A new character gets more help than the game explains: free buffs, borrowed weapons, protection from player killers and cheap travel. This page walks through the creation of a character, the help of the first levels, the rules of equipment grades and the goals that follow, with links to the detailed guides.
Creating a character
The race decides the starting village, the base stats and the classes you will be able to choose, and at creation you only pick between a fighter and a mystic. The real choice comes later, at the class transfers, so read about the class you are aiming at before you start: every class page of this site has a guide of its own. The name may have up to 16 characters without spaces, and an account holds up to seven characters on a server.
- High Five has six races: humans, elves, dark elves, orcs, dwarves and the Kamael. For the Kamael the sex matters: Berserker is open only to men, Arbalester only to women.
Help for the first levels
- Newbie Guide of your starting village and the second helper who stands near him. Talk to both as soon as you appear: they explain the basics, give the first tasks and hand out the help listed below.
- Borrowed weapons. From level 6 you receive
Apprentice Adventurer's Weapon Exchange Coupon, and Miss Queen, the guide of the adventurers' guild in the towns, exchanges the coupons for a shadow weapon: it is as good as an ordinary one but disappears when its time runs out. Use the time to save adena for a weapon of your own. - Protection from player killers. Until the second class transfer the helper casts Blessing of Protection: a chaotic character who is more than 10 levels away from you cannot hurt you. It does not work on battlefields such as sieges. What a chaotic character is, see PvP, karma and PK: name colors, penalties and how to clear karma.
- Herbs. Monsters drop herbs that work the moment you pick them up: Herb of Life and Herb of Mana restore HP and MP, Herb of Power and Herb of Magic raise the attack,
Herb of the Warrior and 
Herb of the Mystic give a fighter or a mystic several bonuses at once. They cannot be stored, so simply walk over them. - Free buffs up to level 75. From level 6 Newbie Helper in a village and Miss Queen in a town cast supporting magic for 60 minutes. Everyone gets Wind Walk, Shield and Magic Barrier; fighters also Bless the Body, Vampiric Rage, Regeneration and Haste; mystics Bless the Soul, Acumen, Concentration and Empower. A servitor can be buffed too, a pet cannot.
- Free travel. Characters up to level 40 use the gatekeepers of the towns and starting villages without paying.
- More borrowed equipment. After the first class transfer at level 20 the helper adds Adventurer's Magic Accessory Exchange Coupon for shadow accessories of grade D, and the head of your guild gives Shadow Item Exchange Coupon (D-Grade) for a shadow weapon of grade D.
Grades of equipment
Weapons, armor and jewelry are divided into grades, and each grade opens at a level: D at 20, C at 40, B at 52, A at 61 and S at 76. An item above your grade can be put on, but with a penalty that makes it worse than the right one. Soulshots and spiritshots must be of the same grade as the weapon, and they are what makes a blow or a spell strong: hunt with them from the very first levels.
In High Five the top of the scale continues: S80 opens at level 80 and S84 at level 84.
The class transfers
- Level 20: the first transfer, one quest in or near your starting village. See First class transfer quest for every class.
- Level 40: the second transfer, three marks from three long quests. Start them a few levels earlier: see Second class transfer quest: the three marks of every class.
- Level 76: the third transfer, a saga of your class. See Third class transfer quest: the sagas of every class.
What to aim for next
- A clan. Its academy accepts characters before the second class transfer, and a clan is the way to sieges, raids and clan skills: Clans and alliances: creation, levels and structure, Castle siege: registration, rules and how a castle is taken.
- A stronger weapon without buying a new one: a special ability from Special abilities (SA): soul crystals, stages and gemstones and a bonus from Weapon augmentation: Life Stones, gemstones and possible bonuses.
- Dyes that shift the base stats of your class: Dyes and symbols: kinds of dyes, how to apply them and where to get them.
- At level 75: a second class on the same character and the rank of Noblesse, the ticket to the Olympiad. See Subclass quest, Noblesse quest and Grand Olympiad and Hero status: rules, points and rewards.
- Adena on the way: Fishing: rules, skills, lures and fishing shots, All about manor: sowing, harvesting and handing in crops and the weekly struggle of Seven Signs: Dawn and Dusk, seal stones and the Festival of Darkness.
The tools of the site help to plan a hunt: Monster map shows where the monsters of your level live, World map the towns and hunting grounds, and Craft calculator counts the materials for any recipe.