Character Creation
Character creation is an important and detailed process in playing the Unbound system. This section will walk you through the various steps taken as you create the character you want. These steps may be done in any order, this is just a guideline.
Step 1 - Character Concept
Deciding on a base concept for a character is by far the most important step. The Unbound system is built around anything being possible, so you should focus on creating a concept and personality over a mechanical build. These thematic decisions will shape the rest of character creation, and help guide your next choices. The Unbound system also has multiple optional rules that further enhance the uniqueness of a character during creation.
Step 2 - Choose a Race
The next step is choosing a characters race. A race provides statistical bonuses and racial abilities. Each core race provides a set of base statistics (Attributes, Type, Size, Speed, Languages) in addition to four racial abilities. These abilities are broken up into Basic Racials, and Heritage Racials, with a character getting two of each. For example a Longbeard Dwarf gains the Eternal Grudge and Wisdom of the Mountain, and a Duergar have the Darkvision and Deep Magic abilities, while both have the Robust and Hardy racial traits.
Monstrous Races: In addition to the Core Races there are various Monstrous Races available for play. These races are more powerful and are considered somewhat rare. They receive a stronger attribute line and an additional basic racial ability, for a total of five racials. Their racial abilities are also more powerful or unique in what they do. Playing a monstrous race costs 70 of the character's starting experience. In addition, monstrous characters have to spend more experience to reach their spent thresholds for the next rank. This starts at 100 additional experience for journeyman, 200 for professional, 300 for master, and 400 for grandmaster. Players should discuss with the GM and group before playing one of these races as in addition to being slightly stronger, there may be various roleplay repercussions.
Mixed Races: With GM approval, players may choose to mix two races together to create a half breed. When creating a half breed choose the base stat line of one parent, this is the base stat line of the race. You then choose any combination of four Basic and Heritage Racial abilities that the parents possessed, with the only limitation being that the character must have racial one from each parent at minimum. Mixing monstrous races works the same way, except that if you choose the base stat line of a monstrous race the character gets five racial abilities instead of four, and must spend the 70 XP out of their starting experience and have the increased experience threshold. If you choose a core race as the base and mix it with a monsterous race, the character only gets 4 racial abilities, must spend 35 XP from their starting experience and has half the experience threshold increase.
For a complete list of the races, see Unbound Races
Step 3 - Magic
At this point you should choose whether or not your character has magic. Magic can be very powerful if properly built into, but also is complex at first glance. For in depth details of magic and spell casting see Unbound Magic
Step 4 - Point Buy
Next, players will purchase their attributes, using a category point buy with points to spend on each category of attributes. The categories are the: Body (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution), Mind (Intellect, Fellowship, Thaumaturgy), and Soul (Magic, Spirit, Luck).
There are three basic different point buys available at base, however feel free to alter these for your own game.
Heroic Fantasy: one 25 points category, one 20 points category, one 15 points category, and a floating 5 points.
High Fantasy: one 20 points category, one 15 points category, one 10 points category, and a floating 5 points.
Standard Fantasy: one 15 points category, one 10 points category, one 5 points category, and a floating 5 points.
Low Fantasy: one 15 points category, one 10 points category, one 5 points category.
Once a point buy has been chosen, you assign each group of points to a single category. You then spend the points to increase the attributes of that category, and then spend the floating 5 points anywhere you see fit. The cost of attribute scores is listed on the table below. If your GM allows it you can even take a negative in an attribute to gain extra points in that category.
Optional - Rolled Attributes: If preferred, an example alternative attribute generation is to roll 4d6, and drop the lowest die, for each attribute. Additionally, roll up three sets of attributes this way and choose the one you want.
Regardless of what attribute system is used, it is recommended that all players use the same one. More information on Attribute can be found Attributes and Statistics
Step 5 - Choosing Background Traits
Players now choose from various traits and flaws available to help flesh out the character. Every character receives 2 traits for free that match their theme and backstory, you may also take a flaw to gain an additional trait. Any mechanical bonus from a trait is a trait bonus, and unless listed otherwise and doesn't stack with other trait bonuses.
