This page explains how to create characters to play in a Numenera game. This involves a series of decisions that will shape your character, so the more you understand what kind of character you want to play, the easier character creation will be. The process involves understanding the values of three game statistics and choosing three aspects that determine your character’s capabilities.
CHARACTER STATS
Every player character has three defining characteristics, which are typically called “statistics” or “stats.” These stats are Might, Speed, and Intellect. They are broad categories that cover many different but related aspects of a character.
MIGHT: Might defines how strong and durable your character is. The concepts of strength, endurance, constitution, hardiness, and physical prowess are all folded into this one stat. Might isn’t relative to size; instead, it’s an absolute measurement. An elephant has more Might than the mightiest tiger, which has more Might than the mightiest rat, which has more Might than the mightiest spider. Might governs actions from forcing doors open to walking for days without food to resisting disease. It’s also the primary means of determining how much damage your character can sustain in a dangerous situation. Physical characters, tough characters, and characters interested in fighting should focus on Might. Might could be thought of as Might/Health because it governs how strong you are and how much physical punishment you can take.
SPEED: Speed describes how fast and physically coordinated your character is. The stat embodies quickness, movement, dexterity, and reflexes. Speed governs such divergent actions as dodging attacks, sneaking around quietly, and throwing a ball accurately. It helps determine whether you can move farther on your turn. Nimble, fast, or sneaky characters will want good Speed stats, as will those interested in ranged combat. Speed could be thought of as Speed/Agility because it governs your overall swiftness and reflexes.
INTELLECT: This stat determines how smart, knowledgeable, and likable your character is. It includes intelligence, wisdom, charisma, education, reasoning, wit, willpower, and charm. Intellect governs solving puzzles, remembering facts, telling convincing lies, and using mental powers. Characters interested in communicating effectively, being learned scholars, and wielding the numenera should stress their Intellect stat.
POOL, EDGE, AND EFFORT
Each of your stats has two components: your Pool and your Edge. Your Pool represents your raw, innate ability, and your Edge represents knowing how to use what you have. A third element ties into this concept: Effort. When your character really needs to accomplish a task, you apply Effort.
POOLYour Pool is the most basic measurement of a stat. Comparing the Pools of two creatures will give you a general sense of which creature is superior in that stat. For example, a character who has a Might Pool of 16 is stronger (in a basic sense) than a character who has a Might Pool of 12. Most characters start with a Pool of 9 to 12 in most stats—that’s the average range.
When your character is injured, sickened, or attacked, you temporarily lose points from one of your stat Pools. The nature of the attack determines which Pool loses points. For example, physical damage from a sword reduces your Might Pool, a poison that makes you clumsy reduces your Speed Pool, and a mental blast reduces your Intellect Pool. You can also spend points from one of your stat Pools to decrease a task’s difficulty (using Effort). You can rest to regain lost points from a stat Pool, and some special abilities or numenera might allow you to recover lost points quickly.
EDGEAlthough your Pool is the basic measurement of a stat, your Edge is also important. When something requires you to spend points from a stat Pool, your Edge for that stat reduces the cost. It also reduces the cost of applying Effort to a roll.
For example, let’s say you have a mental blast ability, and activating it costs 1 point from your Intellect Pool. Subtract your Intellect Edge from the activation cost, and the result is how many points you must spend to use the mental blast. If using your Edge reduces the cost to 0, you can use the ability for free.
Your Edge can be different for each stat. For example, you could have a Might Edge of 1, a Speed Edge of 1, and an Intellect Edge of 0. You’ll always have an Edge of at least 1 in one stat. Your Edge for a stat reduces the cost of spending points from that stat Pool, but not from other Pools. Your Might Edge reduces the cost of spending points from your Might Pool, but it doesn’t affect your Speed Pool or Intellect Pool. Once a stat’s Edge reaches 3, you can apply one level of Effort (see below) for free.
