Servant Creation Guide

A Guide to Making Servants

Step One) Pick a Mythological or Historical Figure.
- Remember, they themselves have to have done something notable. No-one gets in just for being a ruler or killed. Additionally, they can't come from Biblical Mythology from Noah or earlier, because that conflicts with the Epic (Utnapishtim) and therefore makes them ineligible.
- Secondly, check how much of a person they are, if they're a monster. Surtr is mostly human in form, fully intelligent, and wields a sword. Medusa was a human-formed Divine Spirit. Chiron, I presume, gets in because he's a nice guy and taught a bunch of heroes.

Step Two) Pick a Class
- If considering Berserker, make sure they went into a berserk rage at SOME point. Heracles did, Lancelot manically killed a bunch of his friends, Cu Chullain was KNOWN for berserk rages.
- Make sure it's an appropriate class. If they have no noteworthy skills to fit any of the classes, fudge history a bit. Unless improperly summoned (Casterthulhu), no Servant should be entirely beholden to their Noble Phantasms to do anything.

Step Three) Statistics!
- Match the stats to the deeds. Someone whose forte is in mental games will NOT have high strength or agility.
- Check with the canon heavyweights--King Arthur (Rin stats), Heracles, and Gilgamesh. If you're exceeding either of the first two (and exceeding Heracles in strength), then it's time to take a step back. If you're eclipsing Gilgamesh in physical areas and drawing equal or close to it in the other two stats, check if you're an unfathomably famous Saber or Berserker. Otherwise, it's time to tone things down a few steps.
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Step Three) Skills!
- Class skills are simple. Roughly speaking, if your history brings you into contact with magical stuff and your class is entitled to Magic Resistance, then B, unless there's something to strongly suggest (like Saber's insane mana amounts) it should be raised to A. C is awarded as a class default. Caster, unless flighty by nature, should have B-Rank in Territory Creation without something better. Rider has A+ if they're from a time with Phantasm Species in abundance. Presence Concealment is pretty much always A+ if you actually killed.
- Personal Skills are a difficult balancing act, but firstly: always read canonical skill descriptions carefully, then look up what lead the canon character to have that skill. As a simple example: Lancer has Battle Continuation because his last battle was mostly fought with a huge wound in his guts and tied to a stone so he could stand up. It's not for scratches.
- Eye of the Mind (False) is naturally intuition to overcome handicaps such as an invisible sword. (True) is the ability to plan. Both of these are exclusively combat skills--one is a natural grasp of combat, one is a faint grasp enhanced through a lifetime of skill. Make sure you give the right one--natural genius, or did they live for the fight? Instinct is a sort of sixth sense and is a third option (also instinctual, you don't really gain it) but shouldn't be paired with either.
- Keep an eye on skill number. The most skills possessed by any canon Servant is Lancer, and subtracting Divinity reveals there's four, and only one is of A Rank.
- Keep an eye on skill RANK. When Alexander the Great has Military Tactics at rank B, you have to have a REALLY good reason to go higher.
- Don't be afraid to make things up. If you want Guerilla Tactics, don't go for Disengage and Presence Concealment. Make something up that incorporates pieces of both but is limited to certain situations. Canon skills are a guide, not an exhaustive list. New Servants = New Skills.
- Finally, always think twice about using skills strongly associated with a canon character. Golden Rule at Rank A? Gilgamesh, due to owning all the world's treasures. Eternal Arms Mastership? Lancelot, and you should ONLY give this to someone acknowledged as the greatest warrior of the time. Imperial Privilege? Nero. Expert of Many Specialisations? Hundred-Faces.

