What does your character look like? How old is he (or she)? What sort of first impression does he make? What led him to become a hero in the first place?
Answers to these questions help you establish your character’s identity. These details make your character more lifelike, like a main character in a novel or a movie. For many players, the action lies here, in defining the character as a person to be roleplayed.
When you first play a character, ifs fine to leave the details sketchy. As you play the character over time, you get a better sense of who you want him to be. You develop his details in much the same way as an author develops a character over several drafts of a novel or over several novels in a series.
Start with some idea of your character’s background and personality, and use that idea to help add the details that bring your character to life.
Name
Select a name that fits your character. A name helps you define your character’s background and ethnic origin. The name may fit your characters class or abilities (“Speed” McCracken for a Fast hero}, or it may be dramatically different or ironic (Stephanie “Tiny” Lynch for a Tough hero. for example). It may be ordinary or unusual, depending on your
taste and the mood of your campaign.
A character’s name provides clues to the character’s age and heritage as well – Reginald Cuthbert III summons up a very different image from Morris “Moondog” Greenberg. The former projects an air of stuffy sophisticate (whether the character comes off that way or not), while the latter suggests an image of a freewheeling ruffian with a knack for getting into trouble.
Gender
Your character can be either male or female. Gender has no effect on physical characteristics.
Age
How old is your character? That’s up to you and your Gamemaster. A character reaches 1st level in his or her class the moment when he or she steps out of ordinary life and into the dramatic existence of the story, either by choice or by circumstances. On occasion, a Gamemaster’s campaign requires heroes of a particular age group.
Most players create characters within the young adult or adult age range. However, you can play a character who is younger or older than this, based on your character concept and the needs of the campaign.
As your character ages, her physical ability scores decrease and her mental ability scores increase, as detailed on the table below. The effects of each aging step are cumulative.
| Age Category | Ability Adjustments |
|---|---|
| Child (1-11) | -3 to Str and Con; -1 to Dex, Int, Wis, and Cha |
| Young adult (12-15) | Original scores |
| Adult (16-39) | Original scores |
| Middle age (40-59) | -1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha |
| Old (60-79) | -1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha |
| Venerable (80+) | -1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +l to Int, Wis, and Cha |
You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the GM’s campaign and the character’s starting occupation.
Alternatively, you may create a random starting age of 2d6+15 years for college-age characters, or ld6+20 years for individuals starting their careers.
For those who want to start a campaign with more experienced characters, use Table 1-10: Starting Level and Age as a guide. Remember that this table is a guideline. You and your GM are encouraged to decide these details based on the campaign and the character you want to play.
| Child | – |
| Young adult | 1st |
| Adult | 1st |
| Adult (limited experience) | 3rd |
| Adult (moderate experience) | 5th |
| Adult (high experience} | 7th |
| Middle age (moderate experience) | 7th |
| Middle age (high experience) | 8th |
| Old | 9th |
| Venerable | 10th |
Height And Weight
Determine your character’s height and weight using the table below. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about her height and weight. If she is weak but agile, she may be thin. If she is strong and tough, she may be tall or just heavy. Feel free to select an appropriate height and weight for your character, or roll dice for random results.
The die roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the die roll given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
For example, Ken Stone, a male, has a height of 152 cm plus 2d10 multiplied by 2,5 cm. Ken’s player rolls 2dl0 and gets 12, making Ken 182 cm tall. Ken’s player then multiplies the 12 by 2d4 divided by 2. Ken’s player rolls 2d4 and gets 5, so he adds 60 (5 x 12) to the base weight of 120 pounds. Ken weighs 180 pounds.
The table provides a range of heights and weights for typical heroes and also gives average height and weight figures for each gender. It is possible to play distinctive heroes that are particularly tall, heavy, short, or lithe as you see fit.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 152 cm | +(2d10 x 2,5) cm | 54 kg | X (2d4 / 2) kg. |
| Female | 140 cm | +(2d10 x 2,5) cm | 39 kg | X (2d4 / 2) kg. |
| Average Height | Average Weight | |||
| Male | 180 cm. | 79 kg | ||
| Female | 168 cm | 64 kg |
Appearance
What does your hero look like? What color are his eyes? How does he wear his hair? What kind of clothes does he dress in? Is he right-handed or left-handed? Getting a handle on your character’s appearance helps you visualize how he fits into the world. Here are few suggestions to get you started.
