[Circle of Hands] let's try to create characters...

[Moreno R.]

Hi! I am trying to organize a playtest by google hangout (Italian-speaking people only, sorry), but in the meanwhile I want to try to create some character (with the intention of probably using them in the playtest). I am posting these here to know if I am making any mistakes (I am worried not so much about the mechanical rules of character creation - they seems simple enough - but about the fictional decision, the setting informations are a lot to adsorb all in one reading...)

For the rolls I am using a online dice roller, it's simpler than trying to roll dice on my keyboard...

Brawn: 6
Quickness 1+1 (black die) = 2
Wits 1+4 (white die) = 5
Charm 1+4 (red die) = 5

I am worried that a low quickness will be a serious handicap, and I want to use that high Wits, so as traits I choose:
Brave (+2 Q): retreat is not the first option
Cunning (+2 W): surprise and deception, every time

So:
Brawn: 6
Quickness 4
Wits 7
Charm 5
Brave: retreat is not the first option
Cunning: surprise and deception, every time

W is highest, so I'm from Spurr, where treachery is trust

With W=7 I can choose 2 professions. I have some general impressions about this character, but nothing solid, so I will deviate from the order in the draft (sorry, Ron) to roll the details,. to help me decide:

The black die give me a 3, + 5 (Charm) for Demeanor, total 8 as in Blunt – not vicious or insulting, merely lacking in graces
The white die give me a 5, + Charm for Feature, total 10 as in Blaze – a common genetic quirk

OK, now about the profession...  I checked to see how many spell a non-wizard would have,m and I found contradictory answers...
Page 22: Non-wizards are trained by the wizards of the Circle, so they begin with points of spells equal to Wits
Page 64: Player-characters without the wizard Profession begin play with five points of spells
What is the right rule?

For the moment, I will use the first version, the one in the character creation chapter. This means that this character will get 7 points of spells even without being a wizard. And I think that quickness and brawn are too low for a wizard anyway.
At this point I don't have a firm grasp of the system so I don't know which choices would be more advantageous, but a slow guy who is cunning and brave don't seems like a good fit for a soldier or a peasant. OK, I choose a Merchant that is a Scholar, too!

Social class: professional.
Name: Kurt
Surname...  OK, let's wait a little for the surname, I want to get a better idea about who is this guy...

Spells:
Perfect Senses  (1)
Glamor (2)
Shadow Cloud (1)
Summon Demon (1)
Dominate (2)

Armor and Weapons: as a professional without another martial profession, Kurt was unskilled in combat, but received circle training in the use of the spear, mail, cone helmet, buckler, and parma.

Key Event: Kurt was a fence for historic, artistic or exotic objects, with a very selected number of powerful buyers. Aaving run afoul of a local Lich lord after a bad deal, Kurd fled with everything he had toward Rilke. He did think to have reached relative safety, when one night his own servant poisoned him for the lich lord's gold.  Kurt was saved only by the fast actions by of a Circle Wizard. (can it be a player character?)

[Ron Edwards]

Great idea.

1. Argh, do it in order!

2. Points of starting spells = W. That was a late-stage change, and it looks like I didn't find every instance of "five."

3. The Key Event is a little too much story, not enough scene. I have that problem too; it's something I'll work on in the text.

4. You probably shouldn't specify a specific Circle member to have saved him, to avoid pre-play story-making. Better to say that he didn't know the Circle member at the time, so the scene won't identify him or her. If it does happen to be an existing other Circle member, that's of little interest. Because (this is important) back-story isn't supposed to be plot in this game, but a psychological trigger for the player when playing that character.

Surname?

Minor point: all Circle knights have Brawn 6 or, if Brutal, 7.

Best, Ron

[Moreno R.]

Surname?

I am not sure about that bit.  "Professionals use names similarly to freemen, but always use a surname as well, whether a parent's name, a husband's, the profession, or some adjective related to the profession."

So it's something like "Gerulf, son of Alwin", or "Gerulf Alwinson" (which one?), "Gerulf the thief", "Geruld the nimble", but about the current profession or the past one or both?

