One of the main draws of the game is the incredibly large amount of class (and build) options. Each class (about 20 of them) comes with around 5 optional specializations each, and you can chose to level any class at every levelup.

They are also, for the most part, all viable as pure classes. Unlike games like Fallout where most characters end up quite similar at level 1, WotR truely enables any* build to be viable right from the start.

That being said, hardcore playing conditions come with more stringent expectations out of any given character, and this page aims at addressing a few archetypes.

Character creation screens

Difficulty

The heart of what will make your playthrough hardcore. Chose well.

Death's Door

Off. We play with 1 life, not 2 lives per long rest.

Dead companions rise after combat

Off. We play with 1 life, not 1 life per fight.

Remove negative effects on rest

Off. Actions have consequences.

Remove controlling effect after combat ends

(perhaps surprisingly) ON ! This is the difference between waiting 15 IRL minutes for a grease spell to wear out or carrying on once the fight is over. Only turn off for the most masochists playthroughs.

Crusade management difficulty

Strongly recommended to be left at Story mode. Crusade isn't much fun during the first playthrough and is thorougly annoying after multiple ones. Modding it out entirely would bring a lot of peace of mind without affecting game balance at all

Crusade auto-mod

Questionable. Sadly, this toggle is too large and will remove the army management mechanic (yay !) but also cut off access from kingdom management (some of which is fun) and disable access to the secret ending.

Only active ... receive experience

Up to you. Can be changed at any point in time. Optimal strategy is to have it on during the prologue then turn it off once you get access to your choice of companions.

Last Azlanti

The purest hardcode form. Cannot be turned off.

Quicksave & mental discipline do just as well, and prevent against buggy situations though.

Portrait

Doesn't matter. Pick whatever.

Do note that you can import your own (tab near the top)

Class

Too many to cover. You get a chose a class at every levelup, the only restriction (beyond usual class restrictions) is that you can't pick two different flavours of the same base class.

For spellcasters, pay attention to the spellcasting ability and whether you're a memorized (wizard-style) or spontaneous (sorcerer-style) caster.

Race

Straightforward. Go with what you like, or go with what synergizes with your class (+STR for fighters, etc).

Mind the negative affinity of Dhampirs, at it deeply affects how you heal.

Abilities

Strength

You know the joke about horsepower vs torque ? Well, Strength is both for just about every martial character, meaning you need it maxed up. It's also relatively useless for anyone else, beyond carrying capacity. Anything below 9 means foregoing equipment (even robes have a weight).

Dexterity

Useful for ranged characters to hit things, and for regular characters to avoid hits. Some builds superseed it with Charisma, in which case it's a complete dump stat.

Constitution

Your typical CON. Due to how "high power fantasy" the game is, this generally isn't a great use of points, up to being a possible dump stat even for a tank.

Intelligence

Int-based main spellcasters want this maxed out, no negotiating.

For everyone else, figure out which skills you want him to master and provide just-enough INT to level those up

Wisdom

Likely to end up as the dump stat, although the Perception bonus is nice to have. Obviously critical for WIS-based spellcasters (usually divine ones).

Charisma

Best stat of the game when built around it. Most spellcasting classes with a CHA-based option (Stigmatized Witch instead of regular Witch, etc) end up being much stronger as a result.

For builds that don't capitalize on CHA-based options though, this is your regular RPG charisma dump.

Skills

The game does a great job of spreading the love across all skills. There no clear loser here, and your best companion will generally be used for skill check purposes even in dialogue. Ideally you'll want to have every skill covered by 1 character.

For a main character, Perception and Persuasion are the most likely to be checked against your MC to the exclusion of available companions. Athletics and Mobility are commonly used in combat (to save against spells). Perception can theoretically also benefit in combat to spot invisible enemies, but magical ways are plentiful and far more efficient.

Feats

Vast amounts to chose from. No "godlike" pick that every character should have, although Outflank comes close and should be given to all your melee characters when you get a chance (assuming you have multiple of those).

Note that pet companions do get feats with almost no restriction once they reach INT 3 (which most will at level 4), and are a great source of Teamwork triggers.

Spells

Too vast topic to cover.

Divinity

Mostly for flavour, with the exception of Clerics, whose Domain is restricted by their divinity. Community is one of the strongest domain.

Iomedae is very present in the story for everyone.

Desna is more low-profile but just as present, and arguably the sensible choice for lovers of cute little dragons.

Beyond that, every god gets a few uniques dialogue opportunities, possibly up enabling otherwise outcomes, but nothing that justifies metagaming.

Alignment

Non committal, this will evolves based on your actions. However, sticking to one from the start kinda makes more sense, so you may want to decide based on which Mythic you want to play as.

Chosing your build

As obvious as it may sound, your character needs to stay alive. Much like Baldur's Gate series, a dead player character is a dead playthrough, even if surrounded by an army of resurrect-ready demigods.

