User:Paleomancer/Emerald Sun (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Character Creation

Character Options

Emerald Sun is intended to be a (relatively) lighthearted cross between Call of Cthulhu and traditional Dungeons and Dragons. Players are either mortals or mortal/eldritch abomination hybrids who are somewhat more powerful than most others they encounter, but still considerably weaker than the nightmarish entities and archaic civilizations who dominate this setting. To achieve great power in any adventuring discipline is to attract the attention of such beings, who may seek to employ, exploit, or destroy the characters.

Ability Scores

The 4d6/select three highest results roll system is recommended here, since characters are expected to possess higher than average scores for many abilities. The average ability scores for most NPCs will be the 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 distribution that is normally allotted to elite NPCs in other settings. It is recommended that players are automatically assigned one 18 to any one ability score of their choosing, and that no player have more than one starting ability score at or below 11. This reflects the rather competitive nature of the setting, and the fact that the players cannot hope to dominate others through sheer power.

Alignment

Alignment should be treated as more of a guideline to roleplay than a strict category for characters. Most effects pertaining to detection or affecting alignment do not exist in the setting. Similarly to 5e, any creature with an intelligence score below 3 (including mindless creatures) is Unaligned and has at most the basic rudiments of what could become morality and ethics should it evolve sapience or be uplifted.

In general, the following guidelines apply:

Good: A Good individual views other entities as beings with intrinsic value, and tends to view being-hood as a broad and deep category worthy of respect. This does not mean a Good person cannot use violence, hunt or harvest for food, compete with others, or even be naturally belligerent or mildly bigoted. Rather, they aspire to conduct that treats others (even non-sophonts) with respect, and they can of course fall short of their goals.

Evil: An Evil individual tends to view other beings as tools or obstacles with little or no intrinsic value, and may think nothing of destroying another in their cause. Evil beings can of course have loved ones, even truly laudable relationships, but these of course carry a personal value to the Evil individual and are not truly redeeming virtues.

Law: A Lawful person values trust among individuals and communities, predictability of outcomes, and external protection of liberties. Lawful individuals do not inherently respect one another, since communal codes of law can vary intensely and lead to brutal schisms and outright warfare.

Chaos: A Chaotic person value personal freedom, flexibility, passion, and the liberty to formulate their own codes. Obviously, no person can be a true paragon of Chaos, and a chaotic individual can be extremely self-consistent when it comes to their own personal codes (although these can be quite arbitrary, hypocritical, or even nonsensical to others). Most Chaotic individuals do not arbitrarily disobey laws unless they feel it intrudes on a personal passion or code; no point in unnecessary fights or death. The insane individual who stabs a friend and helps another without apparent reason might be Chaotic Evil, or might have a severe personality disorder. There is no inherent camaraderie of Chaos and as with Law, Chaos can be its own worst tyrant and its own worst enemy.

Neutral: A person neutral with respect to Good and Evil is a normal person. Generally friendly to their own close friends and kin, amiable to those they identify as the same, and apathetic, unfriendly, or hostile to strangers or undesirables. Note that love for close family or friends is to be expected, and is not inherently a sign of a Good alignment. Similarly, a person neutral with respect to Law and Chaos generally respects most laws and authorities, but more out of habit than a real belief in law as a force of trust, and will often follow their own inclination, but not to the extent of a Chaotic person. A True Neutral person does not attain this status by randomly doing good, evil, lawful, and chaotic actions in (any) succession, but rather never being particularly strong in any alignment. Think apathy rather than obsession.

Note that all these examples focus on how an individual reacts to other beings or entities, and to a lesser extent, things. Even mindless entities can have a form of self-preservation, and it is how an individual views and interacts with others in that and other causes that determines alignment.

Character Stats

Some rules and guidelines for creating characters are based partially on material from Grimoire of the Balanced Wheel, Tome of Prowess, and Races of War. Unless indicated, the given rules apply to characters.

Hit Points

All creatures receive max hit points for their first hit die. For successive hit dice, use averaged results, rounded up to the nearest number: d4 - 3, d6 - 4, d8 - 5, d10 - 6, d12 - 7

Base Defense Bonus

All characters receive a base defense bonus equal to 3/4 * their base attack bonus. If they have multiple classes, calculate the base defense bonus for their total base attack bonus. This helps offset the lack of protective items until higher levels, especially for classes which have no access to defensive spells, and to compensate for altered armor items. Creatures without class levels receive no base defense bonus (usually such beings have alternate defenses, such as natural armor or deflection bonuses), while those with class levels and racial hit dice count only the base attack bonuses from class levels for the purpose of base defense bonuses.

Base Attack Bonus

For any character which has a base attack bonus high enough to grant more than two attacks (base attack +15) for a full-round attack action, there is only the -5 penalty for the second attack, and then the third and fourth attacks share the same base attack as the second attack. So a fighter with a +17 base attack bonus has the following: +17/+12/+12/+12.

Optional: You may use the Edge options as described on Advanced Combat if you desire. Note that this devalues feats like Improved Trip, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but may complicate the game more than desired.

Feats

Characters, NPCs, and monsters all receive a feat at 1st level, 3rd level, and every two levels after third (5th, 7th, 9th, and so on). Since feats are a huge part of how each character is customized, and since many high-end feats require less than optimal prerequisites, this allows players to improve their focus or branch off more easily.