A list of character traits and flaws can be found Character Traits and Flaws
Step 6 - Starting Skills
All characters start with a set amount of apprentice rank skills for free, based on their attributes. These free skills are broken up into the following three categories.
Adventure and Utility: Characters start with a number of free apprentice rank Adventure and Utility skills equal to double their Intellect modifier, plus highest physical attribute modifier.
Martial: Characters start with a number of free apprentice rank Martial skills equal to their Strength or Dexterity Modifier.
Magic: Characters with a positive Magic modifier start with a number of free apprentice rank Magic skills equal to their Thaumaturgy modifier.
Lore: Characters start with a number of free Lore categories as follows. Any racial lore, 2 appropriate lore based on where the character grew up, 2 lore's based on back story, and a number of free lore's equal to their highest Mental Modifier that is appropriate for the character. For more information on Lore, see Knowledges.
Languages: Characters start with their racial languages and a number of additional languages equal to their Intellect modifier. For more information on skills and skill categories, see Skills.Step 7 - Starting Experience
At this point characters are able to spend any starting experience to purchase talents and skills. Normal Starting XP is 100, this XP must be spent and doesn't count towards total XP which matters for ability score increases, check with the GM for changes for specific campaigns.
See the Experience Shop for more details on what is available to purchase.Step 8 - Martial Traditions
Characters start with a martial tradition for free if they start the game with 50% more martial skills than spellcasting magic skills. If they do so they gain two benefits of a martial tradition. If they start with no spellcasting skills and no magic tradition, they instead gain four benefits of a martial tradition.
For more examples see Premade Martial Traditions.
Step 9 - Starting Equipment
At this point most details of a character have been chosen and you may now purchase any starting equipment your character would have. At base characters have 5 gold pieces to spend on all equipment. In addition, you may receive some free equipment depending on skills and talents. Characters who start with the Trapfinder talent, start with a set of thieves tools for free. If they are trained in a Craft or Harvest skill, they have basic tools for those skills. And finally, if a character starts the game with a Martial Tradition they start with one Fine quality weapon.
For a full list of available equipment see the Item Store.
Step 10 (Optional) - Backstory Benefits
The backstory of your character is incredibly important and as such the abilities you start the game with should reflect where you came from and reflect what you did beforehand. This is an optional rule that will differ slightly depending on what your GM decides to do, if implemented at all. However the following is a base example of what you may receive based on your backstory. It is recommended that a character be finalized before any backstory benefits are applied.
Basic Boon: The basic boon you receive for your backstory averages on a minor set of skills or even a basic talent that represents some basic training or perhaps something your character learned during their upbringing. A recommended basic boon would be around the value of 20-30 XP worth of skills or basic talents.
Breakthrough Boon: The breakthrough boon is more aligned with the focus of your character, and what role they will fill; making them more efficient or specialized. These boons can be anything from a martial tradition from the region you are from, a higher level talent that you don't normally meet the prerequisites for, or some other unique ability based on backstory.
Mastery Boon: The mastery boon is the strongest boon you earn during your backstory, and represents major plot points represented in your backstory. As such these are usually unique mechanics based on a main focus of your character, though this can also include XP cost reductions or the ability to gain talents earlier than normal. A mastery boon also commonly has multiple pieces instead of just one benefit. An entire build or concept can be designed around this type of boon.
Innate Drawback: A innate drawback represents an aspect of your characters backstory that negatively affects them in some way, be it emotional or physical trauma, some regret they carry, or even some outside force affecting them negatively such as a curse or magical wound. These drawbacks may change slightly over the course of the game, however it is almost impossible to remove them completely, requiring sincere and drastic change on the character's part to do so. The effects of these drawbacks can never be negated.
Trial Drawback: A trial drawback is a trial that your character must overcome through the course of the game. The negatives applied by the trial are usually fairly severe, but usually have specific circumstances that must be met to trigger. As you advance through the game you will make progress towards removing this drawback, and may grow stronger or weaker depending on your actions. Ultimately being removed by completing the trial. Depending on your character and your backstory it is possible to earn additional trials or replace the trial on completion depending on which the situation calls for. Completing a characters trial typically comes with some form of reward.