A more debatable requirement is that your character needs a huge "fuel" tank, i.e. not need to rest after every encounter, unless you're planning on having your companions carry him through fights. This is unusual, but very plausible.

Tanky build (and the dominance of Charisma)

Generally speaking, DEX and even CON don't contribute much to survivability at high difficulty. Several options make CHA a strictly better alternative to DEX, and the "hits" of enemies quickly outgrow the additional health from a higher constitution.

Good tanky builds do require high AC, but achieve it through Charisma instead of Dexterity, and high Saves, which can also be boosted by Charisma. As many spellcasters can be charisma-based in at least one of their specialiation, "which ability is best" is obvious.

Of particular interest :

Half-elf > Kindred start with +4 to Charisma
(1) Monk > Scaled Fist lets you add your Charisma bonus to armor class when not wearing any armor. It also comes with a free chocie of feat that includes {Crane Style} and {Dodge}, both of which are excellent
(1) Oracle with Nature mystery and {Nature's Whispers} revelation can use their Charisma bonus instead of their Dex bonus for AC purposes, thus stacking with the Monk's benefit
(1) Witch > Stigmatized bring a pet (Lizard, +1 AC), a free Hex (many excellent choices), plenty of level 1 spell slots (Mage Armor +4 AC for 8 hours, ...) and access to Oracles Curses (-> Uncanny Dodge, either now with a drawback or much later without any).
(2) Paladin (any) add their CHA bonus to every saving throw
(3) Paladin gain several immunities, most importantly to Fear which remains relevant for the entire game

In terms of gameplay, the role of a tank (whether MC or companions) is to draw aggro and stay alive. Demonkind (well, honestly the AI) is remarkably helpful to that end, as most enemies will commit to the first thing they see. This means your tank just needs to be on the frontline, and from there he can do other things (apply buffs, hexes, ...) and not always be attacking.

Coup-de-Grace duties are excellently suited to a tank, as they generally have lower attack bonus (but coup de grace always crits) and higher weapon damage. Another reason why tanks pair so well with Slumber hexing witches !

Witch build

Another excellent option to stay alive is to not get hit, and characters that stay away from the frontline are obviously better suited to that end. This is where Arcane spellcasters fit in (not Divine ones, as you don't want your main character and main healer to be the same single point of failure).

Witch isn't the only option in itself, nor is it the "best spellcaster" by any means. However their kit is extremely frontloaded (i.e. they're far stronger at level 1 than just about any other spellcaster), and they have a nearly unique access to Hexes which can be cast without limits. Some of those hexes also happen to be incredibly powerful during the early stages of the game, while others remain incredibly powerful at every stage.

This enables a witch character to be almost always operational (no downtime needed), bringing huge value from the start of the game (hexes) until she's able to transition into a proper spellcaster later down.

Hexes

Each of those is absolutely excellent for every playthrough, to the point of not being able to go back to a party without witch once used to them

Slumber. Possibly the best level 1 active ability of them all. Will saving throw or sleep, enabling other characters to {Coup de Grace} for nearly guaranteed gib. Limited to 1 attempt per target, but otherwise infinite uses. Godlike tier during act 1 where brute-types enemies (human brutes, schirs, ...) are both very dangerous and very susceptible.
Protective luck. Also possibly the best level 1 active ability. Makes hitting a good tank a 1/20 possibility to a 1/400. Incredible.
Cackle. Prolongs your hexes by a turn. Easy to overlook, but the cost is one MOVE action, so this is ON TOP of casting a spell (or hex, etc).
Bring back (level 18+) : resurrects a companion at no cost. The only way to do so, as every other mean rely on quantity-limited items.

Overall, the early game gameplay is bordering on repetitive : Protective Luck the tank, then cackle madly every round while Slumbering anything that needs to die. To some extent, the rest of your group is just there to hasten things up. Outside of offensive spellcasters (not relying on AC to hit), this is as safe as hardcore can be.

Spells

Arcane casters are surprisingly ineffective offensively at most stages of the game, only becoming relevant around late Act 3, and often only thanks to Mythic abilities. This is simply a matter of numbers : Core+ enemies have "too" high resistances and saving throws, so you'll need to stack numbers on your side and find ways to bypass theirs. Fireball/Controlled fireball might be a tiny, situational exception, but overall it's one of those "everything is immune to fire" situation.

Defensive spells however are your bread and butter, and with most of them lasting "minute per level", you should want to have them on at all time. The witch doesn't get many spell known, but she does get a lot of cast, and is perfectly suitable for buffing & healing up until mid-to-late game. Cure wounds line, Death Ward, etc.

Once deep in Act 3, offensive options become relevant thanks largely to Ascendant Element feat, and you'll slowly transition from buff-the-tank-to-keep-enemies-busy to a more kill-them-before-they-move encounter design. Still, Protective Luck / Cackle will get out of bad situations against the toughest bosses.