The idea for this guide is to drive the new player throughout the basic and crucial aspects of the game so he can succeed on his own shortly after. Khaeros might be a rewarding and immersive experience for those who got the hang of a few hours’ play, but might as well be a nightmare in which you are unable to find anything or do the things you previously designed your character to perform. On that account, I will try to lead you through the absolutely essential steps of a new character’s career without spoiling the major fun waiting for everyone throughout the game.

Getting a Character, for starters

The idea in here is pretty simple and straight-forward: once you select a few options from the default UO browser (which will be further replaced by Khaeros’ custom character creation routine), you will be sent to a screen that looks like this:

Only the character’s name and gender are kept from what you selected earlier when you arrive in this room, so you might as well just mind these two aspects of your new character. In front of you is a gravestone with special instructions to assign a set of characteristics to the char undergoing creation. Once you are done with a gravestone (either by having no more points to apply or being decided regarding elements like height and hair hue), just get moving until you find another gravestone to click onto. They appear in this order:

Start Character Creation: double-clicking this option will greatly reduce your stats to only 10 each, but don’t worry about it for now (you’ll be given choices to raise them back up later). Once you click the gravestone, a gump will appear and you’ll be able to select a race for your character. For the current stage of the shard, only the Vhalurian race is being accepted in character creation.



Once you check the “Vhalurian” box and click the button with a check on the upper right corner, a new gump will display an entirely new set of options:



Remember to keep your Status Screen (Alt + S) open so you can follow closely the result of your choices. You have 100 stat points to divide anyway you like amongst Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Hit Points, Stamina and Mana – just bear in mind no stat will go higher than 50 for now. As soon as you distributed all your points, just click the “X” button on the upper right corner and proceed to the next gravestone.

Class Selection: the next gravestone will pop up a gump in which you will be inquired about the character class. The current choices allow a character to become either a Warrior or a Crafter, but more options will be released in a near future. Just select the option you like the best and click the check button (upper right corner on the gump).



Subclass Selection: this is where things get interesting, as it is quite trivial determining whether you want a battle or a merchant character. However, once you narrow it down, you will be presented to several options to further specify who your character is likely to be and what he will be able to perform. According to your previous choice, the gump will display suitable subclass choices for you to elect one. Just take your time and read each subclass description (or go to the Khaeros website for more detailed information) before you make up your mind.



Initial Skills: probably the gravestone in which you’ll stall the most, since here’s where you get to select in what skills your character has points. However, you are not free to hand out points for any skill of your liking, as they are bound by whichever class and subclass you chose for your character. This resembles closely the screen you’ll get when double-clicking the gravestone:



As you can see, you have 30 points to hand out amongst all skills you want. Luckily, each of these points will raise an individual skill 5 degrees (for instance, spending a point in Anatomy will raise the base status of Anatomy to 5.0 and spending a second point also in Anatomy will further increase it to 10.0). Maneuver through the skills you’re able to raise using the caps located right after the base status – these caps can vary from 100 to 0, meaning you might be able to develop a skill to its maximum extent or none at all. Regardless of what your cap in a skill is, no skill will go higher than 20.0 during character creation.

Take your time in this screen and choose wisely: no NPCs in game will offer you training in skills once you start, you’ll be pretty much left with your choices once you get to play.

Character Customization: this gravestone’s gump will allow you to change your character appearance according to race and gender. In here you’ll be able to change hues, hair and beard (if ever) style and other aspects of the character’s physical shape. The screen which will appear to you is similar to this one:



You will also have power over how old your character is.

Finish Character Creation: finally, the last gravestone will offer you quite a lot of choices in the shape of merits (good characteristics for your character to have) and flaws (bad characteristics). This screen will pop up once you double-click the gravestone:



The Racial Merits option allows you to select good characteristics which are specific for the race you have chosen, therefore no characters will be able to take these racial merits unless they are of the same race your character is.

Here’s an example of the screen displayed when the Merits button is pressed:



And here’s the Flaws screen, presented whenever the Flaws button is pressed:



Merits and Flaws are as simple as this statement: good characteristics (Merits) you choose will limit your character’s development in the future, while bad characteristics will give you more room to make your character better in the long run. Exactly how much your character is limited by additional good characteristics or how he is benefited by acquiring detrimental weaknesses is reflected upon a number of Character Points (or CPs), as shown in the description of every Merit or Flaw when the respective button is selected on the menu.

Quick Approach to Character Points

Character Points are what allows character development and improvement, in the shape of acquiring new skills and feats, or improving the ones he already has to an extent. Selecting Merits will reduce the maximum cap of these CPs by a number, while Flaws will add some of these points to the cap. How balanced (or unbalanced) is the character regarding Merits and Flaws is solely for the player to dictate.

Starting the Game

After the complete customization of your character, you are ready to board the shard and make your way as a newly arrived citizen! If you are not sure about making the right choices throughout the process, don’t fret: just go back to the first gravestone and start it all over again (should be easier now, since you got the hang of the whole course). If, on the other hand, you are positive about the selections you made, just be brave and step into the blue glowing portal and pray to your Gods for their fortunes on this fierce and unknown new world…