Basic Character Creation Guide

This guide will contain elements that I'm sure many of you are already aware and may even already consider when creating character and nothing here is meant to confuse or belittle anyone. Much of it is simply for my benefit. Also, we don't know each other very well yet and this is my first game on GP so I want to build some strong foundations. With that said here we go:-

Step 1 - Talk with each other and with me.

Discuss with the other players about what you want to play and what they want to play. If the concepts are too similar then compromises will be expected from all parties until all parties are content with the concepts are different enough to allow for enjoyment and growth without stepping on each other's toes. If you are struggling to come up with a character concept then you can also ask other players or myself for advice.

Step 2 - Get your concept ready

Finalise the character concept in a short paragraph. This will assist me in mediating the choices made during the rest of character creation.

Step 3 - Life Path

At this point you may create a thread for your character in this sub forum if you haven't already. This is where you will do all the rolling for character creation. Some of the process are choices not rolls but the majority will be randomly rolled. You will very likely need a copy of the book to reference your roll results to the appropriate tables and please ensure that all rolls are given appropriate reasons. It will be time consuming but I find it fun so hopefully you'll be able to endure this part.

The Witcher Character Sheet Template

Race - You can choose this but I want no more than 1 Witcher and 1 Mage / Priest in the party in the beginning so this will need to be discussed early.Life-path - Follow the steps in order here as per the book. Homeland > Family (Chance to skip Family Fate) > Parents (Chance to skip Parental Fate) > Family Status > Most Influential Friend > Siblings > Life Events (No younger than age 20 and no older than age 60, though this mainly concerns the elder races, Witcher's also live a long time. Humans PC's are unlikely to be as old as 40 as quite simply they not long lived and will be past their prime) > Style (Clothing and Hair Style can be chosen rather than rolled if desired but if you roll you keep what you get.) > Values (rolls of 5 or 6 on 'Feelings on People' must be re-rolled until the results are no longer 5 or 6) > Name (Please choose your on name but where possible follow the suggestions for your birth nation and your family status).

* - Note that Witcher's follow a different life-path listed on page 237.

Profession - You can choose this of course choose your own Profession but if your race was not Witcher then you cannot choose Witcher as a Profession and only Humans and Elves can select Mage. This section is another that is best discussed with the group so we don't see too much overlap. Some is fine but I don't want to see more than 2 of any profession.Statistics - I'll not be opting for rolls on this sections as it creates too high of a disparity, so instead we will be going with 60 points to distribute to stats. Keep in mind that all statistic adjustments from Race are applied after these points are spent.Skills - As per the book you will have 44 points to spend on the 11 Skills determined by your profession listed skills and defining skill. You are required to have at least 1 in all of these skills and none may be higher than 6 before any racial or life-path adjustments. You will then have a number of skill points to spend on skills other than these 11 skills equal to your final Intelligence + Reflex. These pickup skills may not be spent on the 11 skills already defined. Also note the difficult skills as they cost 2 for 1.Equipment - For starting coins you may either take the average or you can roll. If you roll you keep what you roll.Just about everything else should be derived but if you have any questions do ask.

I'm thinking of going with a Human. This will be my 1st Witcher game so I am open to play any class if someone else wants to play a specific one.

Thanks for the invite Bellerophon. This is also my first game with the Witcher RPG, To start I'm thinking Elf criminal or maybe mage, but if someone else wants it that's fine with me.

If you want criminal or mage, go for it. I was thinking of either Men at Arms or even Witcher. If no one else wants to play one.

I woke up to 4 more players pending today, that was a nice surprise. So That's us up to 6. I know I said I was looking for around 5 in the Game Details but I figure it's cool to start a bit bigger and see what happens.

As I'm only looking for 1 Mage and 1 Witcher in the team it's probably a good idea to sort out who wants to play those, or who doesn't want to play those if that's easier, :) I my reading of the Profession talent trees, there isn't a single one I dislike or don't see a use for so I think there is lots of fun in each option anyway.

I'll start an information thread today, outline some geographical and local setting details as well which may aid in concept / background discussions.

I've made some concepts for characters for a simple playtest I did when I first picked up the system, including a sorceress and a witcher. I can't exactly remember what else I tried out, but I believe I had an elf - former Scoia'tael turned mercenary.

If I had to pick what I prefer most, I'm leaning heavily mostly towards a mage or a doctor. Especially the doctor have some interesting skill trees to play around with. As for race, I can see it in conjunction with the doctor profession. An elven or dwarven doctor would be interesting and I have a few ideas up my sleeve on how to play that. Same goes for a mage since I also have a basic concept for one.

I've never played where do I get a hold of a character sheet or can you provide one?

I am in the process of creating a character sheet template to use with the Custom Sheets. It's a little trial and error at the moment as the bbcode's available on GP don't include tables or pre-formatting. What I will likely do what it comes time for sheets is transfer the info provided from each character into a form filled sheet as an image and embed them if it's more aesthetically pleasing.

