I'll avoid getting into detailed game mechanics here. These are just some tips to help you get started making a decent party of custom characters.
--Edit-- Corrected/clarified some things.
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Strength/Endurance: Used to avoid getting eaten, which is very important for everyone. I recommend Str being a few points higher than End, with the average of the two being at least 30. Newbies may want to start with Str five points higher than End, then trying smaller Str-End gaps after becoming more comfortable with the game.

Agility: Influences many things in and out of combat, but not as important as Str/End. I recommend 24 or higher for everyone, 20 minimum.

Perception: Influences Latin speaking, artifice, and some other things. I recommend 25 or higher for whoever will lead in hostile areas, 20 or higher for whoever else might need it.

Intelligence: Important for alchemists and useful for Latin speakers. Would not surprise me if it does more. I recommend 30 or higher for alchemists, 20 or higher for whoever else might need it.

Charisma: Mainly influences speaking with others and prices. Less significant when interacting with universities as they are used to eccentrics, but don't assume the same is true for other intellectuals. I recommend 25 or higher for the party's main spokesman, 20 or higher for whoever else might need it.

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Some skills are much harder to raise after character creation than others. Skills in the first (weapon) box are very easy to raise, the middle box moderate, and the bottom box hard.

The major exceptions are virtue in the middle and artifice in the the bottom box. Virtue is very hard and should be considered a bottom-box skill, while artifice is moderately easy and should be considered a middle-box skill.

Most skills only one person really needs, but some are useful for everybody. Stealth and horse riding are the most notable, as actions involving them often involve the whole party.

For skilled players who want to do everything with their starting four, young characters with many points put into the hardest skills and none into weapons works well. But this makes the beginning very hard and is not recommended for newbies.

And i'd just add this link to the still incredibely handy Darklands.net:
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http://www.darklands.net/faq/3.shtml#1

Unrelated to character creation, but don't feel like making another thread just for it.

Human enemies without limb protection will instead have "Clothing" on their limbs. These offer no protection, weigh nothing, and are worth nothing. They cannot be sold but can be dropped. Trying to sell one does nothing, which makes them ideal for using as dividers in your inventory.

Early on enemies have them a lot, so I grab a bunch for each character. Mainly I use them to divide things I want to get rid of from equipment and other things I want to keep. The stuff at the bottom of a character's inventory can quickly be sold without paying attention to what is being sold, and the process will stop when it hits a stack of clothing.

--Edit--
Inventory Hotkeys

e = Equip
u = Unequip
d = Drop item
p = Drink potion
1,2,3,4,5 = Give this item to the character in that slot

D and P are especially important to remember, since iirc there is no other way to do them and they are not mentioned outside of the manual.

Also, if you need to, use F7 to set up an ambush on the map, and F8 to rest while you travel. I don't think you can activate those with the mouse (only F6 - party info and marching order are available).

Would you say it is better to have everyone with all attributes 20+ than a few attributes at 30+ and the rest at starting values? Or is a 40 base Cha for the face or a 40 base Int for the Alchemist just too good to pass up?

Do you need any attributes or skills for your Speak Latin / R&W char, or just Int?

@Xmudder
20-30 for most attributes works well enough, with 20 being passable and 30 being good. Everyone's strength/endurance and alchemist's intelligence should be around 30-40 instead.

Speak Latin skill is by far the most important factor in speaking Latin. Some attributes help but none are critical. Don't know what attributes influence R&W, but the skill is more important anyway. Having only 20 in the relevant attributes won't hurt you so much that you cannot overcome the difference with a bit more in the relevant skill.

I tend to start with strength/endurance a little lower, but I do not recommend that for a newbie. You'll be much happier in fights with a high strength/endurance, which will let you survive long enough to get your skills up.

I've always been partial to creating at least on character with 40+ strength, 40+ endurance and the balance stuffed into agility. He might not be the brightest tool in the shed, but he'll be able to handle the heaviest weapons and armor from the beginning and later he'll be able to wipe out entire squads of late game opponents without slowing down.

An explanation of the Strength/Endurance thing:
If your endurance reaches zero, the character is unconscious. They will probably survive the fight. Humans usually just rob you and leave you for dead if you lose. Animals will sometimes eat one of your party. Endurance recovers quickly once combat is over.

On the other hand, if your strength drops to zero, the character dies. Strength only recovers slowly. It's usually preferable to have the character fall unconscious rather than dying, so a having strength significantly higher than endurance will make combats slightly harder but less deadly.

The Clue Book pdf that is included in the GOG downloads for this game is very useful for planning out you characters, because it includes full info on all of the occupations - both the requirements and the stat & skill adjustments.

Being able to look through the info lets you spot little tricks like fast-tracking to Abbot by being a Noble Heir, or to Alchemist by starting as a Student rather than an Oblate. It also helps you avoid ending up with stats that are too low, since some occupations have stat penalties (e.g. alchemist: -1 Str; master alchemist: -1 Str, -1 End!).


On the topic of Strength/Endurance:

The amount of Strength damage deal by a hit is only 40 - 90% of the Endurance damage. Example from the clue book: A hit that deals 10 Endurance damage will only deal 4 - 9 strength damage. This percentage is even lower for hits blocked completely or partially by armour, with only 0 - 50% of the damage being done to Strength as well.

Because of this it's no so clear-cut which to favour, although high Strength (30+ with most weapons) does also increase the damage you deal and will save you from resting as often between fights.

Endurance and Strength both contribute to your Equipment Weight Limit and full plate weights 59 without considering weapon or shield, so for heavy fighters you definitely want 65+ to avoid weight penalties.

Some occupations (namely the higher academic and religious ones) have stat penalties to strength and/or endurance, and the harshest age penalties (if you take more than 3 occupations before starting) are to the physical stats. To counteract the penalties, your alchemist should probably start with Strength and Endurance at 34 or more to ensure they're still above 30 when you're finished.

Speaking of that Clue Book pdf, where is it exactly!? I can only find the game manual pdf in my download! Any suggestions on where it might be installed?

Look under additional content for the game when you go to your account page. It's not part of the base download.

The main reason I suggest more strength is from my experience significantly higher endurance damage is somewhat unreliable vs supernatural enemies. (I'm not going into details about there here.) If not for that I'd agree there was no clear winner.

Suggesting 5 points strength over endurance might have been overkill, but that is what I found helpful when I was a newbie. I now do around 2 points, 1 point more/less if they have very high/low str+end.

Thank you JudasIscariot, i'd completely missed those!

As general info for those wondering what is going on, as this confused me years ago for a bit, when you create a new group of chars you won't see any 'figure' wearing weapons and armour in the char portrait box until you assign items to be worn. From clicking the 'Equipment' button, select an item and press 'a' to assign it to be worn, you will then see it represented in the char box and in the text box just above the equipment button.

Your advice is excellent, I wasn't meaning to contradict :)

I just wanted to add some background info so people don't go too far and neglect endurance (e.g. 40 str, 20 end) because strength seems so much more useful.

This got me, lol: wondering why I couldn't beat anything with my own group when it was so easy with the quick start party, only to realise I didn't have anything equipped!