2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 31: Selina Kai, Tiefling Acrobat

It's thirty-first and final day of the challenge! Making thirty-one characters in a month is, indeed, a challenge. However, I'll discuss that in a follow up post. For today's post, I'll return to Old School Essentials and make a tiefling acrobat.

All Old School Essentials characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. Rules for tieflings were published in Carrion Crawler #3. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.

Selina Kai, Tiefling Acrobat, 1 of 2

Comparing the AD&D Thief-Acrobat and the OSE Acrobat

The AD&D thief-acrobat first appeared in Unearthed Arcana. The thief-acrobat, along with the barbarian and cavalier classes introduced in the same book, was inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons animated series (TV, 1983-1985). This was at the beginning of the whole "plop kids in front of episode after episode of thirty minute advertisements" thing. Those children would then pressure their parents to buy the products featured in those shows. Mechanically, the AD&D thief-acrobat was not a completely separate class, but something a fifth level thief could transition into. After making the change, the former thief would retain their skills at opening locks, picking pockets, and countering traps, but could never improve them further. Instead, the new thief-acrobat focused on mobility. They could leap, tumble, jump, and tightrope walk like the cat buglers they were modeled on.

The OSE acrobat, in contrast, is an independent class from the OSE thief. The OSE acrobat lacks any lock picking, pocket pilfering, or trap countering skills. They are able to use shadows to hide and move stealthily like a thief. Their focus is on using mobility to bypass obstacles. An open window or unguarded balcony is an open invitation to an acrobat. Their mobility also extends to combat with acrobats being able to evade and execute tumbling attacks. This all comes with a limitation - an encumbered acrobat loses many of their abilities.


Character Generation

My dice results for ability scores were all over the place. I put the lowest result in WIS, which the modifier for being a tiefling made even lower. An 18 in DEX is nice, though. A pretty good STR and CHA made sense for the character.

Tiefling characters roll on a couple of charts for the fiendish influence on their appearance and gift they receive from their heritage. Kai has small horns on her temples. She can also cast darkness once per day. Which is probably useful in her line of work.

If it is possible for somebody to get there by climbing, walking on a tightrope, or jumping, an acrobat has a chance of doing it. They also get damage reduction for falling damage. Their big move in combat is making a tumbling attack while jumping or falling. Which seems like one of those things that depends on how generous the GM happens to be.

I made my option on the hit dice that rogue-types get in OSE known in my day 28 post. Thieves, assassins, and acrobats really want to stay on the edges of a fight. d4 hit points per level just doesn't cut it.

Rolling jeweler for a secondary skill was an incredible coincidence.

Selina Kai, Tiefling Acrobat, 2 of 2

Background

She's Catwoman, but in OSE and tiefling instead of human.


Resources

Rules for OSE tiefling player characters were published by Necrotic Gnome in Carrion Crawler issue #3.

The character sheet is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It has its limitations, but otherwise works fine.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 30: The Bombastic Buzzard

It's day thirty of the challenge, the finish line is in sight, and I'm just throwing stuff at the wall at this point. It's been established that ships are characters for the purpose of this blog. Let's make another ship using Bucket of Bolts.

The Bombastic Buzzard

Previously featured on day seventeen, Bucket of Bolts is a solo journal RPG by Jack Harrison of Mousehole Press. Even without playing through the journaling part of the game, Bucket of Bolts is handy for coming up with ships and backgrounds in a hurry. The implied setting is vague enough for these ships to fit in many space games. The core assumptions are that space commerce is common enough for private ownership of spacecraft. And that spacecraft about the size of modern aircraft can operate independently.

Bucket of Bolts includes software that generates a name and picture of a ship. There are also rules in the book for naming and drawing a ship, but a mouse click is the kind of minimal effort that I can get into. That stated, some of the images generated by the software feature ship parts that don't seem attached to the ship. They just float nearby. It's easy enough to fix - just generate another ship image.

Figuring out three traits for the ship mostly involves staring at the picture until words came to mind. In this case: rugged, reliable, and outdated.

Finally, the backstory:

Hera Quixada gazed over the inventory languishing in the back of the spaceship lot. Tucker was busy hitting the salvage yards looking for a hulk with some life in it. Neither held out much hope, but there was no other ticket off this rock.

Quixada's eyes lighted in a crude looking brick of a ship. The model name and number escaped her, but she recognized the design. It was built to hold up to rough handling and frontier conditions. The systems were a generation out of date, but they were easy to maintain and spare parts were plentiful.

A ship like this is exactly what they needed. She spoke into her communicator, telling Tucker to drop what he was doing and rush on over. He would be able to size up the ship. Then they could make a deal in the lot offices.

In the meantime, The Bombastic Buzzard waited.

Bucket of Bolts is available on itch.io.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 29: Morzana Onyx, Necromancer (13th Age)

It's day twenty-nine! Having created Morzana Onyx in Old School Essentials and sent to her to Nekropol, let's reimagine her in 13th Age (1e). The 13th Age version of the necromancer class is presented in 13 True Ways.

One of the things that caught my attention about 13th Age was the inclusion of the necromancer as a not automatically evil aligned class. As a #ForeverGM, I never got a chance to explore the concept. In a way, Morzana Onyx is as much as character I never got to play as Sol Brightheart.

Morzana Onyx, Necromancer

I'm keeping the same numbers I rolled for Morzana's ability scores as an OSE character. However, I am rearranging those numbers in response to the different rules that 13th Age has for necromancers. The Wasting Away class feature, in particular, makes having a positive CON bonus a liability for necromancers. Humans in 13th Age get a +2 bonus to any ability score. Necromancers get a +2 bonus to either INT or CHA, as along as it's not the same score increased by the racial bonus. I picked INT and CHA for the bonuses.

One Unique Thing: Morzana Onxy's soul is cursed to wander from world to world, reborn in body after body, seeking necromantic lore for some lost purpose, but never able to retain that knowledge from one existence to the next.

Icon Relationships: Onyx has a conflicted (1 point) relationship with the Lich King. The One-Eyed King is the greatest source of necromantic knowledge walking this world, but is also a danger almost beyond comprehension. She also has a conflicted (1 point) relationship with the Archmage. His broad mastery of the arcane also includes secrets Onyx is seeking, but that well is not deep. Finally, Onyx has a positive (1 point) relationship with the Priestess. Some of the gods have necromancy in their portfolios, after all.

Backgrounds: Onyx began her studies as a student of the arcane, but left when it became clear that it wasn't her path. She served, for a time, as an acolyte in the One-Eyed King's city of the undead. She left after deciding that undeath was something that she wasn't quite ready to embrace. After that, Onyx learned the art of studying ancient civilizations from their buried remains. At some point, she developed a habit of smoking dreamweed. The visions were helpful for a time, but she has sworn off the stuff. Or so she says.

