Step 1: Envision your Hero

This, arguably is the most important step in creating a character, this is what transforms a set of statistics, rules and abstracted ideals into a living breathing character.

The idea here is to get an idea of who you are creating, a kernel to focus the rest of your ideas around.

the most important part of that kernel for me is the name, so much hinges upon a name, I dig up some language primers based on the real world culture that the Arcanis culture is based on (look for the side bars that are in the "Codex Arcanis" portion in your ARPG in the listings by nations. and piece together names that sound thematically similar and have some meaning to you or your character.

Another thing I recommend is Base your character off someone in particular, Say your building "the Coolest mechanical animal Fighter around", that says to me , oh , I'm going to build an Elorii and pattern his personality of Arnold Schwarzenegger from one of the terminator movies. You can also build it from someone you know, if you want to build a "frantic little buzzball" you could build it based on Pedro (being a person that most of us know one way or another)

Step 2: Choose your Hero’s Archetype

Right, you have 4 choices Arcane, Divine, Expert, Martial.

There are some pretty important things to realize here:
1. Talents granted here get to ignore requirements with the exception of limited talents, talents above Tier I, and racial talents you don't qualify for.

What this means, Hey you can skip the "3 ranks in a lore skill" requirement of Prestidigitation, or even the "9 ranks in any knowledge skill" for encyclopedic memory skill talent

2. Normally you have to qualify for access to the spell casting, Arcane and Divine Archtypes are ways to qualify.

What this means: you will have to take a specific background or path to get access to Spell casting if you don't take it here.

3. the most important long term benefits that come from an arch type are the Advancements they grant (look at page 272 ARPG)

Lets take a look at the Archtypes:

Arcane: Ok, unless your going to be a Shaman Initiate (Primal), or a Sorcerer Priest, this is the only way to get arcane spell casting at character generation.
Also keep in mind that "Lore skills" are not just knowledge skills, and keep in mind you can use your weapon training to pick up weapon training shield and that will grant armor proficiency shield also.

Divine: I'm not a huge fan of the Divine, I feel that your shooting yourself in the foot in the long term unless your planning on playing a character with a low logic (4 or less), because there are only 5 social skills and you would just have unspent advancement opportunities.
There are backgrounds (Initiate of the gods and Templar) that give divine spell casting access and are really good backgrounds to boot, but more on that later.
I was reminded that this can be off set by a talent (Sharp eyes) that adds perception to your archtype skills.... but I think that's pretty lackluster still

Expert: Experts are a little bit more advanced but they are totally worth the effort, they get two skill talents that ignore the rules and that's so powerful, one of them probably should be adaptable, and then another skill talent like quick or prestidigitation or encyclopedic memory to take advantage. also keep in mind you can use your weapon training to pick up weapon training shield and that will grant armor proficiency shield also

Martial:Combat skills, keep in mind mettle and battle are also combat skills. Also Larn Martial technique at this stage will let you ignore pre reqs like the might on mighty swing.

Step 3: Determine your Hero’s Attribute Scores (Page 102)

so there are two schools of thoughts on this (at least at the outset), the balanced character, and the unbalanced character.

The Balanced character starting scores are going to range from 4-6 maybe a 7, probably a single 3 in there, lots of 4s and 5s. I tend to favor this kind of build, Getting advancements in tier 1 and 2 to bump things up to 7s and to make up for my initial 3

The unbalanced character starts off with an 8 or even a 9 in a stat and lots of other lower stats, there are some really neat characters you can build off this, but in the long run they are going to have a harder time with fate, and branching out into other disciplines.

Physical stats
Most fighter types are Might OR Quickness based, Vigor is useful to everyone, and Prowess is an essential stat for everyone (unless your a caster that only targets discipline from afar )

Mental stats
Logic is important long term for skill points, Resolve is important in creation for skill points and long term for mettle rolls. Charisma and insight are good for social skills.

Step 4: Determine your Hero’s race (Page 106)


Odds are if you completed step one, you have already have this figured out, in Arcanis Race is intricately tied to the character concept, Its wonderful!.

