Character Creation
Your first step in playing an hero in the Element 133 game is to imagine and create a character of your own. Your character is a combination of game statistics, roleplaying hooks, and your imagination. You choose a race (such as human or android), occupation (such as janitor or soldier), and a class (such as specialist or technician). By selecting alignment and archetypes you build the personality of your character. You may also invent the appearance, and backstory of your character. Once completed, your character serves as your representative in the game, your avatar in the Element 133 world.
Building A Character: Step-by-Step
Before you dive into step 1 below, think about the kind of adventurer you want to play. You might be a courageous brawler, a skulking assassin, a fervent medic, or a flamboyant personality. Or you might be more interested in an unconventional character, such as a brawny technician who likes hand-to-hand combat, or a sharpshooter scout who picks off enemies from afar. Do you like science fiction featuring androids? Try building a character with that race. Do you want your character to be the toughest hero at the table? Consider the champion class. If you don’t know where else to begin, take a look at the illustrations in any article to see what catches your interest.
Once you have a character in mind, follow these steps in order, making decisions that reflect the character you want. The conception of your character might evolve with each choice you make. What’s important is that you come to the table with a character you’re excited to play.
1. Determine Ability Scores
Much of what your character does in the game depends on his or her six abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Each ability has a score, which is a number you record on your character sheet. The six abilities and their use in the game are described in chapter 7 of the D&D 5e Player's Handbook. You generate your character’s six ability scores randomly. Roll four 6-sided dice and record the total of the highest three dice on a piece of scratch paper. Do this five more times, so that you have six numbers. If you want to save time or don’t like the idea of randomly determining ability scores, you can use the following scores instead: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.
After assigning your ability scores, determine your ability modifiers using the Ability Scores and Modifiers table. To determine an ability modifier without consulting the table, subtract 10 from the ability score and then divide the result by 2 (round down). Write the modifier next to each of your scores. Now take your modifiers and write each number in the Ability Modifier slot next to each of your skills to assign modifiers to the skills associated with Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Calculating other Abilities
There are several other abilities on your character sheet that can be calculated using your ability scores, here's what they are and how to calculate them;
- Hero Points - may be added to die rolls to increase odds of success (see The Rules of Anarchy). Begins at 0.
- Passive Wisdom (Perception) - used to measure general awareness. 10 + WIS modifier.
- Armor Class - used to measure how hard it is to hit you during combat. 10 + DEX modifier This score has a modifier that is given by any equipped armor or shields (see step 6 bellow). Begins at 0.
- Initiative - added to initiative rolls to represent reaction time. DEX modifier
- Temp Hit Points - may be granted during gameplay to supplement Hit Points. Begins at 0.
- Wealth and Reputation - used to signify your monetary possession and sway (see Wealth and Bartering). These scores also have a modifier calculated the same as ability scores. Begins at 10 (+0).
- Supply - used to signify your resources and equipment (see Wealth and Bartering). Begins at 5
Building Veronica, Step 1
Bree is sitting down to create her character. She decides that a cocky get-away driver fits the character she wants to play. Bree rolls her scores resulting in an array of (16, 14, 13, 12, 9, and 9) for Veronica’s abilities. Since she’s a driver, she puts her highest score, 16, in Dexterity. Her next-highest, 14, goes in Charisma to represent Veronica's cocky confidence.
Ability Scores and Modifiers
| Score | Modifier |
|---|---|
| 1 | −5 |
| 2–3 | −4 |
| 4–5 | −3 |
| 6–7 | −2 |
| 8–9 | −1 |
| 10–11 | +0 |
| 12–13 | +1 |
| 14–15 | +2 |
| 16–17 | +3 |
| 18–19 | +4 |
| 20–21 | +5 |
| 22–23 | +6 |
| 24–25 | +7 |
| 26–27 | +8 |
| 28–29 | +9 |
| 30 | +10 |
2. Choose a Race
The race you choose contributes to your character’s identity in an important way, by establishing a general appearance and the natural talents gained from culture and ancestry. Your character’s race grants particular racial traits, such as special senses, proficiency with certain weapons or tools, proficiency in one or more skills, or the ability to use minor abilities (such as the Asking Terra ability). These traits sometimes dovetail with the capabilities of certain classes or occupations (see steps 3 & 4).
