The Potter's Army Mary Sue Litmus Test

Disclaimer: The following quiz is for entertainment purposes only. Real Mary Sues are played, not made.

This quiz is custom made for Potter's Army characters. It only works for original characters and Potter's Army custom-canons.

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

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

Is your character Pureblood? +1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congratulations! This is the END

The higher your score, the more likely your character is a Sue. That's the theory, anyway. I'll test some of my characters later and figure out a scoring standard.

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.

I got 29

I've been thinking this over, it's a decent idea. But you're going a little too harsh on characters Selwyn. I understand it's for entertainment purposes, but still. It is a little rash to -3 points if your character is fat or obese or whatever. But that's my opinion and I'm leaving it at that, and btw here are my scores.
Matt 8
Blaire -7
Spencer -2

I got a 9 but some of those don't really make sense.. isn't Mary Sue like... perfect in every way? Like.. not getting hit in a duel? That's an important one.. and How is having a scar make you perfect? Just curious...

Matt, getting points taken off is a good thing. And few people ever play fat characters in RP, which is why that question is there.

Based on testing my own characters, I think it's giving freakishly low scores. Some of my characters are very sue-like.

Chase, the idea of mary-sue is a bit different to the fanfiction one. In RP it's used more to mean a character who always gets attention. Having a scar makes you a "special flower" especially in Hogwarts RPs, because Harry Potter's defining feature was his curse scar.

The main thing about a test like this is that a lot of the questions expect you to be honest. So you can lie and get a lower score, but you're only lying to yourself. I think that -10 might be screwing up the numbers, too.

ETA - okay, I toned down the de-suifiers.

Selwyn, it is is an unkind and discriminating question, in my opinion. And how one's characters score on this is, largely, based on how each player chooses to see his or her character. I have no doubt that if several of us were to score our impressions of the same character, we would no doubt come up with totally different answers for the very same character.

It is important to realize that this really is strictly for entertainment purposes and is not intended to reflect on any character or its author. It's just for fun, Folks!

Khaat, I don't dictate beauty standards. Mary-sues are really unlikely to be fat, because fat people are forced to have good personalities, even in real life. Therefore, you character's weight makes a difference.

And the question isn't unkind or discriminating. Just because a fat character gets to deduct the points from their score doesn't mean a thin character is being discriminated against. That's like saying giving women or lower class people benefits discriminates against straight, white men.

Besides, the entire world discriminates against fat people, you think you'd be able to put away your vanity for the duration of a stupid test that doesn't even mean anything.

I said I found the question unkind and discriminating IN MY OPINION, and I reserve the right to disagree with you and to express and maintain my opinion. I was clear it was my opinion only.

Your rudeness about my "vanity" is completely uncalled for. You're a better player than to lower yourself to such disrespect or personal attacks towards any other player. I am truly sorry to see that happening.

Ok guys This is starting to be arguing between people if its going to have people argue then somebody take resposebility and lock it and move it to the pensive

Yes, you are perfectly entitled to hold that opinion, and I am entitled to explain why your opinion makes no logical sense.

I only assume you're vain because you made such a big deal about it. Personally, I think if you're going to find a question on that test mean or discriminating, there are lots of others you could have chosen. What else am I supposed to think but that you're upset that fat people might actually be as valuable as thin people?

Nick, you are so sweet! I want to reassure you that this isn't an argument. It's a discussion, and discussion is good. In fact, discussion is necessary. Lots of people mistake discussion for argument, but neither Khaat nor I are angry, because that would be pointless and stupid. Please don't be so keen to shut things down whenever you see something you think looks like conflict.