Character-Creation Thread

Let me know when you're ready to begin.

I haven't looked at the rules in ages, but got out my dusty old player's handbook. I can't see rules for random attributes, so what should we roll?

I'm thinking either Combat Spec or Free Agent.

Hey!
You can't find the rules for random attributes because they're in the Gamemaster Guide (pp. 22-23).
Do you want to wait and talk things over with Kaneda before deciding on who has what class?

Here it is for posterity.

Sure I'll wait for now :)

Yup, that's the one.

OK, let's see what happens with Kaneda. I'm busier than normal today, but, if we don't hear from him by tomorrow morning, I'll send him a note just to make sure everything's OK.

Hm. Kaneda's signed up, and he sent me a PM about his idea for a PC:
That looks like a Free Agent.

Furmyr, there's no reason you can't be one, too, or play some other class.

I'll be busy for the rest of the day and into tomorrow morning (attending a sleep clinic), so I'll be pretty much incommunicado until late tomorrow morning or later. I'll check in when I can, but you two can talk about who can play what.

Ohhh, well now looking at that table there, Tech Op and Mindwalker also look very interesting, personally picking different classes would be best for us, then we can have a variety of options to have fun with!

Mind Walker might be an option depending.
Let's move this discussion about the campaign's shape to the campaign's OOC thread:

Well then that narrows it down for me haha, Tech op., already got a concept for the character.

Kaneda, you saw what I wrote in the OOC thread?

I am thinking a former navy seal like soldier who's served for a few years so Combat Spec could fit very well. Was thinking the Soldier profession. A kind of hot shot adrenaline junkie who's been caught up in the cause.

I did!

Also digging the concept you got going on there Furmyr

Furmyr, having a (former?) spec-forces type is fine, but the PC's still a beginner ie level 1 with no achievement/experience points.

Furmyr, your stats are

STR: 13
DEX: 12
CON:14
INT:12
WIL:7
PER: 5

Kaneda, your stats are as follows (for a Tech-Op)
STR: 7
DEX: 13
CON:8
INT:11
WIL:12
PER: 7

Next big thing to do is skills. You both have the same (free) broad skills all humans have: Athletics, Vehicle Op, Stamina, Knowledge, Awareness, and Interaction. Furmyr, your PC has 60 skill points to play with and can purchase up to seven more broad skills (and, yes, those numbers are including the bonuses humans get); Kaneda, your PC gets 55 skill points and six maximum broad skills. I'll try to put up the list of skills in another thread (for charts and big chunks of written material) ASAP.

(At this point, you should also look over the list of permitted perks and flaws because perks cost skill points and flaws give you more; I'll provide a list of their costs, too.)

Meanwhile, Kaneda, is your Tech-Op concept the same as what I copied and posted from you? If it is, that's not exactly a Tech-Op, more like a Free Agent as I commented. See the list of professions I provided in the Game Details section for an idea of what a Tech-Op's career name might be like.

Then, we'll move on to your PCs' personalities and finally finish with the math stuff.

Questions?

Lol the dice gods were not kind to my stats, at least the ones I needed ended up alright, except for my CON haha. I can make this work.

I'm good with the Tech-Op I've read more into what they do and I like it and am already re-working on my concept for my character based on what I know now.

STR: 7
DEX: 13
CON:8
INT:11
WIL:12
PER: 7

Action Check Score: 13
Actions per round: 20 (CON+WIL) / 2 Actions per round
Stun: 8
Wound: 8
Mortal: 4
Fatigue: 4

55

Broad skills given by Human:
(B) Athletics
(B) Vehicle Op
(B) Stamina
(B) Knowledge
(B) Awareness
(B) Interaction

Point purchased skills:
(B) Computer Science - 6
Land Vehicle 2 - 5
(B) Unarmed Attack - 5
(B) Investigate - 6
(B) Ranged Weapons - 6
Rifle 2 - 9
(B) Demolitions - 5
Disarm 2 - 7
Set explosion 2 - 3

