X-Com: Gray Dawn Character Creation

1. Select stats
2. Pick Skills
3. Pick Perks
4. Pick Flaws (Optional)

Overview

Character creation will use a point-build system. 50 points will be allowed for stats, 100 for skills, and 15 for perks. For players who favor one area over the other, there will also be an exchange rate.

Skill and stat levels are purchased on an upward sliding scale of cost (see tables below).

Stats: 50 points are allotted for stats.
Skills: 100 points are allotted for skills.
Perks: 15 points are allotted for perks. Each character also gets 1 level of the "Special Equipment" perk for free.

Point Exchange

Skill points are the basic currency for exchange. 4 skill points can be exchanged for one stat point. 3 skill points can be exchanged for one perk point. Conversely, one stat point can be exchanged for 4 skill points, and one perk point can be exchanged for 3 skill points. If you prefer, you can instead start with 345 skill points and freely convert them how you choose (through experience, I have found that this method is the easiest and most reliable).

Stat Point Cost

The increased cost for exceedingly high stats represents the fact that the development of such well-honed attributes may come at the cost of other facets of your character. For example, a scholar with a high INT may neglect his exercise, leading to a decreased BODY or REF. A soldier with a high CL may have a reduced EMP to reflect his lack of touch with human emotions like mercy and fear--the same emotions that would keep him from being an effective fighter.

Stat# 1-6: 1 stat point/level
Stat# 7-9: 2 stat points/level
Stat# 10: 3 stat points

A stat of 4 would cost 4 stat points. A 6 would be 6 points. A 7 would cost 8 points (6+2), an 8 would cost 10 (6+2+2). A 10 would cost 15 points (6+2+2+2+3)

Because of its relatively low importance in this game (in terms of game mechanics and balance) the Attractiveness stat is rolled randomly. Roll 2d5 to determine the ATTR score. If the player chooses to have a pretty/handsome character, they can purchase additional levels of ATTR for 2 skill points each (or 2 points in ATTR/stat point). ATTR points cannot be traded in for extra skill points. If you were born pretty, you're stuck that way.

Skill Point Cost

Higher initial skill levels cost significantly more to represent that your character has necessarily invested much more of their time focusing on a given skill or attribute.

Skill level/Skill point cost
1/1
2/2
3/3
4/5
5/7
6/9
7/12
8/15
9/19
10/24

Perks

For the current list of perks, click here. More perks may become available as the story progresses.

Flaws

If the player so chooses, they can select a few flaws for their character for a few extra skill points. These points can be exchanged for stat or perk points. When choosing flaws, consult with the Ref to determine frequency and severity. Each character can have up to 40 skill points worth of flaws.

Flaws are largely broken down into three categories: Physical, mental and social. Physical flaws are often limitations on abilities or weaknesses such as allergies or handicaps. With these, there will often be a penalty to physical skill/stat checks or abilities (missing an eye might render a penalty to awareness rolls and depth perception, whereas a gimpy leg might slow you down in combat). An allergy to peanuts might not be too relevant (you are likely very conscious about what you eat!) but if you slip up, the result might be catastrophic (get me epinephrine or I will die!).

Mental flaws generally deal with psychological limitations. Examples include various phobias, compulsive behaviors or even PTSD. The player cannot easily ignore many mental flaws if they strike (you can't just choose not to be afraid of heights. If you picked acrophobia, then you avoid heights, and suffer unspecified penalties if you do/can not.

Social flaws limit some aspect of the character's behavior, their personal interactions, or could involve a negative reputation or legal status. Some examples are shyness (which might invoke a penalty to certain skill rolls and preclude some perks), a code of ethics/honor (which may limit your actions in certain situations), or a wanted status or rival; someone or some group who is out to get you for some reason.

Flaws are rated based on their frequency and their severity. Frequency is rated as rare, infrequent or common. Rare events might only crop up once every few game sessions. Infrequent ones might occur once a game session or more. Common often means it regularly or constantly affects the character. Frequency can also be affected by how easy the trigger is to avoid, or how often during play something will come up. If your character has claustrophobia, he always has it; the question is, how often will it be a challenge? Similarly, avoiding peanuts is obviously relatively easy nowadays, otherwise people with peanut allergies would likely all be dead before they hit their teens. The frequency of a peanut allergy would probably be rare.

