In order to plan out a character, you need to know what your primary goals are:

• What weapon(s) do you want to use?
• Are you more inclined to PvE rather than PvP?
• Do you want to be a serious crafter?
• Are you a patient questor?

Also, is there anything you want as mandatory in your build (full crafter, healer etc)? If there is, be sure to build around this.

AP Availability
Your character will have a base of 30 AP per level to spend.
On top of this though, you can earn 'Bonus AP'. The amount of Bonus AP you can gain at any level is capped to (level x 5) + 35
So, for example, at level 10, you could have a maximum of 300 Base AP + 85 Bonus AP to spend.
At max level, currently 55, your maximum possible AP, is 1960.

However, this Bonus AP has to be gained. This can be done in two ways:

• Finding and completing AP quests. These are available in every town, and sometimes you may need to search through lower level towns to find them, which needs patience.
• Getting 'Random AP'. Randomly, the game will award you AP. This cannot be relied on, and we don't know how/why/when we'll get it. This is a slow way of gaining Bonus AP.
• Rallies: Certain garages offer repeatable quests, which are in the form of races. Complete them in a certain time, and you are rewarded with 1 or 2 AP.

As such, the amount of Bonus AP you have at any time will be down to how much effort you put in to finding it. It is suggested that when you plan builds, to only use about half of the maximum available Bonus AP.
So, for example, at level 10, you could have a maximum of 385 AP to spend, but only assume around 342 AP, unless you are really going to be an AP Hunter!

Costs
To increase an attribute, it costs 5AP per point. This can ge expensive fast, so it isn't usually recommended to have more than 4 attributes maxed.
Skills and Mutations each cost 1AP per point spend.

At high level, it is possible to max 7 skills or mutations, whilst having 4 maxed attributes.
With 5 maxed attributes, you can't quite max 6 skills, even with max bonus AP.

And remember, Attributes affect the maximum values that skills and mutations can reach. They don't give you any extra abilities directly though.
The Skills and Mutations themselves, give you extra abilities. As you rise in level, and go against higher level targets, you will find you'll want to higher level versions of these abilities.

However, it isn't always the fact that you'd want to 'min-max' your abilities. Whilst certain abilities are the type of 'your stat vs their stat', others are more utility, and therefore will still work at a lower level. Their effectiveness, compared to your level may be lower, but they would still be an improvment over nothing.

However, Attributes do go towards calculating other character stats:
You Gamma pool (used for mutations) is based on your Charisma and Intelligence
Stamina, used for Abilities, is based around Coordination and Dexterity
Your Hit Points go up with Endurance and Strength
The amount of weight you can carry is affected by your Strength.

Also, Endurance and Strength go towards your natural resistance to poisons and disease.
Intelligence and Willpower give your resistance to mind-based attacks.
Coordination and Dexterity allow you to react quicker, giving a higher Reflex save.
Perception also inreases your chance to 'see' enemy players on the radar, compared against their Escape Artist skill.

Weapons
There are three weapons skills: Melee, Pistol and Rifle

Whilst you 'can' put AP into all three skills, it isn't recommended. There is an argument for having both Pistol and Rifle, as they share the same base attributes, but mixing Melee and Range is usually a bad outcome.

Depending on your chosen weapon, you will probably need to maximize the attributes that are associated with it:

• Melee - Coordination (50%) and Strength (50%)
• Pistol - Dexterity (50%) and Perception (50%)
• Rifle - Dexterity (50%) and Perception (50%)

Crafting
If you plan on being able to craft max level items, you will need to maximize the base attributes for crafting. These are: Intelligence (75%) and Perception (25%)

As Perception is also present for ranged weapons, these two go well together at it can save a lot of AP. However, ranged characters, with no need for Strength, have a much lower carry weight capacity.

Defences
Armor Use - Give you passive bonus +15% to all resistances when maxed for your level. At 55-th lvl you need add 13 AP to gain each +1%. (196-1)/15=13. Base stats are Coordination (25%) and Endurance (75%)
Hit Points - Whilst your hit points will rise with level, they also rise with both Strength (3hp) and Endurance (4hp)
Dodge - Negates 36% of bonus crits and armor penetrating when maxed for level. And it not mean what if you opponent has 10% armor penetrating, you negate all of this. No, only 36% from this 10%. Base stats for this skill are: Coordination (50%) and Perception (50%)

Whilst you don't 'need' to maximize any of these skills, and therefore attributes, it is usually unwise to avoid them altogether.

Extra Damage
There are two skillsets that increase your damage output (both ranged and melee).
Precision - Critical hits chance = +19.8% when maxed for your level or +1% for ~10 APs at 55th lvl. Dexterity (50%) Intelligence (50%)

Power - When Power maxed for your level it give you +6.07% armor penetrating. Strength (50%) Endurance (50%)
Melee usually leans towards Power, whilst Ranged towards Precision. You can take both, but the base attributes make it difficult to maximize these.

Healing
Healing - First Aid gives some reasonable healing with base attributes of Inteligence (75%) and Perception (25%).
The Empathic mutation line also supplies single target healing abilities. Charisma (75%) Willpower (25%)
The mutation line Nano-Manipulation supplies some group based healing abilities. Intelligence (75%) Willpower (25%)

Other Skills
Dirty Tricks - The is a PvP orientated skill, but can also aid in PvE with its debuffs. You'll need Dexterity (50%) and Coordination (50%) to maximize this one. Some people get this to just 33 points to get Dirty Steel, which is a useful PvE stun.
Escape Artist - Another PvP orientated skill, this one defensive based. You'll need Dexterity (50%) and Coordination (50%) to maximize this one. This ability also grants 'stealth', which gives an increased chance to NOT appear on your opponenents radar in PvP. This isn't true stealth, and can be seen through with a high Perception.
Group Tactics - This is a support/group based skillset, based upon Coordination (25%) Intelligence (75%)
Heavy Weapon - This isn't available till around level 40. Gives access to heavy weapons, and isn't currently that popular. Perception (50%) Strength (50%)
Social - Good for trading characters as the financial benfits are high. Charisma (75%) Perception (25%)

Mutations
These are support skills that compliment your build, and will unlikely be your primary attacks/abilities.

In general, it is suggested to take 1-3 mutation lines, depending on how much AP you have left. The lines to take should really be the ones that you already have attributes for.

The secondary attribute for all mutations is Willpower (25%). This attribute is usually only raised for a heavy mutation builds, which tend to be support/group characters.

Transport
It is also worth noting that to use vehicles in the game, you need to have the required attributes.

Animal mounts require an increasing amount of Nature ability. This is a sub-skill of Crafting.
ATV's, Cars and Bikes require Coordination
Buggies require Dexterity

Buff Slots
There are a number of different buffs that a character can have. They fall into a number of categories, and within each category, you can only have one buff active at a time. There categories are:

• Aura
• Stance
• Toggle
• Science/Nature/Mutagenics/Medicine
• Food - Consumables
• Drink - Consumables
• Tent - See Construction

It is worth trying to ensure that you have a buffs from each of the categories available in your build.