The inspiration for my character came from:

[Marijn]

My character idea came from the Discworld Series, from Terry Pratchett (not Rincewind lol).

Big, fat, lazy wizards having a good time and only worrying about the next meal.

[bolo]

For me, it's all about getting the name right. I was looking to make a thuggish rogue/ barbarian type of character, not the stealthy type, more of a leg breaker kind of character ( this was before I met the Reavers).A half orc seemed perfect for that, plus I didn't ( and still don't ) know of any half orc rogues outside of the npc bandits.

I just basically goof around with different names and try to find something that fits my character idea.

I figured Sunder was a kickbutt sounding name for a thuggish rogue type , and i sat at my computer saying guttural type names for an orc ( actually had klingon type names in mind) for his last name.
Thro'Kwatt sounded cool to me when I said it out loud.

Up till then, I'd only tried goody two shoes types of characters. Never realised being bad could be so much fun.

[Significant Owl]

The idea for my new main, Nesara, came about from me simply thinking about what would be interesting. Her name is a mix of something to call her by, ("Sara") and an Avlissian Elven surname. (Tal'piriarn, should mean Dewfruit)

Her personality is probably not original, though I haven't pulled it from any specific place. She is just a happy, childish, bubbly airhead whose single goal is to un-sour as many dwarves as possible. She's quite fun to play, since it's a constant challenge, her personality so far from my own as it is.

[Revan]

My very first charecter was Konnisar. He was a fighter that eventually turned into a cleric. I have been playing him for years in PnP, in the NWN original NWN and now in Avlis, with a slight change to his name. The idea and build is still original from way back in the day when I made him, but after playing one of the funnest star wars games, KOTOR, I had to make his name Revan. I know I know, its against the naming policy and rarara, ive been told by one DM once, who let me off the hook because I dont RP a jedi knight who wants to blow up planets and destroy the rebels IG, so please no PMs. It's an awesome fun charecter to play; I have to say the coolest part is chaotic good. If you really RP chaotic good with detail, you can have some great fun bwahahaha.

[Fifty]

Selwonk Sirch is a cross betweem Indiana Jones and The Doc from Back to the Future, in a gnomes body.

Hmm... Wonder where you got that idea?

Indiana Jones, of course; though getting that rolling on the RP side has been a bit slow (come on over to Elysia, Fifty!). I'll try to stick with the debonair archaeologist concept, but the bottom line is that he gets shaped by events around him.

*winks*

Selwonk is beginning to show more of his character traits from my very first envisionations (I just made a new word!) of the character, back in the days when he was a halfling journalist, specifically that he talks far too much.

I've been on Elysia with him for a little while the last two nights, but I'll try to make sure he shows his face at the weekend.

Trouble is, I am not really a huge fan of care bear land....

[Fifty]

I just want to say, I always feel the name is the most important part. Once I get the name right for a character there is no stopping me. Sometimes a name is just not quite right and the character flops - that is why I have so many dead characters sitting in my vault.

On the other hand, I have some characters who are just sitting in the vault for other reasons and have great names. Umasi will surely re-surface one day, and I really wish I had time to play Ezra Uyche a lot more, but the concept would need her to be my main, she just would not work as anything other than having 100% commitment "One of the Notter Twins" would still be going, but sadly maelwydd does not appear to be coming back and there is little point having "One of the Notter Twins" without also having the other "One of the Notter Twins."

[Bear]

The story of how Cha'reth was built and why I made him a cleric (instead of a rogue) has been told elsewhere, so I sha'n't repeat it here.

HAHA -- Val wasn't based on anything at the time he was designed. I was simply faster with the "One, Two, Three, Not-Cleric" before Aloro. Iv'e since based him on my experience serving as a drunken louse in the Navy.

Mortimus is based on a combination of Igor from the Dracula movies, and Fat Bastard I think he pulls it off well....

[Zamael668]

Hmmm...

Bits & Pieces of Valentine Michael Smith (Stranger In A Strange Land), Erik John Stark (Liegh Brakket Character), Andre Lennoge (Storm of The Century), Roy Baddy (BladeRunner), and a few interesting concepts from various characters in The Chronicles of The Black Company... Even a little Hannibal Lecter in there for Fun.

[Pyracantha]

Good poll

Elenya was a combination of (1) enjoying playing a rogue in single-player NWN, (2) reading Avlis history, and (3) looking through the NWN portraits and imagining people behind the faces. Of course, she evolved based entirely on her interactions with Avlis and it's players.

I spent a LOT of time looking through portraits when thinking of alts that never got played.

[Drall]

Avlis documentation for me.

I wanted to play a race "different" from what I had done in previous PW, so I looked at the custom races and picked a Brekonian orc. I defined his personnality as what I would think to be a credible Valokian orc fighter born and raised in Brekon. As a backstory, I defined the reasons why he just made his way to Mikona and his interpretation of the Valokian virtues in the context of Southern Avlis.

