Character Creation and House Rules

This thread will be used for character creation. This is where you'll do your attributes and HP/HD rolling. This is where I'll also note important house rules, homebrews, and other changes to the rules.

Speaking of character creation, here is an attempt at a character sheet you can use yourself.

I was a bit annoyed at mentions of light and very light weapons in the class section, and none of those seemed described in the equipment section. So a quick look at the D20 version for what constituted as what allowed me to expand the table. Of course, I needed to come with abilities for light and very light weapons, and added some rules to medium and heavy weapons to make everything worthwhile. Hopefully, this all holds up...



Very Light Weapons
Each HD is a separate attack just like medium weapons, except that they only inflict 1d2 points of damage (1d6/3) and can apply their DEX modifier instead of STR modifier to damage if they hit. When attacking with a very light weapon, a character gains an extra HD on his attacks, but if he or she chooses to use this extra attack, all of their attacks and saving throws this round take a -1 penalty. These new rules will be used for any mention of very light weapons such as the Thief’s Sneak Attack (p.16). Unless, specifically specified elsewhere, things which mention light weapons also encompass very light weapons (class weapons permitted, two-weapon fighting, etc.).
Note: Using the VL's extra HD for attack along with the two-weapon fighting extra HD for attack (see p.37) will have their penalties stack.

Light Weapons
Light weapons work exactly like very light weapons, except that they instead inflict 1d3 points of damage (1d6/2) and are not light enough to grant an extra HD on attacks. These new rules will be used for any mention of light weapons such as the Thief’s Sneak Attack (p.16), or two-weapon fighting (p.37).
*The staff is a special case in that if held in the middle, it counts as both a medium and light weapon and used as per the two-weapon fighting rules.
Note: The Wayfarer may now choose to inflict L, M, or H damage with their unarmed strike, as suits the situation.

Medium Weapons (Addendum)
Some medium weapons can be wielded two-handed to inflict extra damage, per the GM’s discretion. When such a medium weapon is wielded two-handed, each hit can be added together into a single powerful hit, similar to heavy weapons, however, at least one HD must always be used on a separate attack (so a character rolling 3 HD for attacking with a two-handed medium weapons could try one strong blow with 2 HD, and a secondary smaller attack with just 1 HD).

Heavy Weapons (Addendum)
Heavy weapons tend to depend on their weight to inflict damage through armour, or are designed to pierce it. As such, heavy weapons always ignore 1 point of enemy DR. This only applies to actual heavy weapons and not to effects that duplicate heavy weapons such as a Thief’s Sneak Attack (p.16), or a Wayfarer’s Unarmed Damage (p.21), or a two-handed medium weapon simulating a heavy weapon (see above). However, it could be possible that some particularly strong or large monsters (GM’s discretion) could replicate this effect with natural weapons (horns, tusks, spikes, barbs, etc.).

Thrown And Ranged Weapons (Addendum)
Slings are considered thrown weapons for the purpose of range. Blowguns and shurikens can be fired/thrown at up to 15’ with no penalty, up to 30’ at a -1, and 45’ at a -2.

To help you select your nation of origin, here is a map of the Crimson Lands.

Link for a closer look.