Your race also increases one or more of your ability scores, which you determined in step 1, g ahead and apply these increases now. Record the traits granted by your race on your character sheet. Be sure to note your starting languages and your base speed as well.
Building Veronica, Step 2
Bree decides that the human race fits the no-good character she wants to play. She notes all the racial traits of humans on her character sheet, including her speed of 30 feet and the languages she knows: English and Spanish.
3. Choose a Class
Every hero is a member of at least one class. Class broadly describes a character’s vocation, what special talents he or she possesses, and the tactics he or she is most likely to employ when exploring a military base, fighting monsters, or engaging in a tense negotiation. The character classes are described in Character Creation: Classes and includes 13 specialized classes, 2 racial classes, and and 6 general classes. Your character receives access to several benefits from your choice of class. Many of these benefits are class features — capabilities that set your character apart from members of other classes. You also gain several proficiencies: armor, weapons, skills, saving throws, and sometimes tools. Your proficiencies define many of the things your character can do particularly well, from using certain weapons to telling a convincing lie.
On your character sheet, record all the features that your base class (your first class) gives you at tier one. Starting at 1st tier marks your character’s entry into the heroic life. If you’re already familiar with the game, or if you are joining later in the campaign, introducing a new character after a character death, or during Phase 2 and 3 your DM might decide to have you begin at a higher tier, on the assumption that your character has already survived a few harrowing adventures.
Record your level on your character sheet. If you’re starting at a higher tier, record the additional elements your base class gives you for your tiers past 1st. Also, record your experience points. A 1st-tier character has 3500 XP and 3500 AXP (Available Experience Points).
Tier
In alteration of original 5E rules tiers work similarly to levels. Rather than leveling up in a particular class, your character will gain tiers across all of the classes they may have and their occupation should it apply. There are 10 tiers and you may not go higher, although multiclassing may allow you to have tier 10 features from multiple classes. Due to the condensing of the level system, you will gain more features, hit points, and modifier increases per tier compared to the 5E Level system. These factors combined make your average tier one hero equivalent to a level 4 adventurer, and a tier ten hero is equivalent to a level 25-30 adventurer.
Your hero gains a tier when they upgrade to their first feature from that tier. This optional tier increase may also mean your character is a higher or lower tier than the character of the player next to you. This shouldn't cause a significant disadvantage, but read your features thoroughly and choose wisely.
Upgrading your Character
Typically, a character starts at 1st tier and advances in tiers by adventuring and gaining experience points (XP) and using available experience points (AXP) to upgrade their features (view "Multiclassing and Tiers" bellow for more information on how this applies at higher tiers). For your tier 1st-tier character, you have 3500 AXP to use to upgrade your character to their first few features. You may choose to spend as much or as little of this as you would like if you'd prefer to save for more powerful features. When upgrading your character, record the ability score increases, proficiencies, and any other abilities that feature grants you on your character sheet. It also may be helpful to record the name of the feature so that it is simple to see what future features you have the pre-requisite features for.
Hit Dice and Hit Points
No one class is intended to be more powerful or have a higher endurance (see The Rules of Anarchy - Damage and the Injury Table) so, rather than separate die types for each class used to calculate hit points and hit dice, every character gains 2 d12 hit die at tier one. To calculate your hit points for tier-one roll 2d12 + 8 + CON or you may take the average (23), set both your Hit Points and Max Hit Points to this value. Every time you gain a tier increase your max hit points by 2d12 + CON or you may take the average (13), but you must choose to take the average before you know the value of your roll. Record your character’s hit points at tier-one on your character sheet. Also, record the number of Hit Dice you have. After you rest, you can spend Hit Dice to regain hit points (see “Resting” in chapter 8, "Adventuring" of the D&D 5e Player's Handbook).
