AC - Character Creation

=== Overview ===

Anno Castra will run on 3.0 of FEMTO, though it may occasionally lift from past editions. Here's a handy template for sheets, if you don't have one already:

Name:
Gender:
Race:
Appearance:
Class:
Skills:
-
CM:
Special Talent:
Trained Talent:
H/W:
Background:
-

Equipment:
-

Contacts:
-

Mutations:
-

You can pick any standard FEMTO race: https://goo.gl/Sal3g8
or one from this expansion: https://pastebin.com/eyZAE3bD

Each of the following sections will go over the bottom four categories (Background, Equipment, Contacts, Mutations) in order.

=== Background ===

Your character's background comes before their equipment, as their background will influence what equipment they can take. Your background consists of your backstory as well as the Stratum that you were born into. The Strata are much like a caste system, and consist of four categories: Nobility, Sage, Warrior and Commoner.

The Nobility are the political movers and shakers in the Castles; their word carries great influence in most places, and their wallets pull through when their words fail. They get to live underground, in the bottommost levels of every Castle. The lower levels are the safest, and the most comfortable and luxurious, because they are closest to the Castle's Heart, and thus benefit the most from its life-giving properties.

Sages are produced by the Abbey, and study the arts of magic, science and religion in a professional setting. Most go on to be court Sages for Noble families, but many also elect to enter the Abbey's priesthood, and a few even join the Warriors in their expeditions. Sages live underground, but above the Nobility.

Warriors train night and day to defend the Castle from the Dreaded Ones, and live on the aboveground levels of every Castle, near the outer perimeters, so that they can mobilize quickly in case of an attack.

Commoners are the average people of the Castles, bearing no significant social distinction, and do the most work to maintain the Castle, serving as farmers, mechanics, brewers, carpenters, and so on. They live aboveground, in a central area surrounded by the Warriors' districts. Wealth levels vary wildly within the Commoner Stratum, ranging from absolute poverty to the upper middle class.

If your character is of the Noble Stratum, they can have an additional 100 Schillings, OR 1 additional point in Contacts.

If your character is of the Sage Stratum, they can have one simple magical item, OR 1 additional point in Contacts.

If your character is of the Warrior Stratum, they can have an additional 2 Hits, OR 1 additional Wound.

If your character is of the Commoner Stratum, they start with 100 FEWER Schillings, but gain a bonus point of +1, which you can assign to any specific action your character can take.

=== Equipment ===

By default, every character begins with a set of clothes, one free weapon or catalyst, 500 Schillings (or 400 if they are a commoner), a Magicomp, and a Lamp of Life. Everything else, they have to purchase.

Magicomp - A tablet-like PC to be worn about the wrist. Its primary purpose is to house an encrypted authorization key that identifies the user as a registered member of their Castle. It also for calls, payment methods, intranet access, group chats, vital signs, video games and hacking, and automatically records one's journey. Highly customizable with modules called chips. Comes with a universal adapter cable to allow for charging at any port.
Lamp of Life - A lantern assigned to every registered member of a Castle at birth. It is charged with a potent sum of energy from the Castle's Heart, allowing decades of continuous light to shine forth. It is typically used only in emergencies to scare off the Dreaded Ones, who detest its light. Some weapons can be modified with aetherios circuitry to enable them to be charged with light from the Lamp of Life, empowering their attacks.

You can purchase starting equipment from this list. Feel free to customize the look of your purchases so long as they remain roughly similar to what's described here.

Armor:
-Novitiate's Armorsuit: A fitted synthetic bodysuit made of lightweight armor fibers, dark silver in color, padded to mute movement, and insulated to keep out the cold of the Outlands. Comes with a slender helmet with a plexiglass visor. Adds +1 Hit to the wearer, and gives them +1 to stealth attempts. 100 Schillings.
-Knight's Armorsuit: A bulkier variant of the Novitiate's Armorsuit, trading the padding for additional armor plating to further resist damage of all kinds. Adds +1 Hit and +1 Wound to the wearer. 150 Schillings.
-Sage's Armorsuit: A variant of the Novitiate's Armorsuit that has traded its padding for aetherios circuitry. Aetherios is an ore that amplifies magical signatures, allowing for greater output of power. Adds +1 Hit to the wearer, and gives them +1 to a single spell in their repertoire. The spell for this bonus cannot be changed once it is selected. 250 Schillings.