A character who has a low Might Pool but a high Might Edge has the potential to perform Might actions consistently better than a character who has a Might Edge of 0. The high Edge will reduce the cost of spending points from the Pool, which means they’ll have more points available to spend on applying Effort. It may help to think of Edge as a negative number—it’s something you subtract from the cost of spending points from your Pool.
EFFORT
When your character really needs to accomplish a task, you can apply Effort to reduce the difficulty of a task (also called easing a task). For a beginning character, applying Effort requires spending 3 points from the stat Pool appropriate to the action. Thus, if your character tries to dodge an attack (a Speed roll) and wants to increase the chance for success, you can apply Effort by spending 3 points from your Speed Pool. Using Effort eases the task by one step. This is called applying one level of Effort.
You don’t have to apply Effort if you don’t want to. If you choose to apply Effort to a task, you must do it before you attempt the roll— you can’t roll first and then decide to apply Effort if you rolled poorly.
Applying more Effort can lower a task’s difficulty further: each additional level of Effort eases the task by another step. Applying one level of Effort eases the task by one step, applying two levels eases the task by two steps, and so on. Each level of Effort after the first costs only 2 points from the stat Pool instead of 3. So applying two levels of Effort costs 5 points (3 for the first level plus 2 for the second level), applying three levels costs 7 points (3 plus 2 plus 2), and so on.
Every character has an Effort score, which indicates the maximum number of levels of Effort that can be applied to a roll. A beginning (first-tier) character has an Effort of 1, meaning you can apply only one level of Effort to a roll. A more experienced character has a higher Effort score and can apply more levels of Effort to a roll. For example, a character who has an Effort of 3 can apply up to three levels of Effort to ease a task.
When you apply Effort, subtract your relevant Edge from the total cost of applying Effort. For example, let’s say you need to make a Speed roll. To increase your chance for success, you decide to apply one level of Effort, which will ease the task by one step. Normally, that would cost 3 points from your Speed Pool. However, if you have a Speed Edge of 2, you subtract that from the cost. Thus, applying Effort to the roll costs only 1 point from your Speed Pool.
What if you applied two levels of Effort to the Speed roll instead of just one? That would ease the task by two steps. Normally, it would cost 5 points from your Speed Pool, but after subtracting your Speed Edge of 2, it costs only 3 points. Once a stat’s Edge reaches 3, you can apply one level of Effort for free. For example, if you have a Speed Edge of 3 and you apply one level of Effort to a Speed roll, it costs you 0 points from your Speed Pool. (Normally, applying one level of Effort would cost 3 points, but you subtract your Speed Edge from that cost, reducing it to 0.)
Skills and other advantages also ease a task, and you can use them in conjunction with Effort. In addition, your character might have special abilities or equipment that allow you to apply Effort to accomplish a special effect, such as knocking down a foe with an attack or affecting multiple targets with a power that normally affects only one.
EFFORT AND DAMAGEInstead of applying Effort to ease your attack, you can apply Effort to increase the amount of damage you inflict with an attack. For each level of Effort you apply in this way, you inflict 3 additional points of damage. This works for any kind of attack that inflicts damage, whether a sword, a crossbow, a mind blast, or something else.
When using Effort to increase the damage of an area attack, such as the explosion created by a Nano’s Flash ability, you inflict 2 additional points of damage instead of 3 points. However, the additional points are dealt to all targets in the area. Further, even if one or more of the targets in the area resist the attack, you still inflict 1 point of damage to them.
MAKING ATTACKSWhen applying Effort to melee attacks, you have the option of spending points from either your Might Pool or your Speed Pool. When making ranged attacks, you may spend points only from your Speed Pool. This reflects that with melee you sometimes use brute force and sometimes use finesse, but with ranged attacks, it’s always about careful targeting.
MULTIPLE USES OF EFFORT AND EDGEIf your Effort is 2 or higher, you can apply Effort to multiple aspects of a single action. For example, if you make an attack, you can apply Effort to your attack roll and apply Effort to increase the damage.
