Character Creation Details
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Character creation Details Beast Hunters are an elite group among the Chel'qhuri. All Chel'qhuri are trained warriors, and Beast Hunters receive special training and knowledge from their elders. They travel across the territory of various nadans in search of their prey, and sometimes their hunts lead them to the farthest corners of the Berengad. In the end, however, they always return to their tribe. The following is an overview of the character details you will figure out when you create your Beast Hunter character. Naturally, a character should be defined by more details than are listed on the character sheet, such as looks, background, history, and family. But they have no mechanical relevance to the game unless you incorporate them into traits and resources, so you can keep additional information in mind or write it out on different sheets of paper. You probably won't need to reference that information during the game too often, but you'll need the traits and resources all the time. Name: Chel'qhuri names often include harsh consonant sounds. CH and QH are also common. Hunter: The player who owns this character. Initiative: Initiative determines the order of action during a conflict. Traits: Every Beast Hunter has traits to help her overcome the challenges in her path. There are three types of traits, according to the personality aspects that matter most in Chel’qhuri culture: Brutality, Cunning, and Spirituality. Traits have a numerical value associated with them. That value is the bonus to the 2D10 roll that the trait gives during Conflict Resolution if it has been activated (see the Conflict Resolution chapter for details). In addition, each trait can be tagged for a special purpose once during an adventure, with the effect depending on the specialty and the rating. This is also further explained in the Conflict Resolution chapter. When you create traits for your Beast Hunter, they can be virtually anything you can think of that's appropriate to their purpose. They can be attributes, talents, events of character history, relationships, beliefs, and so on. For example, a Beast Hunter could have "Spear and Axe Training" as a Brutality Trait. But that would be boring; a more interesting description would be "My Mother Taught Me To Fight", "Hulking Brute,” "Fear My Wrath", or even just "I Am A Beast Hunter". All of those could be Brutality Traits; some could be Cunning or Spirituality Traits as well, and the specialty you pick for each trait will give it a certain flavor that says something about your character. Each trait should have something interesting about it, something that makes your character more unique, allows you to use more interesting solutions and actions for challenges, and hints to the Challenger about ways to make adventures and challenges matter to your character. It's a good idea to use traits that give Challengers an idea of what kind of adventures and challenges you'd like to face. Resources: Hunters and their opposition have resources that help them during conflicts. Resources either add to the damage that a character inflicts or subtract from the damage that a character takes. The first kind is called an offensive resource, the second a defensive resource. The numerical value of the resource shows how many points it adds to or subtracts from strike rolls. For example, a Beast Hunter's spear that she has won in combat and that was decorated by members of her tribe would be an offensive resource, while her shield and her armor could be separate defensive resources. Unlike traits, resources can be taken from the Hunter during a conflict and possibly even used against them. Note that you can only use one of each type of resource (one offensive and one defensive) at a time, but that additional resources are backups in case the main resource is lost. Wound Circles: During a conflict, characters deal and receive damage. This damage is tracked with wound circles. There are two kinds of wound circles: outer circles and core circles. Outer circles are marked off first, and they heal up after a conflict. They represent bruises, surface cuts, exhaustion, and so on. Having a core circle marked, on the other hand, means that the character is incapacitated and out of the current conflict, and core circles do not heal during an adventure. Once all of a character’s core circles are marked, the character is seriously wounded and barely up on their feet (this condition is called crippled). When all Hunters have all of their core circles marked, they might lose the adventure. Tattoos: Beast Hunters stalk fiendish magical creatures that ravage Chel’qhur and the surrounding areas. A Beast Hunter who brings down a specific beast will receive a tattoo from an elder, with ink made with the blood of the beast. Each tattoo imbues the Beast Hunter with some of the creature's power. These tattoos grant special abilities that can be activated with actions or in tandem with tagging a trait, depending on the tattoo. They can never be taken away from the Hunter. Creating a Beast Hunter In order to play this game as a Hunter, you need to create a character. This section outlines how you create the character and fill out the character sheet. The character's history and personality can and should be written into the traits and resources. The following steps ensure that that happens while keeping all starting Beast Hunters balanced. If you come up with more information and neat tidbits that don't fit into the traits and resources, feel free to write them down elsewhere, such as on the back of your sheet. Before you start, enter the following things on your character sheet: the character's name in the Name field, your name in the Hunter field, and an initiative rating of 1. You also have two outer wound circles and two core wound circles, which are already shown on the character sheet. When I refer to "you" in the following paragraphs, I am talking about you the player, as these are your resources to use, but I am also talking about the Beast Hunter character, just for ease of reference. You will go through six steps: four steps that follow your character from birth to Beast Hunter training, one step to assign numbers to traits and resources, and one step to pick a special boon for your character. You'll find a running example for each step in the character creation process in these boxes. I don't have a strong idea about who my character is going to be. I'll just let the steps influence me. I'll be her Hunter, obviously, and for a name I'll pick Yaqhara. Next, I'm writing down the basic initiative of 1 and two outer and two core wound circles. Step 1: Your Parents Think about the way in which your character's parents influenced his or her life. Write down one trait that your character has received from his or her parents. You need to mark the trait with its specialty (Brutality, Cunning, or Spirituality), but don't give it a rating yet. Any trait can fit into any category, depending on how you interpret the influence on the character. Belonging to a well-known warrior bloodline can grant your character physical abilities, social aptitude, or mental agility. Traits can be abilities, experiences, beliefs that drive your character, or anything else that empowers the Hunter to face tough challenges. Examples of traits you could gain from your parents are: My Mother Taught Me How to Ignore Pain I Take Risks to Prove Myself Resilient I Will Make My Mother Proud Trust No Elders The Beatings Only Made Me Stronger My Mother Is the Nadan’s Chief In addition, you gain one resource from your parents. Name it and note the category (offensive or defensive), but don't assign a rating yet. Remember that resources can be taken from you and wielded by other characters, so if your resource is something internal (like pride or wit), there must be a way for your opponents to turn it against you. This makes internal resources tricky to deal with, but they’re still a valid choice (and I strongly suggest personalizing internal resources; see Gaining and Improving Resources, below). I'm thinking Yaqhara's mother is a great warrior who lost a leg in battle and is handicapped. Yaqhara's father takes care of her mother, which her mother resents. Yaqhara's mother is pushing her to gain the glory that she no longer can. I'm going to make up the Brutality Ttrait "I Will Make My Mother Proud" to express this. As you can see, Yaqhara will use a path of violence as opposed to one of wits or spiritual attunement. As a resource, I'll gain the axe my mother used: "Mother's Old Axe" is my resource name, and it’s obviously offensive. Step 2: Your Tribe You gain one trait from growing up in your particular nadan. Give the tribe a name (most nadans are named after their current leader, as in Nioqhe-nadan or Kuchek-nadan), think about what it was like growing up there, and connect your character to it. Determine how males are treated in your tribe, since the tribes are matriarchal ranging from mostly-egalitarian (where males are treated well but cannot become leaders because they lack the special blessing of the spirits) to cruel and abusive (where males are culled, mistreated, and ostracized from birth). This is especially important if your character is male, but it also matters if she’s female.