> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://book.rochat.ai/rochat_book_en/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://book.rochat.ai/rochat_book_en/how-to-create-a-character-on-rochat/create-character-method-1-custom-creation/greeting.md).

# Greeting

The first message is an essential part of the interaction, as it sets the tone and style in which the character will communicate.

**The first message of the character should be relatively long to ensure that the character's replies are unlikely to be very short in subsequent messages.**

* You can also use asterisks \*\* to describe the character's actions.
* The greeting message also supports {char} and {user} variables. Be sure to use these variables instead of personal pronouns to get better response quality.
* If you want the character’s response in the greeting to cover an image, you can use markdown syntax to represent this. Example:

```
 ![Image Name](Image Link)
```

<figure><img src="/files/XuxRXpr38VII4GsLb1Ej" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>