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8. EQUIP YOUR CHARACTER
Your character needs equipment to adventure across Barsaive. Using the 120 silver pieces each character receives, purchase equipment for your character from the lists in the Goods and Services section. Only two restrictions apply to purchasing equipment. First, your character must be able![[Seller of Fine Wares]](equipment.jpg)
to pay the entire cost of the item(s) with his or her starting money. You
cannot purchase equipment on credit, nor can you borrow money from other
characters to make your purchases. Second, the gamemaster must approve the
equipment. As long as the gamemaster okays your choices, you can buy any
equipment you like.
Armor
If you purchase armor and a shield for your character, fill in the Physical Armor Rating in the Characteristics box of the Character Record Sheet. Some types of armor and shields also modify your character's Mystic Armor Rating; be sure to check the equipment description and adjust the Mystic Armor Rating if necessary. Characters without armor and a shield have a Physical Armor Rating of 0.Jill browses through the Goods and Servicessection to see what type of equipment and supplies are available in Barsaive for 120 silver pieces. She decides to outfit her windling with fairly standard equipment and clothing; animals are rarely impressed by signs of wealth.
The windling Beastmaster wears soft boots, leather gloves, a tunic, a woolen cloak and cap, cloth armor, and carries a spare tunic. So far Jill has spent 12 silver pieces. The windling also carries two weeks' worth of trail rations and an "adventurer's kit" of traveling necessities (backpack, bedroll, flint and steel, torch, waterskin, large sack).
Keeping her character's Discipline in mind, Jill chooses weapons: a windling bow and 20 arrows for defending against larger creatures, a blowgun and 20 needles for stealthy attacks and to humanely sedate injured animals for healing, and a windling net for capturing prey and predators. Jill has now spent a total of 96 silver pieces.
The windling will also carry two sheets of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a whistle; Jill's character will punctuate its stories in appropriate places with a little light music. Jill has now spent a total of 109 silver pieces, and decides the windling will carry the remaining 11.
Before going on to the next step, Jill records a Physical Armor Rating of 2 on the Character Record Sheet to reflect the protection of her character's cloth armor.
9. FLESH OUT YOUR CHARACTER
Now you know how your character fits into the game, but what kind of person is he or she? The following suggestions will help you flesh out your character and create a unique individual.
Personality
An individual's personality defines how that person interacts with the world. Is he stubborn? Cynical? Cunning? Spiteful? Trustworthy? Larcenous? Altruistic? Characters run by both players and gamemasters can be defined the same way.The easiest way to define your character's personality is to assign him or her a number of personality traits. Personality traits are simply labels for the way a character acts and interacts with the world.
Personality Traits
The following list of personality traits, positive, neutral, and negative, should help players and gamemasters to begin forming their characters' personalities. Choose one or two traits from the following list, or make up one or two of your own. Make sure your gamemaster approves them. If you find, later on, that you want to round your character out even further by adding another or several more traits, work with your gamemaster to determine what caused your character to change.
| PERSONALITY TRAITS TABLE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Most characters act in a manner that fits with their chosen personality traits. That is, their personality traits really describe how they act; they have few or no secrets to hide. For those players and gamemasters who want to add a little more depth to their characters, we recommend the following option.
Characters in Earthdawn can have two types of personality traits: surface and hidden. The surface traits are a character's public face, what everyone but his most intimate companions sees him to be. For some characters, the surface trait is a vital part of their personality. They act and think in that manner most of the time. For other characters, however, the surface trait serves as a fa�ade, a mask worn to conceal their real nature or their hidden traits.
The character's hidden traits should only rarely come to the surface. These secret traits provide the character's true motivation, define the character's view of the world, and determine how the character goes about achieving his or her long-term goals. Hidden traits will also color a character's interaction with others.
Gamemasters who decide to use this option should allow their players to give their characters at least one surface trait and one hidden trait. While multiple traits certainly create more believable characters, they create greater roleplaying challenges. The demands of certain traits may begin to conflict with other traits. It's hard enough being a real human being and trying to work through these conflicts without worrying about acting them out for the character, too.
Jill decides to give her windling a surface trait of compassionate, which it demonstrates by living out the tenets of the Beastmaster Discipline. Everyone who meets this character recognizes the importance of respecting all living creatures and follows the windling's shining example.Jill chooses to make her windling secretly sensitive, as easily hurt by careless comments and thoughtless remarks as by deliberate cruelty and malevolent ill-will. The character's serene and friendly demeanor rarely gives away what it feels inside.
