Character Generation

Random (Dice Roll) Method

For all their vaunted powers, sorcerers are, in the end, merely normal humans. As such, when rolling up ability scores for a mage, use table A to generate his Strength and Endurance, then table B for his Fighting and Agility. Finally, use table D for Reason, Intuition and Psyche, as these are usually rather high in wizardly characters, above and beyond those scores seen in typical people (on average).

Sorcerers may then roll on table A to determine their initial Resources rank. They also begin play with a Popularity score of zero (though this can be modified as usual, as detailed in the Core Rules section.) Add up your Health and Karma totals as normal, along with Negative and Mental Health scores.

Once your rolls are complete, you may gamble on any two ability scores of your choice, potentially shoring up whichever area(s) you feel needs more work. Keep in mind that once you are done, all of your ability scores save for Intuition and Psyche must remain within normal human maximums; while you deal in dread forces unknown to most men, you're still one of them for the most part.

If your ability score(s) exceed normal human levels, simply drop them back down that point when you're done.

Magic Schooling

Once all of a new mage's vital statistics have been generated, a magical school of study must be chosen for him. While table 3 exists for the generation of a random school (mostly for Judges to use), a player may choose which of the 13 schools he wishes his character to follow (if the three optional schools are, in fact, available in his game world; if not, there are only ten options, then).

This is a very important choice, for a mage character is stuck with the school he starts out with for a very long time.

* These schools are technically combination character schools, in that they incorporate portions of the Technical Manual, the Manual of the Psi, and the Deionomicon. They are considered optional schools, as they may incorporate elements of play the game Judge might or might not want to include in their campaigns. Check with him or her first; if these are invalid options, choose or roll again.

Choosing Initial Spells

Once a character's magical school has been chosen, we can determine which spells he will begin play with. Start by rolling on table 4 to find out how many spells the sorcerous character wields at first. Keep in mind that if this is an insufficient number of starting spells (in the player's eyes), he can always 'earn' more by use of the Quirks system - though as usual there's a trade off involved.

Then, follow up that roll with several on table 5, one for each spell he has. This will determine the type of spell that will occupy that spell 'slot', whether it be personal, dimensional, or whatever. It is recommended that a player be allowed to overrule at least half of these rolls; he should have at least one 'school' spell to start, and his school may lean on one type of spell over the others.

Physiomancers like personal spells for instance, while elementalists are keen on universal spells, and entreatists love their entreaties (go figure).

Now it's time to determine just which spells a character will have. This brings up one sticky point where character generation is concerned. A major point of contention is the random roll vs. character choice conundrum. Many players choose to simply pick the spells they will utilize, without random rolls entering the equation, while some Judges prefer all spells to be generated randomly.

While it is ultimately up to the game Judge, it is recommended that a mixture of both methods of spell generation be used, allowing the player to choose half of his spells, and to roll up half randomly. This helps a player get the spells he really wants for his mage, and makes new characters refreshingly different each time. This works except where schools might override spell choices.

The first spell an elementalist learns should be an elemental control spell, for instance. When rolling spells up randomly, refer to tables 6 through 22, depending on what kind of spell will occupy each spell slot. You'll note there's no tables for entreaties; the nature of entities that may be entreated upon will be dependent on the individual game campaign - ask your Judge!

Notes: spells that have a (2) or (3) listed after them count as either two powers or three powers, respectively (or cost an amount of points per rank equal to the normal amount times that multiple); spiritual link, for instance, counts as two powers or costs two points per rank. Spells with an asterisk in parenthesis (*) are special in cost; see that spell description for more.

Choosing a Magic Item

In addition to the magical spells at his disposal, a new wizard should begin play with at least one magical item. This helps to bolster him as he gets his feet wet in an adventuring career, as it often comes in handy to have access to at least one magic power that does not require incantations or the like to be activated. Generate a magical spell as you did before, but make it inherent to a device - any device - as long as it makes sense. You know, a wand for a magic blast, a carpet to fly, etc...

If there is any area the player (or the Judge) feels the character is lacking in still, this is a good place to fill in that deficiency.

Determining Spell Ranks

Once you have figured out what spells your new mage wields, and choose the nature of your magical item, it is time to determine just how potent these magic powers are. In order to do this, simply roll once on table D for each magical power the character possesses. Once you have done this, you may 'gamble' on one spell rank of your choosing (or the rank of your magic item's special power) if your character has three or less magic spells, twice if he or she has more than three spells.

Character / Spell Limitations

Often, a player may not be happy with the ranks he's come up with for his new mage. Even after he adjusts his spell ranks for any bonuses granted by his school or from gambling attempts, he's just not satisfied with what he's come up with. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as sometimes one has a specific vision in mind for their character. This is where limitations come in.

A player may subject his sorcerer to additional limitations (above and beyond those offered by his school) in order to make him more powerful.

