What are your Favourite Parts of CharGen? Least Favourite?

[BriarMonkey]

When building a character for a campaign, I enjoy figuring out an overarching concept first - what kind of person this is, what are his/her goals (which of course may change during play), why is he adventuring, who is he, etc. From there, we hit race, class, and all the bits that will flesh out this character into what is envisioned for it. During this part of the process, I can take a lot of time as I scribble and explore options - which in turn sometimes change my concept. Even when it comes down to equipment, feats, and/or spells, I enjoy the entire process - because I am creating something that I aim to have fun with for a long time.

 

[Mentat55]

I pretty much enjoy all aspects of character generation, save one: buying starting equipment and (if followed) calculating encumbrance. Ugh, that part just feels like homework.

 

[Mallus]

My favorite part of character generation is simply making shi stuff up.

Sometimes is involves mechanics; figuring out how to match the idea to the rules. This is particular fun in toolkit systems like M&M or Heroes, which give you plenty of tools for describing even whacked-out flights of fancy in concrete, mechanical terms.

Like Joseirus, the Egyptian Gods of Mexican Wrestling, whose moves included the Nile-Driver, which conjured a section of Nile River around foes heads and suffocated them -- a later enhancement made it a bit of the Nile full of poisonous snakes. It was pure gaming joy to stat that out.

Sometimes it doesn't involve the rules at all. I get a kick out of coming up with little, rules-agnostic details for PC's, like favorite outfits. My pirate-barbarian's typical ensemble was a loincloth and stolen tricorne hat.

I also enjoy creating the fiction around my PC. Their context, "bits" of their world. For Joseirus I created a rational for his powers --it involved time travel, a reality-hacking machine, and bored 41st century archeology grad students with a sense of humor-- and a couple of other fake gods from the same "pantheon", like Vespa, the Roman Goddess of Motor Scooters.

What's my biggest dislike? Optimization. I wish I could just put it out of my mind, but I can't, not entirely. Makes spending those last skill points/picking a final feat a much longer process than it should be.

 

[AeroDm]

My favorite part is the optimism. During char gen, it feels like anything is possible. You can pick and build and any number of adventures may await you. The campaign is a process of whittling infinite opportunities down, similar to life. New options arise, but your realistic domain set of options constantly dwindles. There is something exciting about that process probably because it simulates life on a way, way faster time frame.

My least favorite part is when the optimism doesn't pan out. This is mostly due to random aspects (stats, HP) that turn out poorly. It is hard not to feel discouraged when you receive the short end of chance and hard not to feel envy towards those that didn't. Hence my approval as chance took second chair.

 

[SSquirrel]

Ya know, I actually love pretty much everything about making characters. I have notebooks full of them from older editions and these days, w/the CB, I just logon and make some stuff and save the ones I really enjoy. It's pretty rare that I have a specific character idea before I sit down. Oh I might know that I want a halfling rogue, but I have no plans in my head about personality and such first. Especially since prior to 4E we were always using dice to generate stats.

Once I had the stats and started placing them, picking skills, looking at feats, I usually begin forming some solid ideas about their personality and how they approach things. For example, I've made a number of different characters for an upcoming run at Revenge of the Giants. Partially this is b/c our group has kept shifting character plans, but then we picked up another friend. Unfortunately, we all sort of expect her to flake on the game, and her being a rogue, is one of only 2 Strikers planned for the group of 6 players. Tiefling Warlock, Human Cleric, Dwarf Fighter, either a Wizard or Artificer for one guy, and my Gnome Bard. If our Rogue drops out, I have a Minotaur Fighter focused on charging who would be fun as well as a Daggermaster rogue. He started as a defensively minded rogue, then morphed into a less defensive, but very mobile and focused against Large+ targets. Lost in the Crowd and Underfoot, plus the Close Quarters daily utility and the fact that we all know we will be fighting lots of giants led me to make his surname Hamstringer

His personality may have come about last, but the mechanics and stats suggested various ideas and I kind of ran with them. Haven't decided if he has a personal vendetta against giants due to a family death by them or if he was just one of his village's protectors against some nearby giants. The first could make him a bit more reckless and fighting at all costs, the latter could suggest he's more surgical in his attacks. Not sure how he should be yet.

I agree w/AeroDm tho. Optimization is great fun. Having a general idea, seeing a feat that makes you go "OOooohhhh!" and instantly scrap several feats so you can re-focus around it is very cool. Sometimes you just make a change in your diety or pick up a random feat like one of the Marks and realize you now qualify for something very neat. I was working on an illusionist wizard last night and was reading a page about wizards and they mentioned the Phiarlan Phantasmist as a suggested PP. I didn't see it listed tho, so I pulled out my book and realized I needed the Mark of Shadow to qualify. So I dropped a feat and read the PP and realized that it would be a very nice touch. Fun discoveries like that are always nice.

 

[cmrscorpio]

My favorite part is deciding on a concept, then seeing how the concept permutates as I select the mechanical bits, and finally finding ways to reconcile the two with backstory.

I *HATE* dealing with my character's money and items. Sure, picking a badass weapon and describing the personalized affectations of weapons and armor is going to be fun, but the minutia of everything else is the worst chore of the whole process.

 

[steenan]

I love parts of character creation that tie together the concept and the mechanics. That means different things in different games, of course, but the general idea is the same: I like to be able to tell who my character is by looking on the character sheet, without additional, "fluff" description.
So, I like traits in Dogs in the Vineyard. I like aspects in Fate. I like beliefs and instincts in Mouseguard. I like motivations and intimacies in Exalted. I like most parts of character creation in Nobilis (though this one I didn't yet see in play).

I like attributes or skills in games where they have a clear correspondence with the game world - which usually means short scales and good descriptions.

I also like things that are player-created. It's much more fun to decide myself what my magic can do (within limits defined by the game) or what powers my magical sword has, or things like that, instead of selecting from pre-defined list.

I don't like parts of character creation that require browsing long lists, especially choosing equipment. It takes time and is usually plain boring. My character is not his gear (and if he is, I'm probably not interested in playing this game).

And there is something I hate with passion: long lists of things that are interdependent, usually through requirements, but sometimes also through mechanical subsystems that use them together. It forces me to backtrack and change various things multiple times to make everything fit together. It neither helps me create a character concept nor allows me to implement one when I already have it. In other words, it's effort without gain. Keep such games away from me.