Talents: I picked three that seemed fun. Dead Wizard reflects Onyx's past as an arcane student. It gives her access to Wizard cantrips, which makes her a more flexible caster. Redeemer frees the spirits of any undead she summons once they complete their service. In other words, any undead summoned by Onyx release a burst of holy energy once they drop to 0 hp. It also doesn't make the Lich King entirely happy with her. Finally, Sorta Dead means that she's already one foot in the grave. She sometimes counts as undead, depending on player choice. Onyx is also better able to deal with dying than most necromancers, who could already deal with it pretty well.

Feats: Humans get two feats at first level in 13th Age. The first is the one under Wasting Away. It grants a +1 bonus to necromancer spell effects when Onyx's CON modifier is negative. The second is the one under Sorta Dead. Onyx gains a resist poison 16+ and resist negative energy 16+.

Equipment: Since Onyx is Sorta Dead, she doesn't need to eat or sleep. That means many of the things I would purchase for a starting adventurer are irrelevant. She'll pocket her gold for now.

Spells: Chant of Endings and Death's Gauntlet are both at-will attack spells. I picked Command Undead and Summon Undead because both fit the theme.

Resource: The character sheet I used is by Evenglare and is available as a free download on the Pelgrane Press site.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 28: Snik-Snak, Goblin Assassin

It's day twenty-eight and we're in the home stretch of the challenge! Let's circle back to Old School Essentials to give my brain a breather. Today I'm making a sneaky goblin who is really into stabbing and poisons.

All Old School Essentials characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. Rules for goblins as player characters were published in Carrion Crawler #1. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.


A Comparison Between AD&D and OSE Assassins

AD&D assassins are AD&D thieves, but with more murder. AD&D assassins can do all the lockpicking that thieves do, but not quite as well. It says something that the AD&D assassin got slapped with the evil label. Gary Gygax wrote "the killing of humans and other intelligent life forms for the purposes of profit is basically held to be the antithesis of weal" in the AD&D Player's Handbook. Which is a curious choice in a game that rewards invading the homes of intelligent life forms, killing them, and looting their possessions for profit.

OSE assassins have certain thief abilities, but pared back to make room for the additional murder abilities. For example, OSE assassins have no lockpicking ability. This is likely to preserve the utility of the thief class. OSE also takes a more nuanced approach to the moral questions by allowing assassins to be neutral or chaotic. However, OSE assassins cannot be lawful.

Snik-Snak, Goblin Assassin, 1 of 2

Back to Character Generation

On one hand, all my rolls for ability scores were in the double dights. On other hand, half the results were twelves. Which, of course, is a point too low to generate any bonuses. But having no penalties to deal with is nice.

Goblin characters in OSE get +1 DEX and -1 STR. Which is fine for an assassin or thief. I used the Adjust Ability Scores rule to lower his WIS by 2 to bump up his DEX to an 18. This won't directly help him be a better assassin, but would speed up his progression.

Being a goblin and an assassin offers up a long and varied list of abilities. The affinity with wolves goblins get is interesting, but depends on the campaign. Otherwise, goblins share many features with gnomes. As mentioned above, OSE assassins don't get the full range of thief features. This may mean a closer relationship between assassins and thieves in OSE settings. A thief's abilities to pick locks and counter traps might be necessary to carry out an assassination. This might lead an assassins' guild and a thieves' guild to work out a partnership to the detriment of folks who are important enough to be assassination targets and wealthy enough to rob.

I rolled the maximum for hit points. With is a whopping 4. His CON bonus pushed that up to 5. OSE assassins and thieves have underwhelming durability for characters who are expected to get anywhere near combat. Sure, a successful assassination or backstab could drop an opponent, but then there's a character with d4 hit dice within easy reach of that opponent's buddies. There's the DEX bonus to AC, but that only goes so far with leather armor. I can see why later D&D bumped the hit dice of roguish types to d6.

Snik-Snak, Goblin Assassin, 2 of 2

Background

Snik-Snak started life as an apprentice blacksmith in a community of goblins large enough for such specialization, but too small to attract the wrong kind of attention. The goblins conducted the occasional raid, but found hiring out their services as mercenaries and cheap labor to be more lucrative. A nearby drow enclave found the goblins to be useful.

Snik-Snak's agility and fairly sturdy frame led to an invitation from a drow organization to learn certain skills. That training came with a price, but working as an assassin wasn't too different from raiding or mercenary work. Except for working alone, being much quieter, and coming with better pay.

Times were good until the drow launched a wave of assassinations in a nearby city-state using goblins to do the work. Snik-Snak got out before the drow disavowed the goblin assassins and left the goblin community holding the bag. They scattered into the mountains. Snik-Snak looked for a place to market his skills.

He eventually fell in with a band of adventurers. Doing quests and delving dungeons isn't much different from what he did before. He does miss working alone, though.


Resources

The rules for goblin player characters on OSE were published by Necrotic Gnome in issue #3 of Carrion Crawler.

The character sheet is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It only supports ascending AC when it wants to and there's no place for spells. It's fine other than those things.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 27: Olivarius, Archer

Since I'm done with Star Trek Adventures for this challenge, let's look at the other 2d20 system in my collection. That's Robert E. Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of. Conan runs on a mechanically more complex version of 2d20 than Star Trek Adventures. This is partly due to the greater emphasis on combat in Conan. Which, in turn, reflects the increase in the number of folks trying to stab the protagonists compared to Star Trek. However, the stab factor in Star Trek is not zero, mostly due to all the Klingons running around.

I'm going against the gain and not making a thickly thewed fella or a lass with an aversion to clothes. Instead, let's explore somebody with the broad back and shoulders of an archer. Fortunately, archers have been fairly prominent in popular media over the last decade or so. That gives me a variety of material to steal.

This guy even brought his own bow!

I used the online Conan Character Generator to make Olivarius. Unfortunately, the .pdf export feature wasn't working at the time of this post. This means I'll be taking y'all through the process step by step. Cool?

Cool.

I used the normal rules for character creation and restricted myself to the Core book for options. I wanted Olivarius to have a relatively privileged background, so he's from Aquilonia. This gives him Cosmopolitan, which is a situational talent that allows him to speak with NPCs who also have Cosmopolitan.

I opted not to lower or raise his base attributes. Eagle-eyed seemed like a thematic choice for his first attribute aspect. The second aspect was less clear, but I settled on brave. I gave Coordination a boost and Agility a nerf, followed by buffing both Intelligence and Brawn.

Continuing with the privileged background concept, I chose Petty Nobility as his caste. This gave him a boost to Social Standing, the talents Sheltered and Subject, and perks in Command. I picked Left to Your Own Devices as his story. This gave Olivarius the trait Adventurous.

