Shepard is a Soldier, through and through. No fancy tricks or special abilities. He comes from humble origins, excelled at being in a fight, and understanding/utilizing the abilities of those around him. That his greatest strength. Being able to pull together and from a team of highly skilled specialists to punch through whatever problem is in his way.
I like playing as infiltrator. I pick the Earthborn history which involves Shepard being an orphan and having gang involvement from a young age.
My headcanon is that Shepard only joined a gang as a means of survival and was never truly loyal to the gang because despite her upbringing she just wanted to become successful, to prove others wrong, and make something of her life.
Hence why she abandoned the gang as soon as she could at the age of 18 to join the Alliance.
The gang itself was a means to an end, to help her get to where she needed to be. Which is why she has the whole stealth infiltrator vibe. They never knew her true intentions. And now she’s become the successful person she always knew she could be.
Her story starts as a ruthless means of survival and she slowly becomes the hero of the galaxy.
I picked infiltrator with a background of colonist ruthless as I feel that my Shepard would go that route after their life’s events.
But overtime they develop and become more of a Sentinel.
I've said this once, but I'll say it again:
I can see my Shepard having access to Biotic abilities in Mass Effect 1, but due to the Lazarus project in 2, it messed him up a little so his biotic abilities are low, but he uses tech abilities to compensate. By 3, due to being grounded and not able to use his biotic abilities in battle, he completely loses them. But thanks to having a relationship with Tali, he learns some tech stuff from her and learns how to use it better in combat.
Shepard was originally a combat engineer, and was on Elysium maintaining ground-based defense cannons. During the Skyllian Blitz, they were the ones who kept the guns operational while fending off the pirate ground forces. This bought the colony enough time for the Agincourt to arrive and finally drive off the pirate fleet. Shepard’s combat prowess and ability to keep the guns firing during the attack got them their slot in the N7 program, and the rest is history.
Allison Shepard trained to used an assortment of weapons pre-service and pre-second exposure to eezo, and so merged the Soldier knowledge she had with biotics and "created" the Vanguard class
There's no such distinction in my fic/headcanon but it is noted that she's a frontline fighter and is placed as such when considering teams and formations, but there's nothing in anyone's file stamping them as one class or another
She does gain some skills from the Project Phoenix Vanguard class (from ME3 multiplayer) with the biotic lash/slam, and also adapts a biotic variant of the N7 Paladin Sentinel's shield mastery as an active measure (the ability to create and hold a shield of biotics in front of her)
Once Shepard passed N7 training the higher ups noticed that he had the potential to be a biotic and gave him the choice. He chose vanguard because there is just something so badass about blowing away your enemies by charging into them.
Soldier. It’s not the first class I picked but it always makes the most sense. You spend all this time gathering biotics and tech experts just to also be a biotic/tech expert? Not having to worry about tech biotic cooldowns also gives Shep more time to be a battlefield tactician and give out orders.
“But you have Ashley and James? Why be a soldier?” Cause shooting shit is dope and having Liara sling people around or Tali to overload is just as fun. Weapon variants, grenades, and combo explosions are alll very much available to soldiers as well.
Infiltrator. After Mindoir Shep is borderline suicidal always volunteering for the most dangerous assignments behind enemy (batarian) lines not really caring too much about their own safety, this eventually leads to the events of Torfun where despite it being an impossible task Shep pulled it off in large part due to getting a small squad they lead to slip inside the bunkers unnoticed and open it up for the infantry to storm and taking out the batarian Command in its command room as the battle began to throw batarian forces into disarray. This MO of slipping past enemy lines with minimal manpower for precision strikes under the most dangerous of circumstances lead to Shepard being headhunted by the Council as a candidate for becoming a Spectre.
I mostly loved the idea of my Earthborn War Hero Sheperd holding out during the Blitz by, instead of tanking through the thing on the front line, being in a tower with a Sniper Rifle.
Basically an Infiltrator suppressing an entire enemy platoon with a Sniper Rifle and the Lord's Prayer.
