Character Creation

## Background

*The primary goal of any role-playing game is to... play a role. It is important to start the character creation phase with a character concept in mind including goals, aspirations and personality. It is also helpful to establish links within the world (such as affiliations, family, enemies, friends) and usually a 'raison d'être' (i.e. why this character exists). After having established this background, this system is designed to make realising that character fairly straight-forward.*

## Quick Version

Things to pick:

* Race
* Traits (up to three)
* Skills (30 points, max 3 per skill)
* Characteristics (randomly generated using dice)
* Talents (pick 3)
* Techniques (pick 4 + Intellect)
* Resource Pools (stamina, vitality, morale, favour)
* Skill Bonuses, Saves and Defence

## Part #1: Race

*Races in Patera are designed to be flexible and capable of fulfilling many different roles within a party. While many other systems list race as the first choice, the reality of racial bonuses often makes choosing a race a subsequent choice to character ability selection. Effectively, some combinations of race and abilities (read class) are simply substandard or jarring. This is racist (literally) and while racist stereotypes make for interesting role-playing they make for restrictive character creation.*

**Process:**

1. Pick a Race
2. Establish basic facts such as height, weight and appearance
3. Determine your subtype (this varies with Race)
4. Pick up to 3 Racial or Cultural *Traits* (this may be useful after determining skills)

## Part #2: Skills

*Skills in Patera represent what a character can do, rather than what they are. The general idea here is that any combination of skills should be somewhat viable (within limits). Characters creation is designed to be flexible and simple.*

Process:

1. Pick up to 30 points of Skills from any of the available Skill Schools
	* Avoid taking more than 60% Combat or non-Combat skills.
	* You may not put more than 3 points into any individual *Skill School* at level 1.
	* At its simplest, pick 10 *Skills* and put 3 points in each.

**Note:** *Skills are basically passive proficiencies. They don't entail the ability to do anything specific, rather your general ability to do such a thing. Sword Skill means you can use swords well, Fire Magic means you can use fire spells well (but it doesn't dictate which fire spells you know).*

## Part #3: Characteristics

*Patera has eight characteristics. The goal is to have somewhat deterministic but also random characteristics. As characteristics only modify D20 rolls but a maximum range of 6, it leaves characters open to perform actions in which they are not specialised with some hope of success.*

Process:

1. Roll 2D4-5 (-3 to 3) a total of eight times.
	* You may assign these scores to whichever of the eight characteristics you want.
	* It is suggested that you pick characteristics which augment your skill choices.
	* It is OK to mix the order up, you may want to change your skills depending on your rolls here.

### Good and Bad Rolls

*Inevitably with any dice roll system, there will be amazing or terrible rolls. It is up for the player and DM to decide what constitutes high characteristics or low characteristics. In general to sum total of characteristics can vary up to 48 (total -24 to total +24). It is suggested that any given party should not vary by more than ~6. If this happens, then re-rolls or tweaks might be in order.*

* Method #1 for evening up rolls
	+ Put your eight scores in a line and total them (let's say -4 but you want +0 total)
	+ Roll a D8 adding/subtracting +1/-1 from one of the score (i.e. roll a 5, add +1 to the 5th score)
		- Re-roll of this would give you a +4/-4 bonus/penalty
	+ Repeat until you get where you want to be (+2 total isn't a bad spot)

## Part #4: Talents and Techniques

*Although talents and techniques sounds better than techniques and talents, picking techniques first might be a bit easier. Techniques roughly correspond with actions that a character with training can perform. Actions which any character could reasonably perform are instead referred to as actions. Thus, techniques are the special actions that make a character somewhat unique from other characters.*

*Talents on the other hand are a form of extra specialisation. Many talents augment existing techniques or provide passive bonuses or abilities. It might be worth skimming through talents before selecting your techniques, but in general, as characters are defined by what the do (rather than how well they do it) picking some iconic techniques and then supplementing the character with talents seems the best bet.*

Process:

1. Pick a total number of *Techniques* equal to 4 + *Intellect*.
	* Techniques are divided by *Skill School* OR by the general *Skill Divisions* (Arcane Martial etc).
	* At Level 1, a character can usually only select Level 1 or Level 3 *Techniques* (for having 3 Skill *Ranks* in a Skill) so choices are somewhat limited.
	* **Note:** This isn't a character's *Maximum Techniques* even at level 1 (see **Higher Levels** below), rather those the character knows initially.
2. Pick up to 3 *Talents*.
	* Like *Techniques*, *Talents* are divided by *Skill School* OR by the general *Skill Division*s (Arcane, Martial etc).
	* At Level 1, a character can usually only select Level 2 *Talents* (for having 3 *Ranks* in a *Skill*) so choices are somewhat limited.

## Part #5: Pools

*Pools represent the resources which characters have at their disposal. Many skills grant players additional resources to use which will depend on the Skill Schools the player takes such as Morph Points, Mana etc. However, those detailed below refer to ones which are universal to all characters.*

### Basic Pools

Most characters will have the following basic Pools:

* Stamina
* Vitality
* Morale
* Favour

### Background Training

At first level, each character chooses a *Background Training* type from the list below. These *Background Training* types represent the type of the character and their general fitness and natural aptitude. Each level, the character gains the bonuses listed below.

* Example 1: A level 5 character with a *Magical Background* would gain a bonus 5 *Vitality*, 5 *Morale* and 10 *Mana*.