Once I have the template done I'll post it here.

OK, The Witcher Template is now added to the game and should be visible on the characters tab at the bottom of the page or in the Character Library under that name. Here is a link to the sheet as well:- The Witcher Character Sheet Template

Unfortunately there is also no 'noparse' code on GP either so the specifics of the formatting I'm not sure will translate very well. If preferred I can edit the sheet and replace with curly brackets but then you would need to go through the whole thing and replace. Not sure what will be the best option.

is there a list of professions i can choose from or some how to i can check out?

I'm looking through the book right now. It has some very interesting ideas. Lifepaths and the crafting system for example... something I might borrow for other games

I'm happy to give a rundown of options if you don't have access to a copy of the book and I'll post a general system mechanics thread as well, however I don't believe it would be legal for me to share the PDF with you on GP so there will be a limit to the amount of information I'll be able to post directly here. I'll work on a general mechanics thread and have it up today.

yes i'd love that

I've updated the top post with a lot more information now so some of the easier things should be doable now without the book. I need to think about how to handle the life path rolls because I can't really just copy / paste all that information. What I'll likely do is outline the bare bones of it and as rolls are made simply provide the results of those rolls, that way it's the absolute minimum of book data that I'm typing up.

So what are everyone else going for in professions? i aint looking to take the mage or witcher positions but i dont wanna heavy load one profession so just wondering what everyone else is being.

I have a Star Wars feeling towards the Witcher game. Every one wants to be the Jedi, and few wants to be the sidekick.

I would like to play a young Witcher going into the world with his brothers in arms. A team of Witchers that have just left their school.
They could be accompanied by a young Mage or two...

Nice character sheet.

I'll finalize my decision by choosing elf criminal, using archery for combat. Hoping to get a backstory involved a wealthy life but I'll wait for the life rolls before making any major choices.

If you go by the books and the games, Witcher's are solitary people. Plus most if the schools they are trained in have been destroyed. While it's possible to play a youngish one, I don't think a whole group would be allowed. You want the Witcher vlass, by all means take it. It's a great class, I'm going with a Human men at arms.

Thanks, :) I'd like to be able to use Tables for aesthetics but It'll serve for purpose I think. I missed a couple of things but they'll be easy to add later as those rules become important.

Professions decided upon so far:-

somebox - Elven Criminal
Squadfather44 - Human Man-at-Arms
runekyndig - Witcher

Anyone of the others want to dispute the Witcher as if not we can finalise it. Also, what are the others thinking about for professions?


In regards to the Witcher character, the schools will be all but destroyed at this point but you could easily play one who is in the 30 - 50 age region. In this writeup of the game Geralt is over 100, though no-one really knows that of course. Witcher's, although they have a pretty nice starting kit list and their defining skill is awesome, they are at best tolerated in most places so there are hardships to endure. That's part of the solitary stereotype. However, as a PC you can try and break the mould, :) In any case, expectations of party unity (or at least toleration) will be ever present but we'll discuss that in the connections phase.

Can I see a list of professions?

In the Profession Spoiler and the Skills Spoiler in the top post there is a list and more detail on what the defining skill and Starting skills are.

OK, I did a run through of a life path to see how time consuming it would be and I won't lie. It's gonna take a little bit. But There are parts of it that can be rolled in chunks, like the allies or enemies and the Style and Value sections. In theory you could make a roll of a whole bunch of d10's and use them in order following the lifepath and just discard the one's at the end that aren't required. At that points it's simply a matter of keeping your place and referencing properly.

The notes I was taking were to help me keep things in order so may not be the easiest to follow but is there anywhere I could improve the process and do people think they will be OK rolling out their character's lifepath's?

Alright, I'll stick with the doctor profession. The basic healing skill combined with particularly the Surgeon tree could be interesting, but we'll see as we get on with the game. I'll stick with playing an elf if that's alright.

Unless Spaggo wants it I'll take the open mage position

I have started making my Witcher and there are some events/life path results that could be relevant for a combined backstory

I worked for a Nobleman, did we meet there?I'm traveling looking for work, did our roads pass?I got an enemy and an ally, are you a part of that story?

Human, bard for me. I may need help doing the stats and stuff

OK so it looks like everyone has come to a choice for their profession and it looks like a good mix to me.

somebox - Elven Criminal
Squadfather44 - Human Man-at-Arms
runekyndig - Witcher
Gaelicat - Elven Doctor
silent - Mage (Assuming Human?)
Spraggo - Human Bard

With that decision out of the way then I will invite you all to create a thread for your character and begin the character creation process and rolling your lifepath stuff. If you need any assistance then please let me know and I'll take you through the steps you need me for. For those of you that lack the book currently then this will take a bit longer but I'll likely simply ask you to roll a bunch of d10's and then I'll just run through the lifepath using your roll results in order to determine what we need.