55 points spent

Perks: Reflexes, Observant, Danger Sense
Flaws: Obsessed, Poor Looks, Dirt Poor

Motivation: Vengeance
Moral Attitude: Unscrupulous
Character Traits: Curious and helpful

Ack! I knew there was something I'd forgotten: how the point costs work. Sorry, Kaneda!
If you look at the skill list I put up, most skills are tabbed/indented over to the right, leaving a smaller number of skills sticking out to the left; those last are the broad skills. Those skills don't have levels; you pay the cost once and that's it eg 7 points for the Computer Science broad skill. However, you must have the broad skill to purchase the related specializations.

The indented skills under the broad skills are specializations; those have skill levels. For specializations, you pay the list cost on the chart (less one point if your profession is listed under the "Pr." column) for the first level in that specialization. Any additional levels (a PC can have a max level of three in beginning specializations) cost the list price (still modified for "Pr.") plus the specialization's current level eg if you want to have level 2 in the Brawling specialization, it'll cost you seven points (3 points to get the skill at level one, plus an additional 4 points to get the skill up to level two [because having the skill at level one means you have to pay your current level equivalent in points added on to the base cost for the skill ie 3+1]).

This is what I have so far. My break is over, so will finish up after work I hope :)

Edit: Think I'm happy with this selection.

As for why an experienced soldier is level 1. I was thinking maybe he took damage in action, and his body is hurting. Leveling up for him is actually the body getting back into its old shape.

Remember there are no levels for the broad skills . . . .

Well right on, more points to spend on skills and perks!

Edited, got my skills set up and still have some points to help with perks when we do that.

Kaneda, I think you made at least one boo-boo wrt at least some of your skills eg your point cost for Land Vehicle at level two should be five, not seven. I figure you forgot to subtract your discount for the skill being relevant to your class.

Mmm. The problem is that the game's system doesn't really work in such a way as to take this idea into account. For example, if your character is "experienced", he should, theoretically, have at least one skill higher than level 3 or have more skills at this point, but beginning PCs should all start at roughly the same "power level" eg number of skills constrained by points to buy them with and the arbitrary, but still sensible, rule about no beginning PC starting with more than three levels in any specialization.
Your idea is, of course, imaginary "fluff" for your PC's background, but it might create problems later that I won't want to deal with. Maybe you could explain why your heart is seemingly set on this idea for your PC . . . .
Now, all this being said, there is, sort of, a way to come close to this idea of yours, taking into account your new idea about healing an old wound: take the flaw "Old Injury" at a high point value, say six (the max) and put those extra points places that give you more skills at level 3 or just give you more skills overall.
Your age could also start out higher than the assumed starting age for PCs (ie 25) to suggest someone who's been around for a while, but I don't think your PC should be 40 or older (that would mean giving your PC bonuses in INT and PER with no corresponding penalties).

Perks and Flaws are up in Charts and Stuff.

Alright, not bad, only one outstanding mistake, think I did pretty well haha. Made the change.

Great! I didn't go through them all, just picked one that looked a bit off.
Questions from you, Kaneda, about any skills? Or the perks and flaws?

It just flavor that I've used successfully in D&D as well before representing old retired characters coming out of retirement. What is even is a level in the world the game depicts. Is the skills he gets when leveling up, just relearning old tricks or getting in the swing of things.

I was thinking of the character being in his 30s.

>shrug< OK, we'll run with your idea, but it's just fluff.

Re. "What is a level?" I have yet to see a game where there is literally no concept of level of any kind because, not only is it a concrete way of rewarding players just for game play (even if they don't get "treasure" in the game's genre) and helping GMs determine an appropriate "difficulty level" of opposition to the PCs, it also provides a game mechanic to model the way people grow and develop over time and activities, whether this growth takes the form of skills that individually increase in "success probabilities" or "inherent qualities" of experience that may or may not have something to do with one's profession.

