Have you ever rolled a toon ONLY because you thought of a cool name?

Once I realized Silver Scourge was free on Virtue, it took me... oh... about 12 tries to match the name up with a concept I liked before I ended up going -back- to a Bender-ish Bots/FF MM.

Heh, reminds me, the virtueverse bio page is here.

good luck D.B.B.

I used too. This late into the game though, I'm usually making characters based on wanting to play a specific power-set combination because I heard how fun it is in the forums, or it has some kind of synergy I want to toy around with. Then I make the critical, and totally sexist, decision of whether or not a powerset feels MANLY or FEMININE to me, and then let concept form itself in the Costume Creator. If it's not working out, I'll switch to the other gender and try again.

Other than that, I usually have a bunch of names I use in various video games for characters who fit specific roles. Puakai is the water/healer mage. Veira is the martial artist/monk character. Lana Fiore is my dagger-assassin. "Gabriel" is my gun-toting, batman level strategist, special ops bad-*** who is usually focused in the extermination of the undead. Normally I can only make a few of these due to character slot restrictions, or there not being a "Class" that fits the style of these character archetypes, but CoH is so diverse and generous with character slots that I've actually been able to make *all of them*. As such, I no longer do that in this game.

About the most successful character I rolled on name value only would be my FM/Shield scrapper Oversear, but it was a long road to get her to mean anything to me. First she was a fire/kin, delete. Then she was a fire/fire blaster, delete. Then she became what she is today and it stuck. I was determined to make Oversear work, because that name was just too cool to let go of.

Normally, I go concept first, name last. Occasionally, I decide to try a build, then come up with a concept for it, but the name still comes last. The exception is punny names--when I think of one, I often feel compelled to come up with a concept and build to go with it.

That's how I wound up with Djinn Rumi, Thinking Violet, Liberty Valence, Heir Power, and the Toothpick Fairy. Some of them still languish in the lower levels, but Rumi was actually my second level 50.

If I've thought of a name that I think is cool and it's available, I'll create a character to hang on to it until I have a concept worked out.

Names rarely come to me, but when they do, I make the character as soon as possible, my brightest gem among these is the Dual Pistols/Kinetics Corrupter, Rushin' Roulette.

Usually I have the opposite problem; I come up with a powerset combo and a concept and sit around trying to think of a name. Sometimes though, I snag a name I like and just have to use.

Smothered Hope: Was a Dark/Mace tank. I don't like playing tanks. I never get them to a decent level. I don't like playing Dark Armor at the levels my tanks usually make it to. I don't know WHY I decided to roll her as a tank, except the name screamed DARK ARMOR to me and I didn't need another Brute. Then GR came out, and now she's happily awaiting inherent fitness as a KM/DA Scrapper.

Jenna Cyde: Is on her fourth incarnation. The first was a Mercs/Poison MM shortly after CoV release, then I realized I don't like MMs. Then she was a Rad/Cold Corr....dumb since I mostly solo and /Cold sucks solo until you get up into higher levels. Then a Mind/Thorns dom who made it all the way to level 35 before Electric Assault was announced. So now she's Mind/Electric. The name is generic enough that any powerset fits though, as long as she's a villain.

Dire Winter: Cold/Dark Defender. I don't like playing Defenders. And, um, then there's cold. I planned on teaming, since she was a Defender, even though I despise how the cold shields look, WHY would I foist them on others again? I ended up giving the name to my Ice/Ice Blaster during the free server transfers.

Crashing Light: I thought it was a good Peacebringer name. Too bad I don't like playing Peacebringers. Since gone bye-bye.

Pretty well every character I've created came from thinking of a name I liked.

Thank you, Champion.

I do so on occasion. Recently I made Winds of War, a Mercenary/Storm mastermind because I thought of the name. I also made Steelstorm my DB/Regen and Mother of Machines my Bots/FF because of the name.

QR

Several times. Occasionally I even play them a few times before I delete them.

Lots,including Dreamweaver herself - my very first toon

Most recent comedy toon was Barackade,who's Shield/Super Strength/Ears.

I can't think of any I've made based solely on the name. If I think of a really good one I might see if it's available, but I don't make characters with random ATs or powersets. I always have a couple ideas in mind for powerset combos I'd like to try so I'll match the cool name to one of those. I usually just write the name on the list if I think of a good one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agonus Once I realized Silver Scourge was free on Virtue, it took me... oh... about 12 tries to match the name up with a concept I liked before I ended up going -back- to a Bender-ish Bots/FF MM. Heh, reminds me, the virtueverse bio page is here.

Nice, you even got the meatbag reference in there. Heh, and after I got through reading all the translated text I saw your note that it was translatable.

I've come up with a few names I've wanted to use but could never find a concept/costume for. However I am a little proud of Radiant Decay (Rad/Rad Corr), Dread Spider (Crab), and Twilight Obscurity/Midnight Obscurity (Dark/Dark Corr//Demons/Dark MM).

I had wanted a name for my main hero's Praetorian counterpart. The Blueside toon is called Commander Union, a silver age style Inv/SS Tank. Eventually I came up with decent name. However GR had yet to go live, so I sat on it for 2 months.
Now Centurion Invictus (WP/SS Tank) is kickin' rump for the Emperor in Praetoria.

----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059

Only one. My dominator Perignon.

I did this just last night.

Fulmens started a new SG where our goal is to hit #1 on the server by converting billions of inf into prestige. In trying to think of the perfect financial term that would work for a character I came up with Burn Rate.
Shockingly, it was available. I've wanted to try out a fire/fire farming blaster for a while, and so bob's your uncle.

I created "Afrogator" after misreading someone else's name.
I've considered creating "Tinny Solder" but I don't think enough people would get it.
After becoming obsessed with "Burnt Matchstick" I saved the name on every server I could. (only missing Freedom now)
Another one was "Rubber Poo Monster" inspired by the Golgothan from Dogma, although I created a bio that made it extra funny for me - he's a stuck up british method actor researching his next role and loathing most of the time in his costume.
There's also "Saved by Death" and probably a few others, but none are very memorable to me at the moment.

Big Top Pony Rider, ended up making her a Thugs/poison MM

I don't do it often, but I have at least once or twice. The one that springs to mind is Citizen Zombie. The name came first, but I immediately realized it would work for a patriotic Necromancy mastermind, so I waited until Going Rogue came out and made the character.