Severity is rated as mild, moderate or crippling. A mild severity might minimally affect certain skill/stat checks, or reduce some ability by a small amount (a gimpy leg may affect you all the time, but if it is only cosmetic (doesn't affect movement in combat), it is mild). Moderate severity is a relatively substantial effect. If the trigger strikes, a skill/stat check may be reduced by several points, or some action may simply not be taken without special interventions (Indiana Jones' fear of snakes, while uncommon, required special measures to be overcome). A crippling severity has extremely negative repercussions if the trigger is activated (B.A. Barrackus refused to get on an airplane. They had to drug him whenever they needed to fly him anywhere, and if he woke up, he'd want to beat the shit out of somebody). An example of a crippling flaw might be a phobia that causes you to immediately flee from or avoid the stimulus (You saw a spider in your house? You refuse to return until the place has been fumigated. That is crippling arachnophobia.)

The point value for a flaw is based on the severity, which will give a base value. The frequency gives a multiplier. Mild severity is 2 points, moderate is 4 and crippling is 6. The multiplier for rare frequency is 1, infrequent is 2, and common is 4. Thus, a common, crippling flaw would have a value of 24, while a rare, mild flaw would only be worth 2.

All flaws must be approved by the referee before points are awarded.

Character Development

Over the course of a campaign it is possible to improve a character's skills, perks and with Ref approval, stats. This is not a fast process, but in a long-running game, a player may definitely see their character vastly improve on their focused skills and abilities, or become a much broader, jack-of-all-trades type.

Character development begins with Improvement Points (IPs). IPs are awarded by the ref after every game session. Generally, a certain amount will be given for participation, and extra may be given for things like clever ideas in game, role-playing the character well, heroic deeds in combat, etc.

Some IPs are also earned by using skills. When you successfully use a skill, you should put a hash mark in the margin near it. Later review by the ref will award IPs specifically toward skills you used in the game. Generally, one hash mark will equal one IP, but some skills are used infrequently and may get more per check, while others may get less. The ref may also award bonus IPs for using a skill in creative or make-or-break situations.

When trying to improve a skill, it takes 10 IPs/current level to raise it to the next level. To raise a level 2 skill to level 3 would require 20 IPs. To learn a new skill at level 1 costs 10 IPs.

Bonus IPs for specific skills may also be earned by trying to learn from another individual with a higher skill than you. This will yield IPs over time, and the rate may depend on the teacher's teaching skill.

For purposes of earning perks, 30 IPs can be traded in for one perk point (per the character creation rules). These can then be used to purchase new innate talents. Perks marked with an asterisk (*) cannot be taken after character creation (you can't suddenly learn how to be ambidextrous or develop an eidetic memory; you're either born with it or you aren't).

If stat improvement is allowed, 40 IPs can be traded in for one stat point, and this can be applied (per character creation guidelines) to a given stat. Note, however, that if a stat score is higher than 6, it will take more than one stat point to raise it. Raising a 6 to a 7 would require two stat points (80 IPs), and raising a nine to a ten takes 3 (120 IPs)! To raise a stat score of 6 to 10 would take a total of 360 IPs. Not impossible, but a lengthy undertaking. If you earned an average of 20 IPs per game session, it would take 18 games (to put it in perspective). Stats can influence several skills at once, though, so from the perspective of game mechanics and balance, raising them should generally be a bit more of an investment. Raising a lower stat to help solve a character's deficiencies, though, is a viable option (it would take 80 IPs to raise a 4 to a 6, for example).

With Ref approval, IPs can also be used to buy off flaws. Flaws are meant to stick around and make you earn the points you got from them. Got an "enemy" flaw? Think you're gonna get rid of that by killing him, or heaven forbid, befriending him? No. You kill him, and he's got a brother or a son or a friend that is willing and crazy enough to take up his mantle of hatred. You befriended him? Now he's got a former ally that wants you both dead for his betrayal! You've got a stalker and you thought the apocalypse would supply him with bigger fish to fry than you, right? Wrongo dongo. The police and courts and all common sense didn't stop her from keying every car you had and throwing pig blood on your girlfriends; why should a niggling little thing like looming Armageddon get in the way of their mad, mad obsession? For every skill point you earned from a flaw, you can spend 15 IPs to try and remove it. For example, you took the "gimpy leg" flaw and got 4 skill points for it. If you spent 60 IPs, you might be able to remove the flaw. Maybe you finally mind-over-matter'ed that bitch into submission, or just took enough physical therapy classes to overcome it. If you pay IPs to get rid of an enemy or wanted status, maybe this nutjob has finally ran out of friends and this last confrontation is really the last one... Sometimes the Ref will want to keep you laden down with certain flaws (because they provide good game fodder), so check first before you start trying to buy yourself some normalcy. Those IPs may be better served improving yourself to deal with the heaping helping of abnormal you dished onto your plate.