How many Shepards have you created?

Many of us actually took Bioware at their word when they said that our choices would actually make a difference as we played the Mass Effect series. Some of us decided to see how things would go differently with a different Shepard that had a different origin, a different military background, male or female, Paragon or Renegade, Paragade or Renegon, etc, etc.

So how many Shepards did you create to bring through the trilogy? Which of the above did you choose? What specialization? Who was their LI? And how have they fared throughout the games?

6 in ME1 (one never imported into ME2 due to being butt-ugly); 1 new one in ME2, none so far in ME3.

Of the ME1-to-ME2 imports, all have finished the game, one is yet to finish all the DLC. Of the ME2-to-ME3 imports only one finished the game, one is waiting in the London FOB, hugging Liara and desperately hoping the EC will be good, and the third is about to go to Rannoch.

8 = 2 for every possible LI and 2 for Paragon and Renegade. The rest to play it all in different classes and ways. With Lot and Lots of saves!


Holding The Line

Only 2! One mostly paragon, one mostly renegade. Pretty simple! And then I just go back with them and replay sections of saved games

I always feel like the minority in these conversations. Everyone has made so many Shepard's it seems!

oh god......well i made about 8 in ME1, only carried 6 over to ME2 then i completed ME2 with 4 carried them over to ME3
my main Shepards
George Shepard: paragon,spacer,soldier
Tallahasse Shepard: paragade,earthborn,soldier
Grayson Shepard: renegade,colonist, soldier
Issacc Shepard: paragon,earthborn,vanguard

Oh, bioware and their sweet promises.

7 Shepards- 6 female and one male
Revan Shepard: earthborn, sole survivor, adept
Terra Shepard: earthborn, war hero, adept
Milena Shepard: earthborn, sole survivor, adept
Ileyna Shepard: spacer, war hero, sentinel
Luthien Shepard: colonist, sole survivor, vanguard
Etain Shepard: spacer, ruthless, adept again
and
Anomen Shepard: earthborn, war hero, vanguard

3 femShep survived the suicide mission ME2 with full crew. 1 survived but had some squad members die, 1 died along with the rest of the team. Etain Shepard never made it to ME1 end. Anomen survived with full team. Terra was the first and only Shepard to embark on the journey of stopping the reapers but it seems that she will remain so unless...

A sum total of one: Commander Kalia Shepard, Paragon, LI of Liara. :/

14 Shepards, 28 files, quadruple hours invested. Each Shepard has two files, mainly on the Council's fate, 7 male Shepards, 7 FemSheps. FemSheps are based off of women I had infatuations with. 6 out of 7 Shepards are Sheploos with different backgrounds. Any Shepard with a Mass Effect 1 love interest is more likely to cheat with an ME2 love interest on the "Dead Council" timeline, with a few exceptions here and there. All Shepards have destroyed the Collector Base and started ME1 as Soldiers.

Default Shep (Timeline A): Ashley romanced, Miranda romanced on permanent basis, Rachni saved, Geth rewritten, Balak left for dead but forced to Alliance in ME3.

(Timeline B): Faithful to Ashley

Sarah Shepard; Spacer/War Hero; Vanguard ME2 & 3; Spacer (Timeline A); Kaidan romanced, Thane romanced, rekindle with Kaidan, Geth rewritten, Balak released, Balak left for dead but forced to Alliance in ME3.


(Timeline B): Faithful to Kaidan

John Shepard; Spacer/War Hero; Vanguard ME2 & 3 (Timeline A & B): Liara romanced, Tali romanced permanently; Geth rewritten; Balak released; Kaidan is VS, Balak left for dead but forced to Alliance in ME3.


Laura Shepard; Colonist/Sole Survivor; Infiltrator ME2 & 3 (Timeline A & B): Jacob romanced; Balak arrested; Heretics destroyed; Rachni spared; Ashley is VS.

John Shepard; Colonist/Ruthless; Infiltrator ME2 & 3 (Timeline A & B): Romanced Ashley, but she's Virmire'd, is romancing Jack permanently; Geth destroyed; Heretics destroyed; Rachni extincted; Kaidan is VS.

Alexandra Shepard; Earhtborn/War Hero (Timeline A & B): Romanced Garrus permanently; Rachni saved; Geth rewritten; Kaidan is VS, Balak left for dead but forced to Alliance in ME3.


Mani Shepard; Colonist/War Hero: Single, but wanted Vega. Rachni saved; Balak released; Ashley is VS.

Laurence Shepard (my personal Shepard); Colonist/War Hero (Timeline A & B): Romanced Liara permanently; Rachni saved; Geth Rewritten; Kaidan VS, Balak left for dead but forced to Alliance in ME3.

I've had alot of playthroughs, and about 15 Sheps in all, I'll just outline the ones I actually bother going back to and keeping saves for!

