Twisted! I heard a rumour you were back so I'm delighted to see you again. You too are fantastic at anything you do and working with you is definitely one of my biggest highlights during my time here
I think Henson, Mason, Ponty, Teccam and No Snakes are the giants of Character Building group who's shoulders we all stand on. Adrik was awesome, Paul England boasts the most amount of builds by one builder I have played and ShinJin has arguably the most charmingly quirky builds on the site. Sage always delivers top quality, Albino manages to make me smile with every new build and Elysium's builds capture the spirit of her concept to perfection. Nikolaj's are always fun to explore while Tae's are always full of passion. Matt Feeney's builds are very cool and normally quite deep, Vaz's second build will be as awesome as his first and Alastor's are tricky as hell.
And after all that I have probably left out more great names than I included, such is the talent of the people here. How could somebody choose one favorite builder?
Huh, I´ve never answered this. What an a-hole I am. Let´s fix it then. Let´s get this ball rolling again!
I always liked Elysium´s builds, with top notch roleplay and lore to support the whole build. For the same reason I really like Phil´s builds - damn Hero of Kvatch, still making my head spin how awesome that build is.
Then I quite fany Noodles builds, kickass presentation everytime.
Also I would feel really bad if I wouldn´t mention ShinJin. Motherfreaking ShinJin!
Then Raidriar´s builds usually get my quite hyped out. And of course Curse Never Dying´s builds. Perfectly combined gameplay, roleplay and presentation + his own artwork. He´s the ruler in my book right now.
Also, I quite like few of the new builders. John LeBlanc, Vargr, Manik, Lee Fiskilis, Relycs. I probably follow more people but I can´t really come with all the names right now.
Much like DB said there are some that I just stand in utter awe of be it for presentation, writing style, the creative ability to find the "glitches" to exploit around...whatever it may be that makes a build unique or interesting; so there are lots of creative builders out there in various situations.
Mason and Ponty: I can't count how many of their builds I tried out when I first discovered the site. It seemed like every other build recommended to me or that I came across in the HoF section were theirs. Utterly amazing works.
Golden Fool's done several builds that impressed me immensely. Lee, Manik, Albino and Raidriar are just a few builders that I've come to admire after delving into the Workshop especially after I started researching builds to write on.
Relycs and DB are some that I've gotten to know in the 'Shop as well and really admire the work they do. Relycs doesn't do many builds, he's more a "behind the scenes guy" doing art for many many builds but that too is part of the building process and he's contributed to so many in the Art thread. Same for HeroicX...I don't recall actually seeing a build from him but his videos on builds have been utterly amazing and definitely a well respected author in his own right in his format of choice.
Too long a list...and every builder is different and I can respect builds whether it's based on a strong idea... a unique presentation or drawing out some detailed lore... the artwork that brings a build to life. Basically I'm just a fan of builds because each one is unique in it's own way. Somebody thought that up in their imagination and then worked hard to bring it to life for presentation to the community. That's worth at least some small appreciation for the time it takes me to read their work and see what they've created from nothing.
Henson, easily. After lurking for well over a year, it was his work that convinced me to finally make an account and I try to do most of my builds in his own style: a bit of fancy lore, some smattering of roleplay, solid mechanics that work, and just make a build when you have something to share, fuck it if it makes it to Legendary.
Teccam's alchemy-crafting and mechanics always used to scare me (... they still do, kinda), same with Curse and Raidriar, but I can't deny they have put out some fantastic builds. I still think the King of Worms is the best build on the site and the Montalian is downright terrifying.
I was never a huge fan of the other big wigs, but I've always loved Phil, Paul England, and Karver just for the characters they create in their builds. Awesome work.
Ooh, a revival. Nice.
Let's see...
TwistedOrthrus~ Twisted has over a dozen builds and all of them quality, but his best are the ones with some built in weakness. No armor skills, 0 armor rating, 100% magic weakness, etc. I restricted myself to pick three builds only, but this was really tough to pick only three. My favorite are the Witchhunter, the Dark Aegis, and the Mad Champion.
Paul England~ I adore Paul's builds. If I had to pick a single builder as my favorite, it'd probably be Paul. His builds always have a theme and use that theme masterfully. Always enjoy reading his builds. I had a really, really fucking hard time picking my three favorite of his builds (if you asked me later, you'd probably get a different answer), but I went with the Clever Man, the Swordthane, and the Elf-Hewer. (For now)
Elysium~ Another lore-based builder. I love how she can actually take some bit of lore and use it really well in a build. It's almost seamless. My Way-Maker build tried to emulate the presentation style of her Azra Nightwielder build, but it still falls short of it. My favorite of her builds are the Last Sorcerer Queen, the Order of the Lily, and Azra Nightwielder.
Zach~ Breaking the mold with a more gameplay-oriented builder. Hasn't been active for a long time but he posted what I believe to be the best 'first build' on the site with the Songbird. My favorite of his builds are the aforementioned Songbird, the Sternguard, and the Vampire Count.
Teccam~ And ending it with a gameplay-oriented builder. He's a bit of a prick (and he hates puppies), but few know Skyrim as well as does Teccam does and it shows in his builds. My favorite of his builds are the Sapiarch, the Progenitor, and the Sword-Singer (which I helped a bit with).
Took a long time to get all those links together, but there we go. Obviously there are lot more phenomenal builders like Phil, ShinJin, Casey (who is really underrated), etc. And there are usual like Mason, Ponty, and Snakes who are all well-known for very good reasons.
Mason for bredth and mechanical creativity.
Teccam for intriguing mage classes plus the occasional mod list that as a PC player I find cool and interesting.
Ponty because the way he thinks out lore in characters is quite in tune with my own thoughts, and also because he manages to enrich and sculpt simple ideas into works of art.
CND for a startling variety of stealth builds that are somehow always different/interesting.
Honestly though, I seldom find "bad" in character building, lack of presentation skills can make awesome builds under appreciated sadly. All of the above have awesome presentation skills and possibly caged artists who are poked with sticks until they produce the masterful work displayed in the builds!
Nice to see this thread resurface.
We have a lot of new builders on the scene and one in particular who stands out to me is John Leblanc. He's taken the constructive criticism given for his builds to heart and put in the effort to improve his works. Given the dramatic leaps hes made as a builder I can definitely see him gaining a sizable fan base in the future.