Experience
As characters progress through a campaign they grow and gain experience. This experience can be spent on skills, talents, and abilities available in the Experience Shop. However, higher skill ranks are locked behind an experience spent threshold that must be achieved before the higher rank can be purchased. The thresholds are as follows.
In addition, for every 200 experience that a character earns, they may increase an attribute score of their choice by 1. Each individual attribute can only receive a total of 4 increases from experience.
Fused Body and Severed Soul (Optional)
Fused Body and Severed Soul are optional rules that allow characters to breakthrough and enhance their strength mortal means. They grant unique abilities to your character and unlock higher level powers that are normally unattainable. These breakthroughs are different for every character and you must work closely with your GM to design the theme of your breakthrough. This theme is usually a core concept of your character. To unlock the breakthrough you must be grandmaster rank in a magic or martial skill, depending on which breakthrough you are attempting to achieve, and you must perform a ritual designed by you and the GM that will unlock the powers to be purchased. extremelyIn addition, this ritual, unless otherwise agreed upon by the GM for roleplay and thematic purposes, must be completed by your character on their own without assistance from others. The benefits you gain from unlocking these breakthroughs are listed as follows.
Fused Body
The fused body ritual is the act of tapping in to your latent magical power, unlocking it and allowing for greater feats of magic. By performing the fused body ritual you cut off your ability to purchase martial abilities and talents from that point forward, however you unlock greater feats of magic. You unlock the ability to purchase higher rank caster skills, starting at Grandmaster+, Grandmaster++, and Grandmaster+++, with each of those skills costing the combined experience total of all previous ranks in the skill. Reaching Grandmaster++ in a spellcasting skill unlocks the ability to cast the powerful 6th level spells. The fused body ritual also gives you a passive trait that grants you a few minor bonuses based on the theme of your ritual.
Example Passive: "Overflowing Soul" You gain 1 Mana Multiplier and reduce the base cost of 1 school of magic by 1 mana.
Finally you unlock the ability to purchase Fused Body Talents. These talents are created by you and by the GM, and are completely custom based on the theme of your character and the ritual you performed. The cost of these talents is 50xp, with an additional 25xp for each talent in the chain. For example the first is 50xp, then 75xp, 100xp, ect... The ritual unlocks on average 10 talents, that are usually split between one or two talent trees with later level talents requiring the earlier ones as prerequisites. You may have more or less talents depending on the GM or the character. successfullyreceive Severed Soul
The severed soul ritual is the act of tapping in to your latent martial prowess, unlocking it and allowing for greater feats of might You unlock the ability to purchase higher rank martial skills, starting at Grandmaster+, Grandmaster++, and Grandmaster+++, with each of those skills costing the combined experience total of all previous ranks in the skill. Reaching Grandmaster+ in a martial skill grants you a 3rd iterative attack per all out attack action. This also applies to combat styles such as Two Weapon Fighting giving you a extra off hand attack. The severed soul ritual also gives you a passive trait that grants you a few minor bonuses based on the theme of your ritual.
Example Passive: "Physical Paragon" Gain +2 to a physical attribute of your choice and Spell resistance equal to highest martial skill rank bonus. Finally you unlock the ability to purchase Severed Soul Talents. These talents are created by you and by the GM, and are completely custom based on the theme of your character and the ritual you performed. The cost of these talents is 50xp, with an additional 25xp for each talent in the chain. For example the first is 50xp, then 75xp, 100xp, ect... The ritual unlocks on average 15 talents, that are usually split between one to three talent trees with later level talents requiring the earlier ones as prerequisites. You may have more or less talents depending on the GM or the character. successfullyreceive
Step 1 - Character Concept
Deciding on a base concept for a character is by far the most important step. The Unbound system is built around anything being possible, so you should focus on creating a concept and personality over a mechanical build. These thematic decisions will shape the rest of character creation, and help guide your next choices. The Unbound system also has multiple optional rules that further enhance the uniqueness of a character during creation.
