A Skills-Based
Character Creation System
The list of skills is here.
How to create a unique character outside the D&D class system
Traditional D&D classes are pre-set collections of skills, package deals in which the abilities of one's profession are written in stone. But it doesn't have to work that way -- instead, imagine inventing a logical concept for a character with a unique set of abilities and selecting skills á lá carte to make that character real.
1) Character concept
1.1) Begin with an idea for your character. This concept will define allowable skills and help the game master balance play. Consult with the game master about the campaign background and create a logical history for your character. Think about what your character can and can't do. Describe how he or she came to possess this range of skills.
1.2) For example, the game master tells you that about 25 years ago, a cruel and powerful empire conquered the area, which before the conquest had been loosely ruled by several city-states and minor baronies. With the game master's assistance, you decide that your character is one Koulibri Kristophine, the son and heir of one of the conquered barons. His family was killed, but as an infant your character was whisked to safety by your father's faithful but elderly advisor, the family priest. She raised Koulibri to care for his people and to seek liberty for them and justice rather than the heavy yoke of servitude under foreign masters. From her your character learned to wield arms and to honor the god of your family, including the ability to use some priestly magic. Your character has made contacts with other freedom fighters, mostly bards, rangers, and the like. From them Koulibri has learned to travel unnoticed in cities and the wild, to disguise his appearance, and to speak and read the language of the conquerors. Koulibri makes friends easily, and he has good oration skill. Because of his hatred of the invaders, he is a fierce opponent in combat with the knights and minions of the new empire.
1.3) Some players may resist the idea of character concepts. They may just wish to pick out skills with no concept to guide them. Or they may concoct a concept to rationalize the skills they want. Well, as a GM, although you can't force a player, if you provide a rich and detailed campaign background, making a concept becomes both easier and more fun.
2) Skills
2.1) The term "skills" applies equally to innate abilities, learned talents, aptitudes, professions, miraculous or magical powers -- basically anything a character can do can be described by a skill.
2.2) For example, using the warrior attack chart is a skill. Moving Silently is a skill. So are casting spells, swimming, telling fortunes, speaking with burrowing mammals, and detecting invisible creatures and objects. Skills that would match the character concept for Koulibri would include Priest Spell Casting, Disguise, and Oration.
2.3) Each of a PC's skills has its own independent experience point total and level. Players apply earned xp to their skills however they like, within reason. A player could allocate a small percentage of xp to, say, Moving Silently, and more to Disguise -- that PC might have level three Moving Silently and level nine Disguise.
2.4) Just as a spell has a casting time, a duration, a range, and so forth, a skill has four characteristics that describe the mechanics of play: base xp cost (bxp), prerequisites, restrictions, and rarity.
2.5) A very few skills are required -- those detailing hit dice, attack charts, and saving throws.
2.6) Base xp cost: Each skill has a base xp cost (or bxp) that is used to determine how much xp must be spent by a character to go up levels in that skill. Using two easy formulas, you can figure out how much xp is needed to achieve any given level in a skill. These formulas, used to find out how much xp is needed to attain a level L, are:
Formula One (for levels 1 to 8):
xp = bxp x (2 ^(L-2)) [two to the power of (L-2)]
Formula Two (for levels 9 and up)
xp = 125 x bxp x (L-8)
These formulas boil down like this:
To get to level: You need an xp total of:
For example, the skill Priest Spell Casting has a bxp of 400. Using the formulas above, it is easy to calculate an experience point chart for the skill: After spending 200 xp, the character starts at level 1 with 0 xp.
level 1: 0-399; level 2: 400-799; level 3: 800-1,599; level 4: 1,600-3,199; level 5: 3,200-6,399; level 6: 6,400-12,799; level 7: 12,800-25,599; level 8: 25,600-49,999; level 9: 50,000-99,999; level 10: 100,000-149,999
2.6) A table showing a range of typical xp progressions can be found here.
2.7) Prerequisites: Skills may also have prerequisites, that is, you must know the prerequisite skill before you can learn the desired skill. The level of the prerequisite is also a factor, and is dictated in each skill description.
