Character Creation

This is the two examples of character creation that are currently in the book.

Example 1

Dave is creating a character for Eldritch Adventures. He talks with his GM and is told that Method I (3d4-2) will be used to generate the stats. Dave rolls his dice and gets 5, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 10 for his rolls. He wants to play a priest type character, so he assigns the 10 to his WIL. Figuring Mana will be important, the 7 ends up in INT. He puts the 6 into PRS, the 5’s in STA and PER. STR, AGL, SPD, and APP are all 4’s. INF and FAM are at 0 by default.

Dave next moves on to his race. He decides to be an Ash Elf. This makes his WIL 11, INT 8, and STA 3. He now goes back to calculate his Derived Stats.

His Health is 29 (STA: 3 + WIL: 11) + 15.

His Movement Rate is 7 (SPD: 4 + STA: 3) /2 + 5.

His Base damage for melee is 2 (STR:4 / 2).

His Carrying Capacity is 45lbs (STR: 4 x 5) + 25.

His Defense Value (DV) is rated at Trivial (AGL: 4 + SPD: 4) = 8 (Trivial on the chart).

His Morale is 14 (WIL: 11 + STA 3).

His Stress Maximum is 28 (Morale: 14 x 2).

His Init Modifier is 3 (SPD: 4 + PER: 5) / 4 = 2.25 rounded up to 3.

His Spell Init Mod is 4 (SPD: 4 + WIL: 11) / 4 = 3.75 rounded up to 4. WIL is his Spell Casting Stat as he will be using Divine Magic.

Dave’s Passive Perception is 45 (PER: 4 x 5) + 25.

Dave next looks at his Resistances. His Physical Resistance is 28 (STA: 3 + 25). His Elemental Resistance is 36 (WIL: 11 + 25). His Mental Resistance is 35, 25 + (WIL: 11 + INT: 8) / 2. His Avoidance is 29 (AGL:4 + 25).

As an Ash Elf, Dave’s character also has a bonus of 19 Mana (INT: 8 + WIL: 11). Ash Elves also gain the Abilities Fae Heritage and Night Sight.

Looking over the Cultures, Dave decides to be from a Desert Culture. His Standard of Living is Martial, he gains a mount and picks a pony, he also receives the skills Survival and Pathfinding at Novice. He knows his native language at Grandmaster and the Trade Tongue at Journeyman. Looking at his starting funds, he has 250 silver coins. He selects kits #1, and #7 leaving him with a total of 30s and 42c.

Looking at Abilities, Fae Heritage gives his character +25 to PRS-based Ritual skills and Night Sight grants him the ability to see in the dark. Dave has two additional abilities to select. He takes Spellcasting (Divine) which allows him to cast spells of a divine focus. It also grants him 30 additional mana, bringing his total to 49 currently. For his second Ability, he picks Undeath Mastery which allows him to repudiate or control undead.

Dave next looks at skills. He has 4 (INT: 8 / 2) skills to select. He selects Ritual – Body (WIL), Expertise – Body (WIL) and Expertise – Aether (WIL) as his main spell focus. Both of these skills are at Novice. His final skill is Alchemy (INT) to allow him to make some potions and elixirs as needed. His final skill list is Survival +6%, Pathfinding +6%, Ritual – Body +11%, Expertise – Body +11%, Expertise – Aether +11%, and Alchemy + 8%.

Talking to his GM, Dave finds out that his GM is allowing starting characters to know up to their INT in Novice spells. With his 8 INT, Dave’s character can learn 8 spells. He selects Accelerated Immune System, Accelerated Metabolism, Decay, Minor Heal, Natural Weaponry, and Sense Life from the Body dominion. This leaves him with two additional spells to learn. He decides to take Detect Magic and Summon Familiar I from the Aether dominion.

Dave knows that casting in combat is a dangerous prospect without a spell matrix. He decides to turn his quarterstaff into a matrix. He takes some hairs from his pony’s tail and braids a small rope from them that he attaches a quartz crystal. He also carves a few symbols into the head of the staff. This gives his matrix a capacity of 17 spells and 170 mana. He also scrounges up a couple more quartz crystals for single spell matrices. It takes him four days to fill the staff with mana. He loads his spells into his staff matrix (except Summon Familiar I) and Minor Heal into the two quartz matrices. Dave’s GM tells him that the quartz will run him an additional 10s to purchase.

Dave’s GM allows him to use Summon Familiar I prior to the game formally starting. Dave casts the spell as a Ritual, taking the -25% to the roll for not having the skill. He succeeds and rolls on the table to see that he gets a cat as his Familiar. Dave holds off on adding any mana to his familiar for now, deciding to use it as a scout.

