Creating • an • Adventurer

Creating an Adventurer

Adventurers are created through a simple seven step process. The gamemaster first sets an overall level of experience for adventurers generated by players, such as Trained, Skilled or Expert. This level determines the base levels of skills, magic, wealth and renown an adventurer will start with. In addition, depending on the setting the gamemaster decides to run, he or she may limit the players choice of cultures to those available in the area, or ask that players generate adventurers from the same culture. This book describes the region of Dragon Pass and four major cultures found in that area in some detail: Sartar, the Lunar Empire, Pavis and Prax.

One first generates the adventurer's characteristics, which will determine his or her general abilities and aptitudes for certain kinds of skills and forms of magic. One then selects a cultural background (which may be limited by the gamemaster as described above). An adventurer's magical background (divine, spirit or sorcery) is determined by his or her culture, as is his or her choice of profession. The profession one selects will have a number of base skills, base levels of Magic, Wealth and Renown, and a number of additional background choices. The number of extra background choices available to a profession vary—the more benefits a profession provides, the less background choices available to spend. Background choices can be used to purchase optional skills from one's profession, increase one's starting levels of Magic, Wealth or Renown, or even purchase skills from another profession. The final steps are to select starting spells (based on Magic) and possessions (based on Wealth), and develop your adventurer's background and personality (and determining how this reflects their Renown).

The gamemaster should select one of the following overall levels of experience for adventurers to be created for his or her game. Initially, it is simplest to start play at the Trained level.

Determine Characteristics

To generate an average human, roll 3D6 for STR, CON, POW, DEX and APP; roll 2D6+6 for INT and SIZ. For nonhumans, use the number of dice listed in the Creatures chapter. To generate slightly above average adventurers, use one of the three following methods:

Random Method

For humans, roll 4D6 and discard the result of one die rolls (typically the lowest) for all characteristics except INT and SIZ. For INT and SIZ, roll 3D6, discard the result of one die roll and add 6. For nonhumans, for each characteristic roll one more die than normal, then discard the result of one of the dice.

Deliberate Method

For humans, use 80 points to buy the adventurer's characteristics. Each point of SIZ or INT up to 13 costs 1 point. Each point of SIZ or INT above 13 costs 2 points. Each point of APP costs 1/2 point. Each point of STR, CON, POW and DEX costs 1 point. An adventurer created this way must have a INT and SIZ of at least 8 each, and a 6 or higher in all other characteristics. No characteristic can be bought above 18. For nonhumans, use either 80 points or the sum of the average value of all characteristics, whichever is higher. No characteristic can be bought above the highest number that one could normally roll in that characteristic.

Combined Method

Roll 3D6 for STR, CON, POW and DEX, and roll 2D6+6 for INT and SIZ. Then use 8 points to buy higher statistics as with the deliberate method (1 point per characteristic point, 2 points per point of INT or SIZ above 13, 1/2 point per point of APP). No human characteristic can total more than 18 after purchasing additional points by this method. For nonhumans, roll the listed number of dice, than add 8 points or 1/10 of the sum of the average value of all characteristics, whichever is higher. No characteristic can total more than the highest number that one could normally roll in that characteristic.

Characteristics

RuneQuest uses seven characteristics to represent an adventurer's physical and mental capabilities in a general fashion. A higher characteristic represents particular aptitude and prowess in the domain it covers. Characteristics can be increased through training or magic, and decreased through aging, disease, injury, or magic. If a characteristic changes, always use its current value, but never change or erase the original characteristic, because it still has significance.

Strength (STR)

This characteristic measures an adventurer's muscle power. It affects the damage he does, the kind of encumbrance he can carry, and what weapons he can wield. It also indicates how much he can lift and move about. An adventurer can comfortably lift as much SIZ as his STR, more with effort. STR can be increased through training or magic.

Constitution (CON)

This characteristic measures an adventurer's health and vitality. It is a major determinant of the amount of damage he or she can take before death occurs. The CON of an adventurer is also used to resist disease, poisons, and other special attacks. CON can be increased through training or magic.

