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The Cats
2008-04-09, 11:00 AM
A. Whenever I feel like. I always have a character sheet ready for any new adventure.
B. When I start a new campaign and don't want to or can't use an old one.
C. Wait, there's a third option?

Animefunkmaster
2008-04-09, 11:16 AM
the deck seems to be stacked. I am going to go with A and when/if I can't use it B.

Squash Monster
2008-04-09, 11:16 AM
I make characters as a way of unwinding between assignments when I'm doing my schoolwork. So I guess that's more of an A.

SamTheCleric
2008-04-09, 11:17 AM
I never stop building characters. It may be a sickness.

_Puppetmaster_
2008-04-09, 11:18 AM
I will vote option A.

TheThan
2008-04-09, 11:32 AM
A: for fluff
B for mechanics.

I just keep the cool stuff in my head until i get into a game.

Glyde
2008-04-09, 11:37 AM
A: for fluff
B for mechanics.

I just keep the cool stuff in my head until i get into a game.



Same here - but sometimes I'm allowed to roll the character itself up a few days before the first session. it depends on the DM

Swooper
2008-04-09, 11:58 AM
A and B for me - I usually have a 'buffer' of a few ready characters, and maybe a couple of ideas in my head waiting to be put to paper, but if none of those works for a game, or if I don't feel like playing any of those I have ready, I'll make a new one on the spot.

blacksabre
2008-04-09, 12:24 PM
A: for fluff
B for mechanics.

I just keep the cool stuff in my head until i get into a game.

Same Same

After 25years, I have hundreds of character concepts in various systems that I have made and come up with from time to time. When DMing or PC'ing I'll thenm out to flush it out for gaming

Prometheus
2008-04-09, 12:38 PM
Same here - but sometimes I'm allowed to roll the character itself up a few days before the first session. it depends on the DM

Ditto. I usually have six or more fluff concepts up and working which I can use depending on the campaign details, and what I feel like at the moment.

valadil
2008-04-09, 01:00 PM
I make characters constantly. They live in my head or in a text file on my computer. Usually they'll just be a single aspect of the character. I write out all these ideas of things I want to play. When I get invited to a game I look through my notes and group a number of those aspects into a single character, and then draw up a character sheet and background for him.

Incidentally this is how I write campaigns down too. I'll come up with a list of plot hooks and NPCs. Just jot them down whenever I think of them. And when I need to write a game I select a set that goes together thematically.

Tempest Fennac
2008-04-09, 01:44 PM
I have a few in case I need them. I tend to make level 1 characters due to prefering to start there, but I will start designing characters as soon as possible in case I need a specific one for a campaign.

Hadrian_Emrys
2008-04-09, 01:59 PM
I'm with The Than, and share the same affliction that Sam has.

RTGoodman
2008-04-09, 02:09 PM
I never stop building characters. It may be a sickness.

Yep, me too. I don't roll their stats or anything, but I know their backstories, personalities, skills, feats, and basically everything that doesn't depend on ability scores. Then I just pick one that fits when I start a new game.

Falconer
2008-04-09, 02:17 PM
Yep, me too. I don't roll their stats or anything, but I know their backstories, personalities, skills, feats, and basically everything that doesn't depend on ability scores. Then I just pick one that fits when I start a new game.

basically, what these people are saying. I just keep getting ideas for characters at random times, and I write them down before I forget them, and eventually they just grow from there.

senrath
2008-04-09, 02:29 PM
Both A and B for me. I'll randomly make characters that appeal to me, but I'll also make new characters specifically for certain campaigns.

Fostire
2008-04-09, 07:15 PM
When im bored i make new characters but i rarely use those to play,i usually make the character im playing at the begining of a campaign, so i guess B.

brant167
2008-04-09, 07:19 PM
B, I have over 400 characters/npcs made already on my computer with personalities and such. I add characters in there when I am working on a game or have a cool idea or my girlfriend is sleeping and I am bored.

