Character Creation

If this is your story then let's start by asking about you. Most of the time just who your character is won't be apparent right away. That's fine. It's normal to start creating your character with one idea and have a new idea by the end. Sure the steps are laid out below in an order but that doesn't mean you can't go back to change something.

Make sure you check with your DM on what sorts of characters fit into the story. While it might be cool to play an elven wizard, that might not fit into the spaghetti western everyone else is playing. (Or would it?) Apart from that, there really is not Right or Wrong way to make a character and the system isn't really intended to allow Min-Maxing. Just because your Klingon fighter can wade through hordes of goblins doesn't mean he's useful in dealing with Orlesian Nobility. Characters that are good at a few things will probably be more fun in the end than a one trick godmod pony.

## The Six Traits

Everyone starts play with six Traits, six things that help define their abilities for game mechanics. Within these Six Traits the the Big Four, so named because you'll be using one of them in almost every roll you make. That's not to say the other two aren't important, they just get used in other ways. First let's start with...

### The Big Four

Every character has six Traits, six things that define their general abilities and add some game mechanics to their personality. You've already gone through picking your first two traits, Background and Career, so now we'll introduce you to the other four. Everyone has these four Traits and they all work the same. The difference is in how you use them.

#### Body Trait

This defines your strength and overall fitness. Sure two people might both be physically fit but whoever could lift the most would be said to have the higher Body Trait. Likewise it's unlikely that someone who is out of shape or in poor health will be doing much benching. Physically larger people also tend to have higher Body Traits though it's not impossible to have a totally ripped marathoner who's four feet tall. If you want to do anything involving physical strength or endurance then think of your Body Trait.

#### Mind Trait

If Body is your physical strength then this is your mental ability. The ability to think through a solution, draw connections between ideas, and adapt to new situations is all part of having a strong Mind Trait. Scholars obviously want to encourage this but a thief living by her wits also needs a good Mind. If you need to remember something, work out a complicated problem, or draw insight from your situation then look to the Mind Trait.

#### Speed Trait

Not just how fast you move but how precise you are in your movements all comes down to the Speed Trait. It also includes actions that require balance. Characters with an intuitive sense of their surroundings, and how to move through it quickly, excel here. If you want to be sure in your movements, swift of foot, and clever with your hands then you want to have a good Speed Trait.

#### Will Trait

Force of personality, a never say die attitude, is what makes for a strong Will Trait. The Body might be able to endure physical punishment but Will is the drive to stand firm while doing it. Characters with strong Will can be stubborn, fearless, and single minded but that's because they never take their eyes off the prize. It's the world that bends or breaks before such people. If you want to be strong against adversity, driven to reach your goals, and unflinching against the storm then look to your Will Trait.

### The Background Trait

Every character has a Background. It's where you come from. Your history from the day you were born until the start of the story. That includes your Race. If you're an elf then being an elf is part of your background. Should you take elf as your background? Well you can, but consider just how many kinds of elves there are. A Mirkwood elf lives a very different life from her Rivendell cousins and neither of these is like the dark elves. Your background might include an adjective to tell your particular background apart from someone else of the same race. A Quindarian Noble Elf background is going to be very different from a Wood Elf Streetrat. Be creative here, it'll help guide your choices later.

#### Heritage Skills

*This is part of your Background Trait.* Every Background has 3 skills associated with it. Those skills are things you learned in the early part of your life. They might not be trained, just things you picked up or happened to have a talent in doing. Further down is a list of Skills that are possible within the game. Check for 3 that suit your character's history and make a note of them for later.

#### Homeland

*This is part of your Background Trait.* Everyone comes from somewhere. Even if your Homeland is technically a migrant space fleet, it's still your home. You grew up there. Maybe you had family and friends. What's important is that you have somewhere familiar to you and there's other people who came from the same place. Other people did not. If the place you came from has a reputation then you might just find yourself caught up the strain between Factions. It doesn't matter how benevolent a dark elf might be if everyone thinks drow from Menzoberranzan are black-hearted monsters.

#### Ideal

*This is part of your Background Trait.* What do you aspire towards? Is there a specific code of honor? Are you dedicated to an idea like 'Peace'? Maybe you don't have anything in mind, you're just really dedicated to protecting your friends. Whatever it might be, there's something that drives you onward when the going gets tough. You'll give anything to fulfill this one thing. So much that once per Game Session you can declare Inspiration when pursuing something directly related to your Ideal. Inspiration can add your Background Dice to a roll or several rolls depending on the DM's ruling. Characters will always want to pursue their Ideal and may find it difficult to keep going if they're always kept from achieving this, or at least working towards it in some way.

#### Bond

*This is part of your Background Trait.* If your Ideal is the thing you'd give anything to achieve then your Bond is that one thing you can never let go. It's entirely possible to have a Bond and Ideal be related, or even the same thing. A Paladin might decide her Ideal is 'Standing Against Evil' and her Bond is 'Protecting the Innocent'. The Paladin will always want to pursue her Ideal but may come to question it if a clever villain suddenly has hostages. It's not simply a matter of deciding your character will ignore their Bond 'just this one time'. There are dice rolls, and consequences, involved in setting aside your Bond. It's just that important to who you are as a person.

