Welcome to the guide on building a 13th Age character. This guide requires no more than access to the 13th Age SRD, and a mind ripe with imagination! (If you have your own core book for the sytem, that can be used instead of the SRD).
A good first step for any character is to brainstorm a background. The bounds of your imagination and the guidelines set down by your DM are the only constraint. Your background can provide your DM with ideas to draw you and your character into the story. Also, as most DMs choose their players on the strength of the history written for the character it is crucial you spend the time to make it memorable. Click the button below to see an example.
A: Character Background.
Your background can be as long or as short as you wish it to be. Here is a sample background for Elliot (adapted from Zeppo007's 4e work - thanks ):
B: Personality, Mannerisms, and Appearance.
You should also add a few details about your character to make him stand out from other characters. Here is an example cooked up for Elliot:
Another way to build a character is to start with a character concept, and build a character off of that concept, and then shape your background to fit that concept. Click the buttons below to see a step by step guide on the basics of building a character. It is broken into sections for easy reference.
A: Choose a Race and Gender.
Depending on how you build your character and what class you choose, virtually any race in the SRD will make a good match with any class. Sure, some might work slightly better, but thanks to the rules around class and race bonuses to ability scores, no class/race match should be 'bad'. For today's example we will keep things relatively simple and choose Human as the character's race. Humans fill the role of jack of all trades and master of none. They are good choice for every class in the game and have some bonuses that make them a good choice for both beginning and advanced players. As for gender we will have this character be male.
B: Choose a Class.
The SRD lists a number of different classes you can choose from. The classes range from "simple" to "complex" in how they play. In order, they are:
the Barbarian (simplest),
The Paladin,
The Fighter,
The Cleric,
The Sorcerer,
The Rogue,
The Bard, and
The Wizard (most complex).
When you choose, keep this in mind.
For this example build, we will use the Paladin.
C: Features and Talents
Each class has further choices within it that define how the class works. Typically, you gain some number of features, and choose three talents.
D: Feats
Note that many of the options have feat choices listed underneath - in 13th Age, feats are scattered throughout the book, and often are taken to improve some talent or power you have. You can choose one feat at first level, which can be any of the 'adventure' feats tied to your chosen talents or powers, or one of the general feats available.
E: Name.
A name is important. It sets the tone of your character and informs other players and your Dungeon Master, or DM, on how to address your character in-game.
F: Physical description.
These things are not as important as the other choices, but if you wish to add them, you are more than welcome to!
While a description is good a picture usually helps, too. A quick sketch or an image found online that fits your character concept can help breathe life into your character.
A: Ability scores.
In 13th Age, the six main attributes for every character (Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma) are determined using the point buy system. This system is explained here. Instead, you can do as we are doing, and just use the standard array (16,14,14,12,10,8). Classes and Races also give +2 to various scores, but the class and race bonus can never overlap.
B: Calculate Defenses.
At this point we have enough information to calculate Defenses. Paladins use heavy armour and shields, as long as their weapon is usable in one hand. For Elliot, we will go with this. The unusual thing to note with the defense calculation is that we take the middle modifier for each stat.
C: Calculate Hit Points and Recoveries.
Hit points represent how much damage a character can sustain before he or she falls unconscious. Every class in the game has a simple calculation in their level progression table.
D: Initiative
Initiative is simply calculated: it is your Dexterity modifier + your level.
E: Attacks
Each class lists basic weapons and attack stats. Further powers may improve on these, but for now, let's clarify what Elliot's basic attacks do.
A: Your One Unique Thing
This is where you show what sets your character apart from all the other possible characters in the world. It is something that applies to your character, and your character alone - though, actually using "only" in the sentence kind of makes it too strict. (eg: "I am the only dwarf" is not as interesting as "I believe I am the last dwarf", or "I have never met another dwarf"). There are many great examples out there if you wish to search, but in general, the One Unique Thing is not meant to be a mechanical way (so no "I have a vorpal sword", or "I can breathe out balefire at will"), but in an interesting, character development way, that will also shape the world we play in.
B: Backgrounds and Skill Checks
Instead of choosing from a list of skills, in 13th Age, you effectively make the skills! Each character starts with 8 points to spread across your created backgrounds, and you can have no more than 5 points in any background. Good starting breakdowns are +5 / +3, or +4 / +4.
Each background represents a part of your character's history that points to their ability with non-combat skills. They should be easily defined by a short phrase, but you can go into further detail and expand the background if you wish. Creating backgrounds linking to past jobs, settings, and adventures works well. "Perception +3" is too simple - "Night's Watchman +3" is better, as it describes why you are good at perception. "Night's Watchman at Horizon's Port +3" improves on this by adding story elements to the background.
The other thing to be aware of is that the backgrounds can be used whenever appropriate - instead of just perception, the above background could also be used in the place of a diplomacy check when talking to someone else at the port, or a search / gather information check looking around the port. It could even work at other ports, with a small penalty for being unfamiliar with the specific setting!
When you need to make a skill check, you roll a d20 + your level + relevant ability score + relevant background bonus. You need to describe why the background is relevant, and how your selected ability score aids you in the check. Only one background and one ability score can be used at once!
C: Icon relationships
Normally, you split three points amongst one to three icons, choosing whether the relationship is positive, conflicted, or negative. and roll a d6 for them each 'session' (based around playing the game in real life). Since this adventure is short, and that could mean you roll nothing interesting, we will instead be taking only one point, and assigning it to a single icon. We will treat it as if you had rolled a 5.
When you are done:
Once we've fleshed out our character and are happy with him, check out the RPGX Character Profiler to fill out a character sheet (also can be found via the Tools Menu > My Characters). Please click 'Edit' beside the name of the character in your list of characters, and turn on public permission so others (especially your NPSG GM) will to be able to see it.
Addendum- the above character might not have associated artwork/imagery with them. Should you decide you want to provide artwork to accompany any character based posts you have on site, do make sure you have the permission of the artist. Thanks.