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Character Generation.

Posted by EruFor group 0
Eru
GM, 12 posts
Fate, Chance,
and Destiny
Mon 2 Jul 2018
at 01:12
  • msg #1

Character Generation

Character
Start with your character. You may (not required) use a background generator such as any of a multitude of generators that build your family and heritage and past events, such as the Hero Builder's Guidebook for 3.x or the background generator on d20pfsrd, to name a couple. Though it should be noted, I will be not be granting extra feats as some of them expect. However, the method below for generating ability scores can inspire a great amount of creativity in this department, so you may opt to simply rely on that.

If you want to be noble, you had better roll for it, or you can simply choose to be common born. Roll a d20, on 16-18 you are from a wealthy but non-noble family and therefore have experience with high society despite being common born yourself, on a 19 you have noble heritage or granted favor and thus have the social respect but no estate nor income (Esquire/Sir/Madam), and on a 20 you do have an estate and income but also all the responsibilities that go with them. If get it, you roll d% to determine how high up you are, 1-60 minor noble of a county (Lord/Lady/Knight), 61-76 moderate noble over several counties (Baron/Baronet), 78-86 major noble over a region or state (Count/Viscount), 87-92 major noble over several barons or special interests to the sovereign (Marque/Marquess), 93-97 superior noble (Duke), 98-99 Grand nobility (Grand Duke), 100 royalty (prince). For any of the higher ranks (baron or above) you are the child of such and for the Marque and above, not the eldest child either.

Not all provinces have hereditary nobility, for some it is an elected or granted office, but uses the same or similar titles as they deal with the rest of the empire. All three of the other nations have their own equivalents and use nobility of some form.

Please have some reason for not remaining at home. If you need some help with that, I can craft something.

Otherwise, I'm looking for information about your family and situation and character (in a literary sense). Tell me who they are and what they are like.

Ability Scores

These should probably be done hand-in-hand with the above to some extent.

In keeping with the character focused gameplay, I use the Three Dragon Ante method (comes from Dragon magazine #346 available for download, use the 28 token method, with one extra flexibility option of arranging the ability scores as desired which affects when placing an uneven amount of tokens and when buying stats, place extra tokens on the next card).

Step one is to draw 11 cards from the deck (Since the Rpol roller doesn't have it for some reason, I'll post up the equivalences for the deck and what each card does when I get the chance at the end of this post).

They are drawn in this order, Nature, Spirit, Body, Mind, Nurture, and then the six ability scores. The ability scores you can arrange in the order you desire.

Place 9 tokens on the Nature card, 3 on Spirit, 4 on Nurture, and 2 on each ability score.

Resolve the non-ability score cards in order, starting with Nature.

The Nature card represents the balance between mental or physical ability. Good dragons favor mental, while evil dragons favor physical. Mortal and Draco-lich are special, naturally.

The spirit card represents the aspects of a character that seem random yet are central to their life.

The body and mind cards are self explanatory, representing the character's physical and mental nature.

The nurture card represents the start of your training and practice and often determines your first ability score to resolve.

The ability scores represent themes or events that affected that score.

The overall spread of cards and what cards are where can inform you of aspects of your character and spark your creativity. For example, are most of the cards good dragons or evil dragons, or perhaps mostly mortal and special cards?

Once all the tokens have reached the ability score cards, use the tokens as points to buy that ability score. Extra points that are not enough to buy the next highest score, get added to the next ability score card (another point where choice of order of the ability scores comes into play).

Misc
Use max money for a starting character of one of your classes.
Start at 5th level, Power of 2, (all players start with a Tier of 3)


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As the Three Dragon Ante cards have a strength which is referenced upon occasion, I call it Rank below to avoid confusion with the Strength ability score.

If only ability score or cards are mentioned, then assume an even distribution among them.

For many Dragon cards, age group is set as (young 1-3), the numbers in the parenthesis are the rank of the card.

ARCHEMAGE

Represents Knowledge, Magic, and specialization

Nature: Body, Mind, and Int
Spirit: Dex, Int, and Cha
Body: 2/3s Dex, rest to Con
Mind: 2/3s to Int, rest to Wis
Nurture: All to Int
Abilities: Give 2 tokens to the ability card with the most tokens.


