Creating Characters
The number of players in a gaming group preferably ranges between two and four, though it is fully possible to play with only one player and a Game Master. The number of players aside, each player is in control of one character through which he or she experiences and interacts with the game world. Before you create your character it might be a good idea to ask the Game Master about the upcoming adventure or the campaign: what kind of character would be appropriate to play?
You should also talk with the other players in the group. What are they playing and in what way can the characters complement each other?
The Character's Goal
Establish at least one distinct goal for your character – something that he or she wants to achieve, defend or avoid. The goal(s) will change over time as the character evolves but there should always be at least one clear goal that helps in propelling the game forward. As a guideline, it can be said that some goals are inappropriate for characters and gaming groups. Goals that are an inevitable effect of playing and therefore lack dramatic potential fall into this category – for instance, “to get better equipment”, “to get more money”, “to gain more Experience” and “to have more and better abilities”. You will find examples of more suitable goals below.
- Restore your family’s honor
- Become the leader of a guild, chapter or an organization
- Become the acknowledged master of a particular area of expertise
- Take revenge on a person or a creature
- Save a person from captivity
- Find a missing person
- Lift a curse that has fallen on the character or someone else
- Retrieve a lost heirloom or weapon
The Group's Goal
It is good for the group to share a common goal besides the characters’ personal ones. Discuss with the other players what your group would like to accomplish, in the short or the long run. Grander goals will probably be more constant over time, while lesser ones may come to change and be replaced as the game moves forward.
- Lead a large group of people to safety
- Establish an organization together
- Establish a base for the group
- Obtain more land, ships or wagons
- Gain control of a specific location
- Overthrow a leader
- Become a force to be reckoned with in a specific location or in a particular area of expertise
- Remove a serious and known threat towards the group
- Lift a curse
- Form an alliance with another faction in the area
- Mediate peace between two fighting parties
- Fulfill a prophecy
- Find a legendary artifact or site
Bring the Character to Life
Describe your character to the group so that everybody gets a sense of who he or she is. Play and act as if you were there, experiencing it all, and trying to achieve the character’s goals. When things happen, react to them. Describe what your character wants to do and the Game Master will explain what is needed for that to succeed.
Initiate Scenes
You should not be afraid to initiate things, to let your character respond to and interact with the game world. Describe your intentions and the Game Master will decide what you need to do in order to make it happen. Sometimes the Game Master will turn your initiative into a challenge, for you or for the entire group.
Develop Your Character
Allow your character to change as an effect of what he or she experiences and what happens in the game world – just as Frodo and Bilbo are changed by their adventures. Depending on what he or she has to suffer, it is possible for a character to change anything from beliefs and goals to appearance and the focus of its abilities. Between game sessions you can use the Experience that your character has gained to increase abilities that correspond to what challenges he or she has faced, or acquire new abilities that mirror the character’s hardearned experiences.
Describe Future Plans
When a game session ends, describe what your character intends to do next, so the Game Master can prepare for it. Should the session instead mark the end of an entire adventure, describe what your player character will do until the start of the next adventure.
How to Create a Character
Rules wise, your Character is defined by some numbers and notes on a character sheet. The numbers indicate what your character is good at, what abilities and powers it has and how much damage its weapons can inflict on an enemy. The notes can describe what kind of equipment the character carries, what its goals are and what kind of personality it has. Where you get your inspiration from when creating a character may vary, but it often comes from movies, TV-shows and books. Some may only need the texts and pictures within this site, or they may use their ordinary selves as a starting point for building their character. In the end the source of inspiration is irrelevant, but your character has to feel alive, has to have goals and a personality that belongs in the setting of Mithlonde. If you manage to create that, then acting as the character should be both fun and easy.
A guided approach to creating a character is to pick one or more
Professions and use their requirements for entry as recommendations regarding Attributes, Abilities, and so on.
However, there is nothing stopping you from creating a character entirely from scratch, without regard to professions, just the way you want it in terms of Attributes and powers. The professions are only meant to inspire and to incentivize certain play styles.
