Many versions of basically the same character

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Kaltzor

Isn't every character technically an alternate universe version of CHARNAME (Whoever he may actually be)?

Southpaw

I do.
Almost always Lawful Evil, almost always something to do with a Thief, almost always using Eldoth's portrait and used to use the same soundset in BG2 & BGTutu. In BGEE I don't particularly like any of the soundsets so I change them and use them randomly.
Almost always having Imoen and Viconia in my party. Since BGEE, I like to have Dorn. Pre-BGEE it used to be Kagain or Minsc.

the_spyder

I do as well.... to a point.

I have a bunch of characters from back in my PnP days that I default to. When playing IWD for instance i have variations of the same party of characters. When I play BG, I pick one and run them through. The group is diverse and contains most of the stand-alone classes plus a few combo type characters.

As for voice, not so much. There are voice sets that I enjoy, but again these vary with my mood and with what character i play. And with how quickly I want to get into playing.

KidCarnival

Similar to Southpaw, I have many versions of my favorite charname - lawful evil, stealthy, backstabby something-with-thief. Goes from assassin/fighter, fighter/thief to pure kitted thieves. I tried a jester incarnation, which didn't work, but developed into a charname I also play often (with his own name, portrait and personality - and voiceset). I have variations for the portrait of my "main", but they are similar.

NPCs, there are a few I'm very prone to take along in any given run, at least for a while. I never finished the game without Edwin or Xzar in my party; usually even both unless it's my cleric charname (Xzar is my fave cleric, but two are overkill; I prefer a second arcane caster/utility).

I often play 3 - 4 runs at the same time, with different charnames/classes/parties, so it doesn't feel like "always doing the same".

atcDave

I've played a broad variety, but there are a few favorites I keep revisiting. I usually run without sound, so voice set doesn't matter much! I have well over a hundred portraits in my portraits folder, but three of them get used more than all the others combined.

lunar

I do that too, I think a player may have a favourite character idea and play with its variations. Our pcs can be like our 'alter-egos' in the computer game, and can reflect our taste and what we find more interesting in a fantasy setting. (Magic? Sword? Thievery? Healing others?)

Malicron

Yeah, this is what I do. Same name, mage, often with some sort of swordplay, neutral good. Hell, It's what I play in Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights, for that matter.

FinneousPJ

There is a cure!
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/18573/the-minimal-reload-random-game-challenge-lems-version-revised-warning-spoilers

franco

For years I would play BG with a variation of the same character, a pure Fighter and usually Chaotic/Good. It just seemed to be what I found most comfortable, and what I identified with.

But this has recently changed , probably for three reasons:
1) BGEE
2) kits for sub-classes
3) This Forum.

BGEE and its ease of use sort of made the game accessible to me again, and opened up the BG world in a different way. The kits for the sub-classes and their special interesting abilities, made other characters start to be more appealing. This Forum, hearing from so many of you the experiences you have had with different type characters and alignments got my juices flowing to play the game in a different way.

Right now I'm running three separate parties, with three separate Charnames, a Blade, a Sorcerer and a Cavalier and enjoying them. After listening to many tales on this forum, I'm also considering running an evil party soon, as long as feel I don't have to kill everyone in sight.

JuliusBorisov

That's so true:-) The very first impression of this game dictates my tastes. Many years ago I started playing BG2 as a bounty hunter and this is probably the reason I prefer rogue characters. Every other game even until now I tend to choose the main hero from the pool of thieves or bards.
Also I've defined the most likely alignment for the PC - a chaotic neutral alignment is the choice I make almost always. I see it as the reflection of my own personality. This character is someone I would like to be if l had a chance to adventure in such a world.
But l like to change portraits of the PC - usually it's someone who I like the most at the moment. For example, for a random contest game I'm currently involved in I've decided to side with Tom Wlashiha as Jagen H'gar while before I adored Kaname as Asce from One Piece.
Another thing I try to rotate is the group of NPCs I take. I see different party combinations as the main feature of multiple playthroughs. I like to try new variants, use 'weak' NPCs, read new banters and relish new tactics.

CoM_Solaufein

My PnP character from my old AD&D days has followed me in every fantasy game that I have bought, in one incarnation or another. I will play my first game with that character.

Eudaemonium

I'm actually pretty good with BG when it comes to creating new characters, though since BGEE came out I became very fond of Fighter duals. That way I can beat stuff with weapons and get some utility later on!