Characters with high Charisma scores tend to be more attractive than those with low Charisma scores, though a character with a high Charisma could have strange looks. giving him an exotic appearance. Those with high Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution scores may be more athletic or tough-looking than those with low scores in these abilities.
You can use appearance to tell something about your character’s personality and background. For example:
Doctor Roberta Cain, a Smart hero, has a deep scar along one cheek. She received it during her first mission for Department-7. When she is angry, the scar stands out as a pale line on her livid face.
Morris “Moondog” Greenberg, a Tough hero, is a broad, solidly built biker with long hair drawn back in a ponytail and a close-cropped goatee. He uses a chunk of chain link as a belt. and wears a weatherbeaten leather jacket.
Lily Parish, a Dedicated hero, has fiery red hair, green eyes, and dresses in the most up-to-the-minute styles. She has clothing in her wardrobe for every occasion. ranging from a photographer’s vest and slacks for field work to numerous sharp business suits for meetings. as well as a few killer outfits for those nights on the town.
Personality
Decide how your character acts, what she likes, what she wants out of life, what scares her, and what makes her angry. Stereotypes (the bookworm scholar, the dedicated young officer, the rowdy biker) are good places to start when thinking about your character’s personality, but they don’t tell the whole story.
Conflict provides a handy trick for creating an interesting personality. Lily Parish, for example. wants to be taken seriously as an investigative reporter. Unfortunately, the major media outlets ignore her stories about an elusive anti-government conspiracy, and instead the tabloids pursue her.
Your character’s personality can change over time. Let your character grow and evolve the way real people do as the campaign unfolds.
Your Story So far
Decide what your character’s life has been like up until now. Here are a few questions you can consider.
When did he first realize he wanted to make a difference? What was he doing when he became a hero?
How did he acquire his initial class? A Strong hero, for example, could have a day job on the docks, or be a former amateur or professional athlete, a member of the armed forces, a firefighter, or a police officer.
Where did he get his starting equipment? Did he assemble it piece by piece over time? Is it a parting gift from a mentor or organization? Do any of his personal items have special significance?
What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to him?
What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him?
Does he stay in contact with his family members? What do they think of him and his work?
Action Points
Action points provide you with the means to affect game play in significant ways. You always have a limited amount of action points, and while you replenish this supply with every new level your character attains, you must use them wisely. You can spend 1 action point to do one of these things:
- Alter a single d20 roll used to make an attack, a skill check, an ability check, a level check, or a saving throw.
- Use a class talent or class feature during your turn for which the expenditure of 1 action point is required.
When you spend 1 action point to improve a d20 roll, you add ld6 to your d2O roll to help you meet or exceed the target number. You can declare the use of 1 action point to alter a d20 roll after the roll is made – but only before the GM reveals the result of that roll (whether the attack or check or saving throw succeeded or failed). You can’t use an action point on a skill check or ability check when you are taking 10 or taking 20.
When you spend 1 action point to use a class feature, you gain the benefit of the feature but you don’t roll a d6. In this case, the action is not a bonus to a d20 roll.
You can only spend 1 action point in a round. If you spend a point to use a class feature, you can’t spend another one in the same round to improve a die roll, and vice versa.
Depending on your character level (see the table below), you may be able to roll more than one d6 when you spend 1 action point. If you do so, apply the highest result and disregard the other rolls. As a 15th-level character, for instance, you get to roll 3d6 and take the best die result of the three. So, if you rolled 1, 2, and 4, you would apply the 4 to your d20 roll.
| Character Level | Action Point Dice Rolled |
|---|---|
| 1st-7th | ld6 |
| 8th-14th | 2d6 |
| 15th-20th | 3d6 |
Allegiances
What is important to your hero? What beliefs does he or she hold above others? Where does your hero’s loyalty lie? The allegiances system that follows is optional. Your GM will tell you whether he or she is using it in the campaign.
When creating a character, you may choose up to three allegiances, ranking them in order from most important to least important. These allegiances are indications of what your character values in life, and may encompass people, organizations, or ideals. A character may have no allegiances (being either a free spirit or a lone wolf) or may change allegiances as he or she goes through life. Also, just because you fit into a certain category of people doesn’t mean you have to choose that category as an allegiance. You might be an American, but perhaps you’re not devoted to the nation. You have a family, but you might not be dedicated to your family.
Allegiance is primarily a roleplaying tool to determine how your character acts in particular situations. In choosing an allegiance for your character you are stating your intent to play that character a certain way. If your character acts in a way that is detrimental to his or her allegiance, the GM
may choose to strip your character of that allegiance (and all its benefits) and assign an allegiance more suitable to those actions. A former allegiance may be regained through roleplaying opportunities.
