Creating a character

From Sagataflwiki

Revision as of 17:51, 16 November 2010

This article is about the process of creating a character in Sagatafl. It is used both to create player characters and NPCs, although simple NPCs can be improvised in a variety of ways; since that does not count as character creation, it is not covered in this article.

Please note that most of the steps below can be done in random order. Like other point-based character creation RPG rules systems, and unlike most of the procedural" type 1 systems, Sagatafl character creation starts with a profoundly tabula rasa Human, average in every way, to which the creator (the player, or the GM if it is an NPC) applies changes.

Goodie Points

Talked more about in the Goodie Points article, these are the fundamental character creation currency in Sagatafl. GPs measure how competent a character is, from a point of view that ascribes value to his potential for exerting his will on his surroundings, e.g. Frodo Baggins wanting a certain ring dunked in a specific volcano, in spite of the stark resistance that certain in-setting denizens (Sauron & crew) held towards that notion.

GP amounts and levels of play

40 GP is what it takes to build a perfectly average Human. Has average values in all Primary and Secondary Attributes, no special Advantages or DisAdvantages, with the skills to go about daily life (a little Cooking, Driving, Reading) and hold a paid job, and the Perks that one would expect of a settled individual (Job, Home, possessions and some money).

100 GPs is much more powerful, and is a typical adventurer, ready to go out in the world and engage in extended conflicts, although preferably as part of a fellowship of like-minded and like-competent individuals. Elite special forces soldiers, such as US Navy SEALs, are built on less than 100 GPs, but of course also function in a domain that is notably less varied (thus calling for a smaller variety of skills) than that of a typical RPG adventurer.

160 GPs is an extremely heroic individual, very competent, either in a wide vareity of fields, or else with in-depth competence in one field. If such a person is not famous, then it is due to deliberately effort on his behalf. Extended solo operations are very feasible for 160 pointers.

200 GPs approaches the mythical. GP values abov 220 will work, but only if there are many extra things to spend aDvantage Points on, such as comic book-style superpowers or galactic-scale space operatic psionics.

GP are non-linear

In other point-based RPG systems, character creation currency translates into power in a more or less linear fashion. In a very rough sense, a character built on 120 points is twice as good, in some way, as a character built on 60 points. That is not the case in Sagatafl at all. Rather, every added 20 Goodie Points makes the character almost twice as good. There's no real "doubling factor" that can be derived, for reasons that will be clear as you become more familiar with the workings of Sagatafl, but it is probably not very wrong to suggest a "power doubling interval" of 25 or 30 GPs.

Sagatafl traditionally uses Goodie Point intervals of 20, though, or 10 and even 5 when needed (smaller intervals are particularly relevant for those player groups that wish to explore the low end of the competene scale, 60 GPs and less).

Determining base GP

Sagatafls standard procedure for determning the base GP amount that the player characters are built on is for the GM to let the players vote on it, either in secrecy from each other where each player gives his vote to the GM verbally in private, or written on paper or via email, with the GM totalling the votes and informing the player group of the result, or else the players voting openly among themselves while the GM is absent, and then informing the GM of the result. The GM usually decides which of these two methods is to be used.

The GM must offer the player group at least three GP values, with a span of at least 40 Goodie Points between the largest and smallest amount, thus he can offer 30, 31 or 70 GPs, or more traditionally 80, 100 or 120 GPs, or if he's inclined to high powered campaigns, 120, 140, 150 or 190 GPs.

Usually there will be some amount of discusion among the players, each player arguing for his preferred point total, among those offered by the GM, before the votes are cast.

Bonus GP

On top of the base amount of Goodie Points, players can earn bonus GP via enriching their characters in various ways. This is detailed in the artcle on Bonus Points, but involes such activities as writing a short or longer backstory for the character (or a detailed CV, although a minimal CV must be provided if there is no backstory), and/or drawing a small or large family tree, possibly with a scandal or two included. Each of these enriching activies gives Bonus Points, and Bonus Points are then converted to Bonus GP, using the pyramidal formula, which means that it is easy to earn a few bonus GP, but if one puts in a a massive amount of work, the reward is only a couple more bonus GP.

Also, there's a built-in expectation of work, so the base amount of Bonus GP is actually -2, thus if a player refuses to do anything to enrich his character, his GP total is 2 lower than the amount determined by the vote. Earning 1 Bonus Point gives 1 bonus GP (thus the total is 1 lower), earning a total of 3 Bonus Points gives 2 Bonus GP (thus equalling the voted-on amount), earning 6 Bonus Points gives 1 Bonus GP above the voted-on amount, and so forth.

