Part 1: The Basics ☰
A player’s character, referred to simply as a Player-Character (or PC), is their avatar in the GM’s world. Your character represents your will and influence on the world, and it is through them that you will contribute to your group’s and campaign’s story.
When creating a character, it is important to consider who that character will be, what their role is not just in the party, but in the world as well. Are they a Warrior looking to travel the world and enhance their fighting abilities? Are they a Rogue with a dark and mysterious past? An Arcanist looking to learn more about their powers? Whatever your mind comes up with, every character has an incredible story just waiting to be told. The only requisite trait of a character is that they must want to work with a party! Seeing as I&A is a group-focused game, loner characters or those that are active detriments to their party should be avoided.
When considering just how to create a character, use this chapter as a guide for the actual process. Though you do not have to follow the given steps in the order they are presented, it may be helpful to do so, especially for your first couple of characters you make with these rules.
The first and arguably most important step of creating a character is to come up with a concept that you like and that you think would be fun to play. What is their backstory, their goals, their fears, their vices? Do not worry if you have a hard time coming up with any of these; Part 3: Backgrounds is dedicated to helping you come up with aspects of your character’s personality and life story, though everything presented there are mere guidelines – the bulk of creating your character’s life is up to you.
The next and possibly most vital step to creating a character is to determine their stats. When determining stats, you are determining each of your character’s 7 chief ability scores: Strength (STR), Constitution (CON), Agility (AGI), Dexterity (DEX), Intelligence (INT), Wisdom (WIS), and Charisma (CHA). When determining your character’s ability scores, two options are given here, and it is up to your group to decide if they will use or modify one of those or come up with a method of their own.
Roll 1d8/2 7 Times. For this method, you roll 1d8, divide the roll by 2 (don't round), and record the result; do this 7 times (once for each score), saving each result until you have all 7. Then, place each result into each score as you desire. The main draw of this method is the possibility for very good stats, however this comes at the risk of stats that aren’t as good as some other members of the party.
Point Buy. This method of deciding stats forgoes dice rolling in exchange for more centralized, fair, and consistent scores, eliminating the possibility of anyone having disproportionately high or low scores. With this method, everyone has 14 points that they can use to “purchase” their ability scores using a 1:1 conversion rate (e.g. you can spend 2.5 points to get an ability score of 2.5); you cannot purchase a score higher than 4. Using this method, you can have a few high scores and a few low or a collection of average scores, all before applying any bonuses.
The best way to decide how to allocate ability scores, by far, is for the whole group of prospective players to have a meeting and decide with majority rule how they would like to decide their stats; does the group want the high risk, high reward method of rolling for them, or the more centralized and consistent method of point buy? It is best if this decision is made unanimously, but regardless, each player should respect the group’s will and stick to what the group decides; if they find themselves unable to do this, it is recommended they find a group that more suits their playstyle.
A character's ability scores are of the utmost importance, not just for mechanical reasons, but because they can also inform the character's personality. For example, a character with higher scores in physical attributes like STR and AGI are more likely to look for physical or forceful solutions to their problems, rather than intellectual or diplomatic ones.
Additionally, it is important to keep in mind what you want your character to be good at while deciding their scores; a character who is good with ranged weapons or acting quickly, for instance, should prioritize DEX, whereas melee-focused characters should focus on improving their STR. The class list in the Part 4: Introduction will tell you what each class' most important score(s) is/are.
Every character starts with 1 proficiency in each Action and Weapon Skill. Further into character creation, you will select which Action and Tool Skills to allocate Skill Points into, and which Weapon Skills you would like to be your Proficient Weapon Skills, which are the Weapon Skills you will gain proficiency in as you level up.
Next up are a character's Race and Size, in particular the features they get from both. A character's Race factors greatly into both mechanics and roleplay, while Size is mostly important for mechanics. When deciding on your Race, you can pick and choose what features and aesthetics you want or pick from/modify the example Races given in Part 2.
A character’s background is their life story, it is who they were and what they were doing up until they took up a life on the road. In addition to informing part of your character's personality, your background also gives you an Ability Score Improvement (ASI), a handful of skills, a Classless Feat, and a smattering of equipment. If you are having difficulty creating your character's background, Part 3: Sample Backgrounds and Background Supplements are dedicated to helping you do just that.
Now would be a good time to implement all of the Action Skill proficiencies your character has gained, including any additional skills granted by your Intelligence score. After that, you should fill out the cluster of stats that make up most the top-middle of the character sheet (your Health will be implemented in the next step): Defense and Ranged Defense scores, save scores, your Enduring Save DR (which for all characters fresh off a rest is 20), whether or not you're Well-Rested (up to your GM), and, if your class has its own resource to keep track of, the final empty box is a prime place to keep track of that; each stat's chapter will inform you of the exact mechanics for determining them.
Last step of all is to implement your chosen class' 1st-level features and Health.
Many groups start their characters off at a level higher than 1. This is not a problem; simply create a character as if you were making them at level 1, then roll for their maximum Health appropriately, distribute their accrued Skill Points, and use the class table for your character’s class to determine what features they would have at the level your group is starting at.
Extra Skills. I&A presents many opportunities for characters to increase their skill proficiencies outside of leveling up, and to emulate such opportunities, characters starting at levels higher than 1 gain an extra number of Skill Points equal to their level divided by 4, rounded up.
Starting Money. The amount of Aeons that a character has depends on their Tier and level, assuming they are starting at level 2 or higher - refer to the following table as a guide. For change, each character can roll 2d100.
| Tier | Starting Aeons |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10 times PC level |
| 2 | 25 times PC level |
| 3 | 50 times PC level |
| 4 | 75 times PC level |
| 5 | 100 times PC level |
| 6 | 150 times PC level |