Character creation discussion thread

Hey guys, this will be where we'll discuss about character creation.

I'll be putting down the skills I have thought up for this game:
(Note: please refer to the character creation info thread. I'll not be updating this list)

Physique: (refer to SRD)

Will: (refer to SRD)

Spirit: gives energy stress slots per rating, and determines how strong you are at casting spells and your affinity to being passionate. (looks to be imbalanced, will update)

Experience: gives more refresh and shows how experienced you are in your preferred skills. (will change)

Computer: how knowledgable you are of computers and electronics

Machinery: how knowledgeable you are of machines and creating basic tools

Symbology: how knowledgeable you are of symbols and discerning patterns

Medicinal: how good you are at healing and knowledge of how the body functions

Rapport: (refer to SRD)

Burglary: (refer to SRD)

Control: similar to Drive skill in SRD, but can also be used in spell casting

Stealth: (refer to SRD)

Deceive: (refer to SRD)

Creative: your chances of getting new ideas from present knowledge

Fight: (refer to SRD)

Shooting: (refer to SRD)


(This list may change. And also further info about each skill, especially spell casting will be explained.)

You'll also start with 15 points to distribute to each skill. Maximum is +5 for one skill.

(Also this may change before the game starts. But for now, I'll be generous as I also want to make the encounters challenging and also make the characters to be like considerably formidable.)

Can you make up a chart like they have here for what actions are available for each skill?

Could you explain the difference between Pityful and Deceptive? I feel like Deceptive sort of covers what Pityful can do plus all the other stuff it does, but you might have an outlook on things that justifies splitting the skill.

Secondly, if Toughness is filling in for Physique (in that it provides extra physical stress and I imagine defends against attacks), is there a fill in for Will? Will typically does what physique does, but for the mind...mental fortitude and all that. Spirit seems like a good choice, but it doesn't specifically say.

For the above reasons, and ones we haven't thought of yet, I'd recommend using the default skills and modifying as necessary, rather than trying to create a whole set of skills from scratch. Up to you of course, but I think you'll have better success that way

Oh...I missed Resolve earlier...sorry..

but on the topic of what skills to use...I don't mind a little creative changes. For example, in this setting, Computers could easily replace Lore since we are in an advanced society that likely has some form of Internet that most people have access too. But that skill might also cover electronic infiltration...hacking. So some changes make sense.

Well, that's what I mean by "As necessary". I do think having a Computers skill would make sense for the setting, but "melee" instead of fight and "ranged" instead of shoot, for example, don't seem like a meaningful change from the default list

Okay! Give me a bit to come up with a character. Diplomats, right?

Skill list:
X: yes, O: no
Skill Overcome | | Create an Advantage | | Attack | | Defend
Athletics X X O X
Burglary X X O O
Creative X X O O
Machinery X X O O
Deceive X X O X
Control X X O X
Medicinal X X O O
Fight X X X X
Investigate X X O O
Computer X X O O
Notice X X O X
Physique X X O X
Psychology X X X X
Rapport X X O X
Spirit X X O X
Shoot X X X O
Stealth X X O X
Will X X O X

Edit: empathy is changed to psychology
(note: may be subject to change)

@DocR: Diplomats, warriors, doctors, investigators or anything in between

Extras:
Channeler: You use Spirit to cast spells. Pick a value equal or lesser than your level, and that will cost 1 energy stress. If you pick a higher value than your level, it will cost 1 stress per extra level. Then you roll for Control, and your opponent will defend against the attack. If your opponent fails to defend, then they take the amount of stress equal to the value that you chose. If your resulting Control is less than the value you pick, then you can choose to either release it or restrain it. Releasing will cause bad things to happen to the environment and Restraining will cause you to take the difference in physical stress damage.

Sorceror: Similar to Channeler, except that if you rolled Control to be higher than your value, then you get to inflict more stress. You also get an extra stunt that is related to spell casting. However, your

Elementalist: Similar to Channeler, except that if you choose half of your Spirit level rounded down, you will not take energy stress. However, if you choose a value that is higher, then you will take stress per level. Also, if you fail in your Control Attack, it will only be a Release result.


Edit: changed mental stress to energy stress, which will be a stress track given by for Spirit.
(Note! I'll not be editing this further. We may use this as some ideas for spell casting, as the mechanics can be modified.)

Got it! Thank you. I'll begin work on a character idea, and propose it here. Sound good?

@DocR: Sure! Oh, and also you could be a spell caster.

What is a "level" in this context? Your rank in Spirit?

Is there a list of spells, or do you mean we choose what we want to do and you will tell us the level of that effect?

When you say "If you pick a higher level than yours, it will cost 1 stress per level." does that mean 1 stress per level above your level, or just straight up 1 stress per level? I could see it going either way. The latter making over reaching dangerous, but viable in an emergency.

@foolsmask: Yes, "your level" means your rating for Spirit.

You can make up your spells/stunts yourself and we'll discuss it, or I can make up examples for you.

I was intending to mean the former. So that means if your Spirit is +2, and you pick +4, you will gain 3 energy stress from that.

Also btw, I'm editing things along the way. So if it's too annoying, let me know.

Nope, not annoying. Building your own universe takes time. Those answers are great.

I have a character concept ready. She's not complete, but there's more than enough to start with. Shall I post it here, in this thread?

High concept: I.T.A.R.I - Integrated Transportation Artificial Rational Intelligence
Trouble: Restricted by the rules of my paranoid creators

I.T.A.R.I, or Itari, is a ship board AI designed to replace pilots especially for long, subluminal flights. The rest of the aspects will flesh out his personality. I haven't really decided what it'll be. His trouble basically reflects that he's basically bound by the three laws of robotics on hyper steroids. In addition to the normal stuff about not killing humans or allowing humans to come to harm, he has prohibitions against duplicating (inherently, if there's more than one copy active, one of copies at random must sleep. Itari can switch which instance is active, but only one can be arrive at a time), against obtaining more than a certain percent of his base computing power, a restriction to obey the agents of the local government, even if those agents are corrupt. There are a bunch more laws that not even Itari fully understands, making this aspect very compellable. Basically the gm is at liberty to make up any dumb rule, the more specific and annoying the better, as a pretext for preventing Itari from doing... Whatever Itari is trying to do

I'm seeing the character being the main ship pilot, taking a hologram avatar if he needs to discuss something with the crew, or inhabiting a robot body if he needs to leave the ship to go somewhere without a computer to support him. I could see him inhabiting various robot bodies with different physical skills, so I might request a stunt or extra to handle that.

Itari's top skills will likely be computers and machinery

Yes.