The Player is able to create and customize a total of 8 different characters.

Deleting Limits for Characters : Please be warned that you have the option of deleting your created charcter(s) 3 times only per 24 hours. You will have 24 hours before you can get another opportunity to delete a character. So, if you have used up your initial 3 deletes, after 24 hours you will get 1 (one) more chance to delete. If you need to delete another character you have to wait another 24 hours.
The real interesting thing I heard is that if you delete 3 times within a few seconds of each other, after 24 hours you will get 3 more deletes instead of the customary 1. However, if anyone has tried this please fell free to confirm or defer. Source: ESO Forums[forums.elderscrollsonline.com]

~~~~~~~~~

The first step is to select gender ~ Male / Female. You can enter a character name at any point before finalizing. On the left of the creation menu you have 3 options,

• Preview: Novice Gear, Veteran Gear, No Gear.
  
  Click an image to enlarge
  
  
  
  
• Settings
  
• Back

In the Preview header you can have a view of what your character can look like with or without gear. Just an idea of appearance since this could vary during game. No Gear option can help those in subsequent character development in deciding how muscular, thin or heavy you want your character to be. But that is an explanation for later.

The other selections are self explanatory.

There are 3 pacts you can select from. Each Pact comes with their races, about 9 in total. If you have the Imperial Edition, you will have 10 races.

Click an image to enlarge.

• Ebonheart Pact:
  
  Argonian: Bonuses to healing disease and poison resistance.
  
  Dunmer: Bonuses in fire damage and fire resistance. (Suitable for Vampirism).
  
  Nord: Increased two handed abilities, increased health and resistance to frost.
  
  
  
  
• Daggerfall Covenant:
  
  Breton: Bonus to magicka, spell resistance and light armor.
  
  Orc: Bonus to health, health regeneration and heavy armor.
  
  Redguard: Bonus with swords and stamina regeneration.
  
  
  
• Aldmeri Dominion:
  
  Altmer or High Elf: Bonuses to damage with destructive spells, increased magicka regeneration.
  
  Bosmer or Wood Elf: Bonus to archery, stamina and stealth.
  
  Khajit: bonuses to health regeneration, stealth and weapon damage.
  
  
  
• Imperial (Imperial Edition Owners): Bonuses to sheilds, health and stamina.

There are currently 4 classes available for choosing. I will list and give descriptions.

• Dragonknight : They can have a high DPS and can be specced to be tanks. They possess magic that can alter and shatter the physical environment around them. They are quite proficient with heavy weapons ~ Greatswords, mauls, etc.( e.g. two handed weapons).
  
  
  
  
• Sorcerer : Can use destructive spells, conjuration spells (summoning). Can use spells as a buff and have AOE effects.
  
  
  
• Nightblade : They can inflict a lot of DPS, are fast and stealthy. They are quite good at crowd control, stunning foes and have abilities to restore own health during combat.. One that works well with allies or just playing solo.
  
  
  
• Templar : Very similar to Dragonknights they can be specced to be tanks, have AOE effects and heal themselves and allies around them. They have the ability to regenerate health, stamina and magicka for allies. A very good fronline support specialist.

These are various options to customize how your character looks. Unlike the options that existed in Skyrim the changes here are not so pronounced.This is probably due to the fact that there should not be much conflict with the armor types in the game. The various options are listed below and are self explanatory,

Click an image to enlarge.

1. Body Type : Muscular~~Large~~Thin
   
   
2. Height
   
3. Features : Skin color and body markings
   
4. Upper Body : Torso size, Chest size, Waist size, Arm size, Hand size.
   
   
5. Lower Body : Hip size, Posterior Dimensions, Leg size, Foot size.

Various options to customize facial characteristics like,

1. Face Type : Heroic~~Soft~~Angular.
   
2. Voice : There are currently 8 voice options and each can be tested before selecting.
   
3. Hair : Hair Style and Hair Color.
   
4. Featues : Age, Adornment, Head Marking.
   
5. Face : Forehead Slope, Cheekbone Size, Jaw Size, Chin Size, Chin Height, Neck Size.
   
6. Eyes : Eye Color, Eye Angle, Eye Separation, Eye Height, Eye Squint.
   
7. Brow : Eyebrows, Eyebrow Height, Eyebrow Skwew, Eyebrow Depth
   
8. Nose : Nose Shape, Nose Height, Nose Width, Nose Length.
   
9. Mouth : Mouth Height, Mouth Curve, Lip Fullness.
   
10. Ears : Ear size, Ear Rotation, Ear Height, Ear Tip Flare.

Some screenshots that act as examples. Click them to enlarge.

Click an image to enlarge

After creating your character and loading it into the game you might want to check out the Settings Tab to the left of the screen. You can access this by pressing the "Esc" key. As soon as you do that the following options appear,

1. Resume
   
2. Settings
   
3. Controls
   
4. Add-Ons
   
5. Log Out
   
6. Quit

Explanation in detail

Resume : Return to game

Settings: This gives you 6 further options,

• Video
  
• Audio
  
• Gameplay
  
• Camera
  
• Interface
  
• Social

Selecting `Video` gives you a further option tree,

• Display
  
  Display mode : Windowed, Fullscreen, Windowed Fullscreen
  
  Resolution : This is simply to adjust the screen resolution of your game as limited by the monitor.
  
  Vertical Sync : A function to refresh the frame rate of your monitor limited by the graphics card.
  
  Anti-Aliasing : This function smoothens out edges of images by adjusting the intensity of pixels. This produces a gradual and smooth color transition of the images in game.
  
  Gamma Adjustment : This option lets you adjust the picture quality of the game. The calibrate option detects your screen and graphics to adjust the gamma display to make the game more visually pleasing. This is really to account for the difference in lighting and how the game is percieved by the player's eyes.
  
  
• Interface : Custom Scale
  This option lets you resize all the visual user interfaces in different sizes as per personal liking
  
  From very small
  
  
  
  
  To very large,
  
  
  
  
• Graphics options
  
  
  • Graphics Quality
    
  • Texture Quality
    
  • SubSampling Quality
    
  • Shadow Quality
    
  • Water Reflection Quality
    
  • Maximum Particle Systems
    
  • Particle Suppression Distance
    
  • View Distance
    
  • Ambient Occlusion
    
  • Bloom
    
  • Depth of Field
    
  • Distortion
    
  • Sunlight Rays
    
  • Magelight Lighting
    
  • Grass
  
  Selecting `Audio` gives you the following options
  
  1. General
     
     • Master Volume
       
     • Music > Music Volume
  2. Sound
     
     • Ambience Volume
       
     • Effects Volume
       
     • Footsteps Volume
       
     • Dialogue Volume
       
     • Interface Volume
  3. Output
     
     Selecting `Camera` will Show the below selections and their subsequent options.
     
     • Global
       
     • First Person
       
     • Third Person
     
     
     GAMEPLAY AND SOCIAL OPTIONS WILL BE COVERED SEPARATELY AS THEY CARRY A UNIQUE IMPORTANCE OF THEIR OWN.
     
     

This is probably a very common question. (Thanks Chris for the suggestions!).

Scenario: You are aiming for a Thunderbug with your Rogue`s Siphoning ability and accidentally hit and kill an NPC who was minding his own business sitting down closer to your area of aim. He dies. Now you are a wanted criminal who will be killed on sight at any civilized location. What a bother. We can actually prevent this from happening. Just follow these steps,

1. While in game press "Esc".
   
2. Click the Settings option.
   
3. Click "Gameplay".
   
4. In the Combat menu go to the sixth option
   
5. Prevent Attacking Innocents ~~~~~ turn "ON".

Source Reddit



Now you can target enemies with abandon and not worry about that merchant walking right in front of your ball of flame.

The name for your character can be selected at any time during character customization. After you are satisfied click "Create Character" at the bottom right of the screen and you are good to go. Also note that you can zoom in or out from your character`s face at anytime during customization.

Click an image to enlarge.

If this is your first playthrough you will start at Coldharbour : The Wailing Prison, a place in Oblivion where you wake up with no prior memory of what happened to you. if this is not your first playthrough, you can skip this tutorial. However, I highly recommend you play through this part.


If there can be more to add or modify/correct, please feel free to suggest :)

Thanks to the contributors for the below links!

1. Elder Scrolls Online Forums[forums.elderscrollsonline.com]
   
2. ESOHEAD[www.esohead.com]
   
3. ESO-Fashion[eso-fashion.com]
   
4. Deltias Gaming[deltiasgaming.com]
   
5. ESOUI[www.esoui.com]
   
6. Minion Addon Management[minion.mmoui.com]
   
7. Reddit
   
8. Emote Command List[elderscrolls.wikia.com]