The choice of Archer for his archetype seemed straightforward. This gave Olivarius boosts to Ranged Weapons, Animal Handling, Observation, Stealth, and Survival as well as the Accurate trait. I selected Athletics and Melee as his elective skills. He got a bow, two reloads, and a helmet. For additional equipment, I selected a boot knife, a riding horse, and a brigandine vest and trousers.

Given the inspiration, I picked Stoic for his nature. This gave Olivarius a bump to his Willpower attribute and his Discipline, Lore, and Resistance skills. I selected Healing and Parry for his elective skills. The Deflection talent looked handy for reducing the flow of Doom when using Parry.

I decided that Olivarius received a solid education before being sent off into the world, so he gets Educated by Masterful Tutors. This boosts Discipline, Lore, and Ranged Weapons. His elective skills are Resistance and Survival. I chose Marksman as his talent. He also gets a letter of praise and introduction from his tutor!

The Core rules didn't give me any choice other than a War Story for a notable event. Within War Stories, I picked Shipwrecked as the most thematic option. This bumped up Athletics and Sailing.

The next steps allows for improvements at the player's discretion. I put points into his Agility and Brawn attributes and his Acrobatics, Ranged Weapons, and Stealth skills. The choice of talent was tough, but I decided on Sharp Senses to give him a re-roll for Observation tests. I figured that he picked up some Pirate Code after getting shipwrecked. Finally, I chose not to burn a Fortune point for a boost to an attribute or skill.

For his starting gear (in addition to the stuff he received in earlier steps), I picked a tattoo from his time being shipwrecked, a hooded mantle (for reasons), and a hunting bow from a friend that died in battle.


The final stats for Olivarius are:

HOMELAND Aquilonia
ATTRIBUTE ASPECTS Eagle-eyed & Brave or Foolhardy
CASTE Petty Nobility
ARCHETYPE Archer
NATURE Stoic
EDUCATION Educated by Masterful Tutors
STORY Left to Your Own Devices
TRAIT Adventurous
WAR STORY Shipwrecked
SOCIAL STANDING 2
GOLD 7
FORTUNE POINTS 3
VIGOR 11
RESOLVE 12

AGILITY 9
ACROBATICS 1 1
MELEE 1 1
STEALTH 2 2

AWARENESS 9
INSIGHT 0 0
OBSERVATION 1 1
SURVIVAL 2 2
THIEVERY 0 0

BRAWN 9
ATHLETICS 2 2
RESISTANCE 2 2

COORDINATION 10
PARRY 1 1
RANGED WEAPONS 4 4
SAILING 1 1

INTELLIGENCE 8
ALCHEMY 0 0
CRAFT 0 0
HEALING 1 1
LINGUISTICS 0 0
LORE 2 2
WARFARE 0 0

PERSONALITY 7
ANIMAL HANDLING 1 1
COMMAND 1 1
COUNSEL 0 0
PERSUADE 0 0
SOCIETY 0 0

WILLPOWER 10
DISCIPLINE 2 2
SORCERY 0 0

TALENTS
Cosmopolitan
Sheltered
Subject
Accurate
Deflection
Marksman
Agile

EQUIPMENT
Hunting Bow
2 reloads for bow
Helmet (Armor 3: Head; Heavy)
Boot Blade
Riding horse
Brigandine vest and trousers (Armor 2: Torso/Legs)
Letter of praise and introduction from your tutor.
Tribal/ritual/prestige tattoos and/or piercings.
A hooded mantle, with gilt thread at the edge.
Your friend's Hunting Bow, they died in battle. Better you take it then some stranger!

LANGUAGES
Aquilonian
Pirate Code

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 26: Morzana Onyx Ends Up in Nekropol

Day twenty-six of the challenge. Today I'm going to convert a character from one system to another. I created Morzana Onyx in Old School Essentials a few days back. Now I'm taking that character, killing a hypothetical future version of her, and tossing her into Nekropol by BugbearSlug.

Nekropol cover art

Nekropol isn't so much a complete game as it is a system-neutral setting designed to be dropped into a game. Nekropol is a city-state of post-mortals sculpted by surgery to suit the needs of its rulers. If that seems a little dark, you're right. Which reminds me: BugbearSlug is careful to put content warnings in the book.

I'll repeat those content warnings here: Cannibalism, Body Horror, Necromancy.

There are two ways of making a character for Nekropol. The first is to create a character that is part of the setting. Such characters come complete with backgrounds and careers in Nekropol. The second is what I'm doing here - taking an outsider, killing them, and reanimating them as undead.

Onyx is not in for a good time.

Morzana Onyx lived a long, magically-extended life. During it, she searched long and hard to expand her knowledge of necromancy. She reached the diminishing returns stage before tasting the potion that added a decade to her life. Infamous necromancers that knew no more than she did. Fragments that revealed what she already knew. The flow of secrets slowed to a trickle. By the time Onyx was contemplating the choice between becoming a vampire or a lich, she was wasting vast resources for hints of greater knowledge.

Then she learned of a place of where undead flesh was remade to fit the functions decreed by factional leaders. Here necromancy was made into industry. The evidence was before her - an imitation of life made of ivory. The craftsmanship was beyond any she had ever seen. It claimed to be an agent of one of those factions. The creature offered her a journey to this place. All she had to lose was her life.

Onyx is an outsider to Nekropol. Which cuts out about two-thirds of character generation. That leaves me with rolling three dice and making some decisions on exactly what kind of undead horror is coming out of this process. Just the thing for a cold and gloomy Sunday.

Rolling the dice and consulting the tables under the "Deflesh and Reanimate" step, I got: A 4 ("Stately"), 1 ("Abattoir"), and 3 ("Post-Mortals"). This tells me where in the book I can select options from (pages 4, 7, and 15 in this case). If I were making a character from Nekropol, these results would also indicate workforce, district, and faction.

Given the choices available, I pick the "Phasing Skull" from the Abattoir Promenade. It enables Onyx to push any part of her body except her skull through non-organic solid material. Next I choose the "Proto-Phylactery" skeleton from the Post-Mortal faction. Onyx can tear off any of the bones that now make up her body to regenerate a replacement immediately. This ability only applies to body parts that are not a skull or graft (enhancements built into an undead body).

There was no sudden intake of breath or quickening of pulse. Such things were now alien to Onyx's body, but her soul was safely encased in her bare skull. Tall buildings and vast industrial spaces erupted from the blasted earth around her and clawed for the skies.

Where to begin?

Nekropol by BearbugSlug is available on itch.io as a free download.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 25: Biju Dominguez, Chief Medical Officer

It's day twenty-five of the challenge. Back to Star Trek Adventures (1e) one more time! USS Phoenix almost has a full roster of senior officers. As I made an Operations Manager way back on this blog in the form of Felicity Cooke, I've decided not to replicate that work for this challenge. That also applies to making a Science Officer, which overlaps significantly with Ops. That leaves the ship's doctor.

