The first step to any advanture is having a character to partake in said advanture. So your first step when playing should be to create a character that you wish you play. An advanturer is a combination of game mechanics and your imagination. The advanturer is how you will exhert your influence and vision upon the worlds within the game.
Step-By-Step
Before diving into character creation, be sure to read through the skills and abilities available to you. Think about what your traits your character should focus on to be the character you wish to play. Browse the disciplines and their abilities to see which abilities you wish to use and which you wish to pursue at higher levels.
1. Stats
Now that you have some idea of what type of character you wish to build, figure out which stats will be more valuable to said character, this will more than likely be the associated stat of a discipline you wish to mainly use abilities from. Now allocate your stats accordingly. All of your base stats begin at 2 and you have 5 additional stat points that you may allocate between your 6 main stats: Might, Finesse, Arcana, Vitality, Speed and Perception. If you are not starting at level 1, consult the level table to find how many stat points you start with. A new character's stats cannot increase above 5.
This is when you should calculate your health by multiplying your constitution stat by 10. If you are not starting at level 1, calculate health by rolling as many d10s as your constitution stat and multiplying the output by your level.
2. Skills
After allocating stats you should now select the skills you wish to use. All skills start as level 0 and you have 2 skill points. Increasing a skill level by 1 costs a single skill point. When making a character, a skill cannot be increased past the level noted in the new character level cap table.
Once skill points have been allocated, make sure to take note of your check thresholds for each skill which is 8 minus your level in said skill.
New Character Level Cap
| Character Starting Level | Level Cap |
|---|---|
| Level 1+ | 2 Skill Levels |
| Level 5+ | 3 Skill Levels |
| Level 10+ | 4 Skill Levels |
| Level 15+ | 5 Skill Levels |
3. Disciplines
Disciplines are similar to skills in how they scale and points you gain. Disciplines however represent schools of abilities. All disciplines start at level 0 and you have 2 discipline points. When making a character, a discipline cannot be increased past the level noted in the new character level cap table.
Once discipline points have been allocated, make sure to take note of your check thresholds for each skill which is 8 minus your level in said discipline.
4. Discipline Abilities
Following the selection of your skills is when you should select some abilities. If you have taken any levels in a discipline, you now have access to some of those abilities. At level 1 you may learn 3 simple abilities from any disciplines you have at least level 1 in. If you are not starting at level 1, consult the level table.
5. Gear
Now it is time for you to select your gear. All gear you select will be level 1 unless otherwise stated by the GM. Begin by selecting your starting weapons. When selecting weapons, be sure to consider which ones you have skill levels in and how that will affect it in play. Many weapons additionally have finesse, strength or arcana requirements to use so make sure you meet those requirements. You may select any 2
Once you have selected you weapons, it is time to select your armor. Armor reduces the amount of damage a player takes from physical hits. Medium and heavy armors have stat requirements basedon finesse or strength, so make sure you meet those requirements before selecting armor. The 3 armor choices at level 1 are:
- Padded armor: Light, No stat requirement
- Ring mail: Heavy, Requires Might 3. Movement reduced by 1
Finally, you may take a level 1 shield if you choose to.
6. Races
Now, if you are using races, this is the time where you should select a race for your character. There are many races and subraces to select from and when you select the one you wish to play it will grant you certain special abilities. Players may select 2 abilities from a subrace’s ability list unless you are playing an undead or other type of character race with augmented ability rules.
7. Background
An adventurer has 2 lives, one before and one after they decide to start adventuring. This includes your character, you should now create your backstory. Consider your upbringing, any organizations you may be affiliated with or a trade you trained in to start and explore how that may have affectd you and your worldview. Additionally figure out why your character is adventuring. What led to them advanturing or how does adventuring help them reach their goal? This section can be written with the GM or on your own and then given to the GM. Be sure to consult them for specific locations or lore if you want to fit better into the game world.
8. Personality
Finally, you should give your character a personality to make them easier to roleplay as and give them a meaningful to advanture. Personality is made up of 4 equally important aspects.
