By all accounts, my real-life Evil Eye is dire. Sorcery comes naturally, apparently. :)

I almost always play caster classes and enjoy glass cannon types. Lylia is a classically trained sorceress, not a hybrid in any way, although I do train her up a bit more in some ancillary skills such as first aid to remain more independent. Sorcery appealed because...well, I like darker things. It was a close call between that and being a wizard, but mages didn't get Limb Disruption, Maelstrom, Dark Catalyst, and Implosion. The spell list just appealed to me. Still does.

--- Lauren, Lylia's player, vicious with the glare

I am a complete ranger fanboy. Pup turned out how i had hope in that he is the definition of a semi. A balance of magic and weapons. He is at home hunting in a group or hunting solo, leading or support, in the open or ambushing. I use both magic and the sword evenly every hunt and have no dependence on either.

I wanted a character that could face many situations and have a chance to survive. Also love the rangers connection with nature. Pup will never have the strongest AS or the best casting abilities but take any piece away and he is still effective. I feel like rangers more then any other profession have the ability to be affective no matter the situation.

A few tidbits-

My very first character (still have her!) was made into a warrior because I imagined her being a very scrappy pit fighter. She started off eschewing weapons completely. Mechanics have since improved greatly; I wish I would have converted her into a Monk when I had the chance.

Naamit became a bard because I thought it would be a fun avenue for writing, becoming an accomplished singer, or performer. She quickly moved away from performance and into the religious aspect of music and now only sings during ritual. And of course, most importantly, to kill.

I rolled up an empath many years ago because I strove to see a healer treat patients with respect and compassion. I hated vulture empaths that stole wounds and it grated on me for years when people gave me flack (as Naamit or on the boards) for 'not understanding empaths' plight.' It just wasn't true - I chose another path, a highly viable one. It was one they refused to follow. But, I wasn't going to out my other character for sake of proving them wrong.

My ranger was created in tribute to a customer of mine, an avid nature photographer, that had died. The character has the same name and appearance as the deceased, an equally sunny disposition, and an affinity for crawling around on her knees to inspect the littlest things in nature.

Empath Number Two was rolled up last fall because I wanted to have a warpath move through the Palestra, after talks with Aurach's player at SimuCon. Not sure where she will go from here, given Aurach's departure.

One of the reasons I have so many alts is because I like to mess around with interesting-to-me training paths. Many of them have been some form of mutant -- I generally prefer to root around in the weeds rather than follow the path of least resistance or most power. Oftentimes I start with a skillset and then build a personality around them, sometimes it's the other way around. Either way, I tend to end up with personalities that are pretty intertwined with their mechanical foundation and training choices.

I've never really gotten into casters, despite a few attempts. My most successful caster to date is my bolting wizard, who has made it to 40+ largely on strength of personality. Needing to pop to offensive in combat, however briefly, helps a little with engagement; I apparently need some vulnerability/danger in my combat in order to enjoy myself, which is why I think CS casting from guarded never turned my crank.

So as a high level overview and the root of it all, most of my 'why this profession' has been because I wanted access to X skills/spells to support Y character personality/background/concept, as well as the utility of having X skills/spells on hand.

I wanted a locksmith because picking has a lot of interesting facets and is a useful support service, and I wanted to be as good as I possibly could be, so Nayolan will always be 3x with lores and her weapon training has changed twice since inception in order to work around that.

I wanted an empath because I enjoy playing support characters and having a useful support skill to offer (my first three characters were empaths). Avidleigh went OHE/Polearms in GS3, then just poles in GS4. Mourne started as an archer, then polearms, then pure caster (Ugh, no thank you. Empath offensive spells are really neat but I need weapons), then UAC, and UAC so far has stuck. Warpaths will always be near and dear to my heart.

I wanted a bard because I wanted access to loresinging, and because I wanted to play an actual semi and see if that clicked as the best-of-both-worlds arrangement I shoehorn my warpaths into. I went with UAC because I enjoy it so much with other characters and I hadn't seen much chatter about how bards were with it, so I figured I'd see if it worked well. (Spoiler: it works great, but it's a verrrrry phys-heavy build. Magic skills are hilaribad right now.) So Gavrien became a street thug and almost-rogue who happens to have an underdeveloped talent for magic-via-music.

I wanted a wizard because... no, actually, I didn't really want a wizard. But when I popped back up from a few years' break and needed to remember how to play, I decided to finally flesh out and roll up an elemental caster concept I'd had jotted down years prior, and I felt like I might enjoy bolting most of the magical options available. And so the profession choice got baked into Nicolao's personality and background so much that there's no way he could be anything else anymore. The only reason he wasn't abandoned early as a "This was a nice way to get my feet wet, now back to my established characters" experiment was that three days after I rolled him up, he met Abrimel, and thus abruptly found himself caught up in a whirlwind of social interaction, character development, and extremely satisfying interpersonal roleplay. So he continues on strength of personality alone, as mentioned above.

There are a handful of others whose professions were chosen because I wanted to mess around with that spellset or subvert an archetype in some fashion, but I've already rambled on enough here. :D

---
Walsor Gryhm says, "Hmm, a most impressive weapon of note. I'll give you 16 silver coins for it."
You think to yourself, "This deal is getting worse all the time."

