WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY 4TH EDITION - Character Creation

Adventures in the Old World

[caption id="attachment_459" align="alignnone" width="900"] This hefty tome was bought from Element Games[/caption]

Over 350 pages of Old World action! For me, roleplaying has always taken back seat to wargaming. But between my love of the Old World lore and themed armies, there's always been that inkling.

Now this book is stunning. Great artwork is liberally sprinkled throughout, most with that early edition feel to it.

[caption id="attachment_461" align="alignnone" width="900"] My favourite piece[/caption]

By Sigmar!

Now this isn't a full review. Better reviews exist on the web.

All I will say is that I immediately looked online for a Play By Post game. From this searching I found the Discord channel The Rat Catcher's Guild as well as the website Tavern Keeper. Both of these proved amazing for my first forays into WHRP.

With book ready and messages sent I was accepted into my first campaign: The Doom of Grafsburg!

Creating my Character

One of my favourite aspects of the book is the character creation. Specifically the randomisation. Being a big fan of the old Realm of Chaos charts this shouted out to my very soul. After all, leaving everything to fate seems a very Warhammery thing to do!

Step 1 - Species

Warhammer Roleplay gives you a choice of 5 races:

• Human


• Halfling


• Dwarf


• High Elf


• Wood Elf

As the game is set in The Empire, the random chart is skewed in an Imperial fashion.

RANDOM SPECIES TABLE
1d100s	Species
01-90	Human
91-95	Halfling
95-98	Dwarf
99	High Elf
00	Wood Elf

So with the first roll......my character will be a Human!

No real surprise

NEXT!

Step 2 - Class and Career

Next up is Class and Career.

Class is set up into 8 different sections, with each of those having 8 Career paths. Each Career has advantages and disadvantages, as well as setting a Character's social Status. Marked Brass, Silver and Gold, these will impact how NPCs portray the Character.

With the second roll our becomes a Cavalryman!

By now the Character's background has began to come into my head. Ideas flitting about before we start the next section.

Step 3 - Attributes

The statline of the character is next to take shape. Familiar to those that played Warhammer Fantasy or the older versions of 40K. With DEX, INT, WP and FEL being different. As Cubicle 7 describe it:

"Weapon Skill (WS) – close-quarters fighting ability

Ballistic Skill (BS) – ranged fighting ability

Strength (S) – physical strength

Toughness (T) – hardiness and healthiness

Initiative (I) – speed of thought, reaction, and awareness

Agility (Agi) – coordination and natural athleticism

Dexterity (Dex) – ability to perform delicate manual tasks

Intelligence (Int) – powers of thought, analysis, and understanding

Willpower (WP) – strength of mind and determination

Fellowship (Fel) – ability to influence and befriend others"

Each of the Races gains different pluses and minuses in these characteristics. Humans are the standard, Dwarfs get a big boost to their Willpower but lose out in Agility. Halflings are lower in WS and Strength but have advantages in the non-combat stats. Elves, however, have the best stats across the board, but lose out in some of the roleplaying aspects, being less trustworthy to certain NPCs.

Stats are randomised with a 2D10 roll with which ever bonus.

Example:

Humans roll 2D10 + 20 for Strength
Halflings roll 2D10 +10 for Strength

With this next batch of rolls the unnamed character now has a statline of:

WS	32
BS	27
S	32
T	22
I	34
Agi	33
Dex	33
Int	31
WP	32
Fel	24

Toughness and Fellowship are both low here. Perhaps a new money noble that isn't as tough as he thinks.

Here your career gives you 5 points towards characteristic advances. In the Horseman's case these are allocated between WS, S and AGI.

I'll stick 1 in WS, 2 in S, and 2 in AGI

Step 4 - Skills and Talents

Here you pick your skills depending on Racial species. 3 of those Skills gain a +5 Bonus, 3 Gain a +3 Bonus. You also roll on the Random Talents chart if eligible. My picks are:

Animal Training: +5
Charm: +5
Gossip: +3
Leadership: +3
Lore (Reikland): +5
Ranged (Bow): +3
The Talent rolls here have given me: Suave, Sixth Sense and Very Resilient.
For my chosen talent I have chosen Savvy. Human characters also gain the talent of Doomed.

