Creating Characters
Character Skills
Skills are learned during a character’s life through experience and training. In some skills, a character will have no ability unless some training has been given whilst all characters will have a natural ability in other skills. For example, reading requires some training whilst all characters will be able to attempt to climb.
Depending upon the game genre some Generic Skills may be broken down into particular skills. For example, in a game of buccaneers boat craft might be of great importance and include particular skills such as rope-craft, boat building, rowing, weather lore and so on. A game that does not include much combat might have a simple generic weapon skill whilst a game where combat is important will break this down into particular weapons skills. The following skill table is suggested for the combat-orientated Heroes of the Fall fantasy setting. Any other skills may be added by the GM according to the requirements of the particular game. In generating a Character’s skill levels there is some advantage in picking a Generic Skill, for example, Larceny, rather than simply having the Pick Lock skill. With the generic Larceny skill, the character will have some base knowledge of other associated skills. Thus the Larceny skill will be used for all general thieving activities whereas the Character may have more in-depth knowledge of Lock Picking.
The following table shows Generic Skills that incorporate some particular skills.
| Skill | Associated particular skills |
|---|---|
| Accuracy (V/W) | Hand-thrown shafted weapons, Bows*, Daggers, Franciscas*, Hand slings*, Crossbows and ballistae*, (All V) Missile weapon purchase (W). |
| Larceny (W/V/G) | Cutpurse (W), Climb (V), Disguise (G), Pick Lock* (W), Valuation (W), Move stealthily (W), Bluff (G), Search (W), Underworld connections (G), Awareness – urban (W). |
| Hunting (W/V) | Tracking (W), Stalking - wilderness (W), Trap setting* (W), Land navigation* (W), Bows* (V), Crossbows* (V), Hand-thrown shafted weapons (V), Spear under 8’ (V), Herb Lore* (W), Weather Lore (W), Hand slings*(V), Skinning & Butchery (V), Awareness – wilderness (W). |
| Espionage (W/G) | Disguise (G), Move Stealthily (W), Stalking - urban (W), Pick Lock* (W), Bluff (G), Persuade (G), Etiquette* (G), Languages (W), Literacy* (W), Map Making* (W), Search (W), Poisons* (W), Forgery* (W), Underworld connections (G), Awareness – urban (W). |
| Boat craft (W/V) | Sailing* (V), Rowing* (V), Sea navigation* (W), Rope craft* (W), Boat building* (W), Swimming* (V), Weather Lore (W), Boat purchase (W). |
| Assassination (V/W) | Disguise* (W), Climb (V), Garrotte (V), Poisons* (W), Crossbow* (V), Bow* (V), Daggers (V), Stalking - urban (W), Move stealthily (W), Awareness – urban (W). |
| Horsemanship (V/W) | Riding* (V), Horse care* (W), Horse purchase* (W). |
| Performance (G/V/W) | Oratory (G), Juggling* (V), Escapology (V) Acrobatics* (V), Musical instrument* (W), Legerdemain* (G), Bluff (G), Disguise (G), Etiquette* (G). |
| Command (G/W) | Leadership (G), Oratory (G), Siegecraft* (W), Drill* (W), Logistics* (W), Intimidation (G), Awareness – military (W). |
| Scholarship (W) | Languages*, Dead Languages*, Magic Lore*, Herb Lore*, Literacy*, Healing*, Alchemy*, Map Making*, History* (All W). |
| Shamanism (W/G) | Herb Lore*, Magic Lore*, Healing*, Weather Lore, Land Navigation*, Tracking, Animal Lore, Awareness – wilderness, Stalking - wilderness, (All W), Oratory (G). |
| Unarmed Combat (V/G) | Strike, Dodge, Grapple (All V), Intimidation (G). |
| Artifice (W) | Alchemy*, Missile weapon purchase, Weapon purchase, Pick Lock*, Trap setting*, Rope craft*, Siegecraft*, Carpentry*, Metalworking*, Stone mason*, Armourer* (All W). |
| Pathfinding (W) | Talent, Land navigation*, Sea navigation*, Tracking, Stalking, Awareness – urban & wilderness, Move stealthily (All W). |
| Pathfinder artificer (W) | Alchemy*, Pick Lock*, Trap setting*, Rope craft*, Siegecraft*, Dead Languages*, Literacy*, Magic Lore*, Carpentry*, Metalworking*, Stone mason*, Armourer* (All W). |
| Trading (W/G) | Logistics*, Languages*, Assess value, Purchase anything (All W), Persuade, Oratory, Bluff, Trade connections (All G). |
| Ministry (W/G) | Rituals*, Dead Languages*, Literacy*, Magic Lore* (All W), Oratory, Leadership, Etiquette* (All G). |
| Nobility (G/V/W) | Languages*, Literacy*, Etiquette*, Arts* (All W), Leadership, Diplomacy, Oratory, Noble connections (All G), Riding* (V). |
| Administration (W/G) | Persuade, Bluff, Etiquette*, Administrative connections (All G), Literacy*, Languages*, Logistics*, Forgery (All W) |
Some skills require basic training before the Character can acquire any skill level at all (examples above marked *). Other skills are inherent to everyone and, if the character has had no training or experience, start at a level according to the Character’s relevant Attribute (see table below Skill rank 0).