Size (SIZ)

This characteristic primarily measures an adventurer's mass and secondarily his or her height. It affects an adventurer's ability to inflict and to absorb damage. The SIZ Table, below, can serve as a guide to an adventurer's mass (MAS). Both large and small SIZs have certain advantages—large persons can take and do more damage and have a greater reach and stride; small persons are more agile, can sneak about with less chance of discovery and have less bulk to protect in combat. Sometimes SIZ will be used to determine whether an adventurer can squeeze through a particular cranny, hide behind a smallish bush, or fit into a particular suit of armor. SIZ can be increased through magic, but mass can be gained or lost through overeating or starvation.

Intelligence (INT)

This characteristic measures an adventurer's ability to think abstractly, to memorize, and to coordinate such general capabilities as fighting, magic, thieving, crafting, and so on. INT is a major influence on skills and therefore affects the ability to increase skills through experience. This characteristic normally does not change, except to decrease from disease, though (very rarely) magic may affect it.

Power (POW)

This characteristic measures an adventurer's magical power. It is a direct measure of his resistance to spells and ability to cast certain types of spells, and also reflects the adventurer's offensive magical capabilities and capacity to power magical spells. POW is a measure of an adventurer's soul, and represents the integration of an adventurer with his universe. High POW can reflect great luck or great harmony with Life. This characteristic normally varies a great deal, as spell-casting or other magical activity can cause it to increase, and learning or casting certain kinds of magics cost POW.

Dexterity (DEX)

This characteristic measures an adventurer's coordination, speed, and the extent to which their mind and body act as a unified whole. It influences how quickly and competently your adventurer performs certain actions (fighting, magic, sleight of hand, jumping, etc.). DEX may be increased through training or magic.

Appeal (APP)

This characteristic measures an adventurer's charisma. This may reflect leadership ability, magnetism, gracefulness, agreeableness, a distinctive voice or appearance, physical attractiveness, or some combination thereof. An adventurer with average APP may actually be physically very handsome, but possessed of a cold, disagreeable or quirky personality which counteracts the effects of their physical appearance. Likewise, an adventurer with a high APP might appear to be very plain at first glance, but have such an agreeable personality that people feel attracted to him or her. You should decide whether your adventurer's APP is based on appearance or character or a combination of the two, and note this on the character's sheet. Note that in general, APP based on appearance is less helpful than APP based on character with members of other species, but more helpful with members of your species, particularly those of the opposite sex. APP may be increased through training or magic.

Characteristic Maxima

Physical characteristics, such as STR, CON, SIZ, DEX and APP can be permanently increased by training or magic. Two factors, species maximum and the original characteristic value generated, set the limit on increases in characteristics. A physical characteristic cannot be increased by magic or training to higher than the species maximum for that characteristic or 1-1/2 times the original rolled value for that characteristic, whichever is lower. The species maximum is calculated by adding together the lowest and highest possible rolls for the characteristic of a normal member of the species. For a characteristic generated on 3D6, such as normal human STR, CON, POW, DEX and APP, the species maximum would be 3+18, or 21. If the original rolled value for the characteristic was 14 or above, its maximum value would be 21. If the originally rolled value was below 14, the maximum value would be 1-1/2 times the original rolled value. For a characteristic generated on 2D6+6, such as human SIZ, the species maximum would be 8+18, or 26. The maximum value for SIZ would thus typically be 1-1/2 times the original rolled value, unless it was an 18, in which case the maximum would be 26 (though SIZ cannot be trained). The mental characteristics, INT and POW, can only be increased by magic. Magical activity can increase POW, though not INT. There is no theoretical limit as to how far they can be raised, but magic that increases INT or POW is rare and POW increase due to magical activity is very slow beyond its species maximum, 21 for humans. Some magics may temporarily increase a characteristic beyond the above limits. Other very powerful and exotic magics may permanently increase a characteristic beyond even the above limits, but they are very rare.

Attributes

Attributes are abilities that are based on the values of characteristics. They include damage bonus, hit points, magic points, movement, DEX strike rank, and melee strike rank. Calculate the Attributes that follow and record them on your adventurer's character sheet. As described in the Game Mechanics chapter, always round any fractions to the nearest whole number (always round up from 0.5 and round down from below 0.5).

