What is your method for character creation?
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2011-07-18 20:53 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Whenever I am creating a new character, it most likely is because of a costume or concept that I just thought up, whether that be from outside inspiration or just my own mind wandering. Just an example, all the talk of the new Harry Potter movie led me to create a very magic-inspired villain. Once I have a concept, the rest will just like as itself. 
When I do it like that I find it much easier to create a costume, pick powers and etc... as I have a central theme to work around. If I'm just creating a character to try out a specific build, I generally have a much harder time going about it; it feels like I'm being forced to apply a concept to my power choices. If I start off with a concept, the rest just flows naturally.
Here's an example. I had a simple concept in mind, a mercenary who's entire group was killed and is out for revenge. Simple stuff. so then I started thinking, what kind of mercenary? Tough and cocky? Cool and collected? I settled for a batman type personality, like he's hiding all his emotions of anger and vengeance inside, wading unflinchingly into combat to hunt his aggressors.
Ok, now I've got a personality and a concept, so what are his powers? Well, he's a mercenary, so he gets paid to hunt and take people down; whatever he's doing has to require a good amount of skill to use. I don't want him to just throw fire or blast lightning, that's too easy and draws too much attention. An assault rifle is too bulky for his tastes, so I settle on a dual pistols blaster. Now, though I wrote his origin as natural, I wanted him to have some sort of edge over normal people, while still being natural in origin. Mental Manipulation works perfectly for this. The concept expands a bit more; he's a mercenary who is deadly accurate with dual pistols, and has trained his mind so extensively so as to dominate lesser minds.
By this point, the costume is already beginning to form in my head. Something prepped for dangerous combat, but not as attention-grabbing as power armor. More like heavy padding and bullet-proof vests. So I go for the Army vest with a flack-jacket under it, with some simple baggy pants and combat boots. Add a thug mask for anonymity, and voila! One highly-trained, cold and efficient hunter! All we need is a cool code-name to fit his hunter status. For names, I pretty much do what you described; I take a word that describes him, in this case the word hunter, and go to a thesaurus.
And that's how Seeker Omega was created.
I think I had too much fun with this post. 
Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero
Got Inf?
I get an idea and then I make it. It's a lot easier now that the "Check Name" function is working correctly.
I like seeing how powersets play. So I never have a shortage of combos I want to try. Maybe I want to try Claws/EA for example. So then I just toss around character concepts to fit the build.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
I start with Concept. usually its hmm I wonder how an elec/fire blaster will be.. then I work out a background for why they have those powers. Like being a being of living plasma that is inside of a tech suit that lets them control those powers. Like how the different power mesh together (volt sentinel for example is actually the living plasma being stepping out of their containment suit). Then I decide on the Costume and most of the time fill in the background story. And around now it all fall apart as I can't come up with a name...
I mess around on mids for half an hour.
<:[ shark goes nom nom nom ]:>
[QUOTE=theOcho;3409811]As to the REAL reason I'll be leaving, I'm afraid it is indeed because Tamaki Revolution dc'd on me during a RSF.[/QUOTE]
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Concept comes first, as a roleplayer foremost. For example, with Lame d'Ombre (one of my older mains, still listed in my sig - name means something similar to 'Shadow Blade', for those unfamiliar with French, and the 'Lame' is pronounced like 'lamb', not 'layme' or 'la-may'), I thought 'Canadian immigrant (write what you know, and other than the 'immigrant' part, that's definitely it), sister of Etoile du Nord (my other Canadian alt, unintentionally but in hindsight shamelessly named for Northstar, but in French as well, lol), stealthy/dark'. Name follows, to fit the concept. Color scheme/costume choices to fit both of the above, and alternate name ideas in case the one I want is taken come last.
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Originally Posted by Shadowclone
So altitis sets in and you want to make a new character; how do you go about it? Powers, costume, background, name, all of these need to be thought up. Let's share our creative methods so that we can all be more effective in creating our characters.
I'll start it out. When thinking up names I begin with a simple word that describes the character, more or less. For example, darkness. I'll take it and search for synonyms, antonyms, phrases, and the like. This should greatly expand your pool of words to use. |
Well lets see...
My namesake is based off a character I wrote about a long time ago. Changes of course insued upon character creation/RP.
