Character Creation in A Band of Joyous Heroes

As previously posted, characters in A Band of Joyous Heroes are defined by a series of ratings or stats, which reflect the Five Selves that make up the Tsolyáni concept of the Soul. They will also be defined by their Temper, which is a measure of the character's courage or martial disposition; good and bad traits, known as Talents and Flaws; and a characteristic known as Noble Action. Other information is important as well: name, gender, lineage and clan, rank and status are all important bits of information that must be determined.

To start with the basic stats, the first step is to determine a concept about what your character is to be like. A sorcerer or warrior, are important choices right off the top - or scholar or whatever.

In the final version, we might even start by determining clan and status, but for now we are just looking at stats.

To determine the characters basic stats, roll 5D6 and assign one die result to each stat as you prefer. For example:

To create my wanna-be Warrior-Priest of Chegárra I roll 5D6, getting rolls of: 2,4,6,5,4

I then apply these rolls against The Five Selves:

Bákte [BAHK-tay] - Body = 6
Chusétl [choo-SAYTL] - Shadow Self = 4
Hlákme [HLAWK-may] - Intellect = 4
Pedhétl [pay-THAYTL] - Power = 2
Balétl [bah-LAYTL] - Spirit Soul = 5

Each stat will start with a value of between 3 and 5.

Any roll of '6' counts as a result of '5' and additionally, provides for +1 Talent to be selected later in the character creation process.

Each roll of '1' or '2' must be re-rolled. First, each provides a bonus of +1 Talents. Apply the results of the second roll. If the roll again comes up with a '1' or a '2' then the stat is assigned a value of '4'. In addition, a second roll of '1' or '2' indicates that the character has +1 Flaws.

In this example, I rolled a '6' which I assigned to Bákte(Body) as I think that is probably the most important stat for a Warrior Priest. This becomes a '5' and gains my character +1 Talents.

I also rolled a '2' which I must re-roll. I rolled another '5' which becomes my Pedhétl(Power) rating. My character also gains an additional +1 Talents.

The final result is:

Sample Warrior Priest:

Bákte(Body) 5
Chusétl(Shadow Self) 4
Hlákme(Intellect) 4
Pedhétl(Power) 5
Balétl(Spirit Soul) 5

Talents/Flaws: +2 bonus Talents, no additional Flaws.

The last step is a bonus that applies only to Sorcerer characters:

Roll 2D6. Any roll of 1-5 gains +1 Pedhétl(Power) yielding a possible +2 bonus.

This is because sorcerers are only chosen from those with the best magical potential. Note that the High Pedhétl talent can increase this value still further.

Pedhétl is the only one of the Five Selves that cannot increase in value after the character creation process is finished. All the others can be increased as the character moves along the path to becoming a Hero of the Age.

Next we will look at assigning Talents and Flaws.