Characters are initially defined by scores in four Characteristics (namely Strength, Reflexes, Intelligence and Psychic Talent), generated either randomly by rolling 4d6 and ignoring the worst die roll or by allocating 48 points between the four values.
Characters are further defined by scores in either six or seven Attributes, depending on whether or not they can cast magic spells. An unranked adult human has the following base value in each Attribute, which may be modified by exceptional scores in characteristics as indicated below.
| Attribute |
Value
|
Strength
|
Reflexes
|
Intelligence
|
Psychic Talent
|
| Attack |
11
|
major
|
minor
|
minor
|
none
|
| Defence |
5
|
minor
|
major
|
minor
|
none
|
| Magic Attack |
13
|
none
|
none
|
minor
|
major
|
| Magic Defence |
3
|
none
|
none
|
minor
|
major
|
| Evasion |
3
|
none
|
major
|
none
|
none
|
| Stealth |
12
|
none
|
major
|
none
|
none
|
| Perception |
4
|
none
|
none
|
none
|
minor
|
The effects of having an exceptional score in an associated characteristic are as follows.
| Value |
3-5
|
6-8
|
9-12
|
13-15
|
16-18
|
19
|
| major effect |
-2
|
-1
|
+0
|
+1
|
+2
|
+4
|
| minor effect |
-1
|
+0
|
+0
|
+0
|
+1
|
+2
|
Health Points (HP) measure how physically robust a character is. An unranked adult human has 1d6+9 Health Points. Ranked characters begin with additional HP according to their Profession.
Characters who are wounded lose Health Points. A wound that reduces a character to 3 HP or less will briefly render the character unconscious, as will losing HP when on 3 or fewer HP. An unconscious character rolls 1d6 after every minute (10 Combat Rounds) of game time. If the roll is a 1, the character regains consciousness; otherwise, the character remains unconscious. Any character reduced to 0 HP dies.
Injured characters regain Health Points slowly without medical or magical treatment. Without effective treatment, a character will regain 1 HP after one week, another 2 HP after the following week, a further 4 HP after the third week, and 8 HP for every week from that point onwards. Proper medical treatment will halve the amount of time needed to regain HP: thus, a character will regain 3 HP after one week, a further 12 HP the second week, and 16 HP per week from that point onwards.
Rank indicates a character’s level of expertise as an adventurer. All characters begin at 1st Rank: this does not make them novices, but respectably skilled fighters or spellcasters with 20 characters points to allocate to Abilities. As characters increase in Rank, they receive an additional 8 character points with which to improve their Attributes and to obtain new Abilities. At the GM's discretion, characters who belong to a Profession may increase their Attributes by greater amounts than that recommended for that Profession.
Character points provide a means of calculating the cost of having certain powers and skills. The bonuses and additional abilities they measure are the building blocks of each Profession. A major Ability costs 2 character points; a minor Ability or a +1 bonus to an Attribute 1 character point; +1 Health Point or a magic Spell 0.5 character points.
Professions are character archetypes that players may use either to define a character or as examples when designing a character. Some GMs may require that all players choose a Profession and do not deviate from it as the character increases in Rank, gaining only those benefits specified for that Profession: others may allow a more flexible approach to character improvement, including buying additional bonuses or abilities with any surplus character points.