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.