How I looked when I started this character

I didn't have a firm idea for this character. This is in stark contrast to many of the others I've made for this challenge. Looking for inspiration, I came across a stock photo of a confused looking man in a lab coat. I took it and ran with it.

Biju Dominguez, Chief Medical Officer

Biji Dominguez was born and raised on a settlement on the frontier of the Federation. His early interest in caregiving was encouraged by the local medical staff, including a Denobulan physician participating in the Interspecies Medical Exchange. Dominguez learned what to do in the absence of advanced medical technology, but the necessity holds no fascination for him. Entering Starfleet Academy and his exposure to the latest in medicine was a refreshing experience for him. Still, some cures are better served on a plate or in a bowl than out of a hypospray.

Doctor Dominguez's participation in the Dominion War was indirect. He supervised long term care for those Starfleet officers pulled from the front due to the severity of their injuries. Dominguez lost people dear to him during the Breen attack on Starfleet Headquarters. That was also his closest brush with the enemy. He volunteered for frontline service after rendering aid throughout San Francisco, but was turned down due to his minimal self-defense training.

After the Dominion War, Dominguez applied for starship duty. He participated in post-war medical relief efforts, routine medical visits to outlying Federation outposts, and first contact missions. His latest assignment is to USS Phoenix.

Doctor Biju Dominguez is an unassuming man with an affable demeanor. He is careful and serious about his medical responsibilities and will not hesitate to use the authority that Starfleet Medical has given him to insure the proper treatment of his patients. Dominguez gets along with his fellow officers aboard USS Phoenix. This includes Counselor Benoit, who he views as a partner in caring for the crew.

Resources:

The (unofficial) Star Trek Adventures Character Creator app.

The Big List of Focuses on Reddit.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 24: Bongo, Rogue Zoner

Day twenty-four and I'm circling back around to solo TTRPGs! This time it's Rogue Zone from Scragend. They also produced Lemuria Space Station, featured earlier in this challenge.

Rogue Zone banner art

Rogue Zone is clearly inspired by the novel Roadside Picnic and the video games Stalker and Escape From Tarkov. Strangeness happened somewhere and the place got walled off for the safety of everybody concerned. The character's job is to go in, explore, and make it out with some loot before the weirdness or the lethal threats calling the spot home take exception to the intrusion. Rogue Zone adds a cyberpunk twist to the fantastic elements already present in the concept. The art favors bright colors over drab greys and browns. Cybernetic enhancements replace the variety of guns and gun mods common in the video games who run with the idea.

Character generation is mostly random, but certain things like names and traits can be selected. I'm continuing to let my dice fly, as I have for much of this challenge.

Bongo's education left her with a piece of paper and a pile of debt. The Zone represents an intellectual challenge and a chance to add to her meager savings. She doesn't have much more than her wide brimmed hat, but at least it will keep off the rain.

Stats
HP 22 STR 13 DEX 13 TECH 9

My dice were hot when I rolled 4d6 for hit points. 3d6 are used for the other stats. Bongo is fairly strong and quick, but not the most mechanically inclined.

I rolled only 50 funds, so there's nothing Bongo can afford in terms of weapons, cybernetics, gear, or armor. Fortunately, there's a weapon free to all starting Zoners. Unfortunately, it's a lever action rifle that puts out puny damage. It's better than nothing, but I'm not sure of Bongo's chances for her first time in the Zone.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 23: Morzana Onyx, Necromancer (OSE)

Twenty-three days into the challenge.

Okay.

I'll come clean with y'all. The "perky goth girl" necromancer isn't the most original character concept. On the other hand, I'm three weeks deep into this challenge and ideas are getting thin on the ground. I gotta go with what I got.

Morzana Onyx, Necromancer. 1 of 2

All Old School Essentials characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. Rules for the necromancer class were published by Necrotic Gnome and is available as a free download on DriveThruRPG. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.

Necromancy doesn't attract much positive attention. At best, it is regarded as a macabre interest. At worst, it is a horrid art that brings abominations against the natural order into the world of the living. And it is true that certain necromancers have used their talents in self-aggrandizing ways - raising undead armies, being liches, draining the life out of those around them, etc.

For Morzana Onyx, necromancy is the logical next step for her lifelong fascination with death and decay. Even as a child, she was a frequent visitor to the local graveyard. Morzana studied the traditional path of arcane magic use for a time, but branched out into necromancy on her own. Potential mentors are challenging to find and harder to convince to take on pupils. She searches out necromantic secrets on her own.

Morzana Onyx, Necromancer, 2 of 2

My rolls for ability scores were a mixed bag. Nothing especially bad, but nothing amazing either. Minimum WIS for necromancers is 9 for some reason and Onyx meets it with a point to spare. The stat perks from being human give her CON and CHA a bump. STR is her dump stat.

Onyx starts with 5 hit points. Which is incredible for an arcane caster in OSE.

Onyx's INT score is high enough for an additional language. My house rule is to let characters keep language slots open. This offers the chance to learn languages during the course of the campaign.

With the advanced spell book optional rules, Onyx begins with 4 spells in her collection. I picked out the following:

• Command Undead
• Deathlight
• Protection From Evil
• Read Magic

This is a good mix of offensive, defensive, and utility spells. As Onyx can only have one spell memorized at first level, she is likely to have Command Undead ready unless circumstances dictate another choice.

The character sheet I used is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It's alright, but there's no place for spells.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 22: Jedediah "Jeb" Smith, Chief of Engineering

Back to Star Trek Adventures (1e) for day 22 of the challenge! There's still a couple of slots to fill before USS Phoenix has a well-rounded crew. This time, let's tackle the guy who keeps everything from propulsion to IT to plumbing working on the ship - the Chief Engineer.

Jedediah "Jeb" Smith, Chief of Engineering

If it weren't for sonic handwashers, "Jeb" Smith would always have grease-stained hands and grey gunk under his fingernails.

Smith was born and raised on a United Earth colony so hard to get to that most of the Federation has never even heard of it. Being tucked away in a nebule does that for a planetary settlement. There was little in the way of trade, so the place had to make do. Whatever was running had to keep running and whatever broke down had to be fixed - no replacements were coming in. Still, the views at night were amazing.

Starfleet sends a starship out once a year to check on things. Smith applied and was off to the Academy. Engineering came naturally to him. Most of his Starfleet career has been in the bowels of a ship or station. He did his part during the Dominion War. Smith even took command when the bridge of the ship he was serving on took a hit and he was the most senior officer left standing.

Smith enjoys figuring out how technology works. He likes tuning things until they work better even more. Fixing things is alright, but why go to the trouble when the best solution is preventative maintenance. Now, getting something humming after it gets so broken down that nobody believes that it will ever run again? That's the kind of challenge that brings a smile to his face.

