Your character's build determines what you can do in play. Every build includes a class, a race, and a trade, which are chosen at creation.
- Your character's class is your main adventuring skill set, such as fighter, mage, rogue, or theurge. Most of your in-play abilities are determined by your class.
- Your character's race is the species to which you belong, such as elf, dwarf, or human. You gain a few useful abilities from your race, and may be required to wear additional costuming depending on the race you choose.
- Your character’s trade is the craft or profession you practice while not adventuring. You gain downtime abilities from your profession, plus possibly a few other abilities you can use in play.
For your class, race, and trade, you can select from Starting Packages, customize variants from existing options, or create brand new options from scratch. Races face a more stringent editorial process, so this is not recommended if you are new to the game.
Class
Public classes are subject to the class content standards. Classes must adhere to the following rules when being constructed:
- A class may grant passive, combat, and narrative abilities, but not downtime abilities.
- A class may not grant abilities of the same main type (passive, combat, or narrative) worth more than half it's total XP at any point (e.g., no more than 150 XP worth of passive abilities when the character has 300 XP).
- A class may not grant an ability worth more than one third it's total XP at any point (e.g., no single ability worth more than 100 XP when the character has 300 XP).
- The first ability a class grants must be a basic attack proficiency. Ths second must be a combat ability.
- A class has a maximum limit on some ability types:
- No more than seven combat abilities.
- No more than seven immunities.
- No more than three damage type abilities.
- No more than one passive critical damage ability.
Races
New race packets are subject to race content standards and Artistic Director approval. The guidelines for abilities provided by races are as follows:
- Races grant abilities more slowly than other build options. Each ability costs three times the normal amount of XP.
- A race may not grant more than 300 XP worth of abilities in total.
- A race must grant one passive, one combat, and one narrative ability, though the same ability can be upgraded without exceeding this limit.
- A race may also grant one language ability, which does not count against its narrative ability limit.
- A race's abilities must be added in order of ability level.
Trade
Public trades are subject to global content standards. Trades must adhere to the following rules when being constructed:
- Trades grant mostly downtime abilities, though a trade may grant a single narrative ability no greater than level 5.
- A trade may not grant an ability worth more than one third it's total XP at any point (e.g., no single ability worth more than 100 XP when the character has 300 XP).