Character creation is my favorite part of any RPG.

I still think my favorite video game moment ever was staring at the monstrosity of a character creation screen that The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall immediately hits you with the first time I ever played it. So many options–race, attributes, skills (primary, major, and minor! including language skills!), a class (pick from selected or create your own!), XP rate, max HP per level, starting reputations, starting items, stuff like your childhood nickname and who your best friend was…it’s staggering. Possibly my favorite parts are the GURPS-inspired “special advantages/disadvantages” that allow you to go in and select traits like “take damage from Holy places” or “resistant to poison.” Every disadvantage you take makes you gain XP a little faster, and every advantage a little slower, so you’re encouraged to balance out advantages with disadvantages, making each character truly different and providing tons of prompts for interesting character backstories and roleplaying opportunities.

In practice, Daggerfall’s character creation system had a lot of flaws (for example, the most potentially interesting skills, the language ones, did almost nothing in the vanilla game. Thank God for Daggerfall Unity). It was also, I’ll admit, daunting, dare I say even off-putting, to anyone who isn’t a CRPG-grognard like me.

Still, though, there’s no feeling like staring at a nice, crunchy character creation system, whether in a video game or ttrpg, and letting your mind run wild with all the possibilities, all the roleplaying prompts, it has to offer. That “Take damage from holy places” could be used to roleplay some kind of vampire or lich, but you could also make a character who’s under some kind of curse. I always make every Daggerfall character have at least one language skill as a minor skill, even if it barely ever comes up in-game, and make up a backstory about how they learned to speak that language. (The game actually generates a backstory for you that takes your skills and other things into account, which is awesome, but sometimes I stay away from it and just invent my own.)

I also love character creation because in most cases it’s low-pressure. This doesn’t apply to situations like open tables or other games where character death is high and you need to be able to roll up a new one quickly, but in most games, you can front-load a lot of crunch into character creation to get some of the benefits of crunch (realistic modeling, more dynamic gameplay/game structures) but without the drawbacks of having to do a bunch of calculations and modifications for every action in the middle of the game. Get that shit out of the way when you make your character so there’s less of it when you’re actually fighting the monsters.

These are the goals I want to try to accomplish with the character creation system for my solo fantasy RPG. We’ve got the general skeleton of a rules system in place; character creation is where we start to really refine that system into something playable. Once character creation is figured out, we know what a 1st-level character looks like and can start to balance other things around it.

One thing I’d like to do is to offer two different kinds of character creators: a character builder, and a character generator. In the first, you tweak and tinker and fiddle with your character and make them exactly as you want to. Any connection to the in-universe fiction comes from your imagination. This is how most games do it, and generally what I prefer.

I also want to make rules for a “lifepath” type system, ala Traveller. In this system you’ll make choices about how your character came to be an adventurer, where and how they picked up their skills, etc. This system will have more of a direct connection between the mechanics and the fiction, and will be great if you’re looking for inspiration and don’t want to make everything up yourself. There should also be a bit of risk-reward in this system–you might end up with a much stronger character than if you’d built one using the standard rules…or your character might start the game with a handicap. We’ll see.

But we should probably start with the character builder because this will be the “baseline” that most characters will be built around. We’ll start with a list of decision points, and then flesh them out individually:

• Ancestry/species/”race” (human, elf, dwarf, ork, halfling, goblin feels natural)
• Allocate Stats and Skills (there’s few enough that a a simple point buy system will probably be ideal)
• Does the character start off knowing any spells? If so, which ones?
• What about things like Feats or Traits? Modular things that differentiate characters and are more flavorful than just adding points to stats?
• Backgrounds? Including NPC contacts or reputations?
• I’d love to get some kind of special advantage/disadvantage system in there, like the Daggerfall one mentioned above
• Starting equipment–do you shop? If so, how much is the budget? Do you pick a “package” of items based on gameplay style or in-universe role? Lists that you get to pick from (e.g., one item from the “weapons” list, one from the “armor,” two from the “adventuring gear,” etc.)?

You’ll hopefully notice that the list started off with items that we already have some concrete ideas out, but by the bottom are more speculative. That’s okay; this is where these ideas get fleshed out. And if later design elements conflict with what’s here, it can always be revised.

