Color-first character creation project

[Eero Tuovinen]

A D&D 3.5 character could multiclass on the first level with the DMG optional rules, if my memory is not failing me. Something about only getting half of the features of each class on the first level and filling the rest on the second. I never had any use for those rules, though - seems like something just put in to satisfy some players with much too fragile character concepts, if they couldn't stand waiting until second level to multiclass.

[Graham W]

I realise this is breaking the rules and I do apologise. But I thought the world would poorer without a Toon version of the above character.

Connie The Barbarian

Species: Human
Occupation: Barbarian

Muscle: 4
Zip: 6
Smarts: 6
Chutzpah: 4

Hit points: 7

Description

Connie is a loin-clothed barbarian. See picture above.

Natural Enemies

The Emperor Of Zarg

Beliefs

1. Men are stupid.
2. Animals are as intelligent as humans (and more intelligent than most men).

Goals

1. Outwit big stupid men.
2. Flirt with big stupid men to get my way.
3. Hit things.

Possessions

Rope
Lipstick
Pictures Of Family
Bottle Of Glue
Sword Of Extraordinary Fatal Doom
False Moustache
Dynamite
A Barrel Of Beer

Muscle Skills

Break Down Door 7
Climb 7
Fight 9
Pick Up Heavy Thing 4
Throw 4

Zip Skills

Dodge 9
Drive Vehicle 6
Fire Gun 6
Jump 6
Ride 8
Run 6
Swim 8

Smarts Skills

Hide/Spot Hidden 6
Identify Dangerous Thing 6
Read 6
Resist Fast Talk 6
See/Hear/Smell 6
Set/Disarm Trap 6
Track/Cover Tracks 6

Chutzpah Skills

Fast Talk 9
Pass/Detect Shoddy Goods 4
Sleight Of Hand 4
Sneak 7

Shtick

Incredible Strength

Graham

[Ron Edwards]

Aw Graham, you know I can't let that stand, because everyone who's posted so far is itching to send in versions from other games. So it's really really not fair.

But yes, a Toon version was irresistible. I see that too.

From now on, everyone, if you want to post another character, ask me first through private message. Before doing that, though, consider poking a friend who's mentioned maybe they'll post something if they think of it, and suggesting the game that's gnawing a hole in your ethical cortex. And finally, if you must, you can make up the other characters for the other games and merely keep them on hand without posting, to bring into the discussion later.

Thanks!

Best, Ron

[lilomar]

I'm going to use The Affairs of Wizards.

Spend 100 points on her ratings in Strength, Symbol, Specialization, Sanctum and Stuff. Then define her Symbol, choose her Specialization, and describe her sanctum and stuff. Also choose a Flaw, which always starts with a rating of zero.

Each rating is worth pyramidally more than the last one, so the prices for increasing a rating one level are 1,3,6,10,15,etc.

Strength: 3

Symbol: 5
Her symbol is a black panther.

Specialization: 3
Her specialization is Wildwalking.

Sanctum: 5
Her sanctum is a large, peaceful grove in the jungle.
Unique Feature: Healing Spring. Water drank from this spring helps quicken recovery from all wounds or illnesses.
Unique Feature: Peaceful Aura. Anyone within is lulled into non-violence.
Unique Feature: Grabbing Vines. These thorny vines grasp and cut anyone not wanted.
Unique Feature: Giant Ferns. These ferns provide protection from the elements, as well as concealment when needed.
Unique Feature: Pitfalls. These dug-out pits are covered in foliage. They will catch anyone getting too close to her private quarters.

Stuff: 3
Level-two artefact - Tool: A sword made from the thigh bone of a panther which is stained with the blood of her past enemies.
Level-one artefact - Focus: A golden bracer.l

Flaw
Her flaw is Mistrust. She feels that others are not looking out for her best interests and has a hard time accepting what others say as the truth.

