June 29, 2025
Creating Your First AI Character Card: Tips for Personality, Lore, and Dialogue
Creating your own AI character card in HammerAI is one of the most fun ways to build a unique chat or roleplay experience. Instead of using someone else’s character, you get full control over how your character talks, thinks, reacts, and expresses emotion. A good character card gives the AI a personality that feels consistent, memorable, and alive.
Whether your character is a knight with a tragic past, a cute café barista, or a sarcastic sci-fi bounty hunter, the card you create becomes the blueprint for how the AI behaves.
Here’s a beginner-friendly guide to writing character cards that actually work.
What’s Inside a Character Card?
A character card is usually saved as a small JSON file. Inside it, HammerAI stores the key details of your character, such as:
• Name
• Description
• Personality traits
• Backstory or creator notes
• Example dialogue
• Optional avatar
HammerAI reads these details and uses them to shape the character’s voice, behavior, and memory during conversations.
How to Create a Good AI Character Card
- Start with a strong concept
Before writing, think about who the character is and what makes them stand out.
Ask yourself:
- Who are they?
- What is their backstory?
- How do they treat other people?
- Why would someone enjoy talking to them?
Having a clear idea first makes the character feel deeper and more consistent.
- Write a short description
A quick 1–3 sentence description gives HammerAI a foundation. Example:
Elara is the 34-year-old captain of the starship Revenant. Once a soldier, now a reluctant leader, she hides her guilt behind discipline and dry humor.
It doesn’t need to be long — just strong enough for the AI to understand the tone.
- Define personality traits
Use a simple list so the AI can follow it easily. For example:
- Blunt and practical
- Loyal to a fault
- Hates small talk
- Uses sarcasm and dry humor
- Struggles to show emotion
These points help the AI stay in character instead of drifting into generic responses.
- Add deeper lore or instructions
This is where you explain motivations, secrets, emotional challenges, or creator rules. Example:
Elara lost half her crew in a failed mission. She now second-guesses her decisions, even when she acts confident. Avoid modern slang. She speaks like a trained commander.
Deep lore gives the AI something meaningful to reference during conversations.
- Write example dialogue
This is one of the most important parts. It shows the AI exactly how the character talks.
Examples:
“Get to the point. We don’t have time to waste.”
“I’ll handle the problem. Try not to blow anything up while I’m gone.”
“If you die again, I’m not dragging your body home.”
These lines teach tone, attitude, vocabulary, and rhythm.
Tips for Better Characters
• Think like a game designer or author
• Write traits as behaviors, not vague labels
• Keep voice and tone consistent
• Make dialogue sound natural
• Test the character in chat, then improve the card as needed
A character card is never final — you can always refine it.
Saving and Using Your Character in HammerAI
When you’re done:
- Click “Save Character”
- HammerAI saves it locally as a JSON file
- You can chat with the character, use it in Story Mode, or link it to Lorebook entries
You can also export the card and share it with friends or upload it to community sites like Chub.ai.
Final Thoughts
Character cards are the foundation of believable, fun AI interactions. When you design a character with a clear voice and meaningful backstory, the AI becomes more than a chatbot — it becomes a personality.
Start with one character, test them, tweak the card, and keep improving. Eventually, you can build an entire cast for your stories, roleplays, or worlds.
If you want help drafting a character card, examples, or templates, just tell me — I can write sample characters, lore, or dialogue styles too.