Proficiency Bonus Progression
| Tier | Proficiency Bonus |
|---|---|
| 1 | +2 |
| 2 | +3 |
| 3 | +3 |
| 4 | +4 |
| 5 | +4 |
| 6 | +5 |
| 7 | +5 |
| 8 | +6 |
| 9 | +6 |
| 10 | +7 |
Proficiency Bonus
Your tier also determines your proficiency bonus, which is +2 for a 1st-tier character. Your proficiency bonus applies to many of the numbers you’ll be recording on your character sheet:
- Attack rolls using weapons you’re proficient with
- Attack rolls with spells you cast
- Ability checks using skills you’re proficient in
- Ability checks using tools you’re proficient with
- Saving throws you’re proficient in
- Saving throw DCs for spells you cast or programs you run (explained in each spellcasting or hacking class/occupation).
Your class also grants you weapon proficiencies, your saving throw proficiencies, and some of your skill and tool proficiencies. (Skills are described in chapter 7, "Using Ability Scores", and tools in chapter 5, "Equipment" of the D&D 5e Player's Handbook. Details on additional skill, tool and weapon proficiencies can be found in the The Rules of Anarchy, Wealth and Bartering, and The Bunker articles.) Your occupation gives you additional skill and tool proficiencies, and some races give you more proficiencies. Be sure to note all of these proficiencies, as well as your proficiency bonus, on your character sheet.
Your proficiency bonus can’t be added to a single die roll or another number more than once. However, your proficiency bonus might be modified (doubled, tripled, or halved, for example), and if you gain expertise in a skill that total is doubled before you apply it. If a circumstance suggests that your proficiency bonus applies more than once to the same roll or that it should be multiplied more than once, you nevertheless add it only once, multiply it only once, and halve it only once.
Oder of Operations
For any given skill, ability, feature, weapon attack, etc. you may have multiple operations to calculate your bonus to a particular roll. The terms as used in the function below are as follows;
- Ability Modifier - refers to the modifier granted to a particular skill by the ability scores generated in step 1 (ex. Dexterity 12 equals a modifier of +1. Applying a +1 Ability Modifier to the Dexterity (Stealth) skill).
- Skill Modifier refers to the modifier granted to a particular skill by a feature or feat (ex. the (ex. the Sneaky 2 feature from the Quick class grants a skill modifier of +2 to all Dexterity (Stealth) skill checks).
- Proficiency Bonus - granted by your tier (ex. a 1st-tier character has a proficiency bonus of +2).
- Multiplier - refers to the amount of a proficiency bonus to be used, usually granted if you already have proficiency in a skill before gaining a feature or feat from your class or occupation (ex. Skilled Criminal: Smuggler from the Criminal occupation states your proficiency bonus is doubled for the Dexterity (Stealth) skill, making your multiplier '2'). Common values for multipliers are 1/2 (halved), 2 (doubled), and 3 (tripled). Do not use 0 in the function if a multiplier is not applied.
- Expertise - applies to a single skill and doubles your value calculated from these other values after calculating the remainder.
- Advantage and Disadvantage - may be granted situationally in-game, or by a feature of feat for a specific skill or use of a skill, this allows a player to roll twice and take the higher roll (advantage) or lower roll (disadvantage) (ex. the Sneaky feature from the Quick class grants advantage on all Dexterity (Stealth) rolls).
- Die Roll - typically the die face value of rolling a d20 (ex. rolling a d20 results in a 13)
- Total Roll - value used to beat the DC of a particular challenge (ex. hitting a creature, picking a lock, performing a song).
Die Roll (done twice if advantage/disadvantage applies) + (Ability Modifier + Skill Modifier + (Proficiency Bonus x Multiplier)) x 2 if Expertise applies) = Total Roll
Using example values (hover to see each numbers term):
15 OR 13 + ((1 + 2 + (2 x 2)) x 2) = 15 + 14 = 29
Most of the time your total calculated bonus (the 14 above) will stay the same during gameplay and will only be recalculated when gaining or trading features. Special skill checks should also be calculated ahead of time and recorded near your skills list (ex. doubling your proficiency bonus for a specific use case, such as the Animal Traits: Bloodhound's Nose which grants proficiency on Wisdom (Perception) checks, but only for checks involving your sense of smell).
