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Copy/Paste the following code into your character profile. You will use the information provided in this guide to fill out each individual field.




STEP #1: CONCEPT
Like any good story, a role playing game centers around its characters. But unlike most stories RPGs involve their readers as active participants in the telling of the tale. To engage in creating this chronicle you, the player, must first design a character who exists in the fictional world where the story takes place. The physical process of fleshing out your character, from his bodily attributes (his Stats) to his learned abilities (his Skills) to his special abilities (which go by different names depending on the game) is detailed in this section. Your character is not you, per say, but an imaginary extension of yourself. Think of your character as your role in a play, only on a much more flexible scale. You create him or her from the ground up. You decide what abilities he has, where he comes from, his motivation, what he looks like and just who he is.

This section offers tools and guidelines for the character creation process, but one thing it can’t regiment is just who your character is; for no set of numbers, no marked boundaries, no rigid method could ever plumb the depths of the human spirit. That’s up to you. Like any person, your character has wants, needs, a personality, a past, and a future. You alone can fill in these very important blanks. For example, you may want to make a wizard…and that’s all good and well. But what else is there to your character besides his occupation? We know he has an Intellect of 5, but was he good in school? Did he even go to school? We know he has the ability to shoot fire from his eyes…but is there anyone in his life who makes sparks fly? Who were his parents? Where did he grow up? Is he a she? What motivates him? What are his views on politics, religion, philosophy, etc, etc, etc? In short…just who is he?

You should take a second to contemplate these details before proceeding, as your mind's eye view of your character will color the choices you make about him from this point on. Of course, if you're drawing a blank you may proceed and let the chips fall where they may. But the best characters are always the ones who are well thought out. Here are some tips for those who find themselves stuck for an idea:

- Think of some of your favorite characters from literature, TV, movies, etc. What makes them cool? What aspects of this character can you impart into your original design?

- Think of your own heroes or people in your life. Would any of them make an interesting character? What personality traits could you pass on to your original character?

- Even experienced role players tend to fall into the rut of playing characters that resemble themselves. Try to think of someone completely unlike you or another character you'd never consider playing. Then model your character after them. You may be surprised how enjoyable (and challenging) it is.

- Note the setting and mood of each game and try to develop characters that are appropriate.

Name: Your character's name. If you're stuck for a name, each Race's profile section has some suggestoins. If not, you can always search the web for cool names.

Age: How old your character is. If he's not human, look on his Race's profile section to see how their species ages.

Race: Not all characters are human. There are many unique races which players can create their characters from. Be sure to look over each one of these races when considering your character as each race has their own unique cultures, attributes, and behaviors.

Concept: This is less your character's job and more his path as a hero; the way he approaches problems and his general outlook on life. Is he a warrior? A wizard? A thief? Or something else entirely? These classical archetypes help to define the character's motivations, behavior, and general approach to heroism.

Bio: Your character's story, up to this point. The sky is the limit on this one - just be sure you're aware of the game's setting and history before you begin filling out this section.

STEP #3: SKILLS
The aptitude a character has for certain areas of expertise are measured numerically by his Skills. These abilities include both learned proficiencies and natural talents. The higher the rank of a skill, the more capable a character is in that particular area. Whenever a Feat roll must be made, the number that corelates to the most applicable Primary Stat and Skill (or, in some cases, just the stat or skill by itself) is added as a modifier to the roll to improve one's chances of success.

Note that no Skill may naturally exceed 10. In order to supercede this limitation, the Skill must be acted upon by some outside force and even then the change is normally only temporary.

