Creating Your Character

Your career path is a summary of what your character has done before you start playing Imperium Maledictum. This path begins with your birth, and winds from your childhood when your method of serving the Imperium was established to your place in its hierarchy as an adult. You can think of your career path as your path through life, "for there is no life beyond service to the Emperor".

Your career path encapsulates your past life and informs your future, aiding you in roleplay, but it does not completely define you. You can use the guidance in this chapter as inspiration for your past, but ultimately the details are up to you. What you will do to serve your Patron in this Dark Imperium is yet to be determined, and once you start playing and earning Experience Points you can spend them on Talents and Advances as you choose.

1) Characteristics

Characteristics represent a character’s raw potential and natural physical and mental attributes, such as Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and combat abilities.

2) Origin

The circumstances of your early life are known as your Origin, and determine some of your Characteristics, and influences which faction you served. You were likely born in the Askellon Sector, one of untold billions who are part of the largest Human empire that has ever existed — The Imperium of Man.

3) Faction

Your Faction determines the type of drudging toil that would have consumed your life had you not been recruited by your Patron. Some Factions search for specific attributes, such as intelligence or even aptitude as a psyker, but most require only an endless stream of bodies to fuel their great work.

4) Role

Your Patron recruited you for a reason, seeing in you some spark of utility that they might turn to their own advantage. Your Role reflects the reason they had for recruiting you, the function they expect you to perform in their service.

5) Equipment

Your character starts play with equipment determined by your Origin, Faction, and Role. You can find out more about your equipment in Armoury.

Be sure to record everything you have on your character sheet so that you don’t forget some important item when you most need it. For weapons and armour, note the statistics in the appropriate place, and add in any relevant bonuses. This ensures you don’t need to slow down combat or other exciting scenes by looking up values. You begin the game with all of your firearms fully loaded, and a spare magazine for each of them.

In addition, you may purchase any number of items with an Unknown of Common. You may also purchase a single Scarce item.

6) Adding Detail

Choose a name for your Character, decide on their appearance, and consider what their Short and Long-term Goals should be.

7) Bringing your Character to Life

Add any other details you wish to your Character, such as the nature of their Faith in the Emperor, their fears, and the secrets they have never shared.

8) Finishing Touches

Finally, determine the starting values for your Maximum Wounds, Critical Wounds, Initiative, Handedness, and Unknown.

Characteristics represent a character’s raw potential and natural physical and mental attributes, such as strength, agility, intelligence, and combat abilities. Characters in Imperium Maledictum have nine Characteristics, which are used along with Skills when making Tests. Characteristics range in value from 1 to 100, with the Human average being between 30 and 40. Well practised or augmented individuals exceed this average, with the towering Adeptus Astartes having average scores in the 60s and beyond. Since Characteristics set the base target number for all Tests, high Characteristics are always more favourable than low characteristics.

Characteristic Bonus

The first or ‘tens place’ digit of each Characteristic is its Characteristic Bonus. Characteristic Bonuses are used in a variety of ways, such as determining weapon Damage, calculating Wounds, and as Requirements for Talents. When a Characteristic Bonus is abbreviated in text, it uses the abbreviation listed for its Characteristic with an additional ‘B’ at the end.

Determine Characteristics

To determine your Starting Characteristics:

• Step 1: Roll 2d10 + 20 for each of the nine Characteristics in order and make a note of the results. If you feel your character would be improved if you swapped some of the results between Characteristics, go to Step 2 below. If you are happy to keep your random results, note them on your character sheet, gain 50 XP, and move on to Origin.
• Step 2: Rearrange the nine numbers rolled in Step 1, assigning each to a different Characteristic. If you’re happy with the new values, record them on your character sheet, gain 25 XP, and move on to Origin. If not, go to Step 3 below.
• Step 3: If you’re still not happy with your results, roll again and swap the Characteristics around until you get something you like, but don't gain any bonus XP.
• Alternatively, instead of rolling, you may choose to assign points. Each Characteristic begins at 20 and you have 90 points to allocate across the Characteristics as you prefer, with a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 18 allocated to any single Characteristic. You do not gain bonus XP with this option.

Your Origin and Faction grant additional increases to your Characteristics. It is important to note that these increases are applied to your Starting Characteristics, and do not count as Advances. At the end of character creation, you can spend XP to purchase Advances to further increase a Characteristic.

Weapon Skill (WS)

Weapon Skill measures your competence in all forms of close-quarters combat. Characters with high Weapon Skill are excellent warriors, renowned with a chainsword or even their bare hands. Weapon Skill is used when making a melee attack and defending in melee combat.

Ballistic Skill (BS)

Ballistic Skill measures your accuracy with all forms of ranged weapons. A high Ballistic Skill indicates a character is an excellent sharpshooter, someone to be rightly feared in any fire-fight or shootout. Ballistic Skill is used when making a ranged attack.

Strength (STR)

Strength measures your muscle and physical power. Characters with high Strength can lift heavy objects, climb sheer surfaces with ease, and deal more damage with melee weapons.

Toughness (TGH)

Toughness measures your health, stamina, and resistance. Exceptionally tough characters are hard to kill, can withstand poisons and toxins, and survive in the galaxy’s harshest environments.

Agility (AG)

This measures your physical coordination, reflexes, and overall body awareness. High Agility allows a character to move silently, act first in dangerous situations, and dodge incoming attacks.

Intelligence (INT)

Intelligence is your acumen, reason, and general knowledge. A character with a high
Intelligence can recall huge volumes of data, correlate esoteric clues, or determine if an ancient archaeotech relic is genuine or not.

Perception (PER)

This measures your awareness and the acuteness of your senses. A character with high Perception can pick out a stray bolter shell casing left amidst an underhive morass, tell when someone is being deceitful, or be the first to spot danger.

Willpower (WIL)

Willpower measures a character’s mental strength and resolve. High Willpower allows a character to overcome fear, and is called upon when wielding and resisting psychic powers.

Fellowship (FEL)

Fellowship measures your persuasiveness, ability to lead, and force of personality. Having a good Fellowship makes for a character who can ingratiate themself into a gathering of suspicious forge menials, make skilled trades with wily vendors, or cow others into obedience.

If your group would like to add another element of randomness to character creation to represent the boundless variation of Humanity in the Askellon Sector, you can all choose to agree on the Random Talents Table. The Talent your character randomly gains could have a substantial impact on who they are, so it's worth talking with the group about any potential changes based on the result — particularly if you become a Blank or a Psyker!

If you roll on a Talent you already have, you can choose any Talent you meet the Requirements for.

Random Talents Table