Building Veronica, Step 3
Bree imagines Veronica charging into a modified Jeep Gladiator, a heavy machine gun strapped to the top. She makes Veronica a jockey and notes the jockey’s proficiencies and 1st-tier base-class features on her character sheet. She uses her 3500 AXP to upgrade Veronica with the Vehicle Modification (1500 AXP upgraded using the Extra Something feat from her race) and Mounted Weapons (1500 AXP) features from the jockey class and saves her remaining 1550 AXP to upgrade to the Speedy feature from the Quick class when she gets enough AXP from gameplay.
As a 1st-tier hero, Veronica has 2 Hit Die—d12s—and starts with hit points equal to 8 + 2d12 + her Constitution modifier. Bree notes this and will record the final number after she determines Veronica’s final Constitution score (see step 7). Bree also notes the proficiency bonus for a 1st-tier character, which is +2, and she adds 300 XP and her remaining 50 AXP to her character sheet.
4. Assign a Occupation
Your character’s occupation describes where he or she came from, his or her original occupation, and the character’s place in the world. Your DM might offer additional occupations beyond the ones included in Character Creation: Occupations for different phases, and might be willing to work with you to craft a background that’s a more precise fit for your character concept.
An occupation gives your character a few feats (a general benefit or ability), differing from features, these do not need to be purchased using AXP but are granted by choosing the occupation. Occupations also grant Ability Score Increases to be applied to your ability scores (might have to redo some math), Any increases to Wealth, Reputation, and Supply (view the Wealth and Bartering article), increases to your base speed (given by your race in step 1), proficiency in skills, weapon, armor, and tool proficiencies, and it might also give you additional languages or proficiency with certain kinds of vehicles. Additionally, each occupation grants you a few equipment items. These may be taken as is or traded with items of the same value and rarity (see The Bunker article). Record this information on your character sheet and make any changes to the modifiers you need.
These traits sometimes dovetail with the capabilities of certain classes (see step 3). For example, the feats of criminals make them exceptional assassins, and academics tend to be powerful technicians. Sometimes playing against type can be fun, too. Janitor champions and student technicians, for example, can be unusual but memorable characters.
Building Veronica, Step 4
Bree decides that Veronica comes from a noble line, but was rejected from her family when Veronica was very young. She grew up working as a mechanic in the remote towns of New Mexico. But Veronica has a creative streak—and likes to create new things—so Bree chooses the engineer occupation for her character. She notes the proficiencies and special feats this background gives her and calculates her new ability score and skill modifiers.
5. Describe Your Character
Once you know the basic game aspects of your character, it’s time to flesh him or her out as a person. Your character needs a name. Spend a few minutes thinking about what he or she looks like and how he or she behaves in general terms.
Using the information in the Character Creation: Personality and Relationships article you can flesh out your character’s physical appearance, personality traits, backstory, and relationships. Choose your character’s alignment (the moral compass that guides his or her decisions) and archetypes. The article also helps you identify the things your character holds most dear, and the flaws that could one day undermine him or her.
Your Character’s Abilities
Take your character’s ability scores and race into account as you flesh out his or her appearance and personality. A very strong character with low Intelligence might think and behave very differently from a very smart character with low Strength.
- For example, high Strength usually corresponds with a burly or athletic body, while a character with low Strength might be scrawny or plump.
- A character with high Dexterity is probably lithe and slim, while a character with low Dexterity might be either gangly and awkward or heavy and thick-fingered.
- A character with a high Constitution usually looks healthy, with bright eyes and abundant energy. A character with a low Constitution might be sickly or frail.
- A character with high Intelligence might be highly inquisitive and studious, while a character with low Intelligence might speak simply or easily forget details.
- A character with high Wisdom has good judgment, empathy, and general awareness of what’s going on. A character with low Wisdom might be absent-minded, foolhardy, or oblivious.
- A character with high Charisma exudes confidence, which is usually mixed with a graceful or intimidating presence. A character with a low Charisma might come across as abrasive, inarticulate, or timid.
Building Veronica, Step 5
Bree fills in some of Veronica’s basic details: her name, her gender (female), her height and weight (look for rollable tables in your race, and her alignment (chaotic neutral). Her high Dexterity and Constitution suggest a healthy, athletic body, and her low Wisdom suggests a habit of making rash decisions.
