Character Creation

When you have decided on what kind of character you would like to create. You can record all your character stats and information to the character sheet provided: Metaforce Character Sheet (Template) This Google-Sheets version of the Character Sheet can auto-calculate various stats based on the Attributes, Level and starting parameters given. For more information on what each field and section means, see Character Sheet. Default Values As a Game Master, you can set up characters however you like for your game setting. This is a list of defaults if you are unsure: Attribute Default Value Description Starting Attributes 8 After character creation, character would have this many Attribute points assigned. Experience 0 Character starts with X experience to level up, or create/boost Metaphor scores. Base XP to Level ♦ Experience points needed to reach Lv2. XP to Level Up 2 Additional Experience required after each level-up. Metaphors +4, +3, * Character starts with a set of Metaphors to create skills and proficiency. HPLV 6 Health Point multiplier for characters. Treated like a Hitdie in traditional games. MPLV 3 Meta Point multiplier for characters so they can use Meta-Abilities. Base Body 5 Character starts with an amount of Body Core. Base Reflex 5 Character starts with an amount of Reflex Core. Base Mind 5 Character starts with an amount of Mind Core. Attribute/Lv 1♣ or 2 Number of Attribute points gained per level (after 1st) ATO 2♣ or 1 Number of Attribute-Training Opportunities per level (including 1st) * Refers to Secondary Metaphor arrays. ♣ This value is used if Progressions are active. ♦ Usually the same as Starting Attributes. Attribute-Point Setup Step 1: Racial-Adjustments This step first requires the character's Race and Racial Traits be set and defined. A Species can have Attribute tiers adjustments to 2 or higher. Generally a species will have Tier 2 or 3 as their identity Attribute. If a species is supposed to have a negative in their adjustments, you can either leave it at Tier 1 or invoke Tier 0, which sees checks involving the attribute starting at -1 Advantage State unless they Exert to roll normally. "The Orc character gets enhanced Strength, Endurance, and Charisma. But suffers in Intellect. They get Tier 3 Strength and Endurance, Tier 2 Charisma, and Tier 0 in Intellect. The other Attributes stay at Tier 1 as normal. The Elf character gets enhanced Agility and Perception, thus they get a Tier 2 in Agility and Tier 3 in Perception. The Elf doesn't get a demotion to any of their Attributes thus they sit at Tier 1." If the game or character doesn’t support/use racial adjustments, this step can be skipped. Step 2: Pick a Core Value Ask the player: "Which of the Core Values do you want your character to specialise in? Body, Reflex, or Mind?" The choice made will grant a +1 Tier to the Attributes that give +1 to that Core, and a choice to pick one other Attribute to also gain a Tier +1. For reference these are the choices and their effect on this question: • Body: Gain +1 Tier to Strength and Endurance, plus Agility or Charisma. • Reflex: Gain +1 Tier to Agility and Perception, plus Strength or Intellect. • Mind: Gain +1 Tier to Intellect and Charisma, plus Endurance or Perception. If a character doesn't have Racial adjustments, a character can pick any two (2) Attributes and increase their Tier by 1, even if they were already selected in this step. Step 3: First Level To finish setup, the Player is asked to add three +1s to minimum 2 different attributes if they already have Attribute points from their Racial-Adjustment. "After the Space Bounty-Hunter has finished defining their Species and Value choices, they decide to put +2 into their Perception, and +1 into their Charisma. They would have wanted to put all their points into Perception but were required to distribute to a minimum of two Attribute scores." Regarding Level / Limit A character is normally not allowed to raise an Attribute score higher than their level, but during character creation and level-ups, any values above the character's level are permitted. Attribute points given by a level up can ignore the Level-limit rule, but using Training Points to spend experience to increase an Attribute are subject to this rule. Starting Metaphor Arrays Primary Metaphors Normally, each character starts with a +4 and +3 Metaphor, meaning one can create a Metaphor with a +4 Ability score, and then they receive a +3 Metaphor for another ability/power/skill. These two Metaphors are meant to give characters strong starting options for self-defense and utility. In addition, these Metaphors can also start with the maximum number of Sub-Abilities, or exchange Sub-Abilities to enhance another one. In future, Sub-Abilities can only be obtained and enhanced by spending experience points. A character decides they want their +4 Metaphor to have two Sub-Abilities at +2 instead of having four at +1. This is allowed because they exchanged a Sub-Ability to enhance one of their remaining choices. Secondary Metaphors An additional (+2, +2, +2, +1) array is given to players to fill out their other skills and abilities. These Metaphors can be improved with Experience points if the GM allows it at character creation. This array is created to offer the greatest number of skills and abilities at the start. Like with any starting Metaphors, each of these secondary Metaphors start with the maximum number of Sub-Abilities for customisation, and any Metaphor of +2 or higher can swap Sub-Abilities to enhance a remaining one. Players may choose a different array with more potent Metaphor values in exchange for variety. Other arrays they can choose include: • (+3, +2, +1) for a more rounded distribution of Metaphors, or • (+4) for 'master of one' style of gameplay. Post-Creation After a character has been created at level one and their Metaphors written up, they should now be playable in game. Below are ways to continue progressing a character's build after creation. Character Levels Character levels can be used by some mechanics for scaling powers and abilities, and serve as requirements for others. Levels can only be gained incrementally, so a level 1 character must ascend to level 2 before they can ascend to level 3, and so on. The default amount of experience required to level up varies by game, but it should be equal to the character’s starting attribute amount. This increases after every level, based on the XP per Level-up parameter set by the Game-Master. Raising a character's level will increase their Maximum HP and MP (Half of HPLV and all of MPLV), a number of Attribute points they can add to their Attributes, more Attribute-Training Opportunities (ATOs) and may unlock features on any of their Progressions. Rules on applying Attribute points When adding multiple Attribute points granted by a level, you can't add two points to the same attribute, you can, however, raise attributes higher than the character's level this way. Training Points A character gains a Training Point (TP) at creation and another one for every Level-up, these can be used in conjunction with Experience points improve characters further. Spending experience on these improvements does count towards a character's next level. ♦ Increase Attribute: By spending Experience and a Training Point, a character can improve one Attribute, up to their level, by +1. Experience cost is treated as if they were improving a Metaphor core bonus. ♦ Learn Metaphor: Same as above, a character can gain a new Metaphor for any skill, power or ability they could realistically obtain. The cost is one Training Point, plus the number of Metaphors the character owns plus one in Experience. The created Metaphor starts at +1 with a +1 Metaphor component installed, the user can define this bonus. "A character wants to learn a new Metaphor, they already have six Metaphors learned. They need to spend a Training Point plus 7 experience if they want to learn a seventh Metaphor. This Metaphor manifests at +1 and manifest with one component at +1 of player's choice. ♦ Raise Attribute Tier: A character can permanently increase one Attribute's tier to the next highest one. Tier increase can only be selected when the Attribute bonus is equal to that of the bonus granted by a Tier at creation. The experience cost is equal to the Target Attribute Tier number, and the Training Point cost is equal to the Target Attribute Tier number. "A character wants to improve their Tier 1 Strength Attribute to Tier 2. But to do this, they must have at least +1 in their Strength bonus (as a Tier 2 should), then they need to spend 2 Training Points and Experience to complete the transaction." Improving/Creating Metaphors Metaphors can be created and improved by spending Experience points. Although sometimes Metaphors can be granted by doing various tasks and roleplay, like taking time to learn a skill, being trained by someone, or reading training materials like books.