Mano a Mano:Character Development

Character Development

Training and Experience

Characters can gain CP and abilities and improve their build (speed, agility, toughness, strength, running, swimming and airspeed) through training or other experiences.

Direct Improvement

Training or experience can improve abilities and build directly. The character's total CP should then be updated to reflect the difference. For example, a character might be rewarded with 1 level of climbing ability for the experience of ascending the highest mountain in the world. This would increase his total CP by 5.

Flexible CP

An experience can give a character flexible CP which can be used to improve any ability or aspect of their build. For example, a character might be awarded 20 flexible CP for completing an adventure that involved fighting monsters, outwitting villains, finding treasure and a variety of other experiences. The player can use all 20 CP to increase a single ability by 4, or split the CP and increase 2 abilities by 2, or increase 4 abilities by 1. The player could also use the 20 CP to increase his character's speed, agility, strength, toughness, running, swimming or airspeed..

Training CP

1 CP can represent 100 hours of intense training with experts, or 300 hours of relaxed training on your own. For example a warrior might train with a fencing master for 2 hours a week for 10 years, for a total of about 10 extra CP of one-handed weapons ability. (2 hours a week multiplied by 50 weeks a year multiplied by 10 years divided by 100 hours per CP.) If the warrior also spends 12 hours training on his own each week for those 10 years, he will have an additional 20 extra CP. (12 hours a week multiplied by 50 weeks a year multiplied by 10 years divided by 300 hours per CP.)

Developing Abilities

Each ability level is worth 5 CP. A character's total ability modifier cannot be more than 10 plus his template's ability modifier. For example, if a character's template has a stealth ability modifier of 2, the greatest total stealth modifier that character could ever have would be 12 (10 + 2 = 12). If the template has no natural weapons ability, the maximum natural weapons ability of a character using that template is 10 (10 + 0 = 10).

A character can use CP to develop new abilities. A character with who does not have climbing ability could use 10 CP to get climbing ability with a modifier of 2, even if his template does not have climbing ability.

When a character's combat abilities increase, his attack modifiers and defense may also increase. If a character's marksmanship ability increases by 1, then his attack modifier for each of his guns will increase by 1. If a character's natural weapons ability increases by 1, then his attack modifier and defense with each of his natural weapons will increase by 1. Update the character's melee defense when the defense of his striking weapons improves.

Build Development

The maximum speed, toughness, agility, strength, running, swimming and airspeed a character can develop is the same as the the maximum speed, toughness, agility, strength, running, swimming and airspeed of new characters. These limitations are affected by a template's variability. (See Character Creation/Build and Character Creation.)

Developing Toughness (3 CP per level)

Developing toughness increases the amount of damage and stun a character can take before being incapacitated. Suppose a character with 5 toughness works on increasing his toughness for a couple of years and gains 6 CP worth of toughness. He will gain 2 toughness so his total toughness is now 7. When a character's toughness increases, his stamina increases by twice as much because stamina is 2 times toughness.

Developing Strength (5 CP per level)

When a character's strength increases, his weapon power may also change. Suppose a character has 3 strength. If the character gains 5 strength CP, his strength will increase to 4. The character's natural weapon power will increase to 4 and the power of his hand weapons will increase to 4 unless they are already greater than 4.

Developing Speed (20 CP)

A character can even increase his speed if he gains enough extra CP through training and experience. This has the same effect as the more speed option when creating new characters. If the character was created with more speed than the average speed for his template, he cannot develop even more speed through training and experience. Suppose a character has 1 speed and his template also has 1 speed and medium variability. If the character eventually acquires 20 CP of extra speed CP, his speed will increase to 2.

Developing Agility (10 CP per level)

When a character's agility increases, his attack modifiers and defense should be updated. Suppose a character has 3 agility. After many years of intense training he increases his total agility to 4 (which is worth about 10 CP.) All of his attack modifiers, the defense of each striking weapon, melee defense and missile defense will also increase by 1.

Developing Running, Swimming or Airspeed (5 CP per level)

Developing running, swimming or airspeed increases a character's ability to move. For example a human normally has no swimming, but after learning to swim the character can increase hs swimming to 1 for 5 CP. Later the character might practice swimming enough to increase his swimming to 2 for another 5 CP.

