How to Build a Character in Legends of Tarrem 

Whether you’re brand new to our game, or just need a refresher on how character creation works, this in-depth guide’s purpose is to help you through the steps of creating your dream character! Following the order of these steps is not at all required - feel free to jump around in whatever way feels right for you.

First things first, you’ll need a character sheet! You can find blank character sheets either in our Discord server’s “links” channel, in the “Character Stuff” folder in our Google Drive, or by clicking this link! Simply open the sheet, click “File” in the top left corner of the page, and click “Make a Copy.” From there, click on “Folder” and click the back arrow in the menu until you are in “My Drive.” This will give you a character sheet that you can use for your own purposes. Now, let’s begin.

Step 1: What are you playing?

When making a character, you’ll probably have a general idea of what you want them to be before you start. Failing that, we find it tends to come to people while making it. Ideally, you’ll want to consider:

• What role or roles your character will play in the party

• What roles your party needs or already has filled

• A goal for your character, be it a life goal your character has set, or a personal goal you want to achieve while building/playing them.

You can, of course, build a decent character while just making it up as you go along. Sometimes, that's half the fun! We won’t stop you.

Step 2: Who are you?

Half the fun of a tabletop RPG (and the name) is the roleplaying aspect. Unless you’d like to create yourself extremely faithfully in this game (we don’t judge), you’ll want to think about who your character is. What is their name? Where are they from? What are their goals, their beliefs, their fears, their quirks, their background, all that good stuff.

There are a number of factors that can potentially impact your character’s background or goals, such as what Ancient they follow, their race, their class, their traits, their talent, and more. Ultimately, it’s your character - you can make them whoever you want.

This step doesn’t need to be the second step. The importance you place on a character’s background, personality, etc. may be very minor, and that’s okay. However, it’s important to have this figured out sooner rather than later - your DM knowing more about your character helps them plan their game with your character in mind.

Step 3: Attributes and Skills

One of the most important factors about characters in Legends of Tarrem (and pretty much any tabletop RPG) is their stats. Distributing your Attribute points and calculating your skills should be one of the first things you do with your character, if not the first.

Step 3a: Attributes

Attributes are values applied to your character that determine their physical and mental prowess. A more focused explanation of Attributes and what they do can be found on the Attributes page.

Step 4: Races, Classes, and Ancients

Next, you’ll need to determine what your character is, both in the sense of their race and their class. Choosing a race is generally straightforward. Docs that contain details about each race can be found in our Races folder, linked here. Alternatively, it can be found in our Google Drive folder in Legends of Tarrem > Player Docs > Races.

Some races grant extra permanent Attribute points, which are listed on their respective docs, and all races have additional racial abilities that come with taking that race. For example, Cavefolk start with a +2 to their Fortune and Cognition by default. They also start with wings, an Echolocation ability, and an aversion to light that also gives them perfect vision in dark environments.

It’s also important to note that your character’s movement speed is listed on each race’s doc, along with average heights, weights, age ranges, lifespans, and other useful information.

Next comes your class. Classes can be found in the Classes folder, which is found in the same place as the Races folder. When creating a character, you must choose one class for your character, and gain the Rank 0 bonuses listed for that class. Your starting money is listed on your class doc, as well as any extra equipment and proficiencies (if any) the class may grant you.

For example, the Warrior - Spartan class starts with a common melee weapon, common armor, common helmet, basic spear, and a common shield. They start with 10 Gold to spend on other equipment, and their Rank 0 bonus grants the sword and spear Knowledges, and two unique abilities.

It is possible to take ranks from other classes, but doing so at level 1 requires taking certain bonus traits, such as the Missed Opportunity trait. Taking further ranks of your class happens every 5th level. You can choose to take a rank of a class you already have, or take the rank 0 of a different class. There is no limit to how many classes a character may have ranks in (though spreading oneself so thin may be ill advised).

Finally, you’ll want to decide what Ancient, lesser ancient, or tribal god your character follows. The Ancients are god-like beings that are very clearly present in the world (some more than others), and are worshiped by a vast majority of people. Some roam around with everyone else, others lack a physical form, some keep to their own realms. Information about the Ancients and their followers can be found in “The Ancients” folder, found in “Player Docs.” Lesser Ancients and Tribal Gods are lesser beings, but beings that may still be prayed to for benefit. Information about them may be found here.

Following an Ancient grants access to a series of bonuses tied to your character’s Devotion skill. Some Ancients grant a bonus for free with 0 Devotion, others do not. To unlock further bonuses, for following your Ancient, you must spend skill points on your Devotion skill. These bonuses can be found on docs pertaining to the followers of a given Ancient, not on the Ancient’s own doc. Every Ancient grants different bonuses, so be sure to check! Ancients also have special spells that pertain to their domain, which are granted to their followers. Spells granted by Ancients use the Personal Magic skill when cast. Again, every Ancient has different spells, so be sure to look through them.

