In early versions of classic Mount&Blade, the player - along with tournament fighters Xerina, Dranton, and Kradus - was always from the city-state of Zendar. In later versions and in Warband, however, the player is always a foreigner recently arrived in Calradia by land or sea, with Zendar no longer seen in-game after having been sacked and razed by Sea Raiders.
The player is always an outsider who escapes an ambush along with Jaques de Clermont and his companions, afterwards being free to wander Eastern Europe.
In Sandbox Mode, the player may be native to a region associated with their chosen culture and may wander the Northlands as soon as possible.
In Storyline Mode, the player and their mother - regardless of origin - always start aboard the merchant ship Woden Ric, which is attacked soon afterwards by Sven Bull-Neck and his Danish Vikings. After surviving the raid, the player may be explore the Northlands after a certain point in the storyline.
Background[]
Classic/Warband[]
When you create your character, you must answer a number of questions about their early life - these will affect their starting attributes, skills, and proficiencies but have no long-term effect on the game - and finally decide on their name and appearance. The only pre-defined aspect of your character's life is the fact they came from another land. After your character arrives in Calradia, you gain direct control over them and you have a huge number of options about what to do next - select a starting faction and off you go to leave your mark on the world.
With Fire & Sword[]
There is no background choice for your character - only difficulty level and its associated starting equipment, attributes, skills, proficiencies, and appearance.
Viking Conquest[]
You must choose your character's background, attributes, skills, proficiencies, and appearance.
Appearance[]
The first thing you must decide about your character is their appearance - many facial features can be adjusted to each individual player's liking, such as hair, eyes, nose, cheek/jaw bones, etc., as well as skin tone and age.
Considerations for the Player[]
Your character is the party leader de facto, which makes skills labeled as "leader" - Inventory Management, Prisoner Management, Leadership - useless to their companions - unlike "personal" (character-only) and "party" (group-wide) skills - and therefore only useful to them. An example of this can be seen in Looting - a party skill no companions start with - as well as Inventory Management - a leader skill Katrin starts with 7 points in but, not being your character, her inventory size remains unchanged.
Starting Statistics[]
Classic/Warband
You begin your character's creation with the following statistics before you make any choices about their background.
Attributes
Strength
5
Agility
5
Intelligence
4
Charisma
5
Gender
Male
Strength +1 Charisma +1
Female
Agility +1 Intelligence +1
Skills
Riding
1
Leadership
1
Proficiencies
One Handed
23
Two Handed
15
Polearms
20
Archery
15
Crossbows
15
Throwing
19
With Fire & Sword
You begin your character's creation with all statistics pre-defined but with a number of points to allocate: 4 for attributes, 8 for skills, and 10 for proficiencies.
