Character Creation: Familiars of Terra

Comin' in hot at 399!

I don't know what I'm talking about. It does occur to me that when I do character #451, it's gonna have to be about fire or censorship or TV or something.

The Game: Familiars of Terra
The Publisher: Angry Hamster Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None; I've read it
Books Required: Just the one.

Familiars of Terra was on the short list for games to play with my family (we settled on Blue Rose), but it always looked interesting to me. Now that I've read it, it's very Pokemon-ish. There's not the emphasis on collecting 'em all, nor is the focus strictly on fighting, but everyone has an animal companion called a familiar. Rather, an animalkin familiar, since normal animals don't make the grade, but animalkin tend to have some magical shit going on.

The world is much like ours in terms of technology and so on, there was this big-ass war 50 years ago that scarred the land, and now folks called Seekers are romping about righting wrongs and having adventures. As PCs, we are Seekers. It's pretty simplistic, and I in no way mean that derisively. I like that the game is easy to understand and that our role is explicitly "adventurer" and that there's a logical (or at least established) place for adventurers in the setting. On we go!

Tiny complaint: I feel like the sheets for both Seeker and Familiar could have fit on one side of a page, but that's minor. Actually, looking at it, the sheet is missing some important stuff. There's nowhere to write what nation the character is from, which is the first decision we're asked to make in the chargen process. There is, however, an example of chargen, which I always appreciate.

OK, so, as I mentioned, first thing I need to decide is a home nation. I want to be from Fendair; the south of the nation (called Sou; a lot of stuff in this game is pretty on the nose) is mostly farmland, and I want my character's family to own an orchard because I'm drinking cider and it's delicious. I need to think about backstory, so I'll say that my character, Sedlan, is from a family that's been growing apples for generations. He's the first Seeker the family has produced, and just to turn a trope on its head, his family is hella proud of him and encouraged him and his familiar (I'll get to that) to get out there and adventure! Sedlan is fresh-faced, but not entirely naive; Fendairian folks are progressive and pretty well-versed in politics, and he's accompanied his family to the city to deliver their good all his life. He's from the country, but he's no bumpkin.

So now I pick a Calling, my motivation for Seeking. Hmm. I'm torn between Adventure and Beauty. I'll go with Beauty, and more specifically Nature - Sedlan is a kind of Johnny Appleseed sort of fellow. Large parts of the world are "Badlands," irradiated hellscapes, and Sedlan is pretty sure that can all be fixed with the power of apples.

Now I determine Attributes. They start at 7 and I get 5 points to divvy up. Hmm. I'll put two each into Wit and Charm, and the 5th into Agility. I'll leave Might and Awareness at 7.

Now we do Titles and Trophies. Titles are just that, while Trophies are physical things that I've acquired. My first Title is "of Fendair," meaning I get a +1 to Charm when I'm cooling emotions or negotiating a deal, which is appropriate. For the other...hmm. Jubilant is appropriate, but I think given my Calling I'm gonna go with Healer. I'm to detail a tragic event that inspired me to become a healer and a time I risked my life to heal another.

Well, I'll say that when Sedlan was young, his father took him and his sibling on a trek - almost a pilgrimage - north through Midden Fendair and Nor Fendair (told ya) to the southern edge of Endrill, to see the Badlands. Seeing the corrupted, stunted, horrible damage that had befallen the land, the plants, and the animals moved Sedlan to tears, and he begged his father to show him how to fix it. His father didn't have that answer, but said maybe someday Sedlan would.

For the second bit, we'll say Sedlan met a spy from Plinth (the country that started the war), a spy who had gotten cut off from help after the war and had just been outed. Sedlan, knowing that the locals would probably kill him, hid him in the orchard for a few weeks and then gave him food and told him to hit the road. Sedlan's mother knows about this, but no one else does. She understands why he did it, but can't bring herself to be proud.

Cool. Now I get a Trophy. I'll say that the Plinthian spy gave him a bracer that, when turned so the opal-like gem is facing out, gives him the ability to lift twice what he normally could.

I have 4 Health (which is "Hit points" on the sheet) and 1 Stash (which isn't on the sheet), and I think that's it for Sedlan. Time to move on to his familiar! I picture his familiar as being vaguely canine, but also having aspects of a flying squirrel. So it's got patagia under its legs and can glide from tree to tree, but a dog-like muzzle and a long, slobbery tongue.

I start with 5 in each Attribute, and I get 15 to divvy up, but I can also lower some to raise others. I'll put 5 each into Agility, Awareness, and Charm and leave the other two at 5. My Familiar isn't terribly strong or bright, but it's cute and quick.

And now I pick three traits for it. I'll take Wings (glide, fly, same diff), Heart Sight (my familiar can see the goodness of someone's heart) and Green (he turns green and controls plants).

Hand size and Health/Hit Points are both 4, that's easy. And then I get three powers. These powers are all combat related and they all deal with cards and how they're revealed; there's really no flavor text to them. I can figure out the idea from the context, though.

For my weird dog/squirrel thing, I want Heal 1, Dodge 1, and Dig 1. That way I can mitigate damage and I have a bit more mobility.

And then he needs a name, so I'll call him Dandy (short for Dandelion, because he wafts like a dandelion seed).

Sedlan is short, kind of chunky, and has the red-brown hair characteristic of his family. He carries a bag of seeds, a walking stick, and wears overalls and a red shirt. He often ties his shoes around his neck and goes barefoot. Dandy, his familiar, is about a foot and a half high, with a fluffy tail, a gray coat of fur (that turns green when it's time to do his plant-control routine), and a dog-like muzzle. His tongue lolls out pretty much all the time, but his under-arm skin flaps aren't obvious unless he's ready to fly or stretching out to lick something.

And that does it, I think!