Chronic Restart Disorder.

[Omniamundus]

I used to have this terribly, I must have created at LEAST 50 characters with most of them not making it to dragonsreach.
I found that I have to somewhat identify with my character, for example my argonian and khajiit characters I've made have been my favourite looking, I made a khajiit that was probably my best ever character creation. However I don't feel connected or I can't get used to being a beast race, I even play 1st person most of the time so it's not like I even see them.
Most other races I've been successful with, my best Oblivion characters were a female heavy armoured Orc and a male wood elf conjuration/illusion archer and assassin.
I find the human races boring because it's too much like a normal person so I like the elves a lot, they are not beast races but they are different enough from humans that it feels a unique experience with them.
My current favourite build is a high elf called Malacar, he's a pure mage but he is proficient in 1 handed (from the bound sword) although I only put perks in magical skill trees and alchemy.
I've always liked archery but I could never fit the tree into my build so I chose archery as his hobby, when he's bored he goes out hunting on the plains and in the reach for deer and elk with his bound bow.
He is a sleeper agent of the Thalmor and spends most of his time acquiring magical artifacts, which he keeps for himself and does not hand over to the Dominion, it's his main weakness he strives for ultimate power through any means and he would easily sacrifice a 1000 lives to achieve it.
He lives in Markath and studies the dwemer too, he's definately my favourite character build.

I think the main key to building a good long lasting character is stopping for a moment and writing a bit of a backstory for them that explains why they do what they do, things like hobbies, likes and hates etc all add to the depth of the build.

That's actually a really cool idea. Giving that I run D&D, the idea of backstory is not a new one to me, I just never thought to tack it into my Skyrim experience... More people should do this. Kudos.

 

[The Phoenician]

Runs-with-Scissors. That's beautiful.

Sadly it took me almost an hour to settle for that.

 

[Twiffle]

I have cronic restatitis, i have done 5 characters this week alone, the problem is, i just cant seem to translate what i want into the game, i was thinking of writing a for/against list and see if it guides me in the direction i want,

 

[Snoball]

Ermagerdness YES. In total I believe I've made somewhere between 40-50 characters, not so much because I get bored of them, but I just like making EVERY type of class possible (Priest, Knight, Wizard, Assassin, Monk, etc.). I usually stop before killing the first dragon at Whitewatch since I tend not to make Dragonborn characters (I take sidequests and do things pertaining to said character). After a while, you just want to settle down and completely play through the game with a single character (I did on the xbox, but for pc, I have yet to), but the problem is, I didn't have any Dragonborn characters!

When I thought about it, it would have been best to choose the classes I found most enjoyable and close to my heart, and then properly developed the characters instead of slapping a label on them and dropping them into the world. Right now I use 2 main characters whom I play through the story equally: Evice, a Thalmor assassin; and Nero, a vampire who hunts vampires. I've since broken my character creation frenzy. My only concern is that by now, I've made so many characters, I'm going to be fresh out of ideas for the next Elder Scrolls game

 

[Katastrophe]

I think you and I have had this conversation before.

I'd like to say that I've conquered this issue, as I'm currently at the second highest level I've ever been. I'll give you the same advice that I've been taking. The first is to simply play your characters as long as you can. Keep notes on them, if you can, and try to find what they're all merging to. For me, this was an assassin character.

At first, I embraced this. I trained nothing but those skills I thought essential to being my character. This was a mistake, for me anyways, because pure stealth is horrible early on in the game. I just... became my character, in a sense. I forged myself a dashing suit of iron armor and a trusty sword and shield. With that, I felt safe. I conquered Bleak Falls Barrow and even slayed a dragon. However, when confronted with the task of climbing the Throat of the World, I felt myself unprepared. I didn't even feel confident taking on a group of bandits. What was my inexperienced hand when matched against trained killers?

So I joined the Companions. Through them, I've actually gone toe-to-toe against trolls. Even while I sat at my desk and thought "I can't kill a troll... it's a bloody troll!", I gripped my controlled and pressed onward. To my amazement, armed with only a (now) steel sword, shield and the 'Fus' shout, I beat not one or two but six trolls in hand-to-hand combat. Granted, they were all 1v1 fights and I died a few times, it was also Master difficulty and a feat I didn't even think possible.

Anyways, long story short, now I'm a werewolf (I power I'm not keen on, but the power rush it gives to be able to maul people is a comfort) and the Hand of Skyrim is guiding me towards Riften. This is where I'll abandon my heavy armor and explore thieving and slowly move closer to my goal, an assassin.

Note that I haven't perked anything that isn't in my level 81 perk spread - so no heavy armor perks, but I've been slowly perking into stealth, archery, one handed, etc.

In closing, my advice to you is to find what you subconsciously want to play.
Then, make your perk spread. Make it full. Cover all your bases. For reference, here is mine.

Then, play the game. Even if it doesn't feel like what you want, play the game. Trust in the Hand. That's what I call the natural progression of the game that slowly guides you to the places you want to go without you having to force your will upon the game. It sounds like some absolutely nonsense, but it's not.

 

[Twiffle]

AAArrrrrgggggggggg, , well my Xbox just crashed so had to format the HD, went to get my backup micro card, and there is a lovely film on it know that my wife downloaded, so now i have to restart absolutely everything, , , shes gonna get fusdorah'd later, , good job i have cronic restartitis, ,

 

[jarif]

i kinda use to since i always strayed making my characters a overpowered mojo, but when i got serious about it and added role play it was better

 

[Omniamundus]

Sadly it took me almost an hour to settle for that.

It's a work of art. Art can't be rushed.

 

[Why-So-Serious?]

I think I am a recovering chronic re-starter. But what's worse is that I am also a character hoarder. I can't delete any of my characters! I play on PS3 and I must have at least 10 different accounts so that I can organise all of these characters.

Someone else mentioned that it was to do with fast travelling and I think that was the problem with me. I created a Nord two-handed warrior recently and as soon as I escaped Helgen I just wandered around the area and completed at least 5 quests. I have kept this character for over a month now and until recently had no thoughts about creating a new character... but now I can feel the 'thief' build calling for me.

I should be getting a gaming laptop very soon and once I have got that I think I'll be cured. For people not playing on PC I think one of the main problems is not getting their character to look just as they envisioned them. It's certainly been a major problem for me and one of the main reasons I haven't been able to make a character that I use on this site a put a lot of effort into. The game on PS3 and X-Box simply doesn't cater for people wanting to use unorthodox builds.

 

[Omniamundus]

Ugh. Moved on from the archer. Again. Although, now, I've been playing a high Elf pure mage. Got through
the main quest, and now I'm moving on to the Dragonborn storyline... Solstheim, here I come!

 

[Psiberzerker]

I seemed to have temporarilly treated mine with a heavy dose of DLC. Nothing like some actual new content to keep me from trying to create my own.

 

[Reaper0021]

I seemed to have temporarilly treated mine with a heavy dose of DLC. Nothing like some actual new content to keep me from trying to create my own.

You helped me cure mine Psi with the build you made me for my Cleric, else I would be on my 32nd toon.

 

[jcurr25]

I've never been able to bring myself to run many characters, in fact I played my first for over 300hrs before even considering starting another to explore the other side of some of the quests. However I do have a friend who is a little stupid and constantly erases his characters on accident, so he ends up restarting ALL the time

 

[Soloquendi]

I've done about a dozen. Usually to level 15 or 20. Mostly to try out different features at first, but lately out of boredom.

 

[Skulli]

I probably have a half dozen characters I bounce around with. Two of them actually finished the main quest though.