Nuts and Bolts.

The Imagister Character Design System.

Each character in Imagister is represented by five stats.

Strength:

A measure of the character's physical power and lifting ability. Used in combat for damage, lifting stuff, etc.

Dexterity:

A measure of the character's grace and speed. Used in combat for speed and accuracy, talent at crafting, poise and style.…

Reserves:

A measure of the character's energy and stamina. Used to resist fatigue either from over exertion, combat or magic use.

Willpower:

A measure of the character's mental resistance and strength of will. Used to resist outside mental influences and also to represent sheer determination.

Fortune:

A measure of the character's luck. A high fortune character will have things go their way, a low fortune character always just misses the bus, not have the right change or worse.…If you want us to be nice to you take high fortune. Then again if you're one of those players take a low fortune.

Note: Actual skill with magic is dependent on the character's affinity with the force not with any of the stats above.

The Way it Works.

Each stat is rated from 1 to 10. 3 is about normal human levels. 1 is feeble, 5 is very good, 7 is normal human maximum, 9 is silly. In effect a character with a low stat is less than a normal person, a character with a reserves of 1 might suffer from a long term illness, a character with a willpower of 2 might lack the strength of mind to actually push themselves when they need to. Of course a character with a 5 strength would be able to move a great deal above 400 lbs. A character with a high dexterity would be a natural at things requiring fine motor control such as juggling.

Yeah whatever, now how many points do I get?

Each character has 20 points to divide amongst the five stats at the start of play, but no starting character can have any stat greater than 7.

Skills.

When you work out your background, your skills will be taken from that. So if your background is that you spent most of your life as a mariner in the fourth tier then you can reasonably expect to be pretty good at sailing, swimming, drinking, getting into brawls, knowing numerous dodgy songs, etc.

Alternatively if you spent sometime travelling then you could also work in languages and a basic understanding of foreign lands. Basically your skills are up to you, the longer you spend in your background doing something the better you are at it now. But be warned, over filling you background will allow you to do all things, badly.

Of course if you want something that will make a huge difference to your character then you have to spend toy points.

Toy Points?

Each character has 10 toy points.

Toy Points are the way to customise your character. They are a measure of getting all the fun toys that you might want but the GMs won't just let you write into your background. Things like guild membership, ownership, special items, allies, and skills above and beyond anything that anyone has seen before.

Toy points are worked out with the GMs but here are some ideas of what you can expect to buy:

Some things go together, e.g. buying the right to be guild mistress would also confer status, influence and riches upon the character. The amount that they would want would be factored into the toy cost.

Examples:
Nuttah Mc Fred wants to have his own guild. He decides on a background and a reason for the guild to exist and so the Guild of the Terminally Berserk is formed. This is a guild on the fourth tier and is fairly popular with the mercenaries that hang around down there. However due to the high turnover rate regular dues are a problem so the guild is quite poor. So Nuttah gets contacts with the more extreme mercenaries, a bit of cash and some status within the city. Cost: 5 points.

Jim the Rich wants to run his own trading empire. He decides that he has shops throughout all of the tiers in which he owns a stake. He himself is not that famous but is extremely rich and influential and can pull strings if he needs to. Cost: 8 points.

Toy points can be used to purchase unusual tricks and enhance existing skills as well.

Example:
Savage Tracy Sword Queen of Shananana wants to begin the game with a very funky sword and some odd techniques learnt during her travels to the wild kingdoms of the south. The sword is an extremely well balanced and a beautiful piece of work that is razor sharp. Basically it works good and hurts lots. Cost 1 point. The skills she learnt are to place herself into a wild frenzy making her viscous and deadly in combat as a red mist clouds her vision and her blade begins to dance in strange patterns that others will find difficult to deal with. Cost: 1-3 points depending on the kind of benefit she wants to get in combat.

Rotating Bill wants to be able to turn his head through 360 degrees. We suggest he takes lots affinity with the body force.

Sample spending of 10 points:
Jemridol the Dark Knight of Wraithguant desires the trappings and status of one of the Dark Knights. In other words the player wants lots of black plate armour, funky weapons and a big horse. Cost: 1 point as the items are all of good quality and another 1 point as he is part of the mercenary group. He also wants to start with above average cash. Cost: 1 point. He can afford repairs and stuff but nothing dramatic. The Dark Knights are a feared mercenary group and so the reputation cost might be 1 point or 2 if Jemridol wants to be famous as an individual, which he does. Jemridol wants to have an unusual contact. He wants to have a friend in the first tier who can supply him with a reason to be up there and invite him to cool parties. Cost: 1 point as his friend is useful but not that useful as he is little more than a bored son of a merchant house with little real influence. Still he throws good parties. Jemridol also wants to be an affiliate of the Guild of the Terminally Berserk. Basically membership but nothing special. Cost: 1 point. Finally Jemridol wants to be able to swing his mighty cleaver with devastating skill. Training in the monastery of the Dark Knights has made him almost immune to pain and given him numerous dirty tricks above and beyond the usual skills learnt by the Dark Knights. Cost 3 points, as Jemridol wants lots and lots of tricks and doesn't like pain.

Character Creation Summary.

1. Spend 20 points on the five stats.
2. Divide 10 points amongst the magical forces.
3. If you don't want magic then you can exchange magic points for stat and/or toy points on a 2 for 1 basis.
4. And finally blow 10 points on toys.
Oh and come up with all that character stuff at some point, you know personality, background and the other details that aren't very important.