- Goal: Something the character wishes to acomplish and drives their decisions and actions
- Code: The way a character approaches solutions and influences how they act to reach their goal.
- Persona: Traits of the character that affect how they see the world, interact with the people or how they act.
- Flaw: Traits of the character that is holding them back from their goal or interferes with their code
Be sure to give each aspect appropriate thought so that you are able to create a cohesive and roleplayable character.
Stats
The six base stats are core to a player's capabilities and abilities within the game and each give an insight into what a character is capable of.
- Might: Your physical strength and build
- Finesse: Your agility and hand-eye coordination
- Arcana: Your affinity and understanding of the magic
- Vitality: Your health and stamina
- Speed: Your movement speed and reaction time
- Perception: Your ability to detect and discern
All stats start at 2 when you create a new character and you will have 5 stat points you can allocate where you wish, the cost of increasing a stat does not increase the more you add to a single stat. A stat cannot increase over 10 naturally however may exceed the maximum threshold through spells or potions.
Might is your physical strength and is used when wielding large weapons. It can also be used for completing large feats of strength such as lifting large objects. Might is additionally useful for cayying large amounts of items with you and determining your physical size compared to others. You can also guage your character's build using your might, with 2 being the average person's build and 10 being that of a power lifter or body builder.
Finesse is your agility and hand eye coordination. This is used when wielding smaller weapons or non-magical ranged weapons. Finesse is also used when dodging incoming attacks as well as any acrobatic or other agility based feats. Any checks requiring fine precise motion and control can also be completed with finesse.
Intellect is your general knowledge and how studious your character may be. Intellect may be used when attempting to see if your character would know something specific to the world or remember things from the past. Intellect is also used when casting magic and someone with higher intellect will be much more learned on the scripts and traditions of magic and detecting traces of magic as well.
Speed and perception are used in combat to calculate initiative and action point starting values and regeneration. Speed is your physical speed when moving and also dictates how much you are capable of accomplishing in a single turn. Perception is your ability to see, observe and deduce based on your environment. It dictates part of your initiative as well as starting AP and may be used to detect hidden creatures or features within a space or the direction in which noises may be coming.
Vitality is your physical health, conditioning and stamina. Your vitality dictates the maximum amount of action points you may have at any one time as well as your maximum hit points. Health is based on the vitality stat and a roll of a number of d10s. At level 1 base health is 10 times your vitality stat. For every consequent level, players roll as many d10s as their vitality stat and add that to their current maximum health. This should be done after you put any points into your vitality. Should you have 0 vitality your roll is assumed to be 1, even at level 1.
Skills
Your skills affect what your character is able to do in combat, exploration, social or other encounters and how well they are able to complete such tasks. Every skill starts at 0 and has a maximum level of 5. At level 1 you have 2 skill points to spend where you see fit.
Skills can be seen split into two categories: Combat and Talent. Where combat skills are largely only useful during combat encounters, talent skills cover a wider range of encounters.
The base success threshold for all checks is 8 and each level in a skill reduces the success threshold by 1. Skills also effect other aspects with each level as denoted in the skill bonus per level table.
Skill Bonus Per Level
| Skill | Bonus Per Level |
|---|---|
| Combat | |
| Offence | +1 critical damage multiplier |
| -1 attack dice threshold | |
| +1 damage die | |
| Defence | +1 armour multiplier |
| -1 defence dice threshold | |
| -1 armour movement penalty | |
| Resistance | -1 dice threshold against |
| checks that may induce a | |
| status effect | |
| Talent | |
| Smithing | Repair and create non-magical items of levels up to your Smithing level |
| -1 dice threshold on crafting checks | |
| Alchemy | Enchant items and brew potions of levels up to your Alchemy level |
| -1 dice threshold on checks related to magical items | |
| Survival | -1 dice threshold to checks in survival situations |
| Lore | -1 dice threshold in checks to recall events, pieces of lore or tradition and identifying figures or items. |
| Charisma | -1 dice threshold to checks in social situations |
| Stealth | -1 dice threshold to checks related to sneaking around and otherwise acting without notice |
| Medicine | -1 dice threshold to checks related to medicine, anatomy and health |
| Conditioning | -1 dice threshold to checks related to feats of endurance or great physical exertion |
Disciplines
Disciplines are schools of abilities all sharing a similar archetype or elemental theme. Each discipline has 4 levels of abilities: simple, involved, complex and arcane. There are 12 base disciplines, each with their own domain of magic, abilities and tradition.
- Hydromancer: Users of water and ice magic
- Aeromancer: Users of wind and lightning magic
- Terramancer: Users of earth and poison magic
- Pyromancer: Users of fire and infernal magic
- Phosmagus: Users of light, illusion and divine magic
- Melasmagus: Users of dark, necrotic and negation magic
- Spatial Mage: Users of space & time magic
- Therotheurge: Users of wilderness magic
- Warrior: Users of physical and defencive abilities
- Rogue: Users of stealth and deceptive abilities
- Ranger: Users of long range and hunting abilities
- Muse: Users of guiding and spoken magic
Each level of a discipline reduces the success threshold, which starts at 8, by one for any checks made through that discipline, such as detecting that type of magic or inflicting a status effect.
Background
An advanturer has 2 lives, before and after they decide to take up the mantle of advanture. Your character should reflect this by having a background that depicts what their first life was like. Backgrounds can consist of many things such as a trade you trained in, the way you were raised, a profession you previously had. Take the time to consider why your character has the skills they do and where they may have learned it.
Understanding your backstory will help you create your goals and connections to the world. Use it to explain where you acme from and why and where you seek to go in the future. Backstories can be as long or as short as you desire, using specific people will make it easier for the GM to include encounters for yoo. Additionally you can consult your GM to figure out where you may have come from in the world and where you currently are.
If you are lacking for ideas, find a trade, organization or upbringing that appeals to you and the character you wish to play. Think about how they go to that point and what events may have shaped your life and outlook. Think about how their experiences led them to either leave and become an adventurer or how their profession requires them to wander and seek advanture.
Specific events, people and places will make this process more useful for both you and your GM. Feel free to collaborate with other players and write eachother into your backstories. At this point you should also be thinking about what goals and moral your character holds and why they do.
Your background can also provide you with limited fluency in up to 2 additional languages with approval from the GM and your background providing the reasoning for it.
Personality
Adding personality traits to a character will make them feel more unique and better to role play as in game. A players personality consists of 4 parts, their goal, code, quirk and flaw. Players should put some thought into what their goal, quirk and flaw are before considering what code your character would follow.
Goal
Every adventurer has something they are seeking. A goal can be as small or large as you like but should be tangible within the scope of the campaign. This is what should drive most of what your character seeks to do.
Code
Adventurer’s have their own codes of conduct that dictate their general approach to solving disputes and reaching their goal. Each code sets a general guideline for how a character under said code will see the world and the methods they employ as they seek to change it.
- Code of Order: Solutions come through concrete rules and stalwart organizations.
- Code of Freedom: Solutions come through individual freedom and respecting liberties.
- Code of Force: Solutions come through direct and forceful methods.
- Code of Subtlety: Solutions come through subtle and quiet methods.
- Code of Unity: Solutions come through uniting as many people as possible.
- Code of Recklessness: Solutions come through trial and error and embracing the unorthodox.
- Code of Strategy: Solutions come through careful and calculated measures.
Persona
Characters all have some quirks or traits that are unique to them or is what makes them who they are. Thse traits should affect how the character would see the world, interact with people in the world or how they try to act upon the world.
Flaw
No one is perfect, not even your character. A flaw should be a trait that holds them back in some way. It could be part of themself that is holding them back from their goal or some way that their methods interfere with their code. A flaw should give the character room for growth and personal progression towards their end goal.