Attributes
Numerically a character is defined by his or her Attributes, eight values that every creature has, but at varying levels:
Accurate, Cunning, Discreet, Persuasive, Quick, Resolute, Strong and
Vigilant. These Attributes can be interpreted as talents, skills and interests that the character has acquired so far during his or her lifetime, and correspond to all challenges the character may face in the game. When a character attempts to achieve something of importance within the game world, the player rolls a 20-sided die, called a D20, and compares the result with the value of one of the Attributes. The test is successful if the outcome of the dice roll is equal to or lower than the Attribute value. In other words: the higher the number a character has in an Attribute, the better. A central part of character creation is to decide which of the Attributes are important and which are less so. Choosing Abilities will help you in that decision, since abilities are often based on certain Attributes, and therefore indicate what Attributes the player should put most emphasis on.
To determine your character's attributes, roll 2d6+6 eight times, to generate an array of scores, then assign those scores to your attributes in whatever order you choose.
There are many and varied creatures in Mithlonde, but the races available to players when they create their characters are changeling, dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, halfling, hobgoblin, human, orc, planetouched, skaeski. Elf is futher subdivided into Lurentian, Thelassian, and Vale. A character's race determines what sort
Traits they have access to.
Abilities cover the talents and special skills which give the character more alternatives in combat or when solving a problem. The Abilities are divided into three levels of expertise, from Novice through Adept to Master. A new character most often starts with 50 experience, which is enough for two abilities or powers at novice level and one at adept level, or with five abilities at novice level and none at adept level.
Mystical Traditions
Any character can learn to use mystical powers and rituals, but for those who intend to use them frequently it is wise to learn the theory and practice of some mystical tradition. The reason for this is Corruption. When Mystics make use of their powers and rituals, their bodies and Shadows (see below) are tainted by corruption, which one day may lead to ruin.
The learned Mystics of the Arcana tradition include the cunning wizards of
Sarnovum, the artificers of
Dunlorn, and the tower seers of
Lurentia.
The devout priests Theurgy tradition are found predominantly found within the churches of the
Sarkhani Pantheon, but any individual with sufficient faith may practice it, whether they worship a more obscure religion, such as
Karnskaap, or avoid organized religions entirely.
The witches and druids of the Witchcraft tradition wield a much older, more natural, magic. They exist largely in the vast wilds between civilization practicing their arts in isolated communes. While many follow
Hanema, others might worship the nature deities of the
House of Silence or
Thelassian Pantheon
The dark practicioners of the Sorcerery tradition are power-hungry mystics that instead of trying to avoid corruption, embrace it and use its tainting powers for their own nefarious purposes. Many people and places regard any would use Sorcery with suspicion at best, and it is illegal in much of the civilized parts of the world. Most well-known are the necromancers of
Immorin, for whom the stigma of the practice is instead of source of pride, and the diabolists of the Covenant who were cast down in
The Catalyst War
Again, a character does not have to belong to any of these traditions to learn individual mystical powers. However, the mystic who decides to go that way should take heed, and must be prepared to face the inevitable corruption alone.
Boons are skills or resources which are effective for handling social challenges and problem-solving situations, instead of being useful in combat. Anyone can acquire a boon, it is most often a question of practice. However, since the various boons occur
naturally in different environments, they are still chiefly relevant for the members of certain occupations and archetypes, at least at the start. It should also be added that the boons listed in this section are great for adding color to the character, for a lower cost in
Experience than abilities.
Burdens are negative traits which add to the character’s history and also provide extra
Experience to spend on abilities/boons. Using burdens is considered entirely optional, though encouraged
Shadow
Every creature and object in the game world has a Shadow, an expression of its spiritual alliances or its innermost essence. The Shadow indicates to which of the three primal principles a character has the strongest bond (to the discipline of civilization, the wildness of nature or the corruption of darkness), whether the character knows about this bond or not. Characters can learn to see the Shadow of other creatures by using abilities like Witchsight or rituals like Holy Smoke. Creatures that are close to nature have shadows that range in the colors of green, red or white, while the shadows of civilized people tend to appear in gold, silver or copper. Many who dwell on the fringes of both are of a mixed nature and their shadows can therefore consist of a combination of colors. The shadows of true blight beasts are abysmally black, while a corrupted creature of nature is revealed by sickly spots on green, red with streaks of rust or with ashen grey among the white. In the case of corrupted creatures of civilization the shadows tend to be chipped gold, blackened silver or corroded copper. A character’s Shadow is closely connected with the character’s level of Corruption, a circumstance that Mystics should be extra aware of.
