Either:
The first lets you roll and customize; the second lets you roll and have slightly above the fold on average. The last makes someone who is likely to excel in one particular ability of your choice.
Your new character will be considered unplayable if the total ability score bonus is less than zero. If this is the case, reroll your character.
Of course, if your stats get lowered during play you may not reroll your character.
Certain nonhuman races are allowed, with limitations (to keep them exceptionally rare):
Since this campaign is set in a fantastic analogue of our own world, the vast majority of characters are human.
This setting has a few Viking-inspired character classes.
A Viking can also be a member of the traditional character classes, but with the following considerations:
Other characters are possible, especially from England, Frankia, Araby, Saxons, etc. Most will be members of the normal character classes, but there are other classes as well. Here are some ideas for each:
There are also these additional classes:
All new (or replacement) characters start at first level, no exceptions. Consider running a stable of characters.
Players are encouraged to keep a stable of characters and play often so that they aren’t dropped all the way back to the beginning on a character’s death. It’s also possible you could take over one of your retainers on a successful post-death morale check, but if the retainer doesn’t have levels they are still going to start at first level.
You get 100 XP per HD for killing monsters, plus an extra HD of XP for special abilities. It’s a lot at first, but not a whole lot once you pass third or fourth level.
You get 1 XP per 1 SP that you spend that was earned by adventuring. If you get a bunch of treasure and hoard it you don’t get any experience for it until it’s spent. If you decide to shuffle cargo between towns for money, you don’t get XP for it no matter when or how you spend it.
Also, you get XP for exploration. Being the first one to find a legendary place or thing can confer experience, and some things are so awesome and inspiring that everyone who sees them will get some XP to reflect how it shapes their view of the world or their sense of accomplishment or personal growth.
Finally, if you spend loot on carousing sometimes you get bonus XP. Note that if things don’t go your way, you can also get consequences for carousing!
Players may choose a skill they are “good at” at first level, and choose another every three levels thereafter (4, 7, 10, …). The skill may be almost anything (climbing, tracking, haggling, military history of the The Old Empire, etc). When they player is trying to do something related to this skill their ability check is one step easier than it normally would be.
Players may choose an additional “good at” skill if they also accept a “bad at” skill chosen by the DM. A “bad at” skill makes your character one step worse on skill checks for related actions.
When players choose new skills on level advancement, the “good at” skill must be something they used previously at the table or during active play downtime.
Living in Trade Town is expensive! Each character must spend 3d6x10 SP per month of the adventuring season for upkeep to afford food in camp, fuel for fires, maintenance of equipment, encampment and longboat, etc. This is exclusive of outfitting one’s character, retainer pay and carousing expenses, but assumes routine repairs to armor, weapons, etc.
Any character that runs out of funds but is not present to adventure (earn funds) will be presumed to have returned home for the season and be ineligible to be played until the next raiding season. If it was your only character, roll up a new first-level character. Please note that this means you probably need to play characters in your stable regularly!
This expenditure does count towards gaining XP.
In (loosely) keeping with the source material, the game is on the silver standard and is typically hacksilver. All prices and treasures are denominated in silver pieces, and experience points are gained such that 1 XP = 1 SP.
The exception is armor and steel weapons, which are still denominated in gold pieces, again to loosely keep with the source material. Of course, this means that armor and weapons are worth quite a bit!
There are 100 coins per pound, regardless of type.
There are three classifications of armor: light, medium and heavy.
| Armor Type | Classification | Weight | AC |
|---|---|---|---|
| No armor | — | 0 | 11 |
| Leather Armor | Light | 15 | 13 |
| Studded Armor | Light | 25 | 14 |
| Ring Mail | Medium | 30 | 14 |
| Chain Mail | Medium | 40 | 15 |
| Banded Mail | Medium | 35 | 16 |
| Scale Mail | Heavy | 55 | 16 |
| Splint Mail | Heavy | 45 | 16 |
| Plate Mail | Heavy | 50 | 17 |
| Shield | Medium | 5 | +1 |
| Heavy shield | Heavy | 12 | +2 |
| Helm | Medium | 4 | +1 |
AC and weights have not changed, only the addition of classifications. Italicized rows representing post-dark ages armor are not available in The Onyx City campaign.