Guardians

Children are like sponges, and no matter the state of your childhood, those that raised you provided you with the base of knowledge that you build upon throughout the rest of your life.  Who raised you? What did they do? What did they teach you? Choose 2 Skill Branches that represents the skills they passed along to you.

Devotion

Now that you have considered the foundation of your character’s past, such as how and where they were raised, where they come from, and where their talents lie, it is time to choose what the major driving and motivating factor in their current life is. A character’s Devotion is intended to be a core part of who they are; it is what they would live and die for.  It is a touchstone to the motivations of your character, and the more they act in accordance with it, the stronger their sense of self and power is. Conversely, when a character goes against their Devotion, they can be devastated, lost, and out of touch with who or what they have become.  See the full description of Devotions and their mechanics here. 

The general types of Devotion your character may choose from are: Order, Chaos, Love, Hate, Self, Passion. After you choose the type of Devotion, you must further choose an Object of that Devotion, such as an institution, lover, or ideal. Examples of “Common Devotions” are detailed in the full description of Devotions. It is not enough to be a character driven by Love. You must choose who your character Loves so much that it fuels their drive for continuing to fight each day.

Faith in Self/Faith in Higher Powers

Now that you have considered your devotion, it is time to figure out your perspective on the world. In Age of Ashes, there are two different perspectives on the world: whether one believes that they are ultimately responsible for their own fate, or one believes that higher powers than they have control over their destiny.  This choice in viewpoint affects how characters interpret and find meaning in the world, and how the rituals of cultists interact with them.  Read up on Faith in Self/Faith in Higher Powers here and figure out which works for your character.

Name

The time has come to choose your character’s name and give them the breath of life. Naming conventions vary from culture to culture.  See some of the notes below, and the appropriate Culture Packet for more details on naming and other cultural points.

Experience Points

Every character begins with 35 Experience points to spend as they desire within their Self-Teach List and starting glory concepts. You may spend these on skills or other abilities, or you may purchase Perks for the listed value. You may also choose to select some Flaws in order to acquire additional experience points. After character creation, Perks can only be bought for twice the cost as well as relevant in-game roleplay justification. Flaws, once bought, cost twice as many experience points as they granted to remove them as well as relevant in-game story and justification.

All XP, either starting XP or Flaw XP must be spent on character creation. Only 3 XP may enter your XP bank from character creation.

To purchase or increase a skill rank, the cost is 2 times the new rank.  So a new rank in a skill tree is two points, the second rank is four points, etc. To purchase or increase an attribute the cost is 5 times the new rank. 

At this point, please look at the Perks and Flaws page and select the ones you would like.  You may take as many Flaws as you want, but you may only earn 20 XP through Flaws. 

Some Perks and Flaws are bound to a specific Culture.  Only characters of the appropriate Culture may choose these.  It is possible to purchase Perks or Flaws from another group by paying an additional glory cost, for 3 times the XP price. For example, if an out-of-culture perk costs 3xp, you would pay 3xp and 9 glory to purchase it at character creation.   

Glory Concepts

If your character is special character concept such as being a Cultist, a Triumverati Cultist, a Paladin, a Seer, a Ranger, a Dhampir, or a Magician, you will now build out this part of your sheet. If you would like to add a villian concept to your sheet, please build out your sheet as normal but open a ticket with staff to discuss. 

Special character concepts have access to skills and specialties that are not available to the rest of humanity, whether from innate gifts of birth or from membership or conversion to a specialized organization. Special concepts are in two groups: 

1. Those that can be purchased at character creation only and cannot be earned in game nor stacked with each-other. This includes paladins, seers, and rangers. A character may only ever be one of these concepts at a time.
2. Those that may either be purchased at character creation or be earned in game through roleplay and story justification. To enter the game as a member of one of these groups represents an amount of power and ability that costs glory. Becoming one of these character concepts after character creation does not cost glory, but does cost XP and requires story justification.  These may be stacked with other glory concepts, but be mindful that there is only so much XP to spend. This includes dhampirs, cultists, triumverati cultists, and magicians.

It is only possible to enter play as one glory concept, although there is no limit to the number of concepts that can be achieved in play, assuming they are concepts that are able to be earned in-game.  Only the first level of any glory concept may be purchased at character creation, with the exception of dedicated Guild NPCs entering play after a year, and only at its most basic level- see below for additional details about what that means for each concept. 

If, while designing your character, you choose any overlapping concepts, such as a Villain Concept Ranger you must pay the glory cost for each of those individual concepts.  

