And why? I'm interested in your reasons for the choice, if any, and whether you stick to certain guidelines or are changeable. For instance:
- what's their profession? Maybe they are strictly military.
- do you take body type into account (height, strength etc)?
- do you take personailty into account?
- what weapon/armour do they use if any?
I know there are many that will take a purely practical view in line with gameplay mechanics (make the sheriff the miner if you want a deadly one, for random example) or not have one at all so that they needn't worry about failed mandates, but I'm wondering how many choose nerd "roleplay" reasons?
Currently my sheriff is also my mechanic. I don't have a set profession for my sheriffs but don't use miners because I like to have my sheriff carrying a mace and that would conflict with the pick carrying of a miner. I always give my sheriff a mace because I feel it fits the office. As the sheriff is sometimes tasked to deal with your own citizens, having them use something that will chop off limbs and cause bleeding deaths (swords, axes) doesn't appeal to me. Not that a mace or a smashed head isn't deadly, but that's my reasoning behind the mace choice anyway. I don't care how strong or weak, tall or fat they are or their sex when they are first chosen. They get toughened on the job if need be. Oh, and I always make the sheriff the militia captain.
What I do care about is personality traits (not that they matter, I know). So I chose this guy because he:
has a very calm demeanor (it's nice to have calm people in positions of authority)
occasionally overindulges (the lower the immoderation value the better, because it makes him less prone to corruption* and less likely to behave in a fashion that incites resentment from others)
can handle stress (obviously helpful, I think)
open-minded to new ideas (a progressive and liberal cop who's willing to listen? awesome**)
is not easily moved to pity (I always try to have my sheriff with this trait because I don't want him being rolled by sob stories, he's a dwarf and he's got dwarven justice to uphold)
He also has an amazing memory, an ability to read emotions fairly well and a good intuition which I think makes him a fine candidate for any sort of detective job (like chasing down an unknown vampire in a fort). Other things I like to see in my sheriff is confidence, sense of duty, and empathy when I can find it. So yeah, you don't need to be as comprehensive as me, but who's your sheriff and why?
*in my mind obviously, and this goes for all the other assumptions, too
**I know this trait has nothing to do with liberalism in a political sense