Create an O.L.D. Character

There will be loads of really long traditions, too - for the long lived races. An elf can afford to go off and spend 50 years communing with the trees.

Observations: Wanted to take "Burglar" but the prereq says "Street Thug" but I can't find where Street thug is listed.


It's also a little ambigious if taking the same tradition more than once keeps adding to your attributes. I'm going to assume that it does and see how that turns out.


so what happens if say I rolled Super super low on my ages? Like 2d6+6+4d6 yeilded 12 years of age but a smallfolks min age is 20? That would have to be the youngest watchman i've ever heard about : )


Everything after the initial notes just kinda flowed for me. I liked it a lot better then just saying "Imma [Insert class here] who is actually [insert actual job here]". This system was little bit nicer for thinking of the backstory and personality for my character. The process wasn't to bad, I had to go back and reread a few sections to make sure I was taking the appropriate skills or I was including things properly but the information was easy to skim for.


Really liked the stat comparison table.


Suffice it to say I am pretty excited about this.


Taggalwittzz is a Paranoid 26 year old Smallfolk Watchman who loves to play chess


Str 2 [2d6] Agi 5 [3d6] End 8 [5d6] Int 7 [4d6] Will 3 [2d6] Cha 4 [3d6]
Rep 4 [3d6] GC 4 [3d6]


Health 24/24 [heal 8+1d6/day of rest]
Speed 6 sqrs; Climb 3 sqrs; Jump 10'/2' (2sq/0sq)


Defense: 27 (10+[agix3]+2)
Mental Def: 19
CC: 70 lbs.
Natural Dmg: 1d6


Contacts
1) Contact [13]
2) Rival [11]
3) Contact [15]
4) Contact [13]


Gold Coins
Starting [3d6x20] 220 gc


Racial Traits:
+2 Def; Darkvision 60'
Weight: 146 lbs.
Height: 4'1"


Age Trait:
Adolescent; INQUISITIVE: Your youthful inquisitiveness gives you a +1d6 to observation and intuition based attribute checks


Starting Skills: Carousing, Crafting (oddities), Appraisal
Tradition Skills: Theivery, Perception, Interrogation, Intution II, Sap
Personal Skill: Gaming (chess) II
Specialty: Intution


Traditions
Urchin Age: +12 yrs; Skill: Theivery; Bonus: Heal +1d6 each day
Watchman I Age: +2 yrs; Skill: Perception; Bonus: Constantly vigilant, you are hard to surprise. Opponents take a -1d6 die penalty to access the ambush turn.
Watchman II Age: +6 yrs; Skill: Interrogation; Bonus:When chasing someone using the chase mechanics in this rulebook, you get a +1d6 die bonus to your SPEED checks each turn.
Watchman III Age: +1 yrs; Skill: Intuition; Bonus:You gain a +1d6 die bonus when looking for clues at the scene of a crime.
Watchman IV Age: +5 yrs; Skill: Sap; Bonus:You gain a special sap attack, used to knock out and apprehend criminals. You do no damage, but your target must make a Challenging [16] END check or be stunned for two turns.


Wow so he is one smart and hardy guy...

AngryOgre said:

Observations: Wanted to take "Burglar" but the prereq says "Street Thug" but I can't find where Street thug is listed.

Click to expand...

Ignore that requirement - I'm taking it out. Burglars can come from a variety of backgrounds!

It's also a little ambigious if taking the same tradition more than once keeps adding to your attributes. I'm going to assume that it does and see how that turns out.

Click to expand...

You're correct!

so what happens if say I rolled Super super low on my ages? Like 2d6+6+4d6 yeilded 12 years of age but a smallfolks min age is 20? That would have to be the youngest watchman i've ever heard about : )

Click to expand...

Thanks; that tells me I need to add minimum age requirements for some traditions!

I've updated the document with some of the minor fixes mentioned in this thread. I'd been making them going along in the "master" document, but hadn't exported and updated the preview in a while. So if you have the character generation preview, download the new version.

New question: How does the Specialty of any character over 29 years of age be chosen as anything but the Personal skill? At over 29, the character has +3 ranks to the Personal skill from age; wouldn't that mean that a character could never specialize in anything else?

"There is one restriction on your choice of specialization skill. At the time of character generation, it must (after adding the bonus) be the highest-ranked skill you possess."

Click to expand...

