Opend20: Character Creation

Character Creation

Character Creation lies at the heart of any system. The purpose of OpenD20 is to establish a character creation system that grants the maximum flexibility possible without sacrificing elegant simplicity.

When designing a character, the following mechanics will help:

Action Points

Action points are the butter on the bread that is OpenD20. By purchasing lots of action points, you create a character who can 'fudge' the game play, move out of turn more often, and who is rarely left without the points to pay for their powers. This kind of character (more often than not) will be younger or less experienced. In fact, lots of action points might be the only thing your character brings to the party - a 'lucky' character who just happened to get caught up in something much larger. On the other hand, a character who has more skills and powers is going to be more solid and reliable - someone with more experience, perhaps an older character or the 'team leader'.

When creating a character, decide whether you want them to be able to always perform to standard, until they run out of points, or if you would prefer to rely on your skills checks. Read the Action Points section for more information.

Skills

In OpenD20, practically everything is a skill! Magic, Combat and 'Class' abilities are all skills. And because skills are grouped into synergised families, characters who focus more in a particular skill area develop exponentially higher skills. In the current OGL D20 system, only pure-class spell casters can really be said to develop exponentially. In OpenD20. this is true of all characters. See the Skills section for more information

Basing your character around a particular skill family is a good way to get started if you are stuck thinking up a character concept. For example: Saide doesn't know what she wants her character to be. She looks at the different skills available, and decides that she likes the idea of a very athletic character. If she's going to be taking lots of ranks in skills like riding and swimming, her character might be an out-doorsy type. Already, Saide has lots more ideas for how to develope her character.

Powers

The Powers made available in each campaign or setting is what allows OpenD20 to be generic/universal and still maintain a uniform sense of flavour in the game. The GM will make up a list of Powers using the Power Creation System. So, for example, teleportation and highly-magical powers might not be appropriate for a pulp-action game, but player would have an immediate sense of the style by looking at a list of powers incorporating concealed guns and sleuthing. The Powers List might also provide stimulous for character creation. See Sample Powers Lists for more information.

Character Points

A character receives 10 character points per level (plus one Action Point). All characters have 10 Wound Points and 10 Vitality Points at first level (this replaces the 'at death's door' rule, going down to -10 hp).

• Action Points cost 10 CP each (or five for 'specialised AP'; see Action Points for more information

• Cost of Powers varies; see Powers and Sample Powers Lists for more information

• Saving Throws cost 2 CP each

• Skill Points cost 1 CP each

• Vitality Points cost 1 CP each

• Wound Points cost 5 CP each (this might be too expensive, play-testing will tell)