0: Unskilled: The character has no real skill in this particular area.
1: Beginner: With basic knowledge of the skill, the character is able to be of some small use when employing it.
2: Student: Though he has some ability in this field, the character is still relatively green.
3: Moderate: The character's skill in this area, though nowhere near his potential, is nothing to sneeze at.
4: Amateur: With a healthy amount of skill in this area, the character is able to overcome many obstacles.
5: Skilled: Time and practice pay off. With great effort and a dash of talent, the character has made this particular skill highly useful.
6: Professional: The character could easily make a living pursuing or teaching the skill to others.
7: Expert: There are few others who match the character's exceptional skill in this area.
8: Master: As one of the elite, there are only a few aspects of this skill that remain unknown to the character.
9: Genius: The character's skill is truly remarkable. He can overcome every obstacle thrown his way, though there are a handful of nuances he can still master.
10: Grandmaster: There is nothing about this skill that the character does not know or cannot apply his understanding of the skill towards.

Athletics: A measure of physical fitness and the ability to efficiently run, jump, swim, and otherwise perform in a physical capacity. Athletics measures just how well a character is able to put his physical attributes to practical use.
Some uses for Athletics include: running, jumping, swimming, climbing, acrobatics, playing sports.

Awareness: The sharpness of sensory perception is only one element of Awareness. The true nature of this Skill is in the noticing of fine details, knowledge of what to look for, and the ability to piece together multiple fragmented items in order to draw an accurate conclusion.
Some uses for Awareness include: searching a room, recognizing a lie, piecing clues together, noticing fine details, reading between the lines.

Combat - Armed: One's ability to perform in close-quarters combat using a weapon. The Armed Combat Skill is a measure of one's weapon knowledge in both theory and application, gauging his skill engaging enemies while equiped with a weapon. Keeping his footing, watching his enemy's movements, finding a weak point, and striking with accuracy are all vital aspects of this skill.
Some uses for Armed Combat include: fencing, disarming enemies, dueling, combat displays

Combat - Ranged: Accuracy, balance, and the ability to effectively use weapons that function at long range. Ranged Combat is primarily a measure of just how accurately a character is able to hit his mark from several paces away.
Some uses for Ranged Combat include: gunfighting, thrown weapons, marksmanship, trick shooting, calculating trajectories

Combat - Unarmed: One's skill using hands, feet, knees, elbows, and whatever other parts of the body the character can throw at his opponent to win. Whether these are formally trained skills, such as the martial arts, or home-brewed streetfighting techniques is irrelevant; Unarmed Combat is simply a measure of how well the character is able to use his body to the best of his advantage in a close-quarters scrap.
Some uses for Unarmed Combat include: martial arts, wrestling, brawling, showing off, meditative/focus techniques, grappling

Craft: The act of creating or applying materials towards the creation of new forms. Craft includes not only a character's skill in design and building, but also the arts in general.
Some uses for Craft include: repairing a broken weapon, building a catapault, carving a sculpture, painting a picture, performing a song

Defense: Avoiding attack by blocking, parrying, dodging, or otherwise preventing harm. Skill in Defense is vital to surviving any altercation the character may find himself in.
Some uses for Defense include: dodging, ducking, blocking, parrying, and resisting attacks, acrobatic evasions, assessing hostile scenarios

Guile: Knowledge and application of the more subtle, criminal element. Guile is a measure of one's slyness, cunning, and overall sneakiness.
Some uses for Guile include: picking locks, stealth, deception, picking pockets, hiding, disguise, illegal trade, street smarts

Influence: Leadership, charisma, persuasion, and the ability to get others to comply with your will. Influence is a skill possessed by great leaders, politicians, and manipulators who know how to get others to do their bidding.
Some uses for Influence include: leadership, manipulation, strategizing, negotiations, subtle control, inspiring others, bartering

Knowledge: Understanding of various fields of academic study and learning. Whether the character had a formal education or learned everything from the school of hard knocks, Knowledge is a measure of just how much information is rattling around in his brain.
Some uses for Knowledge include: science, history, lore, biology, philosophy, religion, mathematics, arcane studies

Languages: All characters (unless they are mute) are capable of speaking their native tongue. For fluency in any other language they wish to speak, they must possess this Skill. Each rank of this skill grants the character one additional language that he may read, write, and speak fluently.
Some sample real-world languages include: English, Russian, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German, Swahili, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Arabic, Latin

