Character Generation (Start Here)

You are more than the numbers which define you. What makes for great roleplaying and characters that will be remembered are the things between the numbers. Use the sections below to build out who you are. You don't need to do it all at the start. It may take you some time to figure out who you are. But give it some thought and build this out as you go. Do not build psychopathic emotionless characters that have seen it all and are unmoved by the horrors around them.

Try to fill out the description below and put it in your bio tab. You can roll it all or individual parts for inspiration or come up with your own. 

You see me to be a [personal description] person, but at heart I am [trait] and I believe that [ideology]. The most significant person to me is [significant person] because [significance] and [meaningful location] is a place that holds a special meaning to me. When I'm out in the universe, I always keep [treasured possession] close at hand, as it gives me comfort to have it with me.

Now consider "casting" a real-life actor to play the character and imbue your entries with emotion and write in first person. Become the character. 

I have a wife. <- That's pretty bad as it give little for you to go on. Try something like blow instead.

Maryam, my wife, is my guiding star. I don't know what I would do without her. When I'm lost I think of her dimples and calming eyes. "Aren't you all out of sorts." She would whisper to me and kiss my ear. She died four years ago from a wretched disease. We were going to see the galaxy together. Now I do it to honor her memory.

Finally think of some memories for your character. The times in your mind that are vivid, pivotal moments in your life or the ones that represent idyllic moments where you were truly happy, inspired, fulfilled, etc. Some should be good. Some may be bad.

It was just me, my mom, and my little sister now. We were so poor my shoes had holes and as my mom pulled on my hand, dirt would creep in under my big toe, pricking and gnawing at me. But it was a surprise and we haven’t had those in a long time, so I ignored the intrusion and dared not to complain.

We walked for so long, my sister fell asleep on my mom’s back. When we finally arrived, my mom thrust credits into my hand and told me to go up to the man selling sweets. 

I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited I ran and asked for all the chocolate it would buy and the man gave me one bar. My mom smiled with glistening eyes. “Just make sure you save half for your sister.”

That was the best walk home I’ve had in my life. Walking and eating chocolate.

As we were getting closer to our apartment I was startled by my sister’s crying. It was the cry of injustice and betrayal as she looked at my dirty hand and evidence of what was justly her’s being gone.

She cried for a long time. As did my mom.

This game can be hard. Build your character to survive. Look at the class you want to be and don't ignore your core attribute. Every attribute matters in this game and you can't plug all the holes, but at least make sure that you can thrive in the role you have chosen.

Core Attributes

Since this is a horror setting, the method is a bit conservative, but still a bit better than standard. There is a Stat-Rolls macro available on Roll20 for you if you want to roll your stats. If you don't like the result, you can revert to standard point buy instead as per Page 18 on the Core Rulebook. Note that you can't have a score over 18 in any stat, after all the racial and theme mods are allocated, even if rolling. Anything over 18 is lost, so allocate wisely. If starting at level 5 or higher, add your stat bumps separately to the initial stat distribution (You shouldn't end up with any stat above 19).

Don't neglect your core class ability as it directly translates to your Resolve. Look below.

Insanity

Insanity, the biggest departure from the standard Starfinder ruleset, is an important attribute, derived from your Wisdom score. It is adopted from the Call of Cthulhu game. Just like hit points, your character will loose sanity quite often. However sanity is much harder to get back. More on this topic can be learned in the Insanity handout.

Races and Themes

Aside from Aberrations and Undead, everything is legal, however because of the tech-only nature of the setting, any spell-like abilities won't work. Also, don't be too fragile as this setting can be pretty tough. The setting is mostly populated with Humans, who take up 76% of the population. Androids form, in distant second, form about 16% and all the other races combined form about 8% of all the known intelligent beings. A good list of available races is here and a list of available themes is here.

Classes

The official classes for the setting are still in the play-test phase, so in the meantime use the Starfinder ones. However no spellcasters. This is a tech-vs-magic setting and spellcasters, not only are an oddity, but are treated as an outright enemy as the campaign advances. You can choose any new Starfinder play test classes if you wish, but keep in mind that you will have to accept any changes that are made to them when they are formalized in Pizo books. Expect that we will follow all errata and Pizo guidance as well on all rules. For classes like Solarian, which are not spellcasters but have magic-like abilities, just think of technological explanations for them and you will be fine.