The list is not extensive but gives an indication of which type of skills should be based on Wit (W) or Glamour (G) and which on Vigour (V). Players should also be encouraged to devise other skills that suit their Characters.
In describing a Character’s life events the player should explain how they have had the opportunity to acquire skills. For example, a Character may have spent their youth as a regular soldier thus acquiring Missile Skill and Weapon Skill perhaps specialising in a particular weapon. They may have gone on to be an officer and acquired some Command.
All normal human skills are in the range of 0 to 9, with an additional modifier expressed as 99 to 00 and written 4/99 to 9/00. The lower the modifier the better the skill (00 is treated as 0). The skills available are dependent upon the genre of the game. A player specifies the skills their character has acquired in the Life Events stage of Character creation.
The GM decides how many pre-game stages of a character’s life take place before the events of the game commence (novice, journeyman, expert). For each of the three pre-game stages of a character’s life events, a player has 3 Skill Ranks to distribute.
| Level of game | Total Skill Ranks |
|---|---|
| Novice | 3 |
| Journeyman | 6 |
| Expert | 9 |
The player may allocate Ranks to one particular skill or distribute them as she wishes between two or more skills. The distribution must fit into the player’s account of the character’s life events. Skill Ranks are compared with the relevant Attribute Level to determine the character’s Skill Level.
A Player may place up to 2 Skill Ranks into one or more Generic Skills, this has the effect of allocating these 2 Ranks to all the particular skills associated with that Generic Skill at no extra cost (skills that appear in more than one Generic Skill chosen by the player do not gain a cumulative advantage in Ranks). The Player may then allocate remaining Skill Ranks to the individual particular skills within the Generic Skills he has chosen or to any other skills that fit the character’s life events.
The levels of the skills are then generated by comparing the relevant attributes and Skill Ranks in the following table:
| Attribute of game | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0/99 | 1/99 | 1/99 | 1/99 | 1/99 | 2/99 | 3/99 |
| 2 | 0/75 | 1/75 | 1/50 | 1/25 | 2/99 | 3/99 | 4/99 |
| 3 | 0/50 | 1/50 | 2/99 | 2/50 | 3/99 | 4/99 | 5/99 |
| 4 | 0/25 | 1/25 | 2/50 | 3/75 | 4/99 | 5/99 | 6/99 |
| 5 | 1/99 | 2/99 | 3/99 | 4/99 | 5/99 | 6/99 | 7/99 |
| 6 | 1/75 | 2/75 | 3/50 | 4/25 | 6/99 | 7/99 | 8/99 |
| 7 | 1/50 | 2/50 | 4/99 | 5/50 | 7/99 | 8/99 | 9/99 |
| 8 | 1/25 | 2/25 | 4/50 | 6/75 | 8/99 | 9/99 | - |
| 9 | 2/99 | 3/99 | 5/99 | 7/99 | 9/99 | - | - |
*For skills where anyone may make an attempt but there has been no training or experience.
If a player wishes a Character to have a range of languages they must make clear in the Character’s life events how they acquired those languages. Some languages may be acquired through scholarship. Generally, the GM should allow three languages to a Character who chooses scholarship as a general skill and two to a Character who uses Skill Ranks on just that skill but justifies how the additional languages were acquired in the life events. If the Character wishes to have more languages they must choose the skill again. The Character’s native language will be understood and spoken with a skill equal to a Character’s Wit (thus an average native speaker speaks and understands at Level 5 or 6), skill in other Languages must be bought with Skill ranks in the same way as other skills. Any improvement on this must be gained through Scholarship or experience. In the Heroes of the Fall setting the dead Languages used in Magic can only be acquired through Scholarship or Ministry and chosen as Language options. The Ability to read and write in any language will depend on Literacy.
