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Character Development

 

 

 

This is where you can find everything else for creating and advancing your character: appearance, experience, motivation, etc. Midian is designed to have starting characters that have a fighting chance, but have plenty of room to grow. You are not limited in ‘life’ by your choices (or random rolls) when making your character, nor do you have to play for years to develop your character to where he or she is finally playable.

 

When you increase your character’s level, you may petition the Game Master to increase any skills or other abilities that you have used or practiced sufficiently. The suggested limit of increase is for proficiencies that are used frequently to only go up by one level—possibly two—and for apprentice skills to only increase at every two to four character levels. Attribute points should not be increased by petitioning more than one per level. Other gains may also be had: saving throws, hit points, backgrounds, traits, etc. No part of the character is immune to change and growth.

 

You may also increase your skills, etc. without going up a level. For example, a blacksmith does not gain experience points from adventuring, but he does get lots of practice with his job-related skills. For instance, you may be required to tend the farm back at home for several months while your (less than lucky) compatriots are healing up from your exploits. While you are working the fields you are increasing your knowledge of Agriculture, and spending time at night reading books about war (increasing Military History). The chief difference is that increasing when you gain a level is from experience using your skills, whereas increasing mid-level involves setting aside time to study and practice.

 

Your character can grow in many ways other than experience, goods, skills, and wealth. Your Game Master may assign Backgrounds representing your experiences. New Contacts, Statuses, Traits, Titles, or other goodies may also be added. The Game Master may assign these along with experience points at either the beginning or end of a game session. This variable increase allows a Game Master to better control his or her game. One desiring slow growth, focusing on realism and personalities, will assign fewer experience points, and may only increase a few skills by one point per level. A Game Master who wishes to produce a more epic campaign, with rapid development and characters that quickly grow to the point where they can kick a lot of ass, will issue experience points on the higher end of the scale, and allow faster skill growth along with issuing other freebies readily.

 

Having a well thought out character personality profile and history helps both you and your Game Master. The Game Master may even give bonus ranks in skills, traits, backgrounds, even starting experience for a well thought out character. For example, instead of taking a skill just because it gives you an advantage, include how you learned the skill. Details about your teacher or your training may prove useful later in the game, or simply add dimension to your character.

 

Orientation

 

Choose one from the following orientations to customize your character to fit your character concept better. (You could just pick whichever one will help you min/max the character instead, but that would be cheating…)

 

Mental: +2 Knowledge, +1 Wits, +2 Willpower, +1 Awareness, +1 Common Sense

Physical: +1 Appearance +2 Strength, +1 Agility, +2 Stamina, +1 Speed

Social: +2 Appearance, +2 Personality, +1 Grace, +1 Wits, +1 Awareness

Well-rounded: +1 to each attribute in two different categories

 

Other types of orientation (handedness, sexual orientation) do not affect game statistics. Just choose whatever (or whomever).

 

 

 

Disposition

 

Disposition is simply your character’s overall outlook. It is how someone who knows you only somewhat will describe your personality. This is often the first impression that someone has when meeting your character for the first time. Sample dispositions are:

 

Bitter

Fiery temper

Friendly & polite

Gregarious & joking

Indiscernible—neutral expression

Jaded—downcasting

Jaded—upbeat

Judgemental—makes snap decisions

Mean & cruel

Monotonous

Morbid-depressing

Morbid-odd humour

Motormouth

Pompous & overbearing

Sour—frowns a lot

Sunny—always smiling

Total Bastard

 

 

 

Ethics and Morals

 

Your moral code is a guideline to how your character will act in a given situation. They are not strict and there are no true penalties for violating your personal code (except perhaps guilt). However, if you do act differently than your stated code; then your friends might think you are possessed by a demon, replaced by a pod-person, have gone completely out of your mind, or are simply stoned. Your sense of ethical behaviours may be quite simple—even anti-ethical—or could be a highly detailed account of every possible situation that may arise. The character sheet includes space for a representative sample of your morals if they are if they are detailed (or you have plenty of space for jokes about your lack of ethics). You can add to your personal moral code later if you like. For example you are anti-moral but later realize that torturing animals is where you draw the line (torturing small children however…) then you can add that to your character sheet in the Morals section. The archetypical ethical codes include:

