From what I have read here, regarding characters, there are three types of people. Those that want plenty of characters, those that have main(s) and the rest are alts / writ jockeys, and those that probably won't care about below.

What I propose is in connection with the potential cross-play coming and seeks to achieve the following:

• Reduce the characters for some (freeing up crossplay servers to hold more characters).
• Allow those that want more characters to have more characters (subject to whether it is possible).
• Do nothing, for those that are unphased.
• Ability to achieve a full class change.

The story of Necrom states that there are frays, a doppleganger that may exist (especially for a certain companion) for certain characters in the game, possibly even yours.

I'd like the ability to merge two of my characters via a quest where I get to kill the character (fray) I no longer want to keep. This will result in me losing a character slot, but I gain a buff, specifically the ability to change all my class skills, and inherit the class mastery bonus if I swap all three to the relevant class tree.

The end goal would be, if I did this for 10 characters (possibly limited to one per race) I would only have 10 characters that is much more versatile and can be any class.

The culling of characters (for the rewards stated below) can free up resources for cross-play or if viable, even allow ZOS to increase the character limit for those uninterested in this system.

The pros and cons for your primary character killing a fray are:

• You lose a potential 215 character inventory slots
• You gain 20 (40 for ESO+) bank slots
• You lose a character slot (you can reclaim 2 slots if you delete a primary character that has killed a fray)
• Characters that have killed their fray are afforded 50% more undaunted keys
• Characters that have killed their fray have twice the crafting writ cost, and twice the reward
• Characters that have killed their fray have no limitations on their subclassing, and inherit the appropriate masteries if they assign all three
• If popular, ZOS can determine if the culling can warrant additional character slots for players that are uninterested in this system
• Any killed (fray) character can become a polymorph for a companion
• All motif and recipes known by the fray, that were not known to the primary are now learned by the primary (nothing wasted)
• The option to inherit all quest progression (any quest decisions made, if any, favor the primary)
• The primary must have all research completed
• The primary will inherit the research progress of the fray, think of it is a mental injury from the process of absorbing the fray.
• The primary will be afforded 5 additional outfit slots (all for free) totaling a possible 15.
• The primary will be afforded 5 additional armory slots (2 (or all) for free) totaling a possible 15.

This could be appealing for those that have writ jockeys where a large portion of their characters only serve to complete master writs, they can get them all done with 10 rather than 20 and have the benefit of a larger bank.

This could be appealing for those that value fewer more versatile characters.

This won't be appealing for those that prefer quantity. However, it may benefit them if it allows ZOS to consider more character slots, or simply just makes the transition to cross play more practical. To be fair, I have no idea how they hope to achieve cross play and overcome the conflict of character names, or the sheer volume of characters. This may be a viable solution to cull the numbers in anticipation for a massive influx for those that want it.

It serves no combat benefit for those that use this system over those that don't. Just QOL for more versatile characters, and ultimately achieves a totally on the fly class change system whilst potentially freeing up resources for cross play.