Character Creation

A few of you have ideas already, and that's great. There's no real 'party balance' issue in Numenera, so make what you want. However, as I often find that duplicate character types step on your 'lol at the cool stuff I can do' toes.

In Cipher System haves, including this one, your character use largely defined by the phrase:

I'm an ADJECTIVE NOUN who VERBS.

The ADJECTIVE is cashed as Descriptor.

The NOUN is the Type (Glaive, Jack, Nano, Arkus, Wright, and Delve)

The VERB is called a Focus.

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So what's your phrase? And how do you fit into Cooperstown?

I'm still looking at a lawman-archetype Glaive, likely named Emmett, unless there are naming conventions DM would like to adhere to. He'll be a "Biomechanical Modification" background, and I think I'm leaning Speed-based rather than Might. I need to finish reading the character creation section to make sure I'm not gimping my character with those ideas first.

Ok , so i present you with Turana Alpa: an Inquisitive Nano that fused flesh and metal

For background i'm thinking first option a former Convergence apprentice / captive that escaped from her masters due to finding out how evil they actually were, something that left her with scars that she covers with a metal (or synth) mask and a hooded robe..If the convergence is not something that the GM wants to include then she would be a former Aeon priest that did not complete her training due to problems with structure and hierarchy. What do you think?

Your Nano sounds rad! I think she and Emmett will have a lot in common, since I was strongly debating taking that same Focus. That leads me into a question for Qralloq...

I'm looking at the focus "Augments Flesh with Grafts". I think it's really interesting mechanically and has a lot of character potential, but I'd like to dial back how reliant it is on surgery and biology, flavoring it as mechanics and machinery, essentially making more like lightwielder's choice in Focus, "Fuses Flesh with Steel". I love that Focus's flavor and the idea of constantly repairing the parts that are attached to you.

Essentially, I'd like to take the story flavor of "Fuses Flesh with Steel" and attach it to the mechanics of "Augments Flesh with Grafts". Thoughts?


It's not a deal-breaker, I think "Augments Flesh with Grafts" is still going to be my Focus. Emmett just doesn't seem the "graft biological pieces of his enemies onto himself" type of guy.

Interesting. I have no qualms in theory about modifying the Augments focus for story. I'll review tonight.

After giving it some thought, I'll probably just play the "Augments Flesh with Grafts" normally. Emmett will still look like he does in my mind, but when exploring he wouldn't have any problem grafting biological bits onto himself.

If he were only to do inorganic pieces, it screws with his ability to use enemy parts, which is a big part of the Focus. I'll still roleplay him like he's maintaining his machine parts, but they won't provide direct mechanical benefits. I may find a way to get repair training someday, but it's not required for the character.

WIP as I add a last name, image, tweak his backstory, etc

Emmett, Beneficent Glaive who Augments Flesh with Grafts.

Emmett is a man well into middle-age who has lived a hard life. He grew up in Thaemor as a farmhand until greed brought war to his idyllic home. Emmett was conscripted to defend his home from an invading force from Navarene. He was trained as a scout, but not before numenera were grafted onto and inside his body by a few rogue Aeon priests in an experiment to create more capable soldiers. His unit often took missions deep behind enemy lines, often for weeks at a time. His small unit was forced to live off the land and sometimes explored ruins to find some way to keep themselves alive. A few of the more ingenious (and highly trained) members of the unit found ways to further augment them with technology they discovered, which was likely the only thing that brought Emmett through the war. Unfortunately, very few members of his unit survived the final battle, and Emmett was so disgusted by it that he abandoned his home, escaping to a backwater mining town to live a quiet life.

There he found a job as a deputy of the local law. The law was essentially whatever the deputies and sheriff decided it would be, but Coopertown was lucky to have a good-hearted man such as Emmett, and after a few years he was made sheriff. He fell in love with the small town and its quiet ways, and was content to escape his more dramatic past in peace. Regrettably, fate does not always allow for such predictability, and his story was not even close to complete.

I’m in the process of creating my character. Slow going, this is new territory for me. I DO know I want to play a Jack- but I’m undecided on the descriptor and the focus. I know people say with Numenera there’s really no wrong setup- I just want to make a functional character.

I've been immersed in the Descriptors and Foci for a couple days now, maybe I can help. What's your character like/what do you want them to do? What kind of role would you like to play?

I think I hashed it out- see if this makes sense... Lyle Martej is a Curious Jack who Rides the Lightning. I'M DEFINITELY open for suggestions- I went back and forth between at least a half dozen descriptors and Focuses.

