Character

A character, or a player character, is the standard way that players may interact with the world.

## Overview

A character allows a player to control a specific creature or set of bonded creatures. It represents a single life that the player takes the role of, making its decisions as if they were the life itself. Usually, characters will be in a party, and will be given some sort of story or motivation to follow, however the player of the character may do whatever they see fit, and this should be encouraged to create fully developed characters. Characters have established personalities that may differ from the player, and thus the player must play the role of the character, not necessarily what *they* would do in that situation.

If the GM has grounds to believe that a player is playing against what a character could or would do, they may challenge the players actions and even cause serious problems for the creature involved, however this sort of measure should be used sparingly as it could very easily have a very problematic ramifications. No one likes being told how to play a game, but if it is necessary to maintain it then it should be done. Rules are rules.

Ultimately, a player has the final say in what a character does, and unlike standard creatures the GM has no control over its free will, just everything around it.

## Creation

Character creation in Passage is fairly free-form and simple to follow. This method should also be used for the creation of NPCs and, to a lesser extent, beasts. See the Passage Resources google drive folder for the character template. The steps below will follow the provided template for a player's benefit, but can easily be applied as needed and obviously isn't compulsory. It is recommended that you read the other basics before attempting to create a character.

1. Pick your Colour. This will influence a great deal about how your character feels and acts. It gives a fundamental feel for how your character interacts with the world, and can be used to either flesh out an existing character or help inspire one in development. Colour is marked in 3 boxes; Colour, the actual colour that others would see; Hue, your area of belief; and Light, your lightness value from 1 to -1, with 1 being white, -1 being black and 0 being vibrantly aligned with your hue. Don't mark down your flux just yet.
2. Choose your species and mark your tier and level. Your GM will inform you what tier and level you will be starting at, so mark those in the appropriate boxes. You are then free to choose your species from the ones made available to you. If you would like to play a species that is on a different tier to the one you have been assigned, your GM should still allow you to play as that species in either its augmented or diminished state provided that the species is still recommended as a player character. Mark your species in the Race box. Do **NOT** perform any levels at this point, but do mark and apply any traits that your species gives you.
3. Mark your stats at this point (Armour is marked in the FA and PA boxes). This is subject to change, but will inform the next few steps.
4. Allocate your species' base attributes, 4 Attribute points and 3 base Flux points. All points **MUST** be allocated at this point, however they may be reallocated at each level. No more than 2 points may be allocated to any Attribute at this point. This will determine how your character is able to interact with the world, so take time to consider all the benefits and drawbacks to each Attribute. This is the major deciding point where your character will gain a semblance of a class. This step can and likely should be revisited during the creation process. Don't forget to change your HP and EP with your Name.
5. Choose your name, age and pronouns. This is how your character may be referred to in the world and what stage of life your character is in, marked in the Name, Age and PN boxes respectively. These can be chosen at any point, including once a campaign has started if your GM is fine with that, but the sooner the better.
6. Write down your character's proficiencies, based on what your character is practiced at. Standard creation allows up to 3 standard proficiencies and 1 material proficiency (marked next to the ◊ ~), but any number may be allowed for various reasons. This is at your GM's discretion.
7. Select any additional traits. If there's something about your character that doesn't quite fit into the previous categories, you may select or create a trait to encompass that effect. One minor trait should be allowed for free, but any more than that will require some drawbacks. You can have these traits be anything, but be kind to your poor GM and don't ask for 0KO rocket hands or they might just have a dodgy fuse. Again, this is at your GM's discretion.
8. Mark an applicable size for your character in relation to an origin set by the GM. This is limited by your species and your GM. Any size that isn't M should be noted by your GM, and any applicable changes may be made to your character to compensate. Most species will have some drawback or bonus for their size, and thus no change may be needed. D and C class characters will likely **never** be allowed for players, as they simply aren't relative to the origin.
9. Choose your character's possessions. This includes everything, from clothing to bags to rings to food. Currency is marked in the boxes below main possessions. Any weight accumulated from these possessions should be marked in the Weight box.

After a character is created it should be finalized, and then any levels that it begins with should be applied in successive groups of 3.