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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xethreau" data-source="post: 7027109" data-attributes="member: 57584">EXAMPLE 1: Using a Focus CardIn this example, we use a focus card. I choose the King of Wands, because he suits me personally. I like characters with warm personalities, or barring that to be badass mages.[ATTACH]81176[/ATTACH]Let’s start by looking at the center diamond. The class card is the Ace of Wands, which represents raw creative force. Yes, I will play a mage! I won’t decide what kind until I see my ability score spread. What about my race? Reverse Five of Cups. This card represents some form of emotional pain, specifically regret. The book says “knowing a dream is beyond reach.” This screams tiefling to me. (Admittedly, if I were playing Zeitgeist I might also choose either eladrin or Risurian human.) The background card is the Five of Swords. This has a martial bent to me, so I’ll lock in for soldier.What about my ability scores? Looking to the left triangle, I see it is defined by the array card The Tower. WTF. This represents the chaos of revolution and the shifting tides of luck, kind of in a bad way. So probably the best fit would be the savant array (15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8). High ability score: Reverse Page of Wands. Lots of wands; why reversed? PoW tells us to embrace novelty, and reversed tells us to create opportunity through manipulation and misinformation. Wow. Charisma. My medium ability score is… The Wheel of Fortune. Luck again? D&D has no luck stat. Yet I’m suddenly reminded of Hermione, who uses smarts to make her own luck. So, Intelligence. Int is a tiefling stat, and since it’s in the middle I can choose 15 or 8, so obviously 15. The final card in this diamond is Five of Pentacles. So many fives! Pentacles are about finances, and the 5P says “poverty and financial worries.” Probably overspends due to poor self-restraint. Low wisdom.    Reflecting on the ability scores I chose, I think the mage class that best fits is sorcerer. Given the King of Wands and the Ace of Wands guiding him (and low wisdom), Wild Magic works. So what kind of persona does a military tiefling sorcerer have? Well first of all, since he is guided by the King of Wands, his military role was officer. And the reverse Six of Pentacles tells me he is stingy! Ironic. The Emperor in the ideal slot tells me this fella loves his country and is lawful. Also ironic, but not unpleasantly so. His bond is the Nine of Swords: grief, or a “dreadful time of anxiety and stress.” So he had a crushing military defeat. His flaw is the reverse Queen of Cups, and at first I wanted to give him hatred over an unfaithful wife. But what if… This card instead embodies his cruelty and love for attention. He always obeys the law, no matter how cruel.Now, I look over my cards and character sheet. I have three ability scores to fill in, and in light of his military background my last 15 will go to Constitution. Now to ruminate on his story…Arxus is a mercenary sorcerer who insists he is worth every copper you spend on him, and more. During his military days, he quickly rose up the chain of command for his tactical mind, domineering presence, and sheer firepower. For his loyalty and capacity at executing the literal word of the law, he was given a mission nobody else would take. That’s all he says on the matter; clearly, it is a sore spot for him. He eventually retired, and now sells his spells in service to the most lucrative operations. Is this the only character he could have been? No. He could have been a human-turned-tiefling via wild magic, which ruined his chances with the love of his life. He could have also been a Risurian human Yerasol veteran. Or an eladrin terrorist pact-bound to a mighty fey titan.</blockquote>

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