Player Tips for World of Cormuth Characters:

                I was originally going to call this “words of wisdom,” but I think that’s just a tad presumptuous.  It’s really just a list of tips for making your first character in Cormuth, and who better to give you survival tips than the GM of the game?  There are also a few “need to know” things like starting hit points and Cash.  Hope it comes in handy.

·         Multi-class: if you’re considering a multi-classed character, you may want to think it through carefully.  I consider the character’s class to be an outward show of their personality, like an occupation and multi-classing may muddy that (yes, I’m a doctor, but I’m also a street mime!).  In game terms, multi-classing also dilutes your spells and special abilities.  In some cases, the 2^nd class makes up for it, but not always.  Whether or not you multi-class is totally up to you.  I neither encourage nor discourage it.

·         Cash: Starting cash is 75gp.  I strongly suggest that you spend it all.  If you think you need more money, take the Wealth Perk.  And if you do, I strongly suggest that you spend that cash as well.

·         Starting Attributes: we’ll be using the 3^rd Edition Point System with characters based on 32 points (all attributes start at 8).  You may decrease an attribute for +1 points i.e. from 8 to 7 gives you +1 points.

·         Hit Points – let’s go with maximum hit points at first level.  After that, if you have d4 or d6 hit dice, reroll 1’s and 2’s.  If you have d8 or greater hit dice, reroll 3’s as well.  I think this is very fair and expect you not to alter rolls beyond this i.e. you’re on the honor system, but don’t abuse it.

·         Alignment: As the GM, your character’s alignment doesn’t concern me.  The story I’ve written doesn’t require any particular alignment leaning, but I think it’s important that we all get along.  If you think that your alignment choice might annoy the other players, it wouldn’t hurt to check with them and see what they think.

·         Alignment Change:  I’ll allow one “free” alignment shift (e.g. from Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral) once per group of sessions.  Beyond this, you may need to choose a Quirk that reflects the reason for your change i.e. the change in your temperament is so severe that it must have been caused by something.  I don’t view alignments as an absolute, as much as a quick reference for conduct.  You won’t draw notice from occasional alignment deviations, and no one is going to insist that you change your alignment, but it might be a good idea if you feel that the description no longer suits your character’s purpose.

·         Class Names: A few characters may need to be careful what they state as their chosen “profession” i.e. class.  Any caster other than a Priest of Deus will be seen as a “witch” or demon possessed by the people of Arden.  Luckily, the people of Arden don’t typically have spell craft and are easily bluffed.  But understand that if YOU call someone a “Wizard”, “Sorcerer” or even “Druid,” the Ardenites see this the same as you calling that person a witch and will probably take you seriously.  It’s important for the party to understand who they are and what they do, but this doesn’t mean you share that information with the NPCs.  The same goes for Rogues, although you can call someone a “rogue” in conversation and this is the same as calling them a wag or scoundrel.

·         Gender: Women have it rough in Arden.  The popular culture views them as property.  If you plan to play a female human, bear in mind that the adventure takes place in a land where men aren’t likely to take you seriously and expect certain things from you (domestic chores, ladylike behavior).  Luckily, the Arden see women of other races (Dwarves, Elves, Spritelings) so seldom that they aren’t likely to notice your gender difference.   A female Elf would be looked upon with the same shock and awe as a male elf.

·         Perks and Quirks: This is an optional system.  The main focus is to give some  tangible character depth.  If you’re having trouble coming up with a background story for your character, you might look through this list and see what appeals to you.  And if you’re wondering whether or not you want to take Perks and Quirks at all, I’d urge you to at least try it.  You can earn an extra feat or 3 ranks worth of skills by taking 3 points worth of Quirks and the penalties for doing so won’t wreck you.

·         Useful Perks: If you’re having trouble deciding on Perks, I’d suggest Artifact, and Resistance (disease).  My reasoning is that I’m fairly certain these two Perks will get used once per play session (on average), for the first group of sessions.  I’d warn against any Perk that gives a bonus based upon some far off location or peculiar circumstance.  Character’s will be in Arden for quite some time, so if your ally is in Weston, you probably won’t have a chance to use that perk and it may not be worth the points.

·         Party Makeup: This may be none of my beeswax, but I’d really like it if you’d all discuss what you intend to play, and – if possible, build a well balanced party.  You will NEED a cleric.  But not everyone needs to play one.  If no one wants to, I’ll provide an NPC (several are already strategically placed as a contingency plan). 

·         Death: Let’s try to avoid it if we can?  One thing to bear in mind is that, if you do die, there’s no one around to resurrect you until – maybe the next group of sessions next year?  If someone bites the big one, we’ll have to work something out.