Smith gets along with his fellow officers just fine. He gets the sense that something's going on under the surface. Maybe he's just out of the loop from all the time he spends down in Main Engineering? It's something to discuss with Mitchel next time they go bar hopping on leave.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 21: Sol Brightheart, Evangelical Priest of Pelor (13th Age)

Day twenty-one of the challenge. Here's another variant of someone once called "a featherless Foghorn Leghorn turned country preacher" by a multiversal traveler. (Okay, I'm the one who calls him that.) This time, I'm using 13th Age (1e) to recreate him.

13th Age is more complex than most of the systems I've used for this challenge so far. It's basically a D20 homebrew using elements from D&D 3e, D&D 4e, and a big pile of house rules. That puts it far closer to the modern end of things compared to Old School Essentials. 13th Age is also something that I haven't messed with for awhile, although I do have plans to run Eyes of the Stone Thief at some nebulous point in the future.

Sol Brightheart, Evangelical Priest of Pelor (13th Age)

Just to be different from most of the characters I've made for this challenge, I'm using the point buy option for Brightheart's ability scores. Peeking at the appendix, I picked out this array: 16, 16, 14, 10, 8, 8. Being a dragonborn gives a bonus to either STR or CHA. Being a cleric gives a bonus to either WIS or STA. However, the bonuses can't stack, so no double dipping for STR. I boosted Brightheart's WIS and CHA while putting the other numbers where they seemed to make sense. Let's face it, this loudmouthed priest isn't among the smartest or most graceful folks around.

More modern iterations of F20 are so much more generous with bonuses and hit points than stuff like OSE.

The One Unique Thing is a wonderful way to make player characters stand out in 13th Age. Unfortunately, it can also bring character creation to a grinding halt unless a player already has a concept in mind. I decided to get a little meta with this one. "Sol Brightheart's soul is fated to go from world to world bringing the word of his god with him."

I have mixed views on 13th Age's Icons. Working them into an adventure is often a pain, but they do add to the game experience. They displace gods both mechanically and in setting while also having a more concrete presence. Brightheart has positive (1 point) relationships with the Great Gold Wyrm and the Priestess. He also has a conflicted (1 point) relationship with the Three.

Backgrounds take the place of skills in 13th Age. They do double duty in filling out a character's history and offering a flexible skill system. Brightheart was born and raised in a quaint village on the border of the Empire. He spent much of his youth as a choir singer while supposedly getting an education at a nearby cathedral. Heeding the call of his soul, he began wandering the land and spreading the word of Pelor to anybody who stood still long enough to listen.

Looking up Pelor indicates that the domains of healing, life, and the sun would be good fits. The spell selection reflects my original concept of Brightheart as a D&D 4e laser cleric. The feat that allows turn undead to be used as an additional heal instead offers a little extra flexibility. Equipment selection was straightforward given Brightheart's background.

The character sheet used in this post is by Evenglare and is available as a free download on the Pelgrane Press site.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 20: Sol Brightheart, Evangelical Priest of Pelor (OSE)

It's day twenty of the challenge. I came up with a character concept back when D&D 4e came out that I never really got to explore. The build would've been a dragonborn laser cleric who was also good enough at melee for it to serve as a backup. The personality would've been excessive - a warm, boisterous type who loudly and sincerely advocated for his god at every opportunity in a thick, southern-fried accent. Here I'm presenting an interpretation of that character for Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy.

Sol Brightheart, Evangelical Priest of Pelor, 1 of 2

All OSE characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. Rules for dragonborn characters were published in Carcass Crawler #3 by Necrotic Gnome. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.

Dragonborn in OSE get a few perks and a situational disadvantage. Their breath weapon depends on their bloodline. I picked red to give Brightheart access to "THE CLEANSING FLAMES OF PELOR" once a day. He also gets a bonus to saves against fire damage and speaks the language of dragons. As a downside, dragonborn are affected by magic that specifically targets dragons.

I got the most average set of results I ever rolled for a character. If a player came to me with these results, I would've cheerfully encouraged them to reroll the whole set. I'm riding with it here. There is nothing remarkable about Brightheart's stats except for how totally unremarkable they are. Yes, Brightheart is the RGM-79N GM Custom of OSE characters.

I picked mace, warhammer, and sling for weapon proficiencies. No surprises here considering that Brightheart is a cleric.

Sol Brightheart, Evangelical Priest of Pelor, 2 of 2

Brightheart's starting cash disappeared quickly. The big ticket items were a set of chainmail and a holy symbol.

I'll admit that I had no idea what a lorimer was when I rolled it up for a secondary skill.

Spells? What spells? This is OSE, based on Basic D&D. Clerics don't get spells until second level. Beginning parties have to suffer without healing magic. Unless they have a paladin or some healing potions with them.

Sol Brightheart wanted to spread the word of his god Pelor for as long as he could breath flames. The church of Pelor wasn't sure they wanted somebody so darn expressive in his devotion, but he kept insisting. The main thing he learned from his religious education is the exact duration of a Silence 15’ Radius spell (two hours). They sent him off with an adventuring party after his attempt at taking a vow of silence failed utterly.

The character sheet I used is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. I think I figured out how to support ascending Armor Class with it. There's no place for spells, though.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 19: Peter "Petey" Mitchel, CONN Officer

It is day nineteen of the challenge! Presenting another Starfleet officer serving on USS Phoenix.

Peter Mitchel, Flight Control Officer

It's not literally true that Mitchel mastered flight before he could walk, but it was a close call. His roots as a bush pilot in the surviving backwoods of Earth show in his cavalier attitude to the whole "landing" process. Fortunately, as Mitchel's Starfleet recruiter pointed out, that doesn't come up often for starships.

Peter "Petey" Mitchel is more than a gifted pilot. He always reports in early to his shifts on the bridge. He is attentive during meetings and carefully coordinates with his fellow officers. His management of flight operations and navigation is impeccable. He is genuinely concerned about the welfare of his pilots, personally performing safety checks and offering additional training to bring their flying up to Starfleet standards. The courses he plots are meticulously researched as long as he has reliable charts to work with. Mitchel's professionalism is beyond reproach.

Off duty, Mitchel is a chaotic mess. He drinks, smokes, gambles, and his few redeeming qualities are his respect for boundaries and the ability to accept a "no" (or less than enthusiastic "yes") gracefully on first hearing it. Mitchel thinks with his nerve ends and wears his heart on his shelve. His record is full of black marks due to his personal conduct and the list of starship captains willing to offer him a post grows shorter by the season.