Ancestry

I’ve already written a whole article on why I like “traditional” (even “cliche”) fantasy races like elves, dwarves, and orcs (which I prefer to spell “ork.”). That article was more about prose fiction, but in terms of game design they offer familiarity and the ability to portray character archetypes, which is a big reason why a lot of us play RPGs.

Also, while this game can basically be played “setting-neutral,” when I write fantasy settings for things like this I tend to think of them as taking place within my own fantasy world called The Okemene or Harmonia. It’s the setting of my book Seed of the Black Oak, which is set to be out in 2026, and I’ve already done tons of writing and worldbuilding in it, so it feels comfortable.

That setting has all your standard DnD/Tolkien fantasy species, plus one slightly more gonzo one I call “Stygians” (an in-universe exonym). I’ll include all of those and just make a note that if you want to play in a different setting, ignore the Stygians.

• Humans are the “default class.” We’ll give them something to keep them balanced (most games give them a bonus skill point or something like that, so we’ll probably do that), but from a design perspective I think it’s helpful to have a “normal” or baseline. It’s a good option for players who want to focus more on gameplay mechanics than character-building, and it helps anchor later designs. From a fiction standpoint, humans are like us!
• Elves are my second-favorite (or favorite depending on the portrayal). In my fiction, elves live for hundreds of years and are resistant to poison, but they’re not immortal nor genetically superior at magic. I like the elves-archery connection, so my elves tend to be lithe and perceptive, but to compensate they tend to be physically weaker than humans. Their long lives make them a bit flighty. I have different “races” of elves with different phenotypes, just like humans; Lorqa and Elrie are both “wood-elves” and pale; Sadra are “desert-elves” with dark skin, Qumran are “stone-elves” with ruddy skin; and Eurvyn are “city-elves” and come in all skin colors. Eurvyn have slightly pointed ears, like most elves in fiction, while all the rest tend to have significantly long and pointed ears to distinguish them a bit more.
• Orks! Easily my third favorite. Orcs/orks have a long racial and often racist history in fantasy fiction. I understand why that makes people want to just not use them at all; however, I love my big green warrior orks too much. In this world orks are tall, strong, and live in a variety of cultures. Some are integrated with human societies, though humans tend to see them as uncivilized savages (depending on the time period; not always). Some stories have orks as inherently less intelligent than other ancestries, which…yikes; I obviously don’t do that. I tend to give orks a higher maximum Strength (or equivalent) stat in games to show that while they aren’t inherently stronger than humans, their different body chemistry and genes gives them potential for larger, more efficient muscles.
• Dwarves. I’ve always been meh on dwarves, but I do think they add a nice dynamic to relations between humans and elves. Dwarves are industrious, like humans, but also long-lived and proud, like many elves. I’m not reinventing any wheels here; I like dwarves that are hardy and live in mountains and have big beards. Dwarves can use magic, but something about them makes them resistant to it. We’ll probably give dwarves some kind of inherent resistance to magic.
• Halflings. Who doesn’t love halflings? From a game design standpoint it can be hard to balance them against other ancestries because they’re just…small people. I’ve seen games try to do this by giving them inherent bonuses to things like charisma, which never sits well with me because that’s a very socially-ingrained thing. Sneakiness makes more sense to me, especially because the archetype, Bilbo Baggins, was explicitly brought along on his adventure to be the party’s “burglar.” So if halflings are gonna get a bonus anywhere, it’ll be there.
• Goblins. Goblins are to orks as halflings are to humans, in my fiction. I looooove goblins. In my stories they tend to be seen as inherently inferior due to human chauvinism, and their material conditions push them into frequent conflict with humans and dwarves, but they’re just as capable of being intelligent and virtuous as anyone else. (When I move my setting forward to the industrial or post-industrial era they tend to be very technologically-inclined, just like the dwarves.) I’m not sure yet how we’ll balance them, but I want them in there.
• Stygians are unique to my fantasy world (though I won’t pretend they’re the most original beings ever). They have deep blue skin, bright yellow or orange hair, and completely white eyes. They basically originate from another dimension and thousands of them got stuck in The Okemene near the dawn of history. Was it magic? Some kind of botched interdimensional invasion? Who knows (and I’ll likely never provide a definitive answer). But they have alien physiologies despite being shaped like humans, and their status as outsiders makes it hard for them to fit into okemenic societies. They have their own inherent magic, which usually manifests as the ability to drain a mortal’s lifeforce by touch, but they cannot learn regular magic and are also resistant to it, a result of not being from this universe. They also have a strong cultural and maybe physiological tendency towards melancholy and depression, basically viewing suffering as a virtue. Stygians will be a challenge build, something to pick for a spicy playthrough or if you just think blue people are sexy.

