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Chapter 2: Making Characters
[ | Making Characters | Your Character Sheet | Behaviour | Experience & Costs (Player) | Experience Rules (GM) | Character Templates | ]
Experience
If there were to be any goals in roleplaying,
one of the foremost personal goals would be attaining experience. It gives the player's character a chance to grow and adapt
to changes in his life. All characters also start with so much experience (basically defining their lives up until you pick them up to play).
For your standard starting character, you will most likely begin with 350 experience.
For a more challenging campaign, players could try playing normal mortals; this is usually about 250 experience.
A more powerful campaign could demand 500-700 or even as much as 900 experience.
- Human Campaign - 250
- Standard Campaign - 350
- Powerful Campaign - 600
- Munchkin Campaign - 900
Obviously, this book will encourage the first two types, with a heavy emphasis on the standard. Ask your GM just which type of campaign he
plans to run. If you have a wish to use the same character again for another campaign, feel free. This book certainly encourages continuing the journey
of one character through many different stories. If your GM sticks to one standard for starting experience, you know what to expect
when asked to make a character or when you choose to make a random character on your own time.
Now obviously, your character is a Hero in this world and does stand out amongst his peers (at least in some fashion). Most mortals in
a campaign are based on 250 experience and trick out at around 500.
Some World books will have a different starting experience depending on power levels in that world and available abilities.
Getting and Spending Experience
For the purposes of starting experience, each section of Stats, Skills, and Abilities should receive a third of your total.
This is a simple guideline to help you make a character. You may spend them wherever
you wish, but the GM will strongly encourage and perhaps even somewhat force the above guideline in order
to make certain of balanced characters and ensure a balanced campaign.
Of course, players may also choose to take any leftover experience and save it for later on in-game.
Experience Costs
Now that you have some idea of what experience is, it's time to spend it. The costs are listed below; you may find it easier to use the Character Templates
when making your character. However, if you are interested in updating a character with newly gained experience, the costs are listed below for your convenience.
- Raising Primary Stats - Current Value x 1 to raise it above 5. Ex. To raise Strength from 7 to 8 costs 7 experience.
- Purchasing a Skill - 2 experience per level up to level 5. 4 experience per level up from level 6 to level 10.
- Purchasing a Talent - 5 experience. 5 experience to extend the same talent.
- Purchasing a Bonus - 10 experience. Bonuses may only be taken for every 4 levels in the skill and the same bonus may never be purchased twice.
- Purchasing an Ability (Martial Art) - Current Value x 10. 10 Experience to purchase the first level.
- Purchasing Virtues/Burdens - Each Virtue costs 20 experience. Each Burden grants an additional 20 experience.
- Purchasing Other Stats - These may not be purchased directly, but can be increased by virtues and other areas.
- Anything Else - There should be a listed cost in the world book, if it is different from costs listed here.
You may only spend experience on something if your character had opportunity in-game to learn or train in it.
Limit Breaks
Sometimes, characters hit the roadblock of humanity. They've gone as far as they could ever go within reason.
This limit they reach is what separates the exceptional beings from the Legends. Your character has managed to go beyond
the "mortal limit" to be a true genius in that area.
It's time to break that limit. These are called Limit Breaks. A few times throughout the book, you'll read that
something can only be done if the associated skill/ability/stat has been broken. A GM will only allow, at best,
a handful of Limit Breaks on one character. The GM may possibly deny them altogether, unless something really special happens.
Once past the human limit, the cost is no longer exponential. The cost to raise the broken number is now a flat rate which is equal
to the Limit Break cost. Breaking the limit is a separate cost and does not actually raise the level of what you are using.
Ex. Stat is 15. Limit Break cost is 15. Breaking the stat costs 15 experience. To go to 16 requires another 15 experience. The final cost from 15 to 16 is 30.
Starting characters will probably not be allowed Limit Breaks.
A stat, even if it's 14+7 is still 15. Once the limit is broken however, this immediately becomes an effective 21.
- Primary Stats - The mortal limit is 15. The Final limit is 25. Limit Break Cost: 15.
- Skills - The mortal limit is 10. Final Limit: 15. Limit Break Cost: 6.
- Abilities - The mortal limit is 5. Final Limit: 10. Limit Break Cost: 50.
Unless otherwise listed, anything else either has no limit upon it or simply no way to break that limit.
Once you have reached the Final Limit, you can go no further unless it is explicitly covered in your world book.
Abilities cannot be broken unless rules are specifically stated in the accompanying world book.
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