Character Creation: The making of heroes.

[Stirling]

Howdy pardners' and welcome to the campaign. We have an ID number of 818. Please use the Unseen Servant die roller to create and maintain a sheet for your player character.

I am using the following rulebook: eb-deadlands-reloaded-core-rulebook.pdf for the specific 'wild and weird West' setting and the core Savage Worlds for general rules, skills.

Here is a walkthough guide to creating your character with notes to translate that to forum based sheets.

Once you’ve decided on a concept for your hombre, it’s time to figure out his statistics.

Race

Humans are the only race allowed in Deadlands, but you still get your free bonus starting Edge, a chosen specific skill or attribute as usual.

You may choose any ethnicity and gender you like. Despite the general lawlessness of the West or perhaps because of it, folks from all around the world flock to America in pursuit of a better life. Choose any age, gender, height and weight as befitting your character image. We are starting out at Novice level.

Traits

Now it’s time to assign your hero’s starting attributes and skills. Your character begins play with a d4 in each of his five attributes: Agility (Dexterity), Smarts (Intelligence), Spirit (Wisdom, Strength (Strength), Vigour (Constitution).

Now importantly you don't roll a d4 to give yourself a score of 1-4 in the attribute. Rather the d4 is the specific dice type you roll for any test or check which uses that related attribute.

You now have 5 extra points to distribute among these attributes as you choose. Raising an attribute by a 'die type' costs 1 point, (going from a d4 to a d6) and you may not raise any attribute above d12 die type. So you could give a d6 raise to each of the starting attributes or try a combination of higher and lower die types.

note on your sheet the die type. Put 4 if your trait stayed as a d4 dice, 6 for d6, 8 for d8, etc.

Skills

Now you have 15 points to buy your starting skills. Each chosen skill costs 1 point and begins at the base level of a d4 dice type. Raising any skill by a further die type also costs 1 point, as long as it’s no higher than the die type of the attribute it’s linked to. It then costs 2 points per die type to raise a skill above its linked attribute. Skills cannot be raised above d12. For example you may have an Agility of d6 but wish to take Riding as a superior skill and use a d8 for any skill checks. This would cost 4 points. (1 point for choosing riding at d4, another point to raise to a d6 and then spend an extra penalty point to raise to a d8.)

On the forum sheet, we are going to use the Spells section to record our skills and their dice types. So using the above example list: Riding (Agility) as an 8th level spell to denote using a d8 dice type.

You could start off with more than a dozen skills at Base d4 level or specialise in just a few areas. Choose as you see bests fits your character model and background.

Whenever you are asked to make a check in an area of skill which you have not learned, we will use the base d4 but with a penalty of -2 to the roll. Unskilled checks: [1d4-2].

All standard skills narrated in the Savage Worlds rulebook are available in Deadlands.

Languages

Most folks in the Americas, regardless of where they hail from originally, have gone out of their way to learn the language of the land. That’s English, amigo. (or to us old school D&D players, Common). Heroes with the Outsider Hindrance know a different language instead and must drop a couple of points into Knowledge (English) to make themselves understood.

If you want to speak another language, you have to buy it as a separate Knowledge skill.

Secondary Statistics

The following stats are based on the traits you have chosen, or are common to all characters, unless changed by Edges or Hindrances:

Charisma (Charisma) Your starting Charisma value is +0.

Pace (movement) is equal to 60'ft.

Parry (Armour Class) is equal to 2 plus half your Fighting skill die type. If you haven’t taken the Fighting skill, it’s just a base AC2. A character with a Fighting skill of d8 would have a Parry of 6. Note this on the AC slot.

Toughness (Hit points) is equal to 2 plus half your Vigor trait die type. Note your score in the Hit Points slot.

Grit is a new Secondary Statistic for Deadlands.
You have one point of Grit for each Rank of experience. (1 for
Novice, 2 for Seasoned, etc). Players start out as novice level. After each adventure, xp is awarded and shared out. Gain eperiexperience to gain levels. Higher levels open up new Edges and Skills. Note 0 and 19 in your experience points slots.

Note 'Grit 1' in the slot used for Alignment. Grit is used for reactions to various events such as fearful encounters, supernatural events, etc.

Special Abilities

Next you need to decide what flaws and abilities set your hero apart from other folks. If you choose to take any of the Hindrances, you can use the points from them to gain one of the benefits below.

You may take one Major Hindrance (worth 2 points) and two
Minor Hindrances (worth 1 point each). You may
take additional Hindrances beyond this, but you do
not gain points for them.

For 2 Hindrance points you can:
- Raise an attribute by one die type.
- Choose an Edge.

For 1 Hindrance point you can:
- Gain another skill point.
- Gain an additional starting $250.

Using the Notes section on the sheet, create a page for Hindrances and another for Edges. Describe the attribute and any specific negative or positive effects it has.

Inventory

Each hero starts with the clothes on his back and $250 250sp in their wallet or purse.(see Dinero on page 20). You’ll want to spend some of that now on weapons, ammunition, and equipment. You’ll find a complete list on pages 45-54. Note your equipment in your inventory slots.

We are using a conversion of 1cp = 5 cents, 1sp = $1 and 1gp = $10. Please note your coinage appropriately in sheets inventory.

Background

Finish up by filling out your hero’s background. Give him a name, think a bit about where he came from and why he’s traveled out west (or what he’s done his whole life, if he started out there). This all helps you to play your character well, and gives the GM lots of ideas for interesting stories.

Worst Nightmare

Finally, think a bit on what really scares your hero. What’s he afraid of and why? Now think about what kind of dream makes him wake up with the cold sweats at night. Write it down. No reason ... create a Nightmare section of your notes.

Fate chips and benefits.

For ease of play we shall give each player 3 'fate' points. These are used when you need to re-roll a critical test, shake off wounds and effects or other issues to keep you 'last man standing'. Please mark on your sheet 3 fate chips, I suggest using the PP slot or noting them on the magic items section.

When complete, please post a copy in the Character Sheets forum. Any questions regarding character creation please ask.