Character Creation: Valor

Valor. Honor. Buttor. (There's your Homestar Runner reference for the month.)

The Game: Valor
The Publisher: Valorous Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

I could actually make another H*R reference, because Strong Bad's line "IT'S CALLED JAPANIMATION" comes to mind, but that seems a little on the nose. Anyway, Valor isn't explicitly derived from a particular anime (not that I'd know, really, but one isn't mentioned), but the artwork is very much in that style. 

The game is (sigh) without an official setting. It reminds me a lot of Tri-Stat (specifically Big Eyes, Small Mouth) mixed with the more tactical elements of Savage Worlds. Tonally it reads a bit like Feng Shui. I don't really see much to endear me to the game, but I didn't want to bang my head on things when I was reading, either, so I guess that's OK. Let's make a character.

I'm going to use the sample campaign. Also, I really wish this damn PDF was bookmarked.

All right, so this isn't a million miles from Changeling: The Dreaming or Æternal Legends or other urban fantasy games where the secret world is hidden under illusion (I could keep naming examples). There are a few factions that I could have a character be part of, but I'm thinking Freelancer might be fun - someone who's just come into their abilities (since all PCs are level 1 anyway) and is a gun for hire. This implies I have something overtly supernatural I can do, but we'll get there. 

Ugh, this is one of those annoying games where chargen isn't summarized, you just have to bumblefuck your way through the book. OK, fine. First...well, first technically is concept, but I don't have a firm enough grasp of the game and how the mechanics fit together to do that, so I'm gonna start with Attributes and let the concept take shape as we go.

Five Base Attributes (Strength, Agility, Spirit, Mind, Guts), which then form the five Active Attributes (Muscle, Dexterity, Aura, Intuition, Resolve, respectively), which are the ones that actually get added to rolls. I have 25 points to buy Base Attributes, minimum 1, maximum 8. I could divide up evenly, of course, but where's the fun in that.

What the hell, I have some time today. Let's put 7 points into Spirit so I can magicky stuff. I'll put 3 into Strength and Agility, which gives me 12 more. I'll split them evenly into Mind and Guts. 

Active Attributes are [Base Attribute + Level]/2, rounded up, so I have Muscle 2, Dexterity 2, Aura 4, Intuition 4, Resolve 4. Moving on!

One thing I do like is that the book breaks down each Attribute, tells you what they do in play, and what it implies if you put a given Attribute higher than others. I think a lot of games might benefit from not just explaining what such traits mean but what they mean with regards to a character. Kind of more numbers-based version of the Apocalypse World "play this playbook if you want to X" thing. 

Anyway, now some derived stuff (which I'm not writing down because I just bet these can change). Health is 50 + (5xStrength) + (10xGuts) + (10xLevel), or 135. Health Increment is Health/5, or 27. Critical Health is twice the Increment, or 54. 

Stamina is 8 + (Spiritx2) + (Mindx2) + (Levelx4), or 38. Stamina Increment is Stamina/5, or 8 (round up).

Strength Attack is (Strength + Level) x 2, so 8. Agility Attack is figured the same way; also 8. Actually all of the Attacks are (there just isn't one for Guts), so Spirit Attack is 16 and Mind Attack is 14. 

Damage Increment is Level + 5, but the book notes that Skills can increase it, so 6 for now. Defense is double Level plus Strength and Guts, or 11 for me. Resistance is double Level plus Mind and Spirit (15). Move is 3. Valor begins at 0. 

See, and now there's discussion of XP and combat, but one would be forgiven for thinking chargen is over! But no! There's other shit to do! This is why a chargen sidebar/chart/checklist/banana would be useful. Closest I see is a level chart, which actually does help somewhat because looking at the Level 1 bar I get a sense of what else I have to do:

No idea what a lot of that means, but we'll figure it out. It's an adventure!

Skills, then. I get 20 points. Some Skills are fixed (which I think means ya either got 'em or ya don't), some have levels. The chapter starts with a long chart of all the Skills, and then an explanation of what we're doing, which is not the way I'd prefer to have this set up, but whatevs. 

OMG. OK, so Skills have a level ceiling, but it's different and differently figured for each type (there are three types). Kill me. Fortunately I don't have a lot of points and I can only take Season 1 Skills anyway, so this shouldn't take too long. Guess I should think about my character. 

Let's say that my character was walking home from his crappy job in a Dollar Store (look, it's a job) and got lost in the fog. He followed a light (NEVER FOLLOW THE LIGHT) and fell down a well into a void. But for whatever reason, the void didn't keep him. It spat him back out and he carries some of the void with him. He's learning to do...things with it. 

