Character Creation

in Players Handbook

"He had a strange feeling as the slow gurgling stream slipped by: his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front."

  Adventurers are often simply common individuals born in exceptional times. They have most likely led an ordinary life until the day something happened and changed the way they looked at their world and the people they knew. For some reason, the place they grew up in didn’t look as interesting and boundless as before, or they started to realise that they weren’t doing enough for the safekeeping of their loved ones by staying at home in idleness, pretending shadows weren’t growing nearer and nearer every year.   For every member of the Wise and the Great, for every Wizard or Ranger of the North, there are countless more like Samwise Gamgee, simple people who never crossed the boundaries of their own village or town, or individuals like Gimli son of Gloin, who ignored the existence of Rohan until he visited it, or Men like noble Faramir who, while learned in many lores, never encountered an Elf or a Hobbit before the War of the Ring.   Whatever their motivation or purpose, most characters created for Adventures in Middle-earth are individuals who have chosen to abandon their day-to-day activities and become adventurers. They do not begin as great captains or legendary hunters, nor are they subtle Wizards trying to weave the threads spun by fate, they are bold souls putting themselves in peril by their own free will, sometimes simply for the love of adventure itself.   The following sections show you how to craft an adventurer drawn from one of the Free Peoples. Using the guidelines presented, all players will be able to create their hero, complete with strengths and weaknesses, equipment and abilities, hopes and fears.