STEP 7: FLESHING IT OUT
This is where we finish out your skills. More than anything, the skills your character knows are what defines them. Keep your concept in mind as you complete this section.
Total your skill points in each of the three categories, Mental, Physical and Social. Keep the numbers for each separate. Above your Archetypes preselected skills was a number in bold. An 11, 7 and a 4. These are the total of points for each section. If your total points in a section are above this total, congrats! If it is below this total, add points to skills in that section as you see fit to bring the total up to that amount.
ie. Your Physical skills have 7 points total allowed. Your current total is 4 points. You get to add 3 points to any physical skills you desire. However, your Social skills has 4 points total allowed. Your current total is 5. You add nothing to this area as you are over the allowed amount from your history. You just got lucky.
Every character has a set of skills that defines them. These skills are what makes them useful to the party. This is usually just three or four skills. These skills are what your character is about though. You have focused enough effort into these that you may have developed "Specializations" in them.
Specializations are what makes your character unique. There may be three other characters in the group with the Weaponry skill, but you may be the only one that specializes in using the Battle Axe. Or maybe your character is the social type. Several characters may have Socialize, but you specialize in "Small talk". This is what makes your character even more unique and special.
When you selected an Archetype, you were assigned several preselected skills. Ofttimes these will be your characters focused skills, but not always. Regardless, choose a single skill with a rating of 5 dots or two skills with ratings of 4 or 5 dots. Pick two specializations and assign them to these Skill(s).Specializations can be any kind of focus in that particular skill.
Record Starting Size, Health, Willpower, Speed, Initiative Mod and Defense.
Backgrounds are another fantastic way to add history to your character. You get 5 points in Backgrounds to flavor your character a bit more. Subtract the points in Backgrounds that you currently have from 5. Any remainder are yours to place as you see fit. You can place all the points into a single background or spread them around. Remember, try to pick backgrounds for the depth they add to your character and not just the in game benefit. BACKGROUNDS
Throughout this process, you may have gathered some merits to flesh your character out. Add the total points for these merits and subtract that number from 15. This is the number of points remaining to select some merits yourself. Choose wisely, these merits are all you have for your characters life. MERITS
Like, merits, you may have gathered a few flaws during your journey. You may be able to add a few more to flesh out your character. Add the total points in current flaws and subtract that from 10. The remainder, if there is any, can be used to purchase more flaws. Now, you may be asking, "Why would I want more flaws for my character?" Well, two reasons. First, and most importantly, they add character to your character. Second, each flaw point you get can be used in the next section to add more good stuff to your character, so read on! FLAWS
All characters get 25 freebie points to flesh their character out. Add the points in Flaws to this number. Use the table below to purchase additional dots in the associated stats.
FREEBIE POINTS
* Willpower cannot be raised above 6 during character creation
Throughout all of this you should have been writing your completed sentences down. Read those sentences while thinking about your archetype and see if this gives you a good idea about how your character came to this point in their life.
Your Archetype can also play a role, though you should probably consider tweaking its name a bit for the sake of color, specificity and diversity. “Knight” is fine, but what about "Knight of the White Rose" or "Solaris Knight"? Be creative.
Total your skill points in each of the three categories, Mental, Physical and Social. Keep the numbers for each separate. Above your Archetypes preselected skills was a number in bold. An 11, 7 and a 4. These are the total of points for each section. If your total points in a section are above this total, congrats! If it is below this total, add points to skills in that section as you see fit to bring the total up to that amount.
ie. Your Physical skills have 7 points total allowed. Your current total is 4 points. You get to add 3 points to any physical skills you desire. However, your Social skills has 4 points total allowed. Your current total is 5. You add nothing to this area as you are over the allowed amount from your history. You just got lucky.
Specializations
Every character has a set of skills that defines them. These skills are what makes them useful to the party. This is usually just three or four skills. These skills are what your character is about though. You have focused enough effort into these that you may have developed "Specializations" in them.
Specializations are what makes your character unique. There may be three other characters in the group with the Weaponry skill, but you may be the only one that specializes in using the Battle Axe. Or maybe your character is the social type. Several characters may have Socialize, but you specialize in "Small talk". This is what makes your character even more unique and special.
When you selected an Archetype, you were assigned several preselected skills. Ofttimes these will be your characters focused skills, but not always. Regardless, choose a single skill with a rating of 5 dots or two skills with ratings of 4 or 5 dots. Pick two specializations and assign them to these Skill(s).Specializations can be any kind of focus in that particular skill.
PULL IT TOGETHER
By this point in the process, you know mostly what your character can do and what they are like in terms of capabilities and backstory. It’s time to put all that together add the qualities that you choose. Below are the various items on your character sheet that haven't been finished. Lets finish them now.FINALIZE YOUR SUB STATS
Record Starting Size, Health, Willpower, Speed, Initiative Mod and Defense.
| Size | 5 +/- 2 if you chose the Merit Huge (2pt.) or the Flaw Small (2pt.) |
| Health | Stamina + Size |
| Willpower | Resolve + Composure |
| Speed | Strength + Dexterity +5 |
| Initiative Mod | Dexterity + Composure |
| Defense | Lowest of Dexterity or Wits + Athletics |
BACKGROUNDS
Backgrounds are another fantastic way to add history to your character. You get 5 points in Backgrounds to flavor your character a bit more. Subtract the points in Backgrounds that you currently have from 5. Any remainder are yours to place as you see fit. You can place all the points into a single background or spread them around. Remember, try to pick backgrounds for the depth they add to your character and not just the in game benefit. BACKGROUNDS
MERITS
Throughout this process, you may have gathered some merits to flesh your character out. Add the total points for these merits and subtract that number from 15. This is the number of points remaining to select some merits yourself. Choose wisely, these merits are all you have for your characters life. MERITS
FLAWS
Like, merits, you may have gathered a few flaws during your journey. You may be able to add a few more to flesh out your character. Add the total points in current flaws and subtract that from 10. The remainder, if there is any, can be used to purchase more flaws. Now, you may be asking, "Why would I want more flaws for my character?" Well, two reasons. First, and most importantly, they add character to your character. Second, each flaw point you get can be used in the next section to add more good stuff to your character, so read on! FLAWS
FREEBIES
All characters get 25 freebie points to flesh their character out. Add the points in Flaws to this number. Use the table below to purchase additional dots in the associated stats.
FREEBIE POINTS
| Attributes | 5 points per dot |
| Willpower* | 1 point per dot |
| Skills | 2 points per dot |
| Backgrounds | 2 points per dot |
SUM IT ALL UP!
Throughout all of this you should have been writing your completed sentences down. Read those sentences while thinking about your archetype and see if this gives you a good idea about how your character came to this point in their life.
Your Archetype can also play a role, though you should probably consider tweaking its name a bit for the sake of color, specificity and diversity. “Knight” is fine, but what about "Knight of the White Rose" or "Solaris Knight"? Be creative.
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