Create your character: race, appearance, and what you can change

At a glance

Character creation follows this order: race → gender → profession → appearance → biography → name. Your race and profession are permanent. You can change your gender, appearance, and name later with Gem Store items. Choose a race whose look and story appeal to you.

The creation steps

The character creator walks you through the steps in a fixed order. Here is what each choice affects and whether you can change it later.

Choose a race Permanent

Choose asura, charr, human, norn, or sylvari. Race determines your starting area and biography questions, but makes little difference to combat performance.

Choose a gender Can be changed later

Choose Male or Female. This affects appearance, with no difference in stats. You can change it later using a Total Makeover Kit from the Gem Store.

Choose a profession Permanent

Choose one of nine professions. This is the most important decision for how your character plays. If you are unsure, read Choosing Your First Profession first.

Customize your appearance Can be changed later

Choose skin color, hair, face, markings, eye color, and more. The options depend on your race. A Total Makeover Kit lets you change these after creation and includes additional styles that are exclusive to makeover kits.

Answer the biography questions Permanent

Answer five questions: one about your profession, one about your personality, and three about your race. The profession question determines starting equipment or a ranger’s first pet. The personality question sets your initial personality. Race questions affect your early personal story and its characters. Pick a background you like.

Enter a name Can be changed later

Use 3–19 characters, including spaces. Latin letters, including supported accented letters, are allowed. You can use a first and last name. A Name Change Contract from the Gem Store lets you change the name later.

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You cannot change your race, profession, or biography answers after creation. Make another character to try a different race or profession. Guild Wars 2 provides multiple character slots per account.

The five races

Race determines your starting area and the questions about your background. Combat differences are minor, so choose the look and theme you enjoy.

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Choose a race for its appearance and story. Each race has racial skills, but profession skills are the foundation of learning your character.

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Want to play with a friend of another race? You can meet up by pasting a starting-area waypoint code into chat. Find the codes and instructions in Servers and Account Names.

Small, brilliant magical inventors, the asura take pride in their technological achievements. Their golems and magitech influence life across Tyria.

Expect distinctive looks and witty dialogue.

For unusual looks and a story with a sense of humor

The charr are feline warriors with a military society. They rejected their gods and built their strength through warfare and engineering, in a culture that values duty and honor.

They have a distinctive running animation on all fours. One biography answer determines the NPC who accompanies you in your early story.

For military themes, engineering, and distinctive movement

Humans have a history tied to their gods and once-powerful kingdoms now in decline. Their appearance and setting will feel familiar to many fantasy MMORPG players.

They offer a familiar starting point for players new to Guild Wars 2.

For a familiar fantasy setting in your first MMORPG · beginner friendly

These giants of the north honor the Spirits of the Wild. Each norn seeks to build a personal legend through great deeds.

Norn have the largest body size in Guild Wars 2. Their racial elite skills include animal transformations.

For Norse-inspired themes and a large character

The sylvari are plant people who awaken from the Dream. The youngest of the playable races, they share knowledge of the world through the Dream before awakening.

They have distinctive plant-like features that can glow, and a special connection to parts of the main story.

For a strong connection to the main story or a distinctive appearance

If you are unsure which race to choose

What appeals to you	Suggested race
A familiar fantasy setting for your first MMORPG	Human
Unusual looks and witty dialogue	Asura
Military themes, engineering, and distinctive movement	Charr
Norse-inspired themes and the largest body size in the game	Norn
A strong connection to the main story or distinctive looks	Sylvari

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Every race starts with waypoints unlocked in the other races’ starting areas. A human, for example, can travel straight to Plains of Ashford, the charr starting area.

Biography questions

Step five contains five questions. Race-specific background answers mainly determine your level 10 and 20 personal story and its characters. After level 30, the order you join and choices you make during the story still lead to different missions.

Question 1

Profession background

Choose the appearance of a piece of starting equipment. Rangers choose their first pet instead.

Question 2

Personality

Choose your character’s initial personality. This affects some NPC dialogue options.

Questions 3, 4, and 5

Race background (three questions)

Each race has three unique questions. Depending on the race and answer, these affect your level 10 and 20 story, companion NPCs, and some dialogue.

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You do not need to optimize your background. Choose answers you like. The story shares a broad direction and final goal, but the missions and characters along the way depend on your choices.

What can you change later?

Choice	Can it change?	How
Race	No	Create another character
Gender	Yes	Total Makeover Kit (Gem Store)
Profession	No	Create another character
Biography answers	No	-
Appearance	Yes	Total Makeover Kit (Gem Store), including exclusive appearance options
Character name	Yes	Name Change Contract (Gem Store)

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Changing everything at once? Identity Repair Kit (Gem Store) bundles a Total Makeover Kit with a Name Change Contract. It costs less than buying both separately when you want to change gender, appearance, and name together.