Rob's Guide to WFRP Character Generation
Step One:
Decide on a race, gender and name for your character.

Races:

Human:
Humans are the most numerous of the four races of the Old World and the most successful. For this reason, they are often referred to simply as Old Worlders. Humans are pretty much like ourselves, but may be somewhat more rugged, living as they do in a more vigorous and demanding age.

Speak: Old Worlder
Night Vision: None
Alignment: Neutral
Height: Male 54" +d10"
Height:Female 5 +d10"
Psychology: No special rules



Wood Elves:
Elves are rare, wondrous people, living deep within the forests of the Old World, and only rarely making an appearance within human society. They look similar to Humans, but are far more comely, with perfectly proportioned faces and lightning blue eyes. Elves tend to be of slender build, and somewhat fragile. Their ears may be finely pointed. They live in harmony with nature, tending the trees, and protecting the woodlands from malignant creatures such as Goblins. They are fastidious, with refined sensibilities and a love of good music and food. They find most Humans brutish and repugnant. However, they reserve the greatest part of their contempt for Dwarves, who they consider to be vulgar and destructive. Although Elves are peaceful, they are fine archers and fearless warriors as their enemies can testify.

Speak: Old Worlder, Eltharin (Elvish)
Night Vision: 30 yards
Alignment: Good
Height: Male 5 6" +d10"
Height:Female 5 4" +d10"
Psychology: No special rules




Dwarfs:
Dwarfs are short, burly creatures, immediately recognisable by their long hair and thick beards. They have a natural affinity with the mountains, where they live in caverns and mines hewn from the rock. Dwarfs are expert stone workers, and generally adept at all manner of industrial crafts, such as ironworking, the making of fine swords and the manufacture of superb jewellery. Some Dwarfs live amongst Humans as metalworkers or craftsmen of some kind, and their work is highly prized. Physically they are resilient, quite strong and rather ugly. They are somewhat greedy, gruff, unfriendly, short tempered and antisocial. They tolerate Humans because they have so many business dealings with them, but dislike Elves, who they find arrogant and irritating, and with whom they have little in common.They favour axes as weapons of war, and make very sturdy warriors. They are not very magical, however, and their disposition tends to make them rather poor academics.

Speak: Old Worlder, Khazalid (Dwarfish)
Night Vision: 30 yards
Alignment: Neutral
Height:Male 4 4" +d10"
Height:Female 4 2" +d10"
Psychology: Hatred for Goblins, Orcs and Hobgoblins. Subject to animosity against Elves.




Halflings:
Halflings are small and slight of frame but with rather rotund features and pot-bellies. They cannot grow beards and are shorter than Dwarfs, so the two races are easily told apart. Their hands and feet tend to be large and hairy, and they prefer to go barefoot. They are not a very numerous people, living in a small secluded part of the Old World, protected by the surrounding lands of Humans. Consequently, life for a young Halfling is often very boring, and many seek adventure in the outside world. They are nimble-fingered and stealthy by nature, so they make good thieves. Halflings are extremely easy-going, they enjoy merry-making, and especially eating and are usually the first to suggest visiting a local inn or stopping for a break.

Speak: Old Worlder
Night Vision: 20 yards
Alignment: Neutral
Height:Male 3 4" +d10"
Height:Female 3 2" +d10"
Psychology: No special psychology rules



Step Two:
Note down languages spoken, and any racial abilities.


Night Vision:
...... Some creatures, and some adventures, have the ability to see even
...... in the pitch dark. This is indicated by the character possessing
...... the Night Vision skill. Elves and Dwarfs are especially renowned
...... for this, and may forgo the need to have artificial lights if they
...... wish. Characters with Night Vision have eyes that are sensitive to
...... heat and low intensity light.

