Contents
Creating a character in 10acity is fairly simple. There are no classes to choose, so you can build the type of character that you would like without restrictions, though templates are available if you would like to start with one and then customize it from there.
The classless system gives a lot of freedom to create the type of character that you want to play, but can also cause a little decision paralysis as it takes away the guardrails of class based systems. So, here are some ideas and thoughts to keep in mind as you create your character:
There is no wrong or bad choice. The system is designed to make your characters good at their chosen SKILL SETS and then special abilities make them better, but there is no wrong choice that will hurt your character's effectiveness.
Don't be discouraged if you can't do everything you want right away. You gain additional SKILL SETs and Special Abilities as you gain levels, and you gain levels very quickly in the beginning which then slows down as you get to the higher levels. The system is designed with the understanding that you might not know your character very well at first, but as you play, you will begin to understand them better, gaining your first couple of SKILL SETS and Special Abilities very quickly to round out your character. So even if you can't do everything you want right away, it won't take long to get you there. For experienced players that want to start characters a little more established, the Narrator may want to consider starting them at a higher level.
Character Sheet:
(save a copy to your own drive in order to edit.)
NAME: This is the name in which your character will be known.
LEVEL: This is the level of your character. In a standard campaign, your character will start at level one in which you get to choose one (1) SKILL SET to start at rank 2, and three (3) special abilities, but the narrator may choose to start characters at higher levels if they would like more seasoned characters. For higher level characters, build a level one character then level them up to the appropriate level of experience.
In a normal speed campaign, a character gains a level after a number of encounters equal to their current level, so you gain levels very quickly in the beginning in order to build out the foundation of your character and then it slows down in the higher levels.
Every level adds to your maximum stress and gives a bonus SKILL SET, Special Ability, or Maximum 10acity Point as displayed on the chart below.
| Level | Progress |
|---|---|
| 1 | Starting Values |
| 2 | Additional SKILL SET rank (maximum rank 2 in any SKILL SET at this level) |
| 3 | Additional Special Ability |
| 4 | Additional Maximum 10acity Point |
| 5 | Additional SKILL SET rank (maximum rank 2 in any SKILL SET at this level) |
| 6 | Additional Special Ability |
| 7 | Additional Maximum 10acity Point |
| 8 | Additional SKILL SET rank (maximum rank 3 in any SKILL SET at this level) |
| 9 | Additional Special Ability |
| 10 | Additional Maximum 10acity Point |
| 11 | Additional SKILL SET rank (maximum rank 4 in any SKILL SET at this level) |
| 12 | Additional Special Ability |
| 13 | Additional Maximum 10acity Point |
| 14 | Additional SKILL SET rank (maximum rank 5 in any SKILL SET at this level) |
| 15 | Additional Special Ability |
| 16 | Additional Maximum 10acity Point |
| 17 | Additional SKILL SET rank (maximum rank 5 in any SKILL SET at this level) |
| 18 | Additional Special Ability |
| 19 | Additional Maximum 10acity Point |
| 20 | Additional SKILL SET rank (maximum rank 5 in any SKILL SET at this level) |
DESCRIPTION: These are the descriptive properties of your character such as species, height, weight, build, hair, eyes, body configuration (biped, quadruped, insectoid, serpentine, etc.). What you enter here will come into play narratively when a character’s size and appearance would affect the situation or story. Guidelines are that you should try to keep the character at a size that would fit a single space (1-3 meters / 3-10 feet tall), and if you have additional limbs you will still need an ability to use them, you will select this further below in the Abilities section.
Size: Choose a size that fits within 1 space
(1-3 meters / 3-10 feet tall) and an appropriate weight.
Body Configuration:
- Biped (2 arms, 2 legs)
- Quadruped (4 legs)
- Insectoid (Multiple legs)
- Serpentine (no legs)
- Other (discuss with Narrator)
Cosmetic Details:
- Body build (thin, lithe, wiry, muscular, hefty, stocky, rotund, etc.)
- Hair or fur and location and coloring
- Skin coloring
- Number of eyes and appearance
- Appearance of ears, mouth, extremities, etc.
- Types of appendages (hands, paws, tentacles, none, etc.)
Languages:
If your game uses specific languages, the base amount of languages you know is equal to your Intelligence Attribute Dice. You also know 1 additional language for every point you have in the Society skill.
And of course anything else that you and the Narrator agree on for the description and truths of your character. Any special abilities that your character would have from their appearance (wings, claws, tail, etc.) will be handled by purchasing special abilities in the Special Ability section of character creation.
Theme: A character's theme represents their chosen profession and key trait. This is what the character is known to be good at. Enter a two word description with a personal trait and profession or special training. At any time when you fail a roll that could be considered part of your theme, you may spend a 10acity point to reroll the action. Examples: Brilliant Engineer, Charming Diplomat, Strong Wrestler, Fast Assassin, Insightful Detective, etc.
(Stress, Wounds, and Tenacity are all values that are determined from the Attributes and Skills that you choose, so we will revisit those once we assign all of our Dice and Skills.)
Skill Sets: You start with 1 die in each Skill Set. Then choose one Skill Set to be your specialty, increase that Skill Set to 2 dice. (You will be able to rank up additional attributes in future levels.)
STRENGTH / TOUGHNESS: Includes skills such as: Bending, Carrying, Climbing, Crushing, Dragging, Edurance, Jumping, Lifting, Swimming, etc.
SPEED / AGILITY : Includes skills such as: Dodging, Escape, Evasion, Juggling, Riding, Sleight of Hand, Sprinting, Stealth, Tumbling, etc.
