Character Creation

If it's your first game as a PC, you'll need a character to play. Characters are combinations of a number of factors, and this can look pretty daunting. It doesn't have to be. There are two basic schools of thought on how to approach creating a character.

The Flowchart

1. Pick a Class
2. Pick a Species
3. Pick a Background
4. Spend up to 50 Skill Points on:
   1. Everyman Skills
   2. Knowledge Skills
   3. Classes Skills
   4. Species Skills (for non-human characters)
   5. (All characters by default can read/write Common and their species language if they have one - if you'd prefer to be illiterate that's okay too, just make a note for Logistics)
5. Pick a Power for which you qualify by level, class, species, or prereqs.

Concept Characters

Concept characters start with a concept before any mechanics get involved at all. Maybe it's a broad category (like "pirate"), maybe it's something a bit more specific, (Elven Ambassador to an Ent Grove), maybe it's deep enough to justify a full-length novelization of who your character is and what motives them. We'll use pirate as an example; it's a good case because it doesn't dictate class or species.

So I wanna be a pirate. I'll need a Species. Of the available species, most are perfectly acceptable pirates, so this comes down to whether you think Elf pirate is cooler than Human pirate. I don't - I love humans - so I'll start there. Now I'm settled on a Human pirate. I'll need a Background. Sailor is the obvious choice and there's certainly nothing wrong with it. My pirate could have been a ship's doctor on a military vessel before he got fed up with the Navy and decided to switch sides for more freedom and better pay. He could also be a trained marine, a specialist in tight-quarters combat like ship decks who took to piracy less for the loot and more for the steady diet of shipboard fights. All of the available Backgrounds work well enough for a professional pirate. Sailor is the easiest call and I'll go with that. Now my pirate is a Human sailor and starting to develop.

Piracy doesn't make for a great full time job and it presupposes a number of skills that are in demand in other places. That occupation is my Class, and again, almost all of the classes make perfectly suitable pirates. Rogue is the obvious choice - pirates by definition are thieves - but I think I'll subvert that and go for a Ranger instead. (I think sniping from a crow's nest is awesome). My pirate is a Human Ranger that was trained as a sailor in his pre-adventuring life. Maybe his ship went down and he's taken up adventuring to keep a roof over his head. Maybe he had a crisis of conscience after a really brutal act of piracy. Those things are what go into character histories and plot, but they're not strictly necessary for creation.

All characters need Skills - the are the basic tools with which he interacts with the game environment. I have to have Knowledge (Nautical) - you're not really a pirate if you don't know how to sail. I don't need all of it, just enough to pass a pirate job interview, so I'll take two levels for 6 Skill Points. I've already settled on Ranger, so I need a closer look at the Ranger page. Rangers are born with proficiency in medium armor and bows, so I can wear chain and use a bow for free. I've also got Hunter's Mark that I can use twice per reset, which is nice. Once I'm out of free stuff, I have 50 Skill Points to spend acquiring the Skills I'll need to play the game. I can shoot bows for free but I'd like to hit harder, so I'll spend 15 of those points on a point of Precision. Now I have 19 Skill Points left and I shoot one more point of damage than the base bow does. I wanted a sniper, which are heavy on offense but not historically great at defense. To line this up with the mechanics, I need some heavier-hitting attacks. Those attacks, on a Ranger, are found in the Offense bit of the Skills table. Ranger skills are fueled by Energy, so I'll need some of that, too. I like Crippling Shot, but it has a prerequisite - in order to buy Crippling Shot, I need a tier 1 Offense skill. I'll take Disarm Shot and then Crippling Shot. That costs me a total of 7 skill points; now I'm down to 12. Disarm Shot costs 1 Energy to use, Crippling Shot takes 2 Energy to use, so I definitely need some Energy. I'll spend the rest of my starting Skill Points on Energy, so I can shoot more of the good shots.

<stopping because 2:13am, reminder here to come back for Powers and a sideline about racials>

When it's all put together, it's written to a character sheet and ends up looking more or less like this:

<Name>

Human

Sailor

Ranger

Knowledge (Nautical) - 2

Precision +2

Disarm Shot

Crippling Shot

12 Energy