Character Creation

Okay, so you've just started a new game. Might and Magic III will start you off with a party consisting of a Knight, a Paladin, a Barbarian, a Robber, a Cleric and a Sorcerer. Now, some people might think this is a good enough party, and it's certainly possible to finish the game with this party, but I recommend you at least read through this section once to find out a little more about classes, statistics and the like.

But, after all, this is mostly about character creation, so let's start with that. Creating a character is easy, really. Just go to any Inn and check in. Once you've checked in, select Create to get to the Character Creation Screen. When you enter the Character Creation screen it will look something like this:

First of all, let's look at statistics. As you can see, there are seven numbers next to some icons and below a combination of three letters. These letters are the abbrevations for your character's statistics. This is what they mean:

Mgt: Might affects the damage your character does when you hit a monster. Might is also used to bash down doors and the like. Might is a prime statistic for Knights and Paladins.

Int: Intelligence helps determine how many spell points your character will get if you are one of these classes: Archer, Sorcerer, Druid, or Ranger. As such, this is a prime statistic for these classes.

Per: Personality helps determine how many spell points your character will get if you are one of these classes: Cleric, Druid, Ranger, or Paladin. As such, this is a prime statistic for these classes.

End: Endurance helps determine how many hit points your character will get. Endurance is a prime statistic for Paladins, Barbarians, and Rangers.

Spd: Everyone, including monsters, has a Speed rating. If your character’s Speed is higher than the monsters you face, you will get the first action in combat. Speed is a prime statistic for Ninjas and Rangers.

Acy: Accuracy helps determine whether or not you hit a monster with a weapon or spell when you attack. Accuracy is a prime statistic for Archers and Ninjas.

Lck: Luck improves your chances of being unaffected by a hostile status-changing spell, avoiding a trap, running from a battle or picking a lock. Luck is the prime statistic for Robbers.

To the right of the statistics is a list of the ten classes of characters. If the prime statistic(s) for one of the classes is high enough, that class will be highlighted, meaning that you could pick that class if you wanted. If the class you want to be isn’t highlighted, you can move the statistics around until you can select the class you want. To swap statistics, type the first letters of the statistics you want to exchange or click on their icons. If you're still unable to get the class you want, or if you're just not satisfied with your current statistics, click on the Roll button to get a new random set of statistics. You can do this as many times as you want, but remember that when you re-roll, your previous set of statistics is lost forever, and chances are your next rolls will all be worse than what you had originally... so think before you roll.

Here's a description of the ten character classes. I've also listed what statistics your character to-be needs in order to be able to pick any of these classes.

Knight: Prime statistic: Might. (you'll need 15 or greater in this statistic in order to choose this class)
The Knight is the best fighter in the game. Able to use any kind of weapon or armor, the Knight will dish out more damage than any other character. The Knight starts with the Arms Master skill and gets more hit points than all classes but the Barbarian. The Knight, being a pure fighter, obviously cannot cast any spells.

Paladin: Prime statistics: Might, Personality, Endurance. (you'll need at least 13 in each of these)
The Paladin is a good fighter, though not as good as the Knight. Like the Knight, the Paladin can use any kind of weapon or armor, but his hit points tend to be lower than the Knight’s. The Paladin starts with the Crusader skill and the ability to cast Clerical spells.

Archer: Prime statistics: Intellect, Accuracy. (you'll need at least 13 in both of these)
The Archer is about as good a fighter as the Paladin. The Archer starts with the ability to cast Arcane spells, but is unable to wear armor heavier than chain mail or use a shield. The Archer starts with no secondary skills.

Cleric: Prime statistic: Personality. (you'll need a score of at least 13 in this statistic)
The Cleric is a fair fighter, but is not allowed to use edged weapons or missile weapons. On the bright side, the Cleric can use splint mail armor or lighter and has twice as many spell points available for casting Clerical spells as the Paladin. The Cleric starts with no secondary skills.

Sorcerer: Prime statistic: Intellect. (you'll need 13 or greater in this statistic)
The Sorcerer is an extremely poor fighter. Sorcerers are only able to wear padded armor and their weaponry is restricted to staves and daggers only. The Arcane spells of the Sorcerer are the most destructive in the game, however, plus they have twice as many spell points as the Archer to cast them with. The Sorcerer starts with the Cartography skill.

Robber: Prime statistic: Luck. (you'll need at least 13 in this statistic)
The Robber is an average fighter, but is unable to use any armor heavier than chain mail. Robbers can use almost any weapon and shields, but cannot cast spells. The Robber begins the game with the Thievery skill at a value of 30.

Ninja: Prime statistics: Speed, Accuracy. (you'll need at least 13 in both of these statistics)
The Ninja is a good fighter, but is limited to ring mail or lighter armor and cannot use a shield. Ninjas can use most, though not all, weapons. The Ninja starts with the Thievery skill at value 15 and is unable to cast any spells.

Barbarian: Prime statistic: Endurance. (you'll need at least 15 in this statistic)
The Barbarian is almost as good a fighter as the Knight, but is unable to wear armor heavier than scale mail. To compensate for this, Barbarians have more Hit Points and gain extra attacks faster than any other class. Barbarians can use most weapons and shields. The Barbarian cannot cast spells and starts with no secondary skills.

