Character Creation: Which comes first?

[Latency]

In our group we roll the stats first then build the character around them.

 

[alsih2o]

i roll, and DON'T rearrange, and find the character in the rolls

 

[the Jester]

i roll, and DON'T rearrange, and find the character in the rolls

I've done that myself...

Nowadays I do both, but more often than not I have a bunch of ideas and I roll dice and see which idea looks feasible.

 

[Bagpuss]

Both in my time. Don't have a preferance.

 

[JohnClark]

I'm so fickle that I usually pick a character, roll, then come up with about 9 different characters before I actually asign ability scores and what not.

 

[NiTessine]

I always start with a short, one-sentence character concept, like:
"A pyromaniac gnome with a firearms fetish".
"A flamboyant swashbuckler with a really big falchion and no fashion sense."
"A snooty, elitistic half-elf bard."
"A thuggish, racist priest of the tyrant god."

And then I roll (or, more often, buy) the stats and assign them appropriately.

 

[GnomeWorks]

I usually choose an emotion that I want to associate a character with.

For instance, I based a 1e elf mage on the emotion of fear - his parents were killed by a dragon, and he was always afraid someone else that he cared about would be killed. So he studied magic so that, the next time someone he cared about was in danger, he could save them - or at least make an attempt to.

It's difficult to come up with new characters, because I don't like to replicate emotions. Sometimes, though, I use NiTessine's system - using a sentence or quick character concept, and then work on it from there.

 

[HellHound]

Can't answer that.

Depends on the game.

 

[Outlaw]

Which do I do first?

Depends on the game

I have to agree on that one. If I'm playing Hackmaster, you gotta let the dice fall where they may. But if I'm playing Kalamar or hell, even Vampire or some non D&D game, I almost always think of a character concept first.

I don't like to play the same character in a row. Occassionally the dice feel otherwise so I prefer to have a concept in hand when I start rolling.

 

[dragonsworn]

I always try to have a background prepped before rolling and assigning stats. However, I have had times where the dice rolls did not cooperate with my character conception, and I have had to start over from square one.