2.8) For example, the prerequisite for Priest Saving Throws is equal or higher Priest Spell Casting. A character desiring level 3 Priest Saving Throws must first have Priest Spell Casting at level 3 or higher. Priest Spell Casting itself requires at least one Priest Sphere skill at any level.
2.9) Restrictions: Certain restrictions may be placed on a charater before a skill can be learned, and certain skills place restrictions on a character, in addition to or in place of prerequisites. Common restrictions include required ability scores or race, use of light armor only, or no armor, or limited weapon selection, or devotion to a deity or ethos. The game master might alter these restrictions on a case-by-case basis, in order to personalize a character concept. If the game master allows such a change, he or she will either add new restrictions or raise the bxp.
2.10) For example, a saintly but chaotic good character wants the paladin's Laying On Hands skill. The game master might allow it, but alter the amount cured to 1d3 per level per day, to reflect the influence of chaos, as well as doubling the base xp cost for game balance. The character still must meet the other restrictions: wisdom 13, constitution 9, charisma 17, and worshipful devotion to a chaotic good diety.
2.11) Some restrictions, such as those required by devotion to a deity or ethos, are in effect at all times (A character with a Ranger's Animal Empathy can never violate that ethos). Others apply only while using the skill (A wizard can cast spells only when wearing no armor, but if the character does not want to cast spells, armor is fine).
2.12) For example, devotion to a deity usually requires one of three levels of commitment. "Respectful devotion" requires careful consideration of the advice of ranking clergy, exclusivity (worship of other gods is forbidden), and a small time commitment, such as attendance at regularly scheduled ceremonies or a few days of service annually. "Reverent devotion" requires all that and tithing, the sacrifice of a minor magic item (potion or such) annually, and one or two weeks of service each year. "Worshipful devotion" requires that all personal wealth and permanent magic items be donated, except for six to eight magic items and wealth that can be carried or set aside for a stronghold (like a ranger or paladin). Also, worshipful devotion requires that the reasonable commands of ranking clergy be obeyed and that one or two months of service be given per year. Respectful devotion is required for Priest Spell Casting, reverent devotion is required for a small granted power, like Woodland Charm Resistance, and worshipful devotion is required for major granted powers, like a paladin's Laying on Hands skill.
2.13) Rarity: Except for special (usually rare) innate abilities, and excluding the exceptional self-taught individual, a character must find someone to teach a desired skill, which may not be easy. In general, a player seeking a rare skill must role play the search for an instructor. Rarity (classed as Common (C), Uncommon (U), Rare (R), and Very Rare (V)) is a guide to indicate the effort required to find an instructor. Most skills will be readily available, but some, whether due to scarcity, or reluctance to teach an outsider, or high costs required, are not.
2.14) For example, although there might be a relatively large number of druids who could teach Shapechange, the skill is still categorized as Very Rare because druids, fearing abuse, very seldom teach it to non-druids. A player seeking the skill would surely have to accomplish a quest or other difficult task to prove devotion and sincerity. On the other hand, a player seeking Psionic Telekinesis (Very Rare) for his character may have to travel to another continent or even plane of existence just to find a psionist who can teach it.
3) Skills acquisition and advancement The heart of the system is creating a character by selecting skills, and then improving your character's skills over an adventuring lifetime.
3.1) Initial skill selection: After creating a background, the player chooses skills to match the character's background. The game master assigns a number of experience points with which you can purchase skills to fit your character concept. A typical starting character will have 1,500 xp to buy skills, and 100 gp to buy equipment. If necessary, you can use your gold as extra xp, at 1 gp = 2 xp, so you could start with up to 1700 xp in skills and a few rags to wear. (Extra xp cannot be used to buy gold.) The game master may vary starting xp and gold to balance the campaign. If you don't have enough xp to fully create your character as you initially conceived it, you may have to purchase some skills later in your character's adventuring career.