A character’s starting equipment, weapons and money are decided by its traits, abilities and powers picked by the player, and any professions the character might qualify for during creation.
All characters start with camping gear consisting of a sleeping roll, cooking equipment and firewood. Trinkets suited to the character’s backstory may be added at no cost: a deck of cards, pipe and tobacco, fishing rod and a case of bait, a signal horn or the like are welcomed since they make the character come alive.
Memorabilia like a lock of hair from a lover, a wooden figurine from a deceased relative or an embroidered handkerchief as the only clue to the murderer of the character’s father really do enrich the history of a character. Abilities that are based on Cunning (like Alchemy, Beast Lore, Loremaster, Poisoner and Tactician) are likely accompanied by impressive tomes and well-thumbed scrolls regarding the topic in question.
When it comes to starting weapons, all characters begin with a dagger. In addition, any weapon or weapons associated with a specific ability the character gained during creation is received for free. Should a character lack any abilities or powers that grant starting weapons, then he or she may instead start with any of the following:
- a sturdy staff
- a single-handed weapon
- a bow or crossbow
Other than weapons, a character starts with piece of generic light armor. If a player should want heavier armor, then he or she has to purchase it with the character’s starting funds. It may be wise to purchase armor with the Flexible quality, should you be able to afford it.
Money
The character starts with 5 gold pieces in its purse, unless any of its traits say differently. The player can use this gold to purchase additional weapons, armor and equipment.
Personality
Fill your character with details that will help to breathe life into the numbers. The character will of course need a name and a detailed background, maybe even a quote that captures its way of speaking and expressing itself. Decide on at least one personal goal for the character, as well as a goal for the whole group, so that the characters have something in common to fight for when the game starts.
Goals
It is hard to say something generic as to which goals a character or a group should choose. However, what is important is that the goals should make for exciting and interesting stories; the Game Master should be able to use the goals as a starting point for designing individual encounters or entire adventures. It is also nice if the goals are tied to the game world of Mithlonde. The site provides a wide collection of organizations, locations, and events that the players can use for inspiration – for instance, names of nations for a character to have a history with.
Relationships
At creation, each character gets 3 relationship points. Each point represents one d6 to be used when trying to leverage your connection to a particular faction (see your dm for what factions are relevant to your campaign). The number of points you invest in a relationship with a faction doesn’t necessarily correlate with the closeness of the connection or the strength of the relationship. It does correlate with the utility of the relationship. It’s not necessarily about how well the faction knows you or how strong the faction feels about you. Instead, the points reflect the chance that your relationship will be helpful to you.
Assigning Relationship Points
You may spend your points on any number of connections to the factions of the campaign. For each faction you spend one or more points on, decide if that relationship is Positive, Conflicted, or Negative.
Using Relationships
The most straightforward way to use your relationship points is on positive or conflicted connections that generally provide you with outright assistance and useful information. Negative relationships usually provide inside knowledge, special skills, opportunistic allies, and possibly some sort of supernatural advantage against a villain. Often you might find that enemies of your rival see you as an opportunity to strike against that mutual enemy. You might get help, wealth and resources, and even magic items from quite unexpected sources, some of which may not be entirely to your liking.
Rolling Relationship Dice
To check your relationship with a particular faction, roll a d6 for each point you have in the relationship. This means that you will usually roll 1, 2, or 3 dice. If any die is a 6, you get some meaningful advantage from the relationship without having complications. If two or three dice come up 6, that’s even better. If any die is a 5, your connection to the icon is going to work out as well as a 6 would, but with some unexpected complication. If it’s a Positive relationship you might be drawn into some obligation. If it’s a Negative relationship, you might attract unwanted attention. Rolling 5s when you also rolled 6s should make life both interesting and advantageous!
Rolling Relationships at the Start of a Session
All players roll their PC’s relationship dice at the start of each session, and everybody sees the results. Rolling a 6 with a relationship die provides an unambiguous advantage. Rolling a 5 provides a similar advantage, but the benefit is balanced by complications and obligations that advance the story. By the end of the session, each 6 or 5 should contribute to the story somehow, either at the GM’s or player’s initiative.
