Third Person Dreams and Reality Checks: What Should it Look Like?

I just encountered a philosophical quandary. I've recently started managing to do reality checks over the past month or so on a more regular basis. Although I've yet to have my first proper lucid dream, this has, within a month, helped me feel like I'm starting to scratch the surface, and that I'm getting close.

The reality checks that I normally do are finger-through-palm, breathing-through-nose, checking the clock/words in a book, and practicing some general awareness of my surroundings. Then it occurred to me that most of my dreams occur in the third person. Though sometimes they swap to a first-person view, I've noticed that I am usually watching a dream character who is assigned the label of "me", I then feel that character's emotions, and sometimes physical feelings too, despite seeing them through a "dream camera" so to speak.

Then I thought to myself, "If that's me, and I'm simply a camera, how will I do either of these reality checks?" I'm wondering, would I become aware, look down, and see my hands, and then be disassociated from the original character that the dream had assigned me to? Or would I be disembodied and unable to perform the check properly? Would the character perform the check for me, and then I could zoom into a first person view?

I'm not sure if this would seem an odd question to an experienced lucid dreamer, but I am genuinely curious about this.

Thanks!
- Liolar

I have the same problem with the 3rd person as well as viewing my dreams from many different angles. Maybe use 3rd person viewing of characters such as in video games as a dream sign?

Essentially you are viewing the dream through your dream body. I have experienced this a few times and had mixed results with RCs. I have had both occurrences where the DC that I was viewing performed the RC, and where my dream body seems to suddenly sprout appendages with which I can perform a RC.

What shadowwolf said about using 3rd person viewing as a RC is a great idea. Upon realizing you are dreaming and becoming lucid, you will either break free of the 3rd person viewing and be a separate entity, or you will become the DC you were viewing.

Thanks for the advice guys! That gives me some confidence. I actually thought about using it as a reality check last night, and used the mantra "If I see myself, I will remember to perform a reality check"; I just wasn't completely sure what that reality check would look like. Now I think I have a better idea of it! :D