Character

## Creating Your Character

In order to play this game, you will need a **character**. Your character is a person in the game that you pretend to be; you decide their capabilities, make their decisions, and roll checks to see how well they perform.

To make a character, you will need a character sheet.

* Fighter or Rogue: Download a Character Sheet (PDF)
* Wizard, Sorcerer, Priest or Barbarian: Download a Character Sheet (PDF)

If you would like a simplified, step-by-step walkthrough for creating your character, click here.

### Origin

All characters begin play at level 0, unless the Game Master explicitly grants characters starting Experience to start the campaign at a higher level. To create your character, choose your race, choose your background, then choose your alignment.

#### Race

When you choose your race, you may gain training in one Skill or Weapon Proficiency of your choice from your race's Proficiencies list, and then choose one of your race's Languages that you know.

#### Background

When you choose your background, you gain training in the Skill related to your background, and a +1 modifier to your choice of one of two ability scores related to the background.

#### Alignment

Your alignment does not provide you with any particular training, but is an expression of your character's ethical views and philosophy.

### Ability Scores

Next, you assign your ability scores. There are several ways of doing this.

The first is called the essential array:

* 18 (+4)
* 16 (+3)
* 14 (+2)
* 12 (+1)
* 11 (+0)
* 10 (+0)

If you wish more flexibility, you may construct your character using the point buy system, which allows you to choose each ability score from a pool of 40 'build points':

```
 **Ability Score**	**Modifier**	**Point Cost**	**Approximate Probability (3D6)**
  6 or lower	-3 or -4	N/A		10% (one in ten)
  7		 -2		 0		 7% (one in fifteen)
  8		 -1		 1		10% (one in ten)
  9		 -1		 2		11% (one in nine)
 10		 +0		 3		12% (one in eight)
 11		 +0		 4		12% (one in eight)
 12		 +1		 5		11% (one in nine)
 13		 +1		 6		10% (one in ten)
 14		 +2		 8		 7% (one in fifteen)
 15		 +2		10		 5% (one in twenty)
 16		 +3		13		 3% (one in thirty)
 17		 +3		16		 2% (one in sixty)
 18		 +4		20		 0% (one in two hundred)

```

Finally, if you wish to harken back to the days of randomness, you may generate random ability scores:

Next, assign your race's two ability modifiers, and continue with **character** creation.
If you wish, you can modify this system in one of the following ways:
* You may choose to roll 21d6, drop the three lowest dice, and then group the remaining 18 into groups of 3, assigning the sum of each 3d6 group to an ability score.
* You may choose to roll 4d6 seven times or even more, dropping the lowest die from each *and* dropping the lowest scores, leaving six scores to assign to abilities.

### Character Class

Next, you may choose your character class. Choosing your character class consists of three steps: a theme, a role, and one style-based class feature. Once you have made those choices, you choose two at-will feats from the lists available to your role and style.

### Additional Languages and Proficiencies

Finally, all characters gain one additional Training in a Weapon, Skill, or Armor proficiency of their choice that they do not already have Expertise in.
Then, choose a number of additional known Languages of your choice equal to your Intelligence modifier.
If your Intelligence is 15 or higher, you may choose one additional Skill of your choice to train in.

## Leveling Up

As your character goes on adventures, they will earn Experience (XP). Experience is a measure of how seasoned your character is, and thus how powerful they have become. Once you reach certain experience milestones, you gain a Character Level.

This will make higher-level characters much more powerful than lower-level characters, reflecting the kind of level progression showcased in other popular D20-based Role-Playing Games. Be warned that this makes encounter design somewhat more tricky, as you should never include a creature or challenge in an encounter whose level is more than 5 levels away from the party under these rules, lest the fight become virtually impossible for one side to win.

### Gaining Experience

The most common way to gain experience is through combat. In combat, you will fight many different kinds of monsters. Each monster has a level, just like your character. Each monster also has a challenge rating, which is one of four possible types.

#### Solo Monsters

Solo creatures are practically an encounter unto themselves. A solo monster typically has twice the hit points of a player character of the same level - often this is because they are twice the size of a player character or more. A solo monster calculates its vitality score and at-will, daily and per-encounter feats the same way as a player character, but their attacks are often twice as deadly.

When you defeat a solo creature, your party gains Experience equal to its level times 500. This experience is divided evenly among all party members that participated in the encounter.

#### Elite Creatures

Elite creatures are on the same power level as player characters - technically, player characters *are* elite creatures. An elite creature has the full listed hit points and vitality of a player character of the same level, and learns and performs at-will, daily and per-encounter feats just like a player character.

When you defeat an elite creature, your party gains Experience equal to its level times 200. This experience is divided evenly among all party members that participated in the encounter.

#### Standard Creatures

Standard creatures are less powerful than elites, and represent typical threats in an encounter. A standard creature has half the total number of hit points of an elite creature, and only has a vitality score of two (and hence only two healing reserves). Standard creatures are automatically defeated by any critical hit effect.

Each standard creature has up to three at-will feats available to their class and race, and one per-encounter or daily feat. They may use that daily or per-encounter feat only once during the encounter.

When you defeat a standard creature, your party gains Experience equal to its level times 100. This experience is divided evenly among all party members that participated in the encounter.

#### Minions

Minions are the fodder of a typical adventure. You do not need to track a minion's hit points - they are automatically defeated by any damaging attack that hits them, or by any damaging effect that does not make an attack roll. If a minion is undamaged (not bloodied), they are bloodied by any damaging 'miss' effect; otherwise, they are killed.

Minions may only use at-will feats, and never roll for damage; most minions have between one and three at-will actions. Minions always operate in groups; a group of up to 4 identical minions makes a single Initiative roll for the entire group, and each minion in the group acts simultaneously on the same turn. During each minion group's turn, all minions in that group that can perform a move action do so together as a single move action, and then all minions in that group that can perform a standard action do so together as a single standard action.

When you defeat a minion creature, your party gains Experience equal to its level times 25. This experience is divided evenly among all party members that participated in the encounter.

 **Defenses** | * Armor: 15 + 1/2 level.
* Fortitude/Reflex/Will: 12 + 1/2 level
	+ *(optional: +2 to one, -2 to one other).*

 **Other Traits** | Initiative: +5 + 1/2 level.