I was won over by the gruesome and malevolent nature of the sorcerer base list, as well as the glowingly optimistic description of it all in Hadiar's guide (initially and then Silvean's guide and so on), and some peer pressure on the virtues of being able to hunt in guarded with warding spells. Xorus essentially took over for the character who was first made into a sorcerer, who was supposed to be a pseudonym of the same character. The preceding one had been a wizard because I was enamored at the time with the violent elemental spells and storm effects. Sorcery was dominated at the time by the less flashy "specific immediate destruction" model of Rolemaster sorcerer spells.

Consequently, why Xorus is a sorcerer is more of a matter of retconning, and part of that is cultural background being Dark Elven. He prefers to be called a "warlock" for his magical crafting, and dismisses the idea it is meaningful to refer to a given magical art as a "profession." Sorcery is ill-defined in the world system for various reasons, but he has very specific definitions for these things. The broad meaning of "sorcery" as unnatural fusion of energies is the key point. He focuses on using "dark powers" for magic.

I intend on him writing a theory-of-sorcery thesis at some point laying out his philosophical position on the matter. The gist of it is that he considers "classical sorcery", of the "as Korthyr knew it" kind, as being essentially that Rolemaster sorcery definition. Limb disruption and pain are sorcery. He does not consider necromancy and demonology to be "sorcery", he regards them as historically "the black arts" which have become incorporated in a broadly sorcerous way by the Faendryl. The violent destructive nature of the magic with the target material he calls the unavoidable consequence of unnatural fusions of power. He considers sorcerous modes close to the flow magic of "Arcane" power.

- Xorus' player

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"(If you really want to understand Marlu, I suggest reading "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft.)" - Varevice (2000)

Alisaire is a ranger because 605 is the best spell in game. She was originally a warrior, because I really liked the idea of a non-magic using Dhe'nar and developed her entire backstory as having been derived from that. Fortunately, it's quite easy to see how an elf may pick up an affinity for some parts of the flow over centuries of various exposure and other life-changing events.

My human mage is precisely that because I wanted to play a character affiliated (registered) with the Imperial Hall of Mages. Similarly my Faendryl sorcerer is precisely that because such a profession truly epitomizes Faendryl culture.

My half-elf unconverted paladin is that because that character's backstory is a study in contrariness, opposing any concept of bowing down to someone else - be it through Chaston's Edict and racial superiority or through subjugation by the Arkati upon their followers, regardless as to how benevolent the individual beings might appear to be. Having an anti-religious character be a devout type of profession (namely: paladin) really appealed to me for this one's personality.

- Overlord EK

>You now regard Eorgina with a warm demeanor.

>classic D&D

That is why Askip is a wizard.

When the first D&D game was released someone at work brought it in to show it around, and I thought it had potential.

We had a running game set up in the basement of the game shop it was purchased in (hardcore, no re-rolling stats) and I got my wizard to level 6 before I changed jobs and moved.

GS3 filled a 20-year void.

:D

I think I’ll limit this post to my two most active characters.

Ravinder, in his original incarnation circa sometime in 1996, was my first “serious” character. At the time I rolled him up, I had been playing a new (at the time) “dark fantasy” video game called “Blood Omen: The Legacy of Kain.” I loved the world and themes presented in that game - not to mention the various spells and blood-draining mechanic - so much that it inspired me to finally make a Sorcerer.

Raethir is a more recent character at just over a year old, and also happens to be my first rogue. Originally, I simply liked the idea of a street-smart youth making his way as a mercenary far from home, but he’s grown into much more than that thanks to the people he’s met. This is also reflected in his training, as prior to reaching 20 I’d switched back and forth numerous times between TWC/brawling and TWC/edged. Witnessing the Palestra trials am meeting Arku finally cemented his weapons of choice as the latter.



~Player of Raethir and Ravi, Lover of R-names.

The main things I knew about Leafi before I created her were that she grew up in the forest, had a strong affinity for music, and pretty early in her life she was killed and resurrected under mysterious circumstances. That had me looking respectively at rangers, bards, and clerics/paladins as her options, and I went with a cleric since it seemed like the best choice for incorporating all three elements.

If I could do it again knowing what I know now... I have no clue what she'd be. I'm glad I didn't go paladin, but I'll always wonder what if she'd been a ranger or bard--or an empath or wizard, which I wasn't thinking of at the time but now consider my two favorites mechanically. RP-wise I even think there's a case for her being a warrior or rogue considering how her personality has developed, but mechanically I wouldn't do that since I get bored if I can't switch between weapons and magic whenever I want.

---

https://gswiki.play.net/Leafiara

Like Askip, I had a similar situation - in missing out on table-top gaming. I was on a work trip when I realized my co-workers were closet gamers and played something called Gemstone. Because it was likened it to a 'choose your own adventure' book as well, and since literature is my calling - I was immediately intrigued.

My first was a warrior, simple stuff - I always try new games as a fighter type, in order to get an understanding of combat mechanics first before I delve into magic. Over the years, I would try out a new profession for a little while to see if I enjoyed it. I never could stick with anything for long, constantly rerolling due to limited character space since I didn't jump on that premium bandwagon until years later.

Eventually, I decided to focus more in-depth on religion and culture based roleplay, which I saw truly enriched character development. Talinvor is my most recent (and longest running) character. Though I originally chose rogue, I realized there hadn't been any bards since the culture became canon and I had the desire to be first. The Lorekeepers struck me as a fascinating concept in the culture. It gave me an outlet for creative writing, simple enjoyment of the game history, as well as demonstrating appreciation other player's contributions without being as xenophobic as the typical Dhe'nar.

-Talinvor's player

-==Social Media Stuff==-

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/talinvor

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/vorrith

Website:
http://tahlon.obsidiantower.com