Character Creation

Character Sheet

This character sheet is recommended for keeping track of all your characters stats and abilities. This section will guide you through everything you need to know to create your first character.

Attributes

It is best to come up with a concept for your character and work towards that (remember flavor of Feats can be changed), but don't expect to have all the abilities you'll want at Level 1.

Every character has 4 Attributes ranging from 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest, average person having about a 5). You'll see these listed in the top left of the page.

Strength (STR) - Your physical might. If you want to bash skulls and take punches this is it.

Dexterity (DEX) - Your Speed and precision. If you want to shoot something a mile away, stab something at its weak point, or Sprint around in combat this is it.

Essence (ESS) - Your ability to mentally influence the world. If you want to be intimidating or persuasive or use your Mind to warp reality itself this is it.

Mind (MND) - Your ability to process the world around you. If you want to have extreme mental Focus, Investigate, and invent this is it.

Attributes can be generated in 3 ways: Block, Rolling, or Point Buy. Which method players are using should be Determined by the Game Master at the start of the campaign.

Block - everyone starts with the same 4 Attributes and assigns them where they want. Standard Attributes are 8, 6, 5, 3.

Rolling - everyone rolls 3 d4 and subtracts 2 from the total for each Attribute (abbreviated 3d4-2). Attributes can be rolled in order or rolled and the assigned. Warning: this method of generating Attributes may result in scores that are more or less powerful than average.

Point Buy - everyone starts with a certain number of points to spend on their Attributes. Good scores cost a lot of points, while bad scores give you more points to spend. Standard is a 4 point budget, but different campaigns may want to run with different budgets if the players should be stronger or weaker than normal. (see table below for costs)

Feats and Skill Feats

Once your Attributes are Determined you can pick your Feats. Every character starts with 3 Feats and 1 Skill Feat. You will see Large spaces on your character sheet to fill with Feats and Skill Feats as you Level.

Feats give your character the unique abilities that define them in the world. Anyone can try and hit someone with a club, but if you want to be a swordsman you might want to take Combat Training and Weapon Focus. If you want to be a pyromancer you'll need Spell Casting 1 and Spell Effect 1 (Evoke Fire). You can choose any of the Human or Common Feats you meet the prerequisite for.

When choosing Feats you should consider how they are represented in the world. For example if you decide to take "Spell Casting" Feats you need to decide what grants you this Power. Do you have a magical artifact that you channel Power from? Is it granted by a divine being? Is it part of you? While answers for some Feats may be more obvious than others all are important to establishing the feel of your character.

Skill Feat improve upon your Skills. That could mean anything from being more persuasive or being able to hold your breath for several minutes.

Gear

Your characters starting wealth is usually Determined by their Level (see chart below), but similar to determining Attributes, this is up the the GM's discretion.

While it is possible that you might start with magical items if you are starting the game at a higher Level. Most of the time characters start their journey at Level 1 with only a few Basic Items.

When choosing your starting Gear you will likely need to make some tough decisions between the Weapons and Armor you want, as well as other useful items that may come in handy on your adventures.

Character Stats

Taking your Attribute and Feats into account you can now calculate your other stats. Most of these are displayed prominently toward the top of your character sheet.

Your Max HP is equal to (10+STR)xLevel. For example a Level 1 character with 5 Strength has 15 HP.

You should aim for at least 15 HP per Level. That means if your STR is less than 5 you should consider the "Extra HP" Feat.

Your Physical Defense is equal to 10+Level+DEX.

You should aim for your Physical Defense being at least 17+Level. If you wear Armor/carry a Shield and have at least 4 DEX this is relatively easy, but if you have especially low DEX, or plan on putting yourself in harms way often you may want to consider Feats like "Armor Training", "Evasion", or "Shield Training".

Your Mental Defense is equal to 10+Level+MND.

You should aim for your Mental Defense being at least 15+Level. That means that if your MND is less than 5 you should consider taking the "Improved Mental Defense" Feat, or something similar.

Your Max Energy is equal to your Level+MND.

How much Energy you need greatly depends on your build. Think about what you might spend Energy on and how much Energy it would require. The more Energy you start with, the less you'll need to Focus in combat.

Your Focus (Energy Regeneration) is equal to your (ESS+Level)/3 (always Round down, this is true across the game).

If you plan on using more Energy than you start out with (you generally start a fight with your Max Energy) then it is important to be able to regenerate it quickly. Like Max Energy, this depends heavily on your build.

Your Speed is equal to 5xDEX.

While Speed is more important for some characters than others, speeds lower than 20 ft can make maneuvering combat difficult.

Your Initiative Bonus is equal to your DEX+MND+Level.

Higher Initiative is beneficial for everyone, as it means you get to go before your Enemies.

Resistances are Determined usually granted by your Armor, allowing you to take half Damage from certain types of Damage.

Many characters don't have any Resistances, but when paired against the right Enemy they can be very helpful. With Enchanted Items it is also possible to gain Immunities or Vulnerabilities.

