Creating your character
1. Roll Attributes
Every Character has 6 Attributes that define them. They define everything about the Character's abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
Roll 1d4 - 1 for each Attribute below in order.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Strength (STR) | Physical force, vigor, athletic ability |
| Dexterity (DEX) | Precision, agility, adaptibility |
| Constitution (CON) | Resilience, endurance, stamina |
| Intelligence (INT) | Knowledge, insight, literacy |
| Wisdom (WIS) | Intuition, perception, mental endurance |
| Charisma (CHA) | Cunning, influence, deception |
You may swap 2 Attributes around if that would better fit your Character idea. Your Background choice will also add additional modifiers to your Attributes.
2. Choose Background
Choose a Background from the options below. Your Background grants:
- Areas of expertise or knowledge your Character has called Talents.
- Bonuses to your Attributes.
Backgrounds help provide you with a concept or knowledge of who your character is and what they've experienced prior to this game.
| Background | Description | Talents | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic | Through research and schooling you are well-educated and knowledgeable about various subjects. You may have studied with cartographers, astronomers, historians, archeologists, philosophers, mathematicians, and linguists. Maybe you even studied magic. | History, Arcana, Culture | +2 INT +1 WIS |
| Artisan | Years of carefully crafting tools, sculpting statues, or weaving intricate patterns has sharpened your hands and eyes. | Art, Repair, Trade | +2 DEX +1 INT |
| Devotee | You have devoted your life to something higher, be it a god, demon, a concept (chaos, order), or even nature itself. You have a history as a priest, cultist, or simply a devoted worshiper. | Religion, Law, Healing | +2 WIS +1 INT |
| Hunter | You have been a master of tracking prey through the wilderness and the wastelands. You know how to use stealth, traps, and bowmanship to bring that quarry down. | Animals, Survival, Tracking | +2 DEX +1 CON |
| Merchant | You’ve been trained since birth to play both markets and people. Some would say you've made your living through trade. You know that the truth is simpler. Reading people pays. | Influence, Trade, Rumors | +2 CHA +1 DEX |
| Muscle | Whether you were a prize fighter, a hired mercenary, or a prestigious soldier, you know how to hold your own in a skirmish. | Intimidation, Tactics, Endurance | +2 STR +1 DEX |
| Pauper | You were a beggars, vagrant, or tramp, with no stable home. You may have done casual work here and there, sold a few small trinkets, or begged for a few coins when times were hard. Maybe you even turned your hands to dishonest pursuits. | Rumors, Stealth, Haggling | +1 DEX +1 INT +1 CON |
| Performer | Either solo or as part of a traveling troupe you have shared songs, stories, and music. You can liven up any tavern and inspire those around you. | Art, Performance, Acrobatics | +2 DEX +2 CHA |
| Outsider | You have lived alone for quite a while mastering your craft. You made your living off the land, or selling your talent as a fortune teller, healer, or alchemist. Your knowledge is of the nature of the world. | Arcana, Alchemy, Herbalism | +1 CON +1 WIS +1 INT |
| Scoundrel | Be it as a pickpocket, charlatan, con artist, footpad, or fraudster: you made ends meet by being on the other side of the law. | Stealth, Deception, Burglary | +1 DEX +1 CHA +1 INT |
| Surgeon | You honed your skills as a healer and have become excellent at caring for the health of others. | Healing, Alchemy, Insight | +2 INT +1 CON |
| Wanderer | You have witnessed the migration of herds larger than forests, survived weather more extreme than any city-dweller could comprehend, and enjoyed the solitude of being the only thinking creature for miles in any direction. | Survival, Healing, Herbalism | +1 STR +1 WIS +1 CON |
| Worker | A life of toiling in mines, working fields, or building the strongholds and halls of nobles has hardened your body and spirit. | Animals, Endurance, Repair | +2 STR +1 WIS |
3. Choose Class
Your Class represents your Character's profession and calling - their primary role in the Party.
Classes define what your character excels at now and offers different ways to solve problems and face danger, whether through steel, spells, stealth, or sacred power.
A Class will determine
- A Character's specialized skills
- How much damage a starting Character can take (Hit Points)
- What they gain as they advance in Levels
| Classes | Description |
|---|---|
| Warrior | A master of the arts of combat |
| Rogue | An agile and persuasive problem solver |
| Mage | A magical adept, casting spells with incredible skill |
| Cleric | A channeler of a higher power that can turn belief into powerful magic |
4. Starting Item
Roll on or choose from the following table to determine what unique item you start your journey with.
