So, to elaborate on what I pitched to Rilla, I'll go over the basic approach. First and foremost, let me clear up a misunderstanding: what I pitched wasn't premade characters, it was creating characters from a specific set of options in order to simplify the character creation process and to ensure parity of power between the various characters; character balance can be an elusive concept in T1, and so by creating a system of abilities that everyone adheres to and chooses from, it gives us (the "mentors") a better opportunity to keep the playing field even for people. It's much easier to learn on a level playing field than an unlevel one.
The basic premise is similar to what you might find in tabletop RPGs: at character creation, you have a limited number of options to choose with which to build your characters, and these options are roughly equal in scope, if not necessarily in form or function. The categories would be Primary Element, Secondary Element, Primary Weapon, Secondary Weapon, Armor, and a Passive ability.
Each of these categories breaks down further. In the Elements, we might have, say, six elements: fire, water, wind, stone, light, and shadow. Within each element, there is a total of ten "abilities" ranging from long range to short range, defensive powers, movement powers, and the like. Each player would pick three "abilities" from their primary Element and two from their Secondary. Example: I make a Fire-Stone elementalist. I choose three fire abilities and two stone abilities.
In the next three categories, we have equipment. We can keep it simple here -- a broad range of weapons, any two chosen, and one choice of armor.
The final category would be passive, which could influence how your character operates. They might be faster, or stronger, or more durable. something that fundamentally changes the way you approach playing the character in a simple way.
So, the end result -- again, not pre-made, but generated using pre-made concepts -- would look something like:
Name: Jimmy John Bigboulder
Race: Human
Age: 20
Height: 6'0''
Weight: 240 lb
Passive: Strong -- Character is stronger than average by X or Y margin (say, he can lift 2,500 off the ground and 1,000 overhead).
Primary Element: Stone
Secondary Element: Light
Primary Ability 1: Stone Defensive Ability
Primary Ability 2: Stone Movement Ability
Primary Ability 3: Stone Melee Ability
Secondary Ability 1: Light Melee Ability
Secondary Ability 2: Light Defensive Ability
Secondary Ability 3: Light Utility Ability
Primary Weapon: Roundshield
Secondary Weapon: Roundshield
Armor: Breastplate
Obviously there's a lot of placeholders here and it's not as though any of this is remotely finalized, but you get the idea. Just from the sample sheet above, we can look at the character and see that I made a big, burly brawler who, presumably, has doubled up on defense and on melee fighting while dual-wielding shields.
I can generate other examples pretty quickly. In this way, new players can learn how to shape and contour their character's ability to suit what interests them or inspires them: maybe they want to play a defensive-oriented character, or a highly mobile one. by picking and choosing specific abilities, passives, and equipment, they can easily do so without having to try to draw it out from a broad spectra ability like "element manipulation" which can be subject to a lot of questions (how, what, when, where, why, to what degree, etc).
Hope that clears things up a touch.
EDIT:: This would also be really beneficial in the instances where mentors spar or fight against new players, because it means that, while the mentor might have more complex ideas regarding a character's powerset, they're limited to the same tools as the new player, so the disparity in knowledge and experience isn't quite so stark.
