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Post by Igordragonian on May 14, 2021 6:44:25 GMT -8
There are more or less pre made characters, based on archetypes. So for newbies there isn't a big need to work hard. Think what kind of character you wish, pick an archetype and with a bit of guidance to tweak it. -- Ruby Back because Raegar has slashed his back, and sent him into the river. as for the granny.. well... just the idea of an eldery woman being in the center of intrigue sound intresting and more lively then paperwork. --- Daos- diplomat? great. But what his stand in the family? Is he a relative? A steward? Something else?
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Post by Zero Prime on May 14, 2021 12:20:30 GMT -8
If you're open to tweaking the builds slightly, pregens might be the easiest way to go.
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Rax
Dicemaster
Posts: 2,263
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Post by Rax on May 14, 2021 12:43:57 GMT -8
The archetypes are fine, but they are archetypes, i.e. they do exactly what it says on the tin. If you want something more personalized, tweaking is a necessity.
I'll have finished setting up my new computer by tomorrow (family gathering ate up most of Friday) so if anyone wants to try their hand at building a character from the ground up, I can help then.
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Post by Daos on May 14, 2021 15:56:33 GMT -8
Daos- diplomat? great. But what his stand in the family? Is he a relative? A steward? Something else? Not sure. If there any benefit to not being part of the family?
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Rax
Dicemaster
Posts: 2,263
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Post by Rax on May 15, 2021 15:07:35 GMT -8
There's no mechanical benefit, if that's what you're asking.
Socially speaking, in the pseudo-medieval world of Westeros, family (noble or otherwise), the Faith, and organizations such as guilds are hugely important not just as a source of employment, but also as a safety net. To find steady work, you need to pay your dues and show some loyalty as well as skill. It's not really the sort of society where you can just wander into the domain of a noble family and apply for an important position in the lord's household unless you're very well known, come with excellent recommendations from trusted sources, or you're so skilled that it would be a feather in the lord's cap to have you working for him.
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Post by Igordragonian on May 21, 2021 6:22:41 GMT -8
How can I help anyone? To start building mechanicly characters of those who have established a concept?
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Post by Daos on May 21, 2021 17:43:45 GMT -8
What is everyone else playing?
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Post by Zero Prime on May 22, 2021 4:40:14 GMT -8
Based on {this image ...} I am thinking that I am playing a second born son, probaly in his mid twenties. I am thinking he was a little spoiled in his youth, without the responsibilities of the 1st orn heir, he was something of a rake, and prideful. However, given the middling status of our House, he wanted to distinguish himself over his house, so when we the Stormlands called for arms against Dornish raids, he signed up hoping to distinguish himself in battle. Instead, he got the shocking reality of war, perhaps one of his closest friends died on his side, and maybe he performed some less than honorable acts (blacking banners, setting ambushes, etc) that earn his House victories, but earned him an unsavory reputation, something he gave up for his house. Coming back a somewhat changed man
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Post by Daos on May 22, 2021 12:18:11 GMT -8
Okay, so Zero is the second son, and if I remember correctly, Mag is the firstborn and Rax is the uncle, right?
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Rax
Dicemaster
Posts: 2,263
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Post by Rax on May 24, 2021 9:45:34 GMT -8
That's right. I may make my uncle the bastard half brother of the lord, though that's unlikely to have any major repercussions on what anyone else plays.
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Post by Daos on May 24, 2021 18:38:22 GMT -8
Alright, so maybe my character is the third-born then? Young and a bit naive, with a focus on diplomacy and wanting to find peaceful ways around conflict.
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Rax
Dicemaster
Posts: 2,263
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Post by Rax on May 25, 2021 14:06:38 GMT -8
Or he could be a cousin if you don't want to join the band of brothers. Uncle Shady will have good diplomacy skills but if I make him a bastard, he'll be less effective against anyone with Status 4 or higher, so there's definitely an opening for your character to be the main diplomat in the family.
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Post by Zero Prime on May 25, 2021 14:48:04 GMT -8
So, let's walk through this quickly, assuming I start as an Adult, somewhere between 18 yrs & 30 yrs, I start with 210 experience. Ok, great, however, status is throwing me for a loop, under step three it says assign abilities, but all characters start with 2 ranks. Ok, that makes sense, BUT, as the offspring of the Lord my Status is 6, or do I need to buy it up to 6 from 2? And if I do that costs me 100 of my 210 xp?!? That seems a little harsh, as for a competant leader, warrior, I'd need Awareness, Cunning, Endurance, Fighting and Will on top of my status, so it seems I am starved for points, or playing a 50+ year old man to get the XP I need ...
