Whether a character is good or not is subjective; there is no single good way to create a character. However, there are two main qualities that a good character must have: she must be enjoyable to play, and she must be workable to host. Conversely, a bad character is a character that either you do not enjoy playing, or is insufferable or impracticable to a game host.
In this part, we'll go over the steps involved in character creation. Later on, after the basics, we'll go over a few good techniques and principles, and touch the main bad ones.
Step 1 — Concept
The first part of any character creation is the concept. The concept of your character is the main underlying thought or line that helps define your character. This can be a very short, few-word description such as surly rogue, wicked fighter, or brash priest; simply the main thought that the character sits on.
This is also a good time to think over how your character looks and appears. The RPG requires that your character has at least some kind of physical description.
During the creation process, you may find it necessary to tweak or change the underlying thought of your character. By all means, if you feel you should, then you should. These changes will bring nuance and depth to your character, expanding her beyond the two or three words you spared her.
Step 2 — Class
All characters require a class. A class represents a character's chosen profession or style of adventuring. There are three classes to choose from, each with their own skills and subtleties.
- Warriors are people who take liking to or expertise in the physical side of combat. Regardless of the individual philosophy, warriors stand or fall by their combat prowess. Warriors need a minimum of strength to help them carry their armament and wield their weapons effectively, and are the only class with access to all weapons and armour.
- Trainees are Temple apprentices or those following a similar lifestyle: lightly armoured, nimble warriors that rely on their speed and agility to remain unharmed in the heat of the fight. Trainees have an affinity for handling two weapons at the same time, and require a modicum of dexterity to survive in a fight.
- Shades are characters that rely on stealth and guile to get by in the dangerous life of adventure. Whether shooting from afar or sneaking up close for a fatal hit, shades rely on unfair advantages to win combat and typically don't hold their own in a straight-up fight. Shades require good intelligence to take full advantage of their style.
Keep in mind that Druchii society is more diverse than these three classes. Many have different professions: artists, smiths, carpenters, merchants, fishers, fletchers, and many more. These three classes represent a style of adventuring and future career choice—they do not define your character's background or upbringing!
Step 3 — Attributes
Attributes provide a less vague and ambiguous view on your character. Using numbers, these will tell how strong, how fast, how intelligent your character is. Keep in mind that the numbers used do not match these used in Warhammer, and take note of the rules.
- Weapon Skill is a catch-all for close-combat skill and affinity with weapons. Characters with high weapon skill scores can handle a broader variety of weapons with higher skill, making them more likely to deflect and score hits in combat.
- Strength denotes your character's strength, both raw as perceived. Someone may be strong because she has a lot of muscle, or because she has a lot of determination, or because of some other reason. Either way, this attribute shows how powerful your character is in a muscle contest. Strength is the core attribute for warriors.
- Dexterity is your character's innate agility and flexibility. People with high dexterity ratings are nimble and fast, and handle ranged weaponry and other subtleties better than people with lower scores. Note that, while dexterity helps in a mêlée fight, it is not a substitute for skill. Dexterity is the core attribute for trainees.
- Toughness represents stamina and physical resilience. Tough characters can endure longer marches, are resistant to pain, and generally take more punishment before they are incapacitated.
- Intelligence represents high-order, deductive thought. Those with high intelligence scores are quick to see abstract concepts and connections, figure out riddles and patterns, and understand and master new techniques. Intelligence wins a fight before the weapons come out. Intelligence is the core attribute for shades.
When starting a new character, you have 18 points to distribute. Each attribute has a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5. If an attribute is a core attribute for your chosen class, you have to assign at least 3 points to that attribute.
Step 4 — Skills and Equipment
When you start with a new character, you are at the start of a new career and haven't had much chance to go one way or the other. Still, there may be a few choices you can make when you start out. We've seen that there are attributes to help define the core strengths and abilities of your character, but there is more: skills and equipment.
Skills are various feats and abilities your character has achieved through experience and philosophy. Which skills your character possesses depends on her class and attributes. Trainees and shades start with a few skills.
Equipment is fairly straightforward: what your character is using and carrying around. This does not intimately describe all the garbage and trinkets your characters has along, but rather the useful equipment she has at her disposal. Each class starts with at least some equipment.
- Warriors start with light armour and a shield, and have the choice between either a longsword, or a repeater crossbow and dagger. However, they do not start with any skills.
- Trainees start with a shortsword and a dagger, and without any armour. They do start with two skills: Two Weapon Fighting and Uncontrollable Frenzy.
- Shades start with a shortsword, repeater crossbow, and a shade cloak, as well as the skill Basic Stealth.
Step 5 — Background
If you followed the rules, you now have a correct character. However, before she can be accepted into a group, she needs some sort of background. Think of a character's background as a brief description of her upbringing and motivation into the life of adventure. Backgrounds help prospective hosts understand your character's psyche and judge whether she would fit into their group or storyline.
Backgrounds are not required to be novels or short-stories. What hosts want is a brief peek at a character's history and their motivations.
There are no explicit, objective rules to background, but there are a few do's and do not do's that we'll cover briefly here and expand on later:
- Do explain why your character is an adventurer.
- Do mention people important to your character, whether friendly or hostile, and give their motivations for being so.
- Do put your character at the start of her adventuring career.
- Do not hide your background behind a “Not much is known about her.”
- Do not involve major characters or deities.
Conclusion
We went over the five steps in character creation: concept, class, attributes, skills & equipment, background. These are the basic steps each players needs to take to have a workable character.
In a next section, we'll dig a little deeper into what makes a character a unique playing experience, and what hosts like to see in a character—in other words, how to make and keep the game fun for both you as the RPG host.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the author of this article.