Rubies of Eventide offers players a range of seven character races. This selection embraces six medieval fantasy favorites, namely Humans, Orcs, Ogres, Gnomes, Elves and Dwarves. The seventh and most unique alternative is the Leshy, which are tall, pale creatures that hover instead of walk. After this choice plus those of name and gender comes the title's huge list of starting classes - over 90 in total. As a short sampling to indicate the kind of diversity presented, some are Dark Paladin, Vinter, Swashbuckler, Witch, Explorer, Skald and Druid, and of course, the list goes on.

Characters may raise any of the large number of available skills, such as Swordfighting, Necromancy and First Aid, regardless of their assigned classes. However, this decision and that of race both factor into the determination of how easy or difficult it is to advance particular ones; the diverse species and professions can improve more rapidly in different areas. There are various melee abilities and schools of magic to learn, and players can even alter each spell's mana cost and power. The developers point out that building up some proficiencies, for example trade skills, will not require participating in combat. At the time of writing, not all of these have been implemented.