Confronting the Character Sheet
Part 2

In our last article Confronting the Character Sheet part 1, we looked into the creation of the Leonis-Jakara Akmurha Tynoc. Previously we choose what race he was going to be and assigned the Attribute Points for him.

In this article we will look into the selection of skills, abilities and the purchasing of equipment. Finally, we will wrap up any last details of the character creation.

Skill selection in Legends of Kralis is relatively easy. You have a number of beginning skills equal to your Intelligence Modifier + 4. In addition, you gain a bonus racial skill for free based on your race selection. All skills begin with a base of 35 points plus the skill’s controlling attribute as a starting score. Four of those that are within a Focus gain a +15 focus bonus modifier to their scores. Your racial skills, free or purchased, all begin at ½ the controlling attribute of the skill.

There are also a set of Basic Skills that characters gain: Jump, Leap, Climb (Basic), Lifting, Swim (Basic), Throw, Sneak, Bluff and Disbelieve.

Example: Akmurha Tynoc being a Jakara gains one of the following as a free racial skill: Hide, Climb or Skepticism. In the previous installment I selected Skepticism as his free racial skill.

In addition, all Focuses give you a number of free skills. With a focus in Knowledge I gain the Read Languages skill for free and I choose to be able to Read Derah (the common language) as well as two additional skills for free.

Akmurha Tynoc has an Intelligence of 70 with a modifier of +3. With his 4 base beginning skills Akmurha Tynoc has a total of 7 skills that he can begin play with. Since I decided that I wanted to be a Jinhuur/Martial Artists I know exactly what skills I want to choose.

There are a number of skills that require Training. As a starting character it is assumed that the first skills that I choose I have been trained in otherwise I would not have them.

Akmurha Tynoc’s basic skills are written in the appropriate areas in the Skill Section.

All characters begin with a number of abilities based on their race, their focus and they may choose to take one new ability per rank. As a new character, if you choose to take an ability, you do not have to check to see if you can gain the ability as described on page 35. You must be able to meet the prerequisites of the Ability. Depending on the level of game you are playing, you may only gain a number of Abilities other than those from your race or focus. Medium level games allow characters to gain 25 abilities, Low level games are restricted to 15 abilities, while High level games are unlimited. As a Focus bonus you are able to gain one of your Focus abilities once every 5 ranks.

These free abilities do not require you to meet the ability prerequisites, these abilities do not add onto your Merit Cost that you must attain to gain a new rank.

Example: As a first rank jakara character that has a Knowledge Focus, Akmurha Tynoc begins with a number of free Abilities.

As a jakara I could take one of the following abilities: Arboreal Movement, Before You, Blindfighting, Combative Leap, Counterdefense, Create Totem, Death’s Door, Featherfoot, Fighting Style: Natural Weapons, or Master Tracker.

Since I am focusing on the Martial Artist/Jinhuur concept I think that I will choose Combative Leap, as this allows me to leap double my normal distance as well as attack as though I am charging. I write this down in the Traits and Abilities section of the character sheet.

With a Knowledge Focus I am able to gain one of the following abilities for free. Once every 5 ranks I am able to select another ability from this list: Calm Mind, Fatigue Substitution, Nascent Dreaming, Harness Subconscious, One with Energy, Power, Ambitious Leader, Call Familiar, Create Totem, or Deep Faith. I will be able to select another ability at rank 6.

I decide to take Fatigue Substitution. This ability allows me to temporarily sacrifice attributes for fatigue points at a rate of 2 attribute points for 1 bonus fatigue point. There are penalties for doing this. I write this ability down in the Traits and Abilities section of the character sheet as well.

Finally, I am allowed to choose one more ability that I must “pay” for in Merit points. Since I have taken the Jinhu Discipline, if I want to learn and use Jinhu I must take the Enlightened ability. Doing so also increases my Jinhu Defense by +10. I write this ability down in the Traits and Abilities section of the character sheet as well as the bonus +10 in the Defenses Section of the character sheet.

Step 6: Purchasing Equipment

Characters do not come equipped, you must purchase their equipment located in Chapter 6. There is no restriction, other than your size or strength, on what type of equipment, armor or weapons that you can purchase other than are you able to wear it or use it. In addition, a character may be suffer penalties to skills should they wish to use or wear a specific type of armor or wield a specific type of weapon. You may always purchase a weapon from the weapon table and not use it as a weapon. Should you decide to use the weapon without having a skill in it your attempt to use it is 35 plus controlling attribute modifier.

Example: For the most part I am able to choose just about any type of equipment that I like. If I was a fighter I would likely go for a heavy set of armor in order to absorb as much damage as possible from hits. But I have chosen to go a more martial arts/jinhu discipline skill route. Since I am not trained in the use of a weapon right now, I will avoid buying weapons. In part 1 of this article I rolled Akmurha Tynoc’s wealth and gained 370 silver pieces. As I purchase equipment I write it down on page 2 of the character sheet along with its location and weight. This is important because I want to watch what I am carrying to avoid any penalties for having too much encumbrance. I can carry up to my Strength score in total weight before I suffer from encumbrance penalties.

So I mark my purchases as such:

This is the essential make-up of character creation within Legends of Kralis, it is also the foundation for creating characters in any other games that use the Talarius Gaming System.