This guide is to help explain a few of the important choices you'll make, and what design considerations we put into them in developing the game. We want all players, old and new, to have some common understandings to help smooth your applications process.
You have the option of choosing between 4 and 8 skills. Your available skill points are divided evenly over them, creating very different character concepts. Consider your desired character background when making this choice.
Four Skills: You have lived a focused life pursing your passion - a narrow profession. As you enter game, you will be fairly proficient, likely having spent time as an apprentice crafter and now stepping out and hoping to rise to journeyman, or as a warrior who has seen a few battles. This is a good choice for someone who wants to hit the ground running with a specific concept.
Six Skills: You are fairly proficient, but have lived a life of mixed interests. Yes, you have some experience and can act competently as an apprentice in your field, but you also have some hobbies that you've picked up and enjoy, too. This is a good choice for someone who wants a rounded character.
Eight Skills: You are either young or inexperienced, having dabbled across a broad range of interests without any narrow focus. You are a new apprentice, or have come from the training ground looking for your first real battle. The road is open before you and your broad experience across several fields gives you open options, but you will spend time working your way up from the bottom. This is a good choice for someone who wants to play a coming of age story.
We have a process of prerequisites that requires multiple skills to be chosen in order to demonstrate focus and get to higher-focus crafts or skills. You'll see these prerequisite pathways enforced in character creation as greyed-out skills become enabled as you make other choices.
First-Aid --> Medicine
First-aid is for dabblers, devoting the second skill for Medicine allows access to remedies as a professional.
Leathercraft or Metalcraft --> Armorcraft
You can have some background as a blacksmith or leatherworker, but actually working Armor demands more focus and a second skill.
Woodcraft, Metalcraft, or Stonecraft (orc) --> Weaponcraft
Same as armorcraft; the crafting of weapons is a specialty that requires additional focus.
Sole-wield --> Dual-wield
It is common for anyone to have a weapon skill, but a serious warrior begins to study weapon styles, beginning with Sole-Wield. Learning to focus on one weapon successfully is the first mark of a professional. Dual-wield then offers additional advantages, and can be taken once Sole-Wield is selected, and shows the warrior has experience in combat with two weapons or with a sword and shield -- skills appreciated more on the battlefield against intelligent and armored foes than in the forest haunts against wildlife.
Bludgeon or Polearm --> Longblade
In our northland realm amongst huntsmen and foresters, it is axes, staves, and hammers (bludgeon skill), or spears (polearm skill), which find most common use and are the first weapons learned by warriors defending their towns or warrens. The longblade is a more specialized weapon preferred by professional soldiers on battlefields against armored foes, and is less common to learn. Someone who is skilled in the use of a sword has devoted more of their earlier life to battle (denoted by the second skill pick).
Any craft-skill --> Artistry
Artistry is not restricted as a pick, but is important to take to separate a dabbler from a professional. SOI represents a world with professional artesian craftsmen making individualized hand-made goods. While anyone with leatherwork, for example, can make basic goods, the Artistry skill is required as a second pick to be able to rise to the peak and make Superior or Masterwork wares.
It is good for characters to dabble and have hobbies, as this rounds out concepts and makes characters more enjoyable to roleplay over the long term. Many areas have an introductory skill for those who dabble and incorporate secondary picks for those that are seriously pursuing the profession.
The following skills make good choices for dabbling/hobbies:
Most character concepts benefit from having sets of skills - usually four - that function together. We don't have a "profession picker" in the application yet, but you can consider the following list of recommendations to help you on your way.
* Marked skills are available, but not supported for Alpha-start. They will be made available as Alpha play progresses.
[] Education skill requires RPP or special application to Frigga for Alpha.
Those who venture into the woods should consider their balance between martial skills (bludgeon, polearm, longblade, sole-wield, dual-wield) and woodland skills (foraging, hunting, hide, sneak). Many concepts can be chosen between these options. Foraging is important as resources are the reason the forest is risked. Hunting includes the ability to track your enemies and to find, remove, or build traps for your foes. Hide and sneak provide the stealth to seek out the enemies you wish to fight without being drawn into conflicts you don't want, or may not survive.
This was announced previously, but will be quoted here to consolidate the references.
Our attributes are:
The following principles now apply: