[2] Characters
The primary object of this section is to build your character. It is a good idea to have an idea for your character in advance. Also, you will need to put down the underlying motivation for your character. What is his/her goal? What does that character want to accomplish in life? Doing actions that get you closer to your goal is in character while going against your goals is out of character (see Fate points).
1. Phases
Character creation will have a specified number of ‘phases.’ A phase is an in-game period of time that helped to define your character. You start the game with a specific amount of phases, up to 8 and gain more as the story progresses. Phases roughly correspond to a few (typically 5) years in your characters life, but could represent an entire childhood or a year at a particular institution.
- Each phase corresponds with an amount of aspects (typically 1; for now if you want a different amount contact a mod)
- You cannot have more aspects than the maximum amount of phases you would be allowed to have at that point.
- You should start with at least 4 aspects.
Billy Bob starts the game at 25 years old and has had a quite eventful life, he starts with 7 aspects over 5 phases. After an amount of playtime he gets a new phase. Since he has 7 aspects and could have has as much as 9 phases he can take either 0, 1 or 2 aspects.
2. Aspects
An aspect is representative of important elements which tie into the phase and help to describe the character. Some examples (this list is not all encompassing, be creative!):
- Attributes (Fast, Smart, Slow)
- Descriptors (Beautiful, Alert, Charismatic)
- Occupations/Trades (Blacksmith, Mercenary, Monk)
- Magic/Character Abilities (see magic)
- Connections to the plot (Graduate of the 10 Pillar Academy, Fought in the Great Orc War)
- Connections to people you know well (and will be integral to your character's plot)
- Special items/henchmen/familiars/mounts you possess (needs moderator approval)
- Knowledge in a particular area
Aspects can be a simple as 'Friendly' or 'Blacksmith' and as complicated and specific as 'Scarred by the Bloody Scene Witnessed at the Convent after the Werewolves Attacked' or 'Fear of any Living Creature Smaller than a Rat.' If aspects are too specific, it can become hard to play and invoke them if they can only show up in certain circumstances. However, it is encouraged that you be as creative as you wish to be to make your character yours and unique, and the DMs will try to accommodate as best they can.
3. Skills
Your skill set is derived from what aspects you have. They are skills you've learned, abilities you've picked up, or knowledge your character possess. They are typically actions that you can perform, and are Each aspect grants a player four distinct skills of your choice.
Each skill point means an increase in level for that skill (1=Average, 2=Fair, 3=Good, and so on). If you do not have that skill, it means that you have a 0 in that skill, meaning that you are Mediocre in that skill.
A character might have some inherent skills or aspects due to there race/place of birth etc. For example, any character speaks their native language and all dwarves are short, this does not count towards the skill pyramid (described below) or aspect limit. If you want to be better at a skill than your inherent talent you need to invest a larger total number of point, so if you're naturally Good at your native language and want to be great you need to have a skill level of 3, not 1.
4. Character Creation
The creation process is explained in detail below:
Step One) Determine Motivation:
As mentioned above, it is good to have a motivation or goal to help guide your character's creation.
Billy Bob will be roguish thief, but we want him to also have a Robin Hood quality of using his particular thieving skills to protect the weak.
You do not have to do this right away, but it will most likely help drive your character creation and make it go a little easier, but you can just decide to keep adding aspects and then assess where your character is to determine his or her motivation.
Step Two) Aspect Selection:
Since aspects typically come in a one to one relationship with phases, it may be helpful to determine how many phases your character will roughly have. This is also tied in to how old you want your character to be (a 20 year old character is not going to have 10 phases, for instance). For this example, we will just keep going until we reach a relatively young character that ends up with aspects that make sense for the motivation we've selected.
First you will need to select an aspect for the phase.
Billy Bob was born in the poor section of town and was orphaned at an early age, he lived his first few years surviving on the streets. Aspect: Urchin
Every phase you can choose to either invest in a new Aspect or raise one of your current aspects a level. However you cannot have a single Aspect be more than Good while you have five or less Aspects, Great if you have 10 or less, Superb if you have 15 or less, etc. You can’t be better than Legendary (which requires 21 aspects).
