On character generation:
   All characters, regardless of race, are described by varying
distributions of the stats listed below, in addition to some special
abilities such as infravision, weapon-resistance, or double agility.
Most human characters have 7 picks from the choices listed below.
Send me your character description, including any special abilities
you have, and I'll send you back my comments.

Remember, if you don't ask for a really neat character, you won't get one.
Be greedy.  Look for loopholes.  Make up restrictions to get more picks.
Make up new abilities.  Creative is good.


A list of the stats you can choose from:

STRENGTH is a prerequisite for the use of most weapons.  In general,
you can't use an X-damage weapon without X strength.  Armor also requires
strength to wear.

ENDURANCE is converted directly to HP at a 1:2 ratio.

MAGIC gives you 25 MP per spell pick.  Each pick you take has a color
associated with it.  You start with one spell per magic pick, and you can
learn additional common you learn spells from that color as you find
spellbooks. Taking 2 spell picks of one color grants access to rare
spells; 3 spell picks are worth 20% off the mana cost for that color, and
4 are 40% off. 

Note also that there is a colored-mana requirement: you can only cast 40
MP of spells of any one color, per spell pick of that color.  (That is, if
you had one Red spell pick and one Green spell pick, you would have 50
mana, but you could cast at most 40 mana worth of Red spells; the last 10
would have to be Green spells.)

Also available:
LUCK: allows player to reroll any 3 rolls, involving him or not, per quest.
       Player may reroll 1 die or all die.  Player takes best of 2 results.
WEAPONSKILL: player gets 1 extra damage out of a chosen weapon.
THIEVERY: player can find and disarm traps much (+50%) better.
DOUBLE AGILITY: player gets +2 defense (instead of +1) against the
                first attack made against him per round.  Player gets
                +1 defense against the second attack.

You have to take at least 1 STRENGTH and 2 ENDURANCE.  The other 4 picks
are up to you.

Once you've done that, you should probably make a list of your character's
skills.  Skills should include anything you want your character to do,
such as Running, Jumping, Using Weapons, et cetera.  Survival is also
popular, as many players like their characters to survive.  If you forget
to write a skill down, you may or may not be permitted to add it later,
depending on the skill.


* Note, regarding clericry:  Becoming a cleric costs a certain number of
picks (depending on patron) and grants access to whatever Old Magic spells
or abilities that patron feels like granting you.  Specifics are in
CLERIC1.TXT.