Always one of the most popular parts of any RPG, and usually the first point of contact for the players: character creation. This saw a fair amount of change over time, so I'll take a moment to explain the intentions that went into its current form.
You'll see that it's mostly a matter of random generation, but not entirely. Partly this is our OSR influences coming through, as we're wary of players getting "distracted" spending more time planning their character builds rather than actually playing the game. Many of us prefer to "discover" our character rather than design them. But all your character info that's generated randomly serves as a mere foundation, which you (hopefully) have enough power to then build upon in a way you can feel happy with.
The tables are sort of like a lifepath system, in a sense. They don't pin down a sequence of events, but they do tell your backstory. Your elements, your weapons, your other gear, etc. all have an origin you can point to for where you got them from.
The hope is that, as you roll on table after table, a story naturally emerges out of them. You make connections, recognize parallels, or feel inspired to explain something seemingly inexplicable. In practice, I've watched this work quite well for pretty much all players. It goes even better when two or more players make their characters together, as they have more threads to pull on, weaving their backstories into one tapestry.
This should also provide the GM plenty of fuel for setting up scenarios and conflict. If you're running the game, I recommend you create a spreadsheet to record all the PCs' background info during or shortly after character creation. Even if you're using a pre-made scenario / sandbox, you can take those NPCs and factions and goals and insert them somehow. Random attack by bandits in the woods? Eh. But what about if those bandits have kidnapped one of the PCs' family members? And maybe they're members of a sect that has a longstanding rivalry with a PCs' mentor? Boom, instant plot threads explode right out of a simple ambush.
Now your fighting style, well, that's another story. Developing your fighting style is definitely the most burdensome part, as you'll probably find yourself reading lots and lots of arts from many paths. In the first draft of the game, it was actually also randomly generated, to save you from all that work. How convenient, right?
Well, you can imagine how many playtesters liked that. In hindsight, it was pretty silly. Getting to customize your own personal fighting style is exactly what a player comes to a kung fu game for.
That said, if you're the kind of player who finds that sort of thing a bit tiring, here's some advice: just pick your favorite two elements first, without even reading about the arts that you can get with them. Either read about the elements on "Elemental Benefits" spread on pages 10-11, or, hell, just whichever two you think are coolest. After that, when the time comes to pick your two paths, when you have to start reading arts in order to make a decision, go ahead and just read the basic arts. The advanced arts and master arts are something you can work towards later.
I will say, min-maxing is tempting, but pretty risky. Attempting to (lightly) discourage it, we ruled that starting the game with 0 in an element leaves you maimed. That said, I did have one playtester who still made a character with three 0s. To compensate for his pathetic mobility, he rides on another PC's back, using him as a mount. I encourage you to likewise feel out the edges of the system and do something weird with it.
-Dwiz
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