Although it isn't specifically required by the system, I'm going to give her a name. I think I shall call her Praveena, which is a Hindi girls name meaning 'skilled'. (I don't speak Hindi, so this may be wrong; I found it on a website.)

[Joel P. Shempert]

A D&D 3.5 character could multiclass on the first level with the DMG optional rules, if my memory is not failing me. Something about only getting half of the features of each class on the first level and filling the rest on the second. I never had any use for those rules, though - seems like something just put in to satisfy some players with much too fragile character concepts, if they couldn't stand waiting until second level to multiclass.

I believe that's how it worked in 2nd Edition, actually. . .you had to track a half-level of each class through your advancement. Anyway I own the DMG but couldn't find anything in there about it. It was actually an interesting exercise in gamer assumptions. . ."everyone knows" that you can start at a higher level, but it certainly doesn't say so in the Character Creation chapters, and I was hard pressed to find it anywhere else.

I kinda think that Yaeta as a S&S writeup is everything that in D&D3.5 I would've spent the whole game wishing she was, anyway.



On another note, now that I've read the other entries, I'm thinking I should've "shown my work" more in terms of the nuts and bolts of each step (I wonder if the each participant's instinctual level of detail is part of the exercise?) In any case, I'll spell things out briefly:

The Setting: This the first step, and essential-a Sorcerer is meaningless apart from their specifically-created and customized setting. Sorcerer & Sword has a specific set of setting-building steps, so I follow them: "The Basics" including What's It Like? Where and When? and Maps (I really should draw a map), "Atmosphere" which is deemed more important than nailing down details, and includes a big Fuck-You to "realism," and finally "Mystic Otherworlds" where the weird meets the everyday. I started with the general concept of "Roman-occupied Gaul," fictionalized it, then used the cardinal directions to fill it in. Once I'd detailed what lies to each direction, wham! I had a setting.

The Hero: The first section in this chapter is "Destiny," which is an overarching fate that dogs or drives the character. It's optional, with maybe only one character having one, or maybe none. but I quickly seize on a suitable Destiny prompted by the book's category of "Crux of the Conflict."

Next is "Descriptions," which is actually only part of the picture. It's a supplement, so I have to refer back to the Sorcerer book for the actual scores and how to assign them (10 points split between Stamina Will and Lore, Humanity equal to either Stamina or Will). then the S&S book gives me a new set of Descriptions for each score to replace the core book's. I play around with assignment, almost giving her 5 Stamina, which would net her two descriptors (Savage-raised and Arcane Regimen, for her weird Fey lifestyle and mannerisms) but ultimately I want the 4 Will even though I'm going to Boost it with her Demon later--just look at that face! She deserves some force of personality of her own, unenhanced. So I go with a 4/4 split, with 2 Lore: just enough to not be clueless, but not overtly Sorcerous either. Just witchy enough to unnerve folks.

The book also replaces "Cover" ("Day Job") with Past. the three categories are Immortal, Social Rank (an acceptable profession, either Civilized or Barbarian). or Outlaw. I toy with Barbarian, but when I see that it entails having an accepted role in a savage society, it's Outlaw all the way.

Next up is Price, which has a new batch of suggestions appropriate to genre. I consider "Uncivilized" and Bad Reputation" but settle on Unlucky in Love to fit her Kicker and make the personal journey of her Destiny the more gut-wrenching.

S&S doesn't mention it, but she also needs a Telltale, to set her apart as a Sorcerer. I write a thing about the ice-blue hair and the uncomfortably penetrating eyes.

Next is, in fact, Kickers, though I had mine in mind from the first. i note that my idea hasn't changed and move on.

There's a section on Female Heroes and how they're rare in the literature and have to be double-tough in the genre to transcend their marginalization, and their stories all tend to be double-sad as well. I note that my setup of Destiny, Price and Kicker seem to be set up well along that vector.