Pledging Allegiance
A hero’s allegiance can take the form of loyalty to a person, to an organization, to a belief system, to a nation, or to an ethical or moral philosophy. In general, you can discard an allegiance at any time, but you may only gain a new allegiance when you attain a new level.
Having an allegiance implies having sufficient intelligence and wisdom to make a moral or ethical choice. As a result, a character must have Intelligence and Wisdom scores of 3 or higher in order to select allegiances.
Allegiances include, but are not limited to, the following examples.
Person or Group: This includes a leader or superior, a family, a group of linked individuals (such as a band of adventurers or a cell of secret agents), or a discrete unit within a larger organization (such as members of your squad or platoon, or individuals whose safety you are responsible for).
Organization: This may be a company or corporation, a gathering of like-minded individuals, a fraternal brotherhood, a secret society, a branch of the armed forces, a local, state, or national government, a university, an employer, or an otherwise established authority. Police officers, for example, have an allegiance to their local government and its legal system.
Nation: This may or may not be the nation that the hero currently resides in. It may be where the individual was born, or where the hero resides after emigrating to a new home.
Belief System: This is usually a particular faith or religion, but can also be a specific philosophy or school of thought. Belief systems could also include political beliefs (conservatism, liberalism, libertarianism, and so on) or philosophical outlooks (Taoism, existentialism, the teachings of Ayn Rand).
Ethical Philosophy: This describes how one feels about order, as represented by law and chaos. An individual with a lawful outlook tends to tell the truth, keep his word, respect authority, and honor tradition, and he expects others to do likewise. An individual with a chaotic outlook tends to follow his instincts and whims, favor new ideas and experiences, and behave in a subjective and open manner in his dealings with others.
Moral Philosophy: This describes one’s attitude toward others, as represented by good and evil. An individual with a good allegiance tends to protect innocent life. This belief implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of other creatures. An evil allegiance shows a willingness to hurt, oppress, and kill others, and to debase or destroy innocent life.
Allegiance Example
Russell Whitfield chooses the following allegiances, in the following order: good, lawful, and Department-7. Now, Russell can choose to act as the situation demands and according to his own conscience, but when all else fails, he tries to adhere to decisions that promote the greater good, stick to the law, and serve the interests of Department-7, in that order.
Allegiances and Influence
In addition to providing your character with roleplaying opportunities, an allegiance can create an empathic bond with others of the same allegiance. With the GM’s permission. your character gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Charisma-based skill checks when dealing with someone of the same allegiance – as long as you have had some interaction with the other character to discover the connections and bring the bonus into play. In general, you just can’t look at another character and ascertain his or her allegiances.
Reputation
Every hero gains a reputation of one sort or another as his or her career progresses, expressed as a Reputation bonus. Reputation is used to determine whether another character (a GM character) recognizes you. While a hero might try to take advantage of his reputation from time to time, usually the hero’s reputation precedes him – whether he wants it to
or not.
Those who recognize the hero are more likely to help him or do what he asks, provided the reputation has a positive connotation to the character who recognizes him. A high Reputation bonus also makes it difficult for the hero to mask his identity, which can be a problem if he’s trying not to be noticed.
Most of the time, a hero doesn’t decide to use his reputation. The GM decides when a hero’s reputation can be relevant to a scene or encounter. At the moment it becomes relevant, the GM makes a Reputation check for a GM character who might be influenced in some fashion due to the hero’s fame or notoriety, as detailed below.
Fame and Infamy
It’s all a matter of perspective. That is, what the hero’s reputation represents is in the eye of the beholder – the GM character he interacts with. Most characters with a high Reputation bonus (+4 or higher) are considered well known within their profession or social circle. Whether this has a positive or negative connotation depends on the point of view of the person who recognizes the hero.
When a character has a positive opinion of a hero’s reputation. the hero is considered to be famous by that character. Fame, when recognized. provides a bonus to certain Charisma-based skill checks.
When a character has a negative opinion of a hero’s reputation, the hero is considered to be infamous by that character. Also, at the GM’s option, a hero might be considered Infamous in certain situations due to events that have transpired in the campaign. For example, if your hero got into trouble with the law in a small Texas town, he or she would be considered Infamous when attempting to interact with people in that town. Infamy, when recognized, provides a penalty to certain Charisma-based skill checks.
