Thaeborn

5. Character Creation

10 min read

CHARACTER CREATION

There are two methods for creating a new character in Thaeborn:

  • Background Method
  • Point Buy Method

After choosing one of those methods, you will complete your character by:

  1. Choose Your Starting Age
  2. Determine Your Disciplines
  3. Create or Finalize Your Backstory
  4. Choose Your Alterances
  5. Notate any Esoteric Knowledge
  6. Determine Your Starting Equipment
  7. Finish Your Character Profile
  8. Calculate Your Stats

STEP 1: Choose Your Starting Age

The default starting age is 13 to 45, but you may choose any age that your GM allows. Your starting Development Points (DP) are determined by the starting age you choose. These numbers assume that you lived and grew in the normalcy of everyday life and not the extraordinary life of an adventurer – yet.

AGEDPMAX DISCIPLINECAPACITY PENALTY
< 500Can only carry tiny objects and wear normal clothes
5-81 per year1Can carry small objects and wear normal clothes
9-111 per year2Age - 13
12-15123-1
13-451340
46-65205-2
66-74306-4
75+407-8

STEP 2: Determine Your Disciplines

BACKGROUND METHOD

If you want a quicker start with less decisions and math, choose the Background Method. Flip to Appendix 1 – Backgrounds and select one. Or, use them for inspiration and then customize them using the Point Buy Method.

Important

All of the starting Backgrounds found in the Appendix are assumed to be characters ages 13 to 45. For they are younger or older, adjust accordingly using the Starting Age chart.

Info

Quick Reference for Discipline development costs.

| Value | △ |
| ----: | —: |
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 6 | 21 |
| 7 | 28 |
| 8 | 36 |
| 9 | 45 |
| 10 | 55 |

POINT BUY METHOD

Using the Point Buy Method, you can customize your character’s Disciplines however you’d like by spending a pool of starting Development Points (DP) to build your character’s capabilities based on your Age.

GUIDELINES

  • All of your Disciplines start with a value of 0.
  • A Discipline’s value can be increased by one at a time, e.g. from 1 to 2 first, then from 2 to 3, etc.
  • Disciplines cost equals the next value.
  • You can bank no more than two unused DP either as a DP or as a Portent.

STEP 3: Create or Finalize Backstory

Your Backstory choices create a sort of biography about your life up to entering the current story. They describe where you are from, how you were raised, and any trade or vocation you learned, as well as how those experiences shaped your Personality.

Your Backstory choices are not merely for flavor. If you can relate why your Backstory is relevant to a Check you’re making or information you’re trying to gather, you may Invoke Your Backstory with the GM and negotiate for a bonus, additional information, social favor, and the like.

UPBRINGING

Based on your game and setting, ask your GM if you should choose or roll on these tables to determine your Upbringing.

NOTE

The Climate, Terrain, and Community lists are ordered from one extreme to another. The first item on the list is most different from the last one on the list. This may create bonuses or penalties when performing certain actions or in social dealings with people from opposite ends of the spectrum.

Climate

  1. Extreme Cold
  2. Cold
  3. Cool
  4. Warm
  5. Hot
  6. Extreme Heat

Terrain

  1. Coastal: Sea, Large Lake, or Riverland
  2. Desert, Badlands
  3. Wetland, Marsh
  4. Grassland, Plains
  5. Mountains
  6. Highland, Hills
  7. Forest, Jungle
  8. Underground

Community

  1. Metropolis – Urban Sprawl
  2. City
  3. Town
  4. Village
  5. Hamlet
  6. Homestead
  7. Wilderness
  8. Nomadic

Caretakers

  1. Parent(s)
  2. Grandparent(s)
  3. Sibling(s)
  4. Extended Family
  5. Foster Family
  6. Orphanage
  7. Mentor: Trade, Crime, Alchemist, Conjurer, Religious
  8. Monastery, Tower, Academy, Institution
  9. Military or Mercenary Company, War Band
  10. Street Community
  11. Circus or Theatre Troupe, Performance Group
  12. Self-raised