Re. "skills": Well, this is where modelling breaks down some. This game system gets a little more loose and noisy with this idea because there seems to be little or no justification to improving/learning skills other than a mechanical one. RoleMaster does a bit better job with this by having players pick skills for their new levels before the new level gets reached; IIRC, Warhammer Fantasy RPG does kind of the same thing with its emphasis on career paths. The idea in both games is that the PC spends some unspecified and undifferentiated amount of time "learning" about the new skills before levelling up. I tend to prefer the 1st ed AD&D system where, in order to get up to the new level, your PC typically has to find someone else to train them, spending time and money on the project.

The only questions I got for skills at the moment are for later because they will be about rolls so we can wait for that.

I guess for Perks and Flaws, if I could just get a description of what the ones I picked do for me, that would be appreciated, but other than that no questions at the moment.

(NB: I put up the list of Perks and Flaws with their costs/bonuses.)

Vigor 2: makes your PC slightly ie one point more difficult to stun (stunning is the lightest form of damage a character can get)
Reflexes: increases your DEX resistance modifier by one point (typically, this makes you harder to hit with a ranged weapon when you know you're the target, but it might come into play in other situations)
Observant: adds a bonus of one to any Awareness-perception checks
Danger Sense: adds a two-point bonus to Awareness-intuition checks
(I notice you have the Awareness broad skill only; the above two perks will work with this skill, but they won't be quite as effective than if you had the proper specializations.)
(NBB: max of three perks)

Obsessed: generally, this flaw means your PC has some sort of "trigger" (a person, place, or thing we have to determine before the start of the game) that possibly (the more points you get from this flaw, the more likely this possibility is) causes him to forget what he's doing or focus entirely on the trigger instead of the matter at hand (no matter how desperate the situation). This is very much like James Bond's very well known reaction to women.
Poor Looks: basically, what it says on the tin: something about your PC (and it doesn't have to involve physical beauty) causes a one-point penalty on any PER checks wherever the flaw might be noticed eg having this flaw involving nose-picking won't matter if, for example, the person your PC's interacting with is blind (until someone tells the blind person about said nose-picking)
Dirt Poor: first, starting funds will be _way_ lower than anyone else who doesn't have this flaw; second, your lower-class background sticks out like a sore thumb to those who care even minimally about that sort of thing eg people of higher social standing, causing a one-point PER penalty in such situations; finally, the flaw creates an NPC to whom your PC owes money and who needs to be paid regularly (or something bad happens)

Attribute list and explanations posted.

Added Motivation, Moral attitude and character traits!

Kaneda, did you see that a PC can only have a max. of three Perks?

Will take the following Flaws: Old Injury 4, Code of Honor 3

Will take the following Perks: Fortitude 4, Reputation 3

His motivation will be On A Mission and he'll have a Honorable Moral Attitude and for Traits I'll go with Confident and Honest.

I did not and will get rid of Vigor, and will use the points to add to my rifle skill.

Furmyr, if you check in the Game Details section, you'll see I didn't list Reputation as a playable perk; pick something else. Also, let me know your ideas for Old Injury and Code of Honour.

Kaneda, what is the trigger for your PC's Obsession?

I'm thinking Code of Honor would be don't kill prisoners, treat surrendered soldiers properly and no underhanded tactic with illegal weapons. He has decided that he has to be better than those we are fighting, or we'll just turn into them.

Old Injury, I was thinking he took a piece of shrapnel in his knees from an IED and thought his days as an adventurer was over.

Having been injured though, he is used to it, so I'll switch out Reputation with Vigor 3.

It's been a busy day. I'll get to this tomorrow.

So, for the Code, your character will accept a surrender and not abuse the prisoner (or allow them to be abused), right? Will your character trust the prisoner to keep their word?

