Character creation guide!First of all we need a suitable character sheet to fill in. So here it is:
Now for what everything is and how to fill it in I'll explain the steps one by one below.
Starting with the
General information. Most of these are fairly straighforward, like name, player, height, weight, etc.
Those that aren't, like Diviniation, career path, rank and Origin will be covered, so don't you worry.
Starting with the most important:
Origin.Why that one? Well, because the Home world type determines what bonuses your character get to their Characteristics, some starting traits and skills and most importantly what career paths are available.
Origins available are the following:
Feral World.Feral Worlders are born to worlds trapped in a state of barbarism. The are natural survivors, and are commonly big, strong and tough. Feral worlders make for characters that are exceptional at physical action and combat.
Hive world.Hivers are products of vast and crowded hive cities. They are fast talking, quick thinking individuals accustomed to looking out for themselves -- perfect if you want to play a roguish character who lives by their wits.
Imperial world.Much of humanity hails from from one of the myriad civilized worlds of the Imperium, where, despite bewildering diversity, Imperial culture and faith un the God-Emperor is strong. Adaptable and varied, characters witht his Origin make good all-rounders and have the widest choice of careers available to them.
Void Born.Born from the bloodlines of human star travellers, voiders have lived most of their lives in space within the metallic bastions of great vessels. Uncommonly lucky and strong willed, they are perfect if you want to play a pysker or risk-taking adventurer.
Spoiler for Traits and Skills:
Traits:
Charmed: the void born unconsciously channel the fickle powers of the warp, making them prenaturally lucky.
Benefit: Whenever you spend a fate point, roll a d10. On a roll of 9, you do not lose the fate point.
Ill-Omened: Whether because of their looks, clannish ways or unwholesome air, the void born are shunned and mistrusted by most. In addition the void born are most likely to attract any negative attention that the party of Acolytes creates -- accusations of curdling milk, disgruntled merchants, children with handfuls of grox dung and so on.
Penalty: You take a -5 penalty on all Fellowship tests made to interact with non-void born humans.
Shipwise: Birthed in the depths of a spacefaring craft, the void born have a natural affinity for such vehicles.
Benefit: Navigation (Stellar) and Pilot (Spacecraft) are basic skills.
Void Accustomed: Due to their strange and unnatural childhood, the void born are used to the vagaries of changing gravity.
Benefit: You are immune to space travel sickness. In addition, zero- and low-gravity environments are not considered Difficult Terrain for you.
Forge world.Those raised in teh shadow of the Omnissiah have survived the Machine God's harsh regime and posseses an innate familiarity with the higher mysteries of arcane science, making for excellent scholars and tech-priests.
Spoiler for Traits and Skills:
Common Lore (tech and Common Lore (Machine cult) are basic skills
Fit for purpose: A forge world inhabitant is repeatedy tested, channeled and trained from birth for their chosen station and role in life. Weakness is not tolerated and failure met with painful incentives to do better. Even those who follow a rogue's path must strive to be better than their peers to survive.
Benefit: Depending on your chosen career, increase your characteristic by 3: Adept - Intelligence, Assasin - Agility, Guardsman - Ballistic Skill, Scum - Perception or Tech-priest - Willpower.
Stranger to the Cult: Although forge world citizens know that hte Emperor is their god and saviour, they see the Imperial Creed through the lens of the Cult Mechanicus doctrine. As a result, they can be surprisingly -- and sometimes dangerously-- ignorant of the common teachings and practices of the Ecclesiarchy, often failing to offer their clerics the level of deference they expect.
Penalty: Forge world characters take a -10 penalty on tests involving knowledge of the Imperial creed, and a -5 penalty on Fellowship tests to interact with members of the Ecclesiarchy.
Credo ommnissiah: rather than being fully indoctrinated into the Imperial Cult, even the lowliest of a forge world's society is brought up to venerate the spirits of the machine and to know and trust the basic rites of the tech-propitation.
Benefit: You gain the Technical Knock talent.
Schola Progenium.Progena orphans of Imperial servants trained in mind, body and spirit from birth. They make for superior warriors and knowledgeable leaders, if lacking in experience of life's more sordid side.
