Character Generation Thread

Born A Hero: Heroes may ignore the Rank qualifications for Edges during character creation. They must still meet any other Requirements as usual. The usual rules for Rank Requirements apply afterward.

Conviction: Conviction is a special award granted when a character
experiences a great victory or catastrophic misfortune. If possible, use a themed token
to note the award; maybe a Marshal’s Badge for Deadlands, a Benny of a different color, a toy doubloon for 50 Fathoms, and so on.

Conviction can be spent to add a d6 to all a character’s Trait and damage totals
until the beginning of her next turn. This die can Ace, and its result is added to the final total.

Conviction tokens aren’t Bennies and can’t be used as such. They are kept between
sessions, however. A character may maintain Conviction from round to round by spending a Benny (at the start of his turn, before it runs out). Once Conviction lapses, however, the effect ends.

Creative Combat: Tests make a game even more exciting and memorable. Creative Combat enhances a pulp-style game with additional benefits for those who Test with a raise.

A successful Test (page 108) works as usual, but if a Wild Card character succeeds
with a raise while in combat, her foe is not automatically Shaken — she rolls on the

Creative Combat table instead:
CREATIVE COMBAT: 2D6 RESULT

2 - Second Wind: The foe’s reaction gives
your hero hope or allows her to catch
her breath. She may remove a level of
Fatigue or a Wound (her choice). If
she doesn’t have Fatigue or Wounds,
the enemy is Shaken instead.

3 - Inspiration: Fate favors the bold. The
clever hero receives a Benny.

4–5 - Double Whammy: The target is both
Distracted and Vulnerable.

6–8 - Shaken: The foe is Shaken.

9–10 - Setback: The target suffers a setback of some sort. She might fall off a
ledge, lose the confidence of her minions (who then desert her), take
a rash but foolish action, or simply lose her next turn as she attempts to
recover from whatever situation she finds herself in.

11 - Insight: The hero has new insight into the target’s nature. Once during
this encounter, she may add +d6 to any Trait roll made to directly attack,
affect, or damage the same foe. If rolled a second time in the same
encounter, the foe is Shaken instead.

12 - Seize the Moment: After the hero resolves this turn, she immediately
gets an entire additional turn. This includes movement as well! She may
use the turn to go on Hold if she wishes.

Downtime: Downtime is found in the new SWADE Fantasy Companion. In a nutshell, it allows you to spend time between adventures doing things like resting and recovering, working to earn extra cash, enchant items, carousing, or researching new powers.

Dynamic Backlash: Dynamic Backlash A Critical Failure on an arcane skill check
results in Fatigue (described on page 151). That works well in traditional fantasy settings or worlds where magic is relatively common. If you feel magic should come with a higher price, however, use this table instead.

DYNAMIC BACKLASH" 2D6 EFFECT Catastrophe:

2 - Something goes terribly wrong. The GM must decide what, but some ideas are a new and permanent Minor Hindrance, the inability to use powers for several days, or an explosion of some sort. The backlash should be thematic if possible. If the hero tampers with dark forces for his abilities, for example, he might become corrupted or summon something sinister into the world. If he’s a weird scientist, the device might explode for 3d6 damage in a Medium Blast Template, or he might develop.

3 - Backfire: The power succeeds as with a raise but affects a different target with
the worst possible results. A bolt hits a random friend, boost Trait increases an
enemy’s skill or attribute, etc. If there’s no likely target, he’s Stunned instead.
If the power has a Duration other than Instant, it lasts its full term and can only
be negated by dispel (the caster can’t voluntarily end it herself).

4–5 - Short Circuit: The power fails but the Power Points allocated to it are spent,
along with an additional 1d6 Power Points.

6–8 - Stunned: The caster is Stunned (see page 106). She subtracts 2 from arcane
skill rolls for the rest of the encounter (the penalty remains –2 even if she gets
this result again).

9–10 - Overload: The character’s synapses crackle and overload with power. He
takes 2d6 damage plus the cost of the power in Power Points, including any
Power Modifiers the player declared.

11 - Fatigue: The character suffers Fatigue.

12 - Overcharge: The power draws ambient energy from the air, automatically succeeding against the target with a raise and costing the caster no Power Points!

Fanatics: Use this rule in pulp-style games where henchmen are numerous and villains are larger than life. When a Wild Card enemy character is hit by a successful attack and the GM thinks it’s appropriate, one of his henchmen, goons, or other allies jumps in front of his master and takes the attack instead.

Fast Healing: Wild Cards make natural healing rolls once per day instead of every five days (or once per hour if the race has Regeneration). Bumps & Bruises: Wild Cards recover one level of Fatigue from Bumps & Bruises (page 125) every four hours instead of the usual 24.

High Adventure: Characters can spend a Benny to gain the one-time use of a Combat Edge. They have to meet the Rank and any Edge requirements as usual but can ignore Trait requirements. Multiple Bennies can be spent in one round for multiple Edges, either for different effects or in order to meet a needed requirement to gain another Edge.

Multiple Languages: Some settings feature characters and cultures who typically speak many different languages. If this Setting Rule is in play, all characters
have the Linguist Edge for free (page 40) and ignore its usual Requirements.
A character who actually takes the Linguist Edge knows a number of languages equal to her Smarts (instead of half her Smarts).

Wound Cap: Use this Setting Rule when you want combat to remain dangerous but reduce the chances of characters (and villains!) dying from a single lucky blow. It can still happen, but it is far more rare.