Number of posts : 6401 Age : 44 Location : Southampton, UK Registration date : 2009-02-23
Subject: Dynamic RP: Character Creation Fri Aug 13, 2010 4:01 pm
"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life." - C-3P0
Creating a character in D-RP can be more than a little daunting the first time around, with all the new rules and terminology to learn. Like most things (paticularly RP) it becomes 2nd nature in no time, especially when you have all the information here to refer to as you go.
All the information for your character is stored on a Character Sheet, and we'll go over that after the basics of Character Creation. You'll be needing that Character Sheet to fill all the information into once you're done but I recommend opening a document writer on your computer to jot things down as you go or even use a good old fashioned pen and paper. Once you've worked out all your character's information then you can copy it into your character sheet.
Your character sheet can be accessed by clicking on 'PROFILE' from anywhere on this site and then clicking on 'Character Sheet'.
CREATING A CHARACTER
Here's how you create a character for D-RP, step by step. Examples are written in green. For the purposes of this exercise we'll be making an Imperial Agent called 'Syeliss'.
1. GENERATE ABILITY SCORES
Each character has six ability scores which represnt their basic strengths and weakness. These Abilities - Agility (AGL), Awareness (AWA), Dexterity (DEX), Intelligence (INT), Personality (PER) and Physique (PHY) - affect everything a character does, from fighting to using skills. A score of 0 in an ability is the galactic average, and an amount above zero shows an apitude in that area, wheras as score in minus numbers is a weakness.
*Each Ability starts at Zero. (0) *You get 6 points to spend among these Ability Scores. *At this point you cannot spend more than 3 points on any one Ability Score, and no Ability Score can go below -1. *For each Ability that you drop to -1, you get an additional point to spend on another Ability.
A score of 0 means you are average compared to other members of the same species, -1 below average, +1 above average, +2 superior, +3 outstanding.
LW starts work on his new character. For now all he's decided is that he wants it to be a 'stealthy' character. All of his Abilities start at 0 and he has 6 points to spend.
He spends 2 points on AGI, 1 point on AWA, 1 point on DEX, 1 point on INT and his final 1 point on PHY.
His Ability Scores look like this:
AGI + 2 AWA +1 DEX +1 INT +1 PER 0 PHY +1
2. SELECT YOUR SPECIES
Select from one of the 40+ Species found in the ' Dynamic-RP: Species' section. Make a note of your of your chosen species 'Traits'.
LW decides his new character is a member of the Bothan species. His Bothan Traits are:
+2 to his Willpower Skill Skill Focus: Research (if he chooses Research as a skill) +1 DEX, -1 PHY 12 HP at level 1
3. CHOOSE YOUR CLASS
Select from one of the 9 Classes found in the 'Dynamic-RP: Classes' section. Be aware that some species cannot be certain classes. Make a note of your classes' Starting Traits.
LW decides his new Bothan is going to be an Imperial Agent. His Imperial Agent Traits (at level 1) are:
+10 HP 5 Major skills, 6 Average skills, 6 Minor skills 3 Feats 'Take Cover' Ability 'Laze Target' Ability 'Brutal Splice' Ability
4. MODIFY ABILITY SCORES
If your chosen species has "Ability Modifiers" add or subtract these from your character now. NOTE: At this point modifiers may cause Abilities to go over +3 or lower than -1.
As a Bothan, LW's character gets +1 to their DEX Ability Score and -1 to the PHY Ability score. Making the alterations to his character, the Abilities now look like this:
AGI + 2 AWA +1 DEX +2 (+1) INT +1 PER 0 PHY 0 (-1)
5. SELECT SKILLS
You already know how many Skills you get from your chosen class (and occasionally, your chosen species), now all you have to do is choose them. Certain skills (such as force-based ones) are only available to certain characters and some skills cannot be used by certain classes (a Smuggler cannot use Heavy Armour skill, for example). To see what all the skills do, please go to the Skills & Feats Section.
Major Skills grant 9 Ranks Average Skills grant 6 Ranks Minor Skills grant 3 Ranks
LW's Bothan choses:
For his 'Major' Skills: Athletics, Computers, Persuation, Pistols and Thievery. Each of these are at Rank 9.
For his 'Average' Skills: Concentration, Galactic Lore, Reflex, Research*, Stealth & Unarmed. Each of these are at Rank 6.