Damage Bonus (DB)

Physical beings have a damage bonus, which acts as a modifier to any damage they roll when using a melee weapon. STR and SIZ both play a role, as the stronger one is and the greater the mass and leverage one has, the harder one can hit, and the more damage one can do. Half the normal damage bonus is used with a thrown weapon, or when the character is fighting while lying on the ground. An adventurer throwing a weapon while lying on the ground uses one quarter the normal damage bonus. Missile weapons do not have a damage bonus added.

One can calculate damage bonus by dividing the sum of STR and SIZ by 5, rounding up, and subtracting 5.

Hit Points (HP)

Hit points measure how much damage one can take before unconsciousness or death result, and equal the average of an adventurer's SIZ and CON (rounding up).

An adventurer falls unconscious upon taking damage equal to or greater than his or her HP, and dies upon taking damage equal to or greater than twice his or her HP.

Hit Points Per Location (HL)

The separate parts of the body have their own hit point values. An adventurer may take damage to separate parts of his or her body from combat other physical contact, or magic. The amount of damage that an adventurer can withstand per hit location can be determined from the information in the Hit Points Per Location Table. It distributes hit points by hit location for all humanoids.

Varying amounts of damage have different effects on a hit location, as described in Combat. For any individual the sum of the hit points from all the hit point locations (HL) is greater than their total hit points (HP). This relation is correct. An adventurer may accumulate wounds in different locations—although individually inconsequential, their sum may be enough to render him or her unconscious.

Hit Points Per Location (HL) — For a humanoid, HL in legs, abdomen, and head equal 1/3 (or .33) HP, HL in chest equals 2/5 (or .40) HP, and HL in arms equal 1/4 (or .25) HP.

Magic Points (MP)

An adventurer's base magic points equal his or her current POW. Situations may allow magic points in excess of or less than that number. Magic points are a measure of one's offensive magical strength. They are also used to fight spirits and to power spells.

All characters regain magic points at the rate of 1/24th of their current Power per hour. A character will completely regenerate his or her magic points in 24 hours.

Move (MV)

An adventurer's move attribute is based on his or her SIZ and DEX. SIZ reflects the length of one's stride and DEX reflects one's quickness. In combat, one can move up to one's MV in meters and still attack and defend.

The above calculation is for humanoids. For most quadrupeds, use (SIZ + DEX)/3 instead. Round up in both cases.

DEX Strike Rank (DEX SR)

DEX SR is a measure of an adventurer's speed and reaction time, and is used to determine which figure, in combat, can act before other figures.

Melee Strike Rank (Melee SR)

Melee SR is a measure of an adventurer's reach, speed and reaction time, and is used to determine when in combat they land a blow.

Use only the first 20 points of DEX or SIZ (if DEX or SIZ are greater than 20, use 20 instead).

Skills Categories

Skills categories are made up of skills which are influenced by the same characteristic or set of characteristics. There are seven categories of skills in RuneQuest.

• Agility — these are physical skills which require general bodily effort and coordination—Acrobatics, Boat, Climb, Dance, Dodge, Hide, Jump, Maneuver, all Parries, Ride, Sneak, Swim. They can be increased by experience.
• Communication — such skills facilitate the transfer of information between people—Act, Bargain, Instruct, Orate, Persuade, Sing, Speak Own Language, Speak Other Languages. They can be increased by experience.
• Knowledge — these mental skills require formal knowledge and learning. They cannot be increased through experience, only training, practice or research—all Lores, Martial Arts, Read/Write Languages.
• Reasoning — these mental skills require both knowledge and individual judgment—Craft, all Customs, Evaluate, First Aid, Physician, all Sorcery spells. They can be increased by experience.
• Magic — with these skills users manipulate magical energies to change the world. They cannot be increased through experience, only training, practice or research—Ceremony, Enchant, Intensity, Summon, Sorcery manipulations (Duration, Range, Ease, Speed etc.), Spirit skills (Spirit Combat, Spirit Dance, Spirit Sense, Spirit Speech, Spirit Travel, etc.).
• Manipulation — these skills require good hand-eye coordination—Conceal, Devise, Drive, Pass, Play Instrument, Sleight, Trap, all Weapon Attacks. They can be increased by experience.
• Perception — with these skills characters receive and understand information from outside themselves—Listen, Scan, Search, Track. They can be increased by experience.