For example, the GM specifies that the Game will be focused on a Journeyman level of character. A Journeyman may be thought of as having 3 Skill Ranks from their novice stage of life and an additional 3 from their subsequent life giving a total of 6. A player explains that her character was a street urchin who acquired early experience in pick-pocketing and breaking and entering, i.e. general Larceny, without having any training in her Novice stage of life. She then acquired training and new skills during the Journeyman stage after being accepted by a thieves’ guild. For her Novice stage of life, she allocates 2 of her 3 Skill Ranks to the general Larceny skill [Cutpurse (V), Climb (V), Move Stealthily (V), Disguise (W), Pick Lock* (W), Valuation (W), Bluff (G), Search (W), Underworld connections (G)]. Thus all these skills are at Skill Rank 2 after this stage. She allocates her 1 remaining Rank to Dagger skill (She can’t pick General Weapon skill because her life events would not allow it). In her second stage of life, she allocates 1 more Skill Rank to Pick Lock and 1 to Cut Purse raising these skills to Skill Rank 3. She allocates her remaining Rank to Magic Lore (Explaining in her Life events how she acquired this skill by being used by a Magic User for several years to acquire certain scrolls and items). She has a Wit of 7, Glamour 6 and a Vigour of 8. The table therefore gives a skill of 5/50 for Pick Lock, 6/75 Cut Purse, 4/50 for Climb and Move Stealthily and 4/99 for Disguise and Valuation, whilst her Underworld contacts is only 3/50. Also, any other Wit-based Larceny activities not covered by these particular skills are at 4/99, for example if a test were required for knowledge of underworld locations. She has a Dagger skill of 2/25 and a Magic Lore of 2/50. Her skill for Vigour-based skills that require no initial training would be 1/25 and for Wit-based skills 1/50. She must now negotiate with the GM for which spells she is allowed to select (See Magic supplement). With a non-standard Magical apprenticeship, the GM decides that she must select as a Novice so that she may only select Spells whose total Level is equal to her Magic Lore of 2/50. She chooses Shadow, explaining that it was taught to her by the Magic User to help her acquire scrolls for him.
Experience
During play, the GM may determine that the successful completion of a particular scenario, or part thereof, is sufficient to give a character a chance at improving some or all of the skills used in that scenario. Likewise taking part in a significant engagement may, at the GM’s discretion, allow improving the combat skills used. The GM decides which skills were used sufficiently. The player may then roll a d100 for each skill identified. If the roll is less than the skill modifier, the modifier is reduced to the amount of the roll. If the roll is equal to or more than the skill modifier the character’s skill has not improved. If the character’s skill modifier is already under 10 the player rolls a d10. If the result of a roll of the d10 is over the current skill level the Character increases to the next skill level with a modifier of /99.
Training
A player may find an opportunity to undertake training during the course of a scenario. The GM must make a judgement on the quality and length of any training and may allow the player to make a skill improvement roll as for experience after a satisfactory period of training has elapsed. In general, several full weeks of training with an expert (at least one skill level higher than the trainee) will allow one skill improvement roll as above if the trainee also makes a d10 roll less than or equal to the relevant attribute for that skill. For example, a character with sailing skill 3/45 and a Vigour of 5. Must study with a sailor of skill 4/45 or higher for three weeks and then make a roll of 5 or less on a d10 to be allowed to make an improving roll. The player rolls a d100. If the result is less than 45, the skill modifier is reduced to the number rolled.
The GM may rule that a significant training sabbatical for the character such as a year apprenticed to a master or a similar period in a training camp allows the character to advance one Skill Rank. To determine the Skill Rank that achieved simply follow a line corresponding to the character’s relevant attribute in the Skill Rank table until the first column is reached with a skill level higher than the character’s current skill. For example, a character with skill 5/87 and Wit 7 studies Magic Lore with a master for a year. The character’s skill will improve to 7/99 (Skill Rank 4). The master must have a skill of at least 8/99.