Melee Weaponry:
-Falx (Single): A simple blade, the most common weapon type employed in Castles. 50 Schillings.
-Paired Sachsum (Dual): A pair of matched knives, meant for quick attacks. 50 Schillings.
-Claymore (Great Weapon): A longer sword that enables wide cleaving swings. 50 Schillings.
-Francisca (Single, Ranged): An axe traditionally meant to be thrown or used in closer ranges. 75 Schillings.
-Maul (Single): A small, handheld blunt weapon. 50 Schillings.
-Sleagh (Great Weapon; loses Great tag when paired with Shield): A long spear balanced for one-handed pokes from behind a shield. 50 Schillings.
-Lind (Shield): A simple rectangular shield with a narrow lower half. 50 Schillings.

Ranged Weaponry and Ammo:
-Small Crossbow (Ranged): A crossbow designed to shoot a deadly bolt without making much noise. 50 Schillings.
	-Crossbow Bolts (50): Standard crossbow bolts. 25 Schillings.
	-Bola (20): Bola can be fired from a crossbow. Deals no damage, but incapacitates and immobilizes an opponent for 1 turn or 2 on a crit, Recharge 1; ineffective on very large or incorporeal opponents, or certain bosses. 20 Schillings.
-Boga (Ranged): A traditional bow typically used for sport among the Noble Stratum, modified for use in the Outlands. 50 Schillings.
	-Arrows (50): Standard Arrows. 25 Schillings.
	-Shrapnel Arrows (25): Arrows armed with a small explosive packed with shrapnel. Allows the user to target up to 3 enemies close together with a single shot. 25 Schillings.
-Sling (Ranged): A cloth sling that has less range than a crossbow, but is near-undetectable when it fires. 25 Schillings.
	-Stones (50): Standard rounded slingstones. 25 Schillings.
-Dartgun (Ranged) A weapon similar to a crossbow that can shoot darts loaded with various chemicals, giving it a variety of effects. Has less range than a crossbow and deals -1 fewer Hit per attack. 25 Schillings.
	-Darts (50): Empty darts that must be loaded with a chemical in order to have any effect. 10 Schillings.

Catalysts:
-Magicomp "Caster" Chip: An aetherios chip that can slot into one's Magicomp, modifying it to serve as a magical catalyst. 50 Schillings.
-Abbean Rosary: A bead chain of the Abbey, adorned with their central sacred icon: A diamond composed of two pyramids, one on top of the other inverted, with a heart in the center. 50 Schillings.
-Street Mage's Talisman: A ramshackle talisman constructed by one of the so-called 'street mages,' who practice magic outside of the teachings of the Abbey or SAge schools. 50 Schillings.

Field Gear:
-Ration Capsule: A small oval capsule about 1 inch in length. When the button at the top is pushed, the capsule breaks, producing one meal's worth of rations. 5 Schillings.
-Water Capsule: A small oval capsule about 1 inch in length. When the button at the top is pushed, the capsule breaks, producing a canteen's worth of water. 5 Schillings.
-Thermographic Goggles: A set of goggles that can be plugged into a slot in the Armorsuit's helmet, granting thermographic vision and a zoom function for +1 to perception. 100 Schillings.
-Weapon Repair Kit: A general purpose kit of equipment for repairing a wide variety of damaged weapons. 1 kit has 1 use. 25 Schillings.
-Armor Patching Kit: A general purpose kit of equipment for repairing Armorsuits. 1 kit has 1 use. 25 Schillings.
-Medical Kit: A general purpose kit of medical equipment and instructions for treating basic wounds; counts as ab automatic use of Heal, can only be used out of combat. 1 kit has 1 use. 25 Schillings.
-Camping Gear: Includes a tent and frame and a single sleeping bag. Big enough for 3 occupants. 25 Schillings.
-Lockpicking Kit: A set of picks, wrenches, hooks and rakes that provide +1 to lockpicking attempts. Can be used multiple times. 20 Schillings.
-Hacking Cable: A set of cables for connecting one's Magicomp to any electrical interface, providing +1 to hacking attempts. Can be used multiple times. 20 Schillings.
-Saddle Bag: 10 Schillings.
-Belt Pouch: 5 Schillings.
-Canteen: 5 Schillings.
-Compass: 10 Schillings.
-Utility Dagger: 10 Schillings.