The total amount of Effort you apply can’t be higher than your Effort score. For example, if your Effort is 2, you can apply up to two levels of Effort. You could apply one level to an attack roll and one level to its damage, two levels to the attack and no levels to the damage, or no levels to the attack and two levels to the damage.
You can use Edge for a particular stat only once per action. For example, if you apply Effort to a Might attack roll and to your damage, you can use your Might Edge to reduce the cost of one of those uses of Effort, not both. If you spend 1 Intellect point to activate your mind blast and one level of Effort to ease the attack roll, you can use your Intellect Edge to reduce the cost of one of those things, not both.
Your stat Pools, as well as your Effort and Edge, are determined by the character type, descriptor, and focus that you choose. Within those guidelines, however, you have a lot of flexibility in how you develop your character.
STAT EXAMPLES
A beginning character is fighting a creature called a broken hound. She stabs her spear at the broken hound, which is a level 2 creature and thus has a target number of 6. The character stands atop a boulder and strikes downward at the beast, and the GM rules that this helpful tactic is an asset that eases the attack by one step (to difficulty 1). That lowers the target number to 3. Attacking with a spear is a Might action; the character has a Might Pool of 11 and a Might Edge of 0. Before making the roll, she decides to apply a level of Effort to ease the attack. That costs 3 points from her Might Pool, reducing the Pool to 8. But they appear to be points well spent. Applying the Effort lowers the difficulty from 1 to 0, so no roll is needed—the attack automatically succeeds.
Another character is attempting to convince a guard to let him into a private office to speak to an influential noble. The GM rules that this is an Intellect action. The character is third tier and has an Effort of 3, an Intellect Pool of 13, and an Intellect Edge of 1. Before making the roll, he must decide whether to apply Effort. He can choose to apply one, two, or three levels of Effort, or apply none at all. This action is important to him, so he decides to apply two levels of Effort, easing the task by two steps. Thanks to his Intellect Edge, applying the Effort costs only 4 points from his Intellect Pool (3 points for the first level of Effort plus 2 points for the second level minus 1 point for his Edge). Spending those points reduces his Intellect Pool to 9. The GM decides that convincing the guard is a difficulty 3 (demanding) task with a target number of 9; applying two levels of Effort reduces the difficulty to 1 (simple) and the target number to 3. The player rolls a d20 and gets an 8. Because this result is at least equal to the target number of the task, he succeeds. However, if he had not applied some Effort, he would have failed because his roll (8) would have been less than the task’s original target number (9).
CHARACTER TIERS AND BENEFITS
Every character starts the game at the first tier. Tier is a measurement of power, toughness, and ability. Characters can advance up to the sixth tier. As your character advances to higher tiers, you gain more abilities, increase your Effort, and can improve a stat’s Edge or increase a stat. Generally speaking, even first-tier characters are quite capable. It’s safe to assume that they’ve already got some experience under their belt. This is not a “zero to hero” progression, but rather an instance of competent people refining and honing their capabilities and knowledge. Advancing to higher tiers is not really the goal of Numenera characters, but rather a representation of how characters progress in a story.
To progress to the next tier, characters earn experience points (XP) by exploring new places and discovering new things—the Ninth World is about discovery of the past and what it means for the future. Experience points have many uses, and one use is to purchase character benefits. After your character purchases four character benefits, they go up to the next tier.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTOR, TYPE, AND FOCUS
To create your character, you build a simple statement that describes them. The statement takes this form: “I am a [fill in an adjective here] [fill in a noun here] who [fill in a verb here].” Thus: “I am an adjective noun who verbs.”
For example, you might say, “I am a Rugged Glaive who Controls Beasts” or “I am a Charming Nano who Focuses Mind Over Matter.”. In this sentence:
- The adjective is called your descriptor.
- The noun is your character type.
