Your Character

The only thing that matters in this game is your Character. Keeping it alive, exploring the multiverse, and growing your power is your overall objective. Your character is comprised of four major categories: Race, Class, Persona, and Command.

Race
Like so many fantasy and sci-fi universes have shown us (Star Trek) humans are everywhere. So far every known plane WOTC has shown us has had humans. Humans provide a base option for players new to RPGs.

Beyond humans, a player's race needs to be decided together with your Dungeon Master, depending on your starting plane. The most important thing to consider when deciding your race is what plane is your DM planning on starting you on and what races are native to that plane?

Color choice is also something to consider when first deciding on your character as several races are unique to certain colors of mana on different planes. The color wheel is a major part of core MTG design and this will be play a big part throughout the campaign experience.

Example: If the players are starting their campaign on Zendikar then their options would be: Human (all colors), Kor (white), Merfolk (blue), Vampire (black), Goblin (red), Elf (green).

Class
While your race selection is mostly for flavor, beyond a character modifications or two, your class will represent how the game, especially combat, plays out for your character.

Each character will start out with a single color and have their choice between two classes for each color: Each class has a specified life modifier, hand modifier, and ability modifiers. Each class also has their own unique abilities, including a channeling ability that triggers and uses lands as a resources.
 * White: Soldier and Priest
 * Blue: Rogue and Wizard
 * Black: Mercenary and Witch
 * Red: Warrior and Mage
 * Green: Scout and Druid

Channeling Abilities
Channeling abilities are built around the use of land cards and provide players with a themed ability related to their character. Because players receive mana each turn, lands are no longer used to tap for mana but instead are collected in the command zone each time they enter play triggering a unique landfall-like channeling ability known as an Invocation.

These invocations often make up the core mechanic of a class, such as triggering a small heal by a priest or a shock cast by a mage. When a player has built up enough lands in their command zone they can be sacrificed to trigger a powerful ability known as an Evocation. These evocations often have larger effects that impact the board, such as giving all creatures +3/+3 and trample or resurrecting creatures.

Though it is important to consider style of play and channeling abilities when first selecting a character, unlike most tabletop RPGs this choice is far from permanent. The Third Path system utilizes a job-style class equip system, which means as players level up they at any time may choose to assume a new class role and equip a new class. As a player equips and masters new classes they will eventually be able to mix-and-match different class abilities and even unlock advanced and prestige classes through mastering multiple classes.

Persona
This is who you are. This is beyond race, class, combat ability, any of that pen-and-paper stuff. This is your ideals, your ambitions, your interests and passions. This is about your experience in life, the choices you made, the choices you didn't. Who is your character and who do they want to be?

As such this is where your ability proficiencies are decided (okay, a little pen-and-papery).

Work with your DM to determine your personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.

Ability Scores
Similar to the WOTC's Dungeons & Dragons, The Third Path takes the five colors of Magic and relates them to five main ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma (cutting Constitution). The list of different skills use the traditional D&D 5e skills, along with a few pulled from Pathfinder and D&D 3.5e, with a few MTG specific skills. Each color has four unique skills (two knowledge) and four skills shared with other ability scores. To clarify a typical skill check encounter would go something like this: The player would then use their Character Zone to determine their Investigation modifier, if any, and roll a d20 adding or subtracting their modifier.
 * Strength Ability Score (White)
 * Skill: Constitution (W), Investigation (W), Knowledge: Planar, Knowledge: Religion
 * Shared Skills: Craft, Persuasion, Athletics, Medicine
 * Intelligence Ability Score (Blue)
 * Skill: Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Knowledge: History, Knowledge: Arcana
 * Shared Ability Skills: Craft, Deception, Spellcraft, Acrobatics
 * Charisma Ability Score (Black)
 * Unique Ability Skills: Barter, Performance, Knowledge: Diplomacy, Knowledge: Local
 * Shared Ability Skills: Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation, Survival
 * Dexterity Ability Score (Red)
 * Unique Ability Skills: Initiative, Reflex, Knowledge: Engineering, Knowledge: Dungeoneering
 * Shared Ability Skills: Athletics, Spellcraft, Intimidation, Animal Handling
 * Wisdom Ability Score (Green)
 * Unique Ability Skills: Insight, Perception, Knowledge: Geography, Knowledge: Nature
 * Shared Ability Skills: Medicine, Acrobatics, Survival, Animal Handling
 * DM: You enter what seems to be an empty room, the battle outside becomes muffled as the door shuts behind you. What do you do?
 * Player: I check for traps.
 * DM: Please make an Investigation Check.

This is all pretty standard for any d20 rpg, however several abilities such as Athletics or Survival are shared between different color identities. While a white Soldier has athleticism in trained skilled a red Warrior has athleticism in raw power. They each rely on their main color and should not be punished for attempting a feat of athletics in their own way. Overall this is meant to give the DM more dynamic options when asking their players to make skill checks.

Example: 
 * DM: A boulder comes crashing down upon you and your ally. What do you do?
 * Player: I raise my shield and try to protect my fallen comrade.
 * DM: Alright. Please make a Red Athletics check.

''This is a situation where the DM could dictate the type of athletic check that best fits the situation contextually. Red represents the raw strength required to stop a large falling stone, where a White Athletics check would be more appropriate for combat situations that are improved through training.'' Finally the standout skill are the variety of Knowledge skills, each color has two unique knowledge expertise that are meant to give the player an easy to understand mechanic to learn about the world and how to progress through the story and game. It reflects the wisdom that your character would of pick up in their day-to-day life.

Command
The Command aspect of your character is the collection of abilities and gear your character knows and has equipped. During combat characters may play and utilize cards and abilities that are in their command zone as though they are in their hand. Your command zone serves as a type of interactive character sheet.

In the first area are your character stats: name, color identity, abilities, life modifier, hand modifier, attack, and defense. All of these stats are determined by earlier choices such as class or race selection with your DM. The second area is where passive abilities belong, these can be unlocked or activated depending on achievement or character location. All players have a domain which is a reflection of the environment they are most adept in (swamp, forest, city, etc.)

Finally, at the bottom of the command sheet is your gear and equipment. Here are the weapons, armor, trinket, and item slots available to your character. When one of these slots is first unlocked it begins at common level and can only equip a common rarity card to that slot, as you level up or begin to unlock advanced classes these slots can be upgrade all the way up to mythic. Different classes will have access to different selections of slots.

''Example: Most basic classes max out at two basic slots for weapons or equipment in any combination. However some classes are the exception. The soldier is eventually able to unlock two weapon slots and still have an equipment slot. Classes like the artificer are able to have up to three trinket slots and still choose between a weapon or equipment slot.''

These four main aspects of your character are further elaborated on in the following chapters.