Playing Sorcerer also needs a definition of Humanity (which I forgot to mention entirely in my original post!) S&S notes that unlike Sorcerer, Humanity gain/loss only applies to close relationships. In any case I ponder what specific definition to employ. I first think of Honor, having noted in the Setting that society operates on Honor/Shame. But I also see Yaeta as transcending and ignoring all that-to her peril, sure, but she's not wrapped up in that way of thinking. So I hit on Relationship-she scoffs at bullshit rules, but does desire connection with people. Note, though, that with a real group I wouldn't necessarily have this luxury: the GM would already have set the Humanity standard--possibly with my input, but I certainly wouldn't have the opportunity to tailor it to my specific character to the exclusion of other players.

Sorcery: S&S tweaks the concepts here a lot, though the base rules more or less stand. There;s a section on Demons, specifically what they tend to be like in S&S lit. There's a list of kinds of Demons (independent of "Type" in the original) that you can describe Demons by. I figure the Faerie Folk can be Old Ones at the top of the heap, and Pagan things at the bottom. the "touch of the Fey" is handled through Parasites, and Demon Weapons aren't out of the question; neither are ravenous mythical Beasts. I pretty much ignore True Demons and Undead, and I see now that I missed Ghosts Entirely. I'm confused by Immanents so i let them be.

S&S has a new list of Desires. I note that Ruin seems up the alley of my planned Demon.

We then arrive at Sorcery Itself. Nothing here applies directly to my concept. there's the new system for Pacting instead of Binding, and a bit on Magic Swords (I could make that sword in the picture a Demon, of course, but I've already got my mind set on Faerie Sight). Then a whole assload of material on Necromancy. Cool, but not what I need.

Demon Creation: After that it's off to the Sorcerer book to build her Demon. I've got a general idea of her uncanny and unnerving Faerie gaze, as a Parasite. I set to picking Abilities I dither about a bit (so many could be cool! Hold? Taint? Psychic Force?), but then I take a step back and write out a brief description of the Demon and its effects. Suddenly it all falls into place. Boost Will was always on the table, as well as hint. Perception lets her be uncomfortably insightful outside of the dramatic event of a Hint ordeal, and Daze is a nice "Bedazzling" effect. It also brings Need into focus: basically it needs to "fuck with the straights" (to the detriment of her need for relationship!), and the Abilities tell me what means it uses. Desire I've already set at "Ruin."

So I assign Scores: Stamina 2 (it's a frail and ephemeral thing if it ever leaves her person) is a judgment call, then Lore is set equal to number of Abilities, Will is one more than Lore, and Power is equal to that.

It also needs a Telltale. I note that I included both her eyes and hair in Yaeta's own Telltale. I realize that clearly, the unnatural eyes are the Demon's thing, so I separate them out.

To name the thing, I try to think of vaguely Celtic-sounding strings of syllables that are pleasing to me. Nothing comes to mind. I google for the Gaelic term for Second Sight and arrive at Taibhse, which also means an apparition, spirit or ghost. Nice! And the link has a pronunciation guide, so cool. Incidentally, Gorias is the name of a legendary locale in Irish myth, and Yaeta I pulled from the In a Wicked Age names list. Technically, it's Persian/Assyrian, but sounds vaguely Celtic or Nordic enough for my taste.

Now comes the Binding Roll. This the only random part of the process, it determines who's dominant in the Demon relationship. I already detailed the roll results upthread. I'll just note that I was personally pulling for the Demon to win, it felt more fitting in this case.

Whew! Did I say "briefly"? That's a lot of stuff, more than you'd think for "just making a character." I guess I'll sit back and wait to see what Step 2 will do with all this raw clay.

[Rafu]

A D&D 3.5 character could multiclass on the first level with the DMG optional rules, if my memory is not failing me. Something about only getting half of the features of each class on the first level and filling the rest on the second.

