Editing Gladius et Aegis: Of service

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=Overview=

Character generation can be a very quick process, but its worth spending some time on. After all, it is this protagonist that you will build your story around!

It includes the following steps:

* 1) Agree Campaign Concept and Power Level 
* 2) Discuss and set Character Concepts
* 3) Assign Attributes
* 4) Gain Aspects
* 5) Create Arcana
* 6) Add Traits
* 7) Record other details.


=Agree Campaign Concept and Power Level =

Before the process begins, its important to know what the overall campaign structure is, where the game is set, what the base premise is, and how powerful the protagonists ought to be.

'''Campaign Structure''' is as simple as deciding who will be the GM, how often you plan to meet to game, how many sessions the campaign will run for (which can be "indefinitely", or a set number of sessions, or most realistically "till the end of a single story arc".) You can also work out if you want to try out things like having rotating GMs, a stable of characters for each player or the player group collectively, and so on. The default assumption here is a traditional campaign mode of having a single GM, one player character per player and playing the game till a good narrative stopping point. However, its your group's game, so do what you like!

'''Setting''' is a time and place. Because of familiarity, I prefer to centre my own campaigns around London in the modern day. The game doesn't require you to do this, of course, and the setting details are created in an intentionally 'generic' way, in order to allow you to customize this. Normally it'll be the GM who decides setting, with player input.

'''Base Premise''' is what the campaign is about, or at least how it will start. Its good to get player and GM expectations on the same page at the start of a campaign. In my own first campaign, the plan is for the player characters to be relatively new recruits to ''Gladius Et Aegis'', and thus able to explore the game setting as they learn the game. Starting a campaign with a "mission-based" approach is not often a bad idea, though most campaigns benefit from being led more and more by the players as time goes by.

'''Power level''' is simply a decision about how powerful the player characters are relative to the general population. There are five sample power levels dealt with in this character generation process: ''Disadvantaged, Average, Advantaged, Exceptional'' and ''Extreme.'' I would recommend the ''"Advantaged"'' level is a good place to start a new first-time campaign, which lets player characters be a cut above the norm, but not so far removed from human power levels as to make human antagonists and allies irrelevant. It also ought to offer enough exceptional abilities that the player characters feel empowered and special, but not enough that they become overwhelmed with options or breeze through all challenges.
This is just a guideline though: there's no reason why a player group and GM couldn't agree to start a campaign at higher or lower levels for a completely different sort of story, or even for player characters to start at different power levels if this sort of contrast and variety matters more to a player group than "balance" does. Also, there's no need to stick exactly to the sample Power Levels described: a GM and player group could agree to tweak the numbers as they choose. The Power Levels can also be used as guidelines for the GM to create NPCs by. Broadly they are as follows:

* ''Disadvantaged'' - The character is, overall, theoretically weaker than an ordinary human. Though they might have supernatural powers they'll have other weaknesses to balance these out, which means that they'll always have to think on their feet to stay ahead of even the average human. An example of this power level might be a shambling revenant that while being strong and possessed of undead powers is less sociable and less intelligent than a normal human. In the default game setting its expected that this power level will generally be used for "footsoldier" antagonists: the sort of supernaturals that generally need to be presented in significant numbers to represent a threat, or which are specialised for a single role.
* ''Average'' - The character is overall as strong as an average human. Any supernatural advantages they might have are balanced by a slight deficit in more mundane attributes. Of course, supernatural powers being what they are, this will still probably mean they have the edge over humans in their own specialized ways. An example of this might be a changeling with half human and half faerie blood that has his glamours and enchantments, but is more frail in actual direct physical terms than a human, and harder to like naturally when he doesn't have magic helping him.
* ''Advantaged'' - The character is overall at an advantage over normal humans. An example of this might be a young vampire new to the endless night, who not only has vampiric powers but also is that little bit stronger, smarter and more alluring than a normal human. This could be considered to be the "average" point for supernatural creatures in a default campaign in the setting provided.
* ''Exceptional'' - The character is a lot stronger than a normal human. An example of this might be a powerful and learned magus who is every bit as scholarly and clever as his mundane academic counterpart, but also has sufficient arcane might to summon lightning storms and raise the walking dead. In the default setting those of this power level are considered to be the movers and shakers in the supernatural world.
* ''Extreme'' - The character is far beyond human capabilities, likely in almost every way. An example of this might be the thousand year old avatar of an ancient god, able to punch his way through brick walls, entrance crowds with his divinely empowered oratory, beat a Chess Grandmaster after learning the rules a few days previously and command the oceans to swallow a city with a simple application of will. In the default setting, those with Extreme levels of power are rarities, and generally one-offs in terms of what sort of supernatural creature they are. Their appearance will generally shape the direction of a campaign.


