Embarking on an adventure in the Starfall Galaxy begins with crafting your unique character. This guide will walk you through the essential steps of character creation and explain how your character grows in power as they gain levels.
Character Creation: Forging Your Cosmic Persona
Creating a character for the Starfall Galaxy involves a series of choices that define who your character is, what they can do, and how they fit into the vast cosmos.
Step 1: Choose Your Class
Your Class represents your character's primary profession, training, and role within an adventuring party. It defines your core abilities, combat prowess, and how you interact with the world. Starfall Galaxy features a flexible class system, enabling a wide range of archetypes, from cunning diplomats and expert pilots to powerful psychics and resilient warriors.
What it determines: Your Hit Points gained per level, your starting proficiencies in weapons, armor, and saving throws, and a unique set of class features that unlock as you level up.
Considerations: Think about the kind of playstyle you enjoy. Do you prefer direct combat, subtle manipulation, technological expertise, or wielding cosmic energies? Your class choice is fundamental to your character's capabilities.
Step 2: Select Your Ancestry
Your Ancestry defines your character's species or race within the Starfall Galaxy. Each ancestry has a unique history, culture, and set of innate abilities shaped by their evolution and interaction with cosmic forces like the Rift and Mana.
Rarity: Ancestries in Starfall Galaxy are categorized by rarity, which indicates their typical availability and the level of GM collaboration required:
Common Ancestries: These are "baseline" ancestries that integrate easily into most parties and campaigns (e.g., Android, Human, Vesk).
Uncommon Ancestries: These require GM approval due to unique advantages or lore that might create interesting party dynamics or require specific adventure design (e.g., Dracosmyr, Sarcesian, Shadar).
Rare Ancestries: These require significant GM collaboration during character creation due to potentially game-unbalancing abilities or lore that demands focused campaign attention (e.g., Astrazoan, Cerebral Nexus, Florin).
What it determines: Your starting Hit Points, Size, Speed, initial Attribute Boosts and Flaws, Languages, Senses, and unique Ancestry Traits.
Considerations: Choose an ancestry that resonates with your character concept. Do you want to be a nimble, void-winged Sarcesian, a deeply empathic Dracosmyr, or a hyper-intelligent Cerebral Nexus?
Step 3: Choose Your Heritage
A Heritage is a sub-category of your chosen ancestry, representing a specific lineage, adaptation, or cultural upbringing that further refines your character's identity and grants additional unique abilities.
What it determines: Specific adaptations, additional traits, or unique actions related to your ancestry.
Considerations: Heritages allow for greater customization within an ancestry. For example, a Sarcesian might choose a Void-Belt Sarcesian heritage for extended void survival, or a Crèche-Raised Sarcesian for enhanced social skills.
Step 4: Select Your Background
Your Background represents your character's life before they became an adventurer. It provides a glimpse into their past experiences, training, and the circumstances that led them to their current path.
What it determines: Two skill proficiencies (one trained, one trained in a specific Lore skill), a skill feat, and two attribute boosts (one predetermined, one free).
Considerations: Choose a background that complements your class and ancestry, or one that provides interesting narrative hooks for your character's personal story.
Step 5: Apply Remaining Ability Points
Your character's core Ability Scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) define their fundamental aptitudes. These scores are determined by a combination of your Class, ancestry, background, and then additional "free" boosts.
Process:
Apply the boosts and flaws from your Class, Ancestry and Background.
Apply four Free Ability Boosts to any four different ability scores.
Considerations: Prioritize abilities that are important for your chosen class and playstyle. For example, a combatant might prioritize Strength or Dexterity, while a psychic might focus on Intelligence or Charisma.
Step 6: Select Initial Feats
Feats are special abilities that grant your character unique capabilities, ranging from combat maneuvers and skill expertise to magical talents and social advantages. At 1st level, you'll select several feats:
Ancestry Feat: One feat from your chosen ancestry's 1st-level options.
Background Skill Feat: One skill feat from your chosen background.
Class Feats: Specific feats determined by your class at 1st level.
General Feat: One general feat of your choice.
Skill Feat: One skill feat of your choice.
Considerations: Choose feats that enhance your character's strengths, fill gaps in their abilities, or provide interesting role-playing opportunities.
Step 7: Purchase Starting Equipment
Your character begins with a certain amount of starting wealth, which you use to purchase weapons, armor, and essential gear.
Starting Wealth: Typically, characters begin with 150 Cinders (one and a half Yoms).
Equipment Categories:
Weapons: Melee and ranged weapons, often with special properties.
Armor: Light, medium, or heavy armor, providing defensive bonuses.
Gear: Tools, adventuring supplies, communication devices, and personal items.
Considerations: Ensure your character has appropriate weapons and armor for their class. Don't forget essential adventuring gear like comm units, medkits, and personal effects.
Leveling Up: Growth and Evolution in the Galaxy
As your character gains experience and overcomes challenges, they will advance in level, unlocking new powers and becoming more formidable. The leveling-up process is a structured way to represent this growth.
1. Gain a Level
Your character gains a new level when they accumulate enough Experience Points (XP) or at the GM's discretion (often referred to as "milestone leveling").
2. Increase Hit Points
Each time you gain a level, you add your class's Hit Point gain to your maximum Hit Points. This represents your character becoming tougher and more resilient.
3. Gain Class Features
Your chosen class provides new abilities, proficiencies, and sometimes even spells or special resources as you level up. These features enhance your character's core role and expand their options in combat, exploration, and social interaction.
4. Gain Skill Increases
At certain levels, you gain Skill Increases, allowing you to improve your proficiency rank in various skills (e.g., from Trained to Expert, Expert to Master, Master to Legendary). This reflects your character honing their abilities in specific areas.
5. Gain Ancestry Feats
Every 4 levels (at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level), you gain a new Ancestry Feat from your chosen ancestry's available options. These feats reflect your character's continued development of their racial or species-specific abilities.
6. Gain Skill Feats
Every 2 levels (at 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc.), you gain a new Skill Feat. These feats provide specialized uses for your skills, making you more effective in non-combat situations or granting unique skill-based actions.
7. Gain General Feats
Every odd level (at 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc.), you gain a new General Feat. These are broad feats not tied to a specific class, ancestry, or skill, offering versatile benefits that can enhance various aspects of your character.
8. Gain Ability Boosts
Every 5 levels (at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level), you gain four Ability Boosts. You can apply these boosts to any four different ability scores, further increasing your character's fundamental aptitudes.
9. Update Proficiencies
As you level up, your proficiency ranks in certain areas (such as weapons, armor, and saving throws) automatically increase based on your class. This represents your character becoming more skilled and experienced with their primary tools and defenses.
By following these steps, you'll create a dynamic and evolving character ready to face the myriad challenges and wonders of the Starfall Galaxy!
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