Vision Range Summary (distance in yards)
Radius of illumination Structures:
Buildings, etc. become visible - Distance from which illuminated radius can be seen

...
Torch... ...13...30...20
Lantern......15...45...30
Candle......5...15...10
Lamp......5...15...10
Campfire......15...45...30
Halfling/Elf......20...20...-
Wood Elf/Dwarf......30...30...-

Table 1: Vision range summary

All lights can be seen as bobbing lights over any clear, flat distance of up to a mile.


Step Three:
Determine the characters Profile.

There are 14 characteristics that make up you characters profile. These characteristics determine what you character is good at or not so good at. These characteristics are:

Move:
The number used to determine a characters/creatures speed. An average M for Humans is 4, this equates to 8 yards per 10 seconds moving at a cautious pace. A horses M is 8, by comparison.

Weapon Skill:
This determines the character's ability to fighting hand to hand combat, reflecting natural aggression, disposition and training. It is expressed in percentage terms; i.e. from 01-100%. The higher the WS the easier it is to strike a blow in hand to hand combat, or parry an opponents blow.

Ballistic Skill:
This dictates a characters ability to use missile weapons, to throw an object, or (in the case of some creatures) to spit venom. Like WS, this is expressed in percentage terms of 01-100% and the higher the BS the easier it is to hit a target.

Strength:
This is an indication of how powerful a character/creature is, and how much damage it can cause in combat. Characters with high S cause considerable damage, characters with a low S relatively little. S is expressed as a number between 1 and 10.

Toughness:
A characters/creatures T is an indication of their ability to resist damage. It is very hard to damage a creature with a high T, and relatively easy to damage one with a low T. Like S, T is expressed as a number between 1 and 10.

Wounds:
Some characters/creatures can sustain more damage than others, either because they have more physical stamina or because they have little regard for, or feeling of pain. This is represented by the number of W a creature has representing the amount of damage that can be endured before serious injury or even death is caused. Characters reduced to 0 Wounds are not dead - -but have no capacity to absorb additional damage without suffering further injury of some kind. The number of Wounds is expressed as a number of 1 or more. Most Human characters start with 6.

Initiative:
This characteristic reflects a character's speed of thought, whether he is quick-witted or sluggish. In close combat, I determines who acts first. This is expressed as a percentage of 01-100%.

Attacks:
This is the number of blows the character/creature can strike in a single round of combat. The more blows a creature can strike the more deadly it will be. Most characters, and most creatures, have only one A, but some have more and there is no maximum level.

Dexterity:
This is an indication of the character's ability to perform complex, intricate or delicate manual tasks. It will determine whether the character is good at slight-of-hand tricks, picking locks, picking pockets and other tasks requiring patience and manual skills. The characteristic is expressed as a percentage number of 01-100%.

Leadership:
This characteristic indicates a characters ability to lead others. A character with a high Ld is naturally charismatic, inspiring confidence and loyalty, whilst a character with a low Ld may be rather indecisive. This characteristic is expressed as a percentage of 01-100%.

Intelligence:
This determines a characters ability to think and understand. It may be thought of a sort of intelligence quotient (IQ) if you like. It is expressed as a percentage of 01-100%.

Cool:
This characteristic represents a characters ability to remain clam, collected even sane under severe psychological stress. Some creatures that inhabit the Old World are truly frightening, and may be confronted only by characters with a high Cl value. Cl is expressed as a percentage of 01-100%.

Will Power:
This is the measure of mental and magical resistance and general magical awareness. It reflects a creatures ability to shrug off the effects of magic, charms and mental influence. Magic-using characters will benefit from a high Wp, especially if they are to confront some of the hellish creatures of other worlds, which may attempt to infiltrate their minds and distort their personalities. Wp is expressed as a percentage of 01-100%.

Fellowship:
This reflects the characters social skills, appearance, and ability to empathise, sympathise and generally get on with people. A character with a high Fel will find it easy to make new friends, and will be able to obtain information from others by carefully steering a conversation. Characters with low Fel, however, have an amazing talent for saying the wrong thing, and are always putting their foot in it. They are impervious to hints, unreceptive to atmosphere and completely without tact. Fel is expressed as a percentage of 01-100%.