Livelihood

  1. Farming, Raiding
  2. Fishing, Foraging
  3. Hunting, Trapping, Poaching
  4. Herding, Cattle Thieves
  5. Smithing, Crafting, Fakery & Swindling
  6. Trading, Fencing, Brokering, Snake Oil Sales
  7. Soldiering, Security, Mercenary, Enforcing
  8. Sailing, Pirating, Profiteering
  9. Mining, Highway Robbery
  10. Entertainment, Charlatan, Grifting
  11. Scholarship, Academia, Research, Scribing, Accounting, Forgery
  12. Priesthood, Evangelism, Missionary

PERSONALITY TRAITS

Important

Like Upbringing, your Personality Traits are not just for flavor. They are opportunities for you to Invoke them in order to gain Story Points from your GM.

Work them into your decision-making and roleplaying – positively or negatively. You are not bound to them. They may evolve or devolve over time. Tap into that internal drama for more Story Points.

Motivations

What drives you and pull you forward?

  1. Atonement
  2. Belonging
  3. Discovery
  4. Integrity
  5. Freedom
  6. Justice
  7. Knowledge
  8. Legacy
  9. Security
  10. Truth
  11. Obsession
  12. Wanderlust
  13. Survival
  14. Recognition
  15. Revenge
  16. Power
  17. Love
  18. Restoration
  19. Independence
  20. Ambition

Limits

What line will I never cross?

  1. Never abandon allies
  2. Never betray blood
  3. Never break an oath
  4. Never harm children
  5. Never harm innocents
  6. Never kill the helpless
  7. Never torture
  8. Never desecrate the dead
  9. Never profane the sacred
  10. Never use poison or deception
  11. Never serve a tyrant
  12. Never kill for coin
  13. Never strike first
  14. Never leave someone behind
  15. Never enslave another or benefit from slavery
  16. Never betray someone’s confidence
  17. Never sacrifice another person for yourself
  18. Never cause harm without just cause
  19. Never show weakness
  20. Never surrender

Duties

What oaths have I sworn, debts do I owe, or obligations do I feel?

  1. Protect family
  2. Protect my charge
  3. Repay a debt
  4. Keep my promise
  5. Guard a secret
  6. Honor my oath
  7. Avenge the fallen
  8. Serve my rightful leadership
  9. Defend my homeland
  10. Protect the weak
  11. Preserve tradition
  12. Serve my order
  13. Care for the weak and less fortunate
  14. Protect a sacred place
  15. Finish a work important to me or someone I love
  16. Uphold the family name
  17. Honor my ancestors
  18. Protect my companions
  19. Fulfill an obligation for someone I love
  20. Settle a blood debt

STEP 4: Choose Your Alterances

As a new character, you get to choose whether you have already been altered by the Thae prior to beginning your adventuring career.

Alterances are grouped into:

  • Gifts – beneficial or beautiful
  • Aberrations – detrimental or horrible
  • Parities – a bit of good and bad

You may choose one of these three options:

  • Start with no Alterances
    • The common term used in-word for these people is Untainted.
  • Roll one Gift and one Aberration
  • Roll one Parity

Additionally, you may choose to take one additional Aberration in order to gain one additional Gift or Parity. Roll for each.

Use the tables located in the Alterances Section.

NOTE

Your GM may choose to allow more or less Alterances depending on where your story begins, or allow you to choose instead of roll.

ALTERED APPEARANCE

Every Alterance should come with some physically observable change related to what was affected. What that change is, is up to the player. But, the more likely that change is to complicate your life or provide hooks for storytelling, the greater the likelihood the GM will use it to award you Story Points as your tale unfolds.

For Alterances affecting eyes, ears, hands, and such, deciding on a change may be more obvious. For ones that affect your internally, you should create “a tell” – some sort of behavior that others could pick up on, even if they don’t know why you’re doing it.