Each Ancient also has at least two "Paths", one of which must be chosen to benefit from. You cannot take another path unless some other effect would allow you to do so, such as Jaged's Path of Disorder, which allows you to gain random Devotion benefits.

By default, characters may only follow one Ancient at a time. They can change what Ancient they follow, but doing so may have serious repercussions. This is especially true if your new patron is opposed to your old one. Going from following the Ancient of War to following the Ancient of Peace probably isn’t wise. However, the Complementary Faiths or Conflicting Faiths bonus traits allow a character to follow a second Ancient, and grant access to that second Ancient’s spells.

All this being said, following an Ancient is optional. Should you not wish to follow an Ancient, you may choose to do so. There are even two bonus traits for those wishing not to follow an Ancient, being Faithless - Attributes and Faithless - Traits. You are not required to take one of these bonus traits if you do not wish to follow an Ancient.

Note that if your character is taking the Ancient-Born trait, they are not required to follow the same Ancient that birthed them, nor are they necessarily required to be of the same race as that Ancient. In fact, in some cases, doing so may be impossible, depending on the Ancient. Be sure to read up on your prospective Ancient parent!

Step 5: Pit Stop for Knowledge and Languages

Knowledges can be thought of as “licenses” for weapons, skills, and schools of magic, and are important for any character. Any character can technically swing a sword or learn and cast a spell, or pick a lock. However, unless you have the knowledge for doing so, your character can’t really get good at those things. Without a knowledge, the highest roll bonus you can have for a skill check is +0. You can have your Bladed Melee skill maxed out at 100, and have a +8 bonus in that skill, but if you’re swinging your sword at something without knowledge for that sword, you’ll still be rolling with a +0.

During character creation, you can take any three knowledges for free, on top of any knowledges that your class or traits may grant you. There is no upper limit on how many knowledges a character can have.

All knowledge starts at the “Unaffiliated” level by default. Any class ranks you take will give you a knowledge rank in some of your knowledge fields. You’ll typically end up with a “Knowledgeable” rank in at least two fields, which means you’re more likely to know, deduce, or intuit things about that given field.

You also should mark down what languages your character speaks. Each race has access to certain languages innately. Languages can be found on the languages page. The “Innate” column of the language table describes what languages your character automatically knows. You can also take an additional language, dictated by the “Known by” column. If your character’s race is listed in that column next to a language, you are eligible for that language.

If your character is a hybrid, they gain the innate languages of their parents’ races, and an additional “Known by” language.

Step 6: Traits (and Perks) that Define You

After all of this, you’ll want to pay a visit to the Perks doc, and look at the “Bonus Traits” tab. These are your bonus traits. While making your character, you may take up to 2 of these bonus traits (or choose to forgo bonus traits altogether). These bonus traits are meant to change how a character plays, giving them various bonuses or access to unique abilities. It’s best to go to the Perks doc linked in the first line of this paragraph and read up on all of them, since they are too varied to go over here.

Some bonus traits, such as Ancient Born or Qareen Bond, require two trait “slots”. Others, such as Trade-Offs or Redistributed Power - Traits, grant your character extra bonus trait slots. Be sure to read carefully, but otherwise, have fun making powerful combinations! And hey, if nothing else, the bonus traits you take can help inform what kind of character you’re playing in terms of background and personality.

Some bonus traits such as Highly Mutagenic and Bio-mod give things called Bio-mods. These are like mutations or perks gained through environmental effects. Rank 7 Bio-mods are the most powerful, and rank 1 are highly detrimental.

During character creation, you are also allowed to take a level 1 perk, found on the Perks doc under the “1-10” tab. This is free, so choose any of the level 1 perks and mark it down on your sheet! Some people find it helpful to put the name of a perk or trait down, and then to copy down what that perk or trait does into the same box in the Perks table. We highly recommend that newcomers to our system do this, as it’s more convenient than constantly opening tabs or having them open all the time, and it keeps the game flowing faster.

Step 7: The Part Where You Do Math

It’s time to figure out some important numbers. A lot of the info in this step can be found in the Core Guidebook, but we feel it doesn’t hurt to state it here.

Before anything else, your Initiative starts at +0, and is not affected by your stats.

For all of the following:

Additive bonuses are applied first.

Percentage (%) bonuses are totaled, then applied as one. 

First off, health. Your base health is determined by the following formula:

100 + (Fortitude * 25) + (Your level * (10 + 2 * Fortitude))

You can plug this into a calculator, replacing your Fortitude and level with the appropriate numbers, and find your maximum health. If you have percentage bonuses or penalties to your health from your race, certain traits, perks, or other means, keep in mind that those are applied to your base health at each level, not just at character creation.

