Character Building

In Hackmaster, characters aren't rolled, they're built. Ok, now that we have the pithy statement out of the way... A Hackmaster character is more than just a collection of numbers on a sheet of paper; it's a dynamic, living persona; a means for a player to adopt a new worldview and interact with others in new and exciting ways... However, this section is all about the numbers, so get your head back down out of the clouds. :-)

• Character's basic characteristics are determined by 7 number, typically called stats (2D&D would call them abilities, but I prefer the more vague stats to avoid confusion with abilities. Suggestions welcome.).

  Characters assign points to their stats as desired from an initial pool of character points (see below), and they can be modified as play progresses.

• All character skills and abilities are drawn from a single list. There is no concept of `character class' or `character type' (although such may exist in a particular setting).

• A fundamental part of Hackmaster is the Character Point concept. Character points are used for a great many things throughout gameplay, and are central to character creation.

• The mechanic for resolving almost all situations is: ``roll a d20; higher is better''. Usually the roll is added to the character's skill rating. Often other situational modifiers apply.

• In addition to their stats, characters have a single rough rating of `power' known a their level. The character's level is used in some mechanics, and is also a rough measure of how many character points a given character has available -- characters gain CPs primarily by advancing in level.

• Currently, character races are all considered equivalent from a mechanics standpoint. This will be addressed further in the future.

• Character abilities may be acquired throughout the life of the character, rather than merely at character creation. Many abilities will require in-game explanations, such as time for training and study; and suitable mentors and resources.

Stats

Characters have 5 of the familiar 6 abilitiy scores from 2D&D, plus two new scores. These are collectively called stats to avoid confusion with abilities.

Strength - STR

Physical power, used to lift, carry, push, pull, fold, spindle, and mutilate.

Dexterity - DEX

Hand-eye coordination, reflexes, manual acuity, agility, and balance.

Constitution - CON

A measurement of overall health and fitness, this represents the character's ability to endure hardships and overcome punishment.

Intelligence - INT

Something like a `mental strength', this represents a characters's capacity for learning, solving puzzles, and using deductive logic.

Willpower - WIL

Sort of a `mental constitution', this represents both the `force of mind' and overall ability to withstand mental adversity and attack.

Perception - PER

This ability is akin to a `mental dexterity', and it represents the characters awareness of their surroundings (detectable with the senses) and of the situations around them (intuition).

Charisma - CHA

This ability represents the character's strength of personality and attractiveness. Hackmaster only has one `social' stat while it has three each `physical' and `mental' stats because most of the social interactions will be resolved by roleplaying, rather than die rolls. It has nothing to do with the `hack and slash' mentality. No, really.

Character stats are allocated by players from their inital pool of character points. A score of 10 or 11 is considered `average', while a score of 18 is considered very high and a score of 5 or 6 is considered very low (although you should never overloook the potential roleplaying benefits of a character with a low stat or two -- just consider the many examples of the `Flawed Hero' archetype in books/tv/movies/etc). Character stats are allocated using the Stat Modifier Table, as normal. This means that a stat of 11 costs 11 points, a stat of 18 costs 24 points, and a stat of 6 costs 4 points.

More Than Just 7 Numbers...

Once your character's initial stats are determined, your remaining character points should be spent on a combination of skills and abilities. This is typically the major part of character creation, where you determine much of what your character is like, what they do, and how they do it.

Stat Modifier Table

The following table is called the Stat Modifier Table, and it describes the modification used for various stat scores in virtually every aspect of the game.