Good start. So I'll spend 4 SP and take Darksight, and then I'll spend 6 more and take Energy Attack (letting me throw bolts of void). That increases my Mind and Spirit Attacks by 6, making them 20 and 22, respectively. That's half my points, though. I'll take Resistant (the void just swallows energy attacks thrown at me), raising my Resistance to 19. 

Ooh, I like Dark Healing. Means I have to take the Malevolent Entity Flaw, but that sounds about right. That costs 5SP, so I only have one left. I guess I need to look at Flaws, though. Easy enough, the Malevolent Entity Flaw gives me 5SP back. I have 6, then. I'll pay those and buy Blazing Might (I can play 3 Valor and raise Spirit and Mind Attack by 8). 

Techniques are combat abilities, and they continue to remind me of Tri-Stat inasmuch they're comprised of a core and modifiers (and potentially limits). I get 12 points to build them, and I have a max level of 4 in any given Technique. Also since I have Malevolent Entity, I can take the Dark Power Limit. I'm meant to make these up and then build them, so OK, sure.

I'd like my guy to have a power that saps the energy from anyone in the immediate area, a kind of "drain the light" sort of technique. And lookit this, one of the Cores is Weaken. It lets me apply Flaws to a target. 

Next we determine the Attribute that controls the Technique; I want Spirit, obviously. 

Modifiers. There's a few that I like, but I'm limited it what I can do because I need to save some points for the Core Power Level and I can't go over 4 (modifiers add to the level of the Technique). I Blast Radius, though, so I'll suck it up and buy that for two points. 

Speaking of which: Core Power. I take the total level (4, because I want the max for this), subtract the Modifiers (2), I'm left with 2 points. For a Weaken Core, I pick two levels of Flaws and that's what the Technique applies. I'll pick Lack of Control; anyone affected has their Max Stamina reduced by 8. 

Limits! Limits lower the Stamina cost to use a Technique, but not the level, sadly. I know I want Dark Power, and that lowers the cost to 0 right there. Actually maybe I want to avoid Dark Power, here? It lowers the Stamina Cost by 10, for crying out loud. I'll use that for another, more devastating power. For Drain the Light, I'll take Immobile - I can't move while using it. 

That's 4 of my 12 points. I'll get some more, sure. How about a Summoning Core, to call up some magical shadow demon? It's simple enough; we'd build the demon as a character with a bunch of restrictions, which I'm not going to do because it isn't necessary here (but I'd probably prioritize speed and agility). Core Level can't be higher than 1, here, so I basically need to take 3 levels in modifiers (assuming I want to make this a level 4 Technique, which I do). Oh, wait, no, there aren't any Modifiers I can put on a Summoning Core. Fine, it's level 1, so I'll put the Dark Power Limit on this one, so it costs 0 Stamina to use. 7 more Technique Points. 

Well, how about your basic barrier of frigid void-shadows? Barrier Core, it'll use Aura, and I'll take Violent Barrier (the barrier does damage if someone crosses it). That only raises the level by 1, so I'll keep this to level 3 total. I'll take the Reload Limit to reduce Stamina cost a bit, too.

Four points left, so let's sink them all into one Damage Core power. I don't want Blast Radius, but I want some way to affect multiple targets, maybe? Let's see. Nah, I'll take Darkness Zone; anything I target becomes dark terrain for the rest of the scene. I'll put Dark Power on this one, too, so Stamina Cost 0. It does 15 + 5 per Core Power (so 10) + Spirit Attack damage, or 47 total. Ouch. 

And I think that about does it? Need a name and everything, of course.

Rex Perkins, as mentioned, followed a light and fell into a Void, and came back out with the Void in his head. The Void hasn't been especially forthcoming with what it wants, and Rex hasn't noticed anything going really pear-shaped on the occasions it does take the wheel. But then again, he doesn't like the way that the summoned shadow-creatures genuflect and grin at him...

Rex does not match his powers. He's sunny, cheerful, and generally nice - you know, the kind of person who would follow a mysterious light because it looks cool. That might be why the Void tends to numb him when it takes over. No need to upset him. 

Rex has dirty-blonde hair that goes a little stringy in the rain. His eyes used to be light blue, but they've darkened considerably since the Void came calling and they go completely black when he uses his powers. Rex quit his job at Dollar Store (at least, they tell him he did...oh, shit, was that the Void?) and he's been drumming up business as a shadow-flinger-for-hire, but he hasn't quite put together that doing that is going to involve violence, which is going to involve gambling on the Void not taking over. 

That's it! I like this character, actually.