Character 2 - 13th Age

 Right, so I've played exactly one session of 13th Age several years ago at GenCon, but that was enough to convince me to buy the book. It's a fun fantasy setting from Pelgrane Press that uses a fairly generic OGL d20 resolution mechanic. The biggest difference between this and other OGL systems is the introduction of Icons and One Unique Things. Icons are hugely powerful NPCs that your character has a connection to and One Unique Things are well... things that make your character unique. You want to be the only Dwarf in the world? Sure. You want to have the only little robot buddy in the world? Go nuts! But we're not here to discuss systems, we're here to make characters so let's get to it!

So this is a pretty bog standard character creation system until about the halfway point. See if you can pick from the list where it goes off the usual formula if you're familiar with the OGL system! In brief the steps are:

1. Choose your race.
2. Choose your class.
3. Generate your ability scores.
4. Derive your combat stats.
5. Pick your One Unique Thing.
6. Define your Icon relationships.
7. Pick Backgrounds.
8. Pick 1st level feat.
9. Get your gear.

Right, for those playing along at home, things go a little wonky after step 5. We'll get there shortly but for now...

Choose your race - Racial choices are pretty standard for current fantasy games. You get Human, Dwarf, Dark Elf (drow which is apparently a term that's part of the OGL), High Elf, Wood Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc, Holy Ones (I guess aasimar is NOT part of that OGL package), dragonic, forgeborn, and tiefling. There's a note about non-standard races here but we'll just pick from the existing list as I don't have a DM with a specific non-standard setting in mind. Each race lets you pick one bonus from among two +2s pre-defined stats (except humans because they are Versatile so can put their bonus wherever) as well as a Racial Power. So if you're a Halfling, you can put your +2 in either Constitution OR Dexterity. Unlike some d20 games, none of the races have a negative modifier to any of the stats, so that's nice. 

Since yesterday's 7th Sea character was a Human, let's go ahead and take that option off the table. Of the remaining options I think Dwarf sounds like a fun option for today, so let's go with that. As a Dwarf I can put my racial bonus into either Constitution or Wisdom because Dwarfs are both tough and possessing of a deep homespun wisdom apparently. I think I'll put it in Constitution because that'll let me be less stoic than your average Dwarf.

Dwarves get the Racial Power of "That's Your Best Shot?" which lets them use a healing surge recovery as a free action after they have been hit, once per battle. Because as previously noted, Dwarves are tough little dudes.

The book also notes two other things about Dwarves: they love brewing ale (specifically, despite how much easier it would be to distill other alcohols in their underground homes) and they are super into magical items. Ok, that could be fun I guess.

Choose your class - Speaking of standard choices, the 13th Age corebook has rules for the following classes: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard. There are no rules for multi-classing in the book tho there IS a note that they plan on including those in a later supplement. Did they? I have no idea, I only own the corebook. Readers, if they did or if they included more/different/more interesting classes, let me know in the comments! Each class, like each race above, allows you to put a +2 bonus into one of two class-helpful abilities but you cannot put it in the same ability score you put your racial bonus. So noone starts with a +4 in strength because they went with a half-orc barbarian or whatever.

I'm not going with a half-or OR a barbarian, though. This is a fantasy game and I don't usually get to play fantasy games so I'm going to choose something pretty fantastic. I'm picking Paladin. Back in my day, Dwarves couldn't be Paladins so you'd have to be a fighter/cleric but nowadays anyone can be anything. So let's be a Dwarven Paladin!

Paladins get to put their +2 in either Strength because they are fighter types or Charisma because they are holy warriors and that means they are personable types. I guess. The Gods don't care for introverted jerks, which honestly having read plenty of mythology comes as something of a surprise. Lotsa Gods are dicks. Maybe dick gods just don't have Paladins. Regardless, my Dwarf is going to be an outgoing sort so I'll put the +2 into Charisma.

Generate Ability Scores - As you may have picked up, this is a d20 game. The stats are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Just like they have been since the 1970s. There are two options presented in the book for generating your stats: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die OR point buy. Either way you get to assign the scores to whichever ability you like. 

