Making a Character

## Introduction

Making a character in Sojourner is a six step process that will be detailed below.

## Step One: Role

First, select a role from the roles page. Your role will determine what your character's specialty is when regarding combat, utility or social interaction. It has no bearing on a character's personality, though some personality traits are seen more readily in some roles than others. For example, a character that is a Combatant is more likely to be a bit aggressive as compared to a character that is a Medic. There is no need to play by this rule, however, as personalities exist all across every spectrum for every role.

Later on, you will get the option to either multi-role which provides more versatility at the cost of less specialization or select a specialization to further enhance your capabilities with a particular style of play.

## Step Two: Species

Select a species to play as. Your species is not limited by your role. Your choices are Anubian, An'mauti, Dravinauryn, Human, Kheprian, Lohnean, Machina, Multari, Raji, Rous, or Scrin. Each species has its own special feature that no other species will have access to. Some of these features are passive while others must be activated. The rules of each ability are listed on the species page of the relevant species at the bottom in a chart.

Once more, your role has no bearing on what species you play as. Your character could be a Scrin medic for example which while rare in the universe could also mean that perhaps your particular Scrin wishes to break away from the traditions of his ancestors and live a different lifestyle. Likewise, your character could be human but have been raised in Scrin controlled space and learned to be a Combatant through their warrior teachings.

## Step Three: Ability Scores

Your next step is to determine your ability scores. As a starting character, your ability scores total must add up to no more than 20. Additionally, no single ability score can be above 10 or below 1. For this step, 5 is considered the average ability score for a human. In order to specialize in one ability score, another must be sacrificed. Not all ability scores are important to every character, however. You will find a more detailed explanation of the ability scores below.

 Observation
 Strength
 Vitality

## Step Four: Skills

Skills in Sojourner determine what a character is and is not good at. For this step, it is wise to consider your Role before you make a decision on skills. These skills will include your Saves, which assist you in avoiding damage, as well as more traditional skills. Every skill has a use, and some are more broad or narrower than others. Universally, everyone needs Saves but a Combatant who has little in the way of healing abilities will not get as much use as a Medic out of the Medical skill.

You must choose six skills to put +5 in. These skills will represent things your character is good at. Do not forget to pick up some Saves in the process.

Next, select six skills and put -5 in them. These skills will represent things your character is bad at. It is inadvisable to put these into your Saves.

Saves
 Perception
 Reflex
 Willpower

Combat Skills
 Heavy Weapons
 Melee
 Pistols
 Rifles

Control Skills
 Piloting

Psionic Skills
 Pyrokinesis
 Telekinesis
 Telepathy

Speechcraft Skills
 Intimidation
 Persuasion

Stealth Skills
 Stealth

Technological Skills
 Engineering
 Medical

Misc Skills
 Artistry

## Step Five: Traits (Optional)

This step in character creation is optional but can enhance a particular build to suit your playstyle. In order to reduce complexity in game balancing the number of traits any one character may have is 6. Likewise, the total cost of the traits (all neutrals, negatives and positives combined) must be no greater than 0. Trait totals may go below 0 though it is not often recommended. Positive traits will enhance your character... but it comes at a price. For every positive trait you take you will need to take negative traits to balance them.

## Step Six: Equipment

For equipment, see your Role. You have the option to take the listed equipment or you may take 500 Credits and purchase your gear yourself. If you choose the latter, you may not purchase any gear with a rarity higher than 7.