Spoiler for Traits and Skills:
Skills: Begin play with: Literacy, Speak Language (High gothic), and Speak Language (Low Gothic)
Common Lore (Administratum, Ecclesiarchy, Imperial Creed, Imperium and war) and Scholastic Lore (Philosophy) all count as basic skills.
Traits.
Skill at arms: All progena are instructed by grizzled drill abbots in the arts needed to defend the Emperor's truth and, no matter their calling, all are willing and able to shed blood if needed.
Benefit: You begin play with the Basic weapon training (Las or SP), Melee weapon training (primitive) and pistol training (las or SP) talents.
Sheltered upbringing: Despite their extremely well-rounded education, the progena are largely ignorant of the Imperium's worse elements, breeding a disdain they can't ever seem to manage to hide.
Penalty: Take a -10 penalty on all Charm, Command, Decieve and Scrutiny tests when dealing with the worst of examples of humanity (Cultists, traitors, narco-addicts, gutter scum and the like.)
Tempered Will: The harsh methods of the Schola Progenium chiefly aim to forge the most crucial weapons a servant of the Emperor has: an unbending will.
Benefit: Whenever you would attempt a Very Hard willpower test you only take a -20 penalty instead of the normal -30.
Noble Born.Nobles are privileged individuals, raised in wealth and steeped in tradition and etiquette. They are ideally suited for those who prefer charm and guile over brute force. Nobles make superb spies, diplomats and assassins.
Spoiler for Traits and Skills:
Skills: Literacy, Speak Languge (High Gothic) and Speak Language (Low Gothic)
Traits:
Etiquette: Nobles are schooled in how to comport themselves in all manner of formal situations.
Benefit: Gain +10 on Charm, Decieve and scrutiny Tests when dealing with high authority and in formal situations.
Supremely connected: Nobles have extensive connections and you know that dropping the "right" names into a conversation can open more doors than a fistful of Thrones.
Benefit: You gain the Peer (Nobility) talent. In addition you also gain one of the following talents depending on your family's powrbase: Peer (Academics, Adeptus Mechanicus, Administratum, Astropaths, Exlessiarchy, Government, Mercantile, Military or Underworld.)
Vendetta:Every noble house has its sworn enemies and rivals who would do it and its members harm. Joining the Holo Ordos doesn't stop this, it merely forces those who wish you harm to be a bit more cautious and subtle in exacting their vengeance.
Penalty: You have powerful enemies, be it another noble house or some other powerful group. The details of these enemies are left to you and me to discuss.
Wealth: Those born into the nobility are also born with wealth and enjoy the fruits of their family's fortunes.
Benefit: Doubled starting wealth and higher monthly income.
Mind Cleansed.Those whose mind have been emptied of identity and their memories wiped or sealed off. These rare individuals have been "re-made" by their Inquisitorial masters to serve the Holy Ordos.
Note: This origin is
not reccomended for storytelling and roleplaying reasons. If you insist on playing one then I may grant it upon request, and will in such a case give the needed information in a PM.
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Okay! Those were the origins. Now we'll go over the Characteristics, starting Wounds, and Fate Points.
These are largely determines by your chosen origin, and not by the career path as one might guess, which is why they are covered now and not later.
Okay, Starting with
Characteristics. To generate characteristics you have two values to keep track of, your Origin modifier and your base value. The base value is assigned to each characteristic, by you, from a pool of 110 points. These points you can distribute freely, so long as no given characteristic is raised above 20.
Once that is done you add your Origin Modifier (listed below) to the assigned number to gain your total value. Example:
If I assign 20 points to Ballistic skill and also play an Imperial worlder then my final Ballistic skill value will be 20+20=40.
Here are the modifers based on origin:
For Mind cleansed see my previous note.
Alright. Moving on to Wounds and fate points. First, what are these? Wounds are the Health Points of the setting, they represent your characters ability to take a beating and still stand. Fate points can be expended every once in a while to gain a temporary bonus on one action Or gain 10 in initiative in combat Or instantly recover 1d5 wounds Or recover from a stun.
