I always just get an idea for a kind of theme for a character. For example, in Skyrim my main character is an aragorn type ranger nord with a face and hair like Arthas from Warcraft. In Fallout 1 my character was a real fish out of water, not clumsy with a gun but because of his vault upbringing, smarter and a bit of a diplomat. A real civilized man among tribals, that sort of thing.
I always kindof handicap myself in that area..make him good at one thing but leave some other significant aspect lacking..its just to make the game more interesting
I always decrement my luck and endurance (probably not as smart as I think) and give those points to "diplomatic" areas like CH and IN, as well as brute-force combat like ST and AG. I ALWAYS tag a weapon ability (can't always count on diplomacy), a "diplomatic" or "sabotage" one like Speech, Lockpick, or Sneak, and a "practical" or "quest" one, like Outdoorsman or Repair. I generally try to stay well-rounded, but with a slightly greater focus on diplomatic resolutions.
hehe I usually try to go for an intelligent character. I never bother with any intelligence below seven, because that's stupid.
So.. Vats is OP but being more or less permanent invisible is not? And charisma is trash in F3/NW. Just raise charisma! And since you don't need to raise most of the skills to max you will never need more than 5 start int.
I always make a generalist 'jack of all trades' for my first playthroughs. I also always play the 'good' paththe first time around. After that, I try things I didn't before, pick different skills, etc. My second playthrough is almost always as evil one as well.
My favorite game is Fallout2. My last character has Gifted and One Hander, because you can shoot 2 targeted shots per round with the Magnum. I choose Small Guns, Big Guns and Speech. ST 5, PE 9, EN 4, CH 5, IN 8, AG 10, LK 6. Perk progression: L3 Toughness L6 Bonus Move L9 Better Criticals L12 Lifegiver L15 Bonus Rate of Fire L18 Gain Luck L21 Mutate! One Hander/ Fast Shot L24 Sniper L27 Action Boy L30 Action Boy L33 Living Anatomy. I pick Sulik, Cassidy and Marcus (using the mirror shades). This character worked best for me. You can clear the wannamigos from Redding with the magnum without too much fuss with targeted shots to the eyes. I killed even the guards from the vertibird assault with targeted shots to the eyes with the magnum. In the end, with LK 9 and Sniper (90% critical chance) and Fast Shot and 12 AP you rule holding a gauss pistol (AP cost 2) and a bozar (AP cost 4). My second choice would be Gifted and Skilled (you only loose the L3 perk and you get 5 more skill points per level: L4 - Bonus Move at l6; L8 - Better Criticals at l9; L12 - Lifegiver; L16 - Bonus Rate of Fire; L20 - Mutate! Skilled/Fast Shot; L21 (Yes,21, not 23) - Gain Luck; L24 - Sniper and so on. I never choose Fast Shot from the start because I would miss all the fun of targeting shots. After getting Sniper you do criticals all the time with high luck so now Fast Shot has no drawback. I never choose Finesse, you loose 30% to basic damage for just 10% to critical chance, it`s not worth it, by shooting the eyes you get an increase of 60% to critical chance. Small Frame is also ok, but the carry weight penalty is a pain in the ass. Good Natured is also ok, but it`s just a skill point switch.
I tend to build my characters around a central story and personality, though not usually to the impressive extent of thoughtfulness displayed by Walpknut. I prefer the games to be more of a roleplaying experience than a combat challenge or an exercise in level gain. I take the perks that look fitting, but sometimes I'll justify one the character wouldn't have if the end result closer fits my concept for them, or skip it entirely if the effect is too ill-balanced (night person, I'm looking your way). If I'm playing by rote, I have a weakness for characters not geared for combat-- high mental stats, endurance through the floor, Good Natured. Even when I do play combat characters, if I'm going for anything but a brute or a just-for-kicks power character, I'll typically give myself Small Frame to better approximate what a normal person would be able to lug around a desert on foot.
I also tend to shy away from the "gifted sniper" build. Traits are a great way to define a character, so I guess thats at least where I start. The pre-defined characters are a great way to play the game differently than you've ever likely played it. 6-7 ap is not much of a handicap. You learn to adapt.
A theme character I have built in Fallout2 is a tribe warrior who thinks only a coward uses ranged weapons and he sticks to unarmed and melee. He is very tough and lets nothing stand in his way, but he has also a good speech skill, he is like a karate master that tries to avoid conflict but he will strike hard if nothing else can be done. He takes as his help only his fellow tribe warrior Sulik, because he is his kin and he can trust him. ST 10 PE 7 EN 4 CH 2 IN 8 AG 10 LK 6 Gifted + One Hander Unarmed + Melee + Speech Perk progression : L3 Toughness; L6 Bonus Move; L9 Better Criticals; L12 Lifegiver; L15 Bonus HtH Attacks; L18 Living Anatomy; L21 Bonus Move; L24 Slayer; L27 Action Boy; L30 Action Boy; L33 Silent Death (just for fun, there`s not much to pick at this level). One Hander greatly enhances the use of unarmed and melee. I know that ST is too much, but this is a theme character and Unarmed and Melee are based on AG and ST (2xAG + 2xST), so a perfect HtH character would have those two maximized. You start with your spear in the temple of trials, you level up and bring melee to 102 and to 112 by training. In Klamath you level up and bring it to 126 and 136 by training. You move to a combat knife. You build speech and unarmed and switch to mega power fist in New Reno (you win the power fist in Broken Hills and upgrade it in New Reno). Once you get Slayer (which does not require a luck roll as the manual says) you rock. This character is so fun, try it and you will see. I try this when i am bored of guns, and it`s so fun.
Melee is fun, but I rarely go over ST 6 when I make the character, mainly due to the ingame enhancements and power armours buffing you up. Other than that, agreed on everything.
Always female always intelligent and proficient at lockpicking and guns though sometimes I will do a H2H character to mix it up. Each has their own self created back story like I had a thing going for awhile when I was doing my 2nd NV playthrough where my character was the lone wanderer from F3. I made up my own ending for F3, simplistically she's pissed off at her dad, thinks he was a moron, wants to forget the CW and leaves PP to the BOS to do what they will with and heads west. My other girl was a NCR 1st Recon sniper that was lured by Caesars ideology and betrayed the NCR only to be betrayed herself by Caesar
I played a melee guy with 10 Strength and 9 Endurance that specialized in explosives and punching things. It's really fun when you're swarmed by an entire army of Boomers armed with knives and punching them all to death. He also had a maxed out speech skill, but he punched Legate Lanius to death. My other character was a female Energy Weapon user that was also sneaky and liked turning enemies into piles of green goop. My third character was an evil sniper cannibal guy that killed everyone that stood in his way or just when he felt like it.