Limitations come in two distinct flavors: spell limitations and character limitations. A spell limitation is just that, an altering of how said spell works to the detriment of the player (as compared to others who can use this spell). A spell so limited may not affect certain objects or beings, can take longer to cast (initiative penalties), may require a mage to provide extra materials that are expended upon the spell's casting, and so on.

Character limitations, however, change the nature of every spell a mage uses, not just one. Such limitations include the inability to use one type of magical energy (universal, dimensional, etc...), a required focus necessary for all of a mage's spells (which may or may not be easily replaceable), or possibly a temporal restraint on spell use (can't cast spells at night, on Thursdays, etc...).

At any rate, the severity of the limitation determines just how much of a power boost the character may receive. Limitations come in four flavors: weak, strong, very strong, and extreme. A weak limitation is just that, a minor crimp in a spell's effectiveness, and only offers a +1 CS. Each succeeding limitation offers another +1 CS to the spell rank, but as their names imply, they become increasingly, well, limiting.

Alternately, a mage can take a limitation on a spell to replace one that is already built in to it; some spells, like those involving luck or time, have several such constraints already worked into them. With the permission of one's game Judge, they can swap out one limitation for another, as long as the new limitation would be equally as inconvenient (this allows a player to better craft the character they imagine in their heads).

Character / Spell Enhancements

Similarly, a player might have more than enough power (or he might think such, at any rate), or simply wants more 'bang for his buck' out of his existing spell roster. If this is the case, he may decide to empower his spells with special enhancements. Like limitations, enhancements have four levels of power, including weak, strong, very strong, and extreme, each of which adds a subsequent -1 CS modifier to one's spell ranks.

In exchange for suffering from the effects of this modifier, the character's spell will benefit from an improvement of some sort. Moving a power up one speed or range category is considered a strong enhancement, while two is an extreme enhancement. Other enhancements can come in the form of built-in limitations being stripped out of a spell (luck and precognition have several, for instance).

Unlike limitations, enhancements are difficult to apply across an entire character, though this isn't impossible. While speeds and ranges vary from spell to spell, things like initiative modifiers for spells are generally constant (optional rules for such notwithstanding), as is the general duration of spells before maintenance is required (normally a d10 number of turns, unless listed otherwise).

These and the other qualities of magic can readily be given enhancements, and usually the reduction in rank is enough to make up for the difference. This can make purchasing new spells more difficult down the line though, particularly if a character enhancement is in effect. A new spell to be affected by an enhancement must be bought at a rank high enough that, upon applying the negative CS, it will at least work at the normal starting value.

Quirks

Slightly more palatable than limitations and enhancements, quirks are relatively minor changes to a character that can either saddle him with some disadvantage or other, or possibly even enhance some trait of his. They can also be used to ultimately raise the rank one or more of a character's spells work at if so desired, within the confines of that system. The quirks rules have more on this, but the quirk tables are presented here, for convenience.

Normally, quirks are a voluntary affair - players may use quirks or not as they see fit. They are presented below in the format of random rolling tables for two reasons however. The first is for the game Judge's use, to quickly generate random characters when time is of the essence. Alternately, a player may roll randomly if he wants or needs a quirk and doesn't know what to pick. Not that he's bound by such a roll, of course.

Quirks are divided up into the beneficial and deleterious quirks of a physical, mental and role play nature. Those quirks which cost (or grant) two quirk points are noted with a two in parenthesis (2), while those that can be taken at multiple levels are noted with an asterisk in parenthesis (*).

Talents

The talents your sparkling new mage will start out with can be determined as per any other character type, beginning by rolling up his number of initial talents on table 30. Then, roll for the category each talent will belong to on table 31. To finish up, roll for individual talents using tables 32 through 39, one table for each applicable category of talents.

However, the actual talents a character has really should be determined by his origin. Keeping this in mind, the Judge may very well opt to let a player choose some (or all of) the talents his mage will have, allowing him a lot more creative control over his character. Another thing to consider is that a talent can function at a higher 'level' than normal.

There are three 'tiers' of talents, each providing an increasing bonus to the applicable FEATs involved with said talent. When generating these heightened skills however, keep in mind that they cost more; a level 2 talent counts as two talents, while a level 3 talent counts as four. This can get expensive fast, but is a great way to showcase what your character is really good at.

Also, some talents cost more than others (before levels of such are considered). A talent that has a number in parenthesis counts as that many talents during character generation; these are mostly background talents but some others cost more. Similarly, the Student talent costs all of one's initial talent slots for, by definition, it implies that a body does not have any other talents.

Contacts

Also presented for your convenience is the table used to detail the initial number of contacts a new character will have; it is available as table 40 here, in the Book of Magic. Table 41, then, lists the types of contacts a sorcerer may have upon the start his career, if the player needs any ideas; one does not need to roll up contact types randomly if he doesn't want to.

