What do you do first when creating a character?

[Jenara]

I was thinking of making a new character, someone unique, just to dust off my PHB and other books, and the thought occured to me:-

Should you roll the dice, choose the ability scores first, and then decide who the character is?

Or is it better to decide on the character, the motivations, then roll the dice?

Both have their advantages, just wondering what the thoughts are.

Edition doesn't matter, this is the personality and the 6 attributes we are talking about, the rest of the character follows from that.

[Rankhar_Zenthis]

Roll the dice first, because some prime requisites could limit your choosing. I usually roll the attributes, see what I can and cannot choose, and then I sit back for an hour, pondering on all the alter ego's I might want to play Love the process, lots of fun to make characters with everybody in your future party there with you, you immediately get a sort of party feeling

[Jenara]

I tend to use 4D6, drop the lowest and then create a concept, just wondered what would happen if you decided on the character first... then rolled the dice

[phindar]

Stats are usually the first thing I put on paper, even when I'm using the Point-Buy (which is SOP for my group these days), but I have an idea going into it. The concept is there (usually race and class) before anything else, unless we're making characters up on the fly.

[Wizard_of_Wumbo]

i normally get ideas for characters way before i even pick up my books, all of a sudden i'll just get a vision of some badass thing. and then im like "yeah...that guy" (or girl).

[Cole]

Roll the dice first, because some prime requisites could limit your choosing. I usually roll the attributes, see what I can and cannot choose, and then I sit back for an hour, pondering on all the alter ego's I might want to play Love the process, lots of fun to make characters with everybody in your future party there with you, you immediately get a sort of party feeling

HAHA not in this house... god dam I was like "ok pic your alignments" and every character sheet on the table suddenly went under the table and scribbles began

Even class, race etc ...all kept top secret in my games it seems like. Nobody wants anyone to know shit about them when we start up.

anyway... yeah, we all roll 4d6, take the best 3 (total em up) put them down on the sheet where desired, but have to meet requirements as you RZ.

I like this because players can't just play what they want, they are forced sometimes to try new characters, thus role-play more then usual

[Rankhar_Zenthis]

Haha, the secrecy is fun too, we sometimes did that, depending on the start of the campaign, whether they all knew each other or not. But more often than not, we couldn't keep the fun details from each other while creating the characters, laughing our asses off about crazy traits and histories and stuff like that

[Jenara]

I have this book I found in a library called Heroes of Legend, anyone heard of it? There are some interesting views on character creation, there and loads of random rolls (to be ignored) but there are also loads of thoughts on how your characters past affects them as a person.

How far do you go? How much of a personality do you create at the start, and then wing the rest as it goes on...?

[Crimson-Kobold]

When we DID roll for stats, it was usually roll stats, then decide what fit those stats the best. Sometimes one might have an idea in mind when they start, and try to put their best stats into those areas.

Although lately, we've switched to point buy due to the large gaps we were encountering on a regular basis, in that one player had a tendancy to roll high, while a few others had a tendancy to roll low. Not to mention most NPCs are generated using a pretty modest array of stats, so high rollers would just steamroll the challenges lol.

In point buy, it's kinda hard to come up with stats and not have some idea of what you're making, IMO.

[Wizard_of_Wumbo]

im looking for that book jenara and i can t seem to find it...

[TigerStripedDog]

I prefer to think of an idea first. But that said, I have had the rolls change what I was going to do, or tweak a gimmick. Often times inspiration comes from a good book, movie, or having seen someone else play. Maybe from an NPC I saw a DM do. Just depends.


Tiger

[greenknight]

I first of all think about what kind of character I want to play. I start with a general archetype and then quickly narrow it down to a particular character class. For that, I think about my mood at the time, the game setting, and what I know about the specific adventure. For example, I'm not likely to play a Wizard if I know that Wizards are shunned in that particular game setting.

After that, I choose a race, and after that I go with alignment. The character is starting to solidify in my mind, so then I assign ability scores. I usually use point buy, although I'll sometimes play in games where the ability scores are rolled provided I can put the scores where I want to.

All through the above process I'm thinking about the character's background, but at this point, I really concentrate on it and put the finishing touches on the character.

[Ismaels-Legacy]

I think I may be unique in that I find out what role is needed for the party and then build a character around that. Generally I take the role and then build up something that would keep me entertained. Especially if I'm the designated Heal-Bot!

[TigerStripedDog]

Actually, I think thats not a bad way to do it NW. And sometimes as the DM, I will guide the last few players to get into a party towards needed roles. It has worked out pretty well.

My friends and I have devised a system that I think would be cool. The group decides for you. No rolls, no nothing. The only thing you get to pick is a name, everything else about the guy is chosen.

The thought is that the rest of the players and DM powow, DM to make sure thigns stay fair. And they design a character for you, with scores. The thought is that as long as you aren't chosing your scores for yourself, the other players will keep you fairly humble out of fear that you would dominate their unchosen character, but they wouldn't make you suck either because then they are screwed if they need you in a pinch.

That, and the guys I play with are straight enough shooters that I would trust them with that.

I think it would be neat, but so far we haven't tried it yet.


Tiger

[LordWilly]

I have to have an idea of a character I want to make before I start otherwise I tend to have trouble creating them. If I'm having trouble thinking up an idea I will often search for images on the net and come up with a character based on that.