 

Aberrant—usually has a well developed personal code (include details) but is twisted and warped: can torture, but not to death; can’t kill kids; never attack from behind; and/or if you don’t get caught it wasn’t wrong

Amoral—does what feels good

Anarchist—dislikes laws & doesn’t care much for people, especially those not personally known

Anti-moral—likes to do bad things

Authoritarian—believes that one should obey those of station within the proper hierarchy; most people are authoritarian to a larger degree than they would like to believe

Chivalrous—often follows a ‘code of chivalry’ these are often detailed so to save yourself work you can just write, for example, “Chivalrous (Knight-Hospitaler)”

Honourable—always keeps his or her word; often has a well-developed personal code (include details)

Individualistic—does what is right by a person, not society; won’t necessarily follow unjust laws

Justice—fair play; “an eye for an eye;” may be more concerned with punishment than prevention but always keeps everything fair

Legal—also called “Lawful;” believes that the letter of the law should be upheld

Machiavellian—the ends justify the means

Materialistic—concerned primarily with worldly gain

Might Makes Right—not necessarily evil, may be more of the ‘big brother’ type

Moral Conformist—goes along with whatever the ‘community standards’ of right are; mostly doesn’t want to be thought ill of

No Set Code—usually at least tries to do right even if there isn’t much of a personal system of ethics (can be detailed later as [or if] it develops)

Principled—also called “Scrupulous;” this person truly has character; believes in upholding the law as well as the common good; upright and honest, but not necessarily nice or kind

Religious (list church)—follows the ethical teachings of a certain church (not always a pleasant thought)

Self-Focused—has a well developed personal code (include details) & doesn’t care about the moral/ethical beliefs of others; holds only to his or her own personal code

Sociopathic—quite possibly truly insane & cannot tell right from wrong

 

Combinations of Dispositions and Morals are possible. I.e. you can be quiet but have a fiery temper when provoked, or be individualistic but believe strongly in fair play and justice.

 

 

 

Appearance

 

How does your character look? Is he an athletic & bronze-skinned; or short, pasty, and dumpy-looking? Your attributes provide a general guide: high Strength could mean that you are tall and stout, or muscular (or both); low Grace means that you have poor posture and walk slouched, or that you just have a funny walk; someone with a high Agility makes steady, sure movements; and of course, Appearance is how good-looking you are… or not.

 

Your species and ethnic group also help determine how you look. Many Bizanites are dark-complexioned, and Goths are almost universally pale. Elves are never heavy-set; and where would a Dwarf be without his beard? Eye, skin, and hair colour (and style), all define your appearance.

 

Style also plays a major role in your appearance. This could be something as simple as always dressing in black or wearing an enormous scarf or you may have a number of gowns and outfits—with well chosen accessories—for any occasion. Some thought does need to go into this. Your burly warrior cannot wear his armour 24 hours a day, or his companions will not want to be downwind of you—not to mention the negative attention you bring from shopkeepers and the local watch. Your style need not be a 3-page composition that you must bore everyone by reading, nor need it be as simple as “the black guy with the big axe.” Your style and appearance should be something that helps you and those you game with visualise your character.

 

You may be non-descript (essential for some occupations), or truly unique (particularly with multiple levels of the Distinctive trait).

