Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zeonicwolf Apr 29, 2009 15:11:59	Hi everyone, just wondering what process you follow when you make a character. Do you start with background, personality, or statistics? Do you care about your skills and stats as background, or ignore them as a purely Mechanical theme? I myself start with powers and stats most of the time, find a class I like, find a race which works well with the class and go from there. I make level one, and figure out what my aim for the character will be by looking at paragon paths and epic paths. Then, seeing the type of character I will be making, I start on personality, so my character can be explained by how they play in combat, and the skills they have. I always look at attributes for a chance to glimpse at what my character is like. My low charisma Dwarf fighter loves to hit on girls, insult other peoples gods and claim his Ale and Meed god superior while burping out a compliment to the girl at the next table. My Warlord has low Wis, and I treat this like a deficiency in his learning of specifics "OUTSIDE" of battle. Names, people, and places sorta merge together unless they really strike him as important. SO, how do you form characters and what characters?
#2 freylorn Apr 29, 2009 15:19:38	I start by finding a class that looks fun to me - let's take my latest creation, a Barbarian. I then look at the various options for that class (CharOp handbooks are invaluable to me here!) and decide what basic kind of build outline I'd like to go for. From there, I select a race that gives a good benefit to this character build - in my case, I ended up with a Half-Orc barbarian supercharger. After that, I look at and select feats. This is where builds I look at on the boards become divorced from my character - often someone will take a feat earlier than I would, or would pick up a feat I'd personally like to have ASAP as late as paragon or epic tier. Once I have my character built and leveled up to the appropriate entry point for the campaign, I sit back, look at what I've created, and think "Now how would he end up this way? Why would this half-orc be a raging psychotic, with all his feat emphasis on doing as much damage as possible in as little a time frame as he can manage? What kind of personality would someone who races around the battlefield lopping heads off left and right have?" And from there, I begin to work on the personality, re-flavoring skills and attacks as necessary - and occasionally going back to alter the original build if I realize that some decision I made earlier no longer fits with his concept. "Yeah, he started out as a Thaneborn, but with the personality I'm giving him I really think Rageblood fits him better. Let's switch those Cha and Con scores around..." And that's how I create my characters.
#3 oxybe Apr 29, 2009 16:09:29	i'll go every which way really. sometimes i see a class and an idea pops into my head, other times i have an idea and start browsing through the books. heck, while replaying Megaman 2 for the thousandth i've been thinking about how to stat out the robot masters & megaman (he's a warforged cleric/ranger with an armbow thing, btw :P)
#4 Herrozerro Apr 29, 2009 16:11:50	My characters fall into two categories. 1. Quick characters, just game tools. I play them and thats it. 2. Characters I build from the ground up, background short stories, sketches and art, keeping a journal and a lot of other stuff.
#5 GelatinousOctahedron Apr 29, 2009 16:25:07	It depends on the campaign. For one of the characters I am playing right now, the DM gave me a list of class/race comboes he allowed and then told me to pick. DM wanted us all to pick our charaters class and race independtly of each other (ended up with 3 strikers and a defender at first until another player joined the group as a leader) So I picked one that looked interesting and then developed a background for him while picking the stats through point buy and powers that looked intetersting. I actually developed a pretty long backstory and personality for him before the campaign began. For the other campaign I am in we decided to each try to fill one of the four roles. No one else wanted to be a controller and wizard was the only out yet and that looked interesting so I went with that. We rolled for stats (and I rolled poorly) and the DM presented a list of races we could pick from and gnome was the only one that granted an int bonus. Let the DM pick most of the backstory except that we agreed that I would be a distant cousin of the minotaur in the group (that works in our setting) and did not have much of a personality to start with. Our DMs are sometimes fairly restictive of what races we can be, but the players usually decide what we will be from a list of sets of races the DM offers or in 3.5 we sometimes agreed to be 1 race with 1 person getting to be an outlier (i.e. all human except for 1 dwarf).
#6 Nived Apr 29, 2009 16:29:56	Depends, if its in a campaign setting I like I ask where its going to start and then imagine the location, the people and 'find' in my head the kind of person I want to play... then build the stats around the concept. Did that for my latest Karnnathi Eberron character. For a setting I don't know or care about... pure stats, personality comes later. Now say what you will about this later method... oh I'm a powergamer... whatever. My two favorite characters of all time were created stats first. Without a detailed backstory or what not written in advance I often came up with things on the fly... and built their backstory through conversations in character with the other players... these characters tended to grow organically and have a lot more depth in the end. I'll never forget my dwarf cleric Sir Tarn Dolestone the Pious, Reverend Son of Kijo the Blade, Defended of the Throne, Guardian of the Realm, Hero of Prophecy, General of the Green Phoenix Legions, Demon Slayer, and Pig Bane... as he was known (always introduced himself by that full title) by the end of the campaign, which went to 15th level. Tarn was created on the fly in the middle of a session after my 3rd level druid whose name I can't even remember now, who had a thought out backstory, died when he failed one too many balance checks fighting goblins on a rope bridge. I rolled up the stats, got introduced, and started creating who Tarn was while we gamed. Anyone who says you need a deep detailed backstory before you even consider stats is mistaken, and at worst full of it.