Using the Reputation Bonus
Whenever the GM decides that a characters reputation can be a factor in an encounter, the GM makes a Reputation check (DC 25) for the GM character involved. A Reputation check is 1d20 + the hero’s Reputation bonus + the
GM character’s Int modifier. (Some Knowledge skill modifiers might apply instead of the Int modifier, such as Knowledge (Popular Culture] if the hero has levels of Personality or is otherwise in the public eye.) Modifiers to the
Reputation check depend on the hero and the GM character in question, as shown below. Note that if the GM character has no possible way of recognizing a hero, then the Reputation check automatically fails.
If the GM character succeeds at the Reputation check, he or she recognizes the hero. This provides a +4 bonus or a -4 penalty on checks involving the following skills for the duration of the encounter: Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather
Information, Intimidate, and Perform.
| Situation | Reputation Check Modifier |
|---|---|
| You are famous, known far and wide with either a positive or negative connotation | +10 |
| GM character is part of your professional or social circle | +5 |
| You have some small amount of fame or notoriety | +2 |
For example, when Moondog confronts a petty thief in a seedy nightclub and demands to know who’s been asking about him, his fame as a dangerous biker prompts a Reputation check by the petty thief (the GM makes the check). If the petty thief succeeds on the check, indicating that he knows at least a little about Moondog’s reputation, Moondog receives a +4 bonus on his Intimidate check.
In situations when the character’s infamy could make another character react poorly toward him, a Reputation check provides a penalty. For example, when Moondog tries to bluff Officer Argent, the police officer’s successful Reputation check provides Moondog with a -4 penalty when he makes his Bluff check.
The GM must decide that a character’s fame or infamy can come into play in a given situation to make a Reputation check necessary. A character who doesn’t know you or know of you can’t be influenced by your reputation.
WEALTH
Money makes the world go around. How it applies to your campaign depends on the Gamemaster. In some cases, wealth only becomes an issue when a character needs to acquire something beyond his means, or when a situation comes up that calls for a reckoning of finances. Otherwise, the game shouldn’t dwell on non-heroic activities such as paying rent or buying groceries.
Every character has a Wealth bonus that reflects her buying power – a sort of composite of her income, credit rating, and savings. Your Wealth bonus serves as the basis of your Wealth check, which you use to purchase equipment and services for your character.
Wealth is not a direct representation of a character’s salary or how much money the character has socked away in the bank. It isn’t even a reflection of how rich the character is. In fact, a rich character might have a low Wealth bonus if the character has been engaging in a lot of expensive purchases lately. Likewise, a relatively poor character might amass a decent Wealth bonus by being frugal and saving for a rainy day. The Wealth bonus simply represents your characters buying power at any given time.
Your Wealth Bonus
To determine your characters starling Wealth bonus, roll 2cl4 and add the wealth bonus for your starting occupation, plus (if appropriate) the bonus from the Windfall feat.
Over the course of play, your hero’s Wealth bonus will decrease as you purchase expensive items and increase as you gain levels. Every time your Wealth bonus changes, adjust it on your character sheet.
Your Wealth bonus can never fall below +0, and there is no limit to how high your Wealth bonus can climb.
Since Wealth in the d20 MODERN Roleplaying Game is an abstract concept, it’s sometimes difficult to determine how financially well off your character is. To get a general sense of how financially solvent your character is at any given time, check the table below.
| Wealth Bonus | Financial Condition |
|---|---|
| +0 | Impoverished or in debt |
| +1 to +4 | Struggling |
| +5 to +10 | Middle class |
| +11 to +15 | Affluent |
| +16 to +20 | Wealthy |
| +21 to +30 | Rich |
| +31 or higher | Very rich |
Using Wealth
You make a Wealth check to purchase things. This roll is made just like an attack roll or a saving throw. The higher the roll, the better. You’re trying to get a result that equals or exceeds the purchase DC of the object or service in question. If you succeed, you can acquire the object or service. If you
fail, the object or service is beyond your means at this time.
To make a Wealth check for your character, roll:
- 1d20 + your Wealth Bonus
See Equipment for additional rules on making Wealth checks and for a selection of gear to choose from.
Why not Just Track money?
This financial system is abstract, and your Wealth bonus isn’t a precise measurement of your character’s net worth. However, this system is simpler than tracking your paychecks, credit scores, bank statements, interest rates, and credit limits. Modern personal finance can be extremely complex; this system saves you from spending as much effort on balancing your character’s checkbook as you spend on your own.