Stronghold Character Creation

   Once you decide on the best spot for your main castle, go to that location and click on the button labeled Create baron or baroness. This button is just outside the bottom-left corner of the large window.
Attributes:   First you roll up your leader's attributes - Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. Units have the same attributes as their leader. The maximum (best) attribute rating in any category is 18. Press the "REROLL" button as many times as you like to regenerate a new set of attributes.
   Character attributes affect game play as follows:
Strength:   Units with high Strength do greater damage to opponents in combat.
Intelligence:   High Intelligence is useful for mages and elves in casting spells.
Wisdom:   Aids clerics in casting clerical spells. High Wisdom also gives a bonus for defending against spell-casting monsters.
Dexterity:   Higher Dexterity units attack first.
Constitution:   High Constitution gives units extra hit points when they advance levels.
Charisma:   Higher Charisma units attract followers more quickly.
Hit Points:   Hit points (HP) are the amount of damage that a character can take before dying.
Experience Points / Levels:    Characters can go up in "level" from level one (rank amateur) to 36 (supreme expert) based on experience. The higher level a character is, the better spells he can cast, the more HP he has, etc. Experience is gained by defeating monsters or by building places to study in the stronghold, such as Magic Schools or Thieves' Guilds.

Races & Classes:   To choose a class for your character, press one of the labeled buttons on the right. Not all classes are always available. Each character class has a primary attribute associated with it. If the displayed attributes are too low, you may not be able to select a certain character class. To generate a new set of attributes, press "REROLL".
   Unless otherwise noted, a race or class sees up to five blocks around itself on the overhead map.
Fighters:   Fighters are humans whose main skill is prowess at arms. A leader who is a fighter attracts two types of units: archers and fighters. The difference is whether the unit specializes with the sword or the longbow. Fighters are average at everything else: they farm and mine well enough. Their primary attribute is Strength.
Dwarves:   Dwarves are sturdy, short demihumans with great combat abilities. Dwarves are better at finding minerals than any other character race or class, but dwarves are the worst at cultivating trees. High-level dwarves take only half-damage from magical attacks. Their primary attributes are Strength and Constitution.
Mages:   Mages are humans who specialize in magic. They have little or no weapon ability or battle prowess. As mages gain experience levels, however, they gain powerful magic spells that can destroy monsters that would defeat almost any other class or race. Their primary attribute is Intelligence.
Elves:   Elves are graceful, lean demihumans. They have some of the abilities of both fighters and mages - they are adept with the longbow and cast limited magical spells. Elves are better than any other race or class at cultivating trees, but worst at finding valuable minerals in rocks. High-level elves take only half-damage from dragon breath. Their primary attributes are Intelligence and Strength.
Thieves:   Thieves are humans who specialize in sneaking, spying, and reconnaissance. They make excellent scouts, as they can see 15 blocks around themselves on the overhead map. Their primary attribute is Dexterity.
Halflings:   Halflings are short demihumans with many abilities similar to human thieves. Halflings are better at farming than any other class or race. They see up to eight blocks around themselves on the overhead map. High-level halflings take only half-damage from magical attacks or dragon breath. Their primary attributes are Strength and Dexterity.
Clerics:   Clerics are humans who devote their lives to great and worthy causes. Clerics cast spells in combat, and are also adept at hand-to-hand fighting. Their primary attribute is Wisdom.

Alignment:   Character alignment determines the victory conditions of the game.
Lawful:   The goal of the LAWFUL baron is to advance through the nine promotion levels to the rank of Emperor or Empress.
Chaotic:   The CHAOTIC baron must destroy all enemy strongholds to win.
Neutral:   The NEUTRAL baron must fulfill both the LAWFUL and CHAOTIC victory conditions.
   At all costs, defend your main castle. If it is destroyed by opponents, you lose the game.

Name Your Character:   Type in the name of your character when prompted. The name can be almost any length, but we suggest using six or less characters. Longer names are automatically abbreviated in many of the game screens.

Place Your Castle:   After you have created your leader, it is time to place your main castle. Click on the "PLACE" button.
   Sometimes water in the block or steep terrain prevent the placement of a main castle. If this happens, move to another block. The terrain description next to the "PLACE" button will indicate legal castle locations.
   Construction starts immediately; your loyal subjects begin to populate the land. Important: once you place your main castle, enemy strongholds appear on the map.

Create Party Members:   While construction of your main castle is underway, explore more land nearby. There can be as many as four other members in your party. Rather than castles, these characters build 'keeps.' Keeps become the central points of their own neighborhoods in the stronghold.
   Keeps have to be built within a certain radius from the main castle. The further spaced apart they are, the harder it is for the different neighborhoods to defend one another in the event of a monster attack.
   Find good locations for these keeps quickly, create the other members of your party, and get them started building. The monster hordes are growing! Try to create a balanced party. Each of the character classes has advantages and disadvantages, but a mixture of classes will best be able to explore, build, grow, fight, and conquer.