Shattered Kingdoms

I'd say first, of course your alignment would make a big difference. A chaotic character could be molded over time as you can pretty much do what you want but as for evil or good characters you'd at least want to think about what religion (if any) that you might want to join so your acts as a young character can be considered acceptable.

People do things differently, nothign wrong with that.

It should be as in depth as you feel like making it. This is a game not a job. You are obligated to have an adj and a desc, that's it. You don't need to have a backstory or a plan or anything. You can ofcourse have those things, and there is nothing wrong with them, but that's about it.

Personally, I spend a good chunk of time on planning my character's background story and major personal traits. It's a matter of taste, but I find it makes me enjoy the game more in the long run.

However, I rarely if ever plan their future goals/destined paths. I prefer to just throw a character into the deep end of the pool and see if they can swim that way. It usually means their furtures often turn out much different than planned, but that's part of the fun imo.

howabout if you start off as a griffon, and only age 3

would the griffon have a different mentallity at such a young age? or would his/her thought process be along that of an adult human for a much longer time (from 3 - say 60)

i'd think a 3 year old griffon would be much more impressionable than a 20 year old human, or 101 year old elf- who would probably by this time be set in his ways, unless something drastic happened to that elf

Age 3 griffons are considered as physically and mentally mature as a human at the youngest playable age.

However, being adult so early certainly makes a difference. Not only will they be impressionable, but their lack of life experience is going to make them terribly naive. Also, with only 3 years of backstory, it may be helpful to plan future events that will have an effect on the characters ideological development.

Play your character however you want. Don't let any of these schmoes tell you otherwise.