Me too. Those who know my fan fiction, know how I wrestle with finding just the right name. The same is true for my gaming. I hate coming up with names. Once I find a name I like, I tend to recycle it for characters in every other game I play. I cannot list how many characters named http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/Computer%20Games/Diablo250.jpg and http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Teresa-ActII-Valfreya02.jpg I have played. Anime is one of the places I tend to find names, such as http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion510.jpg, and http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion227.jpg

For the past few years I try to pick names from mythology, that suit the character I have in mind. For example, my wood elf archer in Morrowind was http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/Computer%20Games/Morrowind002.jpg. One of my pure magic Witches from Oblivion was http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion527.jpg, and another http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion475.jpg. Once and a while I still get ideas from history or pop culture though. For example, my shaven-headed, blade-wielding, goggle-wearing character from FO3 was http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/Computer%20Games/Fallout3035.jpg. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/Computer%20Games/Fallout3086.jpg, who overthrew the hated Romans Raiders and freed The Pitt, and my samurai http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/Computer%20Games/Fallout3070.jpg



It is the same with me. Sometimes a character just clicks with me, sometimes they do not. My current character, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion560.jpg, is one I had to restart after a week with a new birthsign for her to really come together. I had a good concept with her beforehand, she is a paladin of Trinimac, questing to reclaim her god's rightful prestige through her actions. But she lacked a real focus, and after a burst of creativity led me to create half-a-dozen new birthsigns, I realized one of them was perfect for her. So I went back, started over with just the face and name, and now I really feel a strong connection with her.

I start most of my characters with a basic background and idea of what kind of armor/weapons/magic they will use. I often pick out mods specifically for each character. Especially concerning what they will wear (I am a girl after all, so its all about the clothes! ) Then as I play them, usually the blanks become filled in over time, and I learn more about the characters. This is where the make or break part comes for me. Some characters just do not awaken anything in me, and feel bland. Other characters spring to life with their personality and history.

For example, Morn is really taking hold now, as I have learned that she is from a wealthy family in the IC, and has lived a generally sheltered life of balls and other social activities. She is an orc though, so naturally her old man gave her a suit of plate armor and a sword for her sweet sixteenth birthday. Speaking of which, while her father is rich, Morn never knew her mother. While daddy is a rich socialite, she was a theif, who met him while breaking into his manor. Naturally a whirlwind romance followed (doesn't it always ), resulting in Morn. But the life of a thief and that of a lord do not mix. Eventually she left him, with their daughter, and rode off into the sunset. (this is something Morn wonders about. She has a sneaking suspicion that her father and aunt are not telling her the entire truth...)

In any case, Morn found herself thrown into prison, even though she was completely innocent (she still refuses to talk about how that happened). Then some crazy old guy showed up, claimed he was the Emperor, and helped her escape. Yeah, riight. Still, he did give her this swanky amulet. Once she got out, she tried to sell it, but for some reason she cannot get it out of her pocket. He must have glued it there. Returning to the manor, she found her father was furious with her, for following her mother's criminal ways. He would not believe her protestations of innocence, and threw her out. Now out on the street, Morn has to find some way to make a living, and redeem herself in the eyes of her father. I suspect that Trinimac will rear his head concerning this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion414.jpg is another character I really clicked with was the opposite, in that I never really had a fully-fleshed history for her. All I knew was that she was a Mythic Dawn sleeper agent living in Bravil. She was never given orders during the Oblivion Crisis (I RPed that it was over at the beginning of the game), and was basically forgotten about. Afterward she struggled to find a reason for being, and traveled across Cyrodiil visiting Daedric Shrines to find the meaning of her life. I really connected with her sense of feeling abandoned, directionless, and out of place. She was the odd man out. In time she discovered a strange door in Niben Bay, and followed it to the Shivering Isles. There she found her true calling as the http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion451.jpg.

You just summarized most of what I said yesterday into just a few words. q

I'm gonna steal this idea for some SKyrim characters if ya don't mind...

I just make something up... I tend to have a couple favorite names.. I made them myself (mainly pre-medival germanic names)

Females
Reibecka
Hadewieck

Males
Friedriech/Frederick
Wulfbreght
Meginard

I'd say in MOST game I play with a female char named Reibecka... kinda tradion... but somehow playing as a female in TES feels not right....
I called my Altmer in Morrowind indeed Friedriech, in line with tradition...

This time I went somewhat original.
Isol

(but since sol = sun.... altmer come from summerset isle...)
pretty down to earth.. but the name sounds good.

This is a pretty name. I like the way Europeans spell it. We have Rebecca over here.

Well I've tried a bunch of the new face texture mods, and I think I was happy with the breton I made after I tried Danni's beauty faces. I don't think it's really meant to make everyone beautiful, just look cleaner and more like regular people instead of monkeys.

I've almost always used Anelle as my name for rpg characters, I've just always liked that name. She's setup like this:

illusion
mysticism
restoration
alteration
conjuration
mercantile
speechcraft

So basically the magic skills minus destruction and alchemy, plus two social skills. I'm using an alt-start mod so I start as a new mages guild member in Chorrol. I haven't thought too much about backstory, just that she hasn't done a ton of adventuring. She's eager, but nervous to go out because of the danger, she's always preferred studied and practicing her magic skills so that when she does need to travel she'll be prepared.