Now let’s talk mechanics. I don’t want these to have a huge impact–playing an ork vs an elf should feel different, but not so drastically as to fundamentally alter the game. Let me spitball for a moment.

• Humans — are basically the standard, but we’ll give them a free +1 to any skill they want, since humans are short-lived compared to other species and therefore have evolved to learn a bit faster.
• Elves — Elves are gonna get a free +1 to Dexterity. Thus, no elf can have less than a 2 Dex. We’ll also say they have Poison Resistance, since that’s a feature of elves in my setting.
• Orks — Orks will have a maximum Strength of 7. This is the only way that the regular Stat limit can be broken. We’ll say they also have a bonus to Intimidate checks against non-orks, since people will be rightfully afraid of them.
• Dwarves — Dwarves will have a resistance to all magic. (We’ll flesh this out more when we get to the Magic section.) Since HP is always equal to level in this game, we’ll say dwarves have a feature called “Hardy” or something like that; whenever they would be killed or incapacitated (haven’t decided yet if being brought to 0 HP kills you outright), dwarves can pass a DC 16 Athletics (Str) check to retain 1 HP, once per combat. (Actual language on this rule will have to be tweaked later once more rules are in place.)
• Halflings — Get a free +1 to Thievery. Easy, peezy.
• Goblins — This one is a bit tricky because goblins are (generally) small and weak and their strengths are things other species already do. Shadowdark gives them a bonus to stealth, but we already gave that to hobbitses (sorry, halflings). I think I’ll want goblins to get some kind of bonus when in mountainous terrain, or in mines/caverns/caves/things like that. We’ll just have to put a pin in goblins for now.
• Stygians get a free resistance to regular magic, and a very powerful Stygian Touch ability. However, they can’t learn regular magic.

That’s a good rundown for now. When making a new character, this will be your first choice.

Stat and Skill Allocation

Stats are fundamental characteristics of people in this game (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma) while Skills are special abilities they’ve picked up and learned or are still learning (Athletics, Arcana, Dungeoneering, Lore, Speechcraft, Survival, Thievery). Stats range from 1 to 6, while Skills range from 0 to 6.

I like games where Stat/ability scores/attributes/whatever rise at certain intervals. Not too frequently, and perhaps not without some work, but also not optionally, as in D&D where you generally have to take a feat in order to raise them (depending on edition). Right now I’m thinking that characters in this game will get to place +1 in any Stat of their choice every even level.

If we set a level cap of 10 (an arbitrary but nice-feeling number), then this means they’ll get +5 over the course of their lives as characters. With 4 stats, the maximum number of potential points they could have is 24; I like to shoot for a maxed-out character having roughly 66-75% of their maximum potential points–enough that they can max out one or two if they wish, or spread them evenly and be better-than-average at everything, but enough headroom that they never become OP. This means a maxed-out character should have either 16 or 18 points total.

With 5 extra points to place over a character’s life, then at character creation they should start with 11 or 13. I think we’ll split the difference and have characters start with 12 total points–it fits since we’re using 2d6. Elves will break this slightly–they get a +1 to Dex so they’ll start with 13. I’m okay with this because other races get other goodies to balance it out, but if elves end up feeling broken compared to others then I may revise this later.

So when allocating Stats, we say that you decide your starting values so that all stats are between 1 and 6 (2 Dex for elves), and the total value of all four Stats equals 12 (13 for elves). The most average character of all time will have 3s across the board, but if you wanna dump something you can pump a stat all the way to 6, if you want.

Skills have potential to rise until they’re all maxed out, so they should probably start off lower. (You roll for skill increases whenever you fail a check without rolling snake-eyes; roll above the current value of your skill on 1d6 to raise it by 1.)