Skill Category Modifiers

In addition to the base chances common to every human, a new adventurer's skills may be increased or decreased by skill category modifiers, which simulate his or her natural ability with kinds of skills. It is possible for skill modifiers to add or subtract percentiles from skills or to leave them unchanged. Skill modifiers may change if the characteristics from which they were derived also change. Skill category modifiers also affect experience rolls, simulating the benefits of natural ability when trying to improve a skill. Calculate the modifiers that follow and record them on your adventurer's character sheet. As always, round any fractions to the nearest whole number.

Once the base chances for an adventurer's skills have been established through character generation, the appropriate skill modifier is added to the base chances for those skills within that category which have base chances above zero. It is not added to skills with a base chance of zero. If a skill with a zero base chance is later raised to 01 or better, add the value of the category modifier to the skill at that time. The resulting percentage is the character's chance to succeed in that skill unless training, experience, or other factors affect the skill.

Select Culture

An adventurer's culture will affect their magical background and their choice of profession, which in turn determine their choice of religion and skills. When selecting your adventurer's culture, it is best to consult with the gamemaster, as he may wish players to run adventurers from a specific culture or a limited set of cultures.

A number of cultures in the region of Dragon Pass are described in detail in the section and tables that follow. These include the Kingdom of Sartar, a magical land inhabited by proud barbarians; the Lunar Empire, a civilized empire that has conquered most of central Genertela; the City of Pavis, an ancient ruined city on the Plains of Prax; and Prax and the Wastes, a once fertile land, now a barren waste inhabited by the animal nomads. A set of notes on other cultures follows the four detailed cultures. These should allow players and gamemasters to generate adventurers from other areas of Glorantha, should they desire to do so.

Select Profession and Magic

First, select a profession for your adventurer from those available to your culture. A profession reflects what an adventurer has done, learned and earned prior to play. An adventurer may well dabble in more than one profession—one's chosen profession simply represents an adventurer's most significant or most recent choice of profession. An adventurer's profession will determine the basic skills, level of magic, possessions and renown an adventurer starts the game with. The type of magic an adventurer uses is influenced by his or her culture and profession.

Select Profession

Select one of the recommended cultural professions from the four cultures detailed later in this chapter, or select one of the general professions. Add the appropriate skill category modifier values to the basic skills granted by the profession, and write down the final values in the appropriate place on the adventurer's character sheet.

Select Magical Background

Once you have selected a profession for your adventurer, determine your adventurer's magical background—divine magic, spirit magic or sorcery. Your adventurer's culture will likely limit your adventurer's magical background, as most cultures use only one or two forms of magic. Your profession and interest in certain spells may further influence your choice of magical background (see the World of Magic, Divine Magic, Spirit Magic or Sorcery chapters).

The gamemaster may further choose to limit the availability of certain magical backgrounds—spirit magic and divine magic backgrounds are simpler than sorcery, and may be better suited for a new game, for example. If you decide your adventurer's magical background is divine magic, he or she will know some of the battle magic spells called cult magic spells and may also learn the more powerful spells of divine magic. Select the deity that your adventurer worships. Each of the culture specific professions lists the names of deities commonly worshiped by members of the profession, and the notes on other cultures includes information as to the deities commonly worshiped in that culture. It is possible to worship more than one god, particularly if they are closely associated or friendly. See Religions, in the Divine Magic chapter for more details.

If you decide your adventurer's magical background is spirit magic, he or she will know some of the battle magic spells called spirit magic spells. It is helpful to have an idea as to the kind of shaman your adventurer studied under, and what that shaman's tradition was like. This may influence your adventurer's choice of spirit magic, and if your adventurer becomes a shaman's assistant or shaman you will know what tradition he or she will most likely join. If you decide your adventurer's magical background is sorcery, your adventurer will know some sorcery spells and the basic sorcery manipulation of Intensity. Select the school of sorcery your adventurer belongs to, or whether he or she studied under an independent sorcerer. Many schools are restricted to certain areas of the world. An adventurer may only belong to a single school of sorcery. See Sorcery for more information. A sorcerer from the Lunar Empire will most likely belong to the Carmanian school of sorcery, one of the Lunar Colleges of magic, but may have studied under an independent sorcerer as well.

Make Background Choices

The overall level of experience of the game as set by the gamemaster determines the initial skill, Magic, Wealth and Renown of an adventurer. There are five basic levels of experience—Novice, Trained, Skilled, Expert, and Master.

