Creating a character

From Sagataflwiki

Revision as of 04:00, 16 November 2010

This article is about the process of creating a character in Sagatafl. It is used both to create player characters and NPCs, although simple NPCs can be improvised in a variety of way; since that does not count as character creation, it is not covered in this article.

Please note that most of the steps below can be done in random order. Like other point-based character creation RPG rules systems, and unlike most of the procedural" type 1 systems, Sagatafl character creation starts with a profoundly tabula rasa Human, average in every way, to which the creator (the player, or the GM if it s an NPC) applies changes.

Goodie Points

Talked more about in the Goodie Points article, these are the fundamental character creation currency in Sagatafl. GPs measure how competent a character is, from a point of view that ascribes value to his potential for exerting his will on his surroundings, e.g. Frodo Baggins wanting a certain ring dunked in a specific volcano, in spite of the stark resistance that certain in-setting denizens held towards that notion.

GP amounts and levels of play

40 GP is what it takes to build a perfectly average Human. Has average values in all Primary and Secondary Attributes, no special Advantages or DisAdvantages, with the skills to go about daily life (a little Cooking, Driving, Reading) and hold a paid job, and the Perks that one would expect of a settled individual (Job, Home, possessions and some money).

100 GPs is much more powerful, and is a typical adventurer, ready to go out in the world and engage in extended conflicts, although preferably as part of a fellowship of like-minded and like-competent individuals. Elite special forces soldiers, such as US Navy SEALs, are built on less than 100 GPs, but of course also function in a domain that is notably less varied (thus calling for a smaller variety of skills) than that of a typical RPG adventurer.

160 GPs is an extremely heroic individual, very competent, either in a wide vareity of fields, or else with in-depth competence in one field. If such a person is not famous, then it is due to deliberately effort on his behalf. Extended solo operations are very feasible for 160 pointers.

200 GPs approaches the mythical. GP values abov 220 will work, but only if there are many extra things to spend aDvantage Points on, such as comic book-style superpowers or galactic-scale space operatic psionics.

GP are non-linear

In other point-based RPG systems, character creation currency translates into power in a more or less linear fashion. In a very rough sense, a character built on 120 points is twice as good, in some way, as a character built on 60 points. That is not the case in Sagatafl at all. Rather, every added 20 Goodie Points makes the character almost twice as good. There's no real "doubling factor" that can be derived, for reasons that will be clear as you become more familiar with the workings of Sagatafl, but it is probably not very wrong to suggest a "power doubling interval" of 25 or 30 GPs.

Sagatafl traditionally uses Goodie Point intervals of 20, though, except towards the lower end of the scale, intervals of 10 or even 5 should be used.

Determining base GP

Sagatafls standard procedure for determning the base GP amount that the player characters are built on is for the GM to let the players vote on it, either in secrecy from each other where each player gives his vote to the GM verbally in private, or written on paper or via email, with the GM totalling the votes and informing the player group of the result, or else the players voting openly among themselves while the GM is absent, and then informing the GM of the result. The GM usually decides which of these two methods is to be used.

The GM must offer the player group at least three GP values, with a span of at least 40 Goodie Points between the largest and smallest amount, thus he can offer 30, 31 or 70 GPs, or more traditionally 80, 100 or 120 GPs, or if he's inclined to high powered campaigns, 120, 140, 150 or 190 GPs.

Usually there will be some amount of discusion among the players, each player arguing for his preferred point total, among those offered by the GM, before the votes are cast.

Bonus GP

On top of the base amount of Goodie Points, players can earn bonus GP via enriching their characters in various ways. This is detailed in the artcle on Bonus Points, but involes such activities as writing a short or longer backstory for the character (or a detailed CV, although a minimal CV must be provided if there is no backstory), and/or drawing a small or large family tree, possibly with a scandal or two included. Each of these enriching activies gives Bonus Points, and Bonus Points are then converted to Bonus GP, using the pyramidal formula, which means that it is easy to earn a few bonus GP, but if one puts in a a massive amount of work, the reward is only a couple more bonus GP.

