can anyone recommend me some mods that would allow me to make a good looking male character? most race/face/hair mods are only useful for people who enjoy playing female characters. i would prefer that the characters not be effeminate in appearance. an example of a mod I liked was the "nords with beards" mod, and while the extra customization for a male character was appreciated it still used the default face meshes which are not so good.

thanks

COBL Races and Race Balancing Project have tons of different hair styles, even for male characters. Also I'd use Robert's Male Body replacer.

thank you, ive seen some mods that add a selection of hair and such but what id really like is a race mod or something that would allow me to make a male character with a natural-looking less doughy face

To improve faces use:

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5643 and http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9534

The only mod I know that changes head meshes is this:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12038

Certainly this mod will take you away from the round-face problem, but read the directions carefully. It can have some interesting side effects, depending on how you use it.

An alternative is to find a mod that includes an NPC face you like, and use Wrye Bash to make this your character's face. I am not certain of the details of the process but I do know that the information is available if you look for it. There are some people out there who have a lot of skill with the face editor; Tamriel NPCs Reborn comes to mind as a likely source for interesting and varied faces.