Character Creation
First thing's first - you can do these steps in any order. If you want to pick your skills first and see which species and backgrounds support that best, then do it.
The sole exception is derived statistics - that is, hit points and shields - as they can be affected by a variety of factors and it's smart to do those last, once all of those factors are in place. |
The Basics of Character Creation
While the next few sections go into the process of character creation, here is a quick summary. There is no hard and fast rule for which order these must be done in - you can pick your race before you choose attributes and decide on an archetype long before you pick your last disadvantage - but this covers all the points you'll need.
1 - Choose at least one Advantage and Drawback to represent the background of your character, and you may select up to a total of 5 advantages. For each advantage taken an additional drawback must also be selected.
2 - Assign points, or roll dice, for your Weapon Skill, Ranged Skill, Physical Prowess, Agility, Intelligence, Willpower and Fellowship attributes.
3 - Pick a Race.
4 - Pick an Archetype
6 - Buy 300sp worth of gear, and get one starting weapon and set of armour for free.
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7 - Work out derived statistics - Hit Points, Luck, Action Points and the like.
Character Background |
The story behind your character will be as deep or as simple as you wish, but to get a loose sense of what your character is like, you'll be choosing an Advantage and a Drawback from the list provided. This will grant unusual talents, strange starting equipment or maybe make you a minor prodigy - but will also give you something that pulls you back down to the mortal ground.
Your Game Master may veto some Advantages or Drawbacks if they don't fit, such as Drawbacks that cause issues for Magic talents and then focus on other kinds of talents.
It should be noted that you can access more Advantages by taking more Drawbacks - some Advantages will be so powerful that they'll require more than one and some Drawbacks so terrible they'll grant more to make up for it. But these choices are permanent, so be aware. You may take up to five Advantages and Drawbacks each.
Attributes |
Attributes are the core of your character and how they function. It should be noted that, along with spending points as described here, you may get additional points from your choices in Advantages or Race, and may get reductions from Drawbacks.
Weapon Skill is an ability to allows you to use a melee weapon. It also allows you to Parry enemy attacks and avoid damage, and identify weapons or fighting techniques. For characters that wish to fight up close it's an essential attribute.
Ranged Skill is the long-ranged counterpart to Weapon Skill, and does much the same for ballistic based weapons and fighting styles.
Physical Prowess is how physically fit a character is. It has a direct effect on your hit points, add additional damage to melee attacks, and acts as your resistance to poisons and certain magic abilities.
Agility is physical dexterity. It is the basis for the Dodge actions during combat - something most characters will wish to do well at - as well as squeezing into small areas or other demonstrations of flexibility (not reach).
Intelligence is how smart a character is, and essential for characters making use of the Skill Talents.
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Willpower is mental fortitude against assaults on the mind and sense, as well as essential in the use of Magic.
The Random Factor
A points buy system is provided, but for some, part of the thrill of these games is how much the dice decide. If that's you, roll 2d10 to each score and add that to the base score of 20. This will make the choice of species and advantages much more important, but will also leave some characters more or less powerful. It's up to you. |
Fellowship is a mostly social skill, but there will be plenty of occasions when killing everything and looting the rest isn't a good option. It may also open up unusual items or quests or other, unexpected benefits.
By this point, you hopefully have some idea of what you want your character to do. This is where that idea is solidified. Each Attribute starts with a base of 20 points - very few are completely without brains, the ability to fire a gun or the like.
You have 100 points to distribute as you see fit among the seven attributes. There is a hard cap of 50 at the first level, including using Advantages and Species bonuses to go beyond it - 50 is the highest a first-level character gets without using the Prodigy advantage. You may use Drawbacks to take your attributes below the 20 minimum. It's a really, really bad idea but it is an option. |
Attribute Modifier |
In many cases, your Attributes being higher will earn you additional bonuses. Physical Prowess, for example, adds to your HP each level up - but by how much?
The simple answer is that tens of each of your Attributes are your Modifier - so with Physical Prowess and HP, if you have a Physical Prowess of 45 (or 41 or 49), you'll earn 4 HP per level up. If you ever invest enough to increase your Physical Prowess that it was raised to 50 or higher it would then become +5 HP per level.
Race |
There are a variety of Races to choose from, each with its own unique bonuses to various stats, special talents or other benefits that will make each one a little different to play.
While it would be fair to say that some species are more adept at certain things, there is no reason you can't create less seen combinations...mostly. Some races contain certain restrictions.
Starting Talents |
Each character may select any 2 combat talents and 2 social skills that they wish and qualify for. This includes race exclusive talents and skills. Each character will also start with the Unarmed Strike Talent so that, at the very least, they can throw a punch.
Archetypes
Each character gains an Archetype, a map for the direction they wish to go. It grants additional talents and abilities suiting its theme as the character levels up.
Starting Equipment |
Each character starts with 300 silver pieces plus a weapon and a set of armour marked with 'starting equipment' in the note section of the item, so long as they meet any additional requirements noted with the item.
Some talents may also note an additional starting item.
Derived Statistics |
Your character is almost done! Congratulations. But I'm afraid we saved the greatest challenge for last.
...elementary maths.
First, the tens total for each of your Attributes is your modifier for that attribute. That is, someone with an intelligence of 45 would have a Intelligence modifier of 4.
Your Hit Point total is 10 plus your Physical Prowess modifier, plus any bonuses or minuses you've picked up from elsewhere such as your race or Advantage.
Your Initiative is your agility modifier.
Your Movement is once again your agility modifier. You can also Dash, which is your Agility modifier x 3, and Run, which is your Agility modifier x 5, but these come at a higher AP cost.
Armour will be the score of whichever set of Armour you're wearing combined with your Physical Prowess modifier. So wearing a suit of armour with a rating of 6 and having a Physical Prowess of 32 would give you an armour score of 9.
Your Healing Limit is the same as your Physical Prowess modifier. This is the number of times a day that you can benefit from magical healing.
Finally, all characters begin to play with 6 action points and 10 Luck Points.
...and that's it, you're all done making a character. Head on over to the playing the game section, if you haven't already, to get a basic understanding of how to play the game. If you do suitably well you can also go look at the levelling up rules to see what fun and exciting things you can do to make your character more powerful. For things like character sheets head on other to Resources.