I have an online die roller here that has a whole little button for generating ability scores, so I'll do that. One click and I have the following scores: 14, 15, 12, 12, 11 and 12. I'll distribute them like so:

Str - 14
Dex - 12
Con - 12
Int - 11
Wis - 12
Cha - 15

After that I apply my two +2s and come out with:

Str - 14
Dex - 12
Con - 14
Int - 11
Wis - 12
Cha - 17

So there, that's a fairly strong and tough Dwarf who has a surprising amount of people skills.

Derive Combat Stats - This is a d20 game and as we all know, d20 games are combat simulation games with some very loose roleplaying elements stapled on. So combat abilities are fairly important. The stats used in 13th Age are Armor Class, Physical Defense, and Mental Defense. Unlike some other games, you determine your defenses based on the median of three stat modifiers. Which means we have to go back and get our stat modifiers real fast. 

Str - 14 (+2)
Dex - 12 (+1)
Con - 14 (+2)
Int - 11 (+0)
Wis - 12 (+1)
Cha - 17 (+3)

This prevents any one stat from being super mostest important in combat which is honestly pretty refreshing. So let's see. Armor Class (AC) is based off of your class, each class has a starting AC and Paladins start with a 16 the highest possible Armor Class for any starting class. To that number you add the middle value of your Con, Dex and Wis scores. For my guy that's (+1, +1, +2) a +1. So AC is 17 so far. Finally you add a +1 at 1st level and another +1 at each additional class level. We're starting at level 1 so the AC is 18. Not too shabby!

Next up is Physical Defense (PD). You figure this and Mental Defense (MD) the same basic way as AC: Look up the base level on the chart, add the Median value of 3 stat modifiers. The chart says Paladins begin with a PD of 10 and it's modified by the median modifier value of Str, Con and Dex so that's a +2 for us and then you add +1 per level for a total starting PD of 13.

Likewise the chart says that the MD of a Paladin starts at 10 to which you add the median of Int, Wis or Cha modifier so that's a +1 and +1 per level for a starting MD of 12. But uh... yeah, not too shabby on that AC!

Next up is Initiative modifier which is your Dex modifier +1/level so our Dwarf, and let's go ahead and give him a name here, so this is Hrothbart the Jocular. Hrothbart starts with a +2 Initiative Modifier. But that's okay because he's not a thief and combat in d20 systems is entirely cyclical.

Next we consult the handy dandy chart to determine our number of recoveries and the size of our recovery die. Paladins begin the game with 8 recoveries and each one is a d10. Paladins: They Are Tough. When Hrothbart rolls to recover hitpoints, he will roll 1d10/level and add his Constitution modifier to the roll to determine how many HP he recovers. Nice.

Attacks and Powers are determined by your class so let's flip the book back to the Paladin class to see what that gives us!

Okay this is VERY much 4th Edition derived isn't it? Yeah. So the Paladin class gets basic Melee and Ranged attacks like everyone else so that's boring but also they get some fun class features! All Paladins get the Smite Evil class feature that they can use a number of times per day equal to their Charisma modifier. The Smite Evil feature lets you add a +d12 to the damage roll of any melee attack roll and even if you miss you still deal half damage. Also, despite the name, the target doesn't actually have to be evil. So feel free to smite those orphans to your heart's content!

So in addition to Smiting Nominal Evil, Paladins get to pick 3 additional class features from a list: Bastion (improves your AC), Cleric Training (you can cast a spell), Divine Domain (you can do some special things usually reserved for clerics), Fearless (what it says on the tin), Implacable (you roll saves at the start of your round instead of the end), Lay on Hands (you can heal with a touch), Paladin's Challenge (you mark an enemy for special one-on-one fighting), and either Path of Universal Righteous Endeavor (+1 bonus to all saves for you and nearby allies) OR Way of Evil Bastards (when you use Smite Evil and kill a non-mook enemy you don't count that as one of your uses of Smite Evil for the day). Honestly, in a game about going out and killing things and taking their stuff I'm not sure why that's decidedly EEEEEEEEEVIL, you could just as easily use it on skeletons and vampires as you could on kittens and orphans. But whatevs, I need to pick three of them so I'll go with Bastion, Lay on Hands and Paladin's Challenge.

