PC creation talk

Aug 22, 2024 8:48 pm
I think first we will discuss the custom character sheet here - which version to use, but can talk about anything connected to PC creation.

You should be aware that there are some significant changes between the test version and the final one I have, among them most notable are:
1. For human race. Their second point in final version is stated:

"During character creation, apply +1 to an attribute of your choice (maximum 16, cannot be applied to Luck or Initiative)."

2. 2nd step of PC creation now is stated as:

"Roll d66 for Background. Each entry grants an attribute bonus (max 16), a skill, and an item."

So I will want to check your PCs if you already have created them or lead you through the creation process, step by step - whatever you prefer.

I'm also considering IF and how I should provide you with final rulebook pdf. Still thinking about this.
At start of your character creation you have to choose 1 approach from available:
1. "Concept first" -> so you use all those variant rules in your PC creation:
- Roll 3d6 and allocate as the player wishes.
- Players choose their PC’s skills.
- Players choose their PC’s starting abilities.

2. "Full Old School" -> you roll for everything that is stated in standard PC creation rules. So - among others - Race and Background too! But you choose class.

As bonus for courage - to check how it was done in old days ;) - and having to make PC you rolled, work with our concept and setting you get:
- PCs gain a Unique Feature of their choice at 1st level (no cross-class, and only tier 1), that will have to be confirmed by me(to be not too strong)
Aug 22, 2024 9:56 pm
Continuing form tavern thread:
GreyWord says:
I think I'm going with something simple this time.
[ +- ] Backstory
A simple human guard with a very strong reason for loyalty (see backstory above). Would be a typical guard if not for 3 reasons:
- Due to his scary outfit he is usually guarding royal family member during the most important/dangerous events
- His has unique for a guard lockpicking skills
- He has no relatives or friends (unless you don't count royal family members who have some strange connection to this dumb and brute, but sincere man and are known to sometimes share their secret problems/worries with him, knowing it's safe with him).

Mechanically Human, Background: Thief, Class: Barbarian.
I like this concept a lot! Simple beginning usually have hight potential of ending truly epic! And character development is one of the most interesting things in function. Barbarian would be always handy to have in group. So are we going with this? If yes, please move to your personal PC creation thread.
Aug 22, 2024 10:11 pm
Continuing form tavern thread:
Shadowknight says:
It is interesting that you mentioned a Cook, because I have happened to generate a character with the Cook background, who becomes a sorcerer/magic-user (I like sorcerer better, but it's magic user per the RAW). Character concept #2. He is an older character having worked as a royal cook for 28 years or so, but had some encounter with a spirit of the ancient world that gave him a powerful arcane vision. Since then his eyes have been clouded over by rich blue lenses but they do not seem to cloud his vision. He has the spells Sight beyond Sight and Speaker of Tongues. Because he has worked for so long as a chef, he doesn't seem to have much arcane ambitions, but his magical gifts (if they can be called that) seem to be merely thrust upon him. Nevertheless, he sees the importance of keeping a spellbook as it is like arcane formulae for spells and recipes. This character also seems to have a lot of knowledge but most of it is worldly knowledge of animals, wilderness, arcane magic, and general lore, and this character is less likely to take on airs than the bard character I had originally envisioned.

Edit: Oh, and the reason I didn't make the previous character a rogue is because I had rolled dismally low for her Dexterity. Charisma followed by Intelligence were her highest abilities. Of course, we may be recrafting the character; but most of these character concepts are coming out of me "playing" with the character creation system.
I like this concept a lot too! :) Especially its approach to magic, how he get his powers and that he is not "full blown magician from university", but rather some kind of "normal guy" that suddenly get hold on those power.

But you know that even by standard rules:
3. Generate Attributes (...) You may then also swap any two Attribute scores, if desired.
? I'm referring to your claims that your previous PC rolled low Dex and it made him bad for being Rouge.

