=== Creating a Character ===

Hengband is a role playing game, in which you, the player, control a
character in the world of Hengband. Perhaps the most important thing
you control is the birth of your character, in which you choose or
allow to be chosen various attributes that will affect the future life
of your character.

Character creation, or birth, is controlled through a variety of
choices as to constraints on the type of character you wish to play,
followed by a series of random calculations to generate ("roll up") a
random character matching the appropriate constraints.

Once your character has been generated, you will be given the choice to
generate a new character obeying the same constraints, and once you
have generated more than one character, you can switch back and forth
between the two most recent characters, until you are presented with a
character that you feel comfortable with.

You may start the entire process over at any time by pressing 'S' at
any prompt (with the exception of the autoroller (see below [1]) prompt
and the prompt for the number of random quests (see below [2])).


***** <StartUp>
=== Start-up Options ===

During character generation you may press '=' at any time to access
the start-up options. A more detailed description of the various
start-up options can be found in the section on the Options Page (see
option.txt#StartUp [3]). Some options have "(*)" mark that means these
options effect to the difficulty of the game and effect to estimation
of your score.

Perhaps one of the most important features of the start-up options is
the ability to decide what type of town level you want. The various
town options are discussed on the Town page (see dungeon.txt#TownLevel
[4]).


***** <CharAttributes>
=== Character Attributes ===

Once you begin character generation you will be asked to choose your
character's four primary attributes - its sex, race, class and
personality. If you have selected a spellcasting class, you will also
be prompted for your choice of magic realm(s).

Your character's sex has a minimal effect on game play - females start
with slightly more gold, males are generally heavier and so can bash
more effectively. Race, class, personality and magic realms have a far
more significant effect and are discussed at some length in the Race
(see charattr.txt#TheRaces [5]), Class (see charattr.txt#TheClasses
[6]) and Magic Realms (see magic.txt#MagicRealms [7]) sections.

--- Secondary Attributes ---

Each character has a few secondary attributes, height, weight, social
class, and background history, which are randomly determined, but which
are affected by the sex and race of the character. In general, these
attributes are only used to provide "flavor" to the character, to
assist in the roll playing, but they do have a few minor effects on the
game. For example, background history affects social class, which
affects the amount of money the character will start with. And weight
affects carrying capacity and bashing ability.

***** <RaceClassComb> 
=== Race/Class Combinations ===

Once a race has been chosen, you will need to pick a class. Some 
race/class combinations are not recommended and so certain classes are
shown inside brackets. This may be because the combination is not
conceptually sound or because the chosen race has stat penalties in
areas where that class needs bonuses.

However, any race/class combination can be chosen and experienced
players may often choose unusual combinations for the challenge that
they represent. It is recommended that inexperienced players choose
warriors as spellcasting requires a player more familiar with dungeon
survival techniques.

The following table shows which classes are recommended for the various
races.


***** <ChoosingMagic>
=== Choosing Your Magic Realm(s) ===

If you have selected a spellcasting class, you will next be prompted
for your choice of magic realm(s). The magic system, as implemented in
Hengband, consists of nine realms: Life, Arcane, Sorcery, Nature,
Trump, Chaos, Death, Craft and Daemon. In general, Life is primarily
defensive but also offers spells to attack evil creatures, Arcane
offers utility spells and some limited offensive capability, Sorcery
offers utility and defensive spells, Nature offers both defensive and
offensive spells, Trump specializes in teleportation and summoning
spells and Chaos and Death are offensive. A more complete description
of the magic realms and spellcasting in general can be found in the
section on the Magic Realms (see magic.txt#MagicRealms [7]).

Where possible, it is generally a good idea to pick one defensive realm
and one offensive realm.

You cannot be as proficient in secondary realm as in first realm. But
you can change secondary realm to other realm of magic even in the
middle of the game. For that, you must choose a spellbook of new realm
in the study command. But beware! After changing realm, you will
forget all spells of old realm, moreover the number of learning will
not be restored and be lost permanently.


***** <Restrictions>
--- Class/Realm Restrictions ---

In Hengband, spellcasting classes can select either one or two realms
from those available. Some classes which can learn two realms may learn
their first realm 'better' than their second.

Note that certain realms may be prohibited for some classes. In the
table below, '1' indicates that the realm may only be the first
choice, '2' indicates that the realm may only be the second choice and
'1/2' indicates that it can be either. Classes that only have '1'
options do not get a second realm. Classes with only one '1' option
must choose this option as their first realm.

Sorcerers and Red Mages are exceptions. They can use all magic realms
and they don't need to study spells. Red Mages can cast spells from
lower rank spellbooks of all realms.