However there is still some variation, if you want to be a Knightly type you have some choices (Dark-kin, Human, Vals) or if you want to be an Elorii priest of Belisarda, you have some choices also

Dark-kin, its worth nothing these guys have a significant social stigma that is insurmountable in many cases. Because they get a bonus to vigor or resolve, the tend to take a bit more punishment of certain types, and they get a +1 to a defense of choice, and that's pretty shiny. The also get exclusive access to Infernal heritage talents, and they are interesting, they are fairly lackluster to me currently (that being said i loved the Legacy of damnation book , and i still couldn't bring myself to make a dark-kin then either)

Dwarves!
Over all i think the dwarves have lost a bit from 3.5, i really missed their ability to "die" but not die with their soul shards. one thing that all Dwarves do is craft, and that is central to the dwarven races, since the campaign does not support crafting and the story is currently focused on the story of the first city (thats not very dwarf centric afaik) you might have a hard time finding story to latch on to.
However if your the super patient type, I would be willing to bet there are going to be enough tidbits of the "omg variety" out there to make it worth while.

Encali Dwarves, make particularly good Sorcerer Priests

Elorii
-the only PC race that can cast Elder magic
mysteries abound for these races, I have a feeling we will be learning loads of information about their history in the current campaign arc. all of the elorri races are interesting particularly with their bloodline talents.
due to the actions of elorii players in the past there is a social stigma between players of elorii and other players, it fairly well matches the stigma that exists in game for the elorii.

Gnomes
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." ...someone should write the gnome port town of Eisley.
what i said for the darkkin about being generally tougher because of resolve and vigor, ditto.
instead of a bonus to defenses they get an extra wound, that's nothing to scoff at. they have less of a social stigma that dark-kin in some circles at least. if your looking to play something thats ugly / reviled /hated, this is your race!

Human
hands down the strongest race mechanics wise out there, the only reason they dont beat out the vals is psionics and the vals are shinier(silly blood line talents)

Kio
Fantastic martial characters, they are mandated to take one of the best weapons out there as an heirloom, an ideal race for a quickness based fighter, and pretty good for a might based one also.

Ss'ressen
kinda confusing, they probably would have benefited from a separate write up for males and females, see the dudes are better genetically at being fighter types and not being caster types. and the gals are better at being caster types and priestesses (and quickness based fighters)
if i wanted to create a huge dumb fighter ssressen male is the route i would take.

Val
There are 13 flavors, and if your going to be a psionic caster you need to pay close attention to their spells, and depending on what kind of character your making your going to be paying close attention to your family, either as a counterpoint to your other abilities, or as a backbone for your abilities.

Val bloodline talents are really good, I recommend you try to take as many as you can, if they don't fit your character, why are you playing that kind of val? (unless its for the internal character plot, or for the family plot.. but you have to ask yourself what your getting out of this)

Val tensens have a great sub plot going on, and so do the valInares, even though that one is much weirder

Step 5: Choose your Hero’s Home Nation and region

So the apparent benefit from Nation is pick a couple of skills and get a language (see note on languages at the end of these posts) it also has a lot to say about your weapon and armor choices, and access into certain paths (Warped one, Milandisian Warmind etc)

like race, a lot of character concepts are tied to region, even if there is some leeway, eg knights can be from Milandir OR Almeric in most cases.

Abessios -> not allowed for campaign play, but this is where all the cool Myrantian kids live, and all the old geezer valInares too

Almeric --> War Torn petty nobles abound here, everyone has a claim on the highly disputed throne, and the Val Tensen's have a lot to say about this. lots of plots out wandering around here, its a combo of Milandir and Coryan so loots of good weapons and armor choices AND it has heal as a skill, and that's important to Martial characters that want to be casters in character creation

Altheria --> this is where most of the val abebi hang out, they have some residual issues with the elorii and always fighting the ssressen, and the shining patrol. this is one of the "edges" of the known world

Cancerii --> not allowed for campaign play, lots of evil bad stuff happens here

Coryani empire --> well this is the biggest most well explored part of the world its so domesticated that the things breaking the cracks are so much more subtle and insidious. and well there are always the Leigons, and the inquistion and the mother church to deal with.