BAHAMUT

Represents goodness, generosity, and leadership

Nature: 6 to mind, and 3 to body
Spirit: Int, Wis, Cha
Body: All to Dex
Mind: All to Cha
Nurture: Copy the effect from the Mind card
Abilities: Give one token to each other ability card


BLACK DRAGON

Represents Stealth, Cunning, and Deceit.

Nature: 6 to Body, 3 to Mind
Spirit: Dex, Con, Int
Body: 2/3s to Int, rest to Wis
Mind:
Nurture: (young 1-2) Str , (Adult 3-5) Dex, (Old 7-9) Con
Abilities: Steal a token from the 4th ability card away. If this card is Old, steal two tokens instead.


BLUE DRAGON

Represents resiliency, Vanity, and Forcefulness.

Nature: 6 to Body, 3 to Mind
Spirit: Str, Dex, Cha
Body: 2/3s to Str, rest to Dex
Mind: Int, Wis, and Cha
Nurture: (young 1-2) Str, (Adult 4-7) Dex, (Old 9-11) Con
Abilities: Steal a token from the 2nd ability card away. If this card is Old, steal two tokens instead.


BRASS DRAGON

Represents wisdom and perception.

Nature: 6 to Mind, 3 to Body
Spirit: Str, Int, Wis
Body: 2/3s to Str, rest to Con
Mind: All to Wis
Nurture: (young 1-2) Int, (Adult 4-5) Wis, (Old 7-9) Cha
Abilities: Give one token to the ability card 5 spots away, or give two tokens if this card is Old.


BRONZE DRAGON

Represents knowledge and clever planning.

Nature: 6 to Mind, 3 to Body
Spirit: Dex, Int, Cha
Body: 2/3s to Dex, rest to Str
Mind: All to Int
Nurture: (young 1-3) Int, (Adult 6-7) Wis, (Old 9-11) Cha
Abilities: Give one token to the ability card 3 spots away, or give two tokens if this card is Old.


COPPER DRAGON

Represents strength of will.

Nature: 6 to Mind, 3 to Body
Spirit: Int, Wis, Con
Body: 2/3s to Con, rest to Dex
Mind: 2/3s to Wis, rest to Int
Nurture: (young 1-3) Int, (Adult 5-7) Wis, (Old 8-10) Cha
Abilities: Give one token to the ability card 4 spots away, or give two tokens if this card is Old.


DRACOLICH

Represents rebirth or gaining strength from failure.

Nature: Body, Mind, Nurture
Spirit: Str, Con, Wis
Body: All to Con
Mind: All to Wis
Nurture: Copy the ability from the Nature card.
Abilities: Take 1 token from every ability card that is an evil dragon.


DRAGONSLAYER

Represents violence and destruction.

Nature: Body, Mind, Str
Spirit: Str, Con, Int
Body: 2/3s to Str, rest to Dex
Mind: 2/3s to Cha, rest to Int
Nurture: Str
Abilities: Take 1 token from every ability card that is a dragon of rank 7 or less.


DRUID

Represents balance, nature, and strength from weakness.

Nature: Body, Mind, Con
Spirit: Dex, Con, Wis
Body: 2/3s to Con, rest to Str
Mind: 2/3s to Wis, rest to Int
Nurture: Con
Abilities: Give 2 to the ability card with the fewest tokens.


FOOL

Represents innocence and fredom.

Nature: Body, Mind, Spirit
Spirit: Str, Int, Cha
Body: Str, Dex, Con
Mind: Int, Wis, Cha
Nurture: Copy the Spirit Card's ability.
Abilities: Give 1 to each ability card with rank 4 or above.


GOLD DRAGON

Represents honor and noble spirit.

Nature: 6 to Mind, 3 to Body
Spirit: Con, Wis, Cha
Body: 2/3s to Con, rest to Str
Mind: All to Cha
Nurture: (young 2-4) Int, (Adult 6-9) Wis, (Old 11-13) Cha
Abilities: Give one token to the ability card 1 spot away, or give two tokens if this card is Old.


GREEN DRAGON

Represents toughness, beligerence, and resistance.

Nature: 6 to Body, 3 to Mind
Spirit: Str, Con, and Wis
Body: all to Con
Mind: 2/3s to wis, rest to Cha
Nurture: (young 1-2) Str, (Adult 4-6) Dex, (Old 8-10) Con
Abilities: Steal a token from the 3rd ability card away. If this card is Old, steal two tokens instead.


