Realms of Echoes
COMPLETE GUIDE TO CHARACTER CREATION
COMPLETE GUIDE TO CHARACTER CREATION
Introduction:
This step by step guide will take you through the ins and outs of creating your character on Realms of Echoes. It includes a walkthrough of your forum character sheet, in-game character card, and help navigating the statistics, rolling, and techniques system. Pictures of relevant in-game commands, forum areas, and examples of completed sheets and cards are included for guidance. If you require any assistance navigating this walkthrough, issuing commands in-game, or if you have any general questions please reach out to a Staff Member in our Discord via the #help-and-questions thread. This guide will be periodically updated to reflect changes to the existing character and statistics systems. If you discover something is out of date, please inform a Staff Member.
Important Note:
Components of this guide describe the process of creating a Character Sheet on the forums. Doing so is mandatory. You will be unable to own a home, participate in events, participate in combat roleplay, acquire magic or special items, apply for special permissions, or otherwise engage with special server features (like the nobility and guilds systems) without an approved Character Sheet. Please thoroughly read and follow this guide in order to be able to enjoy our community to the fullest.
Step 1: Character Level, Stats, and Techniques
A system of mechanics exists on RoE to facilitate equitable interaction between the character and the game world. Just as Dungeons & Dragons has a mechanical system (Attributes, Skills, Classes, Features, et cetera) for characters to utilize when playing the game, RoE too has a unique system that is currently in the Beta-stage of development. For the sake of brevity, a brief overview of the components of that system critical to character creation will be covered here. A more in-depth guide to mechanics is available here:
Your character’s level is referred to as their Tier. New characters begin at Tier 0 and advance in tier over the passage of real-world time. The clock begins as soon as your Character Sheet on the forums is approved by the Story Team. In total, six real-world months are required to have passed since approval for your character to reach max tier. Please see the chart below for a diagram of the time required to advance in Tier.
| Tier 0: Your character sheet on the forums has been approved. | Tier 1: 1 month has passed since your character sheet on the forums was approved. | Tier 2: 3 months have passed since your character sheet on the forums was approved. | Tier 3: 6 months have passed since your character sheet on the forums was approved. |
At Tier 0, your character…:
- Automatically gains 5 Attribute Points to distribute amongst their Primary Attributes: Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Intuition.
＞ None of the Primary Attributes can exceed +4 at character creation. Primary Attributes can also be decreased to a minimum of -3 to gain additional points.
- Can freely acquire all Tier 0 Techniques, classified as the ‘Core Techniques’ on the Statistics & Combat post linked above.
- Has 3 slots to spend acquiring Techniques of Tier 1 and above. However, when initially selecting Techniques your character is restricted to Tier 1 until they conduct the roleplay required to level up a Technique to Tier 2 and ultimately to Tier 3. In addition to the roleplay, acquiring a levelled up Technique requires an approved cApp. See the link below for cApps:
＞ Once per day, your character can swap out selected Techniques for any other Tier 1 Technique or for a Technique of a higher Tier if you have an approved cApp for it.
- Automatically gains all of the Inheritance abilities from their chosen race.
At Tier 1, your character…:
- Gains one additional Attribute Point to distribute to any Primary Attribute of choice. This point can be used to increase a Primary Attribute above +4 to a maximum of +5.
- Gains an additional Technique slot.
- Automatically gains one Evolution from their chosen race.
At Tier 2, your character…:
- Gains one additional Attribute Point to distribute to any Primary Attribute of choice. This point can be used to increase a Primary Attribute above +5 to a maximum of +6.
- Gains an additional Technique slot.
At Tier 3, your character…:
- Gains one additional Attribute Point to distribute to any Primary Attribute of choice. This point can be used to increase a Primary Attribute above +5 to a maximum of +6.
- Gains an additional Technique slot.
- Automatically gains a second Evolution from their chosen race.
Aside from the four Primary Attributes aforementioned, all characters also have four Secondary Attributes: Health, Warding, Movement, and Toxicity. The Secondary Attributes cannot be improved by Attribute Points, but they may be able to be improved or modified by magic or special items acquired through roleplay. Please read in full the guide linked at the beginning of Step 1 for more information about Attributes.
Step 2: Draft a Character Concept
You are recommended to begin by storyboarding or brainstorming preliminary concepts before attempting to create your character on RoE. As a roleplaying community, the game we all play together is driven by storytelling, and compelling and original characters are a fundamental part of any great narrative. You may find it helpful to begin in one of two places: art or purpose-in-life.
With art, from places like pinterest, film, or your chosen search engine, you can find rapid inspiration from portraits, scenic depictions, or energetic moments of action or culture. With purpose-in-life, you should begin by considering what part of life you’d like your character to be anchored in. Perhaps they are a handworking farm labourer, or a grizzled and experienced mercenary monster-hunter. By grounding them in a basic function, you can consider how that role has affected them, allowing you to build small details like a web, one leads to another.