Bonus GP are added to the GP total, or subtracted from it for lazy players who don't put in enough enriching work.

Deciding species and sex

The character's species (e.g. Human, Dwarf, Orc, Sirian) and sex (male, female) must de determined, although if Proven Player rules are in force, then unProven players are limited to playing characters of their own species (usually Human) and sex.

The choice of species applies a Species Package to the character, which has a cost in aDvantage Points (DPs) - see further down - and may also have a cost in Goodie Points if the species is starkly more powerful than a Human, such as is the case in Tolkien's Middle-earth setting, where the Elves are really on an entirely different scale from that of Humans.

The cost in Goodie Points, if any, is paid for in the Special category (see below).

The Species Package adds some actual Advantages and DisAdvantages, and usually also modifies the cost of some traits and stats, making them cheaper or more expensive, and may raise or lower the maxiumpossible values on some attributes. For instance, Elves can have a higher Appearance than it is possible for Human to have, in some settings.

It is therefore trivial, if using an electronic character creation aid (and that is practically mandatory, with Sagatafl), to change one's mind about what species one wants the character to be. The only thing one must watch out for is if certain stat values are outside of the range possible for the species after the change (either below the species minimum - if there is one - or above the species maximum - and all species have maximum values for all stats). Usually the non-beta aid software will give a warning if this is the case.

Sex may also have a similar effect. It does for Humans, even though separate species packages for Male Human and Female Human have not actually been created. Think of it as being virtual species packages.

Therefore it is likewise trivial, from a game mechanical point of view, to change one's mind about what sex one wants the character to be.

Distributing the GP

The amount of Goodie Points, the sum of the Goodie Point value voted on (80 GP, e.g.) and the Bonus GP added (from -2 GP and up to about +4 for an obsessively dedicated player), must be distrubed among four categories. As always, changing one's mind is easy. Just go back, and input different values in the appropriate numerical fields in the character creation software aid. The aid will' tell you if the total for the 4 categories is higher or lower than the amount of GPs you are to spend.

The four categories are:

• aDvantage Points, DPs, used to buy Attributes and AdDvantages. You get compensatory points, extra DPs to spend, if you loweryour attributes to below-average values (for your chosen species and sex), and for taking DisAdvantages.
• Skill Points, SPs, used to buy regular Skills (with numerical levels, e.g. Stealth, Seduction, Air Magic and Punching) and Lores (binary skills, ones you either have or don't have), and also Training to increase your character's Strength and Fitness. Please note that you must pay for all skills your character have, including the ability to speak his First Language(s). You get nothing for free.
• Perk Points, PPs, used to buy social traits, and external states, for your character, such as Contacts, Rank, Reputations and Popularities, and also states such as being Wealthy or owning special equipment. There are also negPerks, that give you compensatory PPs if you choose them.
• The Special Category, used for a few things that are important to some character concepts. It is possible to get a compensatory point or two here, but it is generally a bad idea to do so.

Spending limits

Spending limits are in force, differing slightly beteen PCs and NPCs.

When building a PC, no more than 55% of the GP total (excluding bonus GP) may be spent on aDvantage Points, no more than 60% may be spent on Skill Point, and no more than 65% may be spent Perk Points.

When building an NPC, up to 75% of the GPs may be spent on Perk Points; the other limits are the same: 55% for aDvantage Points and 60% for Skill Points.

There must also be a rule limiting the character to a certain total of Skill Points based on his age (and excluding Years spent in magical sleep, cryogenic hibernation, and similar), but that rule will be based on the assumption of intensive full-time training from childhood, and so will not affect typical or even very atypical character concepts, even at very high GP totals.

This rule has not been created yet, and creating it is not a high priority.

aDvantage Points

Primary Attributes

Secondary Attributes

Advantages

Powers

Flaw Points

By default, your character has 5 Flaw Points that you must spend to "purchase" Flaws. Flaws are psychological disadvantages (although not purchased directly with DPs), each with a roll-strength so that dice rolls can be made to see whether the Flaw triggers on encountered or internal stimuli or provocations. Flaws therefore limit your character, and it is desirable (ultimately worth more GPs) to have fewer of them

You can get compensatory DPs by choosing to have Flaws worth a total of more than 5 Flaw Points, or you can pay DPs for the privilege of having fewer than 5 Flaw Points, although the cost quickly becomes very high. To have only 1 Flaw Point costs 40 DPs, and to have no Flaw Points at all (so that your character is literally Flawless, a saint of self-control and inner peace) costs not only 80 DPs but also a further price of 1 Goodie Point, that you must pay under the Special Category, as explained further down.

