Your character
Custom classes
The rules of the class builder and the exact formula behind the difficulty dagger.
Choosing Custom at the bottom of the class list lets you build your own class. The class calculator does all of the arithmetic below for you.
The rules
| Part | Rule |
|---|---|
| Skills | 3 primary, 3 major, 6 minor, no repeats |
| Attributes | Each between 10 and 75, all eight adding up to exactly 400 |
| Hit points per level | 4 to 30 |
| Advantages | Up to 7 |
| Disadvantages | Up to 7 |
| Difficulty | Must land between −12 and +40, or the game refuses the class |
Your attributes do not affect the difficulty at all. Spend them freely.
The difficulty number
The dagger on the creation screen shows one number: your difficulty points.
Points = hit-point cost + every advantage + every disadvantage
- Hit points per level cost nothing at 8. Every point above 8 costs 1. Every point below 8 gives back 2.
- Each advantage adds its cost, each disadvantage subtracts. The full price list is on Advantages and disadvantages.
So 30 hit points per level with nothing else taken is +22.
What difficulty does to you
The game turns points into how hard your skills are to raise:
Effort = 0.3 + 2.7 × (points + 12) ÷ 52
| Points | Effort per skill raise |
|---|---|
| −12 | ×0.30 |
| 0 | ×0.92 |
| +5 | ×1.18 |
| +10 | ×1.44 |
| +22 | ×2.07 |
| +40 | ×3.00 |
At +22 every skill needs about twice the practice a standard class needs. Since your level comes from your skills, you also level about half as fast. See Levelling and skills.
Spells you start with
By default your starting spells depend on your skills, not your class: each magic skill (Destruction, Restoration, Illusion, Alteration, Thaumaturgy or Mysticism) among your primary or major skills gives you a short list of spells, and a longer one if it is a primary. With none of them you start with no spells. In classic Daggerfall a custom class with a magic skill among its primary or major skills got the Spellsword’s spells instead. See Which rules apply.
The history questions come next
After the class, the game asks your history. Which questions you get depends on which standard class your skills most resemble. See History questions.
Look it up
The skills you can pick are in Skills. The price of every advantage and disadvantage is also on Advantages and disadvantages, and the class calculator adds it up for you.
Category: Your character