Character Creation

CHARACTER CREATION

Before you begin, envision your character. Make some early decision about who they are and what they stand for, as well as where they fit into your noble house. Answer these nine questions together and share your answers with the group:
Origin: Where and how were you born?
Youth: What sort of childhood did you have?
Focus: What sort of goals and values were instilled in you as you grew up?
Road: What path did you walk as you emerged from your youth?
Life-Changing Event: Something changed your life forever. What was it?
Priority: What goals do you set above all others?
Modus Operandi: How do you achieve your goals?
Motivation: What keeps you going?
Identity: Where do you see yourself in the unfolding drama of your life?

Part One: Attributes

Your character is comprised of six core Attributes: Courage, Faith, Guile, Grace, Reason and Vigour. Set three of these Attributes at d8 and three at d6. If you wish, you may step up an attribute by stepping down another attribute. No attribute may have a rating lower than d6 or higher than d10 at character creation.
Courage - Determination and Steel in the face of danger. Roll with Courage to charge into the teeth of the enemy, give an inspiring speech to the troops at their darkest hour, or to defy the subtle threats of a rival courts spymaster.
Faith - Belief and Conviction in a higher power or in others. Roll with Faith when relying on your faith in the Saints to see you through trying times, when presented with evidence of your lovers betrayal, or when appealing for aid from the Outsiders.
Guile - Wit, Cunning and Subterfuge. Roll with Guile to embarrass someone with a scathing retort at a court function, to lie to your lovers face about your allegiances, and to lay an ambush for your hated rival.
Grace - Finesse, dexterity and composure. Roll with Grace to carefully pass a coded message to your spymaster, to impress your rival suitors at a summer dance, or to narrowly avoid being trampled by a runaway horse.
Reason - Logic, knowledge and comprehension. Roll with Reason to decipher a coded message you’ve intercepted, to make careful plans on the eve of battle, to manage a merchant’s ledger or recall ancient lore about Banteavan lineages.
Vigour - Physical fitness, strength and endurance. Roll with Vigour to hold your own in a drinking contest, to pull an enemy soldier off their horse, or to survive a terrible injury that might spell your gruesome end.

Example: Sam wants to play a hedge knight in the service of the Sixth House, one who has shown great prowess even in the face of peril. They put a d8 in Courage, Faith and Vigor, and a d6 in Guile, Grace and Reason. They could lower Faith to improve their Vigour to a d10, but they like the idea of a knight with strong morals and beliefs, so they stick with the current array.

Example 2: Lou is keen on playing a scheming courtier. They put a d8 in Reason, Guile and Grace, and a d6 in Courage, Faith and Vigour. They then decide that they don’t need to be the most Graceful courtier around, drop Grace to a d6 and improve Guile to a d10. They’ll have a distinct advantage when engaging in skulduggery… provided they don’t get caught.

Part Two: Distinctions

A Distinction is an elevator pitch for your character in three sentences. Players will write a Defining Statement, an Approach or Ambition, and a Drawback or Flaw. Each Distinction begins rated at d8 and gains the Hinder SFX. Once they are selected, come up with two additional SFX, slotted in whichever Distinction you wish, using the guidelines provided.
In addition, for each Distinction, pick two highlight skills that tie into the background. Skills can overlap between Distinctions.

Part Three: Skills

For each Highlight a skill has received, step it up by one level (to a max of d10.) Once the highlighted skills have been improved, spend an additional 9 points stepping up your skills, to a max of d10. Each point spent steps up a skill one level. To see a full list of Skills and Specialties, click here.

Part Four: Specialties, Signature Assets, Relationships and Reputations

You begin with a d8 Reputation with your chosen House. Each Reputation and Relationship comes with a Trait Statement defining the nature of your connection, such as “Sworn Sword of House Oake” or “Bastard son of a distant uncle.”
You also start with a d6 Relationship with every other Player Character, which also gain their own Trait Statement. Work with the players to define what binds you together. They do not have to be reciprocal.
You may now spend five points buying Skill Specialties, Signature Assets, Relationships, Reputations, Resources and Outsider Pacts.
A Skill Specialty represents a narrow focus within a broader skill. You might be a competent Deceiver, but you’re exceptionally good at Cheating in games of chance and skill. This adds an extra die, which can often be upgraded.
A Signature Asset is something that defines your character. There are thousands of swords out there, but My Father’s Longsword is a Signature Asset and is worth an extra die in contests.
A Relationship is an established, special connection to another person in the fiction. The relationship does not need to be reciprocal and it definitely does not need to be positive. A relationship with Barracus, My Father’s Killer (I Will Have My Vengeance) says a LOT about your character beyond just the die rating. The higher the die rating, the more important they are to you, and the more you’ll be able to leverage that in contests involving them.
A Reputation is your standing with an organization, community or noble house. You already start with a d8 in your own noble house, which makes your a Valued Member, but you can spend points to raise this up to as high as d10 at the start of the game, which puts you in the Inner Circle. You can also purchase reputations with other organizations, such as Merchants Guild d6, Church of Banteave d8, or Peasant Uprising d10. Each Reputation gets a Trait Statement that helps define your standing with them.
A Resource is a special Asset that is comprised of expendable uses that can augment your dice rolls. A Resource can be:

• — An Extra that is attached to a PC and supports them in a scene, representing a contact or an ally.
• — A Location that you can access and utilize, like a Dusty Library or an Apothecary.
• — An Organization, which can open channels a PC might not be able to alone. A Spy Network is one such example you might leverage.
• — A Prop is a tool, object or item that helps the PC, such as Healing Herbs.

Resource dice are committed to a skill test or contest before the dice pool is rolled. Resources are recovered at the beginning or a session, or during a period of extended downtime in the fiction (such as a week of recovery or more.) You may also spend PP to recover resource dice, one for one. Resources all come with a die rating (often multiples of d6) and a tag or label to define what kind of field or quality the resource is. You can spend dice from a musty library to heal a stab wound, for example.
Lastly, an Outsider Pact is not to be taken lightly. It costs three points to begin one and cannot be stepped up until play begins. An Outsider Pact means that the character has entered into an agreement with one of the daemonic forces that populate Banteave, be they sanctified by the church or no. This opens up strange new gifts that the PC can access, but at a price; doing so may accumulate Debt to an Outsider, which they can call in to make strange requests of the PC. If the PC calls upon their Outsider too often, the debts can spiral until the PC’s very soul is Damned, sealing their fate.

Part Five: Final Touches

Name your character. Write a description. Write their background. Where have you been these past few years? Where are you going in the near future? What are you doing to keep your head above water? How do you feel about the King of Banteave’s situation?
Once everyone has introduced their characters, the stage is set. The first session begins on the last day of King Eadvward III’s life, before the question of his succession plunges Banteave into civil war.
Each character also begins with three Stress and Trauma tracks, for Physical, Mental and Social stress.
A character suffers Physical stress when they are attacked, suffer from illness or other bodily harm. A Character with Physical trauma has long-term injuries that may kill them over time.
A character suffers Mental stress when they suffer a crisis of faith, are manipulated, or have faltering courage. A character with Mental trauma has suffered serious mental scarring that may claim them over time unless recovered.
A character suffers Social stress when they are accused of crimes, are slandered or framed, or when they commit egregious blunders or betray their fellows. A character with Social trauma has profound stains upon their reputation that may lead to their exile or condemnation by the laws of the land. Any character who suffers excessive Social trauma is stripped of title and rank, and is generally shunned by their family.