 

The following is a list of visual characteristics that you may choose:

 

Bad teeth; Balding; Beer gut; Big but; Birthmark; Completely bald; Different colours in your hair; Distinctive walk; Eye patch; Eyes that are unusual colours (i.e. a black girl with green eyes); Long hair; Nervous habit (i.e. chews nails, or taps on things constantly); Nice hands; Odd patterned skin—leathery; Perfect teeth; Scars—acne or other diseases, battle wounds, burn-marks; Scars—inconveniencing or disfiguring; Stripes or unusual patterns of your iris (one or both eyes); Tattoos; Tic (facial or otherwise); Two-toned skin (such as a “farmers’ tan”); Unkempt hair; Unkempt-looking hair (takes forever to get right); Unusual pallor to your skin (very dark or very pale); Very hairy; Well endowed or poorly endowed (use your sick & twisted imagination); White streak in your hair;

 

Here are some more unusual traits. Note that some of these may indicate mutation or mixed ancestry:

 

Albinism; Bizarre skin tone (i.e. pale with blue tint, greenish tan); Body piercing; Eyes that are different colours; Feral appearance; Horns (one or more, small); Mohawk or other uncommon hair style; Odd patterned skin—baby-butt smooth; Odd patterned skin—rough, scaly; Patterned skin (stripes, patches, leopard-like spots); Red eyes; Severe scarring (i.e. ears and nose cut off); Silly walk; Strange birthmarks (blue vines that wind up your arm); Vestigial horns; Yellow eyes;

 

 

 

Learning Skills

 

You need not wait until you have gained a new level to learn a skill. While you may gain free skills from advancing in a class, you can learn something new at any point that you have a teacher and the time to learn. In order to teach, one must have the skill at journeyman level or proficiency level V. Possessing the teaching skill allows you to add the result over 15 of the proficiency check to your Common Sense—one-fifth of your Common Sense is then added to your student’s Knowledge & Common Sense checks when they try to learn. You can teach yourself, but the time required is automatically doubled, if it is possible for you to learn that skill at all. The Game Master must determine whether you can be self-taught. For example, you can teach yourself how to fire an arrow correctly with enough practice, but you will probably never be able to learn how to speak a dead language that you have never heard before.

 

The Hours listed in the skill description is the base time that it takes to learn a skill. This is total learning time. For example, if you only practice a skill for 2 hours a week, you will be in training for months before you are any good. A guideline for these skills is that 200 hours is about the same amount of time that one course in college requires. You may reduce this base time with successful Common Sense checks (this represents how well you digest information). When you start learning a new skill, you make a Common Sense check—and if successful, you divide the hours listed in half. You continue to make these checks until you fail a roll. This becomes the new base time to learn. If the first check failed, the time to learn doubles. Continue to roll until you finally succeed. This multiply-doubled time is your new base time to learn.

 

Once you know how long each block of instruction will require (whether doubled or cut in half times) you must be taught (and practice, practice, practice) for however long the new base time is. After this time learning & practicing, you roll your percentage Chance to Learn based on your Knowledge score (this represents how well you retain information). If this roll fails, you must again practice and be taught for the (reduced or increased) time to learn. You may then check your Chance to Learn again. If it succeeds, wonderful, you have finally learned the skill sufficiently. If you still fail, you need to practice some more. It is possible for someone who picks up things easily but doesn’t remember well to have a small base time to learn, but a longer overall time practicing (i.e. high Common Sense but low Knowledge). It is just as possible for someone to have to be taught slowly and patiently, but remembers everything that she is taught (low Common Sense & high Knowledge). There are all kinds of learning styles.

 

If a skill says “Double learning difficulty,” then your Chance to Learn is reduced by half. Doubly hard means half the chance.

 

An example of learning a skill: Amber is attempting to learn a new alchemical formula that requires 60 hours to learn. She does not have a teacher, but does have a copy of the formula. The Game Master allows her to teach herself from her recipe, but this doubles the base time automatically to 120 hours. Amber then makes a Common Sense check to see how well she understands the text. She succeeds 4 times before finally failing a roll—reducing the base time down to only 15 hours (half of 120 is 60, half of 60 is 30, half of that is 15—divide by two for each time she succeeded on the Common Sense check). Amber now rolls for her Chance to Learn. She studies for 15 hours, reading the recipe and experimenting in the lab. The first roll fails (by a large margin) and she must now study for another 15 hours. When she succeeds in the roll, she then knows the skill. Failed rolls require yet another 15 hours of study.

