Character Creation: Arcana Unearthed

Strangely, it was a good writing day. I say "strangely" because I didn't even start until after 3 this afternoon (rather, I did some redlining in the morning, but no writing). And then I cranked out 5500 words of A Little Meatier, which was astonishing. And, I'm happy with the stuff I wrote. I found a groove, and stayed in it darned well, methinks. Now, we'll see what Chuck thinks.

And so now, it's only about 10PM, and I think I shall make a character before heading downstairs for a snack some video-related entertainment (either movie, Law & Order or video game, haven't decided yet). 

The Game: Arcana Unearthed
The publisher: Malhavoc Press
Degree of familiarity: Some. A person I used to know ran a short campaign a while back. I like the world, I like the character classes. I don't like the d20 system, but you knew that.
Books Required: Just the Arcana Unearthed book, I guess. I mean, I'm sure there are approximately 40,000 sourcebooks, but I don't have any of them.

 

Well, the first thing they tell you is to come up with a concept. I'm not going to get overly snarky about the d20 system, I promise, but I will say that concept doesn't much matter in d20 games. Why? Because characters are so fucking gimped at first level that it's all you can do to stay alive until you kill enough goblins or whatever to make it to second level. Anyway.

One of the things I like about AU is that the classes and races have some depth to them. You're not just a fighter, you're a mage blade. That's pretty cool, actually. The sibeccai (I played one in the game I was in) have this thing going that they used to be servants, and there's this feral past to them that they don't want to acknowledge. Neat! Much better than "elf, which we totally didn't steal from Tolkein." So as far as concept goes, I want to play a character for whom level 1 makes sense. I want to play a guy who's just starting out, who sees the big, wide world as his playground. And if I were actually going to play this guy, I'd want the group to suffer through rainy nights with no warmth, getting the shit beat out of us by thugs, and generally the hard knocks that go with becoming "an adventurer."

But without ability scores, I can't go much father than that. So.

Ability Scores: I roll 4d6 six times, and drop the lowest die. That mind, I get: 13, 12, 14, 10, 11, 13. Wow, I suck. Nothing over 14? Jesus.

Well, fuck it. Let's look ahead to race and class and see what will fuck me the least.

Usually I play humans, but half the fun of this game is the races. Looking them over, the one that best fits the concept I have in mind is Faen. I can't play a spryte at first level, so that leaves me loresong or quickling. Of the two, loresongs are more magical, and since I always play magic users, I'll do something different and play a quickling. Now for class. Akashic looks perfect - these folks go out looking for new stuff to remember. For my starry-eyed Faen, that's a great profession.

Now to arrange my abilities. Hang on.

OK, I end up with:
Strength 8 (10-2 for my race)
Dexterity 16 (14+2 for my race)
Constitution 13
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 11
Charisma 12

I jot down my base saves, base attack, and my one lonely class ability. Now, skills. I get 36 points in skills. They're 1-for-1 for class skills, and 1-for-2 otherwise. But all skills are class skills for Akashics! Rule! I can have a max of 4 ranks in any given skill (my level + 3), so here's what I come up with:

Gather Information 2
Knowledge (Dangerous Beasts) 1
Knowledge (Faen) 2
Listen 4 (my experience has been that this is one of the few skills you actually use)
Open Lock 2
Ride 1
Search 3 (this one, too)
Sense Motive 1
Sleight of Hand 2
Sneak 4
Spot 4 (aaaaand this one)
Survival 1
Swim 2
Tumble 4
Use Magic Device 1
Use Rope 2

And now, feats and talents. I get two, one ceremonial and one talent or general feat. For my ceremonial, I'll take Intuitive Sense. I like the idea that I don't lose my (high) Dex bonus even if I'm caught off guard, because I'm a little dude and I don't want to get hit. For my other feat, I'll take Natural Archer. I don't see this guy getting into a lot of melee combat, not with that Strength "bonus."

I figure my hit points. My hit die is d6, my CON bonus is one, my HP is 7. Sigh.

Equipment! I roll 4d4, get 12, multiply by 10, that's 120 gold. I only spend enough to buy a bow, some arrows, and some armor. If I were going to play this guy, I'd buy other shit, but I'm tired and that's too much bookkeeping.

I do the other calculations, and now that I've got this guy's numbers down, I can figure him out a little more. I'll name him Houn (same dipthong sound as "rose") Stargazer. He's always been a bit of a dreamer, and he trained as an Akashic because the world is just awesome (boom-de-ada) and someone should remember it all. He's got very little real-world experience, though, and he's looking to change that. He suspects that some of the he "remembers" can't really be as bad as all that. He's in for some rude awakenings...

Possible character paths: Gaining levels of Akashic and becoming more stoic and reserved as he learns more. Maybe a long dark night of the soul when he sees some real atrocity (and when he has to kill for the first time, which is usually ignored in D&D). I doubt he'd metamorphosize into a spryte, but ya never know.