Keep in mind, you must spend all your Flaw Points during character creation. And yes, the situation is a bit odd, in that you must "pay for" something that you perhaps find undesirable, something you would prefer that yor character had less of, or even had none at all. Yet that is the jargon of Flaws and Flaw Points, and approaching it from any other direction would just have been more confusing.

Skill Points

Skill Points are used to pay for acquired intrinsic abilities; abilities that your character learned, directly or indirectly via exposure.

Regular Skills

Regular skills are just what you'd expect, if you have any previous experience with skill-based RPGs. A skill name, followed by a skill level, such as Stealth 4 or Sword Broadsword 7.

Some elaborations... Some skills must have a Subject. If a skill must have a subject, then one can have the skill several times, each with a different Subject. Examples include Languages and Sword. Subjects are never optional, and the same skill with different subjects cannot always substitute for another. That came out garbled, but as an example, Sword: Broadword can substitute for Sword: Shortsword, and Language: Spanish can substitue for Language: French, but Language: Chinese cannot substitute for Language: Gaelic.

Keep in mind that you must buy all the skill that your character has, even his mother tongue, his first language. (Actually for your character's First Language(s) you can rely on his Omniskill, but then he'd be limited to baby talk.)

All skills of level 1 or higher are entitled to a Specialization, if one can be come up with. This is noted in paranthesis; after the Subject if the skill has a Subject, otherwise after the skill's name. When the skill is used for the purpos of the specialization, it counts as being one level higher. For instance the Specializatin for the Staff skill can be Parrying, written like this: Staff (Par.) 6. When the character uses the staff to attack or disarm, or do most other things, his skill level is 6 so he rolls 6d12, but when he uses it to parry, his skill level counts as 7 and he rolls 7d12.

Some Specializations are illegal because they are too broad, for instance it is never legal to Specialize a weapon in Attack, although it may be specialized in any one non-standard attack, such as Critical Strike, Precise Strike, or Power Strike.

In the default magic system, the only legal Specialization for a Realm skill is a single Spell, e.g. Fire Magic may be Specialized in Summon Fir Elemental II or in Fire Bolt I. The Specialization maybe a a normal Spell, or a Greater Spell, of any level.

Finally, some skills are listed with an inherent RD modifier, either because it is a Profession skill (or the Omniskill) for which such RD modifiers are universal, or else because the character has an individual Talent or Incompetence with that skill.

A positive modifier denotes a Talent, and is written as +X. You must subtract the value of X from the RD of all rolls, so that the roll is more likely to succeed. An example would be Illusion Magic (Invisiblity II) 9+1, lowering the RD by 1.

All intrinsic modifiers are included in this value, including the modifier from the Internal Focus Mystery, but never the effects of normal (external) Foci, nor Casting Options which the character routinely uses or even ones he is forced to use, e.g. a character with the Mute DisAdvantage who is by necessity forced to always use the Silent Casting Option. If several modifiers apply, add them up, and write the total.

A negative modifier either denotes an Incompetence, or else a universal RD penalty because the skill is a Profession (or is the Omniskill), or both, and you must increase the RD by this value, e.g. Seduction (milfs) 8-2 means that the RD is always 2 higher than base value.

If the RD modifier thing sounds counter-intuitive, think of it this way: plus is good, minus is bad. So the plus is a bonus, and when it comes to RD, the direction of bonus is down, downwards, you lower the RD. Lower RD is better.

Lores

Lores are binary skills, skills you either have or don't have.

Sometimes Lores come in "ladders", where you have one Lore, called Something I, that is a prerequisite for another Lore called Something II, which may even be a prerequisite for a third Lore called Something III. In these cases one can argue that there is no true binarism, but the Lore mechanic is still used, with regards to SP cost calculation and so forth.

Example Lores include Scripts (alphabets such as Runes, Latin, Arabic, Hieroglyphs) and Casting Options for Spells.

In many cases, one can say that each Lore serves to "enhance" one skill. For instance the Script: Latin Lore "enhances" your Reading skill so that you can use it to read texts written with the Latin alphabet (provided you can understand the langauge the text is written in; if you cannot then you can only speak the sounds formed by the letters and must rely on the presence of a translator who can make sense out of your clumsy sounds).

