Character Creation: Keltia

Last character of March. Tomorrow I'll do a character for a comedy game (but then maybe I'll do one for a Serious Indie Game and be all like APRIL FOOL no probably not). 

The Game: Keltia
The Publisher: Le 7ème Cercle, I guess? I know it used to be on the Cubicle 7 site, but now it's gone
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Keltia is from the same...universe? Set of games? as Yggdrasill, and I assume the systems are compatible (the Keltia book does spend some time talking about how to mesh them, I think). I remember finding Yggdrasill a lot more readable than Keltia. I don't know if it's because I'm more familiar with Norse myth than Welsh, and therefore the terminology doesn't make my eyes bloop over too much, but I spent a couple of nights reading the setting/history of Keltia before giving up and going right to the game stuff (which was much easier to read). 

Anyway. Keltia is set in the 5th century AD, and the book spends most of the setting talking about what is now Wales (doy). There's a supplement that gets into the Picts and the northern lands, which is what kind of interests me, but I don't have said book. I think I would like to make a magic-using character. That in mind, let's see what kinds of options I have.

OK, so basically I can be a druid, a mage, or a bard. I wanna be a mage. Mages are folks who don't have the schooling that druids do, so my character is someone who has the gift of magic and was taught by...whoever. I'm gonna say that my character is the youngest son of a farming/fishing family, and was taught magic by a strange old hermit that lives near the sea. I think that's a good enough start, so let's get going on this long chargen process.

Step One is concept, and I did that (it doesn't have to be terribly fleshed out yet). Step Two is archetype; I can pick one of the listed ones or make one up. I think the "mage" archetype is fine. 

Step Three is Characteristics, I get 19 points to divide up among the 9 of them. Minimum 1, maximum 4. Let's see, what does one use for magic? Instinct! Well, I'll put that at 4, then. I'll put my three Body traits at 3, how about? That leaves me 6 for the remaining 5 traits. Oy. Well, the pre-gens include a couple of characters with 1s in two characteristics, so I guess that's workable, but this would leave me with 1 in all three Mind traits and two of my Soul traits (well, one would be 2, but that's still pathetic). 

OK, I'll bust Vigor and Strength down to 2, which puts my total up to 8. I'll put 2s in Tenacity, Perception, Charisma, and Communication, and leave my Intellect at 1. The book also tells me to calculate scores for Body, Mind, and Soul by adding up the traits in each category (6, 5, and 8, respectively) but I don't see anyplace to write that. 

Well, anyway, moving on. Step Four is a shitload of secondary characteristics, which I'm just gonna calculate and write on the sheet, because like you care. 

Oh, Hit Points involve Body, Mind, and Soul. OK, then. Step Five: Gifts & Weaknesses! I have to take Blood of the Ancients as a Gift in order to use magic, so, um, there's that. I also can take a Weakness to get a second Gift, so let's have a look. I think we're taking a "young hero starting out on the journey" sort of approach, here, so Curious or Bold would both make sense. I think Curious is more in keeping with magic, so we'll go with that. For my second Gift, I believe I shall take Mountaineer. I said before the old hermit I trained with lived by the sea in a cave, but maybe the cave was up a cliff wall, too.

Step Six is Skills. I get 35 points, and my five privileged Skills cost 1-for-1, while others are 2-for-1. So what are my privileged Skills, anyway? Awen, Empathy, Knowledge (Divinities), a combat Skill of my choice, and Superstition. I can, of course, swap any of these out if I want. Let's see what the heck they mean. 

I think all of these are fine, except I'm gonna swap out Knowledge for Survival (more in keeping with my guy's upbringing). Skills max out at 7, which is the high end of "Competent." Let's arrange them thusly:

Awen 5
Superstition 2
Empathy 3
Survival 5
Throw 4
Athletics 1
Climbing 2
Dodge 1
Legends 1
Search 1
Swim 1
Traditions 1

(I take issue with including Dodge, Athletics, Climbing, and Swim as separate Skills, but whatever.)

Step Seven Furor Pool, which is higher for me because I'm a magicy dude. Vigor + Intellect + Instinct is 7, done and done.

Step Eight is Combat Feats and Spells. I get 12 points, but they cost 3 each, so why not just give me 4? I dunno. Ah, because they actually cost 3 per level, so you can buy more than level of a given one. Well, I'll take No Safe Place (allowing me to throw something at a target behind cover), and then use the other 9 points for spells. Oh, damn, I didn't print off page 2 of the sheet and I don't have the pdf for this game. Alas, I'll just have to write this stuff in the margins, I suppose.

I can't take Goddess, Healing, or Illusion spells, but anything else is fair game. I'll take three level-1 spells, as befitting my young mage. I'll take Blinding Light, Read Omens, and That Which is Hidden. That gives me an "offensive" spell (not that it does damage) and a couple of investigative type things, which I think is appropriate to the character and indicative of the kind of thing an old mysterious hermit might teach him. 

Step Nine is equipment and money. I get a d10 x 10 silver (rolled a 3, so 30), and I can have any weapon I'm skilled with. I'm skilled in Thrown, but I kinda picture him as mostly throwing rocks. Eh, I'll take a hatchet. He'd be loathe to actually throw it unless it were an emergency, though. I don't see anything else I want. Probably I should buy armor, but eh.

Step Ten is "finish everything off." I have Renown equal to my high Skill (5, for either Awen or Survival). I need a name, though. Handily, there's a list! I'll say my guy's name is Rhun, also called Bychan ("Junior," basically). Rhun is only 17, and makes his living with his family pulling salmon out of the river. His family doesn't fish the sea (his father always said it's a fool's profession, though he does like cockles), but Rhun loves to climb and the seaside cliffs are especially challenging. He climbed into the cave of a hermit known only as Moel, and was surprised when Moel told him he'd been expecting him. Moel taught him magic, and Rhun hasn't been as discreet as maybe he should - the folks who live near to his family have started coming to him for prophecy, and he's not quite sure he should be doing that yet...

Rhun is wiry and skinny, with his mother's dark eyes and his father's dark hair. He carries a wood hatchet, but doesn't think of it as a weapon. He's been prone to crawling or climbing to places he probably shouldn't since he was a wee lad, but he always manages to find something interesting or tasty when he does. Now, he figures that was probably his magical abilities expressing themselves.

That'll do it!