Step Four) Noble Phantasms! Basic Primer and General Rules
- Before we get onto making them, a quick rundown on what the various things mean, since I keep seeing them misused: Anti-Unit means it can ONLY hit one person, Anti-Army means it's almost certain to cause massive collateral, Anti-Fortress means that it obliterates a good chunk of surrounding scenery. This is not a comment on power. Power comes from the rank.
- No EX-Ranks. 'Unquantifiable' is because they're vastly more powerful than anything below them. 'Destroy the World', 'Activate God Mode', 'Summon an Army of Servants'. These are EX-rank. 'Destroy a castle', 'have a bunch of extra lives and no sell weak attacks', 'have twenty bodies' are examples of the same idea but weaker, and would have ranks. If you have an EX-Ranked Noble Phantasm, it MUST only be included as trivia--like Avalon when Saber doesn't have the sheathe anywhere it can be accessed.
- The number of Noble Phantasms with no physical component is next to none. God Hand is layered resurrection magic on Berserker's flesh, Blood Fort Andromeda is magecraft that's physically set up. If a Noble Phantasm does not have some physical basis required to take effect and instead automatically weakens everyone in the area or something, what you have there is a Reality Marble (or you're playing Medusa). If you have a Reality Marble: how? Rider has one because he and his entire army never gave up, and he can't support it on his own. Archer has one because he's a magus with a peculiarly singular origin. Nero's theatre is, for all intents and purposes, a Reality Marble, though it may be construed that the entire building is a physical Noble Phantasm kept in hammerspace.

Step Five) Making Noble Phantasms
- First, check out any items or notable techniques this Servant has that would count. If the item or technique can be upgraded a little to be a Noble Phantasm, your work is done. Just give it a rank and area of effect as appropriate.
- If not, check out their deeds. Think of something that could embody their greatest (Rider got a flying lightning chariot from cutting the knot, for reference--the bulls were given to Zeus) or the most entertaining deed. To take a quick example: Julius Caesar, crossing the Rubicon. A Noble Phantasm represented by his gladius, it embodies refusing to dissolve his armies and therefore passing the point of no return. Remove any negative penalties to his statistics and temporarily grant Battle Continuation A. If the fight results in a draw, Caesar still dies.
- Count them. Unless your name is Gilgamesh, Medusa (who technically only has three, as Mystic Eyes is a skill) or Zealot, three is the maximum. Additionally, check things carefully. Have you given a bunch of separate Noble Phantasms that can all be used synonymously for massive damage? Cut it down. If you're unsure, stick with just the main one, add on something for support (Invisible Air, For Someone's Glory, Breaker Gorgon).
- Remember to link it to their past--and if you're having real trouble, fudge history a bit.
- If any of your Noble Phantasms include the phrase 'summon a Servant', then rewrite it. Especially if there's multiple Servants. The same goes for summoning armies of any description.

Step 6) Balancing
- A very important step that seems to get missed a lot. Individual elements are fine on their own, but by the time people get to the end, it's broken. Take a high rank of Disengage (since it resets things to 'initial' conditions) and a Noble Phantasm that gains in power or effect if it's the first thing used in the fight, then add on average Lancer stats. What you have there are two acceptable skills that combine to allow as much kiting as desired.
- Another example would be the ability to negate all Anti-Army or Anti-Fortress attacks, and then having a set of skills perfectly suited to dealing with Anti-Unit attacks.
- If something only works with certain external conditions, such as being in a city, please check where the Grail War is set. If those external conditions are always around, check that their skills and stats aren't utter gamebreakers.
- If, at any point, True Magic is amongst the Servant's skills, remove it, even if you have to start again. The single most powerful person in the whole Nasuverse, despite being weakened? Zelretch. A flawed reproduction of his sword can unleash enough power to kill a Servant on every swing. Any True Magic with more experience than Aoko's is going to wreck things (for reference, the entire reason the Grail War summons Servants, personalities and all, despite that normally being impossible? Third Magic. It brings EVERYTHING down) and given that Servants are, by definition, going to have more practice than a teen with their skills...

Step 7) Appearance
- Tantalising as it may be, it has conclusively been shown that any Servant summoned in armour is going to be modestly dressed and not wearing a chainmail bikini. Try and bear that in mind.
- If your warrior has giant breasts, there is a problem.
- So, too, if your warrior has A+ strength and is someone who, from reputation, should be beefy as hell, and they're bishonen.
- In short, keep it appropriate for who they are.