A basic character is defined by three things; their Characteristics, Attributes, and Standard Skills.
A natural place to start is with a high-level character concept, such as a Unscrupulous Mercenary, or Bad-tempered Gemstone Miner.
- Concepts are just that, and should help guide certain choices later but not be overly detailed.
- There are non-human rules but for first characters everyone will be playing as normal humies.
Characteristics
- Strength (STR) represents raw physical strength. Mean vs lean. STR influences the Damage Modifier, detailed later (basically a die bonus or penalty to damage). If this hits zero you become bedridden.
- Constitution (CON) represents health and hardiness. High CON means you resist disease/poison well, Low CON means you may tire easily and get sick. CON influences Hit Points and Healing Rate. If this hits zero you just die outright, there is no coming back from this.
- Size (SIZ) represents mass, and roughly height and weight. High SIZ means you big and heavy. Each species has a specific range of SIZ. SIZ influences Hit Points, and minorly the Damage Modifier. If this drops below the species minimum you have wasted away and become bedridden.
- Dexterity (DEX) represents agility and reflexes. High DEX means you are fast and nimble, Low DEX means you are a fumbling mess. DEX highly influences Action Points and Initiative. If this hits zero you suffer functional paralysis and cannot move.
- Intelligence (INT) represents thinking power. High INT means you are creative and logically capable. INT of 8 or higher means you are fully sapient, below that you are just sentient (at the level of an animal). If this hits zero you are completely mindless.
- Power (POW) represents the soul and capacity for magic. Relatively abstract but is an indication of divine favor or personal determination. POW influences Magic Points and Luck Points. If this hits zero you lose all free will.
- Charisma (CHA) represents personality, independent of appearance. High CHA might be ugly but charming and witty, Low CHA could be handsome but completely shallow or meek. CHA influences community influence and the Experience Modifier. If this falls to zero, you can no longer interact with people because you’ve become so shy or antisocial that no one wants to be around you.
- Generating Characteristics can be done via random dice rolls or by point buy, similar to other RPGs.
Attributes
- Action Points determine how often a characters acts in each round.
- Based on INT + DEX; INT for clever characters exploiting openings, and DEX for agile characters reacting with speed.
- Damage Modifier determines a bonus amount of damage when a character applies physical force. Often in combat but applies when breaking objects as well. DAM is an extra die roll either added or removed from the base damage of a weapon or tool.
- Based on STR + SIZ; STR for stronger characters being beef cakes, and SIZ for bigger characters applying more leverage or raw force.
- Experience Modifier determines a potential bonus to gaining Experience Rolls.
- Based on CHA alone, reflected by a community supporting or putting themselves out in order to assist and teach a character.
- Healing Rate determines how quickly a character recovers from wounds. Based on CON for obvious reasons.
- Height and Weight are self explanatory, and are based on SIZ and one of three body frames; lithe, medium, and heavy. Players can choose their frame, and each cell of the table provides a reference range of values.
- Hit Points represent how much beating various points of a character can take. Each creature has a variety of Locations depending on their species, and each Location has its own pool of Hit Points. When a Location’s Hit Points are reduced to certain thresholds, it is considered wounded and afflicts the character with certain effects.
- Based on CON + SIZ; CON for resilient characters able to take some hits, and SIZ for the greater bulk that can better absorb damage.
- Initiative Bonus determines how likely it is for a character to act before others. This is a flat bonus to the base initiative roll.
- Based on the average of DEX + INT; INT for fighters that can anticipate their opponents, and DEX for characters with quick-draw reflexes.
- Luck Points represent fate twisting itself to a character’s benefit. Luck Points can be used like other systems for rerolls or mitigation of negative effects, and are collected in a pool.
- Based on POW alone, reflected by the level of divine favor, or karmic boon, or sheer willpower a character has within themself.
- Magic Points represent the capacity of a character to cast spells and affect the world around them. Some characters will not need to worry about this.
- Based on POW alone, representing the well or font of willpower and psychic strength required to command magic.
- As a bonus, Movement Rate is dependent on no Characteristic, but rather the character species, with humans having a rate of 6 meters.
Standard Skills
- These are common skills shared by all adventurers.
- Each skill has a basic score determined by the sum or two characteristics or a multiplier of a single characteristic.
- Culture, profession, training and use will all augment and improve these skills further during character creation and over playtime.
- Full list will be detailed later on, for now think of these like the standard skills such as Athletics, Thievery, or Medicine from other RPGs.
- Combat Styles are special skills related to fighting and use of weapons. They are considered Standard Skills but separated due to their unique and diverse nature. In general these are umbrella skills that cover broad aspects of fighting under a single ability.