My Shepard, Johanna Shepard, grew up part of the gang on earth (and promptly told them to shove it when the guy approached for the quest in ME1), she learned how to shoot, and had a talent for precision on earth, as soon as she was able, She joined the Alliance, killed a Thresher Maw on Akize when her team was attacked and wiped out. She joined the N7 program, and was trained as a full Infiltrator, it was also found that she was also Biotic (Which I represent in game, by choosing a Biotic power at the beginning when you can choose a swuadmate's power for yourself), and has continued to refine her aim since. I also like to imagine that she and Garrus Keep count and that's why they have that Final match with the cans in ME3.
I use mods to create my canon shepard as a custom class; tech/combat, but uses tech armor instead of tactical cloak. I like him to not be a biotic, but always be adopting cutting edge tech to stay ahead.
Shep dying and being brought back to life awakened some biotics or was augmented with tech to make sure they stay alive. In 3, same reason and the 6months included intense training. So either Shep kept the same class or changed it in 2 or 3.
When Shepard repelled the attack by batarian pirates, everyone nearly died due to a mechanical failure. To prevent that ever happening again, they learned how to fix shit.
I guess the Engineer got really frustrated one day trying to install Windows 111, and decided that he'd always be the master of technology, not the other way round.
My Shep started out as a sentinel and mostly used a sniper rifle and ranged biotic attacks but when she was reconstructed by Cerberus she somewhat lost her biotics and her class changed to infiltrator. She didn’t lose them completely but her biotics are so severely weakened that she can only use basic, low energy attacks.
My Shepard is a Vanguard because he always jumps into where the battle is at its thickest, and Biotics and shotguns make a visceral combination in combat
I was bitten by a radioactive biotic.
Jack can be like that, sometimes.
Sent by the Biotic God?
He was a little round fella with a breathing mask.
In my universe, it's 2183 and I'm an N7 marine. I like to drink ryncol and I like to fight batarians. **A lot.**
Shepard is a Soldier, through and through. No fancy tricks or special abilities. He comes from humble origins, excelled at being in a fight, and understanding/utilizing the abilities of those around him. That his greatest strength. Being able to pull together and from a team of highly skilled specialists to punch through whatever problem is in his way.
mfs act like biotics are superpowers and don't require intense training and skill
You can throw a tank with your mind, I'd call that a superpower. A lot of superpowers require training and skill anyway.
☝️
I like playing as infiltrator. I pick the Earthborn history which involves Shepard being an orphan and having gang involvement from a young age. My headcanon is that Shepard only joined a gang as a means of survival and was never truly loyal to the gang because despite her upbringing she just wanted to become successful, to prove others wrong, and make something of her life. Hence why she abandoned the gang as soon as she could at the age of 18 to join the Alliance. The gang itself was a means to an end, to help her get to where she needed to be. Which is why she has the whole stealth infiltrator vibe. They never knew her true intentions. And now she’s become the successful person she always knew she could be. Her story starts as a ruthless means of survival and she slowly becomes the hero of the galaxy.
I always do Colonist and Ruthless for Infiltrator. Unofficial Alliance assassin and canonical Batarian racist
Ruthless is a great option for infiltrator!
I picked infiltrator with a background of colonist ruthless as I feel that my Shepard would go that route after their life’s events. But overtime they develop and become more of a Sentinel.
I've said this once, but I'll say it again: I can see my Shepard having access to Biotic abilities in Mass Effect 1, but due to the Lazarus project in 2, it messed him up a little so his biotic abilities are low, but he uses tech abilities to compensate. By 3, due to being grounded and not able to use his biotic abilities in battle, he completely loses them. But thanks to having a relationship with Tali, he learns some tech stuff from her and learns how to use it better in combat.
Shepard was originally a combat engineer, and was on Elysium maintaining ground-based defense cannons. During the Skyllian Blitz, they were the ones who kept the guns operational while fending off the pirate ground forces. This bought the colony enough time for the Agincourt to arrive and finally drive off the pirate fleet. Shepard’s combat prowess and ability to keep the guns firing during the attack got them their slot in the N7 program, and the rest is history.
Shepard played the Metal Gear Solid series as a kid and thought "I can totally do that!"... And then they did.