 

Another example, with more numbers this time: Pat is learning Run Through from the Impaler (100 hours to learn). The Impaler makes a skill check with her Teaching skill and adds the result (19, which is 4 over the required 15) to her Common Sense of 12. She may then add in 1/5^th of the total to Pat’s effective Common Sense and Knowledge checks that he makes to learn the skill (1/5 of 16 is 3.2 or +3 for Pat). Pat fails the first Common Sense check even with the bonus—the time to learn is now 200 hours. He fails the second check—400 hours. He succeeds in the 3^rd check—the new base time is 400 hours & Pat may now attempt to learn how to shove big pointy things into someone. Unfortunately, he doesn’t survive the first lesson as the Impaler lives up to her name. Good thing to because she has better things to do with her time than spend four hours a day, every single day, for over 3 months to teach someone when she can be out practicing for herself.

 

 

Costs for Training

 

The typical costs for training, from anyone who is willing to teach, is one guilder per hour of training. This does not represent a very qualified teacher, however. This is finding someone (such as a contact) who happens to have some measure of a skill, and is willing to teach you.

A more qualified teacher (5 or more ranks in the skill & the Teaching skill) will charge 2-3 guilder per hour of training. Specialists, highly-qualified or renowned teachers, or those possessing rare skills, may charge up to 10 guilders per training hour or more.

The cost of learning a skill may be reduced or eliminated by apprenticing yourself to the teacher. Whether you have reduced or free training--or even receive some small wage--will depend on the work that you do. A beginning apprentice will not be able to produce quality goods until she gets more training & practice. One who is further along will be able to actually help out the master with the goods &/or services provided.

A professional instructor will have more time available to devote to training your character--figure 8 hours per day. Those that have other duties--such as the blacksmith that you are apprenticing yourself to--may have substantially less time for instruction. This is why an apprenticeship may take years when the skills themselves may be learned within a few weeks.

Here is an example. Anna is learning the Armorer skill from the local smith. She is already an accomplished journeyman blacksmith (a prerequisite skill), and so can be useful around the forge. Knowing how to produce & repair armour is a useful (and lucrative) talent, and the smith is quite skilled in this area, so the cost would normally be 3+ per training hour, but Anna's usefulnes as an assistant alleviates that somewhat. The smith will charge her half the normal cost. The base training time for the Armorer skill is 800 hours, but Anna is a good student and is able to test that time down to only 200 hours. Between actual instruction, and practical hands-on experience, she effectively gets about 4 hours per day of training. This works out to 50 days, or about a month-and-a-half. The 200 hours worth of training will cost her 300 guilder. Since this is all of the money that she had saved, she had better hope that she makes her first Chance-to-learn check...

 

 

Blue-booking

This is a role-playing technique in which you log your characters actions, particularly out of combat and away from the other players. This allows for character development and solo activity such as learning new skills, maintaining your personal affairs, or running your empire. Things that can simply be written down (either on paper, or on-line such as at pitas.com or diaryland.com), can be run in the 'background' rather than during the main game session. These are things that can be discussed with the Game Master between game sessions, or read at her leisure, so as to not interfere with the other players game time.

One good use for blue-books is when your character is helping to build the world in-game. These are things such as constructing a stronghold, founding an organization, or improving an area. Your Game Master may reward you for this, especially as it makes her life easier. For example, a simple entry such as, "I have my trusted aide supervise repairing the roadways in my barony," could be rewarded with improved travel-time during your next adventure. Even when outside of your own lands, to continue the example, you may move faster and easier due to your neighbors trying to keep up with you--the quality of your roads makes theirs look bad by comparison.