Druid: Prime statistics: Intellect, Personality. (you'll need 15 or greater in both of these statistics)
The Druid is a poor fighter. Druids are only able to use light armor and weapons, but they are able to cast Natural spells, and have twice as many spell points to cast them with as Rangers. Druids start the game with the Direction Sense skill.

Rangers: Prime statistics: Intellect, Personality, Endurance, Speed. (you'll need at least a score of 12 in all of these statistics)
The Ranger is the most versatile of all classes. Rangers are good fighters, are able to use most weapons and armor, and can cast Natural spells, which is mostly a mixture of Clerical and Arcane spells to a limited degree. I guess you could say they don't excel at anything in particular, but they can do a little bit of everything. Rangers start the game with the Pathfinder skill.

Finally, here is a chart that shows the specific advantages and disadvantages of the ten classes. The HP column shows how much HP the class gains per level, and the Attacks column shows the number of levels you need to gain to gain an extra attack per round.

So, now that you know about statistics and classes, the next step is to choose a portrait, and with it your race and gender is determined. You can change your portrait by clicking on the arrows beside the currently selected portrait. Choose a portrait that fits the race and gender you want the character to be. There are two portraits for every combination of race and gender, so you are pretty much forced to create a balanced party in this game. Also, if you want to use the portrait of any of the characters you start out with, you'll first have to delete these characters. But I'll tell you more about that in the walkthrough section. I guess it would be a good idea to give you an explaination of the five races at this time.

Humans: I think we all know what Humans are. All Humans start with the Swimming skill and have a small resistance to all spells: A value of 7 to all elements. This last remark may not make much sence now, but I will explain how this works in the General Info section elsewhere on the shrine.

Elves: Elves are tall, slender people that are unusually well adapted to using magic. Elves are only slightly resistant to some spells (value 5 to Energy and Magic) and make very good Robbers, Ninjas, Sorcerers and Archers. They aren’t as tough as the other races, however, and tend to have less hit points.

Dwarves: Dwarves are short, but very tough. Dwarves are slightly resistant to most spells, but they are especially resistant to acid and poison: They have a resistance of value 5 against Fire, Cold, Electricity and Energy, and a resistance of 20 against Acid/Poison. They make great Robbers and good Knights or Barbarians. Dwarves begin the game with the Danger Sense skill.

Gnomes: Gnomes are smaller than dwarves and not nearly as tough. Gnomes make good spell casters, but they tend to have less hit points than all other races except Elves. Gnomes begin the game with the Spot Secret Doors skill. As for resistance, they only have a resistance value of 2 to all but Magic damage, which is at value 20.

Half-Orc: Half-Orcs are a cross between a Human and an Orc. Half-Orcs are the toughest of the races players can choose, but they are also the stupidest. Thus, Half-Orcs make excellent Knights and Barbarians, but they are the worst spell casters and Robbers. They have a resistance of value 10 against Fire, Cold and Electricity.

You guessed what's coming up next: A chart that explains the advantages and disadvantages of each race. The HP column shows the modifier for HP gained per level, the SP column shows the same for SP, and the Thievery column shows an initial bonus/penalty to the Thievery rating, if the character is a Robber or Ninja. The abbreviations in the Resistance column: F= Fire, C= Cold, E= Electricity, P= Acid/Poison, N= Energy, M= Magic.

(*) Note: An Elf only gets the +2 Spell Point bonus if he/she is a user of Arcane Spells.

Gender makes no difference whatsoever: Male and Female characters are equally strong.

So, now that you've arranged your statistics and picked a race and class, you'll have to decide on alignment: Good, Neutral or Evil. What you pick generally doesn't make much of a difference, it's up to your personal preference. There are a few occasions when your alignment determines your reward/punishment for certain actions, but don't worry about that for now. I'll alert you to these occasions in the walkthroughs.

After picking an alignment, you're done with this character. All that's left now is naming the character. Click on the Create button and you'll be prompted for a name. Fill in whatever you like and voila, your character has been created, and you can add him/her to your party.

Now, it's of course totally up to you which kinds of characters you create, (if any; remember that you can always decide to take the default characters instead) but if you are going to create your own party, let me give you some pointers:

* Take at least one Robber or Ninja with you. There's a lot of locked doors and treasure chests about which will be very hard to open without someone who possesses the Thievery skill... and since the best goodies are usually inside treasure chests, you wouldn't want to get to one of them only to find nobody can open it.

* Make sure you have at least two characters with a high Might rating, and put them in front of your party. This will make bashing in doors, gates, walls and the like much easier.

* I advise you to create your party in such a manner that you will have access to all forms of magic: Arcane, Clerical and Natural. This because Arcane magic is the best (and sometimes only) way to beat some tough enemies, Clerical magic is needed very frequently when healing is required (and potions of healing just don't cut it), and Natural magic because in addition to being a balanced mix of the other two types of magic, it also has some spells the other types don't, including Walk on Water. This may not seem like much of a big deal to you now, but later on in the game, you'll find it most annoying if you're unable to walk on water. (Note: The pre-generated party DOESN'T have a user of Natural magic)

* Remember: There are eight slots to put your characters, but the last two are reserved for hirelings, so you should only create up to six characters.

* You can create new characters later on in the game, but every new character will start at level 1, so it's wise to create a good party right away and stick with it. In other words, don't underestimate the importance of character creation.