Creating Character From Scratch Using the DB-Inspired CharGen

Whew, thatʼs a looong post title. As mentioned before, I have written two adventures set in the Pavis/Prax region for Contes dʼAutomne, which is happening soon (27-29 November in Southern France).

The first adventure is for an all-Mostali party, and I have already created the pregens for it.

The second one is going to have the adventurers travel up and down the Zola Fel valley, and I am not sure the usual pregens from the RQ core book are really appropriate... first they are too strong, and second they are culturally too Sartarite. So I am going to try and use my fabulous Dragonbane-style RuneQuest chargen system (LOL) to generate a Pavisite character. I am thinking a Griselda-like thief would be perfect for the adventure, so it is going to be a mix of random rolls and choices.

Step 1- Homeland: I choose Pavis, and then Pavisite of Sartarite descent.

Step 2- Rune Affinities. The adventurer is going to be a thief type, so I choose Water as her primary Elemental Rune (DEX bonus!), and I randomly roll her two other Elemental Runes:
Secondary Rune: Moon
Tertiary Rune: Darkness

Power/Form Runes. Random choices:
Man Rune at 75%
Stasis Rune at 75%

Step 3- Occupation. Well I have already determined sheʼs a thief, so this part is easy.

Step 4- Cult. Since sheʼs a Pavisite of Sartarite descent, I am supposed to use Table 4.7. But sheʼs also a thief, so Lanbril would be a good fit. So what I am going to do, I am going to roll randomly, and if I donʼt like the result, Iʼll use Lanbril.

The random roll (8) yields Yelmalio. Definitely not consistent with the character, so Iʼll go with Lanbril (see Cults of RuneQuest, Volume 2: The Lightbringers page 110).

Step 5- Age. Random roll; her age is 19.

Step 6- Name. Iʼll use my own Random Sartarite Name Generator, which randomly provides the beautiful name Tartta (is she a Finn??)

Step 7- Characteristics. This is per page 53 of the RuneQuest core rules. Tartta gets the following scores:

STR 11

CON 8

SIZ 13

DEX 12 +3* +2** = 17

INT 14

POW 12 +1† = 13

CHA 9

*because total ≤ 92

**Water gives DEX+2

†Moon gives POW+1

Step 8- Secondary Attributes:

Movement: 8

Magic Points: 13

Hit Points: 9 (Head - abdomen - leg: 3, arm: 2, chest: 4).

Damage Bonus: nil

Spirit Combat Damage: 1D6

DEX SR: 1

SIZ SR: 2

Step 9- Skills. Trained skills: I choose six from the occupation (thief) and two from the cult (Lanbril): 

Agility (DEX+STR): Climb (40)

Communication (CHA+POW): Disguise (5), Speak Thieves’ Argot (0)

Magic (CHA+POW): Worship Lanbril (5)

Manipulation (DEX+INT): Sleight (5)

Stealth (DEX+INT): Hide (10), Move quietly (10)

Weapons (DEX+INT): Dagger (15)

These get twice the characteristics-dependent bonus.

Hence the following:

Agility: Boat 35, Climb 90, Dodge 64, Drive 35, Jump 81, Ride 35, Swim 45.

Communication: Act 30, Art 30, Bargain 30, Charm 40, Dance 35, Disguise 55, Fast Talk 30, Intimidate 40, Intrigue 30, Orate 35, Sing 35, Speak Sartarite 75, Speak Thieves’ Argot 50.

Knowledge: Animal Lore 35, Battle 40, Celestial Lore 35, Cult Lore (Lanbril) 35, Customs (Pavis) 55, Elder Race Lore 35, Evaluate 40, Farm 40, First Aid 40, Game 45, Herd 35, Homeland Lore (Pavis) 60, Manage Household 40, Mineral Lore 35, Peaceful Cut 40, Plant Lore 35, Survival 45, Treat Disease 35, Treat Poison 35.

Magic: Prepare Corpse 35, Spirit Combat 45, Spirit Travel 35, Worship Lanbril 55.

Manipulation: Conceal 35, Craft 40, Devise 35, Play Instrument 35, Sleight 65.

Perception: Insight (human) 50, Listen 55, Scan 55, Search 55, Track 35.

Stealth: Hide 70, Move quietly 70.

Weapons: Dagger 75.

Step 10- Other Information. Most importantly:

Spirit Magic - Conceal Item (1), Face of Lanbril (2), Shimmer 2.

Rune Magic - Dismiss Elemental (small to medium Lune)