#7 Xeadin Apr 29, 2009 16:37:23	I have learned from experience that you should ALWAYS start from selecting a Race and Class. That way, you know what the character's Ability Score modifications are going to be so you can flush out your character's personal attributes later. Its important to get the Ability scores to just where they need to be so that they can fit your character's personalities more easily. That's how I create characters.
#8 CCS Apr 29, 2009 16:40:37	i'll go every which way really. Sometimes I see a class and an idea pops into my head, other times I have an idea and start browsing through the books. This. In addition I'd like to mention that I've also been known to select a cool looking mini 1st & go from there. And sometimes I'll be working within certain constraints right from the start - for ex; I once played in an all dwarf campaign. Every character had to be a dwarf. Likewise, back when the 1st Harry Potter movie came out we ran a short lived wizard game. You could play anything you liked - as long as your class was wizard.....
#9 deafiler Apr 29, 2009 17:26:49	I do the mechanics I like, and then build up a background that makes sense for those mechanics. And then, for the actual 'Hey look, background with bonus' thing, I talk to one of the other players and see if there's any way to make our characters have grown up together.
#10 salla Apr 29, 2009 18:55:58	When a new game/campaign starts, typically it goes like this: 1. Players determine who's playing what en masse, to account for role coverage and the like. 2. I make a list of all the classes that fit the role I chose/got stuck with. 3. I discount all classes I'm not interested in. Fortunately, there is at least one class of every role I'm willing to play. 4. Figure out which of the four races I like will work best (not necessarily mechanically) for that class. 5. Build. 6. Look for ways to tweak stereotypes and multiclass in interesting ways, and other techniques of playing against type. For example, were I to play an Elven Cleric (not that I'm ever likely to play an elf or cleric), I'd make it a cleric of Erathis. 7. Play.
#11 zeonicwolf Apr 29, 2009 19:14:12	So quite the variety and yet a lot similarity. I completely forgot about party work, seeing as I should remember it having used it before. Sounds great guys, I was trying to figure out how not to constrict some players for my campaign Im going to make and whether my make style was weird or considered power gaming. I shall check back to this thread, so keep posting anyone who wishes. I found the same thing alot of the times Nived, I had alot of characters be built on the fly and sort of evolve from quick ideas. Then again, some of my deepest characters grew from an awesome idea.
#12 Arbitrary_Aardvark Apr 29, 2009 19:29:49	This. In addition I'd like to mention that I've also been known to select a cool looking mini 1st & go from there. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one...
#13 arakis Apr 29, 2009 19:46:34	I myself am very straightforward when it come to character creation: 1) I design a style, an impression. Mostly, I try to image the character, and draw some sketch of it. Example: a rogue-ish figure, whit one eyepatch, armed whit a spiked gauntlet and a scythe, his gaze lost and hinting madness. 2) I try to figure out the class for this guy, often adding some distinctive ability. This is my weak spot, because i tend to end whit totally underpowered combination. Example: the above guy is a doppleganger, mad for having lost his original identity. He's totally shifting both physically and mentally. He could end up being a Druid as class, but he doesn't care less for nature. Why? I change him into Valorous Bard, multiclassed both in druid (for wild shape and some healing) and barbarian -that scythe is there not only for flavor. His key abilities will be CHA/STR/WIS. His paragon path and epic destiny I truly do not know. But we can hint on something like a spy and maybe storm sovereign. Spy will eat another feat, the rogue multiclass. 3) Background. I typically start answering the most obvious questions, next go into detail about an half dozen npc relatives, and mix them together into a nice 2-page or more format story. I like my characters have a long and solid background, this make them lot more "alive" into my eyes. As GM, I do not ask so much effort to others. Example: He removed his eye alone, for some reason linked to the need to remain sane. He use a scythe because he see himself as a sort of life reaper, a doombringer. He's typically quiet, but in battle he quickly escalate into total violence, becoming a wirlwind of devastation (maybe remove spy and go for frenzied berserk?). This is his madness coming out to full glory. He use lot of powers that are weapon close burst or move and hit, this is hs fighting style. He have little memory of his precedent story - to write as small meaningless hints for DM to use admist his background. His story start when he arrive walking at night in a large town. Someone help him recover his basic functions: talking, eating, etc. A good cleric help him out of his mental chaos. - maybe he shift physically a lot during this initial time. The recovery was long, around 3 years. He token his actual appearance from a good boy, child of his savior, that he has found dead. He avenged him, and the killers was found "like being dismembered by the fury of an angry owlbear pack". He was found guilty of the murdeder, and runt away. He's actually hidden in the downtown, doing dirty works to survive, his sanity slowly eroding away again. The only thing that keep him sane is the friendship of X and Y.