I'm not sure what you're getting at with your other point: "no underhanded tactic with illegal weapons". What does this mean?

As for the Old Injury, does this mean any use of his legs for anything other than walking causes the damage? Standing for a long time, like hours eg on guard, might also count, too.

He expect them to keep their word yeah.

I was thinking he won't shoot someone in the back. Won't attack during a cease fire. And won't use weapons that cause undue suffering, especially to civilan population (land mines, chemical weapons).

Yeah, standing on end for hours could cause pain and suffering. But he'll still do it if it is the job.

Hmm. It might be a little _too_ much to have _both_ "prisoner ethics" and "dirty-tricks ethics" . . . .

Howabout this? You can have one or the other sets of ethics for the established bonus or have both and get an additional two bonus points.

Personally, I'd imagine playing with both sets of ethics might make playing this PC a bit too difficult . . . .

His trigger for his obsession is information, if he finds a thread that could potentially lead him to gaining some kind of information on someone, or a company, military group, terrorist org., etc., he wants to learn more about it and will deep dive until someone snaps him out of it.
Even afterwards, if he is not satisfied, he will continue to search for information about them.

Mm. Just noticed: Kaneda, how many points is your Obsession worth? There are three levels, each giving more points than the previous: 2 points for first level, 4 for second, and 6 for third.

I took the first level, if I was a veteran of this game I probably would have gone into higher levels, but I think giving it a try at level one is what I am comfortable with.

OK, that's what's considered a "moderate" level of distraction (gives a penalty of one to any actions not related to the obsession).

Does your PC have a specific way of looking for this information eg searching for info on-line, or does it matter eg they're just constantly "digging"?

It would mostly be online, but if we, ya know if we are out on a mission and he finds some paperwork that looks interesting, he just might have to get his hands on it haha.

Hmm. OK, so he'd experience the penalty unless he's doing on-line research. Just coming across some info in RL would be fine, but I don't get the impression he'd be running around searching for secret doors hiding compartments containing secret plans and such.

Do either of you want a career from the list I posted in the "Game Details" section?

I can imagine something has happened to bring my character out of retirement, so Revolutionary could possibly fit.

Tired. Will reply to this tomorrow.

Yeah! Just so that he's not just lurking around every single inch of a place cause that would slow down the game too much and we're here to take down fascists'!

Hacker or scholar, but if that requires changing a bunch of stuff that we already worked on, then I think I'll be ok with not picking one.

I'm not sure I see the logic in this; what does being a revolutionary ie someone who wants an actual revolution, something that will radically and permanently change the status quo (and I usually associate revolutionaries with the political left further than liberalism eg some socialists, communists, and anarchists; those further to their right aren't interested in much more than cosmetic changes) have to do with your character coming out of retirement?

This is a career I came up with myself, so it's not in the book. Its signature equipment includes appropriate literature (in hard or soft copy), a smartphone, and some small melee weapon that's somewhat non-lethal eg brass knuckles/shot gloves. The skill package would have to include an appropriate Intelligence skill eg Social Science and a specialization eg History or Economics of at least level 2, an appropriate Will skill eg Creativity (Writing at at least level 1), and some kind of Personality skill eg Culture, Interaction, or Leadership with an appropriate specialization.

Kaneda, a profession gives some signature equipment and a skill package. AFAIC, the skill package is "ideal" ie something that the typical profession would have in the way of "core skills", but it's not set in stone. You could take a few skills, for example, not all of them. I think you might even be able to get away with just using the skills you have (which are primarily computer based, aren't they)?

More tomorrow.

Ok, yes my character is a computer based character, so I believe that the hacker would fit nicely and that my skills would align with that one. So yeah! I'll go for the hacker!

While I'm waiting to hear back from Furmyr, we can do a few other things.