For his 'Minor' Skills: Acrobatics, Guile, Armour (Light), Perception, Rifles & Willpower.
* Remembering his species Trait of Skill Focus: Research, he Looks up the Feat and it says it adds +3 to the reseach skill. He also remembers to add +2 to his Willpower Skills because that is one of his Bothan Traits.
Once you've chosen your Skills its time to get your feats (and force powers if you are a Sith or Jedi). Every character gets 1+ Feat at level 1, plus whatever their Species Traits or Class traits get at level 1. You can find a full listing of all the Feats in the Skills & Feats section, and Force Powers can be found in the section entitled The Force
LW's Bothan gets a total of 4 Feats at level 1 (3 from Imperial Agent, 1 from being level 1). He choses:
Acute Senses Erudition Evasion and Toughness
7. OUTFITTING
Ah, shopping! Next you need to look at your character and make a note of all the starting equipment you get under "Starting Equipment" from your chosen Class because you get this FREE. Next roll the appropriate dice for starting credits and you also have that to spend on whatever you want from the "Outfitting" section.
Looking at the Imperial Agent Class starting equipment, LW choses the following for his Bothan:
A Vibroblade (a small melee weapon) A Forcepike (a medium melee weapn) A Heavy Blaster Pistol (a medium ranged weapon) A Suit of Light Powered Battle Armour (with Shadowskin mod) 4x Weapons mods (Chooses Enhanced Energy Projector, Beam Splitter, Concealed Holster and a Standard Targetting Scope) 3x Implants (Chooses Bio-Stabalizer, Cardio Implant and Sensory Implant. A Computer Interface Visor A Stealth Field Generator 2000c worth of RogueTech A Small Starfighter (Chooses an Star Sabre XC-01)
He then rolls 4d6 and gets 15. Seeing as Imperial Agents get 4d6x1000c to begin with, ON TOP of the gear listed above he has 15,000c to spend (or keep!)
8. DETERMINE COMBAT STATISTICS
There are several secondary abilities that are used commonly in combat, collectively known as 'combat statistics'. Work these out and add them to your character sheet:
Hit Points (HP): The amount of damage your character can take before falling unconscious. To determine your HP at lvl 1: Add your Base HP (from Species) to your +HP (from class) then add your PHY score x2. (+ any feats/skills/traits, optional)
LW's Bothan Imperial Agent begins with 22 HP (12 from Bothan + 10 from Imperial Agent +0 from PHY)
Defenses:
Fortidude Defense ('FORT') allows you to resist damage dealt to you.
To Determine your Fortitude Defense: Your Class Level + Your PHY Ability Score + Armour/Equipment Bonus + Fortitude Skill.
Reflex Defense ('REF') allows you to dodge or mimialize damage dealt to you.
To Determine your Reflex Defense: Your Class Level or your Armour Bonus (whichever is higher) + AGI Ability Score + Reflex Skill
Willpower Defense ('WILL') allows you resist mind-altering effects such as fear, Force powers, etc.
To Determine your Willpower Defense: Your Class Level + PER Ability Score + Willpower Skill.
Force Points (Force Users Only):
If you are a Force User you get an amount of FP per game session.
To Determine your FP for the game session:
Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor begin at level 1 with 5 + PER Ability Score +5 Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior begin at level 1 with 5 + PER Ability Score +3 All other Classes begin at level 1 without Force Points.
Destiny Points (Optional)
If your storyteller is using the Optional 'Destiny' Rules then you begin at level 1 with one Destiny Point.
* Note that for Reflex, the Class Level (1 in this case) was not added, because for Reflex Defense you add EITHER your Armour Reflex Bonus OR your Class Level, not both.
9. FINISHING UP
The last details you need to add to your character sheet help you visualize and roleplay your character. You need a name, of course - something that fits your class, species and the Star Wars galaxy. You should also determine your characters' age, gender, height, weight, eye colour, hair colour etc.
Lastly go through all your abilities, equipment and skills and double-check no other modifiers have been missed and need to be taken into account.
The Bothan Imperial Agent becomes 'Syeliss'. She is 36 years old with dark brown hair and hazel-coloured eyes.
Lastly LW goes over the character and realised he's missed a few bits:
1. The character gets +5 HP from the 'Toughness' Trait. New total is 27 2. The Cardio implant also addes +1 HP per level. New total is 28.
10. Character Sheet
Fill in your character sheet with all the info you've just worked out, and your character is ready to roll