3.2) In general, your character obtains skills from instructors. Sometimes, especially if it fits a character's conception, the game master may allow self-teaching, perhaps at a higher bxp cost. Starting instructors are described in a character's conception -- these may or may not be available later on for further instruction. As noted above, instructors for Rare skills generally need to be sought out.
3.3) To become level 1 in a skill requires spending xp equal to half the skill's bxp. Experience points used to become 1st level do not count against the player's total xp for that skill -- after attaining 1st level the player's xp total begins at zero.
3.4) For example, using 1500 xp, the player creating Koulibri Kristophine chooses Eight-Sided Hit Dice (75 xp), Priest Saving Throws (100 xp), Priest Attacks (300 xp), Priest Spell Casting (200 xp), Combat and Healing Spheres (20 and 15 xp), Use Metal Armor (25 xp), Weapon Skill in Long Sword (100 xp), Weapon Skill in Short Bow (100 xp), Literacy in the Common Tongue (75), Language and Literacy in the Tongue of the Conquerers (150), Special Offense against Conquerers (150), Friendliness (100), and Oration (100). These last two are new skills invented for Koulibri. Friendliness adds 3% per level to reaction and loyalty rolls with individuals, and Oration adds 2% per level to rolls for people in groups. The two are not cumulative. Note that Koulibri's creator did not have enough xp to buy all the skills envisioned for the character -- those will have to be acquired later.
3.5) Subsequent skill selection: Players are allowed to distribute earned xp freely among existing skills and to use earned xp to buy new skills. In general, a goodly amount of xp should be assigned to skills you use a lot. However, if a character uses a skill frequently but never assigns earned xp to the skill, the game master may step in and require that up to 50% of earned xp be assigned as the game master dictates to frequently-used skills.
3.6) To advance from level to level above first also requires training: days equal to the bxp divided by 200, at a cost of 20 gp to 80 gp per day, or 100 gp to 400 gp per week. This expense is not rolled randomly, but depends on how much the instructor values her time, on the character's relationship with the instructor, and so on. If the character pays less, the time required is proportionately longer. (However, the time may not be shortened by paying more.) At least one day must be spent training to go up a level in a skill.
3.7) After the character's adventuring life begins, attaining level 1 in a new skill requires a training period of a number of weeks equal to the bxp divided by 200, at a cost of 100 gp to 400 gp per week. This expense is also not rolled randomly. At least one week must be spent training to attain level one in a skill.
3.8) Training periods of less than one week require uninterrupted study and practice. Any interruption of more than a couple hours sets the character back to start. Basically, no adventuring is allowed during training. For training periods of more than one week, one day per week can be spent in non-adventurous pursuits -- religious observance, attending to henchfolk, etc.
3.9) There is a limit to the number of skills a character can know. It is the sum of the character's highest ability score plus the number of hit dice the character currently possesses. If this limit drops below the number of the character's skills (due to ability score affliction or energy level draining), the character is not penalized, but no new skills can be learned until the limit is raised.
4) Creating New Skills Many players will think of skills that are not detailed in these rules. The game master may choose to allow new skills, especially if they work well with a particular character concept. Three things to consider in creating new skills are game balance, type of skill, and mechanics.
4.1) Game Balance: When game masters consider new skills, the first priority must be to avoid skills that will give too much power or importance to one character. In general, view new skills with a skeptical eye. Once created, a new skill is not set in stone. Every adventure or two, the player(s) and game master should evaluate the skill, and if necessary, limit its powers, add restrictions, or raise its base xp cost.
4.2) When setting a base xp cost, look at the skills list for examples and follow these guidelines: For very minor or limited skills that mainly add color, such as singing, bxp should be around 100 to 150. For minor but useful non-offensive skills, such as moving silently, try a bxp in the 150 to 300 range. For major abilities that are very useful, such as multiple attacks, bxp should be in the 300 to 1000 range. For skills or sets of skills that define a character, such as major spell use or warrior attacks, bxp should be in the 1000 to 3000 range. In general, until the system is more familiar, avoid new skills with bxps over 500.
