Some approaches to story will refer to the central character of a story as a "hero" or a "villain". These types work for many stories, but not all stories. A central character might not be "heroic", and working from these perspectives can lead to biasing a writer's thinking.

While Dramatica does permit the easy construction of archetypal characters, it does so by giving writers the essential elements that form all characters. Dramatica's "characteristics" encourage experimentation and the development of richer, more complex characters that don't fit stereotyped notions of basic "Hollywood" character types.

Dramatica takes character development a step beyond simple type identification. Dramatica defines two special characters, the Main Character and the Influence Character, that carry with them essential aspects of the story's underlying argument.

The Main Character is not always the same character as the story's Protagonist, and the Influence (Obstacle) Character is frequently not the same as the story's Antagonist. To Kill A Mockingbird is an example of one such story where the roles of Main Character, Protagonist, Impact Character and Antagonist are actually four separate roles (played by different actors).