Can you see how their lives change for better or worse?
Are they fully rounded, believable too?
How do they affect others - by blessing or curse?
When I say fascinate, this doesn’t have to be in a good way. I’ve portrayed Brankaresh as a power hungry misogynist - do I have any sympathy with those views? Definitely not. I think out of all my characters it is easy to spot the one I really didn’t have any sympathy with at all. Having said that I tried to get into the head of this wizard to find out how he could justify what he believes and what he does. And you need to do this for all your “stars”, whether they’re heroes or not. Readers have got to be able to see where your characters come that in that sense or they won’t be able to empathize. No empathy with at least one character (and it doesn’t matter if that empathy is limited) and you lose your readers. If you can't understand why your characters are the way they are, nobody else will. And can you see how your characters are shaped by upbringing, events that have happened to them/close ones, the world in which they live and its politics?