The main determiners of your character will be:

RACE:
The race options for this contest are human, elf & "shorties"

Humans are pretty straightforward. It's us! It's us!

Elves are human-like, but slightly shorter, more slender/willowy and much better looking (hellooo Orlando!). Their ears are longer and pointier than a human's. Wikipedia entry: elves

Shorties is an all-encompassing term I'm using to describe the vertically challenged of the fantasy world. If you get assigned this race, you can choose either the carefree halfling (think hobbits), a robust and industrious dwarf, or a mechanically curious gnome. Wikipedia entries: halfling || dwarf || gnome 1 / gnome 2.

 

CLASS
Class is the "occupation" of your character. I will be using the following three classes: warrior, wizard, and rogue.

A warrior is someone whose skill lies in hand-to-hand combat. A warrior can be anyone from a barbarian using his fists to a military officer, to a woodsy ranger, to a knight/paladin in a full suit of armour. Think Aragorn/Strider, Faramir, or Eowyn from LOTR. Wikipedia definition: warrior.

A wizard is a studier of magic and a spellcaster. Pretty self-explanatory! They are usually perceived as being intelligent and studious. Wikipedia definition: wizard.

A rogue is a specialist in making money, or trouble, or both. They are usually clever and can get what they want without resorting to magic or heavy weaponry. A rogue can range from a well-respected bard or dancer to an untrustworthy thief or assassin. Wikipedia definition: rogue.

GENDER:
I don't really need to explain this, do I? You will be assigned either male, female, or your choice of gender.

 

The minor determinations of your doll will be the following six traits. It's kind of hard to tangibly represent a trait, but a combination of all the traits can add some nuances to your character. For example, if you have a character with high intelligence, but low wisdom and charisma, then you may have a bookish nerd who doesn't get out a lot. Alternatively, if you score low in dexterity, you have a bit of a klutz. On the other hand, high strength and charisma probably means you have one fine looking specimen! And if all your scores are all average? Then you have one well-rounded character!

All trait scores range from 3 - 18. A score from 3 - 8 is considered low. 9 - 14 is about average, and 15 - 18 is considered high.

STRENGTH: refers to how physically strong you are

CONSTITUTION: means how tough your body is. Someone with a low constitution is usually frail and sickly. Someone with a high constitution is stout and highly resistant to sickness, spells and physical harm.

DEXTERITY: refers to how nimble your body and hands are. An acrobat would have a high dexterity. An oversized troll with no depth perception would have a low dexterity.

INTELLIGENCE: refers to how smart you are

WISDOM: refers to how "worldly" you are. Intelligence and wisdom aren't the same thing. Intelligence comes from education and study. Wisdom comes from experience, and is an indicator of how well you know people, customs, politics, etc. (basically, how the world works on a social level).

CHARISMA: is like personal magnetism. A person with high charisma can often get people to do what they want. Charisma doesn't necessarily mean good looks - it's more an indicator of charm. Low charisma factors could be boorishness or snobbery, among other things.

 

SPECIFIC RULES:

- Entries are required to have at least one prop (additional props are allowable --and encouraged-- as long as you have one of the following):
----> All warriors must have at least one visible weapon
----> All wizards must have a visible staff OR a spellbook/magic scroll OR potion vial/s
----> All rogues must have a visible knife/dagger OR a bag of money OR jewels/misc. treasure OR some sort of tool OR a musical instrument

- All props must be made by you.

- You are allowed to change ONE thing in your random assignment. You may change the race OR class OR gender OR change the score of any one ability to any number between 3 - 18. If you do make a change, please tell me what it is so I can keep track!

- You are allowed to give your character a name. This is optional.

- You are allowed to write a brief (~100 words or less) background on your character. (Where they come from, the kind of life they've led, motiviations for adventuring - that sort of thing). This is also optional.

- Character alignment is up to you . . . he/she can be as good or evil as you want them to be

- Your character can be completely original or based on any fantasy world (D&D, Everquest, Warcraft, Final Fantasy, etc.)