Equipment

You start with credits worth of armor, weapons and non-magic (except healing) equipment. If there is a magic or hybrid item you want to purchase, let's talk about it. Chances are it's ok, we just have to think of a technological explanation for it. Your starting wealth including all funds and gear is based on your level:

• Level   1 -   1,000 credits
  
• Level   2 -   2,000 credits
• Level   3 -   4,000 credits
• Level   4 -   6,000 credits
• Level   5 -   9,000 credits
• Level   6 - 15,000 credits
• Level   7 - 23,000 credits
• Level   8 - 33,000 credits
• Level   9 - 45,000 credits
• Level 10 - 66,000 credits

Health, Stamina, and Resolve

Since may of you are new to Starfinder, here is an important thing to understand about the core survival mechanics: 

The way Starfinder works is different from what you are used to. Hit Points and Stamina are just part of the picture. The key stat here is your Resolve. Every time you do a 10 minute rest, you get to replenish your entire Stamina along with many abilities. Thus it is critical to do so and an intended mechanic of the game. You don't simply die if you lose all your HP and SP. As long as someone is left standing, can get you out, and you have 2/3 RP left, you won't (typically) die.

• Stamina doesn't save you every time. There are other ways to die. The following have all happened: 
  
• Massive damage that brings you more than your max hp BELOW 0.
  
• You ignore you core class ability and have low max Resolve or drain your Resolve too much, leaving no room to use it to save vs death.
• Poison and disease that is not mitigated (though that typically takes many failed saves).
• Certain abilities that bypass the normal mechanic like ability drain, suffocation, etc.

Rules for injury and death can be found here.

Magic does exist in the game, but it is not accessible to characters through class features, so no spellcasters. This setting (Grimmerspace) is playing on the technology vs. magic theme . However, that doesn't mean that characters are entirely cut off from being able to participate in magic.

Mysticism

The skill is available to players and works as described except it won't offer insights into Eldritch knowledge. It should be looked at as more of knowledge of the Occult and various mystical beliefs and practices. Your character would likely approach it from a perspective of esoteric knowledge of odd curia rather than expect it to describe real magic.

Eldritch Lore

This skill is a reflection of your characters direct exposure and knowledge of Eldritch horrors. You can't take this skill directly. It is given out by the GM as a result of encounters and character actions (like reading a musty tome). This is a powerful skill that provides many boons, however it directly affects a character's maximum sanity score. The more a characters mind open to Eldritch powers the less tangible is their grasp of the world. See Insanity handout for details.

Spells

Spells do exist in the game and are available to anyone with at lest 1 rank in Eldritch Lore.  However they require a skill check to get right, with side-effects happening on failure. They also typically require questionable ethical decisions and may require a sanity check upon casting and/or witnessing. Characters have a few of these at hand.

Magical Items

These do exist and the party is in possession of a few. These tend to be very powerful with powers that depend on character's Eldritch Lore skill. The items also tend to come with other special side-effects. Learning how to use the items often requires persistence and experimentation. 

One of the first questions you may ask before creating a character is *“What should I expect?”* The answer is expect the unexpected. The scenarios characters are put under are very often vivid, rich, and multifaceted where fights are about more than damage dealing. As an example here are some highlight encounters faced in just the first 3 levels:

• Stuck on a dark unresponsive space station where a serial killer butcher kidnaps characters one by one, only to stash them in a “murder closet”, where they have a very limited time before he starts dismembering them piece by piece.
  
• Fighting killer farm machinery on shaky scaffolding 200 feet off the ground only to experience an actual ship crash into the space station, collapsing the scaffolding and forcing some to fight while climbing and others stuck in mud while being eaten by cannibals.
• WWZ style cannibal fight where enemies just keep on stacking endlessly, in overwhelming numbers only to be faced with the whole station de-orbiting and falling apart.
• Mad flight to safety in a rinky-dink shuttle, piloting through smoke, debris, and killer swarms, and having to fix failing engines outside of the cabin while fighting swarm hand to hand, all at the same time with players seeing different screens and communicating status over the radio.
• Living through sand storms, delusions, visions, and encounters with ancient races all while surviving a long desert journey where every ration counts and environmentals are about to run out, while knowing the direction of safety is far from certain.
• Fighting a swarm of huge bats while tumbling down a huge sand avalanche and being repeatedly grabbed and dropped by the flying creatures.
• Trying to calm down and rescue a panicked NPC that is close to screaming, while trying to figure out how to escape a very deadly trap that is triggered by sound, while inside of an unfathomable creature that is ready to dissolve all within.
• Escaping through dark, cramped, windy, and difficult to traverse bowels of the said creature, while being hunted by a something which can pass through walls and is capable of taking off most of a character’s health reserve in one hit.
• All skills matter, all equipment matters, all stats matter, encounters require tough decisions, character death does happen, and yeah even if you prepare for all that, you can still easily go insane. You can’t build to protect from everything. It won’t work. So, make what is good about your character strong, make them good at more than just one thing, and ask what others are good at to fill party gaps. 

Character backgrounds are guaranteed to be pretty tragic and are an expected part of the game. You can be whoever you want. But, your character should not be a hardened veteran that is not phased by the terrors they face. The situations they are placed in are not normal, not natural, and definitely horrific. Characters’ backstory elements like people, places, ideologies, and even items, do come into play. Many sessions have a short character flashback developing characters further. Losing characters can hurt. Fear is real. This is horror.