III. CHARACTERS
TEMPLATES
In order to play Neverwhere D6, you'll need a character. You can
select one from the Templates section or create
your own (see below). The following is a list of common character
types encountered in the Underside.
-
Blueblood (Noble):
a member of a noble family in the Underside. With the boons of a
high social rank, so come greater responsibilities, dangers and enemies.
-
Bravo: a
warrior, bodyguard, or thug (or all the above), who usually rents out his
services to the highest bidder.
-
Eyeball:
an oracle or fortune teller, usually with a great deal of arcane knowledge.
-
Fallen god:
a hapless diety that finds herself trapped in the clumsy flesh of a mere
mortal.
-
Grubber:
one of a tribe of scroungers who scour the Underside for lost items, secret
information and new tunnels.
-
Hawker:
a merchant and haggler, through and through. If he doesn't have it
among his wares, he can likely get it...for a price.
-
Lost soul:
one of the undead, damned to continue walking among the living until freed
by some quest or a final death.
-
Rake: a cad
and troublemaker, thief and murderer. At least that what his friends
call him.
-
'Twixt: one
of the few able to pass between both the World Above and Below Accessing
both, but accepted in neither, these middling souls usually make their
living as beggars, hardly staving off the hunger, loneliness and ensuing
insanity of such a solitary life.
-
Updweller:
a resident of the World Above who suddenly finds herself "between the cracks"
and trapped in the Underside.
-
Underdweller:
a citizen of the Underside, adept at survival in the tunnels and dangers
of the forgotten world, but clueless to the reality above the street.
ATTRIBUTES
Each character has 18 dice to divide among the six attributes Strength,
Dexterity, Constitution, Knowledge, Instincts, and Presence. For
Mundane characters, at least 1D must be placed in each attribute and no
more than 4D can be assigned to any one attribute. Supernatural characters
may put up to 6D in anyone 1 Attribute, and up to 5D in two others (but
only start with 18 Attribute dice, just like Mundanes).
Dice may be broken up into 3 "pips", or "+1's", per die (See example
below).
Strength: measure of physical power.
Dexterity: balance, speed, and reflexes.
Constitution: physical and mental toughness.
Knowledge: breadth of education
and intellectual development.
Instincts: perception and intuition.
Presence: charisma and social abilities.
Example: Paul is making a character named Grimm,
a Bravo. He decides to create his own template rather than use the one
provided. He comes up with the following Attributes:
Strength: 3D+2
Dexterity: 3D+2
Constitution: 2D+2
Knowledge: 2D
Instincts: 3D+1
Presence: 2D+1
Note: Once an Attribute is raised beyond XD+2, it moves
to the next dice level (If Paul had assigned the "pip" in Presence to his
Dexterity Skill instead, it would be 4D, not 3D+3).
See Attributes & Skills for further descriptions.
DETAILS
Now, flesh out a description of your character--history, physical characteristics
and motivations.
Description
Describe your character: How tall is he?
What kind of clothes does he wear? Does he have any noticeable marks
such as tattoos or scars?
Background
Give your character
a history. Is she a run way? Has she lived in the Underside
her whole life? Does she have a family? Any friends?
GM's should encourage characters to develop a decent background, as the
characters' associates will create fodder for future plotlines.
Personality
Is your character a
grouch? Is she impulsive, always itching for a fight, or is she more
thoughtful and cautious?
Objectives
What does your character
hope to gain? Is she lost in the Underside, just trying to reestablish
a live Above? Is he hoping to be a great hero? Does she have
an quest that affects her every action? Is he still looking for his
place in life?
Connection to other Characters
Usually, the character will be friends or associates.
But the GM may dictate that they are just meeting at the beginning of the
game, allowing the characters to get to know each other as they begin their
journey through the Underside.
CHOOSING SKILLS
Starting Skills
Characters start with 7 dice to allocate
for starting skills. Skill dice may be broken up into 3 pips,
just as Attribute dice.
Quirks, Charms & Knacks:
Characters may begin with 2D in Quirks or
Charms (divided as they wish, but at least 1D must be invested in each
choice), or 1D in a Knack. Players may forego having any magical
abilities and gain +2D for Skills.
Curses:
Characters may choose to suffer from a curse
(or a few curses) in order to gain more dice for Quirks, Charms, Knacks
or Skills. For each 1D taken for a Curse, the character may add 1D
in Quirks, Charms or Knacks or 2D for Skills. A character cannot
begin with more than 4D in Curses.
Specializations:
Many skills have specializations which allow the
character to focus on a certain aspect of the skill. If a specialization
is taken, a character may advance in that specialized aspect of the skill
at half the normal cost of advancement. However, uses of the skill
not covered in the Specialization remain at the base skill level.
