Frequently in fiction Characters are depicted as having extraordinary capabilities beyond the norm, frequently due to their parentage or unique upbringing.
Your choice of Ancestry represents these capabilities.
For a list of Ancestries and their availability within specific Fantasies and Settings, see the Ancestries Page.
Additionally, some Fantasies and Settings may allow you to pick a Fantasy or Setting Specific Background instead of the default Background provided by your Ancestry.
For a list of Backgrounds and their availability within specific Fantasies and Settings, see the Backgrounds Page.
Ancestry Features
Your choice of Ancestry will confer mechanical benefits to your Character, the most important of which being your Primary and Secondary Features.
Primary and Secondary Features
The Primary and Secondary Features can be representations of a Characters upbringing, cultural background, or capabilities inherited from their parentage. The source of these Features are left to the interpretation of the Players at the Table.
The Primary Features represent a number of particularly powerful and potent features granted by your Ancestry. Additionally the Primary Feature may also determine your Character’s Size Category and Creature Type.
The Secondary Features represent a number of weaker or more circumstantial features granted by your Ancestry.
Some Ancestry Features may synergize particularly well with your chosen Archetype, or they may make you more capable in situations your Archetype may be weak at.
The intent is that any combination of Archetype and Ancestry will lead to an enjoyable play experience, so feel free to experiment and find the right combination for your Character.
Many Ancestries may allow you to choose from a range of different Primary and Secondary Features. These choices represent of the variety of different ways an Ancestry may impact your Character.
When you have chosen your Primary and Secondary Features, add these to the Features Section of your Character Sheet.
Size Category
In most cases you may choose whether your Character is Small or Medium Sized. Choose which Size they are when you choose your Ancestry and make a note of this in the Features Section.
A Small Sized Creature is typically between 2 – 4ft tall (the size of most Human Children), while a Medium Sized Creature is typically between 4-8ft tall (the size of most Adult Humans).
In some cases however the Primary Features of an Ancestry will specify what Size you are.
The Primary Feature will only specify a Character’s Size if it differs from the Default (a choice between Small or Medium Sized)
Note that Small Sized Characters are in some respect more limited in how they may interact with the world.
For example, they have Disadvantage on Attack Rolls with Heavy Weapons and are less able to grapple Characters which are larger than themselves.
On the other hand, many features in the game may allow them to overcome these limitations and being Smaller may better allow them to hide or take cover from harm in some circumstances.
Creature Type
The vast majority of Characters have the Humanoid Creature Type, however in some cases a Character may have a different Creature Type.
Your Creature Type will affect how certain rules of the game will interact with them (e.g. the Charm Person Spell may affect Characters with the Humanoid Creature Type only).
The Primary Feature will only specify a Character’s Creature Type if it differs from the Humanoid Type.
If it differs from Humanoid, make a note of this in your Features Section.
Background
Your Background represents the Skills, Languages and training a Character will have gained through their experiences prior to the Story.
These may have been gained through schooling, their job, or other aspects of their life.
For each Ancestry we recommend Skills, Tool Skills, Languages and Basic Perks which Characters with a particular Ancestry would typically have.
However the experiences and upbringings of Characters within each Ancestry will vary substantially, therefore Players are encouraged to choose options which fit their vision of their Characters.
Like the Skills gained from your Archetype, make a note of any Languages and Tool Skills you gain in the Skills, Tool Skill and Languages section of the Character Sheet. You may see a list of Skills, Tool Skills and Languages you may choose from on the Skills Page, the Tools Page and the Languages Page respectively.
Additionally, your Background will grant you the ability to either Train an Ability (as discussed in Choosing your Ability Bonuses) or choose a Basic Perk.
Perks represent additional features available to Characters of any Archetype. For more information, see the Choosing a Perk Page, and the Perks Page for a list of available Perks.
For new Players who wish to limit the complexity of their Characters, we recommend choosing to Train an Ability rather than Choose a Perk.
