Character creator for a role-playing game Goal:
  
  Write a character creator program for a role-playing game. The player
  should be given a pool of 30 points to spend on four attributes:
  strength, health, wisdom, and dexterity. The player should be able to
  spend points from the pool on any attribute and should also be able to
  take points from an attribute and put them back into the pool.
  
  Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson


My attempt:

print "create a character! you have points to assign to strength, health, wisdom, and dexterity."
name=raw_input("what's your character's name? ")
points=30
attributes=("health", "strength", "wisdom", "dexterity")
strength=0
health=0
wisdom=0
dexterity=0
while True:
    print
    print "you have", points, "points left."
    print \
    """
    1-add points
    2-take points
    3-see points per attribute
    4-exit
    """
    choice=raw_input("choice: ")
    if choice=="1":
        attribute=raw_input("which attribute? strength, health, wisdom, or dexterity? ")
        if attribute in attributes:
            add=int(raw_input("how many points? "))
            if add&lt;=points and add&gt;0:
                if attribute=="strength":
                    strength+=add
                    print name, "now has", strength, "strength points."
                elif attribute=="health":
                    health+=add
                    print name, "now has", health, "health points."
                elif attribute=="wisdom":
                    wisdom+=add
                    print name, "now has", wisdom, "wisdom points."
                elif attribute=="dexterity":
                    dexterity+=add
                    print name, "now has", dexterity, "dexterity points."
                points-=add
            else:
                print "invalid number of points."
        else:
            print "invalid attribute."
    elif choice=="2":
        attribute=raw_input("which attribute? strength, health, wisdom, or dexterity? ")
        if attribute in attributes:
            take=int(raw_input("how many points? "))
            if attribute=="strength" and take&lt;=strength and take&gt;0:
                strength-=take
                print name, "now has", strength, "strength points."
                points+=take
            elif attribute=="health" and take&lt;=health and take&gt;0:
                health-=take
                print name, "now has", health, "health points."
                points+=take
            elif attribute=="wisdom" and take&lt;=wisdom and take&gt;0:
                wisdom-=take
                print name, "now has", wisdom, "wisdom points."
                points+=take
            elif attribute=="dexterity" and take&lt;=dexterity and take&gt;0:
                dexterity-=take
                print name, "now has", dexterity, "dexterity points."
                points+=take
            else:
                print "invalid number of points."
        else:
            print "invalid attribute."
    elif choice=="3":
        print "strength -", strength
        print "health -", health
        print "wisdom -", wisdom
        print "dexterity -", dexterity
    elif choice=="4":
        if points==0:
            break
        else:
            print "use all your points!"
    else:
        print "invalid choice."
print "congrats! you're done designing "+name+'.'
print name, "has", strength, "strength points,", health, "health points,", wisdom, "wisdom points, and", dexterity, "dexterity points."


I'm learning my first language, Python, and would really appreciate it if anyone could tell me if I'm writing the most efficient code possible.
One of the first things I would do is try and group your information into neater packages, rather than having a bunch of free variables. I assume you're not too familiar with classes, but try putting your character's attributes into a data structure like a List, or even better - a Dictionary:

attributes = {'health': 0, 'strength': 0, 'wisdom': 0, 'dexterity': 0 }


If you want to change attributes, you can then do

attributes['health'] = some_value


or to increment,

attributes['health'] += some_value


Secondly, the best way to improve your program is to make it more readable by splitting your code up into functions. For instance, the code below is an example of what it may look like if you took some of the stat changing logic out of the main program:

if choice=="1":
    stat = input("Which stat? ")
    modifier = input("By how much? ")
    add_stats(modifier, stat)
elif choice=="2":
    stat = input("Which stat? ")
    modifier = input("By how much? ")
    take_stats(modifier, stat)
elif choice=="3":
    print(show_player_stats())


In general, any where you find yourself getting "too deep" in nests of if statements and loops, or you find yourself repeating your code, try and break it out into a function. Bear in mind this is a crude example, and you'll have to develop your own solution, but in terms of readability it's a vast improvement.

I've made a start on a version of your game using my own approach, although I haven't implemented all of it (you can't subtract points for instance). However, you can probably already see where the program has improved on things.

Things to note about my version compared to yours:


There is commenting (although basic). Commenting code is a MUST, even if it's for yourself. It will help you understand your own code and help anyone else who uses it, even if it's just to show different parts of the program.
The code is broken down into functions, which improves readability and allows you to re-use bits of code in the future. For instance, every time you want to print your character's info, you just call print_character()!
The code is neater - I'm packing information into a data structure, strings are formatted with linebreaks, logic is compartmented into smaller, manageable chunks.


However, I have used some Python you may not be familiar with, like the keys() method. But it's important to go through the code and try and work out what's happening. This will help to expose you to the "Python" way of doing things.

##### GAME FUNCTIONS #####

def add_character_points():
    attribute = raw_input("\nWhich attribute? Strength, Health, Wisdom or Dexterity?\n")

    if attribute in my_character.keys():
        amount = int(raw_input("By how much?"))

        if (amount &gt; my_character['points']) or (my_character['points'] &lt;= 0):
            print "Not enough points!"
        else:
            my_character[attribute] += amount
            my_character['points'] -= amount
    else:
        print "\nThat attribute doesn't exist!\n"


def print_character():
    for attribute in my_character.keys():
        print attribute, " : ", my_character[attribute]


##### MAIN FUNCTION #####

my_character = {'name': '', 'strength': 0, 'health': 0, 'wisdom': 0, 'dexterity': 0, 'points': 20}
running = True

print "Create a character! You have points to assign to strength, health, wisdom, and dexterity."

my_character['name'] = raw_input("What is your character's name? ")

while running:
    print "\nYou have ", my_character['points'], " points left.\n"
    print "1. Add points\n2. Remove points\n3. See current attributes\n4. Exit\n"

    choice = raw_input("Choice:")

    if choice == "1":
        add_character_points()
    elif choice == "3":
        print_character()
    elif choice == "4":
        running = False         
    else:
        pass