1. My 'cannon' PS3 Shep, Bellatrix Shepard, who I use when playing a game for the first time. Adept, Colonist, War Hero, romanced Kaidan. Bit of paragon, bit of renegade.
2. My fave PS3 Shep, Saphyria Shepard. Engineer, Earthborn, War Hero, romanced Garrus . Full paragon.
3. My xbox 'canon' Shep, I brought an xbox and ME1, and was given the other two games, so my canon was Ruby Shepard, Adept, Spacers, Sole Survivor, Paragon mostly, romanced Ashley and Miranda
4. My xbox fave Shep, Sirius Shepard. Engineer, Earthborn, War Hero, romanced Tali . Full paragon.
5. My most recent Shep on xbox. Ligea shepard. Vanguard, Colonist, Ruthless, romancing Liara and Jacob. Full renegade.

I had 4 Shepards from ME1 and 2 new ones from ME2. Then I've also got several Shepards that I didn't bother finishing ME2 for because of the ME3 ending. I still haven't played through ME3 with my main character, Revan Shepard, because of the face import bug. And then the fact that the fix for that didn't work for me.

Drake Shepard was the first. He's a Earth born sole survivor Vanguard (seen here in my profile pic). Drake saw me through ME1 twice in a row. I restarted ME1 with him immediately after I finished. It's a different game when you start out level 40 something on Eden prime (hehe). Drake is a pretty strong paragon who fell for Ashley (despite that being WAY against regs to hook up with a subordinate) but he is no above the odd renegade interrupt (totally shot Udina during the Cerberus plot in ME3). Drake's the only one who's gone through ME3

Stephen Shepard is a Soldier who is a little grumpier but still basically a good guy trying to do the right thing. Stephen lost Ashley on Virmire, left Liara for Miranda in ME2, but who knows what ME3 will hold for him. I started him in 3 but kinda lost interest around Mars because I keep thinking about the stupid star child.

Gavin Shepard is an Infiltrator grade-A ruthless jerk. I got him half way through ME1 before I got tired of him. I can't even pretend to be that consistent of an A-hole. If Gavin makes it to the end he'll likely lead on every potential LI in the game and get as much tail as he can in the process.

Adi Shepard is new. I just started her last week. She's the first female lead I've played in a game where I had the choice. At first it was weird for me (I guess that's an idea of how the girls might have felt in the past playing the prototypical male lead). Adi Shepard is Colonist War Hero Sentinel with the bonus skill of assault rifles. I gave her a pretty face with her hair up (per regulation). However, I gave her a big scar on her face too. She didn't make it this far in her career without some battle damage. Not all of it is visible. I don't know where her story is going to go yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

ME1-ME2 Rebecca was first, then Harlynn then Timothy.
ME2- The Jack loving Cline was created and my bf's customized Fawkes Shepard meant for Miranda.
ME1-ME3 Penelope who didn't romance Kaidan because she really wanted Joker until the very end. She will serve as test bunny for DLC.

So not counting my other Shep who is just as forgotten as her dead LI Thane, that brings my count to 6...though I originally had 8, Amelia and Nadine who were created and killed out of pure boredom.

ME1-ME3 - Isabel Shepard (my canon Shep) who is an Adept with the Sole Survivor-Spacer background. I gave her a scar running from above her right eye and across her nose bridge and continuing below her left eye, a little memory of Akuze perhaps? She was a Renegade badass for the most part, not too adept at handling social-diplomatic encounters at first. She would usually rely on the threat of force to persuade her adversaries, but she still knew right from wrong and made the tough choices as a Paragon. She saved the Rachni Queen, talked Wrex down from a confrontation on Virmire, saved the Council in the Battle of the Citadel, lost Ashley Williams on Virmire. In ME2 faced with a different situation working for TIM and Cerberus she started out as the same Renegade from ME1, but her Alliance military training and experience as a soldier would kick in sometimes and she would always do her best to protect civilians or try to steer people away from violence who had never had to kill. She was never reckless like Zaeed for example who would do anything to get revenge in his loyalty mission even if that meant harming innocent civilians. She lost Zaeed, Mordin and Legion on the Suicide Mission and was eventually talked down from blowing up the Collector Base by TIM. She gave him the benefit of the doubt that he would use it to fight the Reapers.
Her LI was Liara and she remained faithful to her for the entire trilogy.

I was saving another playthrough with a different Shepard for when I had completed the trilogy with her, but with the unsatisfying ending I felt I had to take her for another spin through the Milky Way and pick up on some of the assignments I missed the first time.

ME1 - Satoru Shepard, a male Vanguard with the Colonial/Ruthless background. He`s currently at the Citadel after the prologue mission and have started recruiting the various squad members. I`ll go for a more ruthlessly efficient style with him, and trying another romance option.

I have a female Engineer with the Earthborn/War Hero background in mind at some point in time.

