Character Creation
Character creation is the process of generating a character to represent a player or GM's actions and influence within the world. This process is fairly normalised, and is detailed below.
Contents
The Concept
To begin character creation, you must have a concept. This is the idea of the character you want to play. It could be a 'mad scientist', an 'investigative reporter', a 'stalwart defender'. It is encouraged that you try and flesh out the character concept before delving into the mechanics of how it works, as having an idea of how the character reacts under stress, how they solve problems, their attitude towards interpersonal relationships, and other such personality facets, are all important in figuring out how the character can act within the world.
Race and Class
The basic descriptors of your character are the character's Race and Class.
Unlike in the real world, where race is often defined by cultural heritage and outward appearance alone, races within the Weirlands are different species and distinct forms of life. Each race has a common cultural and biological heritage, though regional variants are highly prevalent. As such, it would not necessarily be discriminatory to offer an Orc guest a plate of raw horsemeat for dinner, nor offer that your Elven guests find repose in the quiet library rather than a bedroom. However, individual tastes and requirements are often a big factor; vegetarian Orcs are rare, but not impossible, and many Elves enjoy a night in a downy, comfortable bed as much as the next bipedal sapient.
Within this wiki are pages which provide examples of the cultural ideals and concepts of the various races through various points in time. Many of these are written from in-verse; that is, by a person within the Weirlands. As such, unreliable narrators are to be expected, and the writing may give you more insight as to the attitudes of the author than of the subject.
The Class represents a mechanical method of categorising the abilities of the character. It is assumed that all PCs and major NPCs in play are heroic in some form; that is, they all have innate abilities and/or training that elevates them above the generic peasant, merchant, or militia. Classes are categorised by Archetype and Power Source, and each has a list of specialisations that allow you to more accurately define your character's interests within their field.
Attributes
Your character's attributes describe your character's innate abilities. These attributes are Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. The attributes are used as a basis for how naturally talented a particular character is at certain tasks; all actions a character takes can be classed under one of the attributes, and modifiers apply appropriately. Ask your GM for their preferred method of generating attributes.
Skills and Feats
Each character has a number of Skills and Feats that they have studied and understand. Skills often represent general proficiency in an area, whereas Feats give access to special abilities that can be performed in certain situations. A 1st level character begins with 1 feat of their choice, and a number of skill points equal to what they would normally gain per level.
Skill points gained per level are proportional to a character's Intelligence modifier. If the character's Intelligence modifier goes up, the character retroactively gains access to skill points that would have been gained. They are assigned at the player's choice, the next time an extended rest occurs. For instance, a level 5 character gaining +1 to their Intelligence modifier would gain an additional 5 skill points to assign where they wish.
If a character's Intelligence modifier goes down, the character loses access to skill points, starting from the skill with the highest rank and proceeding down the rank order, one at a time, until the total skill points spent is correct. If skills are tied in rank, the player may choose which one to reduce. However, this must be done one at a time, so it's entirely possible that this choice is meaningless. For instance, a level 12 character suffering -2 to their Intelligence modifier would lose a total of 24 skill points, starting from their most highly ranked skill, reducing said skill by 1 before re-checking.
Feats are gained at a rate of 1 every 2 levels, from level 2. In contrast to skills, which can be learnt by anyone, feats can have prerequisites; conditions that you must meet in order to take the feat. If you have a feat for which you no longer meet the prerequisites, you lose access to it until you meet them again.
Powers and Effects
Powers are a central feature of the Weirlands system. They represent a significant level of customisation for your character, especially as their level progresses. Each power is a specific, active ability that your character has.
A power requires Power Points, or PP, to use. Each character has a pool of PP that they recover when they rest. The maximum number of PP any one power can use is equal to the character's HD + 1. PP costs on powers can never be negative. The cost is paid before the power is manifested; if the power fails, for whatever reason, the PP are still consumed.
A power is constructed from one or more Effects. The effects that your character have access to are determined primarily by their class, though they may gain powers from elsewhere. Each power has a Primary Effect. This is the effect on which the power is based. Each effect has a number of statistics. Often, these statistics can be increased, at the cost of more PP. The primary effect determines the use time of the power.
Additional effects may be included in the power via Secondary Effects. Every effect has a secondary effect listing. These secondary effects may be applied to a power for a cost of PP.
There is no limit to the amount of powers your character can know; some characters will naturally keep to a few tried-and-tested combinations, whereas other characters will keep a roster of utility powers. As there is no limit to the number of powers, it is suggested that a number of powers are created during character creation in order to make sure the game moves slowly; while improvisation is good, delays of game are not.
