# Character card

**Source:** https://promtable.com/glossary/character-card

> A character card is a structured description of a character used in AI roleplay — name, appearance, personality, backstory, speaking style — loaded as the system prompt at the start of a conversation.

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A character card is a structured description of a character used in AI roleplay — name, appearance, personality, backstory, speaking style — loaded as the system prompt at the start of a conversation.

Character cards (used by Character.ai, SillyTavern, NovelAI Persona) bundle the static character context that the LLM needs to roleplay convincingly. Typical format: name, description, personality traits, sample dialogue, scenario, knowledge constraints, speech mannerisms. Loaded as the system prompt, the card defines the character for the duration of the chat. Quality of character cards is the single largest determinant of roleplay quality — strong cards produce convincing characters even on weaker models; weak cards confuse frontier models.

## When to use

- Any AI roleplay platform.
- Character chat agents.

## Common mistakes

- Card too long — bloats context every turn.
- Contradictory traits — model picks one and ignores the other.

## Related terms

- [ai-roleplay](https://promtable.com/glossary/ai-roleplay)
- [system-message](https://promtable.com/glossary/system-message)
- [persona-prompting](https://promtable.com/glossary/persona-prompting)

*Last updated: 2026-06-01*
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Original page: https://promtable.com/glossary/character-card
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