Wandering Blades Dev Diary: Character Fundamentals (Patreon)

Leading up to Breakout Con, I've been trying to clear up character fundamentals. Here are the core aspects of each Wandering Blades character. Or should I say, "each wandering blade"?

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Attributes

In Wandering Blades, a player character’s (PC) attributes represent the characteristics that define their abilities and how they will react in different situations. There are four attributes that each character possesses: Strength, Agility, Focus, and Intellect.

• Strength represents a character’s physical power. It determines how much weight they can carry, how hard they can hit, and their ability to perform physically demanding feats. Strength is used to determine item slots.
• Agility represents a character’s quickness, coordination, and reflexes. It determines how fast a character can move, how well they dodge attacks, and their ability to perform tasks that require dexterity. Agility is used to determine dodge.
• Focus represents a character’s mental fortitude, discipline, determination, perceptiveness, and wisdom. It determines how well a character can concentrate, resist mental attacks, and the amount of qi they can cultivate. Focus is used to determine qi points.

Intellect represents a character’s knowledge of the world and problem-solving skills. It determines how well a character can assess situations, learn, and find creative solutions to problems. Intellect is used to determine the number of techniques a character can know.

Each attribute has an attribute bonus and an attribute score. These are determined by rolling 4d6 and assigning each roll to an attribute. The value of each roll is the attribute’s bonus. An attribute’s score is determined by adding 10 to the bonus. For example, if you roll 3d6 for your character’s strength and get a 2, 4, and 6, their Strength bonus will be +2 and their Strength score will be 12.

Rolling for attribute bonuses and defences is a great way of creating characters with interesting flaws and strengths. However, if you wish to choose your own flaws and strengths based on a character concept, you may instead distribute 14 points as you wish between all four attributes. All attributes must have at least 1 point, and can have no more than 6 points.

Hit Points

Hit Points (HP) represent a character’s health and vitality. They are a measure of a character or non-player character’s (NPC) ability to avoid or withstand serious injury. A character’s hit points are determined by rolling their class hit die (HD) during character creation. When creating a character, roll their class HD to determine their starting hit points. Each time a character gains a new level, they are able to roll their class HD to increase their hit point maximum.

When a character or NPC takes damage, their hit points are reduced by that amount. At 0 hit points, they are susceptible to wounds, which are serious injuries that can result in death.

Optional Rules

Instead of rolling class HD when creating a character, the table can agree to starting at maximum HD (the highest possible roll). As characters advance, characters gain ½ their hit dice with each new level.

Qi Points

Every character in Wandering Blades uses qi to aid them in their adventures. The amount of qi that a character can wield is measured by qi points. Learn more about this in the qi section of this book. A character’s base qi points are equal to their Focus bonus.

Dodge

Dodge is a number that represents a character’s ability to avoid being hit by an attacker. It is determined by a character’s Agility score. In combat, characters can also rely on their equipment to guard against blows.

Carrying Capacity

Carrying capacity represents how much weight a character can carry before becoming encumbered. This is represented by a number equal to a character’s Strength score. Weight in this game is calculated in the number of item slots an item takes up. To keep things simple, items like a backpack do not count towards carrying capacity since a character would use them to store their items.

Technique Slots

Each character has a base number (technique slots) of martial arts techniques that they are capable of mastering equal to their Intellect bonus. Additional technique slots are provided by each of the character classes. Characters start with a number of known techniques equal to their maximum technique slots.

Speed

A character’s speed determines how fast they move in combat. This is measured in feet and is determined by multiplying a character’s Agility bonus by 10 (ex. +2 agility = 20 ft. move speed). In combat, character speed can be used abstractly or measured on a grid.

Drive

Each character has a drive - a strong inner motivation, passion, or desire that they pursue as part of the shared story of the table. A character’s drive is a powerful force that shapes their behaviour, personality, and actions.

Keepsake

Each character starts with a keepsake, a small item that is kept as a treasured memento. It can be anything from a piece of jewelry to a letter that holds sentimental value. A character’s keepsake is very likely tied to their drive. This item does not take up an item slot and cannot be a weapon.

Connection

A connection is an important relationship that a character has with another member of the party. This connection can be romantic, platonic, or even strained. What’s important is that the connection one PC has with another serves as a way to collaboratively create entanglements within the backstories of every player. This can be related to a character’s drive and keepsake, or be something completely independent of those!