Terraoblivion
2008-04-09, 07:23 PM
I generally go with B, though i have some loose concepts floating around my head quite often. There are a few reasons for this, but the most important is that i rarely know what i can expect to play in the future so it is likely that i will never get to use the ideas i've thought about. The other and just as important is that a solid grounding in the narrative of the game and the setting and it is hard to do that without knowing the style of game and the specific setting or possibly just the local area of the setting.

Xefas
2008-04-09, 07:33 PM
Well, generally, when one of my players says they'll finally run a game "some time", I ask them in what level range they're thinking of maybe starting in.

I then go and write out at least 3 different characters with different backstories, personalities, and party roles, map out each of their abilities, stats, spells, equipment, etc for each level in the level range that was specified, and then finalized each one into a character sheet (usually leaving me with around 18 finished sheets), making sure to note the cost and weight of everything, and the books that everything came from.

Then, the following day they tell me something like "Yeah, I decided not to run anything. You're still open to staying up until 5am for the next two weeks designing a new game world so that we can play for 6 sessions and then crap out on you again, right?"

And then I say "Sure!", get on my computer, and work through the streams of tears as all my beautiful characters rot in the recycle bin.

RTGoodman
2008-04-09, 08:04 PM
Then, the following day they tell me something like "Yeah, I decided not to run anything. You're still open to staying up until 5am for the next two weeks designing a new game world so that we can play for 6 sessions and then crap out on you again, right?"

Yeah, that's usually what happens to me, too.

Of course, I'm also a notorious pack-rat, so I have an overstuffed folder of just character sheets, most of whom I've never come close to playing. I mean, why throw stuff away when you can just save it and take up space? :smalltongue:

Fenrir
2008-04-09, 08:11 PM
option B

And I must say I thought the majority of people would answer B

It's a nice shock to me hehe

skywalker
2008-04-09, 11:29 PM
All the freaking time.

Not so much lately, I'm waiting on 4.0, and I've got a lot of characters backlogged, enough to fill out NPCs for a campaign I might have to do, and one for every "class role" I'd like to play, so I can just pull it out.

But yeah, like everybody else, I think "Oh, that would be fun" and I roll up a character. My DMs all trust me to roll stats whenever, wherever, so I just get it all done.

I think, tho, I may have been a little bit impolite when a player stepped out for a cigarette(we don't play if we're missing even one) and I started rolling a character right in the middle of the session...

Collin152
2008-04-09, 11:35 PM
In my spare time I make ne characters, but I've yet to use a one of those leisure-creations.

Erebus
2008-04-10, 12:15 AM
I never stop building characters. It may be a sickness.

Agree on that...hehe :smallbiggrin:

leperkhaun
2008-04-10, 12:20 AM
i have a couple notebooks full of characters nd character ideas. If nothing i want to play is in there ill make a new one and add it.

Ossian
2008-04-10, 12:28 AM
i have a couple notebooks full of characters nd character ideas. If nothing i want to play is in there ill make a new one and add it.

As a DM, I kept many many many charactr sheets at the ready. Having gotten into d20 3.5 only recently (which is a good 18 months, but what the hell it's complicated) I do make one from time to time, so as to jot down questions on game mechanics, number crunching and potentially troublesome situations. Let's say once a fortnight, on average, a new character pops up, I try to convert 2nd edition or I just try to stat some well known ones.

At the moment I am working on Kenshiro (Hokuto no Ken) and Dirk Pitt, using the Star Wars RCR (I'll post them soon here for feedback).

I use the coyotecode profiler

O.

PnP Fan
2008-04-10, 07:36 AM
I'll go with B. I occupy my time with enough other things that making characters for no particular campaign or no particular reason is kind of a waste of time for me. Of course, I tend to have a campaign running at any given moment so part of my time is spent making monsters/characters anyway, but with purpose. My groups also tend to houserule a bit and campaign concepts will often play heavily into what sorts of characters are viable.

Corsec1337
2008-04-10, 11:07 AM
Option A if I know about it before hand. I usually have several ideas on characters I want to play. If it's rolling for stats, then partial A and partial B. I once had a DM do option C...