If you Train an Ability, either increase the chosen Ability Bonus or add an Asterisk to the Ability as required on your Character Sheet. Be sure to adjust any other values dependent on that Ability Bonus).
If you choose a Basic Perk, add the details of that Perk to the Features Section.
Fantasy and Setting Specific Backgrounds
In some Fantasies and Settings, Characters are able to choose a Background unique to that Fantasy or Setting.
These Fantasy and Setting Specific Backgrounds represent sets of features which Characters could have only gained from being a part of a particular Fantasy or Setting, and may provide a way for your Character to be better integrated into the world they exist within.
If using such a Background, you gain the features of that Background instead of those granted by your Ancestry.
Backgrounds are especially prevalent in Fantasies and Settings where only the Human Ancestry is permitted, representing additional ways to customize your Character in the absence of multiple Ancestry options. Some Backgrounds may have pre-requisites associated within them, such as being a specific Ancestry or
For a list of these Backgrounds, see the Backgrounds Page.
Lore
Each Ancestry includes suggested Lore regarding the biology, history and society of Characters with that Ancestry.
The information provided by this section of an Ancestry is only provided as a suggestion, and groups may decide upon changes or differences to the Lore of these Ancestries freely.
Appearance
This section describes the typical appearance of Characters with this Ancestry.
Lifespan
This section describes the typical lifespan of Characters with this Ancestry.
Age of Maturity
This section describes the typical age at which Characters with this Ancestry are of an age where they would be considered old enough to make important decisions for themselves. For example, the age of Maturity of Humans would typically be considered between 18-21.
A range is given to reflect different societal expectations, variation between individuals and periods of transition from adolescence to adulthood.
In many adventures it may be considered unsuitable or inappropriate to use a Character within or below the Ages of Maturity. (See Session Zero for more)
History
The history of an Ancestry will describe the important and relevant information which Players may wish to know about their Character’s origins.
This history may be setting specific in some cases, while in others we try to give broader ideas regarding the origin of an Ancestry, and leave the “true” interpretation of the Ancestry to the discretion of groups.
Combining Ancestries
Potentially your Character will inherit traits from more than one Ancestry
Perhaps they are the resulting offspring of Characters from two different Ancestries, or the traits of a distant ancestor are perhaps more pronounced within them. Or perhaps your Character has no mixed parentage and has simply been brought up in an environment more typical of, or in the company of, Characters with a different Ancestry.
Note that Ancestry Features represent features which could be gained through a loose combination of parentage, upbringing and culture. Therefore there are many ways in which a Character may reasonably gain the features of another Ancestry.
To combine the traits of two Ancestries, follow the below guidelines:
Choose which Primary Features to gain
Pick one set of Primary features of one of the two Ancestries available to you.
Note that your Primary feature may in some cases determine your Size Category and your Creature Type. In such cases, you must use the Size Category and Creature Type of that Primary Feature.
Choose which Secondary Features to gain
Pick one set of Secondary features of one of the two Ancestries available to you.
Choosing a Background
Pick one set of the two Ancestry’s Background, or choose a Setting Background available to your setting.
If a Background Setting has an Ancestry Pre-requisite, you qualify for that Setting Background if one of the two chosen Ancestries were required for that Background.
Combining Lore
For the most part, this is in the hands of the Player to decide how the physical appearance of a Character from both Ancestries may be determined.
However for the Lifespan and Age of Maturity, we recommend simply taking the Average value of each one if the Character has parentage from either Ancestry.
For example, an Elf who typically lives for 800 years and a human who may live for typically upto 80 years whould have an average lifespan given by (80+800)/2=440 years.
Similarly if the age of maturity of an Elf is 90-110 and that of a Human is 18-21, the Age of Maturity of would be (90+18)/2 – (110+21)/2 = 54-65
Next Steps
Having chosen your Archetype, your Ability Bonuses and your Ancestry and, potentially, your Background, your Character is almost complete.
The next steps from here are to Level Up your Character to the appropriate Level for the given Story, determine your Starting Inventory and Write a Backstory. Let’s proceed to how to Level Up.