The focus is illusion, I/she is/am hoping not to do too much dangerous work until illusion is at 50, she'll feel much safer when she can use invisibility. But she likes to feel in control, so her illusion score should never be higher than her mysticism score. The idea is that she will always be strong enough to dispel any spells she can cast on herself. When we get to more regular combat and quests, the idea would be to avoid fighting as much as possible with invisibility. When it's needed, she'll use her illusion spells to make it safer, calm/demoralize/frenzy/command, possibly throw out a summon if it's a powerful foe. She feels much safer in the wild knowing a friendly scamp is just one cast away. She carries a lightning staff as a last resort. What do you guys think?

[img]http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/558668836855212127/316DE1C47708BCF82E44E7C33F4F017B638C55C8/[/img]

I have startover-itis, too. For some reason I find the tutorial very enjoyable. Sure, all my main characters came through there, but a dozen others came through there only to wind up parked at the Mages Guild in Chorrol. I throw fire balls across to the other prisoner at the very start. I hate the long speeches, but when the action starts, I loot everything, up to the point of overloading. My characters use bows, so I can’t wait to get my hands on one. Then the rats and goblins start, and I kill them. I try to polish the face build at the exit gate, but if that doesn’t work out, I exit and go to Chorrol and park them.

Way back when I first started playing Oblivion I had no clue how to set up a new build, so I just did the best I could and played her (Tara) up to level 18, 340 hours, then started over. The second build I stayed with was Couley. She did better, but she couldn’t buy the Skingrad house because the green man fell off the bridge, or something. Used a Mod to fix that, but it messed up a cell north of Chorrol, so I reverted to a save before that and kept playing without the Skingrad house. Stopped playing her at level 44, 490 hours.

The third build I stayed with was Baa, and I still play her every month or so. She is level 51, 867 hours, Arch Mage, Fighters Guild Master, Arena Grand Champion, and other assorted titles. She is about half way through the main quest. Then I started Niko back in 2008. I’ve bounced around with her a lot. I ran her up in the main quest to about 70%, then reverted to an earlier save and kept playing. Lately, I went back to that main quest save and continued on. She’s now level 43, 490 hours and is trashing some 50 Oblivion gates looking for Sigil Stones. I still play her.

My next was Lazy Lodi (Feb 2009), named after a similar woman from my FO3 game. As the name implies, she doesn’t do an awful lot except make money and buy houses and stuff. You see, she inherited the diaries of her older siblings and knows most of the secrets of the valley between the mountains and the sea. She has been at level 51 for about a year, and is presently at 495 hours. She likes to collect Sigil Stones, too. I still play her even though I don’t think she likes me much. She’s always frowning at me.

Then after a sojourn in FO3, I met Taar in Aug 2011. I’ve kept no records of her, but she is presently at level 39 and 123 hours. She owns all the good houses, but still hasn’t closed the Kvatch Gate, and probably won’t until she needs some Sigil Stones to enchant something.

If I creat a new character, I usually have a questline in mind beforehand. So I design my characters around that.

For the main quest, since I was not the main protagonist, I decided to go the cliche route and be a Wizardly Sage that guides Martin on his quest. So I created a Breton wizard-type and maxed out all his magic skills at level 11 while becoming the Archmage of the mages guild; then I went through the entire quest as a pure mage.

For Knights of the nine, I made an Imperial Knight.

For the Dark Brotherhood, I made a Dunmer Assassin.


For TES V: Skyrim, I am going to be a Nord Thu'um Voice Master (As described in the book 'Children of the Sky').

In-game Lore is always another good way to find inspiration.


If for some reason I do not have a questline to follow, then I just resort to making decisions on a moral basis. Then I let the world shape me as I shape it. Sometimes that is more fun.

For me, it's all about finding that mix of skills that fits JUST right for what I am trying to play.

Sometimes, I have ideas of a bunch of skills that I want to use, and the way I play, those skills don't jive together, so it takes me awhile to find a replacement for it, and a new set.

My "official" Oblivion character, which is actually rather recent, took me I don't know how many restarts to get -juuusssst right-.

In Morrowind, I played a stealth archer assassin type character, and in Oblivion, I liked the stealth / marksman dynamic better, so I was insistent on using that. After playing Warhammer Online, and playing as a tank for the first time, I developed a new love for tanks and wanted to do that (and base my Oblivion character loosely off of my WAR character). So I tried to mix a tank with a stealth assassin, as well as mix in my must-have magic skills (Conjuration for summoning, Mysticism for soul stealing and detection). I was also insistent, for RP reasons, on having Alteration for Shield spells, and Destruction for, well, fireball flinging. It didn't all work out the way I wanted it, it was more than 7 major choices (and I'm pretty OCD, needing to really just focus on the skills that I select as my "major"), so I ended up dropping Marksman and Stealth.

It finally clicked, and I highly enjoyed my time with Khulain. He's still around, and I pop in on occasion to play him. I'm very happy with my brutish Redguard tank necro vampire

But for me to truly be satisfied with a character, I have to find a character whose character objectives match my objectives as a player. Those are the easiest for me to RP and play with.