I'm looking to make character creation more friendly for new characters.

To do this I'm adding in a help system during character creation so they can read help files related to character creation while making their char instead of having to log in and read them, then suicide and recreate.

Additionally, I'm adding the option to Automatically select stats for a character. I, however, don't pay all that much attention to "good" stats and would like some feedback from the players with what default stats I should offer. Please reply with your opinion in a format similar to below:

Werewolf: 18 3 18 3 14
Vampire: 18 3 3 18 14

What if we made stats random based on weights given by class, i.e. a fighter will have more weighted to strength, or a mage int. Then make people get to level 7 or 10 before they can actually SEE the stats. That is how the mud Arctic did it, based loosely on the Dragonlance universe...and it has been around for years with TONS of players. On arctic I think you had to get to 10th, then you could get a "lore" spell cast on you, and when you then check your stats, you can see the numbers. In this way, if you're lucky enough, you can sometimes "roll" up a super character, meaning you could have like 19 20 19 16 12 04 and have over 66. I once rolled up a thief on Arctic with a 22 dexterity, lol...but i didnt play, so i gave the char to my friend. If nothing else it'd be cool to make this some kind of option for char creation, and if it becomes popular, people will use it. If not, they won't, and they can continue to put in their stats manually like normal, or use the char creation method you're talking about.

Note: It's important to clarify...that that the stats rolled are weighted based on chosen class. i.e. if you choose a thief, you're NOT going to roll up a 4 dexterity. It'd probably be minimum 15.

Another idea I had a while back, was to let people choose their initial stats like normal, but then at every level-up, the mud chooses a random stat to go up, weighted toward the more important ones so they are more likely to be chosen, and taking weight off of others (i.e. piety for a thief) that aren't needed for the class. The mud can keep track of whatever stats you get at each level, and they can go away or come back in case of deleveling/relevling, etc.. I had this working in a prototype one time back before we used XML and still had to convert shit. It worked pretty cool.

Right now since the stats are in increments of 10s and not 1s technically, it could also make it even more interesting as to how they are generated randomly. i.e. right now you get 10 in a stat when you level, pre-defined at each level. What if it was random, but plus or minus 2-4? Could get 6-14 instead. Makes it interesting whenever we finally implement stat-modifying items and/or buffs, and also whenever we make it so stats can actually tick down due to adverse effects, and then tick back up when those effects wear off.

Ocelot wrote:

Another idea I had a while back, was to let people choose their initial stats like normal, but then at every level-up, the mud chooses a random stat to go up, weighted toward the more important ones so they are more likely to be chosen, and taking weight off of others (i.e. piety for a thief) that aren't needed for the class. The mud can keep track of whatever stats you get at each level, and they can go away or come back in case of deleveling/relevling, etc.. I had this working in a prototype one time back before we used XML and still had to convert shit. It worked pretty cool. Right now since the stats are in increments of 10s and not 1s technically, it could also make it even more interesting as to how they are generated randomly. i.e. right now you get 10 in a stat when you level, pre-defined at each level. What if it was random, but plus or minus 2-4? Could get 6-14 instead. Makes it interesting whenever we finally implement stat-modifying items and/or buffs, and also whenever we make it so stats can actually tick down due to adverse effects, and then tick back up when those effects wear off.

Forgot to mention that the same primary stats do not go up more than 2 times in a row. i.e. For a fighter, if your STR goes up from 7-8, and from 8-9, it cant go up from 9-10. But your piety can, since it's not a primary stat. Also...I think i made the random generation not start until like level 7-8. Before that, it was pre-defined like normal. That 1) kept people from create/suicide create/suicide (jackassery), and 2) it also somewhat prevented getting unlucky way early on. Also, you're primary stat cannot be "missed" more than 2 levelings in a row either.

The MUD having only 5 stats made choosing the weighting of stats pretty easy too. i.e. Fighter: STR 35% DEX 25% CON 25% PIE 10% INT 5%

Something like that.