Example: Grimm has Melee Weapons at 4D.
He decides to specialize in Melee Weapons: Sword. It will cost him
6 CP rather than 12 CP to advance to 5D. Any time he uses a sword,
he will get to roll 5D, but for all other Melee Weapons he will only roll
4D.
Specializations may be selected at Character Creation. When this
occurs, the character's skill increases 2 pips for every 1 pip put in the
skill.
Note: "Mundane" characters may not start with skills greater
than 6D! "Supernatural" characters (like the undead or fallen gods),
cannot start wtih skills greater than 7D.
Specializations are independent of the skill from
which they are derived. If the player later increases the skill,
the Specialization does not increase. If the Specialization increases,
there is no change in the base skill.
Advanced skills:
Some particularly complicated skills require two
times the normal amount of Character Points to allow for Advancement.
They also typically require some other prerequisite skill.
Chi & Malice
Chi symbolizes the inner strength of a character and her internal balance
between good and evil. A character may spend a maximum of one
point of Chi per round to double the dice values of ALL actions in that
round (See Chi).
Getting Chi & Malice
Every character starts with 1 Chi Point. As Chi are spent, characters
will have opportunities to gain additional Chi Points when performing heroically
and may accrue Malice when acting selfishly and evilly.
Heroism:
When the character spends Chi to perform a heroic act, she gets the
point back at the end of the adventure. Examples of heroic action
include: risking harm to help others; fighting an evil force; making
a sacrifice for someone else.
Heroism at a Dramatic Moment: When the character uses Chi
to perform an action integral to the success in the adventure or at another
very dramatic moment, she will not only regain the Chi point at the end
of the adventure but may also be awarded another Chi point. Examples
include: defeating a major villain; preventing the Apocalypse; saving the
life of another person. Characters who do not have any Chi points
but who act heroically at a dramatic moment may be awarded a new Chi point
at the end of the adventure.
Pragmatic Action: If the character uses Chi in a pragmatic,
but non-heroic way, she will not gain an additional Chi point at the end
of the adventure. This includes: avoiding danger; saving your
own life; using it for personal gain (without harming another).
Doing Evil:
If the character uses Chi in an evil action, she will lose the Chi
point permanently and will gain a Malice point immediately. Examples
include: killing or injuring someone for any reason other than self-defense
or to aid others; using magic when filled with anger and hate; using magic
to accrue personal power over others.
Characters should be reminded that a particular
action will give them a Malice points and given a chance to act otherwise.
Character's with Malice points will have a tainted aura that will be noticeable
by certain sensitive observers. "Good" characters with Malice will
suffer from depression, mood swings, angry outbursts and similar un-fun
behavior.
Turning Bad:
When a character gets a new Malice Point, roll 1D. If the result is
less than the number of Malice Points the character has, the character
has turned Evil (or, at least, mostly-evil). The Gamemaster may decide
to take control of the character, or should instruct the player that her
character is now "in a bad place" to say the least.
Being Bad:
Characters may spend Malice Points just as they may spend Chi.
However, when they do, they automatically regain the Malice Point and will
gain another. Characters so indulging their evil side will quickly
turn into soulless animals.
Penance:
Characters may rid themselves of Malice by doing good acts, talking
with friends, fighting the good fight and being nice to small animals.
This will usually take at least 2 adventures of the character "acting nice"
and being sorry.
Advancement
At the end of each adventure, players will usually be rewarded Character
Points at the end of an adventure by the Game Master. They may keep
these CP's for later use or spend them on
learning skills. Game Masters should award no more than 5-10 CP's
per adventure.
Increasing skill levels
Skills increase by "pips" (e.g. from 3D to 3D+1,
to 3D+2, to 4D).
For normal skills, it costs a number of Character
Points equal to the current dice value of the Skill. Thus to advance
from 4D to 4D+1, the player must spend 4 CP's. Specializations cost
1/2 the current dice value (moving from 4D to 4D+1 would cost 2 CP's).
To learn a new skill, the character must spend 3CP's to get the skill
at a level equal to the controlling Attribute.
Example: Grimm has Crossbow at 4D and wants
to increase it to 4D+2. To do so, he must spend 8 CP (4 to get to
4D+1 and 4 more to get to 4D+2).
Learning new skills
At character creation, the player may choose 3 skills
under each Attribute that the character "knows" at a skill level equal
to the Attribute. All other skills under the Attribute will be attempted
at -1D.
To learn new skills, the player may spend
3 Character Points to gain that skill at a level equal to the controlling
Attribute. After that, the skill advances as normal (see above).
Improving attributes
Improving an attribute by 1 pip costs 10x
the current die value. Thus raising a character's Strength from 3D+2
to 4D will cost 30 CPs.
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