Bree has a pretty clear picture of Veronica’s personality in mind, noting that she is a strong-willed, easily distracted person who genuinely loves her friends and allies, but she hides this soft heart behind a gruff, off-putting demeanor. She chooses the Nature archetype of Builder from the list in Character Creation: Personality and Relationships, noting that Veronica strives to leave behind a legacy.
Given her history, Veronica’s demeanor is obvious: she hides who she truly is and the trauma of her past, in fact, most people only know her as her nickname 'Cog'. Bree selects the autist Demeanor archetype taking note of the ways she can earn Hero Points from her archetypes on her character sheet.
6. Choose Equipment
Your class and occupation determine your character’s starting equipment, including weapons, armor, and other adventuring gear. Record this equipment on your character sheet. All such items are detailed in The Bunker.
Instead of taking the gear given to you by your class and occupation, you can trade individual equipment granted to you for items of the same value and rarity from the lists in The Bunker. You can make a few purchases using your Wealth as shown in Wealth and Bartering by contacting your DM. Extensive lists of equipment, with values, also appear in that article. If you wish, you can also have one trinket at no cost (see the "Trinkets" table at the end of the Equipment article).
Weapons
For each weapon your character wields, calculate the modifier you use when you attack with the weapon and the damage you deal when you hit. When you attack with a weapon, you roll a d20 and add your total calculated bonus, see step 3 "Order of Operations" above.
For attacks with melee weapons, use your Strength modifier for attack and damage rolls. A weapon that has the finesse property, such as a rapier, can use your Dexterity modifier instead. For attacks with ranged weapons, use your Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls. A melee weapon that has the thrown property, such as a handaxe, can use your Strength modifier instead. More information on weapon, equipment, and vehicle properties, actions, and modifiers can be found in The Bunker.
Stat Blocks and Equipment
Weapon attacks and equipment lists can be written in the provided sections on your character sheet, but as all of these are available digitally you may use the Stat Block Printables article to print sheets of your weapon, equipment, and other stat blocks for use in addition to your character sheet.
Building Veronica, Step 6
Bree writes down the starting equipment from the jockey class and the engineer occupation. For Veronica’s weapons, Bree chooses a pistol and two knives. Her pistol is a ranged weapon, so Veronica uses her Dexterity modifier for her attacks and damage. Her attack bonus is her Dexterity modifier (+4) plus her proficiency bonus (+2), for a total of +6. The pistol deals 1d6 piercing damage, and Veronica adds her Dexterity modifier to the damage when she hits, for a total of 1d6 + 4 piercing damage. When throwing a knife, Veronica has the same attack bonus (handaxes, as finesse weapons, may use Dexterity for attacks and damage), and the weapon deals 1d4 + 4 slashing damage when it hits.
7. Bringing it all Together
Now it's time to finish all the math! Finish calculating your abilities, modifiers, and bonuses based on any changes or use cases given by the parts of your character. Fill out your character sheet with your feats, features, archetypes, and any abilities or actions you want to remember. Stay tuned on the #updates Discord channel and the Content Updates article for updates on the Digital Character Sheet that's in the works.
Most Element 133 characters won’t work alone. Each character plays a role within a party, a group of heroes working together for a common purpose. Teamwork and cooperation greatly improve your party’s chances to survive the many perils in the post-apocalyptic Earth of Element 133. Talk to your fellow players and your DM to decide what the party's needs are.
Beyond Tier One
As your hero goes on adventures and overcomes challenges, he or she gains experience, represented by experience points, and uses them to upgrade their character with features. A character who reaches a specified tier of features increases in capability. This advancement is called gaining a tier.
Class Features and Hit Dice
When your character gains a tier, his or her base class often grants additional features, as detailed in the class description. Some of these features allow you to increase your ability scores, either increasing two scores by 1 each or increasing one score by 2. You can’t increase an ability score above 30. In addition, every character’s proficiency bonus increases at certain tiers.
Each time you gain a tier, you gain 2 additional Hit Die. Roll that Hit Die, add your Constitution modifier to the roll, and add the total (minimum of 1) to your hit point maximum. Alternatively, you can use the fixed value shown in the table below, which is the average result of the die roll (rounded up).
