Creating a
Character

Aldric Vane spent thirty years as a lecturer in natural philosophy at the University of Aldenmoor. At 58 he is thin, slightly stooped, with ink-stained fingers and the permanently distracted expression of a man doing mental arithmetic during other conversations. His former students remember him for two things: the sharpest mind they ever encountered, and his spectacular inability to remember their names.

He has identified four new astronomical bodies, written the definitive treatise on sympathetic resonance, and twice located the lost tomb of the Mage-Kings using nothing but a library, a set of brass instruments, and what he insists was "obvious deduction." He takes magic seriously as a branch of natural philosophy — he resents the word "wizard" almost as much as he resents being expected to run anywhere.

Every point goes to IQ first. He builds from the inside out: a towering intellect with a body that gets in the way. Physical stats are an inconvenience he works around, not a resource he invests in.

Vora does not have a surname. In the clan-holds of the Northern Shore, you earn a kenning or you die unnamed, and Vora's is Krak-orm — Bone-breaker — given by the survivors of a river crossing gone wrong, where she held a ford alone for long enough that it shouldn't have been possible. She was twenty-two. She'd been fighting since she was fourteen.

She is enormous by any era's standards: wide-shouldered, rawboned, built like a siege weapon that has learned to walk. She is not stupid — she understands tactics, reads a battlefield quickly, and remembers faces — but book-learning is as foreign to her as a quiet room. She finds other people's emotions difficult to parse and doesn't particularly try. Kindness and cruelty are roughly equivalent abstractions to her; what matters is loyalty, and she is ferociously loyal to those who have earned it.

Vora is the opposite end from Aldric. Nearly every point buys physical capability. IQ is deliberately low — she sees the points as better spent elsewhere, and the GM will back that up every session. She hits things very hard and is very hard to stop.

IQ 15 costs 100 points alone — more than Mira's or Vora's entire attribute budget. ST 9 and HT 9 recover 20. The tradeoff is visible immediately: Will 15 and Per 15 come free with the IQ purchase, which makes the investment more efficient than it looks. He is physically fragile and slow, but his mind operates at a level normal humans cannot match.

IQ 8 returns 40 points — which funds ST 16 almost entirely on its own. HT 14 gives her extraordinary endurance and injury recovery. The result is a character who hits with 2d thrust and 3d+2 swing, shrugs off wounds that would incapacitate others, and needs to be reminded how many gold coins are in a stack. She does not consider this a bad trade.

IQ 15 delivers Will 15 and Per 15 entirely for free — a remarkable dividend. One secondary purchase: FP +3 [9 pts] for spellcasting endurance. Dodge 7 is poor; Move 4 is slow. This is precisely why Aldric is never supposed to be in melee range. If he is, something has gone badly wrong.

One secondary purchase: HP +2 [4 pts] for HP 18. A berserker who goes into battle with ST 16 and HP 16 is a terror; one with HP 18 is nearly impossible to put down before she's finished. Will 8 and Per 8 default from IQ 8 — she will fail social and awareness checks regularly. BL 51 lbs means she barely notices most combat loads.

Average build (0 pts), 5'9", ~155 lbs, SM 0. Average appearance (0 pts). Spectacles, ink-stained fingers, the permanently distracted expression of a man who is thinking about something more interesting than the room he's in. No reaction modifier — he reads as harmless and forgettable, which has occasionally saved his life.

Age 58. Aging rolls have already begun (they start at 50). None have failed yet. His player notes this explicitly — each session after a long expedition, there's a small chance of losing a point somewhere. Aldric has learned to take care of himself because no one else will.

Overweight [−1 pt]. Not fat — dense. Wide-shouldered and rawboned, the kind of build that makes armourers recalculate and blacksmiths reassess. 6'1", ~210 lbs, SM 0. The −1 pt goes back into the budget. The mechanical effects (−1 Disguise, +1 ST vs. knockback) fit her perfectly.

Average appearance (0 pts). She is memorable — imposingly so — but not beautiful or hideous. People remember her because of what she does in a fight, not how she looks before it.

Age 24. Has packed more violence into those 24 years than most veterans see in a lifetime.

TL 3. Latin (Native) — the academic lingua franca [0 pts]. A scholar who reads primary sources needs several languages: French, Accented [4 pts]; Italian, Accented [4 pts]; Greek, Broken spoken only [1 pt] for classical references. Total language investment: 9 pts.

Languages are one of the most efficient ways to give a character intellectual breadth without buying skills. Each language opens up entire categories of information and NPC interactions.

TL 1. Norse (Native) [0 pts]. Frankish, Broken spoken [1 pt] — enough to trade, threaten, and demand surrender. The Northern Shore clans raid Frankish river towns regularly; Vora picked up the important words first. She can't write any language; the concept strikes her as unnecessary. Sagas are spoken.

Struggling [−10 pts]. A retired academic's pension doesn't stretch far. Status 1 [+5 pts] — respected scholars hold minor gentry standing in Renaissance society; the title costs points to maintain appearances he can barely afford. Worth it for the doors it opens.

Disadvantages: Curious (12 or less) [−5] — he investigates interesting phenomena even when the investigation is dangerous or inconvenient; this is not optional, it's structural. Absent-Minded [−15] — forgets mundane obligations, misplaces equipment, doesn't notice the building is on fire. Both will come up constantly. −20 pts returned.

Poor [−15 pts]. Raiders don't accumulate lasting wealth; what's taken is spent, shared, or lost. Status 0 (0 pts). Chieftain's warrior by standing, not a landowner or titled noble.

Disadvantages: Berserk (12 or less) [−10] — in close combat she may enter a berserk state, attacking the nearest target regardless of friend or foe; this is a real risk that she and her companions manage carefully. Bloodlust (12 or less) [−10] — must resist the urge to kill helpless enemies; taking prisoners requires a self-control roll. Both come up in every serious fight. −35 pts returned (incl. Wealth).