After establishing your character’s role in life, whether developing that idea from a piece of art or from thoughts about what they do on a day-to-day basis, you should start sprinkling in small details that make them unique or represent their actions. Perhaps they have calloused hands from labour or a raspy voice from smoking. If they smoke, what drives them? Addiction? Escaping difficulties? Social folkways? You can then begin to expand on those bullets to create compelling character quirks.
Next, develop their appearance in ways you believe reflect both their role and actions, and their quirks and behaviors. You can write about what clothes they wear, how they keep their hair, whether they’re physically fit, thin, or large, how they walk, and how they tend to speak to people. You do not need to go into incredible depth here, but it’s helpful to have essential ideas down in a straightforward list.
Once you have established your grounding and essential appearance details, you should select a race that most closely aligns aesthetically and functionally with your concept. We have six primary races on RoE: Athar, Dwumar, et’Ata, Gharuuk, Ssi’thar, and Nalarii. Although some of these races are inspired by classical fantasy, we strive for uniqueness and have attempted to craft options that are unlike stereotypical literature and film. If you need assistance selecting a race, please seek out a Staff Member or ask openly in #general in our Discord and one of our friendly community members may have a suggestion for you.
Finally, you should begin drafting a bulleted list of basic ideas about the character’s origin and some major life experiences. By developing a simple foundation, some elaboration on their schooling, culture, faith, and major events, you can easily fill out a backstory that feels rich while being concise, accompanying a shortlist of aspirations and attachments. This will be the grounding for an eventual expansion on your character sheet, should you choose to do so.
Step 3: Post a Basic Character Sheet on the Forums
Your Character Sheet on the forums is required to meet a basic set of criteria for consideration for approval. The following pieces of information must be included in every Character Sheet:
- Name
- Age
- Race
＞Inheritance
＞Chosen Evolutions
- Current Tier
- Stats (Primary and Secondary Attributes)
- Chosen Techniques
- Loadout
- Special Permissions and Magic (if applicable)
You are invited to be creative with the formatting of your Character Sheet as long as you clearly include all of this information. However, we also furnish templates for use if you would prefer not to have to format your own sheet:
Techniques, Racial Inheritance, and Racial Evolutionary all require the following information:
- Techniques: Technique Name, Tier, Requirements, Cooldown, Action Type, and Description.
- Racial Inheritance and Racial Evolutionary: Chosen Race, Ability Name, Action Type, Cooldown, and Description.
If your character does not have any Special Permissions, you can delete/leave out the Special Permissions section. If your character does not have any Magic, you can delete/leave out the Magic section.
Note: Special Permissions and Magic require a separate approved application. New Characters cannot possess Special Permissions or Magic except with prior Story Team approval.
Step 4: Create your Character Card In-Game
Once your Basic Character Sheet has been posted on the forums you can create your Character Card in-game while waiting for the Story Team to review your sheet. You can always update your in-game Character Card stats later if the Story Team asks you to modify your chosen Attribute spread.
To begin creating your Character Card, log on to the Minecraft server and type the command /newchar and then type /newchar confirm. This will open a character creation GUI that will walk you through the process step-by-step. If you encounter any bugs, glitches, errors, or other issues, please contact a Staff Member for assistance.
First, you will be greeted by the Attribute Spread GUI. When filling out your Attribute spread, you can increase a chosen Attribute by left-clicking and you can decrease a chosen Attribute by right-clicking. The plugin requires you to spend your initial 5 points before decreasing an Attribute to gain additional points.
Next, you must select a race from the six available options: Athar, Dwumar, et’Ata, Gharuuk, Ssi’thar, and Nalarii. Pending an update to RPSuite, you may be greeted by the outdated race names: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Goblin, Lizardman, and Darkelf. Please disregard the inaccurate naming scheme until RPSuite is updated. Thank you for your patience.
Finally, the GUI will close and your chat will flood with a character card. Everything will default to None except for your chosen race. To edit the options, simply hover over the section you would like to edit and click the text. Doing so will autofill your command bar so you can simply type whatever input you’d like. You may have to edit your display race to correspond with the new race names. Don’t worry about making a mistake or feeling unsure, all of this information can be easily edited later.
A complete list of these commands and those associated with roleplaying and rolling can be found here:
Step 5: Expand on your Forum Character Sheet
You are recommended but not required to ultimately expand on your Basic Character Sheet using the added bullets and sections in the ‘Extended Template’ available on the [Important] Character Profile Template sticky thread. The added items may include aspects of your character that you have already established.
By including them on your Character Sheet, you allow the Story Team to draw from a greater depth of information for inspiration to modify and expand on events and NPC interactions to craft more meaningful interactions with your character. Having an expanded Character Sheet may also help with Noble and Guild Applications by allowing the Story Team to better understand who your character is and how they fit into the game world.
The public nature of Character Sheets does not imply that the information contained in them is immediately accessible to all other characters in the game world. The information on Character Sheets is protected. Abuse of the information in roleplay by other players may result in repercussions for metagaming.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Reach out to a Staff Member for assistance!
Last edited: