New Player's Guide

This is the New Player's guide to creating your Character Sheet (or CS) for Ebonfort. There are many varied factors that go into creating a character and it can often be confusing. So I will include an example Character Sheet Below, and then show how each decision was made.
 
 
 Name: Mikkon
 
 Race: Drow
 
 Gender: Male
 Age: 57
 Birthday: 31st day of Saffra, 243 DM
 Birthplace: Ruby Banks 
 Resides in: Silent Rise 
 
 Occupation: Lumberjack
 
 Appearance: (what he looks like)
 Personality: (who he is)
 
 History: (stuff he did)
 
 
 
 Skills: 
 50 Stealth (30 Racial Bonus + 20)
 15 Melee Weapon (Scimitar)
 15 Ranged Weapon (Shortbow)
 10 Illusion
 30 Cooking 
 
 Possessions:
 10 | Artisan's Outfit, Herbalist's | Starting | 10gp
 10 | Peasant's Outfit | Starting | 1gp
 1 | Pan, Iron | Starting | 5sp
 1 | Pot, Iron | Starting | 5sp
 1 | Toolkit, Cook's | Starting | 10gp
 Ledger:
 Cost | Item | Subtotal
 +100 GP | Starting Money | 100 GP
 Story List:
 Date - URL - Characters involved
== Step 1 ==
This is probably the most crucial step of your Character sheet, and that is selecting a race, gender, and name of your character. This is your character's core identity. There are many Races to choose from. Some of these have full descriptions and writeups, and some do not. All of the listed races are already approved, however, these are not the only races you may choose from. If you wish to play an unlisted Race, you just simply need to contact one of the GMs, and ask about the race. Initially we'll likely balance out any magical abilities they may have and determine the Racial Bonuses for that race.
Names are pretty much always up to the Player to determine. In some cases, certain races or cultures will have specific naming methods for their children, so if you decide to play one of these, see if a naming section is listed. 
Gender is fairly simple. Make sure you race has the Gender that you've selected (most are the standard male/female). Some races are androgynous, some may have more genders, or perhaps they are a combination gender. All of this is fine, so long as it lines up with the race.
== Step 2 ==
Creating an age and a birthdate is fairly straightforward. The Time System shows how time works here, as well as what the current Season and Year is. Once you have determined how old you'd like your character, which should be done after seeing the aging rules of that particular race, the rest is simply math and personal preference. 
So format is typically Day# Season, Year.
== Step 3 ==
Birthplace is fairly simple. Pick a city, village, or other location to have had them be born in/near. Cities list should help a lot with this.
Residence is where your character is currently living/staying. This doesn't matter if they own their own home, are living in an inn, or in a tent. They are living somewhere.
== Step 4 ==
Occupation is what your character does to earn money. This should be the major portion of their daily life. Keep in mind for your character to be paid at the end of the season, they need to have done their job in writing during the season. Player Economy has the wages and jobs currently made, though if you want one that isn't listed, get in contact with a GM to have it added. 
== Step 5 ==
Appearance and personality are fairly simple and unless they are wholly outside the realm of reason, there will be few issues with these sections. Feel free to include whatever images (without breaking site rules) to show your character. Real life, anime, faceclaims, original content, all are allowed.
== Step 6 ==
History is one of the slightly more complicated sections. I should first note, this section is NOT required. You can choose to flesh out a character's history through RPs, and therefore do not need to have it all written up beforehand. However, what you do have written, should either 1) match existing lore or 2) Be pending approval by a GM to be added to the lore. We have allowed villages/areas to be created in a history and added to the lore. But it will require discussion.
== Step 7 ==
Skills.
Skills seem really confusing at first, and truly can be. They are representative of how good your character is in certain fields. Warriors will be good at weapon skills and combat skills, Politicians good at various speaking skills, etc. For the sake of Skill Points, Magic is included as Skills too.
Rules on Skills and Magic Skill Points
Each character gets 90 Base Skill Points + that race's Racial Bonus of your choice.
All skills listed in the Character Sheet must be have a minimum of 5 points and a maximum of 50 points in a single skill.
A character may start with 1 Magic skill, and it must fall between 5-50 points. 
So the Drow above chose Stealth has his racial bonus (could've also chosen Blindfighting or a 1-Handed Melee Weapon). In addition to this racial bonus, he has distributed his remaining 90 points to other skills.
== Step 8 ==
Possessions are also a bit confusing at times as well. So first we'll go over starting money and items.
All characters start with 100 GP (Gold Pieces) AND whatever items they wish that can have a combined value of up to 100 GP. 
If your character doesn't have more than 100 GP in starting items, they do NOT get the remaining money left.
If your character wishes to have more than 100 GP in starting items, then the additional items must be purchased from the initial starting 100 GP.
=== Housing ===
Now, there's a variety of housing options.
1) Your character owns their own home. This is a simple, furnished home, typically 1 room, with furniture, including bed, table, chair, trunk or dresser, hearth/fireplace, and chamber pot.
2) Your character doesn't own their own home, and instead lives in local inns and the like. Because of this, they get +1000 GP.
3) Your character chooses to have the Survival/Travel Kit from the Price List. The Price List is the single most helpful tool for this section.
4) If your character is a child, they can live with their parents. They do not get an income nor pay expenses. Orphans are automatically adopted by Knights (those that choose to adopt often take in many children). Orphanages do not exist in the Ebonfort Region. They may exist on a case by case basis outside of the region. 
5) If your character is a Knight, they can either own their own home where they are stationed or live in the Barracks. If they choose to live in the Barracks, they do not gain the +1000 GP bonus.
== Step 9 ==
The Ledger is simply how you keep track of purchases and income. It is a running balance of your character's finances. If your character purchases something in an RP, you'll deduct the cost there. If your character gets his seasonal wages, the money is added there as well.
Here's an example of the ledger from my own character.
Cost | Item | Subtotal
+100gp | Starting Money | 100gp, 0sp, 0cp
-70gp | 2 Mountain Ridgebacks | 30gp, 0sp, 0cp
+633gp, 9 sp | [[ http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3108050|Mauven Pay Day]] | 663gp, 9sp
-135 GP, 3 SP, 1 CP | [[ http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3199892|RP Purchase]] | 528gp, 5sp, 9 cp
== Step 10 ==
The final bit is the Story List, but this isn't important when you're first making your character. As your character creates/joins stories, you'll list them here.
== Step 11 ==
Now you can submit your character for review and approval. Once approved, or edits made before approval, you can begin writing. You can write with GMs, other Approved Characters, or even Solo. The only limitations on this is who wishes to write with you, and ensuring your character is in the proper place and time to write with the other character. (Can't have two characters on opposite sides of the world in separate stories one day, then together the very next day because of travel time)