The new Shadowrun Returns game, while a bit linear sometimes, allows for many, many character builds and puts in several instances per specialty in the game where you go "Man, I'm glad I got that skill!"

Jagged Alliance 2 allows you to build out your custom merc nicely, and since skills improve with use it's fairly easy to keep on improving your preferred skills (although you'll be harder-pressed to win if you decide to make a merc who can't shoot or throw knives and has to walk up and punch people in the face while they machine-gun it up)

If you can stand the graphics, the Realms of Arkania series is a stat-lover's paradise, and while many of the mechanics are only covered generally (ie: Strength makes you able to carry more and hit harder. How much more and harder? Try it and find out.) it all does make sense intuitively.

Deus Ex; Planescape: Torment; Might and Magic games, like M&M8; Divine Divinity and its sequel; King's Bounty series; especially Book 2; and any of the [url=http://www.gog.com/game/avadon_the_black_fortress]Spiderweb Software games here on GOG, too.

And, of course, I fully agree with pretty much all the other previous suggestions, too. So many good options, here. =)

EDIT: grammar

Yes Crusader Kings 2 is very impressive. So much variety when it comes to characters. From honorable heroes to blood thirsty tyrants to despicable douche bags, this game has it all.

I agree with most of what you said but I can't agree with this. I love Planescape: Torment but to get the most out of it almost requires you to have a certain sort of build.

Warframe. You can pick 3 character types and change the colors around a bit and buy initial weaponry to fit your play style. The more you play, the more customizable the game gets, allowing you to give your character, weapons customized powers.

First of all, stay away from Realms of Arkania. The character system seems really detailed at first, but you soon realise that there are many skills and spells that exist in the character creation/level-up spreadsheet, but that weren't implemented in the actual game. I mean, driving? There's nothing to drive in the entire game!

As for positive examples, I'll echo the Wizardry series because there are hardly any useless skills and stats, and there are so many party combinations to build. Arcanum is great too, though only a few builds are actually good – gunslingers are too weak and mages are too boring. You may also want to look into Darklands, it has some pretty unique character creation options, like age.

Arcanum was the most satisfying character creation for me, bar none.

Arcanum probably has the best character generation in an RPG bar none, just because it's completely open, classless and nonrestrictive. I like AD&D computer games but I can't really say I like D&D chargen much because of all the arbitrary class-based restrictions on creating a character. Arcanum's system is basically an evolution of Fallout's SPECIAL, but fit for a setting with magic and technology. Of course it's not perfect and not well balanced (not that it really matters in a single-player game though) but it lets you basically create any type of character you can think up. You go to AD&D and try to be creative in character generation and pretty soon you'll realize it doesn't really support much outside specific class archetypes (well there's multi-classing but that's just more archetypes).

Wasteland 2 which is currently in beta has a very open, classless system, plus unlike Fallout you create 4 characters at the start not just 1.

EDIT: Third Edition D&D (Neverwinter Nights 1/2, ToEE, Icewind Dale II) is much better than AD&D though.

D2 stands as my favorite game ever and I still play it constantly, so now you have my attention! :D You used this build with party play? I normally don't do that; do you think that build could carry his weight in single player? The Necromancer is probably my favorite character but also the hardest one for me to find a focus build with.

Maybe we should start a different thread about this? :P

Going to add another vote for Arcanum.

Your race and gender matter (in terms of ease of finding armor, weapon incompatibility, quests which may have to be approached differently or may not be offered at all, and even things like racism and sexism).

How you develop your character matters. I've played mages, diplomats, thugs, thieves, tinkerers, backstabbers and big dumb sacks of meat.

How you play your character matters. Certain quests (and potential NPC followers) are blocked out if you're too evil, while others only become available that way.

Because every game starts the exact same way, this depth of variety and replayability isn't immediately obvious. But it's there, and it's one of the game's greatest selling points.

Many RPGs, especially the ones with a classless system have this.

The standouts for me are Fallout 1&2, Arcanum, and any game based on 3rd ed of D&D (or 3.5).

Not a RPG but the Tropico traits are very amusing. You have to select qualities and horrible terrible flaws that make you arrrgh (tourette syndrome being the lesser evil there), which makes for quite a hair-pulling character management.

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines seems to fit your requirements. It supports several different builds and playstyles, there is only one skill that can be described as useless, and each skill is explained well, so you're never blindly guessing what the skill actually does. It also offers at least three unique playthroughs based on which clan you choose.

Heh. You're talking about Star Trail, by chance? If you decide for some reason to get good at driving then you can avoid damage during the part where you drive a cart in a mine shaft. Games like Realms of Arkania aren't for everyone, for sure, but credit where it's due - between RoA2 and RoA3 you can make use of every skill and spell in the game, no matter how stupid it sounds. =)

How about Mount and Blade, for a more modern example? You have quite a lot of options in choosing your backstory, which combine to give you various abilities, and there are several routes you could take. Doubly so with mods which let you control a companion, rather than yourself, in battle and so mean you don't have to focus on combat personally. Not as good as Darklands in terms of character creation, but still quite impressive.

Since you didn't specify computer games, I'll also mention that pen and paper games like dnd allow large amounts of customisation, partly due to the large number of sourcebooks available with different options. A DM can always help you invent new options too, if your concept isn't covered anywhere. Personally I find Pathfinder particularly good. Within the PF core material, there aren't many "dead end" options, other than monk. Obviously this may not be what you're looking for, though. Ars Magica is also good for large amounts of customisation.