Your character's profile should be generated using the table below.



................. Human............... Elf............... Dwarf............... Halfling............
M D3 + 2 D3+2 D2+2 D2+2
WS 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 30 2D10 + 30 2D10 + 10
BS 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 10 2D10 + 20
S D3 + 1 D3 + 1 D3 + 1 D3
T D3 + 1 D3 + 1 D3 + 2 D3
W D3 + 4 D3 + 3 D3 + 5 D3 + 3
I 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 50 2D10 + 10 2D10 + 40
A 1 1 1 1
Dex 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 30 2D10 + 10 2D10 + 30
Ld 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 30 2D10 + 40 2D10+10
Int 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 40 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 20
Cl 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 40 2D10 + 40 2D10 + 10
WP 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 30 2D10 + 40 2D10 + 30
Fel 2D10 + 20 2D10 + 30 2d10 + 10 2D10 + 30




Table 2: profile generation
The characteristics appear on you character sheet as a table.

Starter Profile M..... WS..... BS..... S..... T..... W..... I..... A..... Dex..... Ld..... Int..... Cl..... WP..... Fel.....
Starter Profile 4..... 28..... 38..... 3..... 3..... 6..... 29..... 1..... 33..... 30..... 32..... 25..... 37..... 32.....
Advance Profile __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __.....
Current Profile __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __..... __.....

Step Four:
Determine the characters age.

Your age will be a factor in how many skills your character has. You have to roll a dice in order to determine the age of your character. However, you do have the choice of creating a young character or a mature individual. Throw the dice indicated below. If a young character is wanted use the first instruction given, for an older character use the second.

Humans:
6D6 / 6D10 years. If the result is less than 16, roll again, adding the new
score to the original. This gives a potential age range for humans
of between 16 and 75 years.

Elves:
10D12 / 10D20 years. If the result is less than 16, roll again, adding the new
score to the old. This gives a potential age range for elves
of between 16 and 215 years.

Dwarfs:
9D12 / 9D20 years. If the result is less than 16, roll again, adding the new
score to the old. This gives a potential age range for dwarfs
of between 16 and 135 years.

Halflings:
10D6 / 10D12 years. If the result is less than 16, roll again, adding the new
score to the old. This gives a potential age range for halflings
of between 16 and 135 years.


Step Five:
Note down the characters alignment.

Alignment is a device for determining a characters attitude to the world and
other characters. It is used to determine the creatures reactions when they are
encountered, and will sometimes dictate the characters own actions. Generally
speaking, only characters of the same alignment are going to get on well. There will
always be some degree of antipathy between characters of different alignments.


Alignment permitted by race:


Race..... Law..... Good..... Neutral..... Evil..... Chaos.....
Human..... Yes..... Yes..... Yes..... Yes..... Yes.....
Elf..... Yes..... Yes..... No..... No..... No.....
Dwarf..... Yes..... Yes..... Yes..... Yes..... Yes.....
Halfling..... No..... No..... Yes..... No..... No.....

Step Six:
Determine Fate Points.

Fate is the essential difference that marks the character as an adventurer, rather than an ordinary run-of-the-mill citizen. Adventurer characters have a destiny, a mission, a definate goal in life. They may not be aware of what this is, it may not be very glorious, it may not even be particularly pleasant, but the character is marked out by the gods to do it whatever it is. Because your character is marked by fate, they are unlikely to be cut in two by the first goblin to swing an axe in their direction they are marked for better things. To represent this, characters are alloted a number of fate points, which can be used during the game to save them from serious injury or death. Fate Points are precious; they will certainly preserve the characters life.

Human: D3 + 1 fate points
Elf: D3 1 fate points (minimum of 1)
Dwarf: D3 fate points
Halfling: D3 fate points



Step Seven