Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-86.23.69.128-20140323212456/@comment-91.213.110.4-20140508153443

You need to have an idea with some of them how you intend to build your character as you go on, they're all a fairly solid foundation for certain classes of player:

A simplification would be:

Warrior - for players who want a balanced melee build.

Knight - Tank build, possibly using faith later on

Brigand - Pure dex fighter, no abitions for magic.

Swordsman - Light footed, dex based character, possibly a spellsword later on

Sorcerer - Pure mage build

Priest - A faith build with a bias towards strength melee rather than dex

Explorer - Bonus pharos lockstone, but a tough build for beginners early in the game.

Deprived - Serious soul level 1 challenge.

You can take the charachters in other directions, but it can be very expensive in souls - for example turning the brigand into a spellsword.