Characters

This section covers everything you’ll need to understand and make a character. Firstly it explains
the central mechanical pieces of a character, Attributes and Skills. Then it goes through character
creation and has chapters on the Backgrounds, Careers and Talents available to characters. At the
end of the section it has information on character advancement and some template example
characters, for inspiration or use in quick character generation.

Attributes
Attributes represent the raw ability and talent of a character in different areas of life. They also
represent the natural aptitude of the character to certain approaches to situations. Attributes can
also be thought of as belonging to different groups that encapsulate those sorts of approaches.
The first groups are those of physical attributes (Brawn and Agility), Intellect attributes (Brains and
Wits) and personal attributes (Will and Charm). The second group is that of power attributes
(Brawn, Brains and Will) and precision attributes (Agility, Wits and Charm). Power attributes are
more the ‘immovable object’ where as precision attributes are more the ‘irresistible force’. The six
attributes that characters have are explained quickly below:

Brawn: A character’s stength, toughness and endurance.

Agility: A character’s dexterity, balance and physical co-ordination.

Brains: A character’s mental processing power and problem solving.

Wits: A character’s speed of thought and awareness. Character’s with high Wits scores rarely miss
a joke or get caught in an ambush. Those with low Wits are probably described as absent minded
and might miss the glasses they’re looking for when they’re right in front of them.

Will: A character’s personal resistance and endurance.

Charm: A character’s personal magnetism and persuasiveness.

Attribute scores range in value from 3 to 18 but most, at least for adult sentient beings, are
between 7 and 14. Attribute scores form the base of a character’s Action Total when making test.
Attributes also have an Attribute Modifier associated with their Attribute Score. The modifier is
used less regularly, mainly for derived statistics such as Health Points, Stress etc. If a rule or ability
refers to Attributes, it will make it clear if it is refering to an Attribute score or modifier in that rule
or ability.
 5 & Under: Weak (-3) 12/13: Above-par (+1)
6/7: Poor (-2) 10/11: Average (+0) 14/15: Strong (+2)
8/9: Sub-par (-1) 16+: Excellent (+3)

5 & under = weak (-3)

6/7 = poor (-2)
8/9 = sub-par (-1)
10/11 = average (+0)
12/13 = above-par (+1)
14/15 = strong (+2)
16+ = Excellent (+3)

Skills
Skills represent a character’s learnt and practiced abilities.
Come in three levels:

1) Skilled
2) veteran
3) Expert

Skills add their level (+1, 2 or 3) to the characters Attribute Score to make the Action Total for tests.

Specialties
- specific areas of skills that a character is particularly experienced or capable in.
- give the character advantage when making tests.
- can have up to 3 per skill, 1 per skill level.
- only one skill focus can be applied to any given test.
Specialties are areas of skills in which a character is particularly practiced or proficient. These
include swimming for the athletics skill or hacking for the computers skill, for instance. Some
example specialties have been given with each skill. These examples also serve to help
demonstrate the sorts of areas and activities that the skill covers. A character that makes a test
using a relevant speciality has a level of Advantage when taking the test. Only one specialty can
be counted toward making a test, even if multiple specialties may be relevant. Choose whichever
one seems the most appropriate.

A character can have up to three specialties for a skill, 1 per level that they have in the skill. For
example, a character with level 2 Athletics could have up to 2 specialties, i.e. swimming and
climbing, but would have to wait until they had level 3 in the skill if they also wanted the acrobatics
specialty. Regardless of skill level, a charcater does not have to have any specialties in a skill if they
wish.

Skills and your game

A quick note on skills in your game. Depending on the setting and type of game being played, some
of the skills may not be as relevant or could be rolled in to other skills as specialties. Some games
may suit skills being further split up or larger specialties made in to their own separate skills; The
acrobatics specialty from the Athletics skill or spliting the Academics Skill in to individual skills,
history, science, linguistics etc. The GM should make it clear which skills are relevant and available
in the game and players should feel free to ask for clarity if there is any confussion. There are extra
spaces left on the character sheet for groups to fill in thier own skills, if they want an expanded skill
list or one’s that better suit their setting. In any single game, available skills should be kept
consistent across all characters, i.e. if there’s no acrobatics skill in the game, its a specialty, then
acrobatics in a specialty for all characters in the game.