Example: A level 10 character with 5 Fortitude would have 425 health

Next, your AP, or Action Points, determine how many times you can swing/fire your weapon during an attack. Most weapons have an AP cost per swing, and you can swing your weapon as many times as you want until you don’t have enough AP. For example, a sword costs 15 AP to swing. If a character has 75 AP total, then they can swing their weapon 5 times, once for every 15 AP spent. A character’s AP fully refills at the start of their turn, so don’t feel like you need to hold back all the time.

A character’s AP is determined by: 65 + (2 * Dexterity).

Third comes your inventory space. Instead of going just by weight, characters have inventory slots. The number of slots a character has is equal to 20 + (2 * Vigor). Note that most items do stack if you have multiple.

Fourth, dodge. Dodge is a mechanic that gives you an increased chance of evading enemy attacks. When attacked, the enemy makes a roll to hit you. If their roll is higher than your Dodge or Armor stat, they hit you. If it is lower or equal to your Dodge, their attack misses/bounces off your armor. Dodge is simply your Dexterity modifier plus any bonuses given by armor.

Next, armor. Armor is similar to Dodge except that instead of making the attack miss outright, the attack bounces off of you, or otherwise doesn’t harm you. Armor is your Fortitude modifier plus any bonuses given by armor.

Sixth, willpower. Willpower is similar to how Dodge works, and is used to resist mental and psionic attacks. Willpower is equal to double your Intellect.

Movement speed is how far you are able to move during a single move action. Your Movement speed can be found on your race’s doc, but you also gain an additional 5 feet of movement speed for every 5 points of Dexterity you have. 

Next up, let’s talk about magic. Your magic is a function of 15 * your Intellect. Furthermore, you gain an additional point of magic for every 2 skill points in all of your magic skills combined (those being Ancient Magic, Healing Magic, Alteration, Evocation, Incantation, Illusion, and Necromancy). For example, if a character has Intellect of 5, then 15 * 5 = 75. Then if they have 8 in every one of their 7 magic skills, then 56/2 is 24. 75 + 28 = 103, which is their maximum magic (before any bonuses from equipment, classes, or perks, if they have any).

Magic regeneration is difficult to get during character creation, unless your race, talent, traits, etc. specifically give magic regen you start with 0. 

Resting and items are the main way to restore magic for most characters. 

For information on how leveling up affects these numbers, please check our Leveling Guide.

Step 8: The Joys of Shopping

Remember back in step 4, where we mentioned that your character’s starting money is included on their class doc? Now is the time to go and spend that money! First things first, currency in Legends of Tarrem increments as follows:

It’s also worth noting that each currency type can be found in bar form as well. A bar is worth 100x more than the corresponding coin (i.e. 1 Copper bar is worth 100 Copper coins).

Go ahead and visit our “Equipment” folder, found in Player Docs. Unless stated otherwise, most values for items are in coppers. If you can afford an item, subtract its cost from your starting money and add it to your inventory. Repeat until you are satisfied, or are out of money (whichever comes first). If you’re unsure about the cost of something, or if you’re allowed to purchase it, feel free to ask your DM. And remember, you keep any money that you don’t spend during character creation. It’s also a good idea to review your Attributes and skills after doing your shopping. Some of what you’ve purchased may have altered your character’s stats and it’s best to catch these changes early.

Step 9: High Fantasy Talent Show

After all of that, now you can flex your creativity some more! Talents are a special mechanic in Legends of Tarrem where you can give your character a unique ability of your own creation. Talents are talked about more in depth in this doc, but the gist is this: there are no concrete rules that dictate what your talent can and cannot be, and purposely so. You can craft a talent to suit your build, to gain an edge you might not have otherwise, to supplement a weakness you may have, or just to add some flavor to your character. A talent doesn’t even necessarily have to have a positive effect on your character..

The only stipulation to all of this is that your talent must be approved by your DM. Obviously, your DM’s standards for what constitutes an acceptable talent may vary, so feel free to experiment!

If all this talent business sounds like it’s too much trouble and you’d like to forgo it, you can take one of the Redistributed Power traits. Doing so will exchange your talent for Attribute points, Bio-mods, Perks, or Traits. Note that this will permanently lock you out of ever making a talent, so be sure that you’re okay with that before taking a Redistributed Power trait.

Step 10: Time to Review!

There you have it! Now it’s time to go back and double-check your numbers are all correct! Be sure to check that your Attribute modifiers and skill bonuses are right, that you’ve remembered all your Ancient, class, and race bonuses, and that you’ve marked down any important info correctly.

Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go! We hope this guide has proven a useful one! Happy roleplaying!