Character creation in the Underworld games
The character creation in Ultima Underworld and Ultima Underworld II is not as theatrical as they often are in most Ultima games, however the process is more complex and choices must be made with foresight.
Ultima Underworld[edit]
The name and gender of the Avatar are purely a personal choice and have no bearing on gameplay.
There are 8 professions from which to choose. This choice will determine what choices are offered later in the process.
The Attributes of the Professions[edit]
Each profession has a minimum proficiency in each of the three attributes of Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. Instead of numerical values, they are vaguely expressed as “low”, “medium” and “high”. It is only known that the absolute minimum for any attribute (“low”) is 12. On that starting proficiency, a random number of bonus points are applied. In this case, the creation process can be retried until the desired result is reached. Note that the sum of all three attributes can never exceed 60 points.
Here an overview of said minimum proficiency:
| Profession | STR | DEX | INT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mage | Low | Medium | High |
| Bard | Medium | High | Medium |
| Fighter | High | Medium | Low |
| Druid | High | Low | High |
| Tinker | High | High | Low |
| Paladin | Low | High | High |
| Ranger | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| Shepherd | Low | Low | Low |
Of note is that in order to offset the low minimum proficiency, the random bonus points awarded a shepherd are likely to be higher.
The Skills[edit]
Additionally, each class has a unique skill set. During the selection process, some skills are automatically assigned based on the chosen profession. Then there are up to 3 rounds wherein for each round, the player can choose a single skill from a list. Which skills each class is assigned automatically and which the player can chose follows in the table below. Of note is, that the efficacy of each skill is randomly decided, so the actual points the skill gets can very significantly between creation tries. For the actual usefulness of the various skills, see Skill system of Underworld and Underworld II.
Once the game has started, more skills can be acquired at shrines.
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Conclusions[edit]
For each character class, there is a conclusion.
The mage and the druid suffer tremendously from their lack of any kind of weapon skill, making it very difficult for them to survive until reaching the shrine on the first level to get a minimum skill in a weapon of choice. Additionally, the mage's low strength means that the inventory and armor are highly limited.
The bard is pretty much a jack of all trades, who however should quickly decide which path to go. At creation, one has to make sure to get the STR as high as possible, so that the inventory and armor will not be too limited by the weight limit. At creation the difficult decision between weapon and casting skills exists.
While the fighter will not have any troubles when it comes to the fighting arts, the low INT and the lack of any starting abilities in the magical arts or mana supply means, that the investment to learn them (needed!) is much higher than with other professions.
Interestingly, the tinker is very much like the fighter, only that the skill selection for practical skills is rather poor, since the skills offered are mostly useless for further progression in the game, as is the automatically gained repair skill.
For some reason the paladin is burdened with a low STR, which makes this profession, which normally is a fighter with magic, disadvantaged with highly limited inventory and armor. The starting skill of charm also is pretty much useless. For some reason, despite high INT, the paladin does not have any magical skill from which to chose.
The ranger is a jack of all trades. Their stats are very much random due to the bonus points. Besides the useless automatic tracking skill, the ranger can chose from pretty much all practical and battle skills, but does not have the choice of magical skills.
Finally, the shepherd is a surprise character. While the basic stats are low, the high bonus means they can get high/low stats in any combination. Also, they can chose from all skill categories (battle, magical and practical), thus making them very versatile at character creation. However, note the shepherd has a hidden penalty; their basic stats will always total only 56 points, while all other classes get 60.
Ultima Underworld II[edit]
In Ultima Underworld II the creation is much the same as in Ultima Underworld. The most noticeable difference is that the attributes are numerical.
The name and gender of the Avatar are purely a personal choice and have no bearing on gameplay.
There are 8 professions from which to choose. This choice will determine what choices are offered later in the process.
The Attributes of the Professions[edit]
Each profession has a minimum proficiency in each of the three attributes of Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence, which can be seen in the table below. On that starting proficiency, a random number of bonus points are applied. Each profession has a fixed number of points, as seen below. In this case, the player can retry creation until the desired result is reached. The number of total points (attributes and bonus) is 60 for each profession, except the shepherd with only 56, thus it is impossible to have all three attributes at maximum.
An overview of said minimum proficiencies follows:
| Profession | STR | DEX | INT | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mage | 12 | 16 | 20 | 12 |
| Bard | 14 | 20 | 14 | 12 |
| Fighter | 20 | 16 | 12 | 12 |
| Druid | 16 | 14 | 18 | 12 |
| Tinker | 16 | 18 | 14 | 12 |
| Paladin | 18 | 15 | 15 | 12 |
| Ranger | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Shepherd | 12 | 12 | 12 | 20 |
Of note is that in order to offset the low minimum proficiency, the shepherd does have a much higher number of bonus points that are distributed.
The Skills[edit]
Additionally, each class has a unique skill set. During the selection process, some skills are automatically assigned based on the chosen profession. Then there are up to 3 rounds wherein for each round, the player can choose a single skill from a list. Which skills each class is assigned automatically and which the player can chose follows in the table below. Of note is, that the efficacy of each skill is randomly decided, so the actual points the skill gets can very significantly between creation tries. For the actual usefulness of the various skills, see Skill system of Underworld and Underworld II.
Once the game has started, more skills can be acquired from trainers.
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Conclusions[edit]
For each character class, there is a conclusion.
The mage and the druid suffer from their lack of any kind of weapon skill, making it necessary to invest the initial training points for a minimum skill in a weapon of choice. Additionally, the mage's low strength means that the inventory and armor are highly limited.
The bard is pretty much a jack of all trades, who however should quickly decide which path to go. At creation, one has to make sure to get the STR as high as possible, so that the inventory and armor will not be too limited by the weight limit. At creation, the difficult decision between weapons and casting exists.
While the fighter will not have any trouble when it comes to the fighting arts, the low INT and the lack of any starting abilities in the magical arts or mana supply means, that the investment to learn them (needed!) is much higher than with other professions.
Interestingly, the tinker is very much like the fighter, only that the skill selection for practical skills is rather poor, since the skills offered are mostly useless for further progression in the game, as is the automatically gained repair skill.
Thankfully, the paladin was fixed compared to the previous game, now having the second-highest initial strength of all professions. Also, the skill selection now has magical skills available right from the start, allowing these to develop right from the start. This makes for a good fighter/mage combination.
The ranger is a jack of all trades. Their stats are very much random due to the bonus points. Besides the useless automatic tracking skill, the ranger can chose from pretty much all practical and battle skills, but does not have the choice of magical skills.
Finally, the shepherd is a surprise character. While the basic stats are low, the high bonus means they can get any combination of stats. Also, they can choose from all skill categories, battle, magical and practical, thus making them very versatile when creating a character.