After choosing our origin, the next step was choosing a race. Since we went with Defiant, the available races were the reclusive yet brutish Bahmi; the scholarly, nomadic Eth; or the spiritual Kelari. The Guardians have three races as well: the creative and skillful Dwarves; the elegant, wise High Elves; and the honorable, strong Mathosian. As is true for most MMOs, each race has its own set of racial abilities. These range from passive talents that reduce all damage taken for the Bahmi, to actual spells like Second Wind for Dwarves, which allow them to regain 30% of their health over 6 seconds.
Rift Gold
We went with a Kelari because she had a racial that increased her critical strike chance. In Rift, you choose one calling, or class, and then split that calling into a few specific specializations, called souls. The four callings available are Mage, Cleric, Rogue, and Warrior. Once in game, each calling can then split into three of seven available souls. If you're familiar with other MMOs, think of getting three talent trees at once out of seven available trees. It seems a bit overwhelming at first, but it's actually a very intuitive and innovative take on character customization. We went with a Mage, whose souls were Pyromancer, Stormcaller, and Elementalist.
Rift Gold