Adventurers may add additional skills, or increase their starting levels of Magic, Wealth or Renown through the expenditure of background choices. The starting number of background choices is listed in bold beneath the starting skills, Magic, Wealth and Renown for each profession, and varies with the advantages or disadvantages inherent in each profession.

Skills

Skill levels represent an adventurer's relative level of competence with a specific skill.

Background choices may be used to purchase additional optional skills from a profession. The cost to purchase each optional skill at the level appropriate to the adventurer's relative level of experience is listed in a profession next to each optional skill.

Skills in professions are grouped by sub-profession—these have no significance other than to suggest what group of skills an adventurer interested in a particular subprofession might wish to purchase. Some skill costs are marked with a v, for variable (e.g. 1v). This means that this is a skill that potentially has a variable cost, as it has variable difficulty. A medium difficulty skill of this type has the listed cost, an easy one costs half as much, and a hard skill costs twice the listed cost. Some skill costs are marked with an s, for subskills (e.g. 1s). This means that the skill has optional subskills, each more limited than the parental skill (see Skills), but costing only half as much. Players and gamemasters interested in more carefully defining skills should feel free to use these. Weapon skills should be selected from those listed in the Possessions table for that culture, as these represent the cultural weapons an adventurer would have learned to use. The fighting skills of Brawl and Grapple can be purchased by any adventurer instead of a Weapon skill.

Initiates of a religion may also purchase any of the cult skills special to that religion (see Religions in Divine Magic). Simply find the skill or its closest equivalent on the skill table that follows professions to determine its cost—it is otherwise treated as an optional skill. As skills are purchased, the adventurer's player should add the appropriate skill category modifier value to the base level of the purchased skill, and write down the final value in the appropriate place on their adventurer's character sheet.

Skills from Other Professions or Cultures

An adventurer may purchase a skill from any other profession in his or her culture by first spending a single background choice to develop a basic familiarity with that profession. After the initial choice is spent, the adventurer may freely purchase basic or optional skills from that profession as well. None of the basic skills of the profession are automatically gained in this manner, unlike those of the adventurer's primary profession. Any number of additional professions can be entered, each at the cost of an additional background choice.

Skills from another culture's professions may be purchased in a similar manner if the adventurer's background is such that learning such skills would make sense, and the gamemaster permits. In this case, the initial cost to enter the other culture's profession is equal to two background choices. Further professions from that culture can be entered at the cost of a single background choice.

Varying Skills

The following options allow players to fine tune their adventurers skill levels to fit their conception of the character. The calculations involved take a little extra time and effort, but allow you to add color to and flesh out characters. Novice players, or those interested in generating characters as quickly as possible may not wish to use these rules. With the gamemaster's permission, additional background choices may be spent to increase an adventurer's level of skill beyond the normal level of skill an adventurer starts with. Increasing a skill by one level (i.e. from Trained to Skilled) costs twice the amount listed by a basic or optional skill. Thus, an Expert adventurer wishing to increase the level of a skill from Expert to Master would pay twice the listed cost. Increasing skills beyond a single level (or beyond 90%) should be carefully considered by the gamemaster, as such adventurers tend to be very one dimensional. The cost keeps doubling until a skill is increased beyond 90%. Skill levels beyond 90% increase by 10% a level (i.e. 90%, 100%, 110%, etc.), and each additional level of skill costs twice as much as learning a skill to 90% (but no longer keeps doubling).

Adventurers may gain additional background choices by electing to start with lower skill levels. With the gamemaster's permission, an adventurer can reduce a basic skill by one level, gaining in return half the amount of background choices listed by the skill in italic. Thus, an Expert adventurer that wished one of his basic skill to start at the Skilled level would gain additional background choices equal to half the amount listed by the skill (typically 1/2 a choice).

Likewise, an optional skill may be purchased at a lower level by spending half as many choices for each level below that of the adventurer's overall level of experience. Gamemasters should allow any player that wishes to purchase optional skills at reduced levels to do so, as this allows one to add skills that an adventurer might have picked up prior to play at reasonable levels. Thus, an Expert adventurer wishing to purchase an optional skill at a Skilled level would pay half the listed cost, while purchasing an optional skill at a Trained level would cost a quarter the listed cost. Another way to think of this is that the Expert adventurer can start with 2 optional skills at the Skilled level or 4 optional skills at the Trained level for the cost of a single optional Expert skill (this assumes the skills are of equal difficulty, otherwise adjust costs accordingly). A skill may not be reduced by this method below its base chance, or below 15% (the level below 30%) in any case.

