I need advice - constant idea block making characters

[DrkMagusX]

Everytime I set out to make a character or npc I get blocked in the middle of the process and just end up with a half filled character sheet. I have so many sitting around.

Here is what happens
I get a vague concept in my head (example: Lightbringer elf treesinger druid with treant sapling and regular squirrel)

I then take the concept and form the stats and try to chose skills. I never make it to weapons or equipment cause I find myself not really knowing how the character is. I don't know if its the flow of the idea or if I keep bouncing all over the place with the concept.

Some characters I can't even finish cause I can't settle on a race. I afraid I keep looking for the best option for class instead of roleplay or what makes sense.

Pls I beg of u the community to help me learn how to burst through these walls so I can be a value to the game.

[FuriousPhil]

Block out the character quickly, according to your concept. Don't worry about optimization at first, just get the ideas and broad outline down.

Also, don't worry about going in order. If you already have an idea you want to do a sword and board fighter, you know what weapons you're going to be looking at, as well as feats. Skills are more of a character concept driven thing anyways. Fit the stats to the character.

I have two kinds of characters - ones I have in my mind for years that are my favorites that I constantly work on, and characters I scratch up for NPCs. You might even want to check out the NPC Codex and use those as templates for your own character concepts.

[DrkMagusX]

I usually enjoy making out characters but its just been a hard process to do. In my spare time I will come up with a concept that sounds interesting so I wanna get it down on paper in case I decide to use it in game or in my campaign world.

I m not getting in the mindset of the characters to really determine what choices they would have. I think my approach to the design is flawed somewhere. I m not getting enough of the persona down in the beginning or something. I guess all writers have blocks its just finding a good method to get through these blocks.

[Adamantine Dragon]

DrkMagusX, everyone's approach is different. I approach PC and NPC character generation quite differently.

For a PC I will first need to have a game available. I'm just not into making up characters just for the fun of it. I used to, a long time ago, but I ended up with so many unused characters, and when a game would crop up I'd end up creating a new one anyway, so I just stopped doing it.

If I'm getting ready for a game, the sheer recognition of the approaching game schedule will force me to make choices and settle on a final character. To get there sometimes means having to make difficult choices and accpet a less-than-perfect build. But at least I'll have one.

For NPCs I actually enjoy a little surprise here and there, so I'll start with a basic personality, role and CR level for the character, then I'll create a quick class skeleton, with the core abilities, feats and spells needed for that character to perform their role in the game. Once that is done I'll more or less randomly pick out the rest of the build, allowing whim to take me wherever it wants to go.