Never looked back

[Anyamaur]

Well, I saw how much brother dearest was addicted to the game. I was tired of peeking over his shoulder, as was he, so: "Damnit I'll let you play it for yourself!!".

Well, he kindly translated my name into elven, so I started one-player. I played that for a few months, he bugged me, saying multi was so much funner. "No, one player, you can use cheat codes!".
Hah. Well, I finally gave up and decided to venture into the Realm of..
Avlis. (What?!? You mean you can't PAUSE the game?! how freakin' retarded is that!!". "I LOSE ALL MY ITEMS?!? ")

Told me to make my character elven, and use the same name, (Anyamaur Orener, Aiquandol Orener... yeah, not name generated. )
Well hell, I had no idea his character's hair was red. I made Anya's green, so no one can really say IG- "Ooo you look so much like your brother!".

Aaand, thus Anya was born. Made the stupid mistake of multiclassing at level 2.

[Midknight]

I've always enjoyed playing an honourable warrior type of any alignment, and after having played through Avlis for a few months with my first character (who was an original idea, but not terribly interesting), I realized Avlis would always need a little "blood and darkness". I decided to roll up an evil character and commit to the dark side.

Szakhar'Khotir is an odd mix of influences... he originally started as this idea of a warrior driven to absolute mastery, to the point where he'd attack random passerby.

After setting him as a Shaahesk due to the influence of Fuzz and his lizardmen bandwagon, I came up with the idea that he was an old warrior, a veteran - that shaped a considerable bit of the personality. The name also flowed out naturally from the race choice as well - I wanted something sharp and hissing sounding, but at the same time very guttural, so I split the name into two parts.

The lizardman aspect also had me introduce some other ideas... some general ideas about lizardmen from the Warhammer boardgame, as well as some personality elements from a couple of shows that I'd seen a long time ago - Grimlock from the Transformers series, as well as Dinobot from the Beast Wars TV series.

The remaining core of the personality as well as the backstory is mostly original, though somewhat cliched at times.

[Stormhammer]

Thror Stormhammer isnt very original in concept, mainly influences from different books, etc.

The name is from an old character i used to use in other RPGs, he was a Battlepreist of Clangeddin then.

But i saw Gorethar was the creator of dwarves, and also the Paladin god, and id enjoyed playing pallys before....so i just made a dwarven paladin, and it was a great choice...very fun.

He's partially your stereotypical dwarf...gruff, grumpy, in a bad mood at times, likes to drink, etc. Got a lot of this part of his attitude from reading about bruenor and ivan in the salvatore books. Then i just added in some paladin traits from other stories about holy knights and etc.

And there i had a grumpy paladin....and i havent stopped playing him....too much fun. Can be friendly to people as a paladin....or can be grumpy as hell from his dwarven nature depending on mood.

[Melindha]

Zatiel gets a lot of her traits from me, so I voted RL person. The original concept for her was pretty original, evolving through various incarnations in various games.

[DirtDoctor]

was going for an absent minded philosopher/star gazer/magnolia sniffer, borrowed name from personal hero, Edgar Buckingham, major contributor to the theory of unsaturated water flow in soil

-Edregar Bhamb, Cleric of Dru'El, resident of Le'Or

[Game-Extremist]

Heck I just wanted a ranger with a cool sounding name hence -Jethro Ash, he has evolved as events around him unfold. i'm writing a bio for him at the moment mainly so I can create some "deeper personal roots" for him.

but sadly maelwydd does not appear to be coming back

are you serious? That really sucks.

[Arandil]

Quicksilver was my main PnP campaign character..in that campaign he was a red robe fighter/mage/theif, and a very ruthless one at that. In NWN he started as an Ashen mage, doing some stealing on the side, just like my pnp PC, then I got hooked into army life and his backstory, about a family with a strong military history emerged. His character changed a lot too, into the caring, gentle person he is now. Influences include LOTR, the Krynn books, and an old gary gygax novel that included an absolutely kick-ass fighter mage who flew round lightning bolting people then twatting them with his sword. Always wanted a character who could do that..shame NWN didn't have a Y axis.

[Isengrim]

I voted original, because Ialath is in fact combination of many factors. He originates from the world based on my favourite fantasy book (name is also related to it), though there is no character like him there. He has many common features with me, my few friends and have also been strongly influenced on the events of Avlis. So... he's an original mixture of borrowed concepts.

[Glocknal]

My main two characters were both heavily influenced by RL personas.

Gloknall Heartcrusher origainally was to be a looming half orcish priest of Maleki who did very mean things to good people. Instead he became a looming half orcish priest of Gorethar who does mean things to bad people. His personality is influenced Wyatt Earp, the famous western lawman who occassionaly stepped just slightly outside the law when encoforcing peace and order. I try to make Gloknall like him in the sense of he is a Bully's bully. He is the guy that pushes around the strongmen, bullys and other malcontents and reminds them that he will have to be dealt with before any harm can come to the inncocent. A lot of John Wayne is in Gloknall too.

