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Character Creation
May 8, 2026 at 09:10 AM
Applied Title Case to body headings
Character creation in Windrose is straightforward. You set your pirate's look before entering the world, but you do not lock in combat stats or a class. The player character is still the same story lead: a freelance courier who gets betrayed, survives Blackbeard's attack, and washes ashore with the mysterious artifact fused to their body.
The creation menu is split into six tabs: Body, Head, Hair, Tattoo, Makeup, and Name. Pre-built templates are available inside the Body tab for players who want to get into the world quickly. The other tabs let you fine-tune the look section by section, and you can jump between tabs at any time before confirming.
Tab | What it covers |
|---|---|
Body | Gender (masculine / feminine), Origin (skin color), Body Shape (skinny, muscular, healthy), Skin Details, Age |
Head | Head shape, Nose, Ears, Eyebrows, Eye Color |
Hair | Hairstyle, Hair Color, beard options for masculine bodies |
Tattoo | Chest, Back, Left and Right Shoulder, Left and Right Forearm, Left and Right Leg placements |
Makeup | Eyeliner and color, Lip style and color, Blush style and color |
Name | Character name; 5 to 25 characters including spaces, must contain at least one letter |
You can click through the tabs directly, and Q or E also cycles through options inside the menu. Character names cannot be empty or whitespace-only; the exact allowed length range is not publicly documented.
Windrose uses "Masculine" and "Feminine" labels instead of "Male" and "Female." Both options give full access to the same creation menu.
Character creation is not a one-shot decision. Press O during gameplay to reopen the appearance menu and change your look later. You do not need to find a barber or travel to a special town vendor first.
Character creation is appearance-only. Combat stats come later through leveling and the talent system.
Attribute | Effect |
|---|---|
Weapon effectiveness and melee damage | |
Health | Maximum health pool |
Stamina | Attacks, dodges, sprinting, and combat endurance |
Increases Critical Hit Chance across all weapon types |
Each level-up also grants a passive talent choice. That is where the real build identity starts to show up.
The game opens with the player in rough starter clothing after the shipwreck. Early gear is functional rather than stylish, and the look changes as you find or craft better equipment.
The first set is the torn starting outfit: Headband, Torn Doublet, Torn Gloves, Torn Boots, and Torn Pants. The next obvious step up is the Survivor's Set.
In co-op, character creation mostly matters for visual clarity. Each player controls their own character, and different looks make it easier to tell people apart during boarding fights, base work, and crowded group combat.
Kraken Express has said appearance, vanity, and functional gear customization are still evolving. The live build already lets you remake your look freely, but deeper appearance systems are still an Early Access work in progress.
Use presets if you want a fast start, or work through the six tabs if you want more control.
Do not overthink stats during creation. Build choices happen later through leveling and talents.
Press O later if you want to change your look. You are not stuck with the first version forever.
In multiplayer, appearance is mostly about recognizing your own crew at a glance.
Talent System - where the real character build starts
Multiplayer - how characters behave in co-op worlds
Getting Started - what happens once the prologue ends
The character-creation screen only decides how the pirate looks. The moment the world loads, the real build system takes over: a stat point and talent point economy that awards three attribute points and one talent pick per level-up. Understanding this handoff keeps creation-time anxiety in check and sets realistic expectations for the first few hours after the shipwreck.
A freshly created character begins with a modest base across all six attributes. Health and stamina pools are small enough that early combat encounters punish sloppy dodges. The cure is not a better starting build (there is no starting build to choose) but the first few level-ups. Banking the first few attribute points into Vitality and Endurance is the safest way to survive the coastal jungle while looking for a scaling weapon to commit to.
The developers have confirmed that quests and world exploration are the only sources of experience. Mob grinding does not level the character. This has two implications for a freshly created pirate:
Follow the starter quest chain. The "How My Shore Adventure Began" and "How My Sea Adventure Began" quests walk through the basics and deliver the first level-ups efficiently.
Explore before fighting. Uncovering a new area, looting a ruin, or reaching a landmark adds XP; repeatedly killing the same goblins on the starter beach does not.
Because attribute respec is completely free, even the few attribute points banked in the first few level-ups can be rerouted at any time. A player who invests in Strength expecting to use clubs and then finds a blunderbuss scaling with Agility can reset the stats and rebuild without any in-game cost. This design choice reinforces that character creation is purely cosmetic: the only decisions that matter long-term are gear upgrades and talent picks.
Character creation does not include difficulty settings. Those sit on the world-creation screen. The developers have stated that Hard is intentionally hard and Easy is still challenging, and that players can fine-tune individual settings if the preset sliders do not match their taste. Because world difficulty is locked after creation, spend more time on that screen than on the appearance menu; the appearance can be redone with the O key in-game, but difficulty cannot.
Pick a preset or spend five minutes on the six customization tabs. Appearance is reversible with the O key, so do not linger.
Name within 5 to 25 characters. Whitespace-only names are rejected; spaces and special characters are allowed.
Accept that stats start low. Base health and stamina are thin; survival comes from dodges, food buffs, and the first few level-ups, not from anything chosen in the creation menu.
Plan to respec. Expect to rework attribute allocation multiple times as weapons drop and playstyle clicks. The free stat respec makes this normal, not a sign of a failed build.
Worry about difficulty first. Open the Difficulty Settings page before confirming the new world, because that choice is permanent for the save.
The character creation screen splits customization into six tabs accessed along the top of the screen. Within each tab, options are cycled with the left mouse button or with Q and E. A complete tour:
Customization Tab | Options Covered |
|---|---|
Body | Gender (masculine / feminine), Origin (skin color), Body Shape (skinny, muscular, healthy), Skin Details, Age |
Head | Head shape, Nose, Ears, Eyebrows, Eye Color |
Hair | Hairstyle, Hair Color |
Tattoo | Chest, Back, Left and Right Shoulder, Left and Right Forearm, Left and Right Leg placements |
Makeup | Eyeliner and color, Lip style and color, Blush style and color |
Name | Character name; 5-25 character limit including special characters and spaces, must contain at least one letter |
The Name tab enforces a character-length constraint that sometimes trips up players trying short gamertag-style handles or long Roman numeral suffixes. The rule is 5 to 25 characters inclusive, with spaces and special characters counted against the limit. A name composed entirely of whitespace is rejected, so at least one letter must appear somewhere in the string. After confirming the name, the Confirm button closes the creator and drops the character into the prologue cinematic.
