Short answer: you choose a race, a class, a Persona and an appearance. Race and class together become your archetype and its exclusive skill tree. Attributes are not automatic — they cost XP, and the price of each one is set by your race–class pairing.
What you actually choose
Mudtek’s design post opens by naming the components: “It’s the point where you choose your race, class, persona, and appearance.” Later in the same post the studio lists every variable that feeds a finished character.
Official Design post, 16 November 2025
“When you put all of these variables together — race, class, archetype skill tree, attribute scaling, archetype passive, appearance, and Persona — our aim is to provide a huge amount of replayability from the very first screen.”
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 16 November 2025 · verified 16 September 2026
| Step | What you pick | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Race | Base kit, weapon identity, combo chain, guard type, attribute costs |
| 2 | Class | Spell pool, tree direction, off-stat penalties |
| 3 | Archetype skill tree | Spells and passives exclusive to that pairing |
| 4 | Archetype passive | Which single attribute gives the most value per point |
| 5 | Attribute spend | Breakpoints for specific spells and items |
| 6 | Appearance | Character look within each race’s visual identity |
| 7 | Persona | Which dialogue options appear more often |
Attributes are a spending decision
This is the part of character creation most often misunderstood, and Mudtek is explicit about it.
Official Design post, 16 November 2025
“In Dimraeth, it costs XP to level up your attributes. The XP cost of each attribute is primarily determined by your race–class combination. That means it is significantly more expensive for a Fairy Magician to raise Strength than it is for a Minotaur Brawler, and if you spend a lot of XP pushing into your ‘off’ stats, you will end up with fewer total attribute points by the time you reach max level.”
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 16 November 2025 · verified 16 September 2026
Two mechanics are packed into that paragraph, and they are worth separating:
Cost varies by pairing. The same attribute costs different amounts of XP depending on your race and class. There is no universal attribute price table.
Investment competes. XP spent on off-stats is XP not spent on primary stats, so the total number of attribute points at max level depends on where you put them. This is a budget, not a ceiling.
Mudtek states the design goal plainly: to give every race–class combination clear strengths and weaknesses, and to make attribute spending a considered decision around breakpoints for the spells or items you care about.
Why this matters for spell access. The store page states that crafted spellbooks grant access to universal magic provided you meet each spell's attribute requirements. Combined with variable attribute costs, that means a spell available to one archetype at little expense can be genuinely costly for another.
The archetype passive sets your primary attribute
Between race, class and attributes sits a small system with outsized influence.
Official Design post, 16 November 2025
“Each archetype has a ‘primary’ attribute that gives you the most value per point, pushing you toward certain builds while still leaving room to experiment.” The official example: the Minotaur Brawler, a Vanguard archetype, “gains bonus stamina whenever they level Strength, whereas other archetypes do not.”
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 16 November 2025 · verified 16 September 2026
The practical reading: your archetype tells you which attribute to spend on first. Ignoring it is permitted — the official text repeatedly emphasises room to experiment — but you pay twice, once in higher XP cost and once in the passive benefit you are not collecting.
Appearance
Appearance customisation is real but bounded, and Mudtek is candid about the bound.
Official Design post, 16 November 2025
“Within the constraints of our art style, this lets you tune the look of your character in a way that still respects the visual identity of each race. It's not a full 3D morphing system, but it's enough to make your character feel like yours.”
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 16 November 2025 · verified 16 September 2026
The Early Access update expanded this. Mudtek’s 2 September content update lists “male/female options for every race” and “improved character customisation” among the launch additions, so the system is more developed now than when the design post was written.
Respec: what is confirmed
Skill points can be reset. An official store screenshot shows the SPELL screen open on the SKILL TREE tab with AVAILABLE POINTS, Spent Points 8 and a Respec option visible on screen.
That is a direct read of the game’s own interface, which makes it solid evidence for skill respec existing.
Not confirmed Attribute respec
Mudtek has not published whether attribute points can be reset. Given that attributes are purchased with XP at race–class-dependent prices, an attribute respec is a different proposition from a skill respec and should not be assumed.
We state this as an open question rather than guessing, because the answer materially changes how risky it is to experiment with off-stats.
Checked against: 30 Mudtek announcements, Steam store page · 16 September 2026
Planning order that follows the systems
The official material implies a sequence, because some decisions constrain others.
Start with the playstyle, not the numbers. Race sets your base kit — frontline, kiting or backline — and cannot be overridden by class. If you want to play a fast, mobile character, that is a race decision before it is a class decision.
Then check what the archetype tree provides. The tree holds spells and passives no other archetype has. Those are the tools that will define your build, so pick the pairing whose exclusive tools you want.
Then plan attributes around breakpoints. Since costs vary and investment competes, the useful question is which specific spells or items you are aiming for, and what attributes those require. Mudtek names this directly: “you will need to manage breakpoints and plan around specific spells or items you care about.”
Then decide how much to experiment. You can reach for an off-stat spell — a physical spell on a caster, or a key magical spell on a Minotaur Brawler, both of which Mudtek uses as examples — but you must weigh it against investing in your primary attributes.
Note Where to check your spend
The in-game top bar includes a CHARACTER entry alongside CRAFTING CODEX, QUEST, MAP, SPELL, SOCIAL and SETTINGS. The SPELL screen carries both SKILL TREE and SPELLBOOK tabs, and the skill tree header displays available and spent points.
Source: official Steam store screenshots · captured 16 September 2026