FtA: Character Creation (Revised)

This is the beta character generation system for From the Ashes.  It currently only applies to Baseline Humans. Rules for Mutations will follow, as will rules for Mutated Animals, but this is the template on which the other processes will be built.  I ran my wife and I through this process last night, and while we didn't select mutations or equipment, it seemed to go pretty well, and move fairly quickly.  I'm planning on running my home group through the process this weekend, hopefully, and we'll see what happens when professional gamers get their hands on it, in particular, our resident min/maxer Kaye (to give you an idea of his skill, he managed to min/max TRAVELER last weekend).  While I'm not naive enough to believe that this is perfect (I have a feeling Kay will show me exactly how to break it), I think it's a fair beginning - it seems a good mixture of random and custom generation - while you may know what type of character you want to play, if the dice don't roll right, that character just isn't in your future.  One thing that did come up last night was the realization that, while I don't want to have a definite, limiting list of Skills, I probably do need to create example Skills for each Stat - my wife asked me what an Acuity-based skill would be, and I came up blank.  Anyhow, feedback is always welcome!
Stats: There are 9 Stats for each character, divided up into three Stat Blocks.  The three Stat Blocks are: Meat, Mind and Heart.
 

• The Meat Stats are representative of your physical capabilities: Strength, Constitution and Dexterity. Strength is a measure of your muscle, Constitution indicates your general health and physical well being, and Dexterity is indicative of your flexibility, agility, hand-eye coordination, etc.
• The Mind Stats are reflective of your mental capacity: Knowledge, Observation and Acuity.  Knowledge reflects your "book smarts" - it is representative of all the facts that you have learned.  Observation is a measure of your awareness of your surroundings, and Acuity reflects your ability to think on your feet.
• Finally, your Heart Stats show how socially adept you are (or aren't).  Geniality, Persuade and Intimidate are your Heart Stats.  Geniality is basically your all purpose First Impression roll, based on a composite of how you carry yourself, your "neutral" expression, etc.  It's how people react to you when you're not trying to make them react to you in a certain way.  Intimidation is your ability to force someone to do what you want, and Persuade is your ability to convince someone to do what you want.  

Step 1: Discover your Baseline.  For each of your Stat Blocks, roll 1d10.  On a roll of 1-3, you have a Sub Par Baseline in that Stat Block.  On a 4-8, you have an Average  Baseline, and on a 9 or 10, you have an Exceptional Baseline.

• Sub Par - Roll 1d10 to determine each score
• Average - All three Stat Scores are 11.
• Exceptional - Roll 1d4+11 to determine each score.

These represent your natural abilities, as determined by genetics.

Step 2: Determine your Concentration and Dilutias.  This represents the direction you have taken in development throughout your life thus far.  If you have had a Meat Concentration, you have focused on honing your physical aptitudes, while if you've had a Heart Dilutia, you have neglected your social skills.

Choose one Stat Block to be your Concentration, and add distribute an additional five points among the Stats.  The other two Stat Blocks are your Dilutia - subtract three points from the Stats within both.

Alternatively, you can choose to be Well Rounded, in which case all of your Stats remain unchanged.  

Step 3: Choose Skills.  There is no list of Skills.  The Player can choose to have had their character develop any Skill they can think of, provided it is consistent with the environment in which they have been raised.  Each Skill, however, must be tied to a particular Stat.  As far as the actual nature of the Skills are concerned, however, anything goes -  from Seduction (Persuade) to Underwater Basket Weaving (Acutiy) can be selected, provided the Player and the GM agree.  

Each Skill has a Ranking of between 1 and 5 Notches, with one Notch indicative of a basic understanding, and 5 Notches reflecting a complete Mastery of the Skill.

Each character is given Skill Points initially, with which to buy Notches.  

• Someone who is Well Rounded receives 15 Skill Points to buy Notches for each of their Stat Blocks.
• Someone with Concentration and Dilutia will receive 25 Skill Points to buy Notches for the Concentrated Stat Block, and 10 Skill Points for each of their Dilutia Stat Blocks
• The more Notches the Player wants in a Skill, the more Skill Points it costs.
• 1 Notch = 1 Skill Point
• 2 Notches = 3 Skill Points
• 3 Notches = 5 Skill Points
• 4 Notches = 7 Skill Points
• 5 Notches = 10 Skill Points
• For every Skill that has 5 Notches, the Stat associated with that Skill should be increased by 1
• Remember that Weapon Training is a Skill.  Any sort of Ranged Weapon training should be tied to the Dexterity Stat, but Melee Weapon training can be tied to either Strength or Dexterity, depending on the manner in which the Character is trained to use it.