4.3) Add restrictions freely to keep game balance. One common source of new skills are Granted Powers offered to followers of specific deities. Make reverent or worshipful devotion a requirement for these skills.
4.4) Types of Skills: Some skills are already present in most campaigns, and are even common -- they just have not been yet been described. For other innate or inherited skills with which the character was born, the potential for the skill must be developed, perhaps with help, perhaps by solitary experimentation and instinct -- racial abilities, like Infravision, are innate. And some skills are exceedingly rare or simply don't exist, so the character has to discover or invent them. In general, for the sake of game balance, strange innate and brand new skills should be developed with a grain of salt.
4.5) For example, Teaching, Bargaining, and Map Making are skills in every world. They just need to be formalized with game mechanics. Keen Eyesight and Dowsing are innate. And some skills, such as Spell Improvisation and Mesmerism, require extraordinary effort or luck or a stroke of genius to discover and learn.
4.6) Game Mechanics: The chance of success for a skill can be resolved with several methods, such as by percentile roll (like rogue skills) or ability score roll (like non-weapon proficiencies) or in other ways. Follow an existing model in creating a new skill. In general, for an average skill, the chance of success should rise by 5% or +1 per level.
4.7) Use Special Offense and Special Defense to create new skills that affect combat, saving throws, and detection. Let them guide you in making new skills.
5) Miscellaneous Rules and Notes A few special cases require extra rules. Note that a game master may choose to alter these to suit the specific requirements of the campaign.
5.1) Nonhuman PCs: Demihumans and any other non-humans allowed by the game master may use this system with two restrictions. First, races may not learn skills from classes forbidden them, unless the game master approves a character concept for which lifting the restriction makes sense. (That is, no dwarves with spell books, and no halflings with holy swords.) Second, nonhuman races use formula one to determine xp needed for all levels, not just levels one to eight. This makes advancement to higher levels much harder for non-humans.
5.2) Languages and Intelligence: All skill-based PCs have a limit to the number of skills they can have -- highest ability score plus number of hit dice. However, that limit can be exceeded if the extra skills taken are languages. The number of extra languages is given by the Int language bonus.
5.3) For example, a skill-based character with a high stat of Con 15 and 3 hit dice can learn 18 skills. However, since the character's Int is 14, the character can actually learn 22 skills if four are languages.
5.4) Note that the Roguish Read Languages skill cannot be applied to these extra slots, although Ancient Languages, Modern Languages, Special Languages, and Literacy can be.
5.5) Humans begin the game knowing how to speak Common, and that does not count as a skill. Other language skills, including Literacy, can be learned by spending xp on them. Note that Wizard Spell Casting, Wizard Scrolls, Priest Scrolls, and Read Languages automatically include Common Literacy in them.
5.6) When nonhuman characters are created, they can speak their native language for free (Dwarvish, Gnomish, or Elven for Dwarves, Gnomes, or Elves; Elven or Common for Half-Elves, Common for Halflings). Then, during character concept creation, nonhuman characters can learn other languages without spending xp, to fill some or all of their Int slots, so long as they select from the languages listed in the PH description of the race, to fit the character concept. Almost all opt to speak Common if they do not do so already. To learn other languages (or to improve by going up in levels in existing languages) after the character has begun play, the nonhuman character must spend xp just as human PCs, although once again, these skills do not count against the usual maximum.
5.7) Determining Level: Sometimes a character just has to have a level, primarily because certain spell effects require it, such as sleep and cloudkill. In this case, add up all the xp spent by the character in gaining levels (not counting xp used to attain first level), and apply this grand total to the rogue experience table.
5.8) Energy Level Drain: When an undead creature or other attack drains a life energy level, a skill-based character loses one level from each and every skill. For first level skills (except for Hit Dice skills), a drain means that the skill is lost. When all skills are lost, the character is slain and may become a lesser undead. XP totals for skills at reduced levels are at the midpoint of the lesser level.
Site Map | 17 March 98
copyright © 2001 by Michael Moran Alterio, Michael Babriecki, Harry Ching, Stephen Martin, and Donald R. Parrish III (all rights reserved)