Also, there's a built-in expectation of work, so the base amount of Bonus GP is actually -2, thus if a player refuses to do anything to enrich his character, his GP total is 2 lower than the amount determined by the vote. Earning 1 Bonus Point gives 1 bonus GP (thus the total is 1 lower), earning a total of 3 Bonus Points gives 2 Bonus GP (thus equalling the voted-on amount), earning 6 Bonus Points gives 1 Bonus GP above the voted-on amount, and so forth.

Bonus GP are added to the GP total, or subtracted from it for lazy players who don't put in enough enriching work.

Deciding species and sex

The character's species (e.g. Human, Dwarf, Orc, Sirian) and sex (male, female) must de determined, although if Proven Player rules are in force, then unProven players are limited to playing characters of their own species (usually Human) and sex.

The choice of species applies a Species Package to the character, which has a cost in aDvantage Points (DPs) - see further down - and may also have a cost in Goodie Points if the species is starkly more powerful than a Human, such as is the case in Tolkien's Middle-earth setting, where the Elves are really on an entirely different scale from that of Humans.

The cost in Goodie Points, if any, is paid for in the Special category (see below).

The Species Package adds some actual Advantages and DisAdvantages, and usually also modifies the cost of some traits and stats, making them cheaper or more expensive, and may raise or lower the maxiumpossible values on some attributes. For instance, Elves can have a higher Appearance than it is possible for Human to have, in some settings.

It is therefore trivial, if using an electronic character creation aid (and that is practically mandatory, with Sagatafl), to change one's mind about what species one wants the character to be. The only thing one must watch out for is if certain stat values are outside of the range possible for the species after the change (either below the species minimum - if there is one - or above the species maximum - and all species have maximum values for all stats). Usually the non-beta aid software will give a warning if this is the case.

Sex may also have a similar effect. It does for Humans, even though separate species packages for Male Human and Female Human have not actually been created. Think of it as being virtual species packages.

Therefore it is likewise trivial, from a game mechanical point of view, to change one's mind about what sex one wants the character to be.

Distributing the GP

The amount of Goodie Points, the sum of the Goodie Point value voted on (80 GP, e.g.) and the Bonus GP added (from -2 GP and up to about +4 for an obsessively dedicated player), must be distrubed among four categories. As always, changing one's mind is easy. Just go back, and input different values in the appropriate numerical fields in the character creation software aid. The aid will' tell you if the total for the 4 categories is higher or lower than the amount of GPs you are to spend.

The four categories are:

• aDvantage Points, DPs, used to buy Attributes and AdDvantages. You get compensatory points, extra DPs to spend, if you loweryour attributes to below-average values (for your chosen species and sex), and for taking DisAdvantages.
• Skill Points, SPs, used to buy regular Skills (with numerical levels, e.g. Stealth, Seduction, Air Magic and Punching) and Lores (binary skills, ones you either have or don't have), and also Training to increase your character's Strength and Fitness. Please note that you must pay for all skills your character have, including the ability to speak his First Language(s). You get nothing for free.
• Perk Points, PPs, used to buy social traits, and external states, for your character, such as Contacts, Rank, Reputations and Popularities, and also states such as being Wealthy or owning special equipment. There are also negPerks, that give you compensatory PPs if you choose them.
• The Special Category, used for a few things that are important to some character concepts. It is possible to get a compensatory point or two here, but it is generally a bad idea to do so.

Spending limits

Spending limits are in force, differing slightly beteen PCs and NPCs.

When building a PC, no more than 55% of the GP total (excluding bonus GP) may be spent on aDvantage Points, no more than 60% may be spent on Skill Point, and no more than 65% may be spent Perk Points.

When building an NPC, up to 75% of the GPs may be spent on Perk Points; the other limits are the same: 55% for aDvantage Points and 60% for Skill Points.

There must also be a rule limiting the character to a certain total of Skill Points based on his age (and excluding Years spent in magical sleep, cryogenic hibernation, and similar), but that rule will be based on the assumption of intensive full-time training from childhood, and so will not affect typical or even very atypical character concepts, even at very high GP totals.

