Character Creation
"What makes a man is not gold, house or stature, but deeds And the songs that carry them forward."
-Queen Katherine
1. Story requirements:
Create a character that would join with a mercenary force dispatched to remote villages just north of the Kiln lands to collect taxes. You can be in it for the gold, the thrill, a sense of duty, to hide from the law, for the violence or for any other reason you can think up.
Nobles (wouldn't be mercenaries) and soldiers (who would already be serving under their lord/lady's banner) need not apply, though if you can think of a reason for one of those things to be in your past, we can talk.
If you are interested in playing a foreigner (from the Chal'i Islands or from Nor) we can talk.
The tone of the game, again will be somewhere between Game of Thrones and Godlike.
2. Choose a background:
ORE has no 'classes' per se, but some skillsets require substantial time and dedication, meaning a focus in one must be at the expense of others. Therefore, each character may choose only one 'background' category:
Warrior (access to Martial Arts skill)
Demonspeaker (access to Language (Fell) skill)
Alchemist (access to Alchemy and Medicine skills)
Artisan (access to Craft skills)
Scoundrel (access to pickpocket, lockpick and forgery skills)
These are not meant to limit your options but to categorize them. You can play more or less anything reasonable to the setting (Minstrel, Priest, Astrologer, academic, assassin, brawler, smith, bodyguard, thief, etc.) and it should be able to fit into one of the above categories. An assassin, for example, could be combat based and choose 'warrior' category, subterfuge based and choose 'scoundrel', could use demons to do the dirty work and thus choose 'demonspeaker', could use the guise of being a simple tailor to gain access to targets and thus choose 'artisan' or could use poison and choose 'alchemist'.
Anything I forgot? ask.
3. Stats/Skills/Traits:
You start with 70 build points to spend on stats, skills and traits. Attributes are 2 points/die and skills are 1 point/die. Traits are priced as listed. Expert/Hard/Wiggle/Trump dice and powers are not available at character creation.
Unless your background allows; Martial Arts, Language (Fell), Alchemy and Medicine, pickpocket, forgery, lickpicking and craft skills are of off-limits.
Some skills work differently here than in the standard ORE:
Alchemy - This skill covers creating potions, researching new formulas and also determining the properties of another's potions.
Astronomy - This skill covers tracking and ingerpreting the motions of the stars to predict the future.
Craft (x) - This skill covers all the knowledge and aptitude involved in one particular line of work as would be learned in a long apprencticeship. Examples include brewing, blacksmithing, fletching, woodcarving, pottery, glassblowing, tailoring, baking, etc. This skill also includes the basics of running a business and following the laws and ordinances concerning the product. Simple tasks like cooking meat on a spit, making a spear out of a stick or sharpening a knife on a whetstone are below this level of expertise and thus do not require this skill.
Melee - This skill covers armed combat.
Brawl - This skill covers unarmed combat.
Block - This covers blocking both armed and unarmed and both with weapons and with shields.
Dodge - This skill covers getting the hell out of the way of something, be it an enemy attack or something else. It is distinct from block because some things are too big or dangerous to block.
Martial Arts - Most men and women can swing a sword or an axe, which uses Melee. Many too can hold a shield, which uses Block. Martial Arts reflects a combination of formal training and extensive practice that most of the populace do not have. This skill covers both armed and unarmed combat and also includes blocking. Marital Arts costs 1 point/die like any other skill. Additionally, for each die you have in Martial Arts, you may spend a point to buy a combat bonus:
+1 height for damage purposes
Adjust location die by up to 2 in either direction
+1 initiative
Attempt multiple actions without 1d penalty (one of these must use Martial Arts)
Strangle instead of choke
Escape a Pin or bind
Knock opponent down without falling yourself on a successful attack to leg
+2 to height of defense (Martial Arts, Block or Dodge)
In combat, you may only use one bonus at a time, but you can switch from round to round.
There are a lot of skills, and some will be more useful than others. Unless it fits your character, for example, it may not make sense to spend a lot of points on Brains skills.
If there is anything (especially traits) you can think up, go ahead and ask.
4. Equipment
Within reason, put together a list of equipment and resources at your character's disposal and we can discuss. If you want to have resources like an apartment in the city, a bank account etc, we can discuss.
With respect to amount and cost of personal equipment, anything you have will need to be justified by your background and the setting. For example, items such as plate armor are custom-built and fitted. These are thus extremely expensive and very rare for mercenaries.
Much can be justified for story reasons but I'll tell you now: no you cannot have full-plate.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:42, Fri 05 Dec 2014.