#14 midgardserpent Apr 29, 2009 19:53:24	I've got a couple of ways of going about it. Usually I start with class choice and flesh out from ther but occasionally I'll use something odd. For a recent game we went with the "organic characters" rolling method. In this method you roll stats keeping them in the order that came up. Then you can switch the positions of two stats. Then you pick your class based on the stats you created and flesh them out from there. Oh yeah, I started using a new stat rolling method as well. 2d6+6. It tends to make characters a little bit stronger than the point buy method but not significantly stronger or weaker which can happen much more often with 4d6 discard 1 die.
#15 mithmurr Apr 29, 2009 20:06:41	I pick race and class from a concept. The concept can be inspired by reading over a class (when I first got PH2 and was reading over the Warden, the first concept I got for the class was taking weather type powers and the seasonal guardian dailies, a decided an elf fit the total concept best), it might come from a picture (from the rule books or a book cover, or just some artwork I saw somewhere or a picture from my head), or it might be a direct race/class combo type thing (I was randomly inspired to make a crossbow wielding dwarf out of the blue, once, and since the concept was more military minded I picked ranger, if it was more assassin concept then it would have been rogue). Then I start to come up with personality and background, and use this to pick skills. I admit sometimes I twist the background around to try to justify picking a skill as well. Powers and feats could be based around the actual concept (winter concept picking cold powers or pushes for wind), or for effectiveness in the character's role, depending on the character (of course, the best is both, being effective while fitting a concept). edit: On filling roles within a party, I usually have so many concepts that I don't have time to play, I can usually directly lift a concept I already have but haven't played into a role, or with only minor modifications.
#16 Mad_Jack Apr 29, 2009 20:07:18	Barring a party situation where I need to build a character to fill a specific hole in the party... My character creation process is pretty similar to what happens when you feed massive doses of LSD to a roomful of schizophrenic monkeys and ask them to make a character. :D I never really know what's going to inspire a character - it could just as easily be an impression of the character's emotional disposition as it could be a visual image or a feat combo. I once made a character inspired by a particular shade of blue. Granted, it was an intelligent tree with eyes on stalks for a Gamma World game, but still... I also once statted up a 3.5 TWFer because the loops and curves of a piece of string lying on the ground reminded me of the Florentine style of fighting they were using in a particular scene from the Highlander tv series. Rather than a particular linear process, my characters tend to come into being more like a jigsaw puzzle, with different chunks coming together at random and then the connections between them falling into place as the process develops.
#17 zerotwo May 08, 2009 1:59:23	Two methods for me: 1. For a group I am new to: Decide on role (Defender, Leader, etc.) based on party needs. 4-8 hours of reading the CharOp forum and heavily utilizing the search tool. Assemble functional character so as not to let the party down. 2. For a group where I am not required: Read through the classes and races again Read through the paragon classes lay on the floor/couch/bed and let my imagination run wild pick a paragon I like, see what classes and races work with it build character // Method One I've only got six months or so of any tabletop roleplaying experience but in that time I feel I have gained a solid grasp of character mechanics and game rules (I am reliable to my DM, he knows that if he can't remember how an immediate reaction is different from an immediate interrupt, I will) so in the fledgling groups that have formed around me I am always stuck in one of the lynch-pin roles, either Defender or Leader. I've spent a lot of time in Character Optimization to make sure those characters help out my much much greener allies and keep them up and running as long as possible while giving me a bit of fun in the process. Favourite result of method one: A Half-Elf Charisma Paladin / Fey-Warlock Warper // Method Two I've only been able to use method two twice so far and both times I have come up with characters that I feel are both memorable and functional! I love this method, put on some good gamey-fighty-music (Dawn of War 2 free soundtrack download? Awesome!) maybe incense, maybe sausage links, throw in Hellboy 2 or 13th Warrior or something less than intellectual and full of bashing and just see what catches my eye. Favourite result of method two: A Rusty Warforged Brutal Rogue based on a combination of Froglok (Everquest) and MQ-9 Predator UAV (US Army). (Come on... A Warforged Rogue with "Termination Threat" ? Please tell me you get that!)
#18 Maxperson May 08, 2009 10:53:56	i'll go every which way really. sometimes i see a class and an idea pops into my head, other times i have an idea and start browsing through the books. This is pretty much how I go about it as well.