We have 7 Skills with 6 ranks each for a total of 42. I don’t want to allow total jack-of-all-trades characters; character creation should force you to make some kind of choice that your character is good or bad at something. I think at the beginning we’ll allow you to put 5 skill points into any skills you want. Pump something all the way to 5 at the start and be a hyper-specialized expert, or spread ’em thin and be kind of a beginner at a bunch of things. Either way, as you go out into the world and attempt things, you’ll fail some checks and get chances to raise your skills relatively quickly in the beginning, and then your skills will rise more slowly the better you get. Perfect.

Spells

This game doesn’t have classes, so you won’t be picking “wizard” and getting X number of 1st-level spells. If you do want to play a spellcasting character, you should be able to do that right away; however I don’t want to just say “any character can pick a spell” because if you want to play a non-magical character you shouldn’t be forced to pick a spell (or handicap yourself by not giving yourself an option that characters get by default).

I don’t have a full magic system for this yet (that’s next, and I do have some ideas in mind), but for now I think we’re going to have players pick a Background that confers some kind of bonus as well as roleplaying prompts.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds will function as a sort of “soft” class system; they’ll affect some starting values, and whether or not you get spells at 1st level, but they won’t determine how your character advances or what you can and can’t do.

I’m going to spitball some ideas here. These are going to be based on character archetypes, but I’m going to connect them to the fiction a little bit by having them be diagetic titles, professions, or jobs within the game world.

Starting with magic-related ones:

• Wizard’s Apprentice — You have trained under a seasoned wizard and are now ready to strike out on your own. Begin with 2 Tier 1 Arcane (wizard) spells.
• Acolyte — You are a low-level member of the clergy. Begin with 2 Tier 1 Theurgy (cleric) spells.
• Hedge Mage — You have no formal training, but have a natural affinity for magic. Begin with a single Tier 1 Arcane spell. You have Advantage on casting that spell.
• Charismatic — You’ve been touched by the gods. Begin with a single Tier 1 Theurgy spell. You have Advantage on casting that spell.

I’m stepping a bit on the magic section here, but that’s okay; consider it foreshadowing. We’re going to have two spell lists and spellcasting archetypes, the wizard/sorcerer and the cleric/priest.

If you want to play a straight wizard/cleric type, then you’ll pick one of the first two backgrounds and start with two spells. (You’ll have to learn more through gameplay.) The second two options are provided for players who want to dabble in magic, perhaps play characters with natural talents but not formal training. You only get one spell at 1st level, but you’re really good at it.

(Worth mentioning here that I’m also envisioning these backgrounds coming into play during social interactions–for example, if you roll up an encounter with a Priest, then your background as an Acolyte might give you an option to resolve that encounter in a more beneficial way. We’ll flesh that out later.)

Here’s a few non-magic-related ones:

• Scout — You served as a scout in a military or mercenary unit. You have advantage on Athletics and Survival checks in wilderness areas.
• Squire — You squired for a knight who taught you to fight, wear armor, and compete in a tourney. You have advantage on melee attacks when riding a steed, and have a fine shield as a gift from your knight. At 3rd level you will gain the right to be knighted yourself.
• Courtesan — Your company has been highly valued among certain members of the nobility, and you have learned to swim in their waters. You have advantage on Speechcraft checks when dealing with nobles and royals, and you begin with a +1 to your Nobility Reputation.
• Urchin — You grew up fighting for every meal on the streets of a big town or city. You have advantage on rolling up Contacts, and you begin with +1 to your Underworld Reputation.
• Barbarian — You hail from a tribal society, and come to civilization as an outsider. You gain +1 AC when wearing light armor, or no armor.
• Outlaw — You live in the wilds, robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Start with +2 to your Peasantry Reputation and +1 to your Underworld Reputation, but -1 to your Nobility Reputation.
• Healer — You make your living healing others through folk medicine and herbal concoctions. You have advantage on Survival checks to find healing and other beneficial ingredients.