In particular, I'm trying to build a human sailor and cook sometimes called "Long John" who loves to tell tall tales ("Storytelling"). He took Sword (Cutlass) as a Watchman, and I would like him to specialize in that; but at age 31 he has either 3 or 4 ranks in Storytelling, and only one in Sword (before choosing specialty). Should the restriction on the specialty ignore or exempt the personal skill? Does the personal skill only gain additional ranks through adventuring after character creation?

tuxgeo said:

New question: How does the Specialty of any character over 29 years of age be chosen as anything but the Personal skill? At over 29, the character has +3 ranks to the Personal skill from age; wouldn't that mean that a character could never specialize in anything else?

In particular, I'm trying to build a human sailor and cook sometimes called "Long John" who loves to tell tall tales ("Storytelling"). He took Sword (Cutlass) as a Watchman, and I would like him to specialize in that; but at age 31 he has either 3 or 4 ranks in Storytelling, and only one in Sword (before choosing specialty). Should the restriction on the specialty ignore or exempt the personal skill? Does the personal skill only gain additional ranks through adventuring after character creation?

Click to expand...

That's correct; the intention is that the personal skill doesn't count for specialization.

You might want to equip your character. Here's a snapshot of some of the available gear.



And a short excerpt of one of those listed items:

[h=3]Toolkit[/h]
A toolkit is an important piece of equipment. Almost any specialized technical activity uses a toolkit (a healer's kit is, essentially, a medical toolkit). Most grant a +1d6 die bonus to relevant activities, although higher quality version offer larger bonuses as normal. Toolkits require the user to possess the associated skill; they cannot provide a bonus to an attribute check alone.

[ bump a week later, now that this thread has fallen to page 3 of the category]

[This character isn't optimized for combat. That has to be alright.]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Berntsch J. ("Long John") Dyndoane (rhymes with "pine-cone") is a resilient 31 year old human bard who recounts elaborate narratives.

Human Racial Skills: Cooking (crafting), History (lore), Religion (lore)
1. Acolyte (to age 14), for Artistic Skills: Literature: Folk Tales
2. Sailor (to age 20), for Sailing
3. Man at Arms (to age 23), for Leadership
4. Watchman (to age 28), for Sword (Cutlass)
5. Minstrel (to age 31), for Musical Instrument*
- [ * yes, this should be specific. If I were going to play this guy, then I
- would make it specific. ]

Personal Skill: Performance (Storytelling)
Specialty: Sword (Cutlass)

At age 31: STR 4, AGI 5, END 6, WIL 3, INT 6, CHA 6, GC 2, MAG 0, REP 2
SKILLS: Cooking, History, Leadership, Literature (Folk Tales), Musical
Instrument, Religion, Sailing, Storytelling x3*, Sword (Cutlass) x2
*[Does the Personal Skill start at 1 and add +1 per 10 years of age,
so Berntsch would have x4? Or is it merely +1 per 10 years overall?]

TRAIT: Resilient: Heal an additional 1d6 HEALTH per day (included below)

HEALTH: 18 (This is the Minimum of 3xEND: 3x6 = 18.) (Rolled 6,5,4,2 = 17.)
- [Berntsch regains 1d6 + 6 HEALTH per day.]
SPEED: 7
CLIMB: 7 (including increase to Climb from Sailor I)
JUMP: Long Jump 10', High Jump 4'
DEFENSE: 25
INITIATIVE: 4d6
MENTAL DEFENSE: 19
CARRYING CAPACITY: 110 pounds
NATURAL DAMAGE: 3
MAGIC POINTS: 0
STARTING GC: 70 GC


Narrative:
Berntsch began growing taller than the other children early, and was sometimes mistaken for a greater age than he had. He took to making up elaborate stories to explain such a simple concept. Being younger than his brother, he was given over to the local monastery of the god "Gastoad"* for instruction in reading and writing. [ *insert actual name of god of monks here ]

As Berntsch was a slow reader (INT 3) of the holy texts, the other pupils surpassed his progress, and he did not move on to becoming a cleric when many of his classmates did. Instead, he headed outdoors where the air was less stifling, eventually winding up on shipboard, first as a cabin boy and later as crew.