Also, for those of you with high intelligence, here is a list of the languages spoken in the Crimson Lands.
- Dendrelyssi, Low (language of slaves and lower-birth Dendrelyssi. A type of "common". Used almost exclusively in Torquendor. Outlawed in Krand.)
- Dendrelyssi, High (Laugnauge of nobility Dendrelyssi and the language of magic, summoning, and dragons. Seems to have its roots in the Demonic tongue.)
- Demonic (Language of the Netherworld. Strangely similar to High Dendrelyssi. Very difficult for humans to speak.)
- Dralucian (Mostly same language as Forlucian with some difference in spelling/pronunciation.)
- Forlucian (As Dralucian above...)
- Krandian (Quickly becoming the new "common" tongues in the Crimson Lands. Required fo trade or bureaucracy in Krand.)
- Mortyllan (The "low" Mortyllan, has its base in Dralucian, but mixes in Low Dendrelyssi and Uthuunian.)
- Mortyllan, High (Sounds like mad babbble. Used by priesthood of Mortylla. Some similarities to High Dendrelyssi, enough for demons to perfectly understand High Mortyllan perfectly.)
- Ortish (Very basic language.)
- Ska (Has many words for warlike pursuits.)
- Tiranish (Most in Tiranos speal Low Dendrelyssi, but some in deep forests or high hills speak the original language which borrows heavily from Ska.)
- Uthuumian (A secretive language which may conveys hidden meanings depending on how a sentence is put together. Few outside Uthuum are versed in its various subtleties.)
- Valornish (Language of both Valorn and Destoi.)
- Witch (Language of the Witch Isle. Has some basic similarities to High Dendrelyssi.)
- Zamonish (Language of Zamoneth and Nenuphar.)

@Kalajel, Do you have a listing of the available races or at least details on the different human peoples/cultures?

Stats: 10, 9, 9, 12, 10, 17, 4, 11

Hoping for a couple goods stats for a Dendrelyssi

Aweful! Worst demon-binder ever!!!

STATS: 10, 12, 12, 9, 8, 9

A worthless example of the Dendrelyssi race. Would throw themself on a sacrificial blade and pray that the act is worthy of being taken by the gods of Chaos in tribute.

@kalajel Thank you for the invite!

Starting with the Stat Rolls

Discarding Random Stat Roll #4

Stats: 10, 8, 12, 14, 11, 11

Gonna to read thru the rules and work on the character, and should hopefully have it completed tomorrow

Available races are humans and Dendrelyssi (the demon-descended elves). As for the cultures, they are briefly touched upon on pages 106-112 of the rulebook, but I guess I can give a quick overview below...

Dendrelyss: Home of the Dendrelyssi, remnant of their former empire. Lots of slave, hedonistic pleasures (including torture for fun).
Destoi: Sparsely populated island full of simple folks...
Dralucia: Powerful nation with two kings. One of the large centres of civilization.
Forlucia: Nomadic horsemen.
Krand: They've pretty much rejected everything having to do with the ancient Empire of the Dendrelyssi as they suffered greatly under their rule. They even have Redeemers which are prety much whitch-hunters who seek and destroy such things...
Mortylla: Considered to not be quite entirely human, sadistic worshippers and servant of Chaos.
Nenuphar: Nomadic tribes.
Ort: Poor nation as they are often raided by Ska or Tiranos. Superstitious "nomadic farmers".
Ska: Tribal barbarians, seaborne raiders, pirates, and traders.
Tiranos: Kilt-wearing woodsmen. They have clans and are adorned with tattoos.
Torquendor: Basically Dendrelyssi fanboys that have adopted their culture...
Uthuum: Spies and long-lived wizards.
Valorn: Survivors of a still-ongoing plague.
Witch Isle: Matriarchal barbarian society, guardians of the Primal City.
Zamoneth: Warring nomadic tribes.

@ Kalajel, Thanks. I am going to purchase the book later this evening or tomorrow when I have time.

Some of you seems to have rolled 8 times. You roll 7 times, keep 6 stats. That means both RageRed and Equinox should disregard that last 11.

Stats roll

14, 12, 12, 11, 11, 8
Not exactly impressive but it might work out.

With my low to average rolls I didn't make it high enough to play the character I want to play. So, I'm not interested in keeping the current one alive.

@kalajel Just checking that we roll 1D6 for Hit Points and take whatever score we get, or will you have a minumum score (to help us stay alive a bit longer! :-) )

@ Equinox: Give it a try. Yeah, he doesn't have bonuses, but he also doesn't have penalties. If he dies, he dies...
@ Drakis2: Yeah, you roll HP at first level.

Well, here goes...

