Friday, June 4, 2010

[Intro] Thoughts On Character Creation

My previous attempts at character creation have been, at best, lackluster. While looking back at them, I think I might have discovered where I go wrong. Most of the issues I have is the Combat Stats and Powers. I want to focus on what I think am doing wrong with calculating Combat Stats to start the series of posts and move on to Powers later in the series.

What got me to thinking about it was an epiphany I had. The revolation came when I thought about starting a PbP Fantasy M&M game. I thought, "You can't even make a character without help. How could you make the masses of opponents that would be required to challenge the characters throughout their adventure?" Don't get me wrong, I know what "right" looks like, I just have a very difficult time reproducing it. These thoughts, and a discussion on the Atomic Think Tank about balancing encounter, were the key. It was suggested that one could take the four Combat Stats and average them, like what is said in the Core book for NPCs, to determine their PL and then factor in what kind of challenge it would be for the Players. Combat Stats, the very thing that I usually mess up.

So, if that is what defines a challenge, they should be the focus, right? Well, they weren't when I was creating a character. I went straight down the assembly line; Abilities, Skills, etc. This had me scrambling to keep my Attack, Damage, Defense, and Toughness in check with Power Level (PL) at the end of character creation and had me back peddling. What I want to do now, in these posts, is to design a character in reverse of my previous process, minus one step; Character Concept. Character Concept will have to be done first.

Stay tuned for more on Character Creation...
TB

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