Outfit has changed a lot as times gone by. Changes and changes. And have the basic idea of my namesake, which still gets revised time to time.
However, on my new alt, it really started with the idea of using the new "Flame" chest detail. I liked it a lot and wanted to use it.
Now deciding what type of character to go with it. I was thinking, I wanted a Supergirl/Powergirl type of character. Superstrong, bullets bouncing off the hero, but I had to have Fire in there.
Fire Melee/INV was my first thought. Knockdown procs in the Fire Melee attack to help with the Super Strong feeling, instead of Laser Beam Eyes, Id use Fire Blast.
Then I got to thinking. I didn't want to run /INV. It for sure gives the bullets bouncing off you feeling, but it has one click power outside of it's tier 9. I wanted something a bit more active.
So I loved over them and...FM/ELA! Build for S/L Defense, the set already has pretty decent S/L Resist. I'd go for Cardiac to get even MORE resist.
So, how to make the powers work themewise. Then I thought of Firestar. Her powers seemed like a perfect candidate for a FM/ELA type. So I'd use the basis of her type of powers to lead to what I was going for.
Next was the name. I wanted something Fire based. Went through many different thoughts for the name...happened to find "FyreGirl" was available. Snagged it!
The rest was just trying to come up with a costume I liked! Once that was done it's been pure win \o/
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
It varies.
though I generally start with either a name or a powerset. Good, unchosen, names are difficult to find and the powersets are the most limiting system in this game so fitting a powerset to an existing idea is often an exercise in frustration.
I wanted a set of three Norns as I have those in almost every game I play, I decided that were Mu-blood so the powersets followed from that
My main and namesake came from an idea first and then powerset and then name (but she was created only a little after launch so I hardly had the process down pat by then)
There have been some interesting ones recently.
- Make big Steampunk robot brute
- Discover Steampunk pack is more "American Railroad" than "British Victorian"
- Ponder Names... "Oil Baron" Hmmm, "Railroad... something", "Railroad Tycoon"... "RailRoad Typhoon"!!
- Reroll powers to match name (This may happen again when Titan weapons hits)
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I'm not sure how useful my input will be to you, but to start off with: I don't. I've never been in a position when I wanted to make "a character" with no concept or idea in mind, just for the sake of making a character. That's not to say I don't make lots of alts, of course. Even if I may not have as many as some, I still have far more than I can play. Furthermore, I've tried making a character first - costume, powersets, name, etc. - and adding a concept to said character later, and that never works. Either I end up deleting said character to make room (like I did with my caped werewolf), or otherwise "restart" him once I find a concept that fits the shell.|
Originally Posted by Shadowclone
So altitis sets in and you want to make a new character
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But suppose all the conditions are there to make me want a new character. How does that go? Well, I have two sets of ideas - concepts and builds that have to exist at the same time for a character to happen. A concept is a loose character story, like "female, really tall and strong, has large weapon, is grumpy and tough, power fighter, hard to kill, jerk with a heart of gold." A build is a very basic character design, such as "Sword/Inv Scrapper, probably with Super Jump." I have many, many of these floating around in my head like snooker balls bouncing around a table. When they collide with each other, I end up with a very basic character. So, for instance, when the above concept collided with the above build, my head went "Yeah... Yeah, this is good. I can make something with this. Quick! Start thinking!"
The name usually comes next. If my concept is developed into a story of its own, the name will already have been decided, so all that's left is finding a variant of it that's not taken. Rarely difficult. If it's just a loose concept, then I start trying to think of one. I rarely go for names with obvious meanings or descriptive ones since I find them to be corny. Instead, I'll look for one that has the right sound and possible a hidden meaning. I tend to go for personal names most often, so I'm usually looking for a personal name that evokes the right emotion. A female name ending on a consonant, for instance, sounds odd and out of place, which fits odd and out of place characters. The one in my example, however, is more of a transposed Fantasy concept adapted to a modern setting, so she gets only a single name with rarer spelling - "Xanta."
