Do you stick to your starting skills/ attributes or do you balance things out as you play?

So I was playing Warband the other day and thought: we create our character by answering a number of questions that determine their background, and we get starting stats and gear accordingly. But I've noticed that whenever I play, I tend to either favour certain skills or attributes over others (based explicitly on preference), or to balance and level everything equally. Never have I managed to play the game by only leveling the starting skills/ attributes and using only specific gear that makes sense for my char's backstory. I mean, that's what the RP in classic RPGs stands for: having a class and running with it, restrictions and all, whereas personality and choices come second, becoming fleshed out as you play. Yes, WB isn't a CRPG, but I was wondering if any of you actually treat it as such, or at least tried to?