Character Creation: Tidal Blades

It's fishin' time! 

The Game: Tidal Blades
The Publisher: Monte Cook Games
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played this one (yet!), but I know Cypher pretty well
Books Required: Just the one; it's a standalone like The Strange

This game presents an aquatic setting, a whole bunch of species to choose from (most of which pass the Chupp Test nicely), and a focus on exploration and community that accentuates the positive. It's not that there's not shit to do, and even monsters to fight, but there's not really a dark seedy underbelly of Naviri. 

(I'm actually going to be running this; we're doing chargen/session 0 tonight. I'm jazzed, I haven't run Cypher in a hot minute.)

So! I don't really have a concept, so I think I'll lean on the random tables the game helpfully provides. As with other Cypher games, my character is going to be expressed as "adjective noun that verbs." In Tidal Blades, however, there's a species tag after the adjective, which effectively functions as a second descriptor. Stay Alive!, their horror supplement, does something similar with "vampire," actually. 

I could choose species first, but I think I'd rather start with type. Our options are explorer, speaker, warrior, and adept. Looking over the other 12 Cypher characters I've made (jesus), I've spread things out pretty well - three speakers, three explorers, two warriors, one adept, and three "other" (not every Cypher game uses the same terminology). Well, adept is the clear choice, then. Let's roll a d20 on the Adept Background table and see where we land. "Your family owns a large orchard nearby known for its excellent fruit and fair dealings." Hell, yeah. Tidal Blades actually devotes a good amount of space to foods of Naviri, so I happen to know there are some in-setting fruits. Let's say my family farms constello.

As an adept, I start with Might 7, Speed 9, and Intellect 12, and then I get 6 more points. I think I'll wait to spend them until I know species and descriptor, though. I get Effort 1, Intellect Edge 1, I can carry 3 cyphers at once, I'm practiced with light weapons but I have an inability with medium and heavy. I start with a bunch of equipment: two expensive items, two moderate, and up to four inexpensive items. Also, since I can do time magic (kinda part and parcel to being an adept in this setting), if it's not innate then I can have implants or mutations. Again, I'll flesh him out a little more first. 

I do get four Abilities, though. I'll definitely take Far Step (I can leap anywhere I can see and have a clear path to). I don't want a really offensive power, but I think I want Push, which lets me shove stuff with telekinetic force. I'll take Sense Ambush (I'm never surprised by an attack), and I'll take Ward (I have a force field that gives me Armor).

All right, nifty. Let's do species next. Obviously I want a species that's at home on land. I think the obvious choices are human or turtle. Let's go with turtle. As such, I get Protected (+1 Armor), Inability in water (so maybe I'm more like a tortoise, I dunno), and I get to pick one of three abilities. Let's go with Weather the Vicissitudes, which gives me an extra point of Armor against ambient damage like heat, cold, and other stuff that would normally ignore Armor. 

Given all that, I think I'll put 4 of my 6 stat points into Might, and the other two into Intellect (Speed can stay where it is). I'll also say that my michiron powers are innate, maybe something that's been passed along through the family.

Over to descriptor. Maybe "Loyal" or something similar. I want this guy to have a touch of wanderlust, but I think I want that to be an arc rather than something fixed about him. Ooh, Honorable. That's perfect, that's definitely something he was taught. That gives me +2 to Might (putting me to 13), I'm trained in pleasant social interactions, and I'm trained in discerning motive/seeing through lies.

And now, focus! Well, I definitely don't want any of the combat-related ones, so that excludes a bunch. "Defends the Weak" is a possibility, but I dunno, I think I'd like to lean into the magic a little more here. Maybe "Delves the Fourth Dimension?" Nah, that's super focused on time travel. Ooh, how about "Absorbs Energy?" I think my turtle is fascinated by how plants absorb sunlight and use it to grow, and he's studying how to do that in a way. Cool, so I'm an Honorable Turtle Adept who Absorbs Energy. I get the Absorb Kinetic Energy ability. 

Arc! This is easy, I want his arc to be Explore. No slot for that on the sheet, grumble grumble. 

Equipstuff! I'll take a battlestaff, a bedroll, a spyglass, a compass, a journal, a waterskin, a writing implement (charcoal pencil, probably), and a biorb (light source). 

My guy's name Che'u Constello (his family started using the fruit's name as a surname three generations ago). Che'u is a large, blue turtle. He grew up tending the fields with his siblings, but he tended to get lost in thought easily. His dad always thought he was a little slow, but then his grandmother revealed that Che'u was, like her, capable of manipulating michirons instinctively. She taught him and he's got some chops, though she suggests he goes away and gets a real education on the subject.

But Che'u...kinda doesn't want to. At least not now. He's lived his whole life in Radiant Bay, and he knows there's much more interesting stuff out there. When he's seen some things, written some stuff down, then he'll go to New Mingu and enroll in school, maybe.

I think that'll about do it!