Character customization

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Once you have selected your species, it is time to customize your character and build a character sheet.

On the previous page, we discussed three elements for your character: the basic concept and ideas in your mind, whether they are a native to the Mazes or an otherworlder, and the species. If you're wondering why we haven't yet talked about things such as names, backstories, or stats other than racial bonuses, this is the page where it will all become clear, and you will find out why it was done in this order.

What's in a name?

It is proper to decide on a name after you've decided on a species. As mentioned in the previous page, humans and halflings generally speak Common (English), while youkai speak their own language (Youkai language, the equivalent of Japanese). These linguistic tendencies extend to names, both given names and family names. Humans and halflings typically have English or Anglo-Saxon names, and Youkai typically have Japanese names. Italian, Nordic, German, and Hispanic names exist, but are rare and usually reserved to specific characters or groups of characters.

Although it's possible for a human to have a Youkai given name or family name, or for a youkai to have a Common name, this generally suggests a mixed ancestry, and is not recommended unless you are prepared to explain a little backstory for your character. The GM has the right to accept or deny a name that doesn't sound like it would fit in the Mazes.

Your character may optionally be known by a nickname, a shorthand, a callsign, or some other preferred name or designation, and you are free (and even encouraged) to explain where the nickname comes from.

All characters, and by extension, all PCs, must be designated as either male or female according to their sex at birth, as certain occupations in the Mazes are only available to certain combinations of species and sexes (e.g. shrine maidens can only be female humans). If applicable, any details related to gender identity should be explained in the backstory, if you feel that it is important to discuss, and you can annotate your character sheet to reflect them if you so desire.

Appearance

Your character's physical appearance is influenced by the following traits: their constitution, their age, their height and weight, their skin color, their hair (color and length), the presence of distinctive traits like tattoos, scars, etc. or not, and if applicable, any traits unique to their species.

With the exception of constitution, all traits related to appearance are purely cosmetic and up to you to decide.

Constitution

If your character is a human or a halfling, the chosen constitution trait will also modify your character's stats. If your character is a youkai, the listed modifiers do not apply.

You may choose among the following constitution descriptors:

  • Average - This character's constitution and body are within the norm for their species. Provides no advantages or disadvantages.
  • Slender - This character is slim and lightweight. Humans and halflings get Agility +1 but Base limb health value x0.9.
  • Thin - This character is lithe and frail. Humans and halflings get Agility +2 but Base limb health value x0.8.
  • Athletic - This character is fit and sporty. Humans and halflings get Strength +20% but needs 1.25x more food and water every day.
  • Muscular - This character is a bodybuilder. Humans and halflings get Strength +40% but needs 1.5x more food and water every day.
  • Overweight - This character is chubby and unfit. Humans and halflings get Agility -1 but Base limb health value x1.1.
  • Fat - This character is round and tubby. Humans and halflings get Agility -2 but Base limb health value x1.2.

Age

Age of majority in the Mazes is 17 years old for all species, as such you cannot play a character younger than 17. The listed age group may also reflect the character's maturity level. Characters under the age of 17 are children and should not be playable. For various reasons, children will not depicted in any games run by the author, and it is highly recommended not to depict them in yours, let alone play as one.

It is uncommon for humans and halflings to live longer than 70. Youkai lifespans can go well into the thousands of years, and those in the "elder" category may have lived for as long as youkai have existed in the Mazes (~2300 years ago).

Humans and halflings:

  • Teenager (between 17 and 22 years old)
  • Young adult (23 to 28 years old)
  • Adult (29 to 40 years old)
  • Middle-aged (41 to 50 years old)
  • Aged (51 to 65 years old)
  • Old (over 65 years old)

Youkai:

  • Youngling (between 17 and 100 years old)
  • Young (100 to 300 years old)
  • Young adult (301 to 500 years old)
  • Adult (501 to 700 years old)
  • Middle-aged (701 to 1000 years old)
  • Aged (1001 to 1500 years old)
  • Old (1501 to 2000 years old)
  • Elder (over 2000 years old)

Other appearance stats

You may also list height, weight, skin color, hair length, hair color, eye color, some distinctive traits (tattoos, scars..), and if applicable, species-specific traits.

Species-specific traits apply if you are a halfling or a youkai. They are:

  • Halflings:
    • Canine, Feline: Ear shape and color, tail color
    • Equine, Murid: Ear color
    • Lagomorph: Ear color
    • Squamata: Tail color
    • Salientia: Frog skin color (overrides regular skin color)
    • Alligator: Tail and scale color
  • Youkai:
    • Hakutaku: Horn shape
    • Jorougumo: Color of spider parts (abdomen, legs)
    • Kappa, Oni: Skin color (overrides regular skin color)
    • Kasha, Kitsune, Guhin: Ear and tail color
    • Kirin: Tail and scale color
    • Satori: Third eye color
    • Tengu: Feather color
    • Yousei: Wing color

Background information

Though not strictly necessary, it is good form to write in freeform about your character's background. You can talk about where they come from, what job or occupation they have, what sort of personality they have. The point is to describe your character in ways that the rest of the sheet can't get across, and to serve as a quick reminder for you, other players, and your GM of what that character is like.