I believe that's how it worked in 2nd Edition, actually. . .you had to track a half-level of each class through your advancement. Anyway I own the DMG but couldn't find anything in there about it. It was actually an interesting exercise in gamer assumptions. . ."everyone knows" that you can start at a higher level, but it certainly doesn't say so in the Character Creation chapters, and I was hard pressed to find it anywhere else.

I believe what Eero remembers and described is an optional rule included in the DMG for D&D Third Edition (that is, the so-called "3.0"!), which indeed allowed for 1st level multi-class characters, and characters such made were just equal to "normal" multi-class characters as soon as they achieved 2nd level.
I kind of remember the rule being absent from the 3.5 DMG, likely removed to make room for something else.
But multi-class D&D sorcerers suck big time, so I'm sure Melinglor's move to Sorcerer & Sword was for the better.

[Eero Tuovinen]

That's the conclusion I came to yesterday, Rafu - I checked around for the rule and thought that I'd gone crazy, but then realized that I was of course remembering the 3.0 DMG which I read much more carefully than the 3.5 in the first place.

[KCassidy]

I'm using Storming the Wizards Tower, Vincent Baker's semi-ashcan of Red Box-esque goodness.

1) I roll six six sided dice for each stat, in order. I get 4,6,2,1,3,5. In Tower your lowest roll is always gives a  3 to your stat, your highest is always a 6, 2's and 3's give a 4 to the stat and 4's and 5's give a 5. My stats are...

Arcane:5
Command:6
Endurance:4
Perception:3
Skill:4
Strength:5

Since my endurance is four, I get four still fighting boxes and four endurance roll boxes to use to track my wounds.

2) Every game of Tower is tied to a specific setting, which determines what equipment and character types are available, and grounds your character in a community. I chose the Horsehall setting from the book, which are, semi-matriarchal iron age people with an economy based on herding. I choose the Sword Maiden from character type, which is a fighting priestess of the horse clan. I choose the name Unora from the Horsehall name list.

3) Most character generation in the game comes from choosing your weapons, spells, maps, gear, and persons, which can be used to get extra dice in a conflict. A Sword Maiden gets three weapons, three spells, one gear or map, one of any of the four types, and one person. All Sword Maidens start with the same special power-Divine Protection, which gives an extra dice to defense. I choose:

Weapons:
Broadsword-2 red combat dice
Shield-2 blue defense dice
Spear-2 red combat dice

Maps:
A spell book: 1 extra dice for spell casting

Gear:
Jewelry: 1 extra dice when appropriate

Spells:
Bath of healing light
Luck for Warriors
A Warning Vision

[Rafu]

KCassidy, you should also choose one person from the Horsehall list, right?

[ghashsnaga]

All right here you go. From the big Talislanta book the compiled all the smaller books.

Talislanta

Choose an Archetype (culture):
Arimite Knife Fighter (technically she is half arimite)

Record Information:
Str +1
Dex +3
Con +2
Spd +1
Per +1
Cha -1
Wil 0
Int 0
CR +5
HP 26
MR 0

5'2", 95lbs

Personalize:
Done see above

Determine other Characteristics:
Also done see above

Choose Skills:
Arimite Knife Fighting +4, Brawling +3, Big Fing Knife +2, Guard +4, Mounted Combat +1, Climbing +2, Scout +1, Stealth +1, Ride +3, Low Talislan +10, Barter -1, Swim +3

Record Equipment and Wealth:
Equipment: Fur vest, hide boots, sackcloth bikini, armbands and earrings of black iron, knives, big Fing knife, pouch, iron flask of chakos, 25 gold lumens

Contacts and Character History
Contacts: Muse Telempath, Dhuna Witch, Thrall Warrior
As per Ron's rules no backstory here

Name: Frost (yeah I am being lazy)


ara


That's it. I have a couple of others I did up in other systems which are sitting desk-side right now.

Ara

[sirogit]

That picture has a very strong resemblance to one of my favorite Polaris characters I made, but I want to do something new with this so I picked Tunnels & Trolls, Fifth edition.

