# Character Creation

# Step 1: Concept

Who are you? Answer these questions:

- **Name:** What are you called?
- **Pronouns:** He/him, she/her, they/them, etc.
- **Role:** What's your place in Duskaran society?

### Duskaran Roles

Rather than a "job before the collapse," you have a **role** that defines your expertise:

**Daywalker:** Day-side salvager with exceptional thermal resistance. You venture into scorching margins to recover mining drones and rare materials.

**Weatherworker:** Psychic ritualist who senses and influences atmospheric patterns. You guide caravans, protect settlements, and predict superstorms.

**Water Judge:** Resource arbiter who manages distribution and resolves disputes. You hold power over life and death in a world of scarcity.

**Caravanner:** Trade guild member who knows the routes, politics, and dangers between settlements. You broker deals and navigate intrigue.

**Deepkin Scout:** Cave explorer from the night side. You navigate Deep Roads, harvest geothermal resources, and communicate through resonance.

**Beastwalker:** Fauna bonded, with a psychic connection to wind serpents, thermal lizards, or other native creatures. You're tracker, messenger, and protector.

**Archivist:** Lore keeper who preserves Earth knowledge and investigates Duskaran mysteries. You decode data crystals and study ancient structures.

**Stormchaser:** Reckless explorer who pushes into danger zones for discovery, glory, or profit. You thrive on risk and live for the next expedition.

Pick a role or create your own. It's a starting point, not a constraint.

# Step 2: Skills

You have **6 skills** that represent your capabilities. By default, all skills start at **d4**. Assign one **d10**, one **d8**, and one **d6** to skills your character excels at.

**The Six Skills:**

**Endure:** Withstand thermal extremes, storms, hunger, psychic burnout, physical exertion.

**Navigate:** Traverse twilight belt, Deep Roads, ruins, day-side margins, storm-lashed routes.

**Perceive:** Thermal sensing, psychic awareness, tracking, noticing details, environmental assessment.

**Commune:** Weather working, deep bonding, negotiation, psychic communication, ritual.

**Resolve:** Repair tech, solve problems, analyze data, decode Earth archives, improvise tools.

**Assert:** Intimidate, defend, attack, command, physical confrontation.

# Step 3: Psychic Ability (Optional)

Psychic abilities are common on Duskara but not universal. If you want one, choose from the list below or roll randomly.

**Overuse causes psychic burnout**—represented by stress or skill degradation. The GM decides when you've pushed too hard.

### Psychic Abilities

**1. Thermal Sensing:** Perceive heat signatures and temperature gradients with precision. Navigate day-side margins, detect hidden life, sense geothermal activity.

**2. Weather Working:** Sense and subtly influence atmospheric patterns—wind speed, pressure changes, storm formation. Guide caravans, protect settlements, predict superstorms.

**3. Deep Bonding:** Psychic connection to native fauna (wind serpents, thermal lizards, shadow stalkers). Communicate, command, and share senses with bonded creatures.

**4. Shadow Walking:** Move unseen through low-light environments. Blend with darkness, traverse night side undetected, infiltrate settlements.

**5. Water Finding:** Sense underground aquifers, hidden water caches, and moisture in air. Invaluable in a world of scarcity.

**6. Resonance:** Perceive and manipulate vibrations through stone. Communicate across kilometers in cave systems, detect structural instability, navigate Deep Roads.

**Psychic abilities can add narrative advantage** (GM may reduce risk or allow automatic success) or **replace skills for certain checks** (use a d10 or d12 for abilities you've mastered).

# Step 4: Starting Equipment

You begin with **1 item** in your backpack as a **d10 item**. Choose something that reflects your role:

- **Windblade** (curved weapon optimized for high winds)
- **Thermal pike** (mining/combat tool, heats on activation)
- **Pressure bow** (compressed air projectile weapon)
- **Geothermal suit** (protective gear for thermal extremes)
- **Wind compass** (reads current patterns for navigation)
- **Resonance crystal** (psychic focus for amplifying abilities)
- **Water reclamation unit** (personal-scale purification)
- **Data crystal** (Earth archives or settlement intelligence)
- **Climbing kit** (for towers, ruins, or cave walls)
- **Storm goggles** (protects against wind and dust)

You also start with **1 med kit** (clears 2 stress).

# Character Sheet Example

**Name:** Kael Serin  
**Pronouns:** They/them  
**Role:** Deepkin Scout

**Skills:**

- Endure: d6
- Navigate: d10
- Perceive: d8
- Commune: d4
- Resolve: d4
- Assert: d4

**Psychic Ability:** Resonance (sense vibrations through stone)

**Starting Equipment:**

- Resonance crystal (d10 item)
- Med kit

**Stress:** [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]