Character Design:
The rules for stat generation are below. Here are the guidelines on
what
you can have and do for character design:
- All the PHB races open
- Humans can be Flan, Suel, Baklunish, Rhenne,
Oeridian, Olman, or Touv.
However most of the humans in the Dyver's area are Flan/Oeridians mix.
Suel and Rhenee make a populous minority and others are uncommon
(Baklunish)
or rare (Olman and Touv). All that differs from human race to human
race
is culture and appearance.
- Once the campaign is at higher levels,
players with interesting concepts
for a character using other races from the MM or other published
sources
may query the DM for approval. Note: Someone wanting to play an
Orc
character is much more likely to get approval than someone asking to
play
a half-dragon, the main point is that the player wants this race
because
the 'concept' is good, not because it brings with it a slew of 'cool'
abilities.
Remember, also, that a monsters level is calculated based on its CR +
its
class level, so those 'extra powers' that seem so cool come with the
cost
of a reduction in actual class levels.
- All PC & NPC classes published in the PHB
are allowed.
- Feats, Skills, Spells, and Equipment as listed
in the PHB are allowed.
Stat generation:
The idea behind these guidelines is to get all the PCs to be close but
not identical in stat points. This gives me a tight range I can use to
judge power levels but keeps out the carbon copy syndrome. I do prefer
the style of play that involves a bit of a fleshed out concept before
play
begins. So I favor that in this. Though a player who prefers PCs to
start
with a skeletal idea and develop as they go will not be significantly
lower
than the more initially detailed PCs.
Due to the nature of how points are earned to build
abilities, it is
recommended that a player FIRST put a lot of thought into the character
concept and background, write the complete background and send it to
me,
and THEN actually build the character. That's the best way to get
more points. Its also the best way to build a character that you
will be able to role-play to the hilt, thus garnering you more
enjoyment,
as well as the lucrative hero point and xp awards, which good
role-playing
brings.
Ability Score Point Costs
| Ability Score |
Point Cost |
Ability Score |
Point Cost |
| 3 |
-5 |
11 |
3 |
| 4 |
-4 |
12 |
4 |
| 5 |
-3 |
13 |
5 |
| 6 |
-2 |
14 |
6 |
| 7 |
-1 |
15 |
8 |
| 8 |
0 |
16 |
10 |
| 9 |
1 |
17 |
13 |
| 10 |
2 |
18 |
16 |
Note: Ability scores below 8 have a 'negative cost.' What
this
means is you can increase the number of points available to spend on
other
stats by taking a hit in a different one. Additionally, please keep in
mind that ability scores are paid for BEFORE applying racial modifiers,
thus stats can be higher than 18 for those races which get bonuses to
their
stats.
- You get 45 points to build your characters stats
Skill Points
In order to encourage players to at least partially match their
skill-sets
with their background, the following house rule is being implemented as
an incentive. In addition to starting skill points as provided by the
class
selected, all players get the "Background Skills feat" which
allows
3 additional skill points to be added to 'background
skills.'
These skills are to be spent on skills which best mesh with the
characters background from before the character took up
training
in their current class. These background skills are to be treated
as 'class-skills' for the spending of these 3 points (and ONLY these 3
points), thus 3 points will buy 3 ranks.
A typical example would be a character whose background
indicates he
was the son of an innkeeper. The best skill for him to spend
those
points on would be Profession(Innkeeper). Another
example,
if the character background indicates he was raised by the local
temple,
those skill points would be most sensibly put into Knowledge(Religion).
Granted,
if that player went on to become a priest, the skill also matches his
class-skills,
but the point is that the points were spent on the most logical skill
as
drawn from his background.
Typically, players must spend these extra skill points
on Profession,
Craft, or Knowledge skills. As the point of these extra skill
points
is to encourage rich backgrounds which mesh with the pc's abilities,
please
see your DM if you feel it makes more sense to spend the extra points
on
skills outside of those areas. An example would be a player who
was
raised by a horse-breeding family. Handle Animal would make very
much sense for this pc,and the DM is likely to approve it.
NOTE: These guidelines are reprinted from
the Storm
Keep website authored by Shawn A. Chesak
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