#19 Dreamstryder May 08, 2009 12:41:44	I find I enjoy playing characters that started with a character or story concept (rather than mechanical) longer because I know how to roleplay them from the start. I can have a character that is just a mask for myself in the world (& so start with a mechanical concept), but not often because they'd be too similar in character. An interesting way to do both is to pick an aspect of yourself, assuming you have different sides to your personality. The hardest way for me is to roll up a random attribute array & make a character based on it, because there's no guarantee I'll like the character I think of, but it's good for shaking things up.
#20 roninfrosty May 08, 2009 13:52:39	I play 3.5, so I don't have the exact luxury of saying "Ah, well, we need a controller/striker/leader, so I'll roll that", but I do try to look at where the party's weak and fill that gap, if I can. If I'm the first person to roll, then I've almost always got a concept floating around in my head. If not, occasionally I'll take an awesome character from a book/TV show/movie, take maybe a single personality trait/flaw/tic/whathaveyou, and my character having that trait from an early age, and imagining how that character would've evolved in that setting.
#21 Centauri May 08, 2009 14:08:06	Hi everyone, just wondering what process you follow when you make a character. Do you start with background, personality, or statistics? Do you care about your skills and stats as background, or ignore them as a purely Mechanical theme? I have a few methods: The "Step on no toes" method: I look for a class, race, and role that is not already covered. Of course, this requires me to know that, and I don't always. From that, I can usually come up with a combination that inspires some interest and hints at a backstory. The "Shun the obvious" method: You know how every 4th Edition race has a little blurb that mentions what classes it's good for? Yeah, I tend to ignore those, along with any combination that has a picture of it in a book. I played a dragonborn paladin as a pregenerated character, but I'd never make up one myself, nor a halfling rogue, nor a tiefling warlock, unless I was doing something else to make the character interesting. Multiclassing is one way to accomplish this. Unusual class/race combinations almost write their own backstory. The "Underdog" method: Similar to "Shun the obvious" this method takes a "weak" race and/or class and/or tactic and makes something out of it. With 4th Edition as balanced as it is, this is less of an issue than when I first made a half-orc trident fighter in 3.5 (he was awesome by the way). The "Try it" method: Similar to the "Underdog" method, I sometimes just want to see for myself why a certain class or race is powerful or not. The ability scores flow from these combinations, as do the powers and equipment, usually. (Sometimes I start with a background, but I can't think of a time when I've done that.) I always look at attributes for a chance to glimpse at what my character is like. I used to do that heavily, but nowadays I constrain myself less with the ability score numbers. It takes a little more effort to justify why the character with bulging muscles has a Strength of 10, but it can be done. (Please note, while I make a fair number of characters, I rarely get to play, so most of my design concepts are rather theoretical.)
#22 Krusk May 08, 2009 15:01:13	I have one of two ways either "I think it would be fun to play a character who does ___ in combat" and then I try to build one. OR an idea for a character hits me and I jot it down usually in half sentances... "Dwarf exiled.....surly.... light armor.... archer.... thief of somesort" And Ill go from there into building a dwarven ranger/rogue. After I have the concept I grab a class, and then do stats. Stats are usually done in a "This class needs these high" method, but often I will change classes if I want my dwarf to have a high charisma, and ranger gets no benefit from that. This would be the deciding decision for rogue. Feats are purly mechanical, unless a given feat enables a specific roleplay action. IE two weapon fighting feats, whip training feats, ect. Also I will often ask to find out what role the group would like me to play. If they don't want a striker, that dwarf will go on the backburner and I will try to think up an interesting concept for a defender.
#23 RPJesus May 08, 2009 15:18:20	I either think of a sexy character concept and build around that, or get a hilarious idea while perusing my books and go from there.
#24 _jayne_cobb_ May 08, 2009 15:33:54	There is no one way it happens for me. Sometimes I just have the idea for the character I really want to play. Sometimes a particular piece of art or a miniature will inspire me. Sometimes I will be inspired by a character in a film or book. Sometimes I have a great name and the PC grows organically from that. Sometimes it might even develop out of a gag, pun or running joke. I never work from stats-up, though. The mechanics are the last thing to happen, the method by which the existing character concept is realized. Concept always comes first, not matter from where said concept comes.
#25 draconascendant May 08, 2009 18:37:20	I switch between two different formations of character, the first is more often the case than the second. 1. Something -jumps- at me ,and from there builds a character before I even touch the character sheet. 2. I process Class, Race, Appearance, Behavior, then Equipment and skills.
#26 Martryn May 09, 2009 10:46:03	Most of the time I think of a role-playing idea that I want to give a shot. This could be inspired from books, comics, video games, pictures I've seen, or even real life individuals. Then I think of a class that best suits the character, and go from there.