*Character Creation & Progression (Read First!)

Abilities: Characters are built on the Epic Fantasy (25 point) point buy (pre-racial mods minimum 7, maximum 18 in any stat). An ability score calculator is here, or use the 1st level charactermancer on the roll20 character sheet.

Hit points: Rather than rolling for hit points, add your hit die for the class you’re leveling up in, plus your other modifiers (CON bonus, favored class bonuses, etc). Monsters/NPCs will be rounded up to full hit dice too.

Skills: We are using the Background Skills system, which grants two additional skill ranks per level that can only be spent on skills considered background skills, per the writeup of the rule variant.

• The Fly skill is removed; anything related to flying is handled by the classic 3.5 maneuverability mechanics.
  • Any innate bonuses (racial, et al) to the Fly skill are removed, as racial flight already has a maneuverability rating.
  • Magic items applying to the Fly skill have these bonuses removed (reduce prices accordingly).
  • Feats that modify Fly skill checks are removed.
  • Any sort of class feature/ability that grants a bonus to Fly checks, instead treat as a one-step increase in maneuverability for every 4 points of bonus or fraction thereof — thus a feature that grants +1  to Fly checks has no affect on maneuverability; while a bonus of +2 to +5 increase maneuverability by one step. This increase does not apply if the same feature or ability as written also already increases maneuverability.
• When you gain a permanent ability enhancement to Intelligence, you gain skill points for this retroactively, which you may assign as you like, rather than all in a single maxed out skill. Since ABP removes sources of removable stat bonuses with fixed bonuses by level, there’s no need for bookkeeping where you spend the skill points.
• Expanded skill uses are included in our mechanics.
• Skill unlocks from Unchained are also available in our campaign, gained either through a class feature or the Signature Skill feat. Anyone may take a signature skill feat in place of a bonus feat gained through class features — such as the fighter’s combat bonus feats, or monk bonus feats — for a skill that is a class skill for that class.
  • Signature Skill (Knowledge), Signature Skill (Perform) and Signature Skill (Profession), if taken, apply to their entire subset of skills. You do not have to take separate feats for each Knowledge, each Perform or each Profession skill. Though, as logic should dictate, you only gain unlocks in subskills in which you actually have sufficient ranks to unlock them.
• The Swim skill is keyed on Constitution rather than Strength, any references to Strength checks or bonuses in swimming are instead Constitution checks or bonuses. Swimming is an endurance activity, and a competitive swimmer’s ability has little to do with either their agility or their strength. Armor check penalties still apply.
• Use Magic Device Taking 10 on a UMD check is allowed for activating a scroll or wand; or to blindly activate an item that has an instantaneous effect. Any other uses of the skill have to be rolled for each attempt.
  • if you have a feat, feature or trait that allows you to make UMD checks untrained, you are not subject to a 24-hour lockout or critical failure from activating a device after rolling a natural 1 on a check. This still does not, however, allow your character to take 20 on a UMD check, or to take 10 in most instances; the attempts still have to be individually rolled, expending charges (if applicable) for each failed attempt until you succeed.

Traits: You may select two background traits at creation. If you also choose a drawback you can select three traits. Per core rules you can only select one background trait from each category of trait, however:

• If you write up and submit a character bio for the wiki, you will gain a bonus trait upon final submission; this trait can be a trait from the same category as one of your initial choices, and is a good way to get that additional trait in a category you might have wanted!

If carrying over the character from our old playground, the character’s history on server counts as background for this campaign, and thus you can include this history in your bio, and also select background traits reflecting the character’s prior IC experience, though be mindful of where we break in continuity — which is before The Hand that Feeds.

• Make note of traits that are deity exclusive, and also note there are a collection of house traits based on Forgotten Realms.

Feats: Make sure to note on the Feat Variants Compendium for those which are banned, altered or just effectively a free benefit to every character, also note those that are deity exclusive.

Classes: Make note of any class variants for the class(es) you’re wanting to take in your build.

Spellcasting: If you’re playing a spellcaster, check the Magic Variants and Spell Variants pages to see what houserules may apply.

Leveling: Rather than XP progression, levels are gained by milestones. When a DM decides that a sufficient milestone is passed in an arc by a party or group, the members of that group (not just the members who were present in session), will gain a level. At the same time all members of the group progress, their companions, associates, henchmen etc will progress as well. 

Wealth by level and gearing when character building is determined by the Automatic Bonus Progression table, to reflect not needing to invest in the big six bonus items versus other useful, more flavorful equipment which results in a dramatically lower cost of living. WBL is not a hard limit beyond character creation, and accrual of wealth and magic in adventuring is the purview of the DMs.

Characters starting levels, and milestones are determined by their primary group affiliation — for example, the Elves group, Sunites group, Cups of Joy senior and juniors groups. Each group has a central point with the members in a +/- 1 range from the center point, with the variance used to reflect the chronology of the characters we’re converting over from NWN. Those who are creating new characters should create at the center point of said level bracket, though you can opt for the lower level of the bracket if you wish to reflect lesser experience. Your call. These present level ranges are:

• Kingsguard (Dorfs): 7
• Kingslayers (Ebuls): 7
• Elves: 6-7
• Sunites: 10-11
• Starlight Grove: 10-15
• Planeswalkers: 11
• Cups of Joy Senior Members: 14-16 (Silence is point of reference for 16. Serra is point of reference for 14).
• Cups of Joy Junior Members: 10-11