Gender and Appearance

One of the first choices you'll make is your Shepard's gender, between Male and Female. Your gender is locked through all three games: it's impossible to have Shepard transition between Male and Female when starting Mass Effect 2 or 3. As well, the pronouns will be traditionally aligned: Male Shepard will be given he/him, and Female Shepard she/her.

Your choice of gender will primarily affect which characters will be sexually aligned with your Shepard, and thus are receptive to being Romanced by them. Each gender will have roughly the same amount of romance options in each game.

As well, your choice of gender will have minor alterations to the script, although nothing that truly influences the direction of the story.

Original Femshep Face Code

In the Legendary Edition, the default Female Shepard face has been replaced with the bespoke design created for Mass Effect 3. While the template that the original FemShep design lives on as the first Custom Preset, the more refined design is not available in the Legendary Edition.

To that end, we've done our best to take the first Preset template and modify it to match the original FemShep design more closely by adjusting the hair and eye colour, cheek bones, jaw width and lip size. Unfortunately it is not possible to make an exact match, due to the shape of the eyes and cheeks, as well as the hair being very different.

If you'd like to use it, enter the Facial Customization menu, scroll down to Code, and enter this Facial Code:

• Original FemShep Face Code: 7Q3.QFF.P17.F81.JNW.12U.1DH.711.E66.416.6G8.118.B

Pre-Service History

The Pre-Service History refers to Shepard's backstory before they joined the Alliance military, primarily affecting dialogue in Mass Effect 1. Each backstory also receives a unique Side Quest on the Citadel, as well as a starting Morality points bonus.

• 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 than a few years. Following in your parents' footsteps, you enlisted at the age of eighteen.
  • Unique Assignment: Citadel: Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things
  • Morality Bonus: +10 Paragon 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.
  • Unique Assignment: Citadel: I Remember Me
  • Morality Bonus: +5 Paragon Points, +5 Renegade Points
• Earthborn:
  • You were an orphan raised on the streets of the great megatropolises covering Earth. You escaped the life of petty crime and underworld gangs by enlisting with the Alliance military when you turned eighteen.
  • Unique Assignment: Citadel: Old Friends
  • Morality Bonus: +10 Renegade Points

The Spacer backstory is unique among the three as it's the only option where Shepard's parents are alive, allowing for interaction with their mother in Mass Effect 1 and 3.