=Discuss and set Character Concepts=

With the above in mind, players should create their character concepts. This may require a little setting familiarity, but the entire design philosophy of the ''Gladius et Aegis'' game is to encourage creativity rather than stifle it. There aren't a finite number of "splats" to draw from, but rather a game framework that allows you to create the sort of character you want. If you want to come up with something not mentioned in the game setting (maybe a stranded alien made of pure thought, a soul-imbued clotheshop dummy, a hyper-intelligent owl, or whatever) then the only thing that limits it is your imagination, and the shape and integrity of the overall campaign setting. For example, if you're playing in the default setting (which has vampires, ghosts, magi, etc. and is "dark fantasy" in nature) then its probably out of keeping with the tone of the game to play a Tokyo schoolgirl that has a giant rainbow-decorated robot suit. Also, there's no obligation to go wild with something original and unique: the GM will likely appreciate it if you choose to tie your character concept with the world and supernatural society he's already created, so if you play a vampire or mage in the default setting, it'll probably as good for the story as if you play a unique creature with no ties to the other supernaturals in the world.
Also, bear in mind that this is usually a game with other players at the table, and with stories told that involve multiple protagonists in the same scene. Thus if one character chooses to play a vampire, and the other a kami-spirit that only exists between dawn and dusk, then they're likely creating a less enjoyable game for themselves and everyone else. Compromises can be reached, usually, and the GM should guide the process. For example, if both players were determined, the GM might ask both players to also make themselves a second character (perhaps one power level lower) that they can direct an play when their other character is not feasibly available.

The character sheet has the following sections which you may want to fill out:

* '' ''


=Assign Attributes=

There are four '''Attributes''' that broadly define your character.

* ''Puissance'' - This is an attribute unique to characters with supernatural power. Ordinary humans default to a score of 0 in this attribute. A higher Puissance indicates that your supernatural powers are of greater magnitude. For example, while two pyromancers of equal skill might be able to through a fireball, the less puissant one might be able to kill a man with it, while a more puissant one might be able to blast apart a city block.
* ''Socialisation'' - This attribute represents your ability to affect other characters through social means. It includes charm, oratory, intimidation, seduction, non-verbal manipulation, empathy, animal magnetism and more. It also represents your ability to avoid being manipulated, to resist charm and the like, and to spot the moods and influences of others.
* ''Physicality'' - This attribute is associated with physical action and capabilities, including your strength, toughness, agility, coordination and physical ability in all areas. Its also the primary attribute used for physical conflict, though of course other attributes come into play in their own ways.
* ''Intellect'' - This attribute relates to strength of mind. This is not just raw intelligence, but also level of education, perceptiveness, determination and force of will, cunning, logic, tactical assessment, good decision making, quick-wittedness and even common wisdom. 

You receive points to divide between these attributes. ''Socialisation, Physicality'' and ''Intellect'' must have at least 1 point assigned to them. Most player characters will have a ''Puissance'' of at least 1 as well, but you have the option of leaving it at 0 if you wish to play a non-supernatural creature, such as an ordinary (but likely exceptional in his abilities) human. The number of points you have to divide up, and the maximum you can put into any one attribute is defined by the chosen power level of the game.

* ''Disadvantaged'' - You have 9 points of attributes, and can put no more than four in any one attribute.
* ''Average'' - You have 12 points of attributes, and can put no more than six in any one attribute.
* ''Advantaged'' - You have 17 points of attributes, and can put no more than eight in any one attribute.
* ''Exceptional'' - You have 24 points of attributes, and can put no more than ten in any one attribute.
* ''Extreme'' - You have 33 points of attributes, and can put no more than twelve in any one attribute.

Implied by the above, but worth stating here, is that the human average for Socialisation, Physicality and Intellect is 4.

=Gain Aspects=

''Aspects'' are way to individualize your character, describing him or her in ways that reflect training, specializations or expertise. ''Aspects'' are created by players and the GM together (usually with the player proposing an Aspect they would like, and the GM giving approval or (more rarely) vetoing it). 
Each ''Aspect'' is tied to a different ''Attribute.'' For example, an ''Aspect'' of ''"Agility"'' would be tied to ''Physicality''.

At character generation, you gain 1 Aspect for every point of Attribute. For example, if you have a ''Socialisation'' of 7, then you gain 7 ''Socialisation Aspects''.

