Confronting the Character Sheet
Part 1

When you are new to any RPG you may find yourself staring at the character sheet and the rulebook trying to figure out where to go next. The Legends of Kralis Fantasy RPG.

Filling it out could likely be a bit of a task. The rule book contains a Character Creation Summary section. We have tried to keep the layout of the character sheet both intuitive and laid out so you can find information you need during play quickly. This article will take you through the character generation and recording a sample Legends of Kralis character.

Getting Started

In order to create a character to the directions we will provide here you need to either have the character sheet provided at the end of the core book or download and print out the two pages of the character sheet provided at: http://www.fantasymakersindustries.com/downloads/CharacterSheet.pdf

In addition, you could download the character sheet that was created for this character:

http://www.fantasymakersindustries.com/downloads/CharacterSheet_howto.pdf

As you gain experience and knowledge with the game you will find that filling out a character sheet will become faster and easier as you learn the ins and outs of generation.

As with all character generations in most RPGs you will likely need scrap paper, a writing device (preferably a pencil of some sort), the LoK Book and a couple of d10.

Step 0: Pick a character concept.

If you are new to role playing games, this could be anything from a burly fighter, a sneaky thief, a robust priest, a mystical jinhuur or a spell slinging sorcerer. These concepts are important through out the entire character generation process.

Step 1: Pick a Race.

Determining which race you will represent within the game. If your GM allows you may also select a race from the Talarius Beastiary, the Player Race chapter. The core Legends of Kralis rulebook allows you to pick a race from one of 16 types.

Depending on your character concept you may wish to pick a race that has a tendency to fit into a specific archetype. However, you can decide to play a troll jinhuur just as easily as you could decide to play a sith fighter. As a general rule of thumb small characters tend to be better at most anything other than a front line fighter, where as large creatures tend to be better at most things that are not stealth related. Medium sized creatures are the most round out character races as they can focus on anything from thieves to jinhuur to fighters.

- When choosing a race, be aware that the most successful adventuring parties include a range of races because they have the widest spread of abilities and skills. When you are creating a new player be sure to check in with your GM before choosing a race and try to pick a race that will not only be fun for you to play but that works well in the campaign setting and the party.

-A number of races have sub-races, meaning that there is a number of different types that make up the whole of a race. In this case Jakura have: the Leonis, the Tigris and the Pantera.

Example: I am going to decide to play a Jakura. As I am sticking with the core races in the Legends of Kralis rulebook, I will be using a Jakara-Leonis. Because of this I am going to write down the information from the racial features, along with racial traits. At the same time I get to pick a free racial ability, as this choice is a racial ability I do not need to meet the prerequisites for the ability as I might normally need to. I also get to add in the subrace racial trait.

Most of this information goes in the Character Information section of the character sheet (we will be skipping around the character sheet a lot before we finish). I am also going to name my character: Akmurha Tynoc.

I note his miscellaneous information in the Character Information Section.

Size: Medium
Age: 18
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 150 lbs
Vision: Nightvision
+10 Bonus to Perception (Hearing) goes under Miscellaneous.
+5 to any two Social Skills
+10 Bonus to Sneak Attacks

As a Jakara the character also gains the ability to speak: Common, Al Zirr, Azhdehak, Rahvad and the Leonis Dialect. I mark these languages down on the back side of the character sheet in the Skills section. These are languages that I gain for free for being a Jakara, if I want to speak other languages I must take the Language Skill.

I choose Skepticism as my racial skill and write this somewhere in the Character Skills section, I will be adding additional skills later.

I also write down on my scratch paper that I gain +5 to my Agility and Perception for choosing a jakara and a +5 to my Strength and Charisma.

I write the jakara and leonis traits under the Traits and Abilities section of the character sheet:

Cat Jump: +5' to Jump
Claws: +20 to Climb Checks; Base Damage 2
Roar: See rulebook pg. 16
Burst of Speed: Free 15' move once per turn.

Step 2: Assign and Adjust Attribute Scores

While step 1 is important into setting up your character's concept, step 2 is important in order to make an effective character. In this step you assign your character's attributes points from the 150 points that you are able to use. In addition, you gain bonuses and penalties to these scores base on your choice of Focus.

You need to keep track of your racial attribute adjustments while you do assign your attributes.

- Depending on the character race you choose you are either a small, medium or large type character. This is important because it determines your base attributes, health and fatigue.

Example: The choice of Jakara-Leonis in our character example tells us that he is a medium size creature that begins with the following:

Strength: 50
Stamina: 50
Agility: 50
Perception: 50
Intelligence: 50
Wits: 50
Willpower: 50
Charisma: 50

I record the racial bonuses next to my base attributes:

Strength: 50+5(race) = 55
Stamina: 50
Agility: 50 +5(race) = 55
Perception: 50 +5(race) = 55
Intelligence: 50
Wits: 50
Willpower: 50
Charisma: 50 +5(race) =55

I write these scores down on a scrap piece of paper. Next, I decide what focus I want. Since my concept is to be a Jinhuur/Martial Artist and one is a Combat Focus and the other Knowledge Focus I need to decide which I want to focus on more. The Martial Arts description states that either Agility or Strength are the controlling Attributes (pg. 46) and the Jinhuur Discipline states that it requires a Willpower of 85, it would be beneficial for me to focus on Knowledge skills to gain the bonus to my Willpower. I can always improve the Martial Arts through the use of skill improvement points.