Your Carrying Capacity is equal to your STR. You can carry any number of items in Bulk up to your Carrying Capacity normally. You can carry Bulk up to double your Carrying Capacity, but are Slowed when doing so.

This is mainly a concern if you want to use Heavy Armor or many different Weapons.

Your Bonus on Melee Attack rolls is equal to your Level+STR, but if you are using a Light or Medium Weapon you can use your DEX instead.

If you are planning on using Melee Attacks as your primary form of Damage your Attack Bonus should be at least 8+Level. If you are using Melee Attacks as a secondary Attack then a Bonus of 6+Level is acceptable.

Your Bonus on Ranged Attack rolls is equal to your Level+DEX.

If you are planning on using Ranged Attacks as your primary form of Damage your Attack Bonus should be at least 8+Level. If you are using Ranged Attacks as a secondary Attack then a Bonus of 6+Level is acceptable.

Your Bonus on Spell Attack rolls is equal to your Level+ESS.

If you are planning on using Spell Attacks as your primary form of Damage your Attack Bonus should be at least 8+Level. If you are using Spell Attacks as a secondary Attack then a Bonus of 6+Level is acceptable.

Your Bonus on Skill rolls is equal to your Level+ the relevant Attribute (STR: Climb, Jump, Swim; DEX: Conceal, Sneak, Swipe; ESS: Intimidate, Lie, Persuade; MND: Tinker, Investigate, Medicine).

The Bonuses to your Skills will largely be Determined by your Attributes but are often affected by Skill Feats.

It is important to remember that these stats will improve as you character levels and some Feats even directly increase these stats.

Example

Let's follow these steps to make an example of a first Level character.

First I need to come up with a concept. I like the idea of a playing a swashbuckler character with the ability to Control electricity. I can picture a woman in a naval jacket fighting a half dozen pirates at once on the deck of a ship while flinging bolts of lightning from her free hand. We'll name her Verra Ventis. She'll be starting at Level 1 so I'll need to imagine what she would look like at the start of her journey, she may not yet have all the cool Gear and abilities I picture yet, but I can make sure she'll have enough she feels like the character I have in Mind.

The first decision I need to make is what her Attributes will be. I want her to be fast and skillful with a sword, while also being able fight with magical Electric Attacks. This means that DEX and ESS are going to be her most important Attributes. I think STR could be a little higher than MND, but I don't want either to be too far below average.

If I were using a stat block or rolling stats I would probably put my Attributes int DEX, ESS, STR, MND in that order. However, let's say that in this campaign we are using point buy starting with 4 points. I want both DEX and ESS to be relatively high without lowering STR or MND too much. This means I'll need to budget my points carefully. A score of 4 costs -1 points, so by giving my character 4 STR and 4 MND I can increase my budget for the remaining Attributes to 6 points. With those 6 points I can afford to give her 7 DEX and 7 ESS, for 3 points each.

This brings her Attributes to 4 STR, 7 DEX, 7 ESS, and 4 MND.

From here we get to choose 3 Feats. These Feats need to encompass the things that make this character unique in combat so I need to make sure she can use a sword in one hand and Cast Spells to deal Electric Damage with the other.

Looking through all the first Level Feats I found about a dozen that I thought fit the character, but the most important were "Combat Training" to learn to use a Weapon, "Spell Casting 1" to be able to Cast first Level Spells, and "Spell Effect 1" to learn the Spell Effect "Evoke Electricity" needed to Cast Electric Spells. With these 3 Feats she will be able to do all the most important things we pictured her doing, but looking through the list I also saw that "Dedicated Effect" would grant both "Spell Casting 1" and "Spell Effect 1" for the price of one Feat, as long as she never learned another Spell Effect. If she were a wizard this might not be a great choice, but since we were only planning on her using "Evoke Electricity" anyway this is a great way to save a Feat. That means I still have 1 Feat slot to choose for her. I think "Lightning Stance", "Arcane strike", and "Parry" look like fun choices, but decide on "Parry". This will let her spend her Reaction when someone else Attacks to try and counter the Attack, making her great at dueling as I imagine she might be. I'll remember the other Feats I considered for when she levels and gets to take new Feats.

Her 3 Feats, "Combat Training", "Dedicated Effect", and "Parry", will allow her to fight with a sword, counter Attacks, and Cast first Level electricity Spells. This is pretty good start for her and has lots of room to expand with other fun abilities as she reaches higher levels.

At first Level she also chooses 1 Skill Feat. I looked through the list of Skill Feats, similar to the way I choose her other Feats, and decide on "Jack of all Trades" since her frequent travel on the sea has brought her all over and she's picked up a little of everything along the way.

At Level 1 she'll also start with 0.5 Gold (or 5 silver) to spend on Gear or keep to start the game with. That's not a lot of money, so we may not be able to buy all the Gear we'd want from the start.