Magic

Magic represents an adventurer's relative level of power with a form of magic. An adventurer starts with a level of Magic appropriate to his or her profession and relative level of experience. Magic provides magical benefits in the form of spell knowledge, POW, or enchantments (see selecting starting possessions, below). Some of the advantages and limitations of the various forms of magic are discussed in the World of Magic, Divine Magic, Spirit Magic and Sorcery chapters.

An adventurer with Magic 0 knows no magic, Magic 1 knows a few spells, Magic 2 knows enough magic to potentially qualify as an initiate, shaman's assistant or sorcerer's apprentice, Magic 3 is magically competent, Magic 4 has mastered basic magic, Magic 5 qualifies as an acolyte, priest, magus or powerful shaman, and Magic 6 is even more powerful.

Varying Magic

A single additional level of Magic may be purchased with the expenditure of 2 background choices. Conversely, a single additional background choice may be purchased by decreasing an adventurer's starting level of Magic by one.

Wealth

Wealth represents an adventurer's relative wealth. An adventurer starts with a level of Wealth appropriate to his or her profession and relative level of experience. Wealth provides material benefits in the form of possessions (see selecting starting magic, below), and determines the adventurer's standard of living and social class (see the Economics chapter for more details).

Varying Wealth

A single additional level of Wealth may be purchased with the expenditure of 2 background choices. Conversely, a single additional background choice may be purchased by decreasing an adventurer's starting level of Wealth by one.

Renown

Renown represents an adventurer's relative level of fame and social power. An adventurer starts with a level of Renown appropriate to his or her culture, profession and relative level of experience. This score reflects the adventurer's reputation among those who would have cause to know him or her. It influences the reactions of others and can aid the adventurer in social situations.

An adventurer with Renown 0 is unknown (immediate family only), Renown 1 is known among a small group of people (extended family or hearth), Renown 2 is known among a good sized group of people (clan, sept, village or city block), Renown 3 is known among a large group of people (tribe, town or city neighborhood), Renown 4 is known among a small region (part of a country or a city), Renown 5 is known among a good sized region (a small country or a province) and Renown 6 is known among a large region (an empire). See Determine Background for more details.

Varying Renown

A single additional level of Renown may be purchased with the expenditure of 2 background choices. Conversely, a single additional background choice may be purchased by decreasing an adventurer's starting level of Renown by one.

Select Spells

An adventurer's starting level of Magic determines the number of spells and magical power he or she starts with. Cross-index the adventurer's level of Magic on the table appropriate for their magical background (divine, spirit or sorcery) to find the number of starting spells an adventurer begins with. Those with Magic 0 start with none.

The exact spells available to the adventurer will depend on their cult or religion for divine magicians, the shaman or shamanic tradition they learned spells from for spirit magicians, or the school of sorcery or master one studied under for sorcery.

Some divine cults, notably Waha, Aldrya and Kyger Litor, have shaman and use spirit magic instead of cult magic. Use the Spirit Magic Table for these cults, but members can choose to become initiates at Magic 2 and above, which costs them a point of Spirit Magic Power, but allows them to use Spirit Magic Power to purchase cult divine magic spells.

With the gamemaster's permission, adventurers may split their total levels of Magic among more than one form of magic, selecting spells from each form as appropriate for their level in each form.

A divine magician selects his or her cult magic spells from those available to the cult (from either the cult itself or from associated cults). A divine magician is limited in the maximum size of the cult magic spells he or she can learn by the depth of their initiation into the cult and whether the cult magic spell is a speciality of the cult. Cult magic spells are listed for a number of cults in the Religions section of the Divine Magic chapter in the format Lay Member/Initiate/Priest (L/I/P) as to the exact availability of the spells. If no listing is available, assume that the limits are 2/4/6. Thus, a lay member could typically learn only up to 2 point cult magic spells, though he or she could learn up to three of them (6 total points available). An initiate of a cult can learn cult magic spells from associated cults as if a lay member, and an acolyte, priest or Rune Lord of a cult can learn cult magic spells from associated cults as if an initiate.