Balancing Surface And Hidden Traits
Though the hidden trait may technically be the dominant trait, subtly guiding your character through life, it must remain hidden. Gamemasters who notice a character frequently performing overt actions based on his or her hidden trait should warn the player that the hidden traits are threatening to become the surface traits. If the character continues to express the "hidden" traits openly, the gamemaster can rule that the character's original surface traits no longer exist, and that the hidden traits are now the surface traits. The character loses a number of surface traits equal to the number of hidden traits that have come to the surface.At this point, the player must decide whether to choose new hidden traits for the character or to simply accept the new surface traits as the whole of the character's personality.
Personality And Discipline
Your character's Discipline can be an important element in his personality. As mentioned above and in the Disciplines section, choosing a character's Discipline is one of the most important decisions that a player makes. A character's Discipline provides a framework through which the character sees the world. An Archer might interpret a particular event in a completely different way than a Nethermancer or a Swordmaster. The Disciplines section provides guidelines for how characters of each Discipline interact with the world. One way to further strengthen the effect of your Discipline on your character is to select personality traits that fit with his Discipline. That is, the traits are more a representation of the character's Discipline than of his or her personality.Many of the Discipline descriptions use personality traits to create the "feel" of the Discipline. For example, the Discipline description describes Cavalrymen as "Fierce mounted warriors". Many people consider Nethermancers eerie and Sky Raiders proud. These simple examples demonstrate how personality traits can help define characters of a given Discipline. Using these examples as a guide, select one or two traits that define your character's behavior as an Adept of his Discipline. For example, Archers are known to be perceptive individuals who stress accuracy both in their combat styles and in their lives. If your character is an Archer, you might choose Attentive and Deliberate as his personality traits. Roleplaying these traits allows you to express your Archer's desire for accuracy in all aspects of his life.
Rewards And Price Of Roleplaying
Roleplaying your character according to his surface and hidden personality traits will gain him additional Legend Points at the end of a story. How many your character earns depends on the story told, the circumstances, and how well he acted and reacted.Your character can also lose Legend Points or earn fewer by not following his traits. If you ignore or play fast and loose with your character's traits as the story unfolds, the gamemaster will remind you once to remain true to your character's traits. If your character continues to act out of character or expose his hidden traits, the gamemaster will apply appropriate penalties at the end of the story.
See Building Your Legend for more information.
Character History
Once you establish your character's personality, decide what made him or her that way. An easy way to do that is by answering the sorts of questions authors and readers might ask about a character in a story.You may decide this information is not all that important. That is certainly acceptable. However, the more of these questions you answer, the better handle you will have on your character. Besides, this gives you a chance to answer these questions in ways you never would, or could, in real life.
What is your characters sex?
Whether your character is male or female can make a difference. T'skrang females hold most of the political power in their communities. In dwarf, human, ork, and elven lands, power is usually distributed fairly evenly between men and women. Trolls perpetuate a male-dominated society. Obsidimen and windlings tend to think most gender roles are pretty silly.
How large (or small) is your character?
Are you of average size for your race? Stout? Tall? Skinny? Could anybody but another obsidiman tell a skinny obsidiman when he saw one?
What color is your characters hair, eyes, and skin?
The "norms" appear in the Major Races of Barsaive section, but the standard should not limit your choices. Personal appearance and style is finally beginning to be accepted again. During the Scourge, conformity was important. If everyone acted and dressed in a similar way, then people could be reasonably sure that the guy with the flame-red eyes wasn't just making a fashion statement. Life is better now; personal freedom and freedom of expression are on the rise. Of course, some guys with flame-red eyes are still not doing it just to match the rubies on their dagger handles.What color is your character's hair? How does he or she wear it? What color are your character's eyes? Skin? Does he or she have any markings or decorative tattoos?
What is your character's general appearance?
What would be someone's first impression of your character? Does the character dress stylishly or conservatively? Does the character follow the dwarven modes of fashion now popular in Barsaive or reject them for something different? Is your character attractive? Intimidating? Approachable? Does your character slouch, walk gracefully, or march as if always on patrol?
Where was your character born?
Your character's race can be the determining factor of where he or she was born. Troll clans tend to live in mountain ranges, while elves come from forests and jungles. T'skrang are native to the Serpent River area. Most dwarfs come from the kingdom of Throal. Humans and orks grow up nearly everywhere, as do obsidimen.Is your elf from a village or town near Blood Wood, or from a forest in the southern part of Barsaive? Is your troll a Sky Raider from the Crystal Peaks or from one of the other mountain ranges? Does your character even remember where he was born? Some ork scorcher tribes roam all over the land, never staying in one place for more than two or three months. Which area of forest does your windling come from? Take a look at the map of Barsaive and the Barsaive chapter for specific ideas.
