Character Creation

Dear Erisians,

If you played MMORPGs throughout the 2000s, you might remember the intricate character systems of old, with permanent statistic allocations and racial tradeoffs; as we approached the end of that decade however, these systems gave way to mere cosmetic differences and infinite respecs. The unforgiving nature of character creation systems was thus at an end and big studios moved into making easier, more accessible games.

It now falls on small independent studios like ours, with access to modern game engines, making it possible to pick up on some of the threads started during those times and aspirationally work to improve upon those ideas. Our system is built on this philosophy: choices are permanent and have consequences.

Realize that you are very likely to create a suboptimal first character, traditionally referred to as a “gimp”. It’s understood and accepted that it’s part of the process and you will generally have to create new characters, hopefully better than your first attempt, after learning more about the game. This process is called “re-rolling” and it imposes a cost on time spent experimenting. You are therefore advised, but not required, to spend some time thinking about and planning your character.

Race

Choosing a race is a major decision, as it permanently shapes your character’s core strengths and playstyle through fixed statistic allocations. Each race offers distinct advantages suited to specific roles:

• Ithacan a pious people, suited to be healers due to their vast spirit or rogues due to their heightened agility.
• Minotaur a monstrous, bull-headed people, they dominate as fighters due to their immense strength and great endurance.
• Hierax an unruly, avian people, they are unrivaled as rogues due to their superior agility and as marksmen due to their exceptional perception.

The following table details the innate base and maximum attribute values for each race:

Racial Costs

Some races have an associated creation cost. This cost is deducted from your starting pool of 20 attribute points, reducing the points available for allocation or trait selection.

The creations costs per race are as follows:

Attributes

Once you’ve selected your race, your next decision is allocating your initial attribute points. These seven core statistics govern every aspect of your character’s capabilities, from combat prowess to utility. How you distribute these points will fundamentally define your character’s role and effectiveness.

All attributes serve as prerequisites for certain equipment and grant bonuses to their governed skills (unless noted otherwise). The seven attributes are:

• Strength a measure of raw physical power. Increases damage and attack rating for strength-based weapons such as swords, axes, polearms, carry weight capacity, as well as character size.
• Agility a measure of hand-eye coordination, reflexes and fine motor skills. Increases damage and attack rating for agility-based weapons such as daggers, bows, spears, and defense rating.
• Perception a measure of eyesight and situational awareness. Increases ranged accuracy, the chance to detect nearby invisible characters and hidden traps.
• Endurance a measure of physical toughness and cardiovascular capacity. Increases health and stamina.
• Intelligence a measure of IQ, memory and reasoning ability. Increases damage and attack rating for intelligence-based spells and grants a bonus to all skills.
• Spirit a measure of intuitiveness and willpower. Increases mana, as well as damage and attack rating for spirit-based spells.
• Charisma a measure of physical attractiveness and personality. Decreases prices when bartering, and increases leadership ability.

With a foundational understanding of races and attributes, we can now explore archetypes and traits. Archetypes will greatly influence your playstyle, while traits are key to making your character unique.

David
Lead Developer

Next: Archetypes & Traits