At Magic 2 and above, divine magicians typically become initiates of a cult. Unless they do so, they cannot learn cult magic spells larger than those available to lay members, cannot select cult skills as optional skills in character generation, and cannot learn divine magic. At Magic 3 and above, initiates can select a number of divine magic spells from among those available to the cult. Some cults may allow certain spells to be learned by only high ranking members, such as Acolytes, Priests, Rune Lords or Chief Priest. There is no limit to the size of a divine magic spell that can be learned, other than points available. Any initiate can sacrifice points of their own POW to learn additional divine magic spells. See Divine Magic for more details.

At Magic level 5 and above, with the gamemasters permission, divine magicians can become acolytes or priests of a cult. Players should be aware that being a priest is a full time occupation. With the gamemaster's permission, an adventurer can become an initiate of more than one cult, particularly if the cults are associated or friendly. Each cult joined beyond the first costs the adventurer one point of POW.

Points of Divine Magic can instead be used to increase POW or create enchantments (see Increasing POW and Enchanting).

A spirit magician may select from any spirit magic spells that his shaman or tradition teach (generally, almost any battle magic spell is available). More adept spirit magicians have access to larger spells.

Spirit Magic Power represents the POW of the fetch a shaman has awakened, or the magical power a non-shaman has developed. A shaman starts with a fetch of POW equal to Spirit Magic Power. The shaman can further increase the POW of his or her fetch by sacrificing further points of POW to it (see Spirit Magic). With the gamemasters permission, a spirit magician that starts with the basic skills of a Trained shaman and has awakened a fetch can start with one. If the spirit magician has not awakened a fetch (true for most spirit magic users), or wishes to start with a smaller fetch, Spirit Magic Power can instead be used to increase POW or create enchantments (see below).

A student of sorcery begins by studying the basic sorcery manipulations of Intensity and Low Magic spells. He or she may select from any two Low Magic spells available to his or her school (see Sorcery). A sorcerer, scholar, official or noble may instead choose a single High Magic spell. Add Magic bonus to Intensity and Reasoning bonus to spell skill(s) to determine the final skill levels. Other sorcery spells or skills may be available in their professions as well. Enchantment POW can be used to create enchantments (including creating a familiar) or increase POW (see below).

Increasing POW

An adventurer with POW 1–10 can use 1 point of Divine Magic, Spirit Magic Power or Enchantment POW to increase their POW by 1.

An adventurer with POW 11–15 can use 2 points to increase their POW by 1.

An adventurer with POW 16–20 can use 4 points to increase their POW by 1.

An adventurer with a POW of 21 or above can use 8 points to increase their POW by 1.

Increasing POW may thus raise the cost of further increasing it.

Enchanting

Divine Magic, Power or Enchantment POW can be used to create personal enchantments.

Each point can be used as a point of POW in enchanting.

The adventurer must know the correct spell and the enchantments must be rolled for to succeed.

An adventurer can also use their own POW to create enchantments.

See Divine Magic, Spirit Magic and Sorcery for more details.

Select Possessions

An adventurer's starting level of Wealth determines the possessions he or she starts the game with. An adventurer starts with the basic possessions appropriate to his or her culture, then simply spends wealth choices to purchase possessions from the appropriate culture's table. Crossindex the adventurer's Wealth on the Wealth Table. This will yield a number of A, B and C wealth choices. These wealth choices may be used to purchase possessions from the culture specific possessions tables at the end of each culture's section, or the general possessions table if the adventurer comes from another culture. A single A choice is roughly equal to 75 Lunars (L, see Economics), a single B choice is roughly equal to 300 L and a single C choice is roughly equal to 1,200 L (see Economics), but the possessions that can be purchased vary from culture to culture.

One can always trade down wealth choices, that is to say, convert a C choice to 4B or 16A choices, or convert a B choice to 4A choices, but normally wealth choices cannot be traded up. Wealth has its benefits.

With the gamemaster's permission, adventurers may purchase possessions from another culture's tables at twice the listed cost.

Develop Background

By now you will know a lot about your adventurer—his or her skills, social rank, wealth, possessions, which deity or deities he or she worships, if any, and what kind of magic he or she uses.

