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OVERVIEW

Each player inhabits a character of their own design. These characters have several core components that give them individuality. These components can be split into two primary sections: character and stats. Character is who they are; it's their names, personality traits, goals, and flaws. Their stats are the mechanical embodiment of what they're capable of.

ON WRITING

This is likely the most important step, as this is where you define who you're going to be. I've outlined some important things to consider during the process:

• Name. First and last is fine
• Personality Traits. Aiming for something universally applicable, like hungry, naive, or kind can be incredibly helpful; you want to be able to actually put these to use in-game, and remember them, after all. Keep it simple, and broad.
• Flaws. I strongly recommend not making them antisocial or violent unless you're very experienced and your DM approves it. Aim for likeable but messy characters, not shy loner psychopaths.
• Backstory. This doesn't have to be deep; a couple bullets explaining where they came from, and what/who in the world they care about. It's helpful for your GM to give your character something to lose.
• Goals. Create a couple goals that are attainable, challenging, and make sense for the character/world/campaign

STATS

There are 6 “core stats” that each represent a different aspect of a character's core abilities. They typically range from -1 to 5, but they can range from -10 to 10 in rare, extreme cases. The core stats are strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma.

• STRENGTH (STR). Physical power.
• DEXTERITY (DEX). Agility, reflexes, balance, and precision.
• CONSTITUTION (CON). Durability, stamina, and endurance.
• INTELLIGENCE (INT). Quantity of knowledge and memory.
• WISDOM (WIS). Mental fortitude and logical reasoning.
• CHARISMA (CHA). Social aptitude and influence.

Then, there are 3 stats that derive from other sources and are a bit more complex. The derived stats are defense, speed, and max hp / hp.

• DEFENSE (DEF). Measures how difficult something is to hit. Standard defense is 10 + DEX. Equipped armors replace this equation.
• SPEED (SPD). The distance you move in 6 seconds. The standard speed is 30ft / 6 tiles.
• MAX HIT POINTS (MHP). Distance from death at full health.
• HIT POINTS (HP). Measure of distance from death.

SKILLS

The 6 core stats excel at broadly describing all types of actions, but fail when it comes to specificity. For example, if a character spent years practicing acrobatics, it wouldn't make sense for them to be equally skilled at that, and other dexterity based skills like throwing darts.

Skills add an extra layer of detail that makes characters more varied. Skills have 3 parts: the name defines what actions the skill applies to, the inherited stat shows what core stat the skill builds on, and the level shows how experienced the character is with the skill.

There are 18 core skills: athletics, endurance, acrobatics, sleight of hand, stealth, deception, intimidation, performance, persuasion, insight, perception, investigation, history, medicine, engineering, arcana, art, and nature. Additionally, you can be skilled in the use of a specific item. Whenever making checks to use said item, you can add your level in that item.

• ATHLETICS (STR). Jump farther, stay afloat in rough water, break something.
• ENDURANCE (CON). Resist poison, resist exhaustion, power through a hot room.
• ACROBATICS (DEX). Stay on your feet or perform an acrobatic stunt.
• SLEIGHT OF HAND (DEX). Pick a pocket, conceal an object, swap items, etc.
• STEALTH (DEX). Escape notice by moving quietly and hiding.
• DECEPTION (CHA). Tell a convincing lie or wear a convincing disguise.
• INTIMIDATION (CHA). Awe or threaten someone into doing what you want.
• PERFORMANCE (CHA). Act, tell a story, perform music, or dance.
• PERSUASION (CHA). Honestly and graciously convince someone of something.
• INSIGHT (WIS). Discern a person's mood or intentions.
• PERCEPTION (WIS). Notice something that's easy to miss.
• INVESTIGATION (WIS). Find obscure information in books, deduce something.
• HISTORY (INT). Recall lore about historical events, people, nations, etc.
• MEDICINE (INT). Recall information about disease, death, health, and medicine.
• ENGINEERING (INT). Recall information about using / making machines (if any).
• ARCANA (INT). Recall information about your world's unnatural elements (if any).
• ART (INT). Recall information about art, or about creating art.
• NATURE (INT). Recall information about nature, farming, or survival.

FEATURES

Features are permanent bonuses that characters can acquire. Features grant either new abilities or a one-time or recurring boost to a stat or skill or grant an item. Class features are especially powerful because they scale with your level in that class. Features can be acquired from 5 places: the GM, backgrounds, classes, species, and levelling up.

LEVEL

Levels determine your overall power and experience. The level players start at is determined by the GM. Players gain levels when the GM decides, so it could be at the end of a number of sessions, after a major combat encounter, after narrative milestones, or something else. It depends on the type of game the GM wants to run. You can gain a level in a new class if you have 3 or more levels in your previous class(es).

GAINING A LEVEL

Leveling up provides players with a suite of buffs.

1. +1 bonus to one core stat of the player's choice to a maximum of 5
2. +1 to one skill of the player's choice to a maximum of 5
3. Increase max HP:
   • +2
   • +CON
   • +Class HP
   • +Species HP
   • +Background HP
   • +Your new max level
4. Acquire one feature. If a feature is marked player accessible, and the player's character meets the criteria to receive it, the player may add it to their character.

INVENTORY

The inventory is a list of items that players have. Items come in all shapes and sizes.

Players can equip one armor at a time. The player's defense is replaced by the defense of the armor.

The player has a smaller, special inventory for unique equipped items called "Augments." Characters have a number of augment slots equal to their level. Items tagged as augments can be equipped and take up a number of augment slots ranging from 1-10. While equipped, players will receive features granted by those items. They cannot equip augments they don't have the slots for.

ORIGIN ELEMENTS

Upon character creation, you choose three origin elements of these three types:

• Background: where you come from, what you were doing before the game began
• Species: what kind of creature you are
• Class: what you do and your role as a player

All origin elements have the following values:

• Name
  • What the origin element is known as in-universe
• Description (optional)
  • Lore, summary, etc.
• HP (optional)
  • The amount of HP this origin element grants per level
• Stat Boost Options
  • Stats you can choose to gain a +1 in. You must pick one.
• Skill Boost Options
  • Skills you can choose to gain a +1 in. You must pick one.
• Speed (optional)
  • An amount of additional tiles you can move per round of combat.
• Features
  • A list of features granted by this origin element.

CHARACTER CREATION

1. First, print a character sheet or make one in a text document.
2. Level 1 characters start with the standard array of core stats. Assign the following numbers to the stats of your choosing:
   • -1
   • -1
   • 0
   • 0
   • 1
   • 1
3. Gain +1 level in 3 different skills of your choice.
4. Select your origin elements and add what is granted to your character (found in the game's datapack):
   • Species
   • Background
   • Class
5. Find your health. For every level you have, add the following to your max HP:
   • +2
   • +CON
   • +Class HP
   • +Species HP
   • +Background HP
   • +Your new max level
6. Repeat the level up process until you reach your starting level.