Step 1: Roll 3d6 for each attribuite:

Strength: 6
Intelligence: 14
Luck: 11
Constituition: 10
Dexterity: 6
Charisma: 8

Step 2: Give it a name and sex.

I like the name "Bella", and she's definately a girl.

Step 3: Choose Type (Class)

The options are "Warrior", who ware "modelled on Robert E Howard's Conan" and are "psi-defieicent" or Wizards who are totally complicated and psi-imbued and shouldn't be your first character.

With low strength and dexterity it looks like it would be hard for her to be a warrior. But at the same time, she's very conany and this is my first time playing, so I think I will go along with being totally nerfed. Myabe I'll get along just being very clever and making the most of magical devices.

Step 4: Choose Kin (Race)

You can choose human, elf, fairy, hobbit or leprachaun, with each modifying stats and changing classes around a little in case of the leprachaun. I consider possibly fairy but decide to stick to human.

Until I read the Were-section. And then I'm like fuck that, Were-puma. I get x7/2 to CON and STR (making them 21 strength and 35 CON), drop DEX to 3, and convince my fellows that puma's are sexy and charisma should stay the same (Its pretty miserable anyway.)

Step 5: Note level.

Its 1.

Step 6: Get additional languages.

I have 2 more intellgence than 12, giving me 2 more languages than common, which I choose to roll for:

The rules say I should roll two 20 sided dice to simulate a d100 for the table (How the hell are you suppoed to do that with d20s? I ended up using d10s). I rolled once again on Common Tongue (Dangit) and on the second roll, picked up Dwarvish. It looks like I'm chatting up kobolds!

Step 7: Calculate persional adds

My dismal strength and Dexterity give me -6 for personal ads. Ouch! Forutantely, in Puma form, I'll get +3 instead.

Step 8: Roll for gold

I get (8 on 3d6x10) 80 points of gold.

Step 9: Height and weight

I roll up 5'8'' and 280 lbs. That's a little ridicolous for weight, so I roll again: 180. That makes more sense for the picture.

Step 10: Weight possible.

Strengthx10. so 60lbs for me.

I can't even carry all my gold! They'll have to stick in on my back when I'm a Puma.

Step 11: Buy shit

My non-dagger weapon options are the blugdeon, the baton, the piton hammer, I go for the bludgeon.

I decide to go without armor because my picture doesn't seem to have much armor, I can't afford anything good and I can't carry much either.

I would've bought poison for more combat punch but its all out of my price range.

I also get provisions, 30 feet of silk rope, latern and knee-highboots. I look around my companions to see who's gonna carry my stuff.

My total weight carried should be 55 in normal circusmatnces (I persuaded someone else to carry my provisions, latern and rope, and hold my gold back home)

And done.

[greyorm]

I'd do her up as an ORX character, but I haven't gotten around to talking about doing ORX with non-orcs, so...let's see what's unpacked around here...and I went and did an ORX version anyways. Me: rule-breaker. Setting it aside and...man, I really like the ORX version I did. Pfui. Oh, hey! Risus! Why not? It's kind of a spiritual brother to ORX anyways.

1) Give 'em a name.

Clearly this character is "Jelena, the Hired Blade"

2) Describe the concept.

"Jelena is a platinum-haired, pale-skinned human female, well-endowed and bearing exceptional curves, both fleshy and forged, who doesn't believe in armor, as she finds a bared-midriff helps more in battle (and in avoiding battle) than one might expect. For the times it doesn't, a big sword and a bad attitude get her through. She's looking for money and flesh-toys."

3) Come up with some Cliches, describe what those Cliches are good at, and assign 10 dice among them, with no more than 4 dice to any Cliche.

