Elanthia's population is a varied one, each race having its own strengths and weaknesses, and each individual having their own preferences. In helping Novices get equipped, such elements as race, profession and personal preference must be considered carefully.

Elanthia's races include Dwarves, Elves, Elotheans, Gor'Togs, Halflings, Humans, and Skra'Mur.

DWARVES - Short, stocky, and a bit furrier than most others, Dwarves are sturdy folk.  In exchange for their tremendous stamina, Dwarves move slower and are less agile.

ELVES - Tall and quiet, elves are known for their reflexes and their charisma, but tend to be weaker than most other races.

ELOTHEANS - Thought by some to be created of the Immortals, Eloths are known for their excellent reflexes and great intelligence. Like Elves, they are not very strong and suffer more under burden than any other race.

GOR'TOGS - This towering race was once enslaved for their tremendous strength and stamina and lesser intelligence, now many seek professions using heavy weapons and armor.

HALFLINGS - Though generally a frolicsome race, halflings are small wonders known for good reflexes, agility and stamina. Thier folly is thier weakness, however, as they have a harder time focusing their attentions.

HUMANS - While there is tremendous variation within this race, humans have no particular strength or weaknesses.

SKRA'MUR - The serpentine Skra' are very quick and strong, though not terribly smart or wise.

There are basically three fighting styles, light, medium, and heavy which roughly correspond to the major weapons and armor classes. Rather than think of these as hard and fast catagories, think of them as being points on a spectrum. Most people fall somewhere between these points, and that is where guild, race and personal preference come in. These are hybrids.

LIGHT

Light fighters use their quick reflexes, low burden, and a well developed evasion skill to avoid attacks. The sacrafice for being light and quick is protection and power of attack. If a light fighter gets hit, they will incur more damage than heavy or medium fighters. When they hit, they will hit with less damage, but are able to attack quicker.

Leather armor, having the least encumberance, is the prime choice for the light fighter. Some leather is very protective, but can be heavy for Novices, but being that they have not developed the evasion skills to maximize their lower encumberance, more protection is a good choice within the leather class.

While a light fighter may use most any class weapon, they excel at lighter, quicker weapons. Light fighters often include ranged weapon and magic users who avoid melee combat. Light fighters may use light edged weapons, but light edged weapons are not recommended for Novices, as they require more agility than most Novices have.

Most light fighters do not use shields because they are hindering to evasion, the light fighter's prime asset.

Races that have difficulties carrying heavy loads and swinging larger weapons are best suited to this style.

HEAVY

While light fighters are trained and equipped to avoid getting hit when under attack, the heavy fighter is designed to absorb damage from attacks.

The greater degree of protection afforded by heavier armor is offset by a greater burden and decreased ability to evade attacks.

Plate armor is the preferred choice of the heavy fighter. Light plate and heavy plate require different training. Most Novices do not have the physical or economic capacity to wear plate armor, so it is likely a decision they can wait to make. Most plate wearers start out in either leather or chain armor.

Most heavy fighters choose larger, slower, more damaging weapons.  Because they must have good stamina and strength to manuever well in their armor, heavy fighters have the ability to most effectively use weapons that would wear out another fighter rapidly. The weapons of choice are heavy edged and two-handed edged. Unless the Novice is exceptionally strong, two-handed edged weapons should be approached a bit later in their careers.

Since heavy fighters are designed to absorb damaging attacks and do not rely on evasion to the degree light fighters do, most heavy fighters use shields.  Shield quality is measured in hindrance. Typically, the greater the hindrance of the shield, the greater the protective capacity. It is important to understand, however, that the shield user's skill is very important in utilizing shield protective capacity. A tower shield with a high hindrance and high protective capacity is a poor choice for the Novice because they do not have the skill to maximize the shield's protective capacity and do not have the supporting defensive skills to compensate for the hindrance to their movement. If they must learn shield skill it is best to start with a low or moderately encumbering shield.

Those races that are blessed with naturally high stamina and strength are particularly well suited to be heavy fighers.

MEDIUM

The medium fighter obviously lays at the center of the spectrum, training more evenly to be able to take hits, though not the hard hits absorbed by heavy fighters, and to evade attack, but with less ability than the light fighter.

Medium armor is chain mail, which is available in both light and heavy depending on which side of center the individual's preferences lay in fighting style.

There is a whole class of weapons suited for the fighter who wants some of the best of both styles. The best is a medium edged weapon, such as a scimitar.

Only those that have a great difficulty with burden, specifically Elotheans, would have any troubles choosing this fighting style.


HYBRID

Most fighters pick and choose from among the three main styles to find what works best for them given their race and professional factors. Few fall exactly on the points of the spectrum that are light, heavy and medium. They may choose light armor and heavy weapons, medium weapons and heavy armor, light weapons and medium armor or any concievable combination. To guide Novices in their selections, Mentors should understand the pros and cons of the major fighting styles and their components to help find what will work best with the individual's race and guild.