Step 2 - Choose a Race
The next step is choosing a characters race. A race provides statistical bonuses and racial abilities. Each core race provides a set of base statistics (Attributes, Type, Size, Speed, Languages) in addition to four racial abilities. These abilities are broken up into Basic Racials, and Heritage Racials, with a character getting two of each. For example a Longbeard Dwarf gains the Eternal Grudge and Wisdom of the Mountain, and a Duergar have the Darkvision and Deep Magic abilities, while both have the Robust and Hardy racial traits.
Monstrous Races: In addition to the Core Races there are various Monstrous Races available for play. These races are more powerful and are considered somewhat rare. They receive a stronger attribute line and an additional basic racial ability, for a total of five racials. Their racial abilities are also more powerful or unique in what they do. Playing a monstrous race costs 70 of the character's starting experience. In addition, monstrous characters have to spend more experience to reach their spent thresholds for the next rank. This starts at 100 additional experience for journeyman, 200 for professional, 300 for master, and 400 for grandmaster. Players should discuss with the GM and group before playing one of these races as in addition to being slightly stronger, there may be various roleplay repercussions.
Mixed Races: With GM approval, players may choose to mix two races together to create a half breed. When creating a half breed choose the base stat line of one parent, this is the base stat line of the race. You then choose any combination of four Basic and Heritage Racial abilities that the parents possessed, with the only limitation being that the character must have racial one from each parent at minimum. Mixing monstrous races works the same way, except that if you choose the base stat line of a monstrous race the character gets five racial abilities instead of four, and must spend the 70 XP out of their starting experience and have the increased experience threshold. If you choose a core race as the base and mix it with a monsterous race, the character only gets 4 racial abilities, must spend 35 XP from their starting experience and has half the experience threshold increase.
For a complete list of the races, see Unbound Races
Step 3 - Magic
At this point you should choose whether or not your character has magic. Magic can be very powerful if properly built into, but also is complex at first glance. For in depth details of magic and spell casting see Unbound Magic
Step 4 - Point Buy
Next, players will purchase their attributes, using a category point buy with points to spend on each category of attributes. The categories are the: Body (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution), Mind (Intellect, Fellowship, Thaumaturgy), and Soul (Magic, Spirit, Luck).
There are three basic different point buys available at base, however feel free to alter these for your own game.
Heroic Fantasy: one 25 points category, one 20 points category, one 15 points category, and a floating 5 points.
High Fantasy: one 20 points category, one 15 points category, one 10 points category, and a floating 5 points.
Standard Fantasy: one 15 points category, one 10 points category, one 5 points category, and a floating 5 points.
Low Fantasy: one 15 points category, one 10 points category, one 5 points category.
Once a point buy has been chosen, you assign each group of points to a single category. You then spend the points to increase the attributes of that category, and then spend the floating 5 points anywhere you see fit. The cost of attribute scores is listed on the table below. If your GM allows it you can even take a negative in an attribute to gain extra points in that category.
Attribute Score Caps
Each individual attribute has a maximum cap that normally can not be exceeded. This cap is equal to 18 + Racial Attribute Bonuses + Permanent Size Modifiers + Highest Rank Bonus + Other Bonuses. If a creature has an attribute that would exceed the cap it is limited to the cap until such time that they can benefit from the excess attributes. These excess attributes are treated as not existing. Some very rare items and effects, such as certain Elixirs, can increase a characters cap. Ability Score Costs| Score | Points |
|---|---|
| 7 | -4 |
| 8 | -2 |
| 9 | -1 |
| 10 | 0 |
| 11 | 1 |
| 12 | 2 |
| 13 | 3 |
| 14 | 5 |
| 15 | 7 |
| 16 | 10 |
| 17 | 13 |
| 18 | 17 |
Step 5 - Choosing Background Traits
Players now choose from various traits and flaws available to help flesh out the character. Every character receives 2 traits for free that match their theme and backstory, you may also take a flaw to gain an additional trait. Any mechanical bonus from a trait is a trait bonus, and unless listed otherwise and doesn't stack with other trait bonuses.