And so on. I may add more later, but this is a good starting list. What excites me about writing lists like this is all of the ideas it generates; I now have clear plans for other systems that will interact with these. For example, I now know that I want a reputation system similar to Daggerfall’s, where your reputation among certain groups can drastically help you during encounters with members of those groups. (We’ll have to make these bonuses significant to make them worthwhile as backgrounds.) The “Barbarian” one is going to simply make light armor better, but if I add some sort of way to build an unarmored “berserker” character it’ll synergize even better with that. I now know that Survival checks can be proactively used to find healing supplies. Et cetera.

This brings me to…

Feats/Advantages/Disadvantages

These were originally conceived as separate sections, but as I’m writing this I’m realizing that I’m starting to get up there in the “crunch” territory. I do think most of the crunch is concentrated in character creation where it belongs, but once I start adding a bunch of feats and abilities (passive or active) and things like that, there’s a lot more the player has to remember about their character while playing, in addition to all of the generating they’re going to be doing.

So instead of feats, I’m going to riff on the Special Advantages/Disadvantages system mentioned in Daggerfall. These are going to be a list of mostly-mechanical strengths and weaknesses players can choose to optionally take, but they’ll have to balance out every strength with a weakness. So for every Special Advantage, they’ll have to take a Special Disadvantage. (I’ll probably have to come up with a separate term of art for these so we don’t confuse them with the advantage/disadvantage dice mechanic.)

Special Bonuses/Penalties

• Phobias/Specialties: These would give you disadvantage or advantage (similar to “favored enemies” in older editions of D&D.) when fighting certain creatures. A preliminary list could be: Undead; Bugs/Spiders; Birds/Flying; Demons; Mammals; Magical; Fairies.
• Elemental Weaknesses/Resistances: You would have a weakness or a resistance to elements like Fire, Lightning, Frost, Poison, etc. We’ll sketch out a full list in the Advanced Combat article, but you get the point.
• Weapon Mastery: You have +1 to attack rolls when wielding a specific type of weapon (longswords, axes, etc). For this to work, there have to be ways to lose that weapon, or else you’ll just always get the bonus. And it can’t be balanced by getting -1 with some other kind of weapon, since you can always just…not use that weapon.
• Favored/Disvavored Environment: You have advantage/disadvantage on skill checks in a certain terrain (forest, mountains, swamps) or certain environments (dungeons, cities, wilderness). For this to be fair, there always has to be a risk of getting caught in a disfavored environment; you should be able to mitigate and minimize this risk, but it can never be eliminated.
• Damage/Healing from Holy Places: You take damage in holy places (temples, sepulchres, etc). Specifics of how much damage/healing will have to be worked out later.
• Agoraphobia/Claustrophobia: You have disadvantage on skill checks in outdoor areas for agoraphobia, or indoor areas for claustrophobia.
• Damage from Sunlight: You take damage whenever in direct sunlight. (specifics to be worked out later)
• Sanguine Hunger: You must feed on blood to survive. (specifics to be worked out later)
• Lycanthropy: You have a bestial form that you can transform into. (specifics later)
• Favored Skill: Pick one of your skills. You have advantage on all skill checks using that skill. (I like this one because it will make it much harder to actually raise that skill to max level.)
• Material Weakness: Take extra damage from a certain physical material, like iron or silver.

What I like about these is that you can use them to make things like vampires, werewolves, and fairies, without me having to make explicit rules for them. And they’re optional, so players can opt into the accompanying crunch.

I’m going to leave the list there for now and refine it over time–I think we all get the idea.

Equipment

I am the type of player who loves tracking items and equipment. It feels so good to have the right tool for the job and get to use it, y’know?

For a game like this, we will want every weapon and piece of equipment listed to have very clear and specific utility. Since the player will be generating encounters and other situations, it needs to be very clear what items do and when they come into play.

An example would be the humble ten-foot-pole used to test for pit traps. If a player rolls a pit trap and they have a ten-foot-pole in their inventory, then we assume that they used it and avoided the trap. They don’t need to “activate” it.

So we will need to heavily constrain the gear players can have, or else they’ll just load up on every conceivable item.

I’m thinking in terms of “slots,” here. It’s relatively intuitive, easy to constrain, and helps differentiate between different types of equipment.