The PCs' Action Check scores (usually helps determine individual initiative in a combat round)
1. Average PC's DEX and INT scores (rounding down).
2. Add to this number your PC's action score increase (1 for Kaneda and 3 for Furmyr)
This is the base number for the roll; divide it by two to get the "Good" score and by four to get the "Amazing" score (round down for both). Rolling these numbers or lower means you get to go earlier than average. Next, add one to your base number; this is the "Marginal" score. Rolling this high means you'll go last (rolling a fumble means going dead last).

Actions Per Round
1. Add together your CON and WIL scores; find the sum in the table "Actions Per Round" on Handy Charts and Tables (2/3) in the Charts and Stuff thread to tell you how many actions you get per round.

Combat Movement-Rate
1. Add your STR and DEX together; find the sum in the table "Combat Movement Rates" on Handy Charts and Tables (2/3) in the Charts and Stuff thread to tell you how many meters you move per round.

Durability (How much damage of a certain kind a PC can take.)
1. Stun: equal to CON score (reduced by more than half = dazed [has penalty vs. actions]; reduced to zero = KOed)
2. Wound: equal to CON score (reduced by more than half = dazed [has penalty vs. actions]; reduced to zero = KOed)
3. Mortal: equal to half CON score (round down; each point lost = dazed [has penalty vs. actions]; reduced to zero = dead [NB: simply having any mortal damage puts your PC at risk of dying])
4. Fatigue: equal to half CON score (round down; each point lost = dazed [has penalty vs. actions]; reduced to zero = succeed at Resolve - physical resolve test or KOed [success allows action to continue for one more time unit, but one more point of fatigue damage automatically KOs PC])

That'll do for now. Money and equipment will get done next.

Alright, added those to my character!

Hm. I'd hoped to hear from Furmyr before this . . . .
Kaneda, would you mind if we waited another day before moving on?

I'll drop having a career then.

OK, before we get into the specific of how much each of you has, there are a few other things.

1. You both have a place to live commensurate with your general backgrounds, but I'd like a little more personalized info about that. Furmyr, does/did your PC live on some kind of military base? Is he transitioning into/away from one due to his "retirement"? I'm assuming he grew up "middle class", right? What did he like to do during down time?
Kaneda, your PC basically grew up in poverty; can you give me some specifics about that? What did he do for money? What did he do for fun? Where does he live now? (We'll assume he does have a place to live, but it has to involve serious poverty.) Why did he end up going somewhere that was . . . less conventional . . . to get money than just a "regular bank" (now that he owes this source of cash)?

2. For both of you, where does your PC currently get money from?

3. Why would your characters dislike fascism? (And, for the moment, let's keep in mind just the historical kind that _everyone_ always thinks about when their hear the term ie the German Nazi Party.)

4. Your PCs can start off anywhere on the planet where English is used at least some of the time ie where you might learn at least a little bit of it in lower or middle school as a (more-or-less) regular part of the curriculum.

I'm thinking the name Bradley Hearne. His father was in the army, and his grandfather before that, so it was only natural that Bradley also fell into that life. His mother was a military nurse. Growing up he moved around a lot based on where his parents were assigned.

One of his old army buddies was able to get him a gig as a security guard at some office building downtown. A job that has been rather uneventful so far. Except that one time some drunk guy came in, he's mostly been sitting on his ass and eating donuts. Problem is he's not built to sit on his ass and eat donuts, and is getting restless with life.

It's not the best paid job, so some weekends he moonlights as a bouncer just to earn some extra spending money.

He grew up hearing stories from his grandfather about the horrors of war (don't know how many years into the future we are), but could possibly have been a child during WW2 or even fought in it. He's also seen his fair share of action and he know how facism can radicalize and warp a country.

Furmyr, where is Bradley currently living? What country? And is he still living on a base?

Time-wise, we're now: 2025.

No, he would live in an apartment downtown in whatever city we decide to start in.

OK, I'm going to assume there's no particular country you want to start off in.