- The verb is called your focus.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Character types and foci grant PCs special abilities at each new tier. Using these abilities usually costs points from your stat Pools; the cost is listed in parentheses after the ability name. Your Edge in the appropriate stat can reduce the cost of the ability, but remember that you can apply Edge only once per action. For example, let’s say a Nano with an Intellect Edge of 2 wants to use their Onslaught ability to create a bolt of force, which costs 1 Intellect point. They also want to increase the damage from the attack by using a level of Effort, which costs 3 Intellect points. The total cost for their action is 2 points from their Intellect Pool (1 point for the bolt of force plus 3 points for using Effort minus 2 points from their Edge).
Sometimes the point cost for an ability has a + sign after the number. For example, the cost might be stated as “2+ Intellect points.” That means you can spend more points or more levels of Effort to improve the ability further.
Many special abilities grant a character the option to perform an action that they couldn’t normally do, such as projecting rays of cold or attacking multiple foes at once. Using one of these abilities is an action unto itself, and the end of the ability’s description says “Action” to remind you. It also might provide more information about when or how you perform the action.
Some special abilities allow you to perform a familiar action—one that you can already do—in a different way. For example, an ability might let you wear heavy armor, ease Speed defense rolls, or add 2 points of fire damage to your weapon damage. These abilities are called enablers. Using one of these abilities is not considered an action. Enablers either function constantly (such as being able to wear heavy armor, which isn’t an action) or happen as part of another action (such as adding fire damage to your weapon damage, which happens as part of your attack action). If a special ability is an enabler, the end of the ability’s description says “Enabler” to remind you.
TYPE
Character type is the core of your character. In some roleplaying games, it might be called your character class. Your type helps determine your character’s place in the world and relationship with other people in the setting. It’s the noun of the sentence “I am an adjective noun who verbs.”
You can choose from six character types: Glaive, Jack, Nano, Delve, Wright, Arcus.
GlaiveGlaives are the elite warriors of the Ninth World,
using weapons and armor to fight their enemies.
Hunters, guardians, and soldiers could be
Glaives. Sometimes scouts, warlords, bandits,
and even athletes are Glaives. “Glaive” is a
common slang term used almost everywhere
in the Steadfast and the Beyond for any person
skilled with weapons or a martial art, but in truth,
it applies only to the best of the best. Glaives
are warriors who command abilities far beyond
those of a typical person with a sword.
Read more...
Glaive Abilities
Table
Nanos are sometimes called mages, wizards,
sorcerers, or witches by the people of the
Ninth World. Nano-sorcerer is also a common
term, with their abilities referred to as nanosorcery. Some claim to be the representatives
of gods or other supernatural agencies.
Whatever they’re called, Nanos master the
mysteries of the past to the degree that they
seem to perform miracles. They tap into the
numenera to alter reality or learn things that
they couldn’t otherwise know.
Read more...
Nano Abilities
Table
Jacks are intrepid explorers. They are jacks of all
trades—hence the name—although the word also
hearkens back to fables involving a wily, resourceful
hero who always seems to be named Jack. Used as
a verb, “to jack” means to steal, to deceive, or to
get out of a tight scrape through ingenuity or luck.
Jacks don’t use one skill or tactic exclusively;
they use whatever weapons, armor, esoteries,
or anything else might help them. They are
hunters (particularly treasure hunters), con
artists, skalds, rogues, scouts, and experts in a
variety of fields.
Read more...
Jack Abilities
Table
Delves are willing to risk everything just to find
something new, something that no one else
has seen before. They are driven to expand the
boundaries of the known, often rediscovering
what was long forgotten. Delves delight in
finding never-explored ruins of the prior worlds
and cataloguing them from top to bottom.
Mysteries presented by weird machines and
broken scrap are nearly identical for Delves.
They know that what others dismiss as debris
might contain hidden treasure called iotum—
like apt clay, protomatter, philosophine, data
orbs, and more! That’s what most Delves seek.
They won’t ignore cyphers and artifacts prized
by others, of course, but Delves see deeper
and are skilled at extracting the building blocks
of the prior worlds.
