Creative creation process Numerical creation process Native System - SAPTIS Skills Attributes External systems - d20 and universal rpgs

 

Character design is arguably one of the most important processes of an RPG, but it is also something that is ongoing since the character will evolve and deepen with play.  In many PnP RPGs the character is mostly laid out on a sheet through an initial phase of rolling, purchasing and selecting attributes, skills, traits, equipment etc.  Play by post role-playing often takes a less structured approach, with the character developing and revealing abilities as the story progresses.  Either method can be incorporated using these guidelines.  It is more important to establish your characters strengths and weaknesses before their specific point value is necessary in an opposed role, thus solidifying their amount.

 

Creative creation process

 

Who is your character?  If you can form a clear picture of them in your mind, the choices necessary to fill in all the rules will be much easier.  See if you can decide on one thing that defines your character most?  Do you have an image of how they behave around others?  Perhaps it is their skills you see first, a noble warrior, a caring druid, someone who loves animals, someone who is meek but powerful, feeling misunderstood.  It's often good to start with characters that you can relate to, something that reflects how you see yourself with embellishments of who you would like to be.

 

Remember that a character without weaknesses is unlikely to be interesting in the long run.  Story arises from characters that change, and weaknesses often reveal sensitivities that have arisen from the past.  Twists, turns and defeats from the weakness of a character is as important to making story progress and giving reason to continue adventuring.

 

Some of the things you might want to consider are:

• History
• Goals/Motivation
  • Vengeance
  • Aspiration/Achievements
  • Desire
    • Wealth, Love, Lust, Power
• Attitude
• Appearance
• Behaviour

 

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Numerical creation process

 

Native System - SAPTIS

Character design is based around a six category skill set and a suite of attributes.  The six skill categories and the first tier attributes are initially purchased using the initial points total, and then can be improved later in play using action points. 

 

Skill can be bought at the generalized category level or specialized to a specific skill.  Purchasing points at the generalized category level is significantly more expensive, but can be used towards any skill within that category.  Specialized skill expenditures are 3-6 times cheaper than the general category, but are more difficult to apply those levels towards related skill rolls.

 

 

Skills

 

The major skill categories are:

• Social
• Animal
• Physical
• Technical
• Intellectual
• Spiritual

For each of these skill categories...

 

For more information see the SAPTIS entry.

 

The first tier attributes are used reactively, or to boost skills.  e.g. when a character is attempting to resist a poison spell, they default to an appropriate roll against their Vigor.  The vigor can also have an effect upon healing spells or cure poison spells cast upon the character, a higher attribute reacting more favourably to the effect.  Wisdon is used for all nonspecific tests of the mind, and can modify some social, intellectual, or spiritual rolls.  To boost skills, action points need to be expended for a number of dice equal to or less than the primary attributes, and then the bonus applies if the check is successful.

 

Second tier attributes (also known as secondary attributes) are not purchased, but are calculated by the relationships between primary attributes, and the summed points invested in the appropriate skill categories.  Logic is Intellectual skill total modified by Wisdom, Intuition is Spiritual by Wisdom, Physical resistance is Avg(Animal+Physical) by Vigor, Magical resistance is Avg(Social+Technical) by Agility.  The magical resistance attribute might seem really odd at first, but it requires looking at magic from the two sides: caster and target. 

 

Whereas the caster has to exert hir will over reality and is bounded by mental strength, the actual distortions of the universe which are the magical effects require speed, coordination and an understanding of the workings of magic and impressions of the caster.  Some thieves/rogues are very difficult to catch with magic, since they are quick to react and rarely caught off guard, sometimes knowing what danger is coming by subtle variations in the caster's mood or movements.  (And I wanted to distribute some of the secondary attributes away from the mental things, so as to not bias the system.  Brutes will still have low magic resistance in this case.  And there is always counterspells, protections or even magical resistance boosting spells to help out those primary spellcasters).

 

 

Attributes

 

• 1st tier:
  • Vigor (Stamina, toughness)
  • Wisdom
  • Strength
  • Agility (Flexibility, coordination)
• 2nd tier - calculated attributes
  • logic
  • intuition
  • physical resistance
  • magical resistance
• special attributes - are they even attributes?
  • fortune - used to offset roll difficulty
  • learning - affects the rate of conversion of points to skills/attributes. should this one be on a scale from totally physical learning to totally mental? or, perhaps a combo of the three: body/mind/soul

No intelligence attribute. Intelligence is determined by the players actions and for those that cannot be RPed there is the intellectual skill atribute. Intelligence is dependent upon skill rolls or player conclusions

 

 

Animals function primarily on logic and instinctive solutions created by evolution. Insects are essentially robots, having no intuition attribute. Intelligent organisms have intuition and logic. Plants can have either, but they have no will, no curiousity, merely a wish to survive and reproduce.

 

No charisma attribute; physical appearance is unrelated to charm. charm can be measured by interactions with NPCs

 

Much more written awaiting to copied into here.

 

Note:  The following section has been written with the intent of creating a system independent from existing OGL systems (specifically the d20 system).  For creating characters for this world using other system, please use those rules and modify them as you see fit.  It is another goal to create a customization subset of rules for d20 for future release as it's own supplement.

 

External systems - d20 and universal rpgs

Not yet added, please add house rules and modifications if you have them.