Poor Billy Bob then grew up on the streets until he was taken in by an old master thief who treated him as an apprentice. He would now have ‘thief’ as well as his earlier ‘urchin’. He is trained by that master thief for a long time, ten years, and chooses to describe this intensive training as worth two aspects, therefore choosing ‘thief’ twice. This means that he will use this aspect twice, for 2 different phases. For his 4th phase, Billy Bob was caught in the middle of a robbery, before being spared by a kind priest. He decided to give up his life of crime to help the church, choosing the aspect ‘Church of the Generic Guardian.'
Step Three) Skill Selection:
The process continues until you reach the current point in the game for your character. Using Billy Bob as an example, his player needs to think what skills a urchin might have. Let’s say that a urchin is streetwise, alert, moves silently, and is good at survival.
Aspect 1: Urchin
1- Streetwise
1- Alert
1- Move Silently
1- Survival
We need to do the next phase now. All skills are carried over to the new phase, and you can select new skills or upgrade old skills now. Let’s have, during his first few years as a thief, Billy Bob pick up alert, move silently, pickpocketing, and the use of a knife (to cut purses, obviously).
Aspect 2: Thief
1- Streetwise
2- Alert
2- Move Silently
1- Survival
1- Knife
1- Pickpocketing
For phase three, Billy Bob continues with the Thief aspect. Let’s choose move silently, knife, pickpocketing, and lockpicking.
Aspect 3: Thief
1- Streetwise
2- Alert
3- Move Silently
1- Survival
2- Knife
2- Pickpocket
1- Lockpick
This character is not allowed. A character can only have a increased rank in a skill if you have enough skills in a lower rank to support the next rank. Think of it as a Pyramid-like structure.
Code: Select all
OKAY: | NOT OKAY:
4 | 4
3 3 3 | 3 3
2 2 2 2 2 2 | 2 2 2 2 2 2
Examples: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Billy Bob has skills that match the first NOT OKAY pyramid, with three 2-Skills and three 1-Skills. This is unbalanced, so instead of one 2-Skill, Billy Bob needs to have a new 1-Skill. Let’s choose Hide instead of Knife.
Aspect 3: Thief (corrected)
1- Streetwise
2- Alert
3- Move Silently
1- Survival
1- Knife
2- Pickpocket
1- Lockpick
1- Hide
Next Phase, we have a change for Billy Bob. Let’s say he gains prayer, a talent protecting the weak, religion, and knife (to protect the weak).
Aspect 4: Church of the Generic Guardian
1- Streetwise
2- Alert
3- Move Silently
1- Survival
2- Knife
2- Pickpocket
1- Lockpick
1- Hide
1- Prayer
1- Protecting
1- Religion
Step Four) Details:
From here, you can add any details you like. Physical description (including race if it wasn't integral with your aspects), minor elements in backstory, anything else.
Final Character Sheet:
Physical Description:
A young blonde guy, with a perpetual grin. He’s lean, wearing a brown vest and brown breeches. He always wears a medallion adorned with the symbol of the Church of the Generic Guardian.
Aspects:
Urchin
Thief (good)
Church of the Generic Guardian
Motivation:
Improve quality of life of the poor through theft from the rich.
Skills:
Good:
Fair:
Average:
- Streetwise
- Survival
- Lockpick
- Hide
- Prayer
- Protecting
- Religion
Fate Points:
2
Further notes
Looking at the above, we can figure out what Billy Bob can do well. If he needs to move silently to avoid monsters, he’ll be Good at that. If he needs to dig a trench, he’ll be Mediocre at that, and so on. He also has some basic possessions based on his character, he’ll have a knife and the Generic Guardian’s holy book etc.
A character's financial wealth is determined by the GM and does not have a set number. If you want to buy something the GM will tell you what it will do to your financial situation.
Go and create your character now!
For reference, the maximum possible levels of skills per aspect are:
1) 2-1-1
2) 2-2-1-1-1-1
3) 3-2-2-1-1-1-1-1
4) 3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1
5) 4-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1
6) 4-3-3-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1
7) 4-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1
8) 4-4-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1