[SR*]Ever just have one of those...days?, Trying to breathe different life into characters Options

[ElFenrir]

Alright, so between Augmentation, Street Magic and Arsenal, there are tons of toys and options. Great, I LOVES me some options.

In Sr4, there are tons of skills, too. Also great.

But you know, when it comes to building a character sometimes...I sorta feel like I'm doing the same ol, same ol.

I mean, I KNOW, in my heart, it's the background, personality, and the little things-the quirks, the good points, and the flaws which differentiate Samurai A from Samurai B, even if their ware is very similar-or Mage A from Mage B, even if they have a similar spell/skill setup, or Hacker A from Hacker B even if they run with the same deck and similar program pool. I know it's what's ''inside'' that counts, basically.

BUT...sometimes, I just look at a concept, and think ''I've done this before'', even if their personality and...well, everything about the CHARACTER is totally different.

I've played a wide array of characters, and like a wide array. I had a concept that was eating at me(a rather experienced merc-type, was a high rank, some basics. I hadn't played the ''was a pretty great leader/etc'' concept before.) So i gave a great skillset that made sense, and then went the cyber-route. I decided I wanted to play him cybered up.

But then I looked at the ware list that I had picked...and it ended up being similiar to the sam I played last year, which was similar to the former company man's ware that I played the year before that. All three guys had very different backgrounds, motivations, edges, flaws, and personalities; while their skillsets shared some similarities, they had some different background ones, different knowledges, and so on. I also noticed their stats were a bit the same, as well...I didn't MEAN for them to be like this, but it just sort of happened-I gave them the stats that were most important for what they did.

Similar thing happened to a couple mages I've played. Different backgrounds and concepts-very similar spelllists and skill lists when I look at them again. I didn't mean to, again...just sort of happened.

Again, I know they're all different...but I can't help but feel I might be ''doing it again.''

Anyone ever run into this? How do you break it? I know ''play a different concept'' is always a plus, but when you have a really good, or fun-sounding idea, you sometimes want to run with it. I don't want to just start plugging random ware that makes no sense into a character just to make them ''different'' and have them completely ineffectual and just not make sense; same with skills, I just don't want to start jotting down random skills and numbers just to make them different form the last guy if it won't make sense. But...hmm.

It's not so much a dilemma, but just something I couldn't help but notice sometimes in looking back over all sheets. I mean, it could come down to little things like ''these skills are popular with many character types and end up picked a lot'', or ''these pieces of ware just...work in these instances.''