=== Contacts ===

Your contacts are NPCs of note who have some prior relationship to your character. By default, you have 3 points to spend in Contacts, and you can spend as few or as many as you want, or none at all. Contacts come in 5 types: Informants, Suppliers, Hirelings, Allies and Enemies. Each type costs 1 point to buy, and you can invest more points into them to increase their level.

Informants provide information, tips, news and gossip of all kinds. Depending on how secretive the information you want may be, your informant will probably expect some kind of pay.
	Level 1: Your informant can provide common street talk and publicly-available information.
	Level 2: Your informant can provide snippets of what the Sages and Warriors talk about behind closed doors.
	Level 3: Your informant can provide just about anything being discussed among any of the Strata in any Castle.

Suppliers provide goods and services, legal or illegal. Some will only deal in-person, and some will provide deliveries, or even dead drops in the Outlands, if your relationship is good enough.
	Level 1: Your supplier will have any legal commonly-available goods, and will only sell in-person.
	Level 2: Your supplier will have common and rare goods (some illegal), and will deliver to any Castle.
	Level 3: Your supplier will have common, rare and highly-rare goods (some illegal), and will arrange deliveries and dead drops anywhere, whether in Castles or Outlands.

Hirelings are the grunt mercenaries of the Castles, selling their skills and protection in exchange for some amount of your quest rewards and recovered treasure.
	Level 1: Your hireling has 4/4, no skills or class, and +1 to general combat.
	Level 2: Your hireling has 5/5, 1 skill point's worth of skills from any class, to which they have +1, and +1 to general combat.
	Level 3: Your hireling has 6/6, 2 skill points' worth of skills from any single class, to which they have +1, and +1 to general combat.

Allies may be siblings, acquaintances, mentors, peers, parents or even a significant other. They will freely provide any help that they reasonably can, though not to the degree that Contacts of the other types will.
	Level 1: Your ally is an ordinary Commoner of humble means and influence.
	Level 2: Your ally is well-off, can be a Sage, Warrior or Commoner, and has some influence and power in their social circles.
	Level 3: Your ally can be of any Stratum, and has considerable wealth and social influence among their peers.

Enemies can be just about anyone with a reason to hate your guts. Perhaps they might want to kill you, or even just see you fail. They can be a member of a sapient race, or can even be one of the Dreaded Ones. Defeating or even winning over an Enemy will likely earn you a great reward, depending on their level.
	Level 1: Your enemy is on the level of some street thug, and can be dispatched after a single boss battle.
	Level 2: Your enemy is considerably powerful and/or influential, and must be defeated 2-3 times before they give up and/or die.
	Level 3: Your enemy is a complete monster. Every encounter with them or their minions will be a close scrape with death, or worse. They might not be beatable through conventional means, either owing to their physical and magical power, or due to machinations they set in motion.

=== Mutations ===

Mutations are an optional side-grade that characters can take in Anno Castra. Each mutation grants some kind of passive or active power, but along with it, a drawback referred to as a burden. Some are born with mutations, others gain them through exploration of the Outlands, such as by interacting with artifacts, or by the attacks of the Dreaded Ones. Those with mutations are called mutants, and those without are called pure. Players may begin the game with one mutation, but again, they are not upgrades, nor will they be necessary to complete the campaign.

For more information, see: https://pastebin.com/urMVMwdd