''Aspects'' are divided into three types:

* ''Aspects of Training'' represent broad areas of an attribute at which you have some degree of training, and thus are better at than most. For example, an ''Intellect Aspect of Training'' might be ''"Medical Doctor"''. Note that the ''Training Aspect'' usually but does not have to relate to training of some sort. It might just represent a natural aptitude or advantage, such as being ''"Strong"'' or ''"Beautiful"''. As a general guideline, players choosing to define an ''Aspect of Training'' should define something where they expect it to come into play less than a third of the time that any given character might be testing the attribute, given an average gaming session.
* ''Aspects of Specialisation'' represent a section of an ''Aspect of Training'' that you are more specialised in. For example, if you have the ''"Medicine" Aspect'' above you might have a ''Specialisation Aspect'' of ''Trauma Surgeon''.
* ''Aspects of Expertise'' represent a narrow area of an ''Aspect of Specialisation'' that you are particularly good at. For example, if you have the ''"Trauma Surgeon" Aspect'' above, you might have an ''Expertise Aspect'' of ''Gunshot Wounds''.

In game terms, an Aspect adds +1 dice to an attribute roll when it comes into play, but you can only ever add +1 from one Training Aspect, +1 from one Specialisation Aspect and +1 from one Expertise Aspect for a maximum potential benefit of +3 dice.

Aspects of different types aren't costed differently in character generation terms. For example, if you have three Training Aspects, or one Training Aspect plus a one Specialisation Aspect plus one Expertise Aspect, its costed as three Aspects regardless.

In a default ''"Advantaged"'' power level campaign, its strongly recommended that you take at least one but no more than two Expertise Aspects in total, as this will help define your character in interesting ways, but without making you too limited in scope and breadth of abilities. This is just a recommended guideline, however, and is not enforced by any rules.

See [[Gladius et Aegis: Aspects|the page on Aspects]] for more details and guidance on this step.


=Create Arcana=

''Arcana'' are supernatural powers and like ''Aspects'' are defined in a freeform fashion. Only creatures with supernatural powers have ''Arcana'' - if you opted to create a character with a ''Puissance Attribute'' of zero, then you can skip this step.

Each ''Arcana'' is ranked from Rank 1 to Rank 4, representing different levels of control and versatility with that supernatural power. This Rank does NOT represent how powerful the effects created are, as that's covered by the ''Puissance Attribute''. Essentially ''Arcana Ranks'' define what effects you are able to achieve rather than the scale of those effects.

Broadly, the guidelines are as follows:

* ''First Rank - Protect Self / Sense Arcana''. For example, within the Arcana of Pyromancy, this might allow a wizard to be able to protect himself from flames and from fire spells, to remotely sense the presence of fire, and to measure its heat and direction.
* ''Second Rank - Counter Arcana / Affect Arcana''. For example, within the Arcana of Pyromancy, this might allow a wizard to disrupt fire magics as they are being cast, to stop flames igniting, to shape flames that are already present, to weaken or encourage flames, to direct the course of a spreading fire.
* ''Third Rank - Negate Arcana / Create Arcana''. For example, within the Arcana of Pyromancy, this might allow a wizard to fully extinguish flames, to draw heat out of an area, to banish a fire-spirit, to unweave a pyromantic wall of flame already in place, to summon and fling fireballs, to conjure a wall of flame.
* ''Fourth Rank - Redirect Arcana / Master Arcana''. For example, within the Arcana of Pyromancy, this might allow a wizard to catch the fireballs of enemy wizards and send them back at them, to take control of a fire spirit summoned by another, to summon fire spirits to do his bidding, to transform himself into a living pillar of flame.

The number of ''Arcana Ranks'' you gain is determined by your campaign power level. Note that you can choose to spread these out over several Arcana, or stack them onto one or a few Arcana as you choose. For example, 4 Ranks in the Pyromancy Arcana costs the same in character generation terms as 2 Ranks of Pyromancy plus 2 Ranks of Geomancy. 

* ''Disadvantaged'' - You have 2 Arcana Ranks.
* ''Average'' - You have 4 Arcana Ranks.
* ''Advantaged'' - You have 8 Arcana Ranks.
* ''Exceptional'' - You have 16 Arcana Ranks.
* ''Extreme'' - You have 32 Arcana Ranks.

See [[Gladius et Aegis: Arcana|the page on Arcana]] for more details and ideas for this step.


