II. Race Selection

The first step in the character creation process (after naming the character) is selecting the gender and race of your character. Gender has only one important role: Determining whether you can use the Cavalier (male only) or Valkyrie (female only) classes. Otherwise it is mainly a role-playing consideration. If you keep that in mind, then you can consider the race of your character the first important decision.

Each race has some good points and some bad points, so no race has a definite advantage over the others. Where one race might be physically strong and able to do lots of raw melee damage, another will excel in spell casting, allowing them to land more spells. Finding the right race for you is a matter of taste and style of play.

Humans

Humans represent the standard race in Materia Magica. They have average stats and have access to every class (excepting Shaman, but we'll cover that point later). Perhaps the most versatile race, they also have no vulnerabilities to anything, nor do they have any resistances. The only exceptional attribute is a reduced death timer. Yet, their class path flexibility is their strongest strength, allowing humans to put together more exotic class combinations. Recommended for players who want to have a lot of options.

Elves

Elves are the strongest spell-casting race in the game, hands down. The significant increases in sanity, wisdom, and knowledge make their spells easier to cast and increase the rate at which spells are gained. A significant boost to spell points gives them more energy to expend on spells as well. They suffer in melee combat for this advantage however. Decreases in strength and vitality, as well as decreases in hit points and stamina, make Elves less effective at dealing and taking damage in combat, as well as decreasing the rate at which hit points are attained.

Elves also possess racial abilities. They receive scan regardless of class (you must still attain the needed % to activate it), but this is really not that important, as EVERY player will eventually receive this skill from their thief class in the long run. Detect alignment is a useful, but not essential affect. Far more important is sense-life, an affect that allows you to detect the presence of hidden mobs and players. Resistance to charm is mostly irrelevant, as players are rarely, if ever, affected by charm type spells.

Half-Elves

While Half-Elves are intended to be a blending of the Elves and Humans, they are actually physically more similar to Humans. They have the same strength in their completely open class path (again, excepting Shaman). Their stats are slightly modified, leaning away from the Human standard towards their Elven brethren. They possess slightly raised agility and sanity, giving them a small advantage, but still, fairly average.

The real benefits of this race become apparent when you look at the racial attributes. They possess sense-life just like Elves. Also, having fast healing as a racial skill is very important when you look at class path options. The racial fast healing allows Half-Elves to use class paths that do not include that skill and still receive the benefits of increased regeneration. Again, resistance to charm is a negligible benefit, but the disease resistance is helpful against spells like plague.

Dwarves

Dwarves are a hardy, combat-oriented race. Their class path is also open, with only Valkyrie and Shaman being kept from them. The have raised hit points and stamina, but at the cost of spell points. Strength and vitality are also augmented at the cost of other attributes. They still possess the stats needed to cast spells, so they still pose a threat in that area.

Like Elves and Half-Elves, Dwarves have sense-life racially. They also possess resistances to magic (very nice to have), poison (also very helpful), and again disease. They suffer a harsh rebuke for these benefits however, a vulnerability to lightning. Lightning vulnerability may seem a small trade off for the benefits of three resistances, but lightning attacks are one of the common elemental attacks, and every class path will have at least one at their disposal to use against you.

Ogres

If you want a race that has an abundance of raw power in combat, the Ogre race is the choice for you. Physically massive, Ogres possess the highest strength score in the game. Possessing a huge amount of strength and vitality, this race accumulates hit points at a staggering rate. With a racial maximum of 2600 hit points and 2500 stamina, they excel in all non-magic arenas. As soon as magic is introduced however, the field quickly shifts away from them. With a sharply reduced spell point reserve and low scores in the areas critical to spell casting, Ogres can cast spells, but are perhaps the weakest race in this area. Ogres are very restricted in class path, only able to use a few classes and therefore quite restricted in their options.

The resistances to fire and cold are a nice complement to their physical prowess, providing them resistance to some of the magic they cannot master. A critical weakness for every Ogre is the vulnerability to mental attacks from psionics. A psionic capable player will have less trouble overcoming an Ogre, as their spells are so much more effective against them. In addition to their other strengths, Ogres receive a small bonus to their armor to represent their thick skin.

Fey

The Fey are a Faerie race, that is, their home plane is not the plane of Alyria, where most of the races come from, but rather the plane of Faerie. This planar difference makes for a series of very interesting strengths and weaknesses that a smart player can learn to use very effectively. Possessing boosted hp/sp/st, the Fey have the best numbers all-round in those categories. However, they suffer losses on their other stats, most notable amongst them being sanity and strength, reducing their effectiveness in spell casting and combat. Feys are also quite restricted in class path, having only two class choices to make.

The Feys also have several racial abilities. Feys can shift into other creatures, effectively masking their true form. They also have the ability to feed on other creatures, draining their hit points and providing food for the Fey. Fey also have the natural ability to use the faerie fire and magical fade spells. However, the real meat of the Feys strengths and weaknesses comes in with their resistances and vulnerabilities. Completely immune to poison, Feys are also resistant to disease and paralysis, combined those three are a very powerful set of resistances (charm resist is again useless). This is offset by a similarly powerful set of vulnerabilities. Vulnerable to water and drowning, water based spells have a much higher affect on the Fey and they drown in water much faster. A vulnerability to light increases the effectiveness of light based spells against the Fey, notably blind. The last and perhaps most annoying vulnerability is iron. This causes iron weapons to do more damage to Fey, as well as preventing them from using any equipment made of iron.