When your Constitution modifier increases by 1, your hit points maximum increases by 1 for each tier you have attained. For example, if your 7th-tier fighter has a Constitution score of 17, when he reaches 8th level, he increases his Constitution score from 17 to 18, thus increasing his Constitution modifier from +3 to +4. His hit point maximum then increases by 8.
Tiers and Proficiency Bonuses
| Tier | Rec. Experience Points | Proficiency Bonus | Hit Point Increase | Hit Die |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 300 XP | +2 | 8 + 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 2d12 |
| 2 | 14,000 XP | +2 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 4d12 |
| 3 | 34,000 XP | +3 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 6d12 |
| 4 | 64,000 XP | +3 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 8d12 |
| 5 | 120,000 XP | +4 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 10d12 |
| 6 | 165,000 XP | +4 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 12d12 |
| 7 | 225,000 XP | +5 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 14d12 |
| 8 | 305,000 XP | +5 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 16d12 |
| 9 | 355,000 XP | +6 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 18d12 |
| 10 | 435,000 XP | +6 | 2d12 + CON (or 23) | 20d12 |
Experience Points (XP) and Available Experience Points (AXP)
Experience points (XP) fuel level advancement for player characters and are most often the reward for completing combat encounters.
Each monster has an XP value based on its challenge rating. When adventurers defeat one or more monsters - typically by killing, routing, or capturing them - they divide the total XP value of the monsters evenly among themselves. If the party received substantial assistance from one or more NPCs, those NPCs may count as party members when dividing up the XP. (Because the NPCs made the fight easier, individual characters receive fewer XP.)
The DM may decide to award experience to characters for overcoming challenges outside combat. If the heroes complete a tense negotiation with a baron, forge a trade agreement with a clan of surly bikers, or successfully navigate the Chasm of Doom, you might receive an XP reward.
Lastly, the DM may award XP when characters complete significant milestones such as the following examples;
- Accomplishing one in a series of goals necessary to complete the adventure.
- Discovering a hidden location or piece of information relevant to the adventure.
- Reaching an important destination.
Absence and Downtime Activities
Typically, adventurers earn experience only for encounters they participate in. If a player is absent for a session, the player’s character misses out on the experience points. Over time, we might end up with a tier gap between the characters of players who never miss a session and characters belonging to players who are more sporadic in their attendance. Nothing is wrong with that. A gap of two or three tiers between different characters in the same party isn’t going to ruin the game for anyone.
Some DMs treat XP as a reward for participating in the game, and keeping up with the rest of the party is a good incentive for players to attend as many sessions as possible. But I know life gets crazy, and few players will intentionally miss out on the fun of gaming just because they know they’ll receive XP for it even if they don’t show up. XP for a given session will only be withheld if a player fails to let an attending player know about their absence the day prior. This is is so we can make sure to have enough players to play, try to reschedule if needed, and allow the DM to adjust the session notes. If properly reported absent characters they will gain the same XP that the other characters earned each session, keeping the group at the same level.
Absent players will have the choice for their character to be played by another party member (I can't manage it all this time) during the session they are absent, giving the party access to the abilities and support they are used to. If you don't feel comfortable or it makes sense too, the absent player may elect to receive a list of downtime activities their character can complete during the interim. Maybe they go shopping for supplies, learn a new skill, or try to earn some money. By choosing to use a downtime activity you gain some useful stuff for when you return but it indicates that your character is not available to help the rest of the party. And they might need your help!
What are AXP??
Ok, ok I know you've heard about how to use it a ton. But here's how to gain it. Same as XP, any time you gain XP you gain the same amount into your AXP. Again, this can be used to upgrade your character, access different classes, waive pre-requisites, and trade features.
Why include both XP and AXP? Well since AXP is spent and may consistently be at under 1000 AXP. XP will be used to record your lifetime earnings and allow me to accurately gauge the ability of each character since the tier or number of features changes based on how you spend your AXP. Additionally, your XP will become the starting XP and AXP for new characters entering the campaign later, or after character deaths.