Rumblings of war extracted him from sea-service and landed him in the infantry along with many other enlistees. The pay was more at that time than sailing offered, and the danger was about equal, and the work was drier. He took it. When the rumblings subsided in a renewed truce, most of the latest recruits were let go, so he joined the Watch. He didn't make Sargeant after 5 years, so he got out of that scam and started telling tall tales for a living, mostly in nautical haunts near the sea-coast where the sailors on liberty sometimes had money left over for other entertainment after they had visited the brothels.

Hah! You did that almost exactly as I uploaded a new version of the preview! A lot of small changes based on comments in this thread and on N.E.W. playtests, plus a couple of larger changes (I'm trialling a new LUCK attribute in place of the exploding dice mechanism).

Incidentally, you can now sign up here to be notified when the What's O.L.D. is N E.W. Kickstarter launches:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YNUctHzlTA2MO4s8bSOf88Lb4un9OXGzoM9Ft_nxWi8/viewform

With the new O.L.D. document I thought I'd take another look at the character creation section. My goal was to make a character that was a pistol-wielding duelist:

Nimrothor is an irrepressible (or should this be athletic?) 25 yr. old Grand Elf duelist who plots the path of the stars.

ABILITIES:
STR 2; AGI 7; END 6; INT 7; WILL 5; CHA 4; LUC 5; MAG 2; REP 4; GC 6

TRADITIONS:
Noble (Starter) 18 yrs. -- 1,000 bonus gold coins + superior quality set of clothing
Gladiator I 19 yrs. -- Only pay 1d6 to use Disarm or Trip
Gladiator II 21 yrs. -- As standard action make CHA vs. MENTAL DEFENSE attack vs. opponent w/in 30'. Opponent dazed for 2 rounds if successful.
Alchemist I 23 yrs. -- free high quality alchemy kit
Musketeer I 25 -- begin play with musket

SKILLS:
Pistol, Alchemy x2, Intimidate, Carousing, Melee Weapon (Rapier) x3, Astronomy x3 (Personal)

Combat Trick: Aim
Trait: Athletic

DERIVED STATISTICS:
Health: 18
Speed: 8 (Climb: 4; Jump: 14'/2')
Initiative: 4d6
Defense: 31
Mental Defense: 25
Carrying Capacity: 70 lbs.
Magic Points: 20 (2 max/spell)
--Spell List: Transform Metal
Contacts:
--Noble
--Musketeer (rival)
--Gladiator
--Gladiator (rival)
Wealth: 1,310 or 1,410
Luck Pool: 3d6

GEAR:
begins with the following free gear: pistol, musket, high quality alchemy kit, superior quality set of clothing, & 1,000 extra gold coins.

NOTES:

• I haven't really looked at the combat section yet so I don't have a clue how effective this character would be, particularly in the area that I wanted to specialize in: pistol combat
• Pistol only shows up on the Grand Elf list. No tradition includes Pistol skill, and only the Assassin has Ranged Weapon (a non-specific skill which I assume can be used for Pistol). A couple of other traditions list specific ranged weapons (bow, crossbow)
• There is some inconsistency in the naming of skills. The one I noticed specifically is Intimidate (Grand Elf, pg. 20) vs. Intimidation (Gladiator, pg. 43).
• Trip combat maneuver list AGI as a prerequisite but doesn't give a score.
• Melee Weapon vs. Sword vs. Rapier. There were times when I had a choice of Melee Weapon, other times Sword, still others Rapier. I know from previous comments that you are intended to select a specific weapon when given a broader category. Maybe I overlooked it but a note in the skill section might help clarify.
• You still have Credits listed in a couple of places: Example Wages table (pg. 78), Thug tradition (pg. 29)
• As mentioned by others in previous comments my elf also ended up below the minimum adolescent age. Maybe there could be a base age given with each race that the starter age is added to (for example, elves start at 22 before age rolls. With my character, who got max rolls on his starter tradition this would put his starter age at 40 yrs. Adjustments for his further traditions would put him at 47 yrs.)
• Starting Gold Coins is a little unclear. My character has a GC 6. He gets the higher of 4d6 x20 OR 18. The roll will always be higher unless you mean the higher of 4d6 x20 OR 18 x20.
• I enjoyed the process but it did take me a while to do. An hour, maybe a little longer (neglected to time it, so it's just a guess) but I spent a lot of time double checking rules and scrolling through the pdf. Plus I was writing everything out instead of using the character sheet. Can't wait to make up a couple more characters and then go over the combat section and try out some combats.