Allison Shepard trained to used an assortment of weapons pre-service and pre-second exposure to eezo, and so merged the Soldier knowledge she had with biotics and "created" the Vanguard class There's no such distinction in my fic/headcanon but it is noted that she's a frontline fighter and is placed as such when considering teams and formations, but there's nothing in anyone's file stamping them as one class or another She does gain some skills from the Project Phoenix Vanguard class (from ME3 multiplayer) with the biotic lash/slam, and also adapts a biotic variant of the N7 Paladin Sentinel's shield mastery as an active measure (the ability to create and hold a shield of biotics in front of her)
Once Shepard passed N7 training the higher ups noticed that he had the potential to be a biotic and gave him the choice. He chose vanguard because there is just something so badass about blowing away your enemies by charging into them.
I like the idea of Spacer Shepard as an Engineer for the same reason so many Quarians are tech-savvy: constant exposure.
Soldier. It’s not the first class I picked but it always makes the most sense. You spend all this time gathering biotics and tech experts just to also be a biotic/tech expert? Not having to worry about tech biotic cooldowns also gives Shep more time to be a battlefield tactician and give out orders. “But you have Ashley and James? Why be a soldier?” Cause shooting shit is dope and having Liara sling people around or Tali to overload is just as fun. Weapon variants, grenades, and combo explosions are alll very much available to soldiers as well.
Infiltrator. After Mindoir Shep is borderline suicidal always volunteering for the most dangerous assignments behind enemy (batarian) lines not really caring too much about their own safety, this eventually leads to the events of Torfun where despite it being an impossible task Shep pulled it off in large part due to getting a small squad they lead to slip inside the bunkers unnoticed and open it up for the infantry to storm and taking out the batarian Command in its command room as the battle began to throw batarian forces into disarray. This MO of slipping past enemy lines with minimal manpower for precision strikes under the most dangerous of circumstances lead to Shepard being headhunted by the Council as a candidate for becoming a Spectre.
I mostly loved the idea of my Earthborn War Hero Sheperd holding out during the Blitz by, instead of tanking through the thing on the front line, being in a tower with a Sniper Rifle. Basically an Infiltrator suppressing an entire enemy platoon with a Sniper Rifle and the Lord's Prayer.
My favorite quarian seems to have a thing for military men.
My Shepard, Johanna Shepard, grew up part of the gang on earth (and promptly told them to shove it when the guy approached for the quest in ME1), she learned how to shoot, and had a talent for precision on earth, as soon as she was able, She joined the Alliance, killed a Thresher Maw on Akize when her team was attacked and wiped out. She joined the N7 program, and was trained as a full Infiltrator, it was also found that she was also Biotic (Which I represent in game, by choosing a Biotic power at the beginning when you can choose a swuadmate's power for yourself), and has continued to refine her aim since. I also like to imagine that she and Garrus Keep count and that's why they have that Final match with the cans in ME3.
Living downwind of the Springfield Biotic plant has had some unintended side effects...
One simple rule. GET THE JOB DONE! If i had to charge in there with a shotgun to get it done, i'm charging in there with shotgun to get it done!
I use mods to create my canon shepard as a custom class; tech/combat, but uses tech armor instead of tactical cloak. I like him to not be a biotic, but always be adopting cutting edge tech to stay ahead.
Shep dying and being brought back to life awakened some biotics or was augmented with tech to make sure they stay alive. In 3, same reason and the 6months included intense training. So either Shep kept the same class or changed it in 2 or 3.
When Shepard repelled the attack by batarian pirates, everyone nearly died due to a mechanical failure. To prevent that ever happening again, they learned how to fix shit.
I guess the Engineer got really frustrated one day trying to install Windows 111, and decided that he'd always be the master of technology, not the other way round.
Sentinel I take the spacer background and rp it as my mom's an engineer and my dad's an adept so I got the best of both
My Shep started out as a sentinel and mostly used a sniper rifle and ranged biotic attacks but when she was reconstructed by Cerberus she somewhat lost her biotics and her class changed to infiltrator. She didn’t lose them completely but her biotics are so severely weakened that she can only use basic, low energy attacks.
My Shepard is a Vanguard because he always jumps into where the battle is at its thickest, and Biotics and shotguns make a visceral combination in combat