The first choice you make is selecting between three magic skill trees. Magic in the game compliments your main attack; as far as I know, you can't create a character build that relies solely on magic . Casting magic usually takes too long and uses quite a bit of mana in order for it to be a main attack. Each Magic skill tree has the Prayer skill. This creates a clone that can attract enemies and restores some health, energy or mana depending on the skill tree you selected. The problem with magic is that by mid to late game, you will be so strong and kill enemies with relative ease that magic because somewhat useless.

Brawler - This magic tree focuses on standing toe to toe with your enemies and dishing out a lot of damage. This skill tree is usually used with warriors.

Rage- Higher damage, attack power and unlimited energy for a short period of time. One of the more potent spells in the game. This is the ultimate boss killer. Use this skill, switch to your highest dealing weapon and start wailing on the boss. This skill complements the warriors attacks perfectly.

Ram- Sends out a clone that charges at the enemy, dealing damage and staggers/stuns the enemy. The damage isn't that great so its primary use is to knock down weaker opponents so you can run up to them and get a few more shots in. Its effective in the early game but doesn't become too practical later on when enemies are tougher. This skill is also useless against bosses.

Quake- Sends a hammer down that does massive damage. On all around good skill against regular enemies but not so effective against bosses unless you want to take a lot of damage yourself. It really requires you to max this out and have a high faith to make it a practical skill, otherwise you can easily skip this and lose very little.

Deception - This magic tree is all about manipulating your surroundings to gain an advantage. Most commonly used with Rogues.

Shift - Allows you to be invisible to your enemies, attacking will do massive damage but you will remove your invisibility. This skill ONLY works if the enemy hasn't seen you yet. If they see you , it doesn't matter if you run away or hide behind any object, using it will not make you invisible to the enemy, you will however still be granted a damage boost. This skill does not work on bosses either. This is a decent skill if used properly but has some drawbacks. Hitting an enemy does a lot of damage but if it doesn't kill them then you are left exposed and the enemy can easily hit you a few times.

Mirror Image - Allows you to do double damage. A great skill for any class you pick. The only downside is, it doesn't last very long plus the special effects make it hard to see your character

Stab- Like Ram it send out a clone to attack an enemy causing damage and knocking them down. A fully maxed out Stab does a tone of damage and knocks the enemy over allowing you to get a few more hits in. This doesn't work on large enemies or bosses.

Solace- This skill tree is focused on defensive abilities. Making you resistant to attacks. Typically used with clerics.

Shelter- Arguably the most powerful spell in the game. Heals you over time, increased resistance and enemies also take damage when they attack you. Max this spell out. Try to have it running at all times.

Daze - Creates a clone that has an aura that slows enemies down. This is a decent spell that can help with any enemy that you find annoying, the problem of course is trying to lure the enemy close to your clone to slow it down. Does not work on bosses.

Punishment - Causes enemies to take considerable damage when they attack you. This spell is great to use against bosses but it must be maxed out to be effective.

Stat Bonuses
+2 STR, + 4 VIT

Gear
Longsword
Heavy Shield
Heavy Armor

Consumables
2 Health Potions
1 Ghost Merge Shard

Character Build:
Typical magic used: Brawler (offensive) or Solace (defensive)
Primary Stat: STR (30+)
Secondary Stat: END (20+)
Third Stat: VIT, FAITH (15 or 18)

The warriors main attribute is STR. You should put about 60-70% of your stat points in strength. About 10-20% goes into END. You want about 20+ points in END and your carry weight should be around 50 by the end of the game. Only a few point in VIT should suffice, you will absorb so much damage from your gear that VIT isn't that big a deal. You either want 15 or 18 points in Faith so that you can upgrade your magic spells to either level 2 or 3 depending on preference.

Gear: The more physical damage you absorb the better. This type of armor tends to be heavy so make sure you can handle it. As for a weapon, I was going single handed with shield until I got use to the enemy attack patterns. By mid to late game I was using a 2 handed weapon because it did more damage and I could attack faster.

Pros: Good starting Class, one of the easier classes to play
Requires little effort to kill enemies, just swing your weapon until everybody die
Can absorb Massive Amounts of Damage making the game feel very trivial by mid to late game.
Can give out massive amounts of damage depending on weapon
Can hit multiple enemies with a single swing of a big weapon
Can easily stagger opponents
Can use the majority of weapons and armor
Can easily kill mid to late game bosses

Cons: SLOW...really slow, if you like fast nimble characters....this build isn't for you
Uses a lot of energy per attack, I could swing my weapon 3-4 times before I completely ran out. 2 times If I used a heavy attack.
Using a two handed stance means you swing faster but forgo using a shield, however you can absorb a lot of damage so its negligible
Low magic; can only use gauntlet and magic sparingly

Stat Bonuses
+2 END
+2 AGI
+2 LUK

Gear
Daggers
Buckler
Light Armor

Consumables
Health Potions (x4)
Energy Shard (x1)

Character Build:
Typical magic used: Deception
Primary Stat: AGL
Secondary Stat: VIT
Third: END, FAITH 15 to 18

In terms of build rogue can be very versatile. You could build a rogue identical to a warrior with high END and heavy armor but rather than using STR as your main damage stat you use AGL and use faster weapons. If you've played a warrior before this wouldn't be as fun as it would be nearly the exact same character just with faster swinging, lower damage weapons.

A traditional rogue would focus more on medium and lighter gear in which case VIT would be a good secondary stat to focus on to make sure you can survive a few hits. A carry weight of around 30 to 35 would be enough depending on gear. For weapons, I use whatever gives me the most damage based on my agility. You either want 15 or 18 points in Faith so that you can upgrade your magic spells to either level 2 or 3 depending on preference.

Pro: High damage/attack to a single enemy
Can handle bosses easily early to mid game
Moves/rolls and attacks very fast
High Energy
Incredibly satisfying to backstab enemies

Cons:
Higher learning curve, requires you to really understand enemy attack patters to dodge effectively
does less overall damage than warriors
More difficulty killing bosses late game
Not as many AGL based weapons/shield as STR
Low magic; can only use gauntlet and magic sparingly

Stat Bonuses
+2 VIT
+4 FTH

Gear
Hammer
Medium Shield
Medium Armor

Consumables
Health Potions (x3)
Magic Energy Shard (x1)

Character Build:
Typical magic used: Solace
Primary Stat: FAITH
Secondary Stat: VIT and END

Clerics are more of a "specialized" build. High faith allows them to use the gauntlet more frequently and use magic without having to wait for mana to recharge. They have the lowest selection of weapons to choose from. I put about 20 points into END and VIT and the rest went all into Faith. I didn't particularly like this character build because it plays too similarly to a warrior but without the damage output or the cool looking weapons.

Pros: Can use gauntlet and magic more freely
Shelter spell allows you to regenerate health very rapidly
Can deal magic damage, ideal for the ancient labrynth dlc
Low learning curve
All around good at killing bosses

Cons
lowest damage output for the majority of the game. Finding a late FAITH based weapon will mitage this issue however.
Gauntlet/Magic is more a complimentary attack rather than a main attack
lowest selection of weapons and shields

The attribute Luck is useless. Luck gives you a better chance to drop runes. At luck 0 enemies already drop small runes consistenly. At luck 3 enemies were dropping small runes almost all the time. I'm not sure how high it has to be to get large runes but its not worth forgoing the extra stat points in another attribute. You can easily beat the game with 0 luck and hardly miss anything.