So now we go baaaaaaaack to the character creation section to see what's next. Oh, looks like I missed starting Hit Points. I might want to have some of those. Ok the book says to go back to my class page and see what I get. Lotta flipping around in this book... Paladins begin with (8+CON mod) x 3 HP. So that's 30. I'll write that down. 30 HP. Seems like a fair bit. So onto...

Pick Your One Unique Thing - Like I said, this can be basically anything you want to make true about the world. Are you the only dwarf? The oldest elf in the world? A former cultist? Three time winner of the country kitchen jam band jamboree? Awesome. You're the only one of whatever you decide in the world. Ideally you'll pick something fun that your DM can use as a story hook here, something that says something about your character, who they are, how they face the world, what have you. Since I'm not actually playing Hrothbart in an ongoing or even one-shot game, I'll say that he's the Former Youth League All-Kingdom Unarmed Pit Fighting Champion, 2 Years Running.

Define Your Icon Relationships - Like the One Unique Thing above, Icons are something that sets 13th Age apart. There are 14 predefined powerful NPCs in the corebook ranging from the Great Gold Wyrm, pure of heart and defender of the good to the Lich Lord, mostly insane lord of the undead. You have some ties to a couple of them. You get three points to spend on relationships and you can decide if they're Positive, Conflicted or Negative relationships. When you call on your relationships for help or information or what have you from your Icons, you roll 1d6 per point in the relationship. On a 6 you get the info or help or what have you, on a 5 you get what you wanted with some strings attached. The more 6s the better. There are much more detailed rules in the book, but if you want them, buy the book.

Anyway. Hrothgar has a 2 point positive relationship with the Dwarf King and a 1 point conflicted relationship with the Crusader. The Dwarf King is pretty self-evident, he's the king of the Dwarves. He remembers when Hrothgar was a young up and comer in the Paladin school and kicked ass in those All-Kingdom Unarmed Pit Fighting Championship matches. The Crusader is a more ambiguous figure. He's out to get rid of all the demons and devils that are causing problems but he's kinda a warlike asshat about it so that doesn't win him any friends. Hrothgar was approached to join his Crusade but turned him down hard and sent his recruiters back to the Crusader with their tails between their legs.

Pick Backgrounds - So unlike some other OGL d20 games, you don't have a set skill list. Instead you get 8 points to divide among whatever evocative Backgrounds you want to come up with. You can have as many as you like but none can begin with a higher rating than 5 so I guess technically you can have up to 8, all at 1 point. So when you have a skill check to make you are told by the DM what ability to use and then you decide which, if any, background you have helps you in that. If you're making some healing potions, for instance then you'll roll your Wis plus your 3 point "Third Best Herbalist in Corneria" Background. 

So I have 8 points to spend for Hrothbart. I've already decided he's a former unarmed champion pit fighter, but what else has he done in his life? Well, he's from the Dwarven kingdom of Forge and spent quite a bit of his early life working for his parents as an apprentice baker. After learning that he was a remarkably tough and charismatic pit fighter, he was employed by the Dwarf King as a tunnel rat, a kind of Dwarven special forces who are expected to go out into the deep and distant tunnels and clear them of invading goblins and kobolds and the like, finally before leaving Forge and becoming an adventurer, he spent a bit of time in the ale halls, drinking and singing with his kin. So that gives us:

• Pit-fighter +3
• Tunnel Rat +2
• Baker +2
• Carouser +1

Pick 1st Level Feat - Oh yeah, Feats are a thing in this game. Just fun little bits that give you a boost in certain situations. Unlike other OGL games, the Feats list in 13th Age is remarkably small. There are 11 general feats and then all of the class features you didn't pick previously also count. Regardless, I get to pick one Feat at 1st level so I'll pick up Implacable which will give me a +1 bonus to all my saves. That's good because as you'll recall they were not great.

Get Gear - Gear is surprisingly unimportant in 13th Age. Sure, I could compile a list of every piece of chalk and piton I have but that's boring. It's assumed you have on you what's reasonable for your backgrounds plus the armor and weapons your class would have. So Hrothbart gets his background equipment (a backpack, some flint and steel to start a fire, some baking supplies and maybe some trap making equipment), scale mail armor, a shield, an axe and some javelins for ranged combat.

And that's it! Hrothbart the Paladin is complete and you can find his character sheet here. Tune in tomorrow for a hopefully shorter character creation since I'll be doing it after work.