Then comes the costume. The concept and powers sometimes give me a rough idea, but I'm not a visual person. I don't imagine in colour. So when it gets to the costume, I have a guideline for what kind of theme it should fit and what emotion I want it to evoke, but never a strong idea for what the actual costume should be. Having an cyclopaedic knowledge of the editor helps here, since I know all the items and can anticipate which might work best. It also hurts, however, since I never even try a lot of pieces because I don't think they would work, never realising that they may actually be PERFECT. This is where the Costume (Re)Design thread really shines, since you can drop a basic idea and see five different interpretations of it that you would never have dreamed of if you ate ten cheese pizzas before bed.
Costume design usually takes me the longest. Finding the right colours is important, for instance. For Xanta, I decided to go with the orc/troll shade of green skin and "painted-on" Tights With Skin, but tights of what colour? Green ones obviously don't work, yellow and cyan ones are too close to green and so meld in a really unpleasant way, reds and magenta would clash with her violent orange hair, which really left blue or shades of it. The most vibrant blue made her look like a cartoon character, so a darker, more subdued blue gave her a solid contrast.
As well as colour, what really counts is "shape." This is harder to describe, but a lot of the time I pick items based on what they do to the character's silhouette, rather than what they really look like. A big, strong, heavy character usually benefits from large feet, manhands and heavy shoulders. It's important to remember that characters with large chests and shoulders but tiny little arms and legs look fat, whereas characters with larger hands and feet but average-sized torsos tend to look stronger and tougher without looking like Secret Defenders Issue 9.
Then, finally, I clean up all the little niggling bugs and problems inherent in the costume editor. Say female breasts clip through the Clockwork piece, and I need to rescale them to fit, or those particular shoulders clip badly with that particular cape collar, or the colour on your shiny gloves differs from the colour on your matte chest. These I can usually fix and account for with little change to the overall design. Swap items, tweak scales, adjust colours until everything is perfect. Then finalise the face once you have the whole look complete and the costume is ready.
So, for Xanta, what we have is green skin with blue Tights with Skin for the chest and legs, Large Medieval boots, gloves and shoulders, a beefy belt, very long, very vibrant hair (to differentiate her from the She-Hulk) and the biggest, simplest sword I could find. And a headband, just because. Also, max height and most sliders at maximum to give her a sturdier frame, but with hips slider towards minimum because the female "muscle" slider tends to give the characters big butts and I cannot lie.
After this, we customize powers. That's important. If your character is a Weapon/Weapon combo, you won't get much use out of this, but other than Weapon/Shield ones, that's rarely the case. This is rarely very difficult, since powers are usually matched to the costume in terms of colour and defined by the concept in terms of nature. An Energy/Will character may have been written as Willpower being just energy offering protection, so the Willpower powers will have bright auras colour-matched to the Energy Melee powers. In the case of Xanta, her sword has no custom power options, but her Invulnerability does. Since her concept describes it as her just being naturally physically strong and tough, as opposed to the visual manifestation of metaphysical energy, she gets the "FX in PVP Only" option for everything.
With that done, the rest is a formality. The name has already been decided, so that's filled in. The Battlecry field is useless, has always been useless and will always be useless until they remove the damn thing from the UI, so that I simply skip. If I want a battlecry, I can bind one by myself and it won't be limited to, like, 10 symbols. Bio filed is intentionally left empty at creation. This is filled in once I get a feel for how the character "wants to be played," as this may impact on how I view the character's concept and may inspire a re-write. By about level 20, I should have a decent idea of who and what the character in-game actually is, at which point the bio gets written all at once. I usually know what I'm going to put in there since before creation, but it takes time for me to figure out how to phrase it, as well as to be arsed to actually put in the work of writing it down.
And with this, a single character is pretty much done. Xanta is done. Or was, until they announced Titanic Weapons. Now I have to delete her - and she's level 50 - and reroll her as a Titanic/Inv Brute back down to level one. Curse my love for my characters!
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Hmmm... for me a character always starts in one of two ways: concept first or powers first. In the case of 'concept first' chracters, there is something that inspires me to craft a given character. That might be a name that strikes me (as when I was driving to class and got to wondering if the name "Corridor" was taken on Justice... it wasn't and so a character was born), an idea for a backstory that holds my interest, or almost anything that gets me to thinking. Once a rough idea is planted in my head, I explore it, ponder it, turn it over in my mind for as long as it takes to hone it down into a less nebulous thing and into something that starts to 'breathe on its own.' If that happens, I have a winner... and likely a character that I will enjoy playing. However, that doesn't always happen.