Shepard that Romanced Liara , Romanced Miranda in Me2
Shepard that Romanced Liara stayed faithful completed Me3
Shepard that Romanced Ashley , Romanced Miranda completed Me3
Shepard that Romanced Ashley stayed faithful at the stage right before the beam
Shepard that romanced zero in me1 saved Wrex and Kaiden Romanced Tali current playthrough
Shepard waiting to Romance Jack in Me2
Shepard waiting to see how the other battle of the sexes fairs
Shepard waiting to romance Miranda again without betraying a ME 1 LI

Created four different Shepards total. I love my renegade as I consider her my female Duke Nukem. (I was a big fan of the game, the wisecracks and unrepentant vices.) The rest were to explore different romances/game choices out of curiosity.

1. (Canon) Renegade soldier. LI: Kaidan. How she fared: The most optimal playthrough possible. Every quest completed, high war assets, peace between quarian & geth, etc. Went down in the flames of destroy with the bonus breath scene.

2. Paragon engineer. LI: Garrus. This was my least favorite character as I don't love the paragon path (can be too goody two-shoes at times). Garrus' romance was THE best thing about this game. If it wasn't for him, this character would have been deleted long ago. Went out in synthesis, mainly because I'm curious to see how it'd play out in EC.

3. Mixed morality infiltrator. LI: Jacob in ME2, Samantha in ME3. This is hands down my second favorite Shepard because I wanted to see what it was like to side with Cerberus. She was my pro-Cerberus gal along with being pro-human. Shot the turian politician, pro-genophange, destroyed data, sold Legion to Cerberus, left David behind in Overlord, dated a fellow Cerberus soldier (Jacob), turned Veector over to Cerberus, sided with Miranda during the fight because Jack was so hostile towards Cerberus (she died in suicide mission), and saved the base for TIM. I got to experience a lot of new lines this way. Unfortunately all that was for nothing in ME3. No acknowledgement by TIM whatsover for any of the above. Since she was "abandoned" by Alliance in ME2 and Cerberus in ME3, she had no real sense of loyalty to anyone. I always planned for her to pick control as her way of saying "TIM was right all along!" but by the time I got to that point, the idea of being god-like over all the races, having control of Reapers seemed like the ultimate payback for the BS she waded through. She was just fun to RP, really.

4. Paragon ... something. I don't remember. LI: Thane. Great romance, but the whole dying thing made me decide I was going to play her last in case it was a sob-fest in ME3. Saw that it was badly handled so no import.

About 10 in ME1,about 20 in ME2,4 in ME3 (I will make more if Extended Cut fulfills my expectations).

6 in total, so far. I planned on making new ones after I beat ME3 a couple dozen times but that plan is currently on indefinite hold.
My very first playthrough of ME1 was a dudeShep, after doing a NG+ second shep was femShep and from that point on I played almost exclusively femShep.
Of my six Sheps 3 are femShep and 3 are dudeShep - aside from the one from my first playthrough I made another dudeShep to see the Tali romance and after that I had to make a third for Jack, though I was lazy so I just copied the ME1 save files of the second one and renamed him with the save editor. All Sheps are from ME1, all paragons (mostly, I just can't bring myself to do a renegade playthrough though my paragons don't take anybody's crap), 2 adepts, 2 vanguards, a sentinel and a soldier. As for playthroughs - over 15 in ME1 alone, over 15 in ME2 as well, 1.99+0.35 in ME3 (One complete playthrough, NG+ until Marauder Shields and one I played during Turn On/Turn Off who has ever since been on the Citadel with Liara, procrastinating).

Four, and each one has a backstory.

1. Annalyse Shepard, spacer/war hero soldier, first Shepard created, Kaidan romance. Because she was my first I sorta call her stupid because I was and didn't play her very well.
2. Elora Shepard, spacer/war hero vanguard. Second Shepard, paragon, still Kaidan romance. Quite laid back compared to most Shepards.
3. Adelaide Shepard, colonist/sole survivor infiltrator. Second Shepard, paragade, Kaidan romance in 1 and the promptly switching over to Garrus in 2. Separation anxiety, plus a bit of a sniper rifle fetish makes it a good match.
4. Marrakech Shepard, my canon Shepard. Vanguard, again spacer/war hero, mostly paragade but definitely my most renegade. Reaaaally long backstory for her since she's my canon. Kaidan romance again.
5. I also have an earthborn FemShep but I can't for the life of me remember anything about her. I think I only made it through half of ME 2 with her and got distracted, probably by AC.

So yeah, looks like I play the same game but I don't. Different motivations and such mean that each one's unique.

I keep saying I need to do a renegade playthrough, but I can't bring myself to be an asshole, and a BroShep playthrough, but after playing the endings I can't even take Shepard #4 through them. So how could I play through all three games again knowing that?

Just one :3 I tweak her story a little bit each time but she's always the same. Mass Effect isn't as replayable as Dragon Age: Origins or other Bioware games because I feel like Shepard has more of a set personality and actions so after creating one Shepard it just doesn't seem right to me making another one; she feels less like the "real" Shepard.