Read more...
Delve Abilities
Table
Wrights are builders and crafters. When
something special is required, a Wright can
make it. When strange instructions are found
in the ruins of the prior worlds, Wrights can
decipher them and, using special components
called iotum, craft their own cyphers, artifacts,
or installations. In a way, Wrights are especially
good at understanding and stealing the fire
of creation that burned so brightly in the
civilizations that rose to unimaginable heights
before the Ninth World. Wrights are the rarest
of the already rare numenera scholars; they
aren’t afraid of weird or incomprehensible
tech—they try to take it apart and learn how to
make more.
Read more...
Wright Abilities
Table
Arkai are natural leaders of the Ninth World,
using wit, rhetoric, and the strength of
working together to overcome problems.
Heralds, nobles, and pioneers could be Arkai.
Sometimes warlords, generals, and even
guardians are Arkai. “Arkus” is common
vernacular used by humans in the Steadfast
and the Beyond for any person skilled in
governing others, but in truth, the word
applies only to those who are specially gifted
in leadership. Arkai have the potential to
spearhead armies, cities, or even entire
regions, because their abilities surpass
those who are merely good at running a long
confidence game.
Read more...
Arkus Abilities
Table
DESCRIPTOR
Descriptor defines your character — it flavors everything you do. It’s the adjective of the sentence “I am an adjective noun who verbs.” The differences between a Charming Glaive and a Graceful Glaive are considerable. The descriptor changes the way those characters go about every action.
Descriptors offer a one-time package of extra abilities, skills, or modifications to your stat Pools. Not all of a descriptor’s offerings are positive character modifications. For example, some descriptors have inabilities— tasks that a character isn’t good at. You can think of inabilities as “negative skills”— instead of being one step better at that kind of task, you’re one step worse. If you become skilled at a task that you have an inability with, they cancel out. Remember that characters are defined as much by what they’re not good at as by what they are good at.
You can find them in the following table (70!): Descriptors
FOCUS
Focus is what makes your character unique. No two PCs in a group should have the same focus. Your focus gives you benefits and new abilities when you create your character and each time you ascend to the next tier. It’s the verb of the sentence “I am an adjective noun who verbs.”
When you choose a character focus, you get a special connection to one or more of your fellow PCs, a first-tier ability, and perhaps additional starting equipment. A few foci offer slight alterations of type special abilities (fighting moves for Glaives, tricks of the trade for Jacks, and esoteries for Nanos). Each focus also offers suggestions to the GM and the player for possible effects or consequences of really good or really bad die rolls.
Each tier’s benefits are independent of and cumulative with benefits from other tiers (unless indicated otherwise). So if your first-tier ability grants you +1 to Armor and your fourth-tier ability also grants you +1 to Armor, when you reach fourth tier, you have a total of +2 to Armor.
You can checkout focuses flavors and pictures here (59!): Focuses
You can find focuses abilities in the following table: Focuses Abilities
SKILLS
Information about skills you can find here.
EQUIPMENT
Information about equipment you can find here.
Народы
В кампании Endless Legend на текущий момент есть только люди и их вариации. Узнать о народах больше (и выбрать свой), можно здесь.
Персонажи
Текущих главных персонажей можно найти здесь.
Заметка для новых персонажей:
Пересекаться по фокусам нельзя, поэтому существующие уже заняты.
Типы открыты все, но два Аркуса не имеют смысла (а один уже есть). Хорошим выбором будет джек, нано,
глэйв или дельв.
Правда выбор глэйва приведет либо к увеличению количества боёвки, либо к скуке игрока из её отсутствия.
Аркус специфический узкозаточенный на социалку тип. Им будет очень сложно играть без знания социального
устройства поселения и методов взаимодействия с новыми народами.
В нашей кампании есть правило: все элементы персонажа (кроме типа, дескриптора и бэкграунда) можно изменить после первой сессии.