With other games I get pretty bad. I only ever completed Dragon Age: Origins with a female city elf (I did create others, but they never got far), and I did that about 4 times. DA2 I only ever played a female mage with the default appearance and name! (Three times). Most modern RPGs I tend to pick a 'canon' character the first time and then just replay them constantly with more nuance, metagaming, and preplanned character arcs.

That said, I am doing it again in BGEE once the NPC pack comes out, and I replay my Fighter/Assassin. But I've already finished BGEE with a Skald as well, so there's some variety there at least!

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Lemernis

Variety is the spice of life, as they say. I like finding new ways to enjoy the game.

So now I will often use the random character generation system referenced above. I really like the tactical challenges that random generation typically produces. Also, if the games are roleplayed, then offbeat classes or kits (especially when combined with random alignment and gender) for the PC provide rich material to work with as well.

But even so, I still sometimes want to try out an idea for a themed game that is not random generated.

For example, I'm currently about to start a game with a custom party of six (to be created in MP mode; then save as SP) that won't be using any arcane magic. So the game is primarily a tactical challenge in that sense. But it's just as much also for the fun of trying some classes and kit that I've never used before:

Wizard Slayer 3/Thief
Assassin 2/Fighter (Grandmastery in Darts)
Inquisitor
Barbarian
Cleric of Helm
Druid

Anduin

One minute I'm a stealthy Gnome. Next an elven archer. Next a mummified necromancer... Pretty much all based on a theme... They all like the name Anduin. (Although the Gnome was casual and would answer to Andu...)

CoM_Solaufein

I even made her into a mod for BG2, her name is Ninafer. She's in The Undying mod.

CoM_Solaufein said:

My PnP character from my old AD&D days has followed me in every fantasy game that I have bought, in one incarnation or another. I will play my first game with that character.

smeagolheart

It sounds like your character is "the nameless one".

ChildofBhaal599

i tend to have phases where i would like one character type and always play it and then it will be another. first i always seemed to want to be a fighter and bash things in my games, then i switched to wanting to be able to use magic efficiently and be a fighter as well. today i like to use stealth but also be ready for combat. i guess you could say i have always wanted weapon combat. it is also too bad i need to heavily mod modern games to make sneaking actually feel fun instead of entering sneak mode and walking in front of someone and not be spotted

Schneidend

I do this constantly, OP. In Fallout 3 I literally played the same guy, a Science-heavy character with pyromanias, a total of eight times with some tweaks to his build and occasionally different decisions. In Fallout: New Vegas, I have two concepts, one is basically a transplant of the pyromaniac scientist, and the other is a cannibal with melee weapons. In Baldur's Gate games I typically go through phases. When I really got into BG2 I played several Chaotic Neutral Berserkers, then several Neutral Evil Wizard Slayers. With EE I repeatedly remake my Lawful Evil Blackguard.

BelgarathMTH

I play myself. Always. So, yes. Every game I play, of every type, is a self-study. What would I do, and who would I be, if I were in a kind of Imagination Heaven where anything were possible?

What powers would I choose? How would I face challenges? I already, as just mortal me, know that choosing god-like omnipotence leads to horrible hell-like boredom.

So, would I restore my youth, and be young me again, with those aptitudes and wishes? Or would I be wise old me, far past any chance at romance, but with a lot of insights that could do good and create a very pleasant vision of existence?

Games are where I go to Heaven, or as close as I can get to it as a living mortal. Everything is possible. What do I do, with this kind of omnipotence, to bring joy to myself?

So, every character I create in every game is me. Perhaps my toons are different aspects or dynamics of me, but they're all me. In that sense, the answer to your question is an emphatic yes.

And, for the same reason, I have trouble trusting or liking people who obviously get an adrenaline rush from min-maxing and throwing all ethical philosophy out the window while playing games, quite obviously expressing a very dark and violent side of themselves, which I think they would have no qualms whatsoever about expressing in real life, were they given the power and opportunity to do so, while "getting away with it."

The only counter to that would be, that in real life theater and opera/musical, the villain's role is most often the most fun to play. That kind of "mwahaha" villainous play, which forms a catharsis and helps the people playing the "heroes" have fun as well, is an exception to what I just said.

But, in those cases, there is a very cathartic satisfaction to playing the demise of the villainous character, or else in his/her redemption by the heroes in the story.

I find that most people who love to play villains in games have no intention of playing the "good wins in the end" story archetype.

So, ahem, yeah. All my toons are me, and they are all the same.