A list of character traits and flaws can be found Character Traits and Flaws
Step 6 - Starting Skills
All characters start with a set amount of apprentice rank skills for free, based on their attributes. These free skills are broken up into the following three categories.
Adventure and Utility: Characters start with a number of free apprentice rank Adventure and Utility skills equal to double their Intellect modifier, plus highest physical attribute modifier.
Martial: Characters start with a number of free apprentice rank Martial skills equal to their Strength or Dexterity Modifier.
Magic: Characters with a positive Magic modifier start with a number of free apprentice rank Magic skills equal to their Thaumaturgy modifier.
Lore: Characters start with a number of free Lore categories as follows. Any racial lore, 2 appropriate lore based on where the character grew up, 2 lore's based on back story, and a number of free lore's equal to their highest Mental Modifier that is appropriate for the character. For more information on Lore, see Knowledges.
Languages: Characters start with their racial languages and a number of additional languages equal to their Intellect modifier. For more information on skills and skill categories, see Skills.
Step 7 - Starting Experience
At this point characters are able to spend any starting experience to purchase talents and skills. Normal Starting XP is 100, this XP must be spent and doesn't count towards total XP which matters for ability score increases, check with the GM for changes for specific campaigns.
See the Experience Shop for more details on what is available to purchase.
Step 8 - Martial Traditions
Characters start with a martial tradition for free if they start the game with 50% more martial skills than spellcasting magic skills. If they do so they gain two benefits of a martial tradition. If they start with no spellcasting skills and no magic tradition, they instead gain four benefits of a martial tradition.
For more examples see Premade Martial Traditions.
Step 9 - Starting Equipment
At this point most details of a character have been chosen and you may now purchase any starting equipment your character would have. At base characters have 5 gold pieces to spend on all equipment. In addition, you may receive some free equipment depending on skills and talents. Characters who start with the Trapfinder talent, start with a set of thieves tools for free. If they are trained in a Craft or Harvest skill, they have basic tools for those skills. And finally, if a character starts the game with a Martial Tradition they start with one Fine quality weapon.
For a full list of available equipment see the Item Store.
Step 10 (Optional) - Backstory Benefits
The backstory of your character is incredibly important and as such the abilities you start the game with should reflect where you came from and reflect what you did beforehand. This is an optional rule that will differ slightly depending on what your GM decides to do, if implemented at all. However the following is a base example of what you may receive based on your backstory. It is recommended that a character be finalized before any backstory benefits are applied.
Basic Boon: The basic boon you receive for your backstory averages on a minor set of skills or even a basic talent that represents some basic training or perhaps something your character learned during their upbringing. A recommended basic boon would be around the value of 20-30 XP worth of skills or basic talents.
Breakthrough Boon: The breakthrough boon is more aligned with the focus of your character, and what role they will fill; making them more efficient or specialized. These boons can be anything from a martial tradition from the region you are from, a higher level talent that you don't normally meet the prerequisites for, or some other unique ability based on backstory.
Mastery Boon: The mastery boon is the strongest boon you earn during your backstory, and represents major plot points represented in your backstory. As such these are usually unique mechanics based on a main focus of your character, though this can also include XP cost reductions or the ability to gain talents earlier than normal. A mastery boon also commonly has multiple pieces instead of just one benefit. An entire build or concept can be designed around this type of boon.
Innate Drawback: A innate drawback represents an aspect of your characters backstory that negatively affects them in some way, be it emotional or physical trauma, some regret they carry, or even some outside force affecting them negatively such as a curse or magical wound. These drawbacks may change slightly over the course of the game, however it is almost impossible to remove them completely, requiring sincere and drastic change on the character's part to do so. The effects of these drawbacks can never be negated.