Cultists and Triumverati Cultists

Coming into play as a Rank 1 Cultist marks you as having advanced beyond the stage of Neophyte to become fully recognized as a Cultist of your faith. As such, you enter play with 3 Rank 1 rituals available to you of your choice and a copy of your faith’s Holy Writ. It costs 10 glory and 3 XP to start play as an ordinary Rank 1 Cultist.

It costs 20 glory and 3 XP to start play as a Triumverati Cultist, and they enter play with all of their Rank 0 rituals as well as 3 Rank 1 rituals of their choice. Triumverati Cultists who enter play as such also have a copy of their faith’s Holy Writ. 

Those who wish to enter play as a cultist of a smaller cult must pay the necessary glory to enter play as a cultist of the parent religion (such as the Benalian for the Broken Bough, or a cultist of the Spirits for the Glimmering Lady) as well as 2 glory come in as a cultist of the smaller cult and to enter play with a copy of its Holy Writ and already beholden to the necessary vows. If the parent religion has different types of cultists, they may enter play as one of those specific types, as well as a cultist of the small cult, assuming that the vows of each do not interfere. For example, a cultist could spend 10 glory and 3 XP to enter play as a Benalian Lurite as well as spending 2 glory to a member of the cult of Mama Mort, for a total of 12 glory and 3 XP. Any character can only enter play belonging to one small cult.

Cultists who enter play as Totemic cultist may come into game with a totem, although they must describe whether the totem is one of Might, Life, or Guile, and submit details about the totem to staff in order to receive a proper item tag.

As long as a Cultist possesses a copy of their faith’s Holy Writ, they do not require a teacher to learn new rituals.  Cultists may be Faith in Self or Faith in Higher Power, but it is unusual for Cultists to be Faith in Self, given the vulgarity handicap of casting rituals as a Faith in Self individual.

Paladin

Starting play as a Paladin costs 30 glory and 10 XP, and all Paladins start with two gifts that are included in the XP cost to start as a Paladin: Charismata and Righteous Purpose.  They may also choose 1 Tier Level 1 gift of their choice to start play with if they pay the requisite XP as if they had performed the unlocks required for those powers before the start of play. All other gifts must be acquired in game after completing the requisite number of Paladin achievements and spending the required XP.  Paladin gifts do not require a teacher, as they are part of the Paladin’s intuitive understanding of their own divine connection.

They also start play with the sacred energy that Paladins draw on and expend when they use their gifts, called Empyria. Empyria and Depravity are intertwined, with each Paladin having the same amount of Empyria as their Depravity threshold.  This means that most Paladins have 5 Empyria, while those with the Faith Attribute at 2 have 7 Empyria. Empyria refreshes with the dawn. 

Despite their prominence in the Benalian faith, a Paladin can be of any faith, although all Paladins share the same Sins: the universal five sins, Passion, and Pride.  Committing sins from these categories will cause them to acquire Depravity. At the beginning of play these Empyria are all clean, unless the Paladin enters play with Wicked. 

Ranger

Starting play as a Ranger costs 30 glory and 10 XP, and all Rangers start with two basic powers that are included in the XP cost to start as a Ranger: Sympathy and Dark Harvest. They may also choose 1 Spring Evocation of their choice to start play with if they pay the requisite XP as if they had performed the unlocks required for those powers before the start of play. All other evocations must be acquired in game after acquiring the requisite number of essences and spending the required XP. Ranger evocations do not require a teacher to acquire, as they are part of the Ranger’s intuitive understanding of their own connection with the world.

Rangers also enter play with the power of their own internal essences and innate connection to the wilds, which allows them to use three Evocations a day without the need for consumption of additional essences. The Ranger’s own internal essences are refreshed each dawn.

As a Ranger progresses through their seasons, their Evocations grow in potency, but also carry with them some drawback or negative effect. This is called the ‘price’ of an Evocation. If someone cures a Ranger of the price of an Evocation, they lose access to that Evocation until they go through the initial ritual again, finding and consuming both essences as they did when they first unlocked the Evocation.

While many think of Rangers as tied to the religion of Vecatra, those who possess these powers can be born anywhere in the world- and may belong to any religion or culture.

Magician

Starting play as a Magician costs 15 glory and 8 XP, and all Magicians come into play in service to one of the four great guilds at Rank 1. As part of character creation, a Magician choose three domains within their school of magic and three spells within those domains.  Most Magicians choose three different domains, but that is not required, and you may choose the same domain up to three times if you wish.