#### A Note on Factions

There's nothing else to pick for your Background right now. Just keep in mind that who you are and where you come from can sometimes have an effect on how other people treat you. Dwarves and elves are famous for their grudging respect of one another. Likewise dragons have long feuded between their various colors. Whatever Background you choose, chances are there's someone with a grudge against it. Likewise, it's possible you might find those willing to help.

### Career Trait

At some point you learned a trade. You have a particular set of skills. This is your Career, the profession that most defines your role in the adult world. In other fantasy games this might be like picking a Fighter, or a Wizard character to play. We can do better though. Maybe your Career is Buccaneer or Mecha Technician. Yes, you can even aspire to be the Inn Keeper. Like choosing a Background, you may want to consult with your DM on what careers are possible in the story. Also, while picking a career is pretty straightforward you might want to give a thought to why your character chose to become a Court Jester.

Your Career is usually a way to make money or otherwise support yourself. Characters with some downtime can usually put their Careers to work for them in earning a little pay. Largely this depends on where they are and what their Career is. Someone of the Barbarian vocation isn't always going to find work in the big city but he can probably forage in the wild for a day's worth of food.

If you can make a living with your Career then so can other people. Those in the same line of work often have their own lingo for discussing things on the job. This makes it easier to get along with people familiar with your own day to day grind. On the other hand, if you're not in the know then you might be getting a cold reception. When making Social Rolls with someone of the same Career as you it may be possible to give yourself an advantage. Just watch a Physics Major in a Star Trek movie sometime to see this in action.

One final note about the uniqueness of the Career Trait. Your character will only ever have one Body, one Mind, and one Background. Your other five Traits are what they are. You can grow them through experience but they won't change. Careers on the other hand can. When you begin play you'll have only one Career Trait, the results of your training in a vocation, or at least how you plan to survive. Down the road you may want to expand into another Career. This costs a significant amount of Experience Points because learning a brand new vocation is no small thing. It's possible to have two Careers with overlapping Skills however that isn't as advantageous as you might think. To explain why, we need to look deeper at how the system works.

## Doing the Math

Wow that was a lot of reading. Feel free to refer back to it as needed. Now let's put some game mechanics to all those words. For your Six Traits you have six dice to assign, one to each trait. Larger dice represent strength in a particular trait while smaller dice mean you have room to grow yet.

For each Trait assign a d12, d10, d8, d8, d6, or d4. Each of these six dice may only be assigned to one Trait. Specifically those Traits are your Background, Career, Body, Mind, Speed, and Will Traits. Don't worry if a Trait seems low right now. You'll get Experience Points later to build up your Skills and Traits.

### Derived Traits

There are a few things we calculate based on your Six Traits, mostly off the Big Four of Body, Mind, Speed, & Will. Once you have your dice assigned to your Six Traits it's time to do some math. Every die has a number of sides, 4 through 12, and that's called the die's Value. If you need half the Value of a d8 then the Value of 8 is divided by two for a final Value of 4. Easy right?

**Pace** is always 1. When you move your character at Pace speed that means you move a single space into an adjacent space.

**Stride** is 1/2 your Speed Value. If the Value of your Body is greater than your Speed then add +1 to your Stride. This is another way your character can opt to move.

**Dash** is 3 times your Stride. This is the fastest way a character can move on their own feet.

**Flight** is your Background and Speed Values added together. This type of movement only applies to characters with Wings or some other way of naturally flying.

**Initiative** is Speed and Mind but not as Values. When you roll Initiative you roll both your Speed and Mind dice together and the highest result is your Initiative. This is important later when we get into Combat.

## Experience Points

As characters grow they gain Experience. Rather than model how the brain learns we'll just assign you points that can be spent to improve your character how you like. Experience Points are earned by playing the game. Easy right? You don't have to be a wizard at gaming or memorize the rules. Just play the game and get a prize. In fact you get a prize just for making your character. **Starting Characters may spend up to 50xp before their first session**. If there's any XP left over from character creation then write it down and save those points for later. Sometimes it's more fun to build out a character as you play than to have a complete design out of the box. Just be kind to your DM and fellow players. Please, oh please, don't level your character in the middle of a game. It's not very polite.

Improving a Skill or Trait increases its Dice Pool size by one step or 1 point. It goes d4 => d6 => d8 => d10 => d12. If you improve a d12 then your Dice Pool becomes d12+d4 and the next step is d12+d6. The process goes on to infinity but with diminished returns. 10d12 has a fairly certain chance of success on a roll but then so does 3d12. If you're adding a Skill or Career then start at d4. You can build up later.

### XP Costs

* 5xp - Add or Improve a Skill
* 1xp - Change a Skill's Favored Use
* 20xp - Improve one of the Six Traits
* 15xp - Add a new Career or Special Trait