Characters & Classes

Characters & Classes

Characters are the player entities in TalesMUD. Each character has a race, a class, six core attributes, equipment slots, a skill loadout, and a persistent game state.

Character Creation

Players create characters via the onboarding flow:

1. Choose a name
2. Choose a race (affects starting attributes)
3. Choose a class (determines available skills and primary stats)
4. Start in the designated starting room

Races

Races modify base attribute values. The race system is data-driven and configurable.

The Six Classes

TalesMUD ships with six balanced classes, each with a distinct playstyle and skill set:

Class	Primary Stat	Resource	Playstyle
Warrior	STR	Cooldowns	Melee DPS / tanking
Rogue	DEX	Cooldowns	Burst damage / stealth
Ranger	DEX	Cooldowns	Ranged DPS / utility
Mage	INT	Mana	Spell DPS / AoE
Cleric	WIS	Mana	Healing / support DPS
Druid	INT/WIS	Mana	HoT healing / debuffs

Primary Attack Attributes

Each class scales their basic auto-attack from a different stat:

func (c *Character) GetPrimaryAttackAttribute() string {
    switch strings.ToLower(c.Class.ID) {
    case "warrior":        return "STR"
    case "rogue":          return "DEX"
    case "hunter", "ranger": return "DEX"
    case "wizard", "mage": return "INT"
    case "cleric":         return "WIS"
    case "druid":          return "INT"
    default:               return "STR"
    }
}

Core Attributes

Every character has six attributes. Each attribute has a modifier calculated as (value - 10) / 2.

Attribute	Short	Effect
Strength	STR	Warrior/melee damage, carrying capacity
Dexterity	DEX	Rogue/ranger damage, initiative bonus
Constitution	CON	Hit point scaling
Intelligence	INT	Mage/druid spell power, mana pool
Wisdom	WIS	Cleric spell power, mana regeneration
Charisma	CHA	NPC interactions, merchant pricing

Distributable Points

On each level-up, characters receive distributable attribute points that players can spend using the spend command:

> spend str 2
You spend 2 points on Strength. (STR: 12 → 14)
Remaining points: 1

Hit Points

Max HP is derived from class, level, and CON:

• Scales with level
• CON modifier adds a bonus per level

Current HP is tracked separately and reduced by combat damage. HP regenerates out of combat (via the rest command or natural regeneration).

Mana System

Mana is only available to caster classes (Mage, Cleric, Druid):

func (c *Character) CalculateMaxMana() int32 {
    classID := strings.ToLower(c.Class.ID)
    switch classID {
    case "mage", "wizard", "cleric", "druid":
        intMod := c.GetINTMod()
        mana := int32(20) + (c.Level * 5) + int32(intMod*4)
        if mana < 10 { mana = 10 }
        return mana
    default:
        return 0  // Physical classes don't use mana
    }
}

Mana regeneration per combat round:

func (c *Character) CalculateManaRegen() int32 {
    regen := int32(1) + int32(c.GetWISMod())
    if regen < 1 { regen = 1 }
    return regen
}

Non-caster classes use cooldown-based skills instead of mana.

Equipment Slots

Characters have 13 equipment slots:

Slot	Key	Description
head	Head	Helmet, hat, hood
chest	Chest	Armor, robe
legs	Legs	Greaves, pants
boots	Boots	Footwear
hands	Hands	Gloves
neck	Neck	Amulet, pendant
ring1	Ring (left)	Ring slot 1
ring2	Ring (right)	Ring slot 2
main_hand	Main Hand	Weapon, wand
off_hand	Off Hand	Shield, offhand weapon
inventory	Inventory	Carried but unequipped
container	Container	Bag/backpack
purse	Purse	Currency holder

Two-handed weapons occupy both main_hand and off_hand.

Equipment Commands

equip [item]       — Equip an item from inventory
unequip [slot]     — Remove item from a slot
equipment / gear   — Show all equipped items

Skill Loadout

Characters can equip up to 4 skills simultaneously. Skills are locked during active combat.

skills             — Show all available and equipped skills

Skills are unlocked by class and level. The available skill pool for each class is defined in the skill seed data. See Skills & Spells for the full list.

Experience & Leveling

Characters gain XP from:

• Combat kills — XP from defeated enemies
• Quest completion — XP from quest rewards
• Room discovery — Small XP bonus for entering a room for the first time
• Area discovery — Bonus for discovering a new zone/area

The leveling curve is defined in pkg/mudserver/game/leveling/ and scales exponentially. On level-up, the character receives distributable attribute points.

Character State

Characters persist the following state to SQLite:

Field	Description
currentHitPoints / maxHitPoints	Current and max HP
currentMana / maxMana	Current and max mana (casters only)
xp / level	Experience and current level
gold	Currency held
attributes	Six core attributes and distributable points
inventory	All carried items
equippedItems	Currently equipped items by slot
equippedSkills	Up to 4 equipped skill IDs
flags	Key/value map for scripting state and puzzle tracking
discoveredRooms / discoveredAreas	Explored locations
revealedExits	Hidden exits revealed by scripts
boundRoomId	Respawn location (set via bind command)

Next Steps

• Combat System — Initiative, auto-attack, skills
• Skills & Spells — Full skill list by class
• Character Progression — XP curves and leveling