PERCEPTION / AWARENESS : Includes skills such as: Aim, Alertness, Detect Ambush, Drive, FInd Traps, Investigation, Insight, Perception, Pilot, Read Lips, etc.
INTELLIGENCE / CUNNING: Includes skills such as: Academics, Alchemy, Chemistry, Computers, Crafting, Electronics, Engineering, Etiquette, Herbalism, History, Language, Medicine, Nature, Navigation, Occult, Research, Science, Society, Streetwise, etc.
CHARISMA / WILL : Includes skills such as: Art, Animal Handling, Concentration, Deception, Diplomacy, Empathy, Impersonation, Intimidation, Music, Performance, Persuasion, Seduction, etc.
Skill Set Definitions:
Skill Sets Skillsets are a group of five different categories which encompass groups of skills. The higher rank you are in a skillset, the more dice you get to roll when taking an action that would use one of the skills within that skillset, which gives you a better chance of success because your final value is the highest die that you roll. The categories are: Strength and Toughness, Speed and Agility, Perception and Awareness, Intelligence and Cunning, Charisma and Will. In the dropdown below, choose which skillset your character will be best at when taking actions. You will be able to rank up additional skillsets in later levels.
Armor: This is equipment that you acquire and wear. It absorbs stress points before you do. After every combat scene, if your armor is not breached, then you can take some time to refit it and bring its stress value back to full.
Breached: Armor can do more than give you additional stress, it can also take wound damage for you. At any point when you would take a point of wound, you can instead choose to have your armor take the wound and become breached. Once breached, your armor value resets to full, but it cannot be refitted again until the breach is repaired. If you choose to have your armor take another point of wound after it is breached it is then destroyed and rendered useless.
Stress: Stress is a sum of 10 + level + STRENGTH/TOUGHNESS value + CHARISMA/WILL value. This represents the exhaustion, bumps, bruises, and scrapes that you receive during combat. Taking a small rest between scenes (if you have the time) restores all of your stress and you will be ready to start mostly fresh on the next scene. If you are ever reduced to 0 Stress in a scene, they you have two options: 1. Fall unconscious, or 2. Take a point of Wound to reset your stress back to full.
Wounds: This value is a combination of your STRENGTH/TOUGHNESS + CHARISMA/WILL values. Wounds happen when you run out of stress, it represents taking so much stress that you become injured. Wounds are serious and take time and care to remove in the form of Recovery. When you have points of wound, this decreases your maximum 10acity points by the amount of wounds you currently have. If you ever run out of stress and have no more wounds you can take, you fall unconscious and could be at risk of a coup de grace killing blow if an opponent takes the time to do it and there is no one there to stop it. (Coup de grace killing blows take time and is not something that can be performed in just one action. A coup de grace killing blow is interrupted by any action against the one performing it.)
Recover: Naturally, you gain 1 Recovery per day. Someone with the appropriate supplies caring for a character with wounds can do so at a challenge rating assigned by the Narrator. The wounded character would then gain a number of recovery equal to the highest d6 challenge die on a partial success and the sum of both 2d6 challenge die on a flawless success. It requires 10 times the amount of wounds you have to recover 1 point of wound then the care starts again for the next point of wound after that. (So for example: a character with 3 wounds would require 30 recovery to remove a point of wound. That character would now have 2 wounds and would require 20 recovery to remove the next point of wound. And then they're last wound would require 10 recovery to remove that.)
10acity Points: Your maximum 10acity Points starts at 2 and you gain more at higher levels or special abilities. 10acity is your character’s inner strength that can be used to fuel special abilities or give a bonus to SKILL SET result or Action impact results such as damage. Call it luck, karma, inner strength, chi, perseverance, maximum effort… whatever you call it: 10acity is a character’s energy that they can tap into to activate their special abilities or to give a +1 to any roll. You can spend more than one (1) 10acity on an action, but you cannot activate any single special ability more than once in an action. During scenes, you can gain more 10acity than your maximum, though the excess points only last for that scene and reset back down to your maximum when the scene ends. If you end a scene with less than your maximum 10acity points, you do not automatically recover those and they would need to be recovered through rest. You can regain one (1) 10acity point for every hour of rest you take, but you cannot accrue more than your maximum.
Gaining 10acity points during a scene: Each time you spend your action and fail (no success at all), you will gain a 10acity point as a representation of you learning from the action and determination to do it better the next time. You also gain a 10acity point each time you are rolling SKILL SET dice and you roll doubles. This represents a lucky break during scenes.
Protagonist Points: You gain 1 Protagonist Point per level and you can only ever have a maximum of two (2) protagonist points. When you spend a Protagonist Point, you get to take temporary control of the narrative for a turn. You can move faster, jump higher, be extremely lucky, or whatever your character needs for that turn. Also, any attack that you perform automatically hits and does maximum damage.
You get to choose 3 (3) Special Abilities to start. These abilities can have constant benefits and/or can have activation abilities that cost one (1) 10acity Point to grant special bonuses.
If you can’t find a special ability that fits your character, you can always modify and existing one or create one (with the approval of the Narrator). The list of Special Abilities here is just a baseline of options, but only scratches the surface of what is possible in the 10acity System. So don’t feel restricted, if there is something you’re looking for but can’t quite find, it’s time to alter or create a new one. Take a look at some of the existing abilities for guidelines, then try your hand at altering or building your own. Show it to the Narrator and they may want to alter it a little more on their own based on their own knowledge of the system or their campaign, but once you agree you have a shiny new Special Ability that is all your own.
As your Narrator for your starting wealth and if your society is advanced enough to use modern or futuristic equipment, then use the following list to purchase your equipment.