Warrior (good at swinging a sword at things to kill them and polishing sharp metal stuff) (3)
Bimbo (good at flirting and distracting, charming and stealing your husband, not getting pregnant, and drinking games) (4)
Mercenary (good at taking money for swinging a sword at things, swearing, knowing where to find paying fights, and showing up late) (2)
Novice Wizard (good at casting spells poorly, stealing their master's magic stuff, and using magic items with uncommon results) (1)

4) List whatever Tools you have you need to do your stuff with (otherwise you simply have anything you probably would).

Jelena has a golden armband and carries a large, curving, cleaver-type sword. She wears...little: black panties attached to a belt of golden discs, and a crude-but-revealing-so-it-hardly-matters army-green bustiere.

5) Advanced Option: Hooks & Tails Tales (kinky), each which gives you one extra die to play with, but you must detail an obsession or flaw, or a juicy story.

Tale: Jelena is a fully trained member of the Order of the Blade, having spent her childhood in the warrior monasteries of the Order, and is ranked "Mistress of the Blade", but if her former compatriots in the Order ever catch the Mistress-turned-mercenary, blood will flow...

Hook: Jelena's armband, supposedly, is a special armband given to her by her superiors in the Order and contains mighty and secret magics, but if so, she has never awakened its powers.

Hook: Jelena also has a brother she knows nothing about.

That's a total 3 extra Cliche dice to spread around. The Tale could be longer, but let's go with it.

6) Advanced Option: Double-pumped Cliches: cost twice as much, but you can buy them up for a round (2 extra die per die to be lost).

I'll make her Wizard Cliche double-pumped and increase it by one, so it's now [2] and cost me four of my dice. Now I can pump it to roll four dice instead, though I'll take two injury dice afterward.

7) Advanced Option: Funky Dice for superheroes and demigods and People Who Like Math. No thanks. Not using this option.

So there we are.

Jelena the Hired Blade

A white-haired, pale-skinned human female, well-endowed and bearing exceptional curves, both fleshy and forged, who doesn't believe in armor, as she finds a bared-midriff helps more in battle (and in avoiding battle) than one might expect. For the times it doesn't, a big sword and a bad attitude get her through.

Warrior (3)
Bimbo (4)
Mercenary (2)
Novice Wizard [2]

Tale: Jelena is a fully trained member of the Order of the Blade, having spent her childhood in the warrior monasteries of the Order, and is ranked "Mistress of the Blade", but if her former compatriots in the Order ever catch the Mistress-turned-mercenary, blood will flow...

Hook: Jelena's armband, supposedly, is a special armband given to her by her superiors in the Order and contains mighty and secret magics, but if so, she has never awakened its powers.

Hook: Jelena also has a brother she knows nothing about.

So there you have it, my totally sexist, chauvinistic, hurts-ultrafeminists-just-by-existing Risus character, and ready for insertion into some wild 70's Heavy Metal strip. (And I didn't even mean that last double entendre, honestly!)

[KCassidy]

KCassidy, you should also choose one person from the Horsehall list, right?

yes. I wrote, Ula- Winter Priestess on my notes, but it didn't make it to the post.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey everyone,

What great characters!

I'd like to ask that folks consider doing a real character sheet for their characters, and get it scanned. I'd like to set up a reference page with all of them on it. If you aren't scan-savvy (e.g., I'm not), then someone can speak up and offer help. No rush, but look into it if you can.

Kcassidy, lilomar, what's your first name, if you're OK with disclosing? Rafu, is that your name? Sirogit, I know I know your name, but I'm blanking, so remind me please.

To clarify the deadline for posting characters, let's make it 5 PM on Tuesday, U.S. Central Time. The discussion will begin shortly afterwards.

Best, Ron

[Joel P. Shempert]

Cool, Ron! On that note, are there Sorcerer and Sword character sheets done up and avaolable anywhere? Or am I just using a plain Sorcerer sheet, crossing out "Cover" for "Past," scribbling in "Destiny" somewhere, and so on?

Also. . .should we do this for our second-string, unsubmitted characters as well? Will they go in the reference page?