Characters also have 3d6 x 2 Coins.
| d20 | What do you bring on your travels? |
|---|---|
| 1 | A letter of marque, establishing your noble rank. Grants the Talent - Nobility. |
| 2 | Your trusted riding steed - 4 HP, Skill 1, Kick 1d6, Saddlebags (+4 inventory slots). |
| 3 | Your heavy crossbow and quiver of bolts. It has served you well on the road. You are so familiar with its workings that you can hit automatically once a day. |
| 4 | An enchanted ancestral blade (longsword or greatsword) that warriors in your family have long carried into battle. When using it, you can roll damage with Advantage once per day. |
| 5 | The bronze amulet passed down through your family. An ancient version of your family crest is carved into the disc of the amulet. If you were to fall Out of Action and die, the amulet revives you to half of your max HP instead. After use in this way, the amulet vanishes into thin air. |
| 6 | The spiked leather caestus (Versatile, d4/2d4 damage) you won as the Champion of the Coliseum. Your time as a gladiator has taught you patience. If you decide to move last in a Round, you deal an additional d4 damage on successful attacks. |
| 7 | Either a faithful hunting hound 2 HP, Skill 2, Bite (1d6) or a trained hawk 2 HP, Skill 3, Claw (1d4). |
| 8 | You wear an amulet of spell protection that has saved your life more than once on your travels. While wearing it, you can add +1 Mana to a Counterspell Test once per day. |
| 9 | You carry a small silver scrying mirror spelled to allow you to fleetingly view any place or object you've seen before once per day. |
| 10 | A favor earned you the token of a Djinn shaped like a coin and made of smoked glass. The wielder of this token may mark a usage to take the form of a cloud of smoke, becoming insubstantial for d6 Minutes. In this form, the user can move through small gaps in doors and cannot be targeted by non-magical attacks. Once fully used, the token changes into smoke and dissapates. |
| 11 | Your family's lifespring cauldron. A small brewing vessel that can turn any liquid into a minor healing potion (drinker regains 1d8 HP) once per day. Can be used as a normal cauldron. |
| 12 | A crystal skeleton key taken from the master thief, the Night Fox. It can be used to open any lock but crumbles into dust after use. |
| 13 | A rune stone, nicked from a witch of the wood. Mark a usage to harness it's power and cast either the Charm or the Rusting Grasp spells. It has 3 uses. Once fully used, it becomes a simple river stone. |
| 14 | A pouch of "Catnip", 3 uses. Inbibe the drug to gain Advantage on DEX Tests for 2d6 Minutes. |
| 15 | Your lucky dagger of returning. This throwing dagger returns to your hand if it misses its target. |
| 16 | A porcelain mask acquired at masquerade. Put on and mark a usage to shroud yourself in a Glamour. Once used three times, the mask breaks in half. |
| 17 | A ceramic bottle of a thief's homebrewed knockout gas. Throw and shatter bottle to release gas Nearby. All in the area make a CON Test or fall unconscious. |
| 18 | You have a whale bone scrimshaw depicting part of an ancient saga. Recount the tale aloud to summon a lesser elemental of water, air, ice, or lightning under your control. The scrimshaw melts as if made of ice once used in this way. |
| 19 | You found a lucky copper coin. Flip the coin to gain one point of Luck once per day. After use, roll a d6 (you may not use Luck on this roll). On a 1, the coin vanishes from your pocket. |
| 20 | Carry with you a small sundial bearing the face of Sulis. Can be used once a day to shed light that behaves like a torch. |
5. Finalize Character
The final step for creating a memorable Character is coming up with an engaging ‘concept’ and name.
In your mind, think of one sentence that summarises who the Character is, and what might make them interesting to play. Start with a simple sentence that combines:
- Their Background
- What they are good at now (their Class)
- A defining trait
- A simple personal goal or something that drives them to adventure
- What connects them to the Party or motivates them to travel with everyone
Examples:
- An obsessive mage seeking after ancient lost magic
- A smooth talking trickster on the run from a noble they conned
- A wandering mercenary searching for their missing friend
- A gambler in a debt to the wrong people, taking dangerous jobs for pay
- A priest who wants to serve the common folk rather than a temple hierarchy
Then you can determine things like:
- What kind of Heritage do they have?
- What do they look like?
- What are their pronouns?