Medicine: Treating wounds, binding bones, curing disease, and purging poisons requires a great deal of knowledge and skill. Medicine is a measure of how knowledgeable the character is in the healing arts; how capable he is at treating the injuries he or his allies may sustain.
Some uses for Medicine include: binding wounds, sewing stitches, mending bones, first aid, CPR, removing bullets, treating disease

Technology:One's talent for working with machines, engineering new devices, and programming complex computer code is measured by their technology skill. Even in fantastic settings, technology is everywhere and those with the talent to utilize it are in high demand.
Some uses for Technology include: invention, repair, analysis, programming, hacking, operating unfamiliar devices, healing robotic allies

Wilderness: The ability to survive outside the relative safety of civilized society. Wilderness is a measure of how comfortable one is in nature; how well-adapted they are to fending for themselves in the open marches of the world.
Some uses for Wilderness include: hunting, gathering, tracking, identifying footprints, foraging for food, finding water, camping, fire-starting

Each player receives 21 points to distribute amongst his character's Skills. Each Skill naturally starts at 0. No Skill may exceed 5 at this point in character creation.

STEP #5: EQUIPMENT
Each character starts the game with 10 gold to buy basic equipment with.

For a comprehensive list of equipment, visit the Equipment Section.

STEP #6: SPECIAL ABILITIES
Special abilities are those powers which set the heroes apart from the rest of society; they are what makes them unique and able to participate in the epic adventures that define them.

There are two types of special abilities: Advantages and Powers. Advantages are traits the character possesses which provide a small bonus that is always active. Other than the initial purchase of the ability, there is generally no cost associated with Advantages. Powers, on the other hand, provide a much more dramatic effect or bonus but consume Mana in the process. When no Mana is available, Powers cannot be used.

Each special ability has its own rank (just like Skills do) which is combined with a Target Skill appropriately called the Modifier (listed in the ability's description) each time a Feat to invoke the ability is rolled. With many special abilities, rank not only increases the likelihood of success when rolling to invoke the power, but also increases the effectiveness of the power itself.

For a comprehensive list of special abilities, please see the Special Abilities Section.


STEP #7: CHARACTER GROWTH
Character creation never really ends. Just like any interesting character, yours is constantly growing, learning, and evolving. To reflect his heroic journey, each character is given Experience Points (abbreviated XP). These points represent the sum of what his experiences have taught him. They are used to increase Stats and Skills and to purchase new abilities. The Judge determines how many Experience Points he will reward the players with based on each encounter, sending PMs to players as they earn XP. (and keeping his own tally as well).

Players can only spend Experience when training. It is in training that they focus the disparate bits of knowledge into something useful. When training (either under their own tutilege or the teaching of someone more knowledgeable), characters may spend XP according to the chart below:

XP Exchanged => Points Gained
150 XP : 1 Stat Point
75 XP : 1 Skill Point
50 XP : 1 Power Point

Characters may only train themselves in Skills they already have a rank of at least 5 in. They are free to increase their Stats regardless of current rankings. They may also increase the rank of any Advantages or Stunts that can grow in level. While training himself a character may spend 10 points of Experience each day he spends training.

A trainer may teach a character any skill they have a rank of at least 3 in and any Stunts, or Spells they are familiar with. Stats may also be increased normally. When learning with a trainer, a character may spend 50 points of Experience each day he spends training.

Note that only characters with previous knowledge in a branch of magic may spend Experience Points learning Spells. If a character has no knowledge of a particular branch of magic, he will have to enroll at the magic academy for at least 4 semesters before he can begin spending XP on magical abilities.

STEP 8: POST YOUR PROFILE
PM your profile to Mercurius James or another Mod for approval. Once approved, you may post your character's stats and picture in the appropriate forum's "Character Profiles" thread.

You can continue updating your character's profile as your character gains Experience points and grows more powerful. Notify your Judge of any changes you're making so that he can keep track for his own purposes as well.