Each origin begin with the following wounds and fate points:
Feral: 1d5+9 wounds, and 1 fate points
Hive: 1d5+8 wounds, and 2 fate points
Imperial: 1d5+8 wounds, and 2 fate points
Void: 1d5+6 wounds, and 3 fate points
Noble: 1d5+8 wounds, 2 Fate points
Progena: 1d5+8 wounds, 2 fate points
Forge: 1d5+7 wounds, 2 fate points.
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Careers, skills and talents!Okay, now for some career choices. I've already listed the available ones, but I'll now provide a more detailed look at them. Note that sometimes I'll have written
Or in the starting kits of skills, talents etc. this means naturally that you pick one of two choices separated by these.
Adept.Adepts are wise and learned scholars, at least they hope to be one day. They are skilled with languages, knowledge and often act as the brains of the group. They are not very good at fighting, and some are very poor at talking to people. When it comes to the realm of the mind however they leave everyone else for dust.
Starting Rank: Archivist
Adepta SororitasTo be a sister of the Adepta Sororitas is to have a holy and divinely ordained calling to do the emperor's will, to lead the faithful by example and punish and destroy the heretic wherever and whenever it is found. Adepta Sororitas sisters are courageous, pious, self-sacrificing, chaste and faithful. They are fanatics, boun by a harsh and restrictivve religious oaths and ingrained zealotry. The Power of the purity, will and faith of a sororitas sister is a tangiable and real thing, capable of shielding her from the psyker's power or the Daemon's wrath and enabling her to perform deeds that are nothing short of miraculous.
Starting ranks: Novice
Note: Adepta Sororitas characters
must be female.
Arbitrator.Arbitrators are tough law-keepers and judges. They ensure that the Imperium's laws are maintained, whilst also acting as executioners for rebels, seditionists and trouble-makers. Arbitrators do not serve on any local planetary police force, rather they are members of a higher organisation: the Adeptus Arbites. Arbitrators are not very strong, and they sometimes lack social graces.when it comes to soaking up damage and to track down their prey, however, they are certainly the ones you want on your side.
Starting rank: Trooper
Assassin:Assassins are skilled killers, adept at getting close to a target and ending their days. Some are cold-blooded executioners that revel in bloodshed, while others are consummate professionals who take great pride in their art. Whatever the motivations, they represent some of the most dangerous men and women of the Inquisition, each a finely honed tool of murder.
Starting rank:Sell-steel
Cleric.Clerics are the priests of the Emperor, members of the vast organisation known as the Ecclesiarchy. They are charismatic and capable leaders, as well as respected figures of authority. Clerics are trained in a wide variety of abilities, and can turn their hand to pretty much anything. Most notably they know how to lead and inspire, preaching from the front line as they charge into battle.
Starting rank: Novice
GuardsmanGuardsmen are the fighters, killers and warriors of the 41st millenium. Some may be members of a formal army, or even part of the Imperial Guard. Others may be nothing more than mercenaries and thugs. Some may even be convicted criminals, fitted with explosive collars and sentenced to serve in penal legions to pay for their crimes. Needless to say, Guardsmen are neither particular smart nor sociable. They more than make up for this with their ability to make things die in loud and unpleasant ways.
Starting rank: Conscript
Imperial Psyker:Psykers are otherwordly individuals with supernatural powers, they have many and varied abilities, ranging from reading minds to throwing bolts of bio-electrical energy. These strange powers come with a terrible price however, for each pysker is a doorway to the hellish dimension of the immaterium, the abode of daemons, psychic predators and worse. Each Imperial psyker risks his very soul every time he uses his abilities, knowing that the cold edge of a mercy blade is the kindest fate the daemon-possessed can expect to meet.
Starting rank: Sancionite
ScumScum are the criminals, outcasts, conmen, gangers, thieves and desperados of the Imperium. They are the flotsam and jetsam of society. For all their dubious origins, they do have numerous skills that are highly useful for secretive, quasi-legal tasks. Fom picking locks to street stabbings, forgery and fencing illegal goods, scum have what it takes to get things dodgy things done. Whislt neither strong nor particularly tough, scum are good at social skills, as well as being rather agile. Perfect for getting in and out of trouble.