So you have decided to go with one of those concepts? If yes, please move to your personal PC creation thread and let's continue there.
Aug 22, 2024 10:36 pm
Avraham says:
@Pedrop, I'm going to play around with the character sheet a bit. For example, turn the attribute modifiers into calculations instead manually entering based on the table or not using checkboxes for entries that may increase often (luck)—I have not found a way to make the total number of checkboxes into a variable. I may have some questions. Like:

Luck starts at 10 + ceil(lvl/2). However, can it increase above this if unused and a long rest is taken? The rules say 1) "Luck returns at a rate of 1 point per Long Res", which contradicts what you have in the box under luck, and also "reflects a character’s accumulated experience dealing with perilous hazards and dangers." Which implies to me that if you can go a week without using your luck, you should have more of it based on "accumulated experience" but I don't know ToA or if we will be using some homebrew rules.
First about the luck - I read it this way and I'm 97% sure it was meant this way:
- "At the start of an adventure, a character’s Luck attribute is equal to 10 + half level (round up)." -> so it means it is your current and MAX for this adventure,
- "Luck returns" - means that it can only return to your maximum, it doesn't mean it can go above it
- "reflects a character’s accumulated experience dealing with perilous hazards and dangers." -> yes, that's why when you level up - your MAX luck increases, but you can't sleep in inn for a few months and suddenly get 15 luck, you "help your luck" by getting experience in adventuring, and this is reflected in your level

So in context of our PC sheet - you only mod max Luck only(?) when you level up, or Halfling has joined your part - as far as I know. So I presumed when that happens you edit only that section of your sheet - by pressing inkwell icon - end edit Luck manually in the code. I like boxes, when value changes often and Luck seams to in this game, but in my opinion it's Max changes very rarely. But we can leave it as input field.

I also tried to incorporate variable as total # of boxes, and haven't find a way to do this:(

Ah... and I will steal your bonus calculation to my version :) As I didn't have time implement it myself.
Aug 22, 2024 11:20 pm
Avraham says:
@Pedrop, here is a start at a revised version. I may play around more, but for now. it adds a bunch of calculations for mods and checks. For example, a checkbox if it's a skilled check and an "other mod" entry for things like +2 initiative. It calculates gear slots and maximum gear slots, assuming that an odd gear slot gets assigned to battle gear. Some minor spelling corrections. Turned HP into a simple entry since those change so often. Luck rolls and such will still need editing the BBCode. Some of the tables were expanded as well. I cannot test the rolling features since I don't "own" a game :(.

Please take a look and tell me what you think. For some reason, you need to actually create the character for some of the fields to populate (like crit damage which is twice die + lvl/2 etc.).
[ +- ] ToA v2
Hmmm... some thinks I like a lot, but:
- you really have to test your sheet in-game, I have made special thread for this, as you attributes table seams to me to not generating any rolls at all. Check my version: when you click d20 button in Check column, you will get:
Reason: "Int 18 <9/20> - Check" and Roll: "d20"

So when you actually roll it, you will have all needed info, with one click. When you click in Luck column you will get:
Reason: "Int 18 <9/20> - Luck" and Roll: "14,d20"

Again all info needed in roller - you are making a luck roll, for Int, and with your current Luck you have to roll 14 or less.

Both examples rolled with this post.

- I liked my approach to GS & TF better, because it's more compact and it moves this info to roller reason, but it can only be a matter of taste.,

- I like very much how you wanted to incorporate skilled check in this table, but in ToA we roll under - so the skill don't modifies roll result, but rather target you are rolling against (only in combat we roll above). So if anything: "Skilled check" should subtract mod from roll, not add to it. But it would be still not perfect, as it would "falsify" Great Success and TF - as they are measured only against base attribute score. I didn't put skills in this table, because I didn't know how to do them, but now I have some ideas:)

- att Mod also don't influence standard check,

- Other mod is also a nice touch, but it have to modify Target Number(TN), but not GS & TF, AND not roll result.