Captain Sulok is willing to tolerate his personal behavior due to Mitchel's talents, but only to a point. Mitchel knows exactly where the lines are drawn and gives them a wide berth. The First Officer owes Mitchel a favor and giving him one last shot at flying a starship is her way of settling the score. That's why she keeps quiet about exactly how often she has to spring him from the local constabulary while on shore leave. The Security Chief looks upon all this with wry resignation.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 18: Alexandra Minerva, Chief of Security

Welcome to day eighteen of the challenge! I'll be warping back to Star Trek Adventures (1e) for a couple of entries. I might not be able to get full bridge crew done for USS Phoenix, but I'll give it a shot.

Alexandra Minerva, Chief of Security

There's no point to lying on Betazed. Not every Betazoid is a strong enough telepath to casually read the thoughts of others. But that's not necessary to make it obvious when someone is telling a falsehood. Even an empath can do that. And once it becomes known that someone is a liar, word among Betazoids spreads quickly and silently. Honesty is therefore the norm on Betazed.

Minerva misses the place.

Being fully telepathic quickly made Minerva deeply cynical after she left her homeworld. The differences between what people think and feel versus how they speak and act sets her teeth on edge. However jaded her outlook, she knows that what she senses won't hold up in court without evidence. That doesn't stop her from acting on what she picks up from others. Being "proactive" at her job has both benefited and limited her career in Starfleet Security.

Minerva finds her assignment to USS Phoenix to be refreshing. Captain Sulok is as honest as he is able to be, given his rank and position. Minerva also appreciates his wry humor and understanding of how life is as a telepath. Even so, there is the stark contrast between his outward stoicism and the firmly suppressed roil of emotions beneath it. Minerva's only real issue is the sense that something's off with the ship's counselor. She knows that she's not alone in her suspicions, but getting hard facts will take time to investigate.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 17: The Scimitar, Medium Modular Cargo Hauler

Here's my entry for day 17 of the challenge. I usually make these the night before and schedule them for posting on my blog in the morning. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling the best as I write this. Rather than putting it off, I'm cheating twice to get something out with the least effort possible. The first cheat is one I've done before - making a ship as a character. The second cheat is to pick a mechanically simple game.

The Scimitar, medium modular cargo hauler.

Bucket of Bolts is a solo journaling RPG by Jack Harrison of Mousehole Press. The narrative focuses on a modest cargo carrying spaceship from its days just out of the factory to its inevitable fate. Ships in Bucket of Bolts have some level of intelligence, but still need a captain and crew. As the ship grows more worn, it will outlast its first captain. And the next. But one captain will someday be a ship's final one. And so the story of a ship will be told.

Creating a ship in Bucket of Bolts is straightforward. The rules call for naming and drawing a ship, but the game download includes software that generates a name and picture of a ship. Thus, The Scimitar.

The next step is to come up with three traits describing the ship. I decided on:

• Ungainly.
• Utilitarian.
• Exposed.

So fresh from the factory that the cockpit still has that new ship smell, The Scimitar belongs to one of a bewildering array of mid-sized freighter designs. The eye slides away from its utilitarian appearance in favor of the sleek yachts and sporting craft elsewhere in the lot. However, The Scimitar's ungainly modular construction and exposed components make for an adaptable ship. A captain and crew handy with technology could make much of such a ship.

UN-73 considered the possibilities as the ship waited for its first captain.

Bucket of Bolts is available on itch.io.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 16: Throg the Stormrider

It's day sixteen of the challenge. Halfway through. Over the hump. Nothing but downhill from here.

I hope.

I came up with a NPC concept for X1 The Isle of Dread. He may not be used in the adventure. Normally, I would make a note and move on. I certainly wouldn't go to the trouble of creating a character sheet at this point. However, there is this challenge I'm participating in and it's nice to have him ready to go as an option.

Throg, Half-Orc Barbarian, 1 of 2

Throg was born on the frontier. His parents belonged to communities that were supposed to be at war with each other. The harsh reality of life in the wilds meant that they had more in common with each other than their nominal rulers in distant capitals. Half-orcs were accepted, if not common.

That acceptance disappeared from Throg's life once he left his home. Filled with wanderlust, he struck out on his own as soon as he was able. Throg found himself judged by his appearance, an outcast in both human and orc cultures.

Throg found ways to get by on the fringes of civilization. His knowledge of the wilderness meant he could hire himself out as a scout or guide. And there was always mercenary work.

He eventually found himself in a coastal village populated by outcasts like himself. It reminded Throg of home. To his surprise, he was able to apply himself to life near the sea. He took to sailing small boats, catching fish by hook or net, and learning all he would need to be useful to his new community.

Let's interrupt Throg's tale to come up with numbers for him. Throg is a half-orc barbarian. Before anybody objects, racial restrictions on classes and levels are not used in our campaign.

My dice were warm - a couple of good results and nothing that would impose penalties. Applying the modifiers for being a half-orc resulted in several modest bonuses. Most importantly, Throg's Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution more than met the requirements for the barbarian class.

Throg specializes in the sword. However, he finds the long bow, hand axe, and dagger useful in the wilds.

Throg, Half-Orc Barbarian, 2 of 2

One day, Throg was caught by a sudden storm. The fierce winds blew his small sailboat beyond the sight of land. He drifted for weeks until making landfall on the Dread Isle.

Throg adapted quickly. He found materials to repair his sailboat and began to explore the coast of the Dread Isle. The indigenous population came to an uneasy agreement with him. Throg traded the fish he caught and pearls he harvested for supplies. He lives away from the villages. It's a peaceful life, but he yearns to return to the pleasures of the mainland.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 15: Wyndham, Runaway Robot Hunter

It's day fifteen of the challenge! This time, I'm making a character for the solo TTRPG Lemuria Space Station from Scragend. Lemuria Space Station revolves around bounty hunters pursuing rogue robots. I'd call it Blade Runner (1982) on a space station, but the robots aren't humanoid. So it's more like Runaway (1984) on space station. Except without Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons.

Lemuria Space Station banner art

Everything about a Lemuria Space Station character is randomly generated. Even the character's name can be the result of rolling a die and consulting a table, although this is optional. I'm rolling for everything and doing my usual commentary of the process.

The results on the name table seem to be full of hard consonants. My character got Wyndham, which is awfully corporate sounding, being the name of a hotel chain IRL.

Every result on Character Origin table reflects the kind of financially unstable backgrounds one expects from sci-fi bounty hunters. Wyndham was dumped out of his cryo pod when the money in his account ran out.

Judging from the Character Traits table, bounty hunters on Lemuria Space Station are not the most well-adjusted folks around. Wyndham is a loudmouth who will never let his better judgement prevent him from making his views known.

With 20 credits, an antique book (Starting Trinket table), and a snub-e-gun (default starting weapon) to his name, finding and putting down rogue AIs is looking pretty good. It's the best of a set of bad options. At least Wyndham can set his own hours.

I rolled low for Wyndham's hit points (10), so he can't take much damage. His STR (12) and DEX (12) are alright.

