Character Creation

Players may explore the world of Fragile Alliances through the medium of their characters. A character is a citizen of this fantasy world who lives and works, loves and dies according to its rules and lore. The player has some control over who their character is, and has total control over how their character behaves, what their character does, and where their character goes.
However, their character is still subject to the rules and lore of the world and must always accept the consequences of their actions. Thus the player may well choose for their character to leap from the roof of a 30' tall building into the street below, but cannot avoid the obvious risk of its death or serious injury as a result.

The Creation Process

The full official character creation process can be found here: WFRP First Edition Character Creation
However, to save time and simplify the process Fragile Alliances uses a character generation system called the WFRP Character Foundry coded by Greg Aldridge. This character generator does most of the number crunching for us, and as a consequence allows players to be given more than one character to choose from.

A pro-active approach.

The character creation process itself is intended to be a pro-active process involving the player and the GM. The player will be asked to choose the type of character they would like to play, whilst the GM will provide advice and guidance to the player on the likely consequences of their choices and to ensure that their selections are viable as a character in the party and environment they will be entering.
For example Elves in this world are quite an alien culture amongst the people of the Empire. They hardly ever sleep, they don't really understand the concept of money, and they have very restrictive psychological issues with open spaces and restricted places making them very challenging to roleplay in a mixed party. That's not to say they can't be fun to play, but the player needs to be forewarned of the consequences of doing so.
The GM will also work with the player to flesh out their character backstory and rationalise the reason for their character being a part of the game. He will then assist the player to engineer the introduction of their characters to the party and work with them to progress that characters personal story and progress in the world.

Step 1: Decide Race and Gender

There are five playable races in WFRP.

1. Humans
2. Wood Elves
3. Dwarfs
4. Halflings
5. Gnomes

Choice of Gender is entirely up to the player. However, female dwarves are extremely rare and usually do not leave their holds and so are best avoided except under special circumstances.
There is also an optional rule for female characters which allows the player to exchange +1 Strength for +1 Toughness to reflect the general recognition that females tend to have less muscle mass than males but a higher tolerance for pain. However, the player can choose to ignore this option if they wish.

Personal Details

Players will not be asked to decide on their characters Age; Name; Place of Birth and Career Class. All of these except Age can be left to chance.

Profile Attribute	Description
Place of Birth	Can be randomised But is usually somewhere related to the character's backstory.
Random Name	WFRP Foundry will generate an appropriate name for your character. However, this can be turned off, or replaced if desired.
Characters Age	This can be generalised as Young or Old or specified exactly. Note that older characters are generated with more experience and skills, but will also be more susceptible to illness and disease.
Weight Generation Tables	Unless turned off, these generate a random weight and body mass for your character and adjust certain attributes such as dexterity and movement accordingly. Turning them off will produce a character of average weight.
Generate Distinguishing Characteristics	You are advised to leave this 'On' as it generates random features that may add interest and potential storylines to your characters back story. If turned off it will generate nothing. However, it is a gamble as not all the characteristics are positive.
Random Career Class	There are four Career Classes to choose from: Warrior; Ranger; Rogue and Academic. Players who have a particular preference can choose one, or it can be left to chance. The main consequence of a Career Class is to restrict a character's choice of career. It has no other consequence on a characters profile.
Random Career	A characters initial career has a direct impact on those characters initial skills and their initial equipment and clothing. Players may, therefore, want to select their initial career rather than leave to chance.

Generate Character Profiles

Once all the player choices have been made and agreed the GM will use the WFRP Character Foundry to generate three random character profiles and the player will be asked to choose the one they prefer. The GM will be on hand to discuss the pro's and cons of each profile and to discuss how they might be improved (see below)

Shallya's Mercy

In Fragile Alliances, players are allowed to choose one element of their chosen Character Profile and change or remove it. Profile attributes can be replaced with the Racial Norm. So, for example, Konrad Thieles below average M3 movement stat could be replaced by a normal M4. It can also be used to remove a particularly bad Distinguishing Characteristic such as Konrad Thieles scarred skin, or even used to eliminate or change some aspect of their personal life such as killing off their family. It is usually best to use this option to make an otherwise unsatisfactory profile desirable, or to change a profile to better fit with their desired backstory.

Ranald's Gift

Ranald is the WFRP God of Tricksters, Thieves and Luck, Fortune and Mischief. He likes to interfere in character creation, often leaving little surprises that the player may not find out about until later in the game. These are hidden aspects of a characters profile that perhaps they didn't know they had, or had been trying not to admit too, like a fear of heights, or a phobia of spiders. These will often become apparent during the background checks made by the GM to determine the characters star sign and dooming.

Free Advance

Because characters entering the world of Fragile Alliances are a cut above the normal population of the world and chosen heroes with a destiny. They get both Fate Points and their first character advance immediately. The player is allowed to advance any of their characters profile attributes by +1 for S, T, and W or by up to +10% for other characteristics.

Err! Hang On A Minute: What's this stuff about Star Signs and Dooming about?

Ah!....Nothing much for you to worry about really. Once your character has been generated and chosen, the GM will do some secret calculations behind the scenes to determine how auspicious was your character's birth. This is all based upon your character's birthday, which is decided completely at random by the WFRP Character Foundry.
Firstly, the date determines your characters Star Sign which is sometimes considered to have an influence on a character's destiny. For instance, a character born under the sign of The Bone Saw would probably be considered destined for an auspicious career as an academic.
Secondly, if your character was born in The Empire then at some time around their tenth birthday they would have gone through a coming of age ritual conducted by priests from the Cult of Moor referred to as The Dooming.. This ritual basically predicts the circumstances of your characters death. It's really nothing to worry about, although it is considered good fortune if ones eventual demise does, in fact, occur as foretold.