Players, both GM and PC’s, should also be encouraged to change the name of the skills (and
specialties) to better suit their game and/or characters, if they wish. If this is done, just make sure
that everyone in the game is aware of the new name and which sort of skill that new name
represents, i.e. ‘smack stuff’ is the melee skill, ‘flip about’ is the acrobatics specialty etc. This is just
so everyone is on the same page.

The Skill List

Academics (x) (Brains)

Specialities: Sub-disciplines/areas (locations, time periods, virology etc.)

Boons
- Additional piece of tangentially useful information.
- Know where to go to get more information. This possibly allows a further attempt at the same
test (if failed) as the character can create new circumstance. Alternatively, it’s an opportunity to
gain further knowledge (if passed).

Athletics (Brawn, Agility)

Specialities: swimming, climbing, sprinting, acrobatics, parkour/freerunning

Computing (Brains, Wits)

Specialities: Hacking, Programming, IT

Craft (x) (Any)

Specialities: particular area of the craft (i.e. weapons for a blacksmith)

Crafts tend to be learnt with a vocational rather than academic approach. Many spend years as an
apprentice before striking out on their own, and some never finish the apprenticeship. This may
also affect the way in which the character interacts and expresses the knowledge that they gain
from their craft. Example crafts include: blacksmithing, carpentry, jewellery crafting, fine art,
builder, leather working, tailoring.

Most crafting actions in game will be extended actions. The DPen. will be set by the complexity of
the object being made. The number of successful attempts needed will usually be set to represent
the number of processes or stages the job will need to go through. It may also be set by how fiddly
or involved the process may be, the final decision is up to the GM.

- Driving / Riding (Wits, Agility)

Specialities: riding, cars, bikes, sailing
Covers everything that moves ‘on the hard ground’, including animals, bikes, cars etc.

- Engineering (Brawn, Brains)

Specialities: mechanical, structural, repair, tech

- Insight (Wits, Brains)

Specialities: barter
used for reading people and social situations, both interpersonal and ‘people in spaces’. Mainly
used to read intentions, recognise deceit etc.
Twists
- give something away
- it obvious

- Investigation (Brains, Wits)

Specialities:
Used for research and piecing things together

- Medicine (Brains, Will)

Specialities: first aid, nursing, surgery, vet
The medicine skill is used for applied health care and first aid.

- Melee (Brawn, Agility, Wits. See the Combat section, pg. xxx)
Specialities: light weapons, improvised weapons

- Perception (ambush, lookout

Specialities:
Used for noticing things going on around you and in the environment, not for piecing things
together (that’s investigation) or intentions (that’s insight)

- Persuasion (
Specialities: barter, deception, seduction)
Costs
- a little truth is needed
- a choice between

- Piloting / Sailing (Wits

Specialities: atmospheric, space, combat)

- Presence (Charm, Will)

Specialities: performance, seduction, command)

- Ranged (Agility, Wits. See the Combat section, pg. xxx)

Specialities: pistols, gunnery, trick, rifles

- Survival (Wits, Brains, Will)

Specialities: tracking, streetwise, wilderness)

- Stealth (Agility, Wits)

Specialities: avoidance, shadowing
remaining unseen or unnoticed

- Subterfuge (Agility, Wits)

Specialities: sleight of hand, lockpicking, misdirection, deception
All sorts of underhandedness and thievery

- Tech-Use (Brains, Wits)

Specialities: drones, remotes, job-focussed

- Unarmed (Brawn, Agility. See the Combat section, pg. xxx)

Specialities:

Skill Mastery: Skill X (Talent)

Prerequisite: Skill X level 3 Cost: 30XP (*see below) Tags: Passive
When using the skill that corresponds to this talent, the character adds a level of advantgae when
taking tests using the skill, not just when using a specialty. (The character can also re-roll one die
from their pool whenever taking a test using the skill.) This is in addition to any re-rolls given by
spending focus points. A character that has specialities in a mastered skill, uses these specialities to
gain Inspiration instead of Advantage when they count toward a test being made. The Skill Mastery
talent can be taken multiple times per character, once for each skill that qualifies for it, but it
increases in cost each time it is taken.

Fantasy skills

- Animal Handling (Wits, Will, Charm)

Specialities: tricks, training, husbandry

Animal handling is a measure of a characters ability to interact with animals. This may be
everything from making friends with them, calming them or stopping them from attacking the
character to training them for work or display.

