Step 3. Character Creation

So, now that we have an understanding of how this works, let’s get to creating our character.

1. What are your goals?

The whole point of this process is to make progress o your goals, so you probably already have an idea of what you want to accomplish. Now, we want to solidify what they are. Get yourself some paper and write down your goals in whatever terms you have right now. We’ll refine them over time, when we get to determining our Quests, but, for now, use what you have. Clump together like goals until you have between 3 and 5 main groups.

2. Pick your classes.

Now that you have your clumps, you can pick one class to represent those goals.

You can find lists online of fantasy or other classes. You can also find inspiration from your favourite games.

Below, are some examples of common classes and what goals I’d put with them. Don’t feel bound to this, do what feels right to you.

Fighters:

• physical health goals, especially those involving exercising more or learning a physical skill.
• learning self defence or martial arts

Dancers are seen in some games as support classes, whose dances inspire others and provide support.

• physical activity that’s less martial and more about connecting to your body. Maybe for yoga or dance or other joyful movement.

Paladin usually refers to a holy knight, someone who is fighting to bring peace or spread the word of their god. Generally, they also fill in a healing/support role.

• goals that include advocating for a charity or cause

Wizards in D&D study magic and create their own spell books.

• Studying/becoming an expert in an area, especially if you are also writing about it
• Reading goals

Rogues aren’t just thieves, but they are stealthy individuals with a lot of street smarts.

• goals about learning to live in your city or other urban survival skills
• Rogues, especially in movies, can be dashing heroes who know how to look out for number 1. This might work for goals about knowing your own value.

Sorcerers have inherent magic that they need to learn to control.

• anything about tapping into your natural powers/talents
• Talent isn’t always innate, and is often the result of a lot of practice. Goals that have to do with practice might fit here.

Rangers thrive in natural settings and are survival experts.

• If you want to build survival skills, pick ranger. This can be how to scavenge in the wilds, but could also be about gaining the survival skills necessary for moving out on your own.
• Rangers often have animal companions, so any goals about training an animal might fit here too.

Monks in games tend to be martial (that is a fighting class) rather than a contemplative class, but I find this could work either way

• goals about building discipline, such as a mediation practice, disconnecting from the internet, enjoying the small things in life.
• Minimalism/simple living

Clerics usually heal, though, like the paladin, have religious connotations.

• Goals about self-healing or dealing with trauma.
• anything that has to do with getting closer to your own spiritual path

Bards are wandering musicians that tell tales and sing songs.

• Anything creative, especially if you share online
• building an online following
• anything musical

Engineers are people who are good at figuring things out and can craft cool contraptions.

• Crafting goals, learning mechanical skills

Scholars are those who study.

• personal learning/growth
• school learning

Alchemists are usually about potions and herbology in games, but they’re also the kind of people who want to turn iron into gold

• Money goals! Making money, budgeting, investing. The modern financial world is as cryptic as the old alchemic texts, so why not try to become an alchemist to figure it out

3. Make your character sheet

Character sheets, or screens for video games, hold the details about your character and where they are on their path. Google and you’ll find a dozen varieties for all sorts of games. Typically, they have some key biographic data (Name, age, race, background, size, etc), skills, proficiencies, inventory, equipment, stats, HP, defences, and attributes, among other things.

We won’t be updating the character sheet daily, or even weekly. We’ll be coming back to it once a month or so, creating a new one so we can track our changes along the way.

That’s a lot of info, and we don’t need all of it. Let’s remember, the goal of this is to improve our lives, so, let’s focus on that.

Level 10 Life

The Level 10 life is an exercise that I’ve seen online for ages and that I’ve done a number of times. It’s quick, simple, and it’s a good way to measure changes in your life and identify gaps.

The basic idea is that you break your life into areas and then you rank each area out of 10, with 10 being perfect. It’s also a good jumping off point to see what you need to work on if you don’t already have an idea of how you want to improve your life.

What the areas are vary from version to version, but mine usually look something like this:

• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Creativity
• Spirituality
• Career
• Finances
• Community
• Personal Growth
• Physical Environment
• Fun

This post from Archer and Olive goes into the Level 10 Life in a lot more detail and show different ways to visualise it on the page.

Proficiencies

These are skills that you are working on building. They can be language skills, writing skill, your ability to do a handstand, whatever you are trying to learn and build up.

Mark each with a level, (ie. beginner, intermediate, advanced).

Inventory

While this usually refers to the stuff a character is carrying with them, here we’re using it to refer to resources we have access to. This can be people, like a mentor or teacher, specific books or internet sites, tools, or whatever else.

Relationships

While optional, it’s not a bad idea to keep track of important people in your life here. You can even include details about how the relationship is going.

Other stuff

You can add anything else that might be useful to your character sheet, and anything else you want to change or track. Is losing weight part of your goals? Or do you want to get rid of credit card debt? Track them here.

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And Voila, you have a character. Congratulations! At this point, you could use the system as is. 1 task done means 1 XP in the related class. Get enough XP and you level up! Amazing! If you haven’t already, try it out.

Next time, we’re going to talk about tasks, quests, side-quests, and achievements.