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As we are at the point where people will be spending points then it's a good time to talk about backgrounds, once you have some of those details from your lifepath of course. The game will be set in Aedirn. For those of you who know the games I'll be setting things off around 6 months from the next big Nilfgaardian push for war in 1271. There is limited lore on locations so I'll be creating settlements, including the town where we will beginning, Sarton, which will sits on the southern bonerim river between Vengerberg and Dol Blanthanna.

Excerpt of Aedirn:-

Aedirn is newer than Temeria and Redania, founded as humans worked their way up the Pontar after the Landing of the Exiles. It is bordered to the north by Kaedwen, on the west by the disputed Pontar Valley and the Mahakaman Mountains, on the south by Lyria and Rivia, and on the east by the Blue Mountains. It was founded at roughly the same time as Kaedwen. The Kaedweni have always been jealous of the mild Aedirnian climate and its more arable lands. These conditions made for a population skilled in farming and dairying. The country had many small towns, most generally neat and clean. Unfortunately these enviable conditions resulted in Aedirn losing a lot of land to nearby powers, primarily Kaedwen. Despite King Demawend III’s noted tactical skills, which allowed him to anticipate Nilfgaard in the First Nilfgaardian War, Aedirn has become smaller and smaller.

Now the bulk of Aedirn is awash in death and devastation. Everything fell into chaos when King Demawend was assassinated by Letho of Gulet on the king’s pleasure barge. His current sorcerer, his bodyguard, and the well-known archer Tybalt were killed as well. Demawend was a ruthless and unpleasant king, looking for any excuse to send "punitive expeditions" into Dol Blathanna, but Aedirn dearly misses his tactical mind. Aedirn is occupied by Nilfgaard, which is probably gathering its forces for an assault on the Pontar Valley. The people looked to Demawend’s son, Prince Stennis, but the word spreads that he may already be dead, perhaps lynched for attempting to poison Saskia, Virgin of Aedirn. It is unlikely Aedirn will receive aid from Kaedwen. In the last war, Kaedwen turned traitor to all the North and formed an agreement with Nilfgaard to split up Aedirn as spoils of war. Aedirn’s lands were only returned at the Peace of Cintra. As Demawend hated elves passionately, we can write off aid from Dol Blathanna. During the Second Nilfgaardian War, advancing Nilfgaardian troops dismantled or destroyed all industrial centers, from forging to weaving. All they dismantled they loaded into wagons and took to Nilfgaard, as well as all the crops and livestock they could find. I do not envy the Nilfgaardian troops assigned to cart Aedirn’s wealth and food all those miles home to the South through angry, starving civilians with nothing to lose.

Vengerberg is the capital of Aedirn. It was once one of the largest, most prosperous, and most beautiful of the Northern cities. It sits on important trade crossroads and its marketplaces, factories, schools, and churches were the envy of many. Historically, Vengerberg is known for producing beer, spirits, dyes, and textiles. Elves would not be comfortable in Vengerberg. Aedirn’s displeasure does not typically extend to dwarves, especially the Vivaldi family of the Vivaldi and Sons bank, but there has been at least one non-human pogrom. Nilfgaard did great damage to the city during the Second Nilfgaardian War due to the horrific agreement between Kaedwen and Nilfgaard, but after the Peace of Cintra the citizens of Vengerberg started to rebuild their city. Now Vengerberg is again in Nilfgaardian hands. Who knows what will happen?

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So yeah, there is lots going on between bandits, skirmishes, politics and monsters. After the intro story which you'll be wrapped up in pretty quickly you will have latitude to do what you want, be that sign up with a side in the upcoming war, join the bandit revolution or try and stay out of it altogether or maybe even leave Aedirn behind or something I haven't even thought of yet.

The game will actually be starting off in an Inn - The Absent heart on an early spring evening. How you ended up there or how you know each other (if at all) are things we'll discuss soon as well but hopefully some of that will assist in you writing some of your character background.

I feel like i'll be slowing you down since i know nothing about this game. One of you wanna build my character for me? or i can leave and make space for some one who does know it

I don't like losing players so if a way can be found for it to work without you having the book then I'll definitely try. Is there any way you could get a hold of the book or pdf? It would certainly make things simpler.

Part of the reason I let in more than my initial group size of 5 was to leave some leeway for difficulties in game if players needed to drop for whatever reason. The decision to give it a go in the end lies with you. How about this, you start a thread for your character and make a roll of say 50d10 (Not sure how many you can roll in one set but try that). I can then run through the lifepath in order with those rolls and I'll provide you with the information needed from it. The rest of the basics, aside from equipment, should be doable from the creation guide.

If after that you feel like you're not enjoying it or feel like you're struggling without the source book and want to drop then that'll be OK. It least then we will have done everything possible. How's that sound?