- Occult (hacking, programming)

Specialities:

Sci-Fi Skills
- Astronavigation (Brains, Wits)
Specialities: long-haul, short-haul, hazard mitigation

Character Creation
1) Concept
2) Attributes and Backgrounds
3) Skills and Career
4) Talents
5) Equipment and Additional XP
6) Extra touches (Derived Stats, traits & limit break, connections)

1) Concept

Come up with a strong concept. The concept will help you with the rest of the character creation
process. Look through some off the options available if that helps. Choose a favourite character
from media.

2) Attributes and Backgrounds

Attribute Selection
Standard array: (14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 7)
or
Point buy: 15 points from a base of attribute score of 8 (from base 8: 6, -1, 4, 3, 2, 1 = 15 points)
Backgrounds
Choose two backgrounds.

3) Skills and Career

Allocate Skills points

Each character has X points to spend on skills. Can also choose specialties, costing 1 point per
specialty.

Choose a Career
A character has a career

Careers
The Soldier
Weapon Master (Core Soldier Talent)
You have trained in the most effective use of weapons. Pick one of the following options. You can
use it whenever you use an applicable weapon and action in combat.
- Eye to Eye: You gain a +1 equipment bonus whenever you use a melee weapon to make an
Attack, Flurry or Combat Maneuver action.
- Eagle Eyed: You gain a +1 equipment bonus whenever you use a ranged weapon to make an
Attack, Burst or Combat Maneuver action.
- Brutal: When you use a melee weapon in combat to take an Attack or Flurry action, you add an
additional d3 damage on a successful hit. This additional damage is added before any reductions.
- Deadeye: When you use a ranged weapon in combat to take an Attack or Burst action, you add an
additional d3 damage on a successful hit. This additional damage is added before any reductions.
Extra
A soldier with this talent can spend an additional X Xp to purchase a second option from those
presented above. The same option can not be chosen multiple times. This extra can be taken once.

Burst of Action (Optional Soldier Talent): 20XP

A single soldier can be the difference between victory and defeat in combat. You are experienced
at using the adrenaline of battle to your advantage. Once per encounter, you may add +1AP to one
of your turns (as per XXX focus ability), without the need to spend a point of Focus.
Extra
This soldier is a true whirlwind of action. A soldier with this talent extra gains an addition +1AP (2
total) that they can spend once per encounter. This additonal AP can either be spent on the same
turn as the one above, for 5AP total in the turn, or it can be spent on a different turn in the
encounter. Cost: 20XP

Soldier Professions

Commander

Battlefield Tactics (Commander Core Talent)

- Once per turn, can issue a command to a single ally (1AP)
(Move, Move, Move / On My Mark / Rally / Bring it Down / )
Extra
- Can spend 1 focus to issue a command to upto 3 allies with the same action (1AP).

Senior Officer (Optional Commander Talent)

-

Marine

Veteran (Marine Core Talent)

- Once per encounter, can use a Combat Manuever as part of a regular Attack action for free.

Vanguard

Combat Haze (Vanguard Core Talent)

- Reduced damage

The Psion
- Invoking (core): gain the invoking skill at level 1. gain two spells known.
- Rote Spells: well practiced spell. Cost 1 less focus to use.
- Signature Spells: Favourite spells that come easy. Reduce DP of spell by one.

Mancer
- Core: Choose a tradition. +1 Power level for free when Invoking a spell from their chosen
tradition. Stacks with benefit of signature spell, if they have it for the spell being Invoked.

- Optional: Speciality in Chosen tradition.

- Optional: Once per scene/encounter can get a re-roll when Invoking a spell from thier tradition
without the need to spend focus points.

Weaver
- Core: Metamagic

- Optional: Free extra spell choice daily. Has to be of a level they could cast (i.e. equal or under
thier Invoking Skill level)

Ritualist
- Core: Can extend the casting time of any spell they Invoke to 1 scene, don’t need to spend focus
to cast the spell. Still take stress damage on a failure.

General Career Talents

- Expanded Horizons (25XP)
- Career Focussed (35XP)

Character Advancement
- Attributes: 20XP * times purchased
- Skills: 5XP per level
- Specialties: 10XP
- Skill Talents: 10XP per skill level
- General & Career Talents: as shown with talent