Like quirks or talents, contacts can be taken at one of three levels of importance; for example, a police contact might be a beat cop (level 1), an FBI operative (level 2), or even an Interpol agent (level 3). Similarly, contacts have an increase of cost in 'contact slots' depending on their level - a level 2 contact counts as two contacts, while a level 3 contact costs four contact 'slots'.

Systematic (Point Based) Method

Players begin with fifty (50) points with which to build their magic wielding character. They may spend these points as they wish, only limited by a) the caps for most normal human ability scores, and b) the campaign's power level ceiling. For example, an earth-bound campaign may limit characters to Monstrous (75) or less on most ranks. Ask your Judge about his or her campaign limits!

To begin with, determine how far above (or below) the norm the character will be in each ability score; for our purposes, the 'norm' will be Typical (6) rank. For every +1 CS a player applies to each spend one point, and for each -1 CS applied to these values, add one point. All but Intuition and Psyche must remain within human maximums (maximums for the other ability scores are detailed in the Core Rules).

A starting character is assumed to have Typical (6) Resources and a Popularity score of zero (0). One may alter Resources as he can any other ability score, though at double the cost for each CS (Remarkable (30) ranked Resources would cost six points, for example). If one intends to purchase the Heir to Fortune background talent, they shouldn't alter this 'base' Resources score any. Health and Karma are determined normally.

An opposed Popularity score (negative for heroes, positive for villains) is worth two points, no matter how great it is.

Before purchasing spells, one should pick their magic school first, for this may affect the cost of their spells. When purchasing spells, one should spend one point for each rank in each spell, starting at Feeble (2) rank (unless their school raises this value, as is the case with an elemental specialist). The upper rank of each spell is only limited by the campaign's power level ceiling (again, ask the Judge about this).

Costs can be controlled by adding limitations, which can apply to either one spell or all a character's spells. Whether applied to one spell or globally to the character as a whole, weak limitations reduce the cost of a spell by one point, strong limitations by two points, very strong limitations by three points, and extreme limitations by four points. Consider the effect of such limitations before counting your point savings!

Remember that all spells have a minimum cost of one (1) point, no matter how limited they may be.

Moving the other direction, a player may apply enhancements to one or more spells. A weak enhancement increases the cost by one point, strong enhancements add two points, very strong enhancements raise the cost by three points, and extreme enhancements add four points to a spell's final cost. Such enhancements include improving the range or speed categories of a spell, as well as other augmentations to its functionality.

Keep in mind that many spells cost more than this base value; planar control, for example, costs three points per rank. Spells with a heightened cost are so noted in the character generation tables listed above (those spells with numbers in parenthesis after the name). Limitations and enhancements are multiplied in value by this cost; for instance, a very strong limitation on planar control would reap a nine point discount.

If your Judge allows their use in his campaign, one thing to consider is the use of Hyperkinetic and Hyperexhaustive rank qualifiers. These can each be purchased in the point system if allowed, being treated as either an extreme enhancement (in the form of a Hyperkinetic spell) or an extreme limitation (in the form of a Hyperexhaustive spell). Both can be unbalancing in their own way however, so check to make sure their use is okay.

Once a character's spells are determined, he may purchase talents and contacts as he sees fit, each costing one point. If one would like heightened talents or contacts (both come in three tiers), he must pay two points for a level two talent or contact, or four points for a level three talent or contact. The Student background talent costs five points (and fits a new mage well), but cannot be purchased with any other talent (save for heir to fortune).

Finally, a player may use leftover points to purchase beneficial quirks - or add a few points to pad weak areas with deleterious quirks. Most quirks give (or take) one point, but if purchased at a higher level, they function in much the same way as talents or contacts in this regard (two points for a level two quirk, four points for a level three quirk). Also, quirks without level but that count double cost (or give) two points.

Once the player is out of points, it's up to the game Judge to look over what the player has wrought. Does the character's math add up? Does he fall within predetermined campaign limitations for power level? If nothing appears to be wrong, and the Judge likes what he sees, he or she should approve what a player has created, and then allow him to complete the last portion of his character's creation (assuming he didn't actually start with such).

Filling in the blanks

Once all the crunchy game mechanic details of a mage have been determined, it is time to 'fill in the blanks', or to detail all of his personal and background information, the stuff you can't quantify with dice rolls or points. Who is he? What does he look like? Where is he from? What is he like? Why has he spent time to learn the arts arcane? Who trained him how to wield these potent abilities? Why?

With the sole exception of one's mystic mentor (who the Judge must generate, barring perhaps his or her name), all other character information must be determined by the player behind the character in order to make it truly his own, and to really 'flesh him out', so to speak. This is often the most difficult part of the character generation process, the part where many will fail.

However, with a little effort and some serious consideration, the answers to these questions can make that simple little piece of paper with all the funny words on it really come alive!

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