Changing Occupations

A character's occupation can change. A character might acquire a more important occupation related to occupations he has had in the past or pursue a wide variety of occupations throughout his lifetime. If a character is used in multiple adventures or campaigns there is a good chance that he will change occupations as his abilities, reputation and circumstances change. A character can acquire some occupations unintentionally. For example if a character is captured by enemies, his occupation could become prisoner. Occupations are often development goals for a character. For example a character may want to become a town guard to have better access to weapons for defeating a public enemy. Successfully changing his occupation to town guard could be a significant accomplishment for that character.

Inventory Management or Acquiring and Losing Equipment

When adding equipment to a character sheet, the quantity and name of the item is usually followed by the item's features in parentheses. Copy the item's features from the equipment list. Some features are specific to this character will be determined by comparing the character and the item. (See Game Design/Equipment.)

Mass

If the total mass of a character's equipment is too high for his strength, the character may be encumbered or unable to carry the equipment. (See Action/Movement.)

Power

The power of a bow or gun is the weapon's power. The power of a natural weapon, hand weapon or thrown weapon is the highest power of any hand used to wield the weapon or the weapon's power, whichever is greater.

Attack

The attack modifier for a hand weapon is the character's agility plus the ability the character uses with that weapon. The attack modifier for a missile weapon is just the ability the character uses with that weapon. Attack modifier is added to the success of attacks with the weapon. The offense and control features improve a weapon's attack modifier. (See Game Design/Equipment/Features.) If a hand used to wield the weapon has the offense feature, add the highest offense value of any hand used to wield the weapon to the weapon's attack modifier. (See Game Design/Templates/Natural Weapons.)

Throw

Thrown weapons have a throw modifier which is added to attack rolls instead of the weapon's attack modifier when the weapon is thrown. The throw modifier is the character's throwing ability plus the character's agility.

Defense

The defense for a hand weapon is the character's agility plus the ability the character uses with that weapon plus 10. Missile weapons do not have defense. When a character is attacked with a hand weapon they may use the defense of any one weapon they are currently using as the difficulty of the attack. The control feature improves a weapon's defense. (See Game Design/Equipment/Features.)

Unwieldy

If a weapon's heft is greater than the power of the limb holding it, the weapon is unwieldy. Unwieldy weapons may only be used to do one quick action per turn (and no powerful actions.)

Manufacturing and Modification

Some abilities can be used to create or modify items or even other characters. Characters created by other characters are called artificial characters. Examples from popular fiction include the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein, and Robby the Robot created by Dr. Morbius. Craftsmanship ability can be used to create armor and weapons from an equipment list, to modify armor and weapons, or to create new items designed by a player or GM. (See Game Design/Abilities/Craftsmanship.) A game might also have more high tech or fantastic abilities, like a "robotics" ability that allows you to build a lunar rover robot, or modify such a robot by mounting a gun to it.

Maximum CP

To find the maximum CP of the item or character being modified, first add the ability used to a modifier based on the amount of time spent working on it:

modifier	time
-4	an hour
-3	a few hours
-2	a day
-1	a few days
0	a week
+1	a couple of weeks
+2	a month
+3	a few months
+4	a year

Then add a circumstance modifier:

modifier	examples
-4	poor quality tools and a culture which has taboos against making this item
-2	poor quality tools or a culture which has taboos against making this item
0	circumstances do not significantly help or hinder the work
+2	state of the art tools or a culture which has specialized in making this item
+4	state of the art tools and a culture which has specialized in making this item

Finally, multiply the result by a technology CP rating. Many games only need a single technology CP value, but technology CP can vary between cultures and even between different kinds of technology.

technology CP	example
10	stone age
20	ancient
50	industrial
100	modern
200	futuristic

The result is the maximum total CP which a newly created weapon or character can have. It is also the maximum total CP which a character or weapon can have after modification.

Surgery

Modifying organic characters requires surgery.

When a character performs surgery, a success roll is required. The surgeon's medicine ability is used for the success roll. Superficial operations like cutting hair or sharpening claws, which only affect non-living tissue, do not require a roll. Surgery which does not directly affect vital organs has a difficulty between 0 and 10. Surgery which affects vital organs or involves other major changes has a difficulty between 11 and 20.

If the roll succeeds, healing from the surgery only affect the character's performance for a few days. If the roll fails, the surgeon must make a second roll, identical to the first. If the surgeon succeeds on his second roll, the character must spend an extra month healing. If the second roll fails, the character dies.

