Games - Character creation

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	Games - Character creation

Character creation (often Character generation or chargen) is the process of assigning attributes, skills and/or traits to fictional characters in a role-playing game. It is usually the first step of preparation for a game that is taken by the players.

Most games have a single character creation process, but some have a simple method for non-player characters and a more detailed version for player characters.

The process of creating a character varies greatly from game to game. Usually, the first step is generating the character's natural (or non-learned) abilities. Titles for these talents include statistics, stats, abilities, ability scores, and attributes. Most characters are defined with 5-8 ability scores. Commonly used abilities include strength, dexterity (or agility/reflex), willpower, endurance (or constitution), wisdom, intellect (or intelligence/reason), charisma (or personality/leadership), and perception (or intuition). These abilities are almost always assigned a numeric rank. The range for this rank can be as little as 1-6 to as great as 1-100.

Each game needs to have a method to determine ability scores. The two most common methods to determine abilities are random generation and point distribution.

Random Generation

In a random generation system, players have very little control over their ability scores-it is all the luck of the dice. Dungeons and Dragons is a good example of a game system that uses random generation for statistics. The way most random generation systems work is the player rolls a few dice to determine each statistic. For example, in D&D 3E the player rolls 4D6, drops the lowest number, then adds the remaining three numbers to generate a score between 3 and 18. In some systems like Basic D&D and Marvel Superheroes, the player rolls abilities in a certain order (strength first, agility second, etc.). A trait (not necessarily a bad one, though) of a random generation system is it is possible to start the game with maximum ability scores. On the other hand, rolling low scores can be very frustrating for some players.

Point Distribution

Some games, like White Wolf's World of Darkness series, use another method to generate ability scores called point distribution. This method gives the player a certain number of points which are used to improve the character's statistics. Unlike the random generation method, the player has complete control over the character's scores. So if he wants a strong but clumsy character, then the player needs to simply devote more points to strength than agility.

The nature of ability scores also fall into one of two other categories: static and dynamic.

Static Abilities

In a static system, the character's ability scores rarely change. The earlier editions of Dungeons and Dragons are examples of static systems. So if a character is smart but clumsy at first level, he will probably be smart but clumsy at 20th level. It some static systems it is possible for the character to obtain items that raise abilities, but for the most part the character is stuck with his scores for life. Some game masters and players like static systems because they make players work with what they have and understand their limitations. However, a static system doesn't allow much room to reflect a character's growth through time.

Dynamic Abilities

Unlike a static system, a dynamic system allows the character's ability scores to improve over time. Some players view this as realistic because people can and do change through their lives. Dungeons and Dragons went from being static to dynamic with the release of its third edition (every few levels a character can improve one ability score by 1 point). Other games, like White Wolf's World of Darkness, are dynamic in that they allow the player to improve his character's ability scores whenever he wants by spending experience points.

In addition to natural abilities, characters can also gain a number of learned abilities, which are commonly referred to as skills. What types of skills the characters can learn and how easily those skills can be learned usually depends on if the character creation system is class based or skill based.

Class based Systems

In some games, it assumed the character spends his pre-adventuring years training for a certain profession (such as a wizard, warrior, priest, or spaceship pilot). The skills the character learns during this time form his class. For instance, a thief will probably learn how to move quietly, pick locks, disarm traps, and climb walls. Class based systems are good for inexperienced role players as they won't be overwhelmed with having to select skills and abilities. Most of those are predetermined, leaving the player to select a few extra skills and weapon proficiencies. The thing some people don't like about class based systems is they tend to be too limiting. Thus, a simple fighter will probably have excellent combat abilities and little else.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Character creation ]

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