Character Creation



Life on the streets of Cyberpunk is tough. You only survive if you're fast, strong, smart, charming, or some combination of the four. Below, you will find rules for creating a character fit for the cold, chrome world of Cyberpunk. Your survival, however, is not guaranteed.

Cyberpunk Characters have four Attributes: Might, Agility, Logic, and Charm. Each of these Attributes have several Skills associated with them.

You start with 50 Character Points to spend. Up to 12 of these points can be spent on Attributes, and up to 8 can be spent on Skills. Anything else can be used on gear, augmentations, spells, and other items. Anything left over after all of that is gone after Character creation, so try to spend it all.

CHARACTER POINTS & FATE POINTS
In CYBERPUNK, CHARACTER POINTS represent both your character's experience, and their funds. You use Character Points to buy gear, train your skills, and to bribe the occassional dirty cop.

FATE POINTS are slightly more abstract - most characters start with at least 1 Fate Point. These can be spent for various effects - the most common is to double the result of a single roll. Other examples, however, include (slightly) altering the story to turn the tides to your favor - such as finding a ladder to escape to the next floor with when you're being chased by a group of guard dogs.

Please note that the GM has final say in what constitues a valid use of a Fate Point - in most cases, keep in mind that the effect should be small, but important.

ATTRIBUTES
The four Attributes all Cyberpunk characters have are Might, Agility, Logic, and Charm.

MIGHT represents your character's raw physical power - whether that means dishing out the pain, or taking it on themselves. Your Might Attribute affects your Soak score, which is detailed in the "Defenses" section, below; it can also affect your Block score.

AGILITY represents your character's natural grace and coordination. It is used for a multitude of purposes, including driving, shooting, and jumping. Your Agility Attribute affects your Dodge score (detailed in the "Defenses" section), and can also affect your Block score.

LOGIC represents your character's intelligence and cunning. It is used for the more cerebral skills, like using a computer, or preforming First Aid. It can affect your Composure score, which is detailed in the "Defenses" section.

CHARM represents your character's social abilities - from cutting a deal to interrogating a suspect. If it involves talking to someone else, chances are, you'll need Charm to do it. It can affect your Composure score.

SKILLS
During Character Creation, you can spend 8 of your starting 50 Character Points on skills. However, the costs of Skills during Character Creation is significantly different than the cost during actual play.

During character creation, you can buy up to 2 Dice in a single skill (or 3 Dice if you choose to specialize). 1 Dice costs 1 Character Point; upgrading it to 2 Dice costs 2 Character Points, for a total of 3 Character Points; Specializing (which is detailed below), costs 1 Character Point. This means, the maximum amount of dice you can put into a skill at Character Creation is 3d.

After Character Creation, buying skills works differently. To improve a skill, you must pay a number of Character Points equal to its improved score. For example; your Character has 2d Might, and put 2d in Athletics during Character Creation, meaning its total Athletics score is 4d. To improve that to 5d, it would cost you 5 Character Points.

If you have spare character points, you can split them into 3 "pips." Each pip grants a +1 Bonus to a skill or attribute; you can only have 2 Pips per attribute or skill - to get higher than that, you have to purchase the next rank in the attribute or skill. When you split a Character Point into Pips, you have to assign all of them; you cannot keep pips.

NOTE: SPECIALIZATIONS
Most skills have "Specializations." These are seperate uses for the skill that only work in certain situations (for example, the Athletics skill has the Climb, Run, Jump, Swim, and Lift specializations. You can choose to specialize in a skill for 1 Character Point, and gain a +1d Bonus to that specific action. You can only specialize a skill once.

For more information on Skills, click here.

DEFENSES
CYBERPUNK characters have three DEFENSES. To calculate your Defense Scores, you must take the relevant Attribute or Skill, mulitply it by 3, and then add any relevant bonuses.

For example, to calculate your Block score, you take your Melee Skill, multiply it by 3, and add any relevant bonuses - meaning, a character with 4d+2 Melee would have a Block score of 14.

Whenever an enemy would target one of your defenses, they must exceed the roll - if the result is a tie, both parties roll their Wild Die. The result then favors whoever rolls highest.

BLOCK is the defense used in physical combat - it is used to deflect melee attacks (if you have a shield, you can use it to block ranged attacks as well). Use your Melee skill when calculating your Block score.

DODGE is the defense used to avoid damage - it is used to get out of the way of any kind of attack. Use your Dodge skill when calculating your Dodge score.

SOAK is the defense used to absorb damage. Use your Might Attribute when calculating your Soak Score (note that Armor also increases this score).

TRAITS
Not all characters are exactly the same - they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. Traits come in two varieties - Positive and Negative. You can have up to 3 Positive traits; however, each Positive trait you take must be countered by one Negative trait. You do not have to take any traits, but it is usually more fun if you do.

For more information on Traits, and a list of examples, click here.

RETURN OF MAGIC
For information on playing a Cyberpunk game with fantasy elements, click here.

MOVING ON
Once you've spent your Character Points on Attributes and Skills, you'll find that you might have a few to spare. In that case, you'll probably want to take a look at the Equipment Page.