The second phase of creation for me is picking the appropriate powers. I have a rule that I will try to NEVER repeat a powerset I have already played (irrespective of what AT it was played on). So, crafting the right backstory and concept and combining it with sets I have yet to play can be a challenge... but oftentimes that helps to narrow down a concept I have... and make it better. In the 'powers first' version I mentioned above, this process goes in reverse (first powers, then concept... which will be what happens when I create a Time Manipulation character for an SG project once i21 goes live).
Third in my process is almost always costume. I can spend HOURS crafting a costume. Days, actually, if I continually shelve a design and come back to it. I find that invariably, if I don't have a solid concept, any costume I make will suck. I have tried desperately to make good costumes for characters that are not fully fleshed out, so that I might develop them as I play... this rarely works for me. It is hugely important to me that I come up with a costume that fits the character I have crafted, that I like, and that will allow for further development (so that I can make use of other costume slots).
Once all of that stuff is sorted out, I check to see if the name I (might have) created in step one is available. If it is... I am done and ready to play. If not, then I will consult my background, gaze over the powersets, look at the costume some more, use thesauruses, dictionaries, Wikipedia, and translation tools to see what I can come up with. Ultimately, I might rework the entire character based on what names are available. I will NEVER use a number in place of a letter (i.e. leet speak) unless the character warrants (ex: Freakshow). I try to never use punctuation if I can avoid it, and then, when I do, only where it belongs (i.e. like Spider-Man's hyphen or a period after doctor's abbreviation). I also have to have a certain 'ring' to my names. If it doesn't I have to go back to the drawing board. I have re-rolled several characters because the name I chose ended up rubbing me the wrong way.
Also, someone above mentioned Mids... It bares mentioning that in my creation process, not a single thought is placed on how powerful, or how ideal a character will be in the game. It is all about how I envision it, and how much I think I will like the given combo. Like how I will likely never play Empathy or Pain Domination. Like how I rarely play MMs. How I absolutely adore my TA/Sonic Defender... owing nothing whatsoever to his lack of heals or -Res in his attacks. To put it simply, character creation has nothing to do with numbers... if it did, I would feel like I was playing Excel.
A few examples:
- Project Alcatraz — He was created when I contemplated how an extra-dimensional shape-shifting entity of near Lovecraftian proportions would look in CoH were he to inhabit the body of a scientist after a botched experiment. Each costume was to be totally different than the last, but still maintain some evil, strange, somewhat horrific combination. The name was brought about due to the brilliant idea that the entity could have been imprisoned in an alternate reality (i.e. the Shadow Shard). This just happens to dove-tail with the name of the secret energy project the scientist was working on. And of course, I had yet to play Claws/Dark... so that got set early too.
- Corridor — This guy, as said above, came from me driving to class and happening upon the name. He developed into a foil for another character of mine from a parallel universe in which magic and not science was the predominant force. He developed into a nice villain, methinks.
- Soulforged — (Seen in my sig image on the far right) He was a true oddity. His entire bio and conception was based on a few lines of poetry I thought of while messing in the character creator. Eventually I worked out a certain rythmn and syllable count and constructed a full background in the confines of that poem. He was deleted, re-named and re-costumed at least four seperate times. Finally, he was paired with the significant other (my boyfriend's character) who resurrected him... and forged soul-binding armor to his recently dead corpse. Also, his Primal Earth counterpart was just created as a Fifth Column experiment named Geistlos.
First I get a concept. Im not much for Min/Maxing, and Im not a builder in the sense that I need or desire to be the most powerfull character in the game. I just don't think thats my goal at all, considdering many of my most favorite toons in actual comix are usually fataly flawed somehow, have direct weaknesses, get knocked out, poisoned, psionicly stunned, or just plain up get defeated, by people who are much more powerfull. (Marvel Fan).
We have the luxery of having a happy WIZARD creation system. So I go in order.
1) concept! So origen first. How did she get her powers? Ill use cannon concepts to mesh with the games lore, unless it's something like mutation, or natural, but I do try and weave some cannon into my story if it fits and not something odd that could never have happened or makes me godlike.
