Points and rules for character creation and progression

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.“

– Fulgrim, primarch of the III Legion

If pre-constructed characters suggested to you in “The Ontology” chapter as the most fitting your responses from the questionnaire do not satisfy you, there’s still an option of creating one yourself. To do so, you need to first find proper concept that would fit your and GM’s needs at the same time. After establishing that together, you need to decide several things in order:

1. Define to which of 5 fractions your “Main” character belongs. It’s not only a strong plot point for you and GM to build upon but also occasionally relevant factor when various Phase-cards are revealed.

2. Choose your planet of origin from those enlisted in “The Galaxy” chapter. Aside from developing character’s backstory, they may provide additional Talents, Attribute or Skill points, Dichotomy, equipment, allies etc.

3. Distribute basic points between Attributes (50), Primary Skills (40) and Secondary Skills (20). Maximum level of an Attribute chosen during character creation = 9, getting it very close to the absolute top of mortal capability (set on 10 points). Max for any Skill you’ll choose (Pirmary or Secondary) is 4 points out of possible 5. Remember, that each Skill with a star* symbol on it costs 2 points instead of 1 for each level you buy in it.

4. Choose and consult with GM 1 Talent / Implant / Augmentation from the list presented in “The Heroes” chapter (or create one yourself, if neither of the exemplary ones appeals to you).

5. Choose basic equipment & weapons, think twice if anything is missing, add any final touches you need and voila! You’re ready to play your entirely original, Main character!

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To develop further any of your Skills or Attributes, you need to spend Upgrade Points during Tactical Phase (at the beginning of each game session). You can earn them either:

1. if the GM grants you any during the game
2. if you’ll exchange an Astronomicon Point (4 Upg. Pts.)
3. if you pass a test with at least one 6 on a d6
4. from Negative Experience (see next section)

Keeping track of your progress is very important, so remember to mark proper Attribute after each Extra success in test of a Skill related to it. To do so, mark an arrow pointing from said Attribute to the Skill you’ve just tested with Extra success or underline it (preferably – with a pencil). You can do it only once per game-session for each Skill, no matter how many Extra successes you’ve gained in test of that Skill.

During next Tactical Phase, you’ll rubber out all marked arrows in each Attribute’s section and receive as many Upgrade Points to spend on Skills related to that Attribute.

You can store as many of Upgrade Points as you like, collecting them for higher level upgrades. However, you can never use points gathered from successes in Skills related to one Attribute to upgrade Skills attached to another Attribute (for example, you can’t level up your Destruction with Upgrade Points from Intelligence).

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Even though each character you’ll play or use is quite remarkable individual, you’ll make mistakes and fail in trials. Personal development requires learning from own’s mistakes and that’s exactly where Negative Experience shows up.

Each time you fail a Skill test during the game, you can mark 1 of 3 diamond-shaped boxes below that Skill. If you’ll mark all of those 3 boxes during one game-session, you can test your Intelligence during next Tactical Phase. Success allows you to gain additional Upgrade Point for the Attribute section of that Skill.

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Each type of upgrade cost different amount of points, just as different abilities require specific types of training. While in Tactical Phase, you can level-up following traits by spending X Upgrade Points:

• Primary Skills cost as many points to upgrade, as the level to which you wish to improve them (4 Upgrade Points to level-up a Skill from 3rd level to 4th level)
• Attributes & Special Skills* cost twice as much to upgrade, as the regular ones (8 Upgrade Points to level-up a Special Skill* from 3rd level to 4th level)
• Implants cost as many points to upgrade, as the level to which you wish to improve them multiplied by X, where X= current number or Implants a character currently have (12 Upgrade Points to gain 4th Implant, when a character already has 3 Implants)
• Talents cost 15 points for each -X, where X= character’s Humanity
• Augmentations need to have their cost decided individually with GM for each of them, depending on their type and plot-requirements

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Each type of upgrade require different restrictions to be met before spending points on it:

• Attributes & Primary Skills can be upgraded with points earned in their category without additional restrictions (but never between different categories)
• Secondary Skills can be upgraded only if they were used during previous game-session. They can also be bought (1st level) only if proper instructor or source of knowledge is available to the character
• Talents, Implants and Augmentations require both mechanical and plot conditions to be met before spending points on their upgrades

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