((I'm assuming here that swords are Dex-based.))

[i]Name[/i]: Rick Stanson
[i]Gender[/i]: Male
[i]Age[/i]: Physically 33, Mentally much more
[i]Race[/i]: Originally Human, now Fae (boost to Agility/Dexterity, penalty to Strength)

[i]User Handle[/i]: Arcturus
[i]Status[/i]: Alpha Tester
[i]Elemental Attribute[/i]: Air

[i]Role[/i]: Fighter, dabbling in Mage
[i]Weapon[/i]: Katana, magic

[i]Appearance[/i]: Tall, about six foot four, with long black hair, a closely-trimmed goatee and blue eyes that were once bright but now are dull and dead. Pointed ears from the race change.
[i]Personality[/i]: Cold, emotionless and pragmatic for the most part, though just occasionally a spark of what he once was before the Alpha Test will shine through.

[i]History[/i]: Taken from his home for the Alpha Test, Arcturus was the favoured labrat for the combat system, as he was skilled in several martial arts and with the sword. At first, it was easy - clunky, jerky movements with no skill or tactics, and he cut them down imagining them to be his kidnapper. But they learned quickly, and soon it was a struggle to stay alive. Even as the rudimentary stat system boosted his ability, the monsters grew almost too fast for him to manage. Soon enough, his days became a constant haze of frantically battling against overwhelming odds, trying to come up with new tactics over and over again, only to get cut down in agony as a sword or axe or spell ripped him open.

However, it went both ways - in time, Arcturus learnt the loopholes in the system, the way the mob AI worked, and unlike them, he was not limited for the sake of the players. He discovered exploits, and while many were patched, some were inherent to the very nature of the game and had to be left in. He gamed the system, learning to control and shift the attention of mobs, how best to kite them, their tactics, their allies, spawn rates and common stomping grounds.

By the time of the release, he had long since stopped using sword skills, recognising them for the trap they were - the pause at the end left a dangerous opening for an enemy attack. Instead, he relied on his learnt abilities, altered slightly to avoid triggering any of the preprogrammed attacks. Today, he is one of the most deadly and combat-effective players in the game, but also one of the most broken, countless cycles of violence and death having irrevocably shattered something inside him.