Then I hit the Thesaurus, Latin version dictionary and root words to come up with a name.
2) Powers: I usually have this planned. Example: I currently have a sleeping disorder. Actually all my life I have had it. So my inspiration was a girl who went to Nueron Labs for a cure for her sleeping disorder. In this case I made her suffer from Narcolepsy. So...why not make her a mind dom with sleeping effects as her signature power. Which I did and later embelished the story where she only has powers when she is actually in her "Sleep State". Then I gave her Psi secondary because it fit with her mind taking control of her body functions.
3) Costume: This changes but usually something that inspires my theme. I have 5 slots eventually, and usually use one, but if my theme is broad enough I can make more and use them. As with my example above. I have 3 I use. a) Awake Mode...which is normal Jeans and T-Shirt, b) Sleep mode which is white, sexy, splended and simple, and then C) Nightmare Mode. But it still has to have a nice design, lines and I usually want something I would see comic heroes wearing. Nothing to outlandish and sometimes not with all the frill that people stack on their toons.
I then check the name, write the story, and I am good to go with a few edits later if needed. If the name is taken....back to the Thesaurus, dictionary and latin roots.
If I do all of this, then in the end my altisis is staved off because I have made something that I could see in a comic.
Thats how Disomnia was born, and now Im addicted to her. I love her so much she now almost has tier 3 of each Alpha, and interfase, and I plan on tweaking her even more. Again this is not because I wanted her to be the uber goddess she has become, but because she actually revitalized the game for me.
Character creation varies for me.
Sometimes I decide I want to use a certain power combination, so I start there and design a costume to go with the powers which often leads to a loose bio. Sometimes I fail to come up with a costume I like for the power combo and the character doesn't actually get made.
Sometimes a background story springs unbidden to my mind, and I pick powers that fit the character therein and try to create the image in my mind's eye with the costume creator. Sometimes I can't get a power combination/AT I'm happy with, and sometimes the costume creator can't adequately reproduce the character I imagine.
Sometimes all I have is a name I really like, and I build a character around that. Before we had the ability to check for name availability BEFORE making the character, I wasted a lot of time designing characters around a name just to find it wasn't available.
And then there are those times when I'm just messing around with the costume creator and I get a look I really like, which prompts me to choose powers and a name for it. Occasionally, the name becomes a roadblock which stops the character from entering the game.
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
I think my method is a bit more unique after reading some of the replies in this thread. For me, powers come first for a good few of mine although it varies. I'll be in game, teaming and see how someone customizes their powers and I'll think "oh, that's cool...I could do something with that" or I'll be playing around in the costume creator and messing with the powers colors and stumble on something interesting. Or a new powerset crops up or a change to an old one comes along and sparks my interest.
So I'll think "Well what makes this character's powers unique? What's this character's style?" 2 examples: My Kin/EA stalker and my Demons/Pain MM.
-It started off when I saw someone color Kinetic Melee like psionics to form a kind of Mortal Kombat Kenshi tai chi fighter. The person I noticed using Kinetic melee in this fashion used Shield defense and colored an energy shield pinkish. Well, I wanted something a bit unique but not sure. I start solidifying what his powers do: Telekinetic bursts from his hands. After that, I just hit the costume creator or keep thinking.
Since all my characters are linked, either part of their backstory, their current/future/Praetorian self has some connection or are an opponent of a specific character...It just so happened at the time, Going Rouge was new and I wanted to try that out...so I reformed a concept for a side character, a weak guy who's only power was the ability to repel people away with anti-friction field so this guy will be Kin/EA. Now I have a character, just need a moniker, costume and backstory.
Hmm, well why does one version have repel as a power while the other has telekinetic blasts and repel? Maybe he has a twin sister? A psychic sister who was taken into the seer program? His mom got taken up too...no, she volunteered, or so this character thinks, and his father spends all his time and effort trying to uncover the wrongs of the seers...to help get his wife and daughter back but keeps his son in the dark to protect him. My character feels abandoned and ends up hating the seers but after joining the resistance and helping the Crusaders to bust up some of their facilities, he meets his dying twin who infuses her psychic-mentally stuff into his mind...what is born of this union is Psychic....guy...I'm bad with names...With a bit of a helping hand from a friend I use Ectenic Guy....Well, the original primal earth version of this character liked to wear hoodies so I make a costume that looks very 'Resistance-esque' with the boots and tucked in pants and all, but give him a jacket with a hood. Oh! Ectenic Hood is his name!
