Mano a Mano:Character Development

Character Development

Developing Abilities through Training and Experience

An experience point is 1% of a character point. An experience point is roughly equivalent to a few hours worth of training, depending on the intensity of the training. (Successful intense training with experts is worth 1 experience point per hour, very laid-back training on-your-own is worth 1 experience point for three hours.) Players should track their character's experience, and note on the character sheets when those characters have gained enough experience to add an additional character point next to an ability.

It is possible for a specific game to use 1/2, 0.1, or 0.01 fractional ability-level bonuses. Experience points are very helpful in this case. To progress 0.01 ability levels, it takes an additional next-full-level bonus in experience points. It takes 10 that amount to progress 0.1 ability levels, or 50 times that amount to progress 1/2 an ability level. For example:

• To progress from level 1 to level 1.5, it would take raising the experience point total for that ability to 200. (First there's 100 experience points for level 1. Then we add 2 times 50 experience points for the extra 0.5 level, because the next full ability level is 2.)
• To progress from ability level 1.5 to 1.6, it would take raising the experience point total for that ability to 220. (First there's 200 experience points for level 1.5. Then we add 2 times 10 experience points for the extra 0.1 level, because the next full ability level is 2.)
• To progress from ability level 1.90 to 1.91, it would take raising the experience point total for that ability to 282. (First there's 280 experience points for level 1.90. Then we add 2 experience points for the extra 0.01 level, because the next full ability level is 2.)

In other words:

Ability
level: experience points
 1.00: 100
 1.10: 120
 1.20: 140
 1.30: 160
 1.40: 180
 1.50: 200
 1.60: 220
 1.70: 240
 1.80: 260
 1.90: 280
 1.91: 282
 1.92: 284
 1.93: 286
 1.94: 288
 1.95: 290
 1.96: 292
 1.97: 294
 1.98: 296
 1.99: 298
 2.00: 300

Changing Occupations

While a Template has to do with the origin of the character and is a static part of the character, the character's Occupation is not permanent. As a character matures, he could easily end up with in more important Occupations related to the Occupations he has had in the past. If the character is used in a multiple campaigns or adventures, he could easily end pursuing a wide variety of occupations throughout his lifetime.

Occupations are often unintentionally gained by a character. For example if a character is captured by enemies, his Occupation could become "prisoner" in contrast to his player's intentions.

Occupations are often development goals for a character. For example a character may want to join a "town guard" to have better access to weapons for defeating a public enemy, and successfully changing his occupation to "town guard" could be a significant accomplishment for that character.

Inventory Management or Acquiring and Losing Equipment

(See also Character Equipment)

Making Equipment

Equipment CP

(See Armor and Weapon CP in the Template CP rules)

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.