Characters are built from the ground up using experience; there is no such thing as character generation points, and a point is a point both on initial character generation and when awarded as experience points.
- Each Attributes point costs one experience point.
- Remember that primary attributes must be paid for, and always have a value equal to the highest secondary attribute in the group.
- Each of the Skills that you have costs one point
- Each point in each skill that you have beyond 10 costs one point
- No skill can go higher than 9, plus 1 for every full 25 points you have.
- Each schtick costs a number of points depending on type
Maximum Values
In a starting game, the maximum value for any attribute or skill is normally 15. For every 20 xp after 15, this maximum value increases by one. This is not set in stone; if you want a campaign where the experienced easily beat those of less prominence, use a lower value; if you want everyone to be more or less equal in skill but with better atributes and schticks for experienced heroes, use a higher one.
Experience Gain
The number of experience points you need to increase your maximum value is intimately linked to the rate of experience gain in the campaign; depending on how much experience you give out, your characters will advance one point in skill for every five, ten or twenty sessions. As a single point of skill difference matters quite a bit in T3, this takes some careful consideration. How long is your game going to last? What level of skill do you wish your players to finish at?
Training Sessions
Sometimes, the GM might not let you acquire any schtick you like. It may not make sense for a NY cop to suddenly pick up Path of the Leaping Storm. In other cases, the GM might require a training sequence, which can be as simple as a few clips of your character balancing on bamboo poles, or might be an involved adventure in itself. Finally, some schticks might simply not exist in your game world. Never try to press the GM to violate the spirit of the game world on your whim.
Starting Characters
140 points give characters like those in Feng Shui. 150 points are our usual starting characters. 165 points give well-rounded characters. 300 points are the most powerful characters we have generally played with - coming up with sensible opponents takes a little effort at this point.