Character creation and progression

The wizard steps and their four ways of generating values, grants, levels, perks with uses and sub-options, and skill trees.

How a character is made in your system and how it improves afterwards. Four tabs cover this, and they share one mechanism: grants.

Creation (the player's wizard)

In the Creation tab you build the steps that the person making a character goes through. Each step has a Name, a Description and an Icon. You can reorder steps by dragging and duplicate them.

A regular step shows some fields for the player to fill in. There are also two special kinds:

• Grant step: instead of filling in, the step gives things (points, perks, raises).
• Perk purchase step: the player spends some points (named whatever you want: creation points, advantages, XP...) picking perks.

The two caps of that step (how many points and how many perks at most) also accept a formula, and if you set one it overrides the number. Use this when the budget comes from an earlier choice: if your "power level" step stores the points in a field, write that field here (pd_del_nivel) or a calculation with it (2 + nivel_poder) and each character gets their own. The formula uses the sheet as it stands, with the effects of the previous steps already applied. If it doesn't resolve, the number is used.

A regular step can also write down with templates: tick the system's item templates (Combat → Item templates) that the player fills in right there. This is for systems without a catalogue, where the player writes each Hindrance or Edge from their book. The rows go to their inventory and their effects count live, so a calculated field can depend on what was written (in Savage Worlds, the Hindrance points: Minor 1, Major 2).

How values are generated

Each step decides how its fields get filled in:

Point buy has the most settings:

• Total points and their label.
• Fields to distribute among: you choose which ones are in.
• Yield per point: how much the field goes up for each point spent (empty = 1).
• Cost per point: the reverse, how many points it costs to raise the field by one. These are the "freebie points" of Vampire and similar games: an Attribute costs 5, an Ability 2, a Discipline 7. It's set per group of fields, so one line covers the nine attributes instead of nine separate entries. The player sees under each trait what it costs to raise it, instead of working it out from the counter.
• Cap by formula: a maximum that recalculates on its own.
• Caps per subgroup: for example, "at most 8 points in physical attributes".
• Cost above the attribute (×): for fields shown as a die. With dice, spending is counted in steps (untrained → d4 is one, d4 → d6 another), and each step that takes the field above its governing attribute costs this many times as much. Savage Worlds uses 2: Shooting from d4 to d10 with Agility d6 costs 1 + 2 + 2.

Roll and assign defines the pool: how many rolls, with which dice, whether the lowest or highest are dropped and what modifier is added. The summary reads like this: 6 x 4d6 (-1 lowest).

Grants (the shared mechanism)

A grant means "this gives you X". Grants appear in creation steps, in levels and in trees, always with the same editor. A grant can give:

Choose one (menu) is the Savage Worlds advance menu: an Edge, or an attribute, or two skills, or one skill. Each option has its name, a line explaining it, its own grants (anything except another menu) and, optionally, a condition (a formula on the sheet and nivel_nuevo) with the text shown when it is not met ("only one attribute per rank"). An option that cannot be taken is shown dimmed, with that text.

Points have two settings for this:

• Max per field: how many points can go into the same field ("two skills, one die each" = 1).
• Governing attribute: up to its attribute stops the field from ending above its governing attribute; only if already at its attribute only allows fields that already reach it.

If the field is shown as a die, each point is one step (untrained → d4, d6 → d8), and the player sees the die before and after.

Raising a field with experience

A numeric field can have a ▲ button on the sheet: it goes up +1 and deducts the cost from a pool (experience, learning points...), in a single save. The cost can be flat, tiered or by formula.

Most rulebooks state the cost as a formula, e.g. "Attribute: current rating x 4". You write valor_actual * 4. With tiers you'd have to list one for every possible value. The formula can read the whole sheet, so rules like "this clan pays 20% more" also work.

It's configured in Fields -> (a number) -> Raise with experience.

Levels

In the Levels tab you define progression.

• Experience bars: the meters shown on the sheet (you can give them a color).
• Each level has its grants: what you gain when you reach it.
• Lock level prevents going any further until a condition you choose is met.
• Is spent sets what that bar's requirement means:
• On (the usual): it's a price. When leveling up it's deducted and the bar goes down.
• Off: the bar only accumulates and the requirement is a total reached. Use this for "at N experience points you gain X" tables, where the numbers are milestones, not prices. You can copy your rulebook's table as is, without converting it into subtractions, and the player sees their experience grow, which is a good part of the incentive.
• Grants can be per class; those without a class apply to all.
• Each bar has its own GM quick buttons (+10, +25, +50, +100 by default). In an advance-based game, set 1 and the GM adds one advance with a single tap.
• What a level is called (Design → Experience tab): the word shown instead of “Level” (Advance, Rank, Circle), an offset for the number and the title of the level-up moment. Savage Worlds uses “Advance”, offset −1 (the first advance arrives at level 2) and “New advance!”.

Example: an advancement table by total experience

A game gives 1 XP per session and has this table:

Set the experience bar to Is spent: off and add one level per row, with the rulebook's number as the requirement. The grants for each one:

On the sheet, the Experience tab shows the table automatically: what each advancement gave you, which one you're on and what's next, with requirements worded the way your rulebook words them ("on reaching 6" if the bar accumulates, "6" if it's a price). You don't need to copy it anywhere by hand.

A common catch: if your health comes from a formula with an attribute (10 + músculo) and the table also raises attributes, health will go up twice. If your rulebook says it shouldn't, freeze it at creation with an effect grant that sets Health (maximum) to 10 + músculo. That stores the number once, and advancements add on top.

Perks

Perks are advantages, feats, powers or traits. They are bought with points or granted on leveling up.