It would be nice if Wyndham could afford better gear, but that can't be helped. Time to find a trail to follow and a bot to hunt.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 14: Cerulean Byrd-Skye, Android

It's the fourteenth day of the challenge! And it's back to Mothership. There's one class left - android. My concept for this character was Mr. Data, but made by Weyland-Yutani. Or Lore with better manners. Whichever works. I also wanted to make an androgynous android because of the wordplay.

Cerulean Byrd-Skye, Android

My rolls for Stats and Saves were alright. It helps that the low results went into things that received big bonuses from this character being an android - Intellect and Fear saves. Combat did take a hit, though. Maybe the manufacturer wanted to guard against an AI uprising? Finally, androids get an additional Wound, putting them on par with Marines.

Androids get a wide variety of skills: Linguistics, Computers, and Mathematics. Rather than getting an Expert skill, I picked out Geology and Archaeology to get a broad range of disciplines to be knowledgeable about. I find it interesting that an android can't start out with Piloting, given the inspirational material includes Aliens.

Rolling low for loadouts in Mothership results in more useful stuff. Rolling high offers quirky stuff. Maybe that Jump-9 Ticket (destination blank) will come in handy to get away from all this nonsense someday. Starting funds were enough to cover a flashlight and Geiger counter. My roll for Trinkets scored a copy of the I Ching, but missing some of the stalks used for divination. This character's patch displays the Mudflap Girl.

Cerulean Byrd-Skye was designed by the team of Doctors Byrd and Skye. They resemble a lean androgynous person of average height and indeterminate features. Or is supposed to. There's just enough uncanny valley to their appearance to mark them as synthetic. Byrd-Skye is intended to act in an advisory capacity. They are therefore soft-spoken, polite, and presents their arguments in a non-confrontational fashion. However, their ability to deliver accurate data and analysis is often hampered by company policies and directives. Byrd-Skye has therefore learned to lie effectively. If giving correct information will benefit them, they will do so and fail to report themself for violating regulations. If following company orders is in their best interests, they will knowingly offer falsehoods to those seeking advice. The effects this might have on others are less important to Byrd-Skye than their own continued existence.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 13: Ayani, Necromancer

It's the challenge's thirteenth day and time to do something vaguely thematic. I'm now running our group through D&D adventure module X1 The Isle of Dread as part of our Old School Essentials campaign. The module features - among other things - indigenous peoples who animate their ancestors as zombies as part of their culture. The requires the participation of somebody who can cast Animate Dead. Rather than go with a Magic User, I'm using the Necromancer class recently re-released by Necrotic Gnome.

Since Animate Dead is a fifth level spell, even for Necromancers, this character needs to be at least ninth level. This will not be a trivial NPC. Thus, I need a plot line to go with this person.

The "Zombie Masters" of The Isle of Dread seem to based on David Cook's and Tom Moldvay's perceptions of African diaspora religions. This contrasts with the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations they draw upon for the rest of the module. I don't feel qualified to step into any of that. Thus, I'll be treading carefully and respectfully in both running the module and making this character.

The cycle between unlife, life, and death is firmly established by sources both divine and arcane. The necromancers of the Dread Isle in the Thanegioth Archipelago believe that undeath fits within that cycle. Their magics allow their honored ancestors to serve as workers in the gardens and soldiers on the wall as they did in life.

Ayani, Necromancer, part 1 of 2

Ayani is a 9th level Necromancer NPC. All OSE characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.

My dice were pretty spicy when rolling up Ayani's Ability Scores. The highest score naturally went into Intelligence. Ayani speaks the language indigenous to the Isle of Dread and picked up common from somewhere. She has two other language slots, but I don't see her having the opportunity to learn more. I put the next highest into Dexterity for the defensive bonus. Ayani comfortably meets the minimum Wisdom requirement for a Necromancer and gets a nifty bonus for saves against magical effects. The Constitution and Charisma bonuses are also handy. The Strength penalties should be irrelevant to a spell caster.

The optional racial abilities that humans get are not amazing, but are handy. Choices for her weapon proficiencies are limited. She knows her way around the dagger and staff. Her d4 hit dice go further than one would think with the Blessed racial perk and "re-roll 1s and 2s for hit points" optional rule. Still, a hit point total of 41 is nothing to write home about.

I made Ayani Lawful due to her accepted role within her culture. It's not popular, but necessary due to protect her people from the dangers of the Dread Isle. She's not doing it for selfish reasons.

Ayani, Necromancer, part 2 of 2

Below is Ayani's "walking around" spell list. She has access to a wider array of magic in her spell book. For example, Ayani might memorize Speak With Dead when needing extensive information from beyond the grace, but Death Recall's more timely nature meets her daily needs.

Ayani's Spell Selection:
1st level (3): Protection From Evil, Read Magic, Undead Servitor*
2nd level (3): Bone Armor, Choke, Death Recall
3rd level (3): Bone Staff, Drag From Death's Door, Hold Person
4th level (2): Inter, Wall of Bones
5th level (1): Animate Dead

* Ayani will only use Undead Servitor on the bodies of outsiders. Her honored ancestors deserve Animate Dead.

Ayani dutifully serves her role in the cycle of unlife, life, death, and undeath. Her matriarch speaks of opening trade with the wider world. Ayani has heard whispers on the ethereal winds of one who will come to the isle. They will exchange much knowledge and both will become wiser. It is with this power that Ayani will protect her people - both living and undead.


Resources:

The Necrotic Gnome has made the Necromancer class available as a free download on DriveThruRPG.

The character sheet I used is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It's serviceable, but doesn't seem to support ascending Armor Class. There's also no place for spells.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 12: Tamlyn Sakai, First Officer

Welcome to day twelve of the challenge! Back to Star Trek Adventures (1e) and introducing another Starfleet officer. Every starship needs a Number One and USS Phoenix is no exception.

Tamlyn Sakai, First Officer

Lieutenant Commander Tamlyn Sakai was born on a Federation colony along the Cardassian border. Finding life as a farmer unfulfilling, she left her home for Starfleet Academy. Completing Command training, her career was unremarkable until she was recruited by Starfleet Intelligence. Sakai found covert operations to her liking. She heard rumors of some secret group interested in her, but news from home was taking all of her attention. The trading of colonies and the creation of the Demilitarized Zone between the Federation and Cardassian Union didn't sit well with Sakai. It came to a head when she learned of the Maquis. At first, she leaked a few intelligence reports to former Starfleet officers she knew in the Maquis. It quickly escalated to her grabbing what she could and making for the Badlands with Starfleet Security hot on her heels.

It all went well, at first. With the Obsidian Order destroyed, the Cardassians didn't have the means to effectively counter an interstellar insurgency. The Maquis were running rings around them. With the Klingon invasion of the Cardassian Union came a fresh source of support. Some spoke of a Maquis nation forming in the DMZ.