It would probably be an english speaking country based on the name and the lack of any language skills. But I don't have any preference. Whatever suits the campaign.

Still here, but will reply tomorrow! Just got busy for the day, but will be back at it tomorrow!

Thanks, Kaneda!

1) His parents were killed when he was quite young, and he was placed into a foster care system for his childhood. No one wanted to take him in, so he left when he was old enough to, there he lived in hostels, on the streets, begging, stealing, whatever he could to survive.
He then met a gang that would take him in, that's where he learned computers and found he was quite good with them. To make money, that was heavily taxed by the gang, he would get info for blackmail, freeze and hold systems up for payment, that kind of work.
He was caught and arrested, was sentenced to a number of years in prison before he was recruited by the department to help solve computer based crimes. He would be given a small payment, and a reduced sentence. When he got out, they kept him, allowing him to live in a small apartment and enough to pay rent and food.
His old gang left him a present for when he got out, debt, a large amount of debt, and the banks want it back with interest.

2) Currently does IT work for small businesses where he can be paid under the table.

3) Fascism killed his parents, they were outspoken of their hate for their leader and it had them killed, publicly. His entire life was changed that day and he blames them for everything.

4) Currently lives in LA where there are plenty of small businesses that could use his skills and allow him to survive in the world he lives in, away from his old gang, away from his old life.

What department are you referring to?
This is fine. I might change it a bit, though . . . .
Hm. This is a little vague: what do you mean by "fascism killed his parents"? They lived in a country where fascists are a lot more open, violent, and wealthy than they are in North America? Someplace like Brazil under Bolsonaro? Current Russia or the Ukraine? I don't think you're telling me that his parents were killed by Germany's Third Reich, right? THat would mean your PC is _really_ old.

Hahaha, oh dear, for some reason I believed that I our setting was a fair bit later into the future, but I see that we are playing in 2025 and that is definitely going to change some things. They were definitely not killed by Hitler and his nazis haha.

Would it work if he was wanted and arrested by the FBI, cyber-crimes do fall into their jurisdiction and it's no secret that they will use the people that they have arrested to help them solve other crimes. Or that he sold out his old gang in order to come to America.

I'm not against changing it, would it be more reasonable that when he came to the states, he wasn't exactly taught well about credit scores and the risks of taking out loans and credit cards, built himself a lot of debt, and is now paying much of what he makes to the banks.

Russia seems appropriate for his origins.

OK, he could've gotten into trouble with the FBI.

Owing to a bunch of banks is fine.

If he's going to be from Russia, you'll need to give him at least Language (English) at at least rank 2 (Rank 3 allows communication and understanding pretty much like a native).

Kaneda, let me know whether or not you're good with that Russian origin.

I'm good with the Russian origin.

OK, so swap out some points for English.
Now it's just money and stuff then first post. Hopefully, this will at least get started tomorrow.

Furmyr: your PC has $1500 US in cash. You can divide that up any way you like among your wallet, your bank account, investments, etc. If you want, you can pay $200 and start with a 9mm pistol and 2 clips of ammo (you bought it used from a friend in the military), but it's not legal

Kaneda: your PC has no money whatsoever at this point, either on hand or "stored" elsewhere.

You both have places to stay according to your incomes, some clothes, and something to carry things in when travelling. Let me know if there are small things you think your character should or would have, and I'll tell you if they do indeed have them.

Questions?

I have one, though: where are your character sheets?

I tried to make a character now. Put in all the info scattered around in different posts here, but when I pressed save it was all deleted. Too furious to continue right now, but will try again later.

Wait! It looks like it came through!
Checking . . . .
Yes! it's up!

Had to repurpose another character for a now defunkt game. Still can't make a new character, but seem to be able to mod old characters.

Ok, will work on my character sheet to get into the game! Sorry, I went camping and thought that I had service, we did not, and it snowed lol!

Wow!
Were you up in that part of the US mountains where snowstorms were predicted?