Bam, powers > backstory > costume > name.
-For the other example, I had never played MMs but when demons came along, I instantly had a spark for an idea of how her powers should work. It probably came from all the threads going on about how Demons was magical and it can't really be anything else. Well I wanted *mine* to be mutation! So I said "Well my demons master mind is actually an animal/monster empath and all those 'demons' are just mutated monsters that love to follow her around".
Well, that means she's Demons/Pain since MMs don't get Empathy. So how does the /Pain part work? Hmm, well it just so happens another plot I had been thinking up to write needed a villain so I used those powers and formed a linking to this character being a part of the Carnival of Shadows as like an Animal Trainer. So this girl was a vet student with a passive mutant mutation that let her speak with animals and care for them just like an empath heals people...she's on her way on summer vacation when she's picked up by the carnies. After some coaxing, she's a member of the carnies. They use her talents to train animals to perform. After getting her Mistress mask, the carnie psy powers twist her animal empath to focus on the wild feral portion of the animal mind, causing pain and pleasure from the brain's core. This explains why she can heal her animals and people now.
So, now I have dang near everything, just need the costume...
*tries to make a carnie look like a carnie*
*asks for feedback and assist with a carnie costume from forums*
*fails*
Sooo....I wait. I wanted her to look like a carnie but I also wanted her to get a kind of circus lion tamer look to her...or a classic wilderness thing with loincloth and such...Eventually, the steampunk pack comes out and it has some pieces I can use, namely the hat and hair really looks like something a center ring lion tamer might wear (if only the hat were *taller*) and one of the belt options, while not a loincloth, was at least a stand in for now. The struggle came with making the face. Since I wanted her to show a good deal of skin, I had to keep her skin a certain tone then color her face with a pattern but none really cover the *whole* face. Eventually I create several costumes for her and went to learn how to play MMs as Beast-Tamer Katrina.
So Bam, powers > name > backstory > costume.
The order varies but powers usually come first.
Pretty much what Tenzhi said.
My earliest characters were attempts at recreating characters I'd created previously, some as far back as the late 70s. After that, it's always been a random thing, based on a name or concept I happened to think of, or a powerset combo I read about on the forums, or from clicking the Random button until inspiration strikes.
For example: I rolled a new character on Union yesterday. I went into the Character Creator with a name in mind, based on something silly someone had said in chat the night before. I don't remember now what it was, but for some reason I decided I didn't like it after all, and then started checking random names to see if I could find something I liked that hadn't been used. I came up with several potential and available names, but finally settled on one - a common word that I was very surprised to find had not been used, probably more suited to a villain than a hero, but what the heck.
So then, first big decision: what AT? A scrapper, as I don't have one on that server. Went with Fire/SR, as I don't have a scrapper with that combo anywhere. Male or female? Male. Tall and not overly muscle-bound. Costume... eh. No idea. Click the Random button. Lots of animal heads. Hmm. A steampunk jacket or vest or something, with a bird head. Interesting. They got bird feet? Yup. So I made a bird person, but when I started colorizing his powers, I decided I didn't want him to be a scrapper. Back, back, back to the AT selection screen.
What then? Defender? Okay. What kind of Defender? Something I don't usually play. Empathy. And... hmm. Haven't done Dual Pistols. Redraw. Bah.
Back, back, back. Start over. Controller. Earth/... what? Thermal? Okay. Once again, got to the colorize powers screen, then meh. And back, back, back to the AT selection screen.
Blaster? No, already have two Blasters here. Defender it is. Empathy. Dual Pistols. Navy Colt Revolvers. Colorize Empathy - okay, that'll work. Excellent. Back to the costume section. Tweak. Tweak. Too tall, let's make him as small as possible. Everything to the left, but puff out his chest, like a pigeon. Cool. SAVE costume.
But the name... it doesn't really fit anymore. This one? Already used. That one? Already used. How about... OMG! Can't believe that one has not been taken.
And so, Early Bird was born.