A Magician who is released from her Guild’s tutelage and granted Journeyman status, starts with 3 Rank 1 spells that their Guild has chosen for them based on their selected domains. Beyond that, they are limited in gaining new spells by sending requests back to the Guild for services rendered and proving of their worth. 

A Magician may attempt to cast any Arcanum scroll that they possess as long as it is within their school of magic and they have the requisite fallacies.  Magicians do not have to buy additional scrolls through XP, but rather progress in their circle Rank. In order to increase in rank, a Magician must spend 4 times the rank of the circle in XP and request a test from their guild- which after fulfilling they may be promoted in game by their guild and have access to spells of a higher rank. While some Magicians are gifted spells from the Ranks above their own, it is uncommon, and those are more likely found or stolen from others who weren’t paying enough attention. A Magician cannot enter play at a level above Rank 1.

A Magician is always in possession of 12 Sigils of Power, one 12-sided Fate die, her school’s sigil wheel, and her spell indicators.

Seer

Entering play as a Seer costs 20 glory and 3 XP. Seers are born rather than created, and a character cannot become a Seer after character creation. They automatically start with their first ability, “Star Sense”, and after that, Seer abilities cost 3 times their level in XP. They may buy up to and including their level-two power at character creation if they choose.  Abilities must be bought in order, and to buy a higher ranked ability from one of the three paths, you must have the lower level abilities below it in the same path. As most Seer abilities tend to be staff-involvement intensive, Seers should expect to work with staff by letting them know when they will be interested in using a Seer power.

Seer practices vary by culture and personal preference. Wherever it is noted that the Seer meditates, communes, or performs a divination technique, the player is given license to add their own roleplay flavor to the activity.

Dhampir

Entering play as a Dhampir costs 30 glory and 3 XP. Dhampir are created, though their ultimate origin remains a mystery.

Dhampir begin play with Sanguine thirst, a beginning ability that branches into ever-more potent expressions of specialized vampiric power and which may be performed at any time with no cost.  Dhampirs may use Sanguine Thirst to take blood from any sentient target that is willing, helpless, or incapacitated by making a Bite call. If the target is not willing or incapacitated, then a Dhampir may make a Grab call assuming they have that ability, followed by the call Bite, and then feed. They may buy up to and including their level-two power at character creation if they choose, and if they do so they are assumed to have performed their second level unlock before the start of play.

All other Dhampir powers must be unlocked in game by a ritual act or sacrifice in addition to the typical XP costs. This rite leaves its mark, however, for each level power that a Dhampir has unlocked, they gain a flaw as well. This is typically a compulsion or a minor costuming requirement. 

Most Dhampirs hail from Seravia for the obvious reason that it is the seat of power and protection for vampires, and it’s there that their distinction can be felt most keenly.  They can, however, be from any culture given story justification.

Starting Items

Every character begins with 350 grams of salt with which they can trade for anything off the following list. Any leftover salt will be added to the character’s starting items. Two grams of salt is enough to trade for enough one unit of vegetables in areas where vegetables are not scarce.

Character Builder

In order to help expedite and standardize the process of character creation, we have created a Character Builder and Form for our Age of Ashes Characters.  You can start the process here.

This initial builder is designed to help guide you through the process of creating a character. The steps are as follows:

1. Fill out the Form – taking note of the name of your submission and the email you use.  A copy of your character will be sent to you, along with a link to edit it should you find it lacking. You may make multiple characters using this jotform if you so please.
2. Once you have completed step 1 and confirmed that this is the character you will be attending beta with, you may proceed to the Equipment Purchasing Form. Please only fill this out once for your final character build! It, too, will send you an edit link if you regret decisions.

This system will take you through the steps necessary to create your Age of Ashes character. Throughout the process you will not only be adding skills to your character, you will also be asked to consider your characters life before this moment. What have they done to get here? What kind of life have they led? What kind of person have they become? As you decide on these backstory details, your character will be awarded talents that represent their unique history and the skills that they can learn without a teacher.

The Builder encompasses the following steps:

1. Self-Taught Skills
2. Attributes, Devotions, Faith, & Names
3. Flaws
4. Perks
5. Glory Concepts
6. Experience Spending
7. Character Background

Find the builder here.

Rewrite

You may rewrite your character a single time within two games of creating the character, as long as said rewrite does not dramatically change or effect established storylines and plot that involve other players.