Here is my challenge.  Make a character texture using only shaders and NO texture maps (except for transparency maps for Lashes and Brows) for Generation 4 characters.  (V4, M4, Kids4, etc.).  Let's see what you can do. :)

Sounds interesting.

I remember I once read in a thread about a procedural skin texture, and I tried it for myself.
I'm getting bloody natural results with tweaking texture maps to almost photorealistic renders (if the maps are good), but I never got satisfactory output from that procedural skin shader.
I think skin tissue is just too differing (especially in the face) to have a "one shader covers it all" solution.
Like, the eyelids have a much finer pores etc. than the cheeks. Maybe this could be minded by using various overlays, but my guess is that the resulting shader tree would be overkill...

Of course, I'm no Bagginsbill - just my own experience here. I'm sure that people with bigger skills than mine might find a solution - so it's a good challenge.
We can all but learn!

Peter

I know it's a real challenge ... and missing the texture maps will make some things more ... difficult.  But it would be interesting to see what people come up with.  It's all for fun.

This sounds like a great challenge!