This could look like every character getting:

• Two weapons that can be switched between freely
• One set of armor (worn)
• An accessory (ring or necklace)
• Additional pieces of equipment equal to the character’s Strength + 1

This makes Strength more relevant for non-melee characters and is a very tight constraint. Additional equipment will be things like:

• A quiver of arrows/bolts, if using a ranged weapon
• Gear like a torch (can also be a weapon), ten-foot-pole, thieves’ tools, rope, etc
• Crafting pouches
• Additional weapons/armor sets

So characters will have to be very intentional about what they bring with them on adventures.

In terms of picking equipment at character creation, I like the “pick from lists” idea. So there’ll be a list of starting armor, weapons, and equipment.

Starting Weapons (pick one)

• Dagger (Finesse)
• Shortsword
• Longsword
• War Axe
• Battle-axe
• Spear
• Shortbow & quiver full of arrows

Note that as the combat system is designed, all weapons deal the same amount of damage and don’t factor into attack rolls. This list comprises basic weapons that are all roughly as deadly as each other (we’ll find a way to differentiate ranged weapons later); there will be other weapons that are specially made, enchanted, or special in some other way that have other interesting effects.

Starting Armor (pick one)

• Wizard Robes (no armor)
• Leather/Hide Armor (Light): +1 AC
• Scale Armor (Medium): +2 AC
• Shield: +1 AC

I have some ideas on how armor will interact with the magic system that I’ll save for the magic article; for now suffice to say that if you want to be a pure spellcaster, you’ll probably want to wear no armor at all. (You can cast spells while wearing armor, but it makes it harder.)

Finally, you can choose up to two items from the Adventuring Gear list, if you have the Strength to carry them.

• Ten-foot pole
• 30-foot rope w/ Grappling Hook
• Single Tent
• Alchemy Pouch
• Bundle of 3 Torches
• 3 Days Rations
• Thieves’ Tools
• Caltrops
• Prybar
• Chalk dust
• Shovel
• Pickaxe
• Hand Mirror
• Antidote
• Acid Vial

The list may not be complete, but you can imagine uses for all of these, right? We’ll be rolling on several tables to generate obstacles and encounters, and we can easily conceive of a situation where you’d roll some kind of chained door that can’t be picked, but an acid vial will eat through the chains. Or you’ll find evidence of buried treasure, and if you happen to have a shovel, you can dig it up right then and there. You’ll never be prepared for every situation, so it becomes about seeking out the adventures that are most likely to throw obstacles you’re prepared for your way.

With all those things roughly in place, we have a character creation system! Here’s all the steps in simplified form:

• Choose your ancestry, note any bonuses from it.
• Set Stats so that they’re between 1 and 6 and equal 12 (13 for elves).
• Set Skills so that they’re equal to 5 (not counting any bonuses from Ancestry).
• Select a Background, and note any bonuses it confers.
• Fiddle with Bonuses/Penalties to your liking. Every Bonus must be balanced by a Penalty, however, you can take Penalties for free if you just want to roleplay them.
• Pick a starting weapon, starting armor, and two pieces of starting gear.
• Calculate any values, namely AC, but also possibly reputations

And that’s it! Here’s my first character–he’s a Robin Hood-esque human outlaw who’s ready to rob the rich to give to the poor. (He’s also a character in a novel I’m working on.)

Reynard Puck

Human Outlaw — 1st Level

AC: 5

Str-2 Dex-4 Int-3 Chr-3

Athletics +1, Lore +1, Speechcraft +1, Survival +2, Thievery +1

Weapon Mastery: Bows (+1 attack rolls)

Phobia: Fairies

Favored Environment: Forests

Weakness to Frost (Reynard hates the cold)

Weapon: Shortbow

Armor: Leather

Gear: Quiver, Rope/Hook, Antidote

~~~

That’s a pretty good character, don’tcha think?

(Note: I’m still fiddling with how armor and AC are going to work. Right now I’m thinking that with light armor your AC is the highest of 4 or Dex+1. That may change with testing.)

In terms of advancement, gaining a level will automatically let you deal and take more damage. On even levels, you’ll also get to increase a Stat by +1. I do want level-ups to be more interesting than that, but I have an idea for something that may go along with the magic system, so we’ll save it for later.

Now that that’s in the bag, the next article will focus on designing a magic system. Seeya then!

Next: Magic

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