Dwarven Enclaves --> not always a default region for dwarves, because they can live anywhere but a pretty good region for dwarves and gnomes

Elorii nations--> again not a default location, but if you lay claim to a home in one of the big cities this is where you are from, one of the side benefits is you get your own tree to hug if your from here.

Hinterlands--> lots of things here, a lot of languages to learn, warped ones to make, horrses to ride, things to steal.... a pretty good place to be from if it fits your noble savage type character, or your remote town kinda guy

League of princes --> oh this is a bundle of fun plots, and the kio are from here too(for the most part)

Milandir --> Knights and chivalry abound here, there are a lot of unresolved plots here: the milandric church, the val tenses, the new king, the fight with cancerii

the Pirate isles --> this is where freeport and garundi are, cults of yig, pirates, Kolter firearms, also one of the only places that have a melee skill, barfighters and martial artists are going to abound here.

the unsealed lands --> not currently allowed, tho we will see some vals from here pretty soon

Ymandragore --> you can build some truly excellent casters from here, too bad they are all under the thumb of the Sorcerer King (aka not available for campaign play)

Step 6: Choose your Hero’s Background Profession

OK, this is a really important step mm'kay?
this is the other way to get access to casting (other than archtype) now on one hand there are very few backgrounds that give access to casting (Initiate itinerant, Templar, Undisciplined Psion, shaman initiate) and a few backgrounds that lead into specific Paths later on (Patrician, Noble, Squire) and backgrounds that represent service to a military organization ( Legionnaire, Shining Patrol etc)

the general idea here is to pick up skill & talents based on what you did before you started adventuring., but at the same time improve upon the skills you plan to use when adventuring, look for skills that bump the melee or ranged skill your going to use & talents that you might not otherwise have access to.

a secondary idea here is look for gear that will help you out, Apprentice of the masters, for a fine item, squire for a heavy warhorse, Former shining patrol for guns!

Your also going to get a bump to an attribute here but its probably not going to be that helpful, hopefully you can use it to move a stat from 4 to 5 since this stat adds to the lowest of the 2 stats listed.

Step 7: Train your Hero’s Skills (Page 135)

So this is the easiest step out there, you have 8 ish points to advance skills, you can only advance skills you have from previous steps, you can buy new skills at this step 1 point for 1 or 3 points for 2 ranks, but I personally think that's a waste most of the time, your far better off waiting to put it in as an advancement (particularly if your an expert)

keep in mind that, there are some really important skills:
Perception
Mettle
your attack skill
your casting skill
Athletics

Step 8: Define your Hero’s Flaws (Optional) (Page 166)

Yes, Do this, pick something that wont debilitate your character, and will provide a good foil for your character to RP.

Personally I'm a fan of Cursed/Dammed, Glass Jaw, and Lame. I wish physically and mentally weak didnt outright cripple any character that takes them but cest la vie

Step 9: Select your Hero’s Talents (Page 170)

Man there are SO MANY choices here, you have from 2 to like 5 picks here... So go wild, BUT remember your setting you self up for advancements down the road.

some of the great feat chains to look for:
Weapon focus
Leadership
Loyal Companion

just remember that there are so many choices out there try to keep your self focused on what your character is good at and not get distracted by the ohh shiny

Step 10: Finishing Touches

Buy your Gear with the money you have from your Background, if you have extra gear you can sell it at 1/10th the value

Pick your languages
Check the FAQ on how this works!

Figure out your weapon tricks, look at page 239 for weapon traits, and weapon tricks start on pg 240, check out what you have at your command

and really put off of this information in to a form fillable PDF to auto calculate all the other things, or take a look back up in the attributes section of the book to figure out what your derived stats are.

Finally figure out your encumbrance (rules are on page 336)