Starting rank: Dreg
Tech-priestStarting rank: Technographer
Spoiler for Mechanicus Implants:
You get free implants! Aren't you lucky?
Electo-Graft
This is a small port that is grafted into your nervous system. Once you have been properly trained in its use, this will allow you to interface with machine data ports, and certain types of data nets. Electro-grafts can take many forms, such as electoos, skull shunts, finger probes or spine jacks
Electoo Inductors
The electoos are palm-sized metal skin grafts that appear much like tattoos to the uninitiated. They are wired into your nervous system, where they derive power from the bio-electrical emanations of the flesh. They can be used to emit or siphon power in many ways. Electoo Inductors can be any colour, and can appear anywhere on the body -though hands or mechadendrites are the usual sites.
Respirator Unit
This implant covers the lower half of your face with a network of grilles and tubing. It purifies your air supply, granting a +20% bonus to resist airborne toxins and gas weapons. The respirator unit also contains a vox-synthesiser capable of transmitting your voice in a variety of ways. Respirators can appear as simple grille units or as intricate mask-like carvings.
Cyber-Mantle
This is a framework of metal, wires and impulse transmitters that is bolted on to your spine and lower ribcage. As you gain further implants, this mantle will act as a sub-dermal anchorage point. Amongst some servants of the Omnissiah, this cyber-mantle is often referred to as "the true flesh". One would have to look beneath the red robes of a Tech-Priest to discover what a cyber-mantle looks like, and thus no one ever admits to having seen one.
Potentia Coil
Cradled within the cyber-mantle is a power unit known as the potentia coil. This mass can store energy and produce various types of fields. Coils come in many types, from small crustal stack affairs, to bulky electrical galvinators salvaged from vehicle engines. Many a hunchback within the Adeptus Mechanicus is blamed upon a primitive coil.
Cranial Circuitry
This is a series of linked processors, implants and cortical circuits that augments your mental capacities. Most sit within housing bolted on the skull, whilst others nestle within the brain itself. As you grow in the seriousness of your devotions, more and more of the brain that deals with useless things such as emotion and intuition can be scooped away to provide room for additional augmentations. Cranial circuits often look very crude-looking, and frequently rather aged.
In addition to these starting skills and talents you also have 400 Xp points with which to spend. What you can and cannot spend them on varies depending on your career and rank. More will be made available when you reach higher ranks, but for now these are the ones you can buy, and how much they cost:
Note for all: Sound Constitution may be taken twice this rank.
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Psychic powersOkay, psychic power are fun. Fun for the psyker, and their allies, if things go well, and fun for me if they don't. Technically speaking anyone who has a Psy-rating of 1 or more is a psyker, but only the Imperial Psyker career will have that from the start anyway. Psy-rating tell us two things, one how many power dice they have (psy-rating one is one one die) and two how many powers (See above for how many you get if you play psyker). The power dice are rolled to determine if the psyker manage to manifest a power.
Minor Powers that are available in the book (And their given threshhold)
Some of the powers are sustainable and/or have something called overbleed, which means that they gain boosts if you get really high rolls.
Divinations:These are divinations that your characters are given upon birth, they consist of a short quote of Imperial creed, and have some effect on your character's mechanic. Roll a 1d00, give me the results, and I'll assign you a divination. Simple enough.
Insanity and CorruptionThese represent the effects of fear, madness, powers and the warp have on the character. At the start of the game these are both at 0 unless otherwise stated during creation. As they progress they may develop to disorders or mutations over time. Naturally, if you -want- to play a madman, then that's fine, just please consult with me first.
Background and AppearanceThese two should be straightforward. Keep them at skirt length.
Use of the Ten-minute-background method, as described
here, is allowed an encouraged.
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Phew! Was that everything? I hope I've not missed anything crucial. Naturally any questions regarding talents, powers, skills and equipment (Actually just about anything you can think of) ask me and I'll answer.