PRIEST

Represents protection.

Nature: Body, Mind, Wis
Spirit: Dex, Wis, Cha
Body: 2/3s to Str, rest to Con
Mind: 2/3s to Wis, rest to Cha
Nurture: all to Wis
Abilities: Give 1 token to every ability card that is mortal.


PRINCESS

Represents diplomacy and influence.

Nature: Body, Mind, Cha
Spirit: Con, Int, Cha
Body: 2/3s to Con, rest to Dex
Mind: 2/3s to Cha, rest to Wis
Nurture: Cha
Abilities: Give 1 token to every ability card that is a good dragon.


RED DRAGON

Represents greed, cunning, and physical power.

Nature: 6 to body, 3 to mind
Spirit: Str, Dex, Int
Body: all to Str
Mind: 2/3s to Int, rest to Cha
Nurture: (young 2-3) Str, (Adult 5-8) Dex, (Old 10-12) Con
Abilities: Steal a token from the next ability card. If this card is Adult or Old, steal two tokens instead.


SILVER DRAGON

Represents judgement and justice.

Nature: 6 to Mind, 3 to body
Spirit: Str, Wis, Cha
Body: Str, Dex, Con
Mind: 2/3s to Cha, rest to Wis
Nurture: (young 2-3) Int, (Adult 6-8) Wis, (Old 10-12) Cha
Abilities: Give one token to the ability card 2 spots away, or give two tokens if this card is Old.


THIEF

Represents skill and achievement.

Nature: Body, Mind, Dex
Spirit: Str, Dex, Wis
Body: 2/3s to Dex, rest to Str
Mind: 2/3s to Int, rest to Cha
Nurture: Dex
Abilities: Steal two tokens from the card with the most tokens not including this card.


TIAMAT

Represents evil, greed, and tyranny.

Nature: 6 to Body, 3 to Mind
Spirit: Str, Dex, Con
Body: Str
Mind: Int
Nurture: Copy the Nurture card
Abilities: Steal one token from every other ability card.


WHITE DRAGON

Represents speed, ferocity, and agility.

Nature: 6 to Body, 3 to Mind
Spirit: Dex, Con, Cha
Body: Dex
Mind: 2/3s to Cha, Int
Nurture: (young 1-2) Str, (Adult 3-4) Dex, (Old 6-8) Con
Abilities: Steal a token from the 5th ability card away. If this card is Old, steal two tokens instead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:28, Mon 02 July 2018.
Eru
GM, 13 posts
Fate, Chance,
and Destiny
Tue 3 Jul 2018
at 02:23
  • msg #2

Character Generation

The list of cards and their strength rank. The number to the right is the dice result for that card. 6 of each dragon, 7 mortals, and 3 "god" cards. (I somehow missed 9, so I moved Tiamat to minimize how much retyping was needed. In case you were wondering about the pattern break.)

1 The Archmage   .........9
2 Bahamut ...............13
3 Black Dragon ........1
4        .................2
5        .................3
6        .................5
7        .................7
8        .................9
9  Tiamat ........... 13
10 Blue Dragon ........1
11       .................2
12       .................4
13       .................7
14       .................9
15         ..............11
16 Brass Dragon .......1
17       .................2
18       .................4
19       .................5
20       .................7
21       .................9
22 Bronze Dragon .....1
23       .................3
24       .................6
25       .................7
26       .................9
27        .............. 11
28 Copper Dragon ......1
29       .................3
30       .................5
31       .................7
32       .................8
33        .............. 10
34 Dracolich ........ 10
35 The Dragonslayer ...8
36 The Druid ..........6
37 The Fool ...........3
38 Gold Dragon ........2
39       .................4
40       .................6
41       .................9
42        .............. 11
43        .............. 13
44 Green Dragon .......1
45       .................2
46       .................4
47       .................6
48       .................8
49        .............. 10
50 The Priest .........5
51 The Princess .......4
52 Red Dragon .........2
53       .................3
54       .................5
55       .................8
56        .............. 10
57        .............. 12
58 Silver Dragon ......2
59       .................3
60       .................6
61       .................8
62        .............. 10
63        .............. 12
64 The Thief ..........7
65 White Dragon .......1
66       .................2
67       .................3
68       .................4
69       .................6
70       .................8
Eru
GM, 15 posts
Fate, Chance,
and Destiny
Wed 4 Jul 2018
at 09:53
  • msg #3

Character Generation

Examples

I have one drawn set, and with it, I will make two final layouts, one working with the cards, the other working against them.