I write the down my Focus in the Character Information section: Knowledge. I then make adjustments to my attributes on my scrap piece of paper. Because of the focus I gain +15 modifier that i can split among my Intelligence, Wits or Willpower. I can only spend a maximum of 10 points in any one attribute. I also suffer -10 Points to my Strength and -5 points to either my Agility or my Charisma. Jinhu Discipline requires that I have a Willpower score of 85. So i arrange the Focus Modifiers like so:

Strength: 55-10(Focus) =45
Stamina: 50
Agility: 55
Perception: 55
Intelligence: 50+5(Focus)=55
Wits: 50
Willpower: 50+10(Focus)=60
Charisma: 55-5(Focus)=50

Now comes the most important of attribute determination, spending the 125 Attribute Points. It is important to know how this works. I can add up to 25 points to any attribute at a one to one basis, this is often called "free spending". Once I spend 25 points in an attribute, it costs me 3 points from my 150 in order to increase that same attribute by one additional point.

If I divide the 125 points up evenly, I can place 12 points into any 4 attributes and 13 points into any four other attributes. This gives the character an even spread of attributes, but it also does not give the character any significant attributes. When you spend the points there are a few points that you need to remember:

- Stamina and Willpower both figure into the determining your total Health Points and Fatigue Points.
- The modifiers for Agility and Perception are important to your Physical Defense.
- The modifiers for Intelligence and Stamina are important to your Magical Defense.
- The modifiers for Wits and Charisma are important to your Divine Defense.
- The modifiers for Willpower and Intelligence are important for your Jinhu Defense.
- Intelligence determines your bonus Skills.
-Charisma determines your Heroic Luck Points.
- Postive modifiers begin at an Attribute of 61.

Since we are using the example to become a Jinhuur/Martial Artist we will need to focus on those attributes. So I will mark the spending of the attribute points for Akmurha as such:

Strength: 45+15(points)=60
Stamina: 50+25(points)=75
Agility: 55+15(points)=70
Perception: 55+15(points)=70
Intelligence: 55+15(points)=70
Wits: 50
Willpower: 60+25(points)=85
Charisma: 50+10(points)=60

Now that we have determined the attributes for Akmurha, we can now fill in the Character Attribute section with the correct information. We refer to page 26 for the modifiers.

Strength: 60 (+0)
Stamina: 75 (+4)
Agility: 70 (+3)
Perception: 70 (+3)
Intelligence: 70 (+3)
Wits: 55 (-1)
Willpower: 85 (+7)
Charisma: 60 (+0)

Once we have figured our attribute points and their respective modifiers we can now look to the Derived Traits for the character. These include Health Points, Fatigue Points, the Defenses (Physical, Magical, Divine, Jinhu), Movement, Heroic Luck, and Initiative Modifiers.

As stated above the Attribute modifiers figure into these derived traits. A number of these traits are based on the size of your character: small, medium, large, etc.

Example: Akmurha is a medium sized creature. I record the following:

- Health Points = 40 (size base) + 4 (Stamina Modifier) + 7 (Willpower Modifier) = 51
- Fatigue Points = 85 (Willpower) + 4 (Stamina Modifier) + 0 (Racial Bonuses) = 89

I mark these in the Life Section of the character sheet.

- Physical Defense = 15 + 3 (Perception Modifier) + 3 (Agility Modifier) = 21
- Magical Defense = 15 + 3 (Intelligence Modifier) + 4 (Stamina Modifier) = 22
- Divine Defense = 15 + (-1) (Wits Modifier) + 0 (Charisma Modifier) = 15
- Jinhu Defense = 15 + 7 (Willpower Modifier) + 3 (Intelligence Modifier) = 25

I mark these in the Defenses section of the character sheet.

- Movement = 15' (Medium)
- Heroic Luck = 0 (Charisma Modifier) + Racial Modifiers = 1 (All characters begin with 1 Heroic Luck point)

I mark these down in the Character Information Section.

- Carrying Capacity and Encumbrance - A character can carry no more than 4 times their Strength in total pounds. In Akmurha's case this is 240 lbs. Up to 60 lbs would be considered no load, while a light load would be 90 lbs., a moderate load would be 120 lbs., a heavy load would be 180 lbs., a severe load would be 240 lbs.

I mark this down on the back side of the character sheet in the Encumbrance section.

- Initiative = d10 + Agility Modifier + Perception Modifier. Since I cannot roll my d10 for initiative until actual combat begins, I will add my modifiers together and come up with +6 Initiative Modifier

I must now choose what type of philosophy that Akmurha will have. There are three types: Good, Evil and Neutral. Most beings and creatures fall into the Neutral Philosophy as this is the most common type of outlook on life. Both good and evil are extreme philosophical outlooks. Only those of good philosophy or evil philosophy gain the benefits and detriments “effects of philosophy” and these depend on the levels of dedication that a character takes.

We will make Akmurha follow a neutral philosophy, but he also tends towards a good philosophy.

Next comes Vision and Starting Money. All jakara are gifted with the ability to see in the dark to an extent. In moonlight, or torch light Akmurha will suffer no modifiers. However, in dark unlit dungeons Akmurha will suffer -40 penalty to checks that require vision. I mark this down as in the Character Information Section.

Finally, I get to find out how much silver Akmurha begins with. For this I will need to use 2d10 to represent a d100 roll to determine the Gift of the Gods bonus silver that I get. I make one a tens dice and the other a ones dice, you can purchase d10 dice that are already made for use as a tens dice. I roll....and come up with: 21 which is a result of 80 silver pieces,

I begin with 150 base silver + 140 for being a jakara and 80 for the Blessings of the Gods for a total of 370 silver pieces. We will explore spending this later.

In our next article we will cover the selection of skills, abilities and equipment.