Class          Life Sorcery Nature Chaos Death Trump Arcane Craft Daemon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mage           1/2  1/2     1/2    1/2   1/2   1/2   1/2    1/2   1/2
Priest         1    2       2      2     1     2     2      2     1  
Rogue               1                    1     1     1      1
Ranger              2       1      2     2     2     2            2
Paladin        1                         1
Warrior-Mage   2    2       2      2     2     2     1      2     2
Chaos Warrior                      1                              1
Monk           1            1            1                  1  
High Mage      1    1       1      1     1     1     1      1     1
Sorcerer       All realms
Red Mage       All realms (Lower rank spellbooks only)
ForceTrainer   1            1            1                  1  


***** <RandomQuests>
=== RandomQuests ===

Once you have chosen your race, class and (if applicable) your magic
realm(s), you will be asked how many random quests you wish to be
assigned. You may choose any number between 0 and 10. A more detailed
discussion of random quests can be found in the Dungeon section (see
dungeon.txt#RandomQuests [8]).


***** <AutoRoller>
=== The Auto-Roller ===

The auto-roller is a quick means of generating start-up characters
based on a set of user-selected criteria. If you choose to use the
auto-roller, you will be presented with a column giving the maximum
possible statistics (see charattr.txt#PrimaryStats [9]) for your
choice of race, class and maximize mode (see option.txt#StartUp
[3]). Then you can specify your desired statistics using keypad or
cursor keys.

Once you have specified your desired statistics, the computer will
then randomly roll successive start-up characters and compare them to
your specified criteria. Each stat is rolled as a number from 8 to 17,
with a normal distribution, and is then immediately modified based
upon the race and class which you have chosen. The exact quantum of
this modification can be found in the Character Attributes section
(see charattr.txt#StatBonusTable [a]).

Once a character that matches or exceeds your expectations has been
rolled, Hengband stops to ask you whether you accept or not. If you
accept the rolled character (by pressing Enter), you will be asked for
its name (see below [c]). If not, you may press 'r' to resume rolling
and searching for the next match or, if this is not your first match,
'p' to return to the previous character which met your criteria.

Note: The statistics are not independent of each other and trying to
maximize each one using the auto-roller will not work. A good idea is
to specify statistics close to maximum that are critical for your class
(for example, high wisdom for priests, intelligence for mages and
strength and dexterity for warriors). You should set minimum acceptable
levels for the remaining statistics rather than looking for high rolls.

If you select not to use the auto-roller, the computer will roll one
random character at a time and then display it for you to either
accept or reject. The 'r', 'p' and Enter keys will work as outlined
above.


***** <LifeRating>
=== Life Ratings ===

In Hengband, Life Rating is not displayed at character making, but
displayed later by magical means such as Self Knowledge.  Life Rating
is an indication of how many hitpoints your character will have at
character level 50 before taking into consideration any bonus from
having a high constitution. The life rating will be displayed in the
form of x/100 where 'x' is typically a number varying between 80 and
120.

Your life rating is only a guarantee of your character's hitpoints at
level 50. This might be achieved by small increases in the early stages
and much larger increases in the later game or the other way around.
Generally, however, the increases tend to be fairly even.


***** <CharName>
=== Naming Your Character ===

Once you have accepted a character you will be asked to provide a name
for the character. In general, the actual choice of a name is not
important, but do keep in mind that it may have some effect on the game
itself. For example, on some machines, the character name determines
the filename that will be used to save the character to disk. On
others, the character name specifies special "pref" files. And the
character name is used on the high score list.


***** <StartInventory>
=== Starting Inventory ===

Once you have named your character, you will be prompted to press 'Esc'
and, having done so, you will be brought to the town screen from where
you will begin your adventuring. You should note that each character
starts in the town with a small number of items in their inventory.
Which items you are given will depend upon your chosen race and class
and the number of such items depends on chance. For example, all
classes receive either food rations or scrolls of satisfy hunger but
the number of rations or scrolls received is random. Typically, you
will receive a weapon, a piece of armor, some food, some torches and
a magical item although there is some variance from this.


--
Original   : (??)
Updated    : (??)
Updated    : Zangband DevTeam
Updated    : some people

***** Begin Hyperlinks
***** [1] birth.txt#AutoRoller
***** [2] birth.txt#RandomQuests
***** [3] option.txt#StartUp
***** [4] dungeon.txt#TownLevel
***** [5] charattr.txt#TheRaces
***** [6] charattr.txt#TheClasses
***** [7] magic.txt#MagicRealms
***** [8] dungeon.txt#RandomQuests
***** [9] charattr.txt#PrimaryStats
***** [a] charattr.txt#StatBonusTable
***** [b] birth.txt#LifeRating
***** [c] birth.txt#CharName