The numbers (9, 10, 10, 10, 16, 8)

Rolling for Hit Points.

That was a brilliant roll, phew!

Oh, when rolling HP each new level, I'll go with the option that if you fail to exceed your current max HP, your new max HP will still increase by 1.

So I've decided to go Barbarian for my class. Just need to roll my HP then figure out equipment and I think I'm good to go.

Well...this will be a short career. Get ready to meet her twin sister.

Good and bad news: we are playing using the non-D20 variant of the game. So your HP at first level is 1D6+4, plus whatever CON bonus you might have...

Oh...I missed that change. Will fix.

Edit: that's better.

I am finishing off a Wayfarer character. Seems to be a mix of the D&D monk & thief types.

I’ll submit when done for you to check over. The rules are nice & simple which is a real bonus

There also seems to be a potential supernatural element to them. The game strongly implies some Wayfarers are planar travellers.

So I figured out I had the wrong book. No big deal, but now I've got the right rules in front of me. So back to work.

@AutomAtomic: The character looks good. Keep in mind that since we're using the D6 ruleset, Attribute modifiers are a bit different, look up p.6. Your STR modifier will also add to the amount of Things you can carry. Your Rage is also a Class Ability if you wish to note it there. Finally, do not forget to note how many Things you are carrying to figure out your encumbrance.

Glump
Torquendorian Sorcerer

@kalajel Rolling for money, and then I should be submitting the character for you to check. I have gone over it a few times so I think I have done it correctly

Sent over my character; Wayfarer, female, from Nenuphar

Wow, that's a lot of D6s... Okay, let's see if I can discern all that...
You know the spells Detect Magic, Inspire, Invisibility to Demons*, Invisibility to Elementals*, Light*, Mending*, Sanctuary, Shield, and Sleep. You start with 120 GP, and 5 HP.
That sounds about right?

Good points. I think I got my Things upped properly, but I didn't find specific rules in either book. It starts at 5, and a 16 gets a base of 6 in the examples. 14 & 16 have the same bonus.

Also...i have 79 gold left over, but I didn't pay for weapons since those are not specific. I would like to have a Great axe, two smaller axes for backup and thrown option, and a bow w/20 arrows. If you could tell me how much that would cost, I'll correct that issue.

Oh, my bad, looks like you noted them up correctly. For some reason, I thought they started up at 6, not 5... Yeah, weapons, Let's say 14 per axes, 18 for the great axe, and 20 for the bow with another 1 for the 20 arrows.

Cool, sold!

@Drakis2: The character looks good. Keep in mind that your DEX mod will be added to your Ref Save. Your unarmed damage also allows you to inflict M or H damage with your fists.

Edit: Oh yeah, you start with only 9 GP. for Wayfarer, the 3d6 are not multiplied by 10...

Something like that.

@kalajel,

Debating what class to choose.

Are all witches barbarians from the witch isle? I know the witch is written as an NPC class, but would it be possible to play one? Sorcerers carrying spell books doesn't work for me. The witch class seems more like a sorcerer to me. Well, minus the cauldron.

@kalajel Ooops! I spent about 39GP. LOL! Ok, I have removed everything except the basics and what she likely could pick up free or from bargaining for services.

@JamaisVu the lands of Ska, an island to the north, also mention barbarians. Pirate barbarians even.

Taking inspiration from an image in the book for my character.


Would this work for kurbol and a longsword (or bastard sword)? How much for a longsword, dagger, bastard sword, bow, and naginata? Trying to decide on weapons.

140 gp

Rolls for hit points and starting funds

You can play a Witch if you want, but do keep in mind that NPC classes are weaker than PC classes.

Cool, but by the look of her ears and iris-less and pupil-less eyes, she's a Dendrelyssi.
Swords tend to be on the costly side, because well, they're mostly made of steel, so all that smithing, plus the fitting, plus the sharpening... I'd say 4-5 gp for a dagger, 25-30 gp for a sword (depending on design), and 35-40 gp for a 2-handed sword (again, depending on design).

