Character Creation
The worlds of Level Up offer an infinite combination of possibilities and circumstances that shape the lives of the characters who live within it. Your first step is deciding what type of character you want to create. Their personality, appearance, aspirations, desires, and fears are all up to you. It’s through their eyes that you’ll experience the world, and all the details you give them shape how you—and by extension they—interact with the world and respond to what takes place during the course of gameplay.
Before diving into the mechanics of the character creation process try to imagine what you’re looking for in a character and what interests you as a player. Are you fascinated by the dynamics between gods and mortals? Are you intrigued by combat in all its myriad forms? Or do you prefer to be the source of knowledge for the party, surprising them with just the right tidbit of information to save the day or ruin it for someone else?
Origin
Who is your character? Where do they come from? What drives them forward?
Creating your character generally begins by asking yourself a series of questions about not just the type of adventurer you want to play but also what type of person they are and how they came to be who they are.
Origins are detailed later on in the book but consist of four main aspects: heritage , culture , background , and destiny . As you go through the character creation process, each of these aspects will help you flesh out more details about your character or prompt you to determine traits you otherwise may not have considered.
Heritage
Characters in the world belong to a heritage which includes certain biological characteristics and defines some aspects of their physical appearance. Other things, such as a character’s speed and size, are also derived from their heritage. While a heritage may be a factor in your character’s story, that’s just the beginning. Who they are is defined by the experiences and the actions that lead them to where they are now.
Choosing a heritage grants your character access to additional traits and a heritage gift, which helps you make your character stand out from the crowd. For example, a dragonborn ’s trait allows them to do what dragons do best and exhale a breath based on that ancestry that can burn, electrify, and even freeze their enemies. Meanwhile some dragonborn have scales like iron while others have developed aquatic adaptations.
In addition, as your character levels up, they choose a paragon heritage gift that is unique to their heritage.
Culture
Your character’s
culture
details the society and circumstances that helped shape who they are. This provides a number of traits including proficiencies,
languages, and other benefits related to the culture that influenced their development.
One of the key things to keep in mind during character creation is that culture options are universal and aren’t limited to specific heritages. This opens up a number of fun and interesting options and opportunities for your creativity to color outside of the lines!
Background
If a culture tells how a character started, their background helps outline where their journey led. There are a number of backgrounds to choose from each of which provides bonuses to your ability scores, additional proficiencies, and features to your character can use while adventuring.
That’s just mechanics though, and thinking about the details of how a background influences your character’s thoughts and actions is a great way to add depth to a concept. Deciding on your character’s memento (an object of personal importance) and connection (a person who matters to them) helps you create stakes in the world.
Destiny
All characters in the world have a destiny that they move towards, though whether or not they will reach it is a mystery. When creating a character you are able to place a mark of destiny upon them to not just help you better understand who they are and where you want them to go, but also help the Narrator get an idea of what you’re looking for as a player. It is a summation of their motivations, goals and outlook. It also provides your character an edge at key moments that would help them move toward that destiny.
Adventuring Classes
Adventurers come from all walks of life and approach the world in different ways. Class is the term used to broadly describe the set of skills and abilities they use while confronting the challenges of the world.
While your origin describes your character’s past, your class represents what they are doing now. Choosing a class for your character provides them with class features, the unique talents and expertise inherent to their class that set them apart from other classes. In addition, you also gain certain proficiencies which represent your character’s skills and what they are best at resisting (their saving throws), as well as their ability to use certain tools, armor, weapons and more. Proficiencies essentially outline the things your character can do well, such as performing for a packed room or holding on to their sanity after a particularly powerful psychic spell.
Depending on which class you choose, between 1st and 3rd level you select a class archetype. Every class has its own set of disciplines that each specialize in one particular aspect of the adventuring tradition. Some rogues are very sneaky, others utilize magic in their thievery, and there are those who become master assassins — all rogues that made different choices with their archetypes.
Level
Most characters start at 1st level and advance by adventuring and gaining experience points (XP). A good way to picture a character at this level is to see them as a newcomer to some of the more difficult challenges you’ll face.
Record your level on the character sheet as 1st level and indicate that your starting experience is zero. Depending on the campaign your Narrator is making for the group, your game’s stakes may be high enough that your character starts at a higher level. In those cases think about what dangerous and fascinating events may have brought you to that point as you begin creating your character.
A higher level character would typically begin with the minimum experience points necessary for that level. In the case of higher level characters, be sure you understand the various features and traits that come with each additional level in the class.
Hit Points and Hit Dice
Your character’s hit points provide a rough idea of how much damage they can withstand. Your hit points are determined by your Hit Dice which are in turn tied to your class. At 1st level, your character begins with 1 Hit Dice and hit points equal to the maximum number of that Hit Dice. You also gain additional hit points based on your Constitution modifier which will be covered later in the character creation process. Another use for Hit Dice is the ability to roll them in order to recover hit points during a short rest.
The total number of hit points you have available is called your hit point maximum.
Be sure to record your character’s Hit Dice and hit points on the character sheet.
Proficiency Bonus
Your proficiency bonus can be found in the table that describes the features you gain at each level of your class. Characters starting out at 1st level begin with a +2 to proficiency and that bonus applies to a number of important character elements:
- Attacks you make with weapons you are proficient with.
- Spell attacks cast against your adversaries.
- Ability checks made using proficiency-based skills.