- Gear slot calculation is great ! But I would change it so Pack gear gets more slots, when its not even number,

- tracking HP is a matter of taste, I like boxes, but have no problem with plain numbers,

- I think in this version you are calculating crit damage wrong - that's why I didn't do it in my version, I didn't know how(yet:) )

- I didn't have time to explain for what is Status snippet - it's for quick posting your current numbers after each of your turns at combat like here:
Health: 12 / 12 AC: 11
Rerolls: 2 Rescue: 0
DMM: 1 Favour:0
Can: Minor Exploit: Mayor Exploit:

So it will be easier to track changes over time. So in my opinion there shouldn't be info like "DDM die: 8" as it doesn't change from turn to turn.

Saying all of this: I encourage you to continue your work, we can have two similar, but different version in some aspects(ie. HP representation) of sheets. But first, you have to correct some errors. In the meantime I will "steal" some off your code/ideas to my version:) And share it here at some point.

Rolls

Int 18 <9/20> - Check - (d20)

(11) = 11

Int 18 <9/20> - Luck - (14, d20)

14 : () + 14 = 14

d20 : (19) = 19

Aug 22, 2024 11:32 pm
spinningdice says:
Still interested, concept of Human Artificer Princess. A shy studious child who in light of the coup is now having to put theoretical knowledge to useful application. Quiet, determined and ingenious.

If anyone else would prefer to be an artificer I can side switch the character to a Magic User or even a Rogue.
I don't think anyone else was looking at Artificer. Interesting choice. And I'm very happy that we indeed will have someone from royal family:) Maybe someone else will decide to this too.

So are we going with this? If yes, please move to your personal PC creation thread.
Aug 22, 2024 11:34 pm
quilltid says:
Still would be interested in playing! The video was very helpful.

From interest check: I was thinking of a halfling bard, along as entertainment for the long nights ahead and support in combat, but has been trained as a spy. Whether they are a spy for our princess or for someone else can be hammered out in the game session zero or character boards. I am also flexible in changing this if it fits better for the group/story.

I was thinking she was assigned as the personal bard of our princess if she joins or whoever our royals are. This was just the cover story as she is actually supposed to be that personal royal's spy. Again, does this royal know, are they supposed to be spying for or against them, can be discussed further. As a halfling, she was perfectly situated to be a fun-loving bard and superior at stealth and appearing non-threatening. She was one of the more adventurous halflings that made her way to the kingdom and worked her way up with her entertaining skills, but was placed in the royal court when her talent for intrigue was discovered and nurtured.
As said before - I like this concept.

So are we going with this? If yes, please move to your personal PC creation thread.
Aug 22, 2024 11:54 pm
Pedrop, thanks for the detailed response. May I trouble you to approve my ToA Test character so that I can actually try the rolls, please? Unless there is another way to test character sheets?
Aug 23, 2024 1:26 am
@Pedrop. I adjusted the sheet based on your understandings and suggestion. Unfortunately, BBCode has neither lookup capability nor flow control. But within its restrictions, I think the sheet below more reflects your desires than my original. Thoughts?
[ +- ] ToA v3
Last edited August 23, 2024 1:29 am

Rolls

Shortsword - Damage - (1d6-1)

(2) - 1 = 1

Shortsword - Nat 19 - (1d12)

(12) = 12

Long bow - Damage - (1d8+0)

(8) = 8

Long bow - Nat 19 - (1d12)

(11) = 11

Aug 23, 2024 7:03 am
Quote:
You may then also swap any two Attribute scores, if desired.
I did miss this one, thanks for pointing it out to me.

P.S. Going "Full Old School" for my PC which will most probably mean change of concept
Aug 23, 2024 11:50 am
@Avraham I have developed further your version of sheet. As I liked your previous version better - was more readable. Following version seams to incorporate all your ideas and - to me - it is more readable for users. In the way it currently is made it should have usually proper reason in Reason field of roller AND in Roll field there will be always current TN and roll - so you can compere the two and it's consistent across different rolls(of "under" type). So: please make PC with this sheet and look how roller works with those buttons.

