Appearance

During your first session, your GM will likely ask you to describe your character. Describing your character's appearance is your chance to share your vision, the mental picture you have of your character, with the rest of the gaming group. Think about your character's body type, hair and eye color, and facial features. Your character's race will give you same general guidelines for appearance, but the rest is up to you.

Your character's attributes can tie into your appearance as well. For example, a character with a high strength is likely to look muscular. Likewise, a character with a high dexterity would appear agile and have quick reflexes. Try to describe the vision you have for your character in a few words and record them in the Appearance & Personality section of the character sheet.

Appearance also includes your character's Sex, Age, Height, and Weight. While most adventurers tend to be adults, what it means to be an "adult" is different for each race. While 50 might make an old man for a Human (remember this is a medieval fantasy setting), it is adolescence for an Elf. Your race page will have guidelines for ages of characters, along with simple calculations for Height and Weight. Just as age equivalencies change with race, so do body types. While dwarfs tend to be short and stocky, elves are of moderate height and thin. While the Height and Weight calculations should be considered guidelines, and you can ultimately decide these statistics yourself, keep in mind the average values for your character's race.

Personality

Hopefully at this point, you've developed some key personality traits for your character. Your attributes can help with this, for example a character with a high intelligence might be described as bookish or brainy, perhaps constantly (even annoyingly) correcting others mistakes. Likewise, a character with a high charisma may be outgoing and independent.

If you were to describe your character's personality in a few words, what would they be? Witty, stoic, or flippant? Compassionate, callous, or driven? Try to come up with a few words that describe your character's personality and record them in the Appearance & Personality section of the character sheet.

Beliefs & Values

Tying in with your character's personality is his beliefs, values and ideologies. Most characters will have some sort of value system, with corresponding notions of right and wrong, which helps to drive a character's actions. These beliefs can be expressed through a character's alignment and religious ideals.

Alignment

Your character's Alignment is mostly a choice reserved completely to you and dependent on your character concept. If your character worships a deity, however, it is expected that your character's alignment is not opposed to that of your deity (i.e. you cannot worship an evil deity if you are good aligned, though you could worship a neutral one).

There are two axes of alignment: One running between good and evil, the other between law and chaos. Characters can exist just about anywhere between these axes, though most heroic characters tend towards some sort of good alignment. Most humanoid creatures are unaligned (i.e. neither lending themselves specifically towards any particular alignment), so this is also a common alignment for adventurers.

You can read about the alignments in more detail on the Alignment page, then record your choice (in shorthand) in the "Alignment" box on the character sheet. Typically, you will want to choose an alignment that best fits your character's personality and background, though certain Classes may require characters to have a specific alignment (such as the Paladin requirement of Lawful Good alignment).

Religion & Deities

Just as religion has driven much of history, religion can drive plot and story within your game. Depending on your character concept, your character may worship a specific deity that aligns with his ideals and personality. Choosing a deity may grant your character bonuses or penalties, and is optional for all characters except those belonging to the Divine Philosophy (i.e. Clerics and Paladins). A sample list of Deities is available for the Nexxen campaign setting in Deities. Remember, this list is only for suggestions, and your GM may have campaign specific deities that you should subscribe to.

Morale

Morale represents your character's confidence and dedication to his actions. Morale fluctuates during combat in response to a variety of factors, but your Base Morale is dependent on the Charisma score and bonuses granted by Racial or Class features (an additional bonus based on level will apply later). To determine your character's base morale, use the table to the left and add any bonuses. Your Base Moral Score can be recorded in the "Max" box in the Morale Section of the character sheet.

While your character's Base Morale score is dependent solely on your attributes, it serves as an extension of your character's personality. Characters with a high morale score tend to be confident, dedicated, and loyal, while characters with a lower morale score can be cowardly and meek.