Do you put helmets on your characters?

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

In most games, I avoid wearing helmets. Oblivion, Mount & Blade: Warband, etc, I go around without headgear.
ME2 and Fallout: New Vegas, I wear certain helms.
I guess it really comes down to whether I like the look of a helmet enough.
And since they tend to be different with each game, whether or not I wear a helmet changes between the games.
Of course, not wearing a helmet is a hazard on Mount & Blade: Warband when trying to take a castle, it's a real pain with enemy archers >.>

I was going to make that Mount and Blade: Warband point. Archers are the bane of my existence. I ALWAYS wear some form of headgear, because those damn archers are crack shots for headshots on me. On my main character, right now I'm rocking the Kettle Helm, because I won't go without a helmet, but at the very least I want to look different from the other lords and preferably see my character's handsomeish face, considering I'm the most dashing man in calradia.

As for other games, it depends. I like wearing the open N7 armor helmet in Mass Effect, and took to using some of the full face helmets late in Mass Effect 2. By that point I had met everybody who was going to recognize me by face, so putting on a full-face DLC helmet seemed like a good idea.

It really depends on what game I'm playing. As a general rule, I want to see a custom character's face. If it's a game where I play as someone who isn't a surrogate me, cover that shit up. If my character turned out horrible (looking at you, Rainbow 6 Vegas 1 and 2), then they get a balaclava or something.

 

[Doragon Shinzui]

Generally not. I put all this effort into my character's face (Because you can't customize much else) and I'd rather not talk to every NPC through a tin can.

 

[darkcalling]

I usually wear one if it gives a useful bonus. Though in Mass Effect 3 I never used any helmet that covered the entire head if I could help it. It seemed to take away from the drama of the game and made Shepherd seem a lot more generic.

 

[Robertus2210]

most of the time i leave the helmet off or use the invisible option.
ocasionaly i'll have the character wear sunglasses or cool hat or bandana.
i mean if it looks cool

 

[bigredlyms]

if i can help it no, if my character looks retarded without it yes. Im the sorta "massive sword/gun" type and the cooler i look the better i tend to fight, in oblivion i had a claymore and some standard iron armour but i looked EPIC and i did the final main quest with no problems (asides from the deidra god arriving and me running in fear for the first time in history)

if you did the main quest right away of course it you wouldn't have had problems. oblivion makes all types of enemies super weak if you are low level so running through the main quest isnt hard at all if you stay weak

 

[Aprilgold]

Yeah, ESPECIALLY in Mass Effect, I'm sorry Shepard bro, you ain't got the face for the hair, get what I'm sayin?

 

[WolfThomas]

I wear them in combat and take them off when walking around, I liked how it was in Dragon Age, that helmets were removed for conversations and cut scenes. Or in Mount and Blade how full helms are taken off when talking to characters.

 

[Laser Priest]

If the helmet doesn't look like shit, sure.

NOTE: Most helmets look like shit.

 

[EvilPicnic]

Depends.

If there is no bonus, then usually no (unless it is a very cool hat). But in games like Baldur's Gate (where helmets protect against Critical Hits) absolutely.

And I second what everyone has been saying above: if appropriate, helmeted characters should take their helmets off in cut-scenes. It's what you would do in real-life and it looks so much better than staring at a random hunk of metal for minutes on end.

 

[TorchofThanatos]

Depends on how ugly my character is.

 

[Nieroshai]

I like a sort of middle ground that Mass Effect 1 gave where you wore your helmet in the field, but in civilian zones and your ship you didn't have it on. I thought it was dumb in number 2 that you had to have it persistently on or off.

In games like Oblivion or Fallout, I do wear the helmet. In Oblivion, it's because I enchant every single piece of gear I own.

 

[Thatguyky]

In most games I will not wear a helmet. The only exception is if the helmet makes me look like a total bad ass

... Actually I thought of another exception. I'll throw one on for a few fights or a boss fight if I know I'll need the extra armor and stats.

 

[AD-Stu]

The only games I've played in ages where it's been an issue are Mass Effect and Dragon Age. In both cases I preferred not to wear one - partly because all the mage ones were silly looking in Dragon Age, and there was no penalty for not wearing one in ME1 (ME2 I compromised on the sniper-visor-HUD thing)

 

[The Bum]

Not if I can help it, but that's because I prefer to roleplay as this sort of fellow.

 

[nin_ninja]

I tend to not I like being able to see my character.

Though games like DA:O and DA 2 have your character's hat disappear during conversation.

OT: I do usually. My characters usually look so bland cause of lack of creativity or the poor graphics of the game being played, so covering up their mug is usually a good idea.

 

[evilneko]

In Mass Effect 2, which actually gave you the option, I did it sometimes, like if I expected a difficult fight.

In Fallout 3/NV, it depends on the helmet. I won't use one that hides my character's face unless absolutely necessary. Since I play as a child, most of them don't fit anyway. She's pretty cute in that cowboy hat though, or a headwrap and sunglasses, or mini combat helmet. :3

 

[Vrach]

Depends on helmet design, my character, personal RP reasons and whether choosing to not wear the helmet impacts me severely.

Helmet design - if it's a cowl (still counts I reckon as it's the same slot), I'll almost definitely wear it as I love cowls. Otherwise, I'm likely gonna try and avoid it, though there are exceptions (Fallout: NV Ranger outfit looked pretty awesome with the gas mask - though I should say, even there, liking it, I avoided wearing it a lot of the time as I liked seeing my character's face/head).

My character - I'm more prone to not wearing a helmet if the character is female due to their hair being one of their defining characteristics for me. Also depends if it's a character I made myself or the game gave it to me. If I'm playing a fugly arse ************, I might be more prone to helmeting up.

Personal RP reasons - in some games (usually open world ones), I'm quite prone to solo RPing. In that case, I might wear a helmet sometimes and not at other times, like for example, not wearing it while going around town or wearing a certain helmet to hide my identity even when there's no such mechanic in the game or it's not impacted that way. For example, in the above-mentioned F:NV, you could wear a Ranger's body armor and as far as anyone was concerned, you were one of them. But as far as I was concerned, if they could see my face, they still knew I was me, so when I wanted to seem like a member of the NCR, I'd wear the full gett-up.

Impact - if the game has the option to hide the helmet, I have no problem doing it when I want to. When it's a matter of stats though... well it depends then, on the other factors. For Dragon Age: Origins for example, I took off my helmet and played without it through the game, because:
1) I liked my character's hair
2) Mage hats are some of the ugliest fucking things to ever grace that game with their presence
I could pull through it though. If I needed to wear it for performance reasons, I would have.

 

[Gitty101]

Depends on the game to be honest. In most RPGs I tend to avoid it after putting all the effort into creating my character. I do sometimes go for hats and eye-pieces though, for the badass factor.

 

[DustyDrB]

I only wear them when the game gives me the option to hide it and still get the effects of wearing it. I like seeing my character's face. So I will gladly eschew the helmet, even if it means losing some nifty item set bonuses.

 

[Grimsinger]

Always wear helmets. I think it looks stupid when someone is running around in a warzone with nothing to protect their head.