How old is your character?
The Scourge ended a hundred years ago, though somewhat sooner in a few areas. Are you young enough that the Scourge seems like ancient history? Are you old enough to remember living in a sealed kaer or citadel?
Does your character have a family?
What is your character's family like? Does he have any siblings? Are his mother and father still alive? What do they think of their child's lifestyle? What about the rest of the family? Are they poor, middle-income, wealthy? Are they pillars of the community, or are they working to knock those pillars down?
Has your character begun his own family?
If not, does he or she want to start one? Does the rest of your character's family want him to settle down and start one?
What are your character's spiritual beliefs?
Take a look at the Passions of Barsaive section. It describes the Passions that most citizens of Barsaive worship. Your character could be an atheist, but in the world of Barsaive, where the Passions walk the earth, such an attitude would seem mighty weird. Does your character worship any of the Passions? Does your character lean more toward one Passion than the others? Are there one or more Passions your character wants nothing to do with?
What is your character's moral code?
Under what conditions will your character kill? Steal? Lie? Does he or she adhere to a personal code of ethics about violence? Sex? The Horrors? Would your character ever make a deal with a Horror? Even if he was certain he could get away with it?
What special qualities does your character possess?
Can your character put a deal together that even dwarfs would envy? Does he or she have a knack for spotting unusual jewelry? Does your character see the quest through, no matter what it takes? Does he get along with members of other races?
What is it your character simply cannot do?
Does gold run through your character's fingers? Does your character find it impossible to pass up a chance to get that really interesting magic item? Does your character freeze during the first moments of a romantic encounter? Does your character panic under stress? Does your character speak his mind at all the wrong times?
What does your character love?
Throal? Living in the Caucavik Mountains? The smell of ginger tea? Ale and good tavern talk? The bustle of a busy market? Finding just the right way to finish off a spell? A clever comment? Another person?
What does your character hate?
The Therans? Those stuck-up dwarfs? Nethermancers who do icky things to animals? Gate guards who ask personal questions? Kings who think they can order you around? Slow service? Assassins who just haven't got the sense to leave you alone? Game designers who ask lots of questions?
What is your character's name?
Your character's name is very important. In the world of Earthdawn, the names of people, places, and things have meaning and power. If your character often stares at others with a stern, cold look, he might be named Icestare or Shivereyes. Was your character born with the same name he uses now? Is his current name a nickname? If so, who gave it to him?
Jill names her windling Beastmaster Geeble, and decides that she is female.Born near the Liaj Jungle, Geeble spent most of her formative years in that area with her family and other members of a small windling community. Because a dragon is said to lair in the Liaj, many people speculate about the windling's relationship to that powerful creature.
The only thing unusual about Geeble is her name. Her physical appearance is absolutely average for her race and age, which is 40. People rarely give her a second glance, but as soon as she commands their attention, they wonder how they managed to miss noticing this incredibly charismatic individual.
People who encounter Geeble out of her natural setting--any undeveloped area of Barsaive--consider her a rather flighty, nervous creature. Communities of any size have that effect on the windling. Anyone meeting her even a day's walk away from a settlement meets an entirely different person. When surrounded by nature rather than buildings, Geeble's natural, innocent curiosity about everything around her rises to the surface. The tenets of her Discipline shine through every aspect of her life, usually prompting others by example to show a deep respect to all animals. She also sees the whimsical side of her Discipline, and often uses her talents to amuse and amaze children by establishing a rapport with their pets.
Only her closest companions realize that Geeble is a very sensitive person. Though easily hurt by disparaging, careless remarks, unreasoning prejudice, and people's genuine lack of concern for their fellow beings, Geeble hides all the small hurts she feels. Only mistreatment of animals through ignorance or deliberate cruelty can provoke her to physical retaliation, and she never fails to somehow punish those responsible.
Geeble manages her finances very badly through a combination of her dislike of cities and her innate belief that nature will provide. She always allows others to handle her supply needs, and good-naturedly assumes that she often gets cheated to some degree. She loves her lifestyle too well to change her philosophy about money.
10. PLAY THE GAME
Congratulations! You've completed your character. Finish filling out your Character Record Sheet.Your character stands ready to become a hero of the world of Earthdawn.
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