Spells

Spells are also Lores, but differ from other Lores in that they can be used when partially trained.

Once you have paid 10% of the SP cost of a Spell, you may attempt to cast it, but at a +2 RD penalty. As if that's not bad enough, if your spellcasting attempt Fumbles, there's a modifier to the Spellcasting Fumble Outcome Roll so that the consequences are likely to be worse. This stage is called a Partially Learned I spell, and tring to cast such a spell is an act of desperation.

Once your SP total in the Spell reaches 30% of the cost, it is Partially Learned II, and the RD penalty for trying to cast it drops to +1. The modifier to the Spellcasting Fumble Outcome Roll is also reduced. It's still stupid to try casting such a Spell, although less so than with Partially Learned I.

Once you've paid the full SP cost for the Spell, it is fully learned (that's not a formal term; always assume fully learned unless an SP amount is specified or Partially Learned I or II is spelled out), and there is no RD penalty and no modifier to the Fumble Outcome Roll.

Style Skills and Stunts

Professions and Omniskill

Conditioning

Perk Points

Perks are social advantages (and negPerks are social disadvantages), traits that are external to your character or are circumstantial, "extrinsic" rather than intrinsic or innate.

Many Perks exist, sometimes affecting stat-like things such as Social Status and Legal Rights, or Reputations and Popularities, and others that are not such as Home. Below some Perks, that differ from the norm or are otherwise significant, are elaborated on.

Wealth and Equipment Budget

Your character begins with two stats, Wealth and (Equipment) Budget, each with a base value of 3. The cost to raise or lower these depend on the setting, and are part of the BECM, Base Economic Cost Modifiers. In almost all settings, t costs more to buy up Wealth than to buy up Budget, because cash is more flexible than gear you already have and can only sell at a loss (if you can find a willing buyer at all).

The Base Economic Levels (BELs) for Wealth and Budget are, respectively, 40 farthings and 120f.

Wealth is ready money that your character is free to spend. In a modern setting some of it may be on a bank account, possibly accessible via a legit credit or debit card (fake cards are special Perks, dealt with in a separate article). In a medieval setting or similar low-tech, Wealth is in the form of cash, coins, hack-silver that functions as coin (but weighed when large quantities are transacted same way large amounts of coins are handled) but possibly also indivisible jewelry, e.g arm rings of silver or gold, or even jewelry incorporating precious gemstones.

Such indivisuble jewelry is written down on the characte sheet accompanied by cash values, e.g. Ring(A)sil 100f, meaning an Arm Ring of silver worth 100 farthings. Jewelry can of course be divided, with brute force but that requires tools and the resulting hack-silver (or hack-gold) is worth less than the original jewelry, hence the term: The owner wil be reluctant to divide it, preferring to transact it as a whole piece.

Budget, the usual short form of Equipment Budget, is money that must be spent during character creation to buy equipment for your character, including clothes, tool weapons, armour, mounts and vehicles. Don't buy a building or other home, that's handled via the Home Perk. Spend all Budget money, because what you don't spend during character creation is lost.

Each extra level of Wealth or Budget increases that particular amount of money by a factor of 4. Each level of reduced Wealth or Budget decreases it by a factor of 4, but neither can be lowered to less than zero, although partial levels can be purchased.

A common player approach to Wealth and Budget levels is to do the "Eco-Shuffle": since levels of Wealth costs more than levels of Budget one can, say, lower Wealth from 3 to 1 (by 2 levels), and then spend the compensatory Perk Points to raise Budget to 5.5 or even 6 (i.e. by 2.5 or even 3 levels), and so although the character starts out with very, very little cash (only 2 farthings), he'll be able to afford a huge amount of starting equipment.

The Eco-Shuffle is perfectly legal. Cash is more flexible than gear you already have, because you cannot perfectly predict what gear you're going to need during character creation, and so it is more desirable to have cash on hand for unexpected expenses.

You must note that in some areas that are very economically primitive, there may be limited options for purchasing adventuring gear after game start; perhaps there are no towns within hundreds of kilometers, or even thousands of kilometers. All there is are self-sufficient farms. If you want chain mail, or leather armour, that's just too bad, and the only weapons available may be spears made of bog-iron and crappy shortswords. Do purchase the basics with Budget. Doing a reverse Eco-Shuffle is a very bad idea if your character concept is at all reliant on equipment.