Trial Drawback: A trial drawback is a trial that your character must overcome through the course of the game. The negatives applied by the trial are usually fairly severe, but usually have specific circumstances that must be met to trigger. As you advance through the game you will make progress towards removing this drawback, and may grow stronger or weaker depending on your actions. Ultimately being removed by completing the trial. Depending on your character and your backstory it is possible to earn additional trials or replace the trial on completion depending on which the situation calls for. Completing a characters trial typically comes with some form of reward.
Character Advancement
Experience
As characters progress through a campaign they grow and gain experience. This experience can be spent on skills, talents, and abilities available in the Experience Shop. However, higher skill ranks are locked behind an experience spent threshold that must be achieved before the higher rank can be purchased. The thresholds are as follows.
| Skill Ranks | Experience Spent Requirements |
|---|---|
| Journeyman | 300 |
| Professional | 1000 |
| Master | 2000 |
| Grandmaster | 3200 |
Fused Body and Severed Soul (Optional)
Fused Body and Severed Soul are optional rules that allow characters to breakthrough and enhance their strength mortal means. They grant unique abilities to your character and unlock higher level powers that are normally unattainable. These breakthroughs are different for every character and you must work closely with your GM to design the theme of your breakthrough. This theme is usually a core concept of your character. To unlock the breakthrough you must be grandmaster rank in a magic or martial skill, depending on which breakthrough you are attempting to achieve, and you must perform a ritual designed by you and the GM that will unlock the powers to be purchased. extremelyIn addition, this ritual, unless otherwise agreed upon by the GM for roleplay and thematic purposes, must be completed by your character on their own without assistance from others. The benefits you gain from unlocking these breakthroughs are listed as follows.
Fused Body
The fused body ritual is the act of tapping in to your latent magical power, unlocking it and allowing for greater feats of magic. By performing the fused body ritual you cut off your ability to purchase martial abilities and talents from that point forward, however you unlock greater feats of magic. You unlock the ability to purchase higher rank caster skills, starting at Grandmaster+, Grandmaster++, and Grandmaster+++, with each of those skills costing the combined experience total of all previous ranks in the skill. Reaching Grandmaster++ in a spellcasting skill unlocks the ability to cast the powerful 6th level spells. The fused body ritual also gives you a passive trait that grants you a few minor bonuses based on the theme of your ritual.
Example Passive: "Overflowing Soul" You gain 1 Mana Multiplier and reduce the base cost of 1 school of magic by 1 mana.
Finally you unlock the ability to purchase Fused Body Talents. These talents are created by you and by the GM, and are completely custom based on the theme of your character and the ritual you performed. The cost of these talents is 50xp, with an additional 25xp for each talent in the chain. For example the first is 50xp, then 75xp, 100xp, ect... The ritual unlocks on average 10 talents, that are usually split between one or two talent trees with later level talents requiring the earlier ones as prerequisites. You may have more or less talents depending on the GM or the character. successfullyreceive Severed Soul
The severed soul ritual is the act of tapping in to your latent martial prowess, unlocking it and allowing for greater feats of might You unlock the ability to purchase higher rank martial skills, starting at Grandmaster+, Grandmaster++, and Grandmaster+++, with each of those skills costing the combined experience total of all previous ranks in the skill. Reaching Grandmaster+ in a martial skill grants you a 3rd iterative attack per all out attack action. This also applies to combat styles such as Two Weapon Fighting giving you a extra off hand attack. The severed soul ritual also gives you a passive trait that grants you a few minor bonuses based on the theme of your ritual.
Example Passive: "Physical Paragon" Gain +2 to a physical attribute of your choice and Spell resistance equal to highest martial skill rank bonus. Finally you unlock the ability to purchase Severed Soul Talents. These talents are created by you and by the GM, and are completely custom based on the theme of your character and the ritual you performed. The cost of these talents is 50xp, with an additional 25xp for each talent in the chain. For example the first is 50xp, then 75xp, 100xp, ect... The ritual unlocks on average 15 talents, that are usually split between one to three talent trees with later level talents requiring the earlier ones as prerequisites. You may have more or less talents depending on the GM or the character. successfullyreceive
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