In my games, you can be forgiven for failing to show up with a new character...but failing to put thought into the resulting character is a cardinal sin.
I refer to it as "The Law of Quality":
Anything a player puts effort and imagination into tends to work better than anything careless or generic.
An NPC follower, for instance, who has a name, personality and background is far more effective (and the GM makes it so) than:
"
Contents: NPC / Quantity: One (1) / Notes: Insert Sword Here."
The same goes for any piece of equipment or PC story element.
....unless it is stupid.
Mark