For the moment I choose "Kurt Alwinson"

Minor point: all Circle knights have Brawn 6 or, if Brutal, 7.

So, from a first reading, the most important attribute for a Wizard (at least at the beginning, before raising Brawn) is quickness (how fast he/she is in casting spells), seeing that a slow wizard risk being wounded before getting the spell out, and that Wits don't limit the number of spells like for the other characters. I am missing something?

This is the second character:

Rolls:
Black: 4  --> Quickness 5
White: 5  --> Wits 6
Red: 4  --> Charm 5
(my inner power-player likes this guy already)

I want him to be Brutal and Brave, so the initial attributes are:
Brawn: 7
Quickness: 7
Wits: 6
Charm: 6
Brave: Retreat is not the first option
Brutal: at home with physical and emotional pain

The character is from Rolke

Profession...  let's be ambitious (me, not the character), this character is Martial (High) and a Wizard (I have seen from the rules that these are rather at odds with each other - casting spells reduce brawn, so these two aspects use the same resource, but I like this duality of the character)

Social class: Gentry

Sex: male

Demeanor and feature rolls: black die is 1, white die is 5, so...
Demeanor = 7 = Blunt – not vicious or insulting, merely lacking in graces
Feature = 11 = Emblem – denotes family, region of birth, or a profession; this is in addition to the Circle emblem ordinarily worn by the player-characters

My first thoughts for the Emblem was a family banner or coat-of-arms, but I remembered that this setting has no heraldry... I don't like him being part of an order of wizard or any other order apart from the Circle...  could this Emblem be a sword or a similar object of great value?

Anyway, I want an Emblem of his (famous) family...  what it could be in absence of heraldry?

Name...  Ludwig, Baron Hartmann

Armor and weapons: quoting from Krimhild's description changing the cultural (Tamarion / Rolke) aspects, it become:
As gentry with martial (high), Ludwig is already skilled (on foot or mounted) with the spear, sword, and bow; he is armored with the kite shield, mail including a gambeson, and spangenhelm; and like everyone he has a personal knife. He doesn't carry around all this stuff personally, but rather chooses whatever he likes from this list at any given point.

Key Event:
Ludwig is looking in horror as his father, the Baron, the Wizard, is using a Rbaja spell to summon a Yoggoth, powered by the ritual sacrifice of his last servants, to strike back at the new king's army that is attacking their fortress (laying waste to the entire territory at the same time). Ludwig has been ordered to bring the first sacrifice, a tied and crying very young maid, to the altar above the blood bowl. He brings his knife on his father's back, instead, then he breaks the summoning symbol, and run to the walls to order the guards to raise the white flag.

[Ron Edwards]

Cool!

I decided not to go with the "-son" and "-dottir" convention, so just "Ludwig, Baron Hartmann" should be sufficient.

So, from a first reading, the most important attribute for a Wizard (at least at the beginning, before raising Brawn) is quickness (how fast he/she is in casting spells), seeing that a slow wizard risk being wounded before getting the spell out, and that Wits don't limit the number of spells like for the other characters. I am missing something?

You're strategizing too much. There isn't any distinctive "wizard build" aside from having W 5 or higher. Q is no more nor less important to them than anyone else in terms of order of action, and B can't be strategized very much. If anything, Q is a bit less important since spellcasting does not rely on rolls. But I'm hesitant to say even that because there are plenty of times a wizard might say, "this is a moment for a spear" and get in there with everyone else.

An emblem is always the circular badge or batch. In this case, something which might later become heraldry is in place, so it would be something to do with Alwin, even just the letter A or whatever. A stylized image of a sword would be fine for sure. (Krimhilde's would have been a hawk for sure, for "Falk," but she does not wear an emblem besides that of the Circle.)

[Moreno R.]

I decided not to go with the "-son" and "-dottir" convention, so just "Ludwig, Baron Hartmann" should be sufficient.

And for the other character (a Merchant) so it's "Kurt, son of Alwin", not "Kurt Alwinson"?

[Ron Edwards]

Sure.