This can be especially important if your character isn't an otherworlder, as that backstory must be sufficiently believable and reasonable. As with everything else, the GM has final say on what constitutes an acceptable backstory.

Statting

"Statting" redirects here.

Statting (short form for Statistical customizing) is the act of customizing your starting character's statistics and equipment, so that it conforms to the player's desired playstyle.

Statting is done in multiple parts:

  • Primary stats
  • Skill attribution
  • Equipment selection
  • Character sheet building

Primary stats

If you've followed the Getting started guide to build your character, you may have noticed that your initial choices (particularly, choice of species and constitution) have already introduced modifiers to certain stats. In this section, you will get to further modify and fine-tune some of these stats. You may start seeing other types of stats you haven't seen before being mentioned - don't worry

The following six stats can be modified:

  • Natural Pain sensitivity: Your character's tolerance to Pain damage. Percentage value, which serves as a multiplier to Pain damage received. By default, 100%. Lower is better.
  • Natural Strength: Your character's strength. Percentage value, which serves as a multiplier to the amount of damage dealt in melee. By default, 100%. Higher is better.
  • Pain Blackout Threshold (PBT): The amount of Pain at which point your character will lose consciousness (blackout). By default, 100%. Higher is better.
  • Maximum Blood: The amount of Blood inside the body of your character. Numerical value. By default, 20.0 units. Higher is better.
  • Limb Health multiplier: The amount of Limb Damage each of your limbs can sustain before being disabled. Multiplier to the character's Base limb health value. By default x1.0. Higher is better.
  • Maximum Endurance: The amount of Fatigue at which point your Character will be exhausted. By default, 100%. Higher is better.

Racial and constitution modifiers

The first thing to do is to check your chosen species and constitution, and the corresponding modifiers, as they'll affect your stats before even spending points to change them.

Humans:

  • Human: No modifiers

Halflings:

  • Canine halfling: Pain sensitivity 110%
  • Equine halfling: Base limb health 77, Max Blood 19
  • Feline halfling: Strength 90%
  • Lagomorph halfling: Pain sensitivity 110%
  • Murid halfling: Max Blood 21, Strength 90%
  • Squamata halfling: Base limb health 56
  • Salientia halfling: Strength 110%, Pain sensitivity 110%
  • Alligator halfling: Base limb health 84, Strength 120%, Pain sensitivity 80%

Youkai:

  • Guhin: Base limb health 90, Max Blood 26, Pain sensitivity 78%
  • Hakutaku: Base limb health 75, Max Blood 21, Pain sensitivity 93%
  • Jorougumo: Base limb health 46, Max Blood 13, Pain sensitivity 152%
  • Kappa: Base limb health 42, Max Blood 12, Pain sensitivity 167%
  • Kasha: Base limb health 48, Max Blood 14, Pain sensitivity 146%
  • Kirin: Base limb health 88, Max Blood 25, Pain sensitivity 80%
  • Kitsune: Base limb health 56, Max Blood 16, Pain sensitivity 125%
  • Oni: Base limb health 150, Max Blood 43, Pain sensitivity 47%
  • Satori: Base limb health 56, Max Blood 16, Pain sensitivity 125%
  • Tanuki: Base limb health 70, Max Blood 20, Pain sensitivity 100%
  • Tengu: Base limb health 100, Max Blood 29, Pain sensitivity 70%
  • Yousei: Base limb health 20, Max Blood 6, Pain sensitivity 350%

Calculating max limb health

As explained in the previous page, each playable species has a Base limb health value. What is described in the "Primary Stats" section is Limb Health multiplier, a multiplier that is applied to this base value.

For instance, if your character is a Squamata halfling (base limb health value 56) and you've selected 1.2x Limb Health multiplier, then you will increase your character's base limb health to 67 (56 x 1.2, rounded). In turn, this will give your character the following maximum limb health:

  • Head: 10 (1/7 x 67, rounded)
  • Torso: 38 (4/7 x 67, rounded)
  • Hips: 29 (3/7 x 67, rounded)
  • LIMB group (arms, legs, tail): 19 (2/7 x 67, rounded)
  • EXTREMITY group (hands, feet): 14 (1.5/7 x 67, rounded)

Spending points to affect primary stats

You can spend up to 6 stat points to adjust your primary stats to your liking, at the following rates:

  • Natural pain sensitivity: Spend 1 point = -10%
  • Natural Strength: Spend 1 point = +10%
  • Pain Blackout Threshold (PBT): Spend 1 point = +5%
  • Maximum Blood: Spend 1 point = +1.0 unit
  • Limb Health multiplier: Spend 1 point = +0.1 to the multiplier (1 point = x1.1, 2 points = x1.2, and so on)
  • Maximum Endurance: Spend 1 point = +10%

You can also buy extra points in a given statistic, in which case the listed effect applies in reverse.

  • Example: If you buy 2 points in Strength, your Strength will be reduced by 20%, in exchange of being able to spend 2 extra points elsewhere.