Drake Devilin is a reflection of the Cornwell character Richard Sharpe, the consummate soldier of the Napolenic Wars. He is daring, loyal, caustic, occassionaly unwise, but not nearly the ladies man that Sharpe is. I also put a little of warrior code of the US Army Special Forces into Drake, especially thier loyalty to thier comrades exibited by Medal Of Honor winners the late Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon, who died defending a helicopter pilot from a throng of enrage Somliians.

[Li'll Divvil]

I guess most of the characters I play are either extensions of my own personality influenced and idealized with book and movie characters or in some cases caricaturized. Some I never played beyond 4-5 lvl's but I do bring em back on occassion if I want some variety.

My main is The Red Lotus (look at her hair ) (Monk/psion), As many people around I liked the idea of having a main char of the opposite sex. I am a martial artist and have been for 17 years, hence the monk, later I influenced it a bit with a Dragonball Z like influence (I loved that cartoon) hence the split to monk/psion. Personality is like my own, though a bit idealized.

Primary alt ATM: Gilbert de Tourmalin is a charming gentleman rogue loosely based on some bravado elements from captain Jack Sparrow, Robin of Locksley and the scarlet pimpernel, which means he deals with the other sexe way more efficiently and effectively than I have ever been able to. He's a very charming ladies man, who affects a slightly foppish and spoiled air, but not to an extreme, due to being a rich kid. This air is totally fake to mask his subterfuge as a master burglar, spy and expert duellist. At heart, he's honest, noble and daring.

Secondary alt ATM: Nikym Srrvano (drangonari, look it up ), he's a heartless selfish Sereg rogue/assassin, highly intelligent, scrupulous and meticulous. I have to see where this one goes, since the underdark is a hard place to be.

Catweazle (anyone born 30-some years ago must know him)(druid), was based on the mad hermit / alchemist from the TV series. He's quite insane, but very much fun to play. I couldn't get a weasel for familiar though nor a frog, so hence the funny bear, Furball.

Abaddon (biblical name for the Angel of the Abyss) (fighter/rogue) , I never played a truly self-centered and evil char yet (which doesn't mean he's rude and uneducated necessarily), and wanted to try that. Abaddon is a selfcentered bastard and hasn't been around very long yet, but you'll hear from him....soon. It is also the name of a character in a bookseries by Julian May I liked a lot.

Li'll D.

[Semley]

One of my characters is partly based on a book. When I think of Old Lyubitska, the romini fortune teller, I think also of what I vaguely remember as the no-bullshit tolerated personality of Pilar, a gypsy woman in "For whom the bell tolls". I have only one regret; why didn't I make her fat?!

[Manuel the White]

Well, I guess it's pretty obvious that Manuel's name came from a very famous person: Jesus Christ. But, Manuel's personality is far from Christ-like on many grounds. So, I invented a background for him that included his becoming an albino.

Manuel the White was first created in 1983 for Ultima III on the Apple IIe (you can still download Ultima IV for various OS's legally and for free here: http://www.michaelfleming.webcentral.co ... nload.html ). So, this is Manuel's 22nd aniversary of virtual life!! Duh.

Anyway, you couldn't really roleplay a character in Ultima until much later in the Ultima series. Game engine limitations and all... So, it wasn't until PnP D&D that I began to expiriment with his personality. This has been ported over to Avlis keeping the Avlis rules and World Docs in mind. Add some LSD, Methamphetomines, stir the pot and, viola! You have a Manuel. Don't tell anyone my secret method of character creation. It's .... secret.


If you look real close, you can see Manuel below on the bottom left just before getting roasted:

[Tangleroot]

Well, I wanted to make a druid that wasn't a a lovable treehugger. Then I stumbled on to the special custom heads in Avlis haks saw that head with Huge beard. I thought: wow, that is one evil-looking head.

No idea how I came up with the rest. Originally he had a limp, but I started to hate it very quickly. So it was replaced by a less annoying (?) personal habit.

[loki70]

I loved the fact that they put monks into PnP, so I decided to play one here. The character concept was my reason for him starting in Mikona (didn't read the background thoroughly enough), so he became an elf raised by a human monastery (kinda like Nightcrawler, only without the accent and more toes). Now with dimension door, he is even more like Nightcrawler (still no german accent, though). Other influences he picked up IG. He has had two alignment changes, three deity changes, and several times were I thought he was a lost cause (playing a first level monk is hard).

Alex is more of a throwback from PnP character. I wanted to play a non-Gorethite battle priest, and I am still working on getting some of the kinks out of his character (I may just scrap him and start over, since I made some horrible mistakes in his creation, and haven't developed the character to the extent I wanted to (lack of time)).

[Hamlet]

All Of My Character Concepts Are Belong To Me.