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Rax
Dicemaster
Posts: 2,263
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Post by Rax on May 25, 2021 23:46:09 GMT -8
Your Status is only 6 if we're not building our own house, which we are. When the group creates its own house, the Status of any heirs is determined by the maximum Status of the house lord - see the table on p. 107 (the Influence Holding).
Our house lord will have Status 4, so his immediate heir's Status is 3. Normally, that would also mean that a second son would have Status 2, but there's a footnote to the table that states that the minimum Status for the heirs of a lord (including second sons and other children) is 3. Obviously this table is only for children in which our house has invested some of the Influence holding, but that investment marks them out as potential heirs to the leadership of the house, so having a child outside the line of succession with higher Status than any of the potential heirs would be weird.
In short, if you buy Status 3 you should be at the right Status level as a second son, whether or not we collectively decide to spend Influence to cement that role. Buying rank 3 is cheap, it only costs 10 xp. After that it costs +30 xp per rank - see table 3-8 on p. 40. If you find yourself strapped for xp, there's an optional rule that allows you to lower one ability to 1 and get +50 xp to spend on abilities. Igor said earlier that he didn't mind a bit of min-maxing, so I've used it for Uncle Shady.
When buying up your abilities, it helps to start by listing the ones that will be important for your role, putting a 3 in each of them, and then seeing how many xp you have left to boost the ones that will really define you. A 4 or 5 in the abilities where you want to really shine is desirable.
If you still can't get the numbers to add up, remember that you also have xp for buying specialties. For instance, an average roll with rank 3 in an ability and a bonus die or two in an appropriate specialty will be pretty much the same as the average result of rolling a rank 4 ability without specialty dice. Your maximum result still caps a 18, but the average result is going to come in a lot more often, so that's often a good metric to use when buying abilities and specialties.
Another way of tweaking your character is to use the benefits (bought with Destiny Points) to either specialize or to paper over weak spots. Almost all benefits can be replaced later in the game, so spending DP on a benefit that will help out your character now but become less relevant as the game progresses isn't a bad idea. One tweak I often use to boost my characters melee skill is to give them the Expertise benefit for the Long Blades specialty. That's equivalent to raising your Fighting ability one rank with one group of weapons and Long Blades includes the longsword, which is not only an iconic weapon of the noble warrior, it also comes with a built-in +1 damage, meaning you're less reliant on having high Athletics to cause damage. Of course, Athletics also dictates your Combat Defence, so neglecting it entirely is a bad idea.
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Post by Zero Prime on May 26, 2021 3:56:21 GMT -8
Awesome! Thanks for the input ... found a fillable PDF sheet ... so here's what we have, Ser Raleigh of House TBASo, a review by our more technical minded players (looking at you Rax) would be appreciated. I took the -1 to Agility, representing a wound suffered during the skirmish with the Dorne. So that being said, stats are as follows; Agility 1 (Dodge (1B)), Athletics 3, Awareness 3 (Empathy (1B)), Cunning 3, Endurance 4, Fighting 5 (Long Blades (1B)), Language 3, Knowledge 3, Persuasion 3 (Convince (1B)), Status 3 (Reputation (1B)), Warfare 4 (Tacticsw (2B)), Will 4 (Dedication (1B)) For Destiny, I took Armor Mastery, Blood of the First Men, & Stubborn ... giving me a final Composure of 13 & Health of 14, with additional benefit from my Armor. For my flaw I took Cripple, again, relating back to the injury to my leg suffered at the hands of the Dornish. That does, severly, limit my battlefield mobility, seeing as my movement will be 2 yards, but I feel it is thematic, at the least. If we think that, coupled with my low Agility will hinder me too much in combat, I can try to switch it around. Perhaps a Dornish Nemesis, that could come up and cause trouble for our House. Anyways, any mechanical review would be appreciated as I try to familiarize myself with the system itself. I think the build lets me be tanky in combat, and not entirely steam rolled in social situations or intrigue.
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