You cannot spend or buy more than 4 points in any given statistic, but you do not have to spend all of your points. If you don't spend all of them, however, you are not entitled to extra advantages down the line, so adjust carefully!

Skill attribution

The next part of statting is attributing skills (and skill levels) to your characters. Certain species introduce free skill levels as part of their racial bonuses, but for the most part, new characters are blank slates for you to customize.

Skills in MazeWorld are grouped in two categories: Combat skills and Non-combat skills. This section will list and briefly describe each skill, without going into too much detail. As a rule of thumb, improving your combat skills generally results in increasing your character's accuracy and lethality, whereas improving your non-combat skills either improves your existing abilities, or unlocks new ones.

Combat skills

Combat skills are grouped into subcategories and reflect level of skill and proficiency with the corresponding type of weapon. In total, there are 29 combat skills grouped into three subcategories: Firearms (11 skills), Heavy weapons (4 skills), and Melee/Other weapons (14 skills).

Firearms

  • Bolt-action
  • Lever-action
  • Pump-action
  • Automatic pistol
  • Automatic rifle
  • Automatic shotgun
  • Semi-automatic pistol
  • Semi-automatic rifle
  • Semi-automatic shotgun
  • Double-action revolver (DA)
  • Single-action revolver (SA)

Heavy weapons

  • Grenade launcher
  • Rocket launcher
  • Planted explosives
  • Flamethrowers

Melee and other weapons

  • Archery
  • Axes
  • One-handed clubs
  • Two-handed clubs
  • Crude weapons
  • Knives
  • One-handed swords
  • Two-handed swords
  • Staff/Pole weapons
  • Whip/Lash weapons
  • Exotic Melee weapons
  • Exotic Ranged weapons
  • Thrown weapons
  • Martial arts

Non-combat skills

There are 9 non-combat skills in total. If the GM deems it necessary, certain non-combat skills may be locked by the GM. Locked skill may, at the GM's discretion, either cost extra points to give to your character, or be entirely impossible to acquire during character creation and will either not be acquired at all, or given as part of a reward or a quest during the session.

  • Hunting - The ability to harvest meat from dead creatures
  • Crafting - The ability to use crafting kits and specific combinations of ingredients to build items
  • Handloading - The ability to use handloading kits and ingredients (casings, powders, primers, projectiles) to manufacture and customize your own ammunition
  • Mining - The ability to use mining tools to extract ore from veins and patches
  • Negotiation - The ability to speak, convince, deceive, barter, and negotiate
  • Repair - The ability to use repair and cleaning kits, maintain weapons in working order, and restore broken weapons back to working condition
  • Lockpicking - The ability to use lockpicking kits to defeat locks
  • Healing - The ability to use medical equipment and administer drugs to heal oneself and others
  • Evading - The ability to evade and parry enemy attacks, and to deliver counter-attacks

Spending points on skills

You start out at Level 1 (Unskilled) in every skill, and you must reach a certain amount of Skill Points to increase your skill level. Every skill has five levels, in order from level 1 to level 5: Unskilled, Basic, Skilled, Expert, and Master.

All combat skills have the same thresholds: 10 SP to reach Basic, 25 SP to reach Skilled, 50 SP to reach Expert, and 100 SP to reach Master.

Non-combat skills have different requirements and thresholds.

When spending points on combat skills, you will obtain Training Points (TP) for them in return. 10 Training Points are worth 1 Skill Point. Training Points are normally earned through training exercises in the game, and you cannot get more than 250 TP per combat skill - just enough to reach Skilled, and no more. There is only so much experience your character can get by training; you must be on the field to progress any further.

When spending points on non-combat skills, you will be buying a certain skill level directly. If your GM has locked certain non-combat skills, your character will be Level 0 (Unaware) in these skills, and you cannot progress at all to Level 1 until you buy access to the skill (if your GM allows it) or unlock the skill during a session. The recommended cost of unlocking a locked skill is 1 point.

Combat skills: 1 point = 50 TP

  • Skill packages: Certain combat skills are closely related, and you can get a 'discount' and pay a little less than you normally would if you bought them individually. It costs 3 points to get 100 TP (Basic), and 8 points to get 250 TP (Skilled) in all of the skills included in the package.
    • Pistol package: Semi-auto pistol + Automatic pistol
    • Rifle package: Semi-auto rifle + Automatic rifle
    • Shotgun package: Semi-auto shotgun + Automatic shotgun
    • Revolver package: Single-action revolver + Double-action revolver
    • Club package: One-handed club + Two-handed club
    • Sword package: One-handed sword + Two-handed sword

Non-combat skills: 2 points for Level 2 (Basic), 4 points for Level 3 (Skilled), 8 points for Level 4 (Expert)

  • If any non-combat skills are locked, they should cost 1 point to unlock and obtain Level 1 (Unskilled).

GMs are free to adjust the costs of skills depending on how much experience and capabilities they wish the players to have. The recommended costs are ideal for new but balanced characters. The costs can be adjusted up or down, depending on whether you prefer your PCs to have less, or more talents at their disposal.

Equipment selection

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