The most important piece of Gear she'll need based on the concept is a sword. In my Mind I picture her with a one handed dueling sword like a rapier or cutlass, and looking through the Gear page see just the thing! A rapier costs 0.4 Gold, which will cost most of her money, but she doesn't need much else. A lot of times characters won't have enough money to afford with the Weapons you picture them using and will need to start with something cheaper until they find a better Weapon or more Gold on their adventures. For her Armor she can only afford Padded Cloth for 0.1 Gold, but I think that fitting for the wool naval jacket I pictured her in. If I can't find any items on the Gear page that fit what I'm looking for I could also look into the Object rules to find out how much the item I'm looking for should cost based on its Size and Material, as well as determine what Tag it should have.

With all this done all we need to do is calculate the rest of her stats based on the Attributes, Feats, and Gear that we just chose.

Verra's Max HP is (10+STR)xLevel, which comes out to 14. This is a little below average, but not much.

Her Physical Defense is 10+Level+DEX+1 more from her Armor, bringing her to a total of 19, which is a little above average. This should balance her slightly lower HP.

Her Mental Defense is 10+Level+MND, which because of her slightly lower MND is only 15, but not too bad.

Verra's Max Energy is equal to Level+MND, giving her 5 Energy to use for her electricity Spells. She should be just enough to get a few Spells off before needing to Focus for more Energy.

Her Focus (Energy Regeneration) is (ESS+Level)/3, which rounded down is 2. At 2 Energy per Action focusing she will be able to regenerate here Energy about as fast as she spends it, allowing her to keep Casting Spells as long as she make time to Focus.

Speed is 5xDEX, giving her a total of 35 ft per Action. This will help her get across the battlefield quickly.

Her Initiative Bonus is DEX+MND+Level, with high DEX but low MND she's about average with a +12.

Resistances are Determined usually granted by your Armor, allowing you to take reduced Damage from certain types of Damage.

Her Carrying Capacity is equal to her STR, which is only 4. Her jacket and rapier each have a Bulk of 1 so she can carry 2 more Bulk without being encumbered.

Her Bonus on Melee Attack rolls with her rapier is going to be equal to her Level+DEX since she is using a Medium Weapon and has a higher DEX than STR. That's a +8 at Level 1. Higher Attacks is always better, but this should do for now.

She doesn't currently have any ranged Weapons, but should she need to make a Ranged Attack her Ranged Attack Bonus would be a +8 as well.

Her Bonus on Spell Attack rolls is Level+ESS, which is also a +8. This is coincidentally the same as her melee and Ranged Attacks, but could be different later on depending what Feats she takes at higher levels.

Her Bonus on Skill rolls is equal to her Level+ the relevant Attribute (STR: Climb, Jump, Swim; DEX: Conceal, Sneak, Swipe; ESS: Intimidate, Lie, Persuade; MND: Tinker, Investigate, Medicine). This means she's very good at Conceal, Sneak, Swipe, Intimidate, Lie, and Persuade starting with a +8 to these Skills. These Skills seem like a good fit for a swashbuckling electro mage. Unfortunately because of her lower STR and MND she only has a +5 to her other Skills.

That's it! Verra's ready to play. You can see what her character sheet would look like below.

Leveling

Each time you Level you pick three new Feats and one new Skill Feat. So at Level 2 you will have a total of 6 Feats and 2 Skill Feats, at Level 3 you will have 9 Feats and 3 Skill Feats, and so on. You may also choose to replace one Feat or Skill Feat you already have with another Feat you could have taken at that Level.

When you Level it is also important to update your stats, as your Level and the benefits of your new Feats will constantly be improving them.

While it will depend on the Type of campaign you are Running it is suggested that the wealth of characters grow as they Level. This will be heavily dependant on the Gold that the Game Master gives as rewards or loot throughout the campaign. It is recommended that players have a total wealth (including all their Gear) of something like the table below. It is common for players who have spent a lot of their Gold on consumable resources or given money away to have less than this.

Characters can Level in one of 3 ways: Purchasing, Milestones, or XP. Similar to generating Attributes, this should be decided at the start of a campaign.

Purchasing levels - players spending their ingame resources to buy levels. If using this method it is important to have them gain resources both in and out of combat. (see tables below) Using this method expect players to Level every 5-10 encounters on average assuming their Enemies have an appropriate amount of Gear. (If you want it to take longer for players to Level, reduce the Gold they receive from encounters, If you think they should Level faster increase the amount of Gold they receive instead) It is also important to remember that players will also be able to use this Gold to buy Gear instead of levels if they would rather. It is likely that some players will Focus on increasing their Level, while others will have more powerful Gear. The Advantage of purchasing levels is that it puts these decisions in the hands of the players.

Milestone leveling - players Level at important plot points in the campaign, usually after completing an important task.

XP leveling - at the end of each session players are granted XP based on their Actions in the session. Each player is asked 5 questions and gets 1 XP for each they did that session. Two of the questions are the same for everyone, but the other 3 are Determined by your two highest Attribute and your lowest Attribute. (on a tie the player decides) When a player reaches a certain number of XP they gain a Level and begin counting their XP from 0 again. (See table below) The higher the number of XP required the longer it will take to Level. For most players assume they will gain 3 or 4 XP per session.