New Toon!, share your development character ideas Options

[Renee]

I think there is a thread somewhere around here about our Oblivion characters once they are already extant. The New Toon thread, however, is going to be about developing a character, or 'toon', as it were. I usually keep the process of developing new ones to myself. I might ask others what this new one's name should be, or something basic like this, but I want this thread to be more interactive.

I'm developing a Druid idea. Going to be a 'he'. I have a very vague idea of making a Breton male druid who lives almost entirely outside of civilization. I know nothing of the druids though. I know nothing of their history, other than the stereotype in DnD, in which they remain close to nature. My new toon will stick to this stereotype. He will be somewhat like glargg's Wild Elf character, methinks.

I want to explore the possibility of all those cool weapons found in other games (like quarterstaffs and pole weapons, perhaps, maybe even blowguns and slingshots! ) for my druid guy. I know there's gotta be some mods out there like this. I've already got some sort of spear mod in my games, but the only way to access it is to visit the basement of the Skingrad FG. My druid aint going that far.

That's as far as I've gotten. I never could make a druid in the vanilla game, because it doesn't support the sort of nature scene I've been visualizing in my head for years. The only peaceful creatures are deer and butterflies. So on PC, the doors have opened. MMM adds tons of peaceful (and not-so-peaceful) creatures. Witchcraft makes a lot of hostile creatures (like wolves) into passive animal acquaintances. That sort of thing.

I am going to do some reading on druids this weekend, no doubt. This should be fun!

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Aug 22 2014, 11:04 PM

[SubRosa]

New toons to beat the game with!

IRL Druids were probably not much like what they are in D&D (which is to say nature-loving hippies! ). I say probably because we do not know a whole lot about them anymore. The Romans did a very thorough job of exterminating the Druids, part of a concerted effort on their part to annihilate Celtic culture. Sadly most of what we do know comes from the Romans themselves, which is rather like relying soley upon Christian monks to form an opinion of 9th-11th century Scandinavians.

What we do know for certain is that they were the intelligentsia of Celtic society. They were not just the holy people, but also the historians, the doctors, the poets, the architects, the mediators, and so on. Basically the learned folks. They moved freely through Celtic tribes, even those at war, because they were considered above all that.

That's not to say your idea of a tree-hugging hippie is a bad one. Sounds great to me! I created Witchcraft for exactly that sort of character.

I often keep most of the process of developing a new character to myself as well. Usually it starts with some spark - often entirely random - like seeing a movie or reading something. That gets me thinking about a character idea. Then I start fleshing it out by thinking of what the character will wear and use. This takes a lot of effort on my part, as it has to reflect their personality and concept. It also has to complement the character's physical appearance. As those who follow my video/pic thread now, I sometimes boil it down to three or four outfits and throw them out for opinions. Other times I see something on the character - and like Darth Vader looking at the power generators on Hoth - I know that's it. To help out I created a starting cell for Skyrim that all my new characters begin the game in. It has good neutral lighting, and chests with all the non-enchanted gear in the game. There is also a smithing station and all the ingots, leather, and strips, so I can smith up modded items on the spot. This lets me try on different outfits and see what they look like before starting the game.

Sometimes I also come up with a very detailed background. Sometimes I know only a little bit, and let the rest come as I play. Then there is the name of course. Like the outfit, this has to be just right. For a long time now I have been using the names of goddesses, as well as mythical or legendary figures, and even sometimes RL people. I usually try to pick a name that fits the character, but have not always done so. My first Morrowind character was an archer, so I named her Artemis. My second was Prytania (the Invincible Queen Of the Dead) and she was a fighter. I just like the name as it is one of Hekate's appellations and decided to use it.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 23 2014, 12:16 AM