Gnomes

Gnomes are another race that possess an increase in hit points and stamina at the cost of spell points, yet they do not suffer a corresponding loss of spell casting ability. Interestingly enough, it is quite the opposite. While the hp/sp/st might suggest a fighter class, the other stats support a stronger spell-casting role. A large increase in sanity, and a smaller one in knowledge, is offset by reductions to the other stats. The backwards nature of this set up makes the progression of the Gnomes over time, somewhat more difficult than other races. The most significant disadvantage a Gnome is the class restrictions. Kept out of barbarian, cavalier, bard and priest, the effective class paths become quickly reduced.

Still, the nice bonuses come with the racial resistances. Resistance to magic, poison, and disease with no significant weaknesses, provide a powerful base to build a character on. Racial fast healing makes up for the lack of warrior classes with the skill.

Halflings

Another interesting race, the diminutive Halflings have a very bizarre set of stats. With a severe loss of hit points and spell points, in exchange for stamina, the Halflings are seemingly weakened. The benefits to offset this loss show up in a very strong set of other stats. Large bonuses to agility, courage, personality and smaller bonuses to luck, sanity and wisdom, boost the combat ability of these small warriors.

To further compensate the Halflings, they also possess a racial form of haste, which does provide the extra attack and movement, but not the accuracy bonus bestowed by the magical spell. Also possessing the powerful resistance to magic, they are quite effective despite their lowered hit points. The additions of dodge and hide as racial skills are unnecessary in the long run, as they will receive them in the thief class anyway.

Dracons

Dracons are a very unique race in Materia Magica. Possessing the unique ability to breathe fire, poison gas, frost, lightning, and acid, Dracons have a breath attack to use on every opponent. Dracons receive a bonus to hit points at the cost of spell points, and correspondingly have bonuses to strength and vitality. The major disadvantage of the race comes with the class path. Forced to have three of their four classes, and left only two options for the fourth, Dracons are the most restricted race in terms of class.

The resistances of the race are bash and fire, a nice effective combination. Cold vulnerability offsets this some, but not entirely. Also, like Ogres, Dracons receive a bonus to armor based on their level to represent their tough scaly hides.

Minotaurs

The natural enemy of the Dracons, the Minotaurs are another race geared towards melee fighting. With a reduction in spell points in exchange for a boost in stamina and hit points, coupled with increased strength and vitality, the Minotaurs pose significant threats in melee combat. Small reductions in sanity and wisdom do not hamper their spell casting overly much, allowing them to survive in most combat situations. They do however, have limited class choices, including the lack of bard and the mandatory inclusion of shaman.

Racially, Minotaurs have resistances to bash, poison, and disease, all decent resistances. They are however, vulnerable to fire, leaving them open to powerful magical attacks. Also, they can bash without a shield, enabling them to bash even when using two-handed weapons, a very useful skill later as an Archon.

Drow

A close cousin of the Elves, Drow possess similar attributes, but are slightly more geared towards melee combat than the Elves. They have more hit points and stamina than the Elves, but not as many spell points. They also have a somewhat limited class path, but unlike most races limited in this way, they are forced to use priest rather than shaman. Still, with most of warrior classes, and all of the mage classes available, they have many options available to them.

Racially, the Drow have sense life and the ability to detect hidden creatures and characters. They also have resistances to charm and necromantic magic. As before, the charm resistance is mostly useless, but the necromantic resistance offers protection from one of the most widely used spells: slow. A unique resistance, this helps the Drow in many tough situations. The tradeoff is a vulnerability to holy spells, but holy spells and weapons are rare and not often encountered.

Sidhe

The Sidhe are the good cousins of the Fey. The two races look nearly identical, only the darker skin, difference in wings, and blood sucking fangs of the Fey distinguish them. The physical similarities aside, there are some very real differences in the stats and attributes will greatly influence the way they are played. In some ways the complete opposite of the Fey, the Sidhe posses reduced hit points and stamina, while receiving a small increase in spell points. Not even comparable to the much higher stats of the Fey. On the other hand, the attributes of the Sidhe are greatly enhanced over their fey counterparts. High knowledge, wisdom, luck, sanity, and personality lend towards a powerful character in any magic field, as well as a decent fighter. While slightly limited in class path, they have many options not available to the Fey. A cautionary note, however, in that the rogue class is not available to Sidhe, and all must be bards.

As for racial skills and effects, the Sidhe are loaded. Racially Sidhe receive detect-alignment, and the skills shift, glamour, magical fade, faerie fire, and eventually charm. To top off this list of bonuses, they also posses immunity to poison and resistance to charm, disease, and paralysis. Charm is, as always, not particularly useful, but poison, disease, and paralysis is invaluable. To compensate for these benefits the Sidhe are vulnerable to iron and light like the Fey.

Next: Class Selection