Character Creation
Creating a character can be a complicated and confusing process if you don't know where to start. Outlined below is the simplest and fastest way to create a new character.
- Print out a character sheet from the Resources page.
- Select a race and record your starting Fortitude, Agility, and Willpower bonuses.
- Roll or assign your Attributes, using whatever method your DM tells you to use, then add or subtract any racial modifiers.
- Determine your starting HP and gold, which will either be a fixed amount or random roll, as decided by the DM. These may be modified by your choice of race.
- Assign your affinities. Weapons can be found on the Equipment page, and disciplines are on the Skills and Enhancements page.
- Calculate your starting AP including racial bonuses and spend it on Skills and Enhancements or Spells. This will probably be the longest step. Be sure to take racial bonuses and penalties into account when recording the cost of each skill.
- Buy your starting equipment.
- Record any information not yet filled in on your character sheet (such as weight allowance, weapon statistics, etc).
Starting Statistics
All characters begin with 15 hit points and 105 gold. The gold will be used to buy all desired equipment before the game begins (you can keep the extra). Your DM may decide to make starting HP and/or gold random, in which case you roll 1d12+1d6+5 for HP, and 6d6 × 5 for gold. Some equipment may not be available, at your DM's discretion.
Each player also begins with a certain amount of Ability Points, to distribute how he wants. A typical game that starts at level 1 will have all players begin with 50 AP, but your DM may adjust this as he sees fit. Some DMs may impose restrictions such as which skills or spells may be taken to begin with, what level in each you may start with, or similar ideas. Any restrictions should be set forth before character creation is begun.
Starting Attributes
There are several methods to assign a character's starting attributes. Your DM will decide which method to use for his campaign, and all characters should be made using the same method.
Method I
With this method, all attributes start at 0. Each player then has 6 points to distribute among his character's attributes. Each point raises one attribute by 1, and you may gain additional points by lowering attributes on a 1-for-1 basis. No attribute may start higher than 3, or lower than -2.
Some DMs may decide to increase or reduce the number of points you have to distribute among your attributes for a high- or low-powered campaign.
| Method IV Conversion | |
|---|---|
| 3d6 result | Attribute |
| 3 | -4 |
| 4 | -3 |
| 5 | -3 |
| 6 | -2 |
| 7 | -2 |
| 8 | -1 |
| 9 | -1 |
| 10 | 0 |
| 11 | 0 |
| 12 | 1 |
| 13 | 1 |
| 14 | 2 |
| 15 | 2 |
| 16 | 3 |
| 17 | 3 |
| 18 | 4 |
Method II
Roll 1d6-3 six times, and arrange the numbers as desired. This results in random numbers from -2 to 3, and the average character will be slightly weaker than with Method I, having about a 3 point total instead of 6.
Method III
Roll 2d6-6 six times, arrange as desired. Characters made with this method have attributes anywhere from -4 to 6, with an average point total of 6. This tends to generate rather random characters, and the power level of the PCs will probably be quite varied.
Method IV
Roll 3d6-10 six times, divide by 2, and arrange as desired. These scores will be averaged nicely around 0, with a range from -4 to 4. Characters made with this method will have an average of 0 points. You can use this method to generate adventurers that are essentially equals with the common people.
Alternatively, your DM may tell you to subtract a number other than 10 from the roll. Every point of difference from 10 will change the average number of total attribute points by 3. Consult the table to the right for easy conversion of your 3d6 rolls to your attributes.
Variant
With any of the character generation methods that involve rolling dice, you may instead have to roll the attributes in a specific order, and not rearrange them at all. This means that generally, players will be required to build their characters around their random attributes rather than placing their attributes to fit their character. Not all players enjoy doing this, but some may.
Starting Affinities
Each character begins with a certain number of affinities, based on race, to distribute between weapons and disciplines for their character.
A weapon affinity applies to all weapons in a given category. You may wish to also gain proficiency in the weapons you select and in some armor (see Weapon Proficiencies and Armor).
You can also gain an affinity for a discipline to gain a permanent bonus. If the discipline costs 1 AP, then you gain a +5 bonus, if it costs 2 AP, you gain a +3 bonus, and if it costs 3 AP, you gain a +2 bonus. These do not count as levels in the discipline, nor as training for disciplines that require training. For example, you may use an affinity to gain a +3 to Athletics, +5 to Craft (Woodworking), or +2 to Arcana.
There are no limits to how many affinities a character may have in a given area. It is possible, though not recommended, to start with no weapon affinities at all. No single discipline can benefit from more than one affinity.