Doomed is a rule that gives the player's Next character an XP boost on creation IF the first character does in a specific way.

So if the portents of fate predicted death by weeping sores, and this happens, then the next character benefits!

However, this is kept a secret between you and the GM.

Following this, based on your character's career, you allocate 40 points to any of the 8 skills listed, as well as gaining a single talent.

For my character this will be:

Animal Care: +7
Charm Animal: +2
Endurance: +5
Language (Battle): +3
Melee (Basic): +5
Outdoor Survival: +6
Perception: +5
Ride (Horse): +7

I will also pick the Talent of Lightning Reflexes

You may have noticed so far that I have picked Talents that increase stats. This is simply as it is my first WHRP campaign and I want to reduce the amount of bookkeeping needed.

Step 5 - Trappings

Trappings are the equipment associated with your class.

Additionally you get monetary wealth based on your status tier and level

The money roll gave me a purse of 13 Silver Shillings, with trappings of Clothing, Hand Weapon (Hammer), Dagger, Pouch, Leather Jack, Riding Horse with Saddle and Tack.

I shall name my horse Starwood.

Step 6 - Adding Details

Now for the proper Character building part. And Yes, I am randomising this. Except the name

▪ Character Name: Lukasz Erkunden
▪ Physical Details:

• Age: 23


• Eye Colour: Blue


• Hair Colour: Dark Brown


• Height: 5ft7

▪ Ambitions:

• Short-Term: To slay a beast


• Long-Term: Become a hero

Step 7 - Party

Well this part is tough as I am unsure so far. So I shall leave this blank

Step 8 - Bringing Your Character To Life

This section gives you 10 Questions to flesh out the character a bit more:

Ten Questions

▪ Where are you from?

Lukasz was raised in Braunlet, 12 miles east of Fleckeby, Ostland.

▪ What is your family like?

Father became a grifter shortly after Lukasz's mother died. Travelling around local towns selling wares, doing oddjobs and gambling. One day he developed the plans for a long con, one that gained him lots of money through trading gold with Dwarves. Unfortunately this gold was fake through the spells of an apprentice Aethyric wizard. They killed his father in vengeance, but not before Lukasz had grabbed a bag of the money and fled.

▪ What was your childhood like?

Lukasz was raised believing that his father was a noble merchant. His father used to dress in furs and often spent beyond his means. While Lukasz's mother was alive she regaled him with tales of the great heroes of the Empire, heroes that Lukasz grew up wishing to emulate.

When Lukasz was three he was knocked over by a bear that had escaped a travelling Kislev circus, he has feared Bears ever since. This caused him to grow up sicklier than other children, but he persevered through his own determination.

▪ Why did you leave home?

Lukasz left home to escape the wrath of the Dwarves. He now sees this as his first step to become a hero of the Empire.

▪ Who are your friends?

Being of a bumptious nature, Lukasz rarely keeps friends for long. His hardly earned sense of self is grating in the long term.

▪ What is your greatest desire?

Lukasz aspires to be sung of in the great tales of heroes.

▪ What are your best and worst memories?

Best memory would be saving a towns girl from a wild dog.

Worst memory would be the bear attack

▪ What are your religious beliefs?

Worship of Signature and only his light

▪ To whom, or what, are you loyal?

To the people, as long as they adore and/or pay

▪ Why are you adventuring?

Money, fame, adoration

Step 9 - Advancement

Here I can spend the experience accumulated during character generation. This is used to increase the 3 Characteristics, 8 Skills and/or 4 Talents available to your career.

As I have randomised everything, this is a hefty 120XP boost.

100XP will be used adding the Roughrider talent go Lukasz, with the remaining 20XP boosting Charm Animal two more times.

And with that it is time to fill out the sheet, which hopefully looks like this:





 

AND with that it is time to begin the adventure into the grim Old World!

 

Visit Element Games here (Use the code DAN2300 at Checkout for double points)

For more WHRP action:

Listen to the Old World Podcast here

Follow our adventures here