His story will develop as I play him. Although I've considered using "Screeeech! B'caw! Urrrrrk." Well. Maybe not.
I usually start with an AT/powerset combo in mind, and build the character concept around that. Occasionally it goes the other way round, but not often.
It varies.
Sometimes I have a powerset combo I want to try. Sometimes I have a character idea I want to make, and see what fits. Sometimes i'm messing around in the costume creator, and a look comes by and suggests something, or a name pops into mind and I go "Why not?"
No single answer for me.
Trial and error.
The only time I actually put some effort into a character was when I was watching Mythbusters and Tory banged 2 hammers together and said "dabangadabanga" so I made a thugs/dark with that name.
My characters are usually created after playing around with various Mids build ideas - sometimes tweaking other players builds. Hardest part is trying to then design a costume and come up with a name for the build.
http://www.scene-and-heard.com/cov/covsig.jpg
Varies, usually I will have either a name or a powerset combination I want to try, or a new booster pack I want to use, so 1/3.
If I start with a powerset combination, I'll usually random costumes to get a theme, tidy it up then find a name and background that fits.
If I start with a name, usually a bad pun or name from music (shame they generic'd Debbie does Talos, but that's the sort of level, or Baron von Tollbooth), the costume is usually fairly obvious, Standup Chameleon for example. I will then either select powersets I want to try or just reserve the name/costume and build it after the next set of proliferations. Bio will have already have been thought about with the name.
My most recent creation Daphne Fitzherbert was an excuse to use the steampunk pack. Needed an upper class British lady's name and backround was thought about beforehand, she was a magic origin hero, the steampunk stuff was keeping it in.
It's true. This game is NOT rocket surgery. - BillZBubba
Do I have a Dark Armor character of this AT?
-If yes, consider deletion.
-If no, pick a melee set that fits one of two character concepts (Either Pharaoh's Bodyguard or Assassin)
Yeah that's about it.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Quote:
Seconded.|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
It varies.
Sometimes I have a powerset combo I want to try. Sometimes I have a character idea I want to make, and see what fits. Sometimes i'm messing around in the costume creator, and a look comes by and suggests something, or a name pops into mind and I go "Why not?" No single answer for me. |
Most of my characters either started with a background story or concept that I wanted to come to life, or as a power set combination that I wanted to try. One or two started with a cool costume idea and were built from there.
I will say this: I have never started the character creation process with an idea for a name. In fact, the name is usually the last thing on which I decide (and ironically, usually takes the longest to find).
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
For me it will vary
Sometimes I'll create a character to try out a power set combo I've never experienced just to see how well they work (word to the wise, never build a Mind/TA troller to solo lol.) In that case I'll put the basics down in the creator then once I'm happy with the cossie I'll spend a half hour or so cuddling with my lovely thesaurus and coming up with a name that suits the build.
Other times I've come up with a notion for a character and then try and build the toon in world. That may or may not involve a name - but I'm currently mulling one over that could be fun if I can get the build right. The idea struck me recently and I'm just toying with the idea. Here's what I have so far: "First, there was Nevada Smith, then came Indiana Jones. Now it's time for.... Albuquerqe Higginbottom."
Other times there may be some other inspiration - I've a pretty cool defender called Angel of Mons, based on the legend of the B.E.F's first encounter with the German army at Mons. She became a Defender first, given the legend, and then her powers were Radiation Emission/Ice Blast - and tho I say it myself her cossie does suit the concept using mostly wedding, valk and ninja costume items.
There's no fixed way for me. It's however I feel when inspiration strikes
Thelonious Monk
Was mowing my yard and suddenly - Lawnslaught.
Plant/Earth Dominator was born.
Quote:
Damnit that's a good one!
|
Originally Posted by Infernus_Hades
Was mowing my yard and suddenly - Lawnslaught.
Plant/Earth Dominator was born. |
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
So altitis sets in and you want to make a new character; how do you go about it? Powers, costume, background, name, all of these need to be thought up. Let's share our creative methods so that we can all be more effective in creating our characters.
I'll start it out. When thinking up names I begin with a simple word that describes the character, more or less. For example, darkness. I'll take it and search for synonyms, antonyms, phrases, and the like. This should greatly expand your pool of words to use.