Take a little time to form a picture of your adventurer. When was he or she born? How old does that make him or her? What were the formative events in his or her life? The background information and timeline in the Introduction chapter can help with background ideas.

Renown

Once you have formed a picture of your adventurer, use it to come up with an explanation for how they acquired their renown. Being known as a great warrior, wise, trustworthy, or dangerous all serve to differentiate adventurers from each other, and gives the gamemaster's characters something to react to in social situations. Renown due to a famous ancestor, lineage, or birthplace, or some well known deed the adventurer performed all add color and detail to characters. The more detailed the explanation, the better.

Renown is specific to a single area. Most adventurers will simply apply their Renown to their own homeland. An Expert Sartarite warrior with Renown 3 would typically specify Renown/Sartar 3 on his character sheet. An adventurer that begins the game residing in another land may choose to apply their renown to that area instead. Examples of such areas would include Sartar, Pavis, Prax, or a province or satrapy of the Lunar Empire, such as Tarsh. At the gamemaster's option, some overlap can occur between nearby areas, such as Pavis and Sartar, Pavis and Prax, or neighboring provinces or satrapies in the Lunar Empire.

It is possible to further differentiate Renown or acquire Renown in more than one area by limiting or decreasing one's level of Renown. Limiting one's Renown to a single species, sub-population, religion, or type of reaction (Positive Renown—only to befriend or make a good impression; Negative Renown—only to intimidate or frighten) allows one to increase their Renown by one level, or use the same level of Renown, but at a lower cost. One can add areas of Renown by decreasing one's Renown. Renown 3 in one area is equal to Renown 2 or limited Renown 3 in two areas, or Renown 1 or limited Renown 2 in four areas.

Thus, the Sartarite warrior with Renown 3 could decide to actually have Renown/Sartar 2 (freedom fighter) and Renown/Pavis 2 (adventurer), or Negative Renown/Sartar 4 (Cold Wind fanatic), or might go so far as to have Renown/Sartar 2 (freedom fighter), Negative Renown/Tarsh 2 (Sartarite rebel), and Smuggler Renown/Pavis 2 (arms dealer). Other interesting applications for Renown include elf friend (Positive Renown, Elf Renown or Renown of 4 or greater in an elf area, such as the Stinking Forest), troll friend (Positive Renown, Troll Renown or Renown of 2 or greater in a troll area, such as Dagori Inkarth or the Shadowlands), or to create alternate or secret identities.

Renown has three major benefits in play. The first is that people may recognize your adventurer and his or her reputation when they hear your adventurer's name. As a rough guideline, recognition is automatic near the origin of the adventurer's reputation (see Background Choices for more information), and occurs on a Luck Roll (see Game Mechanics) outside that area, the difficulty of the roll varying with the distance. Unless the people involved would automatically be hostile to the adventurer, this generally improves people's reactions to the adventurer—a friendly reaction becomes very friendly, a neutral reaction becomes friendly, and a hostile reaction becomes neutral. The exact nature of the adventurer's Renown will further affect how people react to him or her. The second benefit of Renown occurs in situations where social skills are being used. The character with the highest applicable Renown gains a free hint when using any communication skill (Positive or Negative Renown would limit the skills affected). The effect is as if the character's level of success with a communications skill was one greater (see Skills for more details). The final benefit of Renown is that it can serve as a source of roleplaying suggestions. Gamemaster should feel free to hand out a number of relevant roleplaying suggestions in a session equal to an adventurer's Renown. Of course, should the situation have nothing to do with the adventurer's particular form of Renown, no suggestions need be made. However, an adventurer with Elf Renown/Stinking Forest 3 should be given a few suggestions for how best to speak to a party of elves she has just encountered, even if they come from another elf forest.

Final Points

Consider a few final points in creating your adventurer. What does your adventurer look like? Sound like? Any distinctive traits or distinguishing characteristics? How does your adventurer spend his or her time? What kind of friends, acquaintances or contacts does your adventurer have? Finally, what are some of the beliefs and values most firmly cherished by your adventurer, and how does he or she express them to the world at large? The cultural backgrounds that follow and the Time and Learning chapter can help with some of these questions.

You're now done creating an adventurer with which to venture into the world of Glorantha, or any of the myriad worlds of fantasy that await you. Enjoy!