Social Status and Legal Rights

Rank

Reputations and Popularities

Craft

Magic item owner

Special GP Category Points

Special Category Points, paid in GPs, are used only for a very few things.

Omniskill Threshold

Normally, characters have an Omniskill threshold of 500 SP, that is they may spend a total of 500 Skill Points on the Omniskill, during character creation, and under rather limited circumstances also after character creation (generally you should buy all the Omniskill you want/can during character creation).

Up to 4 Goodie Points can be paid to raise this threshold, each raising it by 250 SP, to a maximum value of 1500 SP. This is trivial, and requires little if any background justification. Just make sure your character has been through a wide variety of experiences in his backstory, or at least read a lot of books and watched lots of documentary television.

A few characters are highly unusual in that they have a lower Omniskill threshold. 1 compensatory GP is given for lowering the threshold to 250 SP (the cost of this is -1 GP, minus one GP). This requires some background justification, with help from the GM if needed, to look into why the character has such a narrow background and such a severe incompetence in all the skills that he has never trained in any way.

Some extremely unusual characters may have an Omniskill threshold of zero SP, meanig they can never train the Omniskill at all. This gives 2 GPs of compensation, thus the cost is -2 GP. Anything resembling a normal Human cannot have this. It's someone who grew up in a solitary confinement prison cell, or similar. Maybe a supernatural being. Even most space aliens would have some indirect familiarity with a vast range of skill activities, as represented by an Omniskill of at least level 1.

Thus, the range of GPs that can be spent on Omniskill Threshold is from -2 GP to 4 GP. Spending 1-3 GPs, or even 4, on raising the threshold, and then putting all the SPs into Omniskill during character creation, is often a good choice of one wants to create an "older, veteran-shaped" character.

Just make sure not to waste GPs on this. For a perfectly average character whose Aptitude for the Omniskill is 3.00, the first level in the skill costs 150 SP, the first plus second costs a total of 450 SP, and the first, second and third cost a total of 1350 SP, and so spending 1, 2 or 3 GPs on increasing the Omniskill Threshold makes no sense because nothing is gained from it; the amount of SPs that can be put into it, 750, 1000 or 1250, aren't enough to raise it to the 3rd level. Only if 4 GPs are spent does the Threshold go up to 1500, enough to pay the 1350 SP that the 3rd level costs.

Note, though, that if a character's Aptitude for Omniskill is even just slightly higher than 3.00, the cost in Skill Points drops noticably.

Species GP cost

All species packages have a cost in DPs, aDvantage Points, although for Humans the cost for either sex is 0 DP (some sexually dimorphic species may have formal species package for either sex; Humans only have informal implicit packages).

Some species have such a high UMF, UberMensch Factor, that they also cost GP to be, usually only 1 GP, but sometimes 2 or 3 or even more.

UMF is an attempt to "measure" how much better a species is than Humans. Each species trait that makes an attribute or other stat cheaper to increase raises UMF, and each species trait that makes an attribute or other stat more expensive to buy lowers slightly UMF. Raised attribute or stat maximums may also affect UMF, as may lowered maximums.

Any non-zero UMF results in a DP cost to be that species, on top of the sum cost of the traits of the species, negative if the UMF is negative. For a very high UMF, there is an added cost, beyond the DP cost, paid in GPs; usually only a single GP. There is no corresponding extra GP given for choosing to createa character of a species with a very low UMF.

UMF and DP cost is always mentioned in each species package, and if no GP cost is mentioned then it is zero.

Having no Flaws

As explained above, by default a character has 5 Flaw Points that must be spent to choose Flaws. Wanting to have fewer Flat Points to spend is an Advantage, and costs an escalating amount of aDvantage Points as the number of Flaw Points approaches zero.

The privilege of having no Flaws costs 80 DPs, but on top of that it also costs 1 Goodie Point.

Advice

Include any and all pertinent advice here. The goal is to increase the chance of each player having fun, by giving advice helping the player to decide whether to buy the ability or not (if the article is about one or more abilities) or use the option (if the article is about something that characters can choose to do), and later on how to make use of the ability (e.g. to avoid any pitfalls that aren't extremely obvious).

Please note

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Mini-FAQ

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The world

A section mainly for the GM, or worldbuilder, about the world impact of the phenomenon, e.g. an Item Creation Power, or an attribute or other stat that may sometimes be starkly high or low relative to the Human average.

World impact

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The Ärth setting

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Design Notes

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Quick mini-glossary

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See also

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