Hello. New and need some help with character creation.

So I have been trying to go to this game for a while but I never seem to make it. I would like to make it to the May game.
I am not sure what to pick (Race and profession) for the type of character I want to play. I would like to make a social character with some combat and healing abilities. I am unsure if I want to go a religious route for the healing or not.

Any advise would be helpful.

Thank you.

Hi, Will!

One profession that comes to mind is Ranger, that way you have some combat abilities and can also cast some Druidics, which includes healing skills.

I'm on the move right now, so I'll make a more thorough post a little later.

For a race, try looking at what will be the most fun to play rather than the best synergy. It's nice when you get the latter, but it'll never be a substitute for fun on its own.

For a profession, one thing to keep in mind is that you can add up to three other professions in addition to your starting two (Commoner plus one other). You don't necessarily have to have everything you want in one starting package; you can build up to it instead.

Travance is a place of extraordinary people, and those who are extraordinary elsewhere can find themselves humbled and realizing how much they need to learn; that makes it easy for new players to roleplay as already knowing the basics of Profession X, but realizing they need a "refresher course" from a more experienced hero. For example, my healer was classically trained (what that exactly means, I don't know, but clearly HE does!), but he never actually finished his education and has spent almost twenty years away from civilization. So he has a lot of experience, but he's also got a lot to learn. What he's been doing has been child's play next to the advanced techniques the healers in Travance know, and he has to bring himself to admit he needs more training, and possibly unlearning what he's known before in order to remove "mistakes" he's developed over the years. Both of those are just roleplayed excuses for having to learn stuff and spend build on new techniques.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can rewrite your character during your first two paid events and up to the start of your third. So if you try a ranger but think you might like a cleric instead, all it takes is a trip to Logistics and you can put a dash of holiness on for size. Don't like the god you chose? Same thing. Decide you want pure warrior or pure spellcaster? Done. This is precisely so you can take the edge off your fear of being locked into something you thought was going to be fun, but wasn't. Recently, I was told about a new player who tried something standard (might have been warrior, I can't remember), but rewrote to chaos warrior at his first event and embraced the roleplay.

And don't feel locked down by stereotypes. Not all rangers are Drizzt or Aragorn, just as not all mages are Gandalf. A ranger could be a poncy nobleman or a grizzled war veteran, both of whom just happen to know some tricks for surviving in the wild. A cleric has to follow a god, but that doesn't mean you have to approach it quite the same way; though trust me, if you say you have disagreements with your god, that god might show up in the form of an NPC to have a "chat." :) For another personal example, my character has the witch hunter list, but currently thinks witch hunters are fundamentally wrong in how they work. It's led to fun roleplay, and will continue to do so in the future.

Your available costume pieces can also dictate what you play, depending on how much effort you want to spend on it in the first event. Non-humans tend to be difficult to do as a new player (except for elves, since you can get the ears easily), but if you want to invest in it, you'll be impressive just by virtue of showing up for your first event with good costuming. Good armor and weapons can be expensive, but there are various things to do as a first step and other players will be more than happy to offer advice. If you're feeling nervous about it because of the great photos on the website, I encourage you to go back to early events, fifteen years ago or so. Look at what the players wore then, and realize that the long-time players who look so impressive now were once newbies too.

I went over the rulebook. I am thinking Londwyn Torturer and then taking Physician at some point.

Sorry I never got to that more-thorough post but it looks like you figured it out anyway!

If you're all set and have time before the weekend, go ahead and submit your character in the Character Builder. Part of our New Player Drive that's going on right now, is an extra 5 build for making your character in the Builder--on top of the other extra 5 you'd already get to use. 60 total, compared to 50 if you made your character in person on Friday night.

cards.knightrealms.com/character_builder

If you need help figuring out skill allocation, whether one is helpful or not, or how they work, feel free to ask!


-Jeff

Thanks again Jeff.

I was wondering if you could recommend some Physician skills? I am not sure what ones I should take first.
Also, how does health work?

I'll message ya!