The cards I drew were,
Nature   53 red 3
Spirit   39 gold 4
Body     41 gold 9
Mind     30 copper 5
Nurture  55 red 8

And 6 abilities
9 Tiamat 13
63 silver 12
46 green 4
49 green 10
69 white 6
10 blue 1

So, more evil cards were drawn, including the evil god card.

The first five cards are static, so no choice on our part about them. So let's look what we get from those.

1) Nature, Red 3 (greed, cunning, physical power)
2) Spirit, Gold 4 (honor, noble spirit)
3) Body, Gold 9 (honor, noble spirit)
4) Mind, Copper 5 (strength of will)
5) Nurture, Red 8 (greed, cunning, physical power)

There are three color pairs, Gold, Red, and Green.

First impression says LE physical guy, but one might notice that physical and evil are lumped together, as are mental and good. Thus we can choose to focus on one aspect at the expense of the other to better fit our desired outcome, or as I might do for npcs (once I get the auto-maker program up and running), if we need inspiration we can simply follow through on what's there.

So, the first character seed (cause we really aren't going full depth here, just the stats and some core pieces) will be Denysis, and he will be based on following the cards closely and more fully embracing them totally.

So, the cards strongly favor physical stats, and indeed the pair of Red dragons are big into physical power, and the pair of greens are about toughness and resilience. In the Three Dragon Ante game, Tiamat can work with any evil dragon to complete a flush, which in this case would work with both reds and greens, so building on that, we will focus efforts on giving Denysis str and con.

To start, we'll put Tiamat into Strength, pulling a point from all other abilities giving strength +5 points.

Of the remaining dragons, 3 will move 2 points, and the remaining will steal 1 point.

The silver gives away points, and as silver represents justice and judgement, and cunning is part of our red color so we don't want to drop it in int, but with the golds giving honor, it feels appropriate to stick it in wis, especially as that moves 2 points to strength.

Then I'll put the white dragon in con, which steals 2 points from wis.

The old green gets put in cha, pulling 2 points from dex. <grey>(I considered putting the old green in dex, but that would have left cha a point shorter)</grey>

Then I put the other green in dex and the blu in int.

This gives Denysis the following points array,
str, dex, con, int, wis, cha
 11    4    6    3    1    3

Str 11, 16 carry one over
Dex 4+1, 14
Con 6, 14 carry one over
Int 3+1, 13 carry one over
Wis 1+1, 12
Cha 3, 13

Final scores,
16, 14, 14, 13, 12, 13
And a character that is greedy and beligerent, yet has some semblance of honor and noblesse oblige, though he keeps to it for his own sake rather than for others. He is physically imposing and tough, built like a boulder. The red dragon, an elder one at that, as his nurture card implies a harsh and physically demanding upbringing.


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Using the same draw, I'll also build Riulia, Denysis' twin sister. For Riulia though, I'll pretend I wanted the opposite of what the cards gave me. Riulia is a good girl and more mental than physical, being a spellcaster.

The first five cards are naturally all the same, so I'll skip to ability score choices.

As a good spellcaster, I'll play up the honor and noble spirit and with all the physical aspects, I'll say her magic is inherent like a sorcerer, thus coming from her own power ratger than study.

Thus, I'll put Tiamat into Cha, pulling a point from all others.

With that big initial bonus to con, I'll put Silver there, which adds 2 to Wis.

Dex is still very important to casters, to avoid hits and get where they need to go, therefore, I'll put White here, grabbing points away from Str.

I'll put the elder green in Int, pulling more points away from Str.

Then the lesser green to Wis.

And the lowly blue to Str.

str, dex, con, int, wis, cha
0    6,   3    4    7    8

Thus Riulia is honorable and noble, wis and gracious, but perhaps a bit envious of others with more than her, wanting what they have, this feeling drives her kindness to those with less.

With her heritage though, she is physically resilient and agile.

Her final scores,
Str 0, 10
Dex 6, 14 carry one over
Con 3+1, 13 carry one over
Int 4+1, 14
Wis 7, 15
Cha 8, 15 carry one back to str
Str 1, 11

Final scores,
11, 14, 13, 14, 15, 15
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