Thanks for the invite, just bought the book and slowly sinking my teeth in!

Stats:

Strength: 10
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 7
Charisma: 8

Might go and switch Str and Dex later on, yet to be decided.

Starting gold: 170 gp (lol I'm rich)

@kalajel How much for a one-handed axe?

I was charged 14

Yep.

Alright, character submitted, would appreciate a quick look-over to make sure I did not mess something up.

I have taken the liberty of getting a pony and quite a bit of adventuring gear - is this fine? If so, how should I count the Things?

@Jamais Vu: Oh, it just occurred to me that you could also always play a Griot which is basically a bard capable of summoning either undead or demons of knowledge in order to learn new facts.

@seifi: Looks good. Do keep in mind that your WIS mod applies to your Will Save. Also do not forget your amount of Things carried.

@kalajel,

Are ravens and hawks allowed as familiars? I found the stats for a hawk, but not for a raven.


Elyshaeba

@kalajel,

Submitted my character. I still need to finishing buying equipment.

@Deja Vu: Just use the stats of the hawk and call it a raven...

@ RageRed: Looks good so far. Do not forget to figure out the amount of Things carried.

Seeing how some people modified my character sheet to include a place for languages, I did the same to my template, if you want to update your own sheets. Making sure everyone can understand each other might be important... ;)

@Jamais Vu: Roll 2d3 for number of healing potions. Since you're starting with a weaker class, I have no problems giving you something to compensate for...

@Drakis2: Nope, sorry. Wayfarers suffer from "monk money syndrome"... Maybe you can ask another player for a piggy back ride?

Updated my 2nd post a bit (the one with all the house rules) as it occurred to me it needed a few additional precisions...

Well, somebody will have to speak Valornish so you can communicate with Korghar. The good news is Gilcyne still has 2 extra language slots to fill...

Edit: speaking or Korghar, you have 2 abilities to select as Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. You get all six.
Edit 2: ...and Trendek should have a 2nd Secondary ability, which by the looks of things will be Knack...

The equipment list is really lacking. Whoever was supposed to check the text and content didn't do a very good job of it. For instant, in the paragraph where they're explaining how to count Things, the example is carrying a whetstone. Whetstone is not in the equipment list.

There are two different types of rations on the list, but nothing to carry water. No canteen. No waterskin.

There are no rules, I can find anyway, of how many Things a mount can carry or a way for them to carry it. I bought two backpacks, put them together and called it saddlebags.

There are no listings for saddles or horse gear, although there are images in the book of horses with these on.

Not to mention the strange listing of items with no explanations of what they are. Like - Balafon, Ngoni, and Kora. And...there's demon summoning paraphernalia, but what's in it? Does it give a bonus to summoning or binding?

I agree about the seeming lack of what I might consider obvious items. I also am not a fan of the random weapon pricing, but feel our GM made good calls.

As for the summoning paraphernalia, I imagine it is intended to be like spell component pouch in 5e. It just has all the random things you need, like candles and goats blood to do the thing. You are probably just expected to buy more from time to time. I would prefer a system like Powered by the Apocalypse where items like that have "uses" and get checked off as you go. So like that item might start with 5 uses and each summoning consums one use. Just so it feels like it matters if you have it.

Balafon, Ngoni, and Kora are musical instruments and those are described in the Griot class (probably not the best place for such descriptions). The demon summoning paraphernalia is probably described in the demon summoning section.

Rations, trail are probably nuts, fruits, and berries, while rations, dried are, well... dried food...

Ad for missing essentials, well try to find the nearest equivalent. your idea of two backpacks for a saddlebag was a good one. For a saddle, tack, and bridle, for example, le't say something where you sit (or lie down) like a bedroll, and something to tie it all up, like silk rope.

As long as you can check off 1 of the 5 uses, rather than PbtA, where you have to roll against an abstract 1d6 or other die or lose dice.