Multiclassing and Tiers
AXP may be used to upgrade your character with new class features. During a long rest, you may expend AXP to gain a feature from any class, provided you have the necessary AXP and pre-requisites. These new features apply to your character immediately and if the feature increases the pool of expendable resources (Hit Points, Hero Points, AC, Hit Dice, etc.) that pool may be refilled. Each feature, excluding base-class features which can only be gained by selecting that class as your base class (your first class), has an AXP value that increases by tier and power and may or may not have pre-requisites. Some features may also grant access to higher-tier features from other classes.
Pre-Requisites and Access
Most features above tier one have a pre-requisite or two. These may be other features, minimum ability scores, minimum tiers, or proficiency in a specific skill. If a feature does not list a pre-requisite you may upgrade to that feature as long as you have the AXP to do so. With one exception, if the feature is in a different class than your base class or one you already have a feature from, you will need to spend additional AXP to upgrade to this feature, (see "Multiclassing" bellow).
Some features grant access to features of other classes waiving any pre-requisites or multiclassing AXP costs for that feature. For example, the Speedy 3 feature from the Quick class grants accesses to the Sneak Attack feature from the assassin class which has the pre-requisite of 'Assassin selected as base class', granting you an ability that would normally only be available to characters with the assassin class as their base class. Additionally, you would only use the listed AXP cost for this feature negating any multiclassing AXP costs.
Multiclassing
Gaining access to features from classes other than your base class is extremely simple, and you might even be able to gain a tier 5 feature of a different class without upgrading to the tier one features first. That way you're not a super-powerful 'barbarian' and a super weak 'bard'. Use the table below to calculate the multiclassing AXP cost based on your base class or multi classes. This AXP cost is in addition to the AXP cost of the feature. The multiclassing AXP is increased by your current tier as well, but only every third tier.
Multiclassing AXP Costs
| to New Class | from Base Class or Multiclass | at Tier | for Additional Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | General | 1-2 | 600 AXP |
| General | Specialty | 1-2 | 600 AXP |
| Specialty | Specialty | 1-2 | 900 AXP |
| Specialty | General | 1-2 | 1,100 AXP |
| Racial (must be from the same race) | Racial | 1-2 | 1,100 AXP |
| General | General | 3-5 | 2,200 AXP |
| General | Specialty | 3-5 | 2,200 AXP |
| Specialty | Specialty | 3-5 | 3,300 AXP |
| Specialty | General | 3-5 | 3,800 AXP |
| Racial (must be from the same race) | Racial | 3-5 | 3,800 AXP |
| General | General | 6-8 | 5,800 AXP |
| General | Specialty | 6-8 | 5,800 AXP |
| Specialty | Specialty | 6-8 | 8,700 AXP |
| General | General | 9-10 | 9,200 AXP |
| General | Specialty | 9-10 | 9,200 AXP |
| Specialty | General | 6-8 | 10,800 AXP |
| Racial (must be from the same race) | Racial | 6-8 | 10,800 AXP |
| Specialty | Specialty | 9-10 | 13,700 AXP |
| Specialty | General | 9-10 | 17,200 AXP |
| Racial (must be from the same race) | Racial | 9-10 | 17,200 AXP |
Trading and Stacking
If you decide later that you would like to change the feature that you upgraded to to another feature. You may remove that feature and receive 50% of the original AXP back. You may not remove a feature that is a pre-requisite for another feature you have upgraded to.
Stacking
Some features are extremely similar and may include the same proficiencies or access to the same pools of abilities or skills. Unless otherwise stated by the feature. These do NOT stack.
Failing your Death Saves
I've said it a few times but I'll say it again. Please, please, please have multiple backup character sheets prepared. There will be death in this campaign, more than you're used to. Mathematically, probably one every 4 sessions in the beginning. This request is as much for me as it is for you! Because of the complexity of the character creation for Element 133, quickly spinning up a new character during a session is not easily accomplished. By having backup characters, that you've let your DM know about, up your sleeve allows you to be back in-game and play ASAP after a character death. Meaning more play time for you!
Supers, Space, and Aliens
During Phase Three you will have more options for your Character Creation! These will be released just before Phase Three begins so as to not spoil anything! But, includes 3 new race options (including Aliens and Cyborgs), 6 new specialty classes, 4 new racial class options, and 8 new occupations!
Comments