Dave’s final stats are:

Health: 29, Carry: 45, Mana: 49, Move: 7, Damage: 1, Stress: 28, Morale: 14, Defense: Trivial, Physical: 28, Element: 36, Mental: 35, Avoidance: 29, Passive PER: 45, Init: 3, Spell Init: 4.

Abilities: Fae Heritage, Night Sight, Spellcasting (Divine), Undeath Mastery.

Skills: Survival +6%, Pathfinding +6%, Ritual – Body +11%, Expertise – Body +11%, Expertise – Aether +11%, Alchemy +8%.

Languages: Native (GM), Trade Tongue (Journeyman)

Equipment: Leather boots, coin purse, backpack, torches (6), tinderbox, flint & steel, waterskin, bedroll (winter weight), rations (1 week), sacks (3), cloth shirt, cloth pants, potion belt, wool cape. Services of an unskilled hireling for a week. Spell Matrices: Staff (17 spells: Accelerated Immune System, Accelerated Metabolism, Decay, Minor Heal, Natural Weaponry, Sense Life, Detect Magic. 170 mana), Jewel (1 spell: Minor Heal. 10 mana), Jewel (1 spell: Minor Heal. 10 mana).

Example 2

Tanya is creating a character. Her GM tells her they will be using Method I for stats. She rolls and gets 3, 5, 6, 7, 5, 5, 5, 4, 9 as her results. She decides she wants to play a ranged character, like a ranger or scout. So, she puts her 9 into AGL, 7 in SPD, 6 in STA, 4 into APP, 3 into PRS, and the 5’s into the rest of the stats. She decides to play a Wood Elf which increases her AGL to 10 and decreases her INT to 4. She also gains a +25 to attacks.

Tanya next calculates her Derived Stats.

Her Health is 26 (STA: 6 + WIL: 5) + 15.

Her Movement is 9 (SPD: 7 + STA: 6)/4 + 5.

Her Base Damage is 3 (STR: 5 / 2).

Her Carrying Capacity is 50lbs (STR: 5 x 5 + 25).

Her Defense Value is Moderate (AGL: 10 + SPD: 7).

Her Morale is 11 (WIL: 5 + STA: 6)

Her Stress Maximum is 22 (Morale: 11 x 2).

Her Init Mod is 3 (SPD: 7 + PER: 5) / 4.

She has no spellcasting stat, so she skips her Spell Init Mod. If she ever picks up any spellcasting, she can calculate her Spell Init Mod then.

Her Passive Perception is 50 (PER: 5 x 5 + 25).

Her resistances are Physical 31 (STA: 6 + 25), Elemental 30 (WIL: 5 + 25), Mental 30 (WIL: 5 + INT: 4)/2 + 25, and Avoidance 35 (AGL:10 + 25).

As a Wood Elf, she also gains Fae Heritage and Night Sight.

For her culture, she selects Forest with the Martial Standard of Living. She selects a short sword as her bonus weapon, and she gets Pathfinding (INT/PER) and Swords (STR) at Novice.

Looking at the chapter on Abilities, she decides to select the Trade Off of No Heavy Armor and limits herself to Medium armor. This grants her +2 to her Init Mod, raising it to 5.

For her Abilities, she selects Adventuring and Armor Use (Medium).

With an INT of 4, Tanya has 2 skills to start with. She selects Bows (AGL) and Bowyer (AGL). Her skills are all at Novice making her final skill list: Pathfinding +5%, Swords +30%, Bows +35%, Bowyer +10%.

For her gear, she has 250s to spend. She selects kits #1 and #36. This would leave her with a deficit, but her GM allows her to “sell back” the long sword from kit 36, leaving her with 8s and 57c.

Tanya’s final stats are:

Health: 26, Carry: 50, Mana: 0, Move: 9, Damage: 3, Stress: 22, Morale: 11, Defense: Moderate, Physical: 31, Element: 30, Mental: 30, Avoidance: 35, Passive PER: 50, Init: 5.

Abilities: Fae Heritage, Night Sight, Adventuring, Armor Use (Medium).

Skills: Pathfinding +5%, Swords +30%, Bows +35%, Bowyer +10%

Languages: Native (GM), Trade Tongue (Journeyman)

Equipment: Leather boots, coin purse, backpack, torches (6), tinderbox, flint & steel, waterskin, bedroll (winter weight), rations (1 week), sacks (3), Leather jerkin, short bow, quiver, broadhead arrows (20).

Short Bow with Broadhead Arrows (Speed 4, 1d10 dmg).

Short Sword (Speed 4, 1d6 damage).

Leather Jerkin (AV3, Torso), Leather boots (AV 3, Feet).