Build the character

your project so far

Assets/

Scenes/

Arena.unity

KnightMageArcherCharacterControllerCameraTarget

Scripts/

SimpleMover.csCharacterSwitcher.csCharacterStats.cs

Prefabs/

Knight prefab

Models/

Knight model (FBX)

you already havethis lesson adds

Open Arena.unity from tab 01. You have three capsules standing on the floor — Knight, Mage and Archer — and keys 1 / 2 / 3 switch between them. Everything in this tab happens to the Knight.

Mage and Archer stay as capsules the whole way through. Keeping them is deliberate: at the end of every lesson you can press 2 and see, side by side, exactly how much the Knight has gained.

A game character is four layers on one GameObject: a model to look at, a rig to animate, an Animator to choose clips, and a collider to bump into the world.

animated diagram

Model, rig, Animator, controller — you need all four before the character can walk.

Where to get a character

Mixamo (free, Adobe account): pick a character, pick animations, download as FBX. Fastest possible start.
Unity Asset Store: search 'free character' and filter by price 0.
Or keep the Knight capsule from tab 01 — every script below works on a capsule too, and you can drop the model in later.

Import settings that matter

1
Drag the .fbx into Assets/Models. Select it, open the Rig tab.
2
Animation Type → Humanoid, then Apply. This maps the model's bones onto Unity's standard skeleton.
3
Humanoid means any Mixamo animation works on any Mixamo character — clips become interchangeable.
4
On the Materials tab choose Extract Textures / Extract Materials so you can edit them.

Assemble the character object

1
Select Knight in the Hierarchy. Remove the capsule's MeshFilter, MeshRenderer and Capsule Collider — the Character Controller below replaces the collider — but keep the GameObject and its name.
2
Drag the model in as a child of Knight, at local position 0, 0, 0. The parent keeps its name, its scripts and its place in the switcher list.
3
On the Knight itself, add Component▸Physics▸Character Controller.
4
Set Height 1.8, Radius 0.3, Center Y 0.9 so the capsule wraps the body with the feet at Y = 0. Then set Knight's Position Y back to 0 — the collider does the lifting now, not the transform.
5
Create an empty child called CameraTarget at Y = 1.5 — the camera will aim there, not at the feet. Tab 03 needs it.
6
Finally drag Knight into Assets/Prefabs. From here on it is a prefab — the Knight is saved as a file of its own, not only as an object in this scene.

CharacterController or Rigidbody?

✓ CharacterController

Direct, predictable, no physics fights. What almost every third-person game uses.

✓ Rigidbody

Real physics: forces, bouncing, ragdolls. Great for crates, awkward for a player.

A stats component to build on

CharacterStats.cs — attach to Knight, and later to every enemy

using UnityEngine;

public class CharacterStats : MonoBehaviour
{
    [Header("Base")]
    public float maxHealth = 100f;
    public float attack = 20f;
    public float defense = 10f;
    public float moveSpeed = 5f;

    [Header("Runtime")]
    public float currentHealth;

    public bool IsAlive => currentHealth > 0f;

    void Awake()
    {
        currentHealth = maxHealth;
    }

    public void TakeDamage(float rawDamage)
    {
        if (!IsAlive) return;

        float reduced = Mathf.Max(1f, rawDamage - defense);   // always at least 1
        currentHealth = Mathf.Max(0f, currentHealth - reduced);

        if (!IsAlive) Die();
    }

    void Die()
    {
        Debug.Log(name + " died");
        // animator.SetTrigger("Die");   next lesson
    }
}