How will it work?
When a visitor to the website creates a user account, they will enter some basic information for their profile and begin the character creation process. We want this to be quick and painless, no extra information should be required. Perhaps we should separate the user account creation from the player character creation?
Then again, I believe that it would be better to combine as much of the sign up process as we can. For example, username and character name could be the same. After registering, the visitor should be directed to the Character Creation screen.
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Character Creation
Currently after a visitor registers they are thanked and left to log in on their own. Once logged in, they can click character and if they don't already have one they can begin the creation process. I propose that we combine character creation with the Community Builder signup. At the very least we should automatically redirect visitors to the character section.
It would be cool to create some type of application with JavaScript and CSS that gives a visual representation of what the character looks like as you are building them. It would start with a silhouette for male or female, followed by hairstyle choice, then color swatches for choosing skin and eye color based on the selected race, and ending with basic equipment determined by their chosen class. For example the fighter would get a wooden sword, the wizard would have a walking stick, a ranger might get a sharpened stick, etc.
Speaking of Race and Class...
Let's list out all of the races and classes that will be available in the game. These are taken from the D20 System. This list can be taken from or added to at will. The ones listed here have detailed stats and descriptions that can be borrowed directly from Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Player Handbook.
RACE and CLASS |
barbarian | bard | cleric | druid | fighter | monk | paladin | ranger | rogue | sorcerer | wizard |
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| human |  |
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| elf | |
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| dwarf | |
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| gnome | |
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| halfling | |
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| half-orc | |
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| half-elf | |
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Each race has unique racial traits as described in the D20 System. For example humans get an extra skill point every time they level-up and their physical height is 4’ 10†+2d10 with their weight being 120 lb. × (2d4) lb. During the initial character creation we should try and pre-populate as much physical information as possible with default values and allow the player to override them within a set range if they choose (skin/eye color, height, weight).
Abilities, Skills, and Class Features
The class a player character chooses will effect several areas of the characters development. The list of these abilities and skills is quite exhaustive, but luckily it too is laid out in detail within the Player Handbook. The trickiest part for us will be in finding an effective way to reference all of this information within the database.