Each perk is either chosen (paying its cost, whatever you set) or granted automatically to whoever meets its class and level. There are no built-in types: to separate families (talents, mutations, gifts…) write a Category, and a grant step can offer just that one. Older systems with «special» perks keep them, grouped as that category.

Each perk can have:

• Effects (the same as in Fields: add or set values).
• Limited uses with a maximum (by formula if needed), e.g. a power usable 3 times a day.
• Sub-options ("choose one of..."): the player narrows the perk down when taking it, like a specialization or an element.
• Rolls: buttons on the sheet, each with its own die, that can optionally deduct a use when rolled.
• Restriction by classes / archetypes.
• Real requirement: a formula that decides whether the perk can be taken ("Dominate 3"). Unlike the Requirements field, which is informational text, this one is validated. A power whose requirement you don't meet isn't offered, and the button says why. It's checked when you take the perk, not continuously, because otherwise a perk could switch off mid-game when one of your attributes dropped and change the sheet on its own.

Flaws: a perk with a negative cost gives points instead of costing them. This is how Vampire, GURPS or Chronicles work: you pick flaws and spend the points they give on something else. In the perk step they show in red with a "+3", and the step can put a cap on how many points can be gained this way (in Vampire, 7). Without a cap, everyone takes seven flaws and buys a power.

What the shop sells

By default, the perk step offers every non-passive perk. That doesn't work once a system models its magic, maneuvers or powers as perks: they're granted in another step, so they cost 0, and the shop would hand them all out for free.

Two things fix this. The first is automatic:

• Anything another step gives as fixed or lets you choose from a category is excluded automatically.
• Maximum families for sale (perk_from): the list of types or categories this shop offers. You need it when a family is spread across several categories and only one is granted. Example: "Minor spells are chosen at creation, and Major ones are learned in play". No step grants the Major ones, so without the list they would stay on sale.

Empty = everything not excluded is sold, which is how all systems work today.

How many, besides how much

A point cap doesn't limit the number of perks, and some games limit both: "up to three flaws and up to three advantages, and at most one severe flaw". With points alone, a player could get those points from five small flaws, which adds up but breaks the book's rule. The perk step accepts three more caps, all optional:

A cap by cost is { "max": -5, "limit": 1, "label": "tara grave" }: at most one that costs -5 or worse. min and max are the ends of the bracket and both are optional, so it also works for "at most two powers of 5 or more".

The player sees the tally at the top (1/3 flaws - 2/3 advantages - 1/1 severe flaw) and it turns amber on reaching the cap. When something doesn't fit, the button says why instead of just being dimmed, so the player learns about the cap before planning around something they can't take.

They are shown on the sheet with the Perks and Passives widget.

Only from... (milestones that aren't redeemed)

In some games experience isn't spent: it accumulates, and when it passes certain numbers the character gains something. That isn't a purchase, so none of the options below apply.

Use a passive perk with a threshold: Only from ⟨N⟩ in ⟨counter⟩. When the counter reaches that number, the passive is granted automatically (no buying, no choosing, no button) along with its effects. The counter is not touched: it keeps going up toward the next milestone.

One perk per milestone. Example of "every so often, +1 health":

Two details:

• The counter can be one of your numeric fields or an experience bar from the Levels tab. Both show up in the dropdown.
• For health or sanity, choose the "(maximum)" target in Effects, not the regular one, so the cap goes up rather than the character's current value. The +1 is added on top of the maximum even if it comes from a formula.

Because it's a live condition and not a stored reward, there's nothing to sync. If the GM lowers the counter below the threshold, the bonus is removed.

If you want experience to be spent, use Raising a field with experience, Purchasable in play or the Levels (which deduct their requirement on leveling up).

Purchasable in play

Creation points are spent once, but some perks are learned in play: a Combination Discipline in Vampire costs 24 Experience points and is bought at the table.

Check Purchasable in play, choose which pool it's paid from (cost_field: Experience, learning points, etc.) and set the price. A "Can be learned" dropdown appears on the sheet listing what you qualify for. Clicking one grants the perk and subtracts the price from the pool in a single step. If you can't afford it, the button says how much you're short.

• The price can be a formula (cost_formula) if it depends on the sheet.
• Only perks whose requirement you meet show up. With eighty combination disciplines, listing the seventy you can't take would bury the three you can.
• Only perks your class can learn are offered, same as in creation: a perk restricted to certain classes isn't offered to characters without them. All your class axes and your subclasses count, so with "species + profession" both apply. A perk with no declared class can be learned by anyone.
• The shop lives inside a panel and respects its scope: if the panel shows the Gifts category, only Gifts are sold there. With one panel per family, each sells its own perks instead of the whole catalog.
• No selling back: a refund would need the original purchase price, and the sheet has changed since.
• A flaw can't be purchasable: its cost is negative and "paying" for it would add to the pool. Neither can a passive, since passives are granted.

Trees

A tree organizes perks into branches by levels: warrior paths, schools of magic, disciplines.

• Branches can be exclusive (you choose only one) or independent (you advance in several at once).
• Each rung says from which level it's available and what it grants (the same grants as everywhere else).
• A rung can have a condition: it only applies if a formula is met.

On the sheet it's shown with the Skill tree widget, which draws the chosen branch as a ladder with what you already have and what's still missing.

How it fits together

1. In Creation, the player distributes, rolls or chooses, and buys their first perks.
2. While playing they gain experience in the bars you defined.
3. On going up a level, its grants give them points, raises or perks.
4. If the system has trees, they choose where to advance.

Tips

• Start with a single progression path. Levels with simple grants already work; trees are the advanced layer.
• Use Points-type grants instead of raising fields by hand: the player decides and you don't have to write twenty variants.
• Passive perks don't need a button: if they only give a bonus, the effects handle it.

Next step

Next comes the world's content: the Items, bestiary and economy guide.

All Roliando guides