Mano a Mano:Character Development

Character Development

Developing Abilities through Training and Experience

An experience point is one percent (1% or 1/100) of a character point. Experience points are used to improve abilities by small increments. Characters can gain experience points from training, as a reward for completing an adventure, or from other experiences that improve their abilities. An experience point can represent an hour of intense training with experts, or three hours of relaxed training on your own.

Experience points can be given to improve a specific ability, or characters can receive flexible experience points which their players decide how to use. Experience points are written on the character sheet a decimal fraction of CP. For example, if a character has exactly 3 CP dedicated to a certain ability, and adds 60 experience points (0.60 CP) to that ability, he would write the total as "3.60". If he adds 100 more experience points (1.00 CP) the total would be "4.60", and if he adds 120 experience points (1.20 CP) after that, the final total would be "5.80".

Fractions of Ability Levels

A game can allow only whole ability levels, or it can allow half levels, tenths or hundredths of ability levels. Larger fractions keep the numbers simple, and smaller fractions allow success rolls to reflect gradual character development. (Ability levels are the difference between a character's personal abilities and their template's abilities)

Adding CP to an ability can increase the ability's level and modifier. The new ability level is the highest level the character can get with the character's CP for that ability. The new ability modifier is the new ability level plus the template's ability modifier.

The CP required for whole ability levels is the sum of whole numbers from 1 to the current ability level. (See Ability CP Table.)

If the game allows fractions of ability levels, find the whole number part of their ability level, and then find the fractional part. The whole number part is the highest whole ability level they can get with the ability's CP. Each percentage of an ability level beyond that requires one percent of a CP (one experience point) times the next whole number ability level. Give the character as many fractions as they can get with the ability's CP minus the CP of the whole number part.

 Whole            Add a         Add 0.1     Add 0.01
Ability  CP     Half Level     of a Level  of a Level
 Level           if CP is       for each    for each

   1    1.00   at least 1.50    0.20 CP     0.02 CP
   2    3.00   at least 4.50    0.30 CP     0.03 CP
   3    6.00   at least 8.00    0.40 CP     0.04 CP
   4   10.00   at least 12.50   0.50 CP     0.05 CP
   5   15.00   at least 18.00   0.60 CP     0.06 CP
   6   21.00   at least 21.00   0.70 CP     0.07 CP
   7   28.00   at least 28.00   0.80 CP     0.08 CP
   8   36.00   at least 40.50   0.90 CP     0.09 CP
   9   45.00   at least 50.00   1.00 CP     0.10 CP

Examples

A character has an ability with 3 levels and 6.00 CP. They add 400 experience points (4.00 CP) for a total of 10.00 CP. Their ability level is now 4.

A character has 2.00 CP in some ability. The whole number part of the ability is 1. The game allows the character to have half ability levels, so the player finds the difference between the Ability's CP and the CP of the whole number part (2.00 CP - 1.00 CP = 1.00 CP.) The next whole ability level is 2, so increasing the ability level by a fraction requires 2 experience points for every percent of fractional ability level. Increasing the ability by one half (50%) requires 2 experience points times 50 percentage points which equals 100 experience points or 1.00 CP. So the character has just enough points for ability level 1.5.

A character uses 540 experience points to develop a new ability. The new ability's CP is 5.50. The whole number part of the new ability's level is 2 (which requires 3.00 CP while the next whole number level requires 6.00 CP.) The game allows tenths of ability levels. The difference between the ability's CP and the CP of the whole number part is 5.50 - 3.00 = 2.50 CP, or 250 experience points. The next whole ability level is 3, so the ability can be increased ten percent for every 30 (3 times 10) experience points in the difference. 8 times 30 experience points is 240, which is less than 250, so the characters new ability level is 2 and eight tenths (2.8).

A character has an ability with 3.55 CP and is allowed to have hundredths of an ability level. The whole number part of the ability's level is 2, and the difference between the CP of that whole number part and the ability's total CP is 0.55, or 55 experience points. The character can have an extra percent of an ability level for every 3 experience points (3 is the next whole ability level.) The character's ability level is 2.18 because 18 times 3 is 54, but 19 times 3 is 57.

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 up 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.