire henchmen or attract sidekicks?

Sometimes we know everything about how our character views the world from the moment they spring fully grown from our head.

Often all we know is that this is a hero or villain. We know their primary traits (honest, unscrupulous, whatever), but we haven't filled in the little things that round out the character.

This spreadsheet of traits helps fill in some bold strokes. If our character is up-from-the-streets poor, he'll look at a banquet and see all the food. If he's fourth generation uber-rich, he might notice that they used the second best china and were clumsy with the garnish.

When I saw the initial meme, I realized that it was a useful tool for filling in a character's personality, particularly after I assigned the character's social class.

The type of character also affects how they view the world.

Part of a sidekick's job is keeping Our Hero's body and soul together. For example, Sancho Panza and Samwise both made sure the hero ate. But what will your sidekick feed his companion? From the spreadsheet, we might decide that a poor sidekick will try to get lots of cheap burgers for Our Hero, while the wealthy sidekick provides Our Hero with a proper meal using the good china and real silver.

This is far from the last word on how your character will view life's events. The chart is skewed toward Action/Adventure style heroes and villains, not Romance or Sports story characters who would view the world differently.

Maybe next chart.

Thanks to Alex Kourvo for better traits.

	Poverty	Middle Class	Wealthy	Hero	Sidekick	Villain	Henchman
Money	To be spent	To be managed	to be invested	Shared with less fortunate	Shared with hero	Acquired	Tool
Personality	Sense of humor	Achievement	Connections	Righteousness	Loyalty	Greed	Practicality
Social Emphasis	Inclusion	Self-sufficiency	Exclusion	Team building	Service	Self-Advancement	Service
Food	Quantity	Quality	Presentation	Skip meals when focused	Feed Hero	Lavish	Minimal
Time	In the moment	Against the future	Tradition	Deadlines and plans	Insufficient	Future Glory	Running out
Education	Abstract	Success & Money	Maintain Connections	Experience & Mentor	Jack of All Trades	Self-taught	Minimal
Language	Casual register	Formal/negotiation	formal/networking	dominant, commanding	Consensus	Dominant/demanding	subservient
Family Structure	Matriarchal	Patriarchal	Follows Money	strong social center	equals	single dominant unit	servants
Driving Forces	Relationships	Achievement	Financial, social	Justice	Hero's survival	Domination	Self-survival
Destiny	Fate, can't change	Choice	Expectations	Triumph (perhaps Pyrrhic)	Reflected glory	Self aggrandizement	servitude