STEP 5: Notate any Esoteric Knowledge

To possess Esoteric Knowledge is to have studied and practiced some difficult, often seemingly unnatural thing, to the point of being able to make use of it. Not all characters care about such things, and there’s a myriad of reasons not to – or at least not to let people know that you do. Much like the Thae-touched, those with such knowledge, especially if it involves the Thae, are often conscripted or worse – enslaved – by powerful leaders and institutions.

The two most common forms of Esoteric Knowledge involve Alchemy and the Thae.

Any character can obtain, practice, and attempt to use Esoteric Knowledge as they adventure.

During character creation, you may only choose one or none bit of knowledge – either an Alchemical Formula or a Working.

ALCHEMY

Knowledge of Alchemy comes in the form of learning an Alchemical Formula (Formula) that allows you to make a specific Alchemical Concoction (Concoction).

If you choose to learn a Formula during character creation, it can be any one of those found in the ALCHEMY section whose Difficulty Tier is less than or equal to your Ingenuity Proficiency.

THAE

Being able to work the Thae into a desired effect is unique for every conjurer. Learning to perform one usually starts from seeing it performed, gaining access to the caster’s research notes, and spending long hours dangerously experimenting until you figure out what works for you to achieve a similar effect.

If you choose to have learned a Working as part of character creation, you may select a Working whose Difficulty Tier is less than or equal to your Willpower Proficiency. You should also make a note on your character sheetof how you came upon this knowledge.

STEP 6: Determine Your Starting Equipment

If you chose the Background Method for character creation, a list of starting equipment was already provided as part of your selection. However, you are free to modify it with anything your GM agrees is reasonable, using the Point Buy Method here as a reference.

If you chose the Point Buy method, you receive this bundle of Starting Equipment:

  • Armor – One suit of armor whose Bulk is less than your Mettle.
  • Weapons – Three weapons and a weapons belt. One quiver of ammunition counts as one of your three weapons (if your table tracks mundane ammunition).
  • Kits – Two Kits related to any Disciplines you have developed to at least 1.
    • If you do not have two trained Disciplines, you are not guaranteed two kits. However, you may choose from the generic supply Kits such as a Rations Kit or one of the Lighting Kits.
  • Personal Items – Two sets of normal clothes and personal effects, hygiene items: comb, brush, hankies, etc.
  • Storage – One large container such as a backpack or satchel, plus three small ones such as belt pouches, draw-string bags, or sacks.
  • Coins – 10 silver coins or the equivalent in other coins, gems, or items.

If you GM allows it, you may spend your starting coins on additional possessions or equipment found in the POSSESSIONS section.

STEP 7: Finish Your Character Profile

RESTING FACE

The look on your face when you think no one is paying attention and are left to your normal moment-to-moment thoughts is your Resting Face.

This can go a long way towards how strangers perceive and receive you. Do you appear approachable, kind, or even jovial – or do you come across angry, annoyed, frustrated, or melancholy?

NAME

You may choose any name you want, but should consider the other players, the tone of the game, and the setting presented by the GM. Your GM may have a list of common names for the culture you are from.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

What do people notice about your body and your mannerisms? Do you have a scar, tattoos, a nervous tick, or a mutation caused by an Alterance? These are your Distinguishing Features.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Taking into account your developed Disciplines, Alterances, Starting Equipment, Resting Face, and Distinguishing Features, create a short descriptive phrase or paragraph about your character – only what people can see and notice about you if they observed you for a few seconds.

This will come in handy when you meet new Player Characters or to work as fuel for roleplaying for your fellow players and GM.

STEP 8: Calculate Your Stats

Now that all of your values and possessions have been selected, take a moment to calculate all of your Stats, so that they are ready at a glance during play.

Mettle (0-15) = (Willpower + Prowess + Survival) / 2, round up

Carry Capacity = Mettle ± Age or Alterance modifiers

Bulk = Total Bulk Carried and Worn

Hindrance (0 or less) = Bulk in excess of Carry Capacity

Mobility = Prowess Proficiency – Hindrance

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