First commit, phased 1 and 2 created but untested

public/js/create-hero.js

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
+  const form = document.getElementById('create-hero-form');
+  if (!form) return;
+
+  form.addEventListener('submit', async (e) => {
+    e.preventDefault();
+    const name = document.getElementById('hero-name').value.trim();
+    const classKey = document.getElementById('hero-class').value;
+
+    if (!name || !classKey) {
+      showError('Please enter a hero name and choose a class.');
+      return;
+    }
+
+    try {
+      await api.post('/character', { name, class: classKey });
+      window.location.href = '/game.html';
+    } catch (_) {
+      // Error already shown via api()
+    }
+  });
+});