Character Generation

Ultima 9 goes back the character generation that was found in Ultimas 4-6. You are given choices of personal ethics (based on the 8 Virtues) to determine how your character will begin his journey in the world. While some characters may be viewed as better than others by some, all of the character classes are able to beat the game equally. Instead of viewing one as "better than" another, I like to view the classes as 8 difficulty levels in the game. How you rank that difficultly is completely up to you and your game style. Here is a listing of information to aid you in your character creation.

Virtue Class Stat Adjustment Starting Equipment
Compassion Bard +2 Dex +5 Karma Target Bow, Map of Paws
Humility Shepard +15 Karma Crook of Charming
Honesty Mage +2 Int +5 Karma Arms of the Magi, Map of Moonglow
Sacrifice Tinker +1 Str +1 Dex +5 Karma Buckler Shield; Map of Minoc
Justice Druid +1 Dex +1 Int +5 Karma Staff, Map of Yew
Honor Paladin +1 Str +1 Int +5 Karma Chain coif, Map of Trinsic
Valor Fighter +2 Str +5 Karma Scimitar, Map of Valoria
Spirituality Ranger +1 Str +1 Dex +1 Int Sextant, key to chest on Skara Brae

About the Stats

Strength affects how much damage you do in physical combat. For every level up in Strength, you also get 30 hitpoints. Dexterity affects your ability to learn new moves with each type of weapon. Each type of weapon has 4 special moves that go along with the four levels of Dexterity. Intelligence is an overall look at how well-versed you are in Magic in general. Every time you level up your Intelligence, you get +10 mana and your Magic Resistance and Spell Damage increase. Each time you cleanse a Shrine, you are given a choice to level up one of the previouly mentioned stats. The Shepard is the only class where you can never max out Str, Dex, and Int all together. However, he is the only character that can come close to maxing out in Karma because of the larger boost in the beginning. Karma just gives you a boost to your maximum mana store. You gain Karma by doing good deeds for others, and you loose it by doing bad things. You can tell when you gain Karma from doing a good deed because the game plays a special tone. This tone is the same as when you equip the Kiran Shield. It also plays a different tone when you lose Karma. I don't know of anything else that makes this sound to give as an example. You can see by this that being a good guy only makes your game much easier.

Level Strength Dexterity Intelligence
One Weak Clumsy Dim
Two Strong Nimble Smart
Three Powerful Proficient Brilliant
Four Heroic Adept Genius

Gypsy's Questions
Eventually, I will have here a list of all of the Gypsy's questions during character creation