Ever had one of 'those' days? - Character concept blocks...

[Short Bearded One]

Well here I am, it's 0200 and we're gearing up for our first ever PFS game in 7 hours time. And I still can't seem to knock together even a simple character for the bloody thing.
From my favourite old standards of Dwarven Fighters and Cleric-healbots through to aggressive battle clerics, Dwarven wizards and that cute little cleric with negative everything bar CHA and WIS... But not a single one of these seems to click.
I'm placing the blame squarely at the feet of Tunguska, my level 6 Ranger who also happens to be a Hound Archon. We've been having so much fun in this home brew game built around a disgraced Archon trying to reclaim his place in the Heavens, it's a character that I built from the ground and have a real attachment to. Anything else I construct now seems hollow and empty.

Has anyone else ever had a problem like this?

[WhipShire]

I hear you... Try some brainstorming! List all races on one side of a piece of paper and classes on the other. Use a modified die roll to pick race and another die roll for the class. Do it till they are all matched up and see what you have. You never know what causality might bring your way...

[WhipShire]

That or contact one of the other player and bring in a team up. Brother/Sister or two old pals, whatever. Characters (to me) feel more anchored and connected when I team up with another player.

[Saint Caleth]

I like to think of a vivid image and then try to build it as a plausible character. I enjoy the challenge of trying to create an offbeat and evocative yet still viable build. It all depends on whether you conceive of characters fluff-first or crunch-first.

[JasonKain]

I tend to get in slumps from time to time, but my big thing to get me out is saving cool pictures I come across for inspiration. Example: I needed a character for an upcoming Pathfinder home game, so I cycled through my picture folder and snagged about six rough ideas for concepts. Cycled through them with a brief eye for the mechanics of each, found out two wouldn't work for the game. Found out makeup of the rest of my party that is known so far, narrowed out another one. From there, I take a little bit of time to figure out what I want out of the character game wise, and make the mechanics and fluff mesh. I try to make sure there's an in-character reason for every mechanical choice, right down to Power Attack.

[Ævux]

I have the opposite.. A flood of character ideas come through that are all half-baked concepts.

[karkon]

WhipShire wrote:

I hear you... Try some brainstorming! List all races on one side of a piece of paper and classes on the other. Use a modified die roll to pick race and another die roll for the class. Do it till they are all matched up and see what you have. You never know what causality might bring your way...

I know I know. Have the forum pick. We type what you need I order Race, class, skills, feats and you take it. The goal is not to optimize this character but make it fun.

I guess I get race so......half-elf

[Fabius Maximus]

Try to come up with the weirdest character concept you can think of and work your way into more grounded version.

[Short Bearded One]

I really don't have this problem normally... I generally work from a character concept be it an image I've found in my web surfing, or some other idea that springs to mind.
In the end I went with Haven Quickdraw, a roguish gunslinger out to make a name for himself... Mainly to prove that they can be fun and not horribly broken. We'll see how this goes.

We're just kicking off. The opening line;
'So we don't have a Rogue? Bugger.' - Bard
This is going to go well... - GM

[J-Rokka]

karkon wrote:

WhipShire wrote:

I hear you... Try some brainstorming! List all races on one side of a piece of paper and classes on the other. Use a modified die roll to pick race and another die roll for the class. Do it till they are all matched up and see what you have. You never know what causality might bring your way...

I know I know. Have the forum pick. We type what you need I order Race, class, skills, feats and you take it. The goal is not to optimize this character but make it fun.

I guess I get race so......half-elf

I guess I'll take class then, so... bard

[gnomersy]

J-Rokka wrote:

karkon wrote:

WhipShire wrote:

I hear you... Try some brainstorming! List all races on one side of a piece of paper and classes on the other. Use a modified die roll to pick race and another die roll for the class. Do it till they are all matched up and see what you have. You never know what causality might bring your way...

I know I know. Have the forum pick. We type what you need I order Race, class, skills, feats and you take it. The goal is not to optimize this character but make it fun.

I guess I get race so......half-elf

I guess I'll take class then, so... bard

Skills: Perform(Blade dancing), Stealth, Acrobatics, Craft(Weapons), Perception, and Knowledge(Local) let me know if I missed anything good.

[WhipShire]

Elven Curved blade for weapon using alternate racial trait - Ancestral Arms.

[Bruunwald]

I always have the opposite problem. Tons of character ideas, but I'm always the GM. I can throw some of my builds at the party as NPC baddies, but I can't ever use the best and most good of them because they'd simply show everybody up.

I wish I could find another reliable GM, but the most likely candidate moved two states away a few years back and I have no time with my own GM duties to go out and get an additional group.

Right now, for instance, I'd love to play an Arabian themed dwarf spellslinger. Man that would be fun.