Strife:Official New Player Guide

This section does not tell you HOW to play the game, it is more so advice and guidance to new players.

Resources you need
The only thing you need open is your character sheet, where you can calculate rolled weapon damage, SV, and many other things. It is specifically designed so that you only really need that and maybe the rules PDF open to relevant mechanics or your race page. A good idea is (if you only want to keep track of your specific mechanics) is to make a word file of relevant to your mechanics so it’s all condensed in one place and change it with updated version changes.

Players are encouraged to use the UESP wiki for generic things, like alchemy information (where allowed), spell effects, and equipment. Looking at quest pages, some NPC pages, some location pages, and etc… is restricted to only the GM unless permitted (because of spoilers). Note that we are not affiliated with in any way or supported by the UESP wiki.

Starting out
You generally want an idea of what build style you're using when making a character.

First of all, you need to create a character to fill that character sheet. This is explained on the following page, starting with:
 * Race choice: because some races are good at certain things, it is recommended you do this first. The race chooser can help you find something tailored to you if you’re split, or just can’t decide. Make sure to check out homebrew races too if you’re looking for a more unique experience!
 * Class choice or creation: make a class depending on what you want to be good at or choose one for some extra abilities included.
 * Birthsigns: these give you specific extra abilities depending on which you choose at the start of the game. It is recommended you do this last.

Builds
Explained below are different build styles, though you can make any build you want with the freedom these mechanics provide; this is not how to play, more so advice. For example: for a one-shot, a play tester made a hand-to-hand, non-mage, Alfiq-raht (a small Khajiit that starts at very, very low physical combat stats and is suited for being a mage). The following are the main build styles, Combat, Magic, and Stealth: For more seasoned players, I encourage making up your own mechanics and abilities as long as the GM thinks it is fair and not too over-tuned. Creating your own stories and backstories as to why a player can do things other of their race cannot is a cool, creative, and fun concept to explore!
 * Combat (non-magic) oriented builds can be mainly split into fighters (damage focused) and tanks (health focused) generally. The main draw to this is to get in the face of enemies and do damage. The main attributes are Endurance (for health) and Strength (for damage). The edge Combat builds have is their ability to soak damage, special attacks, and no theoretical cap on damage, as Strength Level affecting the outgoing damage equation does not cap. It is possibly the hardest style to play well and knowledge of Alchemy and Enchant is recommended (for at least one person in your party) to get over the natural Health and Damage caps.
 * Magic oriented builds can be mainly split into battlemages (using weapons too) and full mages (using only/mostly spells) generally. The main draw to this is to sit in the backline and fire highly damaging spells. The main attributes are Intelligence (for magicka) and Willpower (for spellcasting success rate). This is not too hard mechanically to learn, and the more gold you accrue the more damage you do, because of spell merchants and spell making costing a lot of money. For this reason, it’s recommended for the party (particularly Combat style build players, as these don’t cost a lot of money) to lend you money, as being a mage is expensive, and the more powerful you are the more it benefits absolutely everyone in the party.
 * Stealth oriented builds are very varietal and cannot be split well into categories. The main draw to this is to do large amounts of damage when entering combat, and then once combat has started to sit in the backline and do large amounts of ranged damage or get up close and do large damage with smaller weapons. The main attributes are Agility (for fatigue and some weapon styles) and Speed (for getting in and out of combat easily). This is a medium difficulty to learn, as unlike Combat styled builds you have more room to use magic to your advantage if you want, and your skillset scales well with character level, making it easier than its ‘less dextrous’ counterpart.

Finishing up
'''You're done! Remember to check out the starting equipment you get:'''
 * Common shirt (non Alfiq and Senche variations only) (2CC,4GP)
 * Common pants (non Alfiq and Senche variations only) (2CC,4GP)
 * Common shoes (non-beast race only) (3CC,2GP)
 * 50GP (80GP for imperials only)

Finally, remember to have fun with it! This setting is designed to be very flexible, so if you want to do a backflip during a severely difficult fight you can, and possibly be rewarded for your brazen.