Other changes:
- I fixed few last errors with calculating Crit damage for weapons
- for consistency sake I changed Luck to number(from boxes) to it work the same way HP does
- few minor UX changes,
- the section you called "Status summary" is meant to be in snippet tag - so you can inject it easily in your sheet with one click, like here:
https://i.imgur.com/asjH0WR.png so it will be naturally not visible at first, but as it has almost all the same info as Status section - I think it is not a problem.

So what you think? Are keeping this fruit of our common work, as preferred custom sheet for this game? :)
[ +- ] ToA v3.5

Rolls

Dex 10 <5, 16> - Check - (10, d20)

10 : () + 10 = 10

d20 : (15) = 15

Per 9 <4, 14> - Skilled Check - (10, d20)

10 : () + 10 = 10

d20 : (3) = 3

Luck - Per - (11, d20)

11 : () + 11 = 11

d20 : (18) = 18

Aug 23, 2024 5:43 pm
@Pedrop, question about gear slots and the new char sheet. On the one hand, reading page 55 implies that only clothing and armor are exempt. So the tinderbox in the pouch should take up a pack slot. But if that is so, why does step 11 on page 8 separate them? I';m confused.
Aug 23, 2024 8:44 pm
Another question. I think I made a mistake with the language count. The BONUS language is dependent on modifier. So Max should really be 1 + Modifier, 1 at 7–12, and illiterate at 6 or below. Code would be
(Max: [_$=lookupBonus(int,3,6,0,7,12,1,13,14,2,15,16,3,17,18,4,19,20,5,21,22,6,23,30,7)])
.
Aug 24, 2024 1:02 am
Pedrop says:
Continuing form tavern thread:
Shadowknight says:
It is interesting that you mentioned a Cook, because I have happened to generate a character with the Cook background, who becomes a sorcerer/magic-user (I like sorcerer better, but it's magic user per the RAW). Character concept #2. He is an older character having worked as a royal cook for 28 years or so, but had some encounter with a spirit of the ancient world that gave him a powerful arcane vision. Since then his eyes have been clouded over by rich blue lenses but they do not seem to cloud his vision. He has the spells Sight beyond Sight and Speaker of Tongues. Because he has worked for so long as a chef, he doesn't seem to have much arcane ambitions, but his magical gifts (if they can be called that) seem to be merely thrust upon him. Nevertheless, he sees the importance of keeping a spellbook as it is like arcane formulae for spells and recipes. This character also seems to have a lot of knowledge but most of it is worldly knowledge of animals, wilderness, arcane magic, and general lore, and this character is less likely to take on airs than the bard character I had originally envisioned.

Edit: Oh, and the reason I didn't make the previous character a rogue is because I had rolled dismally low for her Dexterity. Charisma followed by Intelligence were her highest abilities. Of course, we may be recrafting the character; but most of these character concepts are coming out of me "playing" with the character creation system.
I like this concept a lot too! :) Especially its approach to magic, how he get his powers and that he is not "full blown magician from university", but rather some kind of "normal guy" that suddenly get hold on those power.

But you know that even by standard rules:
3. Generate Attributes (...) You may then also swap any two Attribute scores, if desired.
? I'm referring to your claims that your previous PC rolled low Dex and it made him bad for being Rouge.

