Do you like character building?

[Verdande]

One of the biggest feature of d20 and its descendants is an increased focus on the building of the character, at least on a mechanical level. Numerous feats, class options, and alternate spells provided via "splatbook" have added a lot of complexity to what was once as easy as rolling up six stats and choosing a class.

Do you play a game with a focus on character building such as 3.x or 4th edition D&D, d20 Modern, Exalted, and the like?

If you do, do you like character building? Why or why not?

If not, do you dislike character building? Why or why not?

 

[rogueattorney]

No. It's simply not what interests me about p&p rpgs. The actual play with other players at the table is what interests me. I want to put together my character in about 10 minutes and get on to the fun stuff.

3.5e character creation was about as fun to me as doing my taxes.

 

[athos]

I want to put together my character in about 10 minutes and get on to the fun stuff.

3.5e character creation was about as fun to me as doing my taxes.

I don't mind making characters at all, since I have heroforge and a 3.5, low level character takes about 10 minutes to make for me.

So let me take this chance to send some respect out to the good folks that made hero forge, it made/makes 3.5 wonderful.

As for backgrounds and descriptions, I like to keep mine brief and flexible. I know most people like to have very large and elaborate backgrounds, but I like to discover who my PC is through playing him. I don't want to box him in with an overly elaborate description and background right off the bat, I want to see how he develops in the situations the DM creates.

 

[MortonStromgal]

I want to play not build characters. If I have to build a character give me a class/template with a few points to add onto it.

 

[Thalionalfirin]

Thanks for the question!

I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately and I think my answer is also going to be "no".

I guess I'm a grognard but I remember when we referred to characters as "characters" and not "builds". They evolved as the story did.

I really do enjoy playing 4e and do build characters (and do it pretty well, I guess), but a part of me keeps telling me that this isn't the way I want to play.

Now, I don't want to go back and play B/E/C/I or 1e (which I enjoyed immensely at the time and what probably influences my thoughts on this subject) because the game has evolved, but I do miss the wonder of the old days when finding a magic item was cool rather than worrying about how it fits into my "build".

I think that's why I'm looking forward to Essentials. Maybe there will be an option for me to be happy with again.

 

[IronWolf]

I enjoy the character building process, though not in great frequency. But working up a character at the beginning of a campaign is fun for me. I like coming up with a bit of backstory, trying to anticipate the character's role and then putting the character sheet together. I tend to go through it by hand and not use a tool to build. But if I am in a hurry to work out the crunchy bits I might use something like PCGen or something to help speed that process up.

 

[Umbran]

I like having a number of options to choose from as a character develops.

I'm not as enamored of "building", in its guise of optimization beforehand. I prefer to have a character make choices and grow organically in response to what they've experienced.

 

[Boregar]

I don't particularly enjoy character building when it becomes long and drawn out.

I like coming up with an idea for a character, but once I have that, I want the process to translate that idea into a game ready character to be as quick as I can get. Pouring over various books to pick 'the perfect' combination of powers and abilities doesn't appeal to me at all.

 

[Mallus]

I didn't much care for it at the beginning of the 3e era, but I admit I kinda like it now. I blame the Stockholm Syndrome.

More seriously, I like character building because sometimes it's an interesting process, trying to fit the fiction of your character concept into the game mechanics. Of course, it's sometimes an unnecessary process.

 

[malraux]

I really want the building process to take about 10% of the time I spend playing the character. So if I play for 3-4 hours a week, then spending an hour on character updating/maintenance every 3 weeks doesn't bother me. Much more than that would annoy me, though.