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 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 Setup To create a character foundation you start with their Attribute Points and Tiers. Depending on your game settings, some of these steps may be changed or skipped. This is a breakdown of the typical Attribute setup. Step 1: Racial-Adjustments A character's species and/or genetic base can serve physiological and cultural adjustments to Attribute tiers and base scores. Because each species can vary, this step is very dependant on what is written on the Racial information of each species. Typically, a species will have Identity Attributes at Tier 2 or 3, to reflect their key genetic or cultural proficiencies. Then the player may distribute four Attribute points to the Race's Identity Attributes, up to 2 per Attribute. If the species has a detriment to an Attribute that takes them to Tier Zero, they suffer -1 Advantage state to any rolls involving that Attribute. "The Elf character has Agility, Perception, Intellect, and Charisma as their racial Identity Attributes. They are Tier 2 in all of those except for two attribute which they are allowed to have at Tier 3. They then get to distribute Attribute points into any of these scores (up to 2), or exchange them to gain a Tier in any of their Identity Attributes. They could potentially get Tier 4 this way. An Orc character gets Strength, Endurance, Perception, and Charisma as their Identity Attributes. They get Tier 3 Strength and Endurance, Tier 2 everything else. but suffer a Tier demotion in Intellect (Tier 0). As with the Elf, they can either distribute Attribute points or exchange them to gain a Tier in one of their Identity Attributes, effectively reaching Tier 4 in Strength or Endurance." If the game or character doesn’t support/use racial adjustments, this step can be skipped. At the end of this phase, a character shouldn't have a Tier higher than 3. 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 +1 Attribute point for any Attribute that can improve that core (even by half). A player may opt to exchange 4 Attribute points gained from this step to get a Tier upgrade to any Attribute affected by a chosen Core Value. For reference these are the choices and their effect on this question: • Body: Gain +1 Tier to Strength and Endurance, then +1 point to Strength, Endurance, Agility and Charisma. • Reflex: Gain +1 Tier to Agility and Perception, then +1 point to Strength, Agility, Perception, and Intellect. • Mind: Gain +1 Tier to Intellect and Charisma, then +1 point to Endurance, Perception, Intellect and Charisma. If the character or scenario doesn't use or support racial adjustments: Then the player can choose two Core Values and stack the benefits of each to create a build. These tiers can stack. "A human character who doesn't get any racial adjustments due to the game they're involved in picks Reflex and Mind as their Core values. They get +1 Tier to Agility, Perception, Intellect, and Charisma. They get a total of 1 point in Strength, 1 in Endurance, 2 in Agility, 2 in Perception, 2 in Intellect and 1 in Charisma. They could trade 4 of these Attribute points to gain a Tier in Intellect, thus reaching Tier 3 in that Attribute." Step 3: First Level To finish setup, the Player is asked to add two +1s to different attributes if they already have Attribute points from their Racial-Adjustment. If they skipped the first step, they can instead choose any one Attribute to gain a Tier Upgrade. At this phase, a character shouldn't normally have more than a Tier 4 in any Attribute. "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.