Commander Shepard

Commander Shepard, a human, is the main character whose gender, appearance, and skills are all customizable and will have an impact on your experience. He or she is assigned to the crew of the SSV Normandy. Commander Shepard, being born in 2154, is probably 29 at the time of Mass Effect.

Commander Shepard is the first human given the opportunity to join the Spectres, an elite security force for the Citadel Council.

The morality of Commander Shepard is determined through the dialogue choices made in gameplay.

Profile Reconstruction
Profile Reconstruction is the character creation system of Mass Effect. The process is begun by selecting a preset character or creating a custom one.

When creating a custom character, you can choose to be male or female. The default names are John Shepard for male and Jane Shepard for female characters but only first names may be customized.

Pre-Service History
Select Shepard's pre-service history by choosing either Spacer, Colonist, or Earthborn is the next step. This choice impacts how others speak about the main character, and also modifies the rate at which you gain Paragon and Renegade points. Some assignments in the game will only appear depending on your pre-service history.
 * Spacer: Both of your parents were in the Alliance military. Your childhood was spent on ships and stations as they transferred from posting to posting, never staying in one location for more then a few years. Following in your parent's footsteps, you enlisted at the age of eighteen. Spacer characters gain bonus Paragon points. In addition, players can have a short conversation with Hannah Shepard, the PC's mother, through a questline that only appears with this background. (In both of the other backgrounds, Shepard's parents are deceased or otherwise absent.)
 * Earthborn: As an Earthborn, you had a rough childhood in the slums of Earth, and have a gritty edge to your personality. You enlisted at the age of eighteen, in order to avoid falling into the trap of gang culture and poverty.  Earthborn characters gain bonus Renegade points.
 * Colonist: You were born and raised on Mindoir, a small border colony in the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen, slavers raided Mindoir, slaughtering your family and friends. You were saved by a passing Alliance patrol, and you enlisted with the military a few years later. Colonist characters are neutral for the purpose of gaining Paragon or Renegade points.

Psychological Profile
Psychological profile also has three choices: Sole Survivor, War Hero, or Ruthless - each of these relates to a specific event in Alliance history, placing Shepard at a prominent point in that.
 * Sole Survivor: During your service, a mission you were on went horribly wrong. Trapped in an extreme survival situation, you had to overcome physical torments and psychological stresses that would have broken most people. You survived while all those around you fell, and now you alone are left to tell the tale. The Sole Survivor's unit was slaughtered in a thresher maw attack on Akuze. Sole Survivor is neutral, and grants neither Paragon nor Renegade points.
 * War Hero: Early in your military career you found yourself facing an overwhelming enemy force. You risked your own life to save your fellow soldiers and defeat the enemy despite the impossible odds. Your bravery and heroism have earned you medals and recognition from the Alliance fleet. The War Hero almost single-handedly repelled an attack by batarian slavers on Elysium. War Hero characters gain bonus Paragon points.
 * Ruthless: Throughout your military career, your have held fast to one basic rule: get the job done. You've been called cold, calculating, and brutal. Your reputation for ruthless efficiency makes your fellow soldiers wary of you. But when failure is not an option, the military always goes to you first. The Ruthless character sent their entire unit to its death and murdered surrendering batarians on Torfan. Ruthless characters gain bonus Renegade points.

Class
Selecting the character's military specialization follows, which determines a set of talents. The six classes to choose from are Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel, and Vanguard. Your class choice will also affect your weapon proficiency - if you are not proficient in a weapon, you can still fire it, but cannot aim with it.

Appearance
You may then continue with the default appearance or customize the character's looks. Facial structure, head, eyes, jaw, mouth, nose, hair, scarring, make-up (female only) and beard (men only) each have their own options and may be altered for the custom character.

Finalize
Before the game begins a profile summary is shown for review, and a chance to go back and make changes is available.

Trivia

 * John Shepard, the male version of the Commander, has the same name as the Stargate Atlantis character, though with one less "p" in his last name. They play similar roles, with Sheppard of Atlantis being the Military Contingent Commander.

Bastila Shan in BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Obsidian Entertainment's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords.
 * The female Commander Shepard is voiced by Jennifer Hale, who voiced the Jedi Knight