- Ability checks made to utilize tools that you are proficient with.
- Saving throw DCs for features, spells, and traits you use.
- Saving throws you have proficiency in.
Proficiencies come from a number of sources, including backgrounds, classes, feats, and more. Be sure to keep a look out for when your character gains a proficiency and note it on the character sheet.
Your proficiency bonus can only be added to a die roll or any other circumstance once. The only exceptions are cases where the bonus is modified before being applied to a roll. If circumstances arise that indicate your bonus should be halved, doubled, or multiplied more than once, the golden rule is to only halve, double, or multiply it once.
| Level | Bonus |
| 1-4 | +2 |
| 5-8 | +3 |
| 9-12 | +4 |
| 13-16 | +5 |
| 17-20 | +6 |
Determine Ability Scores
There are six key ability scores that factor into everything that your character does in the game: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. These abilities and their uses are described in detail in later chapters.
Ability scores are generated randomly by rolling four 6-sided dice and recording the total of the highest three dice on a spare sheet of paper. You continue to do this until you have a total of six numbers.
Choose where you’d like to assign these numbers by recording each next to an ability score.
After that’s done, modify your ability scores to account for any additional bonuses your character gained from their background.
The final ability scores will determine your ability modifiers, which can be seen in the Ability Scores and Modifiers table.
To figure out your ability modifier without the table, subtract 10 from an ability score and then divide the result by 2 (round down). Record the modifier next to your ability scores.
| Score | Modifier |
|---|---|
| 1 | -5 |
| 2-3 | -4 |
| 4-5 | -3 |
| 6-7 | -2 |
| 8-9 | -1 |
| 10-11 | +0 |
| 12-13 | +1 |
| 14-15 | +2 |
| 16-17 | +3 |
| 18-20 | +4 |
| 20-21 | +5 |
| 22-23 | +6 |
| 25-25 | +7 |
| 26-27 | +8 |
| 28-29 | +9 |
| 30 | +10 |
Variant: Standard Ability Array
Instead of rolling dice to determine your six ability scores, you may choose to use the following scores instead: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.
Variant: Custom Ability Scores
With the Narrator’s approval, you can use the following method to create ability scores.
You have 27 points to spend on ability scores. The cost of each score is shown on the Ability Score Point Cost table. This approach to ability score generation limits the highest score to 15 before the application of ability score increases from other sources.
| Score | Modifier |
|---|---|
| 8 | 0 |
| 9 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 11 | 3 |
| 12 | 4 |
| 13 | 5 |
| 14 | 7 |
| 15 | 9 |
Gear Up For Adventure
Your character begins the game with starting equipment determined by their background and class. Starting equipment includes everything from weapons and armor to general tools and items. Be sure to record your starting equipment on the character sheet.
If you’d like to have more flexibility in the gear your character starts the game with you can alternatively use your class’ gold pieces (gp) to buy your own.
Be sure to keep in mind that your character has to carry everything you buy! Strength scores determine the maximum amount of equipment characters can carry. Avoid going over a total weight in pounds greater than your Strength score times 15.
If your character is going on a journey, they will also need to carry supplies with them. You can carry a number of days’ supplies equal to your Strength score, in addition to your equipment, weapons, and armor.
Defense
Your Armor Class (AC) represents your character’s ability to avoid sustaining damage in battle.
Numerous things affect your AC in various ways, such as armor, traits, features, Dexterity and more. Unarmored, your character’s AC is 10 + their Dexterity modifier. While wearing armor, utilizing shields, or taking advantage of traits and features, the AC calculation will differ based on the circum- stances. For equipment the details of AC calculation are available as part of an item’s description, and the criteria and effects of other options are listed in your character’s class, heritage, or culture.
When your character is subject to more than one way to calculate their AC, you can choose which one to apply.
One of the key things to remember when making your character is that not everyone can use armor and shields. Your character must be proficient with armor and shields in order to use them with any efficiency, and there are certain drawbacks from struggling to use either without knowing how to properly do so ( Equipment ).
Save Difficulty Classes
Some of your attacks and spells may force your target to make a saving throw to resist it. You have two saving throw difficulty classes (DCs), one used for
combat maneuvers, and the other for spellcasting.
Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your spellcasting ability modifier.
Offense
Weapons are the bread and butter of any savvy adventurer, even those who use them as only a last resort.
Weapon attacks are made by rolling a d20 and adding your proficiency bonus (as long as your character is actually proficient with the weapon) and the appropriate ability modifier. Weapon damage is calculated by rolling the weapon’s damage die and adding any applicable modifiers.
Melee weapons use your character’s Strength modifier or Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls.
Meanwhile, ranged weapons use Dexterity for attack and damage rolls. Some weapons with the thrown property, such as javelins, allow you to use your character’s Strength modifier instead.
All attacks also indicate the type of damage they deal. A sickle deals slashing damage while a heavy maul deals bludgeoning damage. Damage types, besides being cool aspects of your character, also come into play as some situations may call for one type of damage type over the other.
Some special attacks instead do an amount of damage called basic melee damage. This is equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.
Skill Specialties
At 1st level you gain your first two skill specialties, chosen from skills you are proficient with. When you make an ability check to which your skill specialty applies, you gain an expertise die. You may not gain the same skill specialty twice. If your Intelligence is 12 or higher, you gain extra skill specialties (see Intelligence).