So you have decided to go with one of those concepts? If yes, please move to your personal PC creation thread and let's continue there.
We'll go with the sorcerer/magic user concept then. My character concept for Orisia Linston, infamous dwarven merchant and charismatic beauty was too locked in to go through much modification. (Again, primarily from random die rolls.)
Aug 27, 2024 8:38 am
Avraham says:
@Pedrop, question about gear slots and the new char sheet. On the one hand, reading page 55 implies that only clothing and armor are exempt. So the tinderbox in the pouch should take up a pack slot. But if that is so, why does step 11 on page 8 separate them? I';m confused.
I see this way: Pouch is for so called "tiny items" - those that are so small that they can fit in pouch, so they don't use slot space. Of course we will be reasonable with this, but with what you have in your pouch now - don't count as using slot.
Avraham says:
Another question. I think I made a mistake with the language count. The BONUS language is dependent on modifier. So Max should really be 1 + Modifier, 1 at 7–12, and illiterate at 6 or below. Code would be
(Max: [_$=lookupBonus(int,3,6,0,7,12,1,13,14,2,15,16,3,17,18,4,19,20,5,21,22,6,23,30,7)])
.
I understand this the same way. And yours and 2 other people sheets seams to calculate this correctly ? To be precise: if you have +1 Int mod, you know another languge besides Common(the one used officially in kingdom), total of 2.
Aug 27, 2024 9:06 am
Here is a newest version of sheet with little corrections to ctrit damage calculation - now you have to write static result mod to damage dealt (because sometimes weapons have d6+1, so with -2 on str, you have to write -1 there), but now the criteria damage calculate correctly.

I also incorporated Avraham's correction to # of languages.
[ +- ] ToA v3.6
Aug 29, 2024 7:09 am
Here is a newest version of sheet with added temp luck mode, temp To Hit mod and temp Damage mod for luck and weapons tables. I will try to incorporate it in already sent sheets - if there would be no changes from my propositions.
[ +- ] ToA v3.7
Aug 30, 2024 12:55 am
Switching to discussing bonds; how random do you want it to be, @Pedrop? I have a half-fleshed out backstory for Bartholomew. I see three possible progressions:

1) Expand it fully and allow you to manually decide to whom I am bonded and why.
2) Expand it fully, roll for bonds, and shoehorn those bonds into my backstory.
3) Let you roll bonds first, tell me, and I will develop the backstory based on those bonds.

Thoughts?
Aug 30, 2024 8:51 am
I was just going to start write the post about bonds. My idea from the top view was that:
- those that wanted Old School approach (I think 2 players wanted that, I will check it in the moment) will have their bond decided by die roll, and will have to adjust it to back story and game concept(royal court members)
- the rest (Conept First choice) can choose to talk the bounds between them or roll for inspiration,

Will write the whole procedure soon.
Aug 30, 2024 9:47 am
SO we work on party bonds now. I see this that way:
- as Shadowknight and GreyWord have chosen Old School way - I will roll for their bonds first,
- in the matter of fact both of them had rolled for bounds in their corresponding PC's creation threads, but to not to have to choose one of their rolls, I'm rolling for this again,
-the second bonds roll will be for connecting Sadur or Kimbek to one other PC that have chosen Concept First,
-the rest can talk their bonds over and shape them the way they like + someone have to take the rolled Bound to Sadur or Kimbek,
- if any one wants, he or she can roll for Bonds - for inspiration of course.
- as I assume that Bonds are between players I don't think I have to accept them or something like that. It's "RP contract" between both of you(and your PC). I will only try to suggest some flavor changes if I will have any ideas for that, but thats for later.
OOC:
Rolling... pending. Will edit this post.
So the procedure is this:
1. Share your back story with others at least in the areas that can be useful for making bonds (maybe you want to keep some secrets for later :) ? ).

2. Sadur - Kimbek -> have very interesting result to incorporate in setting and their PCs: "Pit Fighters from the same (or respected rival) faction" -> please describe it to me and others. I wouldn't necessary read that you had to "fight in pits" more as the kind of environment the fights have took place. But the choice is yours.

3. Belladonna Lightfoot - Shallan - Brother Bartholomew - please talk over and establish Bounds between you. Of course it can be Shallan - Brother Bartholomew - Belladonna Lightfoot or other combination.

4. Please choose who would be Bonded by second roll result: "Smuggling job" with Sadur or Kimbek from Concept players.

And... I think thats it, we will have a nice party with PCs with backstories and very interesting bounds.
OOC:
Ok, post finished.

Rolls

Bound: Sadur - Kimbek - (d6, d6)

d6 : (2) = 2

d6 : (4) = 4

Bound: Sadur - Concept PC or Kimbek - Concept PC - (d6, d6)

d6 : (2) = 2

d6 : (6) = 6

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