Difficulty		Type of Modification
0		no living tissue affected (sharpening claws)
4		no significant effect on organs, muscles or bones (implanting an explosive device.)
8		modifications to non-vital organs (removing an appendix)
12		significant muscle or skeleton modification (amputation, limb lengthening)
16		modification to vital organs or peripheral nervous system (heart transplant, new limbs)
20		major modifications involving central nervous system (add a new head and spinal column)

Make an Item - Equipment Generation Example

We will use our Steven character from the character creation example to make a new weapon. (See Character Creation/Make a Character.) Steven has craftsmanship ability with a modifier of 2.

1. Design the weapon

We decide Steven is making a "machete". The mass of the machete is 0.5 kilograms, worth 1 CP. The machete's 5 power is worth 50 CP. The machete's 3 heft is worth -30 CP. The total CP is 21 so far. (-30 + 60 + 1 = 31.) Having no shots feature (not requiring ammunition or reloading) is worth 20 CP. We add 20 CP for the sharp feature for a final total of 61 CP. In other words, Steven wants to make this machete:

machete (81 CP, 0.5 kg, 3 heft, 5 power, sharp)

2. Find the Maximum CP We start with Steven's craftsmanship modifier (2). We subtract 1 from this because Steven is only taking a few days make the machete. We add a circumstance modifier of 1 because his culture specializes in making machetes. We multiply the result by 50 CP because Steven is in a culture that has "ancient" technology. The maximum CP is 100 CP: (2 craftsmanship ability - 1 time modifier + 1 circumstance modifier) × 50 technology CP.

3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Weapon

Since the maximum CP (100) is equal to or greater than the Machete's CP (61), Steven is able to make it.

Modify Weapon Example

1. Design the Modified Weapon

Steven decides to alter the shape of his machete to give it more power. Adding 2 power to the machete would add 20 to the weapon's CP value:

Item Name	CP	Mass	Heft	Power	Features
machete (before)	61	0.5 kg	3	5	sharp
machete (after)	81	0.5 kg	3	7	sharp

2. Find the Maximum CP

We start with Steven's +2 Craftsmanship modifier. We subtract to this because Steven is taking a dayto modify the machete, so that his maximum CP is now 1. We add 1 because his culture specializes in making machetes, so that his maximum CP is now 2. We multiply his maximum CP by 50 because Steven is in a culture that has "ancient" technology, so that the maximum CP is 100.

3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Weapon

Since the maximum CP (100) is equal to or greater than the modified machete's CP (91), Steven is able to modify the machete.

Artificial Character Example

1. Design the Character

An evil alien decides to make a synthetic clone of Steven. No new template is needed because the clone uses Modre's Human template. The clone also has the same build and abilities as Modre, so it also has the same character points: 151 CP.

2. Find Maximum CP

We start with the evil alien's +2 biotech ability modifier, so that his maximum CP so far is 2. He is only taking one day to make the clone, so we subtract one from his maximum CP leaving 1. He has no special circumstances, so we add 0 to his maximum CP. The evil alien is using futuristic technology, so we multiply his maximum CP by 500, for a total maximum CP of 500.

3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Character

Since the maximum CP (500) is equal to or greater than the Clone's CP (151), the evil alien is able to make the clone.

Modify Character Example

1. Design the Character

After the Clone's defeat at the hands of Modre, the evil alien decides to upgrade the clone with 729 CP worth of enhancements, so that the enhanced clone's CP value is 830.

2. Find Maximum CP

We start with the evil alien's +3 surgery ability modifier, so that his maximum CP so far is 2. He is only taking a a day to modify the clone, so we subtract 1 from his maximum CP leaving 2. He has no special circumstances, so we add 0 to his maximum CP. The evil alien is using futuristic technology, so we multiply his maximum CP by 500, for a total maximum CP of 1000.

3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Character

Since the maximum CP (1000) is equal to or greater than the Modified Clone's CP (830), the evil alien is able to modify the clone.

4. For non-mechanical characters, perform the surgery roll

Since the Clone is a creature of flesh and blood rather than a mechanical or robotic one, a surgery roll must be made to ensure his survival. Because the evil alien is significantly modifying the clone's physiology the difficulty of this surgery is 20. On his first roll the clone rolls a 5, for a total of 8, which is not higher than 20.

Having failed his first roll, the evil alien has to do another roll to see if the clone will even survive the modification. The clone rolls a 18, for a total of 21, barely over the 20 difficulty level. The now-enhanced clone barely survives the modification and recovers in about a month from this surgery.