After the opening cinematic, the Create Character screen shows up. The only nessecary step is to enter a character name.
Name[edit]
The name can have to a maximum of 16 characters. It can be almost any character, even those typed via ASCII numbercombination (e.g. ♪; hold down , then , ). Names that are profanities are not filtered
Appearance[edit]
This gives you a deep character creator with many options to create a variety of characters, barring the character height. The following categories determine some defaults, that can be changed under the Appearance tab as well.
Gender[edit]
The gender is mostly aesthetic. There is one NPC, whose gender is based on character's choice, but the game as a whole doesn't change by choosing either gender. It simply changes the stance and walking animation by a margin.
Age[edit]
This option changes wrinkles and the voice, the character grunts and screams with.
Face Presets[edit]
Gives a small variety of default faces.
Build[edit]
Gives a small variety of default bodies. Chosing a bulkier character does not change the character's capabilities.
Burial Gift[edit]
This lets you choose one additional item, you start out with. While you can choose to pick none, there isn't a reason not to pick one. Some are more useful than others. The following table lists all options.
| Burial Gift | Function | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Life Ring | Raises maximum HP by 7% | While 7% isn't that much it can save your life once in a while. |
| Divine Blessing | Restores HP completly and cures ailments | One time use. There are better options. |
| Hidden Blessing | Restores FP completly | One time use. Same as Divine Blessing: there are better options. |
| 5 Black Firebombs | Throw at enemy to deal fire damage | Can be used against strong early enemies. |
| Fire Gem | Infuse weapon with fire damage | Good to put on an early weapon to boost damage. |
| Sovereignless Soul | Use to obtain 2000 souls | Good boost for leveling up early on. |
| 7 Gold Coins | Increase chance for good drops for 60 seconds | Can be used to farm equipment early on. Drops are still not guaranteed. |
| 4 Cracked Red Eye Orbs | One time use. Used for online invasions. | |
| Young White Branch | Used for blending into environment, token of friendship | Is different from other Young White Branches. Speedrunner's choice. |
All one-time use items have only limited use and can be skipped. Players who want to aquire a particular item from an enemy, can choose the Gold coins to farm it. The Cracked Red Eye Orbs are meant for players, who like to do early invasions, but there is an unlimited-use version available fairly early on.
The extra HP from the Life Ring may safe the player early on, but there are better rings much later. Also at some point this ring can be bought from a merchant.
The Fire Gem is an infusion, that gives a weapon a fixed amount of damage and splits it between physical and fire damage. Many enemies are suspectible to fire early on, which makes it easier for characters, that don't focus on weapon damage (e.g. sorcerers) to get through the early game easier.
The Sovereignless Soul is a solid boost of souls for the first stage of the game to aquire more soul levels early on. Later in the game, 2000 souls is not that much, but it can make life easier.
The Young White Branch is an item that can be aquired later on. However it will not stack with other Young White Branches and makes trespassing a latter area much easier. This only works if the item is still in the player's inventory. When it's needed it is rather easily obtained. It is mostly an item for speedrunners.
Classes[edit]
Every class starts with a different stat distribution and equipment. They even differ in Soul Levels, they start with. In general a lower Soul Level is good, because it means, level ups are cheaper early on.
Knight[edit]
This is arguably the easiest class to start with. The equipment will stay relevant for the first half of the game. The Longsword weapon - if regularly upgraded will stay relevant for the entire game and all straight swords considered is only outclassed by the Lothric Knight Sword that can drop from certain enemies in the High Wall of Lothric. His shield has a physical defense of 100% and can parry, which makes it superb for large sections, before a better shield can be found.
Statwise speaking is built for enduring, having the highest Vitality (for equipmentload) and second highest Vigor (responsible for HP). Strength and Dexterity is distributed evenly and can be built into anything. The Knight is a solid choice for anything that isn't built towards Faith, Intelligence or Luck.
Mercenary[edit]
He is one of the easier starting classes and encourages the player to dual wield his main weapon. He is mostly used by players that want to specialize into dexterity, but can also hold some sorceries early on, since his Attunement and Intelligence is average.
The earliest weapon replacement is the Uchigatana, which requires him only to invest one point into Strength to wield it. The Uchigatana is a solid choice for most early sections of the game but takes some effort to obtain it from a strong enemy.
Warrior[edit]
Has the highest Vigor and Strength starting out with a strong Battle Axe. It can even be replaced by an infused Battle Axe early on, an infusion upgrade that is only available later on. Building him towards Strength with heavy weapons and Greatshields is a good choice. This also requires him to upgrade his Vitality to be able to lift all the weapons without hindrance.
Strength based characters deal slow, but heavy damage which is one of the easier way to deal with many parts of the game. A solid early weapon is Vordt's Great Hammer, that can make it through the entire game. This weapon however needs 34 strength and cannot be obtained up until the defeat of the third boss.
Herald[edit]
One of the easier starting classes, with a solid equipment, a good shield with 100% physical protection, but a difficult-to-use weapon. He even comes with relative high Faith and access to a healing spell, that initially heals a third of the Herald's health. This can give the player the edge in terms of Estus distribution and can be replaced by its big brother miracle early on.
A good way to build this character, can be the classic "Paladin", with strong and heavy melee and some miracles for buffing, healing and supporting - especially in co-op. A good replacement weapon for the spear is the Astora Straight Sword, which he can equip without leveling up.
Thief[edit]
Difficult starting class. He has a poor equipment, a weak weapon but starts out with a bow and few arrows. He can be used well to build into a luck-based build, which dishes out ailments like poison or bleeding. This however belongs more into a niche and it is wise to hollow this character as soon as possible.
Also, a bow can be found by anyone early on and finds little use before that point.
Assassin[edit]
The thief's big brother and is the most versatile starting classes. He makes for a solid sorcerer, has an above average dexterity and arguably the best thrusting sword in the game: Estoc, that doesn't need any replacement if upgraded regularly.
He also starts with the Spook spell, which negates falling damage. This allows for shortcutting in early stages of the game.
Sorcerer[edit]
With a poor dagger and the lowest Vitality of all classes, it is difficult to give this character good equipment and will probably be destined to only wear light armor. However he starts with two ranged attacks, that can be used to bypass challenges, that a melee character might have, but also creates different challenges later on.
The dagger is better replaced with the Rapier early on to have a weapon that is better in most regards. Picking a Fire Gem for this character might be a good idea to create a weapon, that is not dependant on a stat to boost its damage.
He has a slow mid-game before becoming a murdermachine later on.
Pyromancer[edit]
Another casting class, that is easier to play. As with the sorcerer, there are many places where the pyromancer excels, where a melee class fails and vice versa.
He is versatile enough early on to survive all sorts of punishment, making him easier to play, than some of the challenging classes. His stats have to be built towards Faith and Intelligence equally to create a powerful pyromancer, giving him less stats to create wield stronger weapons. However this distribution also allows for the use of many miracles and sorceries.
Cleric[edit]
As the sorcerer, this is a more difficult casting class. The fact, that miracles don't deal damage early on, means he has to rely on melee fight for large parts of the game. However his Faith is unmatched at the start and he comes with a strong heal at the start.
Deprived[edit]
The deprived is the weakest starting class, coming with nothing more than a wooden club, a shield that can't parry and a loincloth. However his statdistribution make him amongst the most versatile and its easy to build this character into anything, the player desires. As soon as the tutorial area is left, he can aquire equipment, that is fit for a starting thief. And the club deals surprising amount of damage.
This character is frequently used for Lvl.1 challenge runs - playing the game without ever leveling up.