This technique is especially useful for social interactions. Teachers, family, patrons, employees, minions, neighbors, Contacts, all may be dealt with in this manner. Many of these encounters would be fun to role-play with the Game Master, but others can be noted in your blue-book. Simple actions, such as instructions or just, "I spend some time with my kids." More complex conversations, that is, anything that involves multiple responses, should be role-played.

 

Experience

 

Experience is an excellent method to chart character growth. It essentially measures the amount of cool things you have done. You may increase your skills and abilities through hard work and practice, or you can develop yourself through the practical exercise known as living. While it is possible to spend 20 years honing your sword-fighting prowess so that you may avenge your father’s death, it isn’t much fun. The faster and easier method is to gain experience points. The Game Master assigns experience points usually at either the beginning or end of a game session, but may assign points during play. The advantage of assigning experience at the end is that the events are fresh in your mind, and you are winding down from the game anyway. The advantage of assigning them at the beginning of the next session is that events that the players cannot recall must not have been a growth experience for their characters. Another advantage to the give-out-at-the-beginning method is that it gets the players focused on the game. Regardless of which method the Game Master uses, be sure to remind him or her because they have a bad habit of ‘forgetting.’

 

Suggested experience point awards:

 

Playing in character: 100-1000 points

Clever use of skills or abilities (per usage): 20-100 points

Gamesmanship (limiting table talk, helping newer players): 100-500 points

Organization in game (interacts with the game world well): 100-300 points

Organization out of game (character sheet together & legible, shows up on time, remembered dice bag): 50-200 points

Heroic action (per instance): 100-1000 points

Clever or quick thinking plan: 100-500 points

Clever insight, reasoning, or judgement: 50-200 points

Defeating a minor enemy, obstacle, trap, or problem (threat relative to the players): 10-50 points

Defeating a moderate enemy, obstacle, trap, or problem (threat relative to the players): 50-200 points

Defeating a major enemy, obstacle, trap, or problem (threat relative to the players): 200-500 points

Defeating an epic-level enemy, obstacle, trap, or problem (threat relative to the players): 500-10,000 points

Miscellaneous cool actions (swinging from a chandelier, using a ladder as a weapon, jumping up on a table in a fight): 10-250 points

Remembering something when prompted (plot hooks): 250 points

Remembering something that the Game Master forgot (names of people & places): 200 points

Remembering something that the Game Master was trying to forget: 0 points

Being a Lost Souls Pack member (per game session): 250 points

Participating in Pack events that evening: 50-300 points

Just being in a game run by a Game Master in the Lost Souls: 50 points

Bribing the Game Master (4 basic food groups—nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, cholesterol): 10 per cigarette (50 for a clove), 2000 or more for quality liquor

Bribing the Game Master (cash or undisclosed “favours”): negotiable

Contributing to the delinquency of a minor (in game or out): 5-25 points

Showing cleavage or other interesting skin: 50-1000 points

Bringing someone to game that shows cleavage or other interesting skin: half of ‘cleavage points’ awarded

Knowing the proper name of the loop-strap on the bottom of Thor’s hammer: 10,000 points

 

 

Experience Chart

 

This measures how far along your character’s experience growth is. The chart is for total character level rather than just class level. For example, you could be a 2^nd level apprentice wizard / 4^th level rogue, but your total character level might be 6^th. When you gain a new level, you must choose one of your classes to advance. Continuing the above example, when the character had a total of 18,000 points she would choose to increase either her wizard level to 3^rd, or her rogue level to 5^th. When you gain a level, your hit points go up by two. Every even-numbered level you gain a +1 to any one type of saving throw, and every third level you automatically gain an attribute point of your choosing. Remember to petition the Game Master to increase your skills each time that you gain a level, and also remember that you do not have to advance a level to gain new skills—or improve old ones.

 

 

 

Points are cumulative; add 50,000 points for each additional Experience level beyond 52^nd.