With Curious I got 2 points to put into my Intellect pool and the Perception skill as well as being able to Detect falsehoods? and Pierce illusions or disguises? I spread the 6 points I got from the Jack class and ended up with 11 Might 12 Speed 15 Intellect. Also with my class I took Trained in Armor(a waste?!) and Vanish. Jack also gave me the Flex Skill ability. Then I took the Lockpicking and Sneaking skills. With Ride the Lightning at Tier 1 I can use Shock and Charge both for 1 Intellect point...

I want my character to be a nice blend of rogue/scout stuff and fighting- I like the perks with Ride the Lightning and figured that would buff his movement and damage output. ANY advice you could give me would be appreciated!

It sounds like an interesting combination!

I'm still learning this as well, so take any "advice" I give with a grain of salt because it's completely possible I missed something.

I think your Flex Skill changes daily and Jack only gives 1 skill to be trained in. You'll have to decide whether you want Lock picking or Sneaking to be your permanent skill, and then you can choose whatever you want to every morning as your Flex Skill (which can definitely be whatever you didn't choose as your permanent one).

It sounds like you've built a pretty wide open character! You've got pretty high intellect which is good for Effort in detecting lies (as well as telling them). Personally, I tend to lean into one aspect of a character, so I'll usually go heavy on one ability to help me do that. You've got similar Might and Speed scores, so you can go either melee or ranged, not to mention a good Intellect score which will help with various Jack skills. Your armor skill will definitely help in combat, especially with a low-ish Might score.

I see no problem at all with your character, should be fun! How do you think they came by the Rides the Lightning Focus?

Good catch- yes I do get one skill. Adjusting that. As far as his backstory- I haven’t got a clue! I’m going to spend some time figuring out how he got to Coopertown and how he got his abilities. Question: is the mining town on a map or is it just in a vague area of the world? I’d like to make my character from somewhere nearby (but not too close).

It's an entirely made up place. First person to pick a location on the map makes it canon!

I figure somewhere in The Beyond for that proper backwater, bumfuck-nowhere, small mining town feel

The eastern side of The Black Riage would set us in The Beyond and give us some mountains for our ‘mine’?

Question for DM: I'd like Emmett to have an azure steel left arm as a part of the Augments Flesh with Grafts background and his time as a military experiment. I'm going to get a shield as a part of character creation, and when it's time for him to use it, he'll block with his arm instead.

Emmett won't have any benefit other than what the shield would give him, and he won't have the "shield" when using heavy weapons. It's just flavoring his shield

Thoughts?

OK- I did some editing- and decided to axe the 'rides with lightning' to make a more coherent character. I settled on A Curious Jack who Explores Dark Places. The backstory I came up with is:

Lyle was born into a small clan in the Hollow Gourd Burrow in The Slant Milieu. As a child his curiosity constantly got him into trouble. Not content to hunker down in the burrows, and knowing that going above ground would be a death sentence, he learned to explore deeper into the tunnels and long abandoned corridors that his people called home. Lyle’s constant disregard for the boundaries of his people's safe burrows, and the strange and sometimes dangerous artifacts he brought back, estranged him from his clan. In the hopes of easing the tension, Lyle set out, braving the weikerwind and heading south towards the Ba-Adenu Forest. His joy at escaping his deadly homeland was short lived, as he faced new obstacles on his way to the forest city of Ephremon. Once there, Lyle was hard pressed to make a living. A hot meal and a few shins were all he could hope for, until he met a group of smugglers. The Indeps were a group of freelance adventurers who trafficked questionable goods found only in the heart of the Ba-Adenu to the outlying regions. In his travels, Lyle stumbled upon Cooperstown- and although at first glance it seemed a dead end town, he quickly got a sense that there was more to be found there. Whenever he was in the area, he would stop into town. Eventually he started to establish business relationships and a few friendships in the area. Although content to continue his trade, he was sure there was something unusual, maybe even spectacular, about Cooperstown. Always driven by his curiosity, Lyle tried to dig deeper into the mystery every chance he got.

Sounds cool, very slippery-type character. I read through Explores the Dark Places, I could see Emmett fitting into the 3rd connection, "This person always seems to hear you, no matter how stealthy you try to be", if you're interested.

Lol- absolutely Emmett can be that 3rd connection.

Lyle might fit into one of my connections, too: "They once saved your life when one of your surgeries had a complication."

It might explain why the local sheriff/marshal/whatever is willing to go easy on you, if you happened upon him dying and saved his life.