### Calculating your Pools

1. Choose *Build Type*
2. Determine *Health*
	* Stamina: 8 + *Strength* + 1/(3 ranks in *Martial* or *Athletics* skills)
	* Vitality: 8 + *Fortitude* + Build Type Bonuses (~ 1-3 per level including Level 1)
3. Determine *Morale*
	* Morale: 8 + *Mettle* + Build Type Bonuses (~ 1-3 per level including Level 1)
4. Determine maximum and current *Favour*
	* Maximum Faith: 20 + *Mettle* + Total Ranks in *Faith Skills + Build Type Bonuses*
	* Starting Faith: 15 + *Mettle* + Total Ranks in *Faith Skills + Build Type Bonuses*
5. Determine other Pools
	* Most characters will have resources such as *Mana*, *Crafted Items*, *Rage Points*, *Song Points*, Morph Points etc based on their *Skills*.

## Part #6: Saves, Checks and Rolls

*Once your character has all their abilities determined it is now time to do the pre-session calculations. While you may have three ranks in a skill, this doesn't tell you what your final bonus is going to be (the number you add to your dice rolls).*

Process:

1. Skill Bonuses
	* For each of your *Skills*, calculate that skill's bonus
	* **Skill Bonus:** (Level + Skill Ranks)/2 + *Characteristic*
		+ At level 1, this is usually 2 + *Characteristic*
2. Technique Bonuses
	* For each of your *Techniques*, calculate that techniques overall bonus. If the technique generates a save calculate the Save TS instead. These numbers are often different from your *Skill Bonuses* as many techniques and weapons have bonuses and penalties to hit. Talents may also provide bonuses.
	* **Technique Bonus:** *Skill Bonus* + Other Modifiers (such as weapon to-hit)
	* **Technique Save Target Score:** 14 + *Skill Bonus*
		+ At level 1, this is usually 16 + *Characteristic* + Other Modifiers
		+ *Example 1:* A level 2 character with 4 ranks in *Axe* and *Strength* = +3, takes *Hefty Strike*. The attack bonus would be (2 + 4)/2 (*Level & Ranks*) + 3 (*Strength*) - 4 (*Hefty Strike*) = +2
		+ *Example 2:* A level 5 character with 7 ranks in *Fire Magic* and *Fervour +2,* takes *Fireball*. The spell TS would be 14 (*Base*) + (5 + 7)/2 (*Level & Ranks*) + 2 (*Fervour*) + 0 (*No other modifiers*) = 22
3. Defences
	* Defence is largely determined by what skill you use to defend yourself. If you have a weapon or skill appropriate to defending, use that skill. Most abilities use *Weapon Defence*, but certain abilities like *Shoves* and *Trip* instead uses *Brute Defence*.
	* **Size:** Characters of different sizes have different base defences. Small characters have a base *Weapon Defence* of 9 (being harder to hit) and a *Brute Defence* of 6 (being easier to push). Conversely, large characters have a base *Weapon Defence* of 6 (being easier to hit) and a *Brute Defence* of 9 (being hard to push and trip).
	* **Weapon Defence:** 8 + (Level + Skill Ranks)/2 + *Dexterity + Agility*
		+ At level 1, this is usually 10 + *Characteristics* + Other Modifiers
		+ *Example 1:* A level 3 character with 5 ranks in *Thrusting Polearm* and a *Dexterity* = +1 and *Agility* = -2. The defence would be 8 + (3 + 5)/2 (*Level & Ranks*) +1 (*Dexterity*) -2 (*Agility*) = 11
	* **Brute Defence:** 8 + (Level + Skill Ranks)/2 + *Strength + Agility*
		+ At level 1, this is usually 10 + *Characteristics* + Other Modifiers
		+ *Example 1:* A level 3 character with 5 ranks in *Thrusting Polearm* and a *Strength* = +1 and *Agility* = -2. The defence would be 8 + (3 + 5)/2 (*Level & Ranks*) +1 (*Strength*) -2 (*Agility*) = 11
4. Saves and Checks
	* For each *Characteristic*, if this character has ranks in a *Skill School* associated with that *Characteristic* they have a *Good* save/check. Otherwise they have a *Bad* save/check
	* **Good Saves:** (Level + Highest Skill Rank)/2 + *Characteristic*
		+ At level 1, this is usually 2 + *Characteristic*
	* **Bad Saves:** (Level)/2 + *Characteristic*
		+ At level 1, this is usually 0 + *Characteristic*
		+ *Example 1:* A level 2 character with 4 ranks in *Caniformia* (Fortitude) and a *Fortitude* = +1 would have (2 + 4)/2 + 1 = +4 as their *Fortitude* save
		+ *Example 2:* A level 5 character with 7 ranks in *Mobility* (Agility) and an *Agility =* -3 would have (5 + 7)/2 - 3 = +3 as their *Agility* save.

## Higher Levels

Whenever a character *Levels-Up*, they gain additional abilities.

Process:

1. Characteristics and Traits
	* Odd levels: Gain a *Trait*
	* Even levels: Add one to a *Characteristic* (not exceeding the maximum for that level - see below)
2. Skill Points
	* Gain 10 skill points
	* A character may not invest more than *Level+2* points in any individual skill
3. Talents and Techniques
	* Learn one new *Talent* and *Technique*
	* A character may not have more than *Level+2* talents
	* A character may not have more than (*Level+2) x 2 + Intellect* techniques
4. Pools
	* Add the Pool bonuses selected at level 1 based on your *Build Type*