Character Creation Guide - by Clay
Character creation is one of if not the most important part of your gaming experience. The character you build determines how you will play the game, just as how you like to play the game should affect what kind of character you build.
The most common question I'm asked regarding character creation is, "What's the best class?" or "What's the best class for PvP (Player versus player)?" I can't answer this, the obvious question, because Dark Age of Camelot is balanced better than any other massively multiplayer game I've played. All classes are useful. Every class has strengths and weaknesses. One class being able to dominate another class in a one-on-one battle is not a measure of how useful a class may be.
With that, try to get an idea of what kind of character you would like to play. Since all of the classes are useful, as stated above, Dark Age of Camelot should be all about what kind of character you want to portray. Do you prefer going head-to-head with someone, or would you rather be stealthily about it? Do you want to use hand-to-hand weapons or magic? Maybe a bow would be more your style. Perhaps you would like to use songs to aid your realmmates in battle. It's all up to you - there's a wide variety of possibilities for your character here.
Okay, so likely you've already chosen your server and realm. Each realm is unique, and you can only participate in one realm per server, so choose wisely. The next step, of course, is the creation of your character. When you come to the creation screen, you'll see something that looks like this:
Let me explain what everything on this screen does. Please forgive the poor cosmetics of the graphic.
Description Box
I'm going to start out of order with this one. The description box is in the lower right hand corner of the creation screen. When you hover your mouse cursor over an item, the description box will give you a little more information about that item. And now...
Naming
At the very top sits the words "Enter Name" and a box. One might guess that you'd put one's character's name here, and one'd be right. Try to pick a name that is suitable for the enviornment where your character will be playing. There's also a name filter, so if a name is deemed unacceptable by the filter or is already taken by someone else, you will have to choose another name. There's also a generate name button you can push if you're all out of creative juices for the day.
Names range from the fierce to the comedic. I'll never forget my first MMORPG character, Fluffy. He was a great warrior.
Races
In the upper left hand corner, there's a table with four boxes. The four boxes represent the races of the realm, as you'll notice the race names are printed nicely on the boxes. Clicking on a box under "Select Race" will affect what class you can be. It will also affect your appearance, as you will see in the center of the screen. As you might guess, different races look different, as trolls are big and rocklike and kobolds are small and smurflike. Each race also has different starting statistics, as well. That's a bit much information to put all in one place, so refer to the following likes for Albion, Midgard, and Hibernia;. Behind those links you'll find information about each race, including what they look like, their starting statistics, and what classes they can be, as well as their resistances. Resistance to a type of attack reduces the damage you might take from that kind of attack, whereas negative resistance forces you to take extra damage from that kind of attack.
Classes
This is probably the most important part of character creation. Your class determines what kind of weapons or armor you can use, has an impact on your carrying weight, among other things, but most importantly, determines how you will be able to effectively play your character. For instance, magic-based classes usually aren't good at hand-to-hand combat, just as weapons fighters usually aren't able to cast spells.
You'll notice that the classes listed on sites such as daoc.warcry.com aren't the same as the classes you can pick from on the character select screen. In Dark Age of Camelot, you choose a base class first, and at level five you choose another class to get the rest of your class-specific skills. Each base class can only become certain classes. For instance, a fighter base class from Albion can become an Armsman, a Mercenary, or a Paladin, whereas an Acolyte can only become a cleric or a friar.
Remember that not all races can be all classes. Just as a Saracen cannot begin as an Acolyte, some classes can only choose from certain secondary classes derived from the base class. In example, Highlanders can begin as Acolytes, but only Britons can be friars, so Highlanders who start as an Acolyte may only become Clerics. Please refer to the Albion, Midgard, and Hibernia race charts to see which base classes can become each level five profession.
Sex (Gender)
Here, you, uh, choose your gender. The change to your character is mostly cosmetic, but it will also affect what certain npcs will call you (sir, madam, etc). Gender does not affect skills, attributes, quests you can get, items or weapons you can use, or clothes you can wear.
Hair Color
Select your hair color. Colors range from a variety of browns to white to blonde to Highlander red. This change is purely cosmetic. It doesn't affect your gameplay in the least. Did you know 12% of people from Scotland are born with red hair? That's the highest percent of red hairists from anywhere in the world. Interesting, no?
Face
Here's where you select what your ugly (or, um, pretty?) mug looks like. There are also different hairstyles (within the face selection) for each race except trolls, who instead choose from a variety of facial tattoos. This change is cosmetic as well, as it doesn't affect your gameplay at all.
Height
At the bottom of the screen, under the picture of your character, lie three buttons - short, average, and tall. These, of course, change the height of your character. While the change is purely cosmetic, some may think that a smaller character (especially one that's naturally small, like a kobold) may be less of a target in realm versus realm battles. Personally, I think larger characters are more intimidating, but it's up to you.
Attributes
This is probably the most complex part of character creation, but it's really not that hard, so take it easy. There are eight attributes, strength, constitution, dexterity, quickness, intelligence, piety, empathy, and charisma. Refer to this page to read what each of the stats do. However, there is a catch.
You start with thirty points. You can put ten points into an attribute, but the eleventh point will cost you two creation points. After 15 added points to a stat, the next point will cost you 3 creation points. So, you can see that putting more than ten points into a skill yields a severe penalty. You'll probably want to put points into the skills that your level five profession will need the most. I always put ten points into strength, because strength is a measure of your carrying capacity, and later on, you need to be able to carry a lot. Where you put your points is up to you.
It should be noted that character stats don't matter all that much. It is extremely difficult to "gimp" your character, that is, make him useless.
Proceed
When you hit proceed, the description box will tell you if your name is not accepted. Otherwise, it'll take you to the character description screen, where you'll learn a little more about what choices you will have for your profession later on. Hit proceed again, and poof! You're in the gaming world. From here, the real fun begins.
I hope you found my guide informative. If you're ever on Merlin in Albion, look me up. :)
- Clay