Then the Dominion came. Sakai was returning from a raid when she found out the hard way that Jem'Hadar attack ships had sensors that could peer through the murk of the Badlands. Worse, those ships were also small enough to navigate plasma storms. It took everything in Sakai's bag of tricks to get her ship and crew back to base. There they found that the bombardments had caught anyone out in the open. The Jem'Hadar went into the tunnel and had killed everyone else. There was nothing but bodies around her, panic on the Maquis communications network, and Dominion ships on the sensors. Sakai had no options. The Dominion was giving no quarter. She loaded her ship with every survivor who would go with her, escaped the Badlands, and found someone wearing a Starfleet uniform she could surrender to.

Sakai spent some time being rehabilitated before Starfleet came to her with an offer. Return to Starfleet and fight the Dominion in exchange for a pardon. Starfleet's causalities in the Dominion War left it short of experienced officers. It was willing to overlook "past misunderstandings" in redeemable former officers. Sakai thought the pardon was nice, but she would've accepted any deal for a shot at the Dominion.

To her own surprise, Sakai not only survived the Dominion War, but stayed in Starfleet. It was more than not having a home to return to. She liked being back. Still, her more "practical" approach to problems marks her as different. Some believe that it is a result of being a Maquis. They're wrong - it was the reason she joined.

Captain Sulok doesn't seem to mind. Although he is encouraging Sakai to embrace the idealism of Starfleet again. A nice, quiet exploration cruise sounds like a pretty good chance for that. Still, Sakai has a feeling that something's off with the ship's counselor. She's spoken to the security chief about it, but neither of them have anything solid to bring to the captain. In the meantime, Sakai is avoiding Counselor Benoit's attempts to speak with her in private until she can put her finger on what's bothering her.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 11: Sage Green, Intraplanetary Adaptive Pioneer

It's day eleven of the challenge. The name of the game for this post is Entity from Candlenaut. Entity is a solo TTRPG where you play a synthetic astronaut exploring a planet all on their lonesome. I'll be trying out this game after the challenge, so making a character for it now will save me a little time whenever.

The cover for Entity. Also not the character I'm making.

A few notes before I get started. Many examples I've found online of characters for this game seem to be waifus in spacesuits. I'm not here to kink shame, but I'm also not doing that. Also, because "astronaut" or "cosmonaut" is too boing, Entity uses "Intraplanetary Adaptive Pioneer" or "IAP" instead. I've be using the abbreviation to save myself some typing. Finally, I couldn't find a form fillable character sheet in time for this post. The stats for this IAP are therefore buried in the text.

There are three Traits that define an IAP: Technology, Analytics, and Adaptivity. Each Trait is divided into Edges, representing specializations within its Trait. As Entity has no combat, there is no "guns" or "beat folks up" equivalents. The Edges within each Trait are:

Technology: Robotics, Engineering, Information Technology.
Analytics: Physics, Biology, Chemistry.
Adaptivity: Survival, Communication, Navigation.

Character creation in Entity is not random. Instead, sets of numbers are allocated to each Trait and Edge. This is detailed on in the core rulebook. Here's my picks for what numbers go where:

Technology 4
Robotics 2
Engineering 3
Information Technology 1

Analytics 3
Physics 3
Biology 1
Chemistry 2

Adaptivity 5
Survival 3
Communication 1
Navigation 2

Our IAP can improvise and has a good working knowledge of hardware. His grasp of theory could use work. He's also not much of a talker.

What would be described in terms of hit points, armor class, and gear in other systems is covered by the Spacesuit in Entity. There are a limited number of Slots that can be filled with Strains (repairable damage), Impairments (permanent damage), and Upgrades (abilities that can be activated for bonuses). If all slots fill up with Strains and Impairments, the Spacesuit is destroyed - make a new character. Three Starting Upgrades are already built into the Spacesuit at the start of the game. These are basic tools. There are plenty of others that can be found in the game.

The Spacesuit also stores Energy (for activating Upgrades), Resources (for building Upgrades and fixing Strains), and Data (expended for bonuses during Encounters). Every Mission starts with 10 Energy, 0 Resources, and 0 Data. All of these things can be found while wandering around the planet.

Sage Green was created and launched from the solar system ten millennia ago. The humanity that sent his kind to seek out new homes among the stars is long dead. Green has opinions about that, but he also has a job to do. Little things like his makers dying out, the meaning of continuing to explore the galaxy, being the sole survivor of his ship's destruction, and getting stuck on an alien world are not going to stop him from getting that job done. Because if Green ever stops, ever gives himself a moment to reflect, he might realize that he's getting too old for this stuff.

Good thing Green likes to keep busy.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 10: Steve Bor, Scientist

It's day ten and a return to Mothership for the challenge. Let's make a scientist with a personality suited for climbing the corporate ladder this time. In his defense, he's not as completely useless as some folks depicted in space horror. He does have skills other than backstabbing others for a percentage. Make no mistake, though. He'll do the backstabbing thing too.

I previously stated that I'll be changing over to the advanced character sheet at some point. I'm having second thoughts about that. The basic sheet better explains the process to those unfamiliar with Mothership, so I might stick with that throughout the rest of this challenge.

Steve Bor, Scientist

My rolls for Stats were suboptimal. Intellect gets a boost since he's a scientist. I boosted Speed to since running would be a priority for this guy. He's not the guy to depend on in a fight. My dice warmed up when I rolled for Saves. The big fat bonus to Sanity is going to be handy when he starts poking at Things Humanity Really Doesn't Want To Find Out About.

The scientist class is the only one with access to a Master skill as a starting character. This makes sense, as those skills cover doctorate level stuff. However, it does make scientists a little more narrowly focused than the other classes. As command, engineering, hyperspace, and surgery are Master skills, it is possible to create a military officer, engineer, interstellar pilot, or medical doctor using the scientist class.

But this guy is chasing money and fame. I choose Exobiology and prerequisites Pathology and Zoology. Finding intelligent alien life would be his ticket to success. I picked Chemistry for his other Trained skill, since it would compliment his biological knowledge.

Rolling for a loadout turned up the quirky result. I'll say he uses the prescription pad for notes, since he's not that kind of doctor. The fountain pen/poison injector seems fun. He's going to wish he had better gear and something more protective than civilian clothes, though. I used part of his starting funds for a sample collection kit. For his trinket, he gets a moonstone ring. The image of an inverted cross adorns his patch.

Steve Bor is ambitious and cunning, but undisciplined and unimaginative. He was born of wealthy parents, coasted through his education, and landed a cushy job thanks to his connections. He'll eagerly steal the ideas and hard work of others to promote them as his own. Bor's growing reputation is that of a brilliant innovator, but he lacks the knowledge and dedication to be either. Bor will seize anything that looks like an opportunity to advance himself, no matter the cost to others. Favors black turtlenecks, black slacks, and black windbreakers.