Dragon Age: The Veilguard changed its name to better reflect the upcoming game's major focus of forming a party, but what's always going to be at the centre of that plight is your own custom character. Just like other major RPGs, you will have the chance to shape and craft your own protagonist at the start of the title, with the newest BioWare version of the system letting you govern their looks, class, and faction.
In a new Game Informer article, it's explained how your character's appearance will be shaped by "hundreds of options", and then it's time to pick your class. There'll be three to choose from: the rogue, a mage, and finally a warrior. With your base class set, a skill tree will allow you to specialise in three further classes, depending on where you allocate upgrade points. This gives a total of nine classes overall.
Having chosen your class, you'll select a faction. This decision governs the clothes you wear underneath armour and dictates the unique traits your character has. Examples in the Game Informer coverage include reputational bonuses, increased damage against certain enemy types, and easier takedowns. Your faction selection also decides pieces of "your character's backstory, determines who your Rook was before, how they met Varric, why they travel with Varric instead of their faction, and more".