This rule has not been created yet, and creating it is not a high priority.

aDvantage Points

Primary Attributes

Secondary Attributes

Advantages

Powers

Flaw Points

Skill Points

Regular Skills

Lores

Spells

Style Skills and Stunts

Professions and Omniskill

Conditioning

Perk Points

Wealth and Equipment

Rank

Craft

Magic item owner

Special GP Category Points

Special Category Points, paid in GPs, are used only for a very few things.

Omniskill Threshold

Normally, characters have an Omniskill threshold of 500 SP, that is they may spend a total of 500 Skill Points on the Omniskill, during character creation, and under rather limited circumstances also after character creation (generally you should buy all the Omniskill you want/can during character creation).

Up to 4 Goodie Points can be paid to raise this threshold, each raising it by 250 SP, to a maximum value of 1500 SP. This is trivial, and requires little if any background justification. Just make sure your character has been through a wide variety of experiences in his backstory, or at least read a lot of books and watched lots of documentary television.

A few characters are highly unusual in that they have a lower Omniskill threshold. 1 compensatory GP is given for lowering the threshold to 250 SP (the cost of this is -1 GP, minus one GP). This requires some background justification, with help from the GM if needed, to look into why the character has such a narrow background and such a severe incompetence in all the skills that he has never trained in any way.

Some extremely unusual characters may have an Omniskill threshold of zero SP, meanig they can never train the Omniskill at all. This gives 2 GPs of compensation, thus the cost is -2 GP. Anything resembling a normal Human cannot have this. It's someone who grew up in a solitary confinement prison cell, or similar. Maybe a supernatural being. Even most space aliens would have some indirect familiarity with a vast range of skill activities, as represented by an Omniskill of at least level 1.

Thus, the range of GPs that can be spent on Omniskill Threshold is from -2 GP to 4 GP. Spending 1-3 GPs, or even 4, on raising the threshold, and then putting all the SPs into Omniskill during character creation, is often a good choice of one wants to create an "older, veteran-shaped" character.

Just make sure not to waste GPs on this. For a perfectly average character whose Aptitude for the Omniskill is 3.00, the first level in the skill costs 150 SP, the first plus second costs a total of 450 SP, and the first, second and third cost a total of 1350 SP, and so spending 1, 2 or 3 GPs on increasing the Omniskill Threshold makes no sense because nothing is gained from it; the amount of SPs that can be put into it, 750, 1000 or 1250, aren't enough to raise it to the 3rd level. Only if 4 GPs are spent does the Threshold go up to 1500, enough to pay the 1350 SP that the 3rd level costs.

Note, though, that if a character's Aptitude for Omniskill is even just slightly higher than 3.00, the cost in Skill Points drops noticably.

Species GP cost

All species packages have a cost in DPs, aDvantage Points, although for Humans the cost for either sex is 0 DP (some sexually dimorphic species may have formal species package for either sex; Humans only have informal implicit packages).

Some species have such a high UMF, UberMensch Factor, that they also cost GP to be, usually only 1 GP, but sometimes 2 or 3 or even more.

UMF is an attempt to "measure" how much better a species is than Humans. Each species trait that makes an attribute or other stat cheaper to increase raises UMF, and each species trait that makes an attribute or other stat more expensive to buy lowers slightly UMF. Raised attribute or stat maximums may also affect UMF, as may lowered maximums.

Any non-zero UMF results in a DP cost to be that species, on top of the sum cost of the traits of the species, negative if the UMF is negative. For a very high UMF, there is an added cost, beyond the DP cost, paid in GPs; usually only a single GP. There is no corresponding extra GP given for choosing to createa character of a species with a very low UMF.

UMF and DP cost is always mentioned in each species package, and if no GP cost is mentioned then it is zero.

Having no Flaws

As explained above, by default a character has 5 Flaw Points that must be spent to choose Flaws. Wanting to have fewer Flat Points to spend is an Advantage, and costs an escalating amount of aDvantage Points as the number of Flaw Points approaches zero.

The privilege of having no Flaws costs 80 DPs, but on top of that it also costs 1 Goodie Point.

Advice

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Please note

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Mini-FAQ

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The world

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World impact

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The Ärth setting

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Design Notes

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See also

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