[Cerek the Barbaric]

Interesting topic, Cloudy, and some interesting answers so far too.

As for myself, I never created a female character when playing PnP - I always played a male. I did play just about every race (except of gnome), but my characters were always male. However, two of the best players in our group DID create at least one female character in their portfolio and these "ladies" were quite powerful.

In the CRPG world, I have created a female kensai that I plan to dual to a mage. I will play her after I FINALLY get Cerek and his crew into ToB and give my assassin a few more levels.

Why do I normally play male characters? Because it is easier for me to roleplay them. I guess I do view each character as an extension of myself - or at least one facet of my personality. I've roleplayed a barbarian, dwarven fighter, human cleric, halfling thief, half-elf ranger/cleric, a mage, and more than one ranger during my PnP days. Each character had their own, unique personality and that made it much easier to roleplay them in different situations. While none of them were representative of my own personality as a whole (although the rangers came the closest to my "real" personality), each one was representative of a different aspect of my personality and fantasies.

Ah.....I just remembered that I DID actually create a female character once, but didn't get to play her very much. She was a female mage, but was patterned after the witch character in Dragon magazine (#114 IIRC). I never got to roleplay her much as a character, but I later developed her as one of my best ever NPC villains for use in my campaign. I ended up playing her much more when I was the DM and I had a lot of fun with her.

Still, I predominantly play male characters simply because it is easier for me to envision how they would act or react in various situations.