=Add Traits=

''Traits'' are descriptors of your character that aren't just edges or weaknesses, but a bit of both. Essentially, they're ways of describing who your character is, and often encompass rules sub-systems unique to characters with that trait. ''Traits'' are player defined (with GM consent, rules input and veto), and should use the following guidelines:

* 1) A ''Trait'' always has pros and cons to it, which more or less even out. All Traits are double-edged, in that they help and hinder in equal measures, or at least make your life complicated as often as they make it simpler.
* 2) A good ''Trait'' is one that is likely to improve the narrative of the game, and which makes the character more interesting.
* 3) If you have a ''Puissance'' of at least one, then you need at least one ''Arcane Nature Trait'' to explain your access to supernatural powers.
* 4) Generally, you should not have more than one ''Arcane Nature Trait'', and you should avoid taking ''Traits'' that are mutually contradictory.
* 5) ''Traits'' should be chosen in order to represent your character concept, rather than the other way around. Its probably within Traits that there is most potential for powergamer-types to break game balance. The best way to avoid this is for the players AND the GM to be responsible for maintaining balance and fairness.

Traits broadly fall into three categories:
* ''Arcane Nature Traits'' explain where supernatural power comes from. For example ''Magus'' or ''Vampire''.
* ''Background Traits'' tell us more about the character's circumstances. For example ''Old Money'' or ''Beloved Family'' or ''Web of Intrigue'' or ''Serving Policeman''.
* ''Internal Traits'' tell us more about the character's nature and self. For example ''Devout Muslim'' or ''Accustomed to Loneliness''. 

As theoretically there's no power gain or loss from ''Traits'', there's no link between number of ''Traits'' and game power level. Regardless of game power level, you can take as many or as few traits as you wish.

First time players are recommended to take between two and four traits: one to define their Arcane Nature, then one to three to add more uniqueness to their circumstances.

Making calls on whether traits are balanced or not is one of the hardest things to do for GMs and players in this character generation process. Some GMs may well want to limit their players to those described on [[Gladius et Aegis: Traits|the page on Traits]] till they get a feel for the system.


=Record other details.=

Sometimes you'll need to record additional details, normally as a result of traits. For example, if you take the ''Vampire Trait'' as its presented in the suggested Traits section, then you'll need to record a ''Blood Pool'' score.

This is also a good time to review your character concept and to decide whether whats on your character sheet matches what you were looking for. If it doesn't quite fit, you can make adjustments, either to the character sheet, or to tweak the concept. The GM should also look at the characters in the gaming group as a whole, and make sure that the characters are going to fit well together. Perfect balance in power levels isn't necessarily the goal, but rather that the characters are likely to be equally involved in the stories to come, and thus every player will be able to have a good gaming experience rather than feeling as if they are playing a bit part in another player's story.

Particularly eager players might want to start adding more information now as well, such as character history and biography, more details on motivation, hooks that will help the GM bring the story to their characters and - perhaps most importantly - how their characters relate to the other characters in the gaming group.

Finally, be aware that character generation doesn't have to stop when the game begins. No player group or GM can be expected to make perfect judgment calls, especially with regards to power balance. Both the players and the GM should be open to the idea of adjusting character concepts as character sheet details as play progresses. Of course, major changes can be jarring to a narrative ("hey, I've decided that I'm not a vampire after all, but actually an invisible ghost) but if the story can be preserved, it pays not to be too much of a stick-in-the-mud with regards to making adjustments on the fly. The important thing is that the players have characters they enjoy playing, and that the GM enjoys running the game with those player characters. Everything else is just guidelines!



[[Category:Gladius et Aegis]]
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 The character sheet has the following sections which you may want to fill out:
-* ''Player Character Name:'' How you name your character should be in keeping with tone, setting and the nature of the character. It makes perfect sense for a young vampire to have a modern English name if he was turned into a vampire in 1990s London. Equally, it makes sense for a magus who worries about the power of true names to go under a pompous Latin pseudonym, or for a creature from an underwater frog-man civilization to have a name that has no root in human language at all.
+* '' ''
-* ''Gens:'' This is basically what sort of creature you are. For example, vampire, ghost, werewolf, etc. Its entirely possible that you consider yourself to be just "human", even if you have supernatural powers (likely most Magi in the default setting would define themselves as such).
-* ''Date of Birth:'' This is optional, but useful for the GM to place your character in a historical context. Its worth considering your power level, of course.
-* ''Apparent Age:'' This is included separately to date of birth, as in the game settings this game is likely to deal with there's little reason why a nine-hundred year old demon wouldn't look like a 12 year old boy.
-* ''Motivation:'' If you're playing in the default setting, then this is already partly in place for you. Its assumed that as part of ''Gladius et Aegis'' you have a desire to protect humanity from the monsters that surround it. However, there can always be more to it than that, and its good to come up with at least a short explanation of why this is the case. Motivation drives stories, and players should have this in mind when deciding this. For example, saying "because I think its right" is quite a dull reason to serve ''Gladius et Aegis'' and likely a dead-end for stories. On the other hand, saying "because I have an eight year old daughter, and I want her to grow up in a world free of monsters" has a lot more potential.