Your Character. Yes, yours
When you create a character you define a physique which is the basic shape and tone of your body. You do not choose from preset body types but rather between extremes of lithe, muscular and heavy. You may also choose a height and possibly other physical attributes. Various features, hair, facial hair and skin tone will also be selectable. You can of course choose your gender and any name you like.
Skills
These are the skills planned for Sui Generis:
- Light Weapons
- Heavy Weapons
- Ranged Weapons
- Shields
- Armour
- Insight
- Concentration
- Meditation
You will be limited by a global skill total which is distributed amongst your individual skills, it will not be possible to train all skills to the highest attainable level. You choose which skills to train, untrain or keep at their current level. To train a particular skill it must see relatively frequent use. Actively training a skill by more frequent, repeated use will not increase your proficiency, progression will remain gradual. This mechanic exists so that players spend more time playing the game and experiencing the world rather than performing repetitive tasks in order to achieve more rapid advancement.
Skills have the following major expertise levels:
- Inept
- Aspirant
- Novice
- Expert
- Adept
- Master
A milestone is granted for reaching each of level of expertise beyond Inept. You can choose amongst several milestones further specialising your use of any given skill. Milestones may grant new abilities or improve particular aspects of a skill. As an example, Light Weapons will feature milestones such as Dual Wield and Defensive Fighting. Any milestone may be retrained, but this requires also retraining the skill from its previous level of expertise.
Skills are never required to grant a proficiency in using equipment but only in improving the character's effectiveness with it. All equipment can be used without artificial requirements. Equipment also does not belong to specific categories. For example, a weapon has a variable weight putting it somewhere on the scale of light to heavy.
Thaumaturgy
A huge aspect of character advancement is thaumaturgy. Though you can make some use of all forms of thaumaturgy you must choose one as
innate to your character. This is your natural talent and where you will excel.
The forms of thaumaturgy currently planned are:
- Displacement
- Energy
- Light
- Body
- Mind
- Force
Each form of thaumaturgy grants specific effects rather than having a particular purpose. For example, a necromancer would use powerful Mind thaumaturgy to evoke the transcended mind of the dead, causing them to take control of their remains. The revived dead control their decayed bodies by means of their own dormant capacity for thaumaturgy.
Thaumaturgic power does not undergo gradual progression over time, rather some portion of the transcendent mind of others is absorbed in their moment of death. The more advanced the transcendence of the mind being sundered, the more of it may be absorbed. Some thaumaturgic knowledge, different from raw power, may also be gleaned during such moments.
Thaumaturgic knowledge may also be gained by natural insight where one's innate powers are concerned, and other sources of knowledge or learning besides.
You will initially have a basic command of your power, using it in its simplest form. With time you will learn more elaborate ways of shaping its outcome, refining its use and combining your individual insights into completely new effects. As a basic example, you may learn to turn Force Blast into an omnidirectional effect, pushing things away in any direction; you may also learn to make the force highly coherent, thus turning it into a shield. The two things combined may lead you to make a bubble that shields you from all directions.
What about stats/attributes?
Sui Generis does not feature attributes as seen in many RPGs that can be advanced over time. Innate qualities such as